The trio was currently hiking in the forest to a cave that the locals claimed housed a goblin nest. The goblins were reported to have been stealing grains from the grain storage and harming their livestock. "So then I was like you want to mess with me!? Look at the shield I'm lugging around all over the place! Do you really think a spindly armed snot-nosed brat like you could really stand a chance against me in a fight!? But you know what the brat thought he could so I ended up knocking out at least half a dozen of his teeth out!" Tauna exclaimed with a smug expression on her face. Adimir sighed along with Mira. For the past hour, the two had been forced to listen to her Tauna's tall tales of glory while they were going to the goblins. "Does she always ramble on and on like this?" Adimir said in exasperation. "It gets worse. Once she talked for six hours on end on a single story." Mira answered while her already slumping shoulders slumped further at the thought. However, upon spotting a cave up ahead the young mage pounced upon the chance to prevent Tauna from continuing her story. "Hey, there's the cave! Come on let's investigate it, but we should do it quietly to avoid alerting the goblins that we've arrived." Adimir hurriedly said, glancing meaningfully at Tauna when he said quietly. "Awww. But I was just getting started!" The female beastkin whined without any hint of shame showing on her face. "Quite!" Both Adimir and Mira exclaimed at the same time. In response, Tauna closed her mouth, and it was her turn to slouch this time. "I'm going to check ahead of us for any goblins who might be guarding the entrance," Mira said as she pulled out a short sword from its sheath. "Wait. Here Tacita gradus." Adimir whispered while pointing his staff at Mira. A subtle glow flashed around Mira's body before fading away as suddenly as it came. "What was that?" She asked. "Silent step. It's a spell to make a person's footsteps quieter." Was his reply. Mira nodded and snuck off to get closer to the cave while Tauna and Adimir waited behind a thick clump of trees and bushes. A few minutes later and they saw the figure of Mira emerge from behind a tree. It looks like there are no guards. Let's go and give those green bastards a beating." Mira said, and before waiting for an answer she was already creeping back towards the cave.nWordlessly the other two followed after her. "Tauna you go first with your shield. Adimir if you could cast a light spell, and if you have something to help keep an eye out for traps use it." Mira said in barely audible whispers. Tauna stepped up with her tower shield in hand. It was entirely made out of hardwood and was an inch thick. And as if to emphasize upon her inhuman strength further it was a full 3-inches taller than her. In her left hand, she held a large 6-pound iron mace. Adimir nodded and whispered under his breath, "Candela lux." After speaking that a dim light floated up from the tip of his staff, and stopped above Adimir's head, and provided the three with light. He then activated his mage eyes with a range of 10 feet to get a good grasp of the terrain. After he followed behind Tauna as she walked into the cave Mira followed in last keeping a watchful eye behind them. They did not have to walk very long to find signs of inhabitants as the group came upon three spilled bowls of porridge. "Looks like something made them run in a hurry if they willingly left behind their food behind. Do you think another group of adventurers got to here before us?" Tauna questioned. "No. We were the first to take that quest. Besides with three goblins bunched up like this a couple would have stayed behind to fend off the intruders, and then there'd be blood, and corpses. But yet there's no blood around here. Much less any bodies." Mira replied. Hearing this Adimir frowned. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this quest. Despite that, he didn't voice his opinion and continued to focus on using his mages eyes to watch out for traps. "That's weird…" Adimir suddenly spoke up a minute later. "What is?" Tauna asked. "Just a bit up ahead there are some tripwire traps, but strangely enough it seems that somethings tore them apart. And there are corpses ahead. I think that they might be goblins." He replied. "You can see that far!?" Mira exclaimed in shock. The light that the candlelight spell emitted only reached a few feet ahead of them, but what Adimir pointed out was not within sight for Tauna, and he was behind her. "I'm using mage eyes. It allows me to use mana to see things around me in greater detail so long as my mind is focused enough." He answered. "Wow. That sounds convenient. I wish I could do that." Tauna said with a hint of remorse in her voice. "You couldn't even if you wanted to. You have absolutely zero ability to focus!" Mira said mockingly. While they seemed calm Adimir realized they were just using this friendly banter to ease their nerves. They pushed forward to where the gathering of corpses was and was greeted by a gruesome scene and the thick stench of blood. There were all sorts of torn limbs, and crushed torsos strewn across the caves tunnel, with the blood of the goblins painting the walls and floor of the cave in crimson red. The only reason they could even tell these were goblins was because of how the few small the mostly intact green-skinned limbs were. They couldn't tell however how many goblins there were in this tunnel with how the bodies were dismembered. There could have been five or a dozen for all they know. "What could have done this..?" Tauna murmured upon seeing the brutal scene. "No idea, but either way we could try taking it down." Mira offered. "We were hired to clear a goblin nest. Not take care of whatever did this." Tauna countered. "Well, there might still be a goblin nest? They may have managed to kill it deeper into the cave, and even if they didn't we could still kill whatever did this and perhaps get a bonus reward?" Adimir interjected. "Well… I guess we could do that then." Tauna said after hesitating for a brief moment. "Well, let's do this," Mira said voicing her agreement. After they were all agreed they proceeded onwards until they arrived at an opening in the cave. The previously narrow cave pathway opened up into a 50 foot wide opening with a good 20 feet between the cave ceiling and the floor. The inside of the cave was littered with the torn-up bodies of dozens of goblins, and in the center of it all was a 10-foot tall red muscular loincloth clad behemoth. The humanoid monster had cuts and bruises littering its bare legs, arms, and chest, yet they all seemed to barely phase the creature, as it looked towards them with an intense aura of bloodlust hung over its body. "Ogre!" Tauna cried out in a mix of shock and fear. "Adimir hurry bombard it with some spells! Tauna get in position to block him if he attacks!" Mira rapidly barked out orders as she drew a short dagger in her left hand to accompany the short sword in her right hand. Tauna hefted up her shield and used both hands to hold it to keep a better grip on it. "Lapis arte catenis!" Adimir yelled out while pointing at the ogre. The ogre didn't bother dodging and instead held up two of its arms in front of its face in a defensive formation. However instead of it being attack magic like it expected eight chins made of stone burst forth from the ground with two wrappings around each of its limbs. The ogre began pulling at its newfound restraints, and cracks started to spread throughout the stone chains. "Ignis pluvia!" Before they could break however Adimir cast yet another spell and accompanied by the intense glowing of the mage staffs crystal over 40 fire bolts materialized in the air in front of him and rained down upon the trapped ogre. The flames of the spell coated the ogre in a cloak of fire singing its hair and charring its skin black. But with a rage-filled roar, the ogre shattered its restraints and ignoring the fire burning at its flesh it charged directly towards the half-elf mage who had caused it so much pain. "Not so fast big guy!" Tauna yelled out with a fierce grin as she positioned herself in front of the ogre's anger-filled charge, meeting a human head-sized fist with her tower shield. With an immense bang, the fist crashed into the shield smashing it in half and pushing the wolf-kin girl several inches back. "Hey, that was my shield, you big oaf!" Tauna yelled as she grabbed the splintered remains of her shield and slammed it across the ogres face shattering into wood chips. The ogre however slowly turned its head to look back down at her and uttered a low guttural growl. "Oh hey um no hard feelings?" She said with a sheepish grin. The ogre roared in return and pulled back an arm to send a punch towards her face. Suddenly a kid's voice cried out, "Fulgur hastam!" And then a bolt of lightning crashed into the chest of the ogre causing it to reel back with a howl of pain. Seizing the ogre's moment of weakness to tackle the gargantuan beast to the ground. At the same time, Mira dove into the fray and started slicing and stabbing at the ogre's legs in a desperate attempt to cripple it. "Da sociis virtus!" Following the incantation, a bright yellow glow engulfed Tauna and Mira bolstering their strength. However, even with this added strength the ogre still had the advantage as it backhanded Tauna and reached to grab Mira. But Mira just barely evaded his grab, and put some distance between the two. "Tauna!" Mira yelled out casting a worried glance towards Tauna. The warrior shakily stood up onto her unbalanced feet. "I-I'm alright! Let's take this bastard down!" She yelled out as a bestial rage overtook her, even though she was bleeding heavily from the gouge on her forehead. "I'm going to cast a big spell, but I need some time to gather up the necessary mana to cast it! Distract big red over there while I get it ready!" Adimir yelled out as he closed his eyes, and cut himself off from the world. He then began drawing in all the surrounding mana and channeling it into his staff. As if the ogre sensed the impending danger coming from him the ogre started running towards him. Before he took even three steps however Mira jumped onto it's back and started plunging her dagger into its shoulder. "Forgetting about something!?" She snarled through bared teeth. The ogre snorted in irritation and reached to smack her off but Tauna interfered swinging her mace with both hands into its legs with a vengeance. "ROOOOAAAR!" The behemoth bellowed as it shook its body vigorously throwing Mira off with a dull thud. It then grabbed Tauna by her neck and slowly started to squeeze cutting off her airway. It had now all but forgotten about Adimir as it's rage overtook it, and it basked in the feeling of crushing such a defiant soul. However, they bought enough time for the spell. ""GEHENNAM IGNIS!" Adimir roared as he put every bit of mana he had in both his body and staff into one final spell. A powerful white column of flame just as thick as an adult mans arm burst forth from the staff as the crystal on it dimmed until it was no longer glowing. Before it even had the time to realize the danger its chest was engulfed in the flames and started to burn away layer after layer of its flesh. With a blood-curdling scream, the ogre dropped Tauna and began swiping at the flames in a desperate attempt to put it out. However, it only made it worse as the flames instead stuck to its hands, and spread along its arms, burning up the ogre faster. Within seconds its entire body was engulfed in flames and the ogres screams continued to resound throughout the room. The three adventurers watched on in horror as chunks of blackened chunks of melted flesh, and muscle began to fall off of the previously indomitable foe. It took one. Two. three steps forward reaching out its hand towards adimir before it collapsed onto its face completely still, as the fire burned away the last bits of its flesh, and bone, only leaving charred remains in its place. Now that its tortured screams had ended there was an eery silence left in its place. "... Remind me never to piss you off Adimir." Tauna said in a hoarse voice breaking the tense silence. This caused Mira to burst out laughing, and cause a chain reaction as they all started laughing hysterically. They laughed and laughed for minutes on end not from how funny what Tauna said was, but from the joy to have faced death and survived. Eventually, they calmed down and left everyone panting. "Can everyone stand?" Mira asked as she labored to sit up. "Yeah, I can. My entire body feels numb though."Tauna replied shakily standing up once again. "No, not really. I used up my mana. I'll probably be paralyzed for the next few hours until my mana regenerates." Adimir replied while grimacing. "Wow, really? Sounds like a perfect chance!" Tauna said as she walked over to Adimir a gleeful grin on her face. "Don't make me regret saving you damn it!" Adimir yelled out. "Yeah, Tauna get control of yourself! Its not the time for jokes. We need to get out of here and head back to the guild!" Mira said backing Adimir up. "Yes thank you, Mira!" He cheered. "But you can carry him back. I can barely move my arms." She added on. "Wait what? Noooo!" He yelled. ************************************************************************************************************* Several hours of enduring Tauna's endless Tall tales and they finally arrived at the guild. By now Adimirs mana was beginning to come back, and he was able to move again, but Tauna refused to put him down and carried him back to the guild. When they arrived their bloodied and battered state had drawn the attention of many of the adventurers. When approaching the receptionist's desk the receptionist Adimir talked to on his first day gasped. "What happened to you guys? Weren't you just going on a goblin subjugation quest?" She asked with a concerned frown. "We ran into an ogre. We barely manage to kill the monster." Answered Mira as she handed over the guild card, and Tauna and Adimir followed suit. Instead of asking further questions the receptionist instead held the cards in her hand and closed her eyes. Adimir raised an eyebrow as he detected a surge of mana coming from her and pouring into the cards, before receding. The receptionist opened her eyes and handed them back their cards. "I see. You'll be paid the quests 50 copper coins along with an additional remuneration of 8 silver coins for killing the ogre. I have the appropriate sum of money right here." She said before grabbing a small pouch with 50 copper coins and added 8 silver coins to the bag before handing it to Mira. Both Mira and Tauna looked at the bag with wide eyes, while Adimir remained indifferent as he was of noble birth. "Wow, maybe we should kill ogres more often?" Tauna said, before receiving an elbow to the stomach from Mira. Here in this world, 100 copper coins were equal to 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins were equal to a single gold coin, and 5 copper coins were enough to buy a loaf of bread. When taking this into account their reaction really wasn't that uncalled for. This amount of money was more than enough for them to keep themselves afloat for over a month with their current living accommodations. Tauna put Adimir down and they all went over to sit at a table to discuss how they'll split the pay. Mira placed the bag full of coins at the center of the table. "I personally think me and Tauna should get 2 silver coins and 75 copper coins and Adimir should get 3 silver coins." She proposed as she propped her head up on one arm. Tauna nodded vigorously showing her agreement. "Wait what? Why?" He asked in surprise. "Well if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have been able to survive that ogre, and you were the one who killed it, so you should get a bonus by how adventurers do things," Mira responded as she began grabbing coins and dividing them amongst everyone. "But we have a more important matter to solve. Whether we'll go our separate way or become an official party together. Seeing as how me and Tauna have already decided we'd be in a party together that leaves only you to decide whether you leave or want to stay." She added on before both she and Tauna looked at Adimir with expectant stares. Feeling the weight of the two girls stares he squirmed in his seat nervously. Thinking back to how the two have been behaving, and then to how they both were willingly risking their lives to protect him while he prepared his spell even though he could have very well just abandoned them, and he made his decision. "I'll join. So what are we called?" Adimir asked as he looked between the two of them.