The road to Ironhall was wide, the thick grey stone a delight to walk on. Even though they were growing weary with their travels, the road was so smooth and level. Their treading was gentle, as though welcomed by the road to continue onward.

"We completed the task much quicker than I anticipated," Andal admitted. "I had expected it to last another month in my best estimates, and twice that would have been a good time too."

"It's a good thing that the forest guardian pointed us in the right direction," Adam replied. He thought about how it had been good luck that he had met Arya.

"Aye. If I weren't titled we'd have had to travel along the mountain range." Andal shook his head. "That would have taken weeks, and it's quite the treacherous path."

"Moving through the tunnel was that important, huh?" Adam mused aloud. He had no idea how long the mountain range was, and whether moving through it was feasible.

Andal looked towards the other party, to Elowen and her companions. "Aye, we're lucky we didn't run into any trouble. It was a minor inconvenience on the way back, but that is standard procedure. I've gone through the tunnels a great many times in my day, never had much trouble." Andal's eyes fell across the sky. "I was there when the soldiers were a thousand strong. That was about fifty years ago. Now they keep it to one hundred, sometimes two."

Adam looked over to the dwarf. "Can the tunnel even house a thousand soldiers?" Adam asked. He wondered why there had been a thousand soldiers at the tunnel.

"Aye, with ease. It can hold five thousand at least, from what I gather. The tunnel acts as a fort, keeping watch beyond the mountains. They were dangerous lands not even a century ago. Wyverns mostly, but they've thinned the beasts down since then. You should see the Festival of the Wyvern, there you'll see the true majesty of the tunnel." Andal smiled.

"How so?"

Andal just smiled. "Come by and see for yourself."

"I'll add that to my diary." Adam smiled. It did sound interesting. Festival of the Wyvern. Would there be more soldiers at the fort? He assumed that the festival had something to do with wyverns, but he wasn't sure in what capacity.

"That dragon will earn us a pretty penny," Andal said. "I gave Krikee a scale to show her proof of our subjugation. Her expression brought me great delight." Andal smiled wide through his thick beard. "It was not long after that she allowed us on our way."

"When we passed through last time we were able to move through the tunnel quickly," Adam mused aloud.

"Aye, and at that time there were no golems roaming the lands," Andal said, as though it were obvious. "I informed her of our journey, since we returned so swiftly from our task, and about the golems we defeated. I gathered she kept the pair of we dwarves due to our knowledge of such creatures."

"That makes sense. There's a lot about golems that could bite you in the butt if you didn't know about them."

"Aye?" Andal asked.

"That's what I heard. Something about not using fire."

"Aye? How do you know that?"

"It's just some knowledge I picked up on my travels." It wasn't a lie, technically. Bandlor had given him the information, and he had picked up Bandlor along on his travels.

Andal stared at Adam suspiciously for a long moment, before returning his gaze back to the city ahead. Adam wondered if that had been a good time to shut his mouth. He needed to practise that more often.

The guards at the gate motioned a hand for the group to stop. Andal revealed his plate to them, whereas Adam and the rest of the party needed to pay their dues. They entered inside with ease once they had paid their fees, and they followed the main road towards the local guild. Adam quite missed its giant iron doors and its cocky city folk. He wondered if another adventurer would start an issue with him, his pouch wouldn't mind a few more gold pieces.

Again the noise hit them, with the dozens of parties each partaking in drink and joyful banter. There were a handful of adventurers off to the side, checking the quests.

Perception

D20 + 5 = 25 (20)

There was a woman, adorned within heavy robes of dark grey, pinning a poster against the wall above. Adam caught the poster within sight for a moment and then stopped in his tracks.

“What is it?” Jay asked, almost walking into Adam.

“Slaying Vandra seems to be a quest,” Adam said. He stared at the poster, where the unforgettable form of Vandra's visage screamed at his eyes. Adam knew it was Vandra because her name was emboldened at the top of the poster, and the bottom quarter held the quest details. Andal had stopped when he heard Jay, and then threw a glance to the wall, taking a moment to scan it, before continuing his stride up the desk.

“Let’s just leave it to the dwarf,” Jay whispered.

Adam and the others found a free table, whereas Elowen and her group sat down at a table nearby.

Adam examined the other parties, trying to find anyone of mithril or gold rank.

Perception

D20 + 5 = 25 (20)

‘Am I going to die today or what? These rolls…’

His eyes flickered across the adventurers, following their necklines. After a few moments, he was confident that there were no mithril or gold ranked adventurers around. There was a single group of silver rank though, and a few steel ranked groups about.

“Oi, knife-ears,” called a silky voice. “What kinda quest were you lot up to?”

Adam rocked his head towards the voice. He froze when he saw the devilkin nodding her head in his direction. He would have thrown back some banter, but his throat closed up. Her striking beauty made him unable to speak. She had purple skin, as though it was the falling dusk, and her eyes were a glittering silver. She wore loose, billowy clothes he hadn’t seen in this region yet, which were as dark as the starless night sky. At her neck was a steel token, stamped several times.

“Herb gathering,” Jay replied to her, shooting Adam as queer look.

The woman’s eyes flashed over to Jay. “So you’re the leader of the group?”

Jay shook his head. “That’d be Imma.” He motioned his head to the mage.

“So why are you talking?” The devilkin clicked her teeth at him.

“There’s no need for that,” Adam said. “Everyone is free to speak in the party.”

“Sounds like a pain in the ass.” Her glittering silver eyes fell back onto Adam.

Adam sat a little taller. “It’s better than the alternative.”

“There should be an order to these sorts of things,” the devilkin said, her eyes falling across the rest of the party. She remained fixated on Kay for a little while.

Adam’s own eyes fell across to her party members. A beautiful halfzer woman, and two handsome men. Adam’s forehead pulsed with how attractive the group was. Some people were born with all the luck in the world! Why couldn’t he have been born with such luck? All he had was a ridiculously powerful cheat ability, and the strength to take on steel ranked adventurers with ease. Life was unfair.

“Come,” Andal called out to his group, breaking the tense standoff. He motioned his head towards Elowen as well. “If it would be no bother.” The two groups followed the dwarf into the back of the guild, with hush whispers trailing from behind.

There was already a woman waiting for them. She wore the same dark clothes as the previous woman who had pinned Vandra's poster to the wall. She had dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin, like an Iyrman, though she was no Iyrman. She motioned with her hand to have them sit, and they did so, grabbing the nearby stools.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” she said, her voice low and gravelly. “I am Marica. I have called you all to ask a few questions about the creatures you have slain during your travels. I see that some of you are not adventurers of the guild, but I hear you were instrumental in these dealings."

Marica looked down at a some paper nearby and then looked up to each of the people, her eyes scanning them one by one. “I hear you have slain a white dragon. Do you have anything to verify this claim?”

Andal retrieved out parts of the dead white dragon. He looked to Elowen, who retrieved the white dragon’s head from her own bag. Marica approached the head and then examined it. She peered at the dragon’s head, bringing a finger up to run along it. After a few moments, she withdrew back to her seat.

“I can confirm you have slain a white dragon,” she said, jotting something down on her piece of paper. “Can you confirm it was Vandra the white dragon?”

“We were familiar with Vandra,” Elowen said. “We had met before.” Elowen looked deep into Marica’s eyes. “I would never forget the face of death.”

Marica nodded her head and then wrote something down onto her paper. “The nine of you will be able to claim the prize. Though you aren’t adventurers," she said to Elowen and her group, "you are able to receive the rewards due to assisting the party. If you would please give us the day to prepare the rewards.” Marica bowed her head. “In the matter of defeating the golem and guardians, we will also require some proof. Such creatures are easier to verify, fortunately.”

“Do you have your cores?” Andal asked the others, revealing to Marica his own cores. Adam retrieved his, and Imma revealed the pair she also held. Marica checked the cores for a moment, before nodding her head. Andal revealed the cores from the guardians, which he had so graciously held on for the party. They were much heavier than the golem's core, partly because they were so big. They were the size of apples, but were deceptively heavy.

“I have verified that they are guardian cores,” she said, jotting down something onto her paper. “I will speak with the guild master about your rewards and your stamps.” Her eyes flickered over their bronze tokens. “He will speak to you in the morning, and your rewards should be ready then too."

‘Well, that was easy…’ Adam wondered why this had been easier than the inspection during the fort. The guild was about to hand them over a ton of gold, and they had spent a couple of minutes verifying everything.

They returned back to the guild common room, meeting the adventurer's sideways glances. There was some commotion between the adventurers, whisperings about what the group had done in order to be led into the back.

Andal sorted out their food and board for the night, as he always did. Dinner was a hearty soup filled with meat and vegetables, spiced heavily. When Adam bit into the meat, it melted like snow against the sun against his tongue. The fattiness of the meat was unforgettable, for he had tasted this once before. It was dragon meat! Andal must have handed a few portions over to the staff to work with, and it was a good thing he had. The cooks sure knew how to cook it, as Adam wolfed down the food like a ravenous beast.

Once they had finished eating, they continued to chat to one another. The hours passed by Adam could feel himself melt into his chair. The exhaustion had caught up with him, and the lethargy from the meal had set into his bones like a poison. He would not yet sleep, as there was something he had been waiting for this entire time. He excused himself from the group, bringing his owl along.

He sighed as he entered the hot bath. “Oh yeah, that’s good,” he whispered. His entire body was beginning to lose its ache as the hot water seeped into him.

‘You’re telling me,’ Bandlor thought from atop the half-elf’s head. The owl was basking in the residual heat from the bath.

‘Do you have any idea about how much of a reward we’ll get from all those quests?’ Adam asked.

‘A few thousand gold at least.’

Adam smiled to himself. 'Taking a bath inside the guild feels so different,' he thought to Bandlor.

'I understand what you mean. Knowing that civilisation is all around you, so you can have an ale right after a bath. That's what makes it great.'

'You're on the money.' Adam nodded.

'What?'

'It means you're completely right.'

'Of course I'm right! I'm the mighty Bandlor!'

'Yes, yes. So mighty that you're an owl.'

Bandlor pecked Adam's head, and the half-elf chuckled. 'I wonder when she'll let you free…'

'I wonder too, every day.'

'I'll try and pay more attention to you so you aren't bored,' Adam teased.

'Thanks!' Bandlor's sarcasm almost dripped onto Adam.

'Did you notice that party of beautiful people?' Adam thought about the group.

'The one with the halfzer? Women like her are rare. Wide hips, luscious lips, and eyes to die for.'

Adam looked up towards Bandlor, who hopped down ahead of Adam, not wanting to fall into the bath. 'Why were you checking out the halfzer?' Adam asked.

'She was the prettiest one.'

'Yeah, but…'

'But?'

'She's a halfzer.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'You know. She's small and… childlike.'

'What?!'

'That'd be weird.'

'That's racist!'

'I don't know man...'

"She's older than you!'

'Really?' Adam asked, surprised.

'She looked to be sixty.'

'God damn! She looked great for sixty!'

'Right?!'

'Yeah, but she's still quite small.'

'That just means she's easier to-'

'Bandlor!'

'You didn't even let me finish!'

'Enough! I don't want to hear anything about it!'

'Tch!'

Adam snapped his fingers, and Bandlor flew up in surprise. He bonked the ceiling before dropping down.

"I'm serious," Adam whispered. "No more."

'I'm surprised you didn't speak with that devilwoman again. She was flirting with you quite obviously.'

'What?' Adam asked, surprised.

'Yeah. She called you knife ears.'

'Yeah? Isn't that racist?'

'Not from a devilkin. They have a history of being slaughtered on sight, and it's only recently they've been allowed to live in peace within this realm. When a devilkin says those sorts of things, it means they like you.'

Adam recalled that Khan had called him a knife ear too. Khan hadn't been too harsh on him, in fact, the devilman had been quite accommodating.

'She wanted to dominate you too.'

'Dominate me?'

'Yes. She spoke of a hierarchy. What did you think she meant by that?'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'Adam?'

'Yes?'

'Are you a vir-'

Adam snapped his fingers and the owl disappeared.