Niphru nodded at the man before letting him get back to work.  As he left, he looked through the line of people, noticing Amilya standing about halfway through the line.  Deciding not to bother her, he headed toward Monti’s house, arriving a few moments later.  As he considered how to get the man’s attention, however, he noticed all the lights were out, and decided against bothering the man while he was likely sleeping.

Instead of risking bothering anyone else, he simply left through the north gate, planning to hunt a few mice to fill up.  With his illusions, it was nearly effortless to catch three mice.  However, his sense of danger acted up when he was eating the third, so he buried the remains and left instead of finishing it.

Circling around the village, he headed back to his forest den.  Along the way he considered his foxfire and how it came to be, sensing what it was made of and somehow certain he couldn’t make another.  He was certain in time he would be able to produce more, however.  Looking at it more closely also revealed it had grown in size again, now nearly as large as a human’s head.  He found it odd that he hadn’t noticed before now.

Arriving at his den, he headed inside and curled up to sleep.  As he lay there waiting for sleep to come, he heard scratching noises outside, then a snort, like something was digging into the ground.  Unwilling to be dug up, he headed to one of the secondary holes and peeked outside while covered with an illusion.  Digging into his den was an oversized bear with smoldering fur and a third pair of legs, snorting into the dirt as it clawed downward.  Fortunately, his escape hole was downwind, so the beast couldn’t smell him.

As his den was clearly unusable now, he decided to head back to the village and see if he could get help dealing with the bear.  After all, a large mutated bear was a threat to the village as well.

Arriving at the village, he headed back in the eastern gate, checking Morris’ home first, but the lights were off and the window shut, so he assumed the man was asleep.  His next best bet was Amilya, as he didn’t know where Diara or Harold lived, and didn’t know anyone else strong enough to help.  Arriving at her home, he spotted her standing outside talking with a man who was reattaching the door, which looked different than last time he was there.

Amilya turned, noticing Niphru arriving, and smiled, waving him over.  As he approached, she spoke up, “Niphru, good to see you, I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow though.  Meet Travis, he is the village carpenter, and offered to stay up late to help out when he heard it was related to you.  His brother works at the lumberyard in the forest, and they’ve had far less attacks since you started reporting the beasts to us.”

Niphru nodded to the man, turning back to Amilya, then shifting his foxfire into an illusion of the bear and exclaiming, “I actually was just driven out of my den by another mutant beast, I am very glad I had escape tunnels.  I was wondering if anyone could help hunt it down before it gets too far away.”

After looking at the illusion for a moment, Amilya nodded and said, “That looks like something we can handle tonight, just need to get Diara and Harold.  Diara’s sling will actually work on this, unlike the beast you lead us to, and Harold is strong enough to hold it back.  I don’t think we will need anyone else.  Would you like to wait here, or would you rather come with me as I get them?”

Without any hesitation, he replied, “I’m glad we can take care of it, if it's ok I’d prefer to follow you and learn where they live.”

Amilya led him towards the eastern gate, stopping at one of the houses closest to the gate before knocking on the door.  After a few moments of waiting, Diara opened the door, looking at them with tired eyes.  Amilya smiled apologetically, before explaining, “We have a large bear mutant nearby the village that just dug up Niphru’s den and were hoping to get your help removing it.”

Diara shook her head a moment before responding, “It’s always when you are trying to rest that they end up nearby isn’t it?  I’ll be ready in a bit and meet you at the gate,” she then closed the door again before the windows lit up.

Niphru continued following Amilya as she headed towards the northern gate, then into the fields.  A few moments later they’d passed the furthest he had explored on his own, before reaching one of the farmhouses.  Unlike with Diara’s home, the light was still on inside when Amilya knocked on the door.  In just a few seconds it opened up to reveal Harold, who took one look at them and said, “I can tell there is a problem if you came to meet me, give me a moment and I’ll be ready.”  He then wandered back inside without bothering to close the door.

A moment later Harold reappeared, shrugging into his lizardskin outfit and grabbing his staff from the wall before shutting off the glowing stone that provided light.  He then joined them, shutting the door behind himself.

The three of them headed back towards town, not bothering to enter but instead walking along the outside until they met with Diara at the eastern gate.  Amilya then turned to Niphru, exclaiming, “While I know where my daughter met you before, I don’t know where your den is, could you please lead us there?”

Niphru nodded, moving his foxfire ahead of them to provide some light in front as Amilya formed her own globe of light above them.  Lighting handled, he then moved ahead, looking back a few times to adjust his pace to one the humans were comfortable with.

A while later, they arrived at his former den, now a large hole in the ground, the tree nearest to it now toppled with immense claw marks on it.

Diara whistled, remarking, “That thing really did a number on your den, didn’t it?  You are lucky to have made it out.”

Niphru kept silent, shocked by how much damage had been done while he was away.  He hadn’t expected it would have even dug up the escape tunnel he had used.

As he sat there in shock, Harold leaned against his quarterstaff as Diara began poking around the hole.  Amilya stared at the mess, somewhat shocked herself, then began scanning the surroundings.  A few moments later, Diara pointed into the forest, saying, “It appears it wandered around a bit before going back this way.”

Diara then led the way into the forest, following the traces the bear had left behind, made easier by the slight burns on the underbrush.  As they traveled, Niphru spoke up, “The bear had a great sense of smell, but I don’t think that will be too much trouble right now since the wind has died down.  I can hide us from sight and hearing if we stay close together.”

Amilya nodded, remarking, “If you can keep the two of us hidden, I can blind the bear to make it less effective against Harold, and he can keep its attention.  Diara will be far more effective than you saw with the beast you led us to before, armored skin isn’t a good match for her.”

Harold then spoke up as well, “I should be able to get it turned around so she can get a good shot at the neck, we just have to find it and not be found by it instead.”