Quest from the God of Deception complete
You are alone in the forest
Objective: get to Largon
Reward: book
Astrid barely registered the message, taken aback by the overload of sensory input. Never had she seen so many people in one place before, not even during the festivals in the village near her farm. So many different voices blended together that she could barely make out anything. The many sights made it impossible to choose what to focus on first, and the smells mixed until they were completely unrecognizable.
She could have stood like that forever, stunned, and overwhelmed, but she was holding up traffic. A fact she was politely made aware of by a hard shove in the back and the words, “Watch where you are going.”
Her cloak had kept her invisible up until that point, but the impact broke the spell. She turned to reply with some angry words of her own but stopped herself. The man who had shoved her was twice her size and more scarry-looking than any monster she had slain. The look in his face unsettled her to the bone. It was filled with hatred and disgust that made Astrid wonder what she had ever done to this man. Surely this couldn’t be because she had been standing in his way.
“I can’t believe they let your kind into the city,” the man sneered. “It’s revolting.” He spat in her direction before moving on, leaving Astrid confused and scared. If all city people were going to behave like this, she would take her chances in the forest. She hurried further into the city before other people here could take issue with her existence.
She found an alley where she could hide until she figured out what to do next. She was still shaken by the man’s aggression towards her, so first she had to figure out why he hated her. It would be best if other people didn’t feel the same.
She looked down at herself, noticing that her shoes were caked in mud and her tattered dress was blood-stained. Her braids had come undone at some point, and now her hair was a tangled mess filled with twigs and dirt. No wonder others reacted poorly to her. She looked awful.
She began removing the twigs from her hair and running through it with her fingers, trying to untangle all the knots. There was nothing she could do to fix the dress right now, so she pulled the cloak closer around her, hiding it as best she could.
Her hands brushed against something, and she remembered the amulet Sham had given her. She had forgotten she was wearing it, so she quickly took it off and stuffed it in her pouch. It wouldn’t do to walk around the city with a big sign around her neck, declaring her a follower of Deception. They wouldn’t know that she had only joined to survive, and they wouldn’t believe her if she told them. No one trusted those associated with that god. Therefore, no one could know she was a follower of Deception, so she stuffed it into her belt pouch.
With this sorted, she hoped she could move around the city without drawing the attention of everyone around her. However, first she wanted to take a glimpse at the book she had just gotten.
Divine book of Deception
level 1
Received as a gift from the god of Deception
An introductory skill book that helps the reader unlock multiple different skills and increases skill gain by twenty percent
The skills included are:
Lying
Traps
Poison
Astrid stopped reading after that. This was not something she wanted to read. She had half a mind to throw it in the trash so it wouldn’t take up the last slot in her inventory, but decided against it at the last moment. It was a gift from a god after all. He might not take kindly to her throwing it away, and she had to be careful not to anger him. Again.
The memory of what had happened the last few times still sent shivers down her spine. It still worried her that Sham had taken such an interest in her when she had no idea why. She found him hard to understand. One moment he was kind, talking to her as if they were friends, and the next, he threatened to kill her.
Her empty stomach made itself known and pulled her out of her thoughts. She had to get food soon, or starvation would start to affect her badly.
As she was about to leave her hiding place in the alley, she received a new message.
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New quest from the God of Deception
You have just arrived in Largon
Objective: deceive someone
Reward: 1 large copper
There’s no way I’d ever do that, Astrid thought after she had read the new quest. Deceiving people was wrong. Beside, she had no reason to do it since she had a large sum of money. Thirteen large copper she had earned doing quests and 35 small copper she had saved up during her childhood. All she had to do was find an inn where she could rent a room and get some food. No questionable actions would be required.
This was her chance to start fresh and build an honest life for herself. She was used to hard work, so she had no doubt she could find a good job in no time. As long as she didn't ruin her chance by being deceitful.
Rejecting the quest wasn’t an option, so she settled for ignoring it as she set out to find an inn. Her map showed no details of the city’s layout, so she asked a woman for direction. After thanking her, she set off towards the inn.
A few moments later, she stood in front of a large, three-story building. A sign stating “Largon Inn” assured her she was in the right place. She went inside and found a room filled with tables and benches, all made from wood. Several people sat, eating, and talking.
“What can I help you with?” a man said, startling Astrid. She hadn’t noticed him coming up beside her. His clothes were neat and clean. The few strands of hair he had left were neatly combed back over his scalp.
“I’d like to rent a room, please,” Astrid said, giving the man a polite smile.
The man gave her a distrustful glance.
“I don’t rent rooms out to street children.”
“I’m not a street child. I’m just new in the city, and I can pay,” Astrid said, pulling a handful of small coppers from her inventory.
The man took the money and inspected them carefully.
“I don’t accept stolen money.”
“I’ve earned these coins.” Astrid tried not to let the offense of being accused of stealing show on her face.
“I find that hard to believe.” The man began counting the coins in his hands.
"Please, I lost my entire family to monsters a few days ago. I just need food and a place to sleep.”
“I’ve heard that story a million times. I don’t run a charity.”
“I promise I will pay.”
“I already said no. Now get out of here. Go pester someone else.”
“Fine,” Astrid sighed, realizing this was a lost cause. “Just give me back my money, and then I’ll leave.”
“What money?”
“The money you just took.” She looked at the man but could no longer see the coins she had handed him.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Astrid didn’t know what to say. Her cheeks burned as she realized the man wasn’t going to give them back, and she had no way of getting them back. A quick glance around assured her that no one was paying attention to her or the man. No one would take her word over his.
In her short life, she had only interacted with about a dozen people, but they had all been kind, hardworking, and trustworthy. Well, except for Sham, but he didn’t count. This was the first time anyone had lied to her and stolen from her. Why did the god of Deception want her as a follower when people like the innkeeper existed?
“Why are you still here?” The innkeeper snarled. “Get out!”
Astrid left, as starting an argument would be pointless. She still had to figure out where to spend the night. The sun had started to set, so she had to hurry if she wanted to find a place before it got dark.
She went over her belongings, trying to find something that could help her. Threatening with a dagger wouldn’t do, and she couldn’t let anyone know about her new book and the amulet. She had often made herself invisible, but that wouldn’t help her rent a room either.
Maybe she could use her cloak in other ways. It had the ability to disguise her, so if children couldn’t rent a room, she would just have to look older. She pulled the clock tight around her and imagined herself as a young adult. A picture of her sister, Sigrid, came to mind. That might work. She felt the shivers rippling through her body, but it was the only sign that the cloak had taken effect. She still looked like herself. Hopefully, others would see her as a grown woman.
One thing she knew for sure was that the mean innkeeper would never get any more of her money. There had to be other inns in the city.
----------------------------------------
A while later, she found an inn on a small side street. Shouts and laughter erupted from the run-down building. Astrid found all the noise frightening and questioned if it was safe to enter, but it was almost completely dark outside, so there was no time to search for another place. It was either this inn or the streets. Before she could change her mind, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The place was smaller than the other inn had been but otherwise laid out in much the same way, with wooden tables and benches. It was packed, smelling like food and unwashed bodies. No one paid attention to her arrival, so she walked up to a desk standing to the side. Behind the desk stood a man, and Astrid assumed he worked at the inn.
“I’d like to rent a room for the night,” she said, making her voice a little deeper to sound more mature.
“Of course. Do you want breakfast and dinner as well?”
“Yes please.” She couldn’t believe this was actually working.
“That’ll be ten small coppers.”
She pulled out the money and held her breath as she handed it over. What if this guy tried to cheat her too? What would she do, then? The man counted the money and handed her a key.
“The rooms are upstairs. Your room number is on the key," he said before grabbing a pen and opening a book. “What name do I put down?”
“Astrid.”
“Alright. Just show the maid your key, and she will bring you a meal.”
“Thank you,” Astrid said as she went to find a place to sit in the crowded room.
Quest from the God of Deception complete
You have just arrived in Largon
Objective: deceive someone
Reward: 1 large copper
What? I didn’t do that, did I? Then she realized that by pretending she had been older than she was, she had just deceived the innkeeper. But she had no choice. It was either disguising herself or sleeping on the streets. Still, it worried her how easy it was for her to perform deceitful actions without even thinking about it.
Astrid showed the key to a waiter, and a moment later, a bowl of stew was brought to her. She swallowed it down quickly, unable to control herself. She felt so hungry.
After eating, she went to her room. She locked the door behind her and looked around. It was small, with a bed taking up the length of the wall to her side. Through the grimy window, she could just make out the dark street below. She got ready for bed and fell asleep shortly after lying down.