Client Meeting (Wight)

Upon accepting the request, Helena left the guild to go meet with the client. The directions provided to her by a guild secretary quickly led Helena away from the well-kept part of the city she lived in and to the slums. The shift didn’t happen all at once. But as she left the main roads and got further away from the area of the city the nobles lived in, the quality of the buildings declined. The state of the people shifted as well, the attire of those Helena passed getting more threadbare and rough, and the tension gradually rising. She was an outsider, and the people she passed couldn’t decide whether she was a threat or not.

Eventually, Helena arrived at a ramshackle hut that seemed unremarkable from the ones on either side of it, but she still knocked on the door. “Excuse me, I’m here about a request for the mercenary guild?”

There were hurried foot steps from inside, and a young woman opened the door. She seemed a couple years younger than Helena, but was far scrawnier and had a short mess of straw-colored hair. Taking in the sight of Helena, she seemed a bit intimidated. “You, I um, you were told that the reward for this job would only be 12 gold, right?”

Helena nodded. “That won’t be an issue, don’t worry. Could I come inside so we can discuss the request?”

The girl seemed visibly relieved, and stepped aside so Helena could enter, closing the door behind her. The hut itself was sparse. There were a couple cots along one wall, a table with two chairs in the middle of the space, and there was a small kitchen and pantry. “I’m sorry, I don’t have much to serve you,” she said.

“You don’t have to worry,” Helena said calmingly as she took one of the two chairs. “My name is Helena. And yours?”

“Irene,” the girl replied. “I mean, my name is Irene. I uh, I was worried that no one would be interested in this job due to the pay, and you seem like you should be doing higher level jobs. Is it really okay that you’re here?”

Helena nodded. “You don’t have to worry, Irene. It’s my policy to take on jobs like this, to be sure that they get done. I’ve got plenty of comrades who can take on missions from the king and the nobility. But I heard about Wights here in the capitol and felt it was my responsibility to do something.”

Irene seemed visibly relieved. “I… I didn’t think anyone would take this seriously. The guards said they had more important things to deal with than a few undead running loose here in the slums, so I was worried that my sister,” the girl stopped biting her lip. “I think I should explain from the beginning.

“People going missing here in the slums isn’t anything new. It’s just… a fact of life out here… But then there were rumors of missing people being spotted wandering around at night. A girl I knew started looking around for her missing mother, and… found her… But she wasn’t the same… She was an undead monster, who attacked my friend, and would have killed her if a couple of neighbors hadn’t happened to pass by and pin her down.

“After hearing about that, my sister insisted on meeting me after I finished work at a nearby courier office and walking me home since I get off of work late. I thought she was just being paranoid, but one night a hooded woman started approaching us… My sister got between us and…” That was when Irene began to cry.

Helena quietly offered the girl a handkerchief, and said, “It’s okay, take as much time as you need to explain.”

The girl nodded as she wiped her eyes, caught her breath, and finally found her voice again. “That woman grabbed my sister, and Leila was struggling to fight her off but told me to run. My legs were shaking, so Leila shoved the woman through a nearby broken window. I saw the woman grab hold of my sister’s wrists, pin her down, and … bite down on her neck. … I saw the color drain from her face and… Then that woman stood up, licking her lips. She turned to me with her bright red eyes and I finally started running. I could hear her behind me, it seemed like she could catch me any time she wanted to, like she was just waiting for me to get worn out and collapse…

“That was when I happened to run into the neighborhood watch. Literally. They’d started doing patrols after what happened to my friend and her mother, and I guess the hooded woman slipped away when she saw I wasn’t alone anymore. My sister… she wasn’t there when we went back… She’s probably wandering around at night… I … she wouldn’t want to hurt anyone… and I’m worried there are more Wights around… So…” That was when Irene seemed to run out of words, and started crying again.

Helena gently grabbed the younger girl’s hand in her own. “Thank you for telling me all of that, Irene. And thank you for worrying about your sister and your community. I promise you, I’ll find your sister and put her to rest. I’ll clear up the remaining Wights as well. As for that hooded woman, I’ll see what I can learn about her.”

Irene seemed guilty at that last bit. “If what I’ve heard is true, she’s probably a vampire, and would be a way higher difficulty rating to deal with. I just wanted my sister to rest in peace, and to deal with some of the Wights so no one gets attacked like my friend was…”

“That’s all your job is asking, so that’s the only thing you need to pay for,” Helena assured. “But as for the rest, I plan to take care of it to the best of my ability. Now, I plan to tackle this tonight. While it’s still light out, could you give me a tour of the area, maybe introduce me to some of the locals here? Once the sun sets I’ll head out on my own to deal with this, I swear.”