There were two other adventurers seated at one of the tables early in the morning when I arrived in the guild hall. The bar was not open yet so they were probably here for the escort mission as well. One of them was a big burly man with dark brown hair while the second person had a lean build with short blonde hair parted in the middle.
They both seemed to know each other as they were talking in low voices and the blonde guy seemed to have a haughty expression whenever he spoke. I sat a few tables away from them, mask on and with my arms folded while I waited for the client to show up. The blonde guy looked over and seemed to sneer at me, before going back to the quiet conversation with his companion.
What the... what's his problem? I wondered to myself.
I reminded myself not to stir any trouble, but it was unavoidable that my mask would draw some attention. I only hoped that my potential employer would not have a problem with it.
It didn't take long for three more people to walk into the guild hall. There were two men and one woman. The man in the lead and the woman looked dressed for combat, both wearing leather armor. The man had a sword by his waist, which indicated that he was probably a close range fighter whereas the woman had a staff on her back, which I had assumed was standard setup for someone who leaned more heavily on their spells for combat. The last man was dressed in simple overalls, probably the client who had hired us for the job.
I had expected that the client would approach us but it was the man with the sword who approached the three of us sitting at the tables.
"Thank you for coming, I'm assuming the three of you are here for the escort mission to Saltmere?" the man looked at the three of us for confirmation, which we returned with a simple nod before he continued.
"My name is Stannis, and my partner here is Brynna. Malmon here is the client that has requested the escort mission. You might be wondering why I'm the one providing the briefing instead of him and I'll get to that in a bit."
Malmon and Brynna took a seat near Stannis while he continued his briefing.
"There are two others in Malmon's group but they are busy attending to the wagons and getting ready for our departure. Now, as for the strange nature of our request, it is because Brynna and I lost one of our party members on our way here."
I perked up at the mention of that, so did the other two seated at the other table. Stannis had intentionally paused, waiting to see our reaction before he continued.
"The road between Hollow's Reach and Saltmere is usually quite safe, with the occasional monster attack when they wandered too near the edge of the forests. However, in the last year or two there have been increased reports of bandit attacks. Malmon's caravan worked with us regularly and we initially thought we should be able to handle any potential encounters." Malmon lowered his head at the mention of that, probably regretting his decision to ignore the bandit reports.
"Unfortunately, the bandit group that attacked us this time was larger than usual. We did kill a few of them while the rest fled, but one of our party members succumbed to his injuries before we could get to town and find a healer. Brynna and myself also had to take a few days to recover from our wounds." Stannis looked at Brynna when he said that, and she had a gloomy expression. Death in adventurer business was probably not uncommon but it was always hard losing a party member you were familiar with.
"Moving forward, we would be increasing the size of the escort but we do need additional party members for our trip back to Saltmere this time, hence Malmon here has agreed to provide a bonus for the one way escort service. We initially wanted another 4 but we are pressed for time so we would have to make do with just 3 more." Stannis paused longer this time, waiting for us to absorb the fact that we would need to make the trip back ourselves. It had been mentioned in the mission poster but he had clarified again to leave no room for doubt.
"If you're still willing to accept with those conditions, we can move on to quick introductions and any questions you might have."
The blonde dude shot his hand up and spoke before Stannis called on him "Yes I have one question, what's his deal? Are we alright with someone who keeps himself masked? He could be working with the bandits for all we know"
I was starting to get really annoyed with that blondie at this point. I was about to speak up to defend myself when Malmon spoke up after Stannis gave him a look.
"I've spoken to Miss Sennika and she vouched for his identity. Unfortunately we don't have enough people and I would prefer more security for the caravan, especially after the last attack" Malmon said.
"If you don't mind fellow adventurer, I am also curious as to the reason you're wearing that mask. Not that I would expect you to remove it" Stannis added.
"You can call me Damian, Mister Damian" I decided to introduce myself first to prevent another round of misunderstanding, also partially to buy myself a few seconds to come up with a plausible excuse for the mask.
"I had an unfortunate accident when I was young that left a very bad scar. People have given me weird looks growing up and I became very insecure. If you don't mind I would like to keep this mask on, just so you wouldn't lose your appetite when we make camp"
For some weird reason, I thought I heard a quickly suppressed burst of laughter coming from the reception.
"I trust that settles it then?" Stannis looked over at the blonde guy. The big burly man just shook his head, looking like he was disappointed at his companion's antics.
"Hmph. Fine. I'm Fallic by the way. Wind mage, I typically play the role of a scout." Fallic crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
His name sounded weird, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it.
"I'm Haeken, I apologize for Fallic's remarks. He's just being cautious" he stood up and gave a knock on Fallic's head, before bowing towards me.
"I have an Earth affinity and usually play the role of front line" Haeken added before sitting down again.
Ah what a nice guy, I like him already. Stannis then looked over at me. It was a good thing I had my mask on as I gave him a puzzled look before realizing that I had not mentioned my affinity and my role. Ah crap, what's my role? I had no idea what were the standard terms adventurers used in this world.
"Lightning Affinity" that earned a gasp from Malmon "I'm not familiar with the terms Vesperian Adventurers use as I'm from High Moor, but I would say I'm good at ranged spells"
"Ah, a striker then, perfect. You'll complement Brynna's water magic nicely. She's a hybrid between striker and support. I have an Earth affinity and am a front line like Haeken" Stannis gestured to his scabbard by his side.
Stannis waited for a bit, and when there were seemingly no more questions from anyone, he finally said "If there are no more questions, let's meet at the break of dawn tomorrow at the East Gate near the wagonyard. We'll depart then"
The morning summer sun was bearing down on us the next day. I had taken off my cloak as I was sweating from the heat, coupled with the mask which made it extra stuffy in this humidity. What a stupid mask, I should really ask Garrick for a refund. At least Malmon was kind enough to let us put our backpacks in the wagons.
We were walking on the sides of the wagon, Haeken and I on one side while Stannis and Brynna were on the other side. Fallic took the lead as the role of the scout. Apparently he had some air sense spell that let him detect movements from far away.
"I hope you didn't take what Fallic says to heart, he's a good lad. He just lets his talent get to his head sometimes." Haeken suddenly said.
"Ah, I've already forgotten what he said" I said nonchalantly. I was looking at the wagons, impressed by their sturdy make — which made Garrick's wagon look like a toy in comparison. Haeken probably thought I was looking in Fallic's direction upfront.
"So I heard you're only Bronze rank but decided to take this mission. We don't get many adventurers with Lightning Affinity in Vesperia but I know you lot have strong attacks. Your defenses though, are something to watch out for. Just don't get over confident" Haeken said it more like a concerned senior, rather than with a condescending tone.
'Something to watch out for' was an understatement. I had zero defensive spells, relying purely on my evasion. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind"
Most of the trip during the day was uneventful. We stopped for a quick lunch, which made everyone stare at me, wondering how I was going to eat. I had to tear bits of my dried bread and slip it under my mask, which earned a quick snigger from Fallic. The rest of the trip was uneventful until we had to make camp for the night.
"Let's make camp up ahead, there's a clearing up on the side of the road with enough clearance from the woods. We'll also need to set up camp while there's still light" Stannis looked at me as he said the last sentence, almost as if he was explaining for my benefit. I was after all the only Bronze ranked in the party.
There was a light breeze by the time the sun was starting to set. We were all sitting around the camp fire, sharing a pot of stew that Malmon had graciously offered. Usually the escorts were responsible for their own food unless there was some pre-agreement upfront.
"So why the rush anyway? If we had waited a bit longer we might have even gotten another two Steel ranked adventurers to come with us. No offense young friend" Haeken said while directing that last remark at me.
"The number of bandit attacks have increased, not only on the route between Saltmere and Hollow's Reach. While Saltmere gets fresh fish, their supply of grain and other food was getting dangerously low. Our company has a commitment to ensure the food supply as one of the few companies that gets an exclusive contract to trade salt with house Brinemark" Malmon said.
"If there are already confirmed reports of bandit attacks, why didn't you just hire more escorts to begin with?" Fallic asked.
Malmon and Stannis exchanged a look. "That's our company's fault actually. The guild recommended we get more escorts but our boss wanted to save money to preserve his margins. He argued that the sightings were only on the routes by the coast. Stannis only agreed to help us out because we've been working together for so long. It was unfortunate what happened to Greyvon" Malmon said in a low voice.
Fallic was about to say something else when I interrupted him "Shush, there are two people approaching from up the south." I had been running my Electro Perception since this morning and never really turned it off.
"What? I didn't sense anyone... oh wait, I think someone's coming. The wind's interfering with my spell" Fallic said with his brows furrowed and shot me a look, probably because alerting the party to people approaching was supposed to be his job. In all honesty, I had given him a few seconds but I was not sure whether he was distracted or my detection range was further than his.
All of us stood up with weapons ready. An old man and a young girl walked into the light once they were close enough. Everyone visibly relaxed when they realized it was not bandits.
"Greetings fellow travelers, I was wondering if you would mind sharing the fire with me and my granddaughter. We're just travelling up to Hollow's Reach. We've brought our own food and are just looking for safety in numbers" the old man croaked.
"You're more than welcome to join us. There's enough food for everyone so please help yourself" Malmon ushered them to sit with us by the fire.
"Alright, since most of us had our supper let's set up our watch rotations. Ideally we should have 6 of us but we only have 5. Brynna can you take first watch? Malmon and the others will still be awake for the first few hours so they can also help keep a look out" Stannis said as he stood up. Brynna gave him a silent nod, indicating that she didn't mind.
"Alright, originally I had wanted Fallic to take the last watch with me but it seems that Damian here has a further detection range. How come you didn't say you had a sensing spell?" Stannis asked.
"Never played the role of a scout before so I wasn't sure" I just said while shrugging my shoulders.
"Fallic and Haeken, do you mind taking the middle watch? Apologies for making the two of you do it." Stannis looked at Haeken and Fallic.
Fallic looked like he wanted to say something when Haeken placed a hand on his shoulder and replied on behalf of them both "More than happy to, we'll go get some rest first"
"Damian, you're with me. The last watch is the most prone to an ambush and your further range on detection would give us more time to prepare if we were really attacked" Stannis said at last. I just gave him a nod before heading over to my backpack to prepare my bed roll.
It was really uncomfortable sleeping with my mask on and it took me a while to fall asleep, especially when I was running various scenarios through my head. It felt like it had only been a few hours when I was woken up by Stannis.
"It's our watch now" he gently shook my shoulders.
I quickly got up and joined him in the middle, the fire already put out hours ago to make sure whoever was standing watch was not night blinded by the fire.
Stannis seemed friendly enough during the briefings but he was quiet most of the time, rarely engaging in small talk. He was probably still processing the death of his friend, and I was more than happy to give him the quiet he needed.
Less than an hour into our watch, I saw a flicker of movement in my vision. The bright blue shape that was unmistakably human appeared in the direction of the forest.