Shaking his head, Lord Jerald looked over the men he had selected. The various bandit groups had begun arriving, as per his invitation, but he had no idea there were so many of them. Already his men were outnumbered two to one, and that number was increasing.

  He supposed it was fortuhey seemed ho in their desire to work together, as otherwise things could get quite messy. Leanna seemed to be trustworthy; they had spoken more ih, and she offered support if needed, even against the roups, so he didn’t worry as much as he could have. It was, however, unnerving to see that so many bandits had been preying on his people without his knowledge.

  Leanna had given him reasoning for that as well, however, mentioning that she had met with most of the groups herself and taught them more sustainable ways to absp; Apparently before there had been far less, but they were more of a blight, while now they took far less, despite having higher numbers, which made it appear there were not as many of them.

  Going by the descriptions he had been given, he could identify the group that called itself Ragers quite easily; their leader, Durok, was an absolute monster of a man. Supposedly his group would let people pass if they could put up a good fight, instead of taking goods or money all the time. They certainly did fit the appearance of battle maniacs, so hopefully they would be helpful.

  The Iron Quills, led by Leanna, were going to have much more difficulty in the forest, though she had assured him they would still pull their ow. sidering how she had been before being exiled, he decided to trust her on this matter. She had been quite handy with a mace, and it was unlikely she had let her skill fall too mubsp; Likewise, given her history, it was likely she demanded her people know how to fight up close if required.

  The st semi-professional appearing group was one Leanna hadn’t known the name of, but they were uniformly wearing gambesons. Each of them carried a wooden club as well as a crude wooden shield, and appeared worried.

  Twroups were more along the lines of what he expected, being clearly posed of vilgers in poor dition. Gathering up some of his guards, he met with each of them, finding that they were refugees cast out by their former towheir vilges fell.

  Finally, there were two mages in crimsoher armor. Jerald thought he reized one of them from the group that had passed by to go to Blightfall before, but was uain. Heading over to meet with them, he found that he was correct as one of them stepped forward and expined, “We are no longer with the Church of flict, as we were lucky enough to survive a suicide mission, and do not care for being thrown away. We will gdly assist, if you will have us. Unfortunately, while we could keep our armor, we were uo get our ons when we left, so we would like to borrow some axes, if you have any spares.”

  This was quite surprising, but he was quite happy for their assistance, and quickly requested for one of his men t two axes from the armory.

  sidering hoeople there were, he was quite thankful for Leanna to handle logisti exge for being allowed to enter his town, as he certainly was not expeg or prepared for so many to show up. She, however, did not seem surprised, and was quite calm, so he assumed she had everything under trol. Jerald was still unsure why he trusted her so much, but his instincts had never failed him so far, so he just shrugged and prepared to leave ohe supplies arrived.

  While he had given her permission, he was still surprised when he saw his mount following Leanna, a string of wagons attached to the rear. The immense lizard had apparently remembered her even after all this time, otherwise it certainly wouldn’t be so docile. As it approached, it let out a loud rumble before nudging him with its head. Chug, he rubbed the scaly skin of the beast, causing it to let out a much quieter rumble before it moved on along the road again.

  As he gave the order to depart, Jerald thought about how it was unfortuhey hadn’t been able to get any healers along, though at least the two mages could offset the impact of so many people in one pce, ohing he o worry about.

  Joining the rear of the voy, he hoped nothing would g along the trip. There should be no issues as long as none of the bandits went ba their word, and he had givey of iives to work together. It wasn’t every day a mass pardon was being offered, after all, even if it did e with ditions.

  Fortunately, over the few days, his worries didn’t e to pass, everyone remained mostly cooperative with only a few personal rivalries causing minor distent. But as long as it remained as simple arguments, it was fine for him to not step in.

  Arriving at Floatspire, he frowned, looking over the vilge. Apparently it had been worse thahought, the perimeter wall breached in three pces, fields pletely ruined, and several houses colpsed. Perhaps it had been good fortuo end up with so many people showing up pared to what he expected, after all.

  What ed him the most, however, was that the spire of stohe vilge was named for was no longer visible in the distanbsp; Either the float-tree had died, or the vines anch it had been severed, allowing it to float away. Both of the options would require signifit disruption of the forest, so it was likely going to be challenging to se the area around the vilge.

  After his forces to surround the vilge, with extra he breaches in the wall, Lord Jerald proceeded towards the gate. The guards ope well before he reached it and respectfully bowed. Ohey arose, one guided him towards one of the houses, the elder in charge of the vilge emerged shortly after he knocked on the door.

  After a quice around, and spotting the armed men through the gaps in the wall, the man bowed, exg, “Thank the gods you made it here! When the walls were breached, they destroyed the messenger post, including the golem. We tried to send a messenger, but they almost got caught before they mao retreat baside.”

  “That certainly is some bad ludeed. you give me any idea what we are up against?” queried Jerald.

  The elder nodded and replied, “We ’t be too certain of anything, as we have seen at least one fox, possibly up to three, and we’ve been tricked by illusions several times. We believe there are also several bears, as we have brought down three that damaged the walls. There have also been incredible roars from the forest, though we don’t know if they are real or illusion, and haven’t seen anything that could make them.”

  Jerald shook his head in annoyance as he remarked, “I hate foxes. Bloody things are always difficult to deal with… Actually, wait, didn’t that girl have one? Hmm. Anyways, thank you for the information, you should be able to rest now that we are here.”

  After thanking him, the elder returo their home. Meanwhile, Jerald returo his forces, gathering up the leaders to spread what he had heard.

  “It appears we have at least one corrupted fox, so illusions are a major . Additionally, though I would have thought it utterly insane a month ago, there might be a wild Awakened direg the attacks. Cirg around the vilge to ambush their messenger is certainly not normal behavior, even if the frontal attacks be expined away. They have also verified several bears were involved iacks, as they ma three of them down,” Jerald expio the others.

  Leanna nodded before remarking, “It would probably be best to keep anyone from traveling in groups smaller than five. I’ve found that works best when dealing with the corrupted foxes when we send hunters into the forest. Physical sensation isn’t something I’ve ever seen them fake, so you get back to bad shield your throat with your arms, and prepare to grab or kiything that touches you from the front. Using four people leaves your sides too open, and we’ve still lost people that way, but with five the sides are mostly covered by the people beside you.”

  Jerald thought for a moment, before replying, “I had not sidered that tactic, but it sounds like a good one. Please follow this advice, everyone, and tell your people that it is better to assume they are in an illusion and be wrong thaher way around. It will slow us down, but maintaining safety is more important. On a simir note, with the odd behavior, we o leave guards at the vilge. Leanna, your people are the only ones who universally use ranged onry, would you be willing to remain behind?”

  “Certainly, Lord Jerald, so long as my group is still given the ce for pardons. We also keep the camps prepared and fortified with small groups making short trips into the forest for more wood, just bring bae of what you kill for food. Deeper in the forest, our bows are less useful anyways, so your request would work out better for us,” Leanna answered.

  Shaking his head, Jerald responded, “I wouldn’t want to deny ahe ce I cimed would be given. Ygestion of helping with the camps while we are away is also a good one. Just make sure to watch all dires rather than just towards the forest. Does anyone else have anything to add or ask?”

  With the ck of any questions, they settled down into numerous camps surrounding the vilge to rest before their expedition into the wilderness.