The sun was starting to set as he set out on the dry land. He’d still have to walk for a little bit longer, but there was no way that he would be able to continue onwards throughout the entire night, not without some very real chance of being caught by the things that stalk the night. Which meant he was going to have to try and find a spot to camp, preferably far enough from the edge of the swamplands that he wouldn’t have to worry too hard about those creatures coming out and finding him. Beyond that, he would need time to set up the camp, set up some form of a warning system, sleeping along in the middle of the wilderness could be dangerous, but unfortunately he had no way of knowing exactly how close he was to Opiales, and from what he remembered of Opiales he really didn’t want to be trying to get into the village in the middle of the night, that was a sure-fire way of being killed.

Keeping his eyes out, and trying to see clearly in the dying light he head’s out walking in what he hopes is the direction of Opiales. As the hour stretches on the land starts to become spotted with more and more bushes and trees until he finally spots a small area that seems not only defensible but far enough away from the swamp to be safer. Getting into the clearing he pulls out the tent that he had purchased from the surplus store. When he got back into the Store he may need to look at alternative tents available, almost everything from Earth was available in the Store, heck some stuff not available on Earth was available in the Store, he’d need to try and find a safe method of sleeping alone if this sort of thing was going to continue happening. For now, though, he would set up camp, sleep the night, and then hopefully find Opiales early tomorrow. From what he recalled it shouldn’t be too much further along the way.

Setting up some small strings with bells around the camp area he tries to get himself to go to sleep. The sounds of animal life keep him awake for a good portion of the night, but eventually, he falls asleep, his dreams filling with nightmares of being assaulted in the middle of the night.

***

The sounds of birds chirping wake him in the morning, followed shortly thereafter by the soft sound of branches rustling in the distance. The sun’s light peeking over the horizon to the east and starting to warm the sunlit areas. Opening his eyes he takes in the view of a brighter, non-swamp day. Stretching slightly he gets to his feet and does a once over on the surrounding area, ensuring that he is alone, or at the bare minimum, safe for now. Once ensuring that it was just the wind moving the branches he begins packing up the tent before getting an MRE out of his backpack and tearing it open to eat. He looks at the MRE's flameless magnesium heater and separates it from the meal putting it back into his backpack alone. He wouldn’t be able to use the heater right now, primarily because he didn’t know how much water he would need to save, but later on, once he was near a town, being able to eat hot meals in the wild without creating a fire would be a very good thing.

Finishing packing up Trystan heads once more in the direction of what he hopes to be Opiales, after a few hours of walking he spots the walls of a town in the distance. The walls grow larger as he continues making his way to the town until he can see the gates of the town and the guards in front of it. Opiales wasn’t an inviting town to the Players, they were one of the seedier locations, and one that had a reputation for hard quests with very little reward, mainly hard labor. Trystan smiles slightly, as he comes up to one of the guards, starting to open his mouth to speak only to be interrupted before he can even begin.

The guard spits to the side and squints his eyes at Trystan, “What brings you to Opiales?”

“Just came into the area and wanted to visit the Store, perhaps help out with a few quests in the area while here.”

The guard nods slowly, “Any trouble and you’ll not get a second chance to cause more. The Store is near the center square, and you’ll find quests a plenty most places. If you end up traveling through the Wandering Inn bring me back one of their pot pies with a beer and I’ll make it worth your while.”

New Quest Offered - Feeding the guard

Feeding the Guard: The Gate Captain of Opiales has requested a warm meal during his watch. Go to the Wandering Inn, purchase a pot pie with a beer, and return to the Captain for your reward.

Completion Requirements: Deliver the Wandering Inn’s pot pie and beer to the Gate Captain.

Reward: 10 silver. 20 points. Increased Favor with the Guards.

Trystan nods, “I’ll see if I can help out. Thank you.”

The guard nods and motions for the gate to open, the gate opens just wide enough for Trystan to squeeze through before closing again behind him as he enters Opiales. Opiales itself while not a bustling hub of civilization, was definitely a decently sized town. Individuals moving about on the streets, vendor’s hawking wares alongside the road, and children occasionally running across open areas. Trystan does a double-take as he sees one of the children steal from a nearby adult and then running off to join a group of nearby children. He starts to open his mouth to say something and then stops himself, he definitely doesn’t want to draw any attention to himself yet, especially since he still needed to make it to the shop.

Thinking for a moment, he decides to visit the Inn first, try to see how much the pot pie and beer will cost and maybe try to pick up a quest in order to pay for it. If could be worth it to pick up some more points and coin before he goes to the Store, especially if he can manage to grind up some more of his stats in the meantime.

The Wandering Inn lies to the right of the main square, the wooden building seems to be about three stories in height and the sound of music and conversations whisper out from the closed-door even this early in the afternoon. As he opens the wooden door his ears are assaulted by the lively string music, a woman's voice singing about some ancient battle, and people’s conversations combining into a wall of sound.

He spots some of the local denizens of the Tower milling about, eating, talking, and gambling at the tables. In addition, there seem to be some human’s already sitting down at the tables as well. He would need to greet them later he supposed, but for now, he still had some quests to focus on. They appeared to have been here for a little bit already, perhaps they failed out of their Tests earlier, or completed them faster. It was a known fact that people who left the Test earlier wound up entering the Tower earlier than those that spent more time, but he had no way to tell exactly how long he was put behind in the Test when he passed out during his Test. He could be a day behind, or it could have been longer, but he was guessing it couldn’t have been too much longer than a day, two at the max, but that did mean that anyone who had spawned in this area could potentially be up to three days ahead of him.

Walking up to the bar he smiles winningly to the barmaid behind the counter, “Good afternoon. I was sent here by the Gate Captain for a pot pie and a beer, but alas, I have only just arrived, I don’t suppose you have any odd jobs that I might be able to help out with so I can return to the gate with his food do you?”

The barmaid looks at him for a moment, her blue lips pursing for a moment before speaking, “I suppose, as a favor to the Captain, we can find an odd job or two for you to work on. You aren’t opposed to some hard work are you?”

Trystan shakes his head, “No ma’am.”

The barmaid nods and calls out to the kitchen, “Bob, there’s a guy here wanting to help out in the back, wants to deliver a meal to the captain.”

A large burly man steps out from the back. His blue skin almost seems completely hidden by the hair covering most of his body. “Yeah yeah, they always say they're willing to help out at first, but the first sign of hard work and you’ll be just like those bums out there.” He gestures to the players sitting out on the floor. One of them hearing him flips him off but goes immediately back to drinking and gambling. “Come on along to the back and we’ll get you started if you actually finish the work I’ll not only give you a meal for the Captain, but I’ll give you one for free as well.” The man looks Trystan up and down and shakes his head before going back into the back, obviously not expecting much.

As Trystan enters the back, Bob turns to him and speaks and gestures to the sink area. “I’ve got about 2 days worth of backlogged dishes that need to be washed since those wastrels have done exactly jack all to help out. After that the stove’s gotta be cleaned, the firepit cleaned out, and then.” Bob pauses for a moment, “I don’t suppose you actually know how to cook anything?”

Trystan nods, “I do, at least some of the basics.”

Bob nods, “Then once that’s done you’ll help out with some of the meals, I can walk you through it if you need, but I imagine by the time this evening hits you’ll have worked up an appetite and earned the right to bring the guard his food.”

New Quest Offered - Working for a Living

Feeding the Guard: Bob, the owner of the Wandering Inn, has offered you to complete various chores and tasks to earn food and money.

Completion Requirements: Complete all assigned chores.

Reward: Two free pot pies and beer. 10 points. Increased Favor from Bob.

Trystan nods and gets to work on the dishes. After the first hour of washing Trystan realizes that there was no way that this was just a couple of days of dishes, and after the third hour, of constantly washing the dishes with hard tallow soap, going out to get fresh water from the well, rinsing and repeating he understands exactly why no one else was willing to actually do the work. Slowly but surely though he goes through the pile of dishes until he finishes and begins working on scrubbing down the oven and baking area and then cleaning out the fire pit. He is sweating, sore, and tired by the time he finishes up all of the work. On the plus side though, several of his stats receive an increase due to the hard work and effort being put into the chores being done.

Bob notices his work completion and nods, “Good job and just in time for the dinner rush too. Help me out here and then I’ll send you along your way.”

Trystan nods as he begins to help bob with the dinner rush, leg of lamb, pot pies, some braised beef, not too many different types of meals, but enough of them being ordered, what felt like every second, keeping Trystan busy for the next hour. But he persists in the work, the hot kitchen drawing out more and more fatigue from him as he works his already tired muscles to assist Bob with every aspect of the dining service. By the time Trystan finishes all he wants to do is collapse into a nearby chair. Bob grabs him as he almost collapses and sets him to the side of the bar with a beer and a pot pie.

“You’re not too bad. You ever want more work come on by, I could use a helping hand. I’ll get the guard’s food set up in a package to carry but eat and rest for a few minutes before going over. Don’t wait too long though, I figure the Captain might get a bit hangry if he has to go too long without food.”

Quest Completed - Working for a Living

Reward: Two free pot pies and beer. 10 points. Increased Favor from Bob.

Trystan nods tiredly and eats the pot pie. The chicken almost melts in his mouth and the vegetables and gravy taste delicious, definitely better than the MRE he had eaten earlier in the day. Looking over to the barmaid, “How much for a room for the night?”

“5 silver a night.”

Trystan nods to himself, the silver gained from the Captain should be enough to cover two nights, assuming he eats the MRE’s instead of eating at the inn. As he finishes the pot pie he grabs the packaged food next to him and looks back to the barmaid, “I’ll be back in a bit for a room tonight if that’s okay?”

She nods to him and motions him out the door. Leaving the Inn with more weariness than he had when he entered the town he heads back to the gate where the Captain is waiting. He can see the Captain looking out across the road while scowling, but as he sees Trystan coming up to the gate with the package in his hands his face changes to one of a slightly warm smile.

“Smells delicious, thank you, son, for your help.” The captain says with a smile.

Trystan hands over the package and the Captain hands him a small pouch of silver.

Quest Completed - Feeding the guard

Reward: 10 silver. 20 points. Increased Favor with the Guards.

“Now get along, we’ve got a gate to watch and a wall to defend, but if you ever need a hand let one of my men know. You’re a good lad.”

Trystan nods and starts his way back towards the center of the town once more. There was still some daylight left and while he was tired, he was sure he’d get more returns on his attempts to increase his stats if he didn’t just collapse in exhaustion now.