Chapter 7: The Hunt
While Lizzy went to the library, Mary enjoyed her walk to the guild as she took in the sights and people, bringing back her memories of when she was alive and human. She sees the guild building and enters, she sees a wide variety of people from young new adventurers to old seasoned veterans. As she looks over the place, a soft voice gets her attention, "Can I help you?"
Mary looks over her shoulder and sees a young fair skin, brunet, clothed in an elegant green vest with a white sleeve shirt underneath and a white skirt. Her blue eyes connect with Mary's but the biggest interesting feature about her is that she is missing half of her right arm. Mary turns toward this individual and politely says, "Yes, I'm new to this city and I'm looking for some work."
"Well, you came to the right place for we have many quests that need to be taken care of!" the girl cheerfully states, "I'm Rose Ashleen, the assistant receptionist and full-time member of this guild."
"Nice to meet Rose, I'm Carla, Carla Johnson," Mary says while extending her left hand. Rose takes her hand and they both shake hands to Rose's slight discomfort feel's Carla's hand to be somewhat colder than it should be then let go as Rose asks, "So what kind of work are you looking for Miss Johnson?"
Mary simply says, "Exterminations." Rose is surprised at the quick blunt answer and can't help but concerning ask, "You wish to take on an Extermination quest by yourself?"
"I don't mind helping others with theirs' if they are short on a person if not then I'll have no trouble taking one on myself," Mary explains while Rose mentally questions Carla's decision.
"Let me check to see if there are any groups that are looking for more people. Please follow me." Rose escorts Mary to one of the bounty boards and they start looking over the various requests and bounties. While they continue to search at the bounty board, a second figure walked up to the two and asks, "What are you looking for Rose?" They both turn around and see a man who is slightly past his prime, with a mixture of black and gray hair and a beard with some scars on his face.
"OH, this lady here is looking for a group monster slaying request or maybe something she can do by herself," Rose tells this man who is dressed in some formal clothing which Mary guesses is probably the Guild Master.
The man looks at Mary and says, "I haven't seen you before, I'm Arnold Hertz, the Guild Master for this city." 'Called it' Mary mentally pats herself on the back for that.
Mary replies, "I'm Carla Johnson, I'm new here and I'm looking for something that involves slaying monsters."
"Is that right?!" man crosses his arms and examines Mary to see if she is physically able to do any slaying whatsoever. The man looks at Mary's weapon which seems to be a large black mace attached to her hip which you never see a woman or a typical man use unless you're a giant. Her outfit is black leather with no exposing skin except for her neck and head. Black boots and a small brown shoulder flung pouch over her left shoulder. He guesses she prefers to be agile in combat but still asks, "You think you can handle yourself in a fight?"
Mary straight up answers "Yes," but the man didn't quite believe her. However, he'll still give her a chance to prove herself, "I think I know of a quest for you to partake in, give me a moment." Mary nods her head and the man walks off. While the two women talk to each other, the guild master walks towards a table with four people sited there. Three youthful men in identical armor and weapons and a girl in her late teens dressed as a mage seem to be in an argument.
"We can do this ourselves Sarah as long we stick to my plan!" one of the guys says.
"Your plan is stupid and inadequate against them who always fight in groups." The mage is called Sarah.
"Not if we ambush them correctly like I'm telling you!" a guy with light brown hair, slightly tan skin, and hazel color eyes shout.
"Sarah right, we need another person to even the odds against seven werewolves maybe more. Besides Mark, they'll most likely smell us anyway so ambushing them won't work" a blonde hair with some freckles on his tan face says.
"Edward here is correct; they can smell you a mile away." the Guild Master interrupts the groups' dilemma as they all face up to him. "And it can never hurt to have some more hands when fighting the monsters, especially Werewolves."
The one called Edward asks, "Guild Master, how can we help you?!"
"I have a new adventurer here that I need someone to gauge her strength in battle and your four's quest is what I need." He then points to Mary and continues, "Her name is Carla Johnson and I'm assigning her to your group so you four can evaluate her capabilities while you all terminated that pack of Werewolves."
The four looked at each with nods and shrugs but none of them were thrilled to have someone new that'll most likely slow them down.
The last person who hasn't said a word so far spoke up, "I can't promise her coming back if she turns out to be completely useless or a mindless fool." The Guild Master looks at the man with short black hair and a small mustache with normal white skin and a very noticeable scar on his left face.
Arnold replies, "If anything happens just let Rose or I know but for now let me introduce you all to your new party member." He walks back to Carla and Rose and guides them to the party of four. "This is Carla Johnson and she'll aid you with your current quest."
She receives a quick hand wave from them and they started introducing themselves; "Hello, I'm Sarah the archer of the group." Mary nods to her and looks at one of the guys. "Hi, I'm Mark and I'm the one with the spear and I can throw daggers with perfect accuracy." Mary again nods and looks at the guy who is slightly seated away from the table as he stands up and extends his hand. "Greetings, I'm Edward and I'm the leader of this group also I specialize in swords and axes." Mary shakes his hand and then looks to the final person who hasn't revealed his name yet but "That's Frank over there and he isn't one for conversations or talking in general but he is super handy in a fight." Edward explains. Mary nods in understanding then she addresses the group, "It's a pleasure to meet you all and to help you with your current problem and be at ease, I'm more than capable in a fight when it comes to monsters. I'm ready to go whenever you are."
"We'll begin soon but first let me explain to you what we'll be doing." Edward says, "We are going to hunt down a pack of werewolves which was reported to be seven of them but there could be more."
Rose adds, "I heard they been sighted near some of the farmer's area with several sheep gone missing and some fences broken."
"Correct so the farmers have put out a quest for them to be removed which is the one we've taken." Edward finishes explaining and looks to Mary, "You understand what we are facing now, yes?"
Mary flashes a grin, "Teaching a pack of mutts a lesson for their misbehavior."
Sarah speaks up in a very serious tone, "They aren't a bunch of dumb dogs! They are very dangerous in close combat and overwhelm foes with their strength and numbers so this isn't going to be easy Carla."
Mary replies confidently, "I've dealt with those who rely on Strength in numbers so they'll be no different when we face them."
The others look at each other with mixed expressions until Edward speaks up, "We'll start in two hours so meets us over at the east gate or you can grab a sit with us." Mary chose the latter and spent the next two hours chatting with the group until it was time to go.
After leaving the city and they headed towards the farming area where they ask the afflicted farmers where the broken fences were so they can see what direction they came from. Each area shows some similarity with each other with some of the top parts of the fences broken while others a whole segment is completely torn down. After seeing all the damage but more importantly the foot trails and drag marks probably from the sheep all point in one general direction into the forest where several small caves are at. They headed towards them while looking out for more clues and the werewolves themselves but nothing happened on the way there. They reached some of the caves and started scoping them out, ready to engage them but soon find out to be empty. After so much time wasted on empty caves, Mary excuse herself from the group to find a bush however as soon she couldn't see the group and without them able to eavesdrop on her, 'Commander this is Mary, I need some assistance.'
'What do you need Mary?' Commander asks to which Mary answers, 'I need a probe sent over here to locate a pack of werewolves that are supposed to be living in one of these caves.'
'Roger, we'll have a probe sent over to your vicinity in one minute and conduct scans for those wolves.' Mary smiles and waits as the probe flies over and tries to locate the pack until, 'Mary, we've located the pack! They are northeast of your location about a quarter mile inside what seems to be a cave on a side of a small hill.'
'Thanks, I'll contact you guys later with the report on the city.' Mary heads back to the groups and smiles as she says, "Hey guys, I've found some footprints heading towards that hill over there. Check that one next?" The four looks at each other before they just shrugged since they didn't have any leads and nodded to Mary's suggestion. She leads them to the cave and it didn't take them long to see the tracks on the ground that do belong to the werewolves they were seeking. Now that the cave entrance is in view, Edward compliments Mary's observation. The group get in closer however they got too close as the werewolves have just picked up on their scent.
Battle is now inevitable.