Gathering Information

On the request notice, we learned the following:

1. There’s a graveyard on the edge of town where all the dead adventurers get buried.
2. Someone or something has been raising the dead from the graveyard as either undead or ghosts.
3. The gravedigger was near fatally wounded upon discovering the phenomenon one night.
4. The issue is getting bigger each night.
5. The land the graveyard is built on is owned by a noble named Rodrigue De Vasquez.
6. We’d be getting an advance fee of 2 gold pieces to purchase equipment. The fee was fronted by Vasquez.

With this information in mind, we decided to split up and investigate. Sofia was tasked with talking to the gravedigger. Lucille was given the advance in order to purchase the equipment for defeating the undead, as she was already the closest we had to an expert. Which left me with the task of talking to the noble, Vasquez.

Following the directions I received from the guild clerk, Anna, I exited the guild building, turning right. I followed the main road for a bit until I came to a set of stairs, leading to the upper quarter. The stairs were flanked by a pair of city guards, dressed in armor adorned with blue cloth. Occasionally, they’d stop and interrogate a passerby they deemed suspicious. Sure enough, fate decided that they chose to stop the protagonist of the story...me.

“What’s yer business?” asked a guard, blocking my path with one hand on his sheathed blade.

“I’m an adventurer. A request that I’m on leads me to the upper quarter to speak to someone,” I said, flashing my adventurer card.

“And who’d that be, exactly?” The second guard asked.

“Rodrigue De Vasquez, who I’m sure wouldn’t like to hear that an adventurer working for him was harassed by a pair of guards,” I said, trying to see just how important this Vasquez guy was.

“Tch. Move along.” The first guard said, shaking his head in annoyance. The second guard moved back to his post. It seemed Vasquez was at least a fairly recognizable name, and one that held enough power to ward off the guard...something I should keep in mind for later.

Continuing up the steps, the buildings were noticeably more lavish, and well constructed. No more were there the occasional shoddy wooden building, but all those in the upper quarter seemed to be hewn from stone. Referring to Anna’s directions, I turned right at the courtyard atop the steps, passing through the open black gate into the Noble’s Ward.

The Noble’s Ward appeared to be a residential district for the upper class of the city. Each home appeared more like a small mansion, the walls adorned with various banners containing house crests. One was of a winged lion devouring the sun. Cheery. Another showed a sword piercing through a bleeding heart. Greaaat. The mansion across the road had an insignia of merely a heart. Something told me they weren’t exactly friends.

After walking down the road some more, I came to the Vasquez mansion, a building that outmatches even the other buildings in the Noble’s Ward. It’s insignia was a scroll overtop of a shield. Heading up to its gate, I was once again stopped, this time by a lone guard sporting the Vasquez insignia.

“You must be the adventurer who accepted Lord Vasquez’s request.” said the guard. I nodded. “You may proceed. Lord Vasquez is in his office on the second floor. Vanessa will show you the way once you get inside.”

I passed by the guard, entering the gate. On either side of me were recently trimmed hedges, and further out, Vasquez’s front lawn was beautifully landscaped, flowers in full bloom in various colors and sizes. Vasquez obviously knew how to flaunt his wealth. The main door was intricately carved, floral patterns engraved into the hardwood. A door knocker in the style of a shield hung from the door. A few taps later, and it swung open.