Nervous chittering filled the carriage. She looked over the people sharing her space. A masked man wrapped in bandages held a small cross as he kept muttering prayers with his eyes closed. Another one, masked again, wearing a metallic gauntlet, hummed a tune as he rubbed an oily cloth over his axe. The rattling of chains and insane mutterings made her look over the final person. Covered in filthy rags, hair thin and falling off at places, covered in blisters and warts scratched beneath his manacles, rattling the chains connected to them.

Another one breaking free from the mental asylum? She wondered and wrapped her cloak tighter around her to shield against the cold. A call to arms. A promise of riches. Poetic words calling forth the real heroes of the world. The descriptions are never ending but always guiding and baiting new and unsuspecting people. She couldn't even laugh at those poor fools for believing them and diving headfirst into danger, no matter their reason.

She was on her way to answer the same call.

Another lord, like many others, is gathering mercenaries and workers. Many of those lords are popping up nowadays, sprouting like grasses. Nobility wasn't what it once was anymore. She would know, having come from one of the most ancient houses of Langhein. She chuckled derisively at her noble status. Nowadays any Tom, Dick or Harry could go into the wilderness and declare a new piece of land as their home. Frontier nobility, a term coined for the grassroot nobles slowly growing in number, overshadowing the old money.

The world was vast, nobody knew how far and wide it's edges reached, or if they even ended at all. Maybe walking into one direction for long enough would make you end up back home from the other side? She shook her head. Those once curious thoughts crushed under the weight of responsibility and rationality. Nobody would ever be able to find out the truth. For their world is encumbered by foul beings, threatening to snuff out the final sparks of mankind at any time they drop their guard.

The ruckling of the carriage almost threw her off her bench, horses neighed in shock at the loud sound of wood tearing apart and breaking as the carriage lost its balance. The flap at the back opened up to reveal a wheel narrowly flying past the axeman's head breaking the tarp behind him before the whole room changed directions. She held onto the iron pole at the back as gravity took its toll and everyone flew towards the side she was sitting on before.

The frightened neighs turned into bestial screams as she heard muscles rip and bones break. The flap opened once more to reveal the panic stricken face of their carriage driver. "Quick. They are upon us, you need to do something!" He panted as he jumped into the carriage, helping up the fallen people and pushing them towards the exit.

She definitely didn't want to be at the front of what's to come that's for sure. Squishy humans make for an easy target, especially if they don't wear their bones on the outside like beetles. Lacking a carapace to protect her she looked over the axeman with renewed focus. He was clad in pieces of iron with a helmet covering his whole head. His chainmail made soft sounds as he moved. It rubbed against the leather layer beneath it. He flexed his gauntlet fingers and she heard soft cracks as he hefted his axe with one hand on his shoulder, while grabbing the chain connecting it to a spiked iron ball with the other.

She would look into protection later she decided, as she slowly paced behind him with the other two following. Wolves? Her first assessment was as close as it could be, as their enemies turned out to be rabid lupine monsters, their bodies gaunt as their bones stuck out of their skin. Missing patches of fur shower their scarred skin beneath. She wondered if they were undead, as she looked over three similar sized beasts with a larger one behind. It looked like it's counterparts, with the exception of showing more white bones. It frothed at the mouth as spores wafted off it's back. Mushrooms of different sizes and colors grew along its spine. A yellow ichor dripped from the connecting parts between wolf and fungi.

Her assessment was interrupted by growls.

The wolves noticed their arrivals and looked up from their meal with blood dripping from their red stained snouts. The masked man wrapped in bandages hefted his giant bastard sword, looking as if it had been through many fights with edges dull and chipped and stepped to the front. He motioned a cross as he tapped his head, chest and then the sides of his shoulders, before ripping the sword through the ground in an upwards motion, sending debris and dust towards their opposition.

She felt the wind pass by her as she glanced behind. The deformed being muttering and begging for forgiveness as it swung around it's chains in a circular motion before stepping forward. She grabbed a bottle out of her pouch, filled with oily liquids and slipped into the shadow of the axeman. No sooner did she hide from sight, did a beast break through the dust cloud. She watched as it ferociously gnashed it's jaws, sinking its teeth into the bandaged man's arm. Without a sound he heaved the whole beast to the side and smashed it into the ground.

With a whimper it loosened it's bite as chains descended with a buzzing whirl, directly impacting its head. The beast lay unmoving on the ground, it's eyes unfocused as backup followed immediately. Having snuck up behind them, another smaller wolf bit at the calf of the deformed person. His mouth opened as if to shout in pain, only to unhinge his jaw as he bathed the zombie wolf in bile. Unwilling to let go, it continued gnashing it's teeth as steam rose up from its body. A bastard sword descended with a violent thump, separating the head of the first enemy.

She turned to the other side as the axeman threw out the spiked counterweight, foiling the third try at ambushing them. She watched as the battle unfolded, the dust cloud was settling down. The last one was missing. She turned back as the shroom wolf ambushed the axeman, topling him on his back and spraying saliva as it went for his throat. With an inhuman reflex he pulled the chain taut, jamming it into the jaw of the beast. "What are you waiting for." He grunted with exertion, keeping it's sharp teeth from sinking into his vulnerable throat.

She threw the bottle at the monster's back, watching it splash over the mushrooms. With a flick of her finger she struck it's side and watched it ignite in a wave of fire. Anguished howls rang out as it backed off the fallen man. It turned towards her, anger blazing in its eyes, ready to pounce on the object of it's pain. An axe found its way into its hindleg, cleaving open a wound spewing blackish yellow ichor. It's balance disrupted, she dodged it's pounce as she flicked her hand towards the ground. A smokescreen spewed forth as she got into position again, creeping up on the unattended wolf. She struck with all her might, watching it light up in fire before sidling back up to the axeman just in time for him to swing his chain to smash the hooked part of the axe into the side of the beast.

The beast kneeled down, the fire burning it's back taking a toll. He pulled his chain and watched it sprawl over the ground. She watched as the bandaged man walked up to its side and lifted his sword. "May he have mercy on your soul." His clear words as a backdrop announced the end of the fight. She surveyed the battlegrounds for any threat. The charred leftovers of the one she struck were lying to the side. Their first attacker, the one who rushed through the dust cloud, was soiling the ground with black substance from its decapitated body.

The last one of the small wolves lay with a broken neck, it's back slightly molten in a mixture of green and black.

She looked back over the group, just in time to see the body of the big one burst apart. She jumped forward, pushing the axeman to the ground as a cloud of spores passed by above them. "Thought I burned all of them." She ground out as she stood up again.

"Same here. They are always a bitch and a half to lay. Even in death they try to give you a final fuck you." His baritone voice rang out as he stood up. "Thank you, all drinks are on me tonight." He walked back to the carriage to take out a backpack and some carving tools.

"A-are you done? Are we safe?" The carriage driver came out with him looking over the surroundings. "We are close to town, I'll lessen the price of the drive for escorting me there."

The deformed person cowered as he hugged his legs. "Forgive me, for I have sinned." He muttered his prayers.

The bandaged man shared his view while wiping his bastard sword off any fluids before joining the deformed man in his prayers. "It is our humble duty to repent for our sins."

"I'm not paying you. You would have been either wolfchow or another spore farm without us." The axeman grunted as he tore apart the leftover carcass of the monster. Collecting it's claws, teeth and black core glistening with yellow fluids. "I'll only be sharing the profit with the fighters here."

The carriage driver grimaced as he forced himself to give her a fake glare. "Yeah nah, I'm with him." She said, pointing at the axeman cleaning his tools and spoils. "You can follow us to town and waive the second half of the delivery fees. We all have to make concessions to live, sorry." She watched as his shoulders slumped, all false bravado drained out of him again. Wondering how much he lost this recruitment drive, she remembered it's on the lord's coffers. He is the one paying for horses and carriages, otherwise being an independent carriage driver wouldn't be only a suicidal job, but also an unthankful one where you pay out of your pocket.

She watched curiously as the bandaged man tore the bandage around his bite wound, splashit some clear liquid over the wound as it hissed angrily. The wound closed off as pieces of flesh dropped to the ground with the liquid. He took out his rations, slightly lifting his mask to uncover marred skin, inhaling his food. She saw the lost flesh slowly regrow as he took out bandages to wrap his arm again.

Their other group mate continued praying, begging for mercy and absolution in barely coherent sentences held together by miniscule threads of sanity. He was bathed in a gentle light as black liquid dripped out of the bite wound, before knitting together, leaving his body as deformed as before but healthy. So much for godly guidance. She scoffed at the thought. Putting yourself at the mercy of a higher being, getting healed but still having to live with their deformity or quirks. Maybe it's not as bad, maybe the gods are trying their best and just the intervention of unholy power stops them from their full godly help? She mused as she got up, everyone seemed ready to continue on their journey.