“I heard it too, maybe a few hills over? Sounded far.” The second armored man by the fire said.

  “What would a donkey be doing in the foothills? That makes no sense,” the large man said. He spoke with a nasally, refined accent.

  The first man whistled twice in short bursts. The man atop the tower whistled three short notes a few seconds later.

  “Nothin’ around,” the first man said. “Cording’ to Jarrod, at least.”

  “I know I heard a damned donkey,” the second man said.

  “Me too, must be further than we thought. Or just hidden somewhere, it’s getting dark.”

  The other donkey brayed, but my mana infused song was strong enough to mask the sound. We continued down the road.

  We were nearly out of sight of the camp, but not the guard tower, when my hand started cramping up. I panicked for a moment before consuming a minor health potion from my quickslot. The cramp eased and I was able to continue playing.

  A few minutes — and another minor healing potion — later we crested the next hill and were finally out of view of that damned tower.

  Chanter: What was that about? They just seemed like people.

  Katarina: Keep playing, I dont trust these damn donkeys.

  I resumed playing and had no sooner enacted the masking ability of the song than one of the donkeys let out another ‘heehaw’.

  Katarina: Damn donkeys. Horrible for stealth.

  Abernathy: So what happened?

  Katarina: Did you see the cart? Did it look familiar?

  Abernathy: No, I was too busy waiting for them to attack us! What about the cart?

  Katarina: It was the same kind of cart as the one at the water station.

  That brought an abrupt end to Abernathy’s messages and nearly caused me to fumble the song.

  Katarina: There’s more. I heard them talking. I think I know why there has been so much kidnapping going on in the area. They were talking about changelings.

  I faltered in my performance. “What?”

  “Shhh!” Katarina put a hand over my mouth. I blushed.

  Chanter: What? They talked about changelings?

  Karatina: Play the song, please.

  I resumed the performance.

  Katarina: They didn’t say the word changeling. They said something else, something that stuck with me from the story you told us about when you spawned into Veil for the first time. Baby-snatcher. They said they hoped to get a good haul because there were rumors of a pack of baby-snatchers in the area, that rumors had spread through their competition like wildfire and they hoped they didn’t all get snatched up.

  Abernathy: So the reason all those people were snatched up…

  Katarina: It sounded like it.

  Chanter: Because of me?

  I faltered in the song again, confusion wracking my mind. How could they have known? I hadn’t told anyone.

  Katarina: I don’t think it is about you, I think it’s just coincidence. No one knew about you except us right?

  Stolen story; please report.

  Chanter: And Cahl, but he wouldn’t have told anyone.

  Abernathy: Then it couldn’t have been you. I agree with Katarina, I don’t think it was you. Maybe that system glitch happened to more than one person? Or maybe there was some Changeling questline you were supposed to get in Verdantbrook? I still think it an odd game design decision to wipe out an entire city like that.

  Katarina: I have thoughts about that too, but not now. Those guys are bad news. We should just keep going. Or ambush them and kick their slaver asses. I vote for ass kicking.

  Abernathy: It’s too dangerous, there were three of them! I can’t fight.

  Encore: It would still be three on three.

  Katarina: Damn right it would!

  Chanter: I didn’t get a good look at that cart either, I was to focused on their side of the road and the music. Why don’t we leave the cart and donkeys here and back track? If they do peddle flesh I want them gone. You can stay with the cart, Abe.

  Abernathy: Can we just keep going, please? I don’t like this.

  Katarina: Don’t worry, Abe! It’ll be fine. I can handle those three guys alone. Chanter and Encore will just be along for the ride.

  Abernathy: Please be safe. Take this, Chanter.

  Abernathy pulled a familiar, cylindrical device from his inventory, handing it to me. I inspected it.

  Abernathy’s Viscid Pipe-bomb of Adhesion.

  Unique. Single Use.

  Without a core primed to explode, this is nothing more than a paperweight. Add an enchanted core, and it becomes an indiscriminate harbinger of adhesion. The progressively thinner structure design promotes and maximizes spread potential for the webbing contained between the layers in an explosion.

  Chanter: Thanks, Abe.

  Katarina: I would rather blow them up with my fists.

  Chanter: But if we can capture them, maybe we can get more information about who they are after.

  Katarina: I guess.

  I performed Kinetic Overload at 93% on the inner tube of the device, slid it in the central chamber and locked it in place. I confirmed it was listed as [Armed] before stowing it in my inventory.

  Chanter: Ready to go?

  Katarina: Lets do this.

  Encore: Ready.

  Abernathy: Please be careful.

  I resumed playing Cahl’s Tatsu as we made our way back to the camp. The group of men were engaged in a conversation that had nothing to do with their business.

  “ — one of those dwarven woman. They really know how to lay it down, you know what I mean?”

  “I just can’t get past their beards, man.”

  Katarina: I’m going to go take care of the one atop the tower. I’ll wait for you to distract him with the bomb.

  I nodded, continuing to play the song as I approached. The radius of the song allowed Katarina to get directly under the ruined tower before leaving it.

  Katarina split away from us, hiding on the other side of the tower as Encore and I made our way down the road. The camp came into sight on the other side of the tower and I got a better look at the cart.

  Memories of the night at the water station, only a few nights gone, flashed through my mind. The smell of blood and fear. Feelings of terror and loss. Screams in the night.

  I shoved them away, fumbling a few notes but continuing the song. This cart was of the same design, down to the way the canvas stretched across the bows. I knew what lay within. Nine cages of iron, meant for people.

  Careful of my foot placement, I made my way around the cart and off the road. The cart was positioned across the road from the camp. I ended my song on the other side of the cart, hidden from their view. The two grazing lizard beasts ignored my sudden appearance, munching on the dry grass that grew in patches.

  I glanced around the cart at the camp just as one of the donkeys let loose another braying call from the distance.

  Abernathy: Shit. Did you hear that?

  “Damn! I knew it! I knew I heard a damned donkey!” One of the men by the fire said. Both of the men stood, drawing their swords and stepping toward the tower and the sound. Towards Abernathy.

  Katarina: Oh yeah, that was loud. I’m sure they heard.

  Chanter: They stepped away from the campsite, but stopped walking. They are just listening.

  One of the men below whistled, the same whistle as before. The man on top of the tower was silent for several long seconds before responding in the same three whistles.

  “Still doesn’t see anything,” one of the men said. “Gotta be close though. Maybe just over the next hill. I can’t wait to be free from these damned mountains.”

  “Should we go out and try to get it? Donkey jerky ain’t half bad.”

  “Donkey… jerky?” The portly fellow sitting back intoned. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Don’t knock it till you try it,” the man replied, taking another step towards the road and the tower.

  The three men on the ground were still within thirty feet of each other. I didn’t know how far the webs would extend, but they wouldn’t remain clustered like this for long, and I didn’t want them going after Abe.

  I pulled Abernathy’s Viscid Pipe-bomb of Adhesion out of my inventory and stepped around the cart. The lounging fat man’s eyes locked on mine as I emerged. He cried out in a high-pitched, nasal voice as I threw the bomb in a high arc towards their camp.

  “Elf! There! Ambush!!”

  Veil! I am starting to work on the typesetting and formatting for the Epub of Book 1. I'm not sure how long it will take, but it will be moving to KU in the next few weeks. I will give an update when I have some more information, so there will be plenty of notice before it is stubbed.

  Patreon!