The horse's leisurely trot whisked Ean to Wildwood's Edge, arriving in half the time of his usual brisk walking pace. The inn clerk, a thin-lipped woman with narrowed eyes, recognized him and nodded stiffly. "Welcome back, Warden." She wrinkled her nose at the smell of horse on him and said, "Your horse will be stabled and fed, if you want to freshen up." Ean took the hint and washed and changed into fresh clothes before going to the trading post.

Pungent scents of cured meats, tanned hides, and seasoned wood wafted out of the opened double doors. Business was slow and bored vendors sat sleepy-eyed behind their tables. Ean spotted the gruff-looking seller he had purchased the bear meat from the previous week.

The seller's expression darkened as Ean approached, his hand twitching near the hunting knife at his belt. Hostility filled the air like a heat wave. Ean swallowed hard but pressed on. "Hello. I, uh, I bought some bear meat from you last week and wanted to say it was delicious."

A bead of sweat trickled down Ean's back when the man's eyes narrowed to slits. "When I was here, some of the sellers and hunters mentioned there was a lack of deer and a surplus of wolves this year."

The man's expression remained guarded as he swatted away a persistent fly. "That is correct," he said, his voice gruff, "if you're wondering why there's still a shortage of venison."

Ean took a deep breath, steeling himself. "I'm Game Warden Fleming now." The man's eyes narrowed as his grip tightened on the knife hilt. A chill run down Ean's spine. Apparently, that was not the best thing to say. He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. "I'm hoping you can help me with my first assignment."

He extended the survey form, his hand trembling slightly. "If you and your fellow hunters, trappers, and fishermen would fill out a survey two or three each season, I'll reward one point to the Fieldcraft skill." The man's lips curled into a sneer, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had made a grave mistake.

The man snatched the survey form from Ean's outstretched hand, his face a mask of irritation. "In return for providing something useful to you," he growled, "you're going to give us something we'll already get through our livelihoods - practicing our class skills." His tone grew dismissive. "Are you trying to make everyone dislike game wardens even more?"

Ean's heart quaked, and his knees shook. The man's hostility was so palpable. Surveys seemed like an idea of obvious benefit in the urban environment of Argonia Central. Encountering resistance, he was no longer certain. He would need to work harder to sell the idea to the locals. If not, his expensive survey forms would never leave the trading post, ending up as wrapping paper instead. Recalling the encounter with the border guard, he replied, "Did I neglect to mention the gold piece for every completed survey?"

The man looked at him with a critical eye. "What's the catch? No one pays one gold for us to count animals and trees and such. Why not post these surveys on the quest board?"

"The data will be more valuable coming from skilled people who can be trusted for repeatable accuracy. The quest board attracts people of unknown skill who might do it once and not follow up."

"What do you plan to do with this 'valuable' data? Why not just keep it to ourselves?"

"I need data to inform the king's council of problems like with the deer and wolves. They can't fix what they don't know about." Ean pointed to the large box at the bottom. "Anything strange or unusual, like those killings in the woods, you can put in here."

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The man looked up at Ean. "So you're the reason those soldiers took an interest in the killings." It was less a statement than an accusation, making Ean further doubt his wisdom in asking the man for assistance. The man shook his head and let slip a chuckle. "They tramped around the forest and made hunting impossible for a day, but the wolves have stayed away… and the less desirable human elements, if you get my meaning." He took the sheaf of surveys from Ean. "I'll distribute these to the mates most likely to fill them out."

"Thank you. I'll be back in a week or so to pick them up." He pulled Aria's list from his pouch. "If I could trouble you with one more favor, I've been tasked with gathering these plants. Can you tell me where I'm most likely to find them?"

"Let me see." The now hospitable man he ran his finger down the list. "Those grow along the banks of the pond and stream northeast of town. These can be found near the edge of the woods. The last ones here grow in fields on either side of the south road out of town. They're medicinal so ask any farmer's wife you see to point them out."

"You've been a great help…"

The man stuck out a beefy hand that swallowed Ean's. "Garland Everstone. Anything I can do for our new game warden."

It finally dawned on Ean why Garland was so eager to help. Until the locals could learn to trust and respect him, their fears of how a game warden could harm their business was a greater incentive to complete the surveys than a gold coin. He made a mental note on to counter that fear first in his next encounter.

Ean left the trading post and went looking for the forest flower as an excuse to visit the park.

Although it was late morning and the sun was high, his heart raced as he entered the park. His frantic, unheroic battle with the wounded wolves was fresh in his memory. The imaginary dangers in his mind as he approached the dead drop failed to materialize.

The spy had left him a new message. This time using a Caesar Cipher with a key shift of 6.

QFK: Use the Caesar Cipher with a shift of 6 to decrypt the message before Ean does:

LUXKOMT ZNXKGZY XKSGOT UT ZNK HUXJKX

SKILL UPGRADED: Caesar Cipher II (2/3)

Ean decrypted the message and wished messages could be longer to make them less cryptic. The new message stated,

'foreign threats remain on the border'

but didn't define the threats or specify which border. Whatever the threat, and wherever it came from, he felt confident his network of surveyors and his spy would find them and notify him.

He encrypted a message of his own with the Pigpen cipher to test the abilities of the spy. His message encouraged the spy to assist his surveyors because their work is important to the kingdom.

QFK: Try using the Pigpen Cipher to encrypt this message:

remain vigilant assist surveyors when able

SKILL UPGRADED: Pigpen Cipher +1 (2/3)

Mud-caked and scratched from head to toe, Ean trudged back to the inn after gathering Aria's plants. He thanked the hostess for taking care of the horse and slipped her an extra gold coin. He assumed, 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth', also applied to not questioning the bizarre activities of a generous customer.

Feeling too exhausted to ride, he bathed and ate dinner. Before he turned in for the night, he checked for updates to the stats on his character profile.

SKILL UPGRADED: Fieldcraft +1 (2/3)

STAT INCREASE: Charisma +1

Personal Stats

Name: Ean Fleming Level: 4

Experience Points (XP): 13/24

Points to next level: 11

Gold Pieces: 66

Active Quests: 2

Completed Quests: 18

Failed Quests: 0

CLASS: Spymaster Rank: 3

Reverse The Word (2/3)

Caesar Cipher II (2/3)

Atbash Cipher (2/3)

Numbers For Letters I (0/3)

Letter Frequency Analysis (1/3)

Pigpen Cipher (2/3)

Fieldcraft (2/3)