The sudden appearance of a large group led some of the locals to stare at them with curiosity.
It didn't seem as though the locals thought of them as a hostile party, as they didn't even bother to tell the children who were running around to be careful.
A group of children, who were chasing after what seemed to be the local dog, had briefly glanced at the party but went back to chasing the dog playfully only moments after.
Merlin's group walked towards the temple's outpost, the occupied building that now featured the temple's symbol on a large banner.
The group all walked into the building unimpeded. The clerics who were standing guard at the door, who had previously stopped Merlin from entering the first time he visited, simply stood by and allowed them to enter.
The group traversed up a flight of stairs before walking down a corridor in an orderly fashion.
Merlin knocked on the door of Archbishop Ferdinand's office, and only after he heard the voice of an older gentleman giving him permission to enter did he open the door and walk into the office.
"Good evening Archbishop. We've come to ask if you have any assignments in the Necropolis that we can participate in." Merlin said as everyone else started walking into the room.
With a total of nine people in the office, it was starting to get rather crowded, but Archbishop Ferdinand ignored this and spoke calmly.
"We are consistently sending teams into the Necropolis to collect information for our next major assault," The Archbishop said, "Unfortunately, I cannot in good conscious give any of those tasks to your group. I see that all eight of you are new recruits, and me giving you any task requiring you to step foot upon the accursed land will undoubtedly be nothing more than me giving you a death sentence."
"So, to put that in English, we're not a high enough level to start the quest?" Alvira muttered quietly to herself, just softly enough for those in her immediate surroundings, including Merlin, to hear her.
"Well, if stepping into the Necropolis is a death sentence, would it be possible to pick up any tasks within the valley?" Merlin asked.
"Well, I was going to give this task to one of the new groups within training, but since you all seem so eager, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give it to you." Archbishop Ferdinand said as he reached under his desk, pulling out a single sheet of paper.
"Much like the task you've all done in the past, the undead are once again persistently wandering into the valley." He said, "I'd like for your group to cleanse the wandering undead who have gotten too close to the village and push the evil horde back into the Necropolis."
Merlin reached out and took the sheet of paper that was handed to him, and as his fingers made contact with the sheet, everyone in his party suddenly had a quest notification appear before them.
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[Common Quest]
Push back the horde.
You've been tasked with purging a small group of undead that have wandered into the valley. You will journey into the valley and annihilate the enemy force, pushing back the encroachment of evil and temporarily guarding the village's peace.
Undead killed: 0/20
• Reward: 250 EXP, 4 Silver
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"Thank you, we'll accept this task," Merlin said, accepting the task for himself, while everyone else just pressed the accept button on their quest windows.
"I'm looking forward to hearing of a successful mission," The Archbishop said before picking his pen back up and going back to his paperwork.
"We'll be off," Merlin said as the group started funnelling back out through the door and making their way out of the building.
"So that's how you get all those quests," Alvira said, "I would have walked out after the first rejection. So the secret is to be insistent huh?"
"Well, it depends. If you're too pushy then they may be repulsed by you. That could lead to you getting worse quests, worse loot for a quest's completion, or even a loss of familiarity if you're annoying enough." Merlin said, "Each NPC has their own personality, you just have to act in a way that the NPC likes to get the best outcome."
"Oh, could you give me an example?" Alvira asked.
"Alright, well..." Merlin said as he quickly thought of a quest.
"Right, so imagine the quest giver is a pompous noble brat," Merlin said, "Let's say this noble has the typical traits of a noble brat, so a dash of narcissism, self-centred behaviour, and think they're better than commoners due to the status granted to them by their birth."
"Sounds like you've got someone exactly in mind for that scenario, but go on," Alvira said.
"Now, if you were to speak with this NPC, several things could severely lower their opinion of you. Perhaps you spoke to them with a rude tone or informal language. Hell, maybe you're wearing cheap clothes, or have fancy clothes but an obvious dirt stain on your pant leg." Merlin listed out several more factors that may or may not affect the outcome of an interaction with the NPC, "Now, say you pick up enough negative factors, that NPC will likely not grant you the quest, or even speak with you. But if you do somehow manage to get the quest, say it previously granted a fancy dagger or several gold coins. They may only give you a single gold coin, or a few silvers, in return."
"That's pretty messed up..." Alvira said, "How do I know if I haven't been cheated out of a quest reward?"
"You pretty much can't, unless other people brag about the same quest, but other factors could be at play there too." He said, "Or if you're doing quests from a guild, those tend to have static rewards unless another factor of the quest can possibly increase the reward."
"Alright, my head's spinning. That's enough school for one day, thanks." Alvira said, nodding as if she absorbed all the information Merlin had just provided her.
The group were making their way through town, continuing the various discussions until Merlin heard the faint cries of what he could only assume were that of a child.
"Do you guys hear that?" He said while giving them all a hand sign to lower their voices.
As everyone quietened down, more of the group started to pick up the sound, namely Nora and Snowbunny.
"Is that crying?" Nora asked, "It sounds like it's coming from over there."
Nora pointed to a cluster of buildings, and as the group slowly made their way over to them, the crying got louder, enough for those without more sensitive hearing to pinpoint the origin.
As the group walked around one of the houses, they found themselves in what they could only assume was a shared backyard. It wasn't quite a playground, but it had a single swing hanging from the thick branch of a tree. Other than the swing, the area had several racks that were holding wet clothes, and there were a few tables and chairs in the area too.
On the aforementioned swing, there was the lone figure of a young child, a boy who appeared to be roughly seven or eight years of age, quietly sobbing to himself while lightly swinging back and forth.
'That's going to be a troublesome quest,' Merlin thought to himself. But before he could walk forward to speak with the young boy, Snowbunny had already pushed passed him and quickly approached the child.
"Hey, little buddy, what's the matter?" She asked in a soft and friendly tone.
The child seemed startled at first, but he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes before looking up at Snowbunny, who was partially hunched over to meet the child at eye level but was still somewhat higher than him.
"...ister," the child whimpered, "not... home."
"I said... not to go..." The kid continued, his sentences were broken up by the constant sniffling. "But she said......going to make sure......birthday."
"Yeah, I'm not catching a word here..." Snowbunny turned to the group and muttered with a somewhat pained expression.
Merlin took a step forward and dropped down to eye level with the child, who was strangely mesmerised by his vibrant purple eyes, enough that his sniffling halted for a moment.
"Your sister left to go somewhere, because of your birthday, and hasn't returned yet?" Merlin asked.
The child nodded, and tears started forming in his eyes once more.
"Where did she go? To the city? Into the valley?" Merlin asked, "What was she getting for you?"
"Valley... I said... I wanted... berry for birthday..." The child said, "Sister never lets me eat them... because hard to wash..."
"Your sister left, travelling into the valley in search of purple berries because you asked for them for your birthday, and has not returned?" Merlin asked.
The child's eyes widened and he quickly nodded to confirm Merlin's attempt at decoding the kid, and almost immediately after, everyone in the party had a quest window appear before them.
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[Rare Quest]
The Search for Mauvberry.
The sister of a young child has apparently wandered into the valley in search of Mauvberry for the child's birthday.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the sister hasn't returned home for quite some time, enough for the child in question to break out in tears.
Perhaps you should go locate the child's sister and make sure she's okay.
Locate the child's sister.
• Reward: 340 EXP, ???
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"Hey buddy, don't worry," Snowbunny said, "We'll find your sister for you."
The child turned to Merlin, who nodded to confirm Snowbunny's claim, this action caused the quest to get accepted.
"Just sit tight and be brave, we'll get your sister back in no time," Snowbunny said as she stood back up, stretching her back that had been hunched over for several minutes at that point.
