“Vell,” Viktor said, “That vas ominous. So, vhere is Baba Yaga’s hut?”

  Before the other two could even muster a shrug, the forest started to part. Where previously there was a line of dense trees, a paved road sprang into existence. The ground rumbled as bedrock was dragged to the surface and trees, once straight and clustered, were uprooted and thrown to the sides. Sunlight beamed down from overhead, making the darkness of the previously covered wood, recoil as if distressed. At the end of this newly made, and for some reason slightly yellow, road, sat a solitary cottage.

  “I guess that answers your question, Viktor. Shall, we go?” Arushi asked.

  “Is it just me or does the yellow road seem like a deliberate choice?” Damian asked.

  With a helpless shrug, the party made their way towards the ominously, picturesque cottage. As they got closer, tiny details started to make themselves known. It only made the initial impression worse. First to come into focus, was the fence posts surrounding the perimeter. Instead of wooden logs there were brown, statues that looked like frightened children, faces frozen in terror for eternity. Damian felt his skin crawl, and Viktor’s unsettled muttering let him know he wasn’t the only one.

  Next, were the various wind chimes, and dream catchers that adorned parts of the house. The windchimes were carved out voice boxes of previous victims, letting out echoes of frightened sobs. The dream catchers, if that was indeed what they were, were made from cured and stretched intestines, looking through the gaps between threads would show a nightmare realm, with a soul reaching out for help, only to be dragged away. Arushi let out a scream as she swore one had called her name.

  Last was the timber used to construct the hose, the least disturbing part of the home, at first glance. It had tiny bleached, white bones, running along where its grain should be. Yet there seemed to be a pattern etched into each bone fragment. Looking closer revealed a scene that made Damian stop his companions from joining him in investigating. Each bone had a detailed scene of the gruesome murder and torture of the previous owner of the bones.

  “I already hate this detour, and it just barely started.” Damian deadpanned.

  A weathered, ancient voice spoke up from their left, “It only gets worse I am afraid. You must be the youngsters tasked with cleaning the mistresses’ garden. Follow me and we will get you started.”

  They turned to see the twisted, hunch-backed form of an old man. His eyes were hopeless, pits of despair, and suffering echoed from every step he took. His skin was a mix of pallid white, and a putrid, sickly green. The area he was leading them to, was more a large farm plot than a garden. Fields stretched as far as the eye could see, filled with bright and clearly poisonous flora. More disfigured workers could be seen shuffling through the fields, fearful, hurried purpose fueling their movements.

  Their guide spoke up, “A polevik has taken has taken up residence in the fields. While this wouldn’t normally be a problem, he started a feud with an invading poludnica. Their fighting has affected our ability to harvest the crops, which has angered Grandmother Yaga, earning them both the death sentence.”

  Viktor had a troubled look on his face, at the mention of the two creatures. Damian took that to mean he recognized them, and would ask him for relevant details later. “Noted, what else do we need to do?”

  “Something has the rusalki up in arms, and they refuse to let us near the river. Lastly, Lord Leshy has taken up residence nearby and Grandmother Yaga requests you negotiate on her behalf, to have him move on. She would like to expand the farm but his presence makes that harder.” Their guide finished the list of tasks, and waddled off, presumably to do his own tasks around the farm/garden.

  Damian turned to Viktor, “What’s up big guy? You seem to recognize some of these creatures, anything we need to look out for?”

  “Da, nothing too serious, I just don’t have a way to harm Lady Midday.” Viktor replied.

  Arushi raised an eye brow and motioned for him to continue explaining. Viktor laughed sheepishly and continued, “Right, sorry. Lady Midday, or poludnica, is sprit who punishes all who work at noon. A polevik is contrast to poludnica, instead of voman ghost, it is scaled, long-legged creature with grass for hair. Poleviks harm people for same reason as a poludnica, they are contrast of each other as polevik can be benevolent vhile, poldunica can’t.”

  Damian nodded, “I follow so far. I have somethings able to harm spirit-based creatures, so no need to worry about that. What about the other two?”

  Viktor beamed at Damian, “Vonderful! Rusalki, are vater spirits, vhich is strange. They are supposed to be malevolent. Vhy vould they varn people of danger? Maybe is because of Baba Yagga, ve can figure it out later. Leshy, is tutelary forest diety of Slavic pantheon. He guards forests and presides over hunting, vhile often believed to be evil, my babushka used to tell me he vas more neutral, and his attitude depended on zhe approach. Only vorry dealing vith him should be vhat agreement is reached, after all Baba Yagga is one paying.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “I feel like I’ve heard of these creatures from somewhere, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to remember.” Damian said trying to wrack his brain for why he was getting such déjà vu.

  Viktor smiled with a knowing gleam in his eyes, but said nothing. Coming up with nothing Damian shook his head and turned to Arushi, “What do you think we should start with? I vote Leshy personally.”

  Arushi considered the question, then shook her head. “No, we should leave him for last. We should start with the creatures in the field then move on to the rusalki. Better to deal with the only confirmed hostile threat first.”

  “That’s reasonable, but zhe beasts only come out at noon, is only ten thirty right now.” Viktor said.

  Damian, patted his shoulder to get his attention and pointed up, “You’re not wrong but the sun directly overhead says otherwise.”

  Sure enough, the sun had climbed to its zenith without them knowing. Viktor held up a finger, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He shrugged after a second of contemplation, “Guess ve deal vith, zhe monsters in field like Arushi suggested then.”

  The trio shared a confused shrug at the weird time shenanigans and moved into the open field. Ambling between rows of crops, weapons at the ready, only this time Damian had his Sanguine Ember out, rather than his crossbow. As they moved through, Viktor began to harvest the occasional mature crop, tossing them in baskets that were sat on the ground every twenty feet. Damian caught on to Viktor’s idea and joined in, with Arushi following soon after. If both the polevik and poludnica attack those who work at noon, this was the best way to bait them out. Sure, enough Arushi signaled the two men ten minutes later. Glancing over they were just in time to see a green, bushy, head duck behind a row of grape like plants.

  Damian felt a pulse from his knife, indicating a presence behind him, and it was closing in fast. Damian threw himself to the side, and dodged a lunging strike from a skeletal woman in a white dress, with a ring of flowers atop her head. Good news, Damian remembered where he knew the monster from now. Bad news, she was faster than he thought, and he missed the best window to get rid of her. As he began to circle the noonwraith, he heard Arushi call out to him.

  “Damian! Do you need some back up?”

  “Nah, I’m good! You and Victor deal with our voyeur in the grapes!”

  There was an angry, squealing hiss from the grapes. The polevik was upset that Damian had ruined its perfect hiding place. Letting the sounds of Viktor and Arushi engaging the polevick fade into the background, Damian focused entirely on the noonwraith. He only needed one good hit with his knife to banish the specter. Damian charged at the wraith, leading with a lunge that the spirit flowed around, as she tried to seize his arms.

  Turning the lunge into a short roll, Damian swiped his knife out and managed to nick the edge of the ghost’s dress. The creature hissed as her dress began to smoke, and retreated, now watching the knife warily. The surprise factor now gone, Damian decided to go on the offensive. He flipped the knife into a reverse grip, and rushed the noonwraith making wild swings. The specter desperately floated just out of his reach, letting out angry screams all the while.

  Damian decided to take a gamble, and feinted another lunge, purposely over extending. The wraith fell for it and dissipated her form, Damian’s lunging foot was planted hard in the ground, as his knife let out another pulse. She circled around again, just like he hoped. He used his now planted foot as a spring board to launch himself backwards, adding a quick spin to add force, and slammed the knife home into the beast’s heart. The wraith stilled her form turning from a skeletal corpse, to a young woman in her late teens, a shocked expression on her face, then she exploded into a cloud of smoke.

  Waving away the smokey remnants of his foe, Damian turned towards his companions’ battlefield. Their battle was over just as quickly as his it seemed, Arushi retracted her spear from the corpse of the polevik, while Viktor ripped his axe out of its lower half. They returned to the garden’s entrance and flagged down a worker to guide them to the ruskali. The worker clicked his tongue in annoyance, but took them on a circulating route through a maze of crops. The frustrated man kept muttering under his breath about inconveniences and messed up schedules. The party eventually found themselves at the edge of an orchard of apple trees and were told to keep moving forward until they reached the river, the ruskali would find them before they reached its banks.

  The trio moved forward cautiously, weapons at the ready. Viktor said these spirits were known to be malevolent, so they prepared for the worst. While they likely wouldn’t attack the party directly as they were here at Baba Yagga’s request, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to find a way around that. The smell of the river hit them long before they reached it. It smelled of rotting plants, septic runoff, and fish left too long in the sun. The river itself would have been a tranquil sight, were it not covered in blueish-green algae blooms, half eaten fish carcasses bobbing on the surface. The river flowed at speeds fast enough to stir up foamy rapids, yet curiously, the algae and fish carcasses never moved from their spots.

  At their approach a woman’s voice, ethereal and charming, called out to them, “Halt, travelers. The river is not safe, approach it no farther, less you wish to end up dead.”

  “We were asked by the Baba Yaga to dispose of any pests infesting her garden. Is there something here we need to take care of? Why is the river in this condition?” Arushi asked.

  The ruskala turned to her and answered, “Yes, a particularly troublesome vodyanoy has taken up residence. We are unable to remove him ourselves, so we have resorted to warning off the workers.”

  “What’s a vodyanoy?” Damian asked.

  “Shape shifting vater spirt, likes to drown people.” Viktor spoke up, “He vill be annoying to fight, it would be better if ve could vard him off. I have no cross or horse skull unfortunately.”

  Damian coughed awkwardly, and pulled out a pristine horse skull. “So, I’d prefer if you didn’t ask any questions.”

  Arushi raised an eyebrow, “I’m going to ask the question, so just give me the answer.”

  “I may, or may not, have planned on looking into ways to shrink it so I could glue it onto the head of an annoying pixie.” Damian looked away sheepishly.

  “What?” asked the ruskala.

  “What?” repeated Arushi.

  “What?” said the bobbing head of a red eyed old man, with green hair.

  Viktor just laughed and pulled out a shovel, “Good! Ve may be done vith this side quest by lunch time.”