Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist's Desk

Spoiler: Elemental disturbances

"Elaine! It's a pleasure; how should I call you, big guy?"
He gathered with the hastily formed party, a sentient giant lizard and the energetic girl he met before. Just another day at the guild.

"I feel like we've only just taken a quest together, but let's do this!"
Elaine nods.

"My name is Tera a smallish lizard thank you very much."

"Nice to meet you; It's an interesting book offered as the reward." He mused. "Quite a far place though."

"In my opinion it's a completely useless book, it's to do with food and not about eggs."

"Well, let's go. Anyone has the directions?"
Elaine holds out the map.

"It's a surprisingly well-known route, albeit not that much travelled. Demons are seclusive bunch they said. But we could ride carriage until most of the way."

"I'm not riding a carriage, never ever again getting into one of those things way too painful!

Elaine shrugged.
"I'm not travelling that much distance on foot."

"...you fit in a carriage?"

"Of course I 'fit' in a carriage I'm not that big there are even orcs that are taller than me and goats that get brought in. It's just quite painful to stay in there for a long time."

"Can we just hire a wagon instead? I think the dinosaur will fit the wagon."

"Dinosaur what the heck is a dinosaur?"

"The lizard, I mean. Let's just hire an open air wagon with a horse. Or let the lizard pull the carriage instead."

"Hitchiking is free though..."

I like walking it's also free and I'm quite fast after all."

"More walking...hurrah."

"Please mind us slow humans."

"Guess you two will have to get a carriage or something then?"

"I guess a horse will have to do."
Elaine went off to rent a single horse.

"How much does that cost?"

"Not much, since I did a favour for a certain village earlier, they lent me a horse to use. I'll just have to drop it by the village later after we finish the quest."

"I'll hitch a carriage then..."

"I think there's space for two people on the horse, though."

"And I shall walk!"

"Oh. Alright."

Elaine was staring at the gourd as she got up onto the horse, wondering if the eyes glowed. Also if the horse would suddenly burst into flames and leave lava prints in the ground as it ran.

Tera followed along behind the two beings sitting upon the horse.

Nothing that exciting happened on the horse, whether for good or for bad. Its mane didn't turn into flame and the gourd didn't suddenly start juggling his detached head. If anything, the strangest thing would be how light he was. The equipment and supply should come close to 40 kilograms, but the horse wasn't that emcumbered with him...

Elaine hummed a song while sitting at the front, directing the horse to where it would go.

The horse was tired after the journey, so Elaine was now walking beside it, holding the reins. The volcano loomed in the distance.

"The volcano is kind of uninspiring I must say. The castle of Lady Penelope Oxbow was more awe inspiring to me."

"It's a volcano. Just some mountain with melting rocks inside." He stated, finally glad the ten-days ride was over. "Where was the village again?"

"Supposedly there is multiple villages not just one, so either we all go to the same one and split up or we split now. I would prefer all visiting the villages together."

"I'm fine with either~"

"Let's just stick together. Demons are quite mean in a fight."

"Okay then~ Let's smile and wave~"
Elaine smiles.

"Okay then when we finally reach a town we will all split up within it I guess?" Tera continues walking.

"If you'd like to, sure. Find out why the volcano's acting up."

"Yay more detective work! Every quest ends up with this happening."

"Well, we've reached~ Time to split up."
Elaine took the horse by the reins.
"Meet back here in...I dunno, one hour?"

Tera immediately sets off towards the merchant district of the village and begins looking around for a tavern near here so that he can see how exactly there work has been effected. If it has at all by the supposedly increased temperature.

"Sooo let me get this straight. The volcano's going to erupt within half a year." A gourd skeptically asked to clarify.

"Yep." A demon failed to see what's so confusing.

"You know, the volcano whose foot is where your village built."

"The one and only. Do you have a head inside that gourd, stranger? You should probably use it."

"I mean, if it erupt the whole place would be burnt to ashes. I doubt that your kind enjoys frolicking in lava, as much as you love heat."

"Ah, that's where you came from! Investigating the extended summer, I guess? We had people coming for that reason past few months, but all feom north or west."

"Yes, I'm from Nagrand. So, the thing's blowing up?"

"If all goes according to plan, no. We're making a canal to reroute the lava into a barren valley near here. We'll pop the bubble early before it build up and erupt, then when it cooled the valley would be a great place for our specific plants and herbs. Aside from that it'll also open the top half of the volcano for Fire Salt mining, smiths love those stuff."

"That sounds like a grand project. May I take a look?"

"Sure, it's open for public! Just go north from there..."Arriving at the Tavern Tera notes that it is fairly abandoned having only about 2-3 staffers in the place. Moving towards the counter Tera waits to be served by the staffers or told to leave. After a few minutes of waiting one of the staffers comes over towards Tera. "What exactly are you doing here mister it's rare to have visitors to this village."

"I came here on a quest for the adventurer guild as someone thought that the currently warmer weather had something to do with the volcano here." Tera indicates the guild badge sitting upon his arm whilst speaking to the server. "So we came to the closest village to where we entered to find out more information. Anyway do you have anything that that I can get to drink I mean it's fairly warm here." Tera pulls out a one of his large copper coins.

The staffer moves to bring over a cup of mead to Tera whilst collecting his Large copper. She deposists the mead in front of him. Tera moves to take it and begins to slowly lap it up with his tongue. "The volcano is going to be erupting soon if nothing is done about so us demons have been diverting the flow of the lava out of here, it's probably better if you don't help if you find this temperature hot though."

"I see well that would sort of explain the reason for the increased heat in the surrounding lands I guess. If everything has been getting more active." Tera goes back to drinking his drink whilst thinking about the situation. Well I guess we can record what happens in the area. I guess that would probably be a good idea for future reference.

Elaine was sidetracked buying some sticks of roasted meat from one of the roadside demon vendors, but when she casually tossed out a question about how much hotter the weather was getting, she was directed towards the village head's house.

As soon as she entered the house, the door was locked from behind her, and the muscular demon got up from behind the stone desk, tossing her something. A whole bunch of something soft landed on her face, and when she examined them closely, they looked like clothes. Brightly patterned clothes. "Hurry up and change. The ceremony will take place soon." The mystified adventurer could only raise her eyebrows.

On the way up the mountain... "So, the reason I'm wearing this is because...?"

"We need someone to take the role of shrine maiden while we conduct this ceremony to transfer the volcanic energy. You're it."

"Wait, so I'm some kind of virgin sacrifice...?"

"Haha, no, perish the thought! We need someone with decent looks to be the shrine maiden, and you showed up right when we're about to start, so it was a good opportunity as any! Plus, you get to keep those clothes after this."

"Ha?! Okay!"

"Valley. He said a barren valley. It's a freaking canyon." An ancient river must've carved it into its shape now, but a volcanic eruption either killed the spring or redirected the flow. Now it's a completely barren ravine snaking through the rocks, he could barely make that the exits were buried in tons of rubble by collapsing the cliff walls. Not only that some demon workers were burning it until the rubbles solidfied into one piece of solid rock.

They were also seeming to be on the final phase as the workers were finishing the last few meters off the tops. There were stalls and merriment resembling a festival with a whole bunch of demons standing around, excitedly speaking about "witnessing the lava terraforming project". Looks like it'll start soon. "To think that our job's this easy. If not for the lengthy trip I'd like more of these. Well, I think I'll shop for souvenirs...

Entering into the canyon with a block of wood to write upon Tera continues on with his journey. Reaching the ravine Tera notices that the pumpkin headed man is there and goes and stands next to them. Tera then begins writing about all the things that are going on in the valley.

At the mountain top... "Wow, climbing sure took forever. Thanks for giving me a lift halfway up."

"No problem. Plus, it would be a bigger problem if we were late."

Elaine looked down into the volcano's mouth. Directly below was hot, hissing lava, but then she realised the fact that had been making her confused the whole climb. "Shouldn't it be sweltering at this place? Yet I feel...refreshed?"

The chief grinned. "A little magic woven in the fabric, little lady. Heat resistance."

"Oh. So, what do I have to do?"

"Just close your eyes and pray for the process to go well. If you are sincere, the spirit should hear you." Elaine closed her eyes, and prayed fervently. I wish for a vegetable sandwich! Sometime later, Elaine was descending down the volcano, being carried by the chief again.

The festival was quite merry, all things considered, although it's geared more toward demons. Several villages worth of people were mingling and playing, the exact same as any human event. Why are they called demons?

The gourd himself tried several kinds of food, ending up buying a small stone bottle of pepper that packed quite a kick. He also participated in one particular game where he had to throw chiseled stone knifes into target circles, surprising everyone present by landing perfect score. He have no idea what to do with the small stone badge depicting a heart on fire he got as reward, a demon's symbol of love, but figured that he'd gift it to someone at some point so he kept it. "Saaay, have you seen Elaine?"

Tera was still on the cliff writing about the lava flow and the changes it under went. For no apparent reason.

After that we ended up meeting again somehow and returned to the city of Nagrand.

Spoiler: Notes

The volcano was the reason for the heating up as it was about to erupt,
Elaine was drafted into doing something for the locals
Tera recorded the process of the lava turning into rocks.
All in all very productive I guess.

"Hey mister receptionist we have come to turn in the quest! Here's my part of the story the other two can tell you themselves!"
@Quaesitor @Haxagen @A5G_Reaper
(I hope the ending was okay cause you two left me for a full 20 minutes before I posted it! REEEE!)

 

"Ah, so it was only due to the volcano. What a relief. Well then, here is your reward," says Garret while handing out the 2 large copper coins and the book on how to differentiate poisonous and edible mushrooms. "but I don't think you will receive the extra rewards, as while you did take part in the solution, you did not actually help find the solution, and your job wasn't really vital."

 

"Here is our report for investigating the crypt."

Spoiler: report

Sol - red , Nero -black.

We arrived to the cemetery. The guard was warned about our arrival so he easily allowed us to go in.
As Nero knew the place beforehand, he guided me to the entrance. What the dwarfs was planning by making outpost here?

Nero started by using the knocking pattern that he had heard. But unlike the previous time, there was sound of movement coming from the other side.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone over here.", Nero observed. "I'll try using force."
He leaned on the rock and tried to push the door open. It seemed ineffective at first, but eventually, he could feel the door giving way and deforming under pressure. A small gap appeared on the rock, showing the insides of a tunnel. Nero used his spear to pry open the door and went though with Sol.

They traveled together through the narrow tunnel silently till they reached the hall with the three passages. A couple of dwarfs were sleeping on the floor. There was a small stack of documents on the table as well as a few sacks that were sewn shut.

Sol was shocked that they didn't prepare anything against intruders after one of their guards vanish. Maybe the guy wasn't trustworthy and they expected him to run away one day? Not like Sol cares if the job was easier because of that.

Sol took the stacks of the documents. He roughly check the contents. It seem the maps of the surrounding. There was a couple of X. Considering there was also a X in the cementary, Sol guessed that maybe was a maps of different hideouts. Sol put the maps in the bag to let the guild deals with matter.

Of the three passages we took the right one. We decided to not split up as if we alert the dwarves, with only one exit it was risky being separated.
The path lead us to a room that seem like a storage.
"They are... stolen goods?"

Sol carefully checked the storage and noticed that most of things was poor quality items. Something that dwarves wasn't so bad to craft. Sol guessed they stole them from the farmhouses. Sol felt his head start to hurt. This dwarves seem most likely to be a community of modest thiefs. Probably steal only things they really need and the quantity and quality of goods stolen was so low that people mostly believe they lost them than actually report to the authorities. It seem they did this for a very long time based of quantity. The other hideouts probably have similar stuff.

With no more clues or path, Sol and Nero decided to return back to pick another passage.

The dwarfs were still fast asleep. Sol and Nero decided to tiptoe around them and go through the middle tunnel. This path lead to a grated door on the floor. A rusted ladder was fixed to this door frame. There was an incredible stench coming from below. It reminded Nero of rotten flesh, but only that this was a lot more pungent.

"I think I can just about fit through this door. But I don't want to use this ladder", Nero spoke as he pinched his nose shut. He gazed into the hole and estimated that it wasn't too deep, even if he couldn't measure its depth accurately. "Let us proceed."

He started to gently lowered himself through the door. Unexpectedly, his feet reached the floor before he felt the need to stretch. It took him a few moments for his eyesight to adjust to the darkness. He decided to look around as Sol made his way to join him.

The sound of flowing water could be heard echoing throughout this passageway. He decided that it would be better to move away from the smell for now and started walking away from the water. But this path was a dead end that led nowhere. Having nowhere else to go, it was time to investigate the smell.

The two of them walked for a few minutes and finally reached the source of the smell. They were in the sewers.

"If we follow the dirty water, we should end up in the river. Let's go back, I can't tolerate this stench any more."

The final path lead to something like a dining room. There was a dozen of dwarves sleeping on the ground. There was food and alcohol on the table. Sol was always curious about what kind of plant the dwarves used to brew ale. The underground doesn't seem a nice place for growing plants.

The room didn't have anything special.
The amount of sleepy dwarves was something easy to kill, but the mission was only investigation and kill only if they are threat. Sol hardly felt they are a threat. He mostly felt pity for them. He was more happy to not kill them. They was still guilty of stealing but they could help the guild to repent. Many bad things was happening around and a extra pairs of hands wasn't so bad. This report can end up as kind of good news after so many bad news. Wish them good luck, Sol and Nero leaved the cemetery.

@SpearOfLies @Naraku

 

Task: Mountain Guide [Taken by @Razogul and @Unreachable Hope ]
Requester: Mr Crestfall
Quest rank: D
Rewards: 5 Large Copper Coins per day over a weekly journey, Map of Skyfall Keep
Description: The far off descendant of the formerly prestigious Margrave Crestfall from centuries ago is looking for a heirloom in the castle ruins. An adventurer familiar with the caves behind the keep and the mountains surrounding them is required to guide Mr Crestfall through the system and into a secret passage left behind for him. It is possible to encounter undead and other monsters on the way there.

Raz and Cinis come up to the receptionist desk and give their report.

Spoiler: Mountain Guide

"It seems like we have to guide Mr. Crestfall into the cave behind the keep and try and find his heirloom. Hopefully, we can find it." Raz says this as he prepares his equipment to go and meet the quest giver.

"It shouldn't be that hard. We don't have any information on what the heirloom look ?"

Unwilling to waste time, Cinis quickly travelled with an adventurer that was needed for him to take an additional quest as no E-Rank quest was left.

Quickly, they arrived in front of the quest giver, his name was quite odd to Cinis, Marshall D. Crestfall, the grandson of a cousin of Margrave Crestfall. He seemed to be quite arrogant and disdainful, however, he needed the help of the adventurers.

Raz goes up and introduces himself, "Hello Mr. Crestfall, I am Raz and this is my companion, Cinis. We are the ones who took your quest," saying this as polite as he can, he sees Mr. Crestfall frown and nods, "I see, good, I need you two to hurry up and do this."

Saying this rudely, Raz's smile twitches, "Yes, let's do this quickly."

Afterwards, Cinis talked, presenting himself, bluntly which made Crestfall's smile twitched.

"Cinis."

He muttered, "As expected of adventurers...", before explaining where was exactly the caves, he also mentioned that there was only one entrance, in others words, once they get the heirloom which is a necklace, they will need to get out by turning back. It will be dangerous if they are followed by monsters.

Afterwards, Cinis explained to Raz that he was a slow walker due to having an injured leg, however he was very familiar with caves as he lived in one during a time. However, considering that it was a weekly journey, it was to be expected for the cave to be akin to a maze.

The first day, both of the adventurers arrived in front of the caves.

"Huh, so this is the cave. It's quite dark though, are there any torches around?"

Shortly after saying this, to the side of the cave are a few torches, seemingly untouched, "Huh, it seems like someone already had torches here beforehand. Maybe it was for some other people to venture inside?"

Ignoring this a bit, he hands a torch to each of them and lights them up, going inside the cave with the rest of them.

"As a half-elf, I don't need much light despite my racial flaws."

Unable to explain more what he meant by 'racial flaws' as he wanted to hurry, he did not need the torch, so he did not take it and entered into the dungeon along with Raz, at the start, there was only one way, no crossings at all.

Since they had one week to do so, Cinis preferred to walk and also to be careful.

After some hours, it was probably the afternoon, the half-elf smelt a foul scent, recognizing this familiarity, it was rotten corpses, crushed in little pieces, to be exact, they were undead, however, they were already eliminated, by something that did not seem to be done by a humanoid.

Something big and blunt.

"A boulder ?"

He thought aloud, since it was a common cliché in books about dungeons' venturings.

"Huh, it seems like there are traps inside. Luckily, it was just undead monsters and not living people. We should move along more."

Walking a few more hours, Raz feels a wire right as he extends his leg and stops immediately. He gets his back and spots the wire going towards the wall with holes in them.

"This seems more problematic than I thought... Mr. Crestfall, be careful and watch your step."

Lifting their legs above the wire, the trio quickly headed toward the next of the cave, Mr. Crestfall complained about the darkness of the place, the scent and so on. Cinis simply ignored him and sometimes glanced at him as if he was looking at worthless trash leeching on money... oh wait, that's exactly him.

Some minutes after avoiding the first trap, they arrived at a crossing, one going towards the left, one going toward the right, and one ahead. Which way to take was the question ? They could use the traditional solution of following the right wall, or randomly wander in the cave... or to be fair, the maze to find the heirloom on a strike of luck. Still, considering the wideness of the corridors, the heirloom was probably like a day away from them.

Hopefully, they had enough food and water to last a week.

"Right, how much can you last without food or water ? And still function properly that is."

Perhaps, they could save some of them through dieting.

"Well, we can survive two to three days without water but can survive weeks without food. Luckily, Mr. Crestfall thought in advance and bought enough water and food for us to last at least a week."

Looking at Mr. Crestfall, he smirks and nods, "That's right, I suggest we go right."

Hearing this, Raz decides to follow the quest givers demands, given he's paying for this entire trip. Wandering through for a while and avoiding traps, Mr. Crestfall sits down and says, "I'm tired, let's set up camp for tonight!"

Listening to such a person talking to him this way, Cinis wondered if he should teach him what exactly is life by letting him get trapped then saving him while letting him be injured...

Quickly judging his thoughts to be unreasonable, he dismissed them as the noble might die with a little error, so that was not something they could do to instruct him.

The night was peaceful, perhaps one thing was quite... stressing, it was the silence, there were no noises at all, no echoes, nothing.

The second day started off quite brutally, abruptly waking up, Cinis looked around as the ground seemed to be quaking, something made everything tremble. However, whether he looks back or in front, there was nothing.

"Did someone other than us and activates a trap ?!", Crestfall shouted and decided to hurry, disregarding any possibility of trap like a fool.

"Hey! Wait up!" Raz uses his enhancement using ki and catches up to him, barely avoiding them triggering a wire that went upwards into a spike trap. Having sweat on his forehead, he pulls him back slowly.

Noticing what just almost happened, Mr. Crestfall sweats all over and murmurs, "I just almost killed myself! You two, why didn't you stop me sooner!"

Not hearing thanks, Raz rolls his eyes at him and makes sure to point out the wire so they can cross it with no issue.

Cinis felt an irresistible urge to kick Crestfall, perhaps, they should really let him run off far away, and get crushed, then they would get the new... bad idea, what will they do of the guild points they could win ?

The half-elf sighed and they continued to go forwards, deeper and deeper in the cave, to be fair, the most straining was... how wide it was. It was long. Very long.

The ground continued to quake, even after hours, definitively, something was moving, something heavy, but they couldn't see it no matter where they looked. Nothing was falling from the ceiling, the walls didn't move, the ground didn't fall under their feet.

But something heavy was moving.

Little by little, the quaking seemed to be more intense, perhaps, they were approaching it.

Once again, hours passed, Mr. Crestfall checked his watch and mentioned that it was afternoon. The morning passed so quickly.

"A good point of the quaking is that at least, it isn't some oppressing silence.", what was worse ? Silence for hours, their steps echoing in the corridors, or something heavy, getting dragged on the ground for hours ? It was better to be in the second case.

...Then.

They arrived at a dead end.

"Look like we have to go back.", it was a maze after all. Nothing out of ordinary, why wouldn't there be a dead end in a dungeon ?

"It seems like we have to go all the way back and take another route," saying this as he prepares to go back, Mr. Crestfall stomps his foot on the ground, "Damn it! This was supposed to be quick! I got better things to do, we got to hurry this up more!"

Hearing the unreasonable request, Raz sighs and looks back at him, "Well, we can't do much about it, you told us to go right, we went right. It just seems like this is a maze, luckily one of the three routes is crossed out now."

After saying this, Mr. Crestfall frowns and they go back to the main tunnel, a day passing by while hearing that sound again. They end up seeing the other two routes.

"So, which one should we enter next?"

"Let's see we took the right... then, we have one chance on two to get the right way. Mm, let's just go forward."

Commenting, Cinis said this, however Marshall D. Crestfall, greatly displeased went left instead of listening to the adventurer, the half-elf sighed, since he did not have a choice either, he could only follow the quest giver, else, how would he be paid ?

"Good!", the dirty noble said once he saw the two adventurers going left along with him, perhaps, this time it will be a good way. If it is the right way, the quest giver would be quite annoying since he will be all arrogant, saying that it was just like how he expected it...

Perhaps Cinis won't be able to restrain himself at the moment.

It seemed that the left corridor was exactly the same as the right word, the same traps, the same walls, the same sounds and so on. Did the builder had a problem with parallelism ?

After another day passes, they reach a dead end. Raz looks stupidly at the dead end and decides to head backward. Seeing Mr. Crestfall's face, he says, "It seems like we reached another dead-end, guess we have no choice but to go back."

Hearing this, Mr. Crestfall gets angry and swears incoherently. Raz and Cinis lead the way back to the corridor and another day passes, with them arriving at their same position as before.

"Final entranceway, I guess we go this way. Hopefully, we find the secret passage this time."

Getting more and more pissed as time goes on, Crestfall seemed to be keen on going only forward for now, as the right and the left seemed to be a dead end.

Cinis, despite everything, felt perplexed. He did not not understand why, it is not even a maze. Since the very start, there was only one crossing.

So. It wasn't a maze ? Why would they need one week afterwards ? Because the corridors were insanely long and the silence was stressing ? Or because they needed to be with this... The thing, dragging them, always wanting to rest, to take all the initiatives and so on ?

Some hours of walking later, there was one thing that changed, the corridor still went forward, but... The ground was gone, on 20 meters, there was no ground, only a seemingly bottomless hole.

"So... To continue, we need to jump so far ? 20 meters ? Is your family made of superhuman unlike you or what ?"

Cinis provoked Crestfall, as he thought that there was probably something else. Obviously, the secret is ahead, but as for how to cross, there must be another solution.

"Hmm, let me try something." Raz goes around and finds a few palm-sized rocks around and throws them randomly towards the hole. Raz soon finds out that they land in separate areas as if there is a staircase.

"Interesting, it seems like whoever made this wanted to make people think there was nothing there. I'll try going down first."

Seeing that it's invisible, Raz calmly uses one leg to test the ground where the rocks are and steps on a hard surface. Stepping more, he uses the rock to do each step, knowing where the next step is. Going up and down to place a rock on each step he goes on, he ends up looking at a crimson door. In the middle of the door lies a huge indent that is shaped like a ring.

"Everyone, I think I found the secret passage! However, there's no handle, but some sort of object that needs to be placed in the middle."

Mr. Crestfall shrugged after a sigh, he seemed to hide his anger as the adventurers found out the secret passage on themselves. However, it seemed that he didn't have what was needed to open the door.

"Alright, then... Why don't you try to find out what's missing to the door !"

Cinis sighed, and felt the urge to push the noble but restrained himself as he followed Raz. But then, instead of going down to the door. He went forward, toward what is deeply hidden in the corridor.

"What's the worse there could be anyway ? A dead end ?"

Sarcastically and mockingly, Cinis replied to his employer, frankly, he gave up since a while the idea to be polite to him. Who cares about that bastard anyway... The guild.

"I will go forward."

This time, and strangely, he didn't need hours to reach a dead end, no, after a dozen of minutes, there was a dead end.

"Alright, but this time... There must be something."

With his wooden cane, he began to two everywhere, so see if there is a rock who sounds different than the others, and as he expected, there was one.

"..."

He kneeled and his fingers began to hold the fissures around this specific rock... He pulled, it didn't work the first time, he pulled a second time, more strongly, it didn't work either.

"Alright..."

Sinking his rusty seax in the fissure. He tried to lift the rock away from the ground, and... The rock was literally thrown in the air, there was the key. Or so he thought, it was in the box.

Going back in his steps, he took his time and came back after thirty minutes, why ? To irritate the noble of course.

"I found a box, the key must be inside, Raz, here you go."

Carelessly, the half-elf threw the box at Raz, what if he didn't catch it ? This thought crossed the noble's mind, and he screamed so loudly that his throat couldn't support the pressure.

Raz fumbles to catch it, barely able to catch it after a few seconds. He hears the noble yell, "Be careful! That was my only chance for the heirloom and also-I mean, just be careful!"

Noticing what he almost said, Raz, narrows his eyes. Not caring in the least, he keeps his guard up and opens the box and finds a bright emerald glowing ring. It shines with a luster that could only be described as beautiful. Admiring it for a little, he then places it onto the indent on the door and it latches on.

All of a sudden, a bright light flashes as the door opens and what could be seen a necklace on a pedestal, made out of different jewels and having an oppressive nature. Other than that, there were some chests in there, bulging with weapons, armor, and other accessories.

"It seems like it's opened, come inside you two!" Raz signals both of them to come down.

Restraining himself to laugh at his employer, Cinis slightly smiled when he saw the noble panicking, it seemed that there was something behind the heirloom, power obviously. Like any bastard, all he wants is power to oppress other, eh ? How original, Cinis thought as he joined Raz who found the necklace. It was quite nice, how much should it cost ? How about coercing the... no, the guild points, he needs the guild points.

How annoying. Pushing Cinis and Raz, Marshall D. Crestfall took the necklace and wildly laughed, finally, it was in his hands, after those days, locked in this damned cave, he felt like he revived.

"HAHAHA ! Finally, this journey was really straining, my effort has been rewarded ! Let's leave now !"

He wore the necklace that was now his, putting it behind his clothes, to be sure that nobody can rob it from him.

The noble completely disregarded the chests as there was nothing that had more worth than this necklace, or perhaps that was because someone else came here as he said some days earlier ?

"Let's hurry !"

There was really something alerting him, obviously, on purpose, Cinis took his time while apologizing on this good ol' sarcastic tone.

"All my apologies sir, as you can see, my leg is injured, thus, I cannot hurry or anything. But please go ahead and remember all the traps we have crossed."

In short, he wanted to force the noble to walk back to the exit on a slow pace, since something interesting and troubling for Crestfall might happen. And well, if more days pass, they will get more money. As they are paid by the day.

Mr. Cresfall hearing this smirks and says, "Of course I know the way! I memorized the way here, let's hurry out now!"

Seeing Mr. Cresttfall hurriedly go out, Raz helps Cinis during their way out with Mr. Crestfall seeming overjoyed at what he got with their help. He doesn't even think he needed their help but instead did all the work himself, how deplorable.

After going through the previous traps outside, it takes a few days until they're out again due to him wasting his stamina from running at times. Instead of seven days, it turned into eight days instead.

Looking towards the two, he smirks and says, "It seems like our cooperation is done here, you will get your well-deserved money at the guild. You'll be paid 40 large copper coins, given you accompanied me for eight days instead of seven." Waving them off, Raz looks at him and is glad they're done with him.

"Ready to go back to the guild, Cinis?"

"Yeah, I am ready. Shamefully, it seems that everything went for this bastard of Crestfall, I would have liked to trick him so he can get hurt or something..."

Cinis sorrowfully sighed, at the very least, they will get more money than they expected, on top of that, it will be easier to split forty large copper coins than thirty-five copper coins. If that isn't perfect ? At the very least, they could be said to be compensated as his attitude was irritating.

This half-elf wanted to murder this guy so much, at least, the pouch will be heavier after this quest, heavier than expected. He needed money. Afterward, he tried to remember everything suspicious the noble did.

First, it seems that he wants to use the power won through the heirloom on someone, who ? It is still a question, what he wants to do might be troublesome... then...

Actually, why is he thinking of this ? It doesn't concern him in the slightest. If troubles happen, will it trouble him in any way ? Of course not, in the worse case, there would be more money to win through quests.

"Let's just go back. And pray that this bastard gets wrecked."

Afterward, they went back to Nagrand, to give their report to the receptionist.

Spoiler: Notes

3,256 words.
The noble may have some sinister deeds planned.
Got 40 Large Copper Coins instead due to being there one more day.

@Naraku @Unreachable Hope

 

"Eh, stealing out of necessity, if it was only up to me, I wouldn't even report them. But it isn't."
Gaap said after reading the report, honestly, he felt like people should not blame or punish them for what they have stolen, will punishing someone who simply did something bad out of necessity a good idea ? Of course not.
But well, it never was up to him.

"Anyway, you got plenty of informations as well as maps, so I guess you can get additional rewards. Mmmmm... I suppose like any adventurer with comment sense, you will split your rewards evenly ? Let's see..."
He checked the large coppers he had on him excluding the ones for the rewards. Except money, what could he give ? What about this...

"Alright... so, first, you get 4 Guild Points each. Then 26 Large Coppers Coins to split... then as for the additional rewards, what about this, I give you many different choices, maps of Nagrand ? Some alcohol I brewed myself ? Discount for the tavern ? Or perhaps... A date with a certain rece- oh wait, I can't do that, it has too much worth. After you can always ask for something else, unsure if I can provide what you will ask."
The receptionist chuckled before lighting a cigar.

@wraith @SpearOfLies

 

After reading the report, Garret seems rather perplexed. Casting a slightly doubtful gaze at the adventurers, he asks: "Are you two biased, or was the noble really like this?" while quickly noting down a: Keep an eye on Mr Crestfall.

"Anyway, you did your job well. You deserve your reward. 40 Large Copper coins, the map, and the guild points."

 

"We had fun! Here, souvenir for you." He give the receptionist a keychain of round black volcanic stone... with the guild's symbol carved on it somehow.

"The guy was quite chill when I met him!"

((The problem of parallel quests by the same person - people describe him differently! ))

 

OoC: We decided to pick the maps of Nagrand as the most valuable thing.

 

Spoiler: To Skyfall Keep and back, the last rains of winter fall

After leaving the headquarters, Hrid headed to the nearest market area. Although she still had some few strips of smoked meat left, the quest was of an entire week, and there was no saying whether she would receive any provisions by her employer.

Also, Hrid had a rolled up deer hide on her leather bag, so she could take this chance to dispose of it for some small change. Finding a shop that dealt with leather products, such as backpacks, armor and the like, she made her way to the counter.

"Excuse me, for how much I can sell this?" Plopping down the hide at the counter, she continued. "I'm almost sure that such a fine hide would go for quite a bunch!"

"You sure sounds like a scammer... but the hide seems okay. I'll measure it for you." Taking out a long stick with markings on it, the shop owner spread the hide and started taking notes of the measures. "Almost seven palms long, seven palms wide top and four and a half palms bottom. Although you sound dubious, the hide is not. It'll go for eight small."

"Wait, just eight?! Come on, raise it a little bit!"

"Listen, that's how I make my money. If I buy from you for more, I'm going to have to sell for more, you get what I mean? Of course, I'm not a cruel man. How about I give you a discount in any product you want here?"

"Mnnnn." Though Hrid did accompanied her father in his hunting, that was just that. She never was too curious about for how much his father sold the hide, so she couldn't tell whether this was a good or bad deal. Nevertheless, since the shop owner was willing to give her a discount, she decided to just shrug it off for now and try to pry on the matter later. After all, she had to hurry and meet Yumi and the others. "Fine... How much for that bag?"

"Ah!" The shop owner looked at the large backpack Hrid was pointing at and smiled. "That one is around four large, but just for you I'll make it three large."

"Hmmmm... so I'll basically be getting almost two large coins for that leather alone. doesn't sounds too bad."

"I'll take it, then." She said as she placed three coins over the counter.

"Good to make business with you. Come back if you ever find more leather you want to sell."

Leaving the shop behind, she went to find some stalls that sold kitchen supplies and other tools, after which she started heading to the Gate while counting the few coins left.

"Fifteen small coins for a clay pot, twenty five more for a mortar and pestle, two for a whole cabbage, three for half a scale of salted peas, four for salt and a small jar to store it... Only a single small coin left."

Sighing to herself, she made her way to the Gate, where both Uta and Yumi were waiting for her.

"You sure took your sweet time, huh?" Uta said as she arrived. "What's with that? Got another bag?"

"Ah, yes. Since it's a porter job, after all..."

"Oh, dear... You didn't needed to buy a backpack. They'll provide use with the ones to carry things back." Yumi says with an awkward smile. "Though, it's not that bad to be earnest like that."

"Rather than earnest, isn't she just an airhead?!"

"Come on, Uta..." Clearing her throat, Yumi turned to Hrid while picking up her own bag that was at the ground by her side. "Anyway, let's go. Sorgre is waiting for us in the expedition camp just outside the city."

"Right, right~"

As the group exited the city guided by Yumi, Hrid managed to spot in the distance a large amount of tents mounted in what she concluded probably was the camp that was mentioned.

"I see, so there were that much things prepared already..."

"Yes, we were just waiting for some others to arrive, yourself included, to leave before the noon. They have everything prepared, from tents to provisions and the like."

"They're even carrying a small ship to ferry us through the river~"

"A ship, huh..." On her last travel, she had made her return through ship, stopping by briefly on a harbor village located near Nagrand, but while she couldn't really recall much about her visit there, she could remember the travel by ship being interesting. "Seems like an awfully long travel, huh?"

"Hmmm... I'd say that it is, I guess? About fifty leagues south-southeast. It's five days of travel in the go, four days of stay and five days of travel back, if I recall it correctly."

"Uwah, that reminds me we'll spend more time walking than having fun."

"Maa, travels are fun too, Uta."

Arriving at the camp, they were greeted by Sorgre accompanied by an unknown man holding a writing board.

"Took you long enough..."

"We were waiting for Hrid to arrive."

"Hrid, I see..." The man with the board says, glancing at the girl. "Porter or Explorer?"

"Eh? Ah, you mean this?" She said still unsure while pulling out the quest paper and handing to him.

"Appreciated." Taking the paper, the man read skimmed over it before muttering and taking notes of something. "Porter, no flag. Take this. You can present to the quartermaster of the camp to get your provision sorted. Have a good day." Without even looking at her face, he threw her a small wooden slab with something written and went off his way.

Barely catching it before it hit her flat in the face, Hrid looked hard at the slab before giggling. "I can't read this."

"Then why did you even tried!?"

"Because finding new letters I can't read is fun!"

"Ahh, so it's like that. I totally don't get it..."

"That aside, what did he meant by no flag?"

"Ah, that is..." Yumi pointed at her arm, which only now Hrid noticed had an black colored cloth armband featuring a white clenched fist. Looking now, both Sorgre and Uta had one too. "By flag he meant whether you had a fixed party like us."

Tilting her head, Hrid asked in confusion. "Does that even matter?"

"Well, not so much, I guess. Mostly we operate as a normal adventuring party, although you rarely see flagged parties' members operating alone or with other people outside their parties. They seem to be caring about it because they're providing fixed parties with bigger tents and group provisions, it seems..."

"I see..."

"Anyway, let's go already~ Me and the Wooden Badge need to pick up our loads."

"You too?!"

"Yeesh, what's with this reaction? Of course I won't be joining the expedition! How could a delicate flower like me risk myself on a fight?!"

"You'll really look like a delicate flower carrying bags, for sure."

"Shaddap! I don't want to hear that coming from you!"

After that, they visited the quartermaster, where both Hrid and Uta picked up the baggage they would be carrying, both the provisions for themselves and the extra cargo for the expedition as well as empty bags for the travel back. Hrid could easily tell that the packs alone weighted at least twelve to fifteen scales, still enough for the girl to carry without problems, but with a slowed pace.

"Well, then, see you two later in the camp." Yumi said waving to them as they joined the group that would be marching ahead.

The column was composed of a large group of explorers ahead and small group behind, accompanying the porter group that went in the middle.

During the first day of travel, Hrid took the chance to try and make a headcount of the participants of the expedition, but lost the count after the tenth of them, giving up and turning to seeing if she could identify other parties with armbands like Yumi's. Uta, which was walking by her side, noticed her being quite distracted in the walk.

"Looking for someone?"

"Ah, no, I was just wondering whether there were other parties here like yours..."

"Hmmm. If I remember correctly, Yumi mentioned four more, but I can't quite remember them." She stated making a face as if trying to recall something before whispering to Hrid. "Oh, that's right! There are those guys there."

Uta motioned with her head in the direction of a pair of figures wearing black clothing and hoods covering their heads. She couldn't see any armband, but the pair definitively stood out from the crowd. "And those two too." Next she pointed at an unremarkable brown haired young man who looked nothing different from a peasant, but that carried at leas twice the amount of bags the others around him were carrying. The other, in comparison, was rather scrawny looking, but did had an armband tied, a white one with a red symbol that Hrid couldn't identify from afar.

"Those are the ones I remember... I think?" Uta tilted her head. "Or at least the rough descriptions Yumi gave. Bleh, whatever~"

Just as quickly as Uta, Hrid decided to shrug them off her mind for now, since she wouldn't need to be dealing with them for long. The travel went on quite uneventful until the arrival at Skyfall Keep.

Reaching the foot of the mountain range, the expedition group was faced with a large construction in tatters, the castle that was formerly Skyfall Keep, which although the same in name was probably just a shadow of what it once was. As the bridge to the castle was unfortunately collapsed, they needed to take a detour to enter through a hidden cave entrance that was reported some days before the expedition left.

The camp would be set half a march from the entrance of the cave as a safety measure and preparations were made to reinforce even more with a small barricade borrowing the porters' workforce.

"Pwuah... we can finally rest for a bit..."

"After we mount the tent, check the inventory, help making the barricade..."

"You are starting to remind me of Yumi... can you help me with that?"

"I can help mounting the tent, the rest I don't really know how to do."

"Then why did you mentioned!?"

"I was just repeating what Yumi said."

"Figures..."

"Hey, you two!" A voice none of them recognized arose, seemingly directed at the two of them. Turning to the direction the shout came, finding out that it was one of the adventurers Uta had pointed out before, the one carrying more than the others.

"You were the ones with that giant, right?!" He seemed to be referring to Sorgre, so Hrid nodded a bit hesitant.

"He's not a giant, though." Uta remarked.

"Still, he looks like a great warrior!"

"Sorgre's not a warrior either!"

"Eh?"

"Come again?" Hrid tilted her head confused, to which Uta responded with a smug smirk. "Despite the looks, he's a bonafide healer."

"WHAT?! No way!"

"Right, right, go wail about your broken expectations elsewhere if that's all you came here for."

"Wait, no. That's right." Turning to Hrid, he said. "You, you were at West Cross some days ago, right?"

"Uhh, yes, I was. Returning from a quest, but I guess that counts."

"So it was really you!" As if he had remembered something, the adventurer snapped his fingers. "Right, sorry for the late introduction. I'm Luke, from the Snakes of the River party."

"Snakes of the River, huh? I see..." Hrid nodded. "I don't know what this is."

"Ah, no wonder. We're a small party based on the surroundings of the Ghulin, so I guess you wouldn't know who we are..."

"Now I'm remembering something... Wasn't your party a bunch of farmers?"

"Fishermen! We still are fishermen!"

"Well, you seemed to have the smarts of a pea, but I guess the smarts of a fish aren't that much better."

"Hey, aren't you being a little bit cruel?!"

"You interrupted my well deserved rest!"

"Though you haven't done nothing yet to deserve it..."

"Hrid, you should take my side on this!"

"I just want to finish working and sit down to make my dinner."

"You're too simp-"

"That's right, I also need to finish my work too!" Luke starts to run off, turning back just to leave behind a statement. "I'll be backing down today, but don't think this is over yet!"

"Now I wonder, was he a fisherman or a bandit..."

After that encounter, the day passed peacefully with the work on the camp being done before the sun could hide behind the mountains. The following days, aside from the occasional visits by Luke to argue with Uta, were mostly filled by nothing but wandering around the camp, since there was nothing much to do while they waited. Not only Hrid, but some others were exploring the surroundings, although there wasn't much to explore since they couldn't get too far away from the camp.

At the evening of the third day, the expedition team came back from inside the ruins. One day before they were supposed to, the large group came carrying themselves heavily. Sorgre, coming back, was silent as always, but Yumi too hadn't said a word after coming back.

"What the hell did you guys stumbled with in that place?!" Uta asked, voicing out what most of the porter team was thinking.

"..."

Forcing a smile, Yumi dropped the bag she had been carrying. "We'll... talk about that once you come back. First, it's better for you to take the loads back to the Guild..."

"What about you two?!"

"We'll remain here at the camp for... a while, I guess? Now, don't worry, just escort Hrid back to Nagrand and come back after turning your own quest..."

After parting with the major part of the expedition group, the porters departed back to Nagrand with a small number of people from the expedition group as escorts.

"Ah..." Hrid muttered noticing rain starting to fall. The rains of winter's end accompanied them through the whole five days of travel back. Although the travel to Skyfall Keep was with a heavy load, but somewhat peaceful, the travel back had less load, but was just as heavy, or so it seemed to her.

Spoiler: Oral Report

"Hmmm... that's a bit complicated..." Although the last quest was tough to explain, she found herself even more confused in how she could explain this one. "I've met the expedition outside of town, accompanied them carrying the load as per requested... helped mounting camp and then brought things back?" Frowning, she said. "Although I would have wanted to report more, but the expedition was awfully silent after coming back and... ah, that's right. They came back earlier than what was supposed, and all of them quite beaten up, if that counts for anything on the report..."

@Naraku

Spoiler: OOC Notes

Well, I think that's the laziest report I ever turned in, since I had to cut a lot of things to actually get this done on time... over-planning is the arch-nemesis of lack of free time, I guess...

Anyway, sorry for the shitty report.

Also...

Hrid's current balance: 1 small copper coin
> Hrid obtained an extra backpack
> Hrid obtained a clay cooking pot
> Hrid obtained a mortar and pestle
> Hrid obtained a small pot of salt

Aside from that, the rest of her purchases were food that was consumed...

If you're wondering, Hrid may have been scammed on the hide, but that's par for the course.

 

Wut do I need to do for it ? *_*

 

OOC: Alright, one for each~
I need to buy my lunch and study, so sorry, I am a bit busy, can't give them in IC~

@The Everdistant Utopia, I will appraise your report later tonight~

 

Spoiler: Report

"Hum de di dum, on the road again~"

A gourd could be found lazily directing a horse along the road, leaning back on the military carriage. It's a nice carriage, wide and blocky with thick build so it could be used as emergency field fortification. That also means it could take a whole lot more load, which filled it to the brim.

"More of them? How annoying."

Several wisps of light could be found flying his direction. He learned the hard way that these guys detonated rather forcefully when they came near, it felt like getting whacked by a giant frying pan along with temporary disorientation. He made point to collect pebbles to fling at the elementals, some of them outright dispersing after a direct hit so at least they're not the bullshit immune to physical damage type.

Having shooed the wispy vermin, he continued unimpeded for a few hours before the other kind of pest decided to show up. Little water elemental, basically a half-meter moving blob of water, that shoots jets of water that packed considerable punch. And considering their nature, he had to run and whack them until they disperse too much to reform again. That got him sopping wet (again) with maybe a bruise or two. He continued the journey without delay.

The biggest bunch of annoyance was when he passed the middle point between the maelstrom and the tower, just as the people at the supply base warned. The elementals were deadlier and it showed.

Water elementals, now three meters tall, that could control water several times their own volume. He met those in the dungeon.

Light elementals, now humanoid instead of vague wisps of light, lobbing lances of light that detonated brightly and loudly. They also hovers, to an extent, about five meters off the ground.

"Sod off, would ye? Arcane Armament."

The drain that rapidly recovered in Sinatra Simetra's dungeon was much more lasting now, taking a considerably chunk of his internal mana. The incantation seeped into his blade, as well as the belt of iron throwing knives he requisitioned from the supply officer to dealing with enemies in the distance. They were skeptical but it's not much of a request, and the thing were gathering dust anyway so he got it.

Leaving the carriage so it's not impacted in collateral, he took the initiative to charge the water elementals first. Surging wave knee-high tried to trip him but a Hardlight platform formed that allowed him to leap over the attack.

His Brands glow with weak silver light, and is not smoldering.

Reaching the first elemental, his blade flashed and sheared a portion of it. The violet glow was a shade darker than before, it spread like poison through the elemental and slowed its rejoining to a crawl as it tried to expel the influence.

Five more slice and it just burst, showering the surrounding as he moved to the next.

Another water elemental went down before the lights came close to start lancing down. Three glowing knives hit the nearest one, upon impact each producing a puff that dispersed considerable portion of the elemental and dissipating it.

He rolled away from an explosive lance and sprung forth toward the last water elemental, the Vertigo brand sending him into a disorienting soar before plunging down on it. An overhead slash split it in two, both halves trembling from the arcane before another cut each stilled them.

The last seven knives only managed to take down one light elemental, they seemed to learn to try avoid those. He spun and flung his primary blade instead, it broke through a released lance of light and splattered the last elemental in a puff of violet and white.

"I hate chores."

Of course, now that the pests are dealt with he had to recall where the things he thrown were and retrieve them.

It took him a better part of an hour to find all the knives.

*****

"Delivery for Captain Nero, please sign here."

Spoiler: Note

@wraith I didn't know Nero got a side job

@AliceShiki

 

Neither did I. What a sneaky fellow.

 

My my, as efficient as always, aren't you? Never ceasing to amaze me~

Well, I hardly have anything to comment on, perfectly done Jack-san, the reward will be of 10 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points. Take care now~

((Oops, coming up with new NPC names all the time can be hard, I forgot your character's name for a second... Teehee~?))

 

No worries.

 

Spoiler: The festival

Having arrived at the headquarters of Nagrand's Amenities Fellowship in the southern end of the city, a quest I spontaneously chose, cause it sounded interesting and have now realised it was interesting cause I new nothing about any of the words. Anyway now I would have to find out exactly what amenities are. Walking into the headquarters area I waited till someone came and talked to me, it took a while as they were very busy. Someone finally came to talk to me and noticed my adventurer's guild arm band.
"Ahh I never thought we would get such a strange adventurer to come and help us out! I don't know if this is a good or bad thing though."

"Ahh yes what exactly is this place about? I haven't heard the word amenities used." Tera smiles politely at the lady in front of him.

"You will get it after you read the letter." Replies the lady with a faint smile. The lady hands Tera a letter that goes something like,

Spoiler: The letter

We are the Nagrand Amenities Fellowship our job is to appreciate the best workers from shops around the town, after all amenities make our lives more convenient so we wish to celebrate the people whom make our lives better doing the little things that make life easier in the town! Like the lovely people whom care for the orphaned kids, or the guild receptionists whom have to deal with all the problems that occur and make sure that the city doesn't have any major threats going on around it. *Especially the person whom made sure that the cats didn't get out of hand.* Anyway so if you have someone else in mind that should be thanked or you wish to help us there is a registrar out the front of the guild from tomorrow on wards I hope you can all help.

P.s. There will be a large celebration in the large open park near the centre of the city if you wish to attend please bring a small dish to share with everyone there.

Having read the letter Tera thinks about how to best help. "Hmm it seems I just need to get people excited by this. Ohh are there any good chefs among the group?" Tera turns to the receptionist after finishing the letter. With a great big smile upon his long face The young girl looks at him shocked. "Ehh you don't know that the head of the fellowship is one of the best cooks in the city?" Tera's face turns into complete shock at this answer. "Ehh I thought everyone knew it's why most of us joined after all~~"

"I now know how to publicise this committee! Expertly all we need is to advertise her cooking!" Tera's smile grows even bigger at the happy coincidence.

The next three of four days Tera begins spreading the news about the cooking and says that it will likely be first in first served as well. Ohh and he mentions to make sure to get everyone to nominate the people whom make their life easiest for the celebration. However of course he himself would never attend after all I can't cook at all.

Spoiler: Notes

IC: Hopefully it turns into a big success when it actually happens after all they were all so busy doing things.
Anyway the reason why I deposited this to you rather than Aria-chan is to ask if you can drag her along when the event occurs.
OOC: The celebration is likely to be big now that a master chef is said to be cooking up a plate of snacks for the event.
Tera did his best at drumming up attention for it for 3 days so let us hope it's a success!

 

Forgot to tag the receptionist @Naraku

 

"I'm back. That took a while."

Still bandaged, the black haired girl made her way to the counter.

Spoiler: Marks in the Night

When I hurried out of the city with my backpack, the guard asked me where I was off to this time. I told him that I was on my way to the city of Asphodelus.

“The City of Blood and Silver? In that case, you should be going by carriage, Missus. It is a really long distance on foot, and, well…”

“Well?”

“Nothing much. I know of a few caravans that are leaving very soon, you can join up with them if you like. With the way things are now, I bet they’ll be willing to bring along an adventurer who can fight.”

“Nah, I’ll walk.”

And so, I naturally went on a detour and took a whole extra day to reach Asphodelus.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I found the retired old hunter in a quieter part of the city, and from him, I learnt why he was so adamant that it was a werewolf. Apparently, the attacks didn’t always take place in deserted alleys in the dead of night, or something like that. There were cases where houses were found completely ravaged and torn apart, and that couldn’t have been the work of any mere beast.

“Take a look at the destruction if you don’t believe. One of the locations is just a few blocks away from here.”

When I got to the location he specified, and quietly snuck into it to check, I quickly found out that he was right, so I headed back.

Then, the old ex-hunter told me that the next full moon was that very night, and from the places that had already been attacked, he had deduced a possible location that would be next. After that, he told me to stay at his house, and rest up for the night ahead.

Naturally, we ended up making conversation, and the knowledgeable old man told me quite a few tales too, including his knowledge about how feral and wild animals behaved, and the basic tips of hunting, and such.

Near evening, I packed up, thanked him for his hospitality, and left. I had to go stock up on a few things at the general store before it was closed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
That night, I was camping right outside the specified house, on the watch. Apparently, the werewolf attacks had made civilians too afraid to go about at night, which was honestly fine by me. It was good knowing that there would be lesser casualties, since lesser people would get caught in the crossfire.

Eleven. There was nothing.

Midnight. Still no change.

One...I was somewhat distracted before I heard it. The howling of a savage wolf, but the issue was...It was coming from the distance. Not the house I had been watching, but in the vicinity. I immediately sprinted for the source.

“Let me be on time, on time, be on time...Please!”

When I got there, thankfully no one was killed yet. The werewolf had been held back by the sturdy doorway which was obviously too small, but it was furiously slashing away and the barricade obviously wouldn’t last. From inside the house, I could also hear frightened sobbing.

So much for setting traps...Well, here goes nothing. I pulled out my trusty rapier, and charged it.
----------------------------------------------------------------
On hindsight, trying to compete with a wolf in speed was a rather poor decision. I can already hear Haruna complaining when I think of showing her this shredded armour, which was the result of the brawl. It saved my life though, so I’m grateful, but just thinking about fetching another batch of materials to improve on the armour quality even more makes my head hurt.

Unlike what the myths said, the thing wasn’t immune to all physical attacks except for silver, but what it did have was an immunity to physical attacks. I stabbed it in the sensitive spots a few times, but it carried on attacking. The one thing that played out in my favour was the lack of maneuvering space due to the layout of the buildings, which slowed the larger beast down.

At some point, I lost a rapier and took out the spare, which was then snapped in half by a badly timed parry. I then tripped the wolf and flipped it into a nearby wall, before pulling one of those matador stunts and letting it charge at full speed right into a brick wall, dodging at the last minute. Then I charged with the recovered rapier, and managed to skewer it in the heart for the last time, watching it finally drop dead on the floor with a cry.

The damned thing fought like a wild beast (which it was), and everything from my arms to a good portion of my chest was lined with not-so-shallow cuts. It stung like hell, and I was really tempted to just lie down and pass out from the pain.

So I proceeded to do exactly that, except that I didn’t bother with step one, and instead just collapsed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
When I woke again, I was lying in a bed, and pretty much my whole upper torso and both arms were bandaged up excessively. Deja vu. The old couple who stayed in the house entered the room.

“Thank you for saving our lives.”

“Think nothing of it. I only did what I ought to do, no more. Though...How long was I out?”

“About three days.”

Three days?! I’d been unconscious for that long? I better hurry back and submit that report, but...

“Say, did they find out who it was?”

“They did; it was the town’s head gravedigger. I don’t know why he would do such a thing, though. He was always a timid and peaceful person.”

“I see...What a pity. Anyway, thank you for your hospitality. I must return with this news immediately; something about the situation worries me.”

Werewolves don’t get created overnight. This issue only appeared in the recent months, and only one werewolf was killed. This one was also feral, likely a victim of being unable to stop himself from turning. So...Who created that werewolf?

They tried to get me to stay a few more days and rest, but upon my insistence, the old man offered to send me to my destination. I wanted to turn him down, but he insisted as well, so the best I could do was convince him to send me halfway through, instead.

“Thank you, Elaine. Our doors will always be open to you if you drop by.”

The old man then straddled his horses to his wagon, and brought me out of the city. The two of us made small talk every now and then, watching the overhead clouds pass by lazily.

Winter was barely midway through, and the frosty weather in the East was overcompensating for the intense heat in the West. Even with the blankets in the wagon, it still felt like we were being frozen.

“Ojisan, still working at this age? Shouldn’t it be time for you to retire and play with the grandchildren?”

“Haha, if I had a granddaughter, she would be your age, Elaine. Hearing you say that feels weird.”

And so the conversation went on. Sitting down and talking to others freely, joking about nothing much in particular was more pleasant than I expected.

“Aren’t you already of marriageable age, Elaine? Found yourself a dashing husband yet?”

“Noooo!” *laughter*

During the few times we encountered hostile wild animals, I would stare at them for a while and they’d leave, but otherwise, the short journey felt rather refreshing.

The old merchant was considerate, too. He wasn't nosy, and whenever the subject broached topics that I was reluctant to discuss, he never pushed the issue. Instead, he shared more things about himself --- his life, family, and laughed heartily about how his children were probably going to convince him against travelling.

"They said I'm too old for this kind of thing already, haha. Perhaps they are right, but I can't just sit around all day and do nothing. Every so often, wanderlust takes hold, and I simply have to move my old bones again."

It became a habit for me to just sit quietly and listen; the old man's stories were not heroic or exciting in any way, but that was fine. In fact, it was precisely the simplicity that drew my attention. A normal life free of drama, something that I never got to experience myself...Surely, the old man had noticed my wistful expression, but out of consideration, he had not pointed it out.

Just like that, the two day journey passed like a dream for me, and we reached Hero’s Port on a fine dawn. I parted with the old man at the huge gates.

Just before we did, he gave me a piece of candied apple. Said that it was the sweet his grandchildren liked most, before turning his wagon back.

Time to head back to my own home too, I guess.

@AliceShiki

 

Mmmmmmmmmm, so you get severely wounded by the werewolf in the process? Might I suggest you do a checking with the local priests? Dunno how things are in Edhellen, but the legends back in Tasarin said that the werewolf's curse passed over having wounds... Just like yours~

Aside from that, great job. Hopefully there is nothing bigger going on in regards to this incident... We already have enough big things going on already... Haa...

Here is your reward, 12 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points. Take care~

 

Spoiler: Report

"How good are you at carpentry?"

"Never had much experience with wood, just a bit carving and cutting. But I chisel small stones into uniform shapes before, shouldn't be that much harder."

"That's good enough. Here's the symbol, just carve it on the wooden plates."

"...are you sure it's right?"

"Of course. I'd never mistaken Lord Raldtorias' unyielding mark."

"It's a massive spiked sword in a circle."

"It is. And quite well done too, now that you mentioned it."

"...I think I need to contemplate life."

*****

It's a simple enough job. Carve out a long, curved triangle, add the grooves that would be the spike, and finally finish by making a thin circle that surround the whole thing. The whole process takes no more than ten minutes.

He overextended his strength on the first few plates, but quickly got a hang on it. The wooden hammer lightly hit the iron-tipped chisel, scraps of wood gathered near his feet as he engross himself in the simple and repetitive task.

Sure brings back memory. Kadania woefully lacked metal, the few we acquire were made into tools to process what we have in abundance. The infamous Wraithfangs everyone made on their own, from chiselling stone into weighty projectiles and treating them with potent pessmud...

".. llo? Hellooo? Are you alright my friend? It's getting late, you seems quite engrossed in it." The priest from earlier is back. When did it get dark outside? "A good pile you got there."

"Yeah, I got to reminiscent a little. Give me five minutes, there's one thing I want to carve if you dont mind."

"Of course, you helped us a lot today."

The gourd finished with seventy eight carvings of holy symbol and a rather strange finger-thick curved thing with sharp ends.

@AliceShiki