Chapter Seventeen

**Back to Finchead**

Day Six

A light knock on the door woke Jason. His eyes pried open slowly and the knock rang out again, this time slightly louder. Jason looked around the room and saw faint light poke through the shutters. The knock rang a third time and Jason rose from his cot. He opened the door and saw a boy approaching his teenage years. The previous day Jason tipped the boy, the inn’s stable hand, a quarter copper to wake him up just before the sunrise.

“Your donkey is awake and groomed, sir,” the boy whispered. Jason thanked the boy and handed him an extra quarter copper. He was being generous, but he assumed that he would stay at the inn in the future and wanted to establish a good relationship with its hosts. The stable hand smiled, nodded his head in thanks, and moved on to wake the next patron.

Jason turned around and noticed the room grew slightly brighter in just the short span he talked to the boy. It’s time to go, Jason resolved. Jason shook the still sleeping Vanna’s shoulder. The warrior lashed out with a punch which Jason barely was able to dodge. He sent a prayer of thanks that she didn’t sleep with her sword then said, “come on its time to go.”

Vanna blinked her eyes and sat up, “oh sorry about that.” She let out a loud yawn and Jason smiled.

“Let’s hurry up and go. I promise we can stop outside the city and make some coffee,” Jason said.

Vanna brightened when she heard the idea then got up. Jason noticed he had a notification waiting to be read, but decided to hold off reading it until they stopped. Jason had kept Skippy’s saddle bag in their room to make sure it wouldn’t be stolen; he grabbed it and they headed downstairs.

Half a dozen drunken sailors snored loudly on the tables and floor, but the innkeeper was also awake. The man greeted them and told them he would have a pot of oats ready in a minute if they wanted to wait for it. The meal would be free so Jason and Vanna waited for their bowls. When their breakfast arrived they ate quickly, thanked the innkeeper, and left.

As the stableboy promised, Skippy was awake and waiting in the stable. Jason secured the saddlebag and the group went to pick up their new cart. They arrived at the large stable to find the barn doors shut and locked. Jason grumbled and knocked on the door, but no one came immediately. Jason stared up at the sky and groaned when he saw that the sun had already risen. He turned back to the stable doors and saw they were opening.

The man from the workshop walked out pulling the new cart and Jason smiled. All of the wheel spokes were repaired and new boards had been put around the wagon bed. Definitely worth paying the little extra to get it fixed, Jason thought. The man helped Jason attach the cart to Skippy. The donkey didn’t seem to struggle with the new load and Jason thanked the craftsman.

Learning to navigate Skippy and the cart through the city proved to be a challenge but thankfully for Jason the streets still weren’t crowded that early in the morning. In no time they were out of Laxtar and on the highway heading west.

They waited an hour to stop then parked beside the river. Jason was worried he would have problems detaching and reattaching the cart, but with Vanna’s help they had the cart on the ground in a couple minutes.

They were a few trees by the water and Jason was able to find enough dry fallen branches to start a fire with the fire starter he bought from Darrow. While Jason was starting the fire, Vanna filled the cooking pot Jason also bought from Darrow with water from the river. As the fire brought the water to a boil Jason grinded coffee beans and place the ground coffee in the press. Jason wasn’t used to making his coffee with a press, he always owned brewers that used pods, but was pleasantly surprised with the dark rich flavor of the coffee. He and Vanna took turn drinking from the cooking pot which they poured the coffee into after it steeped.

An idea came to Jason. He pour out the water from his canteen and filled it with coffee. Vanna did the same with the canteen she bought the day before. “We follow the river all the way to the forest so we can get water anytime we want,” Jason reasoned. He relaxed and opened his waiting notification.

History of the Middle Kingdoms (Progress: 18% (14%*))

Experience Gain +51 Exp. (50*1.01)

*You have skipped a passage of this text. Players do not receive book completion bonus if any passages are unread, this rule extends to damaged or missing portions of books.

Jason sighed, but figured he could do nothing about the ruined pages. That’s probably why I got the book for a deal, Jason thought. Jason checked his experience progress and was happy to see that he was only 177 experience points away from level three. A couple skill increases and some reading would quickly push him over the line. Jason closed the notification and then he and Vanna prepared to continue their journey.

After another hour of walking the road began to congest with peasants and other travelers heading towards Laxtar. Jason saw that the fishermen and their families who lived along the river sold smoked and salted fish to passing travelers as the sun approached noon. Jason and Vanna stuck to their fruit and jerky, but saw many of the traveling peasants bought the fish for their lunch.

Shortly after noon, the herds of peasants disappeared and Jason could start to see the forest. Skippy started to show signs of fatigue and Jason promised the donkey they would stop for a break before they entered forest.

Jason worried about going back into the forest after their last experience, but Vanna’s confidence calmed him. The warrior did show any signs of doubt on her face. He told himself the odds of seeing wolves again were slim and he remembered from a nature documentary that wolves rarely ever attack humans unless they felt threaten. Still, Jason worried. This was a game and not earth.

To ease his mind and keep his eyes off the trees Jason tried keeping a conversation with Vanna. She was telling stories of when she was in the army and explaining her attack on him that morning as a habit she picked up. When she was done, Jason ask, “so what was your tutorial like? I mean like that weird psychedelic thing they put you through after you get into your pod.”

“I don’t know about psychedelic, Honey, but mine was boring,” Vanna replied. “I opened my eyes and the first thing I noticed I was in a younger body. I think this is how I looked when I was in my twenties,” Vanna mused. “Anyways, I opened my eyes and I was in a subway, like the ones you see in New York or a big city; I was underground,” she explained. “I heard a girl scream and a saw a hooded man running away with what looked like her purse. Well I ran after him and tackled him, but before we hit the ground I was somewhere else. I was in a colosseum and I had a sword and shield. All around me were what I think were gladiators. A horn blew and then it was an all-out fight. There were about a dozen people fighting and I made it to the final two. I lost, but before the gladiator’s sword was about to cut off my head I was back in the blue room you start in,” Vanna finished then went quiet.

Jason thought about her test and its stark contrast to his own. It was clear that she would get a combat class based on her experience, but he still couldn’t tell how the events of his test made him a merchant. His memory of his own test was starting to fade and he couldn’t remember all the details of each mini episode, but he still told Vanna everything he could remember.

“Sorry Honey, I can’t make much sense of it either,” Vanna replied. “But being who you were on earth I think it makes since you’d do something involving money over here.”

That wasn’t the answer Jason wanted, he didn’t want his virtual fate to be predetermined. At least magic seems like the one thing anyone can do without barriers, besides having a lot of money, Jason thought.

They passed through the forest unscathed and Jason’s anxiety subsided. He saw that the sun was three quarters of the way through the sky. They were still about an hour away from Finchead, but this was about the time they arrived in Laxtar the day before. They were moving slower he noted. He turned his head and saw Skippy and remembered that the donkey had a lot more to carry this trip. That must explain why we’re moving slower, Jason thought.

Both of them were tired of walking, but decided to push forward to Finchead without a break. An hour later they were walking down the main street. The villagers were just starting to return from the fields and pastures and when they saw Skippy’s cart many looked to see if any of the items they asked for were there. Jason and Vanna, however, did not slow down and instead headed straight for the town hall.

“I knew you would return,” Byron cried happily when he saw them. Jason and Vanna had found the reeve weeding his wife’s, Jule, garden. The savory smell of her cooking permeated the air from their little cottage and Jason’s mouth began to water.

“We couldn’t find everything on the list, but me got a decent amount,” Jason replied.

“You can stick your things in the hall then rest a little before dinner,” Byron said, “Jule is roasting a hare.”

Jason and Vanna unloaded the trinkets and tools they bought onto the center table in the hall. Looking at the items Jason wished that he had written down the price for all of them so he would know how to much to sell each for. He made a note to himself to buy paper and something to write with next time he was in Laxtar. The more expensive items, like a brass cooking pot or the shovels and hammer, he remembered and would work on his bartering skill. But for the smaller things that only costed a copper or two he wouldn’t bother haggling too hard on.

When they were done organizing the wares Jason laid down on a pile of hay and shut his eyes. Without realizing it he fell asleep and sometime later was woken up by Byron entering the hall to tell them dinner was ready.

Although Jule’s chicken dinner was superior to that night’s dinner, the hare was still delicious and another one of the best meals Jason ever tasted. After dinner Jason offered to share his coffee and they all enjoyed the drink around the hearth as Jason and Vanna told Byron and Jule about their journey. Jason admitted the incident about the wolves even though he was worried about how they disposed of the truffle farmer’s body. Byron surprisingly approved of their choice of actions commenting that there wasn’t much they could have done. Byron noted there were dozens of people living in the woods, most lived honest lives and sometimes came into the village to trade, but they still lived outside the law. “Hell, the hunter we bought the hare for dinner lives on the edge of the forest,” Byron commented.

“Are there any bandits in the forest?” Jason asked.

“Occasionally small bands will form especially in poor times, but we haven’t heard of any recently,” Byron commented. The reeve looked out the window and announced, “looks like the sun is setting, why don’t we go over to the hall.”

Vanna and Jason thanked Jule for the dinner and then followed Byron outside. The weather was fair and a small group of villagers stood outside of the hall. The small crowd followed Jason and Vanna into the hall and immediately attacked the table hunting for the goods they wanted.

“Six coppers,” an elderly man said holding up a shovel that Jason remember cost him five coppers.

“No,” Jason responded flatly, the man was obviously lowballing him. Jason decide to throw out his own outrageous price so that they had plenty of room to negotiate, “15.”

The man bulked and knocked on the shovel’s head, “nine.”

“Come on I’ve got other people waiting, 11 coppers or you can walk to Laxtar yourself and buy one,” Jason said.

The man grumbled but agreed and handed over the coins. The man was quickly replaced by the next customer who turned out to be Jon. The head herder held up a pair of sheers he asked Jason two days earlier. Jason believed he bought the sheers for around eleven coppers.

“You buying more wool in the morning pal?” Jon asked.

Jason nodded.

“I’ll trade a sack of wool for these,” Jon offered. Jason instantly agreed to the incredible offer.

“Where’s my pot,” a hoarse voice cried.

Jason turned and saw the voice belonged to an old woman he faintly remembered. She wore nice clothes compared to the other peasants but her hair was disheveled and ghostly gray. Jason grabbed the copper pot that had cost him a silver and said, “here it is for two silver.”

“Ha,” the woman laughed, “one and a half.”

Jason arched his eyebrows then responded, “really I can’t go lower than one silver and fifteen coppers.”

“Well then you won’t be selling that pot today, young man,” the woman laughed.

Trades went on like this for almost an hour. He was able to sell all of the items for 6 silvers and 13 and a half coppers as well as get the sack of wool from Jon. The only item he wasn’t able to at least get a 100% return on was the copper pot. The elderly woman who had requested it wouldn’t budge from 1 and half silvers even though Jason had paid a silver for it. He finally agreed to the price figuring that her bartering skill was probably higher than his own.

Byron stayed until the end. “I assume you’ll be alright to find Jon on your own in the morning?”

“We should be fine,” Jason answered. He was happy with the results of the night and now had a purse with 7 silvers and 7 coppers, plenty of money to fill Skippy’s cart in the morning.

“Good, next time you come back we need to have a discussion about more permanent arrangements,” Byron said exciting Jason with the thought of a trade agreement. The reeve said his goodbyes and wished them safe travels for the following day then retired to his cottage.

Vanna was already asleep on a hay pile. Jason went around the room putting out the wall sconces then laid down by the fire.

**Quest Update: Shopping List**

Shopping List (Continuous Quest)

The villagers of Finchead have given you a list of items to bring back from Laxtar. Reward: Exp. and money based on how many of the items you bring back. This quest will disappear once player has established a permanent shop in the town of Finchead or when all villager request have been fulfilled.

Current Reward: 324 Exp.

**Level Up: Level Three**

**+1 Charisma from class bonus**

**You have (2) skill boost available**

**Skill rank up: Appraising (Beginner III): You have discovered the prices you are able sell common items in a new area. +100 Exp.**

**Skill rank up: Bartering (Beginner V): +150 Exp.**

Jason smiled, closed out the notifications, and drifted off to sleep.