An Adventurer’s Wait
Written & Edited By: Jeremy Lanham
I am sure you have heard this story before: a lone adventurer off on his own, trying to do his best just to stay alive in a war torn world. Occasionally he has to do the random good deed or quest to keep himself fed and his equipment maintained. Though he is strong and wise, somehow he always tends to overlook things. So he moves from town to town to stay alive and avoid a past he wants to forget. Most towns have a registrar of complaints or problems from the local populace. The local guard takes care of the issues they can or urgently have to. The rest, however, are offered to adventurers in return for coin. Currently I am arriving in a remote town on the edge of the wastelands and the only safe stop for several days… I think they called it Out-run, Out-urn? I don’t remember. As always, I approach the town’s herald for where the work is and other information that may prove useful.
“Greetings Herald, I am looking to lend a hand for some coin. May I see the local contracts?“
The herald looks over and responds, “Ah, another adventurer! Well at least your kind is not short in supply… unlike our town guards. Anyways, fall in line and the officials will provide you with an assignment.“ He mentions this while pointing behind him.
“A… line? Herald, if I may inquire, why is there a line? This seems… unique compared to other towns.“
“You know, you’re not the first to ask that. We have had a surge of problems here over the past weeks and needed more structure to make sure they get done.”
He glances back down at his clipboard. ”So if you want work, wait in line. If not … be on your way, but it’s another three days to the next town and it’s through the wasteland.”
“Are these jobs worth it, Herald? Otherwise what kind of jobs are they?“
“Well our town is fairly large, and I can only be in one place. Since this added structure, I have no need to keep up to date with most issues, so… I can not say. I can only direct adventurers to the line and deliver the news. Though I have seen a few happy adventurers come out of the hall with large coin purses.”
“Oh!… A large coin purse does sound nice, hmph. So be it. I will wait in line. Thank you for your time, Herald.”
“Don’t mention it. Just make sure you cause no trouble and good luck.“
So here I am in a bustling remote town sitting in line, waiting for work. My guess is that there are around thirty other adventurers ahead of me, and it is still morning. I tend to mind my own business in situations like these, and wait for my turn. Though, I do keep diligent for anything that might require my attention. Waiting and waiting, I have seen a few other adventurers walk out of the hall in front of me with various papers. I have to think those are the contracts assigned to them. At the moment, it looks like twelve people are left in front of me. The line is quiet and the bustling of the town starts to pick up as the morning chores finish.
Soon, I am left with only two more people ahead of me and I start to get a little impatient for my turn for a job. I start to take a good look at the sky and see it is only slightly past mid–day. When I bring my head back down, I am in front of the line and see the last person to enter the hall, then shortly after exit and myself being beckoned in by a burly toned voice. “NEXT!” Walking in, I see several scholarly-like individuals busy writing on several stacks of paper. It is silent, and soon it is broken by the same burly voice.
“Please state your name.” “Will.” “Also last name, sir?” “Morris.”
“Well Mr. Morris, we can see you are well built and have considerable weaponry at your disposal. We can offer a substantial 500 coin reward for the clearing of a nearby quarry, non–negotiable. Do you accept?”
“Can you provide me with any more information pertaining to the quarry and what needs to be cleared out?”
“I am afraid I can not give out details, and can only do so if the contract has been accepted, and once it has been accepted, the job must be completed. If not, a fine will need to be paid… now! Do you accept?” He says, more stern than before.
“So you are asking me to trust you and gamble my coin for a job I will know nothing about? That is very unconventional and I don’t like to gamble.”
“Mr. Morris, we understand this is a gamble but, rest assured, we choose jobs based on the current state of the adventurer when they walk in. So, Mr. Morris, do you accept the job?”
“Sigh… Fine, I accept.”
He swifts a piece of paper from a nearby stack and hands it to me. “This is your standard contract. It in essence says in exchange for this job, you will not disclose details pertaining to said job unless absolutely necessary. Additionally, said job must be completed by the signed party below or suffer punishment at the discretion of the employer. Please sign below and we can start giving you the details of the job.” With concern, I decide to sign the contract.
“Very good, Mr. Morris. Now said quarry has been lost to us for some time now. We are still unclear on what has taken over it and any of our personnel who has gotten near it has become sick. We do have reports of individuals during late nights leaving and entering the quarry. We do not care for the means you use to clear the quarry; we just need it ready for our workers. Is that clear?“
“Fairly simple, is there anyone I can talk to for some more details about these reports?”
“You may inquire more to the names that are on the report here.” He hands me a list of names. ”If you wish further investigation, please take note of the names you talked to and their justification. Now if you will excuse us, we need to keep the line moving, thank you!“
“Right… goodbye for now.” Ready to leave I turn around and begin to walk out casually.
Finally, some work after waiting in line for half the day. I don’t have much information to get started on, so I plan to start asking the people on the list about what they have seen. I proceeded to talk to every person on the list and none could give any new information on the quarry. This is when I decided to stake out the mine from a nearby bush to get to the bottom of this. Soon enough, it pays off. I leap out and tackle a suspicious looking guy in tattered robes moving towards the mine. Just to be safe, I dragged him back over to my bush for questioning.
“Alright buddy, spill it! What’s going on in the quarry!”
“Ow, ow, ow! Can you lighten your grip a bit?”
“Not until you tell me what I want!” Tightening my grip, I say, “Now talk!”
”Fine… fine, I don’t know the full details, but I was told to come here every night, go into the mine and ensure nothing has been disturbed.”
“What would be disturbed? What’s so important in there?”
“I don’t know! That is all I am instructed to do. There is some weird totem in there that creeps us all out. Please, let me go. I’ll leave you alone and get away from here.”
“You said us. Are there more of you?”
“There are nine others, each come at different times during the night. Now please… let me go.” Gaining what I could, I lose my grip on him. “Good! Get away from here… now! Also, what should I remember you by? Just in case I have hunt you down.”
“Call me Mos. Thank you for letting me go. I am going to leave this place right away; I won’t interfere.” I watch as Mos rubs his wrists one more time and runs off. I watch him until he is out of sight, then turn my focus back to the quarry.
The conversation with Mos wasn’t all to helpful. At least I know I could encounter some other people at some point, and some kind of creepy totem inside a creepy quarry at the creepiest time of the day. Safe to say I am not thrilled about this but hey, a job’s a job and I need coin. Mustering up the courage I have, I start to approach the mine. Already I feel anxious and nauseous to know exactly what that man and others have been checking up on. The closer I get to the door I start to hear a sultry voice and a faint smell of perfume, and the sickly feeling starts to go away. Soon I am right in front of the door and the perfume and voice are as strong as ever. I decide to throw caution to the wind and slam open the door to the quarry, and on the other side, I find a beautiful woman lounging around by what looks like the totem Mos mentioned. A little after I step in, the woman takes note of me and is the first to start talking.
“Ah, you’re a new face! Can you, by any chance, hear me? I take it you also scared off the caretaker? Oh, what was his name again? I am quite so terrible with them.”
“Uh? … I am going to take a shot in the dark here, but you’re some kind of psycho, aren’t you?”
“Oh? Well, aren’t we a bit rude. I, sir, am no psycho, but I am an experiment gone wrong… or an enigma? Or something? I don’t know. Oh, I am a female. That I do know.”
“Riiight… look, I have no clue who you are—” “How silly of me! I forgot to give my name. you can call me Bella, Nice to meet you.”
“Sigh … look, I have no real quarrel with you and honestly I do not care who you are. I have been sent to clear this quarry and ask that you leave.”
“No can do.” “Look, if you insi—” “Before you say anymore, you need to know—” “Please! Do not cut me off again!” “Well same goes for you, jerk!” “Ho—How am I the jerk?” “You’re interrupting me and when I was about to say something important.” “Fine, speak and then leave. I want to get this job done.”
“Well that last part, about me leaving… is going to be hard to do. Like I was going to say, I can’t leave this place an—” “Whoa! What do you mean you can’t lea—”
“If you don’t mind… it is because of this totem thing. I can barely leave it.” “Uh… do you have any ideas as to what it is?”
“Um… not really.” She begins to spin her finger through her hair. ”I just woke up here one day and watched as each of those caretaker guys came in and out. I tried to get their attention, but I don’t think any of them could see or hear me.”
“Let me see then.” Crouching down, I needed to take a closer look at the totem, and what happened next… well, let’s just say, did not go the way I thought they would.
”It looks like it can be removed.” “Remove it? I don’t know what good that will do. I tried at one point but my hands just slipped right through it.”
While grabbing the totem, I reply with, “Well it appears I can touch it,” and with a quick huff, I lifted the totem. ”Oh, looks like it was lighter then I thought. I feel a tad funny though.”
“Ha ha funny? Or weird funny?” “Uh? The feeling’s gone. You should be able to leave now, and I should be able to get my coin. I will take the totem with me as proof of the quarries clearing, so this is goodbye, Bella. It was interesting meeting you.”
“Before you go, can you tell me your name?” “Oh? Well, my name is Will.” “What a simple name, Will… I like that.” “It shouldn’t matter now though. We will probably never see each other again, so… goodbye.”
“Uh… Will?” “Look, this is goodbye, so please stop talking to me.” “Will, I… uhhh, can’t seem to sto—” “Please, please! I am leaving, so stop talking t—” “Hey jerk! Turn around!”
Getting annoyed I turn around only to see something I really did not want to see. “You’re being dragged along with the totem, aren’t you?” “Yep.” “Well then, I will get rid of the totem… uh? Where did it go…? It was… right here in my hands.” “Eh? Ha, looks like you’re my totem now, Will!” “Wait! Wait! Wait!—” “Yep, you’re stuck with me.”
“Ahhhhhhh! You knew this would happen, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” “Nope. So looks like we’re stuck together now… or I’m stuck to you. I guess this isn’t good bye now, is it?” “I—I guess it’s not, but let’s get one thing straight though: I am in charge from now on. You hear me? Besides, you don’t know how to reverse this, do you?” ”Nope, and that’s fine. I will let you have your freedom. Just remember: my word is final.” “No, I’m the boss.” “Yes, you are the boss, but I am also your boss, so you listen to me.” “Sigh… Whatever. We will settle this later. Let’s get out of here so I can collect my coin.”
So there you have it. I came to a town, waited in line to get a job, only to wait in a bush and ambush some guy who has no clue what is going on, then met a random lady I am now stuck to. So let me take a guess, and say you haven’t heard of a story like this before, have you?