The apartment was pitch black until the viewing stone on the night stand blared it’s alarm. Jordan had recently changed it to be a recording of a dragon chewing on bones so he would be more motivated to turn it off and get up immediately. As he tapped it and put on his glasses, he was curious to see how much the quest yesterday had done for him.

06/9/1 7:00 am

Name: Jordan Hamilton

Race: Half-Elf

Class: Ranger

Level: 4

Guild Score: 845

Skills

Adventurer’s Boon

Smell Weakness (Shark)

Swift Hand

Natures Credit

He hadn’t leveled up but he couldn’t help himself from smiling at that big number. It was only 2 months ago that he had been struggling with pest control and herb collection that didn’t even pay him. He felt much more relaxed in the last couple of weeks, even if he was doing a new job everyday. Bryn was insistent they get the work done early or he would procrastinate, and as uptight as he was, Jordan had to admit it was effective.

He got out of his twin bed and began walking toward the window to open the curtain. After doing so he realized how pointless that was, forgetting in his sleepy state where he now lived.

The Shadow District was a section of Zephtal that was covered in a permanent darkness spell. 30 years before, a sorcerer that excelled in alchemy began an illegal drug trade in this district. Eventually the guild put out a quest for his life, and before the party assigned to kill him finished the job, he used a lethal amount of den to cast a Diabolic Trigger spell, essentially a bomb fueled by dark magic. He used so much den in the attack he died immediately upon casting it, but the explosion destroyed 5 city blocks, killed everyone in the radius, and kept the district in darkness.

The rent was cheap as heck though. 1500 gold for the first month and deposit was a steal.

After receiving the bonus that Ernie had been bullied into giving them, Bryn and Jordan went to eat at Blackerby’s Blackberries, a local pastry shop with delicious blackberry pie. As they feasted, Bryn told Jordan he had decided to stay in town and continue adventuring if he was willing to continue working with him. When Jordan argued that it wouldn’t be safe for him Bryn, the fact was brought up that Bryn did most of the heavy lifting on the previous job. Jordan had to agree with that point and they agreed to form a long term party.

As Jordan went into the kitchen he saw Bryn making coffee. He was wearing pajamas and Jordan was challenging himself everyday to not laugh. It was proving to be the most difficult task he had taken on as an adventurer. “Morning, we still going to Nelson’s today?” Bryn asked, biting into a piece of dry toast.

“Yeah I need my stomach to finish whatever it’s doing and then we can go. Shouldn’t be more than an hour, did you finish the project you were working on yesterday?” Jordan asked grabbing his own cup of coffee.

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Bryn sat down on their living room couch. After a thorough cleaning, you would never be able to tell this couch was picked up on the street. The 2 bedroom apartment was well lit, as was necessary with the lack of daylight. There were no decorations on the wall, and the only furniture beside the couch was the large viewing stone on the floor.

“It’s got some weird side effects, but it does cast the invisibility spell for 10 seconds every time. But we shouldn’t use it until I deal with the vomiting aspect of it.” He said, rubbing his stomach slightly. Bryn had been experimenting like a madman since moving to the Shadow Apartment, putting an alchemy station in his room after the first week.

Jordan didn’t mind at all. The results could be weird, or just flat out bad sometimes. But the good results gave them unique advantages depending on the quests they take. Potions tend to be the most expensive part of a an adventurers inventory, especially if the party has no true healer. The fact that Bryn has been able to make basic potions at home has been a godsend to their budget.

After an hour passed, the duo changed out of their pajamas and into their adventuring gear. Bryn had upgraded to a sturdy crimson red set of robes enchanted with 5 defense crystals. Since Bryn lacked an Adventurers Boon, he would be downed upon receiving one hit from an enemy. The defense crystal prevents all damage one receives upon being hit, but it shatters upon use. Normally this is too expensive of an option, but this was the only choice Bryn had since he wouldn’t move well in heavy armor.

Jordan has taken on the main combatant role, with Bryn supporting and staying out of the main fight. After doing daily quests for a month, Jordan upgraded his gear for the first time. His basic leather armor was enchanted with Quick, which gives an 8% boost to speed. He also upgraded his bow to the Everbow, still a cheap option but designed with mobility in mind, weighing half the size of his previous bow with a 10% increase in damage. The final upgrade to his gear was the starter level sword he got from Nelson’s. Nothing special but better than a kitchen knife.

Finally, They attached their headlamps and made their way to the Guild.

The Darkness of the area surrounded them like an evil fog, the intensity of the dark magic that birthed it sending a chill down Jordan’s spine. While they were stable financially and finally out of the dorms, they were both eager to continue working. This neighborhood was objectively creepy and the fast food restaurants were all awful.

The nice part about the Shadow Apartment is that it’s near the border to the Gold District, and as the pair crossed into the sparkling gaudiness, the pure shine nearly blinded them. Nelson’s was on the way to the guild, and the order ahead option was something Bryn took advantage of quite often. Jordan admitted it was convenient to pick up supplies by ordering through the viewing orb, but he felt himself missing the social element.

Jordan approached the lockers and poured den into number 3, and it popped open revealing Bryn’s ingredients and Jordan’s arrow additives.

“Back in my day people used to talk to each other.” Jordan said imitating an old man.

“Shut up Jordan, interacting with you all day drains my social battery before I leave the apartment.” Bryn said, grabbing his order and checking his ingredients for damage. Jordan took his additives and placed them in his pack. “I wonder if I’ll get to experiment today.” Jordan asked as he patted his pack.

“Don’t antagonize things we don’t need to antagonize, unless you want to pay for more defense crystals.” Jordan shook his head, knowing he barely had any money leftover after putting what he needed to toward savings. He needed to get out of that creepy neighborhood though.

As they approached the entrance to Everwatch, Bryn noticed a trio of what appeared to be barbarian dwarves whispering and pointing at them. He tried to ignore them, but he still wasn’t used to the attention. It’s not as if he and Jordan had done anything amazing considering their level, but the fact that he had no class and Jordan was a Ranger made it impressive they were still working at all.

As they entered the guild and approached the board, Jordan spoke up as they looked.

“Once we hit 1850 we’re Gold rank. We should try to knock that out in the next quest all at once since it takes 3 weeks for the benefits to kick in” he said looking at the mid level jobs. “Should we try the dungeon that opened in Shadow? We should get experience with those kinds of jobs early if we can” he said pointing to a specific posting.

A dungeon portal has opened in the downtown area of the Shadow District. Clear out the left wing of the first level, confirming with a provided detect creature stone that all hostile creatures in the wing are deceased.

Reward: 500 gold and 20 guild points

Required Guild Point Total: 900

“We really got lucky with that spawn quest with the points. This job looks like it would be way harder and take way longer for the same amount” Bryn said.

“Well that’s because it’s the dungeon, there’s a chance of loot. The guild says it makes up for the low point total, even though it’s random so you could get screwed.” Jordan said.

“Let’s do it, I’ll do some gambling today, and either way by the end we’re Gold” Bryn said enthusiastically. Jordan bowed, which Bryn thought was strange, before heading to May to turn in their next quest. As Jordan walked to the desk, he felt the familiar eyes of his fellow adventures on him.

It felt a little different now though.