The Beggar was exactly where he had left him. Slumped against the alley's wall. However, as soon as Odin entered the alley, it perked up its head. Jake could have sworn it was smiling. The NPC rose from its position, slouching down as it walked up the alley to meet Odin halfway. Its red eyes were level with Odin's, or rather Jake's, as he had not bothered to modify his in-game appearance from his real one.
"Seems like you're good enough", said the Beggar. It chuckled as Odin shrugged. It liked Odin's attitude. Unafraid. Unhesitant. Unbothered. In front of Jake, a blue System prompt appeared:
[The Beggar's Favorability has gone up by 5. (Current Favorability: 5)]
Jake raised a mental eyebrow. That was surprising. But welcome. Favorability with NPCs was notoriously difficult to obtain, and had the benefit of getting better Quests and Rewards from them. And while the Beggar's Information was unknown to Jake, he had a few theories as to what it was.
After all, a NPC giving PK Quests should not be aligned with any kind of Lawful Organizations, right? And since it could live in the Beginners' Town without being caught, it should be at least as powerful as a Level 120 Town Guard. And Jake was entirely sure, that it was an Awakened NPC. Someone possessing a Tier. And having Favorability with this NPC was sure to provide some kind of advantage later on.
The Beggar reached into the depth of his cloak, pulling out two items. A long black hooded cape, and a one-handed longsword in its black sheath. A few System prompts appeared as the Beggar said: "Here you go. Something to help you gain power."
[Quest Completed!]
+ 1 [Black Cape]
+ 1 [Black Crow Sword]
+ 1500 XP
[You have 2500/1100 XP. Level up? Y/N]
[Equip [Black Cape] ?]
[Equip [Black Crow Sword] ?]
Jake ignored them as the Beggar was not finished. Raising its right hand, it pulled down its hood revealing its features. It was a Black Werewolf! Black fur, black snout, contrasted with those blood red eyes and the white canines revealed by its wolfish grin. It was delighted by Jake's shock, which was dutifully translated on Odin's face. Still chuckling, it said: "As you can see, I'm not human. But, if you help me with a little request of mine, I will give you a few more things, and I'll even throw in a little opportunity for when your power grows some more."
Jake's shock was gone. Replaced by utter joy. 5 Favorability? For something with a Chain Quest? He tried hard to control himself as he nodded, saying: "I'll help you. Just give me some good stuff in exchange." The Beggar closed its eyes as it put its hood back on: "Good. I came here because of those Silver Werewolves. So, I need you to find one for me and mark it with a Tracking Scroll I'll give you. Once you do that, come back here and wait for me."
A Tracking Mission. Those were quite annoying to complete. Odin nodded, accepting the Quest. Whatever this was, it would lead to something a bit more interesting from the Werewolf's previous words.
Two Prompts appeared as the Beggar reached into its cloak once more and pulled out a tattered yellow Scroll, dropping it in Odin's hand. Jake accepted it, absentmindedly reading the System Prompts. Grunting softly, the Beggar turned back and slumped back down against its wall.
[The Beggar's Favorability increased by 5. (Current Favorability: 10)]
[The Beggar's Quest (2/?) :]
Find a Silver Werewolf and use the [Tracking Scroll] (Low-Quality) on it (0/1)
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Rewards: Black Leather Boots, Black Leather Armor, 2000 XP, ????
(Note: Silver Werewolves are found during nighttime in the Caeldra Forest)
This Quest was good. Almost too good. First of all, the (2/?) showed Jake that he was right. It was a Chain Quest with an unknown number of Quests. He had a sneaking suspicion that the number of Quests he would get would depend on the Favorability of the Beggar. Jake did not see another reason why the Beggar's Favorability had increased twice for free.
Secondly, he did not need to find and buy a Tracking Scroll from NPC merchants to complete the mission. This had saved his wallet from unnecessary suffering. The Quest also rewarded him with Equipment and XP in exchange for finding a Werewolf. He did not even need to kill it. Not that he or any Player at this point could kill one. Even if large Guilds tried to act on the information of Beta Players, they would fail.
And finally the ???? part of the Rewards. Based on the Quests he had received, and on the words "opportunity" and "more", "power" the Beggar had used, he was quite sure of what it would be. The Black Werewolf was a Dark NPC. Its Species did not exist: it was the result of committing certain crimes, namely murders.
The Dark-attributed equipment was also a big clue. NPCs with it were either part of an Evil Organization, or an Assassin's Guild. And both of those were Organization Players would only access past Level 10.
So, Jake was almost certain that the ???? reward would be a referral to whichever Organization the Beggar was a part of. And Jake was interested in it, as being part of such an Organization would be quite conducive to the rest of his plans.
Looking at the clock, which showed 17: 34: 12, he sighed. Nighttime in-game started at 20: 00: 00; which meant he had 2 hours and a half to kill. And Werewolves only came out during nighttime. He had two choices. He could stay online and see what he could do to grind Levels.
Or he could log out. Eat something and shower. And more importantly, Charlotte would beat him up if he stayed online too long without telling her. Grinning about his shy, yet weirdly temperamental girlfriend, he decided to log out after checking out his rewards that he had ignored and getting an Identification Skill.
He pulled out his Inventory, equipping the [Black Cape] and replacing the [Coarse Sword] by the [Black Crow Sword]. The [Black Cape] was a Cloak-type Equipment, meaning it required no attributes to be used. Just like other Accessories of the same Quality, it only provided Bonuses and Special Effects.
[Black Cape] (Bronze Cloak)
Level: 0/50
+ 20 AGI
+ 5 STA
When equipped, hides the Player's Information from Tier 0 Identification Skills.
Durability 100/100
It was a pretty good Equipment, that could be enhanced from Level 0 to 50. Once an Equipment gained a Level, it would gain + 1 to all Attributes. One thing had to be kept in mind though. A Level 50 Bronze Quality Equipment had around the same Attributes as a Level 20 Silver Equipment.
This was done by design, so that Players could bridge the gap between Equipment with pure skill. And of course, there were differences in Equipment: an Bronze Accessory like the [Black Cape] would not have the impact on Attributes that a Bronze Weapon like the [Black Crow Sword]. Odin unsheathed it, as Jake admired the one-handed black longsword. He frowned as he looked at its Attributes and Effects.