Erik closed the book the old lady had given him "The Aspect of Limbo and how they affect our world".

"So Diversity and inclusion are aspects, hopefully these ones are benevolent spirits."

He said to himself as he lay on a straw bed within a small room. Several days had passed since their encounter with the elf eater and nothing else had come up, they had each ran the trainer dungeon several times, while they didn't get another stat or level boost they did learn to work together better while making enough money to rent rooms in a cheap inn and completing their armour sets. Eric now had full chainmail suit so was covered head to toe in linked mail, Astrid had a full suit of leather armour while Uruk looked like a full blown barbarian with a helmet in the shape of a giant rats head. Fred gained a lightly enchanted cloak that increased his mana regen slightly while making him look like a white Jedi, while Annie sported regular looking form fitted clothing that somehow resized itself to fit her drake form when she transformed. They had also discovered an armour equip function that enabled them to instantly remove or equip their armour at will simply by thinking about it.

He placed the book back into his inventory before lying back and staring at the ceiling when a knock came at the door.

"Who's there?"

"Oen up and yall fin out aye?, less you be wantin to shout throu t door"

The voice sounded young, young enough that he had no idea if it was a boy or girl shouting at him, not seeing any harm in doing so Eric got up from his bed and moved over to the door to greet whoever was on the other side. He was greeted by a boy / girl? (he still wasn't sure) very young looking and no taller than 3.5ft wearing a flat cap with roughly woven clothes and sandals, they greeted him with a cheery wave and a wink.

"Hi, and you are?"

The small child gave a quick salute before responding.

"Messenger number 3, an thas all you need to be knowing aye? Theres this priestly type guy from church of Zenith, says he be lookin for some brave venturers to look ino summats for im. Tis my understandin you mitn be wat es lookin for aye?. Mayhaps you an your friends be goin down to say elo, already called on em, should be there waitin on ya."

He or she gave a small salute before scampering off, leaving Eric with no time to ask any questions.

New quest received: Speak to the priestly type guy. Hint: follow the arrows.

A series of bright yellow arrows appeared on the floor in front of him, following the blatantly obvious hint he made his way out the inn to find the priestly guy.

------

When he arrived the rest of his party were already there sat on a bench looking bored.

"About time you showed up."

"Why? How long you been waiting?"

"Sir we were sat here a total of 1 hour 3 minutes and 10seconds"

Astrid who had stood to attention as soon as Eric arrived saluted as she responded, there was a short pause.

"Right....thank you Astrid....at ease."

She nodded then sat back down on the bench her balloon attachment floating under her bum and shaping itself into the form of a pillow. Eric had thought himself to be reasonably adjusted to the weirdness of the world but that still managed to catch him off guard.

"I didn't know it could do that"

"Neither did I sir, went to bed last night, when I woke up this morning my pillow was on the floor and Loon had taken its place."

"Loon?"

She seemed a little hesitant at first but decided to answer.

"Yes sir....it speaks to me, Loon is what it calls itself."

"Huh...well hello Loon, welcome to the party."

There was a short pause before Astrid spoke.

"They said hello, and thank you."

"They?"

"Yes, they want to be referred to that way as they are neither male or female."

Eric wanted to say something, but wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Uruk let out a frustrated growl.

"Enough of this, why did you keep us waiting over an hour? The inn is only 5 Minutes away."

"I came as soon as the messenger left."

"Then did he....she....."

He was interrupted by the blaring of trumpets nearby.

"Hear ye, hear ye, the church of Zenith is looking for a group of brave adventurers to check on the village of Nightsun, we have had reports of undead sighted in the vicinity and have not heard anything since."

"Ooh ooh, us us, we will go."

Annie jumped to her feet waving her hands in the air as the made her way towards the priestly guy.

"We going then chief?"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Looks like."

Quest received: Scout the village of Nightsun, find out what is going on there (if anything) then report back to Priestly guy.

-------

They party stood on the outskirts of Nightsun village, there was an unsettling silence in the area along with the stench of rotten flesh.

Uruk sniffed the air.

"Something has died here, a while ago by the smell of it."

Eric nodded.

"I don't see anyone nearby"

"Do you think everyone is ok?"

Annie had stepped out in front of the party to try and get a better look.

"We should look around and make sure."

"Best be careful if we do"

"Fred I had forgotten you was a part of this group, you don't talk much do you?"

"No Uruk, I don't."

"Sir what are your orders?"

Everyone looked towards Eric waiting on a response, sighing he looked around, the village was fairly large, with several thatched cottages with small well kept gardens. He listened but couldn't hear anything.

"Seems abandoned, let's split up and have a look round, Annie go left with Uruk, Fred go right with Astrid, I'll take the middle, we will meet at the otherside, call if you find anything."

Everyone nodded before moving off in their team, save for Astrid who gave her customary salute before going. Eric equipped his armour and started to move slowly and quietly through the village, every house or small store seemed abandoned, after around 30 minutes or so looking around and checking every house he stopped when he heard someone humming a cheerful sounding tune. Moving towards the sound he was hit with a mostly familiar sight.

"Pamela?"

She was sat on a bench with a man lent on her lap, she was gently poking at a hole in his head, every now and then pulling out a tiny bit of brain matter and placing it in her mouth. She turned towards him after he said her name.

"Oh hi Derek, good to see you again, it's been a while."

"What are you doing? What happened to you"

She let out an irritating giggle that almost sounded like a cackle.

"Well for the first question, I don't remember, but for the second I am prepping a new civilization for my friends Diversity and Inclusion."

She let out another cackle but stopped when the dead man started to twitch.

"Ooh, I think he's waking up."

The man sat up staring at her, she cupped his face and started looking into his eyes.

"Are you ready now my dear?"

"Diivveersityyyy."

"Eeee, oh he perfect"

More cackling. Eric shook his head then summoned his club and shield holding them in a ready position.

"I can't let you do this Pamela."

"What? Why? All I wish to do is bring more Diversity and Inclusion to the world, that's not a bad thing is it?."

She stood up and started backing away from him a look of fear on her face as Eric moved towards her, then he froze, confused.

"What have you done?"

"It wasn't her."

"It was us"

Diversity and Inclusion manifested in front of him, their polite friendly manner the same as it had been before, they spoke the next line together.

"It's so nice to see you again."

Eric tried once again to move but still couldn't.

"What are you two doing here"

The pair looked at each other then sighed, Diversity speaking first.

"We really wish our meeting could have been under better circumstances."

"We are sorry to say however that you are about to be in breach of the contract you signed with us."

"How? I don't recall any restrictions on killing zombies."

"Not specifically no."

Inclusion started before Diversity pulled out the familiar looking contract before reading it.

" I Eric do hereby offer my support towards bringing more Diversity and Inclusion to the land, I also pledge to ensure that either through action or inaction I will help enable their plans are to continue. I also pledge that I will not do anything that directly challenges their goals."

Inclusion continued

"For our part, should one of your given quests require you to work against us we are required to offer you an alternative, easier quest that grants the same rewards."

Diversity nodded.

"Yes, and it just so happens we have one ready for you, nearby there is a small band of weak goblins robbing random travelers, you could do something about that."

Eric grit his teeth still struggling to move as he spoke.

"What, no Inclusion for for goblin bandits in your plans?"

Diversity pointed a finger at him and was about to speak when Inclusion put a hand on his shoulder.

"He's right you know."

Diversity let out a long drawn out sigh.

"Yeah, I know, they should be allowed to live their lives as they see fit, looting is a part of goblin culture after all."

They stood there for a while thinking as Eric continued to struggle against the invisible force holding him steady.

"Tell you what, all you have to do is report back that you found nothing, the villagers are all gone and you have no idea where they are."

Inclusion nodded along as Diversity spoke.

"Best thing about that is, it's not even a lie, you really don't know where they have gone, just don't mention that you met us."

"So, will you accept this alternative quest?"

"No, and you should probably leave before my team come looking for me."

Diversity and Inclusion looked at each other briefly before Diversity responded.

"Oh I don't think we have to worry about that."

"You see, we wanted to ensure that this conversation was just between us.

"So we froze time, your friends are just as immobile as you are, they just aren't aware of it."

"Wait, you can do that?"

Diversity stepped forward and placed a hand on Eric's shoulder.

"Oh yes, in fact you'd be surprised what an aspect can do within the world when they have a players support."

"Just so you know, we can hold you here for as long as it takes to get you to agree to the new quest."

Diversity stepped back to stand next to Inclusion, hands behind their backs they stood looking at Eric with big smiles on their faces. Unable to turn his head to look away, or close his eyes at this point Eric could only look back at them. He waited, and waited, then waited some more before waiting again. Not knowing how long he stood there looking at their unwavering smiles and errily still forms he finally found himself convinced that time really had stopped, and the rest of the party weren't coming and he really could end up trapped here.....forever, staring at the beautiful faces of Diversity and Inclusion. After waiting a while longer he finally relented.

"Alright."

He mumbled

"Sorry what?"

Diversity leaned forward cupping his hand to his ear.

"I accept the quest."

New quest accepted: Report to Priestly guy about what you didn't find in the village and inform him of what you don't know.

The pair faded from view and Eric was once again able to move, he had a quick look round to see if Pamela was still around, but was unable to see her, she was either gone or well hidden. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he started to move towards the meeting point.