The mountains towered over Jimmy and Chloe. Steep slopes, impassable walls of trees, and perilous cliffs blocked their path. Even with Chloe's affinity with nature, the wilderness was daunting, however this was not the first time Jimmy have travelled these lands.

"Shouldn't we be going south towards Grom City along the forest line, or at least south west towards the caravan pass through those foot hills?" asked Chloe as she trotted behind.

"We're taking a slight detour," explained Jimmy as he led the way down the path. "There's refuge nearby. We can rest, reorganize, resupply."

"Eh? Another abandoned logging camp? Or are we going to loot some poor trapper's cabin again?"

"No, an actual town this time. Iron Crossing," shrugged Jimmy. "It's a small mining town, but it will suit our needs."

"Iron Crossing? The people there ran out of interesting names or something?" sighed Chloe. "Couldn't we just press forward and reach the Caravan trails? The merchants there probably have better stuff."

"Doubtful. I'm not after the town's general store. Iron Crossing is the location of one of my old master Martinez's safe houses, one of his sanctums if you will."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "A sanctum? Like really? Your master is the drunk right? That's a fancy way of saying ..place to hide his booze in…."

Jimmy shrugged. "I'm not going to lie. He did stash an inordinate amount of alcohol, narcotics, and drugs there, but he also kept spare weapons, armor, and sundry supplies. Even though it's been several years since someone restocked it, I bet we could get some useful gear there."

"It still seems kind of fancy to have a 'sanctum' or whatever to keep supplies. Most people just bury the stuff, or have a cabin like the obe we raided a few days ago. Sanctum sounds all arcane and wizard like. "

"You know what I used to do right?"

"Demon whacking or some other nonsense right?"

"Demon hunting, and you do know what happens when you kill a demon right?"

Chloe rolled her eyes again. "Umm yeah. They die. "

Jimmy shook his head. "All demons are immortal to some degree or another. They can't die in a regular sense."

Chloe stopped her march and eyed Jimmy suspiciously. "I'm pretty sure they can die. I might not have killed big ass demons like you, but one time some guy sic'd his quasit on me cuz he ..umm … had a contract dispute with the Teamsters. Well, I'm pretty sure after I wrapped that little bugger with thorns and whacked him with my shillelagh, it was pretty dead."

"No, that's not what I mean. A demon's physical form can be destroyed on the material plane…"

"..material plane?"

Jimmy sighed as he waved her forward once again. "This world if you prefer. Anyways, a demon's body can be destroyed here, but it's spirit returns to its native dimension…err…home world. Most commonly the Abyss, but the Pale Plains, Abaddon, and Carceri are also popular haunts. There, depending on the creature's will power, it is either absorbed by the world to make more demons later, reform as a lesser version of itself, or if its powerful enough reform completely and brood for a couple years so it can take its revenge."

"Really?" asked Chloe in surprise as she fell back into step. "Doesn't that mean powerful demons can come at you, again and again? That sounds kinda unfair."

Jimmy nodded. "It is unfair, and yes they can come back at you, but fortunately not for a decade or even a century in some cases. Though some powerful or extremely angry demons have been known to return sooner. Still, despite their advantages, there are ways around their 'immortality'."

"Hmmm. I bet it involves a memory loss potion right? Or maybe even charming the critter? Dryads can charm people easily, but I'm not sure about demons. I've never encountered that in my racial memory. Or at least the parts that I've bothered to study."

"Not charming , but you are close. Often when my master and I defeated a demon, we did not kill it out right, but bound it in magical circles and runes. Though neither of us are spell casters, we've studied enough arcane theory to use most magical devices or rituals. Anyways, once we bind them we can hold them, well….until some releases them. "

"Ahh, I see," nodded Chloe. "So this sanctum we are heading to is not just a safe house, but a place you store your prisoners. It's kinda like the set up Hoaglie has when he takes hostages."

"Aye, except no blindfolds and manacles."

"Aww," smirked Chloe with a wink. "That's the best part. One time, when we caught this handsome Thyatian nobleman. I decided to have some…."

Jimmy held out his hand and ducked into the surrounding foliage. He would've normally grabbed Chloe and dragged her with him, but she was sharp enough to recognize his signal and slipped into the vegetation as well. Though Jimmy was a master of hiding and evasion, he was impressed by how easily his cohort blended into the trees, even if she was a dryad.

"What's going on?" whispered Chloe.

"Two sentries are ahead, both armed in a blind behind that bush," replied Jimmy in a hushed tone.

Chloe's eyes narrowed as she scanned ahead. She seemed oblivious at first, but after a few seconds she spotted the men Jimmy mentioned and nodded.

"Bandits? "

"Perhaps, but we're pretty close to Iron Crossing. "

"Maybe bandits took over the town?"

"A possibility. I'll sneak behind them, you draw their attention, and I'll ….."

Chloe interrupted Jimmy's plan by simply standing up and waving her hands. Jimmy was about to yank the girl back into the bush, but some rustling behind the blind and some muffled shouts stayed his hand.

"Or….I can just entangle them and you can question them at their leisure," smiled Chloe.

Though Jimmy wanted to smack her for her brash tactic, he simply ignored her, as his ears, eyes, and nose scanned the surroundings. Where there more sentries? Was an alarm sounded?

When nothing of the sort appeared, he slipped forward and behind the blind as fast as he could to avoid any further detection.

"…umm…you're welcome…" shouted Chloe from behind.

Jimmy ignored her as he ducked behind a tree, slipped past a patch of berries, before sliding against a slab of rock. At the end of his zig zag dash he ended behind two figures, entangled by the thorny brush they had taken covered behind. One had a crossbow still in her gloved hand, while the other had one at his struggling feet.

"Help," gasped the smaller of the figures before a leafy vine wrapped around her mouth. Her struggles increased as she was gagged, twisting and writhing in her bonds.

Drawing his long dagger, and keeping a safe distance from the grasping brush he snipped the branches from her mouth.

"What were you two doing here?" he demanded. "Were you waiting for us?"

The woman's eyes darted to Jimmy and then to her partner and back to Jimmy. "What? No! We were looking for demons!" she pleaded in a high voice.

Jimmy's eyes widened. Demons? Did she say demons? He sniffed the air, and caught no scent of them. Were they lying or just bad at their jobs? He glanced again at their crossbows and noticed they had crude iron tipped bolts instead of the more deadly steel ones. Ammunition commonly used against the supernatural, specifically fey and demons.

"Please, we're sorry. We were just being careful. We meant no offense."

Jimmy accessed the two. Rusty chainmail, second hand weapons, patchwork gloves and boots. They were probably militia and no threat to him. Jimmy nodded and began to cut the pair free.

"Tell me about this demon," he asked as he first released the girl and then her companion.

"The demon? Oh the demon! They're fast, blend…"

"Hey, what are you doing!" interrupted Chloe as she caught up to him. "You're letting them go!"

"They're no danger to us," said Jimmy as he finished cutting their bonds.

"Awww. Well you could at least let me poke them a bit," sniffed Chloe as her teeth and fingernails grew in length.

Jimmy smirked at the comment, not sure if she was just threatening for effect or just plain mean. He then turned back to his 'prisoners' and repeated his question. "What about these demons?"

The woman tried to speak, but between the nearby twisting brush and the feral looking girl lost her voice in fear. The man however took a few deep breaths and tried his best to explain. "They started attacking last month, preying on our dogs and livestock first. They were small, fast, hard to see, and seemed to like to torture their victims before killing them. They mainly attacked at night, but occasionally people saw something dark darting about in the shadows. "

"And that makes them demons?" asked Chloe. "That sounds more like a hen chasing fox to me."

The man shrugged. " We thought they were goblins at first, unusually vicious goblins. A raiding party sent by the local Sawtooths. We even pleaded to the Grommish governor. He first posted some bounties, and then sent some adventurers. When they didn't return, he even sent a platoon of soldiers to clear the local gob warrens out. We thought that would be the end of it, but a few returned raving and screaming. Said that the goblins were already wiped out, torn apart, and that when they were poking about they too were attacked by demons moving in the shadow."

"And that's when the demons started to turn their full attention on you guys," yawned Chloe.

The man nodded. "And they grew as well. I've seen one of them initially, and they were the size of a dog, these new ones were almost as big as me."

Chloe scratched twisted a strand of her now brown hair in her finger. "I thought you said you didn't see them."

The man shrugged. 'I didn't, not directly at least. It's hard to explain, but they were on the edge of my vision. I could perceive them but not…"

"Shadow demons," said Jimmy. "An unimaginative name for demons that lurk in shadows, but that's what they are. Incorporeal demons normally found in the Abyss, but sometimes they can emerge into the prime through mortal possession or rarely…they are created when a more powerful demon loses cohesion and create ….for a lack of a better word… lesser 'shadows'."

"Well that was an exciting planar critter lesson, that's all I need to know," said Chloe as she finally retracted her teeth and claws. "If we double back now, we can make it back to the foot hills, and probably get to the caravan routes by tomorrow."

Jimmy shook his head. "No, we're going back with them. We're going to Iron Crossing."

Chester and Rina were twitchy and nervous as they led Jimmy and Chloe back to their town. Not that Jimmy blamed them. In their minds, there was a demon hiding in every patch of shade, not to mention the two killers at their back.

Though Chloe did nothing but fume, Jimmy got the sense that his companion was intrigued of what laid ahead. He had her pegged as a danger junkie, and despite her silent protest, she wanted to see a real demon. Hoaglie's mission be damned, they were already behind on their quest, a day or two more won't make a difference.

Regardless if they were to be resupplied or even if Chester's demons were real, Jimmy felt a responsibility to see for himself. He had a nagging suspicion that if these were indeed shadow demons, that he was responsible for them. As he had explained to Chloe, his master's sanctum was in the area, and in that sanctum were powerful trapped demons. Or at least they were trapped. Though, his master explained that the wards he inscribed would last for centuries if not millennia, Jimmy harbored some doubts about his master's boasts. It wouldn't be the first time that someone told him that something that would last forever and it didn't.

As Jimmy's small group approached the town, he did indeed catch a whiff of the brimstone and corruption common to a shadow demon. Chester and Rina had been correct about their adversary or adversaries, but they were simply guarding the wrong spot.

Jimmy also spotted a caravan of villagers on the last stages of packing up and moving. Though they were silent, he guessed that his 'prisoners' were simply guarding their fellow villagers' flight. Not that they needed it, it was still light out. While shadow demons could operate in daylight they were loath to do so. They could at least have one or two hours head start before they would be attacked, though Jimmy thought it unlikely.

From Chester's descriptions, and the scent he was catching the demons were concentrated nearby. While their lair was nearby, they probably chose the local goblins first because they were small and weak, and needed prey to grow before they could strike out at their immediate surroundings. From the amount of living villagers, Jimmy guessed that the demons weren't fully grown or formed yet, and he still had a window of opportunity to put an end to this before it got out of hand. As he approached, Jimmy stopped and eyed them carefully to spot for signs of possession, dark eyes, hollow cheeks, blank looks. While they were mostly cosmetic, one would be surprised how often they correlated with a victim of 'magic jar' or possession magic. When Jimmy detected none of these he resumed his approach towards the villagers.

"Before you and your people leave, give me two hours," Jimmy said to Chester. "The demons will be either dead or driven off. "

Chester gave him a surprised look, while Rina nodded swiftly.

"I'll tell Lord Monty," said Rina as she gave Jimmy a wide eyed look.

"Tell Lord Monty what?" said a skinny bald man with a bushy mustache. Though he was far from physically imposing, from the way he walked and the way he gripped his pick axe, Jimmy noted he carried himself with an air of confidence. "More strangers! That's all we need. More mouths to feed as we flee to Fort Karl."

"More strangers?" sniffed Chloe. "People actually visit this place?"

Monty glared at Jimmy's companion as he wrinkled his mustache. "The last one is a vagrant and a trouble maker. I would kick him out of Iron Crossing, but at least he pays his tavern tab. We're looking for him right now, but he's probably passed out under someone's porch right now. It wouldn't surprise me if he brought the goblins down on us."

"They're demons," corrected Chester.

Monty snorted. "Yeah right. Demons. A couple of goblins kill some horses and dogs and everyone gets all riled up."

"What about the soldiers," asked Chester.

Monty snorted again. "Grom soldiers. That's barrel scraping right there. An owl bear would have torn the lot apart, let alone some demon."

As Monty and Chester argued, Jimmy waved Chloe to follow. Though the 'town' was just a dozen buildings laid out in haphazardly manner, the pair easily slipped through them and was out of sight of the villagers, as he traced his steps to his master's sanctum. As he guessed, that's where the scent led. Though it was practically in the middle of Iron Crossing, it was hidden enough to avoid detection for all this time. Or at least that's what he hoped. Though he gave little credence to Monty's theory that this stranger released the demons, it would make sense if he did. Someone might have tampered the wards and released a demon or two. However, if that was the case, the two would be flattened by now. The demons that his master captured would not need to feed to gain their strength, and certainly would not eat a few dogs and horses.

"Why are we doing this Jimmy,"asked Chloe as she skipped along. "It's not that I'm complaining…much…but with us stuck in the middle of nowhere, the crazy possessing sword, your wizard friendnemy, and his griffon and shark man allies, we don't need the extra complication."

Jimmy nodded. "I have their trail. We'll kill them and get out. If we're lucky, we'll pocket a reward from Monty as well. Get some horses and proper supplies."

"What, the berries and hazelnuts I'm foraging aren't good enough for you?" grinned Chloe before her eyes narrowed. "Wait. You think these demons are from your master's sanctuary thing right? That's why you're doing this."

Jimmy raised his shoulders before dropping them. "Possibly. The though had crossed my mind. I just want to check…"

Jimmy stopped as he heard soft foot falls behind him. It was too noisy to be a demon, but that didn't rule out a possessed villager. He only gave them a cursory check.

"We have a guest," said Chloe calmly without turning her head. Jimmy grunted once in acknowledgement, as the pair rounded sharply around a building.

"Keep walking, " replied Jimmy in a low voice. "We'll settle this away from the villagers."

Chloe bobbed her head in acknowledgement. "It's Rina."

Jimmy was surprised but didn't show it. Partially that Chloe could identify their pursuer better than he could, but more because he didn't detect signs of possession during his interactions with the militia woman. Regardless, he proceeded as planned and the two walked past another a long warehouse looking building where they abruptly stopped and waited with daggers drawn until their pursuer caught up.

Jimmy grabbed the girl by the gardbrace and slammed her against the wall. Though she was surprisingly heavy and sturdy, he managed to knock the wind out of her before he placed his blade at her neck. He drew in her scent, deeper and more carefully this time, and once again noted no hint of demonic or even magical possession.

"Why were you following us," demanded Chloe as she dug her own blade into Rina's chain mail with both hands. Jimmy noted she handled the dagger expertly even though he mainly seen her use mainly a club or claws and fangs in the past. "I'd thought you'd learn by now what happens when you try to jump us."

"I..I heard what Monty said. I just don't want you to hurt him…." Gasped Rina as she cringed from the blades. Jimmy relaxed his hold on her when he saw her weapons were not drawn, but Chloe quickly took his role.

"Hurt who? " shouted Chloe as he pressed the flat of her dagger harder into Rina's gut. "Answer me now biatch!"

As Chloe began her interrogation routine, taking the role as the 'heavy', Jimmy smelled something he had not smelled in a long time. Alcohol, a hint of herbs, mixed in a heavy musk. It couldn't be. Here? A flood of bitter memories came to Jimmy, distracting him long enough as the shadows surrounding them solidified and attacked.