Jan squinted at the distant smoke she saw peeking up over the treetops and frowned. Deadman’s Drop wasn’t a popular spot for camping. Who could be up there at this time of day?

Her frown deepened as she realized a rogue monster could be the cause of the smoke. She grimaced. Aren’t those darned adventurers supposed to be taking care of these things? My mandatory ‘guild upkeep’ tax is for them after all, she thought bitterly.

She stomped back towards her stone house and yelled, “Kacper! Call the guild! We’ve got a rogue monster in the Drop!”

“Got it, ma…”

----------------------------------------

Rayn stood before the edge of the forest line with his new party members, Lavar, Belo, Vagis, and Saira. Rayn, their leader, was a level 16 [Warrior] and was quite anxious. He was new to this whole ‘party leader’ thing, having only recently formed the team just twenty minutes ago. He looked out over his ‘team’, going over their backgrounds they’d told him on the way here.

Lavar was a level 13 [Swashbuckler]; Belo, a level 15 [Monk]; Vagis, a level 11 [Ranger]; and Saira, a level 24 [Medic].

Rayn was a little miffed their highest leveled member was a healer, and not someone who could cast actual healing spells, like a [Cleric], but he wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud. She was willing to come along with them; that was the most he could ask for.

“Okay, guys,” he said, wincing slightly as his voice cracked. He heard a quiet snicker and blushed before rushing to continue. “So, uh, Jan submitted a request for us to search for the cause of smoke up in Deadman’s Drop. She believes it’s the fault of a rogue monster, so we’ll need to be on our highest-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lavar cut in, waving around her rapier. “Can we get on with this?”

“I just wanted to-”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“I want to get paid and go home,” she said. “Chop chop.”

“But-”

“Vagis,” Saira muttered. “You’re the [Ranger], aren’t you? Lead the way.”

They all stared at the young boy who flinched and brought his trembling hands away from his mouth. He blushed; he thought the argument would go on longer and had been caught off guard. Seeing Saira’s expectant look, he straightened his back and ventured into the forest. All the while he was silently praying he didn’t accidentally get them lost.

They tramped through the trees for thirty minutes before reaching the general area Jan thought the smoke had come from. Rayn was still slightly miffed the others had skipped over the briefing, something he’d always wanted to try out for a change, but he had work to do. Clapping the [Ranger] on the back, he said, “Nice job, Vagis. You got us here in one piece!”

He hoped the praise and the friendly smile he gave the boy was enough to calm his nerves; the kid looked like he was gonna breakdown any second now.

“Th-thanks…” Vagis muttered, not-so-subtly shrugging off Rayn’s hand.

Okay, fine, Rayn thought, pulling his hand away. We can work on team bonding later. Now, let’s see what we’ve got here.

“Spread out, but don’t go too far from each other,” he said. “Let’s try and get a feel for what we’re dealing with.”

“We got it, pipsqueak,” Lavar snapped, already slinking off into the trees.

Rayn frowned. What is her deal? Whatever. Just…focus on trying to find that stupid monster.

A quick search in the immediate area reveals nothing out of the ordinary. After a minor bout of hesitation, Rayn decides to head further out. He trusts he’ll be able to find his way back, even without [Ranger] skills.

It doesn’t take long for him to catch the scent of burned wood. Rayn tightens the grip on his shield and sneaks ever closer to the source of the scent, which was pretty hard to do in full chain-meal armor, but he made do.

Before he got too close, he ducked behind a nearby tree. It didn’t give him much cover, as anyone could spot a 6’4 Human in heavy armor carrying a round shield and a sword hunching behind a tree that was just barely wider than himself but that was beside the point.

He took a moment to gather his wits, reminding himself this was not the first time he had fought a rogue monster. It would be fine. He could handle this.

Self-assured, Rayn peeked out from behind the tree and fainted.