Lee sat at a table inside the village of Lopus, surrounded by his group and over a dozen armed adventuers. They were inside their ‘village hall.’ Which, to Lee, confirmed that this was a town, not a village. He had never heard of a village hall in his life, but he had heard about a town hall.

Em was the only person currently not with him, as she couldn’t fit inside the building. She reassured Lee that she would be fine by herself, but Lee had a nagging feeling in his mind about leaving her alone surrounded by adventuers. Knowing Em, she would put down anyone who threatened her. She wasn’t as wary of using Identify as he was, so she probably had scoped out the relative levels of those around her. He would have to take her word if she said she was safe.

An older woman in her forties or early fifties with graying hair stood at the head of the table and coughed loudly to break up all the small murmurs in the room. She was dressed in what Lee would call formal business attire—of the typical male variety—a pair of dark black slacks and a white buttoned dress shirt.

“Hello, and thank you all for gathering here today. I am Tabitha Rein, an archeologist of the Thexian Reclamation. Three weeks ago, Lopus uncovered a vast underground cavern beneath its founding during an expansion in their mining operations and immediately sent word to the capital.

During the first week, they did light scouting of their own and confirmed sightings of a previous civilization. There were also statues depicting several monstrous individuals. After cross-referencing the statues with known monsters with the Adventures guild, it was deemed that there were statues of Carapces, Serephracts, Goblins, and numerous other unknown monster types.”

At this point, several of the rugged adventurers began talking about the names of the monsters, what they knew about them, and so on. Murmurs sprang up within the village hall.

Tabitha clapped loudly, quieting all of the conversations. “As I’m sure you’re all aware. The statues are a threat. It took a little over a week for the first casualty to arise. At first, it was assumed the individual had either gotten lost, or injured down in the cavern—a sadly typical situation when delving the deep and dark. This assumption was thrown aside, when said invididual, Grant Bourogh, was seen as a statue the next day. Since then, the statues have been emboldened, and are seeking the lives of others. Over seventy five casualties have been recorded, and many more are missing—they are to be presumed dead.”

Tabitha gazed around the room, which was now solemn after hearing the number of the fallen. “They are escaping.”

She gestured a hand toward Lee and his group as she continued onward. “A squadron of soldiers from the Wall of Shadows and a traveling healer ran into a group of thirteen statues along the road to Breye. Some of which were human. We must contain this threat at all costs, but we must be wise, as they’re semi-intelligent…”

The adventures shifted upon Tabitha’s mention of intelligence. A man in his thirties wearing a complete set of leather armor spoke out—a rogue or thief type of person, if Lee was to hazard a guess, “Do we have any level ranges? Common Identify doesn’t work.”

Tabitha nodded and carried on. “We do not know. They move when unseen, and their statue form is just that—a statue. We assume that they’re only capable of movement when unseen. So far, we have used scrying spells to divine their locations. We had hoped to spot one of them in movement but were unable to do so.”

The man leaned back in his chair and looked to the ceiling, unsatisfied. Tabitha continued on. “They’re durable. We surmise that they’re mostly focusing on constitution and agility. They are quick when unseen; even a blink will enable them to travel several paces. But, destroying the statues is equivalent to killing them. So far, none of them have recovered from destruction. A strength of twenty-five with a blunt weapon was found to be the baseline for their destruction.”

Lee was soaking in all the information presented but had a question of his own. He raised a hand, catching Tabitha's eye. She gave him a forced but polite smile and nodded his way. “If they move when unseen, how do they move around one another? Are they capable of seeing eachother but nothing else? Also, how do they replicate? Do they harm their victims, or do they turn them into statues?”

Tabitha answered politely. “We do not currently have that information, but they have been seen covering their eyes. Either with blindfolds or blocking their eyesight with their limbs. We assume they have methods to sense what it around them without needing eyesight. Such as the skill Tremorsense, commonly found in monsters from the depths.”

That was an acceptable answer, but Lee had just one more question he needed the answer to. “Were there any humanoid statues originally in the cavern along with the monsters?”

Tabitha shifted her eyes to Jeremy, who looked back confused. She thinned her lips. “There were.”

“Do you happen to know what species they were? Elvish perhaps?” Lee pointedly asked.

Tabitha narrowed her eyes but answered anyway. “That is correct.”

Lee nodded and leaned back in his chair with a frown. He turned to Jeremy, who now looked like he wanted to hide under his bed and die alone.

The rest of the meeting was about planning. The various leaders of their respective adventurer parties conferred about scheduling, on what day, and who would enter or guard the underground entrance.

When the meeting ended, Lee told all the party leaders that he would heal their wounded cheaply—Ten copper per person. Most politely thanked him, but the rogueish man asked for his services immediately.

“We were the first to arrive and one of my newer members took a bad fall in the caverns. Do you think you could take a look at him, sir?”

Lee got up from his seat as everyone slowly trickled out of the village hall and gestured for the man to lead the way. “No need for honorifics. You can call me Lee.”

The rogueish man eased just a tad but was still trying his best to tiptoe around the healer in the room—Literally. “Right this way. It’s not too far from here. He’s been held up in our wagon for the past week.”

Lee followed after him, exiting the building. Jeremy, Meriah, Kendri, and Belgrate followed in his wake. Lee walked next to the roguish man and tried to make conversation. This was one of the first adventurers he’d ever interacted with, and it would be a lie to say he wasn’t interested. In his mind, Kendri wasn’t an adventurer but a soldier.

Em was waiting directly outside the front door, which caused several leaving adventures to tense and reach for their weapons. She scuttled after Lee and the rest of the group with a slight grin.

She’s enjoying that, isn’t she? Lee thought.

“So, does your adventuring party have a name?” Lee asked.

The roguish man continued to lead the way as he responded. “Yes. Right now, we’re going by Deadlock. We’re still working out a better name.”

“You’re a newer party then?” Lee asked as the roguish man sent several fugitive glances toward Em from over his shoulder.

“Yeah. We’ve only been together for a few months so far. We’ve been trying to find the right members… We’re here.”

Several wagons were lined up on the outskirts of Lopus, creating a defensive barrier around the village. It was similar to what Lee’s group did when they stopped to rest, but multiple wagons created a large wall here. The roguish man led Lee to a wagon near the center of the line and hopped inside. He held the flap open for Lee to enter, and once he did, Lee laid his eyes upon his first patient.

Laying down on a makeshift mattress was a young teen boy who couldn’t be older than fifteen. His shaggy, wavy brown hair covered most of his face as he slept. Like the roguish man, the teen wore leather armor. The armor wasn’t the best quality, but it was probably cheap and effective. It would save his life from glancing blows.

Lee didn’t need to use Medical Attention to see what the problem was, as the boy’s left leg was very obviously broken. The tibia and fibula were snapped cleanly, creating a ninety-degree angle. If Lee’s leg were broken like that, he would be screaming in pain. It was a miracle that the boy managed to sleep.

The roguish man gently shook the boy awake while calling his name. “Kip… Kip wake up.”

Kip lazily began to open his eyes but winced almost immediately. He stayed as still as possible, not even daring to turn his head as he replied. “Time for food, Clive?”

It was obvious that the roguish man, Clive, cared for the boy as he spoke softly and with a smile. “Time for you to get your leg fixed. A healer arrived.”

Kip’s eyes widened as he slowly raised his head to look around the wagon, spotting Lee in his ornate white and silver robes.

Lee flashed a smile and entered into his ‘bedtime manner’ mode. “Look’s like you’ve taken a bad fall. But, you must be tough to not be crying from the pain. I know I’d probably be calling for my mom.”

Kip’s lips pulled upwards into a smile. “I’ve taken some…”

Clive cut Kip off while giving him a meaningful look. “He’s just tough.”

Kip, seemingly understanding some unspoken message, nodded. “Yeah, I’m tough.”

Obviously, Lee picked up on the hidden statement, but it wasn’t his business, so he ignored it. “Well, I’m going to go ahead and heal your leg, but I want you to know that it might be painful. Your bones will be put back into place, causing an intense jolt pain. It shouldn’t be for more than a few seconds, but it’s necessary. You ready?”

Kip swallowed and glanced at Clive’s reassuring smile. “I’m ready.”

Lee nodded and cast Mend Wounds. In the blink of an eye, Kip's broken Tibula and Fibula snapped back into place, causing him to let out a startled scream and clench his makeshift mattress with a white-knuckled grip. To be honest, Lee expected the pain to be much worse. Kip’s pain tolerance must be extraordinary.

After three seconds, Kip eased. Sweat was dripping down his forehead as he took ragged breaths. Lee took this time to inspect Kip's leg more thoroughly. All looked fine, and everything seemed to be in order.

“Tada! All fixed. Why don’t you get up and try to walk? Being bedridden for so long isn’t a fun time.” Lee said, trying his best to lighten the mood.

Clive helped Kip up. Kip was obviously favoring his right leg, but after a few hesitant attempts to put weight on his left leg, he found it painless. A giant smile stretched across his face, and Lee could see his eyes glimmering through his shaggy bangs.

Clive let go of Kip, letting him stand on his own. A smile tugged at his lips as he gave a grateful nod to Lee. “Lets get out of this wagon.”

Kip was the first to exit, excited to be able to move again. Lee watched the excited teen leave with a warming ember growing in his chest.

This is why I do this. Lee thought.

He was knocked out of his own thoughts as Clive tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around. Clive held out ten copper coins in his palm. “Thank you.”

Lee waved a hand over the ten coins, causing them to disappear into his Hidden Cache, completely shocking Clive. “Anytime. I’ll be around until this statue mess is over with. Come and find me if anything else pops up.”

Lee exited the wagon and spotted Kip rooted in place, shaking in fear in front of Em. She wore a vicious smile as her spider fang legs swung outwards menacingly. Lee sighed. “Em, leave the poor boy alone. For someone who dislikes the taste of fear, you surely revel in it sometimes.”

Em slid her eyes toward Lee, and her grin slowly transitioned into a thoughtful frown. Then, her face morphed into disgust. “You’re correct. I’m sorry.”

Lee raised a brow, not expecting that type of reaction. He turned to Kip in an attempt to introduce the scary metallic Arachne. “You know, she’s also a healer. Looks can be deceiving.”

They were not impressed.

Clive gently tugged on Kip's shoulder, dragging him back while stepping out in front to face the uncertain threat. His eyes were hard and determined, which caused Em to narrow hers in turn.

The warmth Lee had felt growing in his chest began to chill as the tense atmosphere around the wagon grew in the silence. Before any rash decisions could be made, he made his introduction. “This is Em, my traveling companion—Former defender of Breye.”

After another few seconds of silence, Clive tore his gaze away from Em and began walking back to the village. “Come on, Kip, let's go find the others and show them your leg.”

Kip slowly followed after Clive but turned around once to give Lee a short, unaccustomed bow. He then hurriedly scampered off to catch up to Clive.

Lee watched them leave with crossed arms and a small smile, but he turned to Em once they were officially out of sight, concern apparent. “You okay?”

Em nodded but anxiously slammed her legs into the dirt as she continued to eye where Clive and Kip had walked off. “I will be.”