The day began like any other. Cedric laid out the plans for the day, which primarily focused on exiting the swamp, and Assert barked directions, maintained order, and enforced Cedric’s wishes with an iron fist.

  Of course, the party also helped with the work. They helped one of the merchants, Grebs, rearrange his stocks to ensure they would not collapse from the harsh bumps of the rocky Seashine Mountains. Durand and Lenny assisted Assert in backtracking to look for some fallen cargo(Cenvin conveniently needed to go no. 2).

  At noon, Cedric and the party hurried up and down the caravan to hand out rations. Lenny rolled a nat 1 on a check to parkour over a wagon, losing the bet against Cenvin, and was unfortunately trampled over by a pair of wheels. Don’t worry, he’s fine! A short break will do nicely to fix the wounds!

  The temperature ballooned in the afternoon, and so did water consumption as the caravan sludged through the conditions. Cedric was forced to declare strict water regulations. This did not help everyone’s mood, and as the sweltering sun finally began to touch the horizon, everyone was sweaty, thirsty, and relieved.

  In the evening, Cedric gathers everyone together for an announcement. He looks around him, taking in the expectant and tired eyes, and begins his short commendatory speech.

  "I have 16 years, 4 months, and 19 days of experience conducting trade operations. Never in my memory have I seen a caravan so efficient and swift, yet brimming with such overwhelming camaraderie and warmth! We overcame impossible threats and hurdled over mountainous obstacles! We triumphed over hardships! We journeyed through grueling conditions!

  “My fellows! My comrades who had trekked through this swamp together! Tomorrow, we leave the borders of this place!”

  Applause.

  "We have yet to suffer a single loss, unlike the many caravans before us! Let us celebrate this remarkable feat, made possible by our esteemed companions: Assert, Durand, Cenvin, and Lenny! Thanks to their efforts, we can complete this journey without any untimely misfortune!"

  Cheering and whooping. Cenvin’s lips can’t help but raise in a wide grin.

  “My friends, we are grateful for your contribution,” Cedric ends gently. “The regulations on the rations shall be lifted. Feast to your heart’s content!”

  And feast they did. The party was originally reluctant to celebrate with the ecstatic merchants, but eventually, they were caught up in the excitement. Even Cenvin seemed to forget his woes. They began gambling, partying, and drinking.

  A little blob of mysterious substances snuck into the caravan at one point. It was eventually spotted and caught, and the merchants, incredibly drunk, decided to make it have a brawl with Lenny. Loving the attention, Lenny easily defeats the blob in hand-to-hand combat. Afterward, he claimed he could feel some of the blob’s residue in his fur.

  Durand was the first to wear out from the festivities. He stumbles away from the crowd towards the edge of the wagon formation. He sits down and pulls out his knife and whetstone. Not long after, Lenny joins him.

  “I’ve told Assert that Cenvin’s coming for her tonight,” Lenny says quietly. “Just like before, I’m afraid she didn’t take my cautions seriously.”

  “She did, but she probably didn’t want to admit it in public. You should trust her, hasn’t she proven herself to be reliable in every situation?”

  “Logical thinking.”

  “Let Cenvin do what he wants. Maybe Assert will teach him a lesson, hopefully.”

  A voice breathes down their spines from behind.

  “What are you two conversing about?”

  They whoop around to see Assert, leaning against a wagon.

  “Assert!” Durand motions for her to come sit down. “Do you think you can evade another attempt on your life by Cenvin?”

  “I cannot, not by myself.”

  “Come again?”

  “I need your help, guys,” Assert sighs. “I recognize Cenvin’s impressive growth. High chance he’s got the skills to evade detection.”

  Durand hesitates, but Lenny immediately jumps at the prospect.

  “Of course, Assert! I have a few ideas if you are interested in hearing about them. Or do you have plans of your own?”

  The party can almost see the smirk behind her mask.

  The celebration was long-lived, but everyone eventually collapsed at around 2 am. Many merchants returned to their respective tents and wagons, but others fell unconscious at the site.

  The swamp is eerily quiet as if it could sense the grim feverishness radiating from the only sleepless person in the caravan. Thick mist clings to the twisted and gnarled trees, their thin roots slithering through the stagnant water like veils hiding dark secrets. The air is dense with the choking scent of damp earth and decaying, possibly Otherworld, vegetation. Interrupted only by the occasional ripple of organisms disturbing the murky surface, the still waters echo the weariness of the travelers.

  After making sure his fellow party members are deep asleep, Cenvin crawls out of his tent, his sight focused on Assert’s. He gingerly takes a small step forward, then another one and his pace soon turns into long, confident strides as he realizes everyone is out cold. He begins to mutter to himself as he grips his dagger tightly like a lifeline.

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  “Ass-ert, the self-entitled NPC who doesn’t even do that much.”

  He detours around a wagon after noticing a dozing Grebs leaning against the side, blocking his path.

  “She’s a piece of imagination! A made-up name whose will is controlled by the ever-so-lovable Dungeon Master! Me? I’m the goddamn main character!”

  He silently turns around the wagon and yelps in recoil from a shadowy humanoid, leaning against a tree. He pats his chest to calm his heartbeat after realizing it’s just a mannequin one of the merchants owned. Relieved to find no one has been woken up, he stealthily continues towards Assert’s tent.

  “This world is fiction anyway. My dumb party members seem to be too immersed to remember that. Nothing matters here. We’re almost at Seashine, Assert has served her purpose. Diem! She can be written out of the story now, and I can help you with that!”

  Utter silence from everything around him. He is the only living thing in this world. He stops outside of the curtains.

  “Assert… you die tonight, because I’m not a disappointment” he whispers, a deformed smile tearing on his face. For a brief instance, he seems more hideous than a Wandering.

  He sneaks into the tent. Assert’s place is spartan, with nothing other than the blanket she is wrapped in. She is peacefully sleeping, out cold, snoring lightly. Cenvin frowns as he sees that her mask is still on.

  No face reveal, then, he thinks to himself.

  Heart thumping, breath rasping, and hands shaking, he slits his dagger across her throat. Gasping and tumbling back in the shock that he managed to assassinate her, he lies at Assert’s side for a couple of minutes, watching the blood gush from the cut.

  Finally gathering his wits together, he moves forward and stabs two small holes in her neck. He immediately draws back, as if zapped by the body.

  “Mission accomplished, time to go back,” he whispers.

  Face as pale as the body he left behind, he runs back to his tent, where he falls into an uneasy sleep.

  “ASSERT’S DEAD! MURDERED! BRUTALLY KILLED!”

  The next morning is as chaotic as it can be.

  “Everyone! Calm down! Let us inspect the body!” Cedric cries in an effort to calm the panicking merchants.

  Durand and Lenny routinely throw Cenvin suspicious glances occasionally but remain silent. Cedric enters Assert’s tent and shortly returns with his conclusion.

  “Her throat was slit by something sharp. There’s also two small holes in her neck. I don’t wish to jump to conclusions here, but I believe it could be vampire marks.”

  “There’s a vampire among us!?”

  “We’re all dead men!”

  “Let’s get out of here!”

  Cenvin mimes a cough and covers his face to conceal the grin he can’t help but show.

  “Let us go see,” Durand demands.

  Cedric moves obediently. “Of course, of course.”

  The two adventurers move into the tent. With a quick whiff of the claw, Lenny dissipates the illusion of the dead body. The “Assert” that Cenvin “murdered” is a dead goblin Durand captured on one of his scouting trips.

  “Real clever, Cenvin,” Durand whispers. “Trying to trick the rest of us into thinking there’s vampires.”

  “I’m impressed,” Lenny adds. “I was awake the whole night and didn’t even hear him go out.”

  “You were?”

  Cedric pokes his plump head in.

  “Hey Durand, Lenny, just wanna tell you that you should make this quick… we might have a riot on our hands. They’re worried about their safety.”

  “Almost done here,” Durand assures.

  “Anyway, Assert’s plan is quite effective, eh, Lenny? Where did she say she was going to go to?”

  “Seashine City, by herself.”

  “She’s gonna make it there for sure. We need to start thinking about our situation now. The burden is on our shoulders.”

  Lenny nods in agreement and they exit the tent.

  A group of bruised boys stumble amid the caravan. Despite their ragged clothes and bloodied faces, the party recognizes them to be the boys they had previously interacted with back in the village. Lenny hurries forward to supply a rain of Cure Wounds upon the boys.

  “God! What happened, guys?” His inner excitement dying down, Cenvin inquires worriedly.

  “A Horror… an invisible Monster… it killed everyone, dragged them into the mud…” A boy rasps.

  “Poor children, they’re traumatized,” Cedric sighs as he steps away from the conflicting merchants. “First order of business, I think we should give them rest, sustenance, and time.”

  “Hear, hear!” Lenny agrees.

  A boy audibly cries out.

  “It hurts! Everywhere! We can’t stop this pain… nothing can.”

  Durand frowns as his mind thinks, then finally adds softly: “Assert was right. We should have given them a mercy killing. Look at them, guys! They’re in agony! Suffering!”

  “Assert is never right,” Cenvin states firmly.

  “Keep thinking that to yourself,” Durand mutters before turning to guide the boys to a tent.”

  Annoyed by Durand and Lenny’s lack of care, Cenvin yells behind them, “Fine! I killed Assert in the middle of the night! I said I would!”

  They exchange glances before Durand turns back to face him.

  “What is done is done. Assert’s gone forever. You’re not a disappointment.”

  Cenvin’s face lights up. Lenny sniffles a giggle like a 7-year-old who just pulled off a silly joke. Durand remains neutral.

  “I trust that you can give Assert a dignified burial?” He leaves without waiting for an answer.

  “Of course!” Cenvin yells back.

  He pats the freshly dug dirt and sticks a branch into the grave. Wiping his hands on his cloak and standing up, he solemnly and silently remains still for a few minutes before speaking.

  "You know, Assert, you've brought a lot of good into this world. You taught us Worldview. You handled most of the threats. You were the wisest of us all.

  "Now that it's done, I think killing you was a mistake. Maybe I was blinded by rage, or maybe something deeper. Diem poured so much character, so much thought, and so much love into you that you became one of the most unique NPCs in this campaign. Perhaps my hatred was just some sick, twisted form of admiration. Oh man, why am I even saying this… probably because of Worldview.

  "Worldview is built on optimism. It teaches that anyone can change, even their most deeply held beliefs. Thank you for showing us that.

  "I'm not saying this for redemption. I’m the murderer, after all. But tragedy walks hand in hand with sorrow, and I have no choice but to soothe my heart. Right now, Assert, it’s pounding inside my rib cage, struggling to keep me standing. Why is it doing that, Assert, when it’s broken, evil, and selfish?

  “This doesn’t amount to anything. Why am I still here? Damn, I sure did pour my heart out to you,” he covers his face and walks back to the caravan in the distance.