Erika's First Quest

We returned to the guild with our winnings from the night before. After paying some fees and putting up with Brandy's passive aggressive attitude (specifically towards me), we were officially card carrying members of the Stercusville Adventurer's Guild.

The two of us made our way over to the quest board.

"Which one are we going to pick, Mr. Arno?"

Obviously there was no way she could pick a quest on her own, due to the fact that she can't read. I glanced over the board, specifically looking for a beginner level quest.

It had to be something simple, preferably right here in town. After scanning the board for a bit, something caught my eye:

Delivery Person Needed

Level: Beginner

Description: I need someone to deliver packages around Stercusville for me.

Location: Meet me at Rat Feces for more details. I'll be sitting at the bar counter.

Reward: 5 gold per package delivered.

This seemed like a good first quest for her. All she had to do was deliver some packages. The pay was even per delivery, so if she did a good job, she could make us some gold.

"This delivery one should be perfect for you."

I pulled the flier off the board.

"That doesn't really sound very interesting. Isn't there something a bit more exciting, like fighting monsters or finding treasure." She responded.

"There are, but I would prefer you started out with something simple first. To be honest with you, we're fairly ill equipped at the moment. We can't really consider doing more advanced quests until we get better gear."

"Fine, I guess we can do this one for now. When we get better stuff though, can I pick something I want to do?"

She was being a bit whiny, but as long as she got the work done, I didn't really care.

"Sure whatever... But what's this about 'WE'? 'WE' aren't doing this quest, YOU are." I said.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I mean you're going to be doing this on your own. I have something else that I'll be doing today."

"But, how am I supposed to do this alone? I've never delivered packages before."

"You'll be fine. I'm confident you can handle this."

I proceeded to explain the quest to her and where she needed to go to get the rest of the details. Part of me was a bit nervous about leaving her unattended, but if anything, this would be a good learning experience for her.

She went on her way to begin her quest, while I remained in the guild hall. There was a particular quest on the board that caught my attention. The flier was significantly larger than the others, it read:

Prince Kidnapped

Level: Master

Description: Prince Douglas has been reported to have been abducted by an unknown group. The royal family is looking for any possible information that could lead to the prince's safe return. *This is an urgent matter that concerns all citizens of the West Kingdom.*

Location: unknown

Reward: TBD

I walked over to Brandy to question her.

"What's with that flier about the Prince?"

"How haven't you heard? It's been the talk of the kingdom. Prince Douglas apparently was kidnapped by some unknown group. The entire nation is in a panic over this tragic news. That flier was sent to every guild in the country. The royal family is trying to do everything in their power to bring the prince back."

"Interesting, so who is this Prince Douglas?"

She gave me a shocked look, as if this was somebody everyone should know.

"How the heck don’t you know who Prince Douglas is!?"

"Let's just say I just recently returned to the West Kingdom after being away for a very long time. I'm a little unfamiliar with the current state of things."

"That just makes you seem even more suspicious. I hope you know that if you're up to no good I'll get to the bottom of it."

Once again she was grilling me. All I did was ask her a simple question, but maybe that was a mistake.

"Can you just tell me who this Prince guy is already?"

She answered with an attitude,

"If you must know, Prince Douglas is the heir to his Father, King Marcus II. Not only that, but he's considered the heart throb of the kingdom. There isn't a single young lady that isn't in love with him. It's not uncommon for women to get into physical altercations with each other just over casual conversations about him. As you can imagine this news of his kidnapping has been especially devastating to the women of this kingdom."

She rambled on for sometime, fawning over the prince. Eventually I had to cut her off.

"Okay thanks for the info. I'm going now."

I left somewhat rudely and abruptly, but considering how she has been treating me, I don't particularly feel bad.

This Prince must be something considering how highly she spoke of him. She mentioned his father was King Marcus II. That would mean his grandfather was King Marcus I. I met him a few times when I was alive. I can't say I was much of a fan of his, considering I tried wiping out his entire bloodline during the hydra incident. I wonder how much of that the current living members of the royal family knew about...

Anyways, now that Erika was busy with her quest, I had my own task to take care of.