They chatted lightly over their lunch. Their empty dishes were taken away and replaced with a tray of fried, sticky rice cake.

“So what did you really want to talk about?” Humphrey asked. “I’m guessing you didn’t just call us out for lunch, excellent as it was.”

“I have a contract,” Jason said. “Two-star. They won't let me take it without a minimum team of three.”

“Minimum team?” Clive asked. “That means the danger is either large or unknown.”

Humphrey’s face darkened. “Unknown usually means it's killed an adventurer already.”

“That's right,” Jason said. “A solo adventurer took a one-star contract for something called a marsh wyrm. The tracking on his badge recorded his death mid-afternoon, the day before yesterday.”

All three men looked down soberly. They were all adventurers, and even the less-active Clive knew that death was always a possibility.

“Alright, then,” Clive said. “So the job is to find the body and clear the monster?”

“Yeah, that’s the job,” Jason said. “Kill the monster and find the body. If nothing’s left, then we at least bring back the badge.”

“Not much to return to the family,” Humphrey said, “but better than nothing.”

“I looked up the marsh wyrm,” Jason said, “and whatever’s out there, I don’t think it’s that.”

“No surprise, there,” Humphrey said. “Monsters don’t always turn out to be what they’re reported as.”

“What does your ability say?” Clive asked Jason.

“It says the monster that killed him,” Jason said. “Which doesn't tell us what it is, but means there should only be the one.”

Quest: [Contract: Fallen Comrade]

An adventurer has fallen in the course of their duties. Complete their task and bring home their remains.

Objective: Eliminate the monster that killed your fellow adventurer 0/1

Objective: Retrieve the remains of your fellow adventurer 0/1

“It could be a lot of things,” Humphrey said. “There are quite a few giant worm and serpent-type monsters that appear in the delta.”

“There are a few that could be mistaken for a marsh wyrm,” Clive said. “At least by someone who didn’t really know monsters. Most people only know monsters that commonly spawn in their area, and usually by description. Most run before they ever get a good look.”

“If it took down an adventurer already, we can't dismiss the danger,” Humphrey said. “Any monster strong enough to take down someone who went looking for a marsh wyrm alone will be at the top of the iron-rank power scale, or maybe even bronze. It won't be some lesser elemental that anyone could punch apart with sufficient determination.”

Not all iron-rank monsters were created equal. Their rank was a function of their magical density, not actual power. If bronze rank damage reduction and resistances were ignored, the most powerful iron-rank monsters were stronger than the weaker bronze examples. The difference was usually made up in numbers, with weaker monsters appearing in greater numbers.

“So,” Jason said. “Are you in?”