Although the town quickly organized, there was only so much they could do to stop the damage. A fire line formed and a few of the larger buildings, like the windmill and shops, were salvaged, but many of the homes were entirely lost. Shelby wandered around the village helping with small tasks, like dousing lingering flames, but the event ending in failure was followed by a series of troubling prompts that complicated matters.

  Shelby was already feeling horrible about the lost villagers, and these notifications made her feel like she had run face first into a brick wall. What a vague objective. The people around her eyed her with sadness, fear, and anger as she tried to help them with their tasks. Eventually she took a break under the massive tree in the center of town.

  Thimble had come back from his pursuit quickly, reporting that the wolf people and the six missing villagers were headed northeast. Fifteen minutes later, Coda returned too, and flopped over in the grass next to them with a grumble. Shelby and Thimble helped douse the flames and cleared some rubble together, but after a half hour, there wasn't much more they could do without stepping on the toes of the increasingly irritated villagers. The old squirrel, who it turned out was a village elder, eventually approached Thimble with a dour expression on his small face, "I see that you were unable to save anyone either..."

  "I'm sorry, we tried," Shelby said with a bowed head.

  "They yet live," Thimble said, placing a hand on the squirrel's shoulder, "we will go after them and bring them back."

  "Will you? I can't say that I think you will fare any better against those creatures a second time," the elder shrugged his shoulders, "truth be told, these are not the first people we have lost to them. Three more disappeared a few days ago, and six more in the last month."

  "Why did they set fire to your homes?" Shelby asked tenderly.

  "They mean to leave us vulnerable and homeless..." the man turned away with a shake of his head, then walked towards another group of people organizing some fortunately untouched housing materials.

  Thimble crossed his arms, "This doesn't sit right with me."

  Shelby tilted her head and frowned, "Me either, but what do you mean?"

  "Why are they kidnapping these people? What do they want?" Thimble asked, pointing towards the villagers.

  "What indeed..." Shelby looked north, "You saw them heading that way, right? Maybe we should go check."

  Thimble nodded, "Yes, I saw six Hodekin carrying six bound people."

  "Hodekin?" Shelby asked.

  "That is what they are called. Wolf people of the great steppes to the north. They usually fight amongst themselves instead of victimizing the Daizi or anyone else. It's rare for them to attack other peoples like this."

  "Do you know what they want?" Shelby asked.

  "I have no idea... but, they can be very territorial. If they've set up nearby they may consider these people to be within their domain."

  Shelby tapped her chin, "I agree with the elder... I don't think we're going to be able to do anything to them. The big one especially."

  "I regret that I have to agree. That one could have killed us if it had wanted to," Thimble rested his chin on his palms and glowered into the distance, "That leaves us without a means to do anything about this tragedy..."

  "Maybe we can rescue the villagers in secret?" Shelby suggested.

  "And then what? They won't be safe here, and they'll be homeless. The Hodekin will just capture more people and cause more pain."

  "We could... ask them to leave?"

  Thimble snorted out a bitter laugh, "Wouldn't that be nice."

  "I don't see what other option we have. We can't beat them and we can't rescue anyone... We could evacuate the village? We'd still have to help the people who were captured..." Shelby rambled as she picked at some grass growing under the tree.

  Thimble walked off without responding, and Shelby stood and skulked behind him at a distance. This is hopeless. She was dazed from failing and couldn't figure out what they should do... When in doubt, consult AIDAN?

  "Although I would prefer that you determine a path for yourself, I must admit that you are in an unfortunate position," AIDAN replied to Shelby's implied question, "Failing the event narrows down the possibilities for completing the regional questline significantly."

  "But we can still complete it? That's good news." Shelby said with a glimmer of hope.

  "Yes, the questline can always be completed by eliminating the Hodekin threat, but it may be more difficult to do so now."

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  Shelby huffed, "How was I supposed to beat that thing? It was like 6 levels higher than me."

  AIDAN glowed warmly on Shelby's shoulder, "I too found that to be an unfortunately difficult encounter for you. I had hoped that Thimble would be of more assistance..."

  Tara chirped in her headset, "That did seem pretty rough. But, Thimble was hanging in there until the end. The fire damage is what almost killed you."

  AIDAN said, in a probing voice, "At the risk of spoiling this encounter for your future attempts, lowering the boss creature's health to 75% would have triggered their retreat from the village area. I am hesitant to point this out, but I believe it was not the level that prevented our victory, but rather that you suffered from particularly unfortunate positioning during the encounter, as Ms. Tara pointed out. But, I must also point out that the amount of damage being dealt to the boss was unlikely to resolve the encounter in time to complete the event..."

  Tara made a noise of recognition, "Ahh... so that's how it is. Not enough damage..."

  "That's not my fault!" Shelby cried.

  "Well..." Tara said, "That is your role... I mean this seemed like it was probably made for more than one person and an NPC, but that's the reality we find ourselves in."

  Shelby threw her hands up, "I tried! I didn't know I would get thrown into a fire either!"

  Tara sighed, "Listen, you failed and that's okay. We can learn from this."

  Shelby muttered, "Fine, whatever. What do we do now?"

  "We need to train you up so this doesn't happen again," Tara said.

  "Perhaps combat training in tandem Thimble would help as well?" AIDAN suggested, "That may also give you both the opportunity to level up, which will increase both damage and survivability."

  "I thought this was a level 3 quest?" Shelby asked incredulously.

  "The quest itself is level three, but the dungeon we will need to approach is designed for a team of four players at level 5. I'm afraid we lack both the numbers and the levels at this time."

  "Okay... so we go level up and I get used to fighting with Thimble... anything else?" Shelby was in a foul mood and venom was seeping into her words.

  "There is a surprise I have in store for you in a nearby area, perhaps that will make up for the loss of progress suffered today?" AIDAN said hopefully.

  Shelby perked up slightly, "A surprise? Something I'll like?"

  "Based on my calculations you will be very pleased with what I have planned."

  "Okay..." Shelby tapped her fists together, "We can start by getting stronger. Tara, you can teach me what to do."

  "Roger roger! I'll make a gamer out of you yet!"

  "I take it back..." Shelby said with mock regret.

  "Too late, you agreed to this."

  Shelby found Thimble helping a handful of farmers right a damaged section of wall and she pitched in. Diao had managed to slowly guide his cart down to the village and was passing out little bundles from the rear of his carriage to a line of ashen villagers. Shelby waved to him and hurried over. He looked horrified at the devastation all around, but beyond that he looked to Shelby with a deeper fear in his eyes, "My... my beloved Tira... do you think she's okay?"

  Before Shelby could comfort him, the town elder raised his voice from a few yards away, "I'm afraid we heard news that Silt Manor was also attacked, late last night."

  Diao gulped then began to worry the hem of his shirt, "I have to go see if Tira is okay... would you be so kind as to help me once again?"

  "Of course we'll help you, Sir Diao. Lets settle things here and then head north," Shelby crouched slightly and patted the tearful pika on the shoulder. Yes, accept. At least I can still help him...

  Shelby said a chilly goodbye to the villagers, again affirming her intentions to make things right, then helped Diao tie Elizabeth up in a shady patch near the center of town. Thimble looked as grumpy as ever, but he didn't complain as they walked to the manor. It wasn't a long walk, although most of it was uphill from the shallow crater of the farming village. The road became smoother and was paved with flagstones as they breached the forest, and before long they were walking through a well kept stretch of greenery. The manor that came into view was quite small, surprising Shelby, with a modest garden of topiaries and flowers framing the short walkway to the entrance. It was a two story building of dark wood and red clay roof tiles, with a wide array of small hand-carved details enhancing the building's face.

  Confirming their fears, the home seemed to have been disturbed. The front door was off its hinges and was lying askew in the entryway, and there were signs of a struggle all throughout the house. Diao called out desperately as he raced from room to room, but there was obviously no one left to respond. He dragged his tiny feet as he returned to the entryway where Shelby and Thimble sat silently with Coda curled up at Thimble's feet. Diao flopped down next to Shelby and stared at the ceiling, blinking back tears. He rasped out a question, "I take it that you two are headed for the den of the beasts that did this?"

  "We were going to take a look, yes," Shelby offered.

  "Do you think my Tira is being held there?"

  Shelby nodded, "We can only hope that everyone is safe..."

  "I shall accompany you, then, and free her," Diao said with a quiver that betrayed his unwillingness.

  "With all due respect, maybe it would be best if you returned home, or at least returned to the village..." Thimble said gravely.

  "I cannot abandon her! Should they capture me, so be it, at least I will be reunited with my fiancé!"

  "Or, they may kill you as you do whatever foolish thing it is you're thinking of doing," Thimble said with a raised voice.

  Diao deflated, "Right... well, maybe I can provide something that would help the two of you! Then you can rescue her."

  Thimble grumbled and shook his head, "We still haven't any means to do that. Unless you have an army hidden in the back in your carriage, I doubt you have much to offer us."

  "I'm afraid he's right, Diao. We're stuck until we can get stronger," Shelby said.

  Diao was silent for a long time, and busied himself picking up the fallen pieces of the manor around them. Shelby turned to Thimble, "Maybe we should spend some time training?"

  Thimble looked at her with a mixture of doubt and resentment, but nodded his head slowly, "We can't leave until we make this right, can we..."

  Things with Thimble had not been going smoothly, and she was surprised that he wasn't going to leave outright. He had kept his promise to her after all. Maybe he was more worried about the people here then she realized. She couldn't get a good read on him. Maybe that's part of why we don't work well together...

  She tried to press him into revealing his feelings, "You could go back, you know. You did what you said you would."

  He scoffed, "I'm not doing this for you. I would help these people even if I weren't here on contract."

  "Why are you doing it? Aren't you just a mercenary?"

  "...So what if I am? I have a heart, you know. I won't let these people be attacked for no reason," his voice grew louder and louder, until he turned and stormed out of the mansion, nearly tripping over Diao, who was trying to move the wooden door behind him.

  "Wait!" Shelby yelled, but he wasn't listening to her any longer. Damn it...

  She walked out after him and he stood fuming by a small topiary of a trio of mice climbing over each other. His little hands were trembling as he stood with them balled up by his chest. She put a hand on his back, "It's okay. We can fix this."

  "How?" he spat, looking away from her.

  "We'll learn to work together. We can get stronger."

  "We don't even know if those people are safe. I can't play around with you while they're in danger."

  "Let's go check on them, then. If they're safe, then we can make a plan, and if they're not, then we can try to save them immediately... somehow..."

  Coda nuzzled Thimble's hand at just the right moment, and his fingers unclenched. They were red and angry looking. He bent down and pressed his forehead to Coda's, and the bat tried to lick him. He stood up and nodded, and held his hand out for Shelby. She took it and clasped it between both of hers. He said, "That's right. First we check on them, then we figure out what to do."