Slyhill was, as expected, on a hill. I examined the town with my Farsight as we approached. There seemed to be an old part and a newer part of the town. The older part was closer to a gated area, which I assume was where the Trial was located. I couldn’t identify the building from this angle, but the one with the building extension was probably the tavern.

The newer part had a large compound, which I assume was the academy they were talking about. There was a new satellite Adventurers Guild here as well. It was established when the academy had to move because the Trial at Bellrise changed to become too hard for the students. You should never trust a Trial. I wonder how long this one will last before it plays up.

The crossing between the two safe zones was uneventful. I practised tracking and pathfinding on the trip. I am wearing my Dance of Death armour, and the Guard Scout let me come with her a couple of times. She pointed out things I would have missed and helped level up my Tracking skill. My Pathfinding didn’t budge, probably because we were following an established track.

I have also been practising my Assessing Eyes on the villagers. One person had a surprising amount of will and was very offended when he discovered I was peeking. If the subjects' willpower is high they will be able to contest my Appraising Eyes, and that means they know about it. I was able to settle him down with the right application of gold, but it is good to know that now.

The information I receive is the first line of my status, followed by an idea of their health, stamina, and mana. So I know their classes and professions. Then, there is an impression of their attributes, such as whether they are fast or strong or intelligent, etc. This is just an impression. Then I can sense the things they favour. Do they favour blunt weapons or knives? Do they like earth or water or fire? These are all jumbled up, with the strongest coming out louder than the weaker. I assume that as the skill levels increase, I will get more information, and I will also improve as I get used to understanding what I am sensing.

I didn’t try this on the guards travelling with us. My Identity with Intuition is telling me they are dangerous. I am getting the danger tingle from them, so it doesn’t matter what level they are. They are dangerous to me. They are more dangerous than me, even accounting for my advanced class. My guess is that on the scale of basic classes, they are all in their high forties and low fifties. They are veteran troops. This Duke seems to train his soldiers well and treats them well enough to keep them.

I have been thinking of what type of persona I should have when I get to Slyhill. I am going to leave the entertainer/illusionist behind. I should start by being the visiting adventurer. That is how the Pyrewatch villagers think of me. I am Al’rashian now, even though I don’t look like one. They are known for their adventurers.

I started on the Al’rashian language book. The Lore skill is helping me pick it up, but not being able to hear how it is spoken means my accent is going to be atrocious for a while.

I can still pass for human as I look human. A human adventurer is probably the way to go. I don’t want to come across as a beginner like the academy students but a mid-level adventurer with a focus on treasure hunting. I am looking for people about my level to form a team.

The level is not so important; I want people about my strength. If I didn’t have the Advanced Class, I would be over Level 30 by now, probably in the high 30s with the amount of experience I have earned. My skills have all jumped as well.

My first task is to visit the Adventure Guild Hall and update my membership ID. An Iron rank adventurer will carry more weight than a Copper one. I can also find out if there are any outstanding bounties on me. If there are, I can just run.

We approached the gate. I could see a new permanent wall being constructed around the expanded town. The guards with us greeted the gated guards in a friendly manner. They also knew many of the villagers.

They didn’t know me. Two dangerous ones came up to me. “Welcome to Slyhill. Name a purpose of visit, please.”

I would be certain one of them had a Truth-Sensing Skill or equivalent. For all I know, they could be assessing my status. My time with Ranar was eye-opening.

“Marvin Wygon, Adventurer. Here to challenge the Trial.” That last wasn’t completely true, but I would probably do that while I was here.

“May we see your Adventurer ID, please.”

“Sure,” I said to the not request. “Is there a problem?”

“We have had a problem with spies from the Al’verren Kingdom, so we are checking new people.”

They looked at my copper token and then at me. “The token seems a little low for someone of your power.”

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That wasn’t a question, but I replied anyway: “I am here to update it. I got caught in a wandering trial and dumped out in the wilderness near Pyrewatch.”

They seemed to accept that. It was true, so that helped.

“It is a silver to enter the first time. If there is no trouble next time, it will be half that.”

“Really, a new person tax?” I queried as it sounded like a bribe.

“New people are usually the ones who cause the trouble.”

I shrugged and paid it.

Slyhill was busy, so I figured I had better secure accommodations first. I had the coin, so I chose a nice-looking place with a sign-out advertising Rooms to Rent. It was a bed and breakfast, and it would be quieter than a tavern. The landlady was a bit disappointed that I only booked it for a week.

Then I just wandered the town for a bit, getting a feel for the place. It was bigger than it looked and busier. There were a lot of young-looking adventurers. I assume they were the students. They were acting like immature teenagers, and then I realised that was exactly what they were. I wouldn’t be finding teammates among them.

I checked out the stores and the prices. There were three taverns, and one of them seemed to be the favourite of the students, so I was going to avoid that one.

I had dinner in a tavern and listened to the gossip. The main talk was about skills and classes, with a side of when the Immortals would show up. They didn’t seem as scared of that as I thought they should be. The main feeling was that they would do everything to get stronger and stand up to the Immortals. They had a long way to go before that could happen. I had a long way to go.

Once the crowds had reduced, I wandered the town in stealth to get a feel for the place at night. The guards were vigilant. I spotted a couple of students testing their stealth against the guards. The Guards seemed to be good-natured about it. One even gave some tips. I assume these guards treat the academy as a recruiting ground.

I slipped into the room I rented without alerting anyone and slept for a few hours in a lovely bed. I might go shopping for a bed and a nice mattress and keep them in my storage for when I am away from town.

I wonder if there is a furniture addon for my storage. I asked Ranar about Storage, and he said I could not automatically equip armour or clothes until it gets to level 7, and I can get the Armory or Wardrobe options. They will require multiple armour sets or multiple enchanted clothes sets to trigger. He said there were a lot more add-ons for Storage, but I could find them out by myself.

I borrowed items from Pyrewatch to trigger the clothes chest, meat locker, vegetable bin, herb cupboard, potion cupboard and drinks cellar. These separated the items into separate spaces, reducing the mana cost and expanding the space.

This meant that I no longer needed my spatial storage bags. They wouldn’t go into my storage, though. I had to carry them. I will try selling them. Ranar didn’t want them.

I had a leisurely breakfast with the landlady. The other two guests were rich students at the academy, and they rushed off to their lessons. The Adventure Guild is the key to today, and that will determine whether I am still here tonight.

The Guildhall looked the same as any other, but this one was a lot smaller than the city ones. It still had a stone questing pillar with a ball of green glass on top that radiated peace. There were the Service counters where adventures went to hand in goods collected and get paid. There was a door out the back with a sign labelled Fighting Pits and stairs up where I knew there were libraries and rooms to rent. The library would be quite small in a guild this size, but it was probably worth checking out.

I looked out of place with my matching armour set. I should have worn some old armour. Everybody was in mismatched armour and robes, as was the norm for adventurers. You wore what protected you the best, not what looked good. I could pick the students, but there were older, more seasoned adventurers as well.

The first thing was to go to the questing pillar, which should update the Token and let me know any outstanding bounties and what quests I can take. I approach the pillar and place my token against it.

I feel a sweep of mana goes through me from the pillar. My Mana Sensitivity skill is opening me to things I would not have noticed before. I felt the token heat up in my hand and then things cooled andn teh normal quest screen appeared.

I ignored it for now and looked at my token. It was iron. It had more symbols on it and was slightly bigger. The next rank up was steel, then silver. I wondered how much I needed to get to steel. Completing quests was the way to rank up in the guild, and I didn’t do much of that. I was probably lucky I made it to iron. Iron rank was a respectable rank.

Now, it was time to check out bounties and quests. There was a bounty out for Marvin Omma, and I could accept the quest if I wanted. There was no bounty for Marvin Wygon, and it hadn’t been transferred. Fantastic. I was interested to note there was a marker on the bounty to indicate it was from the Al’verren Kingdom, i.e., a different legal territory from where I was. The Duchy is real; I had been half afraid it wasn’t.

I looked at the quests I could take. There were local quests, mostly related to the Trial. Then there was Area Quests, which was the Al’dross Duchy and then World Quests, which the Bounty on Marvin Omma now fell into.

I checked the local quests, and it appeared the Trial was full of Rats, Lizards, and Spiders, judging from the need for Rat Tails, Lizard Tongues, and Spider Legs. That wasn’t all that was requested, but it was the most. This Trial didn’t seem to have ore, gems, herbs, or anything.

I didn’t take any quests; those could wait until I find out more about the Trial and /or if I can find some people to run it with me. I left the Guildhall feeling a lot lighter without the bounty hanging over me.