The Shadewood's mighty trees rose up into the sky and covered the forest floor in, as the name suggested, shade. It was a pleasant place to walk if one could ignore the constant threat of being eaten by some wild beast or mugged by a wandering band of criminals. Of course the first was far more grisly, not many bandits would eat you...

A band of such criminals, the kind that would eat you, now walked through the forest trails alongside the main road in hushed step. Four of them to be exact. going by the names of Bones, Munch , Dicy, and their leader, of course, went by Eugene. The trio was following behind a far less stealthy young fellow who walked with far less regard to the noise he was making. The bandits wore hides, mostly non-human, and dark cloaks over tattered clothing. Their guide wore a long jacket, and clothes befitting a businessman of some larger city. Atop his head was a mess of tight red curls that peaked out from under a flat cap. 

The group spoke quietly amongst themselves.

"You really gonna pay us in a steady supply of innocent and gullible travelers? Just for guiding you through the forest once?" Eugene asked, speaking for the group.

"Of course dear sirs. Lord Quin of Harpshire always pays his debts. I gave you a contract as well, didn't I? If any of you lot can read you'll see the details plainly laid out within the document."¹ He waved his hand in dismissal of the men's doubts. 

Eugene looked back to his band of cannibals, shrugging as if to ask if any could read. Munch moved forward, stopping to peer over the document. After a moment he attempted to relay the details.²

"Looks like some servant a some sort'll bring folk up to us, and then...well, we eat em." He smiled as the rest chuckled lightly, the paper had been convincing enough for them. The paper's quality alone was enough to amaze them earlier...

As the group walked on Lord Quin of Harpshire, truly known as Harper Quinlin, could feel the immense anxiety building within himself as the group of cannibals questioned his lies. The whole ordeal was far from ideal, yet the excitement and challenge of it all would make a wonderful story to relay to the next town he stopped in. The only issue would be if he ran into any other travelers, he really wanted to avoid having to actually watch them eat anyone.

1- Smooth Talking
2- Liar's Quill

After a little while longer of walking, the sun was beginning to set and the sound of the nightly wildlife began to rise. Lights flickered through the trees as the fireflies awoke. The sounds of owls hooting could be heard from the dense canopies. What little light made its way through the thick canopy changed to a pinkish purple color. Dicy and bones pulled out torches to light their way as they continued to walk along behind their involuntary guide.

Suddenly, Munch placed a hand on Quin's shoulder to stop him. The large man was looking around. "You hear that?"

The rest of the group stopped and also started listening, looking around for whatever Munch had heard. After a moment, the sound started to become more apparent. The sound of metal clanking. In the middle of the woods? That was odd.

---

Blue Raspberry walked through the woods, their metal armor clanking with each step. It was starting to get dark and the knight couldn't see in the dark. Dang. They thought about just turning into a bird and flying out of here. They'd been enjoying their walk through the woods, but they didn't think it'd be quite as enjoyable in the dark.

But suddenly, they spotted some light. A red orange glow came from beyond some of the trees, flickering and moving along. Oh! Maybe there were some people over there! They liked meeting new people. They started walking toward the unknown group.

---

"Look!" Bones called out, pointing a finger at a knight in full metal plate armor suddenly emerging from the bushes and waving a hand in the air in a friendly greeting.

"Hello there!" Blue called out to the group, not suspecting anything strange of the men. Neither groups knew who they were now facing. The cannibal bandits had no way of knowing the knight was actually a man-eating ooze, and Blue didn't suspect at all that three of the four travelers in front of them were looking at them as if they were their next meal.

Oh dear...

As the knight emerged Dicey slinked away into the bushes, having foresight enough to try and set himself up for a surprise attack on the chunk of armor standing before them. Harper saw nothing more than a guaranteed conflict, four bandits against a single knight. The odds, no matter how armored he was, did not stand in sir knight's favor. His mind raced to find a way to re-direct the encounter into something that could possibly end without a feast of body parts taking place. The kind-hearted greeting did no more than place a hefty weight on Harper's conscious, why not some evil robber knight? He probably rescued damsels and saved kittens too! 

Change the story maybe... Make it an arranged meeting, maybe this was a man in his service? The questions would be plentiful, but, if anything had been proven to him about these men thus far it was their lack of critical thinking. The lie's believability would rely almost entirely on this knight's awareness and wit.

While they approached the knight, Harper walked ahead and waved back at the fellow. As his arm dropped he first wrote "HELP" in the air in front of his chest. He stretched his other hand out behind himself towards the cannibandits who stopped accordingly, hands sneaking slowly towards their sheathed weapons. 

"Fancy seeing you here now, Sir Knight, I had expected you to meet me at the beginning of the forest. In your absence I have contracted these four"

He paused, tilting his head very slightly to the deeper woods where Dicey now hid, emphasizing the word four.

"Ahem, three, men to protect me in your stead." He looked back to them with a smile, noticing their hands fall to the sides as he did so. Hmm...

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Munch looked to his fellows, Eugene and Bones, with a doubtful look on his brow.

He signed to his fellows "Trap?" Bones shrugged, Eugene replied "We wait and see."

As Harper turned back to them they dropped their hands and attempted to look inconspicuous.

Meanwhile, Dicey had crept about to the flank of the knight. He held his bow at ready, awaiting a signal from his leader to initiate the ambush and claim their first meal in days.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What do you say, Sir Knight, to accompanying us from here on through? I'll make sure not to mention this misunderstanding to your fellows if you agree." He gave a pleading smile, praying to the gods that at least a small chance existed that he could avoid seeing this tin can pried open and feasted upon...

Harper was relying entirely on Blue Raspberry's awareness and wit. It was quite unfortunate that the ooze had very little of either. They tilted their head slightly in confusion as the man approaching them did some weird gestures with his hand. Blue had still not learned how to read, so the spelling in the air was entirely lost on them. Was he trying to cast a spell? But they didn't sense any magic. Well it was probably nothing.

They were even more confused when the man said they'd been expecting them. They didn't remember agreeing to meet this guy at the beginning of the forest. In fact, they were pretty sure they'd never met this guy before at all! What was he talking about? Also, was he having trouble counting? There were three men behind him. Why did he say four first? And what fellows was he talking about?

Wait, of course! It all made sense! This guy was just dumb! He was mistaking them for someone else and couldn't count. Blue could empathize. They were also a bit forgetful and weren't that good at counting either. They should clear up the confusion before it go worse.

"Sorry, yeah, there must be a misunderstanding. I don't know what you're talking about. You must be mistaking me for someone else, but I'm sorry they bailed on you. I can come with you if you want, I don't mind." Blue replied friendlily, reaching out their hand and offering a handshake.

Oh, so this knight was as he had expected then. Just as every knight before him this man was as dense as the steel he was encased in. Harper Buy, he was not one to give up so easily when the consequence for failure was witnessing the poor knight being pried from his tin can an eaten. Harper extended his arm and greeted the man in a warm handshake, surprised by the intensity of strength that gripped his own small hand. 

His companions, those visible at least, conferred in hushed voices as he did so. In their minds he was softening up their prey, lulling him into a sense of safety so they could go in for the kill. Harper turned to catch them in the middle of their chatter, pointing his arm at the group. 

"Ahh, I see, this merry band of men have kept me safe along the roads thus far. I dare say you could take the lot of them, I have heard tales of a knight appearing just the same as you..." with a new lie forming he hoped it would be enough to dissuade them, predators preferred weaker prey after all.

He looked to the knight once more, presenting him to the cannibals with a grand gesture. He mouthed towards them 'He's too dangerous' as he did.

"They say he killed ten men after they ambushed him, not one was left alive. He's slain beasts, bandits, and a bounty of other beasts. He is, none other than..." he waited, gesturing as obviously as he could to try and coax the knight into introducing himself and playing along.

In the nearby brush Dicey drew his bow, undeterred, and prepared to loose an arrow towards a chink in the knights armor. He eyed Eugene as he did so, who raised a hand slightly. The bow went down once more, though the situation remained intense and all depended on the knights response. Harper's hope was low...

"Really? You've heard of me?" Blue replied, putting their hands on their waist and standing proudly. They didn't know they were so famous around here! Sure, they had gone on some adventures beating bandits and monsters in this area before, but they didn't think they'd be that well known. Was the story of them beating those bandits up really popular? Wait, was it ten bandits? They thought there'd been less... or were there more...? Also, hadn't they been in the form of a wolf then? Ah, whatever! It was fun to be famous!

"Wolfe!" The knight announced their name energetically, pointing a thumb to their chest, their other hand still on their waist. "Yeah, I bet I could take 'em all! I'm really strong you know! I fought all sorts of things. Bandits, displacer beasts, some really big bugs, spiders, harpies, robots..." Blue confidently listed off whatever enemy they'd overcome that they could remember off the top of their head. They really had fought all sorts of things, many of which they'd eaten after or even during the battle.

"Oh, are you guys also adventurers? What kinds of things have you guys fought?" They asked, looking past Harper at the three men behind him. If they were helping to protect the man as he walked through the forest, they were probably adventurers, right? Who else would volunteer to do something like that? They must be nice guys, offering to help someone out like that!

A wave of relief flooded Harper as the knight seemed happy to accept the high praise. If it was truth, then perhaps he would be able to lose his current escort and gain a new one if he was unable to end things peacefully. The bandits, on the other hand, were far less amused by sor knight's easy confidence, scowling and cursing under their breath at their hard luck. Eugene marched forward with one hand on the sword at his hip. Harper's eyes widened with fear as to what the crook would do next.

"Aye, we be adventurers of a sort...Thing is, i don't trust a man I can't look in the eyes." Eugene had some play in mind, Harper had no idea what though, and he imagined the knight would be as oblivious as earlier as well...

His fellow bandits smiled thinly behind him, they'd understood the plan apparently. Worrying.

"Raise your visor, and we pass peacefully..." Eugene said threateningly, walking off the path around the knight slightly.

Harper's mind was racing, trying to discover what idea they possibly had to deal with an accomplished warrior that involved his visor. The answer came as soon as he remembered the fourth bandit was hidden away with a bow nearby, Eugene had angled himself so the archer would have a clear shot at the knights exposed face once the visor lifted. Oh no...

"Ah! Come now, I'll have no such disrespect paid to a worthy warrior!" Harper protested, hoping to avoid the chance of a lucky shot leading to cannibal fine dining.

The bandits around him moved up and pushed past him, ignoring the pleas and drawing blades. 

"What he said!" The two bandits demanded of Wolfe.

In the brush nearby Dicey drew bis bow and aimed, ready if the visor was lifted.

These guys seemed really insistent on being able to see Blue Raspberry's eyes for some reason. Well, they had no reason to object. They were just fellow adventurers, right? There was only one problem though.

"This helmet doesn't have a visor, see? It's just these slits for my eyes." Blue stated, pointing to the face of their helmet. It was true. Their helmet didn't have a visor on it. "I'll have to take my whole helmet off." Blue was fine with that, but it wasn't exactly what the others were asking of them, so they just wanted to let them know to be safe.

They put their hands on either side of their helmet and lifted it off quickly, exposing their head entirely. They had a friendly face with a smile. Their chin and most of their cheeks were covered in a fuzzy beard of blue hair. Their toothy grin showed off their enlarged canines and their ears were pointed at the tops. The hair on their head was messily slicked back and the same color as their beard as well as their eyes.

As soon as their helmet was off, Dicey fired their arrow straight for their head. Blue didn't even notice it as the arrow veered completely off course and into some bushes harmlessly. Blue lowered their helmet, putting it under one arm to hold it and turning their head to look at where the arrow had just flown past too quickly to tell what it was.

"Hm? Was that a bird?" Blue asked with innocent curiosity.

---

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