Pitt awoke from his short nap to a meeting going on underneath his resting place. He had picked the roof of the temple. He wondered what was going on. He decided that he should stay up on the roof and just wait things out.

It wasn't his problem which way the town wanted to go. The vampire was gone, and the ghouls should be easily handled once they were located by the locals.

He had done his part with his lucky shot in the dark.

Maybe he should see if he could get something to eat before he moved on. He felt a little hungry. He also needed more sleep.

He decided he should see if the local saloon had some food he could grab with the justification of being hungry. Once that was done, he could talk to Gumm about the ghouls.

He didn't plan to chase after them himself, but he could offer some pointers. He expected the cannibals to lurk in the nearby woods until they were rooted out. It meant the town would have to retreat behind its wall after dark, and the farms would have to be fortified if the people wanted to eat.

Knights of the Circle and clerics might be able to speed up the process. Eliminating minor monsters was something they were capable of doing, and they had the numbers to commit to a search depending on the commanding official.

Mostly it would be something that he wouldn't have to do himself unless they came after him while he was traveling home. A lone traveler looked like easy prey to monsters in the dark.

And they were good at picking those travelers off.

The crowd dispersed after a while. Roland decided he could leave the roof and get that food if there was anything available. Then he could make his farewell and leave.

He figured the victims of the vampire were waking up and wondering what was going on now that the thing was really dead. That was another thing he wouldn't have to worry about since he was leaving.

He slid down to the ground and walked around to the front of the Temple. Gumm wore his gray tunic and badge. He looked twenty years older. What he had done in the night must have strained his grants.

Clerics and Mages that did that too often blew up.

“I have to be moving on,” Pitt said. “Just wanted to get something to eat first and say goodbye before I left.”

“Those monsters we burned,” said Gumm. “They were the people who didn't come in.”

“That was pretty bad,” said Pitt. “You did a good job of defending the wall. Probably saved the day.”

“I saw you shooting in the dark,” said Gumm. “What did you find out there?”

“I saw something reflected when you did that thing, so I shot at it,” said Pitt. “I went out there this morning and I found the vampire trying to heal up without blood. It wasn't going too good for him. I got rid of him and came back and got a nap.”

“You killed it and came back and went to sleep?,” said Gumm.

“Yep,” said Pitt. “But I have to get back on the road. The ghouls are going to be up to you to handle if you can.”

“Those things are almost as bad as a vampire,” said Gumm. “How are we supposed to handle them?”

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“You have to realize they won't go far from people,” said Pitt. “They need people, preferably dead people, to live. There's a small chance they'll rush the wall, but I think they will find a lair and try to grab anyone wandering around alone. You know how many should be out there. You can probably hunt them all down with a ranger of some kind.”

“Maybe I can get another cleric of Avrii Noll to be stationed here until we track all of them down,” said Gumm. “I'll probably get a probationary in reply.”

“A probationary?,” said Pitt.

“They won't have seen much action, and are desperate to climb out of the bottom ranks,” said Gumm. “They'll do anything but do it badly.”

“Sounds like what you need,” said Pitt. “A trainee to help you with the town when there's trouble.”

“They're usually worthless,” said Gumm. “They want to fight every problem before they consider that all they have to do is ask.”

“Sounds like every new person on the job,” said Pitt.

“I suppose,” said Gumm. “We won the day with your help. Thank you.”

“You and your town did most of the hard work,” said Pitt. “All I did was a small amount of support. Now I have to get my food and head out before Pantalus wants me to repaint the town for him, or something else stupid.”

Gumm stepped back so that if any sudden lightning strikes happened, he wouldn't be caught in the lash.

“Don't worry so much,” said Pitt. “Pantalus almost never kills mortals.”

“I'm glad to know that,” said Gumm.

“That's why he has people like me around,” said Pitt. He smiled. He headed for where he had taken his meal before Pantalus had set him on the vampire trail. He needed to fuel up if he was going to cross any distance before the sun went down.

Gumm watched him go with a shake of his head. He turned and headed inside his Temple. He had people to help get back on their feet. Then they had to worry about food for the town and how they were going to replace the farmers and their helpers they had lost.

Pitt could move on. He didn't live there. The survivors had to repair what they could with what they had or the town could still be as lost as if they had not driven the ghouls back from the walls.

Gumm didn't envy his status with the Court. No one wanted that kind of attention on them from on high.

Pitt stepped inside the diner and looked around. It was crowded. Maybe he should have just bought some food and cooked it later when he was away in the woods.

Some of the people he had helped build the walls waved at him. He waved back and walked to where the lady who had served him earlier stood at a counter. She had a rack of order slips for people waiting for food.

“It's going to be a while before we can cook you something,” said the lady. She waved her hand at the new business. “I'm sorry about that.”

“Do you have any of those biscuits and some cheese?,” asked Pitt.

“I think so,” said the lady. “How many do you need?”

“Let me have five, or six, and a piece of cheese,” said Pitt. “Then I'll be out of your hair.”

“I can do that simple enough,” said the lady. She gave him the price and took his money before heading back into the kitchen. She came back with a wrapping of paper tied shut. She handed him the package.

“Thank you,” said Pitt. He put the package in his coat pocket. He left the diner and walked toward the far side of town. He passed the smithy, waving at Seamus as he went.

He would have liked a horse to ride, but no one knew who the horses belonged to now with so many turned into monsters. He didn't feel like trying to untangle that knot. His feet could carry him a little more before he tried to get a horse in the next settlement he came across.

He took a bead on the mountains in the distance. He decided he had a month on the road unless he ran into more problems to solve with his fists.

He decided that he shouldn't ask for more trouble. He should keep walking and avoid talking to anyone who got in his way, or turn down any problems they might bring. He could do that for the length of the rest of his journey.

How hard could that be?

He cleared the town and headed down the road. He pulled out the package and opened it. Five soft biscuits and a piece of cheese as big as his hand sat in the paper. He split the biscuits and broke off pieces of cheese to put inside them. He ate as he walked.

He should have asked for some ale to drink with his meal.

Pitt pressed on, keeping his eye on the sun and the direction given him by Pantalus. Every step took him closer to his home.

He didn't worry about the noises following him in the shadows of the trees. He figured the ghouls wanted to grab someone easy to make up for what had happened when they rushed the town.

He walked and he waited. Sooner, or later, they would make a move. Then he would counterattack.