text: You've never even heard of Quillars before, but they still sound less dangerous than the Tulan Border, that place is only going to get worse, you know it.
  
  "I'll take the Retlad assignment sir."
  "Hm. Smart. Here's your first month's pay, I suggest you live it up here in Zal, for the couple of days you have off before you leave."
  
  You take the small bag and look inside. This will certainly help your family. You take a few coins for yourself and then ask if arrangements can be made to have your payment sent to your family from now on. He tells you yes, but asks that surely that you will still want some of it. You agree to just taking 10% of it. You don't need much.
  
  "Sheesh, living bare minimum huh? Don't you want to eat anything other than military rations every once in awhile?" Kosser questions again.
  "Nah. If I need extra food, I'll just hunt."
  "You know even the booze and brothel girls in Retlad aren't THAT cheap. You sure you don't want more?"
  "Nope. I'll be fine. My family needs that money more than I do."
  "Alright then, family man."
  
  You exit the barracks and wander the city a bit. You find it very interesting. You sort of wish you could stay longer to take in more sights. However one thing catches your eye. A small store and in the window is a lute. Looks almost like the one you had before it was taken away from you in basic training. You haven't gotten a chance to play in six months and you'd really like to... 
  
  Hey you're a soldier now, you've proven yourself. You figure you can take one personal belonging with you to Retlad as long as you keep them packed properly. You enter the store and with the little money you have you buy the lute. You spend the most of the day and the next practicing it. You didn't forget as much as you thought. You also finish up writing a letter to your family and give it to a Zalan messenger carrier.
  
  Finally the third day arrives for you to move out. A couple of officers arrive to take most of your other fellow cadets. Mostly to the Tulan border, however, it would appear you have a different escort. A young man in loose robe approaches you. He looks like a wizard, but you wonder for how long since he seems about your age.
  
  "Hey, are you the one going to the Retlad Kingdom?" he asks
  "Yeah, who are you?"
  "I'm Wessel. And don't you dare get cute and call me weasel, or I'll have to blast you with a lightning bolt."
  "I wasn't planning on it." You say which causes Wessel to start laughing.
  "Geez, I was just fucking with you. Don't be so serious! So you ready to go?"
  "Yeah I guess, are you my superior officer?"
  "Huh? Oh no. Look I got our horses waiting outside; we can do all this getting to know you stuff on the way."
  
  You and Wessel get on the horses and ride towards your destination. It would appear that you're the only one from your group to be going, but of course you were the only expert marksman.
  
  Wessel begins to tell you more about why he's with you. In fact he doesn't really let you do much talking at all. He says he's a native citizen of the Zalan Empire, but he just graduated from the esteemed magic university in the city state of Nuro. Wessel goes on to and says that when he heard they needed a few wizard over in Retlad, he decided to volunteer to test his skills and get paid while doing it. He explains that the pair of you will be following the orders of a Captain Vhalat.
  
  Everyone knows about Nuro. It's very famous, and you always wondered what kind of magical wonders existed there, so you're eager to hear more and he's all too happy to tell you. Despite Wessel's primary focus on himself, it sounds like a place you'd want to visit one day.
  
  Eventually you arrive at the border and so far the Retlad Kingdom doesn't look very well kept. The road begins to show evidence of disrepair and the sign posts are broken. You begin to keep your eye out for a possible attack at any second.
  
  "Look! Over there! It's a village and it's under attack! Come on!" Wessel yells and rides towards the village in the distance. You try to tell him to wait, but he's already well on his way, so you ride after him.
  
  You've never seen a Quillar before, but the closer you get to the village, you start seeing humanoid creatures covered in sharp spikes running around at a fast speed which could only be them. They are indeed fearsome looking. You also see a lot of the people running from them, and even a few people dressed in protective gear similar to yours... not that its doing them much good.
  
  "Alright you prickly bastards here's something for ya!" Wessle shouts riding into the village with one hand raised in the air for a lightning blast attack. He shows no fear. You have no idea if all wizards are like this, but he's either got to be brave, stupid or just suicidal. Of course he could be all three. Up until now you always thought wizards were supposed to be meek types that didn't charge into battle and preferred to kill from afar. You guess you were wrong.
  > letters to home (First assignment)
  Dear Mom,
  
  Well I got my first assignment. I'm heading to the Retlad Kingdom. Unlike most of my fellow cadets I was given the choice to go there instead of the Tulan Border. Thank the gods for my excellent bow skills.
  
  Still it's not going to be an easy assignment, but I'm probably not as worried about it as I might normally be since I finally got paid and managed to buy myself another lute! I've been practicing it again to help me keep my mind off things. I made arrangements for most of my pay to be sent to you. You should be receiving it at the end of each month, I hope it'll help.
  
  Anyway, tomorrow is the big day, so I better get some early sleep tonight. I have no idea what to expect.
  
  Give my love to the rest of the family.
  
  Your son