Head down, and hand on his sword, Maddison made a beeline for what he assumed to be the bakery. It looked close enough to the artisan shops he would pass by in thriving cities, crying for attention with a bright blue canopy of cloth that provided some shade for the bushes of red and yellow flowers that shared the space with a quaint bench and a coffee table. Some of the cursed villagers were loitering around the shop and chattering away, completely blind to Maddison as he made his approach.

Maddison ripped out the quest Tarson had handed him and marched up to the dainty little door to throw it open. He looked around the silent setting, only grabbing one or two confused glances while the rest of the townsfolk stuffing the shop continued in their fantasy-like state.

"Well, afternoon there adventurer, no need to be so rough on the door. Fresh carved tunstar wood that is, it'll cost a pretty sliv or two if you break it."

Maddison locked gazes with a huskier woman. She was leaning over her counter with a floured up apron, her braided golden hair dusted with silvery strands that betrayed the youth in her face. The woman flicked her hazel eyes to Maddison's boots, deliberately slow as she drew it up to his face. After a moment to think, she smirked.

"Got a quest there, sweetie?"

Maddison looked at the crumpled paper in his hands, pulling his attention back to the woman as she smacked a blob of dough with a wooden stick. "Pardon?"

"You heard me, unless yer a thick one. I don't hire thick adventurers to do my dirty work." She smacked the flour off her hands, waving away the plume of white and pulling herself over the counter with a small groan.

Maddison tried to give her a meter or two as she approached him, but her swift strides backed him into the door. She paid the reaction a snicker.

"Don't hire cowards either. You here for some hunting adventurer? Name's Cindy."

Maddison grimaced at her close proximity. "I gathered..."

She slid the quest out of his grasp, flattening it on a sharp corner and pulling a stamp out of her pocket. As soon as she pressed the ink into the paper Maddison could've sworn he saw the faintest glimmer, but there wasn't a reflective surface for the light to come from. Magic.

Before he could ponder the type of spell it was, Cindy snatched his wrist, tugging him along with a creepy wink as the only form of comfort she provided. Maddison quickly tore out of her grasp when she reached the counter, drawing a challenging glare from the woman who cocked her head over her shoulder and snapped for him to follow.

Maddison folded his arms, his eyes darkening to hostility as his hulking physique still managed to shroud the robust baker. Cindy raised her chin with a scoff, flicking her braid back and turning to fully face him. "That's no way to look at a lady there, Mr. Sungard." She grinned at his surprise, grabbing an unstamped quest from a little pile sitting on her counter. "These pieces of paper here are real nifty, just one touch and they know your name."

"Tarson said you could get me to Maynard." Maddison growled, following her as she walked into a room chocked full of flour and fresh berries. Cindy kicked the door shut, lighting a candle to illuminate the space in a saturated gold. The way the warm light spilled across her face and deepened the shadow in her cheeks did little to comfort Maddison in her presence.

"Mr. Grey says lots of stuff. Whatchya need with Mr. Maynard?"

"If you don't know, ask Tarson."

Cindy let out a whining hmph, staring at Maddison with fake sorrow as she pulled a roll of paper out of her shirt. "You're no fun there Mr. Maddison, no fun at all."

Maddison grabbed the roll of paper, stretching it out to read the quest with a scrunched scowl. "What's this?"

"Your next quest." Cindy raised her finger before he could protest. "There's three things that gets this village thirsty for blood. The first bein killin' someone, the second, killin' a chicken and takin' its legs, and the third." She pressed her finger into Maddison's chest. "Giving em a reason to think yer working for the Dark Lord. That there includes acting outside of the questline. If you walk up to Maynard's door without a quest to grant you entry, then you might be the next cage at that lady's feet."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He thought about the spectacle she was referring to, eyeing the closed door behind him, and still lowering his voice to be certain his words would not reach the wrong ears. "Who is that woman? Some new rendition of Noctra?"

"What?" Cindy cocked her head. "The statue? Definitely not Noctra, I hear the Night Mother is not a fan of grand gestures like statues and tributes. That statue there is not a god. She doesn't have a name aside from Our Lady."

Maddison frowned as the name failed to ring any bells. "And the cages? How many of the Heroguard came here?"

Cindy's smile turned grim as she set her candle down, lowering her voice to a quiet whisper. "There were six, they were lead to the center of the town. Three chose to prove their innocence before Our Lady. Two chose to prove their innocence before a demon of the Dark Lord. One was found guilty because of his Commander's crest. Old Man Maynard took him for questioning."

Maddison hummed, feeling no lie in her tone. Although she had been vague, she had failed to make any mention of the Follower that was with them. "The Commander is alive?"

Cindy shrugged.

Maddison held her stare for a couple seconds, moving back to the paper in his hands to read over the quest. "What's a Gorganox?"

"A fearsome cave dwelling serpent." She grabbed the collar of Maddison's coat, gently fixing it with a smirk. "I hear it's a nasty one. Our furthest reachin adventurer is still stuck on it."

"I'm your furthest reaching adventurer now." Maddison growled, crumpling up the paper and shoving it in his pocket.

Cindy chuckled at his hostility, leaning uncomfortably close to him and practically resting on his chest. "Right you are, and does the furthest reaching adventurer have an open schedule tonight?"

"No." Maddison backed up, nearly causing Cindy to fall flat on her face as she grabbed a wall for balance. The baker didn't let the reaction deter her, allowing her entire posture to rise an inch or two as if the conversation had never happened.

"Well if you ever need somethin tonight Maddison, I'll be right here," she replied, blowing him a soft kiss that he dodged with a grimace.

"The only thing I'm getting tonight is Old Man Maynard's head or a good night's sleep."

"Good night's sleep it is. Gorganox is a bit of a walk, not a good idea to go serpent slaying in the dark." She mused, looking around the small storage space and snatching an empty sack. After killing the light she shoved the door open, snapping for Maddison to follow her back into the boisterous storefront full of chattering, vacant eyed villagers. She tugged on his arm when he moved to leave, thrusting a sack teeming with fresh berry buns at him with a cheeky smile. "That's your reward for completin the quest Mr. Sungard. Don't go eatin em all at once. You'll get a stomach ache. Best thing about em is the smell when they come out of the oven."

Maddison cautiously grabbed the sack, pulling a bun out to give it an appraising squeeze. His brow furrowed when it resisted his grip, hard as a rock. It could very well substitute one as a weapon. He eyed Cindy with some accusation in his frown. "You're a baker?"

"I was their doctor. Never really trained to make things taste good." She muttered, grabbing the bun out of Maddison's hand and biting it. Despite the scraping crunch, she went through the chore of chewing through it. After a tough swallow, she shrugged. "Edible though."

Maddison grumbled at the show, reluctantly accepting the gift. Food was food. If he was stranded in Bervolt longer than the night, he would have to eat something, and banking on Tarson's hospitality was likely a stretch.

He kept his voice low as he looked out one of the windows to the towering statue. "That big house with the strange tower is Old Man Maynard's?"

Cindy nodded.

"Any guards?"

She eyed him curiously. "Just the two at the door, he's the only one that goes in and out. I could count the ones he takes for questioning, but they don't come out."

Maddison nodded. "Thank you, you'll be a doctor again come sunrise."

She chuckled, "I wouldn't count on it, but I appreciate the thought." Her smile faltered as her gaze moved over Maddison's shoulder. He saw her body rise as she focused on something through the windows, moments before a commotion could be heard outside. The villagers resting in her small shop barely batted an eyelash at the fear laced screams, the few she still knew to have a free will taking a couple moments to peek out the window in curiosity. Then the chatter thickened to a buzzing swarm, a single distressed cry rising above, and piercing the air with shaking fear. "Demons! This is the work of demons! The Dark Lord has come!"

Every villager within the crowded bakery, from small children to fragile elders, rose from their seats in unison. They drew a jamble of different weapons, ranging from daggers to ladles as their expressions darkened to murderous hostility, turned psychopathic with the emptiness that filled their eyes. Maddison flinched as Cindy nudged his arm, catching her prompting nod and taking the rolling pin she was holding out.

The two watched the villagers file out of the bakery like a line of robots, Maddison dropping his voice to a soft whisper that he hoped she'd catch with the ambiance of chattering voices. "What's happening?"

She shook her head, blinking away the panic that struck her eyes, her entire expression washing over with confusion. "This has never happened before..." she choked out the rest of her words, hiding her shaking hands in her pockets. "we're under attack."