quest start

At the end of his allotted five days to prepare, Zain had completed his repair and tuning to both his rapier and his five-shot pistol. This was nothing new to Zain in forms of work and time constraints, however, his ammunition modifications for acid bullets and explosive tip bullets were another story. He had gone to the forest to practice and as such when other adventurers realized it was Zain doing some secret weapons testing with alchemical weapons. With that explanation they dropped their suspicions. Zain lingered in his shop a moment before leaving and locked the door in his usual jolly mood making his way to the adventurer's guild.

Upon arriving he checked in with the receptionist as it was still about eight o'clock in the morning, which was early for most adventurers. Upon his check-in and waiting until noon when they were scheduled to meet, per the quest he decided to sit around and have some breakfast. As usual, the food at the guild was bland and barely seasoned but the mixture of stale bread with vegetables and cured meat in a broth made it suitable for sustenance on long days filled with combat. Zain sat down and ate away from most of the people. Eating alone in the guild was not abnormal for Zain so no one paid much mind. Before he knew it, it was almost noon, so Zain went to the front desk to wait on the others who were going on the quest.

The adventurers for the quest came in one by one. First came a woman who held a staff, had a long flowing robe of a royal blue color with an insignia on the collar attesting to which house she was a part of. On her waist was a small pouch which Zain assumed was either a purse or to hold her magical focus. The next one to show up was a man in chain mail with a glaive on his back. He had on some leather pants and boots that had some form of protection over them. The last one to show up was another man who was wearing a set of leather armor with metal shoulder pads, he had on some cloth trousers and again a set of boots, but these looked lighter without the metal on them, and two short swords on his sides.

The three of them turned to Zain who was looking expectingly for someone else to show up. The man with the Glaive looked at Zain and Said, "This is our party. I'm Tai, I excel in close quarters combat in more open areas with my glaive. This is Spike, he is better in close quarters that are confined dual wielding two short swords does have its benefits. And this is Rayne, she is a mage who excels in healing magic and has doubled down as our ranged attacker in special circumstances." Zain nodded in recognition then spoke, "I'm Zain, I am the craftsman in town who specializes in alchemy and smithing and even do munitions crafting when it is needed. I am good with my rapier and have a secret I used for ranged attacks it's just loud so don't mind noise. I do dabble in explosives, fire, and acid that I am planning to use to make a path through the flood in order to get us inside. I had hoped for a flood suppression before a dungeon dive, but you know what the crap might as well try."

Zain spent some time explaining how he had planned to make the path for everyone to approach the dungeon so that there was less of a risk for anyone to be hurt. His plan was pretty simple minded, first there was an explosion to help scatter the initial perimeter of the flood. This would allow for a spray of acid to be thrown in the flask he had to make to contain yet be able to release it. After the initial two attacks he would then throw his concoction, he described as hell fire to the three of them. Hell fire, as he called it, was reminiscent of napalm. This also would clear a path for them to walk through to get to the epicenter of the flood pressingly near the dungeon entrance. All he had to ask of the others was to keep the monsters away from him as he kept the plan in motion so they could gain access to the entrance. Everyone nodded in agreement, and they all set off.

They arrived near the site of the flood at dusk. Zain knelt down and took out what looked like a fused ball from his pouch with a flint and knife. They waited for about thirty minutes for it to get darker and their eyes to adjust. Zain told them to wait for the sign then rush in, so it was more of a surprise, then scurried off. About five minutes later they heard the explosion and started rushing towards it. They saw one crater with Zain on their side of it with monsters flocking towards him and he went for the acid he had talked to them about. As he threw the flask, they saw it start spinning with shimmering green liquid spilling out of little orifices in the outer wall. They saw the monster's recoil from it and finally realized how insane this next part might be. As he took out the last two vials he shouted at them, "When the path lights with the fire we have to run for it before the heat dies down and they charge." He then threw up both vials and pulled out his five-shot revolver. He fired once and missed, the second bullet hit, and it started spilling the liquid and the next two shots missed till the last one hit it again. The whole group was in shock as the liquid hit the ground and ignited and burned monsters in front of their eyes. "Run! Now!" Zain shouted as he ushered them onward. The group started moving until the giant wolf appeared in the flood again. Zain had started running while reloading his revolver. As he looked back, he saw that the wolf had appeared, and the others were frozen in fear. Clearly their confidence had been a farce for the guild master. Zain ran to the wolf and shot all five rounds at it, hitting it all five times. It's attention now on him, he drew his rapier and went into a full-frontal attack telling them to make it to the entrance and clear the dungeon but to his dismay all three of them just ran back to town.