The cracking of grass under Bushy's feet felt distant in her mind as her thoughts spoke louder than reality, her palms while clean were stained with the visceral smell of fish guts, that scent twisted her stomach. Dwelm, in contrast, was waving in high spirits as he spotted Tenpao and Lulu many steps away, his expression bore the mirth of a child locking eyes at the gift under the Christmas tree while his legs - even if small - carried him with the summer breeze which forced the elf to drag her feet faster.
"Ten! You're finally out of that house, let's go and drink!" Dwelm shouted once he was a tree away from his friend, Bushy began to slow down the closer she got.
With a grunt, Tenpao forced himself up with the popping of his kneecaps, "I was thinking of taking up an actual quest." Tenpao said offering a hand but quickly regretting after Dwelm's firm shake nearly popping all the joints of his hand, nonetheless, Tenpao ignored the pain and continued, "The quicker we can take quests from the high-importance board the better."
"Hahaha! Damn right, let's go!" Dwelm stole Tenpao's lead by jogging more than walking.
Lulu took a glance at Bushy and then at Tenpao, the party leader then turned his attention to the elf before nodding. Lulu sped up to not leave Dwelm alone while Tenpao slowed down to have a little chat with Bushy and with a glance he could guess what was wrong- it was a problem most elves passed through when becoming an adventurer or worse, a soldier.
Many elves died in the first part of the war, not on the battlefield but by rope in their tents. Killing never was in their nature, but Poma needed hands and claws to fight so they drafted anyone they could.
A lightbulb suddenly illuminated Tenpao's thoughts. "I never really liked summer when I was a little," Tenpao said, the corner of his eye peeking Bushy's ears moving. "The birds and the noise outside from the other kids and adults always made my days insufferable." He rarely looked so far back nowadays, Tenpao rarely had any nostalgia at those times. "Eventually as I grew older, I learned to like something about it. The children playing and screaming with joy outside happened by the lack of problem, the sounds of hammers both in a forge or in a construction came from men and woman working to support themselves and their family."
"..What good comes from killing something?" Bushy spoke, her eyes finally moving from her feet to face Tenpao with genuine curiosity.
"What are you killing for?" Tenpao replied, "If it's a monster, you are helping the citizens. An animal, you're trying to feed yourself or someone else. A person, it may be self-defense or a dangerous criminal escaped jail."
Bushy stopped, "What if it's not a criminal or..?"
Tenpao smirked, "Then you wouldn't kill. Don't think too much about the act, instead, think about what consequences it will bring."
The elf hummed, her eyes didn't linger on her feet anymore but her eyes weren't the same - probably will never be again. They sped up until they finally caught up with Lulu and Dwelm, both Bushy and Tenpao stared confused as Lulu tried to balance an egg on her head with four goblins throwing a random assortment of items at her. "Hi-" The gnoll ducked as she spoke, "You guys took so long that-" Two goblins held together a chair and threw it at Lulu, only for her to simply side-step, "Pampkin took this neat challenge-" The other two grabbed some water balloons from who knows where and begin to throw and promptly miss the huge gnoll in front of them, hitting some passerby behind her. "For ten silvers!"
"This lass is quite flexible Ten, you have good tastes!" Dwelm said throughout this entire maddening occurence simply sat at a chair with a mug of beer in his hand enjoying it all with a childish grin... Until a water balloon fell into his mug. "WHAT THE HELL!" The four goblins stopped, then with Dwelm came a wet red dragon, two dripping cat siths, and an overly hydrated troll to stand right in front of the goblins demanding answers, the green gremlins could swear there was a red aura surrounding all of them, they promptly threw the money bag at Lulu which finally made the egg lose balance from her head and splatter on the ground before running away.
"Well then, let's get moving," Tenpao said taking the front, Dwelm frowned at his mug and left it there while Lulu shed a single tear at the waste of a perfectly good egg but was very happy with her new money bag.
The familiar outline of the adventurer guild refilled each one of them with an energy they didn't know had run out, the famine for adventure begins anew! Passing the many parties and facilities they walk in a straight line to the center of the guild towards the quest board, while the sheer amount of gold each of them had now was enough to put a relatively famous merchant to shame it would never satiate something that burned deep within their hearts.
The fire that made Lulu explore that ancient ruin, the fire that made Bushy break through the monotony of her life, the fire that made Dwelm return to a party, and the embers that relighted something Tenpao had long forgotten.
Each of their eyes locked on the same quest, as Tenpao was about to get it they heard a bark coming from the clerk, the same gnoll that had given Tenpao the party contract was now waving at him, calling him closer. Tenpao looked back at the quest of rescuing lost felines and then promptly chose to go on what was more interesting, the clerk's ears perked up and Lulu could hear his tail waving behind him, so this should be good news.
"Hey there!" The clerk said, Bushy opened her mouth to greet back but the gnoll talked faster, "You guys have been in quite difficult quests, some that even TPK'd a few parties, so I'm giving you this." The gnoll pushed a paper to Tenpao, he promptly grabbed it and began to read, "If you complete this quest your party will be promoted from newbie to reliable, have a discount at all our facilities and access to more important quests!" The gnoll said the last part almost mechanically, with a huff he then looked at Lulu, "Also I'm expecting your participation, right gnoll?"
A single sweat drop ran through Lulu's pumpkin, "Y-yeah! Pampkin will try her best!" The clerk nodded.
"Alright, seems the divines blessed you Dwelm. We got a 'cleaning' quest at Richards Bar basement." Once Tenpao finished Lulu's pumpkin had somehow turned pale, such an occurrence even prompted a chuckle from the clerk.
"What's the problem? The sweet smell of alcohol is something any gnolls like, right?" The clerk said. The party stared at Lulu who quickly regained her color and nodded furiously.
Without further ado, the party departed.
The clerk stared at the black gnoll disappearing amongst the crowd with a chuckle. "Let's see who you truly are."