Slicer and Patsy selected an escort quest, to act as scouts for a caravan that was headed to Parvaane, a small city to the north of Foraville. According to the supplementary information the journey would take about two weeks and pass through an extensive range of wooded hills.

Slicer subjected Patsy to some intensive tutoring about woods, hills and land devoid of houses so that she could at least pass herself off as a novice scout.

They presented themselves to the caravan master at dawn, Slicer introduced Patsy as his apprentice, some haggling ensued but the merchant accepted their services albeit at a slight discount.

The caravan consisting of sixteen large wagons somewhat reminiscent of the Conestoga wagons of old earth, and seven assorted smaller flimsier looking wagons set off an hour after dawn. They were guarded by a small troop of mounted mercenaries, two adventurers, one a mage, also mounted and three scouts namely Slicer, Patsy and another adventurer, a half-orc named Garostein.

The first two weeks passed without incident and allowed Patsy to gain some experience and abilities in the – for her – alien environment. She also surprised Slicer by being fairly proficient with a sling.

Then Patsy located a group of bandits preparing an ambush, well to be honest she stumbled across them and it was only with great good fortune and the fact they weren’t keeping a watch to their rear that she avoided detection and an early death.

She fled back to the caravan and informed the leader of the mercenaries before moving on to inform the Caravan leader.

After the Leader of the Caravan and the Captain of the Mercenaries with the two adventurers discussed the situation, and woke Garostein who was the night scout for his input a plan was decided on. Patsy would lead a small force to ambush the ambushers with Garostein’s assistance. The Caravan Master explained that it was a precaution as Patsy was still an apprentice. She smiled and assured him that she was happy to have an experienced scout along to prevent her from making a mistake.

Silomar the Voyager watched the ambush party leave, thankfully his scouts spotted the bandits in time, he watched as the mage cast a basic illusion on those of his people mounted on the horses left behind by the mercenaries heading off into the wood so that they would look like regular guards. They would follow on behind the caravan pretending to be the rearguard.

He felt frustrated, in normal times he would have had a larger guard and those bandits wouldn’t have dared attack him.

Garostein watched out for any signs that the bandits were awaiting them, the little one had left a clear trail due to her haste in getting back to the caravan with her news, he would have to advise her that a little less haste and a bit more care would be better and improve the chances of getting the news back.

The bandits were set up with a main body of melee fighters in the centre and a few archers on each flank. The sergeant in charge of the detachment gestured for the scouts to harass the archers whilst he led the attack on the main body. The signal for their attack would be the distinctive call of a Dawnwing.

Barely had Patsy selected a location that would allow her to use her sling than she heard the signal. She froze for a moment, those were people, but then she thought of the people she had come to know over the past two weeks and spun her sling.

On the other flank Garostein cursed silently, the signal had come too soon, oh well his current location would have to do, he drew his bow and started to shoot.

The Sergeant incensed, what idiot had just sounded the signal to attack, There was nothing he could do about it now so he just waved his sword and led the charge into the back of the bandits formation.

It was carnage, the rear ranks had virtually no armour or weapons and surprise was total. On the flanks several archers fell before they even realized what was happening. The bandits broke and tried to flee. The melee fighters fled into the open area flanking the road hoping to reach the wood on the other side but they just gave the mercenary cavalry a virtually target, first the horse archers peppered them with arrows then the lancers charged them quickly followed by the horse archers now wielding their sabres.

The bandit archers on the other hand broke back into the wood. Garostein experienced in these things swung behind a large tree and let them flee past before seeing them off with a few more arrows. Patsy lacking experience froze for a second dropped her sling and hauled out her new short sword. She pointed at the fleeing bandits and managed to impale one whilst the rest ignored her and disappeared into the forest.

ting: Your achievements have allowed you to gain a class – You can choose between Slinger, Rogue or Ranger.

‘Ranger?’

ting: Level up – level up – congratulations all current skills and abilities are retained – Class Ranger level 2.

* * *

Antonio begrudged the time he spent analyzing the spoils of the previous nights fight, it looked to him that the group had been seriously unprepared for an underwater fight. He gained a couple of potions out of the affair, Water Breathing and Healing – weak healing at that – and possibly a spell book with a handful of spells. And most annoying of all that needle that pointed directly at him, not his domain as Lilly has told him was common. He was able to duplicate it but that meant he had to waste a good part of the gains from the night. Finding a way to block that and similar magics was now a priority.

After talking with Felicia and Moonbeam they decided to present Lilly with the dwarf’s guild badge, the strange isolated container the mage had been carrying and the needle.

So somewhat later, when the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky Felicia emerged from her tunnel, stretched sensuously and resumed her catkin form before going to find the representatives of the Adventurers Guild.

Lilly had updated Elorinal and Silverfin on the night’s events and they soon came to the conclusion that they didn’t have enough information to make any decision beyond upgrading the danger level represented by this dungeon.

Then they saw the dungeon’s voice walking towards them carrying a small plastic supermarket bag. Felicia stopped when she reached them, her face unsmiling.

“Antonio has a few questions, why did some adventurers invade his domain last night? He thought it had been established adventurers would come during the day. Why didn’t you mention these?” Felisia fished around in the bag and passed over a needle wrapped in string, “and just what is this?” she passed over the insulated container. “Oh and this is yours I believe,” and she tossed the Dwarf’s guild badge at their feet. Then she waited with her head cocked to one side.

Lilly trotted out her best poker face, Elorinal and Silverfin likewise kept quiet.

“Why, unfortunately we can’t control everyone’s choice, especially here in Midgard where we have not been officially recognised. As tor the enchanted needle it is a device for locating dungeons...”

Felicia interrupted, “don’t you mean a device for locating dungeon cores!”

“... And the container that is usually used to transport delicate magical objects.” Lilly glanced down at the badge lying in the sand at her feet, “do you have the other four?”

Felicia needed all her willpower to prevent her tail from lashing, Moonbeam was right they had a way of knowing when someone was killed in the dungeon. “No, the others weren’t carrying any identification that we could find.” Her ears flattened slightly, “so they were seeking Antonio and carrying a container to carry him away. Jezebel had every right to kill them.” She perked her ears up, smiled ironically and, “Wouldn’t you agree? Bye!” Felicia turned and walked away.

Elorinal picked up the guild badge, “Votun of Ironcrag. Warrior and Intermediate ranked guild member. Badge issued four years ago in Vergasso. That’s a port town about two days travel from Foraville.”

“So now what, that clever little voice knew we were hiding things, now she has proof. And just what is Jezebel that can take out a party of five adventurers that included an intermediate ranked warrior and at least one mage.”

“Hold on Silverfin, Felicia didn’t say Jezebel killed them all, or even that she was alone.”

Lily squinted out to sea where the waves were breaking over the low-lying island. “You’re right Elorinal, but it does mean Antonio has two named mobs already.”

* * *

Ashes was getting better at English and was able to make her saviors – or should that be captors – aware of all she knew about The Empire and its capital, she also admitted that her knowledge was limited and came from the bottom of society, not the absolute bottom for that was where the slaves were to be found. Her interrogators were truly shocked and horrified at some of her tales.

After some time she was placed with a prosperous local family and after some initial wariness she settled down happily. The Ericksons were pleasant and their son Dennis though weird soon became a friend.

Time passed relatively quietly, computers were bewildering, dumber than a golem but full of knowledge, Dennis seemed to have a knack with them that she suspected was magical, school on the other hand was a shock.

* * *

Judy O’Riley received a call from her editor and boss shortly after her plane landed at Orly airport in Paris, she and Roger FitzGerald her camraman were soon seated in a mostly deserted lounge indulging in a teleconference with their editor and a couple of senior reporters. They viewed the short surveillance clip with it’s scratchy soundtrack and were given a translation.

“This occurred about six hours ago in Oslo at the Norsk Folkemuseum, do either of you recognize the girl?” asked Clip Johnson their editor.

Robert glanced at Judy realised she was hesitating because she was loath to commit herself and replied, “Yes sir, that’s the girl that crashed the Russian’s Press Conference.”

Judy nodded grudgingly.

“OK, you’re booked on the next flight to Oslo, hopefully this Nadia will still be at the Russian embassy, check your email when you arrive, we’ll send you what we can.”