111

Note that chapters from 100 on are found after 10 in the list because anything below them weren't automatically padded with a leading 0.

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109 - Bears Trap

The inn with a stable at the rear stood at another smaller square closer to the edge of town. The exterior hadn't seen a refreshing touch up ever since it had been built, and anything once white had become dull shades of grey and anything straight had gained that slight touch of crooked. Ulric was surprised to see the windows were whole, and the mug and bed sign hanging straight for a place that would do well playing the ominous foreboding setting in a haunted movie. 'Such a cosy, rural ambiance.'

Elzbieta noted the surrounding houses and couple of shady shops looked only marginally better. 'Must be a really fun place to hang out at during the night to compensate for the day.'

The ghost rat on Valdys's shoulder spoke to her and pointed at one of the dark alleys close by. She hummed in reply. 'Our friend has informed the rats that helped Trixy earlier about us, and they'll be on standby in case we need help.'

'Oh, it's good to know we have friends here.' said Iphigenia, and moved towards the alley while reaching into her pack. She pulled out a large piece of meat and a big loaf of bread, and rolled them quickly into the shades filled with sparkly reflections of tiny eyes. 'As thanks for your help at the guild.' She giggled at the cheerful squeaks as she moved back to the others.

Ulric chuckled at her, then turned to the inn. 'I hope they allow pets in there because I don't want to sleep out in the yard or the stable.'

Tipper noticed the fleeting change in expression in the eyes of his lovers. 'Somehow, I doubt anyone could separate you from your girls.' she muttered.

Inside, the inn maintained its quality establishment looks with worn and messy furniture and fitting clientele.

'I see this is where all the friendly neighbours gather.'

said Ulric.

'Allowing pets seems to be the least of the worries in this place.'

Valdys didn't need her paranormal senses to know everyone was looking at them, and most of them with impure intentions.

'I guess the food and drinks must be very good in this fine establishment.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta walked up to the bar and the thin man, who looked older than someone who hadn't reach middle age yet should. He placed the last of several mugs of beer on the counter, which a young man carried to his group at one of the tables. His eyes hadn't strayed from the women all that time. 'What do you want?'

Iphigenia thought of leaning on the counter, but decide against it when she suspected her hands would stick to it. 'Theis said we could find lodging here.'

The man glanced at the rest of the group behind her, and thought it might be better to not antagonise people with two bloodwolves and a dragon in their midst. 'I don't have enough free rooms with beds for all of you, but you can have a large room at the back if you don't mind sleeping on the floor.'

Iphigenia looked back at the others for a moment. 'That'll be fine. We'll take it for one night for now.'

After paying for the initial night and reserving a large table for drinks later, the party went upstairs and to the rear via a creaking staircase and passage, and entered a room the full width of the roof, with some old dressers for convenience. Tipper dropped her pack in a corner where the confined space made her more comfortable. 'I wonder why no one else has opened up an inn in this town. It doesn't take much to do better than this one.'

'They likely sabotaged or threatened anyone who wanted to.' said Elzbieta. 'That's not below them when they commit murder. They would never have the chance if they tried that under my watch in Winter City.'

Yingshien sneezed when she laid down her bedding. 'They should be locked up for never dusting this place.'

Valdys sniggered, mumbled a spell, and all the dust in the room gathered together in a tiny whirlwind. She opened one of the small roof windows and let it outside. 'I also have plenty of spells for household chores, not only for combat.'

'I could have used your help when I dug out my first home.' said Tipper. 'I had to sweep forever to clear the dust.'

When all the bedding had been laid out, everyone went downstairs and Iphigenia ordered drinks for everyone and water for Susi . 'And no drainage water.' she said and stroked Ulric's head. 'This one has a problem with anyone mistreating his dear daughter. Or serving bad drinks in general.'

Darium, the innkeeper, didn't need to glance at Ulric to feel the casual look of warning crossing the bloodwolf's face. 'Our water comes fresh from the well, and our ale and spirits are brewed by our town specialists. No worries.' he said, and abandoned the idea of dumping the old stock on them as he went for the better barrels of ale and wine.

While he was busy with the order, a woman in her mid thirties with her long black hair tied into a pony tail and geared up like a sword wielding rogue walked into the inn and went up to him. 'Who are the new guests?'

Darium glanced behind him. 'Oh, hello Ti.' he said and continued. 'Party arrived not long ago. Don't know who they are.'

She looked over each member quickly. 'I'd think we'd have heard of a party with a dragon and harpy in it. Especially one which has tamed bloodwolves.'

Darium put the filled jugs together on the bar. 'They must have come from far.'

The rogue of the strange party laughed as she rummaged into the pack on the floor next to her, and a money pouch fell from the pack. She grumbled a little as she gathered the spilled gold coins, and Ti and Darium exchanged a look. She gave him a sly smile and took the jugs. 'Looks like I should acquaint myself with another party which is women-only.'

She went up to the table with Darium, who brought the mugs. 'Good day, travellers.' she said and place the jugs on the table. 'Would you happen to be a party exclusive to women?'

Iphigenia shifted on her seat to take a good look at her, and stroked Ulric's head next to her while she gave her a slight mischievous smile. 'Let's just say that this fine bloodwolf is the only male we like close to us.'

Ti curled up a corner of her mouth in devious amusement. 'Let me introduce myself. I'm Ti, the leader of the party named The Sisters. We also prefer to keep our party free from male urges.' She gestured with a nod to Darium returning to the bar. 'We tolerate them when they know their duties.'

The others sniggered and Iphigenia gestured at the table. 'Care to join us for a drink in exchange to telling us what this place is like?'

'Don't mind if I do.' said Ti, and pulled up an empty chair. 'Do you plan to stay here for a while?'

Elzbieta poured her a mug of ale. 'Depends on if there are any risky requests.'

'You prefer those?'

Elzbieta gave her a cool, calculated look. 'High risk, high reward.'

Ti took a drink and wiped her mouth. 'I take it you don't stay long anywhere then.'

'We've been constantly on the move since we formed the party a little while ago.' said Iphigenia, and leaned back in her seat. 'Snatching the big money doesn't bring us many friends.'

Ti sniggered. 'Oh, I can imagine. But then they should've be more capable or with more people.'

'Exactly.' said Iphigenia and leaned closer. 'I've seen guild staff keep such requests off the board because they don't think we could do them. Does Theis do that?'

Ti grinned with some cruel amusement. 'If he did that on purpose, he would not have been there now.' she said, and took another drink. 'You should ask him though. If a request can't be taken up by someone here because of the danger, he sends it to other nearby guild houses.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'We'll ask him after rest. Depending on that and what else is on the board, maybe we'll stay for a couple of days.'

Ti lifted her mug. 'I look forward to seeing fellow sisters in action.'

***

Ti walked into the backdoor of the guild after more drinks and talk about quests. 'Theis, prepare some nice lethal requests for our newcomers.'

Theis looked up bored from his administration. 'What? For that couple of chicks?'

Ti sat down on the opposite side of the table. 'Didn't you check them? Look outside? They have a dragon and bloodwolves in their party! Make it a really dangerous request because they want high risk and the money that goes with it.'

Theis sighed. 'Fine. I'll conjure something up. They'd better not also be high spenders, otherwise there's no profit in it.'

Ti stood up and leaned on the table. 'They're saving up for early retirement, and I think we should grant their wish. Permanently.' she said, and left.

***

It was Iphigenia and Elzbieta who walked into the guild again after the rest break, and they looked over the request boards. 'Mostly minor requests.' said Elzbieta. 'Only a few dealing with stray demon beasts.'

Iphigenia turned to Theis. 'Are there any other requests? Something more profitable?'

Theis hesitated for a moment as he looked at them. 'It's not guild policy to talk about something that's not official yet, but there might be a request coming to put down one or two high level monsters. If the current party can't deal with it, it's likely the guild it originated from will ask others for help. Seeing how I heard you have some strength within your party, you might be the right people to take care of it.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta exchanged a glance, and Iphigenia walked up to the counter. 'Sounds interesting.'

"Baited." he thought. 'I won't be able to say anything more until the official request arrives, nor will you receive a reward if you go after it now, so I think you'd be better off taking care of the ones on the board for now. I'll bet if you split up, you could resolve most of them in a short time.'

Iphigenia hummed as she pondered the idea. 'All right.' she said and turned to Elzbieta. 'The total reward isn't bad for a day's work if a few of us hunt down each monster, don't you think so?'

Elzbieta gave her a nod. 'We can do that. We don't need the whole party for one of those monsters on the board. Splitting in groups will save us time and we can rest before that high level request comes in.'

Iphigenia gave Theis a confident smile and tossed the guild card on the counter. 'Quaint will take every monster on the board.'

After the two had left with the forms, Ti entered from the back room. 'They took all of them?'

Theis sat down and poured himself a strong drink. 'Yes, they're going to split up and spread out.' He took a drink and put the cup down.

Ti looked at the forms filled in for each request. 'Ah, so they call themselves Quaint, eh? Fitting name for a ragtag bunch.'

Theis topped off his cup. 'Yeah, I've never heard of more than three or four different races in a party. Even bandit groups don't have much more tha-.' he said, then stared at Ti. 'I think they are one.'

She looked slightly puzzled and annoyed at him. 'What do you mean?'

He stood up and went to one of the drawers of the counter, opened it, and shuffled through the papers in there. 'I just remembered I might have seen them before. I usually toss wanted notices about criminals in here because we don't want anyone paying attention to them if they show up here.' He found the one he was looking for. 'Aha! I knew it! Look at this.'

He handed the notice to Ti, and a sinister smile grew on her face as she looked it over. 'Oh my. We can profit twice from killing them.'

***

Iphigenia handed out the requests at the inn while Ulric suggested the three groups they'd spilt in to. 'First one, Iphi, Kaui, Cay, and Ying. Then for the second one Elz, Val, Tip, Han, Tera, and Lehti, and the third will be Conchi, Isa with her new golem Dua, Rach, Susi, and me.' He looked over everyone. I tried to balance our strengths, so if anyone has a suggestion otherwise?'

The girls pondered it over and agreed. 'I think this is the best we can do, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'Valdys is our only full magic user so we can't do much about that, but hopefully those Sisters don't have a proper magician among them.'

'All right.' he said, and looked at the request form. 'Now, thanks to our new spirit friend listening in on the guild, we know that they will try to attack at least one of our groups during the quest, but we don't know for sure how many opponents we'll face. It's possible that apart from the Sisters party, more people are involved, so be vigilant and speak up when you sense the slightest trouble. Paranoia is a good thing in the current situation.'

After checking supplies, each group went into a different direction according to the requests, which Ulric thought was done on purpose to spread the party members as far apart as possible. After a short while he reached out to Iphigenia and Valdys.

'Anyone noticed they've been tailed already?'

Iphigenia looked up at Yingshien flying in the sky, and she gave the safe sign.

'Nothing from us, Wolfie. We might be the least likely to be followed because they fear Ying the most.'

'I haven't sensed anyone with my search spells yet, love.'

said Valdys.

'Tera and Lehti haven't spotted anything from up above either, and they're sensitive to changes in the forest.'

Ulric felt relief at them being safe, but also the frustration of still only anticipating the attack and not knowing where.

'All right, I'll check up again soon if nothing happens.'

***

Ti joined her party at an abandoned barn a little outside of the town. She had known each of the women for years, and most of them due to terrible circumstances while they were young, which made them easier to manipulate. Although she liked them very well, she wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they became a threat to her, or sacrifice them for her own gain. She checked if everyone was armed with a quick glance. 'They've split up as we predicted. The requests they have will keep them searching for their targets for a while and we outnumber them easily, so we don't have to rush to take them down. As usual, stay silent and out of sight.' She pulled her dark green hood over her head and pulled up her face cover. 'Move out.'

***

'Daddy?' asked Susi when Ulric's group entered the second forest after crossing a wide grassy plain. 'What is a great bear?'

Ulric glanced at her and smiled a little. 'A great bear looks like a regular bear, honey, but they can grow up to twice the size, and their fur is black and brown striped. They also have small but dangerous horns on their head.'

She imagined how it looked. 'Susi has never seen one.'

Ulric chuckled. 'I have never seen one either, but Val showed me a drawing from a book. I don't know what they smell like, so we have to be careful because we might have no warning if one comes for us.'

Susi looked left and right through the trees. 'Susi will not be afraid, even if it's bigger. Susi has grown as well and become stronger.' she said with pride as she held her head up high.

Ulric looked sideways at her for a moment, and had to admit she was growing up fast. According to what he had read from the library about bloodwolves, she likely wouldn't become his size because the female of the species was smaller, and he expected she would be an adult before he'd realise it. 'Yes, honey, you have indeed.' he said, and thought he understood a little of the feelings of actual fathers he knew back in the old world.

Conchim peered at movement up ahead between a clear spot through the canopy. 'There's one in front of us, hubby.'

Ulric glanced at the others. 'The request is real, so is everyone ready for the fight?'

Isazea looked sideways at Dua. 'Ready, dear.'

Rachael extended her staff. 'Yes.'

Susi bared her fangs. 'Susi will fight alongside daddy any time.'

Ulric looked up at Conchim. 'All right, my love, distract the bear and we'll sneak up on it.'

'On it, hubby.' she said, flew towards the bear's location after picking up a couple of rocks in her talons, and dropped one on its head as she passed it above the trees.

The great bear roared aggressively at her, and she dropped the second rock on its head while the others sneaked silently closer through the undergrowth. Ulric didn't hesitate at the sight of the much larger bear and ran hard into its back as it stood straight on its hind legs. It snarled in surprise as it fell forward, but it rolled over and back on its feet quickly, and glared and growled at the new attacker.

'Wow.' said Ulric. 'It's sturdier than I had hoped.'

Movement at the grassy plain which they had crossed earlier caught Conchim's attention. 'Hubby! A large group is coming our way!'

Ulric didn't take his eyes off of the bear. 'Maybe they thought taking out us bloodwolves first would weaken the party more. Take a closer look to see if they really are the threat, will you?'

Conchim was about to say something when another movement between trees close by startled her. 'Two more great bears are running your way!'

Ulric growled at the unlucky turn of events. 'We'll keep them busy! Check the group coming here, my love!'

She hesitated to leave the others behind for a moment, but her faith in the strength of her friends and her lover was strong enough to leave them and fly low over the canopy in a detour towards the possible enemy.

110 - Bearception

Ulric glanced at Rachael and Dua each fighting a great bear, with Susi moving between them causing interference by biting the bears where she could. 'How are you holding up?' he asked Rachael Isazea while pushing against his opponent.

Rachael landed a blow with her staff on the bear's head and tripped it with a hard stab against its foreleg. 'I can hold it off for now, but we could really use your special abilities.' she breathed hard.

Isazea directed Dua to push their bear backwards while it reared up at a strong bite from Susi in its hind leg. 'I agree, my wolf. Dua is strong enough but she can't cause enough damage without a weapon.'

Conchim dove down on one of the bears as soon as she returned, stabbed it in the back of its thick neck with her daggers, and held on with her talons in its side as it reared and tried to shake her off. 'It really is the Sisters coming towards us, hubby. I heard one of them shout to wait until we encountered the bear on the request in the hope it'll weaken us.'

Ulric growled at both the effort to keep the bear at bay and the plan of the Sisters. 'So they want these bears to weaken or kill us and take it easy, eh? I say we turn that idea of theirs against them.'

Rachael smacked the bear hard to the side of its head, stunning it for a moment. 'What do you have in mind?'

'Ambush them instead, leaving one to escape while thinking we have all died.'

'And how do you want to do that?'

'Isa, dear, can you quickly create golems that can fit in the bear's hide and mimic their behaviour?'

Isa looked around quickly at the materials available close by. 'I can create wooden puppets, my wolf.'

Ulric grinned deviously at his bear. 'Unfortunately for you, we'll stop playing with you guys now.' he said, and pierced the bear's chest with a spike on his fist.

The bear growled in pain while its life ebbed away, and Ulric jumped on the other bears' backs, severing their spine with a spike into the back of their necks. 'Now comes the disgusting part.' he said, rolled one bear on its back, and slid its gut open from top to bottom. He transformed the fur on his paws and arms into scales and pulled open the wound to expose the bear's innards. 'This all needs to be removed.'

***

Telsam, the Sister in charge of the group of a dozen women, halted them at the sounds of growling and cries of pain in the distance. 'Quiet now.' she whispered, and the group used their thieving skills to move silently forward.