Never Rush a Choice

The purple light went away as fast as it had appeared, seemingly seeping into the wooden identity tag. This was a normal reaction, as the halfling had actually used a very primal sort of magic in order to imbue Raphael's aura into the identity tag. The aura's color depended on the person in question, but it mostly stayed the same, rarely changing colors. Although a lot of players had tried to find a logic behind it in, they had failed to do so, and miserably at that. It was one of the great mysteries of Origo. Raphael had never had to stay within a city for long period of times, so he had never gone through the creation of identity tags. This was his first time seeing his color, the light shade of purple confused him a little, but it was better than some of the alternatives. Numerous people had cursed their luck when they had gotten pink, never managing to change it, and a few unlucky people had even gotten the rare 'transparent' aura that had no color to it whatsoever.

"There, I've embedded your aura into it, you should be good to go. First identification tag is free of charge, but if you lose it, you'll have to pay to get a replacement made. They're 10 coppers a piece, so keep it safe."

"I'll do that." Raphael agreed, flinching at the steep price. Identification tags were common in towns and cities, but he had never heard of villages using them, let alone charging double the normal price for them. "Was this an idea of Mayor Dawn's?"

"Ah, yes, she brought it with her when she replaced Mayor Bires. Poor man, not the death he expected I'll tell you that!" Bernard shook his head. "Anyway, let's get back to your other request! This piece of paper has information on all of the jobs we currently have open. You can only choose one, seeing as you're just an honorary member of the village."

Raphael took the offered piece of paper and inspected the available quests, a serious look on his face. Most of the 'jobs' or 'missions' that the local militia needed help with were fairly standard. Clear area Y by getting rid of monster M, help villager C find his missing horse A, and so on. These were repeatable quests that all offered a small reward - a hundred or so experience points at most and anywhere between 5 and 20 coppers. Typically the higher the monetary reward, the more experience points a player could expect.

Scanning through the document, Raphael finally saw something that piqued his curiosity towards the end!

Quest: Make contact with the town of Archosa.

Description: The town of Archosa, which is in charge of protecting Blue River, has ceased all contacts for over a month. You are to make your way to Archosa and gather any intelligence that might be useful. If the problem is a monster infestation along the road, then bring back a specimen for the Militia to study.

Reward: 1 Silver, 25 Coppers.

'Jackpot!' Raphael thought, as he gripped the piece of paper. "A silver and a fourth! That's gonna be worth at least a few level ups and scouting missions are what Thieves excel at!'

"I'd like to take the Archosa one, if possible." Raphael said, as calmly as possible.

Bernard nodded and said, "I'll mark that mission as accepted then. You have a week to get back to us, after which I'll have to put it back up for grabs." The halfling took back the list of missions, looking rather jubilant about the choice.

Raphael furrowed his eyebrows as he saw the halfling's reaction. 'Oh this is not good…'

"Excuse me, but am I the first one that has taken this mission?"

The halfling did a double take, nervously answering, "Now, now, that's not important. What is important is the fact that the Blue River Militia will be offering you gear to help you with this vital mission to the safety of every villager! Whether a few people have gone missing is hardly something to waste time over."

"Wait what? Missing? What do you mean by m–"

"First off, we'll be giving you this Location Gem!" Bernard interrupted him, reaching under the table and banging a small gem onto the counter, not unlike a common goods peddler. "In case you happen to be unable to return, not that you'll be in any danger, but if you have vital information for us, simply chant 'En taro Origo', and this little gem will be able to teleport you to the village square. Try not to use it, if you can, these cost a fortune to make and we're already down to our last few."

"Wait, are you telling me the previous people that took this mission didn't even have time to us–"

"Unimportant, truly unimportant for somebody of your great stature, Mr. Levefre." Bernard interrupted Raphael once more, as his hands pulled a belt out of thin air. "Now this here is our second gift to you. A fairly typical belt, but it can hold up to 5 potions. We've taken the liberty of adding one anti-venom potion, as well as two small health potions to boot. Feel free to use these at your own discretion, and you can keep both the belt, potions and gem upon successful completion of the mission. Of course, should you fail, you will be required to return all items and recoup any losses to the Blue River Militia."

"So, I either die along the way and fail or come back and earn a little bit of coin for what literally sounds like a suicide mission?" Raphael sternly said, fed up with the halfling's shenanigans.

"Oh, I doubt it will be as clear-cut as that, Mr. Lefevre. Don't forget, as a Traveler, your soul will never die and you will be able to revive even if you do die. Hah, I bet those other poor mercenaries would have loved to have such an advantage!"

"Hey!"

"Ah, sorry, slip of the tongue. Anyway, you have a week and the mission has been officially accepted, so please do your best. A verbal agreement is as airtight as a written contract, and I'm sure that Mayor Dawn will side with us, so please do your best, otherwise we'll have to assign you to the mines. After all, if you lose the gear, you'll have to pay us back for it. On the bright side, you'd at least be in better shape." Bernard finished with a chuckle, as he quickly left the open-mouthed and dazed Thief all by his lonesome.

Raphael massaged his temples as he felt a headache coming on.

'Should have known, damn it. Dad always said, if it's too good to be true, run as fast and far away as you can!' he thought, a sigh escaping his throat as he turned his gaze to the items he had gotten.

‖ Standard Militia Belt (Common) ‖

▸ Made from cowhide, this belt is typical equipment available to all Azure Kingdom militias. Has 5 pouches that can house various small items ◂

Free pouches: 2/5

+2 Defense

Durability 7/7

‖ Small Health Potion (Consumable) ‖

▸ This alchemical wonder will restore 50 Health Points upon use. Only 1 potion of the same type can be used every 3 minutes. ◂

‖ Basic Anti-venom Potion (Consumable) ‖

▸ Made by a Novice Alchemist, this potion will remove all level 10 or lower poison-related debuffs. ◂

‖ Hearthgem (Consumable) ‖

▸ Can transport player to their designated respawn point. Can not be used if player is in a combat state. ◂

Current respawn location: Blue River Village.