I left the Academy and returned to Elmvale, my home village. Spirit, my horse, seemed eager to be on the road.
Nobody came to greet me, making me realize that I was entirely alone in the world.
I had a lot to think about, now that my life as a student was over. The next logical step for any wizard was to find traveling companions and set out on an adventure. I left that very day, spurring Spirit onward. My destiny awaited.
Next Chapter
I spent some time looking for a suitable adventuring party, which was more difficult than I had thought. I knew that I'd need a fighter, a thief and a cleric. A strong fighter would keep the enemies away while I cast my magic, a dexterous thief would open locks and find traps, and a wise cleric would heal us all when trouble occurred. Even though I could do a little of each job, I knew that it was important to have specialists so that I could concentrate on my magic. After nearly a year of searching, I came upon the solution: I would form the party myself. I rented a room at the Full Cup Inn in Tornassa and began to accept applicants. The innkeeper was nice enough to let me stay for free, provided that I promised to help with security or any other troubles that routinely cropped up.
First, I had to hire someone for the fighter position.
I paid Grom his 25 gold retainer fee.
Next, I had to hire someone for the thief position:
I paid Rachel her 25 gold retainer fee.
My party was complete. The four of us had a good long talk about the kinds of missions we'd like to do and how we would go about doing them. I soon learned that my partners were terrible with money: The fighter drank it away, the cleric offered it all to charity, and the thief lost it through gambling as fast as it was made. The result was that I was left to outfitting the party.
We looked over our equipment and trained in our skills before we left.
We packed up our belongings and left the tavern.
Our first job came to us where first jobs usually did. We were sitting around the Full Cup Inn and drinking. We were also discussing tactics, but often the useful conversation gave way to the useless after as the night wore on. A caravan guard from a nearby town came into our tavern complaining that he had been robbed. He said that a group of kobold bandits were charging people a toll for using a kingdom road. It was a small band, so the royal guards hadn't been sent. This was our chance to begin our new careers. We left immediately.
Spirit, my horse, was very impatient at our slow progress. I knew that we would have to get mounts for everyone eventually if we wanted to take jobs that were further away. We hadn't gone far down the forest road when five kobolds stepped in front of us.
"Give us your money!" they exclaimed upon our arrival.