Thankfully, the Vanguard was able to return to the village without any major problems. A few monsters decided to show up, but since the group was moving together, they were quickly dispatched. In total, 40 people joined the Night River hunt. But only 20 were coming back. 15 of them were rebels who decided to attempt a coup but grossly underestimated the strength of those involved in this excursion. Only 5 people who were not part of the religion ended up dying, and two of them were killed by monsters. Grilat was one, and the other was a guard member who ended up falling into a pit filled with Tumblevines. It was a shame that they lost so many and even sadder that they were betrayed like that. However, the Vanguard still survived and could still do what they were meant to do. Moving back was slower than getting here for one reason. They were bringing the five bodies back to the village, and Blue only was able to take one without any problems. The rest had to be carried in sleds. On the other hand, the bodies of the rebels were left behind. Their fate was to be devoured by the jungle and forgotten by the Vanguard.

When they arrived in the village, there was a very tense moment where Multrak explained what had happened. Everyone had lost some friends, be it because they were killed or because they betrayed everyone. The entire population went into mourning. According to Reynara, it was normal for something like that to happen when someone died during a hunt or an attack, but it was the first time that many people died. The result would be a longer period where no one would be hunting, and people would be allowed to stay inside their houses. As long as there was still enough food and supplies for everyone, Multrak wouldn't bother those trying to process what happened and heal the wounds they suffered.

Hera ended up in a weird position. Since Kadhan was no longer around, she accidentally took the village's witch doctor job. However, she was adamant against that name and forced anyone who needed healing to refer to her as a shaman instead. That was the same title Risli had, and she would rather be compared to the wise old dwarf than the treacherous beastman that tried to kill her. The problem was that she was still very injured and couldn't help everyone with every little healing they might need. Instead, she was allowed to stay in her house and rest, only being called if there was an emergency, which was very rare, but did happen. In those situations she either made a quick potion, having Lurize go to the greenhouse to gather ingredients, or let the patient hold on to Edge for a few hours. While being stuck in the house, resting and letting her bones heal, the Empress took advantage of the situation and sent Nimbus and Armory to search for her daggers. She sent them on a royal quest, hoping they would be able to find something, but even going back and forth for seven days, with Hera making a new quest every morning, they weren't able to find anything.

After the first couple of days, when the Empress was truly resting and making sure to heal, Adriel suggested that they start visiting Reynara to check up on her. Apparently, most of the village was afraid to talk with the huntress since she would lash out at most comments. The idea was for only Hera and him to go since Reynara was still feeling guilty for hurting Adriel, and seeing Hera's juiced-up powers made her respect the Empress. They weren't going there to talk or anything specific, just to keep her company. Every so often, the huntress would ask some questions about spells. Specifically, illusions. That was her main way of fighting, but unlike what Mylo could do, her version would not deal any damage by itself. She could still confuse and apply some mental effects, but hurting monsters was something that had to be done by hand. Unfortunately, Hera wasn't someone proficient in illusions. She could cast some very basic ones that were very clearly fake. The 'illusion' she used against the Cherry Mantises only worked because it was a quest reward skill. Mylo, on the other hand, could help her a lot, but Reynara refused the offer to bring him along next time. When she wanted his help, she would reach out herself.

When Hera and Adriel left the new chieftain-to-be's house for the first time, a lot of people stopped them and asked them to deliver gifts for Reynara. Gifts that she begrudgingly accepted the next day but asked them to stop cluttering her house with useless stuff. That wasn't exactly up to them since every time they left her home, more people would show up. In the end, they were forced to sneak out when they wanted to check up on Reynara. They told everyone what they were doing, but Alex couldn't help but watch them as they left the house around the same time every day.

Four days after returning from the Night River hunt, Hera recovered enough to go back to the underground greenhouse to take care of the mushrooms and start making potions. There were a couple of mixtures that could help her a lot, even if it would come at a cost. One of them would forcibly reduce her attributes by 50% for two days, but it would also help her heal any internal wounds, including bones, and that was exactly the kind of thing she needed right now. Her ribs were still a problem that stopped her from moving around. The only problem with her plan was that one of the ingredients wasn't around the greenhouse. Kadhan said that he would keep some of his moss bodies working on other projects and take care of components that were more time intensive to make, but she couldn't find where those other parts of the cave were. As far as she knew, down here, there was only the main greenhouse and the recipe room.

Hera tried looking into Kadhan's house but to no avail. She asked Multrak, Reynara, and everyone she could think of, but no one knew where that secret laboratory was. This was starting to become a very big problem in more ways than one. Looking over the recipes she recorded, the Empress noticed a few ingredients that, when mixed together, could create toxic vapors. It wouldn't be something that happened right away, and only if the liquid inside the cauldron was starting to run out the toxic gas would be created. The problem was that Hera had no way of knowing if Kadhan put out all the fires when he went after her. If he didn't, that secret laboratory would be a bomb waiting to go off.

"I can show you the path," a creepy voice emerged in Hera's mind, making her jolt.

"Fuck me, why do you have to do this? Show up like a normal person."

"I can show you where the hidden lab is."

"Can you show me where Fang and Claw are?"

"No. They are lost."

"Great," Hera rolled her eyes and waited for a moment, "If you show me the lab, will the marks grow?"

"No. Not yet."

"Fine, show me," Hera knew this was a bad idea, but they were already going to get rid of this thing. As long as she was here, she might as well use it. All her friends knew that she used the curse during the fight with Kadhan, and although they were worried, no one blamed her for what she did. Having something eat her up from the inside could have resulted in her death, and the pain she was feeling would stop her from getting to Bonnie in time. That being said, they were all adamant against her using the curse again.

The Empress was inside the greenhouse when the curse showed glowing blue footprints. They were walking up the stairs, and Hera followed, with all her available court by her side. Nimbus and Armory were trying to find her daggers, and Core was still recovering. Everyone else was by her side. It was just a safety measure in case Kadhan had set up some traps or if he, somehow, was still alive and hiding there.

As she walked up the stairs, she saw a handprint on one of the skulls on the ceiling. Hera tried to reach it, but a sharp pain in her ribs stopped it.

'Empress, let me,' Lurize stepped forward and pressed the skull in question. Even if Hera was the one talking with the curse, her entire court could still see the things that it showed her.

Pressing the skull made a small part of the wall to the side shift, moving to the side and revealing another staircase heading down. She followed that path for around ten minutes before reaching a large laboratory. The cave where Hera and Kadhan worked was big, as big as the tree used as a town hall, but this was on a completely different scale. At a quick glance, she could imagine that this place was about half the size of the village. Hundreds of cauldrons were set up in lines, almost as if whoever made this was already going through the industrial revolution. Thousands of pots covered the sides of the room, and there were another dozen or so 'green caves' that were growing more ingredients. It was baffling to think that a single person was doing all of this. Luckily for her, nothing was still cooking, and all cauldrons were covered with lids.

Hera started exploring the area, with her court spreading out to cover more ground. She saw many more ingredients here than she saw outside, and a lot of them didn't seem to be useful for potions. She understood that most poisons could be used as medicine in the right dosage, but like all rules, that also had its exceptions. There were some poisons that were too powerful and couldn't be diluted safely. Others acted too quickly, or that would affect someone's mind in such an aggressive way that no one would accept it being part of a potion. Yet, some of the mushrooms and plants growing here seemed to do exactly that. After about one hour, Dao called the Empress over to show a discovery. Kadhan had another recipe room here, but instead of being about potions, this one was for poisons and buffs. Two things that wouldn't register on her [Medicinal Reference], but she could do something different. By asking her court to remember those recipes, Hera believed she could keep that information with her until they returned to the present. The main reason for doing so was the variety of poisons available there. Not just different ways of doing the same thing but the various effects each of them could have. Some would make people cough or itch, but others would have a psychedelic effect. A particularly nasty variation would cause the victim's blood to crystallize, turning their own blood vessels into thousands of needles that would pierce them from the inside. Another poison that caught her attention was an odd mixture of animal and plant poison which would result in a reaction like that of elephant toothpaste when the victim's blood got into contact with the air.

Looking at all that gave her some ideas about what she could do with her own weapons, and ever since getting the [Naga Poison] skill to rank 5, she realized her control over her poisons had grown significantly. However, there was no chance for her to study her options properly, and now, since everyone was resting and she couldn't move her body as she wanted, she might as well try to train something else. When they got everything they could, Hera and her court left the recipe cave and continued exploring. Somewhat close to that, there was a set of pots with odd names. As the Empress opened one of them, she was greeted by an army of ants trying to come out. Quickly closing the pot, she stepped back and slapped the ants away from her hands. She couldn't tell what was going on there, but the fact that there were several pots made her think about the story Alex told them of the curse's origin. Maybe there was some hint of truth to the story. Putting that aside, she continued her work.

For the next couple of days, there are no extra changes. Hera continued making some potions and exploring the hidden cave. All the while, the curse kept pestering her, offering ways to show that moment of boundless power. The Empress had to admit this malevolent force knew the buttons it had to push. Whenever it asked, Hera lost a little bit of her confidence about saying no. She knew this was just a fight of attrition, and she had to hope she wouldn't lose it. Or, if she did, that not only wouldn't be as bad as she imagined, but they would be able to get rid of the curse soon.