Cow Girl was in the process of washing the dishes when suddenly something fell off to the side. Cow Girl paused as she looked toward her right and saw the third wooden bowl her friend would eat from now on the floor.

"That's strange…it on the shelf a moment ago. I wonder why it fell." She calmly walked over to retrieve it with a smile upon her face. "He's been gone for quite a long time now, I'll have to make him a big pot of stew…him and Wolf when they get back."

Her face suddenly began to heat up when she recalled the last time they saw each other, and the fact that he had seen her completely naked, as opposed to just seeing her in her underwear. She calmly picked up the bowl and then as she turned it over noticed a large crack in the bowl. She thought it was strange when the bowl then broke in half and clattered to the floor once again.

"What…what happened?" The sudden action startled her as she wondered why his bowl would break then gasped when realized it was only his bowl that had been broken. "Does…does that mean…no. Please no."

xxxx

At the same time this was happening, at the Guild, both Guild Girl and Inspector were finishing up the last of the paper work for the day. Guild looked over the last goblin quest and smiled wondering how he was doing on his quest to help the dwarf's relative. Their winter celebration and New Years' party would be coming up in a few short weeks, she was determined to have him attend with all the others this time. Suddenly she and Inspector heard a loud crack, both looked around trying to discover the source of the noise when Inspector saw the cracked porcelain cups Guild Girl used to drink tea from.

"Over there, it's one of your cups, how strange." Inspector pointed toward the teas cups.

Guild Girl looked over at the cups confused herself, but her eyes widened when she saw it was the cup he always drank from. She stood slowly approaching it, telling herself that she was only imaging things, when the cup completely broke apart.

"No…it can't be…" She backed away clutching her hands to her chest as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Are you ok?"

"I…no…Goblin Slayer." She collapsed in her chair her head hung low as tears ran down her face.

xxxx

Elsewhere in Water Town, Sword Maiden herself was relaxing in the bath after a long day of attending to her duties as the Archbishop. With the year coming to close she was hopeful that she might be able to travel to the Frontier Town to visit Goblin Slayer, the thought brought a slight blush to her face. Suddenly she felt a cold chill wash over her despite being in the bath house, she cautiously looked around trying to sense for something that was out of the ordinary, but she was alone in the room at the time.

"What…what is the feeling of unease?"

The steam in the bathhouse began to gather all around her, she grew nervous wondering what this could all mean when she could make out a dark shape in the mist, it took the form of an armored warrior one she was familiar with.

"Goblin Slayer?" She reached out to touch the shape, but the shadow then faded away before her.

All returned to normal leaving her to wonder what she had just seen, why the mist would take the form of Goblin Slayer and then vanish before her. A sudden thought flashed through her mind, that plus the cold feeling she felt earlier and the image of Goblin Slayer only added to her fear.

"No. Gods no!" Tears started to run down her face as she collapsed to her knees within the bath. "Has…has he…fallen. Gods tell me it's not true!"

xxxx

Half-Demon Thief found herself still looking at the dark opening that led to the sewers, the wails of the undead echoing through the hallway. Hero also looked back toward the opening and the young demon girl and wanted to say something to help her but found that she could only look down at her sword.

"Okay…we need to keep moving." Spearman sighed as she wiped the sweat from his face and tightened his grip around his spear before looking toward Half-Demon Thief. "Which way from here?"

"It's my fault…I should have just thrown the sword to him. He at least could have gotten out."

"No…it's my fault. If I hadn't dropped my sword, none of this would have happened. I'm the one to blame."

"Hey…come on now…we need to…" Rookie Warrior wanted to find a way to cheer them both up after what they had just seen, but in truth he too was pretty shaken up.

"That's enough, both of you!" Spearman growled as he looked over both girls who continued to sulk. "It's no one's fault…these things happen. The others are still waiting for us, and we can't abandon them."

"How can you act as if nothing happened? You act as if you don't care that he's gone!" Half-Demon Thief glared at Spearman despite the tears still in her eyes.

"You're wrong…I lost…a friend today." Spearman paused as he looked down at his right, silently cursing himself for not being stronger. "He asked me to watch over you all, so I'm going to do my best to honor that request. He made sure to get you out of there, so he must have seen something within you to do that. Are you going to disvalue what he died for?"

Half-Demon Thief gasped as she took in what Spearman was saying, she knew he was right and that she should honor Goblin Slayer's sacrifice. With a heavy sigh she recollected herself and approached Hero, the other young woman not sure what this young demon would say to her.

"Let's see this quest through. The Lich needs to die tonight and your sword is the best bet against her." Half-Demon Thief held out her injured hand towards

"Of course." Hero smiled as she took the demon's hand gave a fit a firm grip.

"Ow…not too tight." Half-Demon Thief smiled but could still not completely shake the guilt she felt for what happened to Goblin Slayer.

xxxx

"It…would appear…that we are…the first group…here." Witch smiled as she examined the great hall, once a grand area but now reduced to dust and cobwebs around the various decorations.

"I meant to ask how you knew the images before us were not real. The moment I saw that bloody image of the Spearman supporting my comrade, I was sure something had happened to them." Sage was curious how Witch was able to warn them where she was ready to jump in.

"That man…would never look…so helpless." Witch smiled, a slight blush crossing her face as she did. "Even…in the worst…situation…he would…be smiling…or be angry."

"I wouldn't worry about the others, Orcbolg is with your party member, they're in good…if unpredictable hands."

The group tensed as they heard approaching footsteps, but smiled when Dwarf Shaman and his group arrived.

"Scaly! Long-Ears! Good to see that you both made it through that labyrinth okay."

"We did have to contend with a small group of the skeletal warriors as well as the Lich Queen's spell meant to trick us with false visions."

"You as well?" Priestess smiled as she saw both Wolf and Snow nuzzle up against one another, tails wagging. "We also had to deal with the Lich's illusions."

"What did you all see?" High Elf Archer was curious as to what the dwarf's group had seen and wondered what Goblin Sayer would say when he got there.

"It was Goblin Slayer…he rushed over toward us in a panic stating how glad he was to see us."

"Orcbolg…panic…and then say he's glad?" High Elf Archer could not help but laugh at the thought. "I don't think I've ever heard Orcbolg mention being happy let alone panic about something."

"That was how we were able to see that he was not the real Goblin Slayer. Has his group not arrived yet?"

"Not yet. Knowing Orcbolg he making sure all the undead goblin's are truly dead as well as doing his usual counting."

It was a short while afterwards when Spearman and the others finally arrived, the others were too happy to see them that they initially did not notice that only four of the group have arrived.

"I'm…happy…that you…made it." Witch replied with a smile to Spearman.

"Sorry if I worried you." Spearman had a weak smile on his face as he dreaded having to tell the others about Goblin Slayer.

"Oh look at you, you're completely filthy, what happened?" Apprentice Cleric shook her head at the state her comrade was in, but was thankful he had arrived unhurt.

"We…we had a run in with the undead."

"Oh your hand, are you okay?" Priestess looked over Half-Demon Thief injured right hand.

"I'm fine. I grabbed Hero's sword and the holy weapon does not react well to demons…even half-demons." Half-Demon Thief too was worried about what the others would say about Goblin Slayer but felt she had to be the one to tell them.

"I'm relieved to hear wait…where's Goblin Slayer?"

Priestess question seemed to echo in the great hall, as the others looked around but could not see Goblin Slayer anywhere. It was Lizard Priest who first realized the implications of what this meant as his eyes went wide and his mouth hung open, but soon enough the other three had the same expression on their faces. Rookie Warrior and Hero could not face them as they turned their heads to the side, Spearman himself closed his eyes and sighed, and finally Half-Demon Thief looked the others with tears forming in her eyes before she closed them and shook her head.

"No…Beardcutter."

"What…what happened?" Lizard Priest too could not believe in what he was hearing.

"We were tricked by the Lich's spell and fell into the sewers filled with the undead." Half-Demon Thief found she could not control her tears but needed to finish telling the others. "He helped us get back to the hallway, but could not get out himself. I…I'm sorry."

Dwarf Shaman gritted his teeth as he tightly clenched his fist, trying his best to fight back the tears, while Lizard Priest brought his hands together and bowed his head as the tears ran down his face.

"Damn you Orcbolg! Damn you!" High Elf Archer dropped to the ground pounding her fists along the floor as the tears ran down her face.

Priestess collapsed to her knees, her wide eyes and mouth open as she was not able to process what was being said. Half-Demon Thief rushed to her side, placing both hands on her shoulders in an attempt to help shake some sense back into her. Priestess dropped her sounding staff before throwing her arms around Half-Demon Thief and hugging her tightly as she bawled like a child, Half-Demon Thief returned the embrace and held the young girl tight as she too cried. The others around them hung their heads low, for Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric they may not have known him as well as the others but had come to respect him.

"My dream…my vision…I wasn't able to stop it from coming to pass. You tried to warn me Earth Mother and I was unable to find a way to save him. I should have warned him…I'm to blame for this."

Spearman watched his party and once again cursed his weakness, he looked down at his right arm as if was the sole reason for what had happened.

"If it had been the big guy, he could have pulled Goblin Slayer up in one go. How am I going to say tell Guild Girl…or his friend on the farm? How do I tell them I had the chance to help and I failed at it?"

High Elf Archer then felt something nudge against her and turned to see both Wolf and Snow looking at her. She took one look at these two and broke down as she wrapped an arm around their necks and hugged them tightly.

"I'm sorry…but…he's not coming back. I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm sorry you two."

The two wolves did not understand the words being said but could tell that the woman in front of them was quite sad. Their tails did not wag in response to this but both could not help but be anxious as they looked around the room for the armored man.

"What's this…did I hear you correctly?"

The voice echoed in the great hall forcing everyone to stand back up and ready their weapons for whatever may be coming their way.

"That's the Lich Queen." Half-Demon Thief nervously looked around the room with daggers raised to defend herself.

"Quite correct my former thief."

"Where are you? Show yourself you coward!" Hero tightened her grip around her sword as she too searched for the source of the voice.

"What have I to be afraid of little one? You, the great Hero, could not even force me to drop my sword last night. That however is not important, what matters to me is did I hear you all correctly…my dear Goblin Slayer was consumed by my horde?"

"Don't you dare speak of him in such a familiar manner!" High Elf Archer angrily tightened her grip around her bow as she heard the Lich speak of Goblin Slayer.

"You damn abomination. You attack my people, my uncle and now you've taken my friend!"

"How wonderful, now I can add him to my forces once I see him again. A new general to command my legion of the undead."

"We'll stop you before you can do any further harm with your monsters. Don't forget that I know of your horcruxes and have made sure the others know of them as well."

"Oh I am well aware of that you little traitor. I know that you know the location of three of them, but not even you know about the fourth one."

"What…what fourth one?"

"Foolish demon, did you really think I'd expose all of my horcruxes to one who could become a potential threat. However, being the generous being that I am, I shall give you all a hint to the location of the fourth horcrux."

"Why? Why would you give us a hint?" Priestess still upset about the loss of Goblin Slayer could not understand why the Lich would do this.

"It's simple really, I want to see what you will do when you realize where the horcrux is. Now then my little thief, think carefully, why would I have sent your brother off to find you?"

"Because of my knowledge of the castle and your horcruxes."

"Is that the only reason? Could it have also been because I didn't want one of my horcruxes to fall into the hands of my enemy?"

"Wait…what are you saying? I'm…I'm a horcrux." Half-Demon Thief looked over her body wondering when the lich had transferred her soul within her.

"There you go adventurers, there is a horcrux for you to destroy. Once destroyed I should become weaker, perhaps weak enough for even the Hero to defeat. That is of course assuming you can kill her."

The other adventurers looked toward each other and then over toward Half-Demon Thief which indeed made her nervous.

"The choice is yours of course, but know that you will never make it to my other horcruxes. Al of you shall become minions of my horde. It's only a matter of time."

Half-Demon Thief looked back at her body, she was one of the horcruxes and that meant she would have to die if the Lich Queen was to be defeated. She thought about the people she met over these last two days, she finally found people she could call friends and one of them had even given his life to help her. She had no desire to die, but now she could repay their kindness and help keep others from suffering. She turned her daggers inward and prepared to plunge them into her body when she suddenly felt powerful hands grasp her wrists, she looked up to see Lizard Priest staring at her with a stern look about his face.

"What are you doing?"

"There will be no further self-sacrifice." Lizard Priest slowly removed his hands and smiled as he bowed his head. "While I appreciate your willingness to help us, we will not lose any further comrades tonight."

"But…but I'm a horcrux, you'll have to kill me."

"Bear in mind, the Lich has been nothing but deceitful this entire time." High Elf Archer added as she placed a hand on Half-Demon Thief's shoulder.

"What if you're wrong? What if killing me is the only way to stop her?"

"Then we will find another way!" Hero stepped forward and clenched her fist tightly with a smile. "I was wrong to assume that you were evil like the other demons I have done battle with. You who came to warn us and risked injury to help me retrieve my sword…you are an honorable individual. I too will fight to help you as he did."

Half-Demon was shocked to hear all of this and as she looked around could see the other adventurers too shared the same sentiments, she smiled and nodded her head as she placed her daggers back in their sheaths.

"Alright, so what is the plan now?" Spearman wondered now that the Lich Queen knew where they were and was prepared for them.

"Where is the Lich Queen now?" Hero tightened her grip on her holy sword.

"That door at the end of the great hall." Half-Demon Thief pointed toward the large door then looked back toward Hero. "But fighting her right now would be a futile effort. We need to destroy her horcruxes before we have any chance of defeating her."

"I'm well aware that we can't defeat her right now, but I doubt she'll just let us wander around freely, but if some of us can hold her at bay, that will give the others a better chance to find and destroy these horcruxes. My party and I will hold her here, keep her distracted long enough for you all."

"Are you sure? That thing was strong enough to knock you both back last night." Spearman remembered seeing the Lich Queen easily defeat both Hero and Female Swordmaster.

"I know…but this time we're not going to go in haphazardly. The three of us will fight together to buy you the time you need." Hero then turned back toward the other adventurers and smiled. "None of have any desire to die this night, so the sooner you can get back to help us, the better."

"You just leave it to us adventurers." Spearman cheerfully proclaimed as he pounded his fist upon his armor.

The party the broke into two groups, Hero and her party members running toward the door at the end of the great hall while Spearman and the others followed Half-demon Thief towards a door on the opposite side that would lead them to the staircase and from there they could go and find the horcruxes.

Hero and her party crashed through the door and entered into the throne room. Unlike the rest of the castle which was sparsely lit by various torches, this throne room was brightly lit with multiple torches scattered around, the throne room had a large arching balcony that went around the room, and above it all was a large chandelier slightly swinging around. Their towards the front center of the room was the massive throne constructed of stone in the shape of skulls and upon sat the Lich Queen, though her face was hidden behind the black veil she laughed rather sinisterly.

"My, this is a surprise! I thought you were going to go and find my horcruxes! In fact, I even told you where you could find one." Lich mused as she look over the three women who stood before her. "I try to help you find a way to weaken me and instead you rush forward to meet your death."

"We won't be fooled by your trick this time deceiver!" Sage replied rather stern with staff pointed toward the Lich.

"Oh, but isn't my deception the very reason you and the others are now missing one of your allies?"

"You…you fiend!" Hero tightened her grip as she heard the Lich joke about the demise of Goblin Slayer. "Even if the young woman is a horcrux, I will find a way to defeat you and save her!"

"What's this, the Hero defending a demon? I would never have thought I'd live this long to see the day this would happen."

"You have lived long enough monster. Tonight, your reign over the dead will come to an end." Female Swordmaster drew out her sword to join Hero.

The Lich Queen calmly stood from her throne and began to walk toward the trio of women she held out her hands and two large curved swords appeared within them.

"Try as you might, I will not be defeated by you three! When I march upon the castles of the kings you three will be at the front of my army and that will show everyone that none can escape from the Lich Queen. Your screams will echo through the castle before the night is over."

Outside the throne room a figure shambled forward it heard the sounds of battle coming from the doorway toward the front but its red blazing eyes suddenly turned its left. A scream sounded from this side getting the figures attention as it made its way towards that door.

xxxx

The others party members started up the staircase following the spiral pattern until they came to another large hallway.

"This place is massive, look at all these doorways. It's be easy to get lost in here." Rookie Warrior looked left and right at all the door ways around them.

"Be careful, most of the doors lead to death traps, although there is one room around here with treasure from a conquest long ago, but the Lich Queen has no need for any of that."

"Did you say treasure…as in gold!" Apprentice Cleric smiled as her eyes lit up with the sound of gold.

"Hey! Stay focused!" Spearman sternly replied as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

No sooner than he said this, several doors opened up and out came dozens of the undead but these undead had armor covering most of their bodies in particular helmets on their heads, the creatures turned toward the group and wailed as they marched forward with arms raised. Apprentice Cleric screamed as she saw the horde closing in, but was quickly pulled back by Rookie Warrior who raised his sword to defend his friend.

"Stay behind me!"

"Nice form kid, but need to move further back!"

"I'll give us some breathing room. Come out you gnomes, it's time to work, now don't you dare your duty shirk-a bit of dust may cause no shock, but a thousand make a lovely rock! Stone Blast!"

The stones flew forward, but due to the armor covering them, few were actually destroyed by the spell. The adventurers turned and ran down the hallway, but at the other end of the hall way they could see about a dozen skeletal warriors charging toward them. The adventurers stopped in their tracks at the sight of the undead closing in on either side.

"Damn it…trapped like rats." High Elf Archer took careful aim and launched a couple arrows that managed to easily pierce the skulls of the undead through the eye holes.

"This door, we can hold them from here it's a second armory!" Half-Demon Thief kicked open the nearest door on the off chance that her bother had booby-trapped it, but thankfully it was still clear.

The party rushed into the secondary armory and were delighted to find it still full of weapons, but there was no other exit within the room, if they were unable to fend off this wave they would be killed. The spell casters rushed toward the back of the room while the warriors, ranger, scout and dire wolves stood before them. The horde, save the skeletons who ran ahead, shambled forward after the mortals, but a couple of the zombies in the back turned toward the right as the sound of a door creaking caught their attention. These creature stumbled forward as they saw a new figure stagger out into the hallway, this creature turned its red eyes looking toward the creatures approaching.

"O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by the power of the land grant safety to we who are weak…Protection!"

The wall immediately went up just as the skeleton warriors proceeded to pound against it with their weapons.

"Stand aside you lot. Once more…Stone Blast!" Dwarf Shaman fired another volley of rocks, these easily found their targets and easily shattered the bones of most of the skeletons, but now they had to contend with the horde of undead quickly filling the room.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Spearman rushed forward and used his spear to slice through the exposed necks of the undead but saw that like the mob that assaulted them in the forest it was a never ending number of them.

Lizard Priest, High Elf Archer, Half-Demon Thief, and Rookie Warrior joined in to keep fighting against the undead, but then came a major problem. Some of the undead were wearing chainmail, preventing most of the blades from cutting through their necks.

"How are you holding up lass?"

"I'm…trying…but it's…very difficult." Priestess struggled to keep the prayer to the Earth Mother going for as long as possible. "I…I can't quit. Because…he wouldn't have quit!"

"Just keep focused and we'll…"

High Elf Archer could not finish her sentence for something now caught her eye, a new figure entered the room behind the undead. Lizard Priest and Spearman noticed the wide eye expression on High Elf Archer and quickly followed her gaze to find the new creature that entered the room. Soon enough the others all started to catch sight of this creature, all with the exception of Priestess who still had her eyes closed she focused on the prayer.

"No…it can't be." Half-Demon Thief lowered her weapons, tears in her eyes as she saw the undead creature shamble forward.

"Priestess…keep focused on that prayer…whatever you see, keep focused." High Elf Archer's breathing was very fast as she struggled to steady herself, but felt she might start crying once again.

Priestess opened her eyes, she could see that the others had stopped fighting, but could see that the horde was still banging against the wall. Then between the undead, she finally caught sight of it, and felt as if the air had been knocked out of her as it had been when Beast Master punched her. The creature was a man in dirty leather armor with a shield attached to its left arm, his usual sword missing from its scabbard. This man's armor was stained with dark red, almost black blood and yet behind its blood soaked helmet she caught a glimpse of its red eye blazing in the darkened room.

"G…gob…Goblin Slayer."

Author's Note: I was too excited to hold off on this until Sunday or Monday to submit. Now, let us see how this party will deal this new undead that has entered the room, particularly one they know too well. What of the Lich Queen, is she lying or does Half-Demon Thief have to die? And what of Goblin Slayer…will the party have to kill this man a second time? Can an undead be cured and return to being a mortal? Once again, thanks again for all the support and potential ideas for the story. Everyone have a good and safe Thanksgiving (I sound like I'm talking to my students).