When Helena and Michel returned to Hor it was not exactly with much fanfare at first. The story of what had happened was told and retold to as many people who wanted to hear it, but only Yorich and the adventuring teams took it fully seriously at first. A message had been sent to Baron Hercalius by the Mayor, but few serious preparations had been done beyond that.

That was until the word of the entire logging camp disappeared and messages coming from several farms about the strange sickness that had began to appear which seemed to mirror the one Michel had suffered. With those news the leadership of Hor had to accept the reality that the threat in the woods was far more present than they had believed.

Runners were sent out to warn the other farms in the area to either evacuate to Hor or up to Baron Heraclius' fortress. The adventurers were banned from all places where alcohol was served in Hor and put to work. Young Men and Women were driven into the militia. Every Midwife, Healer, Acolyte, and somewhat herbwise old people were drafted to begin the work if more sick people turned up. As the ones who had appeared on the farms had disappeared shortly after the messages about them had come to Hor.

Baron Heraclius himself rode down to Hor to be there and help lead through the crisis and he appeared with a good selection of his personal guard. The lone Sorcerer that wasn't an adventurer in Hor was ordered to begin inspecting the pallisades and begin laying down protective magic around the town. That said Sorcerer was not at all qualified for this and spent most of his time enchanting locks and casting magic to protect or rid wood of insects and fungal infestations was dismissed as an irrelevant argument.

Every Acolyte connected to the temple of Old Yoss was recalled to the temple to help prepare for a much more somber festival than what had first been planned, while the people who served other gods were busy preparing to aid with the healing work to come. Yorich had lined up all 6 Acolytes who served the local god after having recalled 5 of them from their work out amongst the hamlets and farmsteads that supported Hor.

"A great crisis is upon us, the Priests of the other gods care but not like we do. Their gods are not focused on this area like our god is. We must protect his ancestral land and his descendants from the enemy from the forest. Which is why we must work extra hard and show more devotion than anybody else."

Yorich had began speech while pacing back and forth inside of the small temple dedicated to his deity. Helena was somewhat impressed that the usually rather taciturn man who was her master could actually string together more than a few sentences, let alone do an actual speech.

"We are not healers or soldiers, we are workers and we must work. I want each and every one of you out and helping to prepare for what is to come with whatever you can come with. Even if it is just helping the ones being evacuated with carrying their goods into the town. Go out and start working, Helena you will come with me however, as your definition of work is taking two extra naps instead of four."

The remaining Acolytes were sent out and then Yorich waved Helena with him as he began making his way towards the home of the Mayor. Helena didn't receive an explanation exactly for why the two of them were going there beyond.

"Meeting, shut up and listen while it goes on."

But she did not have an issue with figuring out why he had brought her along. She and Michel were the only ones who had seen anything of the enemy in the woods. All the people who had become sick were not attacked by monsters at all, some of them had been bitten by insects apparently, but no monster attacks or anything else that was worthy of suspicion.

The house was big but nothing overly luxurious by the standards of Hor. Inside the plain common room was filled to the brim with the most important people from the area. Baron Heraclius and two of his advisors, Elarma who represented the two adventuring teams and their guild as a whole, Horlm, Erik, and Morn who were notable elders in the farming communities, Mayor Henrikson, Hans Reglis the Sorcerer of Hor, and Amfrid the Gossip...for some reason.

When the two of them entered the Baron was the first to speak. He was a powerful looking man with the bearing and markings of someone who had been to many a battlefield in their time, an angular scar went from his cheek down to his chin, and he had several scars along his forehead which probably came from arrows. His hair was what drew Helenas attention, however, it was the most powerful and lustrous mane of hair she had ever seen. It looked like it belonged on a lion rather than on any human being.

"So, we are all gathered. Yorich I want to hear the girl tell us about what we can expect to come out of the forest."

Yorich gave the man a sour look before he nodded and pushed Helena forwards. Her eyes had to meet the burning brown eyes of the Baron as she began to stammer forth her story.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Well...erm M-M-Michel and I were doing the forest run before the big festival. We had harvested most of what we needed when we were attacked by this big bee...spider...erm insect monster thing! The two of us fought it and it was really fast and durable, but we killed it by having it coiled in wheat and set on fire. Then Michel fired arrow after arrow after arrow into it just to make sure it didn't survive the fire. It hit him over the course of the fight and poisoned him."

"How long did it take before the poison made its presence felt?"

"Eh...it took a couple of hours and he managed to fight it for the rest of the night until this old lady named Gunnvor healed him. She had to do all sorts of magic and use many herbs to do it. I felt the thing and it was not a normal disease, there was a power working inside of his body. It was evil and it made me want to puke every time I felt it working through his body."

The Baron nodded consideringly and waved her aside as he found a chair again and he waited before speaking up.

"Clearly, this is not the work of a single monster that a novice Acolyte and a normal Woodsman could kill in combat. I would like for us to just hunker down here or in my fortress, but we have no real knowledge of what we are facing. That healer would be useful but if she hasn't shown herself in all that time then I fear the worst. However, if we do what I am about to propose then know that it will be incredibly dangerous."

He took a moment to let his word sink in before he turned to look at Hans and Elarma.

"How much have you been able to do for the fortifications, and are your adventurers ready to fight?"

"I will just have it said that I am not trained in large scale magic of this ty-"

"We are but we should maybe wait for someone with more experienc-"

"I don't want excuses or verbal meandering from either of you. Concretely tell me what you have been able to do Hans, and Elarma a simple yes is enough. Your teams are drafted into service and that is the end of the discussion."

The two magic users both looked shaken after the chastisement, and then Hans was the first one to speak up.

"I have been able to make a magical lock of sorts on the pallisades. Making it so that you have to enter by climbing over them or entering through the gate, nothing and fly into the village or jump over the pallisades. Also I have been able to ward the wood from being destroyed by pests."

"Our teams are ready, we have been helping to organize the militia but we aren't tied down with any more work than that."

Heraclius looked at the two for a long moment before he nodded.

"Good, I will leave some of my men to deal with the militia and help organize the rest of the defence in our absence. By tomorrow I want to see both teams out by the gate where they and I, alongside trained Woodsmen will enter and investigate the forest. We can't do more before we understand what we are up against and I will not allow us to wait for an attack we aren't prepared for."

This statement led to a score of protests from the various men and women gathered in the building. Mayor Henrikson raised concerns about the safety of the Baron. Yorich pointed out that so far they did not have a sureified method to cleanse those afflicted with the strange curse. The elders raised concerns about the safety of the Town without the adventurers or the Baron there to protect it in the case of attack.

All of these concerns were like leaves in the wind however, as Baron Heraclius refused to do more than hear them before dismissing them. Helena on her end found the plan concerning but she didn't really think she could speak up. So she watched and listened as the debate raged way into the evening until Heraclius ordered that the gathering was dismissed. Yorich and Helena walked back to the temple in silence through the evening and she eventually spoke up as they neared the temple doors.

"We aren't going Master, right?"

"Correct. The Baron is not a stupid man but he gambles and now he has inflicted his hobby on us. We are not prepared and while going out to learn isn't a bad idea on paper, there are way too many risks for me to send any of ours with them. No I am afraid that the Baron will force us to do something drastic."

"Something drastic?"

"That is nothing you will have to concern yourself about. Go home and try to be here on time for once tomorrow."

Yorich slammed the doors shut in her face but Helena didn't notice that or the comment about her ability to be punctual. Those two words were still echoing in her head as she turned to walk home.

"Something. Drastic"

She shivered and with it she almost thought she sensed a presence for just a moment and spun around, but she was alone in the darkened street of Hor and when she confirmed that no one was there, she began to make her way home again in earnest. While the worry of what was to come gnawed at her mind.