“So we’re all set? No one left their bra behind?”

Naturally, Aster’s voice was the loudest among the four as they completed the last of their preparations for their journey. For the past several minutes, she had been trailing from one friend to the next, double- and triple-checking everyone’s gear and supplies, while clearly enjoying the mild irritation this tended to inspire from Aine in particular.

At last, most of the group was out the front door of the bar, everything they needed safely packed up for travel.

“Glenn! Wait a second!”

He turned, looking back in surprise at the sound of the soft voice.

“Ida?”

Doane’s niece, and another long-time friend of his, Ida was the next in line to take ownership of her uncle’s famous bar once he felt ready to pass it down. She couldn’t possibly have looked more different from her uncle, with tanned, smooth features and a veritable waterfall of chocolate-brown hair spilling down her back and over her shoulders.

She smiled, standing in front of Glenn at the doors. Stepping forward for a moment to give him a brief hug, she let out a little sigh. “I know there’s no chance in all the void that I’ll manage to talk you out of this, so just do me a favour, OK?”

“Uh… sure?”

“Do your best not to get any of you four killed, alright? Least of all yourself. I’d miss having you all around too much.”

Glenn laughed. “We’ll be fine, Ida. I promise. A week or so at most, and we should be back home, ready for a good drink.”

“You’d better be.” Ida replied, offering one last smile before she turned to head back to the bar. It was nearly time for her to open up for the day, though there likely wouldn’t be anyone coming in for at least a couple of hours yet.

“Glenn, my niece isn’t trying to cuff you to the bar and keep you from leaving, is she?” Doane’s booming voice sounded from outside.

“Coming!”

---

The edge of the colony was out of sight now. Anything beyond where the group currently stood was uncharted land, and home primarily to wildlife, particularly brave travelers, and in worse cases, raiders.

It was mid-morning as Glenn led his three allies down a long stretch of hillside to reach the edge of a mountain pass. There had, as expected, been no sign of the Oeza yet, as they were not known to come anywhere near the edge of the colony most of the time. The giantess tribe had more than earned their reputation as a passive and reclusive bunch, keeping well away from human civilization and usually only being met on rare occasions by wayward travelers. Word occasionally made it through the colony that someone out in the uncharted had encountered them, normally just exchanging a brief greeting at most before carrying on their way. The pass ahead, however, was sometimes rumoured to be a location they visited for one reason or another.

“You have to be curious, too, Aine.” Aster was saying.

“I am, but that doesn’t mean I want to be out here babysitting Glenn to make sure he doesn’t do anything suicidally stupid.” Aine replied. “If I had to guess, I’d imagine that the group of Oeza that attacked Ashoh were… how do I put this…? They might have been social outliers of some kind. Attacking a human settlement is completely out of character for them.”

Glenn was listening, but ever since devising this plan, he had spent most of his conversations with Aine listening to her insult his intelligence and generally express her disdain for his opinions, so he tended to tune most of her words out whenever she wasn’t directly addressing him.

“Now, if I were as stubbornly optimistic about this plan as Glenn is,” Aine went on, “I might hope that the rest of the Oeza might not quite jump at the chance to defend the group behind the attack. Once they hear what happened from Glenn, at least.”

Surprised, Glenn glanced back at Aine. She naturally tempered it with her usual sarcastic edge, but she actually seemed to be genuinely considering the potential merits of his plan at the moment. If she’d really felt like there was no reason at all to have faith in what he hoped to accomplish, then she would have stonewalled the entire plan from the beginning.

“Fellow up ahead, there.” Doane said, interrupting the conversation by pointing outward in the direction of the mountains.

He was right; not too far from their current location, Glenn could see a man making his way past a rocky section of the terrain. He was dressed in the manner typical of travelers brave enough to explore the uncharted. Glenn felt a brief swell of hope in his chest, and picked up the pace.

“Excuse me!” he called out once he was closer. The man had looked as if he was partially keeping an eye on him as he moved, and now looked up properly to see him. “Sorry to bother you, but… well, this is going to be a bit of a weird question, but is there any chance you’ve ever seen any Oeza around this area?”

The man stopped, bracing his arm against the side of a sharp boulder.

“You say ‘Oeza’?” he responded. “Y’mean them hundred-foot-high lady-monsters?”

“Right.” Glenn said, nodding. He gestured back toward the trio following him. “We’re… looking for them.”

The traveler – he looked to be a hunter of some kind, now that Glenn saw him up-close – gave him a curious look. “Actually want t’find the Oeza? There’s easier ways of dyin’, out here.”

“Look, I know it sounds really strange, but please – is there anything you can tell me about them?” Glenn prodded. “I’ve heard that they sometimes visit areas near here, and anything you can give me will help.”

The others were stopping just behind him. The hunter paused a moment, glancing at the rest of the group.

“Afraid not.” he said after the moment of silence. “Can give you a tip, though, if you’re plannin’ t’keep movin’ out this way.” He gestured back to the mountain pass. “Y’see this rocky gorge? Unless y’favour fightin’ your way along past sharp rocks and a raider gang, I suggest y’stay away from there. Y’can pass ‘round the canyon to the left side there. Slower, but them raider bastards won’t cut your throat.”

“Oh.” Glenn said, surprised. “Um… well, thank you.” He stepped forward, moving to the hunter’s side to look off at the pass. “How far along the-“

He was suddenly interrupted by Aine’s voice calling out, and a sound like a powerful gust of wind. The hunter beside him yelled out in confusion, seeming to freeze in place, and by the time Glenn managed to turn and see what was happening, Aster had charged right past him, tackling the hunter to the ground at full force.

“Wh-what in the void…!?” Glenn stammered, staring. As was always the case when Aine practiced her magic, ghostly images of runes could be seen floating in the air surrounding the hunter’s body as Aster held him down, her other elbow digging into his throat. “A-Aster, what’s-“

“He’s a raider, Glenn.” Doane answered. “Aine spotted him going for his knife while your guard was down. Stunned him with some kind of spell.”

“Raider…?” Glenn repeated, looking back down at the man on the ground. “But why would-“

Another loud sound cut him off again; a bang like a firecracker going off had split through the silence of the area, and an explosion of black smoke erupted from the ground, forcing Glenn to stagger backward, coughing. He heard panicked voices all around, and hastily grabbed at the fabric flap attached to the collar of his travel wear, tugging a blue mask into place over his mouth and nose. It couldn’t stop the smoke entirely, but he could at least stop himself coughing. His other hand moved to draw his dagger, and he tried to ready himself. There were people moving around in the billowing clouds of smoke, which now filled all the space around him. He wanted to swing at any figure that approached him, but there was no way to identify enemy from friend with such poor visibility.

He let out a startled yell as someone caught him from his left side. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground for himself. Before he could fight back, his dagger was knocked from his grip, clattering against the stones on the ground, and he suddenly found a knife resting against his own throat. His eyes were watering, but he could make out what looked like a woman’s face, wearing a mask over her mouth and nose as well.

A rough hand dug into the satchel at his side, rifling through its contents.

“Nothing!?”

The woman cursed loudly, pressing her knife more firmly against his throat. Any harder, and he would be bleeding out in seconds. His heart pounding in his chest, he frantically looked around for any sign of his friends. Strangely, the woman holding him down seemed to flinch for a moment, but whatever had caused it, she shrugged it off a moment later.

“Enjoy the void, y-you-… ugh-…”

Confusingly, the woman went limp, her knife sliding from her grip and dropping harmlessly to the ground as she collapsed on top of him. Not wasting time, Glenn pushed back against her, forcing her weight off of him. As he rolled her motionless body to his side, he spotted a long bolt embedded in her left shoulder, a slight trail of blood dripping from its point of entry.

With the raider on the ground, Glenn grabbed his dagger and stood up again, still panting with the adrenaline rush that had set into his whole body in the past few moments.

In front of him, he spotted another raider through the smoke, his unfamiliar clothing and filthy hair giving him away. Glenn lunged, driving his dagger straight into the man’s back, and the raider let out a choked sound, going totally rigid on the spot. With one hand braced to his enemy’s shoulder, Glenn yanked his dagger back out, bringing a spray of blood with it. He kicked the raider’s left knee from behind next, sending him crumpling to the ground.

Barely two seconds after the second had fallen, a third raider crashed to the ground next to his comrade, knocked clean off his feet. Glenn looked and spotted Aster regaining her balance after landing the devastating punch. The raider looked as if most of his teeth had just shattered, and his head had struck the ground with a sickening sound.

“Alright, Glenn?” Aster called out, seeing him as well.

Suddenly, the remaining smoke surrounding them swirled into motion, and the area cleared as it rushed up into the sky, dispelled in an instant.

Aine was standing near the centre of the brawl, her hand raised in the air to direct the smoke away, runes swirling all around her arm. A wind spell of some kind, no doubt.

Glenn next spotted the raider he’d been speaking with before the attack began. The man must have gotten free after the smoke bomb exploded, but was now very quickly grabbed by Doane, a crushing grip on his neck. Doane slammed him against the nearby boulder, holding him there. Glenn was startled to see at least four other raiders on the ground, the entire group apparently taken down by the combined efforts of his friends in a matter of moments.

“So let’s forget the Oeza for a moment,” Doane said, his voice laced with uncharacteristic venom. “There are some other subjects I’d like to cover with you first.”

The raider was struggling, but couldn’t budge Doane’s muscular arm.

Aster suddenly whirled around, drawing everyone’s attention.

Another man had appeared, dressed quite differently from the raiders. A rust-coloured greatcoat covered most of his body, making his build near-impossible to identify. He had a mess of auburn stubble all over the lower half of his face, and the rest of his hair stuffed down the back of his heavy coat. In his arms, he carried an intimidating crossbow, clearly extensively modified from its original design. His coat also seemed to have several attached belts and holders for other equipment looking to be related to the crossbow.

 “Got teh say, my friends, it is right beautiful t’see someone ou’ here fighting this bastard raider scum withou’ ending up dead on the ground the firs’ mistake they make.”

Striding up the boulder where Doane was holding the raider, the newcomer jammed the weapon’s bolt straight up at the raider’s face.

“Now then,” he went on, “Yeh mus’ be the scout fer this lot. Looks like most o’ yer friends are takin’ a one-way trip teh the void by now, but that one there is still alive.” Hefting the crossbow in one hand, the man pointed his free hand back toward the raider woman that had been attacking Glenn before being shot in the shoulder, jabbing a thumb in her direction. He then dug into one of the pouches hanging from his greatcoat and produced a vial of some kind. “I give ‘er about eight or nine more minutes ‘fore the coating on tha’ bolt turns ‘er into a vegetable. I’ve got the antivenom righ’ here, so it’s my humble recommendation tha’ yeh tell the big man what he wants teh know.”

The raider continued to struggle, looking frantically down at his last remaining comrade. The woman was still motionless on the ground, her eyes rolled back in her head. The sight might have been concerning, had she not been trying to kill Glenn just a minute or two earlier.

“By the way,” the newcomer added, lowering his crossbow and looking at Doane, “Wha’ exactly do yeh wan’ from this lowlife?”

Doane, still holding the raider firmly against the boulder, returned his attention to his interrogation subject. “Any more of your friends around?” he asked. The raider frantically shook his head to the best of his ability. “Good to hear. Going back to Glenn’s question, have you ever seen the Oeza out here?”

His voice alone would’ve been reason enough for Glenn to crack under pressure. He’d never seen Doane back in his Ever Blades days, and was quite unused to seeing his bar-owner friend in such an intimidating mood.

“A-alright, alright, fine, yeah-…!!” the raider choked, clutching at Doane’s wrist with both hands. "But we always stay as far from them as we can…!! The only idiots who ever tried t’mess with those she-freaks ended up stomped t’death and left as a stain on the rocks…!!”

“I can believe it.” Aine remarked. “If they were anywhere near as dumb as you, and the rest of your friends here.”

The raider uttered something vile toward Aine under his breath, only for Doane to tighten the iron grip he held on the smaller man’s throat, forcing him to scramble desperately against the boulder in pain.

“I wouldn’t go insulting her.” Doane said dangerously. “Even if I don’t kill you, she’ll curse the lungs out of your chest.”

“Hey, hate teh interrupt,” the crossbow-wielding man interjected, “But I’ll have teh revise that estimate. I give the woman on the ground five more minutes at most ‘fore her brain’s as rotted as ‘er teeth. Course, I could always jus’ shoot ‘er in the head an’ save us all the time…”

“I-I can tell you where we saw them…!!” the raider scout begged.  He raised a shaking arm, pointing toward the opposite end of the mountain pass from where he’d previously tried to direct them. “The Oeza… they always come from out that way…!!”

Doane glanced backward at Glenn, and then toward Aine and Aster. No one objected, and at last, he threw the raider to the ground. The man landed with a strained grunt, clutching at his throat and gasping.

“Right.” Doane said, stepping back. “Glenn, lead the way.”

“Uh…”

Glenn watched the man in the greatcoat as he attached his crossbow to a holster of some kind at his side. He crouched next to the raider and set the vial he’d offered on the rocks.

“Bes’ give that to ‘er in short order.” he said, clapping the back of his hand against the raider’s face before straightening up for himself again.

“Hey…” Glenn said, stepping toward him. “We never got your name.”

The man looked him in the eye for a moment, then grinned.

“Call me Bade.” he said. Gesturing with one hand, he directed them away from the boulder. The group followed, leaving the raider scrambling to revive his only surviving comrade behind them. “An’ no need teh thank me for the save. It’s just good teh see travelers that ain’t too useless teh handle half a dozen raiders.”

Aster laughed. “I had opponents back in training who were tougher.”

“Yeh’ll be a champion brawler, then?” Bade inquired. “Hand-teh-hand was never my bag, but yeh look like yeh could’ve taken at leas’ half that scum back there down on yer own.”

“Oh, you flatter me.” Aster responded with another confident laugh. “Say… wanna join up with us?” She clapped a firm hand against Glenn’s shoulder, causing him to briefly stumble. “Glenn here is trying to track down a group of Oeza he met years back.”

“Right… Oeza.” Bade repeated, looking carefully at the four members of the group. “Can’t say I’ve got more experience than th’next man at fighting hundred-foot-tall lady giants.”

“No one has experience fighting them.” Aine said dismissively. “Unless you count the second and-a-half of panic before they turn into a bloodstain on the underside of an Oeza’s foot.”

Glenn sighed. “We’re not looking to fight them, Bade. I just want to talk once we find them.”

Bade gave him a curious look. “Talk? That might be even more strange.”

“Of course, if things don’t quite work out, I’d love to see what those bolts of yours might do to one of the Oeza.” Aster added.

Bade gave a low laugh. “Good point, girl. Still…”

“I can pay you!” Glenn suddenly blurted out. Doane glanced at him from the corner of his eye, immediately recognizing this as a lie. To the group’s considerable surprise, however, it was Aine who spoke up next.

“He can.” she lied. “And given that you clearly know your way around medicine better than these three, I think you could make a good addition to Glenn’s team. … I wouldn’t mind learning a bit from you, as well, if you don’t mind.”

Another laugh. “Yeh want lessons on medicine after I jus’ watched yeh cast a whole smoke cloud into the sky with a flick of yer hand? Well… in that case, yeh’ve got a deal.”

“Yes!” Glenn threw a hand forward. Bade accepted, giving a firm handshake.

“Tell yeh the truth, wandering the uncharted alone gets a bit boring. Think I can stand having some friends ‘round for a change.” he said.

---

As all of this was going on, up on an outcropping of rocks, a fair distance up the looming cliffs, a raider was watching the last two survivors of the group down on ground level stagger away from the site of their failed attack. He stood up, dusting himself off, and began to walk, a full rundown of what he and his friends would soon be up against already prepared in his head.