>Ingrid

A beautiful name! How could you forget your own name! (Your family was never one for family names, though)

With the contract now signed, you're now an official (junior) Guild member.

Your reading-support beauclerk, Henry, gives you four solo bounties to choose from. (He will be alongside you in this quest to report and evaluate your progress).

>NORTH

A village up north has a nasty problem with infestation, and they're requesting the guild to send someone to deal with it.

>EAST

A Lord's son has been kidnapped by a terrible beast and every man he has sent has returned either empty-handed or simply not all. He has grown desperate enough to commission the Guild for a member (or members) to rescue his heir.

>SOUTH

A mineshaft has been re-opened after a sudden collapse, and the owners want a Guild member to investigate the goings-on reported by the miners.

>WEST

A witch has settled near a town and the residents want her gone, believing her to be the origins the strange happenings that have occurred since her arrival.

>/INFONORTH

>Infestation of what?

Though not a difficulty individually, the pygmy shelled snow-bat can quickly become a problem species if not sent back to its natural habitat due to their high brood number, omnivorous nature, and relatively high intelligence.

They are distinguished by the bizarre feature of their hominind-like faces. As the name suggests, the wingspan tends to range from 20-40cm, and usually weigh up to 35g. Curiously however, apocryphal stories claim of encounters with snow-bats with wingspans as long as 2m, but such stories are rejected by the chiropterological community.

Some researchers suggest eusociality with snow-bat nature - rare for mammals - but evidence for this is spotty, at best.

>WEST

You've given some thought towards north and south but you ultimately decide to go west.

You feel with the presence of a witch needs to be dealt with, and to get to the bottom of the needs. (You tell yourself that there was probably nothing in the mines and that the lord's son was probably ugly, anyway).

>essential supplies

Henry recognises concerns with safety and your survivability in this commission and decides to take you to the best blacksmith he can afford. Better safe than sorry, I suppose

You and Henry tell the blacksmith, Gail, of your situation and what you need. Henry, a regular customer, is taken to the back to see what she has.

You mull over what sort of armor and weapons you could get, but then you think to yourself,

>How long has Henry been in with that blacksmith

Couldn't hurt to see what they're talking about, right?

You go behind the counter and head towards the door Henry and the blacksmith went in.