The farming village was at the center of a shallow bowl of tiered hills. Trees dotted the hillside and their exposed roots formed round, looping walls that stepped up from the village like rice paddies. Some of them really were filled with shallow pools dotted with shoots, while others grew grain from dark soil, or supported tangles of vines with huge squash, cucumbers, and strings of peas. The crops seemed to form a pattern stepping clockwise from their lowest tier, and a gentle river spiraled down next to the farm fields until it crossed through the village and exited through a steep canyon near the road. The village itself was circular and surrounded by a ten foot palisades of rough logs. A few two story buildings, storehouses and a windmill peeked out from straw roofing, and at the center of town was a broad tree whose canopy covered most of the village.

  It would have been charming, like a scene from a Ghibli movie, if it wasn't on fire. Shelby and Thimble sprinted downhill towards a group of people standing a hundred yards back from the main gate. They were grouped up and clearly frightened, keeping their children towards the middle of more than one hundred people huddled in a ring. Shelby reached them just before Thimble, and shouted over their worried murmurs, "Are you okay? What happened?"

  A sea of eyes turned towards her, and a hunched over man with the gigantic puffy tail hurried towards her from closer to the village. He spoke in a gruff, aged voice, "Who are you?"

  "We're adventurers from Copperglade Village. Pico-pa-piru sent us to check on you!" Shelby hurried out.

  "Pico? Very well, we do obviously need help. There are still 6 of our people stuck inside the fire. Please try to find them."

  Shelby and Thimble both nodded gravely, and as they started to move towards the village, the old squirrel man grabbed Shelby by the wrist, giving her a warning look, "There are bandits in there too. Dog people. They've attacked before..."

  She patted him on the shoulder and looked him in the eye, "Thank you, we'll find your people."

  Thimble gave her a serious look, "We should split up, and your bat should scout from above."

  Shelby called Coda down from overhead as he glided along the road, "Coda, look for people in the town and find me or Thimble if you find anyone."

  The bat stepped up onto her hand and then flapped up over the town's edge, avoiding the fires and riding the hot air billowing up. Shelby and Thimble ran into the town and he immediately took a right, jogging from building to building and shouting, "Anyone in there?" into the entrances before peering inside.

  Shelby went left. The houses were laid out on a circular network of roads, and the houses were small and simple. Most were just one room with a table and a set of 2 or 3 bunkbeds. The floors were dirt with straw covering them loosely. While they seemed well loved, the excess straw and wood furniture was not helping slow the fires. The outer row of homes were just starting to catch flame, so checking them was easy enough, but no one was in them as far as Shelby could tell.

  After a few minutes of rushing through, Shelby caught up with Thimble at the northern edge of the town by another low gate. He shook his head and they went in one layer of homes deeper then headed back in opposite directions. The fires were much hotter in this ring and Shelby was periodically taking a few points of damage as she got too close to pyres of burning straw. The houses were much more difficult to check, and thick clouds of smoke were pouring out of doorways. She shouted into each doorway, swatted away smoke and tried to scan the room before her eyes flooded with tears, then moved on. About 2/3rds of the way through the circle, she heard a cry, and she dropped to her hands and knees to enter the home it came from.

  There were two small squirrel children under a bed, flinching back as embers showered down from above. The roof was mostly flames at this point and was probably moments away from collapsing on them. Shelby shouted, "I'm here to help you," and held her hand out under the bed, trying to scoop up the two children.

  She found purchase a moment later as they scampered forward. Shelby pulled them into her arms and wrapped her cloak over her face and their bodies as she sprinted out of the smoke towards the street. She needed to get them out of the village, so she kicked a loose 'X' into the dirt in front of the home to mark her progress, then ran as fast as she could towards the southern exit.

  A home had collapsed out onto the road a little ways up the road, and she had to squeeze into a narrow gap between two homes on the outer circle. Just as she was about to step out onto the street, she heard someone talking. "I saw a runner up ahead, go grab them. We're leaving soon," a guttural voice commanded.

  "What a mess, we already got three. Ain't that enough? We should find the others and leave," a timid, whimpering voice responded.

  "Just do what you're told. Naile said to grab as many as possible."

  Shelby slowly knelt and released the children from her arms. They were weak and couldn't stand on their own, so they slumped against a wall. She leaned down next to them and whispered, "Be quiet, I'll be right back."

  She leaned out into the street and looked for the voices. A few houses down a hunched grey wolf-like person glared into a home, sniffing at it with a wrinkled nose. Shelby slipped back between the houses as it turned her way. She glanced up through the straw above her hoping to see Coda, but wherever he was he wasn't in sight. She readied her bow with a slackened arrow and took as deep of a breath as she could manage through the dense smoke. With a one, two, three, she stepped out and drew her arrow on the wolf. It jumped back and flattened itself against the wooden palisade behind it, eyes wide. It hissed out, "What are you doing in here?"

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  She didn't expect it to try to talk to her. Although it looked vaguely evil, with matted fur, sunken eyes, and a permanent snarl exposing red gums and long teeth, Shelby was caught off guard by it speaking to her. She had assumed it would just charge her. She took a step forward, and spoke slowly, "I'm helping people leave this village..."

  It glared at her, flexing an open hand, "You can't. These are our people."

  "They need to leave. It isn't safe in here."

  The wolf stepped forward. It was about a foot taller than Shelby, with long, powerful limbs and a deep chest. It raised its hand towards her, "Bring them to me and I will escort them out of here."

  "Stay back..." Shelby warned.

  "Bring them to me!" the wolf demanded.

  Shelby pulled back on her bow as a warning. They stood still, eyeing each other. I don't think I can shoot a person... She steeled her arm, willing herself to keep her arrow trained. She jolted as voice behind her startled her, barely keeping her grip. The second voice she had heard yelled out, "Here! Two more!"

  Whoever they were, they were right behind her, looking down the narrow alley at the children. The wolf stepped up and shoved Shelby to one side, sending her sprawling out into a drift of embers and loose straw. She rolled over onto her knees, ignoring a string of damage warnings, and fired her arrow into the wolf's path. It skidded through the dirt in front of them. The wolf whirled on her with both hands contorted into claws. It pounced immediately, putting a huge hand over her stomach and pushing her back into the straw. She placed a hand on the wolf's neck and held it back from snapping down on her shoulder.

  Shelby kicked out at the wolf, but it was much larger than she was. She had to grasp a handful of burning straw, taking a stream of damage, and shoved it into the wolf's face. It hissed and jumped off her, furiously swiping the embers out of its mane. Shelby quickly stood and fired an arrow at them, hitting for 8 and sending the wolf running away. She could tell from the health bar trailing after it that it was barely harmed. She readied another arrow but froze as a second wolf stepped out from the alleyway she was just in holding the two children. It glared at Shelby, but still reported in to its partner, "Got them, let's go."

  They both took off at a jog towards the northern exit, and Shelby stood dumbly, too afraid to fire at them with hostages and too uncertain of herself to follow and stop them. She let her bow drop and circled back towards the center of the village, hoping to catch Thimble. She ran through the open area under the windmill and a few tall homes with built-in shop fronts on their lower stories. She even passed over the steadily flowing river in the center of town, briefly wondering if there was anything she could do to stop the fire before hurrying on. She caught sight of Coda to the east and waved at him. He swooped down and she held out her arm. He landed with a graceless drop that almost toppled them both, but she quickly recovered. "Where's Thimble?" she asked. He turned and took flight towards the south east wall and she sprinted after.

  She rounded a corner and Thimble was squared off against another wolf person. This one was especially large, and had long white fur that was braided and hooped through golden rings. Shelby raised her bow and the wolf snarled, tearing one huge paw through the air and swatting Thimble aside by a few feet. That was enough to clear a path to Shelby. She stuttered in place for a second, then snapped out of it and fired an arrow at the white wolf. It shrugged off the attack, then leapt in a wide arc that was sure to land on Shelby. She jumped back to avoid it, but the wolf's long arms snaked out to grab her. Thimble blurred into place and punched the wolf's arms to one side with his shield, then slashed down and left dark red slashes to bloom on the wolf's fur. It took a bolt of air to the back from above but was unphased by either attack.

  It took another wide swing at Shelby, but Thimble caught the blow again. The wolf flinched as it took another slash across its shoulder and hissed menacingly at the mouse who looked tiny before it. Thimble deftly maneuvered the wolf so that it was facing away from Shelby.

  Shelby's stomach was churning. This isn't right... She forced herself to raise her bow again, tracking the wolf's movements as she concentrated on her Measured Shot. She sank an arrow into the wolf's thigh, then its back, both perfectly measured. She moved a little closer as Thimble parried swipe after swipe, backing down the row of burning homes. Shelby got off one more shot that ripped through the wolf's arm and shot right through into a burning beam. It was a critical strike for 18 damage. The wolf turned and took two huge steps forward, then thrust her hand out at Shelby.

  Thimble slipped in between them, crushing the wolf's hand into the dirt with his shield. He rose his sword to stab at it, but it hadn't frozen up this time. It slapped him across the body with a huge hand, sending him rolling to one side, then it followed up with a punch that rung through Shelby's stomach like a gong.

  The world spun as Shelby hit the dirt road and then tumbled through a brittle wall of woven grass into an inferno. Her damage notifications rained in, and she panicked as she tried to find her footing in the blaze. She couldn't even see where she had been thrown into the room. Several large objects were spitting sparks and hot embers into her fur and she batted them away. She took a run at one wall, but it was too solid to breach. She tried another and it resisted too. She was down to 15 health and dropping fast. She crouched down and squinted as hard as she could into the fire. Help...

  Thimble kicked a set of doors open and reached forward towards her. She grasped his wrist and he yanked her free of the blaze. He pulled her out onto the street and shoveled dirt onto her burning clothes using his hands. She glanced around the street with wide eyes, looking for the wolf. She caught a glimpse of it walking northward and she willed [Shadow] to examine it before it could leave.

  Shelby swallowed and grimaced at Thimble, "That thing could have killed us..."

  "Did you find anyone?" he said, avoiding the dire situation they had avoided.

  "Yes, but they took them from me."

  "I witnessed them carrying several off as well... should we chase after them? We should, right?" Thimble's voice had a pleading waver.

  Shelby wanted to chase after them too, but what could they do... She shook her head, "We can't do anything..."

  Thimble let her flop back onto the street and stared northward, a flint growing in his eyes. He stood and Shelby grabbed him by the leg, saying, "The people here need our help. Maybe we can put out the fire!"

  He shook her hand free and jogged towards the northern exit. She sat up and took a steadying breath, then stood and looked for Coda. She had to navigate away from the flames a bit before she could find a safe space for him, but closer to the center of town she was able to flag him down. She commanded him, "Follow the wolves, find out where they're taking those people!"

  The bat nudged her cheek then took off with a gust of wind, riding the hot air up until he was just a speck. She ran back to the group at the southern gate and shouted to them, "Get buckets, anything! Try to stop the fire!"

  The squirrel elder hurried towards her, "Did you save anyone?"

  She shook her head, "No... They're not dead... but they were taken."