In the inner walls of a half-constructed fortress of wood, a group of elite bandits, Targesh’s lieutenants, talk amongst themselves.

“It’s gotten quiet out there,” A tall elf in dark robes says.

“Yeah, too quiet,” A half-drunk Dwarf replies.

“That’s never good. You don’t think Targesh finally lost it and killed everyone?” A tall, scarred man says.

“That’s not funny, don’t even joke about a thing like that, Aaron,” A young dark-haired woman barks.

“Sorry, you're right, but it’s weird you normally hear those idiots drinking, laughing or fighting. But I don’t hear a thing,” Aaron says.

“I suppose we better check it out before Targesh does, for all our sakes,” The tall elf says.

“Yeah, you're right. Just give me a second to finish my drink,” The Dwarf says.

“Just bring it with you, Bracker,” The Dark haired woman says.

“It’s like a ghost town out here. Where is everyone?” Bracker says as the group walked through the outer portions of the fort.

“Oi, is anyone here?” The Elf calls out.

“I’m here,” A shy voice comes out from inside a crate.

“Show yourself now or perish,” The dark-haired woman says.

Clumsily climbing out of the box, a young girl holding two daggers stands up, shaking out of fear.

“Stop shaking, girl. We’re not going to kill you,” Aaron says.

“It’s not you,” the young girl says.

“Oh? intriguing, but first, where is everyone?” The Dark haired woman asks.

The young girl just points towards the gate.

“Did they flee?” The elf asks.

“No… There was laughing and screaming, strange lights and everyone kept going. I was too scared, so I hid.” The young girl says.

“What, all of them! Well, the way Targesh trained them, I’m not that surprised, do or die is his motto,” Bracker says aghast.

Sighing, The dark-haired woman responded, “And that’s why we have to go, and you said it wrong. Its do, or I’ll kill you,”

“Come girl, you’re coming with us,” The elf says

“But the screams,” The girl says.

“Don’t worry, the difference between those idiots and us is we were adventurers. Aaron says with a smile.

“I’m Ceilia, by the way,” The tall elf says, “and this is Bracker, Aaron, and Delilah,”

“E...Er...Erika, ma’am,” Stuttered out the young girl as a way of introduction.

“A...Ar...Are you sure we have to go out there?” Erika asks

“Don’t ya’ go being worried ‘bout it, girly. We can handle anything in this here forest. We’ve even cleared a dungeon!” Bracker stated boastfully

“Don’t go telling that load of horse-crock now. You know damn well the only reason we got out alive was Targesh,” Chided Delilah in a harsh whisper.

“This is going rather well, isn't it?” Delphi asks.

“Yeah, I don’t understand these creatures,” Hooknose says.

“How so?” Swaggle asks.

“Just look around. There are bodies everywhere. Sure, it’s dark and foggy, but you can still make out the carnage, and there’s no way they don’t hear the screams, but they still come. It makes no sense,” Hooknose ponders.

“You make good points. Maybe they are just really dumb,” Bobbi points out.

“Of that, I am sure of, but I can’t help but feel like they are more afraid of what’s inside the fort than us,” Hooknose says.

“Don’t be silly now. Let’s take up positions,” Delphi says.

“Hey N.A.V.I., you’re with me this time. And dim yourself to hide,” Swaggle says.

“Right,” N.A.V.I. says, lost in thought.

“Here they come,” Hooknose whispers.

“I think I heard someone whisper up ahead,” Ceilia says.

Hearing this, Aaron and Hooknose both draw their blades quietly.

“Point guard formation, everyone. Protect our healer,” Delilah says, loosening her whip.

“Yeah, I’ll keep ya’ all nice and tidy,” Bracker says.

Raising her staff, Ceila cast [Wind Barrier]. “There, that will take care of nasty arrows, spells not so much,”

“Will you look at all those bodies? They went in like lambs to slaughter, no preparation at all,” Aaron says.

“That’s the difference between them and us. Now we go,” Delilah says, leading the way.

As the four flesh-bags reached the clearing, N.A.V.I. knew something was different about them. Without hesitation, she charged in and flew above them and glowed the brightest she had ever done to give her friends a chance to actually get close.

As the bright light emitted from N.A.V.I. Hooknose and Delphi came charging, being blinded by the light, Delphi unleashes a {Staggering fist,} missing the initial target and landing on a scared young girl's head, silencing her forever. Hooknose tries to unleash a {shield bash} but meets powerful resistance. With no way to see their targets, Swaggle and Bobbi shield their eyes from the blinding light. As the light dims, pure malice and hatred ooze from their targets as they take in the sight of the young dead girl.

Monsters, you will pay for this. Delilah says in a fury. She cracks her whip and wraps it around Delphi’s left arm, and pulls tight to hold it in place. Ceilia Raises her Staff again and fires a [Wind dart] at Delphi’s left arm, cracking it slightly, to Delphi’s surprise. Aaron grips his long sword with both hands and raises it over his head and begins to glow a slight red as he activates {Bulk up} upon his downward swing against Hooknoses shield. Hooknoses sinks an inch and a half into the ground from the sheer force. Bracker raises a talisman and begins chanting [Heinstiach], and a soft white glow envelopes the area.

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“Swaggle, Bobbi, don’t hold back,” Hooknose yells. A mad mixture of laughing and cackling can be heard as a [Flamebolt] is hurled at Ceilia, and a [Ruin] is cast on Delilah's right shoulder.

N.A.V.I. was right to think these guys were more powerful, the great mother will understand. If not, my friends are more important. N.A.V.I. begins a dive bomb and swoops into the chanting Bracker's mouth and stops in his throat, causing him to begin choking. Seeing his comrade down gasping for air Aaron relents on the pressure against Hooknose becoming distracted and leaving an opening. Lowering himself Hooknose uses his {Shield bash} on Aaron’s right knee, breaking it and causing Aaron to lose his balance and go on the defensive. Delphi grabs the whip and begins pulling Delilah towards them. Easily overpowering her, Delilah lets go of her whip and draws a long curved knife. Celila clutches her burns and fires a [wind dart] blindly into the woods hoping to hit the mystery targets. Taking inspiration from N.A.V.I. Bobbi casts [Natures mend] on Ceilila encasing her head in stone causing her to begin suffocating. Swaggle changes targets and fires another [fire bolt], this time at Delilialas back, causing her to scream in pain. Delphi seeing this takes advantage of this and charges in and begins swinging wildly at her. Parrying the Defensive blows, Hooknoses raises his shield to give him an opening to bring his blade into Aaron’s stomach. With Delphi’s last blow, the group falls.

“We did it,” Swaggle yells exititedly.

“Yes, we did,” Delphi agrees clacking approvingly.

“These adventurers were much tougher than the other ones,” Hooknose says.

“Agreed,” Bobbi says while nodding and walking towards the corpses.

“So we killed them. What does that matter? Swaggle asks.

“It matters because if we fought them at home in the dungeon we wouldn’t be together and would have been taken out easily,” Hooknose replies.

“This must be the creator’s wisdom of fighting them out here,” Bobbi says.

“Agreed his foresight is amazing. Hey wait a minute, where’s N.A.V.I.?” Delphi says.

“I’m here,” N.A.V.I. says, flying out of the dead dwarf’s mouth. “And I have not been destroyed by the Great Mother for killing a flesh-bag. Which raises many questions. Can we kill them or am I special like, her personal assassin, or am I now a heretic? Honestly I won’t know without experimenting some more,”

“How are you going to experiment?” Swaggle asks curiously.

“Kill more flesh-bags till the great mother tells me the answer obviously,” N.A.V.I. says with excitement.

“Well okay, let's loot this lot, go inside and kill the rest. I’m pretty sure with how many we killed and how their numbers thinned out, and the strong ones came out there can’t be to many left if any at all,”Delphi says.

“Don’t forget the big one,” Bobbi says.

“Right him maybe we get lucky and he will be asleep and we can just all gather around him and stab him to death,” Delphi says.

“I’m glad I found some oil on those corpses. I have a fealing our leader just took a big thlump on our luck,” Bobbi says.

“Right, put the stuff on the cart and let’s go,” Hooknose says taking the lead.

“Alright everyone, stealth mode,” Delphi says.

“Stealth, how do you propose we do that? It's a clearing up ahead between us and that door,” Bobbi says.

“I have an idea,” Swaggle says.

“Oh this is gonna be good,” Hooknose chides.

“Well let's hear it,” Delphi says.

“Well the problem is there’s no bushes between us and them right,” Swaggle says.

“Yes,” Delphi says.

“I think I see where he is going with this and it’s utterly stupid,” Hooknose says.

“Hang on, let him finish before we decide,” Delphi says.

“Thank you. Anyways we just cut up some bushes and crawl on the ground real slow and if they look at us we stop. They will never suspect a shrubbery,” Swaggle says.

“Are you fracking with us right now, Swaggle that is so idiotic that I don’t even know why you wasted our time saying it,” Delphi says.

“Simple you said it was empty and we are worried about an unguarded open gate so yes I am fracking with you right now,” Swaggle replies.

“As N.A.V.I. begins to laugh uncontrollably, the others look at Swaggle slack-jawed, unable to give a reply. Without any words the group just walked in silence inside the fort.

“Well this place is pretty empty,” N.A.V.I. says.

“It’s got to have lots of loot,” Swaggle says, rubbing his hands together and facing the group.

“Where do you think the big guy is?” Delphi asks.

“Pretty much right behind you eyeing us how N.A.V.I. looks at bunnies now,” Hooknose says.

“Ah thlump,” Delphi curses.

“I knew it, you jinxed us,” Bobbi says while trying to get in an advantages battle position.

“Monsters in my fort, my men better have died because if they ran off I will hunt them down after I kill you lot,” Targesh says while walking slowly towards the intruders.

“Alright everyone attack,” Delphi yells.

Hooknose charges in and raises his shield to keep the giant of a man at bay while swinging at his legs drawing blood but Targesh just ignores the wound treating it like a scratch. Delphi moves to Targesh’s left side and takes {Brawler’s Stance} and swings a punch for Targesh’s unprotected ribs landing solid hit but feeling as if it only hit muscle and causing Targesh to laugh. Bobbi launches a [Natures Mend] covering Targesh’s face only to have him raise a fist and smash all the stone off his face in annoyance leaving Bobbi slightly shocked. Swaggle casts [Flame bolt] only to have it batted away by the Giant man’s sword. “Ha ha haha ha” Targesh begins laughing. “I must thank you monsters if this is all it took to kill my men then they were much too weak. For compensation I will fight you for real, prepare yourselves,” Targesh begins glowing red and shouts {Bulk up} then lets out a frightening howl {Rage} Gripping his Bastard Sword with two hands and bringing it down on Hooknose. As the blow came down on his shield and shattered it, Hooknose rolled to his side, arm broken, unable to dodge the whole thing causing him to be thrown several painful feet back.

Delphi takes a look at his comrades and steps in front of Targesh using {Staggering Fist} on Targesh’s chest stunning him for the briefest of moments while his comrades gather muster. As Targesh gain’s his composer, seething rage swells through him and he brings the pommel of his sword down on Delphi’s skull crushing it.

“Only I am allowed to do that,” Bobbi yells. “He burns for this,” She continues, bringing out the oil from her satchel. Not fearing death Hooknose gets up and charges, sliding on the ground and stabbing his blade into Targesh’s groin. N.A.V.I. flies in yelling a blood curdling incoherent battle cry glowing bright red and trying to blind Targesh while Bobbi throws a vial of oil on him as it breaks Swaggle throws another [Flame Bolt] this time igniting the oil. Targesh begins swinging his blade like a mad man while hooknose continues to dodge and Bobbi throws more vials. After what feels like hours but is in reality just a few minutes, Targesh falls.

“Poor Delphi, rest in peace,” N.A.V.I. sniffles.

“Huh what are you crying about, the creator will resurrect Delphi,” Swaggle says.

Perking up N.A.V.I. says “In that case I guess we should look for my friends,”

In a far away Dungeon

“Well one of them died, better bring them back.” Kelvin says.

A mysterious light fills the room as Delphi’s Boddy takes form and glows, then the light forms a orb and flows into Delphi giving life into the motionless corspe.

“Great creator, I died didnt I?”

“Yes, you did,” Kelvin replies.

“Where are we? I don’t recognize this part of the Dungeon but I know it’s home,” Delphi says.

“It’s the beginning of the second floor. You lot are doing great work so far,” Kelvin says in praise.

“Well, I guess I better get walking they are pretty far away.” Delphi says with a sigh.

“No. No need for that. I sent a message for them to return, you just rest here and chat with me till they get back,” Kelvin says.

“That sounds great. I can rest at home, take a bath and those idiots can pull that fracking cart,”