Anna rested her hand on the pommel of her sword and watched as the guard unlocked the gate that led down to the sewer.

“Alright, here you go,” he said.

He pulled the gate open. The hinges let out a loud pop followed by a squeal as the corrosion that held them shut broke free. The party walked inside, and the guard closed and locked the gate behind them.

“Good luck down there!” he said.

“Thanks,” Voekeer replied.

They headed deeper into the sewer, traveling down a long flight of stairs before reaching another opening which led to one of the many large drainage tunnels that carried waste out of the city above. Elaine waved her hand over a lantern she had hanging from her belt, and it started to glow with a sickly green light.

Foul water flowed down a trench in the center of the tunnel, and pathways were built on either side so that workers, or adventurers, could safely navigate the underground passageways.

“So, how far until we reach the area we need to clear?” Elaine asked.

Voekeer took out the map they had just purchased from a local map maker and looked it over.

“It’s about ten minutes unless we start running,” Voekeer replied.

“I’m not running anywhere. I’d rather not breathe this stink in any faster than I already am,” Elaine replied.

“It’s not that bad down here,” Anna added.

“Child, what in the world have you been smelling if you think this stench isn’t that bad?” Barika asked.

Anna smirked and then shifted to the side and lifted her leg slightly before unleashing flatulence so loud that the sound echoed off the walls. The smell wafted past her friends a moment later, and they started to gag and cough. Even Thokri scrunched up his nose and waved his hand in front of his face.

“Stone One’s hairy asshole! What have you been eating, lass?” he asked.

“Stew with lots of potatoes, ale, and strange critter meat, raw,” Anna replied.

“I don’t know if I should be disgusted or impressed,” Voekeer said.

“You should be disgusted! Now come on, it’s lingering!” Lyreen replied

The elf stormed off, with the rest of the party following close behind her.

A few minutes later, they reached an intersection in the sewer system and took the path to the left. After traveling for a few minutes, she heard the soft squeaking of rats in the distance.

“We’re getting close,” she said.

“I know. I hear them, too,” Voekeer replied.

“How are we doing this?” Anna asked.

“We’re normal adventurers in this city,” he replied.

She drew her sword.

“Gotcha,” she said.

The rest of the party readied their weapons before they continued on down the path. She spotted the giant rat soon after. The beast was the size of a large dog and was currently gnawing away on some piece of filth it dredged out of the vile sewer water. She pointed her sword at it.

“There’s one,” she said.

Her friends paused and looked into the gloom for a moment before spotting the rat themselves.

“So, who wants to get it?” Voekeer asked.

Rose held up her bow and Voekeer nodded. She took a step forward and pulled an arrow from the quiver at her hip. It was a simple arrow with a plain iron head on a cheap shaft that used goose feathers for fletching. They weren’t the usual arrows she carried, though using dwarven-made arrows to kill rats, even giant ones, in a sewer was a bit of a waste.

Rose notched the arrow and then drew her bow, lining up the shot for a moment before letting the missile fly. It streaked across the sewer and slammed into the rat, punching right through its chest. The rat let out a pained squeak and then fell over, flopping around for a moment before going still.

They walked over to the corpse, and Anna poked it a few times with her sword to make sure it was dead. Once they were satisfied that it was indeed dead, Rose yanked her arrow out and Thokri hacked off its tail, stuffing the floppy appendage into a roughly woven sack before they pushed the dead rat into the sewage. She watched as it floated away before they walked away.

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They encountered another three rats in the next few minutes with Elaine and Lyreen making quick work of them with their spells. Next, they encountered a swarm of giant cockroaches. Elaine blasted them with a cone of green flames, and then Anna snapped off their antennae and tossed them in the sack with the giant rat tails.

Suddenly the water seemed to move, and a sharp smell filled the air. A large slime oozed out of the water and onto the walkway, heading right for them. Anna darted forward, shoved her sword into the slime’s thick membrane, and drove the tip of her sword into its core.

The moment the sword penetrated the core, the slime stopped moving and started to go slack. She slowly pulled her sword out, using the blade to cut a larger hole in the membrane in the hopes of getting the core out without it falling off the blade.

After some careful maneuvering, she managed to extract the core still on the sword and held it up like some kind of bizarre kabob. She waved it back and forth to dry off the slime that clung to it before taking it off the blade and dropping it into the sack with the other vermin parts. She pushed the slime’s carcass into the water with her foot, watching it sink down beneath the surface.

“Those things are so nasty!” Lyreen said.

“I don’t know. I kind of like them. They’re all squishy and jiggly,” Anna replied.

“Gross!” Lyreen said.

They continued their hunt, spending the next few hours clearing out the area of the sewer marked on the contract. They ended up filling four sacks with vermin parts which was far more than the amount required to complete the contract. They left the sewer.

Heading back to the entrance, Voekeer rapped on the gate when they reached it, and the guard sauntered over, unlocked the gate for them, and pulled it open. They filed out, and he closed and locked it behind them.

They walked away from the sewer entrance and headed back to the main street that looped around the outer ring of the city. People scurried out of the way as they walked, giving the party a wide berth as they made their way down the street.

I guess there’s one good thing about smelling so bad.

They arrived at the adventurer’s guild just after noon and walked inside. It was busy with well-dressed adventurers seated at the many tables, standing in front of the contract boards, or waiting in line to see an attendant.

As the party made their way to the rear of the building, the other adventurers scattered just as the people in the streets had, allowing them to walk right up to the counter.

Anna and Thokri placed the sacks on the counter, and vile fluids oozed out of the bottoms onto the polished wooden surface. With a look of utter disgust on her face, one of the guild attendants opened the sacks and began to remove the contents, placing them on the counter next to the sacks in neat piles based on species.

As the piles grew larger, curiosity overtook their disgust, and the other adventurers started to gather around. Once the attendant finished, she wiped her hands off on one of the sacks before taking the contract from Voekeer.

“I’ll have to go to the back to get your reward. We don’t keep that much silver up front,” she said.

“That’s fine,” Voekeer replied.

She turned to walk away, nodding at some of the other attendants who walked over and started to stuff the piles of vermin parts back into the sacks before tying them closed and carrying them away.

Anna took out her cleaning ring, put it on before walking over to the counter, and held her hand out. She gently pushed mana into the ring, activating its complex spell. A soft light flowed out, and the filth started to disappear.

Once the counter was cleaned off, she took her ring back off and put it back into her belt pouch. She winked at the attendants who were watching, causing them to grin. The attendant returned carrying a large bag of silver coins and placed it on the counter.

“There you go. Is there anything else I can do for you today?” she asked.

“No, that’s all,” Voekeer replied.

“Have a nice day,” she said.

“You, too,” Voekeer replied.

Voekeer picked up the bag of silver, and they walked away from the counter. They went to one of the tables and sat down. Voekeer dumped the bag of silver onto the table and started to count it out.

She glanced at the coins as he carefully placed them into stacks of ten. On one side was the profile of a man with a strong jaw and a hooklike nose. On the other side was the stylized image of the sun with the words ‘May the light guide our way’ in old imperial. Voekeer finished quickly and then pushed a few stacks towards each of them.

“Honestly, we made more than I thought we would,” Voekeer said.

“Aye, there were a lot more critters down there than I expected,” Thokri replied.

“That’s probably because no one takes the extermination quests on a regular basis. I mean, just look around, you think any of these cream puffs are going to slogging around in a sewer hunting vermin for a few silvers?” Anna said.

Her friends looked around at the well-dressed men that filled the adventurer’s guild for a moment.

“Aye, you got a point there, lass,” Thokri replied.

“Well, whatever the reason, it means more easy work for us,” Voekeer said.

“It might be easy, but it still stinks!” Lyreen replied.

Anna grinned at her.

“I swear by the Tree’s leaves, if you do it again, I’ll stuff a cork in your ass!” Lyreen snapped.

“You promise?” Anna asked.

Lyreen got a disgusted look on her face, causing Anna to burst into laughter. Her friends started to laugh a moment later, and even Lyreen managed to crack a smile.

“You really haven’t changed, have you?” Lyreen asked.

The smile fell from Anna’s face, and she sighed. She took the stacks of coins from the table and put them in her belt pouch before standing up.

“Come on, let’s go get washed up,” she said.

Her friends were shocked by her sudden change in mood. They stopped laughing, a concerned look on their faces. She pushed the chair back under the table and walked away, heading for the door. Thokri jumped up and rushed over, grabbing her by the arm and spinning her around to face him.

“What’s got into you, lass?” he asked.

How am I supposed to tell him I’m different now? How do I even explain everything I saw and did? How can I explain that there might be something wrong with the way I feel? I just can’t do it right now.

“Nothing, I just really want to get washed,” Anna replied.

She fully expected him to press her about her outburst, so when he just let go of her arm and gave her a pat on the shoulder, she wasn’t sure what to do.

“Aye, let’s go get cleaned up,” he said.

The rest of the party joined them a moment later, and then they left the adventurer’s guild.