Baron Enner bit back a string of curses as his retinue escorted him through the damp and dilapidated halls of the waterworks. For decades he’d worked as the Baron of Greenleaf, and in that time, he’d had plenty of opportunities to prepare for any number of eventualities. Monster waves, assassination attempts, open rebellion, and indeed situations like this one, where absconding from Greenleaf was necessary. Even so, it wasn’t as though he was happy to be doing this, his mansion had been of great comfort to him over the years, and he didn’t want to give it up to anyone.

The mansion had sat on that plot of land for years, unused and in a general state of barely-maintained when he’d been granted his barony, but he’d made it his. In truth, he’d come from much greater stock than what most Kingdom barons did. His family was already nobility, and if it hadn’t been for their fall from grace, Enner would have been a viscount at least upon his father’s passing. Barons and baronesses were so far down the ladder that they were hardly worth a second glance to the more established and higher ranking nobles.

Enner burned with embarrassment that he might not even have that any longer.

‘If nothing else, I have money. I’ll just have to get to my summer home in the Republic and try to start again there.’ He nearly sighed to himself, stopping only because of the damp, cold air beneath his estate and much of the city. After everything that happened, Enner at least knew that he couldn’t continue on in the Kingdom. He would be playing either into Nobleman Karsk’s hand, or he would be fighting against the major factions at play in the background. This was merely one battleground for them, and far be it for him to get between the two.

Perhaps if he could go back and redo things, he wouldn’t have accepted the request from his ‘betters’ to equip and facilitate the business of the Thorned Gauntlets. As poachers, they’d failed spectacularly, but supposedly they’d been quite the impressive mercenary company in the Empire before their fates’ turned.

“Bastards.” Baron Enner muttered.

“My Lord?” One of his personal guards asked.

With a gesture, the Baron dismissed his question, “Nothing you need worry about.”

The man returned to his silent vigil of the surroundings as they walked. If nothing else, Enner was confident that he was the only one who knew that there was a path into the old waterways beneath the city’s currently in-use sewers. This construction was a holdover from a time in the distant past, when dwarves and gnomes had entertained the idea of an underhold beneath Greenleaf. It had never really taken off, though, and after the initial workings of a waterway, they’d decided to call off construction. Not a single drop of water had ever flowed through here for its intended purpose; but that didn’t mean it wasn’t full of water, nor that it wasn’t in use.

It had been dug deep, as was the prerogative of the stout folk, and expanded beyond the borders of Greenleaf towards the cliffs in the north. In all other directions, though, it didn’t even reach the outskirts of the city. While it had been overengineered at the time, Greenleaf had since outgrown the population that it would have supported. Though, admittedly, if Greenleaf could have been built a level or two underground and had a smaller footprint, then the waterways would have been sufficient.

Perhaps he ought to contract an underling construction crew to renovate his summer home someday…

The clatter of metal startled Baron Enner as suddenly one of his men seemingly vanished into thin air. He could taste the residual scent of essence, but before he could so much as utter a warning, another of his four guards vanished, his blade falling away into the water this time.

“Bant’s arse!” One of the two remaining men shouted, “Where!? Where are we being attacked from?”

Enner himself looked around, but in the darkness where the only illumination was the lantern in his hands, he couldn’t see anything but the long shadows cast by their own bodies. The water was crystal clear as well, gently moving down the canals. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t see where anyone could attack them from.

Then, just as suddenly as before, another of his guards vanished the moment he looked away. “What is going on!?” Roared Enner, “Come out! Reveal yourself!”

A cold sweat trickled down his back as anger gave way to fear. With cold and clammy palms, Enner drew his own blade, little more than a dagger as he turned his attention to his last remaining guard. “Look at eachother! We need to see what’s happening!”

The man’s wide-eyed look of panic ebbed slightly as he saw Enner’s reasoning. Somehow the others had been taken without even seeing them vanish.

Every attack had been precluded by a faint sense of essence moving in the air… Though Baron Enner didn’t have a good enough sense of it to be able to really pinpoint it in time to do anything meaningful without knowing where the attack was coming from.

Enner felt essence move once more, and this time the guard seemed too, as well. The man stabbed downwards with panicked eyes into the floor that suddenly allowed the metal to slide through stone like it was sand. A triumphant expression bloomed on his face, before another sword flashed upwards, parrying his blade. Not a second later, a hand came up and grabbed the guard by his ankle. He plummeted through the earth like it was water, leaving only his sword behind.

Now the Baron felt his heart hammering in his chest, ‘How!? How do you guard against that!?’

He spun around, panicking as he found himself desperately looking for any way out. Out of sheer desperation, Enner didn’t even pick up the sword, instead he dashed forward, holding the lantern out ahead of him in a bid to see where he was going. His own shadow chased and danced across the walls with the shifting source of light, and all the while Enner thought he was hearing laughter echo from between the stones of the waterway.

“The Guildmaster requests your presence.” The voice said, and Enner squealed aloud as he slashed outwards, his dagger slash kicking up sparks from the wall.

He stopped at an intersection, uncertain as to which way he should go. It was then that he felt another essence ripple… The Baron funneled all of the essence he could manage at once into his arm. With a stab, he plunged his dagger towards the floor and…

…hit the stone.

“Ohhh, wrong guess.” A pouting voice resounded from the ceiling, “Try again?”

The Baron reeled around, faster than a normal human ought to be able to, and it still wasn’t fast enough. His wild-eyed gaze met only the stone ceiling of the waterworks. Then he felt a hard impact of something metal against the side of his head, and his world blacked out to the mocking ‘tut-tut’ of his assailant.

Enner was unable to respond at all as his still-unseen assailant said, “You know, I always thought you'd just quietly live out your days in garish opulence. Out of the way of political turmoil. Shame, really.”

‘A shame indeed,’ The Baron felt a moment of clarity and regret before the darkness of unconsciousness claimed him.

—-------------------------------

“The Guildmaster will take care of procuring the Baron,” Gram Magra answered Skye’s, and therefore Niko’s, question.

Seemingly satisfied, Niko and Skye sat back and relaxed while the latter gently applied a poultice to Niko’s few wounds. The only really noticeable one was along his side, but Niko didn’t really even think it hurt that much. Still, neither he nor anyone else wanted to risk letting it get infected, so he sat through the ministrations of an admittedly, very nice feeling cream. They’d have to reapply it later after he washed the thrice damned slime out of his feathers, but for now it would serve.

The Wyldwalkers were currently in a wagon separate from the civilians they'd rescued from the Baron's estate. As they were headed back to the Guild, the other group were en route to the Guard's precinct office. There, they would have their accounts of events recorded and be tended to by healers and psychiatric specialists before being discharged.

Niko was profoundly impressed that psychiatry was taken so seriously here. He’d been afraid that this world could be a little backwards in terms of things like that, but once more he was proven wrong. Was that an otherworlder’s influence, or did people just realize that mental health was important on their own? Either way, Niko was quite happy to hear that everyone would be taken care of.

“Well, that’s it for me at the current time.” The Guard Captain spoke before grinning widely and proudly at a now very bandaged Ronald, “I’m proud of you all. You did a damn fine job there. We’ve already got reports coming in on how you all took down over two dozen combatants on your own, and that Ronald here fought down a tier three solo.”

Ronald glowed red with embarrassment, “I’m begging you, make sure people know that it was a team effort, there’s no way in hell that I’m ever fighting a tier three one-on-one in a fair fight.”

Gram boomed a laugh, “Son, it doesn’t matter how stacked the fight was, fighting someone two tiers up on you is a feat people won’t let you soon forget.”

Niko trilled happily at that, to which Gram nodded, “He gets it. Just relish in the victory, you’ve all earned it… And probably a bath.”

That earned a scowl from the Phorus, but the man only laughed and gave his horse a gentle kick from beside the cart to start moving away, “Don’t be strangers! I’ll come check in with the Guildmaster later if you forgot any details you might think are important!”

The Wyldwalkers bade the man farewell as their wagon driver stoically continued onwards. Niko simply allowed himself to feel the warmth of the paste on his scratch, the light bumps in the road barely transferring to the passengers of the wagon.

“So… that was something.” Mithel ventured, before the rest of the team nodded quietly.

“I think that went well,” Niko offered, “We didn’t even have to do any socializing! It was great!”

Skye grinned while translating, an expression soon shared among the others. “That is a pretty great bonus,” Dachna shook his head, then slowly patted his bag full of coins while shooting a glance at their driver to ensure he wasn’t looking. “All in all, I’d say that was quite worth it.”

“After we report to the Guildmaster, I suppose that he’ll need time to settle accounts before we know what we’re doing next.” Said Ronald as he stretched out to try to be a bit more comfortable, “So, anyone have anywhere they wanna go? We’re probably going to be resting at the Guild tonight, unless anyone wants to suggest a good inn?”

Niko listened with some interest as Skye, Mithel, and Dachna traded ideas for both an inn and what they wanted to do. The most important factor in determining the inn to stay at, with some unsubtle glances at Niko, was that it have a robust bath. Niko appreciated that, especially considering his warm and calm vibes were quickly giving way to annoyance as dried slime crinkled against his feathers. He’d never really considered how awful getting something stuck to his body would be when it wasn’t just skin that it could cling to. Sure, he’d had a few run-ins with sap while he was in the forest, but nothing full-body like this.

“We’re going to need to get you new armor and a weapon,” Niko piped up suddenly as he began inspecting his companions, most pointedly Ronald.

“This was the interim set… Which I just paid for,” He said with a sour look, “Hopefully Stella’s done with my updated gear, but now I can’t sell her back the old set.”

“Stella’s probably done with all of our armor, too,” Skye spoke up, “And at least that one won’t cost nearly as much.”

Dachna snickered, “If Niko feels like molting again, maybe we can get the price down more?”

Niko shot him a flat look, “How ‘bout we see if you can molt?”

Skye didn’t need to translate for Dachna to quickly change the subject, “So, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’m ready to attempt to tier up.”

“Same,” Skye nodded, “I’ve been putting it off so we could all do it together.”

“I think I’ve got the last of my preparations complete,” Mithel nodded, “All the concoctions that I’ve been whipping together to test–err, use with Niko has helped me understand what I want out of this more.”

Ronald only nodded, having been prepared and eagerly waiting for his chance to change over his own essence patterns, “Maybe we’ll see if Orson is willing to put us up for a night in that case. Camille did say she’d be willing to help with my pattern.”

Niko tilted his head in confusion, “Wait, wait, what is this ‘tier up’ thing? It doesn’t just… happen for you guys?”

The Wyldwalkers answered with bittersweet smiles as Skye said, “Nope, that’s a beast only type of thing, Niko. We have to enter our internal Dream and try to pursue the image of ourselves that we want to be. It’s… kind of hard to explain, but basically we try to bring our bodies closer to the image we have of our souls, and what fits best. Some of that is the reflection of our personal flavor on our essence patterns. Individual stuff starts really shining through at tier three, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if our patterns were expressed much more personally even at tier two, considering what we saw from our… initiation.” She paused and stated the last word cryptically. Niko wasn’t sure if talking about what they saw at the start of their pilgrimage was a bad idea, either, so he applauded at least the slight vagueness.

“That’s fair…” Ronald murmured, “Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about what I saw.”

Dachna snorted at that, “You and me both.”

Mithel and Skye both stayed silent at that, but he could tell from their expressions that they weren’t sure how to feel about what they’d seen either. Was that how the world saw them, or how they saw themselves? Why were those imagines so alien to what they were, now? Was that normal? If they were representations of themselves, what did that really say about them?

Niko could virtually read them like a book as those questions seemed to be written upon their faces. He huffed, “Honestly, just decide what you want to be, then.”

Skye looked up and blinked in confusion before relaying his words.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dachna frustratedly asked.

“If you don’t like who you are, change it.” Niko shrugged, “Or… you just ignore whatever you don’t want and be who you want to be. So long as you don’t regret what you do, nothing else really matters, right?”

Skye translated Niko’s words with a nonplussed expression on her face, “Huh, we’re getting advice from a bird much younger than us.”

“Oh, stuff it,” Niko huffed, “I’m just saying it as an opinion, I have no idea how your Dream stuff works.”

“Come to think of it, did you experience anything before your sudden growth spurt?” Mithel asked, “I never thought to ask, but I’m just curious how it works for you.”

Niko shifted and considered how best to lie, but hoped that Skye could at least filter out anything that might be telling of his status as a Chosen, “Well, I had branching choices, it felt like. Each one gave me an idea of what they were, what they came from, and what I could become from them. I guess like a stepping ladder up into what I could become. But… nothing like what we saw during the ritual. I’m not sure if that’s… relevant for me? Maybe later on it’ll be more important.”

“I wonder if that’s an all beasts type thing, or just aberrants,” Dachna pondered aloud, but before they could continue their conversation, they arrived in front of the guildhouse.

Niko realized that this was the first time he’d seen the building. All the time they ran around the city before, they’d been so strapped for time that they’d never come through this area. He reflected upon that as a missed opportunity, because the Guildhouse was huge. The construction of russet-colored timbers, which spanned an entire city block, was three stories tall and had shingle roofing. Said shingles were green and notably leaf-shaped. Very little metal was used on the building itself, but plenty of stone built up the foundation. The roof was arched above the entryways and protruded out to provide shelter from the rain, and a bit of shade.

“Thanks for the ride,” Ronald called out to their driver, who turned back with a smile on his face.

“My pleasure, I figure y’all are gonna be the talk of the town here shortly. Thanks for gettin’ rid of that Baron.” He called back, and Ronald did his best not to fidget with praise that he didn’t know how to deal with.

Mithel came to his rescue, then, “Just what adventurer’s ought to do, right?”

The man chuckled and shook his head, “I don’t know about that, but I know that if it weren’t for you… well, thanks. Wyldwalkers, right?”

The group nodded at that, and the man smiled, “Well, if y’all ever need a good deal on a cart, come on down to Sam’s Stables. We’ll give ya a good deal.”

“Will do, thanks again!” Ronald called out, and the man took that as his time to leave. Niko watched the exchange quietly, before suspiciously looking at the departing man's back and then back to his team.

“Wait, does he think I’m going to pull a cart?” Niko asked incredulously.

Dachna tilted his head, “Well, why not? You’re already carrying everything e–”

He got no further before Skye clapped a hand over his mouth, “Niko! Hey! We’re at the guildhouse, what do you think?”

Niko’s eyes narrowed at Skye, “Oi, are you thinking I’m pulling a cart?”

“W-well… no? I mean, it’d be nice of you if you did, but I mean, we can always get a horse?” Skye shot a ‘help me’ glance to the other three who promptly looked away and pretended to see nothing. “Dachna!” Skye not-quite-hissed, “You bastard! You started this, help me here?”

The man blinked as he stepped just out of Skye’s easy range to hit, “I mean, Niko, do you like horses?”

Niko paused, before standing up a little straighter with puzzlement. “I mean… maybe? I have no idea.”

Skye translated hopefully, to which Dachna nodded sagely, “So, what happens if you hate horses, or they hate you?”

“Then… I don’t follow…” Niko shook his head, firmly wildered, “Are you thinking I’d chase them off? Or they’d run from me?”

“Well, maybe? But that’s only an outlier. If you really don’t care about horses, that’s fine, but they are expensive,” He put up one finger, then a second, “Also, contrary to popular belief, they can monsterfy in higher essence environments, which is where we’re going.” At that, Dachna glanced as his hand and just gave up counting, “They’re smelly, can be very dumb if you don’t get a trained one, which is much more expensive. Plus it’s overkill, since I think we’d only really need a small pulley cart, it’s not like we’d all need to be able to ride in it.”

For the entire duration, the others were nodding along with him until the last sentence. Mithel and Skye looked for all the world like he’d just betrayed them, but Dachna only grinned at them, “What? We all got feet. This is for the loot. The loot, Niko!”

Niko cackled loudly at that, but shook his head, “We’ll talk about this more later.”

Skye let out a breath of relief that Niko immediately caught with a shake of his head. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat, “Right, so, Guildmaster, then?”

They walked forward, and Niko immediately noticed that the stairs up to the place were both wide and long, more than enough space for even beasts like him to be able to walk up them. Just as they peaked the two meters of stairs, the double doors swung wide open to the sight of a very familiar adventurer team, to Niko.

“Oh! It’s the guys I kicked the snot out of before I met you guys!” Niko trilled happily, before tilting his head and tittering at them, “Hey! I heard you got your gear back?”

Skye did not immediately translate, nor did she get the chance too as the party immediately paled and parted ways down the middle almost as though planned, but not without one of them saying, “Oh, shit, it was him.”

“I told you it was!” Said the archer near the back who flinched as Niko’s gaze moved to him briefly.

“Uhh… He’s totally friendly!” Mithel started, then immediately added, “Mostly!”

They did not seem relieved at that.