Pepe was eager to get up the next morning. He had slept restlessly, turning this way and that, while he slept poorly, he felt perfectly fine when morning came. He was full of energy, everything that had happened so far was just plain exciting to him. He thought about his family about his home, even about his brother but it was in the back of his head. He missed them terribly, especially his moms cooking.

He wanted to see what other adventures this new world offered, he wanted to go into that dungeon, the one that the quest giver back in Starter Town had mentioned. The exploration one was ok he guessed, but other than some weird noises, some puzzles it had been boring. The egg they found had been alright, but it was Erin’s and that was fine with Pepe, he had no interest in raising chickens like his Abuela and Abuelo did. The mummy room though, he wanted to explore everything in there, and he wanted that scepter. The thing was just cool, I mean why leave it there, when they could have brought it?

He looked around the room, everyone was still asleep, it was still somewhat dark outside but it was starting to get light, the sun would be up soon. Bobby was still asleep, and that guy woke up early every time, guess he might be dead tired from the previous day. He got up slowly so he would not wake anyone, got dressed and made his way downstairs.

The Innkeeper was up and about cleaning around the common room area, there were a few tables, some chairs, and a small fireplace. He looked up at Pepe and nodded, the man did not say much at all, a very quiet man that innkeeper. That was just fine, he did not need to talk to him. He sat down and nodded at the innkeeper. They did not have a big verity of food available, normally everyone got the one thing that was being cooked.

He brought out food, Pepe looked at it and it did not look appetizing, but at least it was sweet when he tasted it. It was perfectly fine as a simple breakfast went, the food had the consistency of oatmeal, while it did not exactly taste like oatmeal it was edible.

He noticed that it was much brighter outside now, so he decided on a walk to get rid of this energy he felt. Outside there were already people around, cleaning the outside of their little stores, he saw one sweeping the front, and another cleaning a window just regular life things. He made his away over to the Patisserie, he could do with one of their wonderful sweet breads he had seen on their last visit.

The walk was short, and he nodded to those he saw or said good morning to them if they were so inclined to speak. There were a few customers at the Patisserie some early workers getting their morning treat. Miss Tebesa was one of them, she saw Pepe and nodded, he got up to the counter and asked for the sweet bread.

“Hello young one, have you been enjoying this little place of ours?” She handed him the order, with a smile. He was still amazed that she could create such wonders as big as her hands were, the detail on the sweets so delicate.

“Yes, ma’am I really like the place, very nice people and it seems like plenty to do around here.” And it was true, the quest seemed to be plentiful, and it would keep them busy if they stayed. He left as other customers had come in and were waiting in line.

Miss Tebesa was outside when he came out the door. “Pepe, you're up early, a little wrestles? Are you ready to head back? We leave as soon as I finish up some last-minute deals.”

“Yes, ma’am ready to go, I am full of energy and ready to return.” He was not exactly surprised that she had noticed, it seemed she was very observant, they had not asked about her being the guards sister. He found that fact very interesting, what had she not told them? This just made him more curious and decided to ask, the rest would shush him if they were around, “So you and Guard Rotgert are brother and sister.” He left it at that.

“He is my younger brother. He used to be a little runt as a little kid and look at him now. We are so proud of him.” He could not believe it; the guard was huge, and when she said 'we' what did she mean. They really had not thought to ask about anyone's life, they thought they would figure out how to get back home then leave. She had to be pulling his leg thought about the runt statement.

“That is amazing, he is so big. Were you ever a guard?” He did not want to just come out and say it, but she had to be.

“Well for a time, but I really wanted to become a merchant, and here I am.” It was just obvious now that he thought about it. This lady could handle herself, why she wanted to hire them was beyond him. But he was not going to complaint they would be getting paid.

He had eaten his sweet bread; they said their goodbyes and he headed back to the Inn. He had to tell the others to get ready as he was eager to get on the road.

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He arrived back in their rooms and Bobby was up and dressed, Erin had just gotten up and was sitting on his bed.

Josh and his cousin still had their eyes closed; Manuel was even snoring. He poked at his cousin, he only adjusted himself and kept on sleeping. He poked him again, he opened his eyes looked at his cousin and gave him the look. The 'look' was always there in the morning with Manuel especially for his cousin, which had been a thing their whole lives.

Pepe backed away his hands up. He looked over at Josh, his eyes open, but you could see he was not ready to get up. Groaning he did anyways, looked at his friends and saw some of them up and ready to start the day.

Pepe sat down on his bed took out his daggers and proceeded to clean them with the kit he always had in his pack allowing the rest time to get ready. Finally, all were ready, and he put his things away, everyone had their packs ready they knew today they would start their trip back to Starter Town.

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Pepe was hoping from one foot to another, practicing some of his moves as he waited. The rest just sat waiting, not sure why he was so eager to go. Sure they also felt like getting back to Starter Town but Pepe looked like he had an abundance of energy this morning.

Miss Tebesa her cart behind nodded that she was ready to go, the cart looked full as it was stacked high, Pepe wondered what kind of things she had bought. It did not mater he was ready to go, so they needed to go.

They formed around the merchant as before, the short walk to the entrance of town took mere minutes. They stopped at the guard post, and she had to pay some fees on the way out, too many fees thought Pepe. He would make a terrible merchant, just more unnecessary things to do. Bobby would probably like this merchant lifestyle, but it was not for Pepe, not exciting enough.

They walk the road leading north, he looked around at the trees and tall grasses they passed. The trees were pine, he was not sure what kind just that it reminded him of Christmas Trees. There were many other trees, but he had zero clue as to what they were called. He started to sweat as they walked, the sun getting higher and the day hotter, he felt his shirt stick to his body from the sweat. But it did not bother him, they were moving, and he was able to spend some of that energy he seemed to of have too much of.

They stopped for the night at the same farm as they had before, but this time Miss Tebesa’s friend’s family was present. Since it was still early, they offered to help with any chores that needed doing. Pepe did not really want to do chores, but it helped him by tiring him out. He slept little again that night, and the next morning he was eager to go, that energy still present.

They made good timing the following day as they started early, and no one tried to rob them like the youth that they had run into. The day came to an end, and they slept setting up the guard rotation for the night. This time Pepe did not fall asleep during his turn. He did not even wake up his cousin when his turn ended, he did not feel like sleeping at all.

Pepe was a little tired that morning, but he was so eager to get back. His cousin appreciated not having to stand guard, he was a heavy sleeper and liked his beauty rest. Again, no issues for this leg of the trip, they made it to Starter Town an hour before sunset. Rotgert and Miss Liadris were on guard duty when they arrived.

“Little brother!” Miss Tebesa hugged him, the guard about half a foot taller than she was, her head reached just above his chin. She even reached up and pinched the guard’s cheek.

“Stop it Tebesa! I am on duty.” His voice still shrill, Pepe found the voice hilarious. Again he really, really wanted to laugh, but thought better about it.

“Merchant Tebesa, yes we are on duty, if you please.” Liadris was smiling as she said this, she looked around to make sure no one was around, “Rotgert you are so cute when you are embarrassed.”

How she could tell that he was embarrassed other than what he said Pepe had no idea. They waved them through and with that the Escort Quest was complete. And he was looking forward to tomorrow.

“Thank you so much for escorting me to Avadur and back. I will make sure all my fellow merchants know what a good job you did.” She waved goodbye and allowed them on their way.

Pepe followed the rest as they went to the Guild. He hoped to get the Dungeon Quest while they were there. He waved to some of the town folk as they walked, with them waving back. It was nice to be back in Starter Town, he liked the place quite a lot. It was bigger than Avadur, but he missed the Patisserie and those wonderful sweets, he would need to find a place here in town for sweets.

Miss Hoysver was helping another group as they came in and as usual, she was smiling and animated to have so much work to do. She got done handing the other group handing over their quest and smiled even bigger as she saw their party.

“Miss Hoysver it is good to see you.” Pepe nodded just like the rest of the group did.

“Boys, I am glad your back! All went well, yes?”

“Everything went great, a little problem on the way there but we took care of it. No issues on the return trip at all. We even got to meet a fellow Guild Manager in Avadur.” They still did not know the Dog Persons name as he never said anything. And they failed to ask.

“You met Giles, he and I went to training together a long time ago. How is he doing? I am sure he was happy to see you there.” Giles, really his name was Giles. Pepe was glad it had not been Max or Spot; he would not have been able to contain his laughter if it were either one.

“He looked fine when we left; we were able to do some of the quest at his chapter as well while we waited for Miss Tebesa.” Pepe left them alone he was not particularly worried about any of that, since there had been more people able to do quest, they had posted some of them on the board around the room.

He started to look at the quest and saw the one he wanted, the Dungeon Quest, he reached for it and looked at the notice.

Quest Type: Dungeon Exploration

In the Caverns of Desbora lies the entrance to an ancient dungeon.

Dungeons have been inactive for years but are now waking from an ancient slumber. What has awoken these places filled with snake pits, traps, and monsters? We do not know the answers yet.

We seek daring adventurers to explore these dungeons and report what they find and look for clues as to why they are awake once more.

See your local Guild Manager to sign up for these fun new places to explore. And don’t forget to bring provisions.

This was it, he needed to do this dungeon, he could feel his blood boiling with excitement. His excitement went down dramatically when he felt something pointy in his back. What was happening? Who was trying to rob him or attack him here?

“What are you looking at Pepe?” He knew that voice, there was a sultriness to it, and I got you by the you know what voice. “Thief got your tongue?”

“Hi, Michelle, can you get that pointy thing away from my back.” She did not remove it and it made him sweat a little.

“Sure thing, Pepe. Let me see what you’re looking at?” He handed the quest back to her, and the pointy thing was gone.

“Ah, I see, can I come with you guys? I been trying to get a group to go, but most of them are chicken and just want to do the easy stuff. Or they already have a large group and no room for a bad ass Thief like me.” He turned around now that the pointy thing was not impeding his movement.

Damn she was pretty; he could get lost in those big green eyes of hers. Why did she make him feel like this? What was it about her that just had his heart racing every time he saw her?

“Earth to Pepe, you there?” She was snapping her fingers in front of him. This got his cousins attention right away.

“Michelle it’s good to see you. Well, let me ask my compadres, you know Josh is the leader so will have to get his ok.” He turned towards his friends, and they were all making their way to him.

Manuel was the first to get to him and threw his arm around his shoulders. Why was he doing that, and why was he smiling at Michele like that? “Hi, I’m Manuel, Pepe’s better-looking cousin. Nice to meet you.” She gave his cousin a smile, and those dimples showed themselves. Why was it bothering him suddenly that she gave him a smile? ‘Get ahold of yourself tonto.’

He was going to kill him later; wait why would he do that? He felt his face getting red it was good that he was a little darker it would make hard to tell. “Sorry Michelle this is my cousin, the slightly dumber one.”

She put on a bigger smile, “Michelle, this knucklehead did not mention me? I am hurt Pepe. Did you also fail to tell them that I kicked your behind in training?” Yes, he had failed to mention the ass whooping she had given him.

The rest of the group was now around them; he would need to tell her who they were, “And this is the rest of the group, Josh our fearless leader, Bobby our accountant, and Erin our linguist.” Each one raised their hand as he said their name.

“Nice to meet you all, Pepe you were going to ask your group something for me.” She made a look of pretty please, turned her head a little and put her hair behind her ear, what was she doing? This only made him feel hotter for some reason.

“Josh, you see I was, uh. You know, looking at the quest, and I found the one about the Dungeon and Michelle wants to come with us. Could she tag along please.” He felt like he was stuttering and felt a little dumb the way he heard himself talking. He needed some air; everyone was too close.

Josh looked at them and shrugged, “sure I don’t think that will be an issue, as long as we can go in with six, far as I know it should be alright.”

He had not thought about that, would six be, ok? They would need to check with the Miss Hoysver about that. He sure hoped it would be fine, he would really like it if she came along. Or would he need to talk to Maria about that? Why didn’t he think about this before?

“Maria would there be any issues if we brought Michelle with us?”

Analyzing Request…. Analysis Complete.

“User Pepe this should not be an issue, a temporary addition to the party will not cause problems, a permanent change may be more difficult. There will be a small XP loss as it will be split between all the party members.”

“Who is Maria, you cheating on me Pepe?” Why did she say that? This made him even more embarrassed, how she could get to him so easily he had no clue.

“No, of course not, wait what? Oh, Maria is our HelpNode.” He did not even think about Maria, she was just there for them, so he had no clue that the others would be confused.

“Wait, wait, you can name them? I had no idea, I just call mine, HelpNodeX154. Guess I will need to think of a better name.” Pepe was not sure what kind of voice her HelpNode had, maybe it was the voice of a boy, or like Maria a girl. He felt silly thinking about this, it did not really mater.

“Alright well seems like we have something to do, let’s get registered for the quest and might as well make it an early night and start early in the morning.” Pepe handed him the request, Josh went over to Miss Hoysver with Erin and Bobby tagging along. Manuel stayed put for a few minutes before disengaging himself from his cousin.

“Well, I will leave you two love birds alone.” Yes, he would most definitely kill his cousin, he would not survive the night.

“I like your cousin; he is a funny fellow. So tomorrow then?” How did she like his cousin, like, like or like? He was so confused. “Thief got your tongue again?”

Why did he keep doing that? “Yes, tomorrow morning.” Why was he being business like with her?

She looked at him again was about to say something he thought but she shook her head, “Tomorrow it is, see you in the common room in the morning.”

She turned to leave, he looked at the Thief clothes she had on as she walked out the door, and saw that she had made some alterations, she looked great in them. He shook his head, what was he thinking about? She probably saw him as a dumb kid, she was a year older than he was.

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He had been chilling in his room, his dumb brother and his friends were camping, whatever camping was dumb. Why did they even like camping? He got on his computer to check out some bands he liked, man he wished he could graduate already so he could go off to college or out of this little town, he hated the place. He missed being back in Texas with his friends, he had met some people in town, but his real friends were back in Texas.

He was surfing the web and stopped on an article, it was about the occult, rituals, and summoning stuff. He knew that stuff was fake, but it got his interest for some reason. He read and read, it was well thought out and the research was really good. Whoever had done the article had done lots of research and had written a detail paper about all off it.

He kept reading, but it was late, and his eyes were closing, he saw the screen go black, his computer had turned off on its own. Oh well it was bedtime, he got up and laid down on his bed. He did not feel the change as he fell asleep, there was something going on, maybe it was a dream.

Why was he cold? And where was that air coming from, did he leave his window open? He opened his eyes, it was still dark, he looked up, at the sky. Why was he seeing the sky?