Aramon searches what is left of the creatures, but it is quickly evident that they have nothing other than their swords, whose hilts are too small for him to hold, and a small bag that each of them carried strapped to their back. The bags are small and empty and nearly the same color as the creatures. Also both have holes in them.

Aramon puzzles at what they could be for and eventually gives up.

During the evening meal, he hears a screech in the sky and looks up to see a strange creature flying in the moonlight.

The winged creature seems fairly small at this distance.

It flies slowly in the same direction that his senses have been leading him in.

In the morning he find the tracks of the creatures with some difficulty, as it seems the moment they started tracking him, they stopped leaving tracks.

He follows the tracks for the rest of the day and sleeps the night.

He is awakened to the sound of thunder early the next morning moments later the rain begins its deluge, wiping clean all trace of the creatures.

Deciding to head south again, he rides Kenyetta through the murky, rainy forest until Kenyetta again stops, thinking she heard something. The two search all around yet find nothing.

He is about to continue on with caution when he hears a loud hissing behind him. Turning around he still sees nothing. Suddenly, there is a movement to one side and Kenyetta leaps out of the way. From the foliage on either side of where they stood, out leaps a pair of strange creatures.

Seeming to have the body of a snake and the head and torso of one of those creatures he saw earlier only, much, much bigger. The creatures turn toward them. Their tails coil into a circle on the ground and they coil up like a snake preparing to strike. They hiss and a snakes tongue shoots out between a pair of fangs. One of the creatures seems to have a pair of wings, but it is not the creature he saw the night before.

"What a pair of freaks" he thinks.

Kenyetta leaps at the wingless snake creature as it springs out toward her. In a long practiced move Aramon rolls off of her back and hits the ground. Kenyetta and the creature collide in mid-air and each sink their fangs into each other.

As Aramon lands on the ground, Moon Chaser flies from his hand catching the winged creature in mid-air. The blade bites into the creatures' torso and the impact changes the creatures' angle so that it lands heavily, several feet short of him. He quickly reaches for another axe as the creature recovers its tail coiling under it, while its hands try and pull the offending axe from its chest.

Another axe flies, followed quickly by a third. The second axe nearly severs an arm from the creature, but the third flies off slamming into the dust. The creature retreats hissing at him. The axe that hit its arm falls off nearly taking the arm with it and the creature hisses in pain, orange icor runs down the side of the creature. With its single remaining arm it removes Moon Chaser from its chest, orange icor sprays outward from the wound. The creature tosses Moon Chaser half-heartedly at him. But the throw lacks power as the axe lands in the dirt a few scant feet after being thrown. Flapping its wings wildly it takes to the air, though it only manages to get a few feet off the ground and it is obvious it is struggling. Its weak struggles to get airborne give him plenty of time to get his bow and shoot it twice, before it plummets to the ground. Even then the creature is still moving, albeit barely. Clawing the ground trying to get away.

It is then that he realize that even though Kenyetta is savaging the other snake creature greatly, she seems to be getting weaker and the creature seems unaffected. Grabbing Moon Chaser he runs to where Kenyetta and the creature roll around fighting. Aramon sees Kenyetta rip a large chunk of the creatures arm off, but the creature ignores the pain and bites continuously into her and the arm seems to grow again.

Desperately he tries to manage to get in a few hits, to the creature while avoiding hitting Kenyetta and getting crushed himself. But some of the hits seem to heal up as soon as he makes them. However the damage that Kenyetta is doing is starting to take effect, but Aramon senses that his companion will not last much longer.

He manages to get in a shot that cleaves a large cut across the back of the creature and it howls in pain. Kenyetta takes the opportunity to rip its throat out and disengage. Despite missing its throat the creature still moves and the scar Aramon created is half healed. Kenyetta stumbles away and he can feel her weariness. He quickly chops off the head of the creature and it finally stops moving.

He hurries to where Kenyetta has collapsed and examines her, oddly enough the only damage seems to be a few puncture marks. Now that she is away from the creatures she seems marginally better.

The winged creature lets out a frustrated hiss as it claws its way back into the foliage.

Despite Kenyetta's valiant efforts she seems unable to move very far. She soon collapses into a deep sleep. He hears the hissing of the winged creature as it claws through the brush away from you for quite some time.

After a several hours, Kenyetta wakes and she is ravenous. A quick hunting expedition turns up a scrawny rabbit and a couple of fat squirrels. Though this is not nearly enough to sate her hunger, there is nothing else around.

He climbs up on her back and begins heading south again at a rapid pace, though he notices that Kenyetta is not quite as fast as she used to be. He finds that the further they go the fewer the number of animals there are, even the number of insects seems to thin out.

They have to take quite a few stops because Kenyetta is gets tired quickly and hunting is turning up less and less.

During one such stop he freezes suddenly because he realizes that several of those creatures are passing near by his location. A dozen total. They are followed by a creature that is similar to them in shape, but is slightly larger than an ogre. The sight of it freezes your blood, its unnatural orange color reeks of magic.

After they are gone he begins to pick up signs of heavy travel along game paths, but the tracks are all of the two legged predator variety not the normal four legged kind. Its easy to see that these things are all over this area. Kenyetta lets out a low growl as he nears a clearing. The clearing is nearly empty now as the light fades into dusk, but they can see the remains of nearly a dozen large campfires. Far to the left a huge wooden cage that seems to have been thrown together stands in the clearing. Inside the cage are literally hundreds of animals, predator and prey alike thrown together. The ground near the cage is soaked in blood leaking from bottom of the cage, doubtless because of the carnage inside the cage.

Moving swiftly and quietly, he reaches the cage. In his mind he feel Kenyetta's hunger rising. He takes a minute to calm her to the point where he knows she won't take off without him.

The animals inside sense Aramon and many of the creatures start to moving away from the side of the cage where Kenyetta is. One such unlucky deer moves a bit too close to an irritated panther and gets its throat ripped out. This only serves to cause more confusion and panic.

Aramon quickly checks the cage door and realizes that a few pieces of wood block the opening of the gate. Moving Kenyetta away from the entrance he moves the wood out of the slots and open the gate. At first nothing happens, then one of the great cats senses freedom and makes a break for it. As it reaches the exit it catches sight of Kenyetta, and with a warning growl it takes off in the opposite direction. Several of the deer also sensing freedom take off and out of the doorway.

Picking up a still burning brand from a campfire, he moves over and begin to set the back of the cage on fire. The smell of smoke and flame is more than enough to get the rest of the animals moving out of the cage. The resulting rush seems to cause a stampede. Several animals slip in the blood and get crushed under the hooves of the others. Leaping to Kenyettas' back Aramon follow a group of deer that try desperately to flee from the large wolf. He feels the excitement get to Kenyetta who abandons the idea of escape and quickly runs down one of the straggling deer. He is almost overwhelmed by the thoughts in her mind as it seems to be in a turmoil because hunger seems to be the only thought.

Behind him is the crackle of the flames and off to one side he hears a loud bellow that seems to get closer to the cage. Within moments the bellow is joined by dozen of smaller hisses, howls, and hysterical laughter.

Though Kenyetta has only begun to sate her hunger, the canopy of sounds pierces straight though her hazy hunger induced turmoil and the thought of danger flashes through her mind. Ripping off one more piece from the poor doe, she gulps it down and takes off so fast Aramon is nearly knocked off of his seat. Moving with a speed borne of desperation she quickly puts several miles between them and the source of the sounds. It is well into the night, before Aramon can communicate with her again. He finds that her mind a mixture of hunger, fear and exhaustion.

The next day Aramon is forced to hunt for food to feed Kenyettas' hunger, because she seems unwilling or unable to move. After several hours he finally manages to find a herd of deer and a couple of rabbits. Bringing back a deer to her, she devours its quickly with a speed and urgency he has never seen before. After finishing the deer and the rabbits, her hunger recedes to a dull throbbing in the back of her mind. More than is usual, but less than before. She is too weak to carry him, thus the two of them walk back to Harvest Moon, which is the nearest elvin commune. By night they have made good time and haven't come across any hostile creatures, though hunting is still bad.

Three days later they come across the barrier of trees that marks the boundaries of the Harvest Moon commune. Walking around to the entrance, he are greeted by an unusual sight in this area, an armed elvin guard. He watches the pair warily and he realizes with a start that there are several archers hidden in the trees.

"Odd Harvest moon wasn't like this when we left a few weeks ago" he thinks.

As he raises his hands and proclaim himself, a look of relief passes over the guards face, "Times change quickly my friend. A day or two after you left strange creatures were seen roaming close to the commune. We are just now taking precautions against these foul creatures. The elder can tell you more. All visitors will be brought to him in this time of crisis. What have you seen out there in your travels?"

After listening to Aramons' tale, the guard becomes looks almost ill, "It's monstrous, you must tell the elder at once, follow me." He leads him quickly through the wooded entrance. Off to one side workers constructing a massive wooden gate. It is shocking to see these things and remember that when he left it was a commune of peaceful farmers, with no weapons in sight. Now most elves go armed. The guard leads him straight to the heart of the commune, the ancient tree that towers above all else in the commune. Kenyetta trails behind them her tongue hanging out. She seems peaceful, but that ever-present feeling of intense hunger lies behind every thought.

Aramon nears the ancient tree and look up with awe and respect at its immense size, power and sense of majesty. Near the base is a large opening that is actually a hallway before he reaches the main room. They enter the main room and the guard says "Wait here." Kenyetta is much too wide for the hallway and so she wanders around outside.

Sometime later an ancient elf in long green robes and a grayish hair that falls well down past his waist. "Ah, Aramon. We didn't meet last time, but I so rarely get to meet with the few visitors that we have here." Getting right down to business he says, "As you know we have seen rather strange creatures in the forest nearby, do you know anything of it?"

Aramon relates his tale and adds with it a plea for help from the commune to give him a few soldiers to wipe out the creatures once and for all.

When Aramon finishes relating his tale, the elder frowns. A look of deep concern falls over his face as he considers the plea for help. "Yes, I think you may be right. You can sleep here for tonight. I will assemble an expeditionary force to be ready in the morning. Something you may now know is that we should have expected this. Several months ago a group of adventurers came in with an outlandish story of destroying a temple of strange creatures running around called Gatherers. They are said to have been conjured up from somewhere by a powerful otherworldly being. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the survivors got here."

Aramon mentions Kenyetta's snake bite and describe the changes. The elder smiles and says, "I think we can help that." He steps outside for a moment and calls to a man and sends him off. He returns and resumes his tale finishing with the leaving of the adventures, that split up in to several groups just after summers eve.

After the tale he feels Kenyettas' hunger and excuses himself to check up on her.

Returning outside he finds several elves carrying food enough to feet a large group. They set the food down on the ground and Kenyetta tears into the it as if it were her last meal.

The ancient elf says, "She will be hungry for quite some, but it sounds like she was the victims of one of the creatures vampiric healing powers. One of the adventurers suffered from that same malady, though he hid it well. Several incredibly large meals and she will be sated as her body replaces all that stolen energy."

"You have the rest of today to wander around our fair commune, though most will be working on defenses."

Although the elder promised to take care of food provisions, but as the market is still running as normal Aramon decides to behave as if he would have to take care of other provisions on his own.

He makes his way over to the general market, which seems more like a large tent than anything. Once entering it, he is surrounded by the familiar sight and sounds of commune market. He looks around at the individual stalls and notices the quiet haggling going on between customer and seller. He wanders through the tent until he sees an elf holding an earnest conversation with his customer. Next to the two is a length of rope. Realizing he has found the general supply master he waits quietly looking for signs of what the others are selling.

He looks around, but decides most of what is being sold are vegetables, not fit for travelling food. The two elves conclude their business, apparently it is a no sale for today. Aramon takes the place vacated by the elf and asks if they have any lantern oil and rope. The merchant moves to the back of his stall and opens a curtain and disappears, a few moments later he returns with three flasks of lantern oil and a coil of rope around his arm.

After some haggling, of which Aramon is sure he got the worst of, and 12 silver pieces later he adds the three flasks of lantern oil and the coil of hemp rope to his provisional list.

Not too much later he find a Fletcher doing rather brisk business. Even the haggling is kept to a minimum as he dispenses with several customers within moments.

When his turn comes, Aramon checks to see how many arrows he needs and asks for another quiver, but even with haggling he finds that the price is too steep for his budget.

Disappointed he leaves the market and wanders back to the Elders place where Kenyetta is sleeping outside. The remains of her last meal, nearly picked clean, are off to one side.

Later in the evening, the market closes and work on the gate is stopped for the day. The elves gather in the in a large field off to one side where the evening feast begins. That night after dinner and entertainment, the elder stands up and announces, "We face a grave problem. We all know about the creatures that have invaded our woods and made the hunting bad. But until today we didn't have an idea as to the scope of the problem. Today I discovered the true scope of the problem from one who has encountered this first hand." He gestures toward Aramon who stands, "This elf has been farther south, deeper into the problem area. He has told me about several fantastic creatures, whom of no doubt you've learned of by now. We all remember the story of the adventurers whom came to Harvest Moon by the grace of Gaea at the beginning of the summer. They made a two week journey in one day and even though several were very injured, by the time they reached our commune, they were all fully healed. I have asked a few of you to help this young elf put an end to his madness. I now ask for a few more volunteers to help hunt out what might be the last gasps of that evil that haunted our forest from before."

Silence greets his announcement before a pair of twin elvin boys, both looking no more than a year or two younger than Aramon get up and approach the elder. One begins "We would go with him elder...", the other finishes, "...to protect our families and save lives." Another elf, this one rather bulky for an elf, and much older than him says, "Then I suppose I should come along just to keep the two of you alive. Granted the two of you are the best in the village with a bow, but once those creatures get close, your bows are useless." Sadly, no one else dares answers the call. The elder says, "Good. Be at my place for the dawn tomorrow, when the others are here."

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After talking to several people Aramon learns that the group that was here before consisted of two elvin warriors, one a warrior mage, three human magi, two human fighters, two human rangers, a Gaean priest, a Universal Harmony priest, and an ogre. It seems they were called upon by someone known as the Warlord to fight the evil that was appearing in the forest. They destroyed some kind of temple about two weeks south of Harvest Moon and were magically transported here and healed during the transport, when they were done. They stayed for two days and left. Rumor has it that they split up into several groups. All headed north but in different directions, none have been seen again. That was a season ago in early summer, but now it is mid-autumn.

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In the morning he wakes up and checks on Kenyetta, who has finished off yet another deer and is trotting about quite happily, no trace of the overwhelming hunger from before comes through in her thoughts.

Soon, the twins and the older elf come to the door and wait outside for the elder to appear. From deeper inside, the elder comes out with four others. Two of them look like they have never seen sunlight before as they squint and cover their eyes in the morning light. One is skinny and holds onto a rune inscribed book as if it were made of gold. The other, is human and, also holds onto his rune inscribed book, but this one is slightly more muscled. The third person to come out is an another slim elf, a pair of swords at his back. His clothes and manner mark him as a fellow ranger. The fourth is the biggest surprise as an elf looking very much like a younger version of the elder comes out. His face set in hard lines as he looks around. Aramon quickly notices that the others defer to him.

The elder says, "Welcome my friends, let me introduce you. This is Aramon, he is the one responsible for the information we have." Starting with the twins he says, "This is Calato and Savato," moving on to the older elf, "and Atognu" Turning to the four that came with him, "Urli and Jaguar, back from the dead if you hear him tell it." The elder chuckles and moves over to the ranger, "Sonorek, " and with the last man, "Eedar. I'm sure with this group that you should able to cripple if not destroy this evil menace that infests our good forest. Now if you'll excuse me I must rest. Good luck." He turns and makes his way back into his home.

The others defer to Eedar, who looks at Aramon and waits. Kenyetta sensing the beginning of a trip seems full of energy.

After Aramon introduces himself and explains the situation to them, the twin elves pale slightly and when you mention that they may need more arrows they blanch even further, "You mean there are that..." one begins. "many of them in those woods..." the other finishes.

After the introductions, Eedar hands Aramon an extra quiver of arrows, "Forgive us, we are not completely used to the idea of war-time supplies. For the last hundred years or so we have only had peace and have gotten used to bartering for everything." The twins each have three quivers of arrows, which they double and triple check when they are done some of their confidence seems to return.

"My friends move swiftly and silently our distance will keep us alive and our speed will give us the upper hand." Aramon says, "These creatures are not that strong but are numerous."

With that said they head out the main entrance. The large gate being constructed for the entrance is nearly complete. Many of the elves stop work and wish them luck and good hunting.

As they leave the commune, a bitter wind blows through the forest. It holds the promise of an early frost as well as the promise of rain soon.

Everyone wraps themselves in their cloaks and they move out at a fast pace for foot, but a slow pace for Kenyetta. Often Aramon and Kenyetta scout ahead and return to the group to make sure they are alright.

Progress slows as the rain comes in the middle of the second day and the hunting is only marginally better than the first time Aramon came through. Eating becomes more of a chore as the food is often cold.

By the end of the fourth day, Kenyetta is miserable. The only ones who seems unaffected by the weather is Eedar who seems stoically cheerful and Sonorek who seems to be at peace with everything. Jaguar keeps to himself and spends every night pouring over his books in a small one-man waterproofed tent.

The fifth morning brings an end to the rain and the beginning of a warming trend. By noon it is very hot. Hotter than it has been in quite sometime.

Kenyetta stops and growls and Aramon realizes that something is in the bushes ahead. He signals the others and Sonorek immediately disappears into the forest. At first even Kenyetta has trouble locating him, before they know it he is a little ahead of the party and off to one side. Ahead a pitiful hiss, and a clawing at the bushes confirms that the creature ahead is probably one of the half-snake, half humanoid creatures that sapped Kenyettas energy.

Kenyetta seems a little skittish at coming across the creature again.

Aramon immediately readies his bow and arrow out and signals for the others to surround the creature. When they have judged that they have surrounded it they move in.

The type of creature he expected, a winged half snake/half humanoid creature, was correct, but he did not expect to find it in this condition. This creature has had a wing badly damaged, one arm nearly torn off and several long wide slices in its torso. He recognizes it as the winged creature they fought before, the orange icor has hardened in the wounds, but the creatures seems to be in the same pitiful state it was before.

The twin elves stare at the creature "With wounds like that...." one begins, "you'd think it would be dead by now." the other finishes.

Eedar looks at the creature, his face unreadable, "So this is the manner of creature that we must fight. It looks like someone already got to it. Those are axe wounds."

Any further conversation is cut off as hysterical laughter comes from all around the group. The bushes seem to come alive as nearly two dozen of the small creatures that Aramon originally fought show up armed with spears, knives and those strange swords of theirs.

"Ambush", Aramon thinks.