Emiria was disappointed when Vugar voted no but understood.

“It’s a pity,” she said, “I was looking forward to working with you.”

They said their Goodbyes and Emiria went off to “meet with another adventuring party.”

Isolde let out a sigh when she was gone.

“Ahhh... We could have been on the cutting edge of magical science...”

Redleaf gave her a small smile.

“Sometimes it is better to avoid certain kinds of fame. I think we have made the right decision.”

Rakugann nodded, slowly.

In his deep voice, he said, “I too think we chose right. There’s something about that orb that gives me a cold sweat on the back of my neck.”

Mildred sat back in her chair.

“It’s just such a juicy mystery,” she said shaking her head, “It’s too bad.”

Vugar stood up and suggested, “How about we head to the Adventurers Guild and find our work for today.”

Mildred smiled at that as she and the others got up from their seats.

She chirped, “Good idea!”

***

The party walked the short distance to the Adventurers Guild and entered it. The small city of Harald’s Rest had a relatively peaceful Adventurers Guild. Mostly due to the unceasing work of its Guildmaster to soothe grudges and developing rivalries. The Adventurers Guild was an old stone building coated in bright new blue and white paint. It was pleasing to the eye, but in a homely way instead of a spectacular way.

Vugar stepped inside and looked around and said, “The Guild’s a little empty today.”

There was only a single other party selling their dungeon loot, a pile of blue and green slime carcasses, to the Guild. One of them, a young white cat beastwoman woman still with baby fat in her cheeks nudged a similarly young white wolf beastman. A grey wolf beastman of the same age standing next to them in white armour a lot like Isolde’s exclaimed out loud when he saw them.

“Hey Smithso! Look! It’s the Friends of the Downtrodden!”

Smithso turned around hurriedly, a big smile on his face and said “Good morning, Vugar! Good morning, Mildred! Good morning Redleaf, Rakugann and Isolde!”

Vugar smiled and noted, “You seem to have been in the Tree of Blood all night.”

“Yeah,” Smithso replied, “This old armour you gave us is amazing! The monsters can’t hurt us!”

Vugar smiled and said, “I’m glad it's taking care of you.”

Rakugann frowned at that, stepping forward and looming over the D-Rank party.

“Keep your guard up, Treasure Raptors,” he said. “Don’t let yourself grow careless.”

Smithso and his two companions, the Treasure Raptors nodded sagely, their mood was a little less elated but hopefully they wouldn’t relax too much and let their guard down in the future. Vugar stepped up to the notice board and checked the B-Rank section.

He read out loud, “Skull Knight subjugation in Harald’s Crypt.”

Isolde stood next to him and read the notice.

She said, not surprised, “That one’s still up there, huh?”

Vugar replied, despairing, “I doubt any of us in Harald’s Crypt can take that thing on.”

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No one had ever gotten past the Skull Knight on Floor 20 of Harald’s Crypt and reached the Treasure Chambers mentioned in legend. Just a fortnight ago a nobleman called Lord Maximillian Autumnboughs from a neighbouring town called Harald’s Crossing had brought a whole cohort of soldiers and headed into Harald’s Crypt to break through with brute force. The nobleman had been gravely injured and his troops decimated. Since then, the reward for the Skull Knight’s destruction had risen to a sizable 2500 Gold Coins.

Vugar looked at the next notice.

“Transcendental Rose Petals. 300 Gold Coins per petal. Posted by Beefeater of Harald’s Rest.”

Vugar and Isolde were equally surprised. Isolde was the first to speak.

Worried for her friend Beefeater, she asked, “What does she want Transcendental Rose petals for?”

This sparked Vugar’s curiosity.

“What are they used for?”

Isolde didn’t need to stop to think.

“They are mainly used to heal spirit damage.”

Vugar thought of Beefeater punching the Skull Knight in the face and being burned by its Flame Shadow Aura.

“She must have fought the Skull Knight...” He too was worried about his friend Beefeater. “We should head into the Tree of Blood and get some.”

He looked at the next notice.

“Blood Dryad subjugation on Floor 15 of the Tree of Blood. Reward: 500 Gold Coins. Posted by: Alchemists Guild,” he read aloud.

Isolde reacted to that with joy.

With glee she cried, “We could probably handle that!”

A firm female voice from behind them interrupted them.

“I wouldn’t recommend that. There’s at least three of them.”

Vugar and Isolde turned around to see Geraldine “Thorn Cutter” the Guild Doctor, an older brown bear beastwoman and old friend. She continued to speak.

“We call them the Blood Dryad Triad. They’ve been blockading the route to the Greater Mandrake Groves. We can’t get ingredients for advanced healing potions while they are there.”

Vugar was surprised. This was bad news; Transcendental Rose Bushes only grew in the Greater Mandrake Groves.

“Why does the notice only mention one?” he asked.

“Alchemists Guild trying to save money as usual. Sending adventurers to their deaths if you ask me.”

Geraldine must have been telling every adventurer who looked at the notice the truth.

With genuine warmth, Vugar said, “Thanks Geraldine.”

Mildred and the others came over having finished chatting with Smithso and his party.

Mildred cried out in astonishment, “Oh look, an A-Rank notice!”

Vugar looked over at the A-Rank section and spotted the lone notice.

Mildred read aloud, “Scaled Wyrm subjugation on Floor 30 of the Sea Caverns. Reward: 10,000 Gold Coins and a magical artifact of your choice. Posted by: Baroness Spiderholly.”

Smithso let out a low whistle.

“A Scaled Wyrm, huh?” he said at last.

There were legends that the Sea Caverns had been carved out by a huge legendary beast centuries ago. Vugar thought a colossal monster like a Scaled Wyrm could fit the bill.

Serious, he asked “Could it be the Beast of Legend?”

Geraldine frowned.

“It honestly could,” she said grimly.

Isolde spoke up, a hint of tension in her normally serene voice.

“Are any A-Rank adventurers coming here to take care of it?

Geraldine smiled reassuringly.

“Two parties. Ghostmaster Davy’s and Lady Sara and the Red Knights.”

Mildred spoke next, her voice excited.

“If they form a raid to take out the Scaled Wyrm they might need B-Rank and lower parties to help out.”

Vugar realised the opportunity for The Friends of The Downtrodden but Geraldine shook her head.

“Sadly, the two parties refuse to work together,” she said. “It looks like they each want to take on the Scaled Wyrm alone.”

Vugar was shocked, he asked, “do you have any idea why?”

Geraldine shook her head and said wearily, “Those two parties have been at each other’s throats for some time now.”

Isolde noticed Vugar’s grim expression.

“What’s wrong?”

Vugar spoke to his whole party in a whisper.

“Do you think the... “experiment” could cause one of those monsters to rampage?”

A rampage was rare but did happen. A powerful monster or group of monsters would sometimes for some reason rush out of the dungeon and attack anything in sight. There hadn’t been a rampage in Harald’s Rest for five years.

Panicking, Mildred shouted, “Oh, no! If the Skull Knight comes up here...”

Isolde caught Mildred up in a hug and Rakugann spoke up.

“What about the Scaled Wyrm?” he said simply. “Which dungeon do you think Emiria went into?”

With worry in his voice, Redleaf said, “It’s got to be Harald’s Crypt. It’s got the shortest Floor 1 of any of them.”

Vugar replied calmly and determinedly.

“If it’s the Dryads we can probably help out. We couldn’t even slow down the other two.”

Rakugann nodded.

“So, what are you saying?” he asked, clearly with some idea of what Vugar was about to say.

“Let’s go to the Tree of Blood. Redleaf can check if there are any tracks likely to be Emiria on the way.

The others nodded.

Geraldine nodded too

Concerned, she said, “Good luck, young adventurers. I can see you have something heavy weighing on you. I hope and pray you can sort it out quickly.”

The Friends of the Downtrodden headed out of the Adventurers Guild.

“Hey wait up!”

It was Smithso and his party “The Treasure Raptors.”

“You heading for the Tree of Blood? Let us walk with you.”

Vugar thought about it.

“Sure. When we get there go and warn all the rookie adventurers to take the morning off. A disaster might be about to happen.”

The two parties approached the Blood Oak, the huge red and white tree that stood on the entrance of the Tree of Blood.

An old legend came to Vugar’s mind. The story that the Blood Oak had once been an ordinary tree but the blood of the adventurers who fell in the dungeon beneath it had changed its colour. As the tree loomed in the distance, he began to wonder how much truth there was to it.