"All that is gold does not glitter"

  - Tolkien

  Shortly after Aurelia made her decisions, Iri, the Silvan as she had called herself, had departed their tent and flitted away into the night. Though not before Aurelia extracted a promise to stalk them from the shadows no longer, and to be open from now on. She didn't think it would be the st they would see of the little sprite, much to the joy and wonder of her lovers. After Iri had left, the three of them returned to sleep as best they could with fantasy and stories filling their thoughts and dreams.

  As the sun rose and burned away the morning mist, the company gathered for breakfast. Puls again, but this time they were at least able to season it. The bundle of metallic feathers gathered the day before was id near the middle of camp, and Aurelia couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when she looked at it shining in the morning sun.

  "So you find them all strung up in a web?" Gregorios asked between mouthfuls of food. They had gone over the events of the previous day st evening when they had returned, so he was likely asking for the benefit of the group.

  "Yeah! There was a whole host of birds and other creatures stuck in the web. Though some were still fresh when we arrived." Aurelia replied.

  "Hmm. Then it seems likely that the spiders had gone not long before we arrived, within the st few days at least. But I have never known a spider, rge or small, to abandon it's web without cause." He said, furrowing his brow in thought. "Perhaps we will learn more today, but then again I would return to Rome content if these were all the signs we see of those foul beasts." He said, gncing to Junia as he said so.

  It was quickly decided that the company would set out again today in their usual two groups, but that they would rejoin ter in the day to go over their findings. This left Aurelia, Thessa, and Junia on their own again quickly as they set out near to where they had the day before. Where before the forest had seemed dark and elusive, after spending the st few days within it's shades of green their feelings were lightened somewhat.

  It was only a short while ter when Aurelia spoke up.

  "Did you hear that?" She asked.

  "Hear what?" Junia replied

  Looking to her companions, Aurelia saw perplexion in their eyes. "I only hear the sounds of the wind and the forest." Thessa said in answer to Aurelia's questioning gnce. Aurelia could only let out a "Hmm." in response. She thought she had heard small flutterings and other such sounds which had seemed familiar to her in the moment, but now that it was gone she had a hard time pcing them.

  As they walked on, they eventually arrived at the clearing from yesterday. The great web was still there in part, but the evidence of their bours was clear to see. Many of the strands where strewn across the ground, and what little remained in the air held few creatures, certainly none freshly caught. After verifying that there were indeed no more of the metallic razortails strung up, they continued on through the woods. If there had been a great many caught in the web, it stood to reason that there might be more close by.

  During a stretch of silence as they walked, Aurelia thought back to the encounter in their tent the previous night. She was still somewhat blown away by Iri. Many wise men in Rome work and train for years before they are able to assist others with their retionships with the Gods. That Iri had done it without comment or trouble was astounding, but maybe things were different for her folk. Nevertheless, Aurelia had been able to choose her boons without problem.

  Seraphim Progenitor

  Passive - Progressive - Racial

  The greatest legacies are left not in stone, but in blood.

  Polearm Mastery I

  Passive - Progressive

  Increased mastery over spears, staffs, and other simir weaponry

  She didn't feel any different today than she had before, but they were both passive progressive boons so maybe she would be able to feel the difference ter. The Seraphim Progenitor boon had been a rather easy choice. It had been offered alongside two other skills which had seemed pretty travel oriented. There was nothing wrong with that, especially since she had been on the road for many days at this point and surely would see many more. But if she was being honest there was no contest between the three. She had chosen quickly and without regret. If there was one thing which had been hammered into her young head again and again while growing up in Rome, and the Temple of Ceres specifically, it was that family was everything. It was your social network, your standing, your occupation and your duty. If Aurelia was going to make waves and climb the marble steps of Rome, she would need to either join a family, or start one.

  The second choice had been harder. While a racial skill was tempting, and Bonded Rest would likely be useful forever more, she had chosen Spear Mastery over them both. Her choice had ultimately broken down into her thinking about what would aid her the most at establishing herself. Bonded rest sounded nice, she enjoyed spending time with her lovers, to say the least. And being able to rest better might help her in future days. But right now her spear was her livelihood and her method of defending herself, and so it would remain for the foreseeable future. There would always be work in Rome for those strong of arm, and so she had made her decision.

  It was at that moment, when Aurelia was being introspective in one of the gaps between the trio's conversation, that she heard again the slight fluttering noises from before. This time she heard them more clearly, and was able to guess their origin.

  "Iri! I thought we agreed that you wouldn't spy on us anymore?! You can come out, we won't bite." Aurelia said loudly into the surrounding trees. Thessa and Junia looked first at her, then to the surrounding brush in anticipation.

  "Iri!" She called again, and this time a high pitched groan of frustration came from the canopy above their heads. Sure enough the little forest sprite came drifting down, wings buzzing and cheeks puffing.

  "Iri does not know how the winged one knows Iri was near. Iri is very quiet!" She said in exasperation.

  "Iri, didn't we agree that you wouldn't spy on us anymore?" Aurelia asked.

  "Iri was not spying!... She was... collecting the dew and the three bigs just stomped right on by. It is coincidence Iri says!" She said in an indignant voice.

  "Uh huh." Aurelia said with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure you're telling the truth, little sprite, but maybe from here on out you stay within sight if you want to continue "collecting morning dew". "

  "Yes yes! Iri will do so, Iri will have many chances to observe all the interesting things!"

  With that apparently decided, Iri began to flutter happily around the trio, eventually coming to rest on top of Thessa's head. The Tauren was startled at first, but when Iri settled down she calmed. She seemed fascinated by her horns, and ran her small hands over their surfaces. The trio continued on, now with an added passenger, through the wood.

  The expanded trio ventured far beyond where they found the web the previous day. They walked in line for a time, until the deep wood and occasional clearings gave way to great opening of the earth. Mist and smoke and sound emanated from the pit. They stood at the edge of the trees and looked out and down over the nd, in front of them yawned a rge rocky crevasse. Waves of mist drew up in clouds where a river plunged down the gorge on the opposite end of the oblong pit, dousing everything near in a light dusting of moisture. The water pooled at the base of the falls before continuing on in a stream which meandered away downhill. Down by where the water flowed, they could see a camp of foul creatures as they went about their foul business. Crude tarps and tents of hide and skin formed a rge circle around a bzing fire which bellowed smoke up into the air where it mixed with the clear and fair mist, turning it grey and sludgy. The rocky sides of the cliff near to their camp were stained dark with smoke. They had been here a while at least.

  "Look!" Junia excimed, and pointed to the side of the fire where the bulging shapes could be seen at work. Aurelia didn't need to have sharp eyes to know what she saw in that moment. The hulking, pig-like proportions were all too clear and fresh in her memory. Orks. There were dozens at least that she could see, and likely more that she could not. Some were tending to the fire, others dragging great heaps of wood from felled trees nearby. Indeed, she could see where swathes of forest at the bottom had been cleared out entirely, leaving stumps near the ground like headstones. There were more still digging at the sides of the crevasse, and others at work in more mundane roles. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, a great many orks meant a great stink, even at this distance.

  "What do we do?" Thessa asked with worry written on her face. "There are far too many for use to handle ourselves, even with the men here and Tullius recovered."

  "Do we have to?" Junia said. "I mean, we did walk a good distance to get here, do we have to pick a fight with these orks?"

  "Hmm, fair point." Said Aurelia. "But I don't like being camped with orks nearby anyway. This is what, half an afternoon's walk away? That seems far too close to me. Even if we don't come to blows, we'll be wanting to move our camp further away so no stray orks spot the smoke from our campfire."

  "Do you think this is the same group that ambushed us a couple days ago?" Asked Junia. "It seems odd that there would be so many greenskins about this area specifically. I've never heard of anything more than raiding parties in these parts."

  Those words silenced them for a while as they gazed down at the orks, bumbling about like a hive. Every Roman child knew stories of great ork tribes of old, coming down from the north raping and pilging. It was a subject not often spoken about to children, but the temple had kept some records of the past, even from years long ago. Before it was said that it had taken a great mustering of men and more to drive the orks out. Aurelia just hoped that wiser people than her in Rome knew of the situation, and that those in the halls of power were thinking of more than just the rising tensions in the south.

  "Let's go back now." Aurelia said. "We're going to be te to reuniting with the men as it is, and I don't want any sly goblins to spy us from down below. Let's go back and bring them the news, this is Gregorios's expedition, he'll decide what to do."

  With that, they turned back to camp. Albeit, walking quicker than they had come.

  "Hmm, those are dire tidings indeed." Said Gregorios. "We had heard rumours of increased ork activity in the area, but I had hoped that we had sin all those close by already."

  It was soon decided that Aurelia would lead him back to the ork camp so he could survey them, while the others packed and cleared the camp for travel. Knowing the way and having just returned from there, they were able to quickly return to the heights overlooking the encampment. Iri did not accompany her this time, in fact, she had flitted away as soon as they had approached their camp when returning. It seemed that while she was flustered that Aurelia and her women knew of her, she was not comfortable with the rest knowing quite yet.

  The sun was directly overhead when they reached the end of the trees where they had stood before. Gregorios took one look downwards, then dropped to his belly and crawled to the edge. Aurelia dropped after him, and slunk her way so that she could see the orks better. Now that she had a better angle to see, when she looked at the roaring fire, she noticed some things she had missed before. Not all the figures were orks, many , in fact, were goblins. Smaller, lighter in shade of green. It was they who tended the fire and did the menial jobs. She saw now that many of the tenders would gather not wood for the fire, but bits of a much darker shade. They had a rge spit in pce over the fmes where they were roasting dark meats. It was only when Aurelia saw them pile a piece with eight eyes that she knew what it was.

  Well... now they knew where the spiders went.

  Looking to her left, she saw Gregorios looking darkly down at the greenskins. The more he saw, the deeper he scowled.

  "We'll move camp as soon as we get back." He said. "I don't want to be within a day's walk of this foul pce. With how many greenskins I see swarming around this pce, I'm surprised they haven't fallen upon us in the night already."

  Aurelia couldn't help but agree.

  Slowly, they crept back from the edge. When they reached the brush again, they stood and looked at each other. Aurelia was about to ask him what he thought of the ork camp, but over his shoulder she saw movement in an unnatural shade of green.

  "Behind you!" Aurelia cried.

  With an almost preternaturally swift lunge, Aurelia skewered the goblin which had been rising from behind Gregorios. Gncing behind her at him, she found him wiping his sword bde on the corpse of yet another goblin. This one had been lurking behind her instead. Just when Aurelia was sighing from relief, she heard another dashing through the brush. They readied their weapons, but the sounds quickly diminished as the creature ran away.

  "Well." Gregorios said. "If we weren't already moving camp, we'd certainly have to after that pig squeals."

  SarcasticMisfit