"What...?" While the appearance of the stranger shouldn't have been a surprise, the last thing I expected was to see 'them'.
"Well, aren't you going to let me in?"
"Eh, not really no. What are you even doing here…"
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten about me?"
"You have a new message"
"V: Hey, it's me. Can you open up?"
"No—it was Vestralia, right?"
"Yep, that's it. That's one point for you"
"O-okay, but that doesn't explain why you're here, in front of my room no less"
"Ah. Do you really want to have a conversation with someone behind a closed door?—" I pulled my hand from the doorknob walking back to my bed and returning to appraise my items. When the door was banged on again.
"Hmm, that has to be the attendant" I opened the door.
"No, just me. I'm here about the party request you made" she answered as I opened the door.
Pushing the door wide open, I stepped out, as she quickly followed me down into the Guildhall.
I asked her what her interest was in the party and she mentioned that the group was already formed and raring to go, they were waiting on the party leader.
"All right, but that doesn't explain why you're here"
"Wow, Ark you're pretty oblivious aren't you" taking advantage of my reaction when she called me by that name to tease me.
I was a little curious how she managed to find my room and she noted that she followed the friend icon on the map, something I never really considered since I only ever played with two other people, neither of whom actually sent me a friend request.
A thought that did leave me a little saddened, but as we got to the ground floor, we were greeted by the bickering bunch that had me regretting my decision for a moment.
"So this is the party huh?" I asked the approaching attendant.
"Yes sir. One Berserker, a Druid, a Monk, a Rogue and the nice lady behind you is a Paladin" A status window opened up with a notification of the new party created. The notification provided the necessary details along with the prompt to accept the party formation.
Quest: Slay the Mynillian Drake. Party Formation
Vestralia Starfall. Level 2: Paladin.
Hailey Brightbloom. Level 2: Druid.
Dan Firefist. Level 2: Monk.
Kal Breakbones. Level 2: Berserker.
Weiss Dustling. Level 2: Rogue.
"Seems like everyone here really takes their role playing seriously. Wait, you're already Level 6, Ark?" Vestralia let slip her comment after peeking at my status window.
"All Level 2, that's…actually better than I expected" I'd still need to see how well they do in a fight, but if they can hold their own then coming up with a strategy around their skills could still work…if we can cooperate correctly.
For a moment I was lost in thought before she shook me.
"We should probably go and meet everyone, Ark"
"Eh, right" meeting them all didn't take much time as they were ready to start with the Quest. That's probably why they were so rowdy
Despite being strangers they seemed more interested in having fun than making everyone's time miserable so I could at least know that there would be one less thing for me to worry about.
"All right. My name is Winn and I'll be your party leader. Our goal is to hunt down the drake terrorising the town of Mynil..."
"Well then Winn was it, you still plan on taking on that Quest? I'm surprised you actually look half decent right now" the silver-armoured player came across our party meeting.
"Ark, who is this weirdo?" Vestralia whispered, shooting the figure a harsh glare as he approached.
"It's Winn...never mind. Just some player who's been bugging me for my Quest, but it's fine we have to get going anyways."
"Everyone, listen up. Make sure to get your gear in order and we will meet by the Guildhall stables in 30 minutes." Ignoring his sneer, I decided to visit the local Spell shop for a few spell scrolls and potion vials, mainly:
Gas Vials x3(-30 silver);
Pitch Vials x3(-30 silver);
Scroll of Restoration (S)(-50 silver);
Scroll of Fairy Step (S) x2(-50 silver);
Scroll of Morning Dew (S) x2(-50 silver)
"What's with all this stuff, Ark?"
"Ahh! You scared me. What are you doing here?"
"I finished my prep work and saw you were headed here. Are you always this jumpy or are you just happy to see me?" she teased, getting too close for anyone that was basically a stranger not too long ago.
"Enough, we need to get going." Waving goodbye to the shopkeeper before meeting the same beggar outside.
"Your relationship with this character has increased. You may now receive a unique interaction"
Considering I was on my way, I thought nothing bad would come out of the interaction.
Beginning the interaction by handing him the coin, I asked the beggar how their day was going.
"Good sir, what is your name? Let me know your name for your kindness"
"It's no trouble. You can call me Winn"
"Your relationship with this character has been exhausted, No unique interactions are available"
Strange, though what wasn't at this point.
"Title Received: Ward of the Deathwalkers."
My status window alerted me of a new prompt in my menu as we walked away.
While my initial reaction would have been to ignore it, that message left me frozen for a moment before I turned around and found the beggar had once again disappeared.
"Dammit. We need to get going. Now!" I began rushing down the street, with Vestralia choosing to hold her words and soon catching up.
By the time we got to the stables, we were catching our breath.
"And, what was that all about?" she wondered as the rest of the party arrived
"We just need to get out of this city, right now." Even though it wasn't much of an explanation, I needed the whole team to focus on the Quest, leaving them to their chatter as I went on to rent us a carriage.
There was no sense in worrying them about everything else
"The trip is going to be at least a day-long carriage ride so let's get going" I arrived at where the party was waiting, alongside the carriage driver, a middle aged looking figure of average height and decent build sporting a short beard with the same black coloured hair and white accents that he had tied in a knot with a leather hat to keep sun out of his eyes.