**From the personal writings of Silas Donovan**

Journey's Begin- My first actual adventure

I was lucky enough in my project How I Met Your Monster to be allowed to meet Shasta, a Quest Giver. It was more than just giving arbitrary quests, she once told me. She was the vessel in which some imaginary system passed quests onto. Back when the world was chock full of adventurers, she was a beginner's Quest Giver, so she was quite popular. As adventuring faded as a lucrative career option, she became less and less useful. When I got a quest from her, it was like seeing someone relight the light behind their eyes.

This time, The Drunken Quail Pub & Eatery was a welcome sight for me. It still maintained it's dreary and dusty atmosphere, but it felt like a good place to be. Armed with a sword I had bought at an antique store and a shield I bought off of Violyn and Boots, I walked on ready to take in the day. Shasta eyed my weapon and rolled her eyes.

"The shield is well made, but that sword probably wouldn't cut open a letter." She said, taking a shot of whatever the hell was handed to her and slamming the glass back down on the bar.

"It's the best I could find. You said you had a quest for me?" I pulled my phone out, showing her her text in case she had forgotten.

"Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses. The last one was local. This one is going to take some focus."

The last quest had been given to her by the bartender, Jim. It was basically a nothing quest, Shasta explained, but it was the most she had felt alive in ages. This time, her eyes glowed and she nearly levitated off of the ground. Jim watched her with a smirk, nodding his head in admiration. Shasta lowered back to the ground and, eyes still glowing, approached me. She stood in front of me, then poked me in the forehead between my eyebrows. Before I could even say ouch, a box appeared in front of my eyes.

QUEST RECEIVED In the dark forest just south of the bar likes a cabin. Inside the cabin rests a witch who day by day, gathers the blood of the forest animals. She is planning a spell, preparing for something that may bring ruin to this world. It is not your job to stop her or fight her. But you must find out what she is doing, and report back. REWARDS: 200exp, a better sword

"Are you sure you don't make the quests yourself? It's dissing my sword."

"Look man, everyone knows that your sword sucks," she said.

"And what's with this experience? I got 125 last time, and will get 200 this time. What does it do?"

"Every adventurer gets that. Right now, you're a level zero. Bottom of the barrel. Once you finish this quest, you'll have the 300 you need to actually be an adventurer. Then you'll be able to get stats and all sorts of stuff."

I tossed that around in my mind a bit. This whole thing seemed to be deviating from the entire point of this fiction, but that wasn't for me to decide. I nodded, and made my way out of the bar and to the southern woods.

I entered, ready to almost be scared out of my skin by any sort of animal noise, but soon realized that there wasn't a noise to be heard. There were no skitters of rodents or bugs. No howls of coyotes. No chirping or hoots of birds. The forest was eerily silent, and I realized then the truth that rang out from the quest. Either the witch was getting closer and closer to whatever she was doing being completed, or the animals were in such a state of fear that they were hiding en masse.

I came upon the house shortly after this realization. It was a small stone cottage with a trail of smoke popping out from the chimney. It was almost stereotypical the way it looked. Staring at it too long caused it to blur against the surrounding forest as if it didn't truly exist in this reality. I will be the first to admit that magic baffled me in a way that I couldn't get my head around, but none of the magic I have seen before seemed as . . . incorrect as what I was looking at.

Not too long after, the wooden door of the cottage swung open and a small shape emerged. She looked hundreds of years old, hunched over with a dark hooded cloak around her shoulders. She softly closed the door behind her and walked into the woods opposite me. I waited for a few moments, then approached the house.

Inside was a large cauldron bubbling a dark emerald with a large metal ladle stirring it. I looked around quickly, eyeing her desk where a grimoire laid open. I made my way over to it quickly and looked at what was written.

Desolation

Immortality and Power

Bring blood of every creature of these woods

Skin of every animal that walks its trails

Blend with your own essence

Achieve complete power over this domain

(Warning: Do not let turn brown)

I thought for a moment. I didn't know what would turn it brown, but anything not a part of what she needed should throw off the spell. I took various other potions and books she had lining the cottage and began tossing them in. The liquid bubbling inside started shifting to a gray. I kept throwing more and more in. Suddenly, the door burst open.

Her skin was deteriorating and cracking, falling to the floor. Mixing her essence must have had some bad feedback if the spell went wrong. She pointed a finger at me and I flew across the cottage, slamming into a wall. She frantically stood in front of her cauldron, trying to mix it and chanting over it. The color started shifting back to green. I had to stop her. I pulled out my sword and charged her, but she moved, tripping me. My sword escaped my grasp and fell into the cauldron.

She grabbed me by the neck of my shirt and held me above her head. Her strength was surprising for such a frail looking woman. She pointed a finger at me with another hand and began chanting, a swirl of light appearing at the fingertip. I braced myself for inevitable death, when she dropped me.

Her hand had fallen off, with chips and cracked of the rest of her going away. She looked back at the cauldron which was now a muddy brown, ruined by my so-called shitty sword. She charged at me, but her body quickly faded away, breaking down until it was just dust by my feet.

I grabbed the grimoire and burned it as well with the fire of the cauldron, then set back off toward the pub. Shasta was surprised to see me, but happy at the same time. I told her the events of what happened, and as her eyes glowed, she poked me in the forehead again.

QUEST COMPLETE I mean, I told you not to take her on headfirst, but I can't argue with the results.

Rewards received: 200exp, a better sword

A sword appeared in my hand, and I could feel the weight of it compared to the old one. Shasta looked impressed

LEVEL UP

Congratulations! You are now a Level 1 Adventurer

You have reached here with the base stats of

STR 5

DEX 4

CON 4

INT 6

WIS 5

A tingle ran through my body and I realized that even though those stats seemed low, they were an improvement on where I was before I made it to adventurer status. I looked up at Shasta who laughed at the bewildered look on my face.

"I haven't gotten to see that look of shock on someone's face in such a long time. Does the soul good. Congratulations, Silas."