Edwin tried pulling out his pitchfork but realized that it was completely stuck in the antlers and abandoned his efforts. He turned around, looking for his teammates. Salissa was leaning heavily against a tree, drowsy from mana exhaustion. Bordan was standing next to her, sword in hand, holding his chest with the other.

“Are you hurt?” Edwin asked Bordan, approaching the man.

“It fell on me, and it’s almost as fat as you are.” The former soldier replied with a wry grin. “Of course I’m hurt. It doesn’t feel broken though.”

“Well, if you can make horrible jokes, you probably won’t die.” Edwin replied with a relieved sigh. He walked over to Bordan and gestured for him to sit down on the fallen tree so Edwin could examine his chest. If there was one thing Walter had gained experience with during his time as a Lich, it was bones. “Or at least I won’t care as much. Hmm. Yes, your ribs aren’t broken, just cracked. You got lucky, if it had fully landed on you, you’d be paste.”

“Screw luck.” Bordan huffed. “I used my spear properly, that’s what saved me. It must’ve impaled itself almost all the way through, and if I’d had a proper shaft, the spear wouldn’t even have broken either.”

Edwin looked over to where the splintered end of the wooden shaft still stuck in the ground.

“Anyone else hurt?” He asked while he pulled off his backpack to fetch his medical supplies.

“I’m good.” Leodin answered. The young marksman had reloaded his crossbow and was leisurely keeping watch.

“Me too.” Salissa said from where she was seated against a tree, her eyes closed. “I’m just a little dizzy.”

“Emptying your core will do that.” Edwin said. “Just stay there, you’ll feel better in a few minutes. Maybe drink something. Alright, Bordan, raise your arms and hold still while I bandage you.”

A short while later, the party gathered around the dead direstag. Now that it had stopped moving, it was much easier to appreciate its size. Bigger even than a horse, it was a mountain of muscle covered in light brown fur. Its head alone was as large as a man’s torso, seeming almost comical with its huge eyes. The most striking thing were the antlers, though. They were a veritable forest of bony spikes that extended mostly forwards and up. Had they pointed to the sides instead, the stag would’ve been completely incapable of navigating the forest. Edwin tried to count the ends, but finally gave up after having to start again several times as they seemed to have sprouted with little reason or structure.

Examining the head further, Edwin realized that the antlers had fused with the direshield, growing partly from the beast itself and partly from the bony ridge that covered its head and back. Instead of a single, forward-facing horn, the shield had grown to reinforce the antlers.

“This is probably why the antlers look so weird.” Edwin mused, pointing out his findings to his teammates. They spent a few more minutes studying the dead beast and catching their breaths. Eventually, they headed back to the village. They hadn’t gone far into the woods, as they’d known that it would come for them regardless of where they were, so it was still mid-morning by the time they returned to town. When they approached the wooden gate, it swung open, revealing a large crowd of townspeople. For a moment, Edwin was confused, until he remembered that the farmers and hunters hadn’t been able to leave the walls while the direstag had been alive. With nothing else to do, they had probably naturally gathered to await their return.

It was a strange feeling. The crowd was almost completely quiet, and dozens of eyes were watching the adventurers as they walked towards the gate. It actually felt quite uncomfortable, and Edwin didn’t know where to look. Finally, they reached the waiting villagers and stopped. For a moment, nobody spoke. Then, Bordan stepped forward, smiled and said: “It’s dead.”

The mob erupted with cheers and swarmed out of the gate to crowd the adventurers. Edwin received a barrage of compliments and slaps on the back, and it took the combined effort of the entire party to spare the bruised Bordan the same treatment. When the praise started to die down, the elderly headman pushed through the group. Edwin hadn’t seen him when they were approaching, so he assumed that somebody had gone to fetch him as soon as they came into view.

“I take it you did it?” He said, smiling. “And in so little time. Very impressive. You’re sure that it’s dead?”

“Absolutely.” Bordan answered. “In fact, we can show you where it is. We couldn’t move the damn thing on our own, so I was about to ask for some help with that anyway.”

A short while later, the adventurers led a large number of villagers along with an ox-drawn cart towards the site of the battle. Some of the original group had dispersed, as farmers were finally able to tend their fields again, but others, who hadn’t waited near the gate initially but had received word of their success had joined, mostly evening out the number again. They didn’t need this many people to move the carcass, but Edwin assumed that most of them came along simply out of curiosity, to learn how the battle had played out and see the dead beast where it had fallen. He didn’t mind. The whole affair had a festive atmosphere, and the people probably needed it after weeks of being trapped behind their wall.

When they reached their destination, Bordan gave a somewhat embellished account of their fight, pointing out upturned earth and splattered blood on trees and dirt, as well as the wounds the beast had suffered. When it came to Salissa’s part, the crowd was hanging onto his words as if he was a master bard, regarding both the burnt patches of fur and the embarrassed mage with unbridled amazement. Salissa clearly wasn’t used to the attention, and quickly fell back into her old behaviour, coldly ignoring everyone around her and staring off into the forest with crossed arms. This only made her seem more aloof and mysterious to the villagers, however. All in all, Edwin thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Salissa’s teammates had realized early on that she didn’t particularly care for the people they met on their way to know that she was a mage. Edwin had been confused by this at first, as she had made somewhat of a spectacle of herself at the guild house, but he soon realized that her reason ultimately didn’t matter, and they tried to honor her unspoken wish whenever possible. That wasn’t always the case, of course, as people tended to ask questions when they were presented with a monster carcass that looked like it had spent ten minutes in a fireplace, and they weren’t going to lie.

Once storytime was over and everyone had had the opportunity to gawk, it was finally time to load the carcass onto the wagon. Due to the dry weather and good conditions, they had been able to drive the cart almost all the way, which meant they only had to drag the dead monster a few dozen meters. At full capacity, Salissa would’ve been able to lift the beast on her own, but it would take her the rest of the day to fill her core again. Due to the nature of how telekinesis worked, it didn’t play well with other forces that tried to affect the same object. In the end, lifting the monster onto the cart took the combined effort of Edwin, Leodin and a dozen of the strongest townspeople.

“What are your plans now?” The headman asked Bordan on the way back.

“For today? Eat and sleep.” Bordan answered with a sigh. “Tomorrow, we’ll start on our way back home, to Pel Darni. This was our last stop.”

“Ah, very good! If you’re heading that way anyway, I might ask our trader if he would like to join you on the road – with the monster terrorizing us, he hasn’t been able to leave on his seasonal trip to the city. I’m sure he would appreciate your protection on the way, it’s always better to travel together after all.”

“Of course, we’d be happy to have the company.” Bordan agreed. Having the trader meant having a cart with them, and having a cart meant they would be able to stow their equipment on it, leaving them to walk largely unburdened.

“Great!” The headman said, pleased. “This is quickly shaping up the be a very nice and productive day, don’t you think?”

The rest of said day was a relaxed affair, spent mostly watching the butcher take apart the direstag. Bordan gratefully received the head of his spear, which had been lodged so deeply into the beast that cutting it out was once again the only option. Leodin indulged in some light haggling, netting them a tidy sum for the monster’s remains. In the evening, the whole town came together in the square, and drink flowed freely as Bordan was forced to repeat the tale of their battle yet again. When they eventually went to bed, Edwin thought back on his first adventure. It had been exciting, even fun at times, but it had been a lot at once, and he was looking forward to some time off.