Once they were down the stairs and on the main floor of the Guild Hall, Ken ran up to Sam, calling out so everyone could hear, "Sam! You forgot to take this after you bought it last night!" He handed her two bottles of Trillian Aged Cyan Death Whiskey when he got close. He whispered, "Compliments of Master Harold," then waved and trotted back to the bar before Sam could respond.

"Um, thanks," Sam said, too late for Ken to hear.

Dismissing the gifts into her storage, Sam and her party continued out of the Guild and off the grounds without incident.

As soon as they were out of sight of the Guild, Sam's party broke into a brisk run, trying and failing to look inconspicuous as they dodged around people in the streets. Quickly arriving in the lower district, Parish led them through smaller side streets and alleyways. If Sam hadn't had her mini map active, she would have been entirely lost when the Battle Healer stopped, holding her hand up to everyone just before they exited a narrow alley.

Coming up next to Parish and peeking around the corner of the alley with her, Sam saw the city wall and a small door she wasn't familiar with that had three guards posted in front of it. They were dressed head to toe in menacing black and silver armor and holding long spears nearly two times the length of their bodies. Sam couldn't see their eyes through the visors on their helmets and wasn't sure how they could even see out of them.

Parish dragged Sam back into the alley and said, "That is the Guild's gate. We use it for covert missions. The two guards are from the city, and the other is a guild member disguised as a city guard." When she saw the hopeful look on Sam's face, she warned, "Do not put too much hope in them easily letting us through. They will request proof that we need to use the exit and will be required to log it with the Guild and the city. We need to find a way past them without arousing suspicion."

“Kill guards? Eat?” Asked the muffled childish voice from Lupie’s backpack. Nara and Naris both jumped at the disembodied voice.

Sam said, "No, Nul. Stay hidden for just a little longer." Then, turning to Nara and Naris, Sam shrugged and said, "Summon token. I'll explain later." Getting trusting nods from both of them. Turning to Parish, Sam asked, "Do you have a plan?"

Parish nodded and said, "Follow my lead and let me do all the talking. Oh, and if this does not work, please do not kill the guards. Remember, they are innocent and just doing their jobs." She slapped her cheeks until they were a bit red, mussed her hair a little, and darted out of the side alley, running straight for the gate. After a brief moment of confusion, Sam and company took off after Parish, quickly catching up with her as she ran.

Seeing the party approach, the three guards brandished their spears and assumed a ready stance. "Halt!" One of them shouted when they were close and not slowing down.

“Step aside! We are on an urgent mission and require egress! By order of the—" Parish started saying, then stopped short just outside their spears' range, "Chad…I mean, Sir Chadwick?" She stared at the center guard, standing slightly behind the other two.

Sam had no idea how she could tell it was Chad. The armored guard looked exactly like the other two to her. But a second later, Parish was proven right.

Without taking his spear off Parish and not looking back, the guard that had told them to stop asked, "Sir, are these the ones we are looking for?"

Instead of answering the guard, Chad said, "Hi, Parish, I have to admit I didn't expect to see you here, even though I should have, I suppose." He shifted and dismissed his long spear into storage, pulling out a thick-meter-long club from his inventory. He shook his head and said, "Nara, we only want Sam and Lupie. You do not have to do this. Please step aside."

“No,” Nara and Naris said in unison.

Chad sighed, “Then you leave us no choice.”

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"Are you fucking mental?" Sam asked, pulling out a mana crystal from her inventory, "Have you forgotten who you're up against? I could literally vaporize you and your—" Chad moved faster than Sam thought he should be able to, considering his class focused more on strength than agility. With a muted thump, his club struck the guard to his right in the back of the helmet. Parish had started moving an instant before Chad and hit the other guard to Chad's left in the front of his helmet with a beam of white energy, causing him to drop his spear and cover his visor with his hands. Before the guard he hit slumped to the ground, Chad had already spun and slammed his club into the back of the blinded guard's head, knocking him out, too, "cronies…" Sam finished her threat lamely. She was now thoroughly confused. "I just met all these people. Does the Guild really mean that freaking much to them, or do they have an angle I don't know about? And how in the hell can I repay this kind of sacrifice they're making if they really are this altruistic?"

Chad dismissed his helmet and shouted, "Hurry!" Running to the small gate, lifting the beam, and locking it in place, he kicked the door open. "They won't be out long, and the memory wipe only lasts a few minutes after that!"

“Thank you, Chad,” Parish said as she ran past.

"That is two you owe me!" Chad yelled to her back.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," Nara said, stopping in front of him.

"You have no reason to trust me, Nara. I am not offended in the least. Now, please hurry. I was only the first sent here; more are already coming." Nara started past him, stopped, jumped up, and kissed him quickly before running down the corridor through the city wall.

Sam let Lupie and Naris run past before telling Chad, “I was totally going to kick your ass, you know.” Then she asked, “Why help us?”

"Because I know you are innocent of wrongdoing, but it was mostly for Parish. You can ask her later if she is willing to explain it, but now, please hurry." He responded.

“You need me to rough you up or something? So, you can claim that you were ambushed?” Sam asked with a wicked grin. Chad only held up his club and shook his head no. Sam identified the weapon as she started past him.

Forget-Me-Stick

Classification: Blunt Weapon

Quality: Legendary

Magical: Yes

Abilities: Amnesia; Critical Strike

A club crafted by the mad crafter Beato for reasons he has since forgotten. Striking someone from behind with this club will automatically result in a critical hit and inflict Amnesia on the target. If successful, Amnesia will cause the memories of the victim to be lost for the 60 minutes preceding the attack and 10 minutes after regaining consciousness. Note: mental resistance may change these times significantly.

Sam laughed as she ran down the corridor through the city wall, thinking, “I have no idea what I would use it for, but I still want that club!”

Exiting the end of the arched hallway into the sunlight outside the city, Sam turned to close the exit only to find there wasn't one. A solid stone wall met her gaze without any sign of the tunnel she had just run out of. Reaching out to touch the wall, thinking it was an illusion of some sort, she was again surprised when the surface was solid. Mana Sight gave her no indication there was an exit either. "That's neat," Sam said, still running her fingers over the wall. A slight cough from behind her caught her attention, and she turned sheepishly to see the entire party staring at her. Snapping her fingers, she said, "Oh yeah, we were escaping, weren't we?"

In response, Parish said, "Follow me," and took off toward the tree line a few hundred meters away. Everyone started after her. It was slow going through the rocky terrain, but they made it to the relative safety of the trees in only a few minutes.

Once they were in the forest, Sam saw Parish had led them to a small path that looked more like a game trail than anything else.

After about an hour of running down the trail, Parish stopped and motioned for everyone to gather around. Once she had everyone's attention, she said, "We have two options here. We can go south around the mountains and cross the border a few kilometers past where we fought in the event yesterday. Or we can make our way north and use a cave network to access the Beastlands. Both options have dangers. The southern route is the easiest and fastest but will be the most likely route taken by anyone who may be trying to follow us."

“And the northern route?” Sam asked.

Parish looked unsure as she answered, "I have never taken either route, but I know from accounts the caves can be confusing, and it is easy to get turned around if you don't know where you are going. There are also high-level creatures in them in the eighty to ninety range, many of them elites."

“Are there any E-grade monsters?” Sam asked, remembering the brood mother.

"The elites will not evolve until level one hundred and fifty or higher," Lupie said confidently. When everyone turned to her, she shrugged, saying, "I'm an elite." As if it explained everything. Which, Sam supposed, it did in a way.

"Lupie is correct," Parish added. Then asked, "So which shall it be?"