. . . Quests.”

Leaning back against a tree you tell them “You remember I told you that you get Skills and Attribute Points by doing things between levels?

“This is where the true power behind the seemingly useless beginner quests lie. You are going to try claiming areas, and so you will want to get some Craft skills to help you make your places. That includes wood, stone, metal and fabric. Now a beginner quest might have had you helping that farmer I mentioned before build that wall. You get paid, possible XP, as well as possibly boosting your Strength when you next level, and get Crafting (Stone) as a Skill!

“And as I said before, skills boost each other. The old quest of gathering herbs can give you Herbology, which boost the skills for Cooking, Healing, Alchemy, potion making, Poisons, and also help mages, Clerics and Warlocks with their rituals. That does not include Harvesting skills, having people keep a look out for possible hostile beings and so forth.

“Thus some seemingly useless and pointless Quests actually can help you a lot!”

You stop for a bit. Yeah, that is sinking in. When it had sank in enough “That is totally ignoring the old Quest Chains.”

Daenawl interrupted “Wait, Quest Chains? I never even heard of them!” He seemed highly offended that information had been kept from him.

Smiling “Imagine you got a small quest that you do, and it leads you to be able accept another quest, that leads to another and so forth. Lots of small quests but they might be focused on getting one thing done. Another way to view it is a large quest broken into smaller quests with how to do it already planned and laid out for you, and you able to quit part way through with all you had gained so far.”

Alizin frowned “What happened to them?”

“The Gods are idiots and abandoned them, and the Quest Givers who handed them out. When I say idiots, I really mean it. You see Quests, even quest chains had another use other than giving out XP and training Players. It allowed the Gods to create Quests to influence things in the world more directly and precisely. Right now they are reliant on Events and Updates, which are large scale things and can cause a lot of problems.”

The Players looked at each other in shock. If what you were saying was true, the Gods were fucked in their heads to let go of such a useful tool!

Franek’s face flickered for a bit. For a moment he got an evil smile, but a split second latter it changed to one of confusion. “Quest givers? What happened to them, and where can we find them?”

“They could be anywhere. They could be a homeless person begging for help, a merchant offering to pay for a service, a hermit in the woods, a monster begging for help, a fugitive seeking to prove their innocence, a Cleric seeking to perform their faith’s duties, and many, many more. Until they were found, none would know who they were. I am not one. Part of the training is in how to find them. When the old Adventurer Guild was around, it effectively worked as one, as well as purchaser and seller of material, Medical Centre, local news area and more.”

Standing up you stretch and tell them “It’s time to get started.”

Jonis asks you “How do we start?”