As he took a whiff of the rundown city's air, Yori pondered when he had last seen a city as ancient as this. The roads were uneven and scattered with leftover debris. Vines and branches grew in every crack and crevice of buildings in the area. Most even had what looked like miniature forests sprouting out the top.

"Smells like death..."

Yori firmly grasped his spear as he made his way into the city, occasionally checking his surroundings for any sign of life. He had business in Orchidia with a wealthy landowner who required some muscle. The flier he had found on the way over mentioned something about a reward that caught Yori's attention. The landowner insisted on meeting up at the city's center to go over further details. It would be soon now till Yori had made his way there.

Orchidia's center was far more appealing than its outskirts. It would seem someone or something made an effort to tidy up the place. Not too far off from the middle stood the wealthy landowner, Yoshiro. The moment their eyes met, he could not help but grin from ear to ear as he rubbed his hands together. "Psst... over here zuhehehe."

"Sit tight. There will be another joining us shortly."

"Another…?"

Yori was under the impression that this was a one-man job; nevertheless, he was not opposed to working together if it meant getting the job done quicker. He carefully removed his headpiece and set it aside from him on the ground, then proceeded to do the same with his spear. The sound of footsteps approached the duo. A fairly tall man, his stride confident, confronted them and introduced himself as Khal. Something was familiar about this “Khal” that Yori could not quite put his finger on.

“Now that everyone’s here - let's get down to business. I'm interested in a building site infested with giant rats a couple of miles east from here.  These rats have been wreaking havoc on Orchidia and its people for quite some time now. No customers mean no money. See the issue here? Your jobs are to go to the building site and take care of the infestation.”

The task seemed easy enough, but what came as a bummer was what the landowner had said next.

“Oh, and before I forget. Any loot you guys find while down in the sewers belongs to me as this is my property we are talking about here. Don't get any bright ideas.”

One thing for sure that Yori did not account for was spending his day in the sewers. He referred to it as the hardships of living an honest lifestyle. He had wondered what Khal had thought of the quest they were given. Did he too not imagine having a date with murky water? Yori patiently awaited input from Khal.

Much like himself, Khal was short-spoken. He did not seem too concerned with the logistics of the quest until the landowner mentioned the lost loot in the sewers. Considering the task at hand, it was no surprise that money was on the young man's mind; hell, the reward is what piqued Yori's interest. What came as a shock is what Khal had said next.

"Friend..."

As Khal headed towards the building site, Yori grabbed his helm and spear from off the ground and quickly followed suit. "You're not from here, are you?" Khal inquired. The question threw him off guard. "I thought I was doing quite well blending into the rest of society. What gave it away, the armor?" he joked. The duo made their way further down the path. "My name is Yori - Kuwahara Yori. I was born and raised in Joya."

The dirt beneath their feet gradually became darker due to the vast amounts of blood as they went deeper and deeper into the forest. The putrid smell of rotten corpses shrouded the area with such intensity that you could gag. "See that over there?" he questioned as he pointed to a broken weapon. "The people of Orchidia decided to take matters into their own hands." Yori then focused his attention on the bloodstains. "But they were met with overwhelming force and eaten alive. Some of this blood is still fresh."

It was a shame; just when Yori had thought he had met someone relatively decent, they turned out to be nothing more than a wretched mage. Not to mention, this person happened to be big fish. "The hell am I doing aligning myself with the likes of his kind..." Instead of succumbing to his boiling rage, the adventurer decided to redirect his anger towards the approaching battle.

Yori chased after Khal - following the path of blood to the giant-sized rats up ahead. "My god..." Before them were rabid rats gnawing at the body of a young child. The rats had not yet noticed them, which meant this was the perfect opportunity to form a plan. First, Yori needed to thin out the herd so that he did not have to deal with multiple enemies at a time. Second, after he and Khal had defeated the rats outside, they needed to clear the inside of the building site behind them. Then finally, investigate the sewers beneath the building site.

The adventurer reached down and grabbed the biggest rock that he could find and tossed it at the giant rats. "Try not to get us killed out here." With the rats scattered, Yori made his way around via bush to blindside them.

"Ha ha ha... very funny."

Khal was quite the jokester trying to appear weaker than he was. It was almost as if he had just forgotten that he had introduced himself as the master of a guild. Naturally, Yori assumed that Khal had to be a man of great power; nevertheless, he decided to entertain this obvious ploy.

"Ok, I'll bite."

By now, Yori had made his way around the rats. Although his distraction did serve its purpose, the rats were frantically searching for their perpetrator. Closest to him was three giant-sized rats - their faces covered in blood and remnants of the child's body from earlier. With their backs turned, Yori quietly crept up behind the one in the middle and thrust his spear into its abdomen. Instinctively, the other two adjusted themselves before getting ready to pounce on him.

"Wait for your damn turn."

The rats charged at Yori from both sides, leaving him with one option - to roll. By weaving their assault, the rats collided with each other, causing them to stagger. Yori took this moment to retrieve his spear and gouge out both rats' eyes with a single slash. Only then did he mount the rat.

"Can you keep up?"

Yori went onwards to the building site.

By the time Khal had reached the building site, Yori had already made light work of the rats inside. Their insides plastered the walls as if he had thrown a little party. Yori shook the blood off his spear and headed towards the staircase. The sound of creaking wood accompanied every step he took. The second floor was quite nice compared to the rest of the building. There were antique items and furniture all about the place.

One by one, Yori checked each room to see if there were any more giant rats. An infestation of this magnitude meant that there were bound to be other rats still roaming around somewhere. However, it had seemed that he had already dealt with all the rats here. Yori headed back downstairs to continue his investigation.

"Did this use to be a kitchen?"

Intrigued, he entered the area and took a look around before stumbling upon a root cellar. Now, things were starting to get interesting. Yori opened the door to the root cellar and headed down. Inside, he saw a collection of rotten fruits, vegetables, and nuts. "This place hasn't been visited in ages." he said as he dusted off a picture of an old man. The adventurer moved deeper into the root cellar, eventually finding an iron door.

"Is that water...?" Yori stated as he pressed his ear against the cold door.

With some effort, he managed to pry open the door which led to the sewers. "This must be where they're hiding." The sound of feet scurrying echoed throughout the sewer tunnels. A vastly larger and nastier rat appeared out of the shadows. "Oh shit." The rat swung its tail with such speed and force that Yori was sent flying into the sewer wall; fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to use his shield to brace the impact.

The adventurer dazzlingly looked around for his spear so that he could counterattack. As his vision steadily began to clear, he could hear Khal faintly in the background. Needless to say, Yori had taken a pretty big hit to the head. "No need to get your panties in a twist. I'll live." By the time he had found his spear, Khal had already defeated the rat.

"I'm only tagging along as a formality, considering you just saved my life." he said as he slapped Khal's hand away.

Before leaving the sewer, Yori took it upon himself to check and see if he could find any of the stolen loot the landowner had mentioned. Past the rat's dead body was a staircase that led further underground. As he walked down - he could not help but notice the dried-up bloodstains and marks etched into the walls. "Whatever happened here... it must have been a serious battle." At the end of the staircase was another iron door that Yori would have to open.

Inside, he saw a chest with strange sigils painted on it. The adventurer took it as a sign that maybe he should leave it where it belonged. The last thing he wanted was to be cursed or have something far worse done to him.