A while ter they found the bear curled up against an ash-covered tree stump. Harold headed to the right while the rest of them headed towards the left, Niphru switg his foxfire into an illusion to hide them. The beast appeared to be resting until Harold approached, at which point it roared as it got up from the ground.

  Amilya threw balls of light towards its eyes, and Diara pulled out a lead slug from her pouch, grabbing her sling as she did so. Harold stood his ground before the bear, r back at it as he pounded his staff into the ground.

  The bear lumbered forward before standing on its hind legs and swiping two paws at Harold, stumbling as it threw itself off banbsp; Harold however simply batted the limbs away with the end of his staff before jabbing the point fiercely into the bear’s throat and stepping back again.

  As he stepped back, there was a r noise as Diara twirled her sling a loose a bullet from it, striking the bear hard in the skull, leaving a trail of blood running down its neck as she cursed due to missing the nebsp; The bear turo face them, but was clubbed in the side by Harold, turning back around to the only threat it could perceive, it roared at him again.

  As he stepped back again, Diara hurled another lead slug into the bear, this time striking the neck, causing its roar to sputter off as it choked. Blood started p down its neck as it struck again, all four upper paws smming together, Harold having jumped ba time.

  Harold then stepped fain, jabbing his staff point-first into the bear’s chest as it dropped back to all six legs, causing it to stagger to the side even as another r crack preceded a slug smming into its neck again.

  The beast sputtered out a weak attempt at a roar as it slumped down to the ground. Harold stood bad watched it bleed out as Diara turo speak with Niphru. “I thought you said you could hide us from it, but I heard those cracks eg. What happened?”

  Niphru looked down with his ears ft against his head for a moment before replying, “I uimated how loud your sling was. That hurt my ears, not to mention broke the illusionary silenbsp; I’m sorry for failing at my job.”

  Diara crouched doatted his head, tinuing, “It is okay, we still beat it without any problems. Just treat this as a learning experience.”

  Niphru’s ears perked back up, hearing that he wasn’t in trouble. He had been worried they wouldn’t want him around anymore if he couldn’t hide them properly.

  As Harold poked the bear, making sure it was dead, Amilya turo speak with Niphru, “Since your den is destroyed, you should e bad stay with Dawn and I. The door should be finished by the time we get back too. I was going to tell you tomorrow that you could stay with us. This just speeds up when I tell you a bit.”

  Niphru wagged his tail iement, this meant he could stay with his human! He was sure Dawn would be happy to have him around in the m and evening.

  Harold handed his staff to Diara, then heaved the bear up onto his shoulders. Amilya put out the lights on the bear’s eyes, then turo follow Diara as she led them out of the forest. Eventually they arrived back at towering through the eastern gate and heading back to the same building where the deer and snake had been dropped off.

  Niphru asked, “What is this pbsp; I know the man here deals with monster bodies, but he seemed to pay more attention to the bones when I was here before.”

  Harold dropped off the bear’s body and headed to the door as Diara responded, “This is the dismantler’s home, he works exclusively with monsters, typically he gives away the meat while selling the bones and any useful ans. Monster boend to be quite strong and very useful material for tools. Some ans be used with alchemy, and the meat be used to bee stronger or more intelligent if taken with care.”

  Nodding, Niphru thanked her for the information. He then turo follow Amilya as Harold and Diara both headed back to their homes.

  “Thank you for letting me live with you,” Niphru excimed as they approached Amilya’s home.

  “You are wele, Niphru, I’m sure Dawn will be happy to have you around. And besides, as the head of the vilge, this shows that I trust you, which will help the other vilgers see you positively. We will have to go over some rules tomorrow though, we ’t have you making me look bad.” she replied.

  Niphru nodded, he had expected he would have to learn more things to stay in the vilge. As they reached the home, he noticed the door looked quite different than before, with the lower part separated from the top. eg the two segments of door was a plex looking tch.

  Amilya noticed his staring and remarked, “This is what Travis and I came up with, normally the whole door is ected and opens together, but if you squeeze the tch, it will disect from the top of the door a you opetom alone. The door opens inward, so you will have to push from outside or pull from inside. But it should be light enough for you to open on your own. How about giving it a try?”

  Niphru nodded before walking up to the door and examining the t more detail. While it looked plex, he could see it was made to be simple to use. As Amilya had said, just biting down on it should allow it to open, so that was exactly what he did, pushing inwards as the tch clicked.

  As the door swung open, Niphru walked inside, looking at the other side of the door and seeing a simir setup there. Without prompting from Amilya, he bit the tch again and closed the door before letting go, hearing the tch click bato pbsp; Satisfied he could ha on his owood to the side of the door and waited, Amilya entering a moment ter.

  Amilya smiled at him, remarking, “See, pretty easy to operate isn’t it? This will let you enter and leave on your own without having to wait for one of us to let you in or out. Would you prefer to sleep with Dawn or would you rather have a small bed for yourself?”

  “I’d prefer to have a small bed as well, or maybe just a chair would be fine,” Niphru stated.

  “I’ll see what I do for you then, we have some spare chairs and the tailor make a small bed for you if I ask them. The snake you killed and brought in is more than enough to pay for it, and she is also thankful for your help making the vilge safer,” Amilya replied.