The crows tilt their heads in unison at Hyll’s reaction, varicolored eyes sharing a confused glance before they each give some approximation of a shrug. With that established, Rena turns her attention back to the elderly herbalist, ”in that case, I think we’d be happy to get you there. We were just heading to the village ourselves, actually…” the crow, cracks her neck, feathers ruffling before smoothing back out…there was something just…off about Hylltywyll, something…ah, that’s it. The little bugger gave off almost the same vibes as the Hag back in the Valley. Rena shakes herself to clear her thoughts, glancing about and taking a moment to peruse her memory of the area map…town should be that way.

With a direction picked, the group sets off, crows chirping and trilling to eachother, though none seem to notice a tiny, panicked form tuck itself away into the satchel riding on Rena’s hip…

Or, well, Loci notices. It’s the little wind pixie he’d been chatting with off and on for the last few months…he tenses a little when they move for the egg-satchel, but…there’s no dark, bloodstained tinge to their star. Just…rain. Dark, heavy, gloomy rain…the skeleton decides to leave it be. Worst case scenario, Big Sis Elvie’s enchantments get put to the test…best case? New sibling.

Old people were scattered throughout the mushroom fields. Hylltywyll darted from shadow to shadow, searching around, and he found more of the missing villagers than he'd expected. He hadn't investigated the village to find out any exact number of who was missing, but it felt like he'd found enough to make the village as lively as it used to be.

And just like the first old herbalist that had run into him and the crows, none of them had any memory of how they got there or even who they were. They didn't recognize Hylltywyll even if they used to have a grudge against him for stealing something from them or causing mischief. It was strange being so unhated, but it almost offended him. That infamy was something he'd worked really hard to achieve and now some memory-stealing something was ruining it!

"Back where you belong." Hylltywyll grumbled as he dropped another villager off, throwing them out of his shadowy home from beneath the bench he'd peeked out from earlier. The garden it was in now had a number of confused and slightly frightened villagers looking around.

He had lost interest in asking any of them questions since their answers were all the same and had just started spiriting them away, pulling them into his shadow and then ejecting them in the village garden. He doubted they'd complain about his less than five star hospitality once they regained their memories, and if they did complain, it would just amuse him. Gotta rebuild his reputation anyways.

---

Hylltywyll's Shady Shelter

The murder sets off toward the village, chirping, trilling and whistling notifications of their surroundings to eachother as they bracket the old man and move to collect the other amnesiac villagers they encounter.

Rena’s eyes flash bone white each time she spots Hyll in the distance. There’s something…unsettling about the faerie, something beyond the creature’s fae nature. She’ll deal with it whenever it comes to a head, but…for now, it’s better to just stay on guard.

Bell trills softly, amber eyes flashing as he chats with the people they’ve collected, doing his best to keep them calm, if nothing else. It’s something that comes easy to him, from the years he spent as first what passed for a diplomat in the Valley, then keeping his own clan from murdering his then-girlfriend.

Whistle glances around, ruby eyes shining with curiosity as she spins a coin along her knuckles, chirping softly and easily keeping pace with the main group as she takes comfort in the reassuring weight of the bayonet resting against either forearm.

Loci stands tall and proud, doing his best to draw in as much attention as he can from any potential threats. He doesn’t like it, but in a fight…well, that’s what he’s best at…

Dazed, confused, and disoriented, but otherwise unharmed. That was good enough for Hylltywyll. The villagers he had dropped unceremoniously back into the village one after the other spread out in the streets. They still had no real memories, but they all felt a sense of familiarity with this place. It was their home, where they belonged. How they had gotten lost in the mushroom fields they still didn't know, and most of them also didn't even know how they had suddenly found themselves back in the village, just remembering everything going dark, a few of them possibly remembering a pair of tiny blue pupils gazing at them for a moment before the darkness.

He wasn't certain that was all of them, but after looking around for some time and not finding any more, he felt that was enough for him. If a few villagers were still out there, that wasn't really his problem. And besides, those bird people would probably find them. He had spotted them while he was flitting about, also gathering villagers they came across.

The other villagers who still had their memories were relieved, coming to help those who had been affected by whatever mysterious thing had caused all this. Names, where they lived, how long it had been since they'd disappeared. This information was finally shared with them by spouses, friends, and co-workers they didn't even remember.

"Wait, yes, yes. I remember now! Charlotte! My neighbor. Oh, I always love the raspberries from your garden you share with me." One old woman laughed as she shook the hand of another, her memories seeming to be returning to her with the help of the familiar scenery, or perhaps just being away from the source of the affect.

The crows arrive at the village some time later with their own gaggle of rescued villagers, chirping to each other and generally doing their best to keep everyone at some level of calm. When they do reach the village, the crows do their best to guide each villager to the village square, Loci and Whistle both moving off to explore while Rena and Bell chat with the villagers, doing what they can to jog their memories…though a lot of the memory jogging is done by the villagers themselves, with exclamations of joy and startlement as the light returns to their eyes.

Rena smiles, trilling happily as she watches, silver eyes shining gently and feathers ruffling as she settles a little ways into the shadows to let the villagers reunite on their own.

Bell joins her, happily nestling against her side, letting out an amused chirp as she wraps a wing around him, his amber eyes fluttering shut as he nuzzles into her shoulder and just sort of…relaxes. They did good today. There’ll be time for their actual job…later. They can afford to spend some time recouping and recovering. Maybe let the fledglings explore and play while he and Rena just relax for a bit…

Rena trills happily, softly cooing and nuzzling her husband, holding the spectral crow close as her eyes drift shut. things have been...not difficult, but...hard, lately. the fledglings are wonderful, but...it's still hard, keeping food on the table when they're saving most of their income for gear upgrades...maybe after the payoff from the current job they'll be able to properly take things easy for a little bit...

"Blegh." Hylltywyll gagged as he spotted the nauseating public display of affection from his own hiding spot in the shadows. Gross. He didn't need to see any of that. Just seeing all the joyful reunions of all the villagers with their lost loved ones returning from wandering out in the mushrooms was disgusting enough. He didn't need the birds to get in on it.

The villagers explained to each other what happened now that their memories returned. It started with just a few of them going out to collect medicinal mushrooms from the Giant Mushroom Fields. The herbalists planned on using them in their concoctions and these mushrooms couldn't be grown in the village, so they needed to go out to collect them.

However, these few mushroom pickers never returned. The next day, a few more villagers were sent out to try to find them and make sure they were alright. They assumed they might have gotten hurt and couldn't move on their own. They had no idea these villagers were simply lost because they had suddenly lost their memories of where they had come from and didn't even know the village existed anymore let alone which direction it was in.

While the search party was in the fields, they also lost their memories and didn't return, prompting a second search party to be sent out to find them and the mushroom pickers, and then they lost their memories, and it all just snowballed. Each time the villagers were more concerned something horrible had happened, but they couldn't just stand around and abandon their friends and family. Eventually they called upon some help from outside sources.

"Stupid." Hylltywyll scoffed once he heard all this. What idiot would go out to find someone when the last few people they sent also vanished? He couldn't imagine caring about someone else enough to do something so foolish, risking his own life for a loved one. He didn't have any loved ones and didn't need them for reasons just like this. They were just stupid.

The crows disperse after a little while, scattering across the village as they begin to explore properly. they listen to the stories of the villagers up to that point where they each forgot, offering suggestions and advice to try and avoid such a situation again. And through it all...even as they do their best to relax, they search. they search for one particular person, whom they'd been paid to teach a lesson. they'd prefer not to, but they're not in a position to be picky about the jobs they take at the moment. perhaps once they've built their reputation a bit, perhaps once they've got an organization of their own...no, focus on the present. they can plan the future once they've finished the job...

soon enough, they find someone matching the description they were given down to a t; appearance, name, occupation and home...

...but they don't strike until several hours after the town has settled in for the night. the rest of the murder stands guard while Rena Blinks into their target's home, silent feet gliding across the floorboards as she begins to gather materials for the warning the client had requested...

...when day breaks and the target wakes, they find themselves surrounded on all sides with everyday objects from their own home, each one repurposed into an instrument of pain. under their pillow lies a simple note bearing the mark of the person they took that loan from before running off...'last chance,' it reads, and on the back of the note is a picture, a drawing of a silver eye encircled by black feathers...

...the crows stick around for a bit, keeping an eye on their target as the client had requested, leaving little signs of their family insignia where the target can see as additional bits of warning...and when the target leaves town, the crows follow...the job's not over until the client gets the money from that loan back, after all...