Session X - Scene I (of VII)

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.

After the battle with the foul were-beasts, the heroes decide to camp for a few days to rest before resuming their pursuit of the brigands of the forest. Even with the magical healing prayers of Chrysostomos, they can tell it will take some time to recover before they are back at full strength.

Meanwhile, a different traveler is also making his way through the woods. The man leads his mule along an old, nearly overgrown path. He has come in search of treasure, but so far has not had much luck on the island.

Up ahead he spots a large cave in the hills. Tracks nearby indicate large animals moving in the area, though the man has not the skill to decipher them.

He brings up a bow for defense but spots no creatures in the area. The man briefly considers entering the cave but decides to use discretion and avoid it; after all, it is unlikely to contain the treasure he seeks.

He continues on along the trail as it curves and eventually combines with another trail. Following that trail he spots an old shack near the road. It is in such disrepair that it leans.

The man can tell that although the building is old, the door to it has been recently disturbed. He ties up his mule to a nearby tree and decides to take a closer look.

He sneaks up to the door and can tell it has been smashed in. Heading inside, he sees the remains of an old chair and table. The ground, however, appears to be recently disturbed, as if someone was looking for something buried. However, there is not large movement of earth so the ground wasn't fully dug up.

Before he leaves, the man spots large claw marks on the back of the door. He is not sure what to make of the situation. He decides to leave the shack and resume his travels.

Outside, the man spots several tracks along the trail heading further into the woods. He decides to follow them.

Session X - Scene II (of VII)

A leisurely day is spent resting in camp by the heroes. As the day passes into late afternoon, preparations are made for the night. As Chrysostomos works, he hears something off in the distance. It sounds like someone moving out in the woods, possibly getting closer to them.

The priest alerts Duanos. Duanos, in turn, alerts everyone else while Chrysostomos moves up to see what he can. He spots a single man walking beside a mule.

Unsure what to make of the traveler, Duanos has everyone hide. But as the man approaches, he clearly spots at least some of them. He calls out a friendly greeting to the group.

Duanos decides to respond to the man and beckons him closer. The man introduces himself as Argus and explains he is an archeologist and is traveling through the forest looking for the abandoned fortress of Mestasteikhanon.

The centaur is somewhat skeptical of the claim to be an archeologist and guesses Argus is more likely some kind of tomb robber. He explains that the fortress lies far to the north in the mountains. Dion follows by noting the forest is a dangerous place, noting their recent were-cat attack and their mission against the brigands.

Duanos then suggests that Argus should probably not travel alone here. Argus, taking the hint, asks to join them in their travels. He points out his career of "archeology" gives him a variety of diverse skills and that he is skilled with a bow. Duanos and Dion agree to let him join, noting they would not want him to die or get lost if left on his own.

Argus then meets everyone and explains how he found the cave and the shack. The heroes wonder if there are more were-creatures in the cave, or if it may contain the hidden treasure of the ones they already slew. They make a note to go back and investigate later.

Session X - Scene III (of VII)

Later that night, the heroes continue to camp with overlapping watches set. As an outsider and new to the group, Argus is not placed on watch. All is quiet until Gayloria's shift, when she hears some horses off in the distance.

Gayloria immediately wakes Duanos. He, in turn, immediately wakes everyone including the injured and alerts them. He has everyone stay quiet while they listen to see if the horses get any closer.

After a while, it becomes clear the horses are traveling nearby, but not headed in their direction. When enough time has passed, the heroes decide to investigate in the morning and go back to sleep.

The next morning, Chrysostomos says his prayers to heal Dion and Sharag. Combined with a full day's rest, everyone is recovered enough to move on.

Duanos suggests splitting the group up to have a small force investigate the area where the horses were patrolling. Dion opposes the idea, noting that only his great strength can save the weaker members of the group from being slaughtered by the brigands.

Everyone heads over to look for the horse tracks. Dion is not sure, but believes there are half a dozen horses in the patrol.

But Sharag notes something else – one of the tracks appear to be centaur tracks rather than horse tracks. Thinking about it, she believes they must be the tracks of the evil Kakios, a murderous centaur rumored to have been beheaded by Rhesos years ago. The group believes the rumors may have been false.

The mighty Dion is flush with excitement at the possibility of taking on a villain like Kakios, particularly if the great Rhesos previously failed to kill him. Knowing the ways of bandits and barbarians, he looks around for trail markers. In one of the nearby trees, he spots a large, angular carving of a "G".

Argus asks the barbarian if the brigand's path appears to be used often, but Dion is unsure. The carving itself is relatively new, and he believes the back angle of the "G" is actually used as an arrow to point in the direction of travel.

Dion leads the others through the forest to look for another of the "G" glyphs. Eventually they find one.

Duanos cunningly hatches a new plan. He has the group find a clearing then carve their own glyph to direct the brigands into it.

As part of the scheme, Chrysostomos and the others take their horses and begin moving them back and forth to create the beginnings of a path. Unfortunately, all of the noise they create  attracts the brigands who arrive before everyone has time to get into position.

Session X - Scene IV (of VII)

The brigands charge in on horseback, this time ready to let loose with bows from a distance. Artemisia reacts quickly, blasting one of the brigands with a magic missile, killing him instantly.

Dion attempts to hurl an arrow but misses. Hector and Sharag both tag one of the brigands with their bow shots, but neither manages to put the warrior down.

Chrysostomos throws caution to the wind and charges at the warriors while still on his horse. Using his mace, the priest manages to cave in the head of the warrior with the two impaled arrows. However, his horse is not a warhorse and Chrysostomos is not a skilled warrior. The horse bucks and he falls to the ground.

Duanos and Argus fire wide with their bows as Gayloria wounds one with her javelin. The riders fire back, but Gayloria, Sharag, Duanos, and Hector all manage to avoid injury. The brigands then break off and head back into the deep woods.

Rather than attempt to pursue them, Duanos commands the others to round up the two horses from the dead brigands as well as Chrysostomos' mount.

The heroes then cover over their fake glyph and quickly leave the area before the brigands can bring reinforcements. They find a secluded spot and camp for the night.

Session X - Scene V (of VII)

The next morning, the mighty heroes discuss what to do next. Duanos cautions against heading back in the same way, noting the brigands will be ready for them now.

The centaur tactician grows impatient as the others discuss various plans. He ultimately shouts down the others and gets them to follow his plan to head south then east to try and locate the brigand camp.

After some time, the heroes spot a clearing up ahead in the distance. Dion notes the clearing is not entirely natural, as many stumps of trees can be seen.

Duanos inquires if anyone is sneaky enough to approach the clearing but everyone demurs, including a overly-abrupt remark from Argus. With little other choice, Duanos wants everyone to get off their horses and spread out to approach the clearing from multiple directions. Fearful that the centaur is leading them into danger, Argus weighs the odds then revises his previous statement, noting he can be stealthy if required.

Now that his suspicions are confirmed, Duanos asks Argus to quietly approach the clearing and see if anything is around. Dion volunteers to go with him, being cautious of the new man.

The two of them move into the shadows and make their way toward the clearing. Duanos notices he can see them, but wonders if it is because he already knows they are there.

As the men reach the clearing, they spot a large line of built-up earthworks and a rampart wall. A large wooden tower lurks just behind the wall, with the top part of another, larger building just visible off in the distance. Dion realizes the brigands do not merely have a camp – they have an entire hill fort!

Dion leads Argus back to the others using a non-direct route. As they leave, he estimates the fort to be around 80 yards in diameter.

When they tell the others, Duanos immediately begins making a plan of attack. Dion did not spot a gate entrance, so it must be located on another side. The centaur wonders about circumnavigating the fort, but Dion notes the clearing was 150 yards before the rampart, leaving the full circumference of the clearing around 2/3rds of a mile around. He explains it will take some time to move that distance and maintain any kind of stealth.

Since it is already in the late afternoon, Duanos decides it makes more sense to retreat back a mile into the forest and camp for the night.

But as they are setting up the camp, they can hear another patrol of horses in the distance. As they wait, they can hear the horses getting closer. Duanos suspects a patrol happened across their tracks. As everyone prepares for battle, Argus slips into the shadows.

The heroes spot the enemy forces less than a hundred yards out. It is a force of eight men armed with spears being led by a grizzled centaur who looks even more battle-hardened than Duanos, with heavy scarring around his neck. The heroes realize it must be the vile Kakios.

Kakios calls out to them to surrender, promising them swift deaths if they do but long and painful ones if they do not. The heroes remain defiant, moving in to attack.

Session X - Scene VI (of VII)

As one of the spearmen charges in, Dion grabs a spear of his own and exchanges attacks with the brigand. Neither scores a hit.

Artemisia blasts another with her magic missile spell. He charges into her, stabbing her in the side with his spear.

Hector is likewise wounded after getting off a shot with his bow. Sharag is hit even worse with a spear into her midsection as she misses her shot. Chrysostomos has better luck, smashing his mace into an enemy while avoiding his spear.

Gayloria and Duanos each find themselves under attack by two enemies. Gayloria fends off one spearman while being stuck by another. She responds by impaling one of the riders with her own spear, killing him.

Duanos, meanwhile, faces both a rider and Kakios. He fends them both off but finds Kakios' armor difficult to penetrate. Argus tries to assist with a risky bow shot from the shadows, but misses.

Dion then drives his spear into the rider attacking him. As the man howls in pain, he draws his sword. Next to him, Artemisia uses her staff to knock one of the riders off his horse. He breaks his neck in the fall.

Hector and Sharag continue the carnage, each smashing down a brigand with their mighty hooves and trampling them. Chrysostomos hopes for another killing blow himself, but is speared badly by a brigand before he can attack.

As the priest falls to the ground, Duanos yells out a threat at the cleric's attacker. Despite being under attack by two others, Duanos tactically maneuvers his way towards the brigand. But before the brigand can bolt in fear, Argus fires an arrow into his chest, killing him.

Gayloria stabs back at the remaining brigand attacking her, but doesn't manage to finish him off. Across the battlefield, Dion has more luck stabbing his attacker with his sword. And in a stunning move, he quickly jumps on the man's horse as the body falls off.

Out of immediate danger, Artemisia fires a magic missile across the battlefield, striking the evil Kakios. He grins back, as if he considers he no threat. In response, Hector charges in and delivers a kick that he feels more.

Sharag uses her kick to dispatch the remaining brigand while everyone else focuses on Kakios. They swarm him from all sides, attacking violently. Unable to escape, the vile Kakios focuses on making brutal attacks against Chrysostomos and Gayloria with his kicks and sword.

The battle rages on with fury as the fight continues back and forth. Gayloria falls in the middle of the battle but is healed by Chrysostomos. In the end, the heroes wear Kakios down until Duanos finally dispatches him by crushing in his skull.

Session X - Scene VII (of VII)

Chrysostomos says a prayer for the departed brigands as Argus takes the opportunity to check the bodies. Kakios has no treasure but does have a small key that he quickly pockets without being noticed. The other brigands have only a few copper pieces each. Argus tells the rest of the group about the copper but does not mention the key.

Meanwhile, Hector grabs the dead centaur's sword. He is disappointed to find it does not appear to be magical. Duanos, meanwhile, makes sure to get the others to gather up the brigand's horses.

Dion wonders if they should move camp again, but Duanos does not feel it is worth the effort; with as many horses as they have they would be easily tracked. Instead, they decide to make camp for the night.

Just at dawn, as Sharag stands watch, everyone is woken up by the sounds of yelling. They quickly get up and prepare themselves.

Off in the distance, the heroes spot another force of brigands charging at them, this time on foot. Out in front is a large ogre wearing a shirt of bone armor. The shoulders of the armor appear to be made from ogre skulls and the shirt from ogre femurs. He wields a massive, spiked club over his head as he yells his war cry. Behind him is a small force of human berserkers.

Duanos immediately reacts by yelling for a retreat. While Dion wants to rush forward and take on the enemies himself, he realizes his weakened allies stand no chance. Everyone mounts up on their horses and makes a run for it.

The heroes head deep into the forest, quickly outpacing the berserker force. After a while they stop to rest, realizing they have no idea where they are.

Chrysostomos takes time to commune with the gods while Artemisia studies her spells. After they are done Duanos asks everyone what the next step is.

Everyone but Duanos and Dion argues for returning to town to sell off the spare eight horses and take time to recover. They believe assaulting the fort in their current state would be suicide. Dion, robbed of his great battle, angrily defers to the will of the group while wishing his companions were less fragile.

Duanos is more concerned with giving the brigands time to reinforce and prepare. He argues it is best to strike immediately. But, he realizes he has the minority opinion and goes along with the others.

The next day and a half are spent getting back to town, with Duanos insisting on a forced march to get there as quick as possible.

After they return, the heroes let Gayloria go to the stables and barter a deal for the horses. She returns with a note for 500 gold, but most in the group believe she could have been more aggressive.

Dion verifies with the moneylender Mordecai that the note is good. He elects to keep the money with the old man, who assures him he is happy to hold on to the money for his modest account fee, noting a slight surcharge to track it as eight separate shares.

The heroes then head back to the archon's fortress where they quickly fill him in. He invites them to stay the night as his guests and has them tell their tales over a fine dinner. The merriment lasts well into morning.

Session X - Translation Notes by Prof. Barker

This chapter introduces a new character, Argus (also called Argos in some translations), who is a different archetype of character. Rather than the bold, larger than life hero, he is the sly and cunning rogue.

Translations over the years have varied in how he is portrayed. Some see his role in the stories as a minor henchman. Others portray him as a schemer and sneak who is every bit as talented as the other heroes. I have tried to present him in a way that is most consistent with the way the stories were originally written.

Note that "archeologist" is something of an anachronism, even if the word is Hellasian in origin (though Modern Hellasian, not Ancient Hellasian as would have been spoken in the age of classical mythology). Technically speaking, he would have been a "logographer" (translated as "maker of prose", alternatively referred to as a histographer or chronicler. However, all of these terms were coined after this story takes place, by Herodotus. What Argus would have called himself is questionable.

Clearly he is pretending to be a scholar along the lines of Cadmus of Miletus. Although there are no records of logographers during the Xersian Wars, the pre-war logographers did all come from the Iorian region of Akkatolia so his story is not too far-fetched. Interestingly, some historians believe this part of the story was not originally in the mythology but added later as a slander against Hellanicus of Mytilene (also known as Hellanicus of Lesbos), who was commonly thought of as untrustworthy in his time (some claim this was added by Dionysius of Halicarnassus himself in late 1st century BC).

The next item of interest in this chapter is the hill fort. Technically speaking, it is not a true hill fort as a hill fort refers to a specific type of fortification typically found only in European areas. But that is the best approximation for what the stories describe (Cousins used "wooden castle" as a description for his translation, but that seems even less accurate).

And of course there are the furious battles with the brigands. Kakios has quite the cult following, with many smaller stories that can be found about his previous "death" after slaughtering a group of miners for gold. His lust for gold and resurrection from death are said to have inspired some of the background of the villain Gemma Himuro in Yoshiaki Kawajiri's classic 1993 anime film, Ninja Scroll.

Finally, the heroes get their first glimpse of Balkios the mighty ogre, another reader favorite.

Session X - Session Notes

This session introduced yet another new character, Argus. This player is completely new, which is nice to add some new energy to the game. Of course, now we're back up to 8 players, which I tend to consider to be a "maximum" because any more than that and you have too many. It is a bit strange to suddenly be back to a full 8 players after dropping to 4 (and nearly down to 3 or less) just a couple of months ago.

Otherwise, this session continued along in the hex crawl vein started last session. It just so happened that their direction of travel took them towards the bandit camp, which I had already decided would be a castle-like structure (though an old, wooden fort).

All of the brigrand encounters were rolled as random encounters this session, except that I decided any random encounter would always be brigands.


Anyhow, this makes 10 sessions in now and the game seems to be humming along. I'm curious to see how they'll handle the brigand camp (which has plenty of secrets left). They also might get the opportunity to get a large amount of treasure, assuming they find it (which would help a bit, since 8 PCs spending most of their time fighting 10 XP brigands doesn't do much for gaining levels).

Session XI - Cast of Characters

Argus, the cunning thief
Artemisia, the magic-user and scholar
Chrysostomos, the stoic cleric
Dion, the crude barbarian
Duanos, the centaur tactician
Hector, the centaur marauder
Sharag, the centaur archeress

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.

Session XI - Scene I (of V)

Two days are spent resting at Castellios before the heroes are well enough to resume adventuring. Duanos then assembles everyone to discuss their next move.

He asks them all what the next move is against the brigands. Chrysostomos suggests that since their fortification is made of wood, they could be burned out. Artemisia points out that just because the buildings are made of wood does not mean that they will burn easily.

Dion also cautions about the size of the fortification, noting that it has watch towers and other buildings and contains at least one, if not several, ogre. He would rather look around to see if a subterranean entrance to the fort exists.

Duanos agrees it would be a better way to get inside. Sharag argues that taking out the brigands with archery from afar may be safer, but some of the others are less sure. Argus argues for circumnavigating the fort before making a firm decision, which everyone decides is the best plan.

The heroes leave town using their horses along the road, with Gayloria staying behind to take care of some personal matters. As they pass out of the city walls, Chrysostomos spots three ravens on a tree, staring directly at him. He knows it is a bad omen, for ravens are the messengers of the death god, Hades, and wonders at the significance of seeing three of them.

Session XI - Scene II (of V)

By the end of the first day, the heroes reach the forest. As they are making camp, the horses begin to get upset. Dion spots a cougar moving in to attack the horses.

The barbarian rushes over to attack, with Hector following. Ahead of them, Artemisia fires a magic missile, hitting the animal. Hector follows up with a kick and Chrysostomos, who happened to be closer than the others at the time, smashes in the head of the beast with his mace while Sharag leads the horses to safety.

Back over at the camp site, Duanos looks around for any companion cougars. He spots two more circling around to the opposite side.

Duanos charges in at one of the predators but misses, while Argus fires an arrow into the other. The pumas pounce at the centaur, slashing his chest and biting into his leg.

Argus tries to get in another shot at the beast, but misses. Duanos carefully withdraws to give the archers in the group room to attack.

Chrysostomos begins making his way over to the cougars alongside Hector, who fires his bow as he gallops, but the arrow shoots wide. Sharag has no better luck but Artemisia is able to strike one with her magic missile.

Dion, feeling his companions can handle two more of the beasts, decides to cut off the head of the dead one instead of heading over to fight the others.

The cougars continue to press their attack against Duanos. After initially fighting them off, one of them gets in a vicious claw attack that sends him to the ground, unconscious.

Realizing how weak his allies are in comparison to himself, Dion draws his bow and fires an arrow into one of the beasts as Artemisia starts making her way over.

Sharag reaches the monsters but instead of attacking takes time to stabilize Duanos. For her troubles, the cougars slash her twice with their claws and bite into her once.

With only one centaur between himself and the creatures, Argus begins to back away. Across the battlefield, Chrysostomos continues heading closer.

Dion worries about hitting Sharag and holds his bow back for an open shot. Argus does the same from his position.

Artemisia and Hector then reach the melee, with Artemisia missing one of them with her staff as Hector slams his hooves into the other.

Sharag tries to kick at the cougars attacking her but misses. They attack back, splashing her blood everywhere with their claws. Like Duanos before her, she falls to the ground.

Dion takes a shot at the beasts, but misses. Artemisia has no better luck with her staff but Hector is able to score another kick. Still, the beasts persist.

As Sharag bleeds out and Chrysostomos finds his slow movement taking him far longer to reach the beasts than the others, Argus hits one of the cougars with a bow shot. Dion attempts to get off another shot as well, this time missing the cougars completely and narrowly avoiding hitting Hector.

Artemisia' staff finally hits home on one cougar as Hector stomps in the skull of another. Argus misses the surviving cougar with a shot as it pounces on Artemisia, mauling the sorceress with its claws and teeth.

When the sorceress joins the centaurs in bleeding on the ground, the beast turns and bites Hector. He responds by crushing its spine with his hooves just as Chrysostomos finally arrives.

Session XI - Scene III (of V)

With the immediate threat over, Hector stabilizes Sharag while Chrysostomos stabilizes Artemisia. The cleric then uses a healing prayer on each, but they remain comatose. It will take more time for them to recover.

Because the centaurs are so large, the heroes feel they have no choice but to make camp at the location where the bodies fell. And with a depleted force, only one man can stand watch at a time.

Later in the night, on Hector's watch, a pair of dire wolves smell the abundance of fresh blood and quietly make their way toward the camp. Before Hector spots them, one drags off the body of a dead cougar while another tears off one of Duanos' rear legs to feast on.

Rather than take the time to wake the others, Hector immediately charges over and kicks into one of the beasts. It bites him in return. The two then share another set of blows. Hector's strikes manage to kill the wolf, but he collapses from his own blood loss.

Unfortunately, the relatively quiet battle and general fatigue of the heroes prevent the others from stirring quickly. By the time they awake, the other wolf has already begun feasting on its fresh kill, Hector.

Argus wakes to spot little between him and the dire wolf. Terrified of its massive lupine visage in the shadows of the moonlight, he immediately proceeds to mount his horse and make a run for it in the dark forest.

Chrysostomos decides to take a different approach, immediately lighting a torch and moving towards the wolf to scare it off. Dion likewise wakens and hurls a spear into the beast as it rips out Hector's entrails.

The combined injury of the spear and fear of the fire cause the wolf to back off. It runs off into the night and the two remaining heroes elect not to follow it.

Meanwhile, Argus is having difficulty moving his horse through the black forest and is completely lost. After narrowly avoiding a tree branch, the thief is suddenly propelled off his horse when its legs are brought down by an outstretched rope. Luckily, his agility allows him to make an acrobatic flip and land on his feet.

As he begins to stand from his crouched position, Argus sees three berserkers moving to surround him. He quickly falls to his knees and begs for his life, promising the berserkers his knowledge of a great treasure. The berserkers, however, decide to take their axes and get the only treasure they care about, the thief's heart.

Session XI - Scene IV (of V)

Dion and Chrysostomos survey the damage – Hector and Duanos are dead, but Artemisia and Sharag still live, if comatose. They know all of the noise and blood will attract either more predators or the brigands and need to move, but do not wish to leave their fallen comrades behind.

Using the spears and armor of Hector and Duanos, Dion fashions a skid to be drawn behind the remaining three horses. It takes several hours, but they finally make it out of the forest and on to the road.

Knowing that they are leaving a large, visible track that the brigands could easily follow, Dion looks for a spot in the adjacent hills to hide for the night. He elects to spend the night on watch alone to allow Chrysostomos time to recover.

To try and fool the bandits, Dion takes the empty skid and tries moving it around the area to create misleading tracks. As he does so, he hears someone else moving out in the hills.

Looking around, he spots three human-sized shapes and one larger one in the moonlight. The larger one speaks in a growl, commanding the others to look around and that he believes "they" are nearby.

Dion suspects the larger figure must be the vile ogre he spotted previously. He and the berserkers must be on their trail, but are having difficulty finding them in the hills.

The barbarian sneaks back over to Chrysostomos and wakes him quietly, explaining quickly that the ogre is in the area. Chrysostomos silently motions over to the horses.

Taking the priest to suggest using a horse as a distraction, Dion slaps one of them and sends it running. They hear the nearby enemies notice the horse and the ogre, apparently named Balkios, command them to keep looking as he knows there are at least two horses from the tracks in the forest.

Dion tells Chrysostomos that the plan isn't working and he should ride off as a distraction. The cleric complies.

As he heads off the voices, now further away from before, speak as they spot the cleric ride off. His leaving allows the ogre to determine the direction he came from, and the monster commands his men to go there and find whatever is on the sled they were carrying.

Left with no choice, Dion grabs a spear and a horse and rides out a short distance then turns. As the ogre and the men emerge, he charges in and stabs the monster, breaking it off in the creature's side. Balkios howls in pain and swings wildly, missing Dion on his horse.

Dion maneuvers the horse back in and slashes into the ogre with his sword while again avoiding the creature's blow. This time, however, the berserkers were anticipating the attack and move in to counter. One of them drives his axe into Dion's horse, causing the barbarian to spill to the ground.

Fighting off the berserkers, Dion manages to strike a killing blow into Balkios' chest with his sword before the other men hack into him with their axes. After the falls, they drive a spear into his body and leave him spiked to the ground.

Session XI - Scene V (of V)

Two days later...

Artemisia and Sharag awaken to find themselves in a barn with no one else around. They have no memory of anything except being attacked by cougars in the forest and everything going black.

As they start to get up, a woman enters the barn with a tankard of water. She is pleased to see they have recovered and explains to them that they are her guests on her family's farm. She goes on to explain how her husband and sons found the two of them out in the hills near the farm after spotting a large number of crows and vultures overhead and brought them back to recover.

Sharag thanks the woman for her kindness but inquires about her many other comrades. The woman explains they were found only with a dead horse, a dead ogre, and a man with a spear through his chest that still lies near death in a bed in her house. As she describes the man, Sharag realizes she is talking about Dion.

The two go to inspect their fallen comrade. The spear rammed through him seems to have prevented him from bleeding out but is also preventing any healing. Artemisia realizes the spear cannot be removed without killing him. With nothing else to do, the two decide to wait and heal up before heading back to Castellios for help.

Meanwhile, in Castellios, Chrysostomos has tracked down Gayloria and explains to her what has happened. The two decide to head back out to the hills on their horses and see if there were any survivors.

A day and a half later, they arrive only to find nothing but the corpse of a horse and the ogre. Chrysostomos remarks the plan apparently worked well enough for the ogre, but is concerned there are no dead berserkers to be found.

With nothing else to go on, the two decide to look around for the nearest farm house to see if anyone knows anything. As they approach, they spot a centaur with a bow pointed at them. Putting their hands up and advancing very slowly, they eventually confirm it is Sharag.

The priest is glad to see the two women up and around, but is concerned when they mention Dion is alive. Chrysostomos fears the barbarian will want see his riding off as desertion and will be out for his blood. He tries to argue for heading back to the forest to look for Argus but Sharag drags him off to the house to heal Dion.

Chrysostomos is able to heal Dion enough to remove the spear but it will take more healing for him to regain consciousness. In the meantime, Sharag interrogates the cleric on what happened. He briefly details the wolf attack, Argus running off, and the ogre's patrol.

Sharag is disappointed to learn she is the sole surviving centaur on the island. Chrysostomos is more focused on Argus, whom he blames as a deserter. He wants the group to go back to the forest and hunt the man down, but his pleas fall on deaf ears as he goes too far over the top when he mentions it is the thief's fault Sharag has "no one left to breed with".

To the contrary, Artemisia and Sharag argue they are in no shape to go back to the forest; particularly since they are sure Argus is likely already dead. Instead, everyone waits around patiently for Dion to recover in another day.

When he awakens, Chrysostomos starts babbling on about being chased by brigands back to town and getting Gayloria for help. Dion agrees getting help was a good move, but laments his inability to kill all of the berserkers in the battle.

The heroes decide it makes the most sense to leave this farm and head back to Castellios to recover before trying to go back to the forest again. As they leave, Sharag, Artemisia, and Dion all give a platinum piece to the host family in gratitude (while Chrysostomos merely agrees to say a prayer to the gods for them).