"She can't be any older than 14 or 15...," Roman mused to himself in amazement as he walked. The teen he was supposed to be guarding didn't seem to need his help. She wore black chainmail armor and a heavy black helmet that obscured her face. She was up ahead fighting off a bandit ambush. If the last three were any indication, she would be done with them by the time he caught up to her. Then, she would rush forward again. Roman wondered how many ambushes there could possibly be. Four was already more trouble than he was expecting. They hadn't even reached the graveyard yet.
He had his doubts at first; The Haunted Graveyard was called that for a reason. The teen Paladin said she had a reason to go and she insisted the older Paladin go along with her. "This job will be a piece of cake," she said. "Nothing will go wrong," she said. He didn't expect the bandits; but, he couldn't say she was wrong. She was done with the bandits and stood there waiting for him to catch up. For his part, Roman felt like he was enjoying a nice walk in the park. A golden sun hung high in the azure sky; though, dark magic kept the graveyard ahead in a perpetual night.
"Waiting for you is the hardest part of this quest...," she sighed once he reached her. She turned around to dash forward again; but, Roman felt guilty for slowing her down. He didn't mean to; he just felt like walking at a leisurely pace for some reason. He didn't realize it was an issue; but, now that he knew, he could fix it.
"Sorry," he said. He jogged forward to keep pace with her. But, she suddenly stopped.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Keeping up with you," he replied.
"Why?" she asked. But, she shook her head before he answered and pulled her helmet off. He'd seen her without it before; but, he didn't see her put it on. He was surprised that she still wore the black strip of glass over her eyes even under the helmet. "What's your favorite number?"
"33!" Roman answered instantly even as he still wondered how she wore a visor under her helmet. His own answer surprised him out of his thoughts. "Huh?" he didn't want her to think he didn't know his own favorite number and asked a new question to cover it up. "Why?" The teen sighed and giggled at the same time. She turned around to look at the dark graveyard, then she looked past Roman down the way they came. It was a long dirt path with plains on both sides. Roman found himself with more and more questions as his charge seemed to be debating something. Where did the bandits even come from?
"Yeah, I guess I don't mind doing it again...," she nodded to herself as she made a decision. Then, she looked up at Roman and smiled.
"Hi, my name's Abby," she suddenly offered him an armored handshake.
"Roman...," he accepted the greeting not entirely sure what to think. They were practically at the graveyard already, it was a little late for introductions.
"So, you're probably realizing you have many, many questions right now. Am I right?" she grinned. Roman nodded. He didn't know how she knew that; but, at the moment, he didn't know a lot of things.
"What's the first thing you remember?" she asked. Roman thought that was an odd question for a man of his age. He was in his late 30s and had a lot of memories. But, they all dissolved as soon as he tried to grasp at them. He couldn't remember his parents, he couldn't remember meeting his wife, he couldn't remember waking up that day.
"At the guild hall...," he answered slowly. He didn't like the answer he was giving. "...when you said the job would be a piece of cake..."
"Well, it's supposed to be for you," she said. "I'm the one that's meant to do all the fighting because it's my quest," she said.
"You said you didn't mind doing it again... did I mess something up?" Roman asked. He may not have understood everything that was going on; but, he always tried to be courteous and thoughtful. At least, as far as he could remember.
"Kind of, but it worked out," she smiled. Roman was glad he met her. She seemed like a nice person; she certainly smiled a lot.
"My favorite number is 33 too," she said. "That means that I can control spiders," she extended her hand with the palm facing up. Roman watched as tiny white spiders crawled out of the armored gauntlet and gathered in the center. They formed a circle with a smiling face long enough for Roman to take it in, then they scattered and crawled back into the armor.
"Can I do that??" Roman asked.
"Technically, you can learn how," Abby nodded. "But, I already decided to do the quest again," she shrugged.
"Huh? Why is that related?" he asked. He didn't see an obvious connection; but, he had apparently missed many obvious details in his lifetime.
"The quest involves escorting a Paladin NPC to the graveyard safely," she was still smiling; but, he got a sinister vibe from it when she stepped closer to him. He tried to step back; but, his legs were bound by something, and couldn't move. He risked a glance down and wished he didn't. His mail chausses were covered in thousands of small white spiders webbing his legs together.
"It doesn't have to be you, so I'll just try again after lunch," she reached forward and pushed him over. He was so distracted by the white spiders on his legs that the black ones he fell onto came as a real surprise.