The Brave five

1 hour earlier

Move it! The lieutenant has given us our orders! I want to see you all gear up and ready to head out in 10 minutes! No exceptions!

YES SIR!

Good, looks like you're all ready.. [narrator]What stood in front of the captain were four young men wearing four identical armor uniforms. All four were wearing light armor plating over thin leather made of goblin skins and boar furs. Their main weapons were short axes made of hardened steel, and a small bucket lure shield made of mutant lizard scales. Their secondary weapons were short bows with arrows made from spirit crane feathers, while their tips were made from some unknown creature bones. Everything from their armor to their weapons had a beautiful engraving of a fierce looking pig lady insignia. The uniform was made to fit a barbarian and militaristic design. The only way to distinguish between each other's rank was the different types of chest plating. While true barbarians had no chest armor, their own muscle made them distinguishable alone, but for the lower non barbarian types the chest plating would have a different image of the pig lady. For generals they would have the full body while captains had up to half the body, lieutenants would have a head with two hands coming out to cover its eyes, and lastly the lowest on the totem pole would just have a face imprint.

But sir Nicholas we still don't know what our mission is! Who spoke up was a young man who is in his mid 20s with blonde hairs and sharp cat green eyes. I Know that! Andrew! I was just waiting until we were at the gate to explain but since you brought it up I guess I will explain it here. Look this is a scout/rescue mission to find the missing recruits. Listen, the lieutenant gave me strict orders to prioritize the scouting out part more than the rescue part. In other words if I deem it too dangerous we are to "abandon" the recruits should we find them. We need to make sure whatever is out there won't become a hindrance to our main purpose for being out in the elven territory. That is all, does anyone have any questions? Ask them now.

Yes sir, I do! Permission to speak sir?

Speak Brandon, what is your question?

Well, why are we going out to look for missing people an hour before nightfall? Wouldn't it be better to wait through the night, and go looking in the daylight?

I know what you mean Brandon but right not the lieutenant seems to be worried that if they are captured by the elves they may speak about our plans, in other words this is more of an information gathering type of mission rather than a rescue one. which is why I said we are to 'abandon' them if the need arises. Also should it be found that powerful creature killed them, then it's even more imperative that we report back.

Permission to speak sir!

Speak Jason!

Why is it more imperative if it's a creature rather than if they were captured?

Simple Jason, I really shouldn't have to tell you. You see if its a really strong monster using this area as it territory then we need to get rid of it before we can move on to our main purpose and even more of a reason is because strong monster take a lot of time and preparation to kill, what worse is if the fighting gets to intense it could alerts the nearby settlements. Also our leader is a battle junkie and would love to vent out his frustrations on a powerful monster. You can imagine what damage an out of control barbarian rank 2 can muster. As to why there is a powerful creature doing so close to the elves.. While that is something for the higher ups to think about.

Permission to speak sir!

Speak Nathan

Why are we not taking any healers or a caster of any kind with us? Why are we going into an unknown situation with only five warrior/scout types?

Simple Nathan, because widespread spells leave too much of a mana imprint that the elves could pick up on, as well as other strong monsters. Another reason is that we need to be quick about this and slow unathletic mages would only slow us down, as you know in order for them to keep up with our speed they would have to use up tons of their mana, so it wouldn't be mana efficient. If these aren't enough of a reason for you then the biggest is that we are expendable. As you know our class is the most common class that anyone could find to refill their roster while on the other hand mages take years to train. No one in their right mind in charge would risk their mages going into an unknown situation if they could help it. All right if there are no more questions let's get going.

[narrator] Having finished their pep talk the brave five made their way out of the safety of their wooden gates to stand before a haunting forest, the red light of the sunset didn't help the already dreadful atmosphere the men felt just by standing at the forest edge for they knew that just beyond in that dreary tall forest may lay a terrible fate, but such was the life of a mercenary. While mustering up whatever courage they could they took their first big step into those hollowed woods, knowing full well they may never step back out.

Sir Nicholas! Something is odd about this forest! Though I see crows and ravens but they are not singing or flying away as normal birds do, in fact why do I feel like they are staring at their next meal?

Store that type of talk Jason, remember you're a merc! But I know what you mean even though we've been walking in this forest for 10 min now it is too quiet. But it doesn't matter where just 20 min to the ranch Logan was sent to just keep you heads on the mission.

YES SIR!

Sir is it me or is the mist getting stronger? Doesn't it normally stay above the canopy?

You're not wrong Brandon, the later it gets the harder it's going to be to see our surroundings, hell might take us longer to find our way back. However it still shouldn't be a problem. It only takes 30 minutes to reach Logan's last known position and another 30 going back, we should be able to make it back around the 1 hour time limit we were given.

[20 minutes later] Sir were finally out of those creepy woods! Is this where Logan was sent to? This ranch field?

Quiet you fools! Do you want to alert someone? Yes this is the location, let's investigate quietly. That means keep the communication to the bare minimum. Ok?

Sir the only thing here that is suspicious is this random hole in the floor that has some traces of blood on it. Does it mean anything to you?

I came up with a few theories Nathan but nothing concrete as of yet, Andrew! With your cat eyes did you find anything else?

Yes sir! I found two sets of footprints, however they lead further into the woods, so I don't know if it's our missing recruits or elves. Should we follow them?

Umm… we don't have much time and by the looks of it I bet those footprints probably belong to our missing recruits, something probably happened that caused them to run into the woods. Now whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I do not know. They could have been casing some rare injured beast or elves because something had to have happened to cause such a hole in the dirt. Sigh.. I hate to say it but we can't just return with " all we found was an auspicious looking hole in the dirt".

Sir you are not thinking about really following the footprints right?

Sorry Jason but it looks like we are going in, but if I judge it to be too dangerous we will return empty handed or not, I promise you that! I know you only joined to earn money for your sick siblings. Don't worry, we will report what we can and let the day team worry about it. But we do need something a little bit more substantial or it will be our heads! The general doesn't have patients for people he deems to be incompetent or cowardly.

After saying his piece, sir Nicholas glances at the footprints and wonders if he really made the right call. While lost in his thoughts his eyes wander onto the forest and had he been paying attention he would have noticed a teal color goat staring at him and his party from within that dark forest.