The body of the latest minion of the demigod Aeyr was barely cold when we found our next urgent task. Some dude calling himself the Searcher, on the hunt for explorers and scholars, with the goal of ending their careers…and their lives.

At the top of the list is Lirien, a kangaroo beastkin Brin has worked with before.

My bevy of sexy women and I saddled up and made a beeline for Olliaran, land of the elves and the motherload of archaeological sites. Lirien is an explorer, made from the same mold as a certain raider of tombs, looking for something our enemy did not want found.

Our job? Simple. We have to find the woman in a vast region of feuding elves, underground ruins, and monsters; convince her that a small army of bad guys was out to kill her; and get her to safety. It all seemed doable.

Until we found the kangaroo girl we were looking for. Unwilling to give up her own quest, we are now officially grunt labor, helping her scour ancient cities for an important cache of artifacts.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the gorgeous beastkin is—how can I say this delicately?— unstable. Though “batshit crazy” might be a more accurate term.

Yeah.

So we’re searching, the Searcher is searching, and the woman we were searching for is searching for her own things as well. It’s enough to make a guy want to search for a nice vacation spot.

After we protect Lirien and add a notch on our weapons for killing yet another one of the demigod’s lieutenants, of course.