Fabian took off down the trail at a brisk jog without looking back over his shoulder. After a few minutes he heard the sound of galloping horse hooves and saw Rothchild coming down the path behind him with Sir Mikael, Derek, and Brandon all squeezed on.

"What is the meaning of this?" Sir Mikael asked. "We're all exhausted. Why are we fleeing from that nice woman's Inn?"

"Hey, that's no nice woman you're talking about there. She's a murderous psycho bitch. I was just relaxing in my tub and she tried to slit my throat for no reason whatsoever. She's batshit crazy, I tell you."

"She seemed like a lovely woman to me," Derek said. "I just don't understand why she would suddenly try to kill you."

"I understand," Druvidia said as she suddenly materialized next to them. "He sucks. Who wouldn't want to kill him?"

"The literal legions of innocent lives I've saved through my daring heroics, that's who," Fabian said. "I don't recall anyone asking your opinion anyway. Come to think of it, you're kind of a murderous psycho bitch yourself. Do you murderous psycho bitches stick together or something?"

"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of raw language," Sir Mikael said. "We're all friends here. If Sir Fabian says that Madge attacked him for no reason, well, I believe him because I believe that deep down he's a good person who wouldn't lie to his friends."

Fabian had to try very hard to stifle a laugh. "You are correct, good sir. I would certainly never lie to my friends." Even saying that with a straight face was proving very difficult to pull off.

"We need to find a safe place to rest," Sir Mikael said. "The fatigue of last night's battle is weighing us all down. I don't believe young Brandon here has even completely woken up."

"I feel pretty refreshed," Fabian said. "It's like the middle of the day. We're wasting good daylight hours here because you guys are a bunch of wusses who can't handle a simple little battle. But if you insist on stopping and making camp for a while, I suppose I won't stop you. I'm a generous, thoughtful guy like that who's always considerate of his traveling companions and puts their needs first."

"Well, since you're feeling so chipper, you can take watch while the rest of us sleep for a few hours," Sir Mikael said. "We should have a nice bright moon this evening. We can travel at night."

"Uh, sure, I'll keep watch," Fabian said while already planning on finding a nice comfortable spot to take a little snooze. If they were all sleeping they wouldn't know he was napping himself.

"Good, I will keep you company," Druvidia said.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Your company is not required or wanted. Tell me again why you can't just keep watch by yourself while the rest of us get some shut eye, seeing as how you're a tree spirit who doesn't require sleep?"

"I offered before but you said you didn't trust me with your life. And now? Eh, I don't particularly want to," she said with a shrug. "Especially when I can make sure you stay awake and keep watch."

"Jeez, lady, I'll stay awake. I told you I feel refreshed. I just don't want you hanging around while I'm keeping a watchful eye over my cherished traveling companions because, quite frankly, you bug me. And you just said not five minutes ago that you wanted to kill me."

"I said no such thing," Druvidia sniffed. "I just said I can understand the desire to kill you."

"That's pretty much the exact same thing!" Fabian said. "Did you all hear that guys? This vengeful tree ghost is threatening me!"

Sir Mikael rubbed his forehead in an effort to mitigate a quickly building headache. "Can we please stop with the bickering? I'm extremely tired. Druvidia, I thank you for your concern, but Sir Fabian can keep watch over us without supervision from you. I strongly feel that to have a good relationship with one's traveling comrades it is important to have a sense of trust. This will be a fine opportunity for Sir Fabian to live up to that trust. Now, I see a clearing up ahead a little ways that should make a perfectly acceptable campsite. Let's get some well deserved rest."

"Very well," Druvidia said. "Since you ask it of me, honorable Sir Mikael, I will allow you all to place your life in this worthless buffoon's hands. But don't say I didn't warn you." She suddenly vanished to wherever it was she went when she dematerialized.

Sir Mikael lifted Brandon off of Rothchild's back and laid him down in a soft spot in the grass. After tying his horse to a tree, he found a spot of his own a few feet away and lowered himself onto his back. "Wake us in a few hours, and for the love of all that's holy, don't let any monsters eat us in our sleep."

"You got it, big guy," Fabian said with a wink as he pointed a finger at Sir Mikael who was already snoring softly.

Derek meanwhile got down on his knees and began chanting something quietly to himself.

"Hey whatcha doing there?" Fabian asked.

Derek held up a finger towards Fabian while he continued to chant for another moment.

"Is this guy shushing me?" Fabian mumbled to himself. "He's got some nerve."

"Sorry about that," Derek said once he had finished. "I always pray before settling down for sleep."

"Oh, you need to ask your goat god to send you some dreams about barnyard animals? Sounds fun."

"If you are referring to Merve-Rah, he is the god of sheep, not goats. And I am not actually an acolyte of his, merely a scholar interested in his teachings. Now was there something I could help you with?"

"Actually, yes," Fabian said. "I have a theological problem of sorts to ask you about. A matter of the spirit if you will."

"Yes, these are my areas of expertise," Derek said. "What is this problem you speak of?"

"More of a hypothetical situation really," Fabian said. "I had this friend back at the thieves' academy who must have defiled a grave or something. I'm not really sure of the details, but the important thing here is that he finds himself haunted by an evil spirit, who also happens to be highly annoying. How do you suppose this friend of mine might go about ridding himself of said evil spirit?"

"Ah, banishing a spirit from this plane of existence is no easy task, but it's certainly not impossible if you possess the right tools and know the proper incantations."

"You don't say?" Fabian said. "And what sort of tools and incantations might those be?"

"Well, first of all, you'd need an object of power. Like my ankh here."

"Like that exact ankh right there hanging around your neck, eh?"

"Yes, this ankh would work quite nicely in a pinch," Derek said. "You would also need to know the spirit's true name and utter it three times while holding the object of power in order to summon it. You would also need to form a circle of salt on the ground in order to bind the spirit."

"Ah yes, I believe I saw a large bag of salt back in Madge's pantry. So what about these incantations?"

"Yes, this is the most important part. Once you have the spirit securely bound within the circle of salt, you need simply chant the proper incantations. You must be sure to pronounce the incantations absolutely correctly or you might just end up angering the spirit or accidentally giving it physical form whereupon it might tear you to pieces."

"Yikes, wouldn't want that to happen," Fabian said. "Perhaps you could break these incantations down phonetically for me, just so there's no chances of error. You know, for when I tell my friend."

"Yes, of course," Derek said as he yawned.

"Now don't be yawning while you tell me," Fabian said. "You just said accuracy is important when it comes to pronunciation, so come on and do it right."

"Forgive me, I am very weary. Perhaps this might wait until after I've taken my repose?"

"No, I'm afraid I kind of need this information now. Why don't you just hold it together for a few more minutes and make sure I've got these incantations down just right and then you can snooze for as long as you'd like, safe and secure in the knowledge that I will be right here watching over you."

"Very well then," Derek said as he stifled another yawn. "Repeat after me: Oh-shaw, Kibb-litz-soo, Poh-me-fah-doh, Wah-nah-bah-dah-ding-dong."

"That's it?" Fabian asked.

"That's it," Derek said.

"And then the spirit will be gone from this plane of existence?"

"Completely gone," Derek assured him.

"Forever?"

"Forever and ever for all eternity with no possible way of ever coming back."

"Excellent," Fabian said. "Now let me repeat those incantations back and you tell me if I've got them right."

They repeated the incantations several times until Derek assured Fabian he had them down perfectly.

"Thanks, dude. You can go to sleep now."

"That I believe I shall accomplish with no difficulty at all." Derek said as he settled himself to the ground and closed his eyes.

Fabian waited a few minutes until he was sure the cleric was soundly asleep. "All right, well, you guys should be fine on your own here for like twenty minutes while I go score myself some salt."

Rothchild let out a neigh as Fabian started tiptoeing away.

"And don't you go narcing on me to anyone. I'll be right back. I promise. Thieves' honor and all that good stuff."

Rothchild huffed as Fabian made his way stealthily back down the path in the direction they'd come from. Meanwhile Fabian's traveling companions slumbered on obliviously.