I wake up in the morning do my basic routine, stretch, wash and then eat and then head into the guild to get a quick quest. This time though there is a extermination quest, one caveat is that it needs to be completed by a group of three at least. Now that is a problem, I usually operate alone and never had a group because of my magic. I would normally just ignore a quest like this, but the reward is far too great. Honestly, it is suspiciously high, 200 silver for each member for completion of this extermination. With this money I could get loads of stuff. 

As I read what it says I don't see anything that would be the reason for such a high reward, something is fishy. Something isn't quite right. It just says that we need to kill some rodents at a house at the edge of the town. 

???: Were you perhaps thinking of taking that quest?

I hear a male voice behind me. I turn around, a young man, maybe two years older than me, clad in armor, has a shield and a sword. 

Mason: I was just looking at it. It seems suspicious doesn't it?

???: What do you mean by suspicious?

Mason: Such a high reward for such a simple task.

???: Why are you complaining?

Another man, this one looks like a rogue says. He has two daggers and hides his face.

Mason: Why would anyone give out such a big reward for just killing a couple of rodents?

???: Who cares the reasoning? Do you know what 200 silver can get you?

Mason: I know. Are you thinking of taking it? Are you maybe looking for another member?

???: Well, there are two of us and it says we need three, so yeah, you can join. Eh...

Mason: Name's Mason, nice to meet you.

I shake the warriors hand.

Robert: My name's Robert and my friend's here is Karl.

I nod at them and we register to have taken the quest. We immediately head over to the designated location. On the way we chat, getting to know each other. Robert seems like a decent fellow, quite talkative and proud, while Karl rather seems quiet and secretive. Doesn't talk much, which for a rogue isn't too bad. As we reach the place we see that it is a larger house, quite worn out and in a rough condition. As we walk inside we are immediately hit by a terrible stench. What the hell could be making such a terrible smell. Once our noses got semi used to it we walk around, we see no rodents, just cobweb and dust over the furniture. We follow the smell where it's intensity grows stronger and soon are led to a door. We open it and see it heads downstairs, probably into the basement.

We walk down slowly, the stench grows stronger and stronger. There is no particular sound, just our footsteps and the creaking of the stairs. Once we finally climb down the stairs we see that there is a hole in the wall, leading into the ground, deep. I unsheathe my bayonet, Karl his daggers and Robert get's his sword and shield ready. He stands in front while we walk behind him.

Mason: Now you must admit that it was a suspicious quest.

Robert: It seems you were correct on that. We should have thought about it more, but here we are.

As we keep walking I step on something that causes a crack. I look down and see a human skull, that is when I notice that the tunnel is lined with remains. The other two notice it too and as we slowly head back the tunnel collapses behind us.

Karl: Well that is just great. This was probably a trap.

Mason: It seems that it was. There is no other way but forward.

We walk forward into the darkness. Karl lights a torch that he brought with himself. The tunnel runs deep, and after a short walk we see a light in the distance. Karl silences the flame on his torch and we slowly creep up towards the light source. We soon see that it is a large room, bodies all around the room, all in different stages of decomposition. A single robed figure stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by candles. We slowly head down into the room, trying to make as little noise as possible, trying not to alert the figure. It seems to be saying some prayer and that is when I notice something.

Mason: Karl, what direction do you think the tunnel was orientated?

Karl: Well, considering that it was in the opposite direction from where we entered I reckon it heads back into the town. Why?

Mason: You see I heard from some gossip that the church here was seen doing some shady business. And I think we might just be underneath it, or somewhere close to it.

Robert: Are you suggesting that the church is doing some kind of ritual underneath it's temple.

Mason: Yeah, I mean thin about it. You don't want attention towards the temple, so why not find a abandoned place, make a quest and lure in people for easy killing. Nobody has to know about it.

Karl: Now that you do mention it, it does kind of make sense. There were quite a lot of missing people posters as of late.

As we look back at the figure, it is gone. We franticly look around trying to see where it is gone. That is when a thud is heard. We turn around and see Roberts head on the ground, his dead body falls onto the floor. We look up and see the person standing beside us.

Karl: Father Simeon?

Simeon: Hello there Karl.

Me and Karl fall back away from the priest, our daggers drawn.

Karl: What the hell are you doing Father?

Simeon: Isn't it simple, I am preforming a ritual.

Mason: What kind of ritual?

Simeon: I shouldn't be saying it, but since you aren't going to make it out alive I might as well. I am summoning a Baron from the Demon world.

Karl: WHY?!

Simeon: Power, wealth, many reasons. 

Karl is clearly angry and charges at the priest, but is soon killed without any effort. His dead body falls on the ground. The priest used some kind of darkness power to cut him down.

Simeon: You are the new boy aren't you? Shame, to come to this town just to die. Maybe we can strike a deal?

Mason: What kind of deal?

Simeon: Well, you bring me sacrifices, and you get to keep living. What do you think? I think I am quite generous?

Mason: Let me think about it for a second.

What should I summon? A gun, field gun, or... I can summon a tank, and considering how deep we are nobody will find out. The question is which one, this place is large, but not that large. Preferably something with decent armor and fully enclosed. A Valentine Mk XI wouldn't be bad, a decent size gun, coax and armored. As I think about it, it starts to manifest in front of me.

Simeon: WHAT KIND OF DARKNESS MAGIC DO YOU POSSES BOY?!!

It finally forms and I notice two figures stand beside it. They aren't humans, no, there look like the mannequins you would see at the clothing shops, these weren't wooden nor plastic but looked the same. They climb into the Valentine and I follow suite. I climb through the commanders hatch and sit down next to the gun breach. I would serve as a gunner and commander. I close the hatch to protect myself.

Simeon: What kind of box did you summon?

We start up the engine and it roars through the hall. Simeon get's startled and looks to panic.

Simeon: What kind of monster did you summon? What devils creation is this?

I open the hatch and expose my torso and look at him dead in the eyes.

Mason: Simeon! Prepare to meet your death!!

I once again retreat into the safety of the turret and close the hatch. I start to swing the turret towards his general direction. He fires some spell, all effortlessly being negated by the armor. He is starting to panic, he fires fire balls, anything he can at me, but Valentine, she has some armor. I load an HE shell, it should do the trick, it is a 75mm, it has some oomph. I pull the lever and fire the round, a loud bang echoes the room, a ringing in the turret. The shell impacts Father Simeon dead on, large amounts of smoke and dust rise up. Once it does clear though I can still see that he is still alive, in a bad condition but still alive.

Mason: This magic is one hell of a thing.

I open the breach and load another HE shell. I close the breach and get ready to fire again.

Simeon: *cough* cough*  What in the name of gods is that magic you used you monster?

I open the hatch and stand up straight onto the seat that I was sitting on. I am putting myself in danger by doing this, but I do want to kind of see him explode with my own eyes. Maybe I am a monster?

Mason: I am no monster Simeon, you are. And I shouldn't be telling you this, but considering that you will die, I might just as well tell you. This is a thing called a tank, more specifically a Valentine Mk XI, and this is one of the magic spells I can use. 

Simeon: You posses such great power, why not join me. We could become unstoppable, we could achieve many things. 

Mason: You see Simeon, I am not a person like you. I am not driven by desire to dominate and kill, I am driven by a wanting to be useful and wanted. Now, any last words?

He starts to cast some kind of spell and I notice it.

Mason: FIIIIREEEEE!!!!!!!

With that command the crew puppet, mannequin thing fires the main gun. As it fires it kicks up dust and when it impacts I see guts and chunks of flesh fly in different directions and once the smoke and dust had settled down I see only his dagger on the ground. I climb down the Valentine and over to my fallen comrades. I pick up their adventurer IDs, I can't carry their bodies. That is when the room starts to crumble, it seems that the vibrations have caused it to start collapsing.  I dissolve the tank and it disappears and run for the door at the end of the room. I nearly get hit by a couple of rocks but manage to get to the doors. I climb up a spiral staircase and soon find myself in some kind of storage room. I climb up another flight of stairs and find myself in the hall of the temple. It is night already, so it is empty. I leave the temple and head towards the guild. I am thinking about telling the truth and maybe causing a slight panic, or lying and potentially having consequences later on. As I enter the guild I see that it is empty with only a tired Sofie at the desk, barely keeping herself alive. 

Once she sees me she lights up a little.

Sofie: Mason, you are back. Hang on, where are your friends?

I put their IDs on the desk in front of her and she immediately figures it out. Then I look at her seriously which causes her to get startled a little.

Mason: I want you to call any person higher up tomorrow and tell them that I need to tell something of grave importance. But for now, I am heading to bed, I had a rough day.

Sofie: What do you mean by that Mason? You are scaring me a little. What happened?

I turn around and leave, but not before hearing her say "What about your reward?"

I head straight towards the inn and immediately into my room. I lay down on the bed and try to get some sleep but I have trouble sleeping so I pop open a bottle of alcohol and start chugging and soon enough I pass out.