The party was making good time and the trip through the forest was a bit surreal to Arden. This was the third time they’d gone through these woods, and each time had felt so different. The first was just over a month ago when they arrived in this world. They were all excited and the reality of being in a new world hadn’t set in yet. The second was a week ago, to go hunting. They were all nervous and hiding it with confidence. And now they were heading back to Wildemill having slain a party of over thirty goblins in one go. Arden was not even considering that there could be danger in the area. Which he soon realized was a mistake.

"Honestly, I’m kinda sad there wasn’t more goblins. Once I turned into the grizzly bear they were so easy to beat," complained Willow.

"Really?" Arden asked. "You want to complain that it was too easy?”

Hazel shook her head, “One minute she’s complaining about hurting other sapient beings and the next she’s complaining that she didn’t get to kill enough of them.”

"I'm just saying I was bit let down because I didn't get to fight mor…" Willow's last word hit a high note as a tan and black shape lunged from an overhead tree branch, tackling Willow and pinning her to the ground. Arden rushed toward what he now saw was some type of cat. At first he thought it was a jaguar that was standing on Willow’s chest. But has he rushed toward it he saw that it had six legs and a slight shimmer to it that was making it hard to focus on. Then he noticed the cat was just staring into Willow’s eyes. Neither the weird jaguar nor Willow was moving.

Failing to read the situation, Hazel laughed, "That's what you get for complaining."

A howl was heard from Arlo, who was scouting ahead. His howl was answered by various roars many times over.

“Dad…” Hazel said in an urgent but quiet tone, finally realizing this was serious.

Arden looked at his daughter and saw she was looking to the side. He slowly turned and saw that they were surrounded by animals. Jaguars, wolves, bears, and more. Everywhere he looked was a predator watching them.

“No sudden movements, folks.” Nolan cautioned, “This is not normal. Who’s causing it and why?”

“Aservia,” Willow whispered

“Your goddess?” Hazel asked. “Did you upset her?”

“I didn’t think so.” Willow answered, “But we’re supposed to follow this wampus cat.”

Arden looked at what was evidently a wampus cat, “Fine, we’ll follow. Now get off my daughter.”

The cat lifted a paw and studied it for a moment as if it had no cares in the world.

“Please,” Arden added through gritted teeth.

The jaguar stepped off of Willow and led the group through the circle of animals in a more easterly direction. Everyone followed, but the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. A few minutes into following the leader, Arlo rejoined the group, seemingly in good health but obviously frustrated.

After nearly an hour of walking, the cat led them into a clearing. The group realized it was the clearing they first appeared in when they came into this world. In the middle of the clearing stood a large blond wolf with the last rays of the setting sun highlighting its fur. Seeing the wolf, Arlo let out a bark and charged forward, past their guide cat. Seeing Arlo coming, the tan wolf started running toward the edge of the clearing, and just as it looked like the two wolves were about to collide, the new wolf cut to the left. The next few moments were full of the new wolf juking and jiving away from Arlo, and it took the group a bit to realize they were playing.

Suddenly there was a flash of light back in the middle of the clearing, and a beautiful feminine figure stood there with light radiating softly from her. Both wolves immediately stopped playing, ran to her and laid at her feet. Then the group saw Willow kneeling before this woman, shocked because they hadn’t even noticed her walking over.

“Betting that’s her goddess. Should we kneel?” Arden asked.

“Will our gods get mad?” Hazel asked.

“Never hurts to be polite,” Nolan said as he walked up to where Willow was and knelt beside her. The rest of the group followed, including the wampus cat. All showed reverence to the goddess.

With a smile on her face, the goddess looked down at the group, “It’s rare that I get to do something for no reason other than simple joy. Most things people ask for wouldn’t actually make them happy. And most everything else I do is just work. But every now and then, something like this comes along. While you were hunting goblins, I overheard a story that Ewan was sharing about his dog Twix. Along with the joy of the story, there was also a hint of sadness. He missed Twix. Since Viznen is Jonthan’s patron deity, I ran my idea by him first. He agreed, so I brought Twix here.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“I did this to bring happiness to a young child. I didn’t realize how much joy it would bring to Arlo as well.” Aservia knelt down and petted both wolves before looking back to the group. “As Arlo is Willow’s companion, Twix will be Ewan’s. She will be there to protect him when the rest of you can’t be.” Turning to face Willow directly, “I am pleased by your work to grow food for the village of Wildemill. And your efforts to learn more about the plants around you also bring me joy. Most don’t realize how powerful simple plants can be. Continue to grow, and you will reap many rewards.” As she finished speaking, a golden glow appeared around Willow for just a moment. Aservia looked back to the group, “Tougher fights are coming. Take care and continue to grow.”

In the space between the start and end of a blink, the goddess was gone. Everyone stood in silent awe of the divine being that had just left for several moments before Nolan spoke up.

“There’s no way we’re making it back to the village before nightfall. I think we should camp here.”

“Wait up, I wanna know what that glow was. Willow did you get some sort of blessing or something?” asked Hazel.

“My [Herbal Lore] class ability just went up by five points!”

Everyone spent the next few minutes congratulating Willow and talking about how they had met a god ‘in the flesh’, so to speak. Eventually Nolan brought the discussion back around to camping in the clearing.

“A bit exposed, don’t you think?” Arden asked.

“Easier to see anyone coming, though,” Hazel added.

Willow noticed that the wampus cat from earlier was still with them and walked over to it. “Will you and the others keep a watch while we sleep here tonight?”

The cat nodded before turning and trotting back to the tree line. Looking at the group Willow said, “We’re good. They’ll keep an eye out.”

Arden shrugged, “Works for me. Let’s set up camp.”

Setting camp consisted of just unrolling bedrolls and setting up a makeshift fire pit. Hazel supplied a bit of magic to get the campfire going. Nolan started on dinner. The party gathered around, and Arden got out his sending stones. He tossed one to Hazel and one to Willow. “Here, y’all update the others.”

"What are you going to do?" Willow asked

"I'm going to play with Twix and Arlo for a bit and try to relax. The last few days were stressful. I need some fun."

⚷

The night went without interruption, and Hazel had the party up and fed before the sun broke the horizon.

"Why did you wake us up so early?" Willow complained while rolling her bedroll.

"The sooner we get moving, the sooner I can see my son," Hazel said as if the answer was obvious.

"It won't take long to get there. Last time we didn't know where we were going, and we were being cautious. We should be able to move much faster this time," Nolan responded.

As they were leaving the clearing Arden asked, "I assume everyone got two levels on this trip? We didn't talk about it before leaving the goblins. Has everyone assigned their stats? Any new skills or spells worth sharing?"

“I got a new spell!” Willow said excitedly. “Thorn whip. It allows me to conjure a whip that’s made of a vine with thorns on it. It says it can be used for attacks or to restrain someone.”

“That’s good. You’ve been needing something that could help you with single opponents,” observed Nolan. “Hazel, what about you?”

“Elemental affinity. It’s an ability that says I’ll get an affinity for any magic skill that is at least level ten. The affinity then lowers the mana cost for spells related to that element and grants me a ten percent resistance to that element.”

“Wow,” replied Arden. “That could be a huge help. Especially if you level the ability itself.” Looking to Nolan, “I got another spell. This one is called [Unyielding Duty]. Says it ‘bestows upon a target the resolve needed to perform a difficult task, granting temporary resistance to fatigue, fear, or any demoralization effects.’ Seems kinda similar to my [Divine Aura] ability in a way.”

Nolan nodded, “I’m sure that as you use them you’ll find some differences. I picked up an ability that will let me deflect arrows. I’m betting that if I can level it up, I’ll eventually be able to catch them, too.

“Dude, that’ll be awesome.” Arden replied.

The party continued moving and chatting along the way and were able to make it back to the village by midday. Hazel, Willow, and both wolves headed to Oringo’s and Malusi’s home to pick up Ewan. They were super excited to let Ewan know that Twix was there. Nolan and Arden headed to the mayor’s office/house.

Upon arriving the mayor greeted the two but looked confused, “I’m sorry gentlemen, did we have an appointment today that I’ve forgotten about? If so I’m afraid I’ll need to reschedule. We’re trying to get the last of the preparations done for tomorrow’s Verdance Day celebration.”

“No mayor,” Nolan answered, “we didn’t have a meeting planned for today, but we just returned from our hunting trip with some news we believe you’re going to want to hear. If you can give us couple minutes we’ll give you the brief version and you can decide how important it is.”

Looking weary and worried the mayor motioned for them to continue. Nolan turned to Arden to pick up the story. Arden just shrugged and said a matter of fact tone, “Captured a hobgoblin and interrogated him. He says a new chief, another hobgoblin, took over the goblin tribe about six months ago. If I’m not mistaken that’s about the same time Wildemill started having issues with them? Also, most of the goblins with him were carrying shovels. When asked what they were digging he lied and said that they looking for a dungeon.”

The mayor was nodding when hearing about a new chief but when Arden said dungeon her eyes went wide. “Are you certain it was a lie?”

“Yes ma’am.” replied Arden.

The mayor was quiet for a few minutes before looking back at the two men, “We’ve not covered dungeons in our lessons and I’m sure you both have a lot of questions about them. I can see, and smell, that you just returned from your hunt. Please, go back to the inn and get some food. Relax as best you can. Christi and I will be by later this evening to get a full debriefing and to do some teaching.”