Wandering Dungeon

The sun was high in the sky as the group arrived at the town. They noticed that there were no walls or gates around the town, just some low fences around the farms that they had passed. Although they saw a lot of people working the fields and farms around the town, very few people walked the roads inside the town. The road they were walking down was completely empty. "Seems a little too quiet around here." Kyle said.

"This is actually pretty standard for a farm town." April replied. "Everyone is out in the fields or resting up from working out there since it looks like crops are coming in soon. It probably won't be busy until afternoon or evening when people come in to eat, drink, or shop."

"I forgot you lived in a rural area April." Garrett said. "Must have been quite different coming to the city in high school, huh?"

"Seriously." April sighed. "I didn't get a good night's sleep for the first month because of the constant light and unending noise. At least the first group of people I met at the school were cool."

"Really?" Kyle asked. "I thought we were the first people you met." Kyle chuckled

"Ha ha." Garrett said sarcastically. "Let's just find the guild and see what they have for us. Shall we?"

They walked around for a while but couldn't find the guild office. They had gone down several main roads and even some side streets. They found some homes and some shops selling clothes and bags, some selling basic jewelry made with local stones, and they even found a general store, but no guild office. They ended up going to one of the few taverns in this town. The sign above the door portrayed a cutesy carving of a cow with a crown of flowers on its head.

"Welcome to the Cutesy Cow." The group heard a deep gruff voice call out. "Not many people coming in at this time of day."

The large room contained about ten round tables, each with four chairs and a simple white vase holding a bouquet of wildflowers in the center. A long bar stood at the far end with a door behind it near one end. Behind the bar stood an orc even larger than the one they had meet at the guild in Lakefall. A multitude of scars ran across his large, bare, grey skinned chest and arms. An eyepatch covered one eye while the other, deep red colored eye gazed at them. His mouth locked in a sneer with one large tusk jutting from under his good eye, the other tusk was clearly broken off. The group stared at this large orc that would probably be more at home on a battlefield swinging a giant sword and maybe fighting Grandma Jenny, than being behind a bar. "So, what do you lot want?" He said in that deep rumbling voice as the group approached the counter.

"We just came into town and were just looking for the adventurer's guild office for this town." Garrett said.

"Ah, then you've come to the right place." The orc huffed. "Our town isn't big enough for its own branch, so we just have a representative that works out of here when the need arises. The name's Gur'tok by the way."

"I see, thanks Gur'tok." Garrett said a little sheepishly. "How soon could we talk to them? We have a quest to turn in and want to see if they have any others we could help out with."

"Hey, Brellia!!!" Gur'tok shouted toward the door behind the counter. "Some adventurers are here to see you."

"Give me a minute." Came a loud, irritated, yell in response.

"She'll be out in a moment." Gur'tok growled. "Anything I can help you with while you wait?"

"Why is your tavern named the Cutsey Cow?" April asked.

"That was my wife's idea. She grew up on a farm and always felt a fond connection to the cows they raised." Gur'tok glared at the group as if challenging them to say anything rude.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop glaring at everyone. You'll scare off our customers." A petite woman yelled out as she walked out of the door behind the counter, her long red hair swaying behind her. She was dressed in a simple white dress with blue diamonds along the hems. She fixed her bright blue eyes on the group and smiled as her long, pointed ears wiggled a bit. "Don't mind my husband, he's a kitten when you get to know him. He's just terrible about showing his softer side to people." She turned to the orc that towered over her. "It's a habit of his from growing up with orcs."

Gur'tok's whole demeanor softened when he looked at his wife. "Honey, I have an image to maintain." He cooed.

She lightly slapped him on the chest. "Just go get some drinks for them, would you? And let me do my job." Gur'tok walked away toward the door she had come from, and the group realized it must lead to the kitchen. The woman turned to the group, her hands on her hips. "I'm Brellia. I take it you are the adventurers that came to turn in the quest?"

Garrett stepped forward and pulled out his guild card. "Yes. We came from Lakefall and wanted to turn in the horned rabbit extermination quest I took." He said and placed his card on the counter.

Brellia reached under the counter and took out a statue of a cow sitting in a lotus position that looked to be made of the same crystal as the orb from the guild branch in Lakefall. She took the card and placed it at the mouth of the cow as if to feed it. To the group's surprise the cow statue opened its mouth and swallowed the card. "I thought the guilds used orbs?" Garrett asked.

Brellia chuckled lightly. "It is the crystal that is important not the shape. Most branches use orbs because it is easier to make. In the larger towns and cities, the crystals will wear out from how much they are used. I had mine made into a cow since I like cows, and we don't get adventurers coming in very often." The blue box appeared above the statue that showed Garretts basic info and the list of his quests.

Name Garrett

Rank F

Quests Horned Rabbit Extermination

Brellia tapped her finger on the box that showed the quest, and a new window appeared.

Horned Rabbit Extermination

The horned rabbit population in the woods east of Lakefall has increased beyond safe levels. Cull the horned rabbit population by killing ten horned rabbits.

Rewards: 5 silver. 5 copper per additional rabbit.

Horned Rabbits culled: 23

Gur'tok returned with three mugs of ale and placed them on the counter. "Horned rabbits." He chuckled. "The orcs hunt those when we get our first spear at three years old." Blixie flew down and gave the ale a sniff before lifting the glass that was nearly half her size and drinking the ale.

"Stop trying to show off." Brellia chided Gur'tok then turned back to Garret. "Great job going above and beyond on your quest." She grabbed a small crystal from a necklace hidden under her dress and tapped it on the blue box. COMPLETE, showed across the box and it disappeared. "The funds have been added to your guild card. Just take that to any bank and you can retrieve your money. Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of coin laying around."

"That's fine." Garrett said since they don't really need money for food or lodging. "Do you have any quests we can take?"

"Only a few quests for helping around the fields on various farms since the harvest is about to come in but otherwise, no. Our little village is pretty remote for monsters or bandits to attack." She replied with a sigh. "There is a mining town by the foot of the mountain further east. I hear they are always asking for help with monsters in the mines, or down south there is a port town near the sea. You could try there since a lot of goods move through there. Merchants are always looking for bodyguards."

"Thanks for the info. We will have to think about where we want to go." Garrett said as Brellia removed his card from the cow's mouth and handed it back. The group said goodbye and left the tavern.

"Well, they seemed nice." Brellia remarked. "But a little odd."

"Yea, what kind of adventurer passes up on good ale?" Gur'tok said as he and Brellia looked down at the two full mugs of ale, then at the empty mug. "But that pixie sure could drink." He chuckled.

"She was a pixie?" Brellia asked. "I thought she was a fairy."

"Not a fairy. Based on how she was dressed and how she carried herself she was a pixie. My tribe would see some every so often." Gur'toks eyes glazed over as he reminisced of days long past. "Great fighting instructors." Gur'tok and Brellia lifted the two mugs and downed them in one gulp.

"Well, we have got to get ready for the dinner rush coming up so get sweeping while I finish prepping in the kitchen." Brellia retreated through the door and back to the kitchen.

"Yes, dear." Gur'tok said with a smile as he picked up a broom that was built for a much smaller person and started carefully sweeping the floor.