Suzie ran her fingers along the breastplate made by her father. The material for one fourth of it was worth more than he was getting paid for it... And enough to feed her family for three days. With a sigh, she placed it in the box to be sent to the Heroes’ Rock Guild and sealed it shut.

Suzie looked up at the portrait of her older sister smiling down over the workshop, dressed in her crimson colors, a hawk emblazoned across her chest.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie... I can’t stay here...”

*

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Suzie’s eyes widened as they stepped out of the dense forest into a much smaller village than she expected. A few dozen small wooden houses, a couple of small, sparse backyard farms, furs tanning next to buildings, and crafters making traps. There were people milling about, including children.

Despite the children hanging about, the village was quiet, the children just watching the four adventurer’s wandering into the village with hungry, tired looks.

The village was surrounded on three sides by the woods. On the opposite side to the way they came in there was a clearing and a dirt road that wound out to the main road.

Suzie froze in her tracks as she saw a familiar face talking to a nervous looking man in front of a butchery. A woman with long, blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail and wearing beautiful, elaborate heavy metal armor.

Suzie gripped the handle of her hammer.