Snow mixed with ash fell from the sky as the host of warriors came back from a battle against the Ubilaz. He saw it first, the black pillars of smoke creeping up to the sky, grotesquely in contrast with the white clouds. Below them are the burning houses of the village. Ansgar came beside him, the old warrior cried something but he could not hear him, the screams of their people deafening everything. He tried to run to their village, to his family, but he could not move. He tried to say something, to order his warriors to charge and save their people, but he could not talk. Ansgar turned to his chief, his crying stops, but the visage that faces him wasn't that of the old warrior, instead it is the faceless head of a man. Skull grinning, muscles dripping blood. Empty voids stared where the eyes were. There is something evil within those voids, something that is hungry, and it is calling on to him. "Thou... Shall... Remember... Me..." the lipless mouth said in a voice that envelopes him and everything around him. It closes on to him. Devouring his flesh and bones leaving nothing behind.

Volkhard jolted on his bed gasping, cold sweat covered his body. He sat up slowly and looked around the unfamiliar place he found himself in and remembers they're in an inn. He saw Rocco playing chess on a table with one of the laborers named Pavlos. The laborer stared at Volkhard grimly. Volkhard tucked his blanket away and sat on the bed's edge, head drowsy from sleep. He tried to move his left shoulder, the one that was hit by the mace, it's still stiff as a plank. He eye the dwarf, notice the stitched wound on his head turning to scar "Got up early Roc?" he asked

"Not early, it's seven in the morning Volk" the dwarf replied.

"Shit I oversleep, why didn't you wake me up?"

"Nothing really much worth doing today, Lia told us to rest from the last day's event" Rocco said, moving his knight and taking two pawns and a bishop from Pavlo's. The laborer hiss in annoyance. "And anyway it looks like you needed the extra sleep" he looks at Volkhard with hard eyes and asks "Was it the nightmare again?"

"It was, this time it's Ansgar" Volkhard answered, his shoulders sagged. It had been long since he last remembered the old warrior. "Anyway where's the others gone to?" he interjected, trying to change the subject.

"Till and Hagen are shopping at the market while boss Lia and Arnulf go to someplace called the library of fortune. Thilo is with the other laborers checking on their injuries, in fact you should probably have your's checked too."

Volkhard touches his stitched wounds, the long one on his chest hurts the most as he carefully pokes at it. "Yeah, I'll go and do that" he said and left the bed walking toward the room's door, exiting it and going downstairs.

Once sure that the sound of Volkhard's footstep are far Pavlos asked "What was it with his nightmare all about?"

"It's none of your business Pav and you better not ask it again" Rocco answered sternly, "And focus on the game" he added and took another two pieces from Pavlos.

"Damn it, how come you're better in chess than I do?"

Rocco grinned at him and said "Just a lot of practice."

After Thilo had cast a healing-wound spell for his injuries, Volkhard went to grab something to eat. As he promised to Till last night the inn they dump in offers a wide array of appetizing foods. He ordered a roast duck and a beef stew and a big chug of beer, but before his food arrived though he noticed the other resident of the inn looking at him. Each one shows a different mixture of suspicion and fear in their face, even the waitress who had taken his order looked scared of him. Whether it's because of his burned face or because he was an Agrug Volkhard couldn't tell. *Or maybe it's both* he thought dourly, *A big scary and uncivilized Agrug with a burned face has come to your land to steal your wives and ruin your breakfast! Fear me!* He chuckled at his thought not too quietly and it made the people around him even more nervous.

One particular customer caught his eye, a woman in strange clothes that looks like a mix between a dress and a suit, she was staring right at him, face blank of emotions unlike the rest. Upon a closer inspection, Volkhard realized that it was a man... no a woman... wait. Volkhard was suddenly confused. The stranger stood up and went to his table, sitting down in the chair opposite him. The stranger's emerald green eyes stared at Volkhard like a predator accessing its prey. Volkhard stared back with his one eye, undaunted but troubled by what this stranger wanted.

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"Greetings, mister" the stranger said in a melodious voice that somehow sounds both effeminate and masculine.

"Greetings to you too, what do you want?" Volkhard asked.

A placid smile formed on the stranger's thin lips "Ah, direct and to the point without any posturing, that's a rare trait in Osmela, I like it!" the stranger said "Well let me be direct also, my name is Tasos and I am a scientist."

The word sounds foreign to Volkhard's ear and he furrowed his left brow, baffled "What's a scientist?"

"Well scientists are people who perform science, who else?"

Volkhard furrowed his brow even more, biting back annoyance he asked again "Then what is science, is that another branch of magic?"

Tasos' eyes brightened, and smiled once more "No it is not, but in many ways it parallels the arcane arts except that instead of the study and application of the metaphysic that revolves around our world science is the study and application of the physical properties of the world." Tasos said in the tone of a teacher toward an idiotic pupil.

Volkhard didn't like it. "If that's so then let me ask again, what do you want from me?"

"Now we come to the heart of our conversation" Tasos replied "You are an Agrug am I right?"

"I am." Volkhard answered.

"And from your appearance you've come to face combat. Am I correct?"

"What does it look like?" he said, angling the burned side of his face toward the stranger.

Tasos slumped back on his chair, emerald eyes accessing him yet again for a long time "I'm in need of warriors" Tasos finally said.

"You should have said that earlier. I thought you'd be direct?"

"Again, directness is a trait rare in Osmela, but I digress. I'm in need of warriors yes, but specifically Agrug warriors''

That caught Volkhard interest, and his distrust of the stranger grew "Why Agrug specifically?"

"I am currently in the preparation process for a study and it requires experience of Agrug warriors, I'm not actually a resident of Phanide, the town is only a detour for my travel in search for such men I'll need"

"Then what is it you're studying?" Volkhard asked, voice soft in that way that scares the bandit leader atop that hill. It didn't seem to work on Tasos though.

"My study pertains to the creatures I believe your race refer to as Ubilaz"

It have taken every fiber of Volkhard not to jump away from Tasos, for someone to speak about the Ubilaz so casually like that, it sickens him. He eye the stranger and found understanding and sympathy in those two emeralds, enough to calm him to talk again.

"You want to study the Ubilaz?" Volkhard said through grated teeth "Why the fuck would anyone wants to learn anything from those monsters?"

Tasos head bowed down as if in supplication "As of now their had been reports of Ubilaz attacks beyond the republic's border of Agrug and many more are coming." Volkhard froze. Seeing him tense, Tasos continued with a gentle note of that melodious voice. "With the war still raging on between the republic and Nascus and the continued threat of the bandits, the forces of Osmela are spent, that is why I'm hiring sellswords for this job." Their is an impression of finality to Tasos' voice, something that can't be denied "So I am asking you for the final time, would you take my offer? I promise that you'll be payed most handsomely."

Volkhard didn't said anything, still shaken from all this information, *The Ubilaz here in Osmela, how on earth is that even possible?* he thought. *What should I tell the crew? How can I tell them?*

"I see you're in an indecision, oh well if you change your mind then here's my card it has the address of the location I'll be staying in, good bye mister Volkhard."

Tasos last word pulled Volkhard out of his reverie "How the fuck did you know my name?"

Tasos smiled at Volkhard for the last time and he went to the door leaving the inn without saying anything. Moments later Volkhard food arrived, carried by the waitress that quickly left his periphery. Volkhard don't feel hungry anymore but he still force the foods and beer down his mouth lest they get waisted. He notices Tasos card below the plate of beef stew, the stew's soup stained the small piece of paper like fresh blood. Carefully Volkhard takes it, wiping the stain on his pants, and places the paper on his pocket all the while contemplating what he should do.