The Butcher of Gadobhra

Timmy turned with a huge smile. "A High-Level Boss for a change! This is awesome. We have the video running Joe?"

"Had it going from the time we made plans in the inn. I'll edit the boring shit later and send it off." Joseph bent and tapped Ozzy on the head, tossing him a small healing spell. "Wakey, Wakey, Mr. Butcher. You're safe, and Sir Timothy is going to go smite that monster. Can you fill us in on any details?"

Ozzy shook his head and stood up. "Monster? Something killed the chickens and hit me."

Louie nocked an arrow. "Well, that's about the typical intel we get from the locals. Let's just go light this thing up."

There was a crash and the sound of breaking wood as something huge broke through a building and onto the street. All of the players paused as the creature shook itself free of debris and turned in their direction. What looked like a walking pile of meat and bone turned and headed towards the edge of the village where the workers' huts were. The creature was composed of slabs of meat and gristle stitched together with sinew and muscle. It was a mockery of the humanoid with jagged bits of bone everywhere and long tendrils of muscle trailing behind it.

Ozzy pulled out two cleavers and started jogging after it. Timmy laughed. "OK, It looks like we have some NPC help. It's heading toward the crappy end of town. Be careful, Hugh; slums catch fire easily."

Hugh just smiled, "Think of it as me doing my part for urban renewal. They can get rid of the crappy huts and build something better. Maybe a nice apartment building or a mall."

Timmy turned to the group and spoke lower. "Ok, circle it up and do a group shout for the cameras."

The group formed a rough circle and extended their hands. "For Glory!"
"...For Loot!"
"...For the Light!"
"...For Famco!!"

The crew jogged down the street after the monster.

Suzette had just stepped out of the tavern and watched the little chant with amusement until the last word. Her thoughts spun in circles as the blackness of the dream returned. "Famco? Famco! Oh, that little shit with his shiny smile. Damn, damn, damn!" She took a deep breath and began running after them. She had to find Ozzy and figure out what was going on and what these guys were up to.

The Charnel Daemon headed quickly for the area with the most people. It had carelessly hit its first prey too hard and lost it, but these next were easy. Several people were in each of the pitiful little buildings that offered no protection at all. It charged through the first hut's wall, its long tendrils grabbing the four workers sleeping inside. Roger and Arran never made it out of bed, both pinned and killed before they knew what was going on. Sai was a light sleeper and almost made it to the door before a long bone spike pinned him to the wall. Lyle woke and just screamed twice before a huge knob of bone came down on his head. The Daemon crashed through the front door, dragging bodies behind it.

Outside, several of the workers were up, one with a lantern. They watched in horror as what looked like a creature made of bone and meat charged from the ruined hut on several misshapen legs. It was already beginning to absorb the bodies into itself. One massive arm ended with a bone nob, the other in a three-foot-long bone spike. Ropy tendrils sprouted as it crawled forward, moving toward the group. The workers scattered, screaming.

Ozzy came up at a sprint and brought both cleavers down, chopping deep into the side of the creature facing him. His efforts got its attention. The huge, bony arm swung at him, again knocking him away from it. Luckily, Hugh was there to soften his landing. The Butcher hit the smaller man and slammed him into a wall.

[Charnel Daemon critically pummels you for 300 crushing damage. Your new acquaintance softens your landing, preventing you from taking further damage to you at his expense.]

Hugh was less than happy to have Ozzy slam into him. His light frame couldn't take much damage. His total Health was only 225 total. Crushed between Ozzy's flung body and the side of a hut, he took 150 points of damage, over half his health, in one blow.

Timmy barely noticed. These were the moments he lived for. He slammed his mace into the creature using a Crushing Blow, breaking bone and making a large dent. The small amount of radiant magic each of his blows added sizzled as it met a demon. Timmy was excited about the fight. Finally, a real demon! He hadn't been able to raise his Demon Slayer skill at all because of a lack of demons to kill.

David's overhand slash with his great sword performed better than the mace, slicing off one of the ropy tendrils. Louis sent an arrow deep into the creature that it didn't even notice.

The Daemon seemed to gather itself, and then a huge maw opened up in its center and screamed. Its Aura of Fear and Aura of Intimidation washed over the players. Timmy and David laughed; Hugh looked a bit nervous but still readied his firebolt. Louis turned white and dropped his bow and arrow, covering his ears and closing his eyes. The effect on the fleeing workers was hard to notice. Endure did a lot to negate the effect of the auras. The deadliness of the Daemon was shown again as Althea ran from her hut, only to be speared by a long shard of bone and dragged close to the thing. A ropy appendage wrapped around her throat.

"Ozzy, I am so disappointed! Did you start a fight without me? How often have we had this talk? Not enough, I guess. Wow, you guys are looking rough. I'll heal you up." Rolly had run up next to Ozzy and Hugh. Putting a hand out to help Ozzy up, he used Transfer Life to heal part of their wounds. "Wow, you're down a lot, Ozzy; what did he nail you for?"

Ozzy raised his voice to warn everyone. "The damn thing can crit for 300, be careful." Hugh turned pale. That was a one-shot kill if he was hit. Dying in the middle of a fight like this would lose him a chunk of pay. He launched his firebolt at the thing. When it touched the meat monster, it sizzled, and a huge slab of cooked meat peeled off. David sliced through the tentacle holding Althea with his dagger, but she was already dead, and another tentacle dragged her body into the Daemon's mouth. Timmy's mace seemed to bounce off the creature; he couldn't seem to land a damaging attack without burning stamina on Crushing Blow. Worse, the slashes and burns on the Daemon were fading as it quickly regenerated its health.

Suzette was watching. Where Timmy could only sense when magic was around, she could plainly see it and had an idea of what it was doing. She saw the steady stream of Dark Mana coming from the road to Gadobhra. The Daemon was absorbing it and using the mana to heal itself. Timmy braced as the creature turned towards him. The knobbed bone arm pummeled him even through his shield. One of the severed tendrils wrapped around Timmy's leg and began crushing it.

[Charnel Daemon hits you for 150 crushing damage. Your mitigation stops some of the blow, and you only take 100.
You take 40 crushing damage as a tendril wraps around your leg. You might say it has a 'crush' on you.]

The daemon went to shoot at Hugh, but the shot from the spear arm went wild as a whip wrapped around the arm and pulled its aim to the side. The Daemon snarled, then gripped the whip and pulled. "Oh, shit, this thing is strong." Ben suddenly found himself flying through the air as the creature jerked its arm around, flinging him into a hut.

Suzette sent a Solar Arrow at the creature. She didn't think it had eyes, so she aimed for the maw area. Her sunlight hit the inside of the creature's open mouth, and it shuddered and then shrieked in pain. It started moving towards her. Continuously shrieking when someone is trying to stab you in the mouth with sunlight probably wasn't a winning strategy for the Daemon. Suzette launched another arrow of sunlight into it. It was a low-level spell, doing only 20 damage normally, but it was highly effective against this creature.

'Lots of NPC help,' thought Timmy. 'Time to form a raid.' He paused his attacks to send raid invites to everyone outside of his group that was fighting and simultaneously got Louis back in the fight by hitting everyone with a Bravery buff. Louis seemed to shake off the fear, but the raid didn't form.

[You may not form raids using Players from rival factions. The following Players were rejected:

Suzette, the lonely Barmaid
Rolly, the Shepherd
Benjamin, the Courier
Ozzy, the Butcher]

Timmy was surprised. 'Players? These were all ACME Players! What the hell were they doing posing as NPCs?' Overall, though, this was a bonus. He was getting their damage added to the fight, but they wouldn't get the experience, and he didn't have to share. No way could they do more damage than his crew.

Suzette said something to Rolly, and he ran over to Ben, leaving her as she cast another spell.

"Hey, Ben! I've got it on good authority that the Dark Magic crap pouring down the road and healing this thing doesn't like Holly or Rowan wood. Hates that nasty Sassafras, too. Can you get some of the guys to dam it up? Lots of wood in the piles." Ben ran to find help. He never had figured out how Rolly knew things. But he often did and was usually spot on. He grabbed Jorges, Chad, and several others who were watching the fight. "We have a job, boys. Don't ask questions - we need to pile a ton of wood across the end of the road and dam things up." They ran off.

The Charnel Daemon closed half the distance to Suzette as she cast a third Solar Arrow cantrip at it. Half the distance was far too close. Its spike arm centered on her and fired, sending the long bone harpoon through her leg. The ropy tendril connecting the harpoon to the creature retracted, knocking her off her feet and dragging her to it. Too far away to help, Rolly and Ozzy could only look on in horror as the bony fist came down on her. Everyone saw the notification.

[The Dying Light
An ally of The Light has perished. The Dark grows stronger. Creatures allied to the Dark will now do 20% more damage in your battle.]

Timmy yelled at his squire. "Joseph. Get her up! The thing is too strong already. I can't take another 20% on top of what it's dishing out already."

Rolly yelled out, "It should be strong. That's a level 7 elite boss; wanna see?" Rolly shared what his identification skill had shown him.

Charnel Daemon, Elite Level 7 Boss: (Regenerates, Absorbs Dark Mana, Resistant to Crushing and Piercing, Weak to Holy and Radiant.)
Current Health 1880/2000

Timmy and his crew stared at the stat line, seeing how much farther they had to go to vanquish this foe.

"You're all healed up, Ozzy. Keep the burny guy alive. I love the smell of burning Daemon. I'll go help Wonder Boy over there."

Hugh sneered as he launched another firebolt. "Help how? Call Bo Peep and her lamb?"

Rolly cheerfully answered him. "Naw, the lamb would be overkill. We only use the lamb for the Big monsters." Rolly stepped forward and stood with his feet in a wide stance. He held his arms out wide to either side, hands flat. "Go, Go, Super-Shepherd Powers! Activate!" He slammed his arms across his chest. Rolly started to glow.

Even the Daemon paused as this happened. Rolly opened his huge, red, multifaceted eyes. Black shell-like armor covered most of his body, and long, sharp blades of chitin erupted from his arms. He ran forward and severed two of the Daemon's tentacles with two hits.

Hugh quickly resolved never to make another shepherd joke again and to buy Rolly a beer later. He also needed to go find out about this Super-shepherd stuff. The crazy guy was doing a lot more damage than Timmy was. And it was obvious why. Maces and arrows weren't going to kill this thing. It would take a lot of editing to make Timmy the star of the show this time.

Joseph used the diversion to drag Suzette's body out of the way and started a revivification spell. He hoped Timmy was right about this. He was dumping a third of his mana on this spell.

The Daemon got back to work. Its spike missed David. The big man was wary and trying to avoid its swings, going defensive. The daemon didn't care; time was on its side. The light was weak in the baby Paladin, and the damage any of them dealt was healed by the wonderful power pouring into it. It brought its pummeling fist down onto Timmy, denting his shield again and sending a wave of pain into his arm. The chopped-off tentacles were still part of it, and under its control, It sent them moving like meaty snakes toward any of the little ants staying out of its range. Timmy screamed as the tentacle on his leg constricted again.

[You are pummeled for 150 damage. You take 100 after mitigation.
You take 50 constricting damage.]

"SHIT! Burn my leg, Hugh! The damn tentacle is about to break it."

Hugh prayed that the audio picked up that order. Anyone watching the video was about to see him launch an attack on his boss. The firebolt hit Timmy in the back of his leg. The tentacle burned and quit moving, falling off of his leg. The metal of Timmy's grieves was crushed and dented, and the under armor burned away, leaving a bleeding and charred wound.

Ozzy was chopping madly at two tentacles heading for Hugh, turning them into small chunks of meat. Something was let loose inside of him when he saw Suzette go down. It was only a game, but part of him didn't understand that. Louis wasn't so lucky. Further away, he dodged one tentacle only to have another wrap around his throat. He died two rounds later as he was swarmed by three more tentacles.

[A member of your party has died! Louis was killed by <Charnel Daemon Tentacle>.]

"Get him back up, Joseph!" Timmy didn't like losing party members. It was dramatic, but it ruined a group photo with their kills at the end of the fight. That was the main reason for bringing a cleric along disguised as a squire. They just relied on the potions in their satchels in the easy fights. That looked better in the videos.

Joseph left Suzette's body. "I'll try, but she has to accept the revivification before I can cast it again. Otherwise, I lose the mana for nothing." This is why Joseph hated working with people outside his group. The woman probably didn't pay attention to her screen after she died and had started playing Candycrush before she saw his revivification message. He'd needed to get Louis up; if she hadn't accepted, he'd cut her loose.

Timmy was really burning through his resources now. He'd gone defensive, and wasn't using Crushing Blow. and saving the stamina to dodge with sidestep. This strategy wasn't working well. He wasn't dodging many of its attacks. The demon must have a huge attack chance for it to be cancelling so much of his evasion. His health was way too low. He started burning his mana for heals, hoping Hugh and David could put a dent in the thing.

Suddenly, Timmy felt better. Like the air was clearing. He saw Super-Shepherd (wow, what a horrible name.) put two huge slashes down the daemon's side. The wounds didn't heal and continued to leak black ichor. David got in one last slash. The Charnel Daemon had suddenly lashed out with both arms and a whipping tentacle at him.

Timmy cursed in very un-paladin-like terms as he got the message. [A member of your party has died! David was killed by <Charnel Daemon > with multiple attacks.]

Rolly yelled, "It's going down. Keep at it."

[Charnel Daemon Health 1490/2000]

Unfortunately, the players were also going down. Joseph got to Louis. He cut the revive to Suzette, hating to lose the mana. He was downing potions as fast as he could from his satchel. Preoccupied with drinking a mana potion so he could revive Louis and head back to David, Joseph had forgotten how Hugh had died. He felt the tentacles wrap around him and begin to squeeze as they ambushed him.

Ozzy saw the fight was going badly. The tentacles near Hugh were dead so he focused on the Daemon. With David gone, joining Timmy in the fight was easier. Great swords don't really play well with others in a tight fight. The Butcher could see the thing wasn't regenerating like before and wondered if they could kill it by attrition, carving away at it. "Rolly, aim for that arm, I'll help." Rolly got in two good hits on the spear arm before taking a shot from the pummeling arm that knocked him to his knees.

Timmy was glowing like the sun now. He had downed his emergency Potion of Hefty Mana to restore his mana. He was using both of his auras. One provided a minor healing effect to everyone around him, and the other boosted their morale and bravery. More importantly, they were both light-based abilities and were burning the creature. Damage done by light and fire didn't seem to be regenerating at all now.

[Charnel Daemon Health 1100/2000]

Ozzy hacked at the wound in the spear arm where Rolly had cut it. The entire arm fell off as he cut through the bone. "Ha! Just like butchering a sedge beast".
Unfortunately, the arm was pissed and still able to attack. It couldn't aim anymore, but the coiled muscles could get off one last shot. It waited until someone moved into its arc of fire and as Timmy stepped forward, shot him at point-blank range. The shot came in at his beltline, just under his chest piece and bypassing his shield. Timmy's vision blurred in a red haze as he drunkenly read the message that appeared.

[You have taken a critical hit! You suffer 276 points of piercing damage that has bypassed your armor.
Luckily, your liver was missed.
Luckily, your lungs were not hit.
Sadly, your heart is in no shape to pump blood. In this case, Two out of three ain't good, in your case!
And if you haven't guessed already, you're dead.]

As the last remaining party member, Hugh received a message.

[A member of your party has died! Sir Timothy was killed by <Charnel Daemon > with a critical attack from a bone spike. His heart just wasn't in it after that.]

All players in the vicinity saw the following.

[The Dying Light: An ally of The Light has perished. The Dark grows stronger. Creatures allied to the Dark will now do 40% more damage in your battle.]

The Daemon let out a bloodcurdling laugh as it succeeded in its major objective and the great System acknowledged its victory.

[Well done!! All followers of the light in the immediate area are destroyed. Your Daemonic Pact has been fulfilled. The village of Sedgewick is now your domain to rule as the Dark rolls to eventual victory. For fulfilling a major quest, you receive 10 additional Enhancement Points to increase your power. Create a Charnel Pit in your domain to gain further favors from the Dark.]

Hugh was not a happy camper. He'd just seen his paycheck take a heavy hit. If Timmy died, his group forfeited 50% of their earnings that week. It was a very effective incentive for keeping Timmy alive. Hugh's temper was frayed already, and this tipped him over the edge.

"Fething Hell! Do you idiots know how much I just lost in bonuses?!!! You can all BURN! "

Twin fireballs were launched, one from each of his hands. Hugh preferred throwing fireballs, it was his favorite spell, but he was rarely was he allowed to use it. Even against huge hordes, he wasn't supposed to outshine the star of their little show, and the fire and light played hell with video quality. At this point, he didn't care. He was burning the hell out of the demon and these ACME assholes that had interfered in their fight, and then getting the hell out of here. He needed to find a bar and get several drinks while waiting for Timmy to get back.

Even if he could kill the demon, he knew not to. The death blow had to come from 'Sir Timothy.' Rules are rules, and bonuses depend on following the rules. So, a couple of therapeutic fireballs and he was out of here. He'd be out of mana, but he didn't need mana to run. He scampered off between two of the huts, making for the open field beyond.
The workers fighting the demon didn't need the message to know what hit them.

[You have suffered damage from a temporary ally.
You took 80 points from a Fireball
You took 80 points from a Fireball
You are on fire.
You are on fire.]

Both Rolly and Ozzy were knocked flat by the twin blasts. They stayed flat and tried to put out the fires by rolling. The Daemon screamed as it burned and was caught on fire. Fat bubbled and fed the flame. Hugh moved to the top of its list of who to murder next.

The Charnel Daemon left Ozzy and Rolly to burn and went to hunt the one that had hurt it. Hugh didn't like this and started running. He didn't get far.

Ben's fist hit him in the stomach, bending him over. "That is for burning my buddy, Rolly." A left fist hit him in his face, bloodying his nose and knocking him down." And that's for burning my buddy, Ozzy. And this next one is for being a Famco asshole." The kick took Hugh in the stomach, leaving him unable to breathe for a moment. Ben retreated as the Charnel Daemon came to finish him off. The blows were unskilled and wouldn't have hurt anyone but an exhausted mage. But they'd slow the guy down so the Daemon could get him.

[Your party has been wiped out.
Your party has failed the quest: 'Something is Rotten in Sedgewick!'
Your foe has increased in power.]

Neither Ozzy nor Rolly was in good shape at this point. Rolly had started with over 800 health but was down to just 60. Ozzy had nearly 900 when at full health. His high CON and STR added to the high health that all Contract Workers had and let him take a lot of damage. After the burning, though, he was hovering at about 300. Rolly reached out and transferred all his stamina to Ozzy, healing him to full.

Ozzy felt better but saw that his friend was close to passing out. "Dammit, Rolly, save some for yourself."

"Naw. I think it's better to have one big dog rather than two little yappy ones. I'm out of mana and stamina and mostly dead. I'll do my best to do some damage and take a hit before it kills me. My Shepherd powers are almost gone. They take a lot of stamina to keep active." Rolly quit glowing, and his 'shepherd powers' faded out. "Besides. You've got a plan. I can tell."

Ozzy was skeptical about his ideal. It wasn't a great plan. "You're near dead. Suzette is very dead. Ben only has a whip. And the Daemon hits a hell of a lot harder than I do. We can't stand up to in a normal fight. But maybe we can lure it into an oven and cook it to death."

Both men saw that something was happening above Suzette's tombstone. There was a blinding flash of light as Suzette reappeared in a glowing circle of runes. The clothes she'd been wearing were gone, and now she was wearing a short white cotton dress with gold and green trim. There was a glowing golden triangle on her forehead. Her smile was blinding.

She turned to her astounded friends. "See? I knew Ozzy would have a plan. How about I get the thing's attention while you get the oven ready."

The Charnel Daemon paused as something changed. One of the light's minions had returned! It groaned as it saw the infernal message swim into its vision.

[Failure!
One of your 'kills' has returned. Your Daemonic Pact has been invalidated. The village of Sedgewick is taken from you. You can kiss that extra power goodbye! Dirty Cheater!
Your damage is reduced to normal levels.
Complete your quest, and make sure they stay dead this time if you want to regain what you have lost.]

The Charnel Daemon screamed! This was an unfair turn of events! Not that betrayal was unknown to creatures of the Dark; it was actually quite common. But it was always unfair when it happened to you! It had been intending to seek the source of the delicious flow of Dark Mana and heal itself. Its natural regen and what little Dark Mana it could sop up from the remaining puddles just wasn't enough. But now it needed to find where the pox-ridden follower of the light was hiding. Suzette helped out with this.

[Solar Arrow strikes for 80 points of damage against a Charnel Daemon! Health is reduced to 690/2000]

The Daemon turned toward her and charged. It had found the meat that hurt it, and it was time to hunt. It tried to fire its bone spear at her, forgetting that arm was lying on the ground. It would have to chase her down. Its target was annoyingly swift. The meat was moving back to where it had first spawned. A good spot, still rich with the Dark. It moved to the pit it had spawned in, but it wasn't there. The dirt had been pushed in, covering its pit. The little bit of Dark Magic here was barely enough to start regrowing its arm.

[Solar Arrow strikes for 80 points of damage against a Charnel Daemon! Health is reduced to 610/2000]

The Daemon spotted her hiding in a large wooden dwelling. It saw the follower of Light trying to cast another spell. The Daemon rushed into the barn. Hanging from the ceiling was tons of meat it could use to heal itself. It was slower than using Dark Maman but almost as good. But first, it needed to kill its prey. Searching for the annoying human, the Daemon saw her scamper through a small hole in the back wall. It went to smash through the wall, but the stubborn wood resisted it. Stacks of the hated woods were piled at the back of the barn, and it couldn't move through them fast enough to catch her. A voice taunted it from the front of the barn.

"Just you and me now asshole!"

A large human was standing there. The Butcher. It knew about Butchers. Fearsome things! Why the hell was this one on the side of the Light? And why was it holding that stupid stick?

'Stick' really didn't do the timber justice. It was the largest piece of sassafras they could find in the short time they had. Eighteen feet long and a foot wide and thick, it weighed just under 600 lbs. One end had been crudely pointed with an axe. Ozzy hefted it like a twig. He ran at the Daemon, skewering it and pinning it to the back wall. A cross piece nailed into the timber three feet behind the point kept the Daemon from moving toward Ozzy.

Ben yelled at the few workers they'd been able to find. "Pile it on fast; I'm lighting it up." Jorges, Aman, and a half dozen others ran forward and hefted more wood on top of the pinned daemon. Rolly and Ben threw torches into the pools of oil they dumped on the floor. They used every bit of cooking or lamp oil they could find and all the hard alcohol from the tavern.

The Daemon screamed, and the fire roared. Suzette hit it again and again with her cantrip until she was out of mana. Ben handed some bottles to Rolly. "How's your pitching arm? I have a whole satchel of very expensive healing potions donated by a dead cleric." They began to throw healing potions at Ozzy's back, breaking the bottles and splashing him with the contents. His health was still dropping, but not nearly as rapidly as it would have. The Daemon tried to use the hanging meat to heal, but too quickly it turned to cooked meat and was useless. Try as it might, it couldn't budge the stick the human was pinning it with. How was a human so damn strong!

Ozzy had a Monstrous amount of Stamina, and all of it tripled because of one of the benefits of being a contract worker. He had enough stamina to work around the clock and extra to increase his STR temporarily. Ozzy had burned 900 of his nearly 1600 stamina to increase his STR to 15 and pin the Daemon in place for as long as he could.

This wasn't normally a good idea. His bones and ligaments couldn't take the strain, as he didn't have the CON to sustain that STR. Of course, fighting Daemons inside a raging inferno wasn't smart either - especially when the fire finally reached that small barrel of Dwarven Whiskey that Derrek had hidden under the bar. It had been found and brought along, but with no time to open and pour it out before Rolly yelled that Suzette was on her way.

The barrel exploded, and a small sun ignited inside the barn. Being right on top of it, the Daemon died immediately, cooked all the way through. Ozzy lasted a half second longer. They'd talked about ways he could retreat, but there was nothing that could hold the Daemon in place except for him. It wasn't his first death, but burning as you broke your own bones was certainly a painful one. The roof of the barn levitated upward briefly, then crashed down, followed by the rest of the walls. Jorges and anyone who could lift a timber ran forward and fed the fire. They were taking no chances with a Tier 2 elite.

Ozzy resurrected at dawn with the crushing weight of the Death penalty on his soul. But at least he got to sit and drink a tall, foamy Blud Dark by the light of his own funeral pyre.

Billy appeared around 7 am with Vern. Eyeing the destruction of one side of the town, they made their way to what used to be the barn, smokehouse, and corrals. They were greeted by a smiling and drunk Suzette. "Blud Dark, drink up, you're many beers behind." Billy noticed that the few of his Contract Workers he could see were drunk and partying, along with most of the town.

Vern took a sip of his beer. "Damn, this is fine beer. When did Blud learn how to make a good dark beer?"

Billy was upset. "Why do I always miss the good parties?"

Ozzy was sitting nearby on a large tree stump, a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a beer next to him. "You work too hard, Billy. You should stick around more; go Daemon hunting with us."

Billy took a seat on the stump. "Daemons? Right. Sounds fun. I'll skip."

Ozzy gave him a significant look. "And Famco was in the center of it somehow. One of their high-level parties got in the middle of the fight with the monster and got dead."

That got Billy's attention. Famco? Oh, this was getting better and better. "Well, let's hear the story then. Have a seat Vern, time for some high-level brainstorming."

Vern considered. "I like this beer. Any more of it?" Ozzy yelled out. "Another keg of Blud Dark, please, Suzette."