Remorse of an Adventurer 2: Tangled Paths

The Draugen

Authors notes: I got asked a fun question on the previous chapter, and I wanted to elaborate. Regarding Maven the witch hunter, from Viridescent Shadows 1. She's not the same character as Kaisa. Maven stopped extending her life following the events of that story, and passed away. I named her Maven to allude to her being an ancestor of the librarian, who the fandom often called Maven before season 2. Maven had a daughter, who had several kids, one of whom was Jena, a character from Viridescent Shadows 2. Skip a few generations from Jena (who never had kids, but their siblings did) and you get Myra, also from Viridescent Shadows 2, who is Kaisa's grandmother.

Ahlberg is nothing but a glory seeker, selfish and unwilling to stop chasing Edmund's legacy at any cost. At least that's what Hilda said. Why was digging dirt up on him so hard them? How did I end up going against an officer of the law? I should've just gone with David, Hilda, and the Woodman.

Remorse Of An Adventurer II

Tangled Paths

By Daring D.D. Danger
II: The Draugen

***Frida***

"So you want to find dirt on Ahlberg? How do you plan to do that?" I asked Hilda.

"You had to ask." David moaned.

"We're going to find the Rat King!" Hilda cheered.

"Not again." David buried his head against his dining room table, a bug falling free of his hair.

"We'll have to take an alternate path, the main street into town is closed." I had noted it on the way over.

"Why?" Hilda pressed.

"Something about protecting the borders. Ahlberg is having them fill the Vittra tunnels."

"What about the Vittra?" David asked.

"They were putting up a good fight." I responded . I saw a construction worker being tied up by them when I passed.

"We better go then." Hilda said.

The route to the sewer was uneventful, something I never expected to say more than once in my life. We walked through the tunnels until Twig started growling. Rats ran around us on every dripping wet surface and soon the black mass with hundreds of eyes spilled into the room, like some kind of fluid.

"Well well!" The rats made a circle around us, David covering his eyes. "You've come once again, seeking secrets?"

"Do you know anything about Erik Ahlberg, head of Safety Patrol?" I asked.

"Maaay be," it said, drawing it out "I require an exchange first."

"Okay, fine, sometimes when I'm home alone I-"

"No. No secrets this time." The Rat King stopped David from saying whatever secret he had. "We want a fried cod sandwich from the Salty Maiden!"

"You want... a sandwich?" Hilda asked.

"Make sure you get a good one, that's aged properly. They keep them in the dumpster out back." before it had even finished, the Rat King began spilling out of the room as quickly as it had come.

"Well..." I pursed my lips and looked at the others. David was still recovering and Hilda just shrugged.

The Salty Maiden was a slightly run down little place right on the docks of Trolberg. I'd only heard of it from some rumor the cod wasn't... well, cod. Hilda stormed in ahead of us with Twig. She flagged down a waiter and asked him if she could climb in the dumpster. He just walked away.