Bright sunlight burned into Arthur's face, and as he stirred, he noticed several pews had been dragged out of the chapel into the vestry, and placed face-to-face to make makeshift cots. Fred the Weasel busied himself, changing bandages, and whistling tunelessly while wearing a blur gingham pinafore that he must have found in the chapel cleaning supplies, the warband slowly came round his bunk in the weak, late-evening, sun.
"Ohhh, look what the cat dragged in! You all have a pleasant nap?" The weasel asked cheekily as the last of the band struggled oer, looking puzzled and bruised, the mouse sat up.
"So, did we win?" Arthur the Church Mouse looked over at the others, the pile of bloodied bandages, and heap of discarded equipment on the floor, "Okay, guess that's a no!"
"Define winning?" the weasel laughed, ditching the apron he was wearing and pouring himself a cup of something steaming and herbal smelling.
Benedict Otterbranch sat with a holy tome on his lap, and gestured at the others, who all sat round in clean shifts, but with various levels of bandages applied. "Well, we had successfully tracked down Teh Necromancer Henlor Kremmel, who had slipped away from the AA team, he was hidden in the ruined tower of the monastery of Brockburn. It was our sworn duty to take him down."
"Well, your's, I just do't like people messing with teh spirit of the dead," Jenny Brokenstripe, teh battledancer mouse plonked he self down at Arthur's feet, unasked, which caused a frown from their newest recruit, Fillipa the hedgehog witch hunter.
"What is it with necromancers and towers?" Humphrey the School mouse enquired.
"Proximity to the dead, I imagine." Jenny Brokenstripe the battledancer winced.
"Oh yes, it's coming back now," Arthur smiled, and then shuddered as pain seared across his wartorn face, "Rufus Hound and his gang had also herd about the bounty on the rat necromancer, and were closing from the north."
"Thought it was South?" Flippia the Hedgehog interrupted.
"Looking at the shadows, definitely North!" The Battledancer sneered back. 
Benedict sighed, obviously these two were not getting on, "Well, I'm glad you two gave each other plenty of distance to search the Abbey grounds for clues."
"We rushed to the tower, taking shelter from any spells the rat threw at us." Humphrey added, picking a grape from a nearby fruit bowl and devouring it.
"Where did the grapes come from?" Arthur enquired.
"No clue, but they're tasty!" his school mouse friend replied, wiping juice from his whiskers.
"The rocks definitely had something in them, I was not getting involved until we had whatever it was," the spiny Witch Hunter continued.
"Nor was I, those crops held something weird." Jenny added, "and I saw you Fred trying to search the ruins ahead of me too."
"Looked like a good place to stash something!" the weasel added, taking a sip of his brew from the falling apart wing-backed chair he had found himself.
"That wasn't here before..." Arthur muttered.
"Rufus teh Hound and Hartley Hare made no bones about getting to the tower, interrupting our hunt." Benedict the otter captain interjected.
"Thankfully, Humphrey had the sense to spot the ladders leading up, otherwise it would have taken us ages to get round and up the stairs." Arthur winked at the school mouse.
"Easy for you to say, I hate heights!" the school mouse moaned.
"We saw you struggling with that climb," Arthur said, "that ladder did fairly wobble."
"I hated that!"
Benedict wandered over to the pile of kit, and picked out his trenchcoat, "Here's the cause of all my woes, as soon as I tried to get through that doorway, it got snagged on a stupid nail!"
"Thankfully, there was enough room for me to get through, and I sliced into that necromancer." Arthur grinned, stopping to reach up to his face, "that really hurt."
"I just could not move, it really caught tight!" The otter moaned.
"Nevermind your coat..."
"It was expensive!"
"My single blow knocked the mage straight down!" Arthur grinned, but then brought his paw up to his face again, "Why does that hurt so much?"
Humphrey looked sideways at his friend, blanched, and continued, "It took both of us to free that coat!"
"It just wasn't moving!"
"Regular tug-of-war, I don't know how you did it!"
"It took me a while searching, but I found something!" Jenny grinned.
"With Hartley Hare up the tower, and that terrier under it, Rufus the hound coming under the walkway, we needed to hightail it out of there!" Humphrey complained. "They were much better fighters than us, we stood no chance!"
"Think they were annoyed we got the witch first?" Jenny asked.
"They were bigger, and angrier than us, note to self, next time, RUN!" Humphrey continued.
"I skidded down the ladder to take on that hound," Benedict interjected, "it was easier on the way down."
"I was interrupted in my search by their warrior rabbit," Fred added, stirring his brew.. 
"Things were hotting up with us too," Humphrey added, "two big hitters vs us two."
"And their mage was casting cure all round too," Arthur added, "I came back across the bridge to try and take Rose the Hare down."
"Sure you weren't legging it from that other hare?" Fillipa asked.
"Well, maybe!"
"It was unfortunate they had Rose the mage to heal, some of our blows wre amazing!" Benedict mused, flicking on the pages.
"To me, it felt like we were hardly denting them!" Humphrey sulked.
"You say that, Fred was dealing with a rabbit AND a squirrel knight all by himself!" Jenny added, "I had no worries he could take them." She motioned to the weasel warrior-monk.
"The blessed armour of St Cærrotmon, amazing stuff." the weasel added, dunking a biscuit in his brew.
Arthur rubbed his aching face, "I almost got to their spellcaster Rose, but that mouse, Little Red, got in my way. She's one tough cookie."
Humphrey grinned at his friend, "I hear her charms are almost Bowie level of cuteness, surprised you did not fall victim to them."
"I am a holy mouse!" Arthur made a religious symbol in the air. "Her charms were ineffective."
"The only holy thing about you is that continental cheese
you enjoy!" Jenny sniggered, much to Fillipa's chagrin. "Talking of which, where do we keep getting that from?"
"No idea, it just keeps appearing." Benedict shrugged.
"I saw you land a couple of good blows on the charge," Fred replied, second dunking the remains of his biscuit."
"Taking on a hare, solo, that's really brave." Benedict retorted. "They're big hitters, even their mages." 
"Well, a warband with two dog, two hares, two rabbits and more is always a tough proposition, but I was glad to get involved," Fillipa put in, "Trying to take on their rabbit archer."
"I was getting blow after blow on the other rabbit, they could not touch me!" Fred added.
"Pity Hartley Hare joined in, we were really out classed then," Benedict added, turning his page lazily, and resting his feet up onto another pew bed. 
"I wasn't," Fred retorted.
"Pride cometh before the fall brother," Fillipa shot back.
"Their rabbit certainly took a fall, I was proud of that," Fred joked.
"Hubris, weasel." Benedict looked up.
"Whatever hubris is, the hare mage ht me with it hard,"
Jenny looked up at the whitewashed rafters of the roof, "I'll get her, no one messes with a battledancer. It may take me years, but she will be jugged"
"Judged," Fillipa butted in,
"No, think she's right on that one!" Humphry snickered.
"Their squirrel was the next to feel the blows of my hubris," Fred carried on.
""It's called a flail! Duh!" Fillipa corrected him, sarcastically.
"About this time, Hartly took you down with a flurry of blows Humphrey. You were getting ganged up on pretty badly too Benedict," Arthur added, "Are you both okay?"
"Nothing a little rest won't heal." Humphrey replied, looking slightly shame-faced.
"More healing than I can provide for the both of you I'm afraid," Fred shook his head, "them's nasty scars, will need a real healer for that."
"I was hit hard too," Fillipa added. "But it was only enough to knock me out, us hedgehogs have tough skin."
"And shortly after, Red put a knife into me,"Arthur continued, his fists under his chin as he looked at the others, "what were we thinking?"
"Not a good day for us really," Fred finished his biccie, and looking round the warband, "I was the only creature standing, while Rufus's gang cleared out the area, I brought you back here and patched you all up the best I could. While you lot were sleeping it off, I put some labour into this place, nothing major yet, apart from patching a few loose tiles on the roof, but I have plans! I picked up more materials, so I am thinking what to build. However, the cash flow situation was positive. We got 25 pennies for taking down the rat necromancer, Filipa found items I sold for 9p. Jenny found us 5p. So, after expenses, we have 47p in the bank now. Almost enough for our friend the illuminator to help us when she gets back from Holy Roma. Humphrey has gained another shooting skill, as well as the lack of common sense and fear that us weasels stoats normally exhibit. The scars on your face Arthur would frighten the toughest badger, so don't go looking in a mirror just yet. You also picked up a chest wound, you won't be as tough as you were I'm afarid! Jenny, you'll be feeling a bit weak for a while too, I am sorry. But the good news is, you've all got enough experiences under your belts to gain fighting expertise"
"Good, let's build up and take Rufus's gang down!"
"We also need to find out who keeps gifting us stuff, that's not right." Arthur mused to himself.
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