http://2k6goblinu.blogspot.com/2017/03/mesta.html

Quest Objective

- Acquire supplies or gold for the road.

The beginning Scenario is a trial run to test your new character. Play it as many times as you wish with different characters to find a race that you like.

***

Berlem wasn’t really much of a town, despite what Lord Pydel and others might think, however, it was one of the few thriving cities that existed on the frontier of the Red Lands.

With the fiery suns keeping you company, you travel west along the cobblestone streets and into the bustling marketplace where you see wealthy merchants hawking their wares, armorers banging away on their anvils, and warriors of all races wandering through the city streets. The town heavily patrolled by men in flowing red robes, that moved through the crowd like pebbles skipping across the surface of the water. Their ever watchful gazes staring out from hard leathery faces that had seen too much of the suns.

Senses tingling with dark premonitions at the sight of them, you pick up the pace, and weave your way in amongst the crowd to avoid drawing their attention, before heading for the back gate. The group of guards on watch there almost moving to stop you with their spears, when one of them shakes his head from side to side and allows you passage through to the other side.

Relieved to be finally free and away from their stares, you take in the wonderful rich aroma of the countryside, the manure that lingers in the warm breeze, evoking fond memories of your childhood. The fields of swaying golden wheat that you see, stretching out as far as the eye can see, a reminder that you hadn’t eaten anything in days. Experience, however, has taught that some of these fields could be magically guarded.

(Click here if you choose to grab some wheat.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Having always craved danger, you smile hungrily, and step out from the well-trodden path you had been following, and lean down to rip out a few ears of wheat to alleviate your hunger when you feel a sudden agonizing pain in your palm.

Eyes almost bulging out of your skull, you look down and see the ears of wheat come alive and begin eating through your hand like worms through an apple. (- 5 Health Points.)

Fighting the rising panic that rears itself up inside of you, you rip the magically infused wheat from your palm and toss them onto the ground. Your leather boots stomping them into the dust until they stop moving.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, you feel yourself shake a little, a part of yourself annoyed for not realizing the harvest would be guarded by the local mages guild. Though how the townsfolk could afford this type of magic was quite another story.

(Click here to continue.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

With sweat dripping down your furrowed brow, you continue plodding along the road, your head bent low, and your belly gnawing at your sides when you hear the distant rumble of shouts and screams that tell you that trouble was brewing ahead of you.

Head lifted worriedly, you glance around and see smoke rising up a scant few miles to the west in the direction you were traveling in. Having studied a map a friend had loaned you, you know the smoke must be coming from Harwin, a small farming village on the outskirts of Berlem.

Never really one to involve yourself in the affairs of others, especially when it was not your life at stake, you consider circling around the area and heading away from the danger, but quickly dismiss the notion. You still needed supplies for the road and this looked like the perfect opportunity to get it. One way or another.

With that very thought uppermost in mind, you steel yourself for whatever was out there and stride up the gently sloping hill towards the sound of the shrill voices that cut through the air. The ramshackle village that appears below you, besieged by a pack of silver wolves the size of fully grown horses that stream into a small village, their sleek grey fur matted with dried blood as they leapt atop defenseless villagers spraying out their lifeblood across the ground. The few menfolk who bravely seek to stem the tide, broken apart by their powerful bodies, while the rest of the villagers' scatter and race for the only defensible structure made of stone, trapping themselves inside in the mill.

Their hunger unsated, the silver wolves prowled around the building, clawing at the stonework and tearing at the foundations, each of their powerful blows shaking loose a bit of debris. With each passing second, the situation in the village grows ever more dire with more silver wolves abandoning the corpses they had been feasting upon to join their brothers and sisters in the attack.

Without help all these people would soon die, a swift realization that has you studying the surrounding area, noticing that most of the houses in the village had thatched roofs that could easily be set on fire. You also notice a brazier that still has a few burning logs within it from last night’s fire, and not far from the brazier was a dead guard lying face down in the dirt with his guts spilled out beside him.

The poor mud sap had probably thought to battle the creatures with fire, which in itself was not such a bad idea, but one that would never have worked against wolves that were hungry enough to attack a whole village, no matter how small it was. Eyes lighting up on the loaded crossbow that lay beside the dead guard, you think that could be a useful weapon against such thick-skinned creatures, but a weapon that would take time to reload with each shot.

Choice 1. Do you charge in head first, brandishing a firebrand and attack the creatures head-on?

Choice 2. Do you take a firebrand from the brazier and set the thatched roofs on fire?

Choice 3. Do you pick up the crossbow, clamber up onto the roof and take aim at the Silver Wolves?

Choice 4. Do you take this opportunity to loot items from the abandoned homes of the villagers?

Choice 5. Or do you do simply walk away? After all, it isn't your problem, why should you get involved?