As the dust settled back into the ground below, thought began to return to the mind of the immortal. 

She began to gaze up at the sky.

'Pops... Dad...' She thought to herself, 'Please... Make sure he... Just don't let him die.' 

And the sky remained ever cold and uncaring.

'And... S, or whatever... Whatever your deal is... You better know what the hell you're doing.'

She winced at the thought of placing her trust in a mortal, however, she felt that she was out of options. 'Please...' She added to herself, gritting her teeth all the while.

. . .

'Guess I should get back to the 'house', then.' She thought. She seriously doubted that anyone would actually try to take anything from it, as there isn't really much of immediately apparent value in there, and, in the first place, it's not even finished, but... Well, she didn't have anything better to do. 

Somehow, not even fishing seemed appealing at the moment. 

Thus, the immortal began making her way to the house. 

"Oi, where'd, uh..." The shopkeeper said from behind the immortal, "Your brother, right? Where'd he go? He was just here, right?" 

The immortal stopped, briefly. "He left a bit ago." She explained, keeping her head forward.

"Oh. Know when he'll be back?"

The immortal shrugged.

"Oh."

. . .

The immortal began to walk again.

"Wait, uh... You live there too, right? You wanna get in on this?" The shopkeeper said, alluding to the ever growing circle of chairs, and bell from the church that coincidentally just started ringing.

"Hell no."

"Oh. Alright." The shopkeeper concluded with a shrug, and taking a bite of their apple from earlier.

All that remained was the core, which she threw as far of off into the distance as she could. It's fine, those things are pretty biodegradable. But that's tangential to the primary idea that the immortal will be sitting at the house/cabin until something interesting happens around there.

"Just move to the next friggin scene already..." The immortal muttered quietly to herself as she walked.

Right.

---

"Ahem.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the council, thank you all for coming out today. This marks that 83rd annual Basenholm Town Council meeting. We have grave matters to discuss." Said the shopkeeper, who was the designated leader for this meeting, since they sort of called it. Normally it was just whoever rang the bell, but the twin guards rang it this time, and nobody liked it when they hosted, because they were really hard to follow for more than a few sentences. 

Also, these meetings weren't annual, and it was far from the 83rd one. And the 'council' was actually just anyone who bothered to show up to the giant circle of chairs they'd set up in the center of town. 

"We'll begin will roll-call. Who's all here?" 

"Present." Said Miagozah Nrokhi, the father of Michaus and Zramazos Nrokhi.

"Oi, where's the wife?"

"She was taking a bath when the bell rang. I'll be attending this one alone." The man explained. "Where are the boys?" He asked, gesturing to the empty seats next to him where his sons usually sat.

"Both ran off at the first sign of danger. 'Course, one ran towards it." The shopkeeper explained. "Prolly caused it, too..." She added, quietly.

"I see."

"We're" "also" "present." The twin guards said from the other end of the circle.

"By the light, as am I." Said the holy man in plate armor, from next to them. 

"Present." Said the robed innkeeper from off to the side. 

"Huh. Small group today." The shopkeeper mused. "Where are the elders?"

"Sleeping, we didn't" "want to wake them." The twin guards explained. "What about" "Charolette?"

"Still in her house, doing gods know what. When I tried telling her about the message, she just got all giddy and slammed the door. Ran up to her room, or something. Think her parents are still out, too." 

"Good riddance." Said Mr. Nrokhi. 

"What of the green fella?" The innkeeper asked, changing the subject. "I can't recall the last time he missed a meetin'."

"He left town last night, while I was on watch. Hasn't returned." The man in armor explained.

"That doesn't bode well." Said Mr. Nrokhi. 

"Well hold on now." The innkeeper said. "He's a tough cookie, I'm sure he's alright, whatever it is that's stalling him."

"I'm not concerned about his safety."

"H-hold on now, surely you don't mean-"

"He's a known freak. He has strange visitors seemingly every month or so. Not one of us knows a thing about his past. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised."

"C'mon, if he really had something to gain from hurting us, don't you think he'd be a bit more subtle about it?" The shopkeeper pointed out. "Plus, while he's certainly a creep, no disagreement there... He's no idiot. I mean, look at you, big guy. You're practically a mountain, and I can't even think of a metaphor for Michaus, he's just insane, and whoever wrote that letter's already pissed him off."

"Watch your tongue, girl."

"And even beyond that, that guy's a fanatic who sleeps in plate armor, and those two are just as creepy as he is, er, no offense."

"That's fair." The guards said in unison.

"And, well, just look at that guy!" The shopkeeper said, pointing at the innkeeper. "I dunno what his deal is, but there's no way he doesn't have some crazy cult demon magics up his sleeve, right?" 

"Oh, please. I'm but a simple inn-"

"Doubt. And even beyond you lot, I'm pretty damn strong, even outside my shop, and Charolette's got gods know what in her house, probably something dangerous in there, and Zramazos is... Probably pretty tough." The shopkeeper explained. "At least, if he wasn't such a little-"

Mr. Nrokhi glared at the shopkeeper.

"P-point is, we ain't got a thing to worry about. Not from greenie, and not from whatever perverts played with Michaus's hair."

"And what of," "the new neighbors?"

"Oh, right, forgot about them. What about them? I'm sure they'll be fine, too. Two of 'em went with Michaus that one time and came back just fine, right? Though, come to think of it, has anyone seen the one with the tan robe after that?" 

The council thought about it for a moment, and they ultimate came to a resounding "Uh... probably not, don't think so." 

"Huh. Maybe he died." The shopkeeper said, nonchalantly.

"No. Michaus would have said something if he did." Mr. Nrokhi pointed out.

"Beyond that, surely the boy would show some remorse, if that were the case." The innkeeper said.

"You sure? I mean, y'ever seen the guy? He looks like a dead fish. You could gut someone in front of him and he'd probably just yawn." The shopkeeper half joked.

"Actually," "speaking of," "the boy," The twin guards said. "The other day," "he came to us with" "a very..." "strange statement." "A very concerning one, too."

"Which was?"

"We believe," "his exact words were," The twins cleared their throats at the same time, and began to speak in unison. "I wanted to inform you that something bad might happen 1 to 3 days from now." They recited. "He said this 2 days ago."

. . .

"Why are you just telling us this now?" Asked the shopkeeper.

"He wasn't super" "confident in his assertions." 

"At any rate, what are you suggesting?" Mr. Nrokhi asked.

The guards said nothing, simply looked onward.

"Oh, come on." The shopkeeper said. "That's wayyyy too indecisive. At most, this whole thing will end up being a stupid prank. Probably just lucky intuition, pure coincidence." 

"Accident or not, his predictions coincided perfectly with the energies blanketing our town." The man in armor said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" 

"The presences. The essence of life and all that exists, that which is unseen." The man in armor said, mostly just babbling nonsense and whatever he thought sounded cool at the time. "For the past few days, they've been all over the place, I haven't been able to make sense of any of it. Today, especially..." He explained, before beginning to quietly mumble to himself, "The unholy presence left moments ago, yet the other one... It's gotten... I-I'm not sure..."

Thankfully, his mumbling was interrupted when Mr. Nrokhi said "Get to the point." 

"By the light, something will happen this day. I am sure of it." 

"Any idea what?" Asked the shopkeeper.

"... Regrettably, no." 

. . .

"At any rate," "what of the boy's" "other companions?" The twin guards proposed. "They are still" "unaccounted for." 

"Well, we ain't seen the irritating cat one since the first day."

"Good riddance. Michaus wouldn't stop talking about them, that night..." Mr. Nrokhi said with distant eyes.

"The tan boy's been out, too, and that just leaves that other girl. His... I dunno, sister, right? Man, what's her deal?" 

"She is" "rather peculiar."

"You two don't get to say that." 

"It's true, though." "And concerning." "There's something..." "Off, about-" 

"Hold on there, fellers." The innkeeper interrupted. "She's just a youngin'. There ain't anything wrong about her." The innkeeper stated confidently, though there was a real part of him that didn't believe his own words. "Believe me, she's not a threat."

"And" "if" "you're" "wro-"

"Don't be ridiculous." The man in armor said. "By the light, they're no more than 8, 9 years of age. They are of no threat to us."

The twin guards hung their heads. "Of course. Forgive our brashness, captain." 

"I'm captain of nothing. And I do not fault you for paranoia. It is the natural outcome of a duty to protect."

"Yes, captain."

"I'm not-"

"Well, in fairness," The shopkeeper interrupted. "Michaus is also around that age, and we all know what he's capable of."

"He's an exception, a gross outlier. You can't possibly compare him to- ...Well, y'know"

Mr. Nrokhi chuckled loudly.

"Of course, I'm well aware of that. Just sayin'."

. . .

"Alright, is that everything?" The shopkeeper asked. "Anyone got anything else to add? No? Alright then, meeting adj- "

"Uh h-hold on now, we've discussed a lot of hypotheticals, but what're we gonna do if some ruffians actually attack? What's our strategy?" The innkeeper said as everyone was getting up from their seats.

"Strategy? Why'd we need something like that?"

"Was that not the point of this meeting?"

"Eh, not really."

"Then wh-"

"What, did you have anything better to do?" 

"Well, no, but should we not at least talk about what it is they want, where they came from, or how they got here? Nobody saw them cross the bridge, after all, yet Michaus ran off towards the woods."

"Guy at my shop earlier they used weird raft magic to cross. Not sure how or why. And we have no way of finding out what they want."

 "But what about-"

"The strategy is to beat the crap outa anyone that threatens us. Meeting adjourned." 

And thus, the Basenholm town council disbanded, and they began to move the chairs back to where they grabbed them from.

"Oh." 

. . .

The innkeeper shrugged, and, too, began putting chairs back.

---

Meanwhile, in the ruins in a nearby forest,

"Oi, boss, now that you've called us all here, mind telling us why the hell we're actually here-" Pinky asked.

"Shh! The boss will tell us when-" Knives began.

"Silence, both of you." The boss said, his voice booming throughout the stone walls of the ruin.

Dust fell from the ceiling of the cavern, and no creature made a sound. 

The 'dog' and the five that remained (except for Branch, who was standing, of course) sat in the large, arena-like main chamber of the ruins.

"Here's how it's gonna be." Branch began. "You three," they pointed to Pinky, 'the mutt', and 'the eskimo' "You're going into town, and do what it is you do best. Use your own discretion." 

The three said nothing, and simply nodded in place. 

"You." They said, pointing at Knives. "You're staying here. Watch the woods, and never get too far away from this place."

"Y-yes, boss, whatever you s-"

"Silence."

Knives closed his eyes, and hung his head low.

"And you." They pointed at Noble. "There is an unfinished, isolated house south of town. You will go there, and bring any occupants to me. Use your own discursion."

Noble, too, silently nodded, questioning nothing.

"Any questions?" 

. . .

"Good. I will remain here. Be ready for my orders at all times. You will know when we're finished." Branch concluded. "Dismissed"  

And, just like that, everyone got up, and left to go carry out their orders. 

How wonderfully efficient!