Guilt

Even if it's late at night, the city of Whalekeep is still active. You would think that everyone would go to sleep after a hard day of toiling for some gold coins, but not everyone thinks that way. Close to the port, there is a tavern popular for it's ale and food. Its most frequent customers, adventurers from all across the empire. And tonight, they are celebrating. "The Wanderers" have completed their 100th adventure two days ago(with great success) and now the only thing in their mind is how to keep drinking without puking.

The first to fall was Ludwig, a cleric of the goddess Capella, goddess of summer. He comes from a town called Helena in the north. He has slain dragons, saved mistresses in distress, brought heretics to justice and managed to avoid death many times. But this time, ale proved to much for him.

The second to fall was his best friend since childhood, Wilhelm. A great warrior with intoxicating charisma and great skill in combat. He is actually the leader of the party, but only for the authorities, in reality all of them are equal. Right now he is knocked out, hugging his friend mumbling about how expensive the ale is in Whalekeep.

The last to fall, but not least, was Hugo, a gnome, coming from the south, close to Traceport. He is the planner and logistician of the party. Without he is approval and plans, no mission starts. Right now he is pinned to a wall, by a spear after a bet with some dwarf.

The fourth member, that keeps standing is a fouled dwarf, full of lust and eager for the next battle named Ruben. He is upstairs, being "busy" with some maiden that came to see "The Wanderers" with her own eyes.

The fifth and final member, a tiefling named Charlotte, is having a staring contest with an ork. The winner gets the best room inside of the tavern. Both of them are in tears, the contest going undisturbed for the past 3 minutes. Charlotte is at her limit, the ork looks like he could go much longer. Luck is on Charlotte's side. A naked dwarf would land in the middle of the table. The ork couldn't believe what has happened and perplexed he blinked. The dwarf was Ruben, he had a great time with the lady, but her father found out where she was, so he had to bolt it quickly out of the tavern. Charlotte won the best room, excellent view to the port and the sea, a bed to make even a noble jealous and top room service. Without a thought she rushed upstairs.

The party continued for many hours, but eventually, all good things must come to an end.

Early in the morning, the tavernkeeper started cleaning up which also meant waking everyone up. The only one who was spared of this terrible fate, was Charlotte.

"Ow, ow, ow" Ludwig moaned "I shall never drink again, it's a promise"

He looked bellow him and saw Wilhelm hugging him tight. Ludwig was much taller and with a better build than Wilhelm.

"Shhhh. Stay still my soft pillow. I shall reward you greatly for allowing me to sleep another hour" Wilhelm whispered.

With a disgusted face and full of headache, Ludwig managed to get Wilhelm off of him. Sadly for Wilhelm, this meant he had to wake up too.

"I shall remember this Ludwig! Next time you are in peril, I shall not come to your aid"

"Yes, yes. Stop shouting, I get you do not have hangovers, but most of us are not as blessed as you." He turned towards the tavernkeeper "You do not mind if I open the doors for some fresh air?

The tavernkeeper gestured at him to open the doors.

After opening the doors, Ludwig found Ruben, sleeping naked at the steps of the tavern.

"Why?" he asked.

"In each battle, there is great sacrifice young Ludwig. And last night, it was a hard battle for a warrior such as myself. You see, there was a great beast upstairs which did a number on my armour-"

"Ruben, just get inside and get some clothes. I am sure you defeated this beast and rescued us, but pleeaaase. Get dressed."

"Astute as ever, young Ludwig. Thank you for opening the doors for me, I shall go and get my clothes." Ruben said with confidence

Ruben marched towards his belongings upstairs, whistling a victory march from his time in the army.

The tavern looked like a mess, his energy was almost non-existent, but Ludwig felt a duty to help the cleaning process. So he started. He pulled Hugo down, checked that he was still alive, managed to convince Wilhelm to join in as well. The better part of the morning was spent like this and in the middle of the day, they had their first meal.

On one side of the table Ludwig and Hugo, on the other Ruben and Wilhelm. All four were enjoying some tasty sausage with fresh bread.

"I tell you this boys, these sausages are the best in the Empire! Keep them coming keeper!" Hugo yelled with a raspy voice

"So now that we blew up all of our money. Where do we start earning it back?" Ludwig asked

"Well I grabbed this" Wilhelm said as he put a piece of parchment on the table.

It was a request for help from the mayor of Vultfolk, just across the sea. His villages were being raided by an unknown force and his own militia couldn't deal with the problem.

"Pretty simple, we go in, we bash a few heads and we swim in gold" said Ruben excitingly.

"I sure hope so. Wake the princess and we move out" commanded Ludwig

"No need for that. I am fresh, fed and ready to fight" a soft voice was heard from the staircase.

It was Charlotte, clean, full of energy and already dressed in her gear.

"I get that your sleep was good?" Wilhelm taunted

"Oh you can't believe. The service here makes you feel like a noble. I tell you, it's one of the best. You should try it once."

"How much did it cost?"

"Even you can afford it Ruben. It was around 100 gold coins"

Everyone's jaw dropped. They never heard of such a price for a room.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I didn't pay for it. The ork did, whoever he is."

"Still that feels too much." Hugo commented

"Eh, it was a party... So, we are going?"

"Sure, let us proceed."

All of them paid their meals, thanked the tavernkeeper for his kindness as a host and left for a new adventure.

The trip towards Vultfolk is not a dangerours nor a long one. Luckily Whalekeep is a very busy port, with many ships leaving and arriving almost to the minute. The use of magic in sailing also meant faster travel times. This was the second time they left the continent, the first time was for an expedition on Victory Island. The first one almost ended in everyone getting killed, but this time it felt much better.

Compared to Whalekeep, Vultfolk was much smaller. But even with it's small size, it held a lot of power, much of it coming from the silver mines to its east.

The mayor in question was a respected individual, owner of the silver mines. In short, this is how he managed to become mayor in the first place. He met them at the docks, escorted the party to his villa.

"I really hope he is not a cheapskate." Hugo whispered to Ruben.

Ruben nodded, filled with expectations. But to him, these kinds of people didn't sit well with him. He had too many commanders in the army that were put in that position just because of their money or because of their birthright. He expected for this quest to be the same, there's a local bandit gang and they are too incompetent or lazy to deal with it themselves.

"I hope you will not be offended by my rush to deal with this problem Wanderers, but my problem has become quite urgent and they are disrupting the transport of silver." the mayor said looking at Wilhelm. You could smell some kind of perfume, sweet but very strong. He looked pretty old, with colorful clothing. His voice was soft, at some points he couldn't be heard because of it.

"We will gladly help, we just need a few more details" Wilhelm replied

"As of this moment we are going to exit the city. At the gate you will encounter a small troop led by my son, he will supervise and assist if needed. In short adventurer... A week ago graveyards started being opened and shortly after, people started missing as well. Now whoever is doing it, has started to hit our shipping lanes. Find out the cause for all of this and I will be sure to drown you in silver."

"Thank you for the details. I guess your son will fill us in if we have more questions?"

"Correct."

During Wilhelm's conversation with the mayor, Ludwig was scanning Vultfolk. Workers with crates and carts full of silver crates moving like ants from ships to the docks and vice-versa. A nightmare for any monster he thought. No demon, werewolf or undead would try to approach the city seeing how much silver was around. He was surprised by the lack of security around the city. You would expect that with this amount of silver around, you would be a prime target. Vultfolk is famous for its navy, but that navy was on a mission in Roga.

"You think it's a necromancer?" Charlotte asked interrupting his thoughts

"Not sure. It could be, but why would a necromancer needs this much silver?" Ludwig replied stroking his chin

"Buy the new edition for necromancy"

Both of them started chuckling, gaining a stern look from Wilhelm.

At last they have arrived at the gate, where they saw about a dozen soldiers waiting for them. One of them had a helmet with beautiful designs on it depicting a warrior slaying a dragon.

"Good afternoon father. They are the adventurers you spoke about?" the soldier asked

"Correct Richard. Cooperate with them and be sure to end this problem."

"Have some faith in me father. I guarantee it will all done in a proper manner. Wanderers, it's an honour to meet you. Let us ride to a village that was hit recently."

"Lead the way!" Ruben shouted.

The party started riding north east, where a very important village was hit the day before. Who knows what they might find...