I pushed myself up as blood dripped onto the coarse sand underneath me. The thousands of spectators chanted my name in a three syllable chorus. I disregarded the pain in my face, legs, and side. I grabbed my blade and started forward. The heavily armored knight turned, a frown crossed his lips, visible from his open faced helmet.

"Are you serious? This doesn't have to be to the death." He said, his statement ending with his lips pressing into a thin line, because yes, yes it did have to be to the death.

He lifted his sword as I ran at him. I didn't quit. I didn't stop. And I didn't lose. I reversed my grip on my short sword and flung myself at the man. He tried to bat me away with his blade, but I parried, not well enough. His sword pierced through my abdomen in an explosion of pain as we collided. He fell back with me on top of him. His sword was trapped. He tried to reach up and grab my horn, but I batted the arm away with my shortsword before driving the point in between his helmet and gorget. He batted at me weakly as I pushed the blade in farther, my own blood splattered spittle splattering his face as he coughed up red. The world seemed to fade, the roar of the crowd became distant. The darkness started creeping in. Then the bastard pushed upward and spun in a sudden burst of life. We rolled and I yelled…

"PALADIN!" I screamed while shooting upward. My head collided with the bunk above me and I fell back, my hands pressed against my forehead and horns. I took a brief moment, despite the pain in my head, to verify that I did not have a sword stuck in my stomach. I didn't. The sound of thunder reminded me of where I was, alone in the Adventurer’s Guild bunk house. I tried to remember any details of the quickly fading dream, but it washed away with the sound of the rain.

"Paladin." That was a weird name.

Stumbling through the dark and navigating over the cold flagstone floor via the flashes of lightning through the shutters, I made my way out of the bunk room and into the warm, but rather humid room where all the clothes were hung. A scrawny male slave who had been stoking the fire looked up at me before lowering his eyes and scurrying out of the room. I checked my clothes. The skirt was mostly dry, but the tunic wasn't. I folded it the other way round and sat my nearly bare ass in a lounge chair by the hearth. It wasn't terribly comfortable, too many different asses over too many years had compacted the cushion and the left armrest wobbled concerningly, but the room was warm and the crackle of a fire was nice. I rested my eyes until…

Until a bright light and the sound of another person caused me to wake up. A pale skinned, shirtless man with wild dark hair and a bright point of light attached to his shoulder stared at me with an ear to ear grin while pulling clothes off one of the lines and layering them over his left arm. He waggled his eyebrows.

"Wat?" I asked with some annoyance in my tone. Some of the clothes were gone, which meant I had fallen asleep for a while. And the fire was out.

His grin grew wider and he deliberately looked me over from top to bottom and back up. I looked down. I had originally walked in here in the middle of the night to grab my clothes. I only had the one set. They were still hanging on the line… I was naked.

I shot up and yanked my tunic off the line. The shirts here were rather long, and I was rather short. It would cover me down to just past my butt. I had horns however, and trying to put a shirt on quickly with horns never went well. This is embarrassing.

The man chuckled. "You okay?"

"Fine!" I snapped. I was not fine. I was stuck. My ass was still hanging out and I had a new hole in my shirt. My only shirt. I really need more money. The guy was gone by the time I got my accursed horns through the head hole. Since arriving on Aradon, not a single person had tried to touch me. Well, except the cute acolyte in the infirmary, but sadly he was a little too professional. I collected my shoes and skirt and went back to the bunks to get properly dressed.

***

Lioran wouldn't be getting out of the infirmary today, though he'd be out tomorrow if he was lucky. I took a run before breakfast. I was pretty confident it had actually gotten the level of warrior we were after with the training. If I understood correctly, a combat feat would put me into a level of fighter which would get me up in Guild Rank to Copper Level and allow me access to the Quest Board. Alternatively, because I had two levels of Commoner when I had arrived, if I could get my second level of Commoner to switch over to Warrior, that would also get me to Copper Level with the Guild. As I had the proper training, that was just a matter of physical conditioning. Therefore, the run. It was so much easier without armor.

The sky was still dark and cloudy with wispy gray clouds criss crossing at different levels. It occasionally sprinkled and the overall air was misty at best. I checked the sewer and even if Lioran had been feeling better, I don't think we would have risked going in with knee deep water. That was the problem though. After today, I was out of money. As in completely out. I'd have enough for food and that's it. I headed back to the Guild for a breakfast of sausage and eggs, again, and to see if Lioran was awake yet.

"I'm torn between Shield Focus and Combat Expertise. Basically being able to use my shield better in general or having better footwork in combat. Knowing when and how to dodge would reduce the need for the shield, but I won't always be able to do that if I'm protecting anyone." Lioran said.

He liked to talk things even though I wasn't really catching even half of what he was saying. Apparently I had been expected to check in on Lioran as my, or I guess our Advisor, had left a sheet of suggested feats for me with him. Well, feat. Lioran’s had several blocks of texts. Mine had two and one was just a translation of the first.

-Weapon Finesse will allow you to fully utilize your Dexterity Stat with light weapons. It will help with Warrior, Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, and any other class you might obtain. There are other options, but this is basically required for any build you might follow. It can be trained by yourself though experience, but your first feat is one silver and it would only take a few days.-

I don't have a single damn silver though. I put the sheet down and started working on my hair, I needed to get it back into a braid or something else manageable before I went back into the sewers.

"What are your options?" Lioran asked.

I missed the question, but he motioned to the sheet so I handed it over.

"Oh, that's it huh?"

"Wut dat?" I asked, pointing to the back of his sheet.

"What?"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Dat."

He turned the page over and laughed. "Say, Get that sword sharpened."

I nodded. His sword was a rusty hunk of metal that either needed to be replaced or at least repaired, but money. I combed out my aborted braid and started gathering hair for another attempt.

"Hey, sit here. Let me."

I moved to the spot on the bed he patted, not entirely sure of what he wanted. He moved my head to the side and started gathering. Several minutes later I had a tight braid running from behind my horn to the back of my head. Lioran was working on the other side now.

"How you, know tie?"

"No tie? Know how to tie? Oh. How to braid hair? Ha, I've got four older sisters."

***

"Lioran!" The receptionist yelled getting Lioran’s, and my, attention.

"Huh? Yes ma'am."

She pointed toward the Quest Board. "There's a quest you should read over."

"I thought we couldn't take quests?"

"You can't take them, but you can turn them in if you complete them."

"Oh." Lioran said, leaning down to inspect the board.

"Copper Level, second one down, on the right."

"Hmm, five Silver reward for information on why Goblin Dogs are in the sewers? What if someone lies?"

The receptionist glared at him. "You would lie to a world spanning organization comprised of thousands of high tier adventurers and having enough financial backing to find and violently kill literally anyone on the planet?"

I missed whatever the woman had said. I didn't miss Lioran’s reply of, "No." In an oddly high register.

"Good. Since you're going to be down there anyway, familiarize yourself with the quest."

I looked over the board, still not really able to read most of it. "Ra-t-s."

"Huh?" Lioran asked. He followed my gaze and read before turning back to the receptionist. "Hey Bella? Why does the Guild want live Dire Rats?"

Oh, her name's Bella. That should be easy to remember.

"People with money pay for hostile creatures in order to gain experience in a controlled environment." She stated.

"And we can turn in the quest even if we can't take it?"

"Yes."

Lioran pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to me. "Do you have any rope?"

***

It took Lioran a few follow up questions with Bella, the receptionist, and a few minutes of trying to converse with me to get us a solid plan for the day. I didn't have any rope and I didn't have enough money to get a full coil of rope. Splitting the cost got us ten feet of rope from the quartermaster and we headed out onto the streets. Apparently the Guild was collecting live, fully intact, Dire Rats for one Silver each. Minus the fifty percent taken from everything we make and the roughly ten Copper for the rope, that left forty Copper per live rat. That and two kills would get our living expenses for the day. Capturing two rats would get our expenses and replace the rope. I turned left to the sewers, Lioran went right.

"Ahh?" I said.

He made a head motion that said, "come on."

I followed Lioran through the streets heading upward. The first tier of the city was mostly dedicated to trade. Lots of warehouses, docks, markets, and Guild's. The second tier was the poor district. The few main roads ran straight through the terrace to the wall that separated the next tier. Number three was better off and this was the place for buying basic goods. Lioran stopped in at a blacksmith, but gauntlets were two Silver each and his sword was so bad that sharpening it would cost a full Silver. I thought we'd be heading to the sewers then, but I found myself standing at the gates to the fourth tier with two scowling guards in heavy armor.

"We're just looking for the area." Lioran said.

"Area entrance is the next gate."

I wasn't sure what was going on, but the guy sounded annoyed. We left and headed north along the wall. The whole city was built in such a way to make invading it near impossible. Each tier was its own walled city and every higher tier could shoot down at the lower one. They let us in the next gate.

The cobblestone street suddenly switched to red colored blocks set in a wide green space with several raised gardens filled with vibrant flowers. Streetlamps topped with magical flames lined the streets that lead past large marble statues of armed men in heroic poses. Stands lined the walls of a massive structure, each merchant calling out to entice the multitudes of people to browse their wares. The smell of food drifted through the crowd, mixing with the bodies and flora. Then there was the building itself, easily the tallest thing I've seen. Stone blocks so massive the whole structure looked as if it had once been a mountain that had been carved out into a building. A solid band of marble ran around the building, each massive chunk armed to depict some epic battle.

"Where we are?" I asked, mouth open and staring upward.

"The Arena." Lioran answered as if this whole area were nothing more than a simple park. I continued to stare at the spectacle while we stood in line.

"Do you buy live creatures?"

"Huhaa?" It took a second to realize he wasn't talking to me.

"See the guy by that side entrance? Talk to him."

"Kay, thanks."

Lioran left the line, I quickly followed him to a side entrance where a wiry man stood guard by an iron portcullis. Lioran had a short conversation, then I guess it was back down toward the coast. "Wut we do?"

Lioran grinned.

***

My traps were gone. That sucked. Each trap had cost a whole Silver and had been mostly serving me well. That said, if we could pull off the capture of a single Dire Rat we could make the same amount of money as the Guild was paying without having to give up half the profit to pay off our debts. A Goblin Dog would be five Silver.

You never really consider yourself lucky to be attacked by a Goblin Dog in the sewers, but that was the highest payout we could get and Lioran had learned the hard way to be damn careful when going around the intersections. He made an undignified squeal as the dog sized rat creature slammed into his shield. I verified the spot on the floor was dry before I dropped the torch and readied the rope tied to a stick. Goal was to stuff the stick in the jaws of whatever Lioran grabbed and tie it so the creature couldn't bite. Lioran let out a hiss of pain as the Goblin Dog locked its teeth around his wrist and his sword clattered to the ground. With a quick twist and another half scream of pain, Lioran flipped the oversized rodent over and landed on it. Holy shit. I jabbed the stick into the thing’s mouth and hoped the tooth that bounced across the floor didn't reduce the value. Looping the rope behind its head and around the otherside of the stick allowed Lioran to extricate his wrist from the Goblin Dog's mouth.

Something was off. The creature didn't move or hiss in the same way any of the others did. It looked waterlogged and slightly bloated. It smelled awful, not really any worse than normal, but different. I kept timing though. Several years as a sailor had taught me to tie knots fast and strong. I got each leg bound to the other in quick succession.

"Eww." Lioran said, looking at the thing on the floor. "It looks swollen."

I didn't know what swollen was, but the thing was bloated.

"Let's get out of here. We're not far in, and I want to get this looked at soon as possible." Lioran said, waving his bloody wrist around.

The creature looked worse in the daylight and Bella looked horrified when she first laid eyes on it. Lioran had explained we were taking it to the area before seeing Korah. Bella's reaction to the creature was to poke it with a stick and go get Korah.

"It's undead." Was Korah's assessment, which caused a large congregation of some Guild higher ups and other administrators standing around the bloody turn-in table. We were eventually released and left to take our prize to the Arena. I expected the guards to stop us, but they seemed to accept Lioran's explanation. He was grinning like a madman when we got paid. Apparently, Lioran had talked the gatekeeper into paying seven Silver. We had money.

Encounter: 1 Goblin Dog*

Lioran’s Perception Check DC 16. 16. Pass.

Lioran deflects the Goblin Dog’s Surprise Attack.

Combat Starts:

Initiative:

Injung: 13

Goblin Dog: 9

Lioran: 8

Injung holds until after Lioran.

Goblin Dog Bites at Lioran. 13. 4 Damage.

Lioran Graples Goblin Dog. Goblin Dog get AoO. 18. 6 Damage.

Lioran CMB Check. DC 20. 23. Goblin Dog is grappled.

Injung attempts to tie Goblin Dog. DC 10. 11. Goblin Dog is being tied.

Initiative:

Injung: 22

Lioran: 19

Goblin Dog: 18

Injung Knot Check (Profession Sailor). DC to Escape is 22.

Lioran steps back.

Goblin Dog can not roll high enough to escape.

Follow up questions.

Will the Area pay more for an undead? 16. Yes.

1d4 extra. 2.

Does the Guild give some type of reward? 80. No.

Do the Guard have issues with a Goblin Dog being carried through Town? 48. No.

Injung: 18

Lioran: 2

Undead Goblin Dog: 9