Aflia gathers her staff from beside the doorway, and she leads you towards the outskirts of Chedal. You pass four different taverns on the way, all of them reasonably full of patrons given the late afternoon hour. Perhaps I can get lodging at one of them? Or will the Guild put me up? They have to have rooms for employees in that huge building of theirs. Aflia makes a sudden left turn down an alleyway between a warehouse and the back wall of a fisherman's market stall. You notice her gag slightly at the rotted fish smell, but you breath it in deeply. Reminds me of home. You catch up to her in a few steps when she slows down to catch her breath. "Was that a shortcut or an evasion?"

"Evasion. The Sirens, a wharf-side gang, like to kidnap 'exotics' to sell as slaves."

As if they'd mess with a spell-caster and a soldier! "You do realize you are something of a certified bad-ass in your own right? Think they'd like to tangle with someone who can literally light their asses on fire with a word and a gesture?"

"Probably not..."

"But?"

"How much would you pay for a dragon-blooded Tiefling slave?"

"I'd cut the slaver's throats."

"So the Sirens would risk losing a man or three to make the capture. They'd make enough money off of the sale to make up for it."

"No, I'd kill the slavers just for being slavers."

"Oh."

"And by-the-by, we're going to have to deal with them at some point. They probably saw you, and pegged your evasion as exactly that. They'll be after us like sharks with blood in the water."

"Dung."

You can't help but laugh. "Miss, I've been a soldier for two years, and was a wharfside orphan and fisherman in Sapphire for sixteen before that. There's nothing you can say that I've not heard before. We'll deal with the Sirens if they decide to make a move..."

"What?"

"Take a right into a random alley, then two hard lefts right away."

The sudden tension in your voice twiggs Aflia's nerves. You can see it in the sudden twitch of her head. Instead of saying anything, she snaps a sudden right turn, picking up the pace as she vanishes into the alleyway. You follow. The sudden cursing from behind you confirms your suspicions. That was a Siren following us!

You almost lose Aflia as she takes a hard left, then smoothly knocks on the door to a large warehouse. It opens right away, and you follow her inside and shut the door. You are slightly shocked to see her hugging an old man.

"Little Aflia, all grown up! How you been, girl?"

"I've been better and worse Binu. Old Man Berkin still keeping you busy?"

"More his grandson Hobson nowadays, but the Old Man still has his fingers in as much as he can. You here about the rats?"

"Yes."

"I'll call for Hobson then, I can't get up and down stairs the way I used to, and neither can the Old Man. HOI MR. HOBSON! GUILD HERE TO SEE YOU!"

A man in his thirties pokes his head out of an office, then notes your armor and Aflia's robes and comes trotting out. "Only two? I requested a full team of at least four!"

Aflia bristles, but you step in. "Mr. Hobson, I presume? Aris Cretu." You hold out your hand to shake.

Mr. Hobson shakes it. Weak grip, dead-fish shake. Requested a 'full team' of four people for a simple big rat problem? Worrier, probably wants to look more important than he is. "Well Guildsman Cretu, I hope you can fight well. The damn rats have a tunnel from our warehouse here to our brewing facility just behind the building. Tall enough for a man to walk through, though your associate may be bumping her head on the ceiling. I did buy some poison for the nest, hopefully that'll be enough to get rid of them. Thing is, none of my men are willing to go down into the tunnel to place the poison, so I called in the Guild."

Exterminator service work, and this guy wants to cheap out. No wonder Riben shoved this guy to the end of the priority list, and only sent us two. "All the more reason to only dispatch two people then Mr. Hobson. We'll start at this end and clear the tunnel as we go. Any more would be bottled up behind us, and unable to help in a fight. If you can show us to the entrance, we'll get to work."

"Well, ok, but I'm not liable for your injuries when it all goes horribly wrong! This way..." He leads you off towards a staircase tucked into the side of the main storage area. He hands you a key and gestures to the door at the bottom of the stairs. "Basement is though there, tunnel came right in through the wall. Mind the bear traps we set, and good luck. Gods know you are going to need it."

”And the poison is where?"

"Oh, one of the guys dropped it when they set the baretraps. Green bag, 'RatTox' insignia on it."

"Alright. Let your guys know on the other side so we don't surprise anyone. They should hear us coming, but better to be safe then dead." You unlock the door and let it swing wide. Wielding a four-foot-long greatsword indoors is no fun, but you are used to doing so with less room to spare. You study the room before stepping in, noting the three bear traps. Two are set and ready, but the third has a rat in it: still alive. You set into the basement "Aflia, target practice time."

Aflia take one look at the big rat in the trap and flicks her right hand. "Bolt of Flame!" A small blue bolt of fire races from her fingertips to slam into the rats head. The skull shatters, spraying smoldering brain matter over a good three feet of floorboard. Aflia takes one look at the results and gags.

You shut and lock the door before stepping closer to examine the corpse fully. "First time killing anything?"

"Y..Yes. Gods, the stench, how do you stand it?"

You grab a handy barrel stave and deliberately trigger the other two bear traps so you won't step on them by accident. "Acclimation, I guess? I mean, when someone dies, they tend to piss themselves and shit everywhere, plus the smell of their guts or whatever. Lots of people end up dead on battlefields, so you nose just shuts it out after a while. You never forget the smell though."

You leave Aflia to ponder this, and master her stomach while you examine the big rat. Almost four foot long, from its shattered skull to the end of its tail, with three-fourth of that body. You use what is left of the stave to pry its gums open, sighing in relief when you don't see the tell-tale frothing. Not diseased, thank the gods. But where there is one of these things, there are usually more right behind. You take a loot at the tunnel. Mr. Hobson was right about one thing, I can actually walk upright through that. Rats wouldn't need something that big. Sabotage? Not for me to deal with, We’re just contracted to remove the rats.

Aflia joins you in staring at the corpse. "I think I'm good to go, but I'm glad you are leading the way."

"You see that poison anywhere around here?"

"Yeah, about two feet to your left."

You turn your head to look, and shake your head in frustration. Just like that cheap bastard. "Common rat poison. Won't do crap to the nest, these things are just too big for it to work on. Handle with gloves anyway, just in case. Next up, tunnel clearance one-oh-one. I'll take point, you follow along behind me, about three feet back. If the tunnel widens out, hang back and cover my flanks. Only one way forward, and we won't leave any of these things alive behind us, so don't worry about something coming up behind us too much. Ready?"

You can hear her gulp as she gathers the sack of RatTox into an empty grain bag. "I think so."

"Alright. Stay with me, and we'll work our way through this." You enter the tunnel, and Aflia follows along behind. Not quite on my own, but at least she shouldn't panic or break down until we're out the other side...

Indeed, Aflia doesn't. You do the bulk of the work, half-swording your way through another two rats, with her bolts of fire picking off a third as it tries to run from the nest. Aflia dumps the entire bag of poison over the pile of hay that the rats were calling a nest, before you exit the tunnel into the basement of the brewery. A thankful mr. Hobson offers you some complimentary ale as thanks, but you politely decline. You have more work yet to do this night, and you want to be clear-headed for it.

Status Report:

Money: 1 platinum coin

Food and water: 5 days of hardtack rations

Equipment: in good condition

The Ring: obsidian band with three empty gem settings.

Total deaths: 1