*clack clack, clack clack*

The sound of a carriage along the road was a welcome sound to Diane, as they knew they were close to main road back in to town. As night fell, the darkness made it very difficult to find their way through the forest, due to its tall pines. Thankfully, the night sky was as clear as the day, but a slow moving cloud bank threatening to block out the moon worried her.

It was a very quiet trip, as she had no desire to potentially get the attention of any more monsters, and on top of that, her shoulder would not stop aching. The treatment was, after all, little more than a light patch to get moving.

Thistleman, on the other hand, was quiet for a wholly different reason. His miasma… felt strange to him. He recalled creating a “new” miasma when his objective was to destroy his old world, and he had built a complex array to help him do so. Which is why, he wondered to himself, it was so strange his natural miasma had that same feel to it.

Although the more he pondered it, the more he realized it, that maybe the two were never different after all? The sigils, the inscriptions and glyphs… all of it combined to make a compression and release mechanism! He just could never tell because his mind was so distorted back then, but he never made anything new, just released a more potent and concentrated version of what he already had!

However, the other conclusion he could draw from that… well, he hoped nothing strange would come of it. Too late now, what is done is done.

By showing their guild cards, and by carrying an injured person with them, they were able to quickly enter the city and made their way towards the adventurer’s guild hall.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The inevitable time had arrived. Tonight, the guild hall was running far slower than usual. There were a couple groups of adventurers sitting around some tables, making some late night plans for the following day, but the vast majority of adventurers who usually worked at night had packed up and left for the mercenary requests, with only the stragglers who couldn’t get one of the first ships out still in town.

Mr. Franz Falkiore was running the desk tonight, as the night shift attendant. He was a man of average height and a particularly slender build, known mostly for his… eccentricities. He wore white face paint, with a pair of small red triangles under each of his eyes. He also liked to wear funny-looking, frilly clothes and oversized red shoes. As to why he looked like that, he always said it was an old habit from his job in his previous life. Most people just took it as a joke, and treated it as another one of eccentricities, along with his talk of magicless self-driving carriages and handheld communication blocks. The craziest part to them though, was this “truck-san” who sent him here.

Eventually, he started believing it himself, and accepted his role as the town madman. However, that wasn’t before he got himself into the adventurer’s guild. By the time they realized he was a loony, it was too late and they already hired him, so they moved him to night shift reception.

Since he had so much free time compared to usual, he was working on another one of his odd pet projects. He was trying to create an odd, stretchy substance with which to, and yes, you’re going to hear this right, make animal shapes after filling it with air. To top it off, it will also float and you can hold it with a string. However, despite claiming it was a real thing, he had never learned the appropriate skills or knowledge to make it, since, according to him, he was “a high school dropout.” Not that anyone ever heard of one of those schools either. This never stopped him though, he relished his role as the madman.

He was so focused on his work, he didn’t notice the main doors open, nor did he notice the kids walking up to the desk until they were just a few feet away. Seeing Diane covered in blood and cuts, his immediate reaction was a little… extreme.

“Hmm, so if we try and adjust the formation here, and here, maybe I can repli… ah? AHHHHH! IT’S A GHOUL, A ZOMBIE, A CREATURE BACK FROM THE DEAD! DON’T EAT ME BABY ZOMBIE, I AM ONLY A CLOWN AND MY BRAINS DON’T TASTE THAT GOOD! Wait... ah? You aren’t a zombie here to eat my brains? OH MY GOODNESS, you are a true to life real child! Well, I’ll be, that is quite the amount of blood on ya! Gave this ossan a good old heart attack, you did! Now how can good old MR. Franz help you?”

*honk! Honk!* He pulled a tiny horn out of one of his pocket and blew in to it twice.

Diane, who was covered in two types of blood and chunks of flying insects, was temporarily frozen in a look of shock, revulsion and… fascination at this strange display.

Almost as if on the same page as her, Thistle chimed in with a quizzical head-tilt “You are a strange one, aren’t you? So… what kind of monster person are you supposed to be? I have never seen this… clown-type humanoid before.”

“Aha-whaaaat? ME?! A M-m-m-monster person?!? What could you possibly be getting at good sir, why I bid you a good day!”

“It’s night…”

“Oh, so it is, you are quite right. Oh well! So then, corpse disposal fee is 10 silvers, burial is another 5, and… 3 gold in bribes to the city guard.”

“This guy isn’t dead.”

“Oh, he isn’t? A shame. You sure? He could be, for an additional 10 silver cleaning fee.”

“You… you aren’t serious, are you? Because I can’t afford that.”

“The moon is quite pretty tonight, huh. I wonder, I heard it was made of cheese?”

Diane definitely isn’t in the mood to handle this exchange between Thistle and Mr. Franz, which is clearly going beyond the bounds of normal conversation.

“This kid isn’t dead, he is part of another adventuring group. The rest… didn’t make it. Can you please take care of him? And not in the killing way? Also, Thistle, turn in the rest of the goods. I just want to get this over with and go back to the Inn…”

Diane blurts all that out as quickly as she can, cutting in to the middle of the exchange and reasserting her dominance.

“What, oh, yes! Right away, here you go!”

Thistle unceremoniously tosses Haraldr at Mr. Franz, glad he isn’t his problem anymore. Mr. Franz looks a little shocked, not only at having an injured, unconscious man literally thrown on to him, but at the ease with which the small boy did it. Then, he also notices the overstuffed packs the boy is carrying. Something… is definitely off, when he gets the feeling that these kids are just as strange as he is.

Diane also seems mildly surprised, but she doesn’t say anything else for the moment and recovers her composure yet again.

Then, the dump. A half-dozen Giant Wasp cores, 30 ounces of Crow Grass, 30 ounces of Tuffle weed, and 25 ounces of Tonba berries.

Mr. Franz looks carefully at the monster cores, before picking one up and then looking at the kid’s plates.

“Where… did you get these? Please… tell me precisely what happened.” His tone had turned very serious, very quickly.

So Diane told him their story for the day, although she conveniently left out the part about the demon she saw. She could hardly believe what happened there herself, so instead she focused on the slaughter of the wasps, making it sound more like the nest was cleared between her and the direwolves.

She also said to leave half the money from the gathering quest for the unconscious Haraldr, since he would need it more than them. The other half would be the rescue fee. All in all, she made 8 silver and 50 copper for the gathering quest reward and 1 whole gold coin and 20 silvers for the monster cores.

Mr. Franz made a mental note to verify as much of the story as he could with Haraldr when he woke up. If true, he would need to have a very serious discussion with the branch manager or the assistant manager.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back at the inn, Ryme is pacing back and forth rapidly behind the counter, with two plates of food long since cold.

Jotuun, on the other hand, is sitting down at one of the empty tables, his eyes locked on the door.

“Jotuun, its getting late. It is getting really late. They should have been back by now, right?”

“Mmm.”

“They really did say they were going on a quest, right? But kids can’t take quests. But if they did, they should have been back by now. So why aren’t they back yet?”

“Mmm.”

“You don’t think they got hurt, do you? If they did, what should we do? Do you think the guard will look for them?”

“Mmm.”

“They wouldn’t listen to us anyways. They should have been here by now. I even made all this food for them. You don’t think they aren’t coming back, do you?”

“Mmm.”

“They have to come back. They paid for a week, you agreed to a week right? Who pays for a week and then doesn’t come back? Its rude! I will have to scold them for being rude guests!”

“Mmm?”

Jotuun’s ears perk up, and he gets up from the table so quickly that Ryme squeaks and jumps in surprise. Jotuun rushes to the door when he sees the handle start to open, grabbing the door and flinging it open.

Diane, with her hand still on the handle, feels the door rip open, flinging her inside.

“Eeeeeeeeeeiiiiiii!!!! I knew it, you really did take on a quest, didn’t you? Reckless! Reckless little girl! And look at you, your all hurt and covered in blood!”

Before she knew it, Diane was pounced on by this small Skeever, who had immediately started fussing all over her.

“Jotuun, start heating up their food again! You, missy, need to get cleaned up first! You are such a mess, ugh, and I just washed your dress last night! You need to stop treating such a nice piece of clothing so roughly? Do you even know how much this is worth? Reckless! You’re reckless! And you… what are you carrying in that bag?”

Ryme finally notices Thistleman standing near the door, clearly enjoying the show. Unbeknownst to her, he is mentally taking note of everything she is doing. Whether it will be of any use to him or not, he doesn’t know, but he suppose he can consider it appropriate “Auntie” behavior.

“Oh, this? It is our quest reward.”

“Yeah, we got it for killing some giant hornets and gathering some stuff. Hey, Auntie! I have a new job for you! Since you’re taking care of us, can you also handle the money too?? I don’t have anywhere else to keep it, and a good Auntie would definitely help us out with it, right?”

Manipulative little girl! She makes such a sweet, innocent face! Although this time, I can tell, she is up to something! I bet she just wants to bribe her way out of a scolding! Well, it couldn’t hurt, at the very least lets see what she earned

Rhyme’s thoughts were half-right. The reality was that Diane, even as the black sheep of the family, never had a proper concept of money. Other people always handled it for her. As for Thistleman, he was a peasant, and peasants were too poor to understand money (although in his case, she was also half right, as he was a terrifying demon, so he never had to pay for anything before.)

As Rhyme looks in to the bag, she squeaks again, quite loudly this time seeing the large sum of money in there. They would take months to earn a gold coin here, especially after taking out living expenses from their daily earnings! Her entire body stiffens, and all the shock and stress causes her to faint.

Jotuun lets out a loud, hearty laugh as he secures the door for the night.

“Niece and Nephew do good! Finally, Ryme stop worry so much!” He reaches down and picks her up, before setting her gently in to one of the chairs around a well cleaned table.

“Hurry, get cleaned before Rhyme wakes and gets mad. I heat up big, good meal!”

At the sound of all the noise downstairs, some of the other patrons come down the stairs.

“Hey hey, whats going on down here? Its getting a little noisy!”

An elf chimed in.

“Niece and Nephew finished first quest! We having party! They tell story after bath!”

“Rawr? A party! Count us is, woof!” A floppy-eared dog Canian, leading a small pack of his friends, follows down the stairs.

“Hum? Did I hear you say your niece and nephew finished a quest? I would like to hear what kind of feat the family of the Mighty Jotuun accomplished! Let’s get us a strong ale to go with it!” Even the solitary orcs came down to join in.

“Aye Aye!” The rest of the patrons chanted in unison, and soon the dining hall was getting very lively indeed. As Diane came down the stairs after her bath, she was shocked to be received by such a large, warm group. She did her best to tell the story, with everyone listening attentively. For them, as adults, it fulfilled their desire for a sense of adventure to hear the story coming from such a young girl. It also filled them with a sense of awe and pride, as she was able to accomplish things that even they could not do. However, it also meant that poor Ryme would stress out even worse for every quest Diane took in the future. While she wouldn’t admit it, she decided that she wouldn’t charge Diane to stay here with her and Jotuun for as long as they liked to be here.

Diane and Thistleman would not be getting to sleep until very late that night.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Mr. Franz was desperately trying to hunt down the Branch Manager. Shortly after the kids left, Haraldr woke up. Based on his recollection of events, he could not only confirm that Diane had been taken into the nest, and brought the direwolves there, but the fact that she made it back out with the party leaders backpack meant that the giant hornet nest had to have been wiped out. They would definitely need to send someone back out there to finish verification, but even with this presumptive verification, this… devil child accomplished a feat that even a full team of iron plate adventurers would be hard pressed to do.

Adding in the direwolves, her survival should have been improbable. No, not even, it should have been impossible! An 8 year old child, escaping from Direwolves and luring them into a Giant Hornet nest, slaughtering them, and getting away after? Such a thing had never been heard of before! Not even the greatest prodigies in the history of man have accomplished such a feat! The youngest noble to clear a giant hornet nest was 16 years old at the time, and even he had a healer with him!

Mr. Franz had checked everywhere. Neither the Branch manager nor the Assistant Manager were in their rooms, the lounge, the trainings are, or the pavilion in the back, nor in any of the various offices inside the hall. Finally, though, Franz found them on the highest patio in the building, facing the wilderness to the North.

He was breathing quite heavily.

Outside on the porch, both the Assistant Manager and Branch Manager were leaning on the rails, looking towards the distant mountain range. Clouds had finally finished covering the sky again, making it extremely dark out, with only the flicker of the torchlight creating ominous shadows. Both of them were wearing their hooded robes.

“Ah, Mr. Franz, I was wondering when you would show up.”

“S-sir, you were waiting for me?”

Something in his tone surprised Franz. The Njord guild managers were considered particularly eccentric, especially considering their hiring practices, and in spite of never leaving the guild, always seemed particularly well in tune to guild and city matters. Yet they should have had no reason to anticipate Franz coming here tonight.

“Hmmm? Yes, I believe you have a report for me.”

“How did you…?”

“It is of no concern. Please, continue.”

“Well, it is about Diane. I have a presumptive confirmation that she may have cleared an entire Giant Hornet nest, and in the process also lured direwolves into helping her do so, and escaping from them.”

“Hmmm, yes, and there is something else you would like to ask?”

The Branch Manager’s apparent disinterest was really throwing Franz off. Was he just being crazy again and taking this too seriously? He felt an almost forceful calming sensation.

“Well, I believe proper procedure would be to send someone to verify the reports, no?”

“There is no need for that. Actually, that area has become exceedingly dangerous since she left. Diane is quite the lucky girl. Raise the threat category of Brownrock Mountain to Orichalium. Post it as a local guild announcement. Ah, and about Diane, we will submit the final report in to the guild file. There is no need for you to worry anymore about this.”

“Yes, your right. There is no more need for me to worry any more about this. Thank-you for your time.”

Mr. Franz felt an extreme calm wash over him, and he had lost interest in pursuing the matter any further. He decided it would be best to continue to treat Diane and Thistleman as perfectly normal guild members, as he returned back to the counter to clean up for the night. Elsie would be very cross if he left her a mess, after all.

“Was that the right thing to do?” The hooded assistant manager asked the branch manager.

“Undoubtedly. If she were to make such a huge wave upon first arriving here, it would bring in the wrong kind of attention to Njord, don’t you agree?”

“Well, it is possible. Particularly in the higher ranked adventurers, they may try and seize an opportunity to claim Diane for themselves or their teams. But would that be wrong?”

“I believe that girl deserves some privacy to herself, don’t you? We wouldn’t want her to be snatched away from our guild, now would we? You do want to make it to Branch Manager, right?”

“Well, true. Do you think she is the key to do it? I mean, I never expected you to make Branch Manager before me, but I am still too far from being qualified. Also, why did you make Brownrock Mountain restricted?”

“I always fulfill my end of the deal. As for Brownrock… well, let’s just say my intuition tells me something really nasty is moving in there. Ah, one last thing, since it would be too strange for us to do nothing here, we should upgrade Diane with the Special (S) tag. It is usually given to individuals with notable potential, although lets avoid making a public declaration of the matter. We will also wait until she reaches an… appropriate age before allowing her to rank up.”

“I suppose you are right, as usual.”

The two hooded figures turn and go back in the guild. A powerful gust of wind snuffs out the torch as they walk through the patio doors in the guild hall.