One evening their dinner was turned into a mission briefing for Luna and an update on the current situation in the kingdom. Joan had requested Michelle to give Luna an overview about what was going on and what problems they could expect.

“Okay Luna. First, we will have to make you an official member. I know it has not been that long, but the information we will be sharing with you is important and cannot leave this room. You may not discuss any of the knowledge you gain as a member of the Pathfinder Guild with any non-member. I am sure you understand why that is. If you have any questions or doubts, please say so now.”

The evening had started as any other and she had not expected anything of this seriousness. She took a moment to gather her thoughts and drank a little water to gain extra time. “So what you are saying is this. Normally a trainee would not be informed about certain things, but the situation is so terrible all around that me traveling outside requires me to know them. Did I get that right?”

Joan nodded and confirmed. “The rough shape is correct.”

Michelle added. “There are things you need to know if you are to travel with Joan, it has to do with your missions and things you have to look out for. Joan insisted that you had a right to know the details if you were to travel with her.”

Luna sent a glance in Joan’s direction. Her mind was basically made up already, had been since she first received the offer to join. She banished her stray thoughts and looked to Michelle. “Alright. I accept. I would like to stay with the Pathfinder Guild as a full member, under the condition that the option to decline missions stays in place for another year.”

Michelle looked towards Joan. “Are you happy with that caveat? If she wasn’t a full member she would have the trainee protection anyway, so I think it is a reasonable request.”

Joan just signaled her acceptance and Michelle proceeded. “Then you are hereby promoted to full member. I will change your membership status in the ledgers tomorrow, so for now we can proceed. Joan, do you want to take it from here?”

Joan stood up and started pacing in front of the table. “As you are aware the kingdom split up 25 years ago because the previous king died under suspicious circumstances, most likely poisoned, without leaving a named heir in place. Rumor has it that he was going to announce one soon, but contrary to the expectations he would not name one of his proteges, which are now the current three reigning kings. If or how many of them were involved in the king’s demise is unknown, but other powerful noble families also got under attack in all three kingdoms on the same day, when news of the king’s death had not yet traveled around the continent.”

“So you have suspicions but no solid evidence.” Luna interjected.

“That is correct.” Joan confirmed. “Looking at me you might have thought me to be around 30 years old, right? I am not. I turned 48 earlier this year. There are more things the kingdom has been keeping secret. Let’s just say that I no longer age at the same pace as a normal human does and scouting my first dungeon is responsible for that, as I got more involved than I wanted to be. ”

Michelle stifled a laugh at that. “Do not look so surprised Luna. It is just another of those things we keep to ourselves. There are ways to extend life and slow down aging and they all come from dungeons or powerful monsters. I bet if you asked your acquaintance Everwood, she could tell you a bit about that.”

“Back to the topic at hand.” Joan continued. “While on the surface the three human kingdoms have been peaceful, there have been constant attempts on all sides to influence, undermine or rightout kill each other. They are especially keen to steal dungeons from each other. The Pathfinder Guild has been neutral throughout it all, which is one of the reasons that we no longer get the kind of support we received before. All kings would very much like to have us declare for their cause, but we refuse. We are too powerful to mess with right now, but they are slowly bleeding us dry. As Michelle surely told you, we are barely getting any recruits anymore.”

“What exactly does that mean for me then?” Luna asked.

“That is both simple and complex. On the simple side it means that we have many more missions dealing with possible attempts to interrupt the normal life in this kingdom. Yes, the Pathfinder Guild is dealing with the same issues in the other kingdoms, some very likely caused by our own king right here. It does not come in the form of armed people in kingdom colors storming the border fortifications. They are mostly a motley mix of discontents, who have no idea they are actually the pawns in someone’s grand design. Each year they are smuggled into the kingdom or recruited right here, equipped with basic gear and enough knowledge to find a good location to set up. They then start scouting our kingdom operations and start disrupting trade, kidnapping people for ransom and in some rare cases going as far as attacking villages. These bands of varying sizes, some as big as 40 or as small as 2, are our main concern right now.” Joan kept on explaining.

“That was the simple part. Now to the complex one. In the past years they started to work in the cities as well. They target the poor people, nourish discontent and try to organize revolts or gangs of burglars and thieves. We have been unable to find the people who are carrying their messages or who is organizing it inside our kingdom’s borders. That is the bigger task here, finding the source of the problem.”

Luna had been listening with rapt attention. This was far more than she had even heard in rumors before. Creek Springs had really been a safe haven, protected by the proximity of the Everwood and their remote location. No band of criminals could hide anywhere close by and entering Everwood was a poor idea.

“What you are saying is that the majority of missions I will be doing has to do with finding and tracking these bands, gather information on their people and if possible find their hideout. What happens with the information then?”

Michelle answered that question for her. “I will give the information to the king and he will send out the army, guards or adventurers to deal with them. Which means they are most likely killed. It is very unlikely for them to surrender, knowing that the punishment for their crimes would most likely be execution anyway.”

“That sounds a lot like a war being waged in secret. Why is this not public knowledge?”

“The king supressess the information.” Joan told her. “People harmed are being compensated and some are relocated to villages or cities on the east coast. Most people take the money right away, but those who hold out and want to spread their tale are being gently talked into going along with it. It is nasty business, but the whole situation is also the reason why the king cannot directly harm the Pathfinder Guild. He needs us. But we are working on a plan for the future of the Guild.”

Michelle raised his hand to catch Luna’s attention. “Your first mission will take you west towards Middingfurt, the city sitting on the mouth of the Midding River. I am sure you have heard about it before, as the split of the kingdom has neatly split the city in half, with the river as the border between the two parts. We suspect that most people come in by either crossing the river somewhere north of the city, crossing Midding Bay or simply cross somewhere in Middingfurt. They might even just bribe their way across at the border. Do you remember the area from looking at maps?”

Luna shook her head. “I looked at the maps, but I did not memorize them yet. I will have to catch up on that.”

“Do that.” Michelle told her. ”You will travel west using the road and check in at Dreisen, a farm village located on fertile plains a bit south of the main road. They had some problems in the past years and we want to know if there is any new information. The village regularly ships food to the city and the road is also the only way to reach the capital for travelers coming from further south, which means there are a lot of travelers around. Keep an eye open, talk with people and then report back. It is a simple information gathering mission and I do not expect for you to face any trouble.”

With that their meeting ended and Luna had a lot of new information to mull in her head. Everything was a lot more complicated than she had expected and now she was going to travel around in the mess.

On the next day another surprise waited for her. Joan was waiting in the garden with a horse. The problem started right away when Luna got closer, the horse tried to pull back, Joan being the only reason it did not bolt right away.

Luna just shook her head. “Don’t bother. You will not get any animal near me. Even as a girl the cats and dogs in the village never played with me. I suspect it has something to do with my race, but your guess is as good as mine.”

Apparently Luna not being able to ride a horse put a big dent in their travel plans, until Michelle remembered that Luna had been traveling on a wagon before. He organized a coach to test if Luna could sit in the back without spooking the horses and it worked. The horses weren’t exactly happy, but at least they did not bolt right away.

Luna had never seen a proper coach up close and she crawled over the whole thing to find out what made it special. The merchant wagon and carts had been built to be simple and sturdy, just simple axles, wooden spoke wheels with flat iron tyres. This coach rested on something called leaf springs, which absorbed a lot of bumps and shakes.

After a bit of discussion it was decided that they would not be using a coach themselves, as it would be very impractical for just the two of them to take care of the horses at every stop and they could not exactly just leave them somewhere if they had to travel away from the roads. The personal coach idea scrapped, they settled on simply hiring a coach to take them to their first stop at the village and then over to Middenfurt. From there they would go on foot until they returned to the capital.

The training also shifted focus towards scouting out positions, moving unseen, but also included using her skills with a bow. The practical experience she got from the exercises and drills with Joan were helping her hone the correct reflexes. With the temperatures rising again Luna also spent more time in the garden again, running through the shooting gallery obstacles over and over.

One big surprise awaited Luna when she first used the Windwalk Skill. According to the books on Skills it was considered an inefficient Skill because of its great Stamina cost. When Luna activated the Skill she immediately felt the draw on her Mana. After testing it for a bit she estimated that she could use the skill all day long when only doing a stiff walk. That way her Mana and Stamina regeneration were enough to counteract the drain. But if she picked up her speed the Mana and Stamina drain increased in leaps and bounds, ending with her only being able to use the skill for a bit over 2 minutes while at a full sprint. Running test laps around the garden showed that the speed increase was bigger at higher speeds, at the cost of draining Stamina and Mana faster.

She needed to retrain some of her reflexes because of her new Skill, ever changing stats thanks to Level Ups, but also because Joan and Michelle had surprised her with a new bow. Apparently she had outgrown her, by Guild standards, basic training bow.

[Hunting Bow]

Type: Composite, Recurve

Material: Maple, Horn, Sinew

Quality: Good

The bow was a piece of art. Made with maple wood as the core, animal horn as the grip in the center and layers of sinew covering the front of the bow, all laminated and glued together. The bow was shorter than any bow she had been using before, but the power behind it was incredible. To string the bow she had to sit on the ground, fixate the bow with her feet and use her full upper body and leg strength to bend the bow to seat the string. She absolutely loved it and spent much of her time getting used to the new weapon.

It also came with a little problem, as she had to get used to a new draw technique. The bow had gotten too strong for her normal way of drawing, especially on the move and Joan was teaching her how to use a thumb ring. The thumb ring, made of a simple piece of horn, came with a piece of leather cord to attach it to her left hand wrist guard, always on hand when needed. With the thumb ring she could draw the bow by slipping the string behind the hooked thumb, steadying it with the pointing finger and releasing it in a fluid motion. The string was only held in a single location and the release was a lot smoother with no chance of fouling a draw with an uneven release.

With the improved bow and technique Luna was able to increase her speed and accuracy and the day before they started on their first mission she looked over her status, happy with the progress, but aware that she had a long way to go still.

Name: Emilia Lunare Sylvanlake

Level: 12

Race: Sylvan

Age: 16

Class 1: Sylvan Pathfinder - Level 6 (Level Up)

Experience: 819/7200

Class 2: Sylvan Stalker - Level 6 (Level Up)

Experience: 40/7200

Class 3: N/A (Requires a total level of 45)

Health: 198/203 [(Vitality x 10 + Strength x 2.5 + Dexterity x 2.5) x 1.1]

Stamina: 85/225 [((Vitality + Strength + Dexterity) x 5) x 1.1]

Mana: 38/151 [(Wisdom x10 + Intelligence x 2.5 + Charisma x 2.5) x 1.1]

Regeneration - Per Minute

1.80% Stamina [1% base x Body/Mind x 1.1)]

0.67% Mana [1% base x Mind/Body x 1.1)]

1.1% Life [1% base x 1.1]

Stats - Body

Strength: 14

Vitality: 11

Dexterity: 16

Stats - Mind

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 8

Charisma: 7

Available Points

Stats: 0

Skills: 0

Skills - Personal

[Athleticism] - Level 13 (Level Up)

[Languages] - Level 7 (Level Up)

[Dodge] - Level 4 (Level Up)

Skills - Race

[Dryad's Body]

[Natural Insight]

[Ancestral Memories]

Skills - Crafting

[Cooking] - Level 4

[Sewing] - Level 2

[Field Dressing] - Level 6

Skills - Combat

[Bows] - Level 14 (Level Up)

[Crossbows] - Level 3

[Thrown Weapons] - Level 2

[Small Weapons] - Level 7

[Small Shields] - Level 7

Skills - Utility

[Tracking] - Level 5

[Stealth] - Level 5 (Level Up)

[Survival] - Level 4

[Field Craft] - Level 4

[First Aid] - Level 3

[Lock Picking] - Level 4

[Traps Disarmament] - Level 4

Skill - Magic

[Purify Water] - Level N/A

[Spark] - Level N/A

[Conceal Presence] - Level 4 (Level Up)

[Seal Wound] - Level 2

Skills - Class

[First]

[At home in the wilds]

[Silent Observer]

[Stalker's Precision]

[Sneak Attack]

[Windwalk]

[Silent Shot]

[Double Jump]