Fey creatures are, above all else, slaves to their natures. Each variety has, at its core, a thing that it holds dear, an action that it must perform, or an agenda that it must advance. The greater the power that a fey holds, the more complex or conceptual this core tends to be, and the more tenaciously they hold to it. In any interaction with the fey, seek to understand their nature as swiftly as possible, and always be aware that if you ever oppose the thing that sits at their heart you will have made yourself a mortal enemy.

- “A Treatise on the Planes, Book III: The Dreaming,” by When, archivist and head librarian for the Celestial Court of Malemnash.

Outside the Goodfruit Grove

“Oh dear oh dear, that’s a very dead deer.”

I rolled my eyes at Cherubix’ sad attempt at humor, my hands resting lightly on the corpse and keeping most of my concentration on trying to sense what was left of the poor thing's spirit.

“Shouldn’t we be… going into the grove?” Ladybird whispered to Faraday from behind me, though still loud enough for me to hear.

“We will,” I said. “But this wasn’t too far out of our way, and I wanted to see if our friend here had any… Aha!”

I felt the tentative tugging at the tether I’d put out, and straightened up slowly, murmuring to the spirit of the doe.

“C’mere little one, everything’s over, nobody’s gonna hurt you anymore, okay?”

Wild animal spirits tended not to stick around very long unless they were killed while caring for young. No real attachments and a life perpetually spent in the “now” meant that they didn’t really have much reason to avoid the cycle after they died. Torture, on the other hand, left some nasty echoes even if the spirit itself eventually moved on, and judging by the marks on its remains and the blood-spatter around it the poor thing had spent at least a few minutes being gone over by blade and claw. Regardless of whether it could tell us anything, once I realized what had happened I couldn’t leave without putting its spirit to rest.

A fist-sized orb of silver mist tentatively drifted out of the mangled corpse, little spikey prickles flickering out of it at irregular intervals. It rose up until it was a yard or so off the ground, darting here and there in response to the wind and the sound of my companions shifting behind me.

“Hey, hey, there you go,” I crooned. “We’re going to go get the ones who did this, okay? So let all that anger and pain go, there’s no need for it anymore, alright?”

It slowly stabilized as I spoke, growing slightly larger as the spines protruding from its surface gradually melted back into the sphere of ectoplasm.

“There, good, good. Can you show me what happened? Tell me how many of them there were? Anything you can share would be good, okay?”

This was, admittedly, a long shot. Animals didn’t really keep track of the kind of details that I cared about, and sucked at communicating in ways that humans could understand, but you never knew.

[Pain/fear/pursuit] the spirit eventually got out. [Run/run/run] [Weak/blood/slow] [Caught/laughter/pain]

I grimaced. “Oh, you poor thing.” I turned to my companions. “She was chased clear out of the forest, but they managed to tag her before she escaped. They caught her here, when she weakened from blood loss, and then…” I turned back to the silver orb, floating forlornly in the air. “They laughed as they were killing her.”

“Can she tell us anything we can use?” Faraday asked quietly, his tone solemn.

“I don’t think so,” I said, still looking at the spirit. “She’s pretty far gone, and deer aren’t great thinkers anyway.” I sighed, and reached into one of the ingredients pouches inside my bag, taking out a pinch of oats. Whispering a prayer in Sylvan, I offered them to the spirit, being sure to keep my motions slow and unthreatening.

The little blob of silver, which had now started to fray at the edges, dipped down into my hand and absorbed the grains. “There you go, a little something for the road,” I said, smiling sadly.

After a few seconds, and completely without fanfare, the silvery shape dissolved into nothing, the ectoplasm flowing back into the world as the doe took the offering and went on into the cycle of rebirth. I put my hands together for a moment, offering a prayer to the doe itself, and then turned back towards the others.

Faraday had his head bowed in his own prayer, and Cherubix was glaring into the darkness under the nearby oak trees. Ladybird, to my surprise, had her hands together as well.

I quirked an eyebrow at her when she lifted her head and met my eyes.

“What?” She said defensively. “I was thinking that we were in a hurry, not that the creature didn’t deserve to be put to rest properly.”

I shrugged, picking up my bow from where I’d put it, and turned towards the spot at the edge of the grove that Ko had deemed the likely exit point for the guard and the kid.

“No, that’s fair. I’ve just met a couple of druids in the Guild, and they were all…” I paused, searching for how to phrase it. “Utilitarian, I think is the best word. Revered nature as a whole, but had little to no truck with spirits and gods.”

Ladybird snorted, moving up to keep pace with me, leaving Faraday and Cherubix to pick up the rear. “Oh, that sort. They’re not wrong, per se, and there was one I met at school who was utterly brilliant at ecosystem management. In my experience, though, they have a tendency to fall apart when thrown into places with high fey concentrations, like we have here. No sense of whimsy, nor tolerance for things outside their understanding.”

“Right?” I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, taking in the half-amused, half-resigned smirk on her face. “Glad to see you aren’t one.”

Ko chose that moment to flap down onto my shoulder.

We let the conversation lapse as we jogged along. Longstrider was definitely a handy trick. It didn’t offer the sheer speed that Haste gave you, where everything else slowed down and you felt like you could dance between raindrops. Instead, it focused on boosting your legs and lungs, letting you run a fair bit faster and farther than normal. I wasn’t even winded, and we’d been moving at a pace that would have wiped me out if we hadn’t had Ladybird’s spell to keep us going.

After ten minutes or so of jogging, we hit the cart tracks. It didn’t take much searching to confirm that it was the place where the guardsman and his two charges had entered the grove, and where they had retreated from the gremlin’s attack. The dried patches of blood marking a trail away from the grove made that very apparent, unfortunately.

“So, standard formation?” I asked, looking at Cherubix and Faraday.

They nodded, both with serious expressions on their faces now that we were getting down to business. Faraday moved up in front, and Cherubix dropped off his shoulder and took up a position behind me.

I looked at Ladybird, who was regarding us with narrowed eyes, likely trying to puzzle out what we were doing. “You’re sticking next to me. Keep your eyes peeled to the sides; the others have our front and flank covered. If we say ‘left’ or ‘right’ that means you look out to the side of our march, not whichever direction you’re facing. If we get attacked, hex the crap out of them until there aren’t any targets to hex, and run if we tell you to. Don’t look back, don’t worry about us, just scram. If you get into trouble, give a shout, but for the sake of whatever gods you worship don’t depend on us to save you - if you’re in trouble we’ll likely have our own pile of shit to deal with. Clear?”

She nodded in response. Her brow was creased slightly and her mouth was set, a serious expression that gave me hope that she’d do what was necessary and not do anything stupid. No fear, no concern about screwing up, just calm and focused.

“Did I miss anything?” I asked, turning back towards the woods and aiming the question at Faraday.

“Now might be the time for that toughening spell. Other’n that…” He looked back over his shoulder at the druid. “Do what you can to stay in formation. It gets awful hard to protect folks who wander out too far, and I don’t know how much leeway these things will give us if the situation drops in the shitter.”

She just nodded, and began a low chant under her breath. I could hear the whisper of mana pouring up from the ground and into her hands, and after ten heartbeats or so she touched me, then Faraday, then Cherubix on the shoulder with a finger, glowing from within by an emerald light.

The sensation of the spell was… not uncomfortable, but certainly not pleasant. Like my skin had gotten thicker and rougher and ever-so-slightly harder to move in. If anything, though, it was the sight of bark-like ridges and knots rising up slightly on my flesh that was the most disturbing.

Transmutation spells are weird, man, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

I glanced at Cherubix, gesturing for her to approach, and started my usual pre-delve ritual. A stick of incense lit and spun widdershins seven times above us, a few verses of prayer, and a mental call asking some of my spirits to watch over us and guide our aim. After a minute of concentration, silver mist glowed briefly around us, and then to all outwards appearances dissipated. I could feel them waiting in the back of my mind, though, ready and eager to help. I nodded at Cherubix and she once again took up her position at the rear, expression intent and Walter held at the ready.

Meanwhile, Faraday had been doing his own preparations, as a cascade of light fell gently across his form and seeped down into his armor. After a few moments, only the occasional speck of gold gave away the presence of the spell, as if the metal were reflecting a ray of sun that wasn’t there. He rolled his shoulders and drew his sword, looking back at me to see if I was ready.

I gave everyone one last look over, then nodded at him, and we moved forward into the shade and the unknown dangers lurking within.

We’d spent less than a minute underneath the canopy of the grove before Marahm’s and Ladybird’s words were proven correct: the place was definitely haunted.

It started as a feeling like there was something behind you, but it stayed behind you when you turned around. After moving a bit further in, I could sense them watching us from all directions. No hostile intent that I could pick up, but I was no longer surprised that the farmers didn’t want to spend more time here than was necessary to grab some of the plump fruit I could see hanging from one of the trees we’d passed by. To be honest, if it was giving me the creeps, then I was surprised that any sane civilian would be willing to enter the grove at all, let alone stay here for a few minutes.

… Huh. Come to think of it, the whole “go pick fruit in the haunted grove” thing sure sounded like something that a kid would get dared to do. Worth asking about whether that had something to do with how the practice got started, once we got back.

For now, though, the spirits seemed content to just be creepy little shits and watch silently. We kept following the blood trail deeper in, which fortunately was getting clearer as we got closer to where the fight happened.

“Cheri, Faraday, you getting anything?”

Faraday grunted and shook his head as he kept moving slowly ahead, sword on guard in front of him and eyes watchful. A quiet “Nuh uh” was all I heard from Cherubix.

To my right, Ladybird was a bit more forthcoming. “Nothing moving, but I don’t like what I’m getting from the trees. It feels like they’re upset about something, and normally trees this old don’t care about little things like people or fey unless someone’s chopping them down for lumber.”

I glanced at her, and she just shrugged like she couldn’t give me any more detail, her eyes flicking away almost as soon as they met mine, keeping a wary lookout around us.

Another few minutes passed that way, with us slowly working our way deeper into the grove. The shadows grew deeper, and the feeling of magic in the air thicker. The sense of being watched never wavered, and the tension inside me slowly ratcheted higher with every step we took.

By the time I felt the pulse of alarm from Ko and heard his tearing screech of a warcry, I was thoroughly glad to have something to shoot.

The others heard him, even if they couldn’t understand him, and were reacting. I twisted towards the direction that he’d indicated, searching for targets, but I only had a chance to get out “To the-” before the creatures’ eyes lit up the woods around us and I fell for their trap.

BLUE

The world washed away in a glowing haze of cyan as my gaze met two glowing blue orbs in the shadows of the underbrush.

BLUE

BLUE

BLUE BLUE BLUEBLUEBLUE...

I wasn’t sure how long I spent under the damn thing’s spell - it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like an hour or more. Regardless, the next thing I knew was Cherubix landing on my head and a jolt of electricity arcing from Walter and into my shoulder and then to Ladybird beside me.

“Wake up, we’ve got gremlins to kill!” She shouted, before somersaulting away towards the howling mob with glowing eyes that was way too close for my comfort.

She bisected a short and twisted form as she landed, and then turned towards one of the taller ones - relatively taller, as it would barely come up to my waist. The pale stick-figure giggled at her like a demented child and then glared, its eyes flaring a brilliant crimson.

“Ahhhhh!” Bloodthirst turned to panic, and Cherubix immediately began scrambling away, as other Redcaps - spindly yard-tall things of bleached bone daubed with crimson paint, each wielding some kind of crude weapon - began to converge on her, malice and murder in their eyes while they filled the air with that unnerving laughter.

It was the other ones, the Nuglubs, that I was worried about, though. Three Redcaps in the gang had focused on Cherubix, and at least one other was keeping Faraday busy judging by the giggling I was hearing, but there were half a dozen pairs of blue eyes atop gnarled, knee-high bodies beelining towards me and Ladybird, with only ten yards of forest floor between us and them.

Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I felt a slight smile tugging at my lips as I raised my bow and nocked an arrow, making sure not to look directly at any of the azure lights approaching us.

Breathe in, pull, whisper a prayer on the exhale, release.

The string twanged and with a streak of silver the hunchbacked body I’d been aiming at was nailed to the ground by an arrow through its abdomen, screeching as it clawed frantically at the protruding shaft.

One down, five- no, six to go, I must have miscounted. There was still a bit of space, if I was fast enough I could take down another before I needed to get my knives out. I drew another arrow and was in the process of nocking it when I heard Ladybird’s voice from my flank and felt a surge of magic flowing away from us through the forest floor towards the oncoming horde.

“Ru’edehl-a’nha!”

The undergrowth between us and the gremlins convulsed. Stems twisted around bodies, grasses snagged on clawed feet, and one particularly unfortunate Nuglub was swallowed whole by a small bush. Two dodged away from the suddenly-violent greenery, and another managed to break out after a moment’s struggle, but that spell had bought us a breath of space and halved the immediate threats.

My next arrow took the leading gremlin in its bizarrely horse-like face, and I was about to draw my knives as the other two got close enough when a flare of harsh golden light and a battlecry from the side announced Faraday’s arrival to the dance. Longsword flashing, he leaped between us and the oncoming pair. I left him to it, stepping back and turning towards where Cherubix was -

CRACK!

- where Cherubix had snapped out of the gremlin-induced panic and was showing why you really didn’t want to piss off an elementalist wielding a soul blade, no matter her height.

She’d jetted a good dozen yards away in her flight from the one that had frightened her, and the Redcaps had only just caught up with her when she’d gotten ahold of herself and turned on them. One Redcap was falling to the ground, smoke trailing from its fried body and stray electricity still arcing between points along its limbs. Another had a burn mark along its bulbous head, wounded and reeling but not down. The third was holding her off for now, but she seemed to be-

I caught a flicker of blue from the side and switched targets, my arrow punching through the Nuglub’s skull and slamming its hunched little body into a tree. That brief moment of hypnosis had still snared Cherubix, though, and during the second that she was distracted the Redcap caught her with a slash across the chest, a spray of blood flying away from the rusty scythe blade that it was using as a crude sword.

“Shit!” I cursed, hand moving down to my quiver and then back up to nock the arrow. “Cherubix!”

“On it!” Ladybird bit out from my side. “Theros, lierahm’veihk!”

The magic snarled like a living thing as it flowed out of her, forming an ominous green haze around the Redcap, its blade raised for the killing blow. The gremlin had only a heartbeat to realize that something was happening, and then the cloud contracted into its body and the creature withered. Its limbs shrank, its spine twisted, and the scythe blade shook like a leaf in its suddenly-undersized hands.

My turn. Breathe in, pull, whisper a prayer on the exhale, release, and the Redcap fell bonelessly as my arrow passed straight through its shrunken torso like it was made of parchment.

Now there was only one left, regrouping from the scorching that Cherubix had given it, but even wounded the brownie still had some fight left in her. She was on her knees, Walter clenched in one hand while the other tried to keep her wound closed, and the bone-white stick figure of the Redcap rushed towards her, giggling, its club upraised. A flurry of white flakes around Walter’s blade was all the warning that the gremlin had before a blast of frost caught it straight in the face.

I still pegged it with an arrow as it stumbled around blindly, but that was more to speed things up than anything else. The rush of combat was fading as I felt the urgency leaving me, replaced with worry for my injured friend.

I flicked my eyes towards Faraday, finding him a few yards away, chasing down a Nuglub that had decided running away was at this point the only viable path to survival. Ladybird had taken control of the grass and was using it to trip the thing up, so they had that handled. By the time I looked back at Cherubix she was in the process of mincing the motionless Redcap with her flaming sword.

“Cheri!” I shouted, rushing towards her. “It’s dead, it’s dead, honey. Stop that and let me see.”

She looked up at me, eyes glazed. Now that I was closer I could see she had her hand clenched around the gash in the chestplate of her padded armor, and the slowly spreading stain of blood around it.

“Shit,” I muttered, before shouting “Faraday, Ladybird, one of you get over here!” I glanced up, towards where I could feel Ko was perched on a branch, pulsed at him through our link, and then turned back to Cherubix.

“Any trouble breathing?” I murmured softly. Even if a chest wound wasn’t instantly debilitating, it could still be lethal if it got a lung and wasn’t fixed, and Cherubix was small enough that the difference between penetrating skin and puncturing something important was less than half an inch.

She inhaled hesitantly, the fog of bloodlust slowly clearing from her gaze. “I’m… I don’t think so.” She hiccupped a little, then, and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes, but she kept it together as I gently picked her up.

“You’ll be okay, just hold still until one of them gets here, alright?”

She just nodded, shivering a bit. This was the worst she’d gotten hit in the time I’d known her, and she didn’t seem to be taking it well.

It was only a few seconds before Ladybird arrived, a worried look on her face, but it felt like minutes to me, holding Cherubix in my arms and watching her fight to keep her composure.

“Stay still, I need to see how bad it is.” Ladybird said, her eyes and fingers emitting a faint emerald glow as she placed a hand to Cherubix’ wounded chest.

Her eyebrows drew together in concentration. “It nicked her sternum but didn’t penetrate into the chest cavity. Bruises from blunt force trauma on some organs; shouldn’t be too hard to fix. Some damage to the left pectoral, but not enough to complicate healing.”

A relieved smile lit her face, and my own expression mirrored it. Cherubix was getting off light, for something that could’ve easily killed her. We likely had Ladybird’s Barkskin spell to thank for that.

Ladybird bent over her patient, who I still had cradled in my arms, and the green glow around her fingers intensified. The blood slowly stopped seeping from the gash in the brownie's chest, and soon enough the skin started growing little pink tendrils that knitted together to seal the wound.

I was broken out of examining the process - the druid really did have masterful control over her mana - when I heard a stream of high-pitched curses in Sylvan coming from Faraday’s direction.

When I looked up, I saw him extracting a gremlin from the depths of a bush - one of the ones that Ladybird had trapped at the start of the fight. The thing looked bedraggled and scratched up from its botanical imprisonment. It was also letting us all know just how upset it was about being picked up by the scruff of the neck, cursing in a continuous stream as it scrabbled at Faraday’s gauntleted hand with its claws.

“So,” Faraday said, his deep voice carrying over the thing’s screeching, “You said you wanted a prisoner?”