The day after Melvin's escapade with Skyla's stone, Merdiwen appeared before me once again. In the normal course of reports this would be written down immediately, but this time he had two requests:

1. Wait to write down anything until after the event six weeks from now
2. Gather a number of people to fight him. Make sure Skyla is included

His request was "Gather one person from each faction that would provide a suitable combat challenge. They should be able to fight at least a few bandits on their own, but the more powerful you can find, the better report you'll get." After confirming that he wanted a challenge, not a death match, I set out to gather six people with as wide of a range of fighting abilities as I could find.

  From the Military, my good friend Annelle Rose. We bonded over having a similar heritage and ending up in a place that was far away from our parents' homeland. Her specialty is wide area destruction through fire and wind.
  From the Merchant's Association, no one. Skyla will stand in for her outstanding survival skills.
  From the Farmer's Union, Clark of Riverdale. He has been known to fight off the wandering wolf and slime and is also known to be large and imposing. He should serve as a good baseline to draw from.
  From the Librarian's Ward, myself. I am a Taskkeeper, I rule by dictate, and I empower with knowledge and skill. It is unlikely that anyone in the Librarian's Ward could put up more of a fight than me.
  From the Artisan's Guild, Melvin. His official designation is as an Artisan of Slime, his experiments are unwieldy and unpredictable, and his temperment wouldn't allow him to say no to anyone that he looks up to. While he seems to respect me, he admires both Skyla and Merdiwen in a way that implies talent above his level.
  From the League of Engineers, Yalin. Numerous reports have been written up on her strange alchemic reactions and large structures, and she is currently under my care.

Merdiwen seems to have a special interest in anyone who has performed a Great Task. For brevity's sake, these tasks have been performed by the gathered members:

Annelle: Slime Annihilation
Skyla: South Mapping, Harmonic Convergence, Solo Slime Serenade, Mushroom Forage, Unique Tool: Earth Chopping Sword
Clark: Feed the town of Riverdale
Yalin: Alchemic Laboratory