The Boon creaked gently as it moved along its course. It had been an hour since its departure from Zephtal, and the only 3 passengers were gathered around a table in a makeshift meeting room. This ship was used to transport cargo with adventurers being a second priority, and that could be felt intensely in the cramped space Bryn, Jordan, and Luther were huddled up in. Luther had allowed the boys to settle in and unpack their things after their steamy meeting. The pair had the impression they would each get their own room, but that was clearly not the case as they found each other room to be full of various spices and furniture meant for Morten.

After storing their items in the bedroom, they examined the room itself, which did not take long. The king size bed would fit them both, the nightstands on either side had viewing crystals, and the closet was just big enough for their luggage. The pair met Luther in the meeting room. He was no longer shirtless, now sporting a hooded maroon cloak and form fitting leather armor. His pointed ears stuck out of his hood, and his red eyes stood out sharply on his wrinkled, green facd. Looking at him now, Jordan would have been slightly intimidated if he hadn’t just seen this man sweating and panting profusely. He seemed much more composed now, leaning back in his chair without a care in the world. Jordan and Bryn joined him at the table, the cheap wooden stools creaking below them.

“You gentlemen are lucky you have me to guide you through your first Journey Quest” Luther said, his raspy voice offsetting his attempt to look relaxed. “I’m assuming no one told you the specifics of your mission?” He asked. They both shook their heads nervously, as this was something that Bryn especially had been nervous about. They hadn’t received any details when accepting the quest, and even when they were assigned to Morten, they were just given the ship details and location.

Luther noticed Bryn’s nervous energy and laughed. “Don’t start molting buddy, it’s nothing serious. You accept the mission, the guild gives you a handsome contact point” he said as he gave a wide mouth smile and pointed both his thumbs at himself. “And you get the mission details on the way. These Journey Quests take a ton of resources for both Everwatch and the people that requested your service, so they want to make sure the adventurers don’t get cold feet if they don’t like something they hear in the briefing.” He said concisely. Bryn was impressed at how knowledgeable the goblin seemed, despite his strange behavior.

“First things we’ll establish is where you’re going: Dregmoor, a mid size town 50 miles outside of Morten’s capital Drakseth.” Luther said as he put his feet up on the table and folded his hands behind his head. Jordan could tell Luther enjoyed the feeling of giving information he had that other people didn’t, and he couldn’t help but respect that about him. “This town is comprised of a mostly demon population, and is essentially a marsh town. It’s humid like you wouldn’t believe, moisture is your enemy so stay dry. The village is next to a swamp that’s known to be thick with den, it’s probably what the toads are attracted to.” Luther said, nodding at his revelation.

“Toads” Bryn said with a confused expression.

“We’ll get to that, anyway the town’s been through it in the last couple of years, the capital is where the final battle between Jefendra and Yamuthe took place after all. The aftershocks were so intense it cause the ground to split all the way through to Dragmoor, and the town has been trying to recover ever since.” He said as he took a knife from his pocket and began spinning it around his finger. “It’s pretty cool I can do that without looking huh?” Luther said as he made eye contact with Jordan.

“I’m honestly impressed” Jordan said as he watched the knife in amazement.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Hey guys can we get back to the… to the thing we were just doing? I’ve made my peace with Jordan being confusing, please don’t join him Luther” Bryn said as he flicked the side of Jordan’s head.

“You’ll warm up to me one day” Luther said as Jordan yelped dramatically. “I suppose what’s most important is your job: for the next two months, you’ll be the towns protectors. You’ll be doing daily patrols on the town’s borders, following up on any reports by the citizens, and dealing with the groups that have been harassing the town.” Luther said as he sat forward slightly more seriously.

“Harassing?” Jordan asked as he rubbed his head.

“Yeah, well I guess it’s not all technically harassing. Nevermore is definitely harassing” Luther said, causing both Bryn and Jordan to tense up slightly. Nevermore is a well known criminal Guild led by former adventurers, their influence apparently spreading outside of Zephtal’s borders. “I dealt with a small gang of them back home, they were trying to steal a scroll from a museum I had taken a quest to guard.” Jordan said, his tone quieting. “They were frisky but I was able to hold them off until the town guards arrived. Is it a large group?” He asked.

“Not too crazy, there’s 50 of them holed up in a fortress outside of town. They won’t take their entire faction and invade or anything, so just make sure the few that come by don’t cause too much damage.” Luther said picking at his teeth with his fingernail.

“Isn’t it our job to stop them and help the people in the town?” Bryn said raising his eyebrow.

“No” Luther said quickly “Like i said, what was requested of the guild was 2 adventurers to come and protect the town from the attacks that have been happening. Whether or not the bandits are still operational after your 2 months are up isn’t your problem. May I finish?” He asked.

Bryn took the hint to remain quiet, simply nodding as Luther continued. “Other than the bandits there’s been 2 other reoccurring issues: the plants and the Trip Toads.” He said as the pair both reacted to the mention of the latter. “The town has unusual plant growth that seeps into the walls of the buildings and into the roads. It seems to be stemming from a large unopened flower in the middle of the swamp outside town. No one seems to know what to do with that, I would say just trim the plants every day and do as much damage control as possible.” He said shrugging his shoulders. The nonchalant way he presented their job to them bothered Bryn, but he held his tongue as Luther continued.

“Finally the toads. These are some nasty fellas, a gift that came from a demon alchemist’s little experiment. They’re about the size of a horse and the toxic sludge constantly oozing from their pores both poisons you and makes you hallucinate. For whatever reason, the toads form packs, and they’ve holed up outside of town. Apparently at least once a week they come down and cause mayhem for a while before leaving. They’ll be the easiest though, their patterns are usually predictable and some basic traps will do the trick. They might even leave if you keep snagging them. Of course if you kill all the threats, you’ll qualify for the elimination bonus.” He said with a smile, showing off his yellowed and strangely pointy teeth.

“Elimination bonus?” Jordan asked.

“Elimination bonus. What I’ve told you up to now is the bare minimum of what you need to do for the quest to be considered completed upon your arrival. You’ll get the reward that was advertised, nothing more, nothing less. But, each threat that the mayor Dragmoor signs off on as being eliminated adds 1000 gold and 400 guild points. You don’t need to solve this towns problems long term, but you do have some incentive to do so, which is what the mayor who paid for this quest is hoping for.” Luther said breathing heavily as he leaned back in his chair. Despite his boisterous attitude, it seemed like talking this much had really tuckered him out.

The overload of information caused Jordan to slump back in his chair as well, his head spinning with the details of the quest. He looked over at Bryn, who was writing in his journal furiously. While he was a borderline genius with how quickly he picked up alchemy, his short term memory is awful, so Jordan understood why Bryn was writing at such a rushed pace.

Luther seemed to steady himself and took a drink from a flask he pulled from inside his cloak, the contents a mystery to Jordan despite the potent smell from across the room. Wiping his mouth, Luther spoke with drastically dipping enthusiasm. “Any questions folks? I’ve drained my social battery for the day, so I’d like to go into my room and stare out the window for an hour or 2”. Bryn opened a fresh page in his notebook, and had his pen ready in hand as he spoke.

“What do you know about the Malefic Brewing Technique?” Bryn asked, both Jordan and Luther looking at each other with confused expressions.