"Did ya sleep okay? You look like shite, mate," Beacon said.

Euclid rubbed his eyes and washed off the spoons and bowls they had used for breakfast. "I am fine," he lied. Even after he awakened Beacon to take her shift, he had been unable to sleep. Dragging his bedroll out of the claustrophobic tent didn't even help. He could only lie on his bedroll and stare at the fire until the sun rose.

Beacon scrubbed the heavy skillet and packed it away. "Travelin is pretty hard on anyone. But we'll be at Three Logs soon, don't ya worry."

Euclid nodded. Somehow, Beacon talking to him again made things a little easier. He wondered what must have changed in her mind. Why she was being so…nice. He frowned. That was a mystery he could stand to solve another day.

Dagli dismantled the tents and stowed them away. He looked up at the dark weighty clouds above and sighed. "Looks like it'll rain soon. That's one good thing about living in a dwarven city. Ain't no bad weather to deal with."

He was about to extinguish the morning cookfire, but then he took a look at Euclid.

"She's right, lad. Ye got a weariness about ye that's especially profound today," he said.

"Is that so?" Euclid asked.

The dwarf nodded. "But I think we're all a bit weary. Don't ye worry. I've got just the thing to fix it."

He rifled through his pack and pulled out a strange tall kettle. He scooped some dark brown powder out of a small bag into the odd vessel and filled it with water. Then he set it over the fire and waited. It didn't take too long for the contents to start boiling. Then he took the kettle off of the fire and produced three tin cups.

"It would be a lot better iffin we had the time to let it steep before boiling, but our need is great today," Dagli said. He poured three steaming mugs of brown liquid and handed the first one to Euclid.

"What is this?" Euclid asked.

Dagli beamed and blew on his own mug. "It's a gnomish morning beverage. Really gets those little fellas goin. They call it "coffee" and ever since I tried it when I visited their community in Beldenshyn years ago, I can't start me day without a cup of brown joy."

Euclid sniffed the hot drink. It had a rich smell, a nutty and almost chocolatey aroma. He took a sip and the experience was almost too much for him. The smell transformed into flavor and warmed him from the inside out. The exhaustion never left him but an electrified energy ran through his whole body, giving him a temporary reserve of strength.

"Ye like it?" Dagli asked.

Euclid remembered to blink. "Yes. Very much so. Is there any more?"

Dagli laughed. "Enough for each of us to have another mug. Then we got to get movin."

The coffee disappeared all too quickly and the rest of camp was packed away. Soon their journey continued and everyone had a little pep in their step. After about an hour of hiking, they came upon a trail. It looked to be used quite a bit by horse-drawn wagons, with two deep scores in the earth from years' worth of heavy wheels. They began to follow it, the way being much easier.

"This is good. Hopefully, there's so much activity that it keeps critters like giant spiders away," Beacon said.

"Or they're drawn in," Euclid said.

Beacon frowned at him. "Hopefully, there are enough people to fend any major predators off."

Euclid just shrugged.

"Let's just be careful," Dagli said. "After all, spiders like we saw hardly ever come to the surface. Mostly they just dwell deep underground. Dunno what brought that one up, but there might be more. Caution is the adventurer's best friend, I always say."

The three continued their walk along the trail. Though the trees didn't grow as dense as the forest before, there were still plenty of spots where a monster might hide. Beacon took the lead, looking for signs of any nefarious activity. Her bow was within easy reach on her shoulder and her head was on a swivel, alert and always searching for danger.

Euclid decided to cast his mind outwards, to try and pick up anything Beacon couldn't detect. For hours, he maintained that psychic detection, but he didn't pick up anything until the rain began. It was a sudden and miserable drizzle that soaked anything under it. Everyone pulled up their hoods to try and ward off the raindrops, but they did little to keep the travelers dry.

"Sorry to say, but I dunnae think we'll be lightin a fire tonight," Dagli said.

"We're just gonna have to eat dry oats like horses," Beacon said with a laugh. "Did ya bring yer feed bags?"

"No, I left them back home. Sorry about that," Dagli said.

"Why do I even travel with you?" Beacon asked, a joking smile to her tone.

"What kinda question is that? You stay with me for my cooking. That and my sense of style," Dagli said.

"Yep. That's it. I can't get enough of your stew that always, always, has at least one long red beard hair in it," Beacon said.

"What are you whingin about, girl?" Dagli said. "Those're called flavor whiskers. A proud dwarven culinary tradition."

The two laughed as they plodded through the rain, refusing to let their spirits be dampened.

Euclid interrupted them with a low murmur. "Goblins are up ahead. A group of ten, maybe twelve," he reported, keeping his voice low.

"How d'ye know?" Dagli asked.

He received only a raised eyebrow in response. Then Euclid held his hands against his head. "There is something else. Not a goblin. A human, maybe? They are badly hurt. Nearly dead."

Dagli and Beacon shared a look.

"Me girl. I think we're called to be heroes yet again," Dagli said, already pulling his hammer from his belt.

Beacon grinned and unslung her bow. "I think we are."

Euclid stood in front of the two. "We needn't get involved. The goblins are distracted. We could easily just go around."

"Where's the fun in that?" Beacon asked.

"We wouldn't have to get into a dangerous battle," Euclid said. His voice was slow and even, as though he were explaining to a child.

Beacon and Dagli looked at each other and were silent for a moment as they pondered his words. Silent, until they finally came to a conclusion.

"Nah!" They both said in unison.

"Fighting them would only delay us," Euclid said.

"Delay? It'll be a quick job," Beacon said.

"Exactly my thinkin. Goblins are easy enough to take out. Besides, it sounds like someone needs our help," Dagli said.

"You're being ridiculous. Whoever it is, they're probably already dead," Euclid said.

Beacon stood in front of the tall gaunt man and gave him a stern look. "Eukey."

Euclid furrowed his eyebrows. "What did you just call me?"

"I called you "Eukey." So deal with it." She folded her arms over her chest. "I just want you to consider somethin. When we were in the mind flayer colony, we thought everyone in those weird pods were dead. But then you called out for help. With your mind. And I came to help."

Dagli nodded. "That's what we do. We help people in need. People like you."

Euclid let out a long breath through his nose. "Very well. Let us help, then."

Beacon gave him a bright smile. "I'll go scout the way. Stay here."

And with that, she ran off and became one with the woods.

While they waited, Dagli and Euclid kept their pace, staying silent the whole way. Dagli wasn't exactly quiet, though. His armor clinked and clanked, destroying all hopes of subtlety and stealth. Soon enough, Beacon popped out of a scrubby bush, her eyes full of grim determination.

"Eukey was right. There are eleven goblins. And a bloke who don't look too good. They got him…they…did something to his arms," she reported, her voice shaking.

"What, girl? What did they do?" Dagli prompted.

"They broke both his arms and then they…" she shook her head. "We gotta go in. Now."

"Then we'll go." Dagli glanced over at Euclid. "Are ye ready to do more of yer mind magics?"

Euclid nodded. They followed Beacon to the goblin camp, keeping low and quiet. As they approached, they could smell acrid smoke and the copper stench of blood. The high-pitched laughter of goblins could be easily heard long before they saw the wrecked wagon. The horse that had pulled it lay dead in a pile of its own innards.

The short, squat, yellow-skinned goblins stood in a circle around the wagon, cackling and poking with their swords at something tied to one of the wheels.

"Boss, he ain't got much life left," one goblin said to another larger one. "What say we unravel him and see how far he crawls away?"

The other goblins howled with laughter. "I'll wager a silver he don't get past the horsey!" one of them shouted.

"I'll take that bet, you prat!" another said.

"I haven't had this much fun since the warband broke up!" the first goblin said.

The three crept closer and soon wished they hadn't. They could finally see what was tied to the wagon wheel. A male human, bare chested, bruised and covered in his own blood sat against the wheel. His arms had been broken in multiple places and the goblins had painstakingly threaded them through the spokes of the wheel. His breathing came low and labored, his eyes were glazed over with agony.

"Moradin preserve us," Dagli whispered.

"Do we strike now, while their backs are turned?" Beacon asked.

"Aye."

Beacon fired an arrow straight at the large goblin they had called "Boss". It pierced his chest, extinguishing his life instantly. The rest of the needle-toothed monsters turned in the direction the arrow had come from and let out high, keening shouts of rage and alarm. They charged the three with their swords and clubs held high.

Dagli summoned his ghostly hammer while taking a mighty swing at another with his corporeal weapon. Beacon fired off shot after shot until the goblins were too close to her. She unsheathed her short sword and lay about her, easily parrying the eager blades of two goblins while delivering strikes of her own.

Euclid raised his arm and fired not just one, but two, violet beams of energy that sizzled into the backs of Beacon's attackers. They fell forward with a pair of thuds.

"Thanks, mate!" she called out. Then she pointed. "Behind you!"

A goblin had snuck up on Euclid, hoping to brain him with a thick cudgel. The pallid man raised his hand and seized the weapon with his mind. The goblin tried to wrest it free, but Euclid sent it back at him and used it to shatter his skull.

Dagli felled two goblins with his hammer and summoned up a circle of bright spirits to surround him. Anyone who stepped into the path of the ghostly shapes were immediately bombarded with radiant magic. The cleric used both his divine spells and his own battle prowess to plow through the rest of the goblins who stood before him.

Now that she was afforded some distance, Beacon used her bow again to pick off the goblins at a distance. Euclid stood by her side, sending off bolt after bolt of his psionic energy. They kept coming, shooting out of his fingers into the defenseless monsters until he suddenly staggered.

"Eukey! What's wrong?" She kept him from falling, but once she touched him, her hands came away with a slimy residue.

"I…did too much." He held his hands to his head, baring his teeth against some unseen pain.

The last four goblins turned tail, running for their lives. Beacon fired one last parting shot and brought a goblin down before they could get out of eyesight.

"Dag! Three over yonder!" Beacon shouted and pointed in the direction of the fleeing goblins.

"On it!" Running as fast as his short dwarven legs could carry him, Dagli charged after the remnants of the evil creatures. His circle of divine spirits followed him.

"Are you okay?" Beacon asked. She could turn her attention to him now that there were no more combatants.

Euclid looked at his shaking mucus-covered hands. "I don't know. I must have used too much of my…magic…or whatever it is."

A low groan brought their attention back to the poor man. He raised his head and looked at them with pleading eyes. His skin had gone bone white and the many wounds in his body began to bleed again. He coughed up a dark gout of blood and it splattered down his chest.

"He's got some serious wounds inside," Beacon whispered.

Beacon reached out to one of his arms and tried to work the shattered limb out of the wheel spokes, but the man let out such an agonized cry of pain that she immediately recoiled.

"How do…how do we fix this?" she asked. Her voice shook. She looked over the horizon, to where Dagli had chased the goblins.

"Do you think he could fix this?" Euclid asked.

Beacon shook her head. "He can take care of minor injuries. Lesser wounds. Nothing…nothing like this."

Euclid sighed. "I'm going to try something. But I'll need your help."

Beacon perked up. "What can I do?"

Euclid gazed into her eyes for a long moment. "Find me a mushroom. They grow in wooded areas like this. They have white caps and red spots. Don't get me ones with red caps and white spots. Those are poisonous. Just get me a mushroom with a white cap and red spots. Do you understand?"

She nodded, more than happy to help.

"Excellent. Then go. We don't have much time," he said.

Beacon sprang up and ran to a cluster of trees, searching for fungi that matched Euclid's description. The man moaned again.

"Please…" he whispered through a mouthful of blood.

Euclid closed his eyes, searching within himself for the last dregs of power. It flickered to the surface, a small flame of magic. It wasn't much, but it would do.

Soon enough, Beacon returned, her eyes full of panic. "I could only find the red mushrooms! I couldn't find the white…ones…"

She looked at the dead man who lay on the ground, his ruined arms free from the wheels. Though there were no signs as to what finally finished him off, the electric stink of magic hung in the air.

"There aren't any white capped mushrooms with red spots, are there?" Beacon's accusation was quiet but full of seething anger.

"There was no saving him." Euclid said.

"Dagli might have been able to do…something," Beacon stammered. They heard Dagli and his armor clanking at top speed towards them.

Euclid stood and wiped his slimy hands on a tattered piece of sackcloth. "Then let him say a few words over the dead."