Val and I charged after Lore back into the main building of the witchfinder village, back to where we’d been spending the evening playing cards. When we spilled into the room, I was surprised to find both that the table had been upturned, and that there was no trouble in sight.

‘What?’ I asked, my head whipping around the room. ‘What is it? What’s going on?’

‘Yeah, couldn’t you have chosen a different moment to—’ Val began.

‘They are here,’ Corminar said. ‘The witchfinders. They remain.’

Val’s face paled. ‘Where?’

‘Just here!’ Lore said. ‘In the room!’

Everyone went quiet as Val and I looked around. ‘...Where?’ I asked, repeating Val’s earlier question.

‘You no listen. They here.’

I blinked at Arzak, still completely lost. ‘Was it me and Val drinking, or was it you lot?’

Val waved the empty wine bottle to show support in this line of questioning, though her expression remained concerned.

‘They weren’t… here,’ Aiwin suddenly said.

‘You all just said the exact opposite,’ Val retorted.

A dark look flashed across Aiwin’s face. ‘If you would listen for a moment…’

‘Listen, it’s a simple enough question: was there or wasn’t there a witchfinder in here?’

‘Yes,’ Arzak, Corminar and Lore said, at the very same moment that Aiwin said, ‘Almost.’

‘Almost?’ Val repeated. ‘What in the hells does that mean, almost?’

‘It was as though they were here, and they weren’t,’ Aiwin explained. They turned to the other three. ‘Did you not see?’

‘Was dark,’ Arzak said.

‘I saw only a silhouette,’ Corminar agreed with the orc. ‘Wearing a long coat, as the witchfinders do, but a silhouette none the less.’

‘Are you telling me you all got spooked by a shadow?’ I asked. ‘I know we’re in a creepy old building and all that, but I thought you lot would know better than that.’

‘There was figure! In corner!’ Arzak protested, pointing to a doorway at the other side of the room—one which led into a hallway into which the light of the full moon spilled through a window.

‘You’re seeing things,’ I said. ‘There’s nobody here; we would’ve found them by now if there was. Seriously, you lot, I thought you’d not get frightened by a bit of darkness here, a squeaky floorboard there… You probably just saw me or Val outside.’

Lore shook his head. ‘No, you two were sitting together. This person was standing. Alone.’

‘A tree, then, or a bird, I dunno.’ I cast a glance at the still-pale Val, hoping my words would reassure her, being a witch in a witchfinder’s den, and all that. ‘There are no witchfinders here, alright? Get back to your game.’

Lore looked down at the upturned table, and the cards and coins scattered across the floor. ‘But how will we know who was winning?’

‘You were,’ Arzak and Corminar said at the same time.

‘Oh, really?’ Lore replied, scratching at the back of his head, apparently slowly coming around to the idea that we weren’t under attack after all. ‘I just thought—’

Another shriek cut through the quiet.

Upon hearing it for a second time, I realised there was no mistaking it. This was no fellhawk. This was, without a doubt, human.’

It was my turn to have my face grow pale.

‘Nobody here?’ Aiwin repeated, eyes on me. ‘Are you sure?’

Val took a step closer to me, her gaze fixed on the door.

‘Mm,’ Arzak said. ‘Was elf.’

‘It was human, darling,’ Corminar corrected her. ‘Elves do not shriek.’

‘Not often…’ Aiwin muttered.

Nobody moved for a moment, and nobody said a word until Lore finally gathered the courage. ‘Should we…?’

‘We have two options presented to us,’ Corminar replied. ‘Either we confront our fears and understand the nature of the scream, or we cower here and we wonder. I believe I know which option I prefer.’ He stepped towards the door, but Aiwin reached out to grab his arm.

‘Together,’ they said.

Lore and Arzak pursued the pair of elves out of the room, leaving just me and Val left alone. I moved to follow, but spared a glance at Val that stopped me in my tracks.

I’d always seen Val as this incredibly resilient woman, someone who could rarely be touched by either word or blade. In this moment, though, I saw her pale face and her hands clasped tightly together, as though to stop them from shaking. The loudmouth wasn’t here right now; all I saw in front of me was a terrified young woman.

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‘What if it’s them?’ she asked. ‘What if they’re back? What if they realise what I am?’

‘Val…’

‘No, don’t say it like that,’ the witch replied. ‘Don’t say it like it’s irrational, or something not worth thinking about. You know what they do to us, don’t you? They don’t just kill, they exterminate. And they take great glee in it.’

‘That wasn’t what I was going to say,’ I told her, meeting her eyes. ‘I was going to say that there isn’t one of us who wouldn’t die keeping the others safe. They might pretend otherwise, but—’

‘Aiwin would sell me out at the first opportunity,’ Val cut in. ‘I think they know what I am. You’ve seen the way they look at—’

More noise erupted from outside, this more of the shouty “we’re under attack” kind than the terrified shriek we’d heard previously. At this, the sound of our friend in trouble, Val and I turned and bolted for the door.

We charged out into the centre of the encampment, where we saw our four friends staring at the dark treeline.

‘What is it?’ I cried out as we ran to approach.

‘Witch!’ Aiwin shouted, pointing to a figure stepping out from between the trees.

Val stumbled almost imperceptibly. Her wide eyes shot to the approaching figure, before hardening. ‘That’s no witch. That’s a hag.’

‘Same thing,’ the elf responded, their mouth warping into a snarl. ‘Both use Witchcraft. Both are—’

‘Aiwin,’ Corminar said, cutting them off. ‘We must concentrate.’

The hag stepped into the light of the moon. It was a strange creature, humanoid but definitely not human, being that its limbs were scrawny and bulbous in all the wrong places. It had covered itself in drooping moss, which blended in with its long black hair to give an overall slimy impression. That Val wouldn’t want to be compared to one of these was completely understandable.

The hag twitched its head to one side as it set its eyes upon each of us in turn, and then it growled, its voice deep. Up until this moment, it had crossed my mind that this hag was the source of the shriek, but now that I’d heard its voice… there was no way. Whoever had shrieked was still out there.

‘Do you think she is going to…’ Aiwin started, staring the creature down.

‘It,’ Val corrected them, resulting in a raised eyebrow from the elf. ‘Not “she”.’

‘Is that really your concern in this moment?’ the elf retorted.

‘I just think it’s important to be accurate with our—’

‘Enough,’ Arzak barked at the pair of them. ‘Be quiet. Noise make it angry.’

I looked over at the hag again, the creature still lurking at the edge of the treeline, its black eyes stabbing at us. ‘How intelligent are they?’ I asked.

‘They’re not witches,’ Val said again, ‘they’re—’

‘Hags, yes, I know. How intelligent are hags?’

Val shrugged. ‘Some smart, some dumb, just like any creatures. This one could be as smart as me, or they could be as smart as you.’ I didn’t need to ask which end of the spectrum I’d landed on in this scenario. ‘Why?’

I nodded to the hag again. ‘Cos I think that one is working out how to attack us.’ I glanced at Lore, checking he had his sword in his hands. ‘Big guy?’

‘Yeah?’ the barbarian replied.

‘We’re gonna strike first. You ready?’

Lore adjusted his grip on the Bane Sword. ‘Ready.’

I nodded. Then, with the flick of two wrists—one hand pointing to the ground at Lore’s feet, the other to the air above the hag—I opened a portal.

The barbarian swung his great sword downwards as he fell towards the beast, this move already having proven to do enough damage to severely injure all but the strongest people. He roared as he did so—Lore couldn’t resist a good roar when he was swinging his sword; I think he found extra strength in it—and the hag looked upwards just in time to see the blade shooting towards it.

And then it blinked out of existence.

The six of us fell silent.

‘Err…’ I said.

‘Val?’ Corminar prompted her.

She shrugged. ‘It’s a hag.’

‘Which means…’

‘Which means it can travel between the material and ethereal planes?’ she replied, her tone seeming to imply that we were stupid. ‘Did you not go to school?’

OK, maybe her words were implying we were stupid, too.

‘So it’s gone?’

Val made a show of looking over my shoulder. ‘No. It just means it’s behind you.’

I spun around just in time to see two long-clawed hands swiping towards me.

At last—another worthy opponent.

"Styk"

Level 12 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 26

Intelligence — 115

Dexterity — 47

Strength — 50

Wisdom — 32

Charisma — 14

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 27

Knifework — Level 23

Identification — Level 10

Stealth — Level 9

Needlework — Level 7

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Basic Cloth Armour — Craft basic cloth armour, quality dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%