In the middle of the day, sun scorching down on the eastern border of the Midwest lies a lone gas station. This gas station is only a few miles away from a nearby town. A clerk who’s station there is gazing out onto the road. He watches cars, trucks and various other vehicles driving by as he sits there on his stool, itching for something to do, or at least something to relieve himself of boredom.

“No one coming in for a quest, huh? Not that I blame them for not looking,” he sighs. “I’m gonna get a cigar in before I go crazy,” He got up to grab one from his pocket before heading outside. Just moments before taking out a lighter, he spotted something in the distance. Moving ever slowly riding along the road. The clerk could just barely make out what he’s seeing until more was coming into view. He decided to take out a pair of binoculars from the counter and looked through it. “My word...is that...a cyclist?” 

The rider is another thing the clerk took notice when coming even closer. “Sword hanging on the side? a hunting rifle maybe?” He asked himself. “Is this person an adventurer too?”

  A few minutes later, the rider in question rode up and parked and locked in place near the quest offers board, the clerk walked over to greet. “Welcome Stranger.” He put his hand out with a grin on his face.

“Hello to you too sir,” The biker shakes his hand before letting go. “Or should I say, Thaddeus?”

The now named Thaddeus looked down at his nametag and chuckled, “Just call me Thad, it's easier,” He said. ‘A young man's face if it weren’t for the sunglasses.  About as tall as I am, and seems like a nice person. Well... bikers I saw tend to be pleasant people but the way his accent sounds, he’s of eastern descent isn’t he?’ Thad clears his throat before speaking. “You're from the West Coast I assume? The rider simply nods. 

“Not much of a talker eh?” Thaddeus inquiries.

“Not really, I talk only when necessary.”

“I see,” Thaddeus scratches his chin. Do you have a name?”

“Lien, you may call me Lien.”

“A pleasure to meet ya, Lien. Welcome to Limeinback. The gas clerk tips his head. “If you need anything, give me a holler and I come running." 

Lien nods again, “Very well.” He looks around until he sees a wall with glass equipped...“Is that the offer’s board?”

“Yes sir, though not much to an offer due to how barren it is out here. Are you looking for anything specific?” 

The rider shrugs. “Hunting, search and rescue, or gathering items…Anything that’ll get me something to work with while I’m here.” Lien begins looking at the offer board, Thad meanwhile takes a gander at the rider’s equipment. ‘Well, I'll be damn. He really does have a sword on his left hip, looks like a single edge blade that’s one-handed, an old-style rifle on hand, and deck out with...some kind of brigandine armor I reckon. If it weren’t for the helmet I never would have guessed him for a cyclist. 

Thaddeus then inspects the bike in earnest. ‘Looks beat up but quite sturdy-looking. Tons of bags equipped on it, hydro flasks underneath, a basket in the front and back? He has a lot on it. I wonder where he’s going with all this?’ He didn’t take notice of Lien behind him.  

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“The bike’s military-grade. It's been through hell and back and nothing but reliable. Wouldn’t trade it for anything else.” 

Thad turns around, bewildered by his sudden appearance. “O-oh, is that so?” 

Before speaking another sentence, the cyclist points at a certain section on the offer’s board. “I’m picking this one by the way.”                                         

Thaddeus looked at where his finger was pointed at and his eyes grew wide after looking at the contents. “Well I’ll be... you got yourself a hard one.”

“Hard? May I ask why?”

“Well…” Thad began his explanation. “We got ourselves an armadon causing hell to the ecosystem two hours ago and we don’t know why,” The clerk winced while Lien took more interest. “The police here are too few for our little town and our only guild is stalling for time with our trapper out for the next few days,” He makes a downcast look before looking up to the cyclist. “Think you're up to it? There are other quests you can do if you can’t...”

Through the sunglasses, Thaddeus cannot tell what the cyclist is thinking until he responds with: “I’ll do it.” the aging clerk gave out a gasp by this sudden development. “W-well I appreciated the thought, but can you truly?” He throws caution in the wind. “I don’t need you to needlessly hurt by doing this. We got one already injured and we couldn't afford another one.”

The cyclist looks at Thad with an eyebrow raise. “I believe I can sir and I brought some company to help me out.”

 “Hmm? What do you mean?”

The rider looked towards the basket case at the back of the bike and suddenly shouted “Bobo!”The basket case opened and out came a viridescent-looking creature.

Thad was surprised by this. “You have a gremlin?” He asked.

“A subspecies of goblins, yes,” Liem answered and reached toward the creature and it obliged by climbing up into his shoulder. “This little guy has been helping me fix repairs and the like during our journey together.” He took out a piece of jerky and gave it to Bobo. “Now, a quick question.”

“Shoot.”

“Is your guild at the scene right now?” 

Thad was taken aback. “N-not yet due to safety reasons and there’s only three of them right now and need at least one more person. You got a solution for them?”

For the first time, Lien gave out a warm smile. “I believe I do. I hunted before small and large, can snares do the job?” He went back to the bike and took out snares along with rope. “If possible, these can be used against the armadon no?

“Hmm, look sturdy enough. This can probably use that to hold it in place in order to have it sedated,” Thad scratches his chin. “Along with the fact, our only trapper is out for a couple of days...You know what? I'll give you a shot.”

  The cyclist bows. “Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention it,” Thad lights his cigar. “Just try to not get yourself and your green friend hurt.”

“We won’t,” Bobo and Lien give out a thumbs up.

“Alright then, I’ll write you up and let you be on your way.” 

Thad points at a barely noticeable sign at a distance. “See that far away sign? It leads to a trail off the beaten path. It’ll take you where our guild has been hunkering at.” Thad takes a whiff and puffs out smoke. “We have five campsites and our guild is in the third one and it’s not hard to find. Got all that?”

“I do. Let’s go, Bobo!” Bobo takes off into the basket case with its owner walking behind. With the locks off, feet on the pedals, and rides as fast the bike allows it to their destination. Thaddeus can only look on before taking another whiff at his cigar. “I better call the guild to let them know that help’s on the way.” In his lingering thoughts, a part of him has his doubts but only have one thing to think about: ‘I hope that biker knows what he’s doing...’