It took nearly an entire Journey- 50 days- for Venom to arrive in the Rolling Plains. The hardest part wasn't the trek to Follyhall- a port near the Pact headquarters. Nor the ship ride from there to Serpent's Wake- a port city in the Rolling Plains. But it was the walk from Serpent's Wake to The Grove itself.

That segment of the journey alone took him 20 days, and he was only just over half way there. He'd already passed the Drake-back Hills (ironically enough without encountering a single drake of any sort) and had just entered the Alderwood a few nights ago.

The Alderwood encompassed about a third of the landmass. At the southern edge of which lay The Grove, his destination. But even that was roughly a ten-day away.

The journey had taken slightly longer than he'd expected, forcing him to scavenge for parts of his food. However due to his experiences within the depths of the Wildes, that was hardly an issue.

Now, Venom was finally able to rest his legs after a day of walking. Unfortunately, rain had settled in on his section of forest, forcing him to take refuge in the mouth of a cave.

The cave wasn't awfully deep, though he hadn't bothered to explore it entirely. The cave went about 20 feet back before curving downward and to the side to ultimately meet a dead end except for a small hole that burrowed deep into the cavern from some creature Venom didn't know of.

Now, Venom stood by the cave's mouth, leaning against the stone wall and watching the rain fall. It had picked up as if a few hours ago, obscuring his vision of the woods beyond a few layers of trees.

Behind his feet was a pack full of miscellaneous adventuring equipment, though nothing that would turn an eye. All that was stored in his person in various secret compartments within his armor.

As he scanned the woods within the rainy haze, he finally spotted something. It was brief, but it made him perk up and take a step towards the opening of the cave.

A few seconds later, he saw another flash of movement; a blur of darkness fading from the shade of one tree to the other. As he watched, more shadows appeared. More blurs faded from one tree to the other.

They were getting closer.

Venom stepped back into the cave, obscuring himself in darkness. He kept his eyes on the figures as he grabbed his bow and quiver from the cave floor.

He reached into a satchel on his waist and uncorked a vial of a deep green liquid before pouring it into his quiver, coating the tips of the arrows in poison. He knocked an arrow as the figures approached the layer of trees just beyond the cave. But suddenly, they stopped.

Venom counter five figures. Two stood atop thick branches. One barely peaked around the edge of a tree. And one, stood in the open, hardly obscuring themselves other than the fog of the rain.

While all others wore black robes, the figure in the open wore a set of full plate armor. A large mace rested in their hand. A black cloak was draped over one of its pauldrons.

A few seconds of silence passed before the armored man took a step forward. At that moment Venom loosed the arrow from its string. The arrow flew directly into a gap in the figure's greaves.

However, rather than screaming in pain, or even flinching at the arrow in their leg, the figure shot forward. Another arrow pierced its shoulder, but the armored warrior didn't falter.

As the armored figure rushed into the darkness of the cave they swung their mace outward, only to strike nothing but the stone wall.

Venom had quickly ducked before the blunt weapon before stepping deeper into the cave and firing another arrow into the figure's neck.

Again, the figure didn't flinch but it didn't rush towards the archer either. In the darkness of the cave it was practically blind, only swinging its mace in wide arcs around it.

Venom pulled an arrow back to pierce the warriors armor again, only to get stuck in the shoulder by something. The assassin was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling to the ground as pain rocketed through his arm.

He quickly rolled onto his feet and tested the movement of his arm. Whatever hit him had definitely hurt, but it didn't seem to have broken bones nor torn any major tendons.

Venom knocked another arrow but, instead of aiming towards the armored figure he shot towards one of the cloaked figures within the trees. Specifically, one that still had their hand out from channeling a spell.

The arrow flew directly into the chest of the cloaked figure, causing them to topple backwards off of the branch they were standing atop.

Venom took another step into the depth of the cave as he released another arrow at an oncoming figure.

The rest of the group were now rushing into the mouth of the cave. The one dashing forward the quickest wielded a shortsword along with a black breastplate beneath its cloak. Two others behind them- including one with an arrow in its chest- held their hands out to channel spells around them.

The arrow pierced the air, aimed into the chest of the figure with the sword. However with a quick flourish of steel, the arrow was deflected by the weapon. The figure didn't even slow down.

Venom backed away again as a mace swing flew a few inches in front of his face. Finally, the space around him was dark enough that his eyes began to adapt. While most other creatures would be helpless in complete darkness, some species, like Venom's could adapt their sight in darkness to see in shades of grey.

Venom let loose one last arrow- not checking if it hit its mark- before ducking behind the turn of the cavern and began to steadily descend down the pathway.

A few seconds passed as the figures gathered within the mouth of the cave.

Venom produced another vial from a compartment in his armor as he overheard chatter he couldn't understand from around the corner. Their voices sounded like a strange mix between whispers and moist squelches.

Disregarding the strange language, Venom turned the corner as he reared back the vial in his hand to throw it into the group.

As he turned the corner, he threw the vial into the mass. However, the figures already had their heads turned.

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As the vial flew towards them, the swift one with the blade stepped forward and attempted to knock away the vial with their forearm. However, the vial cracked and burst into mist.

A moment later a spark formed within the mist. From a spark came fire, and from fire, an explosion that surrounded the group.

Venom felt the heat of the ball of fire warm his face before he backed away and knocked an arrow.

He didn't get to loose his arrow as the swordsman dashed through the fire and swung at Venom. The bow was knocked from his hands as the figure spun and planted a foot into Venom's chest.

He collided with the wall before pulling the dagger from his waist and deflecting another sword swing.

Venom kicked his combatant in the knee to knock them off balance before slamming his fist into their jaw. He expected to feel the thud of skin against his fist but instead he felt something tougher. The blow still caused the figure to stumble backwards a half-step, but whatever this thing was made of, it wasn't normal skin. Nonetheless, Venom didn't let up on his assault of the swordsman. He flipped his dagger into a reverse grip before impaling the swordsman in the shoulder.

The swordsman quickly pushed Venom's arms up to dislodge the dagger from his joint before swinging with his own blade.

As the swordsman pushed his arms up, Venom was one of the mages to the side finishing the preparations for a spell. Venom quickly redirected the swordsman's attack, stepped to the side while pushing the swordsman between him and the mage. The next second, a blast of force struck the swordsman's back.

Venom pushed the swordsman to the side again as he threw a knife at the mage. The small blade struck them between the eyes with a satisfying squelch.

Venom suddenly felt a pommel slam into the side of his head. He stumbled before taking a step back to dodge the swing of a blade. He deflected a second swing and sidestepped a third. He was about to swing with his dagger when something grasped his cloak and slammed him against the cave wall.

Venom quickly flipped upright just in time to dodge the head of a mace as it cracked the stone floor beneath him.

Venom took a few extra steps back as he looked at his two final opponents: the large figure in the armor- who now has the glowing image of a red eyes on their helm- and the swordsman. At Venom's back was the exit to the cave and the haze of rainfall.

Venom glanced to the three arrows sticking from gaps in the large figure's armor. One in the shoulder, one in the leg, and one in its neck. Despite its injuries they hadn't gone down. The only thing that kept it from being the most dangerous of the two was its speed. While the armored figure wasn't absurdly slow, it was a snail compared to the swordsman.

Venom, like many others in his occupation, needed to be quick to do their jobs well. Despite that, the swordsman nearly matched it not exceeded him in speed.

Venom began stepping back as the two figures approached. As he moved, he exited the darkness of the cave and entered the rain.

The swordsman was the first to follow as they dashed into the haze. They dodged a throwing knife before having their sword swing deflected. The swordsman swung again but their opponent deflected their blade again and suddenly ran at them.

Venom jumped to step off the swordsman's shoulder before jumping again and grabbing hold of a thick branch on the tree before him. Venom used his forward momentum to quickly flip up atop the branch.

Venom leapt from branch to branch before turning his gaze to the swordsman.

The swordsman had shot forward and began practically running up the trunk of the tree Venom was standing on.

The assassin readied a throwing knife, but the swordsman leapt at him before he could release it.

Venom jumped from the branch he stood on to another before throwing his knife. The swordsman deflected the knife, only to reel on pain as a second trailed behind the first and struck the center of its chest.

The swordsman stumbled back only to lose their footing on the branch. However they didn't get to feel the sensation of the fall before another knife struck their skull.

A few seconds passed as Venom caught his breath. He watched as the swordsman's body fell limp and tumbled onto the wet grass below.

Then something grabbed Venom's leg.

Before he could register the pain in his shin from the grip strength before he was violently pulled downward and slammed with a horrid crack onto the ground.

He looked to what had grabbed him only to see the metal hand of the armored man clasped around his ankle.

The armored figure kept hold of his leg as he swung the assassin. First into the trunk of a tree, then back into the ground. Finally, he threw Venom across the woods before he finally slammed into another tree.

Venom heaved for air as he pried himself from the ground. He tightened the grip on his dagger as he looked up at the armored man as he approached. A bolt of pain shot through his body with every breath he took.

The figure raised its mace above its head as it approached Venom. That is when the assassin acted. As the figure swung down, Venom shot towards the helm of the figure in a blur.

His dagger flew through the slit in the helm, imbedding deep into the figures face. Venom repositioned his hands on his dagger to pull it upwards and forwards.

As Venom flew passed his opponent, their helm was town from them, now no more then two torn pieces of metal as it fell to the armored man's feet.

Venom skidded to a halt, ready to see the monster of a man fall. But then he looked at his curved dagger. Where crimson lifeblood should have been, there was nothing but a strange black sludge. Venom looked to the armor in front of him. Before him was no man, but a writhing mass of black tentacles in the vague shape of a head. Several of the tentacles had been dismembered from Venom's blade, but it hardly seemed to matter as the armor turned towards the assassin.

With its true form revealed, the tentacles began to expanded. The gaps in the armor began to overflow with the black abomination as the armor began to contort in inhuman ways. Its two arms twisted and folded down as the suit of armor doubled over and stretched out of all fours. A large clump of writhing tentacles now vaguely resembling a humanoid figure sprouted from the back plating of the suit.

"What the fuck is that?" Venom mumbled to himself as the amalgamation waved its 'arm'. The tentacles that made of the limp elongated, forcing Venom to duck below the swing. He cut across the underside of the writhing mass as it sailed over him, spraying black liquid onto the grass.

Venom dashed forward, dodging another swipe of tentacles. When a third came he held his ground but still leaned to the side to let the writhing mass pass him by. He held out the side of his curved blade and let the momentum of the tentacles cause the blades edge to slice down the tendrils. The abomination let out a shrill cry through the rain as it retracted its oozing limb.

Venom dodged and cut another tendrils as it lashed at him before leaping over another. He threw a knife at the creature's torso but it was knocked away by a flailing tentacle. Finally, he ran forward again and leapt to the trunk of a tree before kicking off of it and plunging down towards the creature. He held his dagger above his head, ready to impale the thing before him. However a tendril struck his side, sending him hurdling towards the ground once more.

Venom tucked and rolled with the force to land upright as his momentum slide him several feet across the moist grass. He was about to dash forward again when he spotted something on the ground a few feet away: the shortsword the swordsman had been wielding.

He quickly dodged to the side as a tendril whipped across the air before flicking the sword into his hands with his foot.

Another tendril shot towards him. He quickly stepped to the side and swiped up with his sword, cutting the tendril as thick as his arm in two.

Venom rushed forward again, cutting off two other tendrils as they shot towards him. He leapt over a third and deflected a fourth as he landed directly before the creature.

Venom cut across the gap in the armor at its elbow. A spray of black ooze burst from the joint as the arm collapsed. Venom quickly jammed his dagger into the shoulder of the armor before leaping on it and jumping above the humanoid mass of tentacles. Venom landed behind the mass atop the armor before carving an X into its 'back'.

The mass screeched again as its body began to expand, pushing off the pieces of limp tentacles. A second later Venom cleaved through another layer of tendrils as the form tried to expel the limp limbs.

With every layer of tendrils that were shrugged off, more took its place as Venom cleaved off more and more. Finally, one last slash caused the tendrils to fall limp as a dull red glow emitted from the center of the tendrils.

After a few seconds of silence, Venom cut into the tendrils to finally pull the source of the glow: a red eye. As he gripped it, the red sclera pulsed and a thin black slit that made up its iris turned to stare at him.

The eye began to glow. Whispers began to echo in the back of his mind... then he crushed it in his hands, and the feeling went away. The tendrils, as well as the armor, fell limp.

Finally, Venom took a breath, taking in the chill air. "Now I need to find my knives."