A young man walked along a barely visible pathway down what used to be a well traveled route, he was tall and well built. Clad in leather armor he had a large back pack on his back with a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder, in one hand was a worn but well looked after long bow, and in the other hand was a series of small forest animals dangling from a piece of string tied around their necks or feet, he continued to walk until he reached the end of the path and looked around. The last time he had been here there had been a massive lake full of fresh clean water, frogs, fish, along side a variaty of insects, some brightly coloured with beautifully patterned wings, others no more interesting than simple house flies, a series of buildings had surrounded the lake, each one housed a family and well kept gardens with many varieties of brightly coloured flowers, as well as various fruits and vegetables. Now when he looked around however the lake was nothing more than a massive hole in the ground, all the water long since drained away and the dirt dried up, the only remnants of its former life were a few random skeletons dotted around the bottom on the lake turned pit. The once well maintained gardens were now over grown messes full of weeds and thorny bushes, the houses mostly rotted away and falling apart, several in fact were little more than piles of wood, save for one that stood seperate from all the others. Its garden was still well maintained and many of the wild flowers and brambles surrounding it had been cut back and kept trim preserving what can now best be described as the last living monument of a once beautiful village.

He walked towards this house, and upon reaching the gardens gate he looked within, towards a small flower bed where he saw a little old lady knelt down pulling out weeds, she wore a flowery apron covered in dirt over the top of a simple baggy t-shirt and a pair of shorts, her feet were bare, heavily caloused and caked with dirt the result of a long life walking barefood without ever having worn shoes. He opened the latch on the gate and walked in, upon hearing the creaking of the opening gate the old lady looked up at him, and a smile crept across her face.

"Stan, my boy"

She stood up walking towards him with her arms out and they embraced each other with a hug.

"Oh my you've gotten big, here let me take a look at you"

She stepped away holding him at arms length, gave his arms a quick squeeze before continuing.

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"Oh my, so strong, maybe joining the rangers guild wasn't such a bad idea after all."

Stan smiled back at her, placing one hand on her shoulder he responded

"Its good to see you too Grandma."

Then with his other arm he held up the bundle of animal he had brought with him

"I've brought some food for us."

"OOhhh"

She inspected the small bundle of animals inspecting them one after another.

"Good catch, tell you what, take those into the kitchen, fill the pot with water and place it on the fire, I will get cleaned up then get started on making a nice hot stew for us."

"Just stew..."

She laughed at that her smile widening

"Ohh you."

She slapped him lightly on the arm

"I supose I could throw together some dumplings as well."

She chuckled to herself as she turned, walking towards the front door, Stan did a quick fist pump before following her in.

Upon entering the house Stan moved straight to the kitchen and placed the bundle of animals on an old sturdy wooden table, all told he had 3 squirrels and one fairly fat rabbit. He pulled a small skinning knife from his belt and checked its edge, satisfied he laid the rabbit on its back, just as he was about to start prepping the corpse for the meal he heard a scream comming from one of the other rooms.

"Gran."

He yelled, dropping his knife on the table and moving towards where he had heard the sound, upon entering the living room he found his gran on her hands and knees gasping for breath, sweat was dripping down her head and tears were streaming from her eyes.

"Gran, whats wrong?"

"Stay back."

She screamed again as her muscles tightened and her bones popped leaving her gasping for breath again.

"Its ok, I think its over for now."

Stan moved to try help her up.

"Whats going on gran?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding.

"Its the Drypeak curse."

"Curse?"

"Yes, did you ever hear about that arcane explosion, the one that drained the lake and killed all the men of the village?"

He nodded.

"I remember mum and dad telling me about it, I think I was.... around 4 or 5 years old when it happened, its what killed grandpa isn't it?"

"Yes, well, it had a different effect on the women, you see when we reach a certain age we start to change, I am already older than most, thought I had escaped it....but.... apparently not."

With Stans help she had managed to stand up again, looking at her he couldn't help but notice that she seemed to have shrunk slightly, her back had also developed a slight arch he was certain hadn't been there before.

"What do you mean changes?"

"Well, first we start to shrink, our memories fade, our skin turns green, then eventually......we turn into goblins."

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