Ranger appeared from the teleport pad, carrying the failed assassin over his shoulder and my armour under one arm.
The Guildmaster led him deeper into the Guild and directed him to drop the corpse onto the long table that was usually used for eating by the apprentices. I was sat at the table and he tossed my armour to me. I caught it but couldn't stop from wincing, the balverine wounds in my sides had been stitched up but still stung whenever I moved. The dining hall had been emptied of all the apprentices and Guild staff, the Guildmaster was obviously still trying to keep the hunt for Liberator a secret. Every other Hero on the quest had been summoned.
Our numbers had been reduced by one with the death of Gladiator but it was still an unbelievable number of Heroes in one place.
As usual Reaper and Druid were standing at opposite ends of the room, refusing to break eye contact.
The rest of the Heroes were scattered around the room, some sitting at the table and some standing around, all of them waiting for the Guildmaster to get on with it so they could continue their quest. They perked up at the sight of the mask and gathered around the body as the Guildmaster pulled it off the dead mans face. The man looked normal. Just like your average villager, with grey-streaked hair and the weathered face of a man who had worked his entire life. His head was resting at a disturbing angle after I had broken his neck but ranger reached over and pushed it back into place with a hollow snapping sound. The Guildmaster opened the corpses eyes and examined them.
They were glazed and empty, muddy brown in colour. He then reached down and opened the corpses simple wool shirt.
As more buttons were opened we could see that there was something on his chest. Intrigued the Guildmaster impatiently tore open the remaining cloth and flung the shirt open. There was a brand on his torso. A vast, complex series of sinister markings, burned into the skin of his chest and seemed to match the markings that adorned the mask.
The Guildmaster drew his fingers along the ridges of the brand, making sure it was real. Druid was visibly disturbed by the gruesome scars. It was understandable, this man was sent to kill him. Or worse. The Guildmaster stepped away and clapped his hands for attention.
"The quest has changed" he said "We won't be bothering with quest cards anymore, you will receive your orders directly from me."
The more Guild-minded among us were confused by this change in protocol, but they didn't question it.
He continued "You will be split into two teams. Reaper, Ranger, Pilgrim, Arrowdodger, you will continue to search for Liberator.
Druid, Avatar, Sabre, Hunter, you will work together to find and destroy the Cult of Blades."

The room seemed to divide itself as the Guildmaster walked away.
Reaper and Ranger stood together and the two others soon joined them. Druid and Avatar nodded to each other and stepped away to one side.
Sabre, the young Hero that had talked to me outside the Guild, looked unsure. I stood slowly, trying to avoid another stabbing pain in my ribs, and went to join Avatar and Druid. Sabre followed after me. The other team went their separate ways, they had no real desire to collaborate Our team had no choice, the Guildmaster had been clear that we must work together.
Two of the Guilds guards appeared and took the body away, probably to be examined more thoroughly by the Guildmaster.
I put on my armour and made sure I still had all of the weapons hidden between the plates and inside the chainmail.
It took me many months to master the art of walking in my custom-made armour without jangling like my bones were made of coins. When I was fully prepared Druid seemed to take the lead.
"We will start in Oakvale" He said in a voice so quite it was almost a whisper "If Gladiator washed out to sea near Oakvale then we should check up and down the coastline."
We all reached for our Guild Seals as one and activated our teleports. As the blue sparks began to cascade upwards I caught sight of Sabre, my vision was distorted but I could swear that I saw his face contort in pain just before he vanished.
The teleport seemed more uncomfortable than usual, there was a strange tugging sensation that made my skin tingle and my eyes dry in their sockets. I was the third to land, after Druid and Avatar. As soon as I felt solid earth under my feet I lurched forward and vomited onto the ground. It felt like everything in my body had been pushed through the eye of a needle. When my retching ceased I looked upwards.
Avatar was leaning against a fence, her face was deathly pale.
"Happened to you as well?" She said in between deep, cleansing breaths.
I nodded and looked around for Avatar. He was sat in the shade of a tree, holding his head in his hands.
I managed to stumble to my feet, ignoring the pain in my sides and the hollow feeling in my stomach. I looked over to the teleport pad and waited for Sabre to appear. The seconds passed into minutes as Druid and Avatar recovered and came to stand with me.
After five minutes we gave up on waiting for Sabre. He must have gone somewhere else. It happens sometimes, A Hero gets distracted and appears in a completely different place than he wanted. Of course, that didn't explain why the teleport was much worse than it usually was, or why Sabre hadn't just teleported straight to us after he had landed in the wrong place.

We made our way to the tavern, to wait for Sabre a bit longer and to get a drink to settle our stomachs.
The barman recognized Avatar and I and hailed us with a cheer and a free round of drinks, Druid refused the alcohol and instead drank milk. We drank as fast as we could. I don't know about the others but I couldn't stand the fawning adoration that seemed to surround a Hero in any public place. As we left I glanced at the teleport pad, there was still no sign of Sabre. I took a closer look and noticed that the pad appeared to be sparking. I got the attention of the others and jogged over to the pad. Druid and Avatar both outpaced me and reached the pad first, kneeling down to examine the pad. As I got closer I felt a strange rush of energy.
I shouted out to them to get back, not sure what was about to happen but knowing that it couldn't be good. Before I could complete my sentence there was a blinding flash of blue-white light. I caught a glimpse of Avatar and Druid getting blasted backwards before I myself was thrown back by the wave of force. I blacked out for a few seconds and when I woke there was a ringing in my ears that blocked out everything else. I dragged myself into a kneeling position. I couldn't see anything for smoke, it seemed to be flowing outwards from where the pad was. I used Force Push to clear the smoke from around me, just so I could think for a second.
My stitches seemed to have been opened up by the impact, I could feel the hot blood against the skin of my sides and stomach.
I limped towards the center of the chaos. As the smoke began to clear I caught sight of someone standing by the teleport pad.
The figure moved towards me and burst through the smoke. A blade was thrown towards my chest. I managed to twist to the side and the dagger hit the pauldron on my shoulder, lodging there. Before I could recover my attacker advanced on me and punched me in the stomach. I backed away, deeper into the smoke. I planned to hide, I wouldn't be able to see my attacker but he wouldn't be able to see me either. Lights flashed behind my eyes as the back of my head was hit with a club.
I recoiled away, straight into a vicious kick to the knee. With the smoke clearing I could see that I was outnumbered by two, and all three of them wore the expressionless, white mask of the Cult of Blades. I had fallen into a false sense of security, believing that all the cultists were as useless as the man that I had killed. It was a mistake that I could be paying for with my life.
I fell to one knee, surrounded by the cultists. The tallest of them drew a horrifying serrated short sword from inside his coat.
"The lord of Blades requires living sacrifice, you will come with us."
"I'm pretty sure my mother told me to never go with strangers" I spat back, in a strained voice "Especially when the strangers want to kill me to appease a god that doesn't exist!"
The man behind me clubbed my head, driving me to the ground.
"It was not a request." Said the leader, as he let the tip of his sword brush through the dirt next to my head. "The vessel of our Lord will show you the error of your ways, before he takes away your worthless life."
Either these men were completely insane or the leader of this cult was very convincing. Either way, they were dangerous.
Fortunately, I wasn't as helpless as they believed me to be. As one of the cultists grabbed me by the hair and lifted me into a kneeling position, I slid a small knife from my sleeve and hid it in my hand. Never let it be said that Hunter was an easy target...