Choice Results are at the bottom. Good luck!
After traveling for many more miles out on the Open Plains without any further interference from the Centaurs, you near the Bordertown of Harthorn. A place where drifters, adventurers, sellswords and warriors alike gather together to tell tales of their adventures and collect news from the outside world. Setup by the Dwarven Lords of the eight Domains as neutral ground, the town is mostly populated by Dwarves that only come out of their homes at night for fear of losing their eyesight. In any case, you find this to be a good place to rest up for the day and recover from your wounds, before continuing on your journey to the Mountain stronghold of Stonefold. As you enter the remarkably shabby town, you see hundreds of warriors from all kinds of races, Orcs, Redlings, Centaurs, Elves, Minotaurs, Trolls, and Werewolves wandering about the cobblestone streets in search of a fight, booze or female company.
Careful to avoid bumping into any of them. You walk along the street and find yourself standing right in front of several food merchants selling their wares. One is selling apple pies, one is selling freshly baked bread and another is selling raw meat. (If you wish to pay for food, it will cost you 1 gold piece each. Each item you pay for will boost your health points by 1. You cannot, however, purchase more than 3 items.)
Done filling your belly, you continue along the street, and see a group of warriors surrounding a small table with a signpost next to it reading. Arm wrestling challenge, defeat Balron the Ogre and receive fifty gold pieces. The entry fee is 10 gold pieces. (If you wish to challenge Balron to an arm-wrestling competition. You will need to divide your health by 2. Then divide your resilience by 2. Add them together, and divide them up by 2 again. If you have more than 25, you win the game and gain 50 gold pieces.)
Rolling your eyes in amusement, you walk away from the stall, and press on towards the center of the town, making sure to avoid all eye contact with many dangerous miscreants that wander the streets looking for trouble. There you find several more signposts, and raise a quizzical eyebrow in surprise. It seems the town offers more than just sanctuary and rest for the restless wanderer. It also offers training to those, who have gold to pay for it. One training on offer is mental resistance, another offers increased aptitude in battle and the last offers endurance training. However, you could just go to the inn to get a good night's sleep instead of spending the day training. Or save your gold by heading out of town a way's to get some sleep by the road. You take a moment to think about what you should do.
Choice 1. Do you take a look at the contracts on the Questboard?
Considering most towns had a Questboard for those that lived in the area, you have survived for the most part by completing a fair few of these contracts as a lone mercenary. Unlike the work that was offered up by merc companies, most of the quests on offer here were either menial, laborsome, or more than one occasion, quite petty and childish which is why most mercenaries tended to avoid them.
Still for those willing to dig deep, you can usually find a few of real worth that paid decent gold for something that could be done fairly quickly.
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Contract Kill My Filthy Cheating Husband
That lying son of a whoresome George has been out philandering with those whores at the bordello. I beg anyone of real honor to slit his throat from ear to ear and bring me his ring as a souvenir.
Signed Sorella.
Contract Lost My Boot
I seemed to have misplaced my shoe. If you would be so kind as to return it to me. I would be deeply indebted to you.
Signed Faris.
Contract Bring Me A Bottle of Heart-Knocker
Pleassh, sirr, if you’ll purchance buy me a bottle.
Signed Garrrrrrrrrroy.
Contract Bring me His Head
One of my contacts has double-crossed me and must be dealt with severely. You’ll find him at the SweetWater Inn wearing a purple cloak. Feel free to do what you must, the mercenaries have all been told to look the other way. Reward 50 Gold Pieces.
Signed Jarol.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Nothing like a bit of up-close combat, you head to inn mentioned in the contract, see the elf lounging in the common room with a purple cloak and start towards him. (Roll two dice to see how badly you are wounded from the fight.)
Join the Ironclad Company!
Got some muscle on you? Have a good bit of skill with a sword? Then join the Ironclad Company! You’ll be paid well and never go without a hot meal in your belly.
Signed Captain Steel Jaw.
Contract Need Someone Willing To be My Sacrifice
As the contract states, I need someone who wouldn’t mind dying for me. The spell I have in mind is quite potent so it will require a lot of virgin blood.
Signed Tarmon.
Contract Bandits on the Road
My request is simple there are bandits on the road. Deal with them. Reward 100 Gold Pieces.
Signed Captain Lysan.
Spoiler: Spoiler
A relatively easy contract, you head out of town where you are waylaid by a ragged band of sellswords. (Roll five dice to see how badly you are wounded from the fight.)
Contract Kill the Fat Bastard
Tarlof, that fat, greedy, bastard, stole my sword. Kill him, and bring it back to me. You’ll find him in the alleyway by the Marketplace. Reward 200 Gold Pieces.
Signed Alora.
Spoiler: Spoiler
With the added risk of being seen by someone drawing a blade, you follow the contract to the letter, find the orc named Tarlorf and set to work. (Roll two dice to see how many mercenaries show up to assist the target. Then add another dice for Tarlof, and then finally roll all the dice together to calculate the combined damage. E.g. Number of mercs + 1 = x amount of dice used to see how much damage you’re hit with.)