The moonlight shone across the open plains as the summer night’s breeze rustled the knee-high grass, a torch in the ranger’s left hand fashioned from the campfire flickering in the night as he and Zee raced through the darkness. His cloaked flapped behind him as they followed the distressed screams and cries coming from the north. His suspicions and fears confirmed as they scaled a small incline. Coming to the top they looked out over the lands in front of them. There the land was divided by a gentle slope on the east meeting a steep slope on the west, forming a large ridge jutting from the earth that continued stretching out north, beyond sight. A worn dirt trail snaked along the bottom of the west slope, shadowed from the moon light. This is Breaker’s ridge.

The pair looked out across the terrain, they can still hear a woman’s desperate pleas for help echo through the landscape. “How well can you see in the dark?” Vern asks, holding the torch high above his head.

“More than ya, shtill hard’ta make out though.” Zee responds, scanning her eyes across the darkened countryside. “I can tell shesh down below ush.” pointing towards the eastern slope along the trail.

They continue along the path, footsteps heavy as the screams grow louder, until they round a bend. The source of the screams seemingly noticing the torchlight. “Hey! Over’ere! Please! Something attacked us and’ my husband is hurt!” A familiar panicked voice cried out from the shadows.

Stepping closer as the orange glow of the torchlight revealed the pair, just off the side of the dirt road sat Hellen. Her shirt lightly splattered with blood, right sleeve torn off, a horrified expression plastered across her face that softened a little as she recognized the figures approaching her. In her arms she cradled an unconscious Felder, holding up his torso as his chest heaved deep labored breaths. Vern could see the pants on his right leg were soaked with blood as his shin on the same leg was scratched and torn. Above the injury, right below the hip, was Hellen’s shirt sleeve, tied around the leg as a makeshift tourniquet.

“Oh ranger it’s you! Thank Loall!” Hellen gave a quick sigh of relief as Vern knelt down next to them.

“Here Zee, hold this.” He hands the torch to the goblin without taking his eyes off of Felder’s wounded leg. With a flick of his right wrist a small, flat knife slides out of his sleeve and he catches it in his fingers as he carefully begins cutting the cloth away from the injury. “What happened here?” Inquiring as he worked.

“I-we were riding home along the trail…when suddenly something jumped on us from above! It landed right on the horse’s neck, knocking us down.” Hellen’s voice was shaky as she recounted the tale.

Vern finished cutting around the wound and pulled the pant leg away. He saw four large puncture wounds, two on each side, one pair was slightly shorter in width than the other. At the widest the wounds were spaced out as far as Vern’s wrist was from his fingertips. Bringing an ear to one of the wounds he could hear it faintly sizzling. “And then what? What did you see?” He asked while digging into his satchel.

“I-I-I’m not sure what it was, Our lantern was knocked away in the fall, I could only make out a dark shadowy shape attacking the horse. It was Big! Felder tried to kick it away before it…it bit him.” She choked up on her words as she spoke. “...I never heard him scream so loud before…”

“Where did the creature go?” Vern questioned as he pulled out two small corked vials of thick dark green, liquid and a sheet of paper he rolled into a funnel.

“L-last I saw it was dragging the horse away, back up the slope.”

“It dragged the horse up the slope?!” The ranger was baffled by the response.

“Yes! Yes yes I swear!” Hellen turned her head to look up the ridge, Zee followed her gaze, scanning the crest, as if expecting another sudden attack from above.

Vern popped the corks off the vials and slowly began draining their contents into each wound. “Well whatever attacked you is capable of producing highly acidic venom. This antidote will draw some of the venom out, as well as plug up the wounds from bleeding more.” He finished by wrapping the leg tightly in clean bandages.

He stands back up, stuffing the used supplies back into the satchel. “He’ll need more help, and soon, but at least he’ll survive long enough to get it.

“Bless your heart, ranger.” Hellen’s voice was hoarse as a few tears streamed down her cheeks. She affectionately cupped her husband’s face in hand, planting a light kiss onto his forehead.

“Now what?” Zee asked, looking up towards Vern. “Itsh too far a walk to get’im help!”

“That’s why help is gonna come to us.” He reaches back into the satchel, pulling out his journal and flipping it open, ripping out a blank piece of paper. Curling it into a cylinder as he takes several steps away from the others back onto the dirt road. He digs a small pit in the dirt, placing the paper tube inside it before partially burying it again. Then he takes out two small envelopes and another vial filled with a bright red liquid. He empties each envelope’s contents into the tube before quickly pouring the liquid in after, then quickly backing away to stand by the others.

“You might want to look away.” He coolly suggests, pulling the edge of his hood around his face while extending a hand to shield Zee’s. A moment passes before the tube erupts into a bright flash of light which almost immediately vanishes. In its place a pillar of thick pink smoke billows out of the tube, quickly ascending into the air, as it climbs over the ridge out of the shadows, it catches the moonlight, sparkling as it illuminates the night sky

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Zee looks up in astonishment at the display. “Woah! How’shu do that? Ish that magic?”

“It’s a smoke bomb!” Vern corrects, proudly staring up at his handiwork. “It was designed to be easily visible in day or night, I always keep what I need to make it on hand for emergencies.”

“Thatsh amazing, Vern.” she replies, not taking her eyes off the brilliant wonder above drifting higher into the sky.

Vern turns back to look at Hellen and Felder. “Now if any guards on post are actually paying attention to their surroundings, help should be on its way soon.”

***

A short while passes as the group waits for assistance to arrive. Torch in hand, Vern took the time to analyze the scene of the attack. He saw a large trail in the dirt where something heavy would’ve been dragged through, leading off towards the road up the steep slope. Alongside it were several large prints, belonging to the suspected attacker. Kneeling down he could make out that the prints consisted of one large bell-shaped indentation with four smaller oval ones sitting right above it. He stretched his hand out in the largest print, neither side of his hand touching the outer edges of it.

“I haven’t sheen tracksh like thosh before.” Zee quietly chimes in, looking over his shoulder. “You think itsh’ta shpider we found earlier?”

“No, the profile doesn’t match up at all. Besides, the spider wouldn’t be all the way out here looking for prey.” He explains, standing up straight. “But I think I know what this is. The bite marks, the size, the pawprints, the venom. All signs point to it being a-”

His vocalized thoughts were interrupted by the thundering of hooves coming from the north end of the road. Four horses with armored riders raced towards them, bearing lanterns illuminating their path. Vern’s relief quickly morphed into annoyance as he recognized the person leading the group. A figure wearing standard guard armor with additional navy-blue trim, denoting rank, Atop their head was a closed face helm, bearing an additional red plume along with the usual blue. As they approached the figure held up a gauntleted arm in a closed fist, ordering the rest of them to slow down. Their gallop came to a trot, then to a walk, before coming to a stop a few yards away from the ranger and goblin standing in the road.

Vern waved at the riders, “Hello Cathleen! I’m surprised to see you out this late! At this hour you’d be at the tavern, getting drunk and harassing the locals.” He cheeringly mocked with a feigned smile.

The rider pulled off her helmet, dark hair in a short wavy bob cut spilled out from underneath it as she tucked the helm under an arm. Amber eyes gleamed in the lamplight as the tanned skin woman looked down on the ranger. “That’s ‘Deputy Captain’ Cathleen to you, ranger.” She spoke quickly in an authoritative voice. “Now what is this about?”

“These two need a ride back to town, and the man needs medical attention immediately. They were attacked by a monster.” He pointed a thumb at fishers, dropping the faux cheery tone as he spoke.

Before he even finished speaking the riders began climbing off their horses, heading towards the couple. Two of the guards gently lifted Felder onto one of their steeds as another helped Hellen to her feet as she started sobbing in gratitude.

“Monster? Isn’t it your job to keep our people safe from monsters? Cathleen shot an accusatory glance at the ranger.

“Hey! I AM doing my job! He retorted defensively, pointing down towards the ground. “And I told these people to take another way home.”

“So what will you do now, Vern? This is a serious issue.” She spoke in a calm yet firm voice.

He took a short deep breath to relax before speaking. “Well right now it’s too dark and too late to follow the trail. It’s a nocturnal predator and I’m tired. So I’m going to go back to camp, take a nap, then wake up to hunt this bastard.” He pointed behind himself, back south towards the river.

Cathleen didn’t say anything before turning to the goblin beside him. “And who’s this then?”

Zee responded by putting her hands on her hips, staring straight up at the deputy. “I’m the goblin whosh gonna help him kill thish monster!”

Vern gave a slight shrug to her answer. “They are experts afterall.”

The deputy’s eyes narrowed as she looked back and forth between the pair before locking eyes with the ranger. “...Alright then.”

“Now if that’s all, we need to be heading back. Don’t let anyone else leave the village until I give the okay to do so.” Vern responded, before turning around and starting off, Zee following in turn.

They only made a few short steps before a voice shouted from behind them. “Will you need help, ranger?”

He looked over his shoulder, Cathleen still stood there. She wore a grave expression on her face, yet he didn’t detect any malice or mocking in her voice. She was being sincere with her question.

He thought for a moment, Vern didn’t like having to rely on the guards for help, especially when the Deputy-Captain was involved, but this was a priority situation. If a monster was confident enough to attack a human, it needed to be dealt with before it killed someone. He spun around to face her again. “I might.”

“What do you need?” She pressed, her gaze remaining locked on her fellow lawman.

Vern averted his eyes, looking at the ground as he considered what he was about to request, before looking up again. “A wagon, a large weighted net, plenty of rope, antidotes, silver arrowheads, and three to four guards armed with crossbows. If we’re dealing with what I think we are, then we’ll need to play this safe.

“And what are we dealing with, Vern?”

“A manticore.”