To neither Glorias nor Vittorios surprise, tier 0 quests were very basic. Most monsters of such low levels could be handled by townsfolk with some combat capabilities or just used to hard work. [Hunters], [Lumberjacks], [Farmers] with dogs or who raised cattle for slaughter - they could deal with small stuff. It was only once you got into tier 1 territory and nasty traits like poisonhide or crag appeared that adventurers were needed.

Thus, Gloria and Vittorios assignments came in two parts. The actual quest was fact-finding, where they were sent out to gather more information on poorly described problems. Sensible people usually ran when they saw a monster leading to garbled reports, exaggerations, and mistakes - any of which could lead to danger or a waste of time. Had the people of Imone found the tracks of the cragwolf and not spotted the difference from a normal wolf, Ochi could easily have assigned a team to their deaths.

Interviewing townsfolk, looking for tracks and signs, and reporting back was thus part one. Ermes would discuss what they'd found, make a call on if it was Free Company business, and if so make the arrangements to see it taken care of. Step two for Gloria and Vittorio was to occasionally accompany the group sent to provide more information and support.

It was all valuable, good, and a way for them to learn about common monsters in the area. It was also dull and unfulfilling. Most of their time was spent simply walking around, though Gloria found plenty of chances to inspire emotions, earning her experience and slowly catching up to Vittorio. He did some sneaking around to avoid notice while looking for tracks and the like, but it didn't feel right to do that to townsfolk.

It turned out there were a lot of false alarms, most being honest mistakes or pranks gotten out of hand. Vittorios favourite was a report of a hellhound turning out to be a dog who'd rolled in mud. The reporting [Farmer] had been terribly embarrassed and bribed them with pie to stop them from telling the neighbour.

Others were far too true. They went to investigate a breadfruit orchard where there'd been a sighting of something large moving in the trees. By the time they arrived a child had gone missing. The culprit was the first humanoid monster the two took on on their own.

The two went through the orchard systematically and they did see evidence of something going on: Lone branches bent or broken, or else where a handful of leaves had been torn off. Too many signs for it to be happenstance, but not enough to scare them off. Wandering under the trees in the midday sun was challenging and the fruits were not yet ripe to eat or they might have purloined a few. At last, they spotted something. A few branches in the upper reaches of a tree moved the wrong way, as if they were being shifted aside. Gloria raised her shield and carefully approached in search of a better look at what was up there. She'd chosen Threat Assessment for her latest talent and told Vittorio that whatever it was, it wasn't beyond them.

The branches shifted more as Gloria got close, and as she started moving under the foliage a long-limbed, green-and-brown figure threw itself from within the tree crown towards another - and struck a solid wall of air, falling to the ground. The creature was mostly human-shaped, but extremely thin and with arms that reached ground as it stood up. It was shorter than Vittorio, but not exactly short. On its oval face, it had a number of small, black eyes like a spider and a circular mouth ringed with small teeth, and its overly long arms ended in huge hands with far too many long, slim fingers.

It was still confused about what had happened when Gloria struck it from behind, Power Strike cutting deep into its shoulder, spilling a huge amount of green, sweet-smelling blood. It made an odd, hissing croak and rolled forward with the blow, before pushing itself up and starting to run toward a tree. It went down again to a Stumbling Hex, followed by Wind Weaponry piercing deep into its chest. Gloria hacked at its leg, and as it tried to stand up it buckled. Abandoning hopes of escape it turned to face the [Fervent Warrior]. It grabbed hold of her shield and tried to pull it away from her, croaking angrily. It was strong, very strong, but seemingly not very bright. Gloria slashed down and easily severed the arm, the hand still holding on to the shield. Vittorio hit it on the side of its neck. The creature hissed again and tried to limp away but was cut down.

In the tree, they found some remains of the missing child. They were in a sombre mood as they returned to Pogna.

"That request was days old", Vittorio said. "If we'd done it before we looked into that screaming rabbit..."

"It's not our fault", Gloria said. "We did everything right. Ermes said we needed to look into the scream first. 'Something in the trees' could be anything."

"It killed a little boy."

"I know that. I saw the same thing you did. What I'm saying is, it could just as easily have been nothing and the scream someone being attacked."

"But it wasn't."

"No, it wasn't."

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"And now a child is dead."

Gloria couldn't really argue about it. She felt the same way, though she tried to take what she'd been told to heart: You can't know everything, and you can't save everyone. When they made their report to Ermes, that is basically what he said, along with telling them about the monster. Forest stranglers were stealth-monsters, hiding in trees until they could grab someone by the neck and carry them off, and there were others who lived in rivers, oceans, and tall grass. They didn't really pay attention, and he told them to take a few days to rest. When Vittorio tried to argue, horrified at the thought of the same happening to some other child, Ermes made it clear he wasn't suggesting. They would not be approved for any quest for several days, but exactly how long was up to Ermes and Ochi.

"Your heart's in the right place, but your mind isn't", he said. "You need to process what happened and move on from it. If you can't... well, then you can't be adventurers. People die in this line of work. Stay at it long enough and I guarantee you will see a friend die a gruesome death. Think hard about what you want to do."

Vittorio was no stranger to feeling guilty, it being one of Fathers favoured punishments, but for the same reason he'd never learned how to deal with it. He sought solitude to try to come to grips with his thoughts and emotions and found it in the bathing room. There he sat, barely noticing the warm water he'd found so luxurious in the past, until well after dark. With adventurers living the lives they did the bathing room had magical lights in the ceiling and even on the bottom of the pool, but it was still clearly dimmer than day. People came and went, some talking at him. He didn't listen or speak. The guilt and anxiety grew bad enough that as he stared into the water, an impulse to plunge below the surface and stay there began to grow.

A calloused hand slapped down on his shoulder hard. Vittorios thoughts were disrupted for the first time in hours. He looked up to find Tarcisio kneeling beside him fully dressed.

"You look clean to me", he said. "Come on. Let's talk. We haven't done that much, have we?"

The older man gently guided him to get sorted and then to a small tavern in the outer city. It was a worker's tavern, the people quiet and the ale weak. It was a place for relaxing after a hard day rather than for getting drunk. Tarcision ordered for the two of them and they sat at a small table in the back. Vittorio stared at his mug.

"I talked to Gloria", Tarcisio said. "She told me what happened. Words don't mean much, but it needs to be said: You couldn't have done better. Sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes there are things you couldn't have known. If there's blame to be had it isn't yours. It's for the rest of us."

That got Vittorio to speak for the first time. "You?"

Tarcisio nodded. "Sure. You and Gloria have been working hard, doing lots of grunt work. The rest of us, that's to say everyone else in the guild, have been happy to leave you to it. Anyone could've taken that request. But we didn't. Because we knew you two would do it. Because they're boring and barely pay. What was the pay for that orchard quest? Five copper?"

"Three."

"Three copper. You do those quests because it's the right thing to do. Because it's all you have. We don't because too often we think it isn't worth the effort. We couldn't be bothered to go take a look, and now a little boy is dead. Like I said, words don't mean much. Emotions are tricky that way. But for what it's worth, you did everything right. You went there as soon as you could, you found the monster, and even killed it. It's textbook. The problem is the timing. Would you blame yourself as much if the boy had gone missing before the request was made?"

"No, of course not. I've answered ones where people have died before."

"Right. As far as I, and anyone else at the guild, is concerned that was the actual situation: The child was dead before the quest was accepted. That's just what happens sometimes. You didn't slack off, you didn't claim the quest and then not do it or anything else - you responded to a bad situation.

"As for what you're feeling... I could use a skill and soothe your emotions. I won't, so long as I don't think you're in danger. What I will do is tell you that what you're feeling is good and right. You should feel bad, not because you did anything wrong but because that's what a good person would feel. Accept it. Embrace it. Let yourself feel those things, truly feel them. Don't push them away. And let's talk about them."

They did. Slowly Vittorio opened up under Tarcisios gentle but firm prodding. He helped the younger man put his emotions into words, to clarify them and to understand them. A big part of Vittorios problem with dealing with what he felt was simply that there were too many emotions, all strong, and he could not focus on any one. Tarcisio helped him do that. When they made their way back to the guild hall in the early hours of the morning, Vittorio was not at peace but he could at least sleep. He had nightmares, but he did get rest.

The next day he joined Gloria and Tarcisio and the three kept talking through things. Ulberto joined for a time, taciturn as always but with some sharp observations. Nuno offered some moral support but not much more. Pachakutek stayed the longest, and while she spoke little she did speak in a statement rather than a question in front of the two of them for the first time.

"Did you know I started out with a friend, just like you two? My cousin and I stuck together, because as mikhuq we just felt safer that way, you know? He burned to death in front of my eyes. That's what drove me to specialize in water magic."

The following days were less about emotional discussions, though Tarcisio insisted on having one every evening to check in with them, and more about slowly going back to normal. They started training again and found the inherent focus helped a lot. They also socialized more and made sure to spend some time every day playing cards in the hall - not to try and make Ermes call on them, just to meet and talk to new people.

A week after the orchard they were again cleared to take quests. Vittorio noticed Ermes having a long conversation with Tarcisio and asked him about it. He said Ermes had not asked him to talk to either of them, immediately seeing Vittorios worry, but knowing he had been trying to help them, wanted to know his opinion. Tarcisio did admit that everything he and the group had been doing for them, with training, advice, help in the rat Room and so on, while on their own initiative, was also something highly valued by patrons so it wasn't entirely selfless. Vittorio was fine with that. If anything, it made him happy that he hadn't just been taking up their time. One less thing to be worried about.