“All right, I’ll talk. Just please make it stop,” The young boil-covered man cries.

“Well, talk then and truthfully if you know what’s good for you,” Bobbi says with malicious glee.

“Our leader and the gang are in the fort we are building to the west of here. There are maps in those tents that will show what part of the forest it’s in. Our leader has the fairies if they are still there. That’s all I know, I swear.”

“Oh, I believe you,” Bobbi says with a smile.

“So you’ll make it stop?”

“Of course,” Bobbin says, drawing a dagger.

“Wait, you said it would stop!”

“I didn’t lie. Death will stop it. There will be no more pain.” Bobbi says as she walks over and slits the young man’s throat with a smile.

“I found papers with pictures on them. These must be the maps.” Hooknose yells.

“Oh good, have N.A.V.I. take a look. She knows the forest, Swaggle, kill the rest of these adventurers with Bobbi,” Delphi orders.

“Okay, but what do we do with them afterward?” Swaggle asks.

“That’s easy from a cook’s perspective. You boil them, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew. The possibilities are endless,” Hooknose says.

“I would be grossed out, but after eating delicious bunny, I now wonder what flesh-bag taste like, and my interest has been piqued,” N.A.V.I. says.

“We don’t have time for that,” Delphi says.

“Oh, but we do. I got to figure out these maps and where in the forest this is. It could take me a while, so be patient,” N.A.V.I. says.

“Alright, then, I guess we got no choice,” Delphi says.

“Tell you what, they had a large cooking pot, and I mean large, and there’s a stream nearby. How about we make you a bath? You haven’t had one of those since we left our dungeon,” Hooknose says.

At this, Delphi perks up. “A bath does sound nice. A hot bath sounds better. Even our creator understood the need for comfort, but none of you better peek,” Delphi says.

“What are we gonna see?” N.A.V.I. wonders.

“It’s not worth the argument, don’t go there,” Bobbi grumbles.

“Alright, time to take stock hearts, kidneys, eyes, mmm… making myself hungry so many dish choices,” Hooknose says with excitement.

“Just skin and gut them already,” Bobbi barks.

“And seasoning,” Swaggle adds.

A long night of relaxation and good food left the group in high spirits for the following morning.

“Goodmorning, everyone. It’s another beautiful skytorch-filled day,” Delphi says.

“Well, at least someone is happy,” Bobbi remarks.

“Why aren’t you guys happy we had a joyful night,” Delphi asks.

“Too much loot to carry, and we don’t wanna leave any behind,” Swaggle yells in frustration.

“Our creator must have all of this, but we can’t carry everything, and we can’t decide what’s more important,” Hooknose says.

“I see. Is there a way to take everything?” Delphi asks.

“Well, there is, but you aren’t going to like it,” Hooknose replies.

“Oh good, wait, why am I not gonna like it?” Delphi asks.

At this, Swaggle and Bobbi giggle while N.A.V.I. turns bright pink.

“Well, you see these carts? Filled with wood for fires and building material, I guess,” Hooknose says.

“Yes,” Delphi responds with suspicion in their voice.

Your gonna have to pull it through the woods and not on any paths they take that we found. Hooknose replies.

“Okay, first, there are paths, and we cant use them. Why not?” Delphi asks incredulously.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“We will be slower with the cart and noisier, and the “adventurers” will probably have patrols,” Hooknose replies.

“Okay, second, when did we find these paths, and why did we wait all day for N.A.V.I..” Delphi continues.

“We found them right after we searched the whole camp for loot, and we waited because of said loot,” Hooknose deadpans

“Alright, why wasn’t I told?” Delphi demands with exasperation

“Easy there, you were taking a bath.” Hooknose with a placating tone.

“Ah, I see. Well, that makes sense. I hate being bothered when bathing. It’s my me time.” Delphi responds by calming down slightly, then continuing defeatedly, “Alrighty then, lastly, why do I have to pull the cart,”

“Well, first, I fight with a sword and shield. While my strength would let me pull the cart, my height is against me and the rest of us. If we were attacked, I would have to draw my sword and shield, taking precious combat seconds that could mean death. Conversely, you fight with your fist, are at the right height, and are very strong. Any more questions.” Hooknose says.

“Ummm… No, you made a valid point. Let’s load up the cart. Delphi says.

Alright, skytorch is burning. Let’s go.

It took an hour for the group to get ready to leave, gathering up all of the things they believed Kelvin would want and packing it all into a single oversized cart, it could have been easier, but Delphi insisted on taking the massive cooking pot and finding a place for it on the cart was most of their packing time.

“N.A.V.I. which way?” Delphi asked after they had finally figured out how to fit the massive cooking pot.

“The flesh-bags are this way,” N.A.V.I. says, zooming off towards the unknown woods.

“Hey, N.A.V.I. how much farther is this place? We’ve been walking for hours,” Bobbi complains.

“At least your not cutting a path with minimum damage to the forest,” Hooknose grumbles.

“Oh, stop complaining. You two look at Delphi, not complaining one bit. In fact, neither is Swaggle, which is weird...” N.A.V.I. states, trailing off at the end of her sentence.

“Delphi went into some kind of mantra. Just listen,” Bobbi calls with a snort.

“I am one with the cart, the cart is with me. I am one with the cart, the cart with is me.” Delphi repeats over and over again.

“It getting stuck on roots and bushes just sent poor Delphi over the edge just a little.” Hooknose replies.

“Yeah, but where’s Swaggle?” N.A.V.I. asks with trepidation in her voice

“Oh great, did we lose him in here?” Bobbi yells.

“Hang on, I hear something,” Hooknose says.

“What?” N.A.V.I. and Bobbi say at the same time

“Something I wasn’t looking for. Snoring coming from the cart.” Hooknose says with chagrin

At the mention of this, the cart stops abruptly. “Snoring, what do you mean snoring,” Delphi says with anger.

Delphi stomps over to the side of the cart and looks inside the massive cooking pot to find a sleeping kobold. “Swaggle! If you don’t wake up right now and explain, I will send you back to the creator myself!.” Delphi yells.

At this, Swaggle wakes up abruptly and looks up at Delphi while scrambling to sit up.

“Oh, hi. I can explain. See, if my legs are tired, then I would be useless during the fight, so I had a brilliant idea have you pull me in the cart. It was so comfortable I just nodded off, ‘heh, eh.’ Swaggle stammers out with a nervous chuckle.

“Don’t ‘heh eh’ me, get out and walk! A brilliant idea, my bony backside. Well, it’s over now. Let’s just take some calming pretend breaths, and we will continue. Delphi says.

“Wow, Delphi sure can switch moods pretty fast,” N.A.V.I. says with a little ‘huh.’

“Yeah, Delphi has what is called patience and well, a lot of it.” Hooknose replies.

“How did he get so good at it?” N.A.V.I. asks.

“Fifteen years of Swaggle does wonders and horrors to the mind,” Bobbi replies.

“Aw, come on, Swaggle’s not that bad. I think he’s fun,” N.A.V.I. says.

“I knew that fairy was crazy,” Hooknose mutters.

“Hey, I see something up ahead. Swaggle yells.

“What is it?” Delphi asks.

“A big wooden wall that looks wonderfully flammable,” Swaggle says with a grin.

“Huh, he did get to sleep the whole way. I guess his plan was brilliant,” N.A.V.I. chimes in.

“Let’s hide the cart,” Hooknose suggests.

“Good idea,” Delphi agrees.

“That ridge over there looks like a good vantage point to take a look,” Bobbi says.

“Scoot over. We all need under this bush to see,” Delhi says.

“Quite someone’s coming out, and I want to hear,” Hooknose says.

The large palisade gate of the makeshift fort opens, and a small group of men walks out along with a large man wielding a giant axe who begins to speak in a booming gruff voice.

“Where are my patrols? And those buffoons at the logging camp are late. Am I surrounded by incompetence? Eh, well, speak up.” “No, sir.” The men say in fear.

“If they think they can steal from me, they are dead wrong...”

“Nobody would steal from you, sir.” A young man says.

“Did you just interrupt me?” the large axe wielder barks

“Yes, I mean no. I’m sorry, please forgive me.”

Turning to face the young man, the large axe wielder glares and says, “Forgive forgiveness is for the weak. Hold him.” At this, the other men seized the man who spoke out. The large man draws his axe walks over, and brings it down swiftly. “That is my kindness, swift and quick, but if they are not back within two days, we will hunt down those traitors and kill them without my kindness. Now begin your patrols around the fort,” The large man says as he goes inside.

“Well, that was definitely the Boss,” Delphi says.

“Is he going to kill who we killed?” Swaggle wonders.

“We are going to need a plan,” Hooknose states.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Bobbi says gleefully.