A young woman drives with her mother.

Unlike the many comfortable rides before then, the ride now is filled with tension, frustration, and simmering anger.

“It says you should turn right there.” The young woman pointed to the battered road sign up ahead. In her hand is her phone, where a GPS app is tracking her mother’s driving. “It should save us a few minutes --”

The mother disagreed. “I’m not taking the freeway. Not this late at night.”

The car took another direction. The GPS app beeped and created a new route that would take ten minutes longer.

“But Mom, shouldn’t we get there quicker? He’s waiting for us --”

“He can wait all night! I’m not taking the freeway. No way in hell.” The mother gripped the steering wheel. Her knuckles were white. “I can’t believe this. Just when his probation was ending…”

“He sounded scared on the phone,” the young woman said. She couldn’t help but think back to her brother’s whispered words, the way his voice trembled as he pleaded with her to come get him. She had never heard him sound so afraid. “I think they just dumped him out somewhere.”

The mother snorted. “Good. He deserves it.”

A part of the young woman felt like she should argue. A bigger, more tired part of her wanted to agree.

Instead she watched the GPS. Her mother watched the road. They both kept silent.

Several minutes passed before the young woman spoke. “Do you think he’s okay?”

“He’s fine.” The mother’s tone was sure. “They won’t do anything bad to him. The police just dropped him off.”

“But he must be scared --”

“Good!” The mother glared the young woman, then at the road. “We were so close! So close to ending his probation! And he goes and does something like this!”

“Yeah…” the young woman trailed off. She didn’t know what to say to that.

“What did he say he did? Did he tell you?”

The young woman shook her head. “No. He just wanted us to come and get him. He sounded scared,” she repeated.

The mother sighed. The bags underneath her eyes and the wrinkles on her face made her look even older. Tired. More worn out. “God, I can’t believe this is happening. Why did he have to get arrested again? Are we gonna have to go to court? Will this be on his record? I just...” she trailed off.

The young woman wasn’t sure what to say to comfort her mother. She never was good at that sorta thing. So for lack of anything better to say she just rested her hand on her mother’s and gave it an awkward, too tight, sweaty squeeze. “I-It’s gonna be okay, Mom.”

The mother sighed. “I hope so [__]. I really hope so.”

You woke up the next day feeling like you wanted to die and like you wanted to run a marathon at the same time. A confusing mix of emotions that made you want to roll over on your hay pile and fall asleep. Unfortunately, you had a job to do.

You did a quick morning stretch before washing up and getting dressed. A quick glance outside showed that the sun was just starting to come up. You managed to wake up early this time. Hopefully you could beat out the rest of the Rank F Adventurers and get some good quests before things got crowded.

One hearty breakfast made up of water, apples, and bread later, and you were ready for the day.

Tentacled Joe, meanwhile, had only just gotten up and was sleepily waving his tentacles around in an attempt to ward you off. You weren’t having it though. Using all the strength your twelve year old body had -- which was a lot -- you dragged Tentacled Joe off the hay pile and dumped him on the floor. “Get up.”

“Blrb…” he whined, not moving an inch. He was sprawled across the floor, tentacles everywhere. You resisted the urge to step on them.

“Fine then. I’ll just eat your breakfast --”

Tentacled Joe shot up from the floor. “Blrb! Blrb!”

You smirked. “That’s more like it.”

After a bit more mumbling and grumbling for Tentacled Joe, you and him were ready for the day. You gave John a quick goodbye before heading straight towards the Guild.

You opened up the Guild doors and glanced around for a bit, looking for Kyle. No sign of him though. In fact there weren’t many Adventurer’s around this early in the morning. Maybe all Adventurers weren’t morning people?

The same receptionist was there though. You beelined for the front desk and gave her a hello.

“Welcome back.” The receptionist gave you another one of her professional smiles. “I assume you’re here for another quest?”

You nodded. “Is Kyle here?”

The receptionist shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps you should check the Quest rooms?”

You gave the receptionist your thanks before heading into the Rank F Questing room. There weren’t as many people in there like last time, though there was still a considerable amount. You guessed a lot of people had the same idea as you.

No sign of Kyle though. Maybe he had something else to do today? Or maybe he was still recovering. Either way, you didn’t come all the way down here for nothing. Kyle or no Kyle, you planned on doing a quest today.

You and Tentacled Joe elbowed your way to the quest board. Your eyes scanned for the herb quest, but found no sign of it. Maybe someone else took it before you? But no, the paper replaced itself when Kyle took it.

“Hey, where’s the yofa leaves quest? Isn’t it always here?” a person next to you complained.

Another person answered. “The receptionist said some monsters started migrating near there. A bunch of killer flowers or something. A team of Rank E Adventurers were sent to wipe them out, so it should be a week until the quest comes back up.”

The first person groaned and started complaining about needing money for some gambling thing or whatever. You tuned out by that point.

“Blrb?” Tentacled Joe asked. You noticed a couple of his eyes straying towards a girl dressed as a witch. She had a cat resting on top of her oversized hat.

“Yeah. Look around, see if there’s something simple we can do.” You grabbed a tentacle and pulled him closer. “And no eating cats, alright?” you hissed.

“Blrb…”

You examined the board again. You planned on getting something simple, easy, and not dangerous in any way. This was only your second day after all; no need to rush head first into dangerous territory. Tentacled Joe might be able to handle himself, but you were still learning.

There were dozens, if not hundreds of Rank F quests tacked onto it. Some of them looked dangerous -- like the quests that asked you to hunt for some monster or the one that asked you to guard someone -- but most of them looked really easy. Less monster hunting and more general labor and miscellaneous tasks. Things like gathering ingredients, delivering messages, carrying packages, stocking shelves -- there were even a few dog walking and lawn mowing quests -- were more common from what you could tell.

Very few of these easy quests paid well though. The ones that did were quickly and ruthlessly taken down by Adventurers that were faster and taller than you. Tentacled Joe, the asshole, was too busy eyeing the witch’s pet cat to help you gather the quests you needed. You had to tug him back more than once when he tried to reach for it.

Eventually, you found yourself looking at a quest that seemed promising enough.

RAT EXTERMINATION

Quest Giver: Baron Hargreave

Quest Rank: F

Duration: Indefinite or until the rats are exterminated completely.

Request: I, Baron Hargreave, would like to be rid of the rodent infestation that plagues our dear sewer systems. Please ask for the sanitation engineer at the Adventurer's Guild for more information.

Reward: 5 Copper Coins per each rat corpse. Killing all the rats at once will earn the Adventurer 1 Gold Coin.

A gold coin? That alone would give you and Tentacled Joe a good thirteen extra days at an inn. Twenty if you managed to find another source of food. You could probably buy yourself some serious equipment as well, maybe a few more sets of clothes. And the period of financial security would allow you to direct your attention to other problems that needed solving-- namely the whole system connection, the de-aging, and amnesia.

But then you caught yourself. The fact that the Baron was willing to offer so much money for something like this meant that it probably wasn’t going to be as easy. Sure it was Rank F, but so was that herb gathering quest. Who knew what kind of horrific surprises would await you in the sewers?

Ugh, the sewers.

Your nose was wrinkling at the thought of it. Surrounded on all sides by shit and piss and all sorts of foul nastiness you didn’t want to think about. God only knew how Tentacled Joe would handle it considering how sensitive his nose was.

No, you should go for something simpler. That rabbit hunting quest looked easy enough --

“Blrb.” Tentacled Joe pointed at the sewer quest. “Blrb, blrb, blrb.”

You looked at him in surprise. “Wha -- really? Are you sure?”

“Blrb,” he said decisively. “Blrb, blrb.”

You gave him an uncertain look. “I dunno man. Sewers smell pretty bad. You think you can handle it?”

“Blrb. Blrb, blrb,” he pointed out.

“Well... if you say so. How much does it cost?”

“Blrb.”

You thought about it for a minute. “Well that’s not too bad. I’ll pay for it this time, but next time it’s on you.”

“Blrb.” He nodded.

You ripped the quest down and took it to the receptionist. “We’d like to take this one.”

She took the paper and gave it a quick once over. “Hmm… yes this is a recent one. Fairly simple.” She pressed a button underneath her desk.

There was a puff of black smoke and the guards appeared.

“Could you please get Bob for me? Tell him it has to do with a quest.”

The guards nodded and disappeared. Moments later they reappeared with an elderly man holding a mop and bucket. His clothes were stained, and there was a disgusting smell coming off of him, like he spent days rotting in the sun. He was hunched over slightly, his eyes in a squint as he looked you. He was annoyed.

Tentacled Joe covered the lower half of his face with all six tentacles and floated a good meter back.

“Whatdoyawant?” the janitor said in one breathless word. “‘m busy.”

“Ms. Random would like to know more about the rats in the sewers.”

The old man looked you up and down. Then he grinned, showing a mouth full of old rotten teeth. “Heh. Ya wanna know about the sewers little girl?”

“Uh.” You glanced at the receptionist then at him. “Yeah?”

The old man leaned forward. You fought the urge to lean back. “Ya best stay away from them sewers little girl. Those rats’ll eat ya up and shit ya out before ya even have the chance ta scream.”

“Uh,” you said again. You were starting to have second thoughts. “Alright. Well. Maybe I should --”

“But if yer so set on going down there, then I might as well give ya a little bit o’ advice.” He took a step forward and really leaned into your personal space. You fought the urge to cover your nose and started breathing through your mouth. “Stay close to the exit. I mean real close, so ya can run when ya need to. Always keep some light on ya. Fire works best. Ya can even use it as a weapon if ya need to. Ya won’t have to worry about the little ones much; they run at the sight of ya. But the big ones?”

The old man cackled and thankfully leaned away from you. “Well, ya best get to runnin’ if ya start seein’ the big ones. The size of small dogs and vicious as all hell. They won’t run away from ya, not unless ya set them on fire. And the even bigger ones? They never run. They’ll fight ya to the death and beyond.”

“...okay.” Stay near the entrance, carry fire, run if you see gigantic rats. Simple enough. “Any more advice?”

The old man just cackled. The receptionist, seeing that he wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon, made a hand gesture towards the guards. They nodded, grabbed him by the arms, and poofed him away.

“I apologize for that. Mr. Rivers is somewhat… eccentric in his old age,” she said delicately. “Would you still like to go through with this quest?”

You glanced at Tentacled Joe. He nodded at you.

“Sure.” You figured that you’d just stay near the entrance until you got enough rat corpses. If the shit hits the fan, you’ll have Tentacled Joe set everything on fire and make a run for it.

“Perfect.” She stamped the quest paper and it disappeared in a flash of red light. “Oh, and I’ve neglected to tell you about our quest requirements. All Adventurers must fulfill a monthly quota of quests in order to maintain their rank and occupation as Adventurers. Rank F Adventurer’s such as yourself must complete no less than twenty quests per month. Failure to do so will cause a loss in ranking, a monthly fee, or your termination. Thank you, and have a good day!”

“You too.” You left.

You and Tentacled Joe went to Dan’s GearMart to get some supplies before heading to the sewers. An hour full of asking for directions, weird looks, and getting lost later, and the both of you found yourselves underground, staring at a stained, rusted steel door with a submarine steering wheel in the center. The maintenance guy, a pot bellied middle aged woman who looked both sleep deprived and drunk, didn’t even bother to stick around when she showed you where the entrance was. She gestured towards the door, mumbled something about needing a break, then left you alone to wander the sewers unattended.

You glanced at Tentacled Joe. “You ready?” Your voice was muffled due to the enchanted mask you had covering the lower half of your face. It cost you a pretty penny to buy, especially since the enchantments would only last a day, but you figured it was worth it to get two. Who knew what kinda horrible smelling gases you’d find in a rancid sewer?

Tentacled Joe lit himself on fire in response and gave you a muffled, “Blrb.”

You and Tentacled Joe twisted the wheel and, with a horrible moaning sound, the door slowly opened.

“Let’s get this over with.”