Moon Glade

Bravery

Along the busy road to our first adventure, I had learned that the Rune's name was Luca and the Elf's name was Balin. Luca had picked the job from the guild's job board, people who need help come to guild with their request and the guild organises the jobs into skill levels and posts them onto the board for adventurers to choose from. 

The job Luca had chosen was to help a local farmer with a rat infestation. 

We had been travelling for around an hour trying to locate the farm. We had walked along the main road into town which was famous for pickpockets and thieves so we had to be guarded with every step. The dusty road was long and I was thankful when we had finally reached the smaller roads surrounded by fields. Although my parent's farm was in an entirely different direction, the fam-like setting almost calmed my nerves.

Our journey had started with a sunny sky and gentle winds, but now darker clouds had began rolling in and the wind was colder and pushier.

"The farm should be just up here." Shouted Luca, a step ahead of me and Balin, pointing towards a narrow path enveloped in trees. 

"Something doesn't feel right about this." Murmured Balin with a look of concern growing on this face. As we walked up through the narrow path, small droplets of rain began to fall onto the leaves around us and the gusts of wind carried the smell of burning wood.

Suddenly, Luca stopped in front of me and Balin. "Well, shit." He exclaimed as Balin stepped around the frozen Luca. Stepping around the frozen rune and elf, I took in the scene. 

What was once a small farm house, was now nothing but ash and cinders. The whole home had burned down to the ground and the belongings of the people that used to live there were scattered around the place. The field behind the home, which probably used to hold farm animals was now barren, the tinged grass was now scattered with ash and the wooden fences, some of which still stood in places, were mostly wrecked. The empty field was surrounded by trees and looked to lead on to a forest. 

"I knew something wasn't right." Stated Balin, now kneeling on the ground towards the old house, almost as if he were praying. 

"Surely, this can't have been because of a rat infestation?" I questioned to nobody in particular. I looked up towards the sky, it was still lightly raining but it looked like a storm was brewing.

"We should head back to the guild before the storm comes down on us." I said, motioning towards the sky. 

"Wait!" Shouted Balin, inspecting the floor closely.

"What is it?" Responded Luca as we walked closer to Balin, leaning in to see the ground below him. 

"It's foot prints." He announced. Upon inspection, he was right, it was foot prints, but certainly not normal ones. They were around the same size and width as my own feet, but rat shaped.

"These don't belong to any rats I have ever seen, it must be a mutation or something." Wondered Balin out loud, outlining the shape in the mud with his index finger. 

"Look over here, it's a track, we can follow it and find the giant rat!" Shouted Luca, motioning towards the prints that appeared to from the farm house, through the field and into the trees. 

"I think it's too dangerous, we should go back to the guild." I told them, feeling nervous about the whole situation. 

"No way!" Retorted Luca. "It's only rats, I could take them on by myself." He said proudly, clutching at his wooden shield. 

I looked over to Balin for support but Balin responded "We should go and investigate at least, if this really is a giant rat it could pose a threat to the town."