Death Becomes Him: An Age of Steam and Sorcery Novel

Chapter Nine

 Peter stood up from the doorstep, allowing someone to pass as he logged in. They registered his sudden appearance with a surprised "Oh!" and nearly fell through the doorway causing the bell to jangle alarmingly. Peter himself half-turned and nearly fell backwards into the street. Staggering and bumping into people, bouncing from obstacle to obstacle like a rogue pinball until he managed to pick up the pace enough to outrun the cries and complaints of the offended.

After what he felt was a safe distance, Peter slowed to consider his options. In order to make potions to avoid ending up in the crypt again he was going to need money. In order to make money he was going to have to gather resources and sell them or complete quests, or both. In order to do so, he was going to have to risk ending up in the crypt again. He remembered an old story his grandfather had told him about a man in a situation like this, Catch something or other. A number, maybe? Anyway, it seemed appropriate. He was caught well and truly. What I need is proper equipment, weapons and a change of clothes. These are fast becoming more hole than cloth.

Though he kept an eye out for a seamstress or tailor on the way back to the square he saw neither, and popping his head into the smithy confirmed that even the most basic metal armour prices were well out of his price range. He decided to try the wall of quests in the tavern to see if there was anything he could do that would not result in an abrupt visit to Jacob.

Inside, the air was much clearer and quieter than yesterday. The Northmen were either sleeping off their hangovers in their rooms or had moved on altogether. As he approached the jobs board, the lack of jobs pinned to it suggested the latter. There were still several available though and Peter read each one carefully.

Please get rid of the rats in my basement.

Please bring me ten mushrooms from the forest.

Please fetch ten fox pelts.

Please remove the bugs from my crop.

Please take this basket to my grandmother, she lives outside of town.

And so on. Epic quests they were not, but Peter was starting to see why the Travellers in the fields as he arrived were performing such menial tasks. As kindly as Jacob was, his was not a face you wanted to see every day. And Peter had apparently been away for the worst part. He idly wondered how many people just log off for that bit.

He took each of the quests down and pressed his thumb to the mark to accept them. His intention was to leave the bugs and foxes until he managed to acquire a weapon of some sort, those bugs the Travellers had been fighting came up to their knees at a minimum, and the mushrooms until last of all. That forest didn't look like a nice place at all. As he tried to accept the easiest one, the basket delivery, the sheet lit up with a red message beside the quest acceptance mark. Quest queue full. Complete or discard a quest before accepting another. Well, that one will have to wait then. He still had the dog rescue quest from last night, though he was wary of where that one would lead. If it was in the forest it could wait until he was ready to try the mushroom collecting.

Rats, however, that was his speed. The quest did not specify that he had to kill them, just remove them. And the willow tree would provide the bark to make the perfect tool. Before leaving the inn, Pete stopped by the bar and purchased a peanut butter sandwich. Only a copper and worth it for his plan to work.

On the way out of the village he stopped at the fruit cart that he had passed on the way to Bovrn's Bower and thanked his lucky stars they sold bananas. Their being exotic to this area and imported would normally set him back a whole silver, but he argued with the vendor that the one he wanted was black and far too overripe for human consumption. The fruiterer made a joke about feeding it to his pet monkey, but let it go at three copper.

In the field not far from the village walls a stream meandered along, and hanging over it was the old willow tree. This was the primary ingredient for his plan to work. Peter pulled out his sickle and shaved off several long pieces of bark. He hoped they were enough.

With his ingredients he hurried back to the inn. Behind the bar, Rosie was working again. He greeted her and asked for a pot of tea with milk. "Last of the big spenders, eh? Two coppers for you, where are you sitting today?"

"Thanks Rosie," Peter said as he handed over two of his rapidly dwindling supply of coins. "I think I'll sit outside again."

Taking a seat at a table on the patio to wait, Peter began to worry. What if this doesn't work? I'm only guessing that some real-world effects should carry over into the game. Maybe they didn't program this in? Peter jiggled nervously in his seat until Rosie brought out his order. Offering his thanks, he began the experiment with crossed fingers.

The tea was hot and still steeping so he added the willow bark shavings to the pot. He fretted as they brewed, but he waited until the pot was completely cold. He then added the milk that was intended for his drink, and poured them into the tea cup. He pulled out the sandwich he bought earlier, mashed the banana onto it, and dipped it into the willow bark / milky tea concoction. His arm began to itch again, so he checked on his Skills tab. A whole 0.5% had been added to Herbalism. He looked closely at the soggy ex-sandwich. A second itch told him something else had changed. A new skill, Appraise had appeared with a value of 0.1%. Well, well. It seems your actions really do have results. He placed the resulting mush into his inventory, and found it had a label now. Sleep inducing snack. There was more information in the tooltip, mostly warning that it was an untested recipe and might have unexpected results. Since Peter had no intention of eating it himself, he felt it safe to ignore that bit. He closed his inventory and scrolled over to his Quests. He thumbed the guiding lights mark and with a nod to Rosie through the open door of the inn, set off for his next quest.

Or at least, he would have, but a blinking icon lit up in the corner of his vision. I have to get back to reality before mum comes home, Peter grimaced. All that running around took up more time than it should have. With a sigh, he folded his arms, leaned against a nearby post and logged out.