When you aren't actively causing problems, or investigating them, and just trying to get somewhere, travel goes remarkably smoothly. Kylie thought back to their journey so far; a remarkably short one, considering how much had happened.. how long they'd spent at Rockdale, Valdale... when she saw 'Riverton' on the sign ahead, the fact that it didn't have 'Dale' at the end was a blessing. They were still within the north reach; but out of the Dales. Hopefully that meant no more fungus monsters, since they no longer had an overpowering devil with them to sort things out.

She glanced at Derek, walking alongside her horse, stretching his legs. His endurance was so much better than it had been it was remarkable; amusingly enough still not as great as her own; he had to stop to rest more often; but he could pick her up, armor and all, and carry her on his shoulders like it was nothing. Something that felt amazing, though she was concerned about what it meant for his future as a wizard.

Divine magic was a focus of heart, body, and soul, not the mind; priests were always stronger and tougher than a wizard who could use a similar spell. And now... she could use third-circle spells. And he couldn't. Well, not really. He kept trying, but so far all he'd managed were lightning bolts. Which, to be fair, seemed to be a lightning bolt equivalent to a third-circle spell.

When Derek slowed to a stop, and waved at the others, she reined in the horse to stop beside him. "Wait. I know we were just going to ignore the bounties with Praxius gone and head straight for Terra's mom... definitely not hunting elves. But isn't this the farm that some ogre took over?"

Kylie looked up. Branwen farm? She checked the sign, and the bounty notice. That... appeared to be it. A huge open, clear space next to the road, a farmhouse with a missing door, a good-sized herd of cattle... "Sure. Were you wanting to take care of it?" She glanced back at the carriage. Terra was actually sitting beside Parkins today, talking to him about how 'Ladies' were supposed to behave.

"Well. I was hoping to see if I could actually handle fighting something with a weapon, instead of magic. And if its just an ogre, any one of us should be able to handle it on our own, right? so ya'll can help me if I get in over my head?"

She stared at Derek for a few seconds. "...You realize that, even if you're as strong as an ogre now, you haven't really trained in using... any weapons. Like... any at all. I'm half tempted to say yes just so I can watch him knock you around like the idiot you're being right now."

She could hear a soft chuckle from Terra. "Well. Might as well take care of the ogre, help the poor farmers out. And... remember that flail grampa gave you? It helps you hit what you're aiming for, and we've still got it in the carriage. Nobody's using it now that you're using that paladin's sword thing."

"The Holy Slayer."

"Right. The paladin sword."

Kylie shook her head, and looked back at Derek. "Fine. One last fight before we get her home. Go get the flail, and we'll do this together, so I can heal you if you screw this up. Just don't try to fight him inside the farmhouse, flails need a bit of space to work with."

Terra chuckled, and hopped down from the carriage to the dirt. "I'd kinda like to see this. And I just learned to make a proper fireball; I'd love an excuse to actually use one, if he flubs it."

***

When Derek called out, standing on the front porch of the farmhouse, he could hear movement inside. He stepped back, gripping the flail with one hand; it felt so light in his hand, as if it were made of feathers rather than heavy infernal steel... and then see it. Hideous. Over seven feet tall. Massive hands, a shirt made out of several human garments; dresses and overalls; all attached to one another... and... a plow? A massive heavy iron spike in one hand that clearly wasn't meant to be used as a weapon.

The ogre grunted when he saw them, and pointed out, away from the farm. "My farm! Mine! My cows! You go!"

He'd never seen an ogre before. And yet, he was reasonably certain this was particularly odd for an ogre. And he certainly didn't feel dangerous; he felt about level four, as strong as one of the rangers.. who were now the two weakest members of their little group. And now... he was the strongest. He smiled.

"Alright, lets do this!" He thought perhaps he should do some sort of battle cry... but didn't know any good ones, really.. as he hefted the flail, and swung with all of his newfound might... and the chain tangled around one of the support posts for the farm's porch, the ball smacking into it, wrapping around it tightly... and thanks to the force of his swing, sending Derek flying through the air, to smack face-first into a nearby stump, leaving the flail hanging around the support post.

The girls were laughing. The ogre staring at him in confusion. And when Terra started to cast a spell, Kylie held up a hand. "Hold up. This is someone's house. If we can avoid burning it down..."

By the time Derek was back on his feet and aware of his surroundings, the Ogre was dead, lying on the porch, and Kylie was cleaning blood from her sword. He grumbled, rubbing his sore face, as he walked up to the flail where it was stuck against the support post... and gave a firm yank.

The support post shattered and cracked, the flail popped free, and as Derek flopped backwards, slammed into the stump he'd just struck... as part of the porch collapsed onto the dead ogre, narrowly missing Kylie.

He stared at the damage he'd caused, at the flail stuck in the stump... and sighed. "...Okay. Yeah, I need to learn how to use one of these before I try that again. Can we not mention this, going forward?"

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As Kylie looked him over, she grinned. "I think the black eye will do all the mentioning that needs to be done. Unless we're telling stories at a tavern. In which case, its gonna be the first one we tell."

He groaned, and walked back to the carriage, dragging the flail. His head was killing him. "I don't suppose a healing spell would be in order?"

"Oh, no. We might run into something more serious, and need everything we've got. If we camp for the night and it still hurts, I'll handle it for you then, okay?"

Derek shook his head. "...Fine. Fine." He was never going to live this down. Hopefully Kylie could show him how to use this thing properly. Or whatever weapon he went with. It would not be good at all to have that happen during a serious fight.

***

When Terra came over the last hill a few days later, she was looking for the old hand-carved wooden sign for her home-town; Harmon's Rest. When she'd left, she'd walked by it for what she'd worried might be the last time... and when she'd been arrested up in the Empire, she'd assumed that was the case. She'd be seeing her mother again... today... and have to explain everything. Why she had vassals. Why the town's name was changing. The new borders. Everything.

She wondered, for a moment, whether her mother might refuse to take over. If so... Terra herself would be stuck here. could hear the horses walking behind her, the carriage creaking... and when she reached the sign, she touched it. Her mother had shaped this sign, probably using the same sort of magic the ranger had used, and then her father had carved it, before she was born. Would she be replacing it with one that said 'Xius'? Lady Terraxius, ruler of Xius? Ugh. Would she be calling her mother Lady Karaxius? Or would she want to use the name of one of the various men in her life?

She took a left at the crossroads; avoiding the heart of the village. Her mother's home... it was a quaint cottage when Terra was born, but she'd expanded it twice after her younger siblings were born and was now a strange monstrosity of wooden towers added onto a tone structure.. came into view up ahead. And there she was. Kara Xius, daughter of the devil, wearing the familiar red-black robes, arms crossed, glowering at Terra as the party approached.

Terra gave a brief bow when she stopped. "Mother."

The two rangers both dropped to their knees. "Lady Xius."

The other stayed back at the carriage, not sure what to do, as her mother surveyed the group... and then turned back to Terra. "..Where is he? Your grandfather promised me he'd bring you back. I was going to introduce him to your father, and the twins father, and... cook him dinner... and..." She frowned. "What did you do? The short version."

Terra sighed. "Well. A boy tried to rape me. I tried to burn him alive. He was executed for a bunch of other rapes. I went to prison for burning down his house. Grandpa agreed to help them get stronger to get me out." She pointed at the carriage. "We went on adventures. Became friends. Saved hundreds of people. Likely killed just as many. The Xius family was elevated to nobility. Grandpa had to go to the pit to save the boy with the blue scales everywhere. And... got stuck on the other side. Now I'm Lady Xius, some rangers are coming to swear fealty to us and establish a ranger.. school? Hideout? Something. And... uhh... I was wondering if you could take over as like... Regent or something so I can keep adventuring with my friends?"

Her mother nodded along at first. Most of the way through, she started to get angry. By the end, her fists were glowing, the trees nearby seemed to be shuddering, and she gritted her teeth. "...You. You. Prison, I can excuse. Especially for such a thing as that. But losing your grandfather, and getting us elevated to nobility!? How dare you!? Your grandmother told them to go to the pits with that when they offered it before I was born, we've kept the crown out of our affairs ever since, and you just casually accept it and get a pack of rangers sent out?"

Terra blinked. "Well. Why wouldn't I? Whats wrong with that?"

"....By the goddess. I knew I should've told you before you left. Of course you were going to follow your grandfather's footsteps instead of mine. Ugh. Well. No help for it now. We'll talk about it after lunch. I've been expecting you since this morning, so I've got enough for everyone. We can discuss the things they're allowed to know over a meal."

***

As they all settled around the table; three younger children, and a teenage boy who looked quite a bit like Terra helping her and her mother to set the table; the rangers seemed taken aback.. Kylie glanced at them as she settled in; the very idea of their liege serving them food was... well. She was a powerful magic-user, and exceedingly dangerous. Even if she wasn't their liege, having her serving them was just bizarre.

Kylie coughed. "Lady Xius. If I may, much of that wasn't Terra's fault. The prison bit was all on my brother, of course, may the goddess damn his soul, and My boyfriend had an experiment that made him... like this... and it would've killed him if your father hadn't intervened. I... actually had to free your granddaughter from her parole agreement, and offer either any favor the Eastwatch family could provide, or my soul, to get him to do it."

As the food was laid out, and everyone settled in; it was apparently some sort of bird, but a larger one than anything Kylie had ever seen, Kara gestured at Terra with her fork. "Perhaps. I've told her before that if she needs to kill someone, do it quietly and without witnesses. I made sure she knew a spell to obscure vision before she left, though she went a bit overboard with that. And... I suppose that could be useful. A few Imperials might be able to help get around this problem she inadvertently created. How did you get elevated?"

She was glowering angrily while chewing, and Kylie was a bit impressed, as Terra looked up from her own food. "Well mom.... there was a whole thing. Fungus-monsters, actually, we met them multiple times. The first time, infecting dead things. The second, they were turning people into puppets. It was long and complicated, but... we purged the fungus, saved most of the people it was controlling, and the local Lord basically made it sound like we saved the whole barrony or even the kingdom from being overrun... though I doubt thats true. There's agents of the Baron headed over to help clean things up... we have reason to think there's more of that sort of nonsense going on."

Her mother stopped in mid-bite... and set her fork down. "...Fungus monsters."

Kylie nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The first one took over corpses and used them, then the one in Rockdale was sneaky; had people drink it, and then made them do what it wanted. Had a central brain-thing hidden in a vat of ale. Or, well. What they pretended was ale. Your daughter blew the whole thing up, saved us all... though your father was also instrumental in getting it all done. When they heard the name, they commented on his history, your history, how you were already keeping the town safe... basically implied that your family should've been elevated a while back."

Kara sighed, shaking her head. "Well. That's all well and good. We'll have to figure out how to deal with it. If you're soul-sworn to the family, I suppose I can tell you about it, but otherwise, this will just be between me and Terra. After lunch, we can talk about it privately, but.... I think I know where those fungus things are from."