With the beast dead, Amilya looked for the fox which had disappeared during the chaos. Unfortunately, there was no trace of it in the clearing, so it must have run off into the forest again.

  Due to Diara being ihey would have to return back to the vilge. Harold quickly found some smaller trees he was able to uproot to serve as a makeshift sled to carry her after weaving them together with some rope from her pack.

  Meanwhile, Amilya gathered some of the broken scales from the beast. She remarked, “Harold, I bet the skin on this thing would make a great rept for the fur it shredded on your clothes. And it has enough we make several sets, we will o return to deal with the body anyways, so make sure t tools for dismantling it.”

  Getting Diara as fortably situated as possible took a little while, with her pining about their fussing. “Look,” she excimed, “I have enough skill in healing magic to dull the pain, just get us back already!”

  Giving in to her demands, they set off. Harold led the way, carrying Diara’s sled behind him, with Amilya behind giving dires from arag spell.

  Along the way back, they discussed the oddities they had noted about the fox they were called on to remove, Amilya going first, “I noticed that it quickly learned how to disrupt my trag magic, whially requires a mage, or a very powerful magical beast. That said, we saw no evidenagi it.”

  Diara tinued, “Don’t fet that it tried to throw us off by going through water. Clearly it knows about leaving tracks, and possibly st behind as it runs. And we ran into far too many dangers in a retively safe area of the forest, it had to have been lingerihem to lure us there.”

  They fell silent for a bit, tinuing through the forest, before Harold resumed the versation, “Also isn’t it weird for it to help us in the fight when we were chasing it just before? I mean, I saved it from being crushed because you wanted us to have it studied, but even before that it was trying to help.”

  Amilya muttered under her breath for a moment as Diara closed her eyes to think.

  Looking up, Amilya spotted a snake dropping from a tree above, letting out a shriek and bringing up her staff to try to swat it away. Harold let go of the makeshift sled, dropping Diara with a curse, and spun as well. Before either of them could hit the snake however, the fox they’d been following burst from the surrounding forest in a blur, smming into the sh a pounbsp; This had the effect of knog it off target, then it leapt bato the underbrush oher side.

  Harold followed this a with his staff, smming it into the snake a mere sed after the fox had struck, crushing the serpent.

  “Well,” Diara excimed, “that just happened… I’m not sure what to say. That snake almost got me and then the fox...”

  “That is bizarre enough that being sure doesn’t matter anymore,” Amilya began, “whe back, I’ll be sending a message for a more knowledgeable mage who has experieh awakened creatures to visit us.”

  They spent the rest of the trip back to the vilge iive silehinking over what happened, and paying closer attention to where they were going. Fortunately for them, it appeared nothing else wao try attag them, and they made it back to the lumber camp safely.

  While Harold carried Diara back to the vilge, Amilya stepped forward to talk to the foreman.

  “We found a twisted fox using illusions, though it was not the one you saw,” she began, “the one you saw may be awakened, used no illusions, but lead us into a crude trap where we were attacked by a far more dangerous beast. Fortunately it was already injured, and Harold was able to cripple a it. We will be ing back soon to deal with the corpse. If anyone help, it would be most appreciated.”

  She then headed back towards the vilge with the others. Shortly, she passed them by, going ahead to inform everyone of what o be done.

  Arriving at the vilge, she stopped by the guard at the gate, inf him, “Harold and Diara are behind a ways, Diara was injured and uo walk, so make sure they get through the gate with a makeshift sled when they get here.”

  She then headed towards the healer’s home, knog on the door and waiting for a few moments before it opened. An old man opehe door, leaning on a e. Amilya smiled before speaking, “Monti, gd you were here, Diara’s leg was broken when we ran into a monster in the forest. you hahat today, or do you need more time?”

  “Certainly, I may be old, but my magic is still up to most challenges,” Monti replied, “as long as those are not quickly fatal at least. Or too many at onbsp; Or a few other things. Anyways, don’t let me keep you, I’ll be ready for her!”

  Amilya then headed towards her own home, entering and proceeding to her desk. Sitting down, she pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, dipping it into her inkwell, beginning to write a quiote to her former teacher ba the capital. Knowing it could cause panic, she carefully avoided mentioning the potential awakened animal was a fox, instead keeping vague as to the nature of the creature.

  She the for the messenger's post to drop off the letter. Fortunately, it was only about a day more before a messenger would head back to the nearby town, so the letter should be able to make it to the capital quickly. She was sure her letter would brieacher quickly, after all, there was no known wild awakened.

  Amilya then headed back towards the east gate, meeting Harold and heading back out towards the lumber camp. Gathering some volunteers with saws and torches, they headed back out into the forest. Amilya pulled out a scale she had taken from the beast and used her trag spell to guide them back towards the clearing.

  Ohere, several people set about cutting down trees for a pyre, as Harold and a few volunteers set about skinning and deboning the beast. Ohey had successfully removed the hide and bohey set about cutting the body into smaller pieces. As each piece was cut out, it ced within the pyre, sending oily bck smoke into the air.

  Having disassembled the beast, the majority of the people returned back to the lumber camp while a handful remained behind to ehe remains burned fully. It wouldn’t do for the mana-rich flesh to result in more mutations, after all. Those who left took with them the hide and bones, for use by the vilge craftsmen, as well as the mana core.