"Bridgette, I swear to god if you tease me about her one more time, I'm going to magic you off the side of this mountain," Colin warned, gring at the busty redhead, a vein starting to pop out of his temple.

  "Seriously? You won't give me any hints about what you two did in that sleeping bag? Or when the two of you stayed in the cave to say goodbye to each other?" Bridgette whined, throwing a temper tantrum.

  "B, leave him alone. Let them have their secrets, not everyone is as open as you are." Alice tried to py peacemaker as her lover's incessant desire to know all of everyone's private details ran headfirst into Colin's intense need for privacy. "What did you get from level up, anyway?"

  "Oh, I got a really neat ability that lets me hamstring my enemies more regurly, slowing them and helping lock them down so they can't move around in combat as much. How about you guys?"

  Alice checked her status screen, "I got an ability that lets my attacks hit a bit harder, which I know I don't often attack, but if I had to, it'll be nice. Beyond that, just the usual stat points and spell slots. Colin?"

  "Stat points and spells, but my css title changed. I am no more the Apprentice Wizard! Interestingly, I'm now a Wizard of Hecate. I thought it was pretty interesting that after all of this time, I finally got something associated with a goddess. Not entirely sure what's up with that as there's literally nothing else but the css name, no abilities or anything that mention her, but I'm excited for next level. It unlocks a bunch more options for blowing stuff up and gaining more power."

  "Hecate, huh?" Alice said, thoughtfully. "I remember her being the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic, so I guess that fits? Also, I vaguely recall something about her and Artemis, but I'm bnking on what." Colin blushed at the mention of Artemis, his thoughts clearly going to Deirdre.

  "Well, more power is more power," Bridgette said, pretending to be an ancient schor. "And you know what they say about people with more power, right?"

  "What?" Alice asked, curious to hear Bridgette's response.

  "That they've got a bigger dick!" Bridgette ughed at her own joke, pounding her thigh. Colin rolled his eyes, clearly not amused by the crude barbarian's joke. Alice patted Bridgette's arm comfortingly.

  "Great joke, babe. But okay, seriously, where to now? We've got a long way back to home. Should we just take the same way back? Camp out on our way, stop in Danville, and then push through back to Persistence?"

  "If they'll let you two back in town," Colin joked. "They may not want to deal with any more broken furniture." Bridgette pouted at that.

  The three friends set out, descending from the Wyoming mountain range and traveling east on superhuman legs, eating the miles up. They skirted around the remains of what had been Casper, passing through Muddy Gap and over Kortes Dam. They stopped to stare the several hundred feet down to the water roaring below.

  "Do you think it'll fail some day, without people to keep it maintained?" Bridgette asked, raising her voice to be heard over the water.

  "Almost certainly," Colin confirmed. "It's hard to say exactly when, depending on storms and how well they actually kept up with their maintenance schedules, but I'd guess within a few years it'll probably take some amount of damage, then it'll be anyone's guess what happens next, but I wouldn't want to live downstream of it. And this isn't even a major dam, if you consider all the others across the country."

  Two days ter, they saw a cluster of buildings on the horizon, resolving into the now familiar town of Danville as they drew closer. As the trio got close enough to start seeing people, they noticed more vilgers than they had before walking around, patrolling outside the town, wearing crude leather armor and carrying short swords and daggers. Each group of armed vilgers hailed the adventurers, asking them their names and purpose, until finally Alice turned to Bridgette.

  "This seems a lot more ... organized? And maybe more paranoid than the st time we were here. It's really weird." Alice commented, turning to Bridgette, who nodded thoughtfully.

  "I know we traded them the old kobold gear, which looks like what these folks are wearing, but they didn't seem that aggressive before. Maybe we can figure out what's going on at the tavern."

  As the trio entered the vilge proper, what they saw brought them to a halt. Danville had been a retively rge but peaceful vilge, about a hundred souls, when they passed through the month before. Now, a forge belched a column of smoke into the sky and the ring of a hammer sounded. The vilgers looked grim, gncing warily at the trio. Nobody looked pleased to see them or even just like they were having a good day. The front of the tavern was boarded up, some of the wood appearing scorched as if it had been on fire.

  Bridgette grabbed a passing vilger by the arm, the tall and burly man trying to tug free but not strong enough.

  "Hey, what happened here? Where can we find Dan and Jenni?"

  "Dan's in the smithy, where he's been for the st two weeks. Let go of me," the vilger struggled again. Bridgette's grasp remained firm.

  "Where's Jenni? What happened to the tavern?"

  "Get the fuck off me," the vilger roared. "And leave us the fuck alone, you gods-cursed adventurers. You always ruin everything." Stunned, Bridgette released the man, who quickly walked away, cursing at the three.

  "What the fuck?" Bridgette said, gncing at Colin and Alice, who stared back with confused expressions. As the three walked to the smithy, they saw more evidence of something unusual having happened. Several homes were damaged, vilgers walking around with visible bandages and sunken expressions, and a general tense air.

  The smithy was a squat building set up on the edge of town, new since the st time they had passed through Danville. A chimney jutted from the roof and the temperature raised significantly just stepping near the building. The sound of metal on metal pounding was even louder, someone clearly working hard inside. With some trepidation, the trio walked inside.

  Alice called out, "Hello? Dan?" She heard a grunt in reply from the back of the shop, where the hammering seemed to originate from. "Dan? It's Alice - are you in here?" She led the other two into a back room.

  Dan stood, hunched over an anvil, wearing a pair of soot-stained leather pants and dark goggles, shirtless and sweating, his muscles straining as he swung a heavy hammer once more, finishing shaping a piece of hot steel. He picked it up, plunging it into a bucket of water nearby, and turned to the three adventurers.

  "What the fuck do you three want? Any more trouble you want to bring upon me?"

  Alice stepped back, shocked by the hostile tone from the once friendly and rexed tavern keeper. Bridgette stepped forward defensively, pcing her hand on Alice's shoulder.

  "Hey, back the fuck off! What did we ever do to you? More importantly, what did happen to you? It's only been a month since we were here st, how did this pce change so much? Where's Jenni?"

  Dan stepped forward, refusing to back down from the tall redheaded woman. He still held the bcksmithing hammer in his right hand, the wood creaking under the pressure of his fingers as he clenched his fist.

  "You fucking adventurers are nothing but trouble, taking what you want because you're so strong, refusing to think about the damage you leave behind. You're just like the rest of them, putting on a friendly face while it's convenient. The moment you want something from us, you'll take it and there's nothing we can do to stop you. I've lost so much, I can't lose anymore. Get out of my town."

  Alice walked around Bridgette, pcing her hand on the angry bcksmith's bicep, channeling her goddess's energy into a calming, loving tone. "Dan, we're not like that and you know it. What happened to Jenni? How can we help you?"

  Dan's anger broke, the man sitting heavily on the floor, resting his back against the anvil, sobbing as he dropped his hammer with a cng. He began to expin.