{SP - F01} Shake off the Doldrums (First Lessons)

[Reytac 0]

Reytac ran his fingers through his hair, pushing some of the sweat-damp locks away from his face as he looked around. It was a bit surprising to him, even now, how many people were walking around the Town of Beginning. It seemed a lot of people still used it as a place to come back to, not to mention all the people who were like he had been until recently - lost, directionless. His jaw tightened as he shook his head, teeth grinding against each other for a moment. 

 

It would be all too easy to slip back into that hopelessness - to let that dark pit of despair wrap around him and pull him back into the apathetic nothing he had become. But he couldn't let that happen, had to focus. Once he got used to moving again, to being something more than a numbed out shell of a human, hopefully, that icy weight wouldn't creep over him as easily. Reytac pinched his nose and took a deep breath, pushing away the melancholy thoughts, until a voice pulled him from his internal monologue. 

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"You there! Stop, please!" A man approached him with long, purposeful strides. "Pardon me, but I am in need of some assistance, and you appear quite capable."  Reytac turned to look at the man, watching as he heaves a quick sigh, adjusting the monocle over his right eye. "My name is Dorian, and I am the mayor of this town. As part of those mayoral duties, I issued a small loan to a member of the community a few months ago. Well, the time to collect had come around and I-" Flustered, Dorian systematically runs his fingers over his perfect moustache. 

Reytac blinked and looked down at his outfit, then back to the man who was claiming to be the mayor. He had an NPC tag floating over his head confirming it but also - Reytac looked to be capable? He had three potions on his belt, along with his money and the materials he'd hoarded slowly. Aside from that, he was wearing the most basic cotton clothes, scarcely better than wearing nothing at all! If this looked 'capable', Reytac shuddered to think about just how bad someone would have to look before the Mayor would ignore them. Half dressed, looking like a wild child? Or would even Tarzan have passed the Mayor's inspection? 

 

Nonetheless, he nodded to the Mayor, prompting Dorian to continue speaking. 

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"You see, I've forgotten who it was I loaned the money to. Terribly embarrassing, I know, but I am a very busy man, and I cannot keep track of everything that happens. I'm sure you understand." With a wave of his hand, Dorian continues, "Should you be willing to track down the loan recipient for me, and collect the col, I would be eternally grateful. Just, maybe don't let anyone else know I forgot who the loan went to?"

It was - not quite a fetch quest, but at the same time it was. As much as he hated it, he had to give it to the devs, at least he wasn't having to gather five flowers, or kill ten rats. Collecting a debt was at least someone unusual. Reytac opened his mouth to speak, then frowned at the raspy, disused tone that came from his lips. He cleared his throat a few times before answering. 

"I can do that, Mayor." Though - wouldn't it have been supremely easy to just... Note, who he had loaned the money to? Writing took all of a few seconds. Before Reytac could voice his question, though, the Mayor plowed on. 

 

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"Excellent, I knew I could count on you! You might start with Zackariah, the alchemist. He's often doing projects for the town, so it may have been him that borrowed the money."

 

Well, at least Reytac had somewhere to start with. Before he could say anything else, Dorian had taken off, vanishing around a corner faster than the player could track. He shook his head once, bemused, before turned around. From what he remembered, he had passed an Alchemist's shop not long after he had come out of his fugue. Even if it wasn't Zackariah's, the alchemist inside would hopefully know where the man's shop was. 

 

 

Spoiler

Reytac | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 1                                

Inventory: Starter Health Potions (50HP) 

Col: 2000

Materials: 25

 

[Reytac 0]

Getting to Zackariah's shop was more of an ordeal than Reytac had expected. The shop he had passed earlier was not the one he wanted - it had belonged to one of the man's former apprentices, who only half-remembered where his teacher was working now. But Reytac had eventually managed to find it, after two false starts, and he felt a slight headache behind his eyes that faded as a faintly sweet scent hit his nose. The store was filled with shelves with brightly colored jars, holding unguents and pastes all over. He paused, fascinated, looking over them as he stared around. The place was a bit jumbled for his taste, but that didn't make it any less interesting. 

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 potions in various vials and jars. 

 

“Oh, hello," comes the distracted greeting from behind the counter. A man with a long, snow-white beard glances up from a bubbling cup of sweet-smelling purple liquid. "Are you here to order something? I’m sorry, but I am currently swamped with orders, and I’m running out of supplies.” Light comes into the man's dark eyes, a lightbulb going off to signify a brilliant idea. “Would you gather a few materials for me? Flowers, herbs, rare woods, whatever you can find outside the city walls. I promise I’ll help you fill your order as soon as you return. In fact, I would be willing to show you how to do it yourself.”

Reytac opened his mouth to say that he wasn't here to get a quest - only to realize that maybe he was. He frowned and shook his head, that was just a distraction. "Actually, sir, I'm here about - 

"Come, come back here my boy. If you're to head out to get me some reagents, the least I could do is give you a bit of pep for your step! Here lad, try this out!" The bearded old man waved off Reytac's words as he interrupted him, beckoning him over to where was behind the counter. Forcing back an eye roll at the NPC's attitude, Reytac walked back to join him - over a pot of bubbling... Cheese? He blinked as the man snagged a cracker and scooped up the fondue, then held it towards Reytac. 

"Here lad, give it a try won't you?" At least he had an option to decline but - well, honestly, he had no reason to. Shrugging, he took the offered sample and downed it, wincing - it was hot enough he could barely taste the cheesey fondue, and he suppressed a shudder. In the real world he had issues with dairy, and even now, after who knows how long in the game, sometimes the flavor of cheese caught him off guard. That said, it wasn't terrible. 

"Now, shoo, shoo, I'll show you how to fill out your order when you get back, lad. I've much to do!" Before Reytac could argue against it and explain why he was actually here, he was pushed out of the store back onto the streets of the town. He blinked twice before rubbing one hand against his face in exasperation. 

 

It looked he did get a fetch quest after all. 

 

Spoiler

Reytac consumes Zackariah's Fondue: +3 to LD scores for duration of quest

 

[Reytac 0]

Getting out into the fields where some of the materials might be found didn't take Reytac long - getting past the gate guards was a simple matter, checking his player tag to make sure he wasn't wanted for anything, and then he was out, into the wilderness near town. But this was where he got concerned. While he had joined the game to get used to it before his wife joined, he hadn't actually finished getting everything ready before things turned sour. And he had no gear on him, at all - just the starter clothes that everyone had. Which meant that fighting anything right now would be an absolutely terrible idea. 

So, avoiding things was the name of the game here, as he hunted for the materials. He'd been sent a short list of things to grab, and thankfully none of them were mob drops. With a sigh, he started searching through the grasses near the town - the only place that was almost sure not to have mobs that would attack him while he was defenseless. 

But Reytac was far from the only person who had apparently had that same though. His first search proved fruitless - all he found were useless weeds, though at one point he did let out a yelp of shock when one of the things that he grabbed wasn't just normal weeds, it was a small sticker plant. The jolt against his skin of the tiny stabbing plants made him fling his hand around, and he groaned in frustration when he realized that was just spreading the seeds of the annoying plant far and wide. 

Spoiler

Roll id: 251128  LD: 14 (11+3) Fail

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:15 PM by Reytac

[Reytac 0]

The sun was beating down on Reytac and the world around him, filling his nose with the scent of sunbaked soil as he moved through the fields around the wall of the Town of Beginnings. Once upon a time the thought of having a vr game be so realistic that he could feel the heat of the sun had excited Reytac, the advancements in gaming technology luring him in like a moth to a flame. But that was before it became a new life to him, one where he didn't have sun screen or ac. Where he couldn't log out. 

 

He wiped the sleeve of one arm against his face, catching the salty droplets of sweat before they could fall into his eyes and start stinging them. As he did, he looked to one side and his eyebrows raised, and he had to blink and shake his head in disbelief, before looking again, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. But it wasn't a trick of the light or the heat getting to him, no, there beside him was a nearly picture perfect copy of one of the herbs he had received a request for from Zackariah. 

 

Almost afraid to move in case it vanished from sight, Reytac slowly inched over and knelt down beside the plant. There was no description on how to harvest the herb, so he just decided to be safe rather than sorry, and dug down, getting not just the topside of the plant, but the roots and dirt around it as well. It all went into his inventory the same, thankfully. 

 

Spoiler

ROLL ID 251129    LD: 15 (12+5) 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:39 PM by Reytac

[Reytac 0]

Reytac sat back and dusted off his hands, looking around as he did so. Finding the herb had been a stroke of good fortune, and he wanted to see if he could manage to find another. But he doubted it would be close by, if he could find another one, since that'd be too easy. It wasn't like he had stumbled on a field of herbs to just harvest a node or something, and he doubted it even worked like that in this game. 

 

He shook himself and stood up then started walking through the grasses again, using his hands to push the brush out of his way as he went. The entire time his eyes were peering around trying to see through the high grasses and choking weeds as he looked for any of the reagents he'd been tasked to find. At one point he thought he saw one and worked his way over to it, only to have it crumble apart in his hand as he tried to pick it up. 

 

“Oh come on, they aren't that fragile, are they?” He grumbled to himself as he shook the remnants and dirt of the plant from his hand. He had already been pondering what kind of gathering profession he wanted to try his hand at, and while this wasn't exactly a large sample size, it did make him inclined to try out the foraging one. If it helped him get materials to push onwards and not have them fall apart because he looked at them wrong, he would be all for it. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Roll ID: 251166.   LD: 12 (9+3) Fail

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:40 PM by Reytac

[Reytac 0]

Reytac knew he could call it here, and head inside and back to the alchemist. He had put in his good faith effort on finding the materials that the alchemist had requested, and had even managed to find one. So at the very least he wasn't coming back empty handed. But he felt like that was not good enough, that there was more he could do. 

 

And so even as the sun started to dip downwards, he kept searching, hunting for any more of the materials that he could use for the quest. At this point he didn't even know that he was looking in the right place for these things, for all he knew they could be growing on the other side of the town altogether. But he had to keep searching, at least until it was closer to actual nightfall, when the mobs outside the gate got more aggressive and numerous. 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another match, and his heart leapt. That was great, if he had two in hand he felt like had actually accomplished something. He turned and started hurrying over, time was starting to run out before he had to give up and head back inside the town's walls for safety. And then his foot caught in a hole in the ground that he hadn't seen in his rush towards the herb, and he sprawled forward, slamming into the ground. 

 

For a moment he laid there, dazed, before he finally managed to push himself back up lifting from the ground and coughing out a clod of dirt. Reytac looked around and his heart sank into his stomach - he didn't see the herb anywhere. With that sinking feeling getting worse, he rolled to one side and looked towards where his torso had been. Sure enough, the plant was there, smashed into an entirely unusable state. 

 

“Ah.” He bit back the curses. This was his own fault - he'd been in a rush. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Roll Id: 251179 LD: 7 (4+3) Fail 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:29 PM by Reytac

[Reytac 0]

"Just - just one more." Reytac promised himself that as he got himself back to his feet. The sun had nearly fully set now, and soon, probably sooner than he would really like, night would fully settle and the nighttime mob rules would kick into effect. He knew that this was probably a stupid idea, he should just call it quits and head in, he already had an herb that could complete it. And that was - he didn't even have to succeed, the searching had been enough to make progress in the quest. But he was stubborn, and he felt the age old call of 'just one more couldn't hurt'. 

So he kept searching, hunting through the grasses for just one more of the plants or something, anything that might give him some level of vindication for his efforts out here. But with every passing minute, the sun sank lower and lower, and the shadows crept over everything, covering the fields he was searching through in a blanket of darkness. Finally it got to a point where he just had throw in the towel - he hadn't expected this to take any kind of serious time, so he hadn't even bothered to get a torch. If he headed in now, he would be able to just barely make it before the floor fully shifted over to its night settings.

 

"Friggin fetch quests." He grumbled to himself as he turned and started heading for the gate.

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Roll ID: 251218

LD: 11 (8+3) Fail

 

Edited Thursday at 11:24 PM by Reytac

[Reytac 0]

Reytac trudged back through the city gates with defeat in his heart. Even pushing until he walked in the gates as night settled over the city, he hadn’t been able to find another herb anywhere. Or any of the other materials that might have counted for the quest, no roots or minerals - just that one, single plant that was sitting in his inventory with its dirt still around the roots. Still, it wasn't all bad. He hadn't gotten attacked by anything out there, so aside from the sticker plant and tripping, his pain settings hadn't been tested. 

 

His boots clacked on the cobbled street as he made his way back to Zackariah's shop. Hopefully the NPC was still there - if he had to wait until the next day to actually finish this quest, he might get annoyed with his decision to stay out so late. It wasn't like he had any time constraints right now, but he did want to progress. Rey felt a deep, burning need to get better and grow, and time locking himself didn't exactly help with that goal. 

 

The bell above his head chimed as he was able to enter the store, and he felt a jolt of relief at that. Zackariah was no longer at the pot, but instead sitting at his counter, glancing through some kind of ledger. He looked up when Reytac entered, and a kindly smile stretched his lips. 

 

“Welcome back my boy, I hope your efforts proved fruitful?” Reytac nodded and walked over to the counter. Before he pulled out his prize, he paused. 

 

“Ah, it has dirt still on it, is there like, a rag or something for me to place it on?” Zackariah tilted his head to one side before nodding and pulling a cloth from somewhere, setting it on the counter. Reytac promptly deposited the herb into it, warning a nod from the alchemist. 

 

“Excellent, excellent! Now, let me show you how-” 

 

“Actually, I'm not here for that.” Zackariah froze, his gentle eyes going wide. “Sorry! I'm actually on a task from Mayor Dorian, he's having me track down who he made a loan to and retrieve it.” The old man sat back in his chair with a roll of his eyes. 

 

 

 

 

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"Leave it to Dorian to forget something so important. No, I'm afraid it wasn't me that borrowed the col. You might try Lyle, the blacksmith. I've seen him talking with the mayor frequently the past month or so, and he's just up the road. I wish you luck!"