Chaele looked around after crawling out of the pipe. They’d finally made it! Just a few hundred feet away, a large arch with “WELCOME TO FACTION CITY” written on it stood tall over the road.

She punched Kodish in the arm. “We made it!”

“Course we did,” he said, rubbing the spot she punched. “Didn’t you listen to Randolph?”

The elf ignored this and pranced to the arch. Underneath it was a large trash can and recycling bin. Behind that was a poster for the city’s restaurant, McTasty’s, advertising a special.

Chaele jumped up and down. “All-you-can-eat breakfast for one silver?”

“I’m gonna get my money’s worth, that’s for sure,” Kodish said with a hearty chuckle.

Chaele reached into her pack and threw her remaining stale bread away in the recycling bin. “We can get some real food, and with what we save, we’ll even get to buy something fresh for later!”

A man approached them with a stack of papers in one hand. “You can’t recycle bread.”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Chaele said. “We’re new here.”

The man stroked his beard. “New adventurers? Well, take this quest here and come down to F.C. General Store; you’ll love our selection!” He handed a flyer to each of them before running away to catch up with another new arrival.

Kodish looked at the paper for a long minute. “Can’t read.”

“It says we can buy and sell anything at the General Store,” Chaele said. “First-time buyer’s discounts available too.”

“Let’s check it out after breakfast,” he said.

Chaele nodded.

They passed a few buildings before reaching the restaurant — a giant golden McTASTY’S logo was on the front window with a flashing neon open 24/7 sign. The front door was locked, but there was a message on it.

The elf read the sign out loud. “Due to short staffing, breakfast will only be served until 10:30 AM. We will reopen at 11:30 AM for our All-You-Can-Eat Lunch Special, only two silver!”

“Too expensive,” Kodish said, reaching for his pack.

“Not at all!” Chaele chirped. “We’ve got plenty of things to sell for silver. And besides, lunch is way better than breakfast.”

Kodish looked pensive, then grinned. “I know! We should turn in the quest at the General Store and sell our junk while we wait.”

Chaele looked around the business district. She found The General Store on the other side of the road, and they casually sauntered over.

The woman running the store looked up from her magazine when they entered. “How can I help you?”

“We have quests,” Kodish said.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Okay… that’s nice,” she said.

Chaele scowled at her. “It’s a quest to get our first-time discount.”

“Oh!” she said, closing her magazine. “Well, in that case, let me be the first to welcome you to Faction City. We’re the General Store, and we stock everything from fresh bread and fish to books and jewelry. You name it, and we’ve probably got it. I’ll tell you what. Go to the Auction House next door and buy 5 Goldenlillies. Bring them back, and I’ve got a special reward waiting for you!”

Chaele nodded. “On it.”

The brightly-lit auction house next door was adorned with golden armor, weapons, and gemmed decorations. They bought some flowers and browsed around to kill a few minutes.

“Shiny,” Kodish said, looking at a necklace. “It’s beautiful, right, Chaele?”

She picked it up and felt a bit of energy pulse into her. “This is a rare magic energy necklace! And it’s only two silver!”

“Is that a good price?” he asked.

“I’m good at appraisal,” the elf said. “I bet the woman at the General Store will pay at least one gold for it.”

“That all?” a dwarf asked Chaele when Kodish handed her the coins.

She smiled, excited about her lucky find. “That’s all.”

The dwarf held up a brown bag. “Buy a mystery bag for charity? Just one silver and you could win a prize worth up to ten gold!”

“Sure,” Kodish said.

His companion didn’t look amused. “We can’t go throwing money around like that.”

“We’ll be rolling in gold and silver soon,” Kodish said.

“Fine, we’ll take one,” she said to the dwarf, handing him the coins.

Back outside, Kodish opened the bag. Inside was a postage stamp with a big smiley face on it. “A sticker!”

“That’s a stamp,” Chaele said. “You got ripped off.”

Kodish stomped his foot. “It was for charity!”

Chaele shook her head. “Oh well. Let’s go turn this quest in, then it should just about be time for lunch.”

The woman at the store greeted them when they arrived. Chaele placed the bouquet of flowers on the counter, and the shopkeep clapped. “Thank you! These are my favorites. As a reward, I’ve got a special wristband for both of you. It’ll let you track your energy levels, so you know exactly how much you’ve got left. Here, try them on!”

Kodish put his on and held his arm up triumphantly. “Looks great!”

“Cool, they’re fully charged,” Chaele said.

“Actually,” the woman said, “that means you only have one energy left. You must have been doing some hard work this morning!”

Chaele gave a confused look. “How do I get more energy?”

Kodish chimed in, “You gotta eat food. Food is energy.”

The shopkeep agreed with him. “Just so you know, we’ll buy anything, and we always pay a fair price!”

Chaele reached into her pocket for the necklace. “Well, I’ve got a magic necklace right here. These are super rare.”

“Let’s see,” the woman said, examining the jewelry. “Nope, what you’ve got here is a fake. This is worthless.”

“What?!” Chaele said, yanking the necklace back. “Are you kidding me?”

The shopkeep shook her head.

Kodish took the necklace. “At least it’s pretty, with this beautiful gem.” He ran his thumb over the gem, and when some of the paint wiped away, they saw it was just plastic underneath.

“I’ll give you ten copper for it,” the woman said.

Chaele looked at Kodish dejectedly. “I can’t believe this.”

Kodish pulled the stamp out of his pocket and licked it, sticking it to her forehead. “Don’t be sad. Here’s a smiley face to cheer you up!”

“Anything else?” the woman asked.

“Yeah, we’ve got some items to sell,” Chaele muttered, taking off her pack.

The shopkeep was busy staring at her forehead, jaw dropped wide open. “Is that the rare smiley face forever stamp?”

“Huh?” Chaele asked.

“On your forehead,” she said, pointing at the prized stamp. “That’s worth ten gold!”

Chaele tried carefully peeling it off, but her frayed leather gloves got in the way, and it ripped in half. She gave a grimacing smile. “We can tape it?”

Six silver, fifteen copper later, they went back across the street to McTasty’s. The doors were still locked, but a new sign was displayed.

“What’s it say?” Kodish asked.

“Due to staffing shortages, our lobby is closed, and All-You-Can-Eat Lunch is unavailable,” she read. “P.S. Now Hiring. Nobody wants to work anymore…”

Kodish looked closer at the sign. “What’s all that writing at the bottom?”

Chaele frowned. “Something about voting. Maybe we should do that.”

The orc checked his wristband, then clapped her on the shoulder. “Too hungry. We’ll try that some other time.”