The start of a new adventure!

Congratulations! You have earned 100 experience for discovering the Landmark, Lucia’s Lair.

Congratulations! You have earned 300 experience for discovering the Interesting Location, Vortern Ghetto.

As exciting as it is to get free experience just for walking out your front door, the distraction of reading the notifications and the sudden brightness of the midday sun is enough to blind you to your surroundings. You blink stupidly against the light as your eyes adjust, before tentatively looking around.

You’re not surprised to emerge in the middle of a town, or ghetto in this case, given what Eladar told you about your “Lair,” but you were hoping for a more exciting view. You’re in a wide alley, full of empty crates and barrels, staring at the peeling green paint on the side of a short building. You can hear the busy sounds of civilization at each end of the alley, though, and quickly move in the noisier direction and what you assume is the main road, eager to get a real look at the world you now live in.

Dozens of people of various sizes and shapes amble or rush to and fro in the wide dirt road before you. You see dwarves, elves, an orc, a gnome, two centaurs, a handful of wolven, a Lynx Catman, and even a red lizardman. It’s all a little overwhelming, and you find yourself transfixed as you watch the colorful traffic move by, the reality of your situation hitting you all over again. You are here, in the middle of a fantasy game full of magic, monsters, and adventure, and it’s all completely, wondrously real. You can’t help but smile as your tail tries to stick up from beneath your dress. This was awesome!

You can’t just stand around gawking forever, though, so you slowly merge into the traffic and walk down the street, trying to learn as much as you can. You can recall that Vortern City is a coastal settlement in the Kingdom of Lorrein, which itself is a part of the Greater Empire of Man. Beyond that, though, you know very little about the place where you’ve been deposited. For an imperial city, you’re surprised not to see any humans, until you spot a pair of men in matching leather armor arguing with an irritated looking Mermaid at her stall. The amphibious woman eventually relents and counts out a small pile of golden coins to hand to the shorter of the two men.

“Pleasure doing business with you, citizen,” The man says, a hint of smug mockery in his deep voice, “The Vortern City Guard thanks you for paying your dues this month.”

The taller guard just chuckles, plucking a strip of dried seaweed from one of her jars as the two men depart, leaving the Mermaid to fume quietly. She begins rearranging her goods and murmuring to herself, and you try to decipher what you just learned. Because it sure looks like extortion, which would mean corruption in the City Guard, if not the entire local government, which could mean Quests. Maybe you’re here to root out that corruption, or lead a rebellion? That seems properly heroic, if a little bit ambitious for your first Quest.

Before any Questing, though, you need information. “Excuse me miss,” You say, doing your best to sound sympathetic instead of excited, “I saw you arguing with those guardsmen, is everything alright?”

The Mermaid gives you a long look, and you take the opportunity to do the same. She’s in her landwalker form, of course, which means she has legs instead of a tail, and her gills are closed while she breathes through her nose. She has bluish-grey skin speckled with green freckles, long black hair, and an expression that could scare a shark into turning vegetarian.

“Are you daft, or just cruel?” She asks, angrily flattening the folds of her skirt, “That’s the second time I’ve had to pay those bastards off in as many weeks, so unless you’re here to buy something, I’d appreciate it if you just fucked off and let me get back to work.”

Okay, that’s not the response you had hoped for. No quest window popped up, either, so maybe you’re on the wrong track? The guards are definitely bullying this poor Mermaid out of her money, though, so you can understand her frustration.

“I’m sorry,” You say, your ears flattening, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m new to town and I don’t like seeing those guardsmen taking advantage of citizens they should be protecting.”

The Mermaid just blinks at you for a long moment, then shakes her head, growing visibly more irritated. “If human greed and corruption is new for you, you must have been living under a rock,” She says, “And I’m not in the mood for whatever game you’re playing at. If you’re so curious, why don’t you go ask the guards, hmmm? Maybe that tall fellow will give you one of my Kings after you suck his cock.”

You blanch at her words, but don’t retaliate with any of your own before heading off in the direction of the guards. The shorter guard had placed the Mermaid’s money in a coin pouch on his belt, so it might be possible for you to stealthily reclaim it for her. After all, sometimes actions speak louder than words.