No beasts or beastfolk challenged the party on their way back. Two greater beastfolk was more than enough to keep any lone beasts away, just by scent alone. They did come across another party. Parties, even when they passed by each other in the Wilds, rarely stopped to meet, but this party headed directly for Dem and his companions. This strange behavior set off alarm bells in Dem’s mind, as well as the rest of his party. They prepared for battle, even going as far to cast buff spells on themselves and find places to lie in wait for the intruding party, but all their preparation was wasted, when Ina identified the party as a group of amateurs.

Amateurs were no real threat, of course, but Dem still had things he couldn’t reveal so he had to be careful. Amateur adventurers were youths who had been given combat Classes, but were still unable to qualify for Adventurer status. They needed accomplishments, a certain level of ability, or someone to sponsor them, before they could be given probationary Adventurer status. Wersa and Karmis had been Full Adventures, far past their probationary period. It was likely that Karmis, due to her status as a Class Masters, was on some higher tier entirely, though Dem didn’t know what that was. Technically he could be an amateur Adventurer, though he had already chosen to be a freelancer for the guild, which meant he wasn’t trying for real Adventurer status, but rather had already decided to work for the guild in other ways. It was a good job-track for the poor and the those without connections.

As the amateur Adventures pushed through the vegetation and came into sight, he recognized at least one. A Classed Ranger, the son of one of the older and distinguished Rangers that made their settlement home. His name was.. Neff? Reff? Dem couldn’t remember. All he knew of the Ranger was that, while he lived in the settlement, he liked to spend his time out in the Wilds and would often be caught with some of the women who lived in the Hamlets. The lovers and fathers of the women would have little recourse to punish the Ranger, due to the influence of his father. It was merely a rumor Dem had heard, a single injustice amongst many.

Dem counted five total in the party. The Ranger, at least two kinds of Fighters, a spell-castor, and a tank Class he didn’t recognize that used two shields, one on each arm. It wasn’t polite to immediately ask a person’s Class, the information could be used to against the person in question, and so he put away the idea of asking about the tank’s Class.

Dem had chosen to meet the intruding party on the ground, as was custom, in the rare incidence where two parties were meeting neutrally. He didn’t take center stage though, he had Wersa do that. He could see the eyes of the amateurs go wide at Wersa’s tall muscular form, and then do a double take as they noticed Graf standing to the side, behind Wersa, looming even larger. Ina materialized to their left, seeming out of a shadow, while Dem stepped in behind Wersa, on the other side from Graf, partially hiding himself behind Wersa.

The Ranger began to shake slightly, clearly not expecting to encounter a party quite like this one. To his credit, he still managed to speak.

“I am.. Keff, s-son of Kren the Ranger. W-we seek.. aide. One of our m-members.. envenomed.” Keff’s voice was shaky. He would have the sense to know meeting other parties in the Wilds was generally a bad idea. He had good reason to be afraid.

There were no real rules for parties in the Wilds. Most parties wouldn’t fight because Adventurers were stronger, more tenacious, and more vengeful than beasts. If you couldn’t be sure of winning there was little point in fighting. Looting other parties was worth quick currency, but the best items, like Karmis’ items, would be tuned to specific Paths and Classes, and therefore of limited value. Most real Adventurer parties wouldn’t bother with amateurs because they held nothing of real value and because it was never good to kill the child of another Classed Adventurer. A combat Class, driven to a dark path through grief, was potentially a terrible thing. Dem had heard that small-scale wars had been fought between settlements over what had started as disagreements between parties

Dem looked through the faces of the amateurs, realizing that indeed the spell-castor, in her heavy battle-robe, was looking pale and listless. It would cost him nothing but a moment of time to heal her, he was sure his spells were up to the task. Wersa turned her head slightly, to look at Dem from her peripheral vision. He did not nod or acknowledge her, except to step forward. It couldn’t look like he was in charge, because that would be a dead giveaway something strange was going on.

Dem moved past Wersa, and spoke, “I will heal your companion, Ranger Keff.”

“You-you are.. Dom? A Tamer right?” Some of the anxiety left Keff’s voice as he spoke to Dem.

“Yes, Ranger Keff. I am Demneh, a Tamer.” Dem tried to keep his voice neutral, almost servile. He had a role he needed to play here.

Keff’s face looked skeptical as he spoke, “I don’t think a Tamer would be able to heal..”

Wersa’s voice interjected, “Let him try so we can move on.” The tone of her voice offering no possibility of objection.

Dem continued his short walk toward the spell-castor. Ina, moved in behind him, her tails flowing in sinuous patterns around them both.

As Tamer and beastwoman approached the amateur party, the two fighters took an unconscious step backward, as the dual shielded amateur tank tensed.

Keff spoke, to calm his party, “Alright, we will do as you say, Warrior.”

Dem had the two fighters lay the spell-castor on the ground, healing would often cause a person to feel dizzy and lose strength in their legs.

He started with Restoration to stabilize the woman, and them moved on to Regeneration to help fight the effects of the venom. He couldn’t cure her in one go, but he could ensure the party made it back to the settlement without losing her. While Dem worked, Keff decided to try to make polite conversation, but Wersa proved to be intractable to his attempts.

“Warrior, we..” Keff’s tone was congenial, but Wersa interrupted him with a snort.

“Ah..” as Keff tried to speak again, Wersa turned her body away from him and looked in a different direction, ending their conversation.

Keff’s party members hardly spoke, but as the Dem’s spells took effect, and the pallor left the spell-caster’s face, Keff tried again with a different target.

“Tamer Demneh? I remember you. You’re from.. the hamlets yes?” Keff’s tone was light, despite the tight-lipped nature of his companions.

“Yes, Ranger Keff.” Dem wanted to be as polite as possible. With friends, or within one’s party, first names were acceptable, due to the necessity of brevity, but between parties, and among Classed individuals, it was polite to use the person’s Class as their title, unless they had a title associated with their profession or lineage.

“Your beast was.. a cat yes? A dog? Where is it, I don’t see it?” Dem inwardly sighed at the question. He wanted to reveal as little as possible, but wasn’t sure how to answer.

Keff wasn’t someone Dem had known well, but they had received their education around the same time. Had Dem known what this party wanted he might have bypassed them entirely, then again if the spell-castor had important parents or backing, leaving her to die might have been risky. The Tower kept logs of where parties intended to go and when they returned. If her backing were strong enough, they might have been able to figure out which party left her to die.

Dem decided to be honest, but vague.

“She is not far away, Ranger Keff.”

Keff’s eyes scanned the surroundings, as if looking for Dem’s beast, but eventually they rested on Ina’s lithe form.

The Ranger started to mumble, almost to himself, “I se.. Wait.. Your beast was a.. a.. m-many-tailed right?”

A cold feeling began to creep into Dem’s chest, Keff’s questions were starting to touch on subjects Dem didn’t want to talk about. He glanced back at Wersa, looking for a bit of help, but she was quietly conversing with Graf.

Dem sighed, he couldn’t well order Wersa to come save him from this conversation without tipping Keff off further. He was no consummate liar, and so it was best if he stuck to something close to the truth.

Dem looked away from his work with the spell-castor, and turned his eyes to meet Keff’s confused gaze. “Yes, Ranger Keff, she is a many-tailed.”

Keff’s eyes were wide and wild, with a bit of awe. Keff reached towards Dem, putting a firm hand on his shoulder, as he asked more questions, “How did she.. How did you.. What did you find? You found something! She was small the last time I saw, no more than a lesser beast. It was not that long ago. Where..”

Keff’s questions cut short as a he found himself suddenly surrounded by clawed tails. A A growl followed Keff, as he pulled his hand from Dem’s shoulder and backed away. Keff’s party members followed his example, moving away from Dem as well, while brandishing their weapons. Their tactical retreat stopped dead though, as a mighty concussive wave sent most of them falling over onto their asses. Wersa had unsheathed her sword and sent crashing into the ground like a meteor, not far from them, in a single fluid movement. Dem’s body shook with it’s force.

Wersa’s angry voice rang through the trees surrounding them. “Little Ranger, do not touch what is not yours. Do you think I fear your worthless Ranger father? When he was nothing more than seed, I was using the blood of better men as lubricant as I fucked my way through the tavern-mazes of Nep-ket.”

Dem’s eyes widened at Wersa’s provcations. He often forgot how old she was. Just a moment earlier, as she had been speaking to Graf, she had been digging a thick finger into her ear and sniffing the result, and now she sounded like an old Class Master ready to murder her way through an untold number of Classed provincials. He could not help but notice he felt a shiver of pride that he was the master of such a woman, despite her oddities. After a moment of reflection, Dem quashed the feeling of pride. He didn’t want to dwell on the feeling right now.

As the amateur party realized that Wersa still hadn’t acted yet, and was only offering a warning, they began to get up. Keff had pissed himself. His teeth were chattering, as he attempted to extract himself from the bush he fallen in. The dual shield-wielder stepped forward to speak in Keff’s stead, but his knees seemed close to collapse, even before he opened his mouth.

The Tank’s voice was suprisingly high.. “Mighty Warrior, w-we mean you no disrespect. We were a-attacked by several v-viper-wyrms, young ones, running from something, and our castor was envenomed. We t-thank you-u for healing our companion, we will be on o-our way w-with your permission.” Dem hadn’t made the connection before, but the wounds the castor had did look familiar. Had they not killed all the viper-wyrm young?

As the shield-wielder finished his plea, Graf let out a snort with enough force that it the hair on Dem’s head moved.

“Human worrrm!” Graf’s voice was deeper than Wersa’s and echoed further. Graf anger had, in a delayed manner, apparently mirrored Wersa’s own. Graf took a step forward, his massive weight shaking the ground slightly. The courageous amateur tank fell to his knees, his legs finally giving out. Before Graf could take another step, Wersa stopped him with a back fist to the chest. The blow wasn’t a true attack, but it was enough to stop the massive boar beastman from moving forward.

Wersa spoke again, “Go then, take your companion and leave. Teach your Ranger some respect.”

“Y-yes, Warrior. We will do as you say.” The tank’s voice trembled.

Wersa’s voice thundered once more, “You will leave compensation for the healing, or I will seek it from your family, with my sword.”

Wersa, much to Dem’s worry, was not done. He hoped to end the situation quickly. His early worry about reprisal was probably unfounded, judging by Wersa’s demeanor. She was more terrifying than any backer this party of amateurs might have.

“Yes, Warrior. H-how much..” The tank did not get to respond, as he was cut off by Wersa taking a mighty step forward.

“Ah! Warrior! Mercy! Gold! We have gold!” The tank joined the Ranger in leaving a wet spot on the Wild’s floor. Dem’s sensitive nose was a curse at times. He did not need to know that the two men had fouled themselves, and yet he couldn’t block out the stench of their urine.

Dem knew he needed to stop this situation. Extorting amateurs was more than frowned upon, of course so was touching a member of another party, but in either case, he wanted this to be over and not become any more of an issue than it already was. He turned his back to the amateurs, so that only Wersa and Graf could see his face, and then he gave a Wersa an angry look. Wersa’s eyebrows raised, and face took on a slightly paler shade.

Wersa spoke hurriedly, in response to the tank’s last plea, “Gold is fine. Just leave quickly.” With this statement Wersa crossed her arms and turned away from the amateurs once again, much as she had done when Keff had tried to speak to her.

Dem could hear the other party take a collective sigh of relief and then begin to fish coins out of their bags. Dem didn’t really want their gold, but very quickly a small pile of coins appeared, and just as quickly the amateurs gathered their companion and made haste away, in the direction of the settlement. They spoke not a single word more.

Dem waited a moment, watching the receding backs of the amatuer party be swallowed by the surrouding vegetation.

Finally, when Ina had told him they were far enough away, he whirled around and glared at Wersa. His anger stemming from a belief she had overstepped her bounds. They had spoken at length, on the way back to the settlement, about the need for secrecy and what she would do when they did finally reach their destination. He’d even gotten information on her spells. Despite all this discussion, the Warrior woman had still gotten ahead of herself, robbing amateurs like a bandit.

“Wersa!”

As he spoke, his voice angry, Wersa’s knees slammed into the ground, leaving her in a kneeling position, her eyes downcast.

“Lord, I apologize!” He could hear genuine fear in her voice.

Had she been able to look him in the eye, she would have seen that they flashed a dark blue as he spoke his next words.

“You went too far! Making them afraid was useful, but we have no need for stolen money. They will tell others what happened here, and they will make us out to be bandits. I cannot even spend the gold they left. No one would believe you gave it to me. You will take it and spend it on Graf. He needs better gear and supplies. Do nothing else to draw attention to us.”

“Y-yes, Lord.”

This whole situation had left a bitter taste in Dem’s mouth, both the bullying of the amateurs, and the strange feelings he had about being in control. Even his anger at Wersa, though necessary, was over the top.

He counted the gold, before giving it to Wersa. The other party left an entire six gold and fifty silver, a small fortune he couldn’t use without significant scrutiny. He handed it over to Wersa with a withering glare that made her look down again, unable to meet his gaze.

“You and Graf will waste no more time on your ‘spars’ until we reach the settlement.”

Wersa flinched at this proclamation. Dem wondered if she had known he knew about her trysts with the beastman. Judging from her response, he guessed she did not. Graf groaned and looked depressed, but said nothing.

Karmis has said nothing at all through this exchange. Dem had drugged her early on so that she would not leave a trail of puke behind them. The other party probably hadn’t know she was even there, she was bundled up and strapped to Wersa’s back, like a pack.

“When we get to the settlement, we will spend a short amount of time at my parents home. You will keep out of sight unless I say otherwise. Is that clear?

“Yes, Lord.”

Graf just grunt in agreement.

“Come, we must hurry before the night cycles start.”