by Aaron Oster
“We?”
The man’s voice was deep and had a slightly aristocratic air to it. Sam wanted to punch him in the face or kick him in the balls. Either was fine with him.
“Yes, we,” he said, gesturing to Gordon. “The two of us killed a siren and her familiar last night. They had been posing as a farmer and his daughter, and were luring people into their home, before killing them.”
“I see,” the man said, eyes flicking between him and Gordon. “And what proof do you have of this?”
Sam blinked dumbly.
“Proof?”
“Yes,” the man said, giving him a very nasty sneer. “Do you have proof of these outlandish claims? After all, I can’t just go handing out expensive rewards to anyone who comes knocking on my door.”
Sam turned to look at Gordon, but the dog seemed nonplussed.
“You do not require proof for the completion of a quest, unless otherwise specified by the quest giver,” Gordon said. “As the quest giver, he would have received a notification the moment it had been completed, along with the names of the ones who completed it.”
The pudgy man jumped when Gordon spoke, then turned to glare at Sam.
“If your mutt can’t behave, then I suggest you keep it on a leash. Now if there’s nothing else, I would appreciate it if you would leave.”
The man began closing the door, but Sam took a step forward, sticking his foot out and preventing him from closing it.
“I know you got a message when I completed the quest. Now fork over the goods, or else!”
“Or else what?” the man demanded, face going as red as his silk Santa suit.
Sam turned to Gordon with a raised eyebrow.
“If a quest giver fails to deliver on a promised reward, simply say these words: ‘I demand an inquiry in the name of the Supreme Overlord.’ An Inquirer will appear and deliver the verdict. The guilty party will be punished, and the reward will be forcefully taken from them and handed over to you. The threat of this alone should suffice, as I would not recommend getting the Overlord’s attention.”
“Thanks,” Sam said.
“For what?” the Santa wannabee said, eyes narrowing at him.
“Not you. Gordon.”
“Who?”
“Never mind that!” Sam practically yelled, beginning to lose his patience. “Give me the reward you promised, or I’ll call on the Overlord for an inquiry!”
Sam had never seen someone change colors so fast in his life. The red-faced Mayor went from tomato red to white as a sheet, in the span of a few heartbeats. The next second, the man pulled a few items from seemingly nowhere and shoved them into his hands.
“Here! I hereby acknowledge that your quest is complete. Have a good day!”
Then the door slammed in his face. Sam didn’t even have time to blink before a whole slew of notifications began popping up.
HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETE
Congratulations! You have completed the hidden quest: Monsters in our midst.
The town of Farmer’s Rest was plagued by a string of disappearances. The townsfolk were becoming worried that there may be a monster hiding among them. Speak to the Mayor to collect your rewards!
Rewards: 850 XP, Basic Leather Bag, Basic Wand, 1 Gold Coin
LEVEL UP!
Congratulations! You have reached level 4! You have 5 new attribute points to distribute.
Would you like to distribute them now?
Yes/No
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have gained a new ability!
Mana Flare: Send out a burst of mana in a sphere around you.
Level: Novice 1 (0%) Damage: 12-15
Cost: 50 MP
AOE Range: 5 Ft Cast Time: 3 Seconds Cooldown: 10 Seconds
ITEMS FOUND!
Name: Basic Leather Bag Durability: 40/40
Rarity: Common Quality: Basic Carry Capacity: 10 Slots A basic leather bag to store your items.
Name: Basic Wand Durability: 30/30
Rarity: Uncommon Quality: Basic Damage: 3-5
A basic wooden wand that will increase the power of mana-based abilities.
Sam shoved away all the notifications and stared at his new items.
Finally, a new ability. And even better than that…
“Loot!” he yelled, slinging the strap of the small leather bag across one shoulder. He felt like he was wearing a man-purse, but he didn’t care.
He finally had somewhere to put his stuff.
Examining the wand, he noted with pride that he finally had a weapon, even if it did just look like a slim and shiny stick. His eyes then flicked down to Gordon, who had his eyes fixed on the wand with a hungry stare.
“No!” Sam yelled, shoving the wand into his new bag. “You can’t have this stick! It’s mine!”
Gordon narrowed his eyes at him, a low growl sounding in his throat.
“Oh no, don’t you give me that!” Sam said, folding his arms and glaring right back. “This is my stick! If you want one, then find your own!”
Gordon stared at him for another tense few seconds, then he broke eye contact and padded away without a word.
Sam let out an audible sigh of relief.
Holy crap, that had been scary. For a second there, he was sure Gordon would attack him.
Looking down, he noticed a shiny gold coin laying on the floor near his foot. He quickly bent and snatched it up, sticking his hand down his pants and finding the Spatial Wallet.
He really hoped that no one was looking right now. Explaining why his hands were down his pants wasn’t something he wanted to do this early in the morning. Or ever.
Finally dropping the coin into the small bag, Sam thought of retrieving a couple of the silver coins and 3 of the copper. A moment later, he pulled his hand from his pants, clutching the small coins. Looking around quickly, he breathed another sigh of relief that no one had seen that.
Maybe he should find a better hiding place for his Spatial Wallet.
Dropping the coins into his new bag, Sam headed back down the street and walked right up to the very badly named Inn.
He took a few moments to fix his rumpled shirt, then pushed through the front door. A light tinkling sounded through the room as the door swung open, then closed behind him. The lighting was dim compared to the bright sunlight outside, so it took his eyes a few moments to adjust. When they did, he saw that he was standing in a small dining room with a bar against the far side. The floors were a dark, polished hardwood, and the furniture was squeaky clean.
Not something he’d expect from a place like this. Shouldn’t this place be crowded?
Then he remembered that it wasn’t even 9 AM and that this was a small farming town. Of course, it wouldn’t be busy here.
“Hello. Welcome to Inn. What can I help you with?” Sam turned to see an extremely attractive woman, dressed in a low cut server’s uniform emerge from a door set near the bar. She was around five and half feet tall, had pale skin and long curly blonde hair that fell in waves down her back. Her bright green eyes sparkled from under slanted brows and were just a little too large to be human.
What the hell? Again with this shit?
Sam didn’t even bother answering, instead he used Inspect on the woman.
STAR ELF
Name: Milly Level: 2
HP: 50/50
Status: Friendly
Sam’s eyes instantly snapped to her ears when he read that. Yup, there they were. Two pointed ears poking out from between her curly hair. At least she appeared to be just a normal person, albeit, an extremely attractive one.
“Sir?”
Sam’s face went a little pink as she realized he’d been staring.
“Right, sorry. Are you serving breakfast?”
“Of course!” Milly replied, flashing him a dazzling smile. “Right this way,” she bowed at the waist and gestured to one of the empty tables.
The movement brought Sam’s eyes right to her cleavage, and when he looked back to her eyes, saw a g
lint of mischief in them.
“Thanks,” he croaked out, walking robotically past her and taking a seat at the indicated table.
Good God, that elf girl was hot! On a scale from 1-10, he’d rate her at about 100.
Then he heard his mother’s voice echoing in his head about being a misogynistic pig, and his good mood evaporated.
That woman really had been a bitch!
“Is something the matter?” Milly asked, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm.
Sam realized that he’d been scowling, and quickly arranged his face into an approximation of a smile.
“Don’t mind me, just had a bit of a rough morning. So, what’s on the menu?”
Please don’t say stew. Please don’t say stew. Please don’t say stew.
“We have a pot of lamb stew made fresh this morning, along with some fresh baked bread.”
Mother fucker!
“Do you happen to have anything else?” he asked, attempting to keep a smile on his face.
Milly shook her head, her smile faltering just a bit.
“Alright then, a bowl of stew and bread it is,” he said, feeling his heart twinge when her full lips turned down in a frown.
She was way too hot to be sad.
Milly’s smile was back in an instant, and she gave his arm a light squeeze.
“Excellent! I’ll go get your order ready now. It’ll be fifty copper for the meal, or one silver if you want to rent a room. Two if you’d like a little something extra.” she said with a smirk, tugging her low cut top just a little lower and giving him a wink.
Of course.
10
Once Milly had gone back into the kitchen, Sam sat up straighter and tried to compose himself.
That elf girl was something else. Even though she was basically offering herself to him, he didn’t think he could accept, despite was his downstairs brain was telling him. He was a romantic, well sort of, and thought that a first time should be with someone special.
“A first time with that girl would definitely be special.” A small voice in the back of his mind said.
“Oh shut up, libido!” Sam muttered under his breath, trying to force the mental image that Milly’s offer had conjured in his mind. He decided to open his status and assign his attribute points from his last level up, to get his mind out of the gutter.
CHARACTER STATUS
Name: Sam Race: Human Level: 4
XP: 565/1,200
AP: 6
Class: None HP: 80/80 (Regen 0.8 Per Second) MP: 170/170 (Regen 1.5 Per Second) STA: 80/80 (Regen 0.8 Per Second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: 5 (6)(3)
Constitution: 8
Agility: 6
Endurance: 7 (8)
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 11
Luck: 8
ABILITIES
Mana Shot: Novice LV - 4 (87%) Mana Burn: Novice LV - 3 (91%) Mana Flare: Novice LV - 1 (0%)
SKILLS
Sprint: Novice LV - 6 (64%) Stalker: Novice LV - 2 (11%) Inspect: Novice LV - 2 (3%) Mind Over Body: Novice LV - 2 (77%)
EQUIPPED ITEMS
Clothing Farmer’s Canvas Shirt Farmer’s Canvas Pants Farmer’s Leather Boots Total Armor Rating: 7
Set Bonus: +1 Strength & Endurance Other Items Basic Leather Bag (Basic) Carry Capacity: 2/10 Slots Filled Basic Wand (Basic) Damage: +3-5
RULE OF THE DAY
Do not use any swear/curse words (Broken) Divine Curse Effect: Total Strength Attribute Halved Duration: H 4: M 37: S 11
He stared at his status for a whole five minutes, before assigning 2 points each to Intelligence and Wisdom, bringing them up to 19 and 17 respectively. Against his better judgment, he also put 1 point into Charisma, bringing it up to 12.
Damn you, fragile ego.
Sam closed his status just as the door near the bar swung open, and Milly came out balancing a tray of bread, stew, and a mug of something on top. Sam really hoped it wasn’t beer, as he didn’t think he could stomach it so early in the morning.
“Here you are, sir,” Milly said, setting the tray down and moving the food onto the table.
Just water, not beer, he noted when the mug was set before him.
He quickly pulled a silver coin from his bag and handed it over, figuring that he’d probably be spending the day here and wanted to sleep in a bed that night.
“For the meal, and a room for the night,” he said, as she took it from him.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” she asked suggestively.
“Yes, actually,” he said, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on his stew. “I was wondering if there might be any work around here for me.”
“Oh, so you’re an adventurer?” Milly asked.
“Kinda.”
“Then I might just have a job for you.”
Sam looked up at that, being very careful to look the elf girl in the eye. It didn’t help.
Flashing him a wide smile, she walked around to the other side of the table and took a seat across from him.
“I’ve been wanting to leave this place for a while now, and make my way to the city of Shtut. It’s very hard to make a decent living in such a small town, but I’m afraid to travel alone. If you can escort me there, I’d really appreciate it.”
As soon as she said those words, a screen popped into his view with a light ping.
QUEST AVAILABLE
Escort the escort: Milly wants to leave Farmer’s Rest but is afraid to do so alone. Escort her safely to the city of Shtut to receive your reward.
Difficulty: Medium Objective: Escort Milly to Shtut Rewards: 400 XP, 10 Silver, Milly’s gratitude
Sam gulped. He had a fairly good idea of what ‘Milly’s gratitude’ meant, and tried not to think of the insinuations. The other rewards were good, though, so he decided to accept the quest.
After all, there was probably a lot more to do in an actual city than in this backwater town.
“I’ll be happy to escort you,” Sam said, closing the screen, and giving her a smile.
“Great!” Milly said, reaching across and squeezing his hand. “I have a few things to take care of before we leave, so let’s go tomorrow. Okay?”
He nodded, and Milly rose to leave.
“My name is Milly by the way, what’s yours?”
“Sam.”
“Well, I look forward to getting to know you better, Sam.”
He felt a shiver run down his spine when she said his name, then she sauntered out.
Down boy! Heel!
Sam blew out a long breath as the elf vanished into the kitchen, already regretting accepting the quest.
He really hoped she would wear something else when they were traveling. It would be way too distracting if she wore that outfit.
Picking up the spoon, he dug into the bowl of stew, finding that it was quite good.
He could only hope that there would be more variety when he got to Shtut.
It only took him a few minutes to finish his meal, after which Milly came back out to collect the dishes. She let him know to be back around 6 to eat dinner and to pick up his room key. Thanking her, Sam left the inn, walking into the bright morning sunlight once more.
Gordon was waiting for him near the entrance, jaws clamped around a new stick.
“Still mad at me?” he asked his canine companion.
“I cannot fault you for wanting to keep that stick. It is quite marvelous indeed. Had that been my stick, I would not have handed it over either. So to answer your question, no, I am not upset with you.”
“Great. I got a new quest to escort an elf to the city of Shtut tomorrow. I figured we could spend today getting some actual supplies and maybe finding another quest to complete in the meantime.”
He took a look at the timer for his divine curse and grimaced.
“Well, maybe we take on a quest after this divine curse has run out.”
He didn’t much fancy trying to take on a
ny job with his Strength still cut in half. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the first curse he’d been hit with, but half Strength was still a bitch.
“Very well. Then shall I assume that we will be visiting the general store?”
“If that’s where I can get supplies, then yes,” he said, turning his gaze to the other building just a bit down the block, which he assumed was the store in question.
“Do you know if there’s a weapons shop or magic shop in this town? It would be really cool to see if I could get some new spells or maybe a dagger.”
“Unfortunately, there are no magic or weapons shops in Farmer’s Rest . You can find all you need at the general store, though the selection will be very limited.”
“Alright then. Off we go, I guess,” he said with a shrug, then set off down the road in the direction of the store.
Gordon rose from his seated position, leaving the stick behind.
Guess it must not be a very good stick if he’s ditching it so quickly, Sam thought as they approached the shop entrance.
Entering the shop, Sam looked around, noting that it looked absolutely nothing like the grocery store he’d been imagining. For a moment, he thought that he’d walked into an empty room, then his eyes alighted on a small counter set against the back wall, where a man sat behind a display case full of items.
“What can I do ye for?” the man asked as Sam approached the counter, Gordon padding up next to him and sitting on his haunches, tongue hanging out.
“I’m looking to purchase some supplies,” he said. “Some trail rations, a canteen, maybe some rope if you have it.”
He had no clue what he needed to survive in this place, but he’d watched some survival shows, and rope was always mentioned as a must-have item.
“Of course! Name’s Mage, by the way. Mage Redbeard.”
