Erevan walks through the snow, approaching the mouth of the cave outside Arfall. He leans back, cupping his hands to his mouth, and yells into the cave mouth.

“Hvardrik! I’ve come to bargain.” Erevan his ballista down and leans against it.

Within seconds Anna is bursting out of the cave and wrapping Erevan in a hug.

“Hey, what the hell.” He raises his hands up looking down at Anna.

“You were gone for longer than you said.” Anna pushes away from Erevan. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“Alright, then you should come on my next quest with me.” Erevan says. “Things have settled down in Yokind-burg. Are you ready to come back?”

“I am.” Anna nods.

“Leaving already?” Hvardrik calls to them as he walks out of the cave.

“Change out of your pajamas and come to town so we can have a drink.” Erevan says.

“Agh, alright.” Hvardrik waves his hands.

The necromancer will walk back into the cave as Erevan talks with Anna. He explains the two jobs he went on, the detours he made, and the people he met. Anna smiles and nods, interrupting to ask questions now and again. Hvardrik eventually rejoins them wearing commoners' clothing. A simple wool shirt and gray breeches.

“Let's go.” Hvardrik says.

“Were those robes really pajamas?” Anna asks.

“I have other robes to sleep in.” He answers.

The three walk to the town of Arfall and enter the bar The Frost Stop. The three of them take a seat at the bar. The bartender eyes them warily.

“No monsters this time.” Erevan says holding a hand up passively.

“Just want to get shitfaced.” Hvardrik says with a smile.

“Alright, that’ll be six silver for the lot of you.” The bartender says.

“No, your furniture is all wrecked, and your stocks are low. I’ll give you a hundred gold.” Erevan puts a bag on the counter.

“I could furnish this place with just a couple gold.” The man stumbles on his words.

“Well, furnish the damn place then. And serve us some drinks while you’re at it.” Erevan smiles.

“Alright, sirs and madam.” The bar keep grabs three pints and fills them with dark northern ale.

“You never explained how you lot and a couple villagers killed three werewolves.” Hvardrik asks as the three drinks are set down on the bar.

“Four. There were four dead werewolves.” The bartender says as he grabs the bag of gold.

“Right.” Hvardrik smiles knowing the fourth is trapped at his home.

“I was going to ask you, since Anna might be adventuring with me, if you were interested.” Erevan asks.

“In adventuring? Hell no. I don’t want to die for some pyramid scheme of murder hobos.” The necromancer takes a swig of his ale.

“Pyramid scheme?” Erevan scoffs. “No, there’s just a lot of applicants, and you slowly move up the ranks, so there are few people on top and more on bottom.”

“Pyramid.” Anna whispers.

“Triangle at best.” Erevan turns to her. “Don’t gang up on me. I’m very sensitive.”

“Bullshit.” Hvardrik coughs.

“What, you think I’m not a kind soul with an easy to bruise heart?” Erevan feigns injury to his ego.

“Here let's settle this. Bartender! What was the first thing Erevan did when you met him?” Hvardrik waves for the man.

“He took a job, killed a yeti, and brought proof back of the kill.” The bartender explains.

“And then?” Hvardrik waves his hand for the man to continue.

“Well then he murdered two men in my bar.” The bartender looks over at the splintering hole in the middle of the bar counter.

“I will fix that counter right now.” Erevan huffs as he lifts himself out of his seat.

“Oh, he’s going to use Arcane Mending. He sucks at this.” Hvardrik rubs his hands together excitedly.

Erevan walks over to where his ballista had his the counter. He focuses on the wood and starts to gather arcane energy as he focuses on the spot.

A wave of energy washes over the tavern. Giving the bartender a headache, causing Hvardrik and Anna to visibly flinch, and hits Erevan.

The arcane energy in his hands disappears. He lifts a hand towards the bar, moving one step shakily, before he falls back onto the ground. Erevan’s helmet rolls away from his head. His vision blurs and he can’t breathe. Anna watches as his eyes roll back and foam starts to come out of his sputtering mouth.

Hvardrik drops to the ground next to him and cradles his head. He shushes Erevan as he tries to lift him slightly. Hvardrik takes out a handkerchief and puts it between Erevan’s teeth.

“Come on, breath, just stay with me.” Hvardrik says.

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Erevan hears the words echo as he finds himself staring into darkness, into oblivion, as he floats in an endless void. He hears a musical tune in the distance, melodic and sweet. The music fades, and then Erevan’s eyes open. Hvardrik is holding him. Anna is bent over him, her hands on his neck checking his pulse.

“What happened?” Erevan asks. He raises his hand and wipes spit off his face.

“You collapsed.” Hvardrik says..

“I think something bad is happening.” Erevan says as he grabs his helmet and pulls it on.

“Why?” Hvardrik stands up and helps Erevan to his feet.

“I had a vision.” Erevan says.

“What kind?” Anna asks.

“An omen of some sort. There was only oblivion and a song playing. Sounded nice, like a love song.” Erevan replies.

“Why would that be an omen?” Hvardrik scoffs.

“Because love and hate are the most powerful things in the world.” Erevan responds straight faced.

“Really? So you carry a four hundred pound ballista with you because Love is so powerful?” Hvardrik says.

The sounds of dogs barking and stomping hooves reaches Erevan’s ears. He quickly runs to the window, taking a peak out. There are dogs, cows, chicken; all of the town's domestic animals running wild in the street. Fleeing in any direction. One cow bursts into a home, another dog digs underneath a house to hide, a chicken flies through an open window into the tavern.

“What are all those animals doing?” Anna mutters.

“They heard it too. The melody, the omen of the end.” Erevan says.

“Are you going crazy?” Hvardrik asks.

“Yeah, but that's unrelated.” Erevan says.

“I’m going to go to Yokind-burg and figure out what’s going on. I’ll be back for you two if I find anything out.” Erevan nods to the two.

“Good luck.” Anna calls out after him as he grabs his ballista and runs to the town’s waystone.

Teleporting into Yokind-Burg he makes his way through the city streets to the tavern, Valhalla. Guards rush past him heading towards the outskirts of the town. As he walks he notices a few animals hiding under various pieces of buildings or trash. As Erevan opens the door to the tavern a goat pushes past him, running inside.

“Close the door!” The tavern keeper yells.

Erevan closes the door behind him and makes his way to the bar.

“I need to see the adventuring guild contact.” Erevan says.

“He’s in the back with the other adventurers.” The tavern keeper says.

Erevan walks through the back door and spots the half-orc pouring over a map. Crenshaw is in the room. Along with a few adventurers. Mostly Yokind-vikings but two stand out; a man with red skin and devil horns as well as a female orc in tribal garb.

“Good, the ballista man is here. I want you all up to speed. The town of Asar was invaded by the town of Fjoll. There Jarl’s have never liked each other and this conflict had been brewing for a while. An adventuring party was dispatched to end the conflict by any means. They were Steel rank. Three ranks higher than anyone in this room. Practically the best we had. Most of them are dead.” The half-orc pauses.

“There was some creature there. They said it was as pale as snow and used shadows as weapons. Two adventurers made it out. Fjoll’s forces retreated. Asar’s inhabitants have fled south. All are infected by some plague. On top of that there was a psychic wave that emanated from the monster. Now all the beasts and monster are on high alert. We are already receiving news of entire monster dens leaving their territories to attack villages.” The half-orc raises a hand to his head.

“I need each of you to take a team of contractors with you and defend a village.” The half-orc will point to the map. “Yokind-Burg is fine, the cities are defended, there are twenty-three towns, fifty-three villages, and countless more hamlets.”

“I have people in Arfall.” Erevan will say. The others turn and look at him.

“Then by all means protect Arfall. Would you like to see a list of the contractors?” The half-orc asks.

“No, send me five crows, the best craftsman you have.” Erevan says.

“Send them to you?” The half-orc looks up.

“Yes, have them meet me at the waystone, I need to go purchase lumber.” Erevan nods to the group before turning and leaving.

Erevan rolls his shoulders as he leaves the tavern and walks through the streets. He needs to get that thing off his mind. Pale white skin, black tendrils made of shadows, and no face. There was no reason he should have lived unless he wasn’t the target. There had to have been someone that creature would have wanted to kill in Asar. Perhaps a Diabolist.

Erevan loads his sled up with lots of lumber, tools, and some metal. Some raw metal, some nails, screws, hinges, anything he thought he might need. The hunter dragged it all back to the waystone where he encountered five crows waiting for him.

“Circle up! Put a hand on me! And don’t throw up when you are dragged through the portal.” Erevan calls out to the group.

“Yes sir.” One particularly large crow says.

The group follows suit, one grabbing Erevan’s shoulder, and the rest forming a chain. Erevan touches the waystone and teleports to Arfall. The others go with him. The town seems clear for now. Erevan will drag the sled to the tavern and bring the crows in. There are two patrons at the bar and the tavern keeper.

“Tavern keep!” Erevan walks in with five crows behind him. “Let these five know what furniture you need. They have half a ton of lumber outside, and the tools to craft into what you need.”

“Do you need the gold back?” The tavern keeper gulps.

“Nah, keep it.” Erevan waves him off as he turns to his team. “You five, build what the man needs you to.”

Erevan will leave the tavern and head to Hvardrik’s cave. Being let in by an undead yeti this time. Walking down into the cavern he will note the new jail made of stone. Through the slits in the stone he can vaguely make out the shape of a man. Erevan will walk up to the jail and crouch in front of it.

“You know you tried to kill my sister.” Erevan will state in a low tone.

“Fuck you.” The man inside will say with a heavy tribal accent.

“Agh, a true Yokind-Viking. I am guessing you were pushed down from your homeland near The Withering Gate.” Erevan comments.

“You don’t know shit about me.” The man spits.

“You're right. That's why I’m going to dissect you while you’re alive. Figure out how you tick.” Erevan will stand and turn to leave.

“Wait! I’ll tell you whatever you want.” The man begs.

Erevan pauses, thinking about the man’s offer, but shakes his head with a smile. The hunter keeps walking towards the keep. The gate is already open. He’ll walk in to find Anna concentrating, looking very focused, while staring at a severed hand.

The armored hunter will wait a few seconds, watching her intently, as she mutters something under her breath. The hand twitches before seizing with rigor mortis. Erevan whistles as if thoroughly impressed.

“Don’t tease me.” Anna says.

“Not teasing. You are picking this all up way too fast.” Erevan says. “I’m getting scared of you.”

“Oh shut up.” She stands and turns to look at her brother. “Any news.”

“A lot of shit went down. Adventuring guild wants me to build defenses for Arfall.” Erevan says.

“Did I hear you right?” Hvardrik walks into the room holding a tiny cup of tea. “They want one man to defend an entire village.”

“I have five craftsmen back at the tavern.” Erevan corrects him.

“The best they could find, right?” Hvardrik asks.

“Five barely trained Crows.” Erevan replies with a straight face.

“Fuck off.” Hvardrik sits down and sips his tea.

“Right, so send your undead out, get me more lumber, and let me borrow your forge. We can hire the troglodytes to mine iron.” Erevan says.

“The troglodytes? I haven’t talked to them in months. They’re so reclusive.” Hvardrik whines.

“Offer them tattoo’s. I’ll go to town and buy you more supplies.” Erevan shrugs.

“Deal!” Hvardrik throws a hand forward and the two shake on it.