"So how do you interpret dream Discord runes...?" Leila drones while rolling her wrist, idly waving around her tablet before having an epiphany. "Nevermind," she bobs her head from side to side in a self deprecating manner. "Heard it when I said it. Think I got it, now."
Leila doesn't quite understand exactly, but now she's got a base to work off of. And the symbols don't look quite as arcane and mystical as they had. They're just emojis for a different world, right? Commands maybe. If Ashley said they're super forgiving then there's probably like an autocorrect or suggestion based on intent, right? Almost like the tablet will adapt to her as the user. But that's just good programming. So now she needs to find out what these particular versions of the symbols mean. Now that that's sorted they should focus on food and shelter. All the survival, open world rules.
"Well, we have money so food and shelter isn't an issue," AErin points out while unloading his pants pockets into Serah's survival crossbody bag as the 4'2" powerhouse takes some practice swings with a branch nearly as big as she is.
"Depending on the fiscal rating of this world we might have enough money to set up like lords," Nick says smugly, trying and failing to roll the coin over his fingers resulting in him just fondling it awkwardly.
Leila NOPEs out while thinking the casual disregard of her friends towards this new world might get everyone killed. She knows for a fact Nick is likely to start calling people peasants. He did it in their world. And if anyone took exception to his rudeness he'd roll over and start screaming for help, using them as meat shields and distractions. If they won, he'd boast. If they started losing, he'd run. Wouldn't be the first party wipe he'd 'caused. The loud fuck couldn't run for shit. In or out of games. He's good for logistics but very little else.
"Where are you going?" Ashley beams, literally glowing while smiling.
"Gonna see if I can't get a job at the local inn. Work my way up and learn some lore," Leila says while continuing to wander the less than 20 meters to the town. "If they'll let me, I'll see if I can't scrounge up some leftovers for us. It'll also help us find out the price of things."
"Good plan," Aerin says, laying back, hands laced behind his head while Serah benches him. "If we can find somewhere to hole up we'll contact you and then all get together and share what we've learned. Sound good?"
"Break!" they all clap, Leila continuing to walk off as everyone else stays back near the wreck.
She needs employment. She can be productive all she wants but if she can't find steady work and a stable income, then she can't keep her stuff. And that's what life is about. Safe spaces and keeping your stuff where people can't bother you. As she wanders further into the town she spies a man with an actual glass bottle, swigging from it and sitting in the mud. Before he finishes the last of it, he reaches down, draws in the mud with one finger, then stands up while draining the rest of the bottle. Checking on her periodically to make sure she's watching? Is it a ward to keep her away or a message? Or is she just standing in the middle of a mud and shit covered street like a tourist and he's trying to figure out what the fuck? She quickly moves towards the spot he vacated as he wanders off, empty bottle in hand and a complete stranger walking up to him and talking excitedly. Looking between the man and the spot where he'd miraculously climbed to his feet without being coated in shit, Leila tries to figure out what he did. There's a weird oblong lump. A crude bottle. And a circle. Bread, beer and coin? Was he honestly just doodling?
She squats then straightens. Just because he's magically resistant to filth doesn't mean she is. She hastily looks around, trying to figure out a simple test that she can do and clean up after if it fails. How does she test her grime resistance? Duh! She rolls her eyes, smiling and laughing lightly internally so she's not written off as a loon, and then checks the bottom of her feet and her legs. She looks like she's just been walking along a paved path. Dirty but not caked in sloppy gunk. Reassured, she turns to face the street, pops a squat, draws three characters in the mud, focusing and visualizing doing dishes and eating stew on every sweep of her finger. When she's done she nearly falls over. Does that mean it worked or is she lightheaded because she hadn't eaten yesterday and it was almost lunch time today?
"We could use an extra hand, if you're looking for work," a woman with coppery curls and thick skirts says, wiping her hand on a towel while frowning down at Leila thoughtfully.
"Yatta!" Leila crows, rising to her feet, one fist raised into the sky triumphantly before she nearly falls over. Low blood sugar. Definitely. "Where do I start?"
"We need someone to dump the scraps," the woman sighs, leaning back against the doorway Leila just notices behind her, either ignoring or blinded to Leila's little outburst. "Come on back."
As Leila hurriedly follows the woman in she realizes that most of the women are wearing long dresses, not pants. And people here do wear shoes. There are a few muddy tracks in the entranceway as the woman leads her down a long hallway, along the periphery of what appears to be a dining hall or ballroom, depending on whether or not their were tables in the middle of the floor or just along the walls, and back into a busy kitchen. From the outside the building looked like it maybe had a small sitting room, kitchen and dining room or living room, not both. But inside the place is massive! They make it to the back door of the kitchen where there is a barrel of filthy fermenting vegetable and discarded animal bits before the woman stops and turns to face her.
"Do it as you please, just don't dirty the floor," she sighs, sounding like this is not the first time she's said this in the last five minutes, nevermind the rest of the day. "Take the slop out to the pigs. Only use this door, follow the path to the woods, take the first right past the witchy tree. Do not climb into the pen with the pigs. Dump the slop and go. Then come right back here. Got it?"
"Yes!" Leila feels pumped.
The barrel is too big to move, it sounds like the trip is going to take a while, but how heavy is it really? She sees a lid nearby and wonders if she can just cap it and go or if there's another barrel they can fill nearby.
"Is there another dump barrel if I take this one with me?" she turns to the woman who is still idly cleaning her hands with the towel and leaning against the doorframe.
"We'll get it sorted," she flicks her fingers dismissively before going back to scrubbing.
"So if I do this, that means I work here now, right?" Leila remembers she'd never actually asked about compensation.
"You'll start in the kitchens." Another distracted sigh. "You'll get a free meal, basic, and a flagon of ale or mead, whichever one we have most of. You'll be on garbage duty until we can trust you not to get lost or hexed," and the woman finally looks at her without looking distracted, but now she looks irritated, then she tunes out and looks thoughtful again. "You'll get paid three copper for every barrel you empty, even if you make trips we've got ways of monitoring your progress so you'll not be cheated, don't worry." Didn't even occur to her, but that's good to know. "You can sleep in the barn and we'll get you something a bit more decent to wear," this time the woman sneers, clearly displeased with Leila's fashion choices. "It's a fair deal, and don't you doubt it. Now you best be going so you can get that emptied before dark. You can wash up at the farm, but don't you be taking any random dips in any stray rivers!"
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Out this door, down the path, right path past the witchy tree to the farm, fill the trough, don't climb in, bathe at the farmhouse not in a river, and three copper, one basic meal with drink, room and board in the barn, and proper clothing. Check," Leila recites the key parts. The warnings are for people who aren't following the main line.
"As you say," the woman refocuses, straightening with a slow nod. "Let's see how well you do."
And with that the woman wanders off, Leila remembers that they'd never actually exchanged names, then figures it doesn't matter. The woman was very distinctive and who knows how long Leila will live before respawning. Wait. Will there be respawns? She really needs to figure out how to read the status information. Later when they're all together. She's got a job to do. Leila puts the thick loops of her drawstrings over her shoulder like straps and then investigates the barrel.
It doesn't smell like shit although it looks like it should smell like fermented shit. There's carved and branded writing on it, runes and the like. Probably what's keeping it stink free. She plops the lid on, apologizes to someone who was just about to dump a bowl of scraps into the barrel as she removes the lid again, then plops the lid on. She tips the barrel, barely straining, then squats to see if she can lift it. It's like lifting a new mattress. Bulky but not actually that heavy. She hefts it, thankful that it's not slimy or greasy even though it looks like it, and waddles out the door.
The ground looks sloped but gravity isn't trying to drag her into a fall. She'd expected more buildings or a bit of a cleared area between the buildings and the woods, but the back door has a well packed path leading straight into some trees and there's no sight nor sound of any buildings on either side. Leila shrugs it off as more magic and waddles on her way. There's no animal sounds and she does see a bunch of curious anthropomorphized animals looking at her like she's lost her mind from the woods near paths that lead away, but no one and nothing actually approaches her so she continues on her way.
Several minutes down the path she hears someone playing a stringed instrument. A few minutes more and she picks up singing. Within a few more minutes she watches as a willow shaped like a woman with its own private breeze sways and sings while the wind whistling through its branches is enough to pluck them like strings. Leila shrugs, nodding to the witchy tree, and following along the path that leads past her it them. The woods fall away revealing a massive barn bigger than a Wally World Super Shoppe and several large fenced in areas. The closest one happens to have a large trough that appears to reach through the fence, so she heads there, hoping that this is the pig pen. Her arms are getting tired.
She's happy that she hasn't worked up a sweat and finds it interesting how the ambient temperature is comfortably cool without actually being brisk, then warms up to comfortable, period, once she's out in the sun. She sets the barrel down, popping off the lid and then tipping it into the trough before she remembers she was supposed to check to see what kind of animals were in it. Her head snaps up and she sees a pig staring at her through the fence bars. Oh. That's why she dumped the barrel here. She must have already seen the pig and reflexively done the task. That was close. Once she gets the barrel empty she pops the lid back on and heads back to the inn to collect her payment, find out about food, and see if her friends have made any progress.
She jogs down the path, not sure why she has so much strength and such excellent endurance, but hoping she's still getting conditioning by training them. Maybe the world reformed them when it took their shit? She really needs to figure out her tablet. She nods at the witch tree, takes a left, then hurries back to the kitchens. She realizes that she doesn't know if she was working at an inn or a restaurant or what. It could be an orphanage for all she knows. She'd never actually looked around town before testing out the request system. But she does need to tell her friends about it. She didn't get a notification or anything, but she also hasn't actually gotten into her tablet so... As she the building comes in sight she sees an older looking woman with deep red hair storm out of the back door and down the path towards her.
"And who are you?" The woman wastes no time being aggressive and confrontational and Leila isn't sure if she can use the barrel as a bludgeon but she knows she might have to figure it out soon.
"I'm Leila," she smiles, non-confrontationally, hoping that whatever's going on will be easily resolved by the copperhead.
"Oh, I bet you are," the woman looks at her judgmentally and she wonders just exactly what that's supposed to mean. "And what are you doing with my trash barrel?"
"This lady with coppery hair hired me to dump the barrel. She said I'd be paid 3 copper for each barrel I emptied, get one free meal a day, with drink, a change of clothes and a place to sleep in the barn," Leila says, getting a sinking feeling. "She also said I could cleanup at the farmstead and not to take any dips in any rivers."
"Did she now," the woman squeals sarcastically. "And where did this metal haired woman tell you to dump the barrels?"
"Only go through the back door, turn right at the witchy tree, dump it in the pig troughs, don't climb into the pens," Leila recites and the woman's condensing grin falls. "I didn't get her name, but she's always wiping her hands with a towel."
"Of course she is," the woman suddenly deflates, looking tired and less like Leila might have to beat her to death with her own enchanted barrel. "I take it she told you to use her name?"
"I don't know her name," Leila says slowly, wondering who the hell this crotchety old lady is. "I'm just here to work and get paid."
"Layla," the woman barks at her in frustration. "Her name is Layla? The same name you said?"
"I didn't know her name was Leila, but my name is Leila," Leila tries to clarify. Are names unique in this world.
"Of course it is," the woman rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Well, you've done the job, already, so there's no use in you getting half-payment. And you didn't do anything stupid," the woman pauses, frowning at her. "Did you?"
"I left here, followed the path until I got to the witchy tree, turned right, found a big~ barn surrounded by fenced in areas and dumped the slop in the trough for the pigs while a pig watched me. Then came back." Leila isn't sure what information the woman is fishing for, but she did her job.
"Well, 'Layla'," the woman scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Layla's job is to take out the scraps between rooms and it looks like she dumped that on you. You did well enough and quick enough considering I'd checked on this barrel earlier and it was still full from last week, so I'll pay you the six copper for the job. The food and drink are only one copper, we can give you some hand me downs after you wash up, then we'll see about hiring you on. You're a better worker than she is, at any rate. Now go to room 11. Mr. Harix wanted to try out the new kitchen girl and he doesn't mind if you're not all washed up."
"Excuse you," Leila feels an electric shock course through her at the casualness of the dismissal. To be "tried out" by some stranger? "This isn't an inn, is it?"
The redheaded woman looks at her then laughs long and hard. And loudly. She's not coy or even pretending to try to spare Leila's feelings. Eventually she waves the rest of the staff, several other girls and women, all with some form of reddish hair, back to work when they gather around to find out what's going on. Eventually someone comes by with a dirty tankard filled with something frothy with bits in it, the woman takes it, drains it back in one toss, then slams the oversized wooden mug into the chest of the serving girl who'd given it to her.
"No. It's a brothel. Welcome to the Red Building, Iylran's finest whore house. There's beds. There's food. This ain't an inn," the woman continues fighting a smile as she turns away.