“Hi,” Deacon said while waving his right hand back and forth.

The Deep Dweller soldiers fanned out in each direction to surround Deacon. That made him very nervous. He didn’t understand why they were being so hostile toward him. Borrin and Corrin were both trying to calm the arrayed soldiers to avoid an incident. The members of the caravan were funneling in through the remains of the western gate. Amanda had her knives drawn and Tantus was preparing his magic shield. Deacon hoped this wouldn’t come to blows as he prepared to defend himself. That’s when Typhus and Daskus emerged from one of the tunnels carved into the mountainside.

“Stand down. These are my rescuers,” Daskus coughed out. His veins were pulsing red, and nubs of new flesh could be seen growing where he lost fingers.

“By the ten hells! What happened to you, my lord?” yelled a new face in the crowd. This one wasn’t wearing armor. His beard was thinner than most Deep Dwellers and his hair was slicked back. He carried a large knapsack over robes of dark blue.

“It’s good to see you Breem. Might there be a carriage nearby?” Daskus asked, still being carried by Typhus and his shadow.

“Of course, my lord. You there, begin clearing these bodies and bring up the carriages. I have some bandages. Just give me a few minutes to clean your wounds. It’s a two day ride back to the city from here. I’m sure Master Typhus can travel with his guildmates leaving you plenty of room to be comfortable,” Breem said looking to Typhus for agreement.

“It’s nice to see you too, Breem. He has a regeneration potion working within him provided by the champion over there. Without it, I fear what would have happened,” Typhus replied very loudly and getting a curt nod from Deacon.

Deacon walked over to them while the arrayed soldiers started lowering their weapons. He pulled a chair from his bag and placed it behind Daskus. Then Typhus lowered him down on his rear. Daskus’s legs had unblemished flesh growing over his stumps. Without warning the light emitting from his veins stopped. So to did the regrowth of his limbs.

“Did any priests of Mantarok join your rescue team?” Deacon asked fishing around in his bag for another Infernal Regen potion.

“The Smitehammers didn’t supply any troops for this. Just Bloodbeards and Tuskaxes,” Breem replied with a scowl.

Deacon handed Typhus another potion then added them both to his party. Typhus lifted his right hand to take it winced at the pain. Then he grabbed it with his left. Deacon noticed but said nothing as the soldiers began to inspect the fort and mill around. Then the twins made their way over.

Corrin and Borrin Tuskaxe were wide eyed. They couldn’t believe what they were looking at. There were goblin bodies everywhere and Daskus looked like the Goblins were sharpening their blades on him. Corrin started twisting his beard in his hand as Borrin worked up the nerve to say something.

“What is it boys?” Daskus asked while Breem administered his wounds. The color started to come back into his face as Deacon’s Triage perk kept his health topped off.

“We tried to convince the stone council about the Goblins, but they didn’t believe us. They kept saying your mission was foolhardy to begin with and Goblins were just an excuse for failure. Your father petitioned for volunteers to reclaim the pass. I’m sorry we didn’t get back sooner. Where is everyone else?” Borrin asked realization dawning on his face as Daskus’s mood darkened further.

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“That’s probably enough for now boys. Why don’t you go secure the grounds or something? You there, search these tunnels for any more of these green skinned bastards. I’ll pay a silver piece to the Dweller that finds one alive,” Typhus barked causing the soldiers to funnel into the many dug out entrances.

“Deacon, a word,” Ralph said as he grabbed Deacon by the arm and led him away from Daskus.

“What’s the big idea?” Deacon asked pulling his arm back.

“You need to calm down. Your eyes are doing that glowing green thing again. That’s probably why they surrounded you to begin with. Take a few breaths and get yourself under control. If you haven’t noticed several of the soldiers are still watching you,” Ralph explained through hushed tones.

“Really? I’m not the bad guy here,” Deacon replied his brows furrowed.

“We should also try to downplay any talk about you single handedly wiping out an entrenched Goblin foothold. Right now, the first thing they saw was you standing in the middle of a makeshift fort surrounded by bodies not wearing a shirt. We can probably play it off as you were rear guard or something while the rest of us were searching for Daskus. The less that gets out about your capabilities the better,” Ralph said while walking Deacon closer to the western gate.

Sophie was at the gate waiting and the rest of the caravan had pulled up just outside the walls. The next hour was filled with clearing enough of the debris that wagons could safely navigate through. Deacon used Polterheist to move what he could while he lifted large segments of the fortification by hand. This elicited some cheers from their bearded compatriots. Several of the soldiers brandished war hammers and started to break down the structures that were erected. Once all the carriages were moved out to the western end of the pass, everyone began gearing up to leave. The soldiers brought carts and wagons of their own when they left the Shattered Sky. So now they were a large caravan of over twelve moving vehicles with livestock and soldiers on foot. Deacon doubted they’d make as good time as they were before.

Deacon decided he’d earned a rest and decided to meditate in his room inside Alfred. The moment he entered the dungeon Sun Wu popped out and began lounging on one of the sofas. Deacon just shook his head, so he didn’t get distracted from his goal.

“You do realize your little stunt with the steam shouldn’t have been possible right?” Sun Wu asked as Deacon was headed up the stairs. Deacon stopped and turned to look at him.

“You were the one encouraging me to do it,” Deacon said with a look of frustration on his face.

“I wanted to see if you could. I suspect you can do a great many things that should be impossible. Maybe even getting me back home,” Sun Wu spoke dangling a trip to earth like a carrot.

“You want to go back to earth? Why?” Deacon asked, not believing what he was hearing.

“Unlike you, I’ve been gone far too long. My journey has broadened my horizons. Given me a certain perspective. I think I could do a lot of good back home,” Sun Wu replied smugly.

“Sure you could. I’m going to bed. Wake me if anything important happens,” Deacon said waiving Sun Wu off.

“I’m not your errand boy,” Sun Wu yelled up.

“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Alfred,” Deacon said nodding to Alfred up on the balcony.

“How rude,” replied Sun Wu.

Deacon seated himself on his four post bed. He kicked off his new sandals and assumed a lotus position. It felt like forever since he had a chance to just relax his mind. The duration between conscious wakefulness and his meditative trance was dragging on and on for some reason. Then he was within his personal mind space. There was new planet added to his universe now. It was orange with multiple rings. Seemed more like a model of a nucleus than a planet but it was there. He wondered if it represented the latest hell plane he acquired. The Hunting Grounds was what the slate message said. As he inspected the tableau, he notices a tunnel that wasn’t there before. In the past all the planets representing his connections were linked to him by the green roads that branched out from his position to the planets. He’d always assumed the roads were just a representation of his soul energy. But now there was a link between the cold icy rock that represented the Nether Plane and the flaming sun that was the Infernal Plane. It reminded Deacon of a tube filled with steam.

Just as he began to focus on it, a silhouette of a humanoid appeared just to his left. It just looked like a starry void in human shape. It had no eyes, ears, or hair. Just a body made up of the cosmos itself. Then it turned its head toward Deacon flashing a shiny toothed grin that expanded past the boundaries of its head.

“I wondered how long it would take you to notice me. We need to talk,” came the voice of Chimera.