Just Pay For The Map

This is bullshit, this is extortion! But you don’t see any other choice, and so with narrowed eyes you reach for your coin purse and count out 30 gold before pressing it into the worn wood of the counter.

“Hmm… should have asked for more… alright…” the man says, sliding the coin off the counter and into his palm before pocketing it, turning around and pulling the map down from the wall.

“Here you go young lady… safe travels…” the man mumbles beneath his mustache as he hands you the map, rolling up and tied together with a thin red thread.

Snatching the map from his liver spotted hand you place it into your pack before departing, silently cursing this town as you trudge off into the woods, consulting the map regularly after using the sun to reorient yourself.

The town of Minerva’s Folly rests a few days travel north west, thankfully there still exists a road to connect the two towns, an ancient trade route no doubt however with the collapse of the town, it’s poorly maintained, weeds and thickets sprout up from the old stretch of dirt and dust, trees press in, invading the path on both sides as they sway in the breeze tauntingly.

As you walk you try to occupy your mind, with 2 days of walking ahead of you, boredom might kill you faster then a highwayman’s arrow, and as your mind begins to wander, your thoughts linger on these artifacts.

Admittedly you have never held any special reverence for the gods, you enjoy the stories, you appreciate the work they do maintaining the prime materium but that’s it, meaning you don’t know much about Helm or these eyes of his.

Maybe their enchanted spectacles? That allow the wearer to see through deception or illusions..? What little material you were given about them, you can certainly see that possibility though the curator didn’t seem too invested in their retrieval, this IS your first mission after all.

And what about those demons? Surely demons would have destroyed or stolen the eyes of they were so special, what if you’re going through all this work just to find an empty temple or worse, a temple that only hold demons.

You spend a good few hours of the walk like this, your mind bouncing around your skull, intrigued by the discoveries you might make as well as worried about the discoveries you might make.

As the sun begins to dip beneath the jagged spires of the trees, the forest grows darker, you’ll need to make camp soon, hell, you don’t even HAVE camp supplies… but that’s fine, you’re a Wintermoor student, and while you haven’t finished your education, you have the tools to solve this, you can do this!

You find a dip in the road, a small niche that the forest hasn’t taken for itself yet, it’s out of the way but still within line of sight of the road, it’ll suit your purposes for now at least.

Making fire is easy, hell you knew how to do it from back home, you remember fond memories by the fire, watching your father tend the flames, it brings you back.

The fire starts with a small sizzle but quickly expands from oxygen and fuel, becoming a modest campfire, penned in by some stones you found lying around.

Unfortunately you don’t have much to eat but that’s fine, wild berries tend to grow along old roads like these and with very few people having come through this stretch of road, there must be plenty to find tomorrow.

You lay back, staring up at the inky black vault speckled with shining stars, distant celestial bodies, like little gems in the crown of the moon, a great white light that shines full and pure down upon the mortal plane, casting a hauntingly beautiful pale light across the wilderness.

Sleep comes fast then you anticipated, staring up at the starry night sky, the rest of the world fading out from the sight, leaving just you and the moon, floating across the eternal, forever, sky.

[Lose 30 Gold]