Arivarea, Puppy and their new companion Thistle; who was still unaware of her official induction into the harem, had left the guild upon registering for the quest. With Thistle accompanying them there was no need for a guide.

Arivarea suddenly jumped in place. “What about Roh Ten?” she squealed.

“Let’s pick her up,” said Puppy, laughing at her over the top reaction. They immediately walked to the Roh family’s house. After a few too many knocks on the door, a sleepy Roh Ten opened it. She was dressed in a nightgown and small shorts. She looked at the trio lazily.

Arivarea simply held up the quest paper allowing her to read it. The details were written in both languages so Roh Ten silently read it. She gestured for them to wait, so they did. In only a few minutes she came outside, she wore woven black armour and had her signature single-edged sword in a sheathe hanging from her waist.

Arivarea happily clapped her on the back and they set off. Arivarea happily hummed as they followed Thistle to the naturally occurring hot springs. According to the quest, it had been overrun by bandits. The dew springs were not only a popular bathing spot but also home to a small town.

The town was filled with inns and shops which attracted many people from the city looking to spend a couple of nights away from home. A small force had been sent by the city guard to free the town. When only one returned it was sent to the guild to handle it.

Roh Ten plucked grass lazily and Puppy walked with his head held high. His nose finally free from the city and its crazy smells. His desperation to leave the city stemmed from having his nose plugged up every second he spent there.

Walking behind Thistle he watched her giant figure closely. The gentle sway of her wide hips unhindered by the bulky armour she was wearing. Roh Ten caught him looking a grumbled a little but Thistle, who was also fully aware of the dogs wandering eyes, did not seem to mind it at all.

No doubt had she been the one walking behind her eyes would be glued to the dogs strong back and wagging tail. Eventually Roh Ten’s curiosity got the better of her.

“Hey, you’re Thistle aren’t you. You understand me?” she asked.

“A little bit,” Thistle confirmed.

“How did you guys meet?”

Thistle went bright red, there was no way she was capable of sharing that information. “Just by chance, they needed a tank,” she said, which was not entirely untrue.

“You don’t sound very sure of yourself…” said Roh Ten.

“The circumstances were slightly special…” she admitted.

Roh Ten harrumphed and went quiet. After noticing their conversation had finished Puppy began talking.

“Do you two know each other?” he asked.

“Only a little,” she replied. “She’s quite well-known at the guild. I’m just recognisable I guess, on account of my size,” she said, holding her hand at her head level.

“Do you enjoy living in Mardoch?” asked Puppy, aware that it was a bit of a personal question but he decided that after the night they shared it was alright to get a little personal.

Thistle hummed in contemplation before speaking. “I used to,” she said. “Not so much anymore,” she said cryptically. Puppy did not know how to move on from there. Luckily Arivarea chimed in.

“What changed?” she asked.

“Me,” answered Thistle. “I didn’t stop growing…”

“Why would that matter?” asked Arivarea before realising it was a little insensitive. “Sorry I didn’t mean it like that.”

Thistle only smiled. “Don’t worry, I understand. Most of my friends were men due to being a combat adventurer. Turns out they usually don’t much like it when a woman gets bigger and stronger than them.”

Puppy couldn’t believe his ears. Arivarea only shook her head. They moved on to happier conversation topics for the remainder of the journey, Thistle tried to keep Roh Ten in the loop as best she could but Roh Ten was quite happy to keep to herself. Most of the guild work she had done was solo so just the nonsensical chatter of other people was enough to stave off loneliness.

They arrived without a hitch, the road to the baths was travelled so regularly that any nearby wildlife knew to avoid it. They began the small hike up the mountain to where the pools were nestled in. They could see the small town building from the bottom.

Upon racing a reasonable distance from the town, they geared up and prepared to fight. Undoubtedly the bandits would attempt to stave them off, them being only four members would lull them into a false sense of security. Unluckily for them, these four members were all very excited to take a bath and weren’t about to share it with bandits.

Arivarea scouted ahead, she scaled the side of the mountain to approach from an angle they wouldn’t be expecting and took note of bandits positioning. There was two keeping watch with one hidden behind a particularly obnoxious rock. They were clearly expecting an attack.

She nimbly moved between buildings, keeping her footsteps silent. She communicated with the ground on a few occasions to check blind corners but otherwise managed to gain information on most of the bandit’s locations.

She made her way back to the mountainside and climbed down. She communicated with her team about their positioning then made a plan. Her and Roh Ten would climb the mountain again and attack from behind after Thistle and Puppy had their full attention.

With the plan ready and the party members sufficiently psyched, they set on their way. Thistle and Puppy would wait for a few minutes before starting their frontal attack. As they waited Puppy sharpened his spear and Thistle stretched her limbs.

Finally, they made their move.

Thistle approached first, her shield held to cover her vitals, Puppy trailing on slightly behind with his spear raised. Thistle engaged, the two bandits attacked. She blasted one off his feet with her shield as she let her plate armour deal with the other strike.

Meanwhile, Puppy climbed the rock Arivarea had told him was hiding a bandit and sure enough, there was a small man with a short sword crouched in the bushes.

Puppy ruthlessly stabbed the man through the top of his head, the tip of the spear exited his lower jaw. Puppy stood on the man's head and pulled on the spear to dislodge it. He ran to help Thistle despite looking like she had no need for it.

He struck the man attacking her in the back with his spear. She turned and quickly finished off the man she’d bashed with her shield by dropping it on his neck. The weight of the shield burst the man's throat open, almost decapitating him.

Before the nearby bandits could even make their move, the first three had been disposed of. Puppy and Thistle stood awaiting the bandit's next move.

They decided to rely on numbers, they gathered quickly and charged them down, hoping to overwhelm the brutal duo. Thistle crouched into her shield covering even more of herself and held Puppy in place with her other arm. He got the idea, as they approached he lunged his arm out with frightening speed, impaling one of the advancing bandits through his eye socket. The accuracy of his strike surprised Thistle but she held her role and managed to keep at bay eight attackers as Puppy one by one brought them down.

When there were four left, Puppy rolled over Thistles back and landed in front of her giving her time to unsheathe her sword. He quickly cloned himself and dealt with two by himself.

Thistle quickly eviscerated one with her sword as she blocked the other, Puppy was finished with his two so quickly that before she could even think about attacking the other one he had a spear through the heart.

Puppy quickly melded back into one being as they looked up the narrow town street. Ahead they could see some commotion, undoubtedly Roh Ten and Arivarea had begun their own assault.

There were a good few bandits in-between them though so they put their head down and got to work.

Meanwhile, Roh Ten was savagely slicing bandits apart, her sword specialised for cutting was smoothly removing limbs and separating spines. Arivarea had to take a little breath in upon witnessing her ferocity.

In addition, the speed of her swings could almost match her own. Arivarea felt she had something to prove so began her battle. The lucky two bandits approached her with hesitation. They had seen what Roh Ten was doing to their companions and decided to fight someone else.

Arivarea dexterously dodged the bandit's spear and before he could reposition a knife was lodged into his ear, all the way up to the handle. The other bandit whimpered and tried to run, Arivarea was having none of it and tripped him with a quick flora manipulation.

The bandit cursed at the sudden appearance of a hefty root but before he could push himself back up he felt a weight on his back. Arivarea was standing on him, she manipulated more ground-dwelling plants and forced them upwards. Almost instantaneously the bandit was impaled by various sizes of root and plant life, he resembled a particularly gruesome flower bed.

It did not take long for the group to meet in the middle, the largest town building was in front of them and according to Arivarea contained the captured town dwellers and whatever remained of the bandits.