Adam flew around, pulling the Outbreak slightly to the sides, causing it to zig and zag along the road and field. He had allowed the group enough time to form their defences.

  They kicked over the carts, the items spilling out, and used the carts to form a barrier ahead of them. They piled the hides high, f a step for those with ranged capability to look over them, with magid arrows at the ready.

  Arrows and bolts whistled past Adam as he dropped down, turning to face the creatures, shooting out his own Fme Bolts.

  Trick: Fme BoltD20 + 5 = 14 (9)Hit!2D6 = 2 (1, 1)

  Trick: Fme BoltD20 + 5 = 25 (20)Critical hit!4D6 = 14 (1, 2, 5, 6)

  There were dozens of guards on the wall, each with crossbows or bows at hand, raining dowh against the horde of creatures. Yet, there were still at least fifty of them, each ready and eager to tear into the group.

  They were no more than a moment away now, and as magid ammunition flew, it seemed that the group would still be outnumbered at least two to one.

  Adam sighed, trying to calm his poundi. “It’s going to be a rough fight.” Several arrows and bolts would strike one creature, but it would still bound towards them.

  “A good fight,” Jurot corrected, nodding his head, Phantom in hand. It wao spill blood. Behind him was Nobby, with his own axe and shield.

  Lucy held Destroyer in both hands, her ow pumping wildly, and she stared at the Outbreak ahead. “You sure have a lot of guts to try and attack me!”

  Adam swallowed. “I’ll deal with the middle third.”

  “I’ll take the left,” Lucy said.

  “I will take the right,” Jurot added.

  “Hey,” Jaygak grumbled, Stormdrake crag in her hand. “Don’t fet us.”

  Kitool held Seekerstaff in hand, and she was fresh for a fight. ‘I stun and force back a number of them away from the group.’

  Twobones exged a look with Ironbde, and the pair were about to step forward to let the creatures swarm them, when a horn was blown.

  “Get down!” the guards shouted from the walls. “On the floor! On the flet down!”

  The gates behind the group shook open, and they could hear the gentle hum of ting. The opening gates revealed the Priests, who were ting a spell, holding amulets and shields adorned with their deities symbols.

  The exhausted group fell to the floor as beams of light shot out from through the gates. Ten Priests bsted out their spells, striking the horde of monsters, which glowed with light. The guards from atop the walls shot the monsters again, this time their ammunition striking truer thanks to the glow.

  “Through the gates, quickly!” Vice Master Paul shouted, his voice causing Adam’s heart to jump.

  The group quickly scrambled through the sides of the gate, as the Priests shot forth another round of light beams. Beside them were a dozen guards, and rushing past them came at least twenty adventurers, each wearing Bronze and Steel tags, leaping over the hides to ehe fray.

  The most bloodthirsty of Adam’s group remained outside, leading the fray.

  Adam dropped down against the town walls. “Oh, you beautiful, beautiful walls! Oh how I’ve missed you so much.” He pat the walls beside him, feeling guilty that he ever thought they were ie pared to the Iyr’s great walls.

  Shamia stared at Adam from beside him, but nodded her head, leaning back against the wall. These walls were perhaps the most beautiful walls she had e across, more beautiful thahe outpost’s walls.

  Victory!OutbreakXP Gained: +1000XP: 13 300 -> 14 300

  “I had expected you to stay and fight,” Paul said as he returned back from the sughter, covered in blood.

  “If any of you killed as many as me, I’ll give you my axe,” Adam said. “I slew at least fifty myself, maybe a hundred.”

  Paul smiled, but notig that Adam wasn’t joking, his lips grew taut. He turned, looking into the horizon, noting the piles of dead bodies in the distance, some spaced apart. “You killed them all?”

  “Fireballs,” Adam said. “I flew over and bsted ‘em with a bunch of Fireballs.”

  “Of course you did.” Paul’s eyes theo Lady Shamia, and he bowed his head. “My Lady?”

  “It is good to see you again, Vice Master Paul,” she said, her hand.

  Paul took it, and brought it up to his face, but he didn’t kiss it. “I am gd to see you are well. It seems you had found good fortune.”

  “The best.”

  Paul looked to Adam, who was still ying against the wall. “I had thought you’d have goo bathe.”

  “You’re a genius, Paul,” Adam said. “Vice Master,” he quickly added, not wanting to sound rude.

  Adam sank into the bath not a half hour ter, feeling the hot water all around him. He rexed within the heat for a long while. ‘I take it back. The heat isn’t so bad, after all.’

  Once he was done, he met with Paul and the rest of the group. The adventurers had assisted in bringing back their stuff, partly because they could cim a greater cut of loot.

  “Though you killed most of them,” Paul said, gng to Adam for a moment, “you will only be able to cim half.”

  “Will they all be burnt?” Adam joked. He didn’t care about any of that loot, he was just gd he was alive.

  Paul nodded. “Not everything was ruined, so you will still gain something.”

  “He’s always ruining our loot,” John, the punk, said.

  Adam inhaled deeply. “Paul, Vice Master. You ever send me on a quest with those two parties again, and I’m just letting you know now, you will not find their bodies.”

  “Adam,” Paul s the Half Elf. “I uand your frustrations.”

  “No, you don’t,” Adam snapped back. “These dumb fucks have been starting fights with me pretty much every day we were together. I even made a sed outpost and I still heard them fug pin. I’m just warning you so if you ever see us together and you find that only I’ve returned, you know why.”

  “You ’t threaten me!” John shouted, standing quickly.

  Adam stood, his ring shifting into an axe. “Shut the fuck up, kid. I beat you once before, and I’ll beat you again.”

  “Mind your words, leaf ear!”

  “Enough!” Paul shouted. “Sit down, the pair of you!”

  Adam’s eyes met Paul’s. He wondered what he should do, with different thoughts crashing in his mind. He was sid tired of this kid, and now they were back, he was happy to teach him another lesson.

  “Adam,” Jurot called. “There is no fighting in the Guild.”

  Adam sat down, his axe shifting bat onto his finger.

  Paul sighed, rubbing the side of his head. “You will all be paid a bonus, and we will remove the Guild’s cut. We will prepare your rewards in a moment.”

  Quest plete: OutbreaksXP Gained: +500XP: 14 300 -> 14 800

  Stamps Gained: +3Stamps: 12 -> 15

  [Due to surviving a dangerous situation, the Level Up XP penalty has been reduced to 10%.]

  ‘Nice,’ Adam thought. He hadn’t realised that Bell would tell him things. He supposed him chatting with Bell every evening had its perks.

  “Rick,” Adam called, motioning with his head. The pair stepped away to the side. “Would you miing us tomorrow m?”

  “Alright,” Rick said. “Is it important?”

  “To me, a little,” Adam said, nodding his head.

  “Alright. Tomorrow, in the m. Dawn?”

  “Uh, no,” Adam replied, chug. “I want to sleep in after all that. A couple of hours before noon at the test, please.”

  “Alright.”

  Adam returo his party. “The Guild’s going to cut our pieces together and then we’ll split them between ourselves. There’s not as much as I’d like, and it’s going to be awkward maths, but it is what it is.”

  Remy and Jeremy gnced between one ahey were just gd they had made it ba one piece. A hundred gold each was great, the hide cut between them was a nice bonus.

  “I’ll pay you some gold today, so you have something to go back to your families with,” Adam said, handing each porter fifty gold pieces. “You two swing by in the m, alright?”

  “Aye, mister boss,” the pair replied, before leaving, taking Nobby with them at Adam’s insistence, who had also sent him away with fifty gold.

  Fate’s Goldeogether in one of the Guild’s rooms, which allowed many of them to meet together. “That was terrifying, eh?”

  “You didn’t even bathe in blood,” Lucy said, shaking her head.

  “Say that when you kill as many as me,” Adam shot back.

  Luarrowed her eyes. “You used magic. That’s cheating, obviously.”

  “The great Demon Lord is making excuses?” Adam asked.

  “Hmph.”

  Adam looked to Brittany. “I’ll pay you fifty gold too, otherwise I’ll feel guilty.”

  “I wasn’t in danger, much,” Brittany replied.

  “Sure, but I’d feel bad if I didn’t pay you the same as Nobby. Even if you weren’t in danger, your arrows helped a lot.”

  Brittany khey hadn’t, but she decided to accept Adam’s fortune.

  “You know, I wao chat a bunch, but…” Adam yawned.

  “Let us meet in the m,” Sir Vonda said.

  “Yeah…” Adam fought his eyes as he dragged himself to bed.

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  ht. It does make sehat Red Oak of all pces would have a det respoo an Outbreak so close to their walls...

  Hopefully Adam will one day get himself beat.

  At least we'll never see John again!