We got up early the next morning, looking to capitalize on the daylight. Lakes of the Four Seasons wasn’t too far, and we should be able to get there by lunch if we were lucky.

As we wrap up the camp, we quickly become aware that all of us are not exactly morning people. Thankfully John at least carries coffee, and we finish putting the campfire out after everyone has at least a cup.

That works for the first hour. By that point, all of us are awake enough to attempt conversation.

“Erin, did you get to talk to your goddess last night?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says, “She said that a Ghost Walker’s skillset is actually very close to my Ninja skill set, relying heavily on stealth, but instead of being physical, it focuses more on dealing with the dead.”

I nod. That really does make sense.

“Does she have a training plan for you?” I ask.

She nods again, “Yes, but she said I need to learn the basics of Soul and Blood magic first.”

“All right, I can teach you both of those.”

As we continue onward, we get off the highway at what used to be Exit 249. One thing I like about Indiana is that the highway isn’t above the regular streets or anything, so it isn’t exactly hard to get off the highway. We walk over towards the Lakes of the Four Seasons, straight down the street. According to the map we have, only slightly updated from the Change, the community here has set themselves up on what was once essentially an island in the middle of the Lakes, however the Lakes have certainly grown since then.

As we get closer, we start seeing the fishmen. Fishmen are honestly more like goblins than actual men, but they are amphibious, and their heads are more like an actual fish head than anything else. Except the teeth on these guys remind me more of piranhas than any normal fish.

“Careful,” Alyssa says, “These guys are almost exactly like goblins, they prefer to swarm weak opponents, and with them this close to the community there must be something going on. On their own, on land, these guys are cowards.”

We all take a moment and arm up before going any further. We’ve only seen a few small groups of these fishmen, but if they are just like goblins, for them to be this close to a community of humans is not only rare, but signifies that there is a bigger problem here.

This is actually my first time seeing everyone in their “battle gear”. It’s not exactly convenient to wear for extended amounts of time, though I am surprised that the four of them put up together to purchase a decent sized bag of holding. Then I realize that some of the relevant questions Alyssa asked me before we left make more sense now. She was asking what gear I used or would want to store to see if I wanted to chip in for the bag.

“Guys,” I say quietly, “Next time let me know you’re going to buy a bag of holding. I can make them with Bone Magic.”

They all pause as they look at me, and I admit, I blush.

Alyssa sighs, “How many do you have?”

“Ummm, three?” I say, feeling kind of bad about this, “But I only actually use one of them. The other two are for necromancy supplies. Bones and Blood. But my main bag, is only about a quarter filled. Though it does have a good amount of food as well.”

The three newest members of our group look at me, while Alyssa holds her head in her hands. I kind of, well, blush harder. I can actually feel my face getting redder, which is rather impressive in my head.

Then John laughs, “Well, at least we don’t have to worry too much about expenses, right? If we can all produce our own bags of holding, our storage capability will be simply monstrous!”

The other benefit of this is it eases the tension, and I can actually take a look at the equipment of my party.

John is quite obviously the Tank. He’s got a fairly plain steel breastplate, which is clearly fitted for him. His other pieces of armor, including steel greaves, bracers, and a helmet, are more ornate, having some Celtic knot designs on them. His round shield also has the Celtic Trinity symbol on it, and his sword seems to be just a bit better than your average steel longsword.

Jessie on the other hand, is quite clearly an agility fighter. Not a rogue, but someone who is capable of darting in and out of combat quickly. She’s wearing several pieces of leather, namely a rather unique looking leather vest, that reminds me of a corset, but more aimed at protection than making her look good. Her leather pants have some studs at her knees and her shins, while her only defense as far as I can tell is a larger bracer on her left arm, which looks like a cross between a bracer and a buckler.

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Erin is interesting, as she is also clearly an agility fighter, but on the stealth side of that equation. She has a pair of katana like swords that sit at the small of her back, horizontally, and as she takes off her cloak, I notice that she’s not actually wearing armor, but a ninja Gi. Covers everything, though you can tell she’s a woman still, and a dangerous one at that, as I notice she has more throwing stars and knives than I had originally thought.

Alyssa pulls a compound bow out of the bag, quickly stringing it like she’s done this a million times. She’s the only one who was already wearing her armor, as she has a leather “ranger’s” coat. It carries all the supplies she might possibly want, and is still comfortable enough to wear in most situations. Her coat doesn’t have any actual sleeves on it, though the long sleeve shirt she wears under it complements nicely.

All in all, while our party might be small right now, all of us do know our business. I get ready by pulling out a small bag of knuckle bones that have a variety of three spells on them. The first spell, Bone Crack, does literally that. It’s essentially a Bone Magic Cantrip, but it requires that you touch the target. That’s why I put them on knuckle bones. The second spell is an old favorite, Acid Blood. I don’t have too many of those left, as it requires the blood from a venomous snake, and when I picked up the spell I got lucky with a former pet store that had been overrun by goblins.

Anyway, the last spell was one that I hadn’t tried yet, called Blood Scarab. Essentially the highest spell I had learned directly from Anubis, the Blood Scarab was a spell that scared the shit out of me. When the knuckle hit a viable target, which disturbingly was anything that required blood, the spell would activate, creating a small scarab. That scarab would burrow into the skin of the target, feasting on the blood, and then multiply. The catch was that it would then spread to any other targets, including possibly the caster, that shared the original targets type of blood.

Thankfully, as Anubis explained it, monsters were different enough from humans that if I hit a monster with it, the scarabs would only go after other monsters. However, after ten minutes, the scarabs would die anyway. But that was ten minutes per scarab. So using it right now might not be a great idea. The one and only time I used this spell before was on a Troll, and I was frankly horrified. Largely because the Troll was alive until the scarabs had finished.

After that I told myself to only use it in case of emergency.

As we finish up our preparations, I also pull out my bone knives, though I leave them in their sheaths and just strap them onto my arms, the easiest place for them to be. They kind of look like bracers, and at least for me, I know they’re quick to reach if I need them.

I know it isn’t practical, especially after Erin looks at me like I’m an idiot, but putting them on my belt, or something like that is just more impractical for me.

“Dan,” Alyssa says, after watching me put my bone knives on, “After this, let me but together some straps you can wear around your chest or something.”

I nod, “That would be appreciated. Before this, I didn’t have a group, so I would go in with both knives in hand, or just one, and a handful of knuckle bones with spells on them. Now that I’m part of a group, I know my position is going to be at the back or the middle, not on the front line, so while I want them handy, I don’t need them out.”

Everyone nods, slightly appreciative of the reasoning I guess.

As we slide out of our hiding place where we were getting ready, a smallish building in front of an old catholic church, we get back onto the road. The Fishmen appear to be solely focused on looting the former town that was here before the Change, and we only end up fighting two of the small groups as we pass it by.

All of us are sure that there is probably a larger group in the town, but first we have to find the community to see if this is the monster we’re supposed to be fighting, or if there is something more.

The two small groups we fight go down quickly, each one only being about ten fishmen. The Bone Break spell is apparently extremely effective on the fishmen, as each one that I hit with it didn’t just break a bone, but broke their spines. At least I quickly put them out of their misery. Just a guess, but they must be a lot more like fish than I had thought, and the majority of their bones are probably actually hardened cartilage, which isn’t affected by the spell. But apparently their spines are actual bone, judging by what happens.

We cut through a Walgreens parking lot, across the street to the former Rees Funeral Home, and follow the parking lot there back around to a small former community area. Making a path through the former fences of the houses in this area, we quickly make it to the overgrown green of a golf course, that obviously hasn’t been cared for since the Change.

“Hey,” we hear suddenly, and all of us instantly turn towards the sound, weapons up, and ready to fight. Erin covers our backs, in case of an ambush, and John steps up in front of everyone. The speed with which we fall into a combat formation impresses me, as well as the small group that is looking at us, mouth’s agape.

The group looking at us are clearly humans, though they’ve seen better days. Two of the men in the group are holding bows, trained at us, while a third holds up his hands in a placating gesture. I look inside the house that they’re clearly using as a base or something and see several more faces, some old, some not. Most clearly male, but a few women as well.

All together, I’d say they have probably twenty people here.

I say, “John, why don’t you be spoke person. Most groups have the guardian fill that role anyway, I don’t see a reason to break from tradition here.” He nods as he sheathes his sword, and Alyssa drops her bow. I notice the clear look of relief on one of the archers faces across the way, but on the other’s face is a look of greed and lust.

We’ll need to deal with that. But first…

“We’re the Dead Enders, Adventuring group out of Chicago. Are you people from the Lakes of the Four Seasons Community?”

“Yes,” says the middle aged man at the front, “Thank the Gods you’re here. We need some serious help.”