Reporting In

According to the report given by the scouts, Wolf had arrived in the forest at full speed on his horse and when he found a good spot to dismount, he made his dark horse disappear within a magic circle. A few seconds later, some sort of “magic portal” had opened nearby the Bounty Hunter from which two dwarf-looking creatures stepped out carrying boxes of what looked like ammunition and assorted weaponry. Wolf spoke to them, while the short creatures simply said “mogo!” in various tones (more than likely a special language). 

Wolf paid them with the currency of this world, explained a few things to these creatures who nodded in agreement and returned inside the portal they came from disappearing from sight again. The Bounty Hunter then took his firearms and began to load them with the ammunition he had obtained, added a few to a bandolier he was carrying and set a few more inside a satchel he was carrying. Fully loaded and carrying four firearms along with him, the man began to move inside the forest.

The scouts were trying to watch closely, but the Bounty Hunter kept looking behind him and to where the scouts were. It was clear to them that this man could either see them or sense them somehow. Moving through the woods, the Bounty Hunter was clearly well suited for this sort of hunt. He was slow, methodical, didn’t make a sound and even kept himself out of clear view wherever he moved. The scouts were having trouble keeping up with him, since they were pressured to keep themselves hidden while watching him.

The moment they lost sight of the Bounty Hunter, the scouts lost their cool and moved to the last spot they saw him… there was no trace of him! But when they started to look around, they heard a metallic clicking behind them.

“Hands up, or I’ll kill you both where you stand.” The scouts mentioned that they each felt the cold metal of the barrels of his firearms behind their necks. Fearing for their lives, they put their hands up and kept perfectly still. “You guys have been following me since I left the Guild. Who are you and what do you want with me?”

Since they were already caught and they were only meant to watch him, the scouts revealed that they had been sent by the Guild Master to keep an eye on him because they believed that the request he had been given might prove to be far more difficult than it had been reported. He needed eyewitness evidence that the request he’d given to Wolf had been purposefully made to look easier than it actually was to cause deaths on the adventurers. Knowing that Wolf was a consummate professional in his field, he wanted to ensure he sent someone who would certainly complete the mission, survive and bring back proof of completion in the process.

It was clear to the scouts that the Bounty Hunter was angered by this withholding of information given that this was supposed to be a request made by the Guild Master and no one else. Being used like that was something he didn’t appreciate, and would eventually bring this up to him. For now, he told them to watch at a distance, since he didn’t like people interfering with his affairs. Then, after he put his firearms away and began to move again, he whispered to them that there was someone else watching over them, and that THEY should be careful not to reveal that they knew. He would deal with that one later.

The Bounty Hunter resumed his path, quietly being followed by the scouts… and the unwelcomed tagalong. When he reached a certain spot, he stopped, spoke low under his breath and patted his left arm which made his entire coat light up for a second with magical energy then dull out. It seemed he had activated some sort of magic on his clothing. The scouts continued to follow from the shadows and noticed that there were monster noises coming from afar. The Orc warband had been spotted.

Moving to get a better view, the scouts found out that the amount of Orcs that had gathered was way higher than the request had mentioned. The scouts debated amongst themselves if they should stop the Outlander from acting. But the Bounty Hunter was seen loading his weapons with some strange sort of ammunition and preparing some odd looking sticks which he lit with a match. He tossed these sticks towards the warband which were annoyed by being hit by such odd objects.

Then all hell broke loose…

The sticks were more than likely special magical items because they exploded with the force of a blasting spell which obliterated whomever was near its blast radius. Then, the Outlander jumped out of his hiding place and began to fire on the orcs with his rifle. The scouts were perplexed that this man was able to use this firearm with such speed and precision! The most advanced firearm they had seen so far was one of those flintlock rifles only aristocrats used. 

After he fired that weapon over ten times, he discarded the weapon and reached out to his smaller firearms holstered by his belt and fired at the orcs with quick succession and blinding speed. By the time the Orcs were able to mount an organized defense, the Outlander had already decimated a large number of them with his surprise explosive attack and ambushing them while they were disoriented. Then he put his sidearms back in their holsters and attacked the orcs with a broad handaxe in his right hand and a long hunting knife in the left. This man was slaughtering the orcs left and right without hesitation nor signs of fatigue.

The moment one of the orcs’ warchiefs appeared, the Hunter took out another firearm tucked behind him on a bandolier which resembled one of those blunderbuss weapons. The monster rushed towards the human who simply smirked at the beast and with a thunderous blast from his weapon the orc’s head was blown to pieces with a single shot. With their warchief slain and most of the orc warriors slain, their warlocks attempted to use their magics and demon summonings, but the hunter was quick to blast them apart with his weapon. After the dust had settled, the Outlander had slain a large part of the orc warband with swift brutality. The scouts felt that this man was certainly more dangerous than they had expected and that he had done this sort of job many times before, since he finished it with ease and little discomfort.

Then he lit a smoke and took a long pull from his cigarette while he was loading his long rifle. After a moment, he quickly turned around and shot at what seemed to be a random spot. The scream of pain of another person was heard and a loud thud followed. The scouts knew that the Outlander had shot the other uninvited guest and was about to take care of it. He turned to look at the scouts, knowing full well where they were and nodded at them. A clear signal that they should leave right away. While they were leaving, the sounds of a person screaming in agony could be heard until a shot was heard and only silence remained. Even after they had left, there were more sounds of gunfire and battle in the distance… no doubt the fighting had resumed in the orc’s war camp and the Outlander would not tolerate any more unwelcome guests while he was on the job…

After the Guild Master explained the eyewitness report from the scouts, he turned to look at Alana with concern in his eyes. The elf receptionist was also a bit nervous after the report she had just heard concerning the Outlander.

“What’s your take on the Outlander, Alana?” The Guild Master asked while looking tired and frustrated.

Alana had just met Mr. Wolf, and wasn’t too sure what to think about him. She recalled how he spoke in a friendly manner and didn’t seem to mind being a stranger in this land having arrived from another world. But, by the way he had loaded himself for battle, the professional way he took the information he had been given by her and his efficient methods, it was clear what was important to him.

“Mr. Wolf values honesty in the job. The fact that you gave him this sort of job with incomplete information will certainly diminish his trust in us, and therefore will be less open to work with us. I fear this request might have caused us more trouble than it did to him. Monetary compensation will not be enough for him. You may have to tell him the real reason why you asked this of him to see if he will continue to work with us or move on to another location.”

The Guild Master was hesitant to take any action. World Travellers had no business getting involved with the affairs of petty nobles and adventurer guilds. But he had already put the Outlander on the spot by giving him the request to expose the mismanagement of requests by the requesters as well as putting the guild under suspicion. He’d have to come clean to the Bounty Hunter if he was going to request aid from him in the future, but even then, his trust in them had been damaged.

“Thank you, Alana. Give Mr. Wolf four times the agreed amount of the request along with my apologies for this situation and hope he’ll visit soon so I can properly apologize and explain the situation. That’ll be all.”

Alana left the room and walked down the stairs with a worried expression. Mr. Wolf had completed a nearly impossible task for the types of adventurers they handled in this city. But why would the requester make such blatant lies about this job with the intent of causing death for the adventurers? Was this another one of those political intrigues she’d heard about in the past? And how would Mr. Wolf react to such a thing? What kind of thoughts passed through the mind of a man who has lived for more than a thousand years regarding such petty conflicts?

When she arrived at her station, she could see that Mr. Wolf had joined a pair of ladies who were laughing at whatever stories he was telling while sharing a drink with them. It stuck with Alana that perhaps the World Traveller had been in so many of these conflicts before that he eventually took them in stride. 

Sure they annoyed him and made him upset. But by the looks of how he was relaxed and laughing along people from a different world from the other hundreds he’d been, Alana felt she would be able to have an amicable conversation with the Bounty Hunter and deliver the Guild Master’s apology without incurring more anger from him.

She gestured towards Mr. Wolf, to catch his attention, which prompted the Outlander to nod, asked the ladies to wait for a bit and approach the front desk. Whatever he said or whatever he complained about, she would accept it and try her best to build trust from this moment on with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Techno-Magical Explanations by the head of the Makers Of Guns & Ordnance (MOGOs) Brotok!~

“‘Ello again, lads an’ lasses! Is yer favorite MOGO in the Multiverse, Brotok! Ya know somethin’? A lotta people ask lil’ ol’ me ‘How is it that the MOGOs can traverse the Multiverse without any complications?’ Well, ta tell ya the truth, is all ‘bout our lil’ Multi-Dimensional-Traveling-Gates. Bit o’ a mouthful, ain’t it? I’ll ask the Markettin’ team ta think o’ something lil’ more catchy…”

- Multi-Dimensional-Taveling-Gates:

These technological wonders allow the MOGOs to open up interdimensional gates to any realm of existence in the Multiverse allowing them to expand their business operations to every customer in every world in every universe ever to exist! This technology, however, is a trade secret of the MOGOs and will never share this kind of knowledge which puzzles even the Gods.

Use of the Multi-Dimensional-Traveling-Gates by customers is subject to approval by the head of the Gate Order & Navigation Enterprise (GONE) team.

“As ya can see, no one needs ta wait fer long ta ‘ave their order brought to ‘em like them pizza delivery bastards who always arrive late ta the company pizza party! I oughta drop a couple a’ tons o’ explosives on their asses ta keep ‘em on their toes! If they can find ‘em afterwards… HAH!”

This advertisement was brought to you by the MOGOs Marketing Department and is not subject to any political parties, Godly interventions, Demonic possessions nor any being of any authority in the entire Multiverse.

“See ya next time! An’ remember! If it doesn’t bleed, ya call us in an’ we’ll sort ya out ta kill it! Toodles!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~