Rogue-like Beginnings (Part 1)

I swung open the large wooden doors and entered the damp and dark Association building. In front of me, sat a slim, pale man, who was behind a dirt wooden receptionist desk.

"Hey, you, whaddaya want?" The man said in a gravelly, coarse voice. He stared at me with discontent.

"Ah, I'm here to sign up for the Rogue's Association. Do you know how to do that?" I asked politely, I didn't want to get on the bad side of whom seemed like criminals in a mafia den.

"Ugh, yeah… fill out this form, and grab a task from the task board." The man said, uninterested. I took the form off of the dirty receptionist desk, and sat at one of the many wooden tables and filled it out using ink and quill. The form I had gotten was quite simple, only asking my name, level, and class. After filling it out, I handed it into the receptionist man at the front desk.

The receptionist sighed and looked over my form. "Everything looks in order, here is your card. Go grab a task, and return to the building once it's been completed." The man said tiredly. I took the card, and looked down at it. The card was a plain wooden plate, with my name, class, and level ingrained onto it. Along with that, in the top right corner, it stated my "rank". Supposedly in the Rogue's Association, there were different ranks that people could obtain, and depending on your rank, you would obtain different amenities. This ranged from your inn costs being paid for, to personal mercenaries that could protect you on long journeys from city to city. The world of Xyandria was massive, after all, and you'd need the protection.

Although the rewards for being such a high rank was great, the amount of quests and requests you would have to do in order to get it was immense so few people attempted to get that high. However, as a casual player, I was more than willing to sink some time into getting high ranks in the Rogue's Association, especially if it meant more loot, and more levels.

I walked over to the task board, and pulled off a task from the task board. I took a good look at what my task at hand was.

"In need of flame salamander extermination! Reward is 250 Tyles!" it was a pretty low ranking quest, and paid well, so I thought I'd take it. I walked over to the address that was on the task, and knocked on the door.

Knock Knock Knock!

"Hello? Is anyone there?" a frail, old woman answered. She looked to be about 70~ years old, and was hunched back and wrinkly, but sort of cute, in a weird old person way.

"Hi, I heard you had a request for… Flame Salamander extermination? Would you mind showing me where they are?" I asked politely, peeking into her old, somewhat destitute house.

"Yes yes dear, please do come in." The old woman said softly. She ushered me into her house and pointed down to a small worn out couch. "Please, have a seat, I'll make us some tea, alright?" The elderly woman said, walking into her small kitchen area and heating up some tea.

I sat down on the couch and twiddled my thumbs, sitting in awkward silence, until I finally decided to start up a conversation with the old lady.

"So, how long have you been living in Tergaron, do you get many visitors?" I asked politely, looking over at her.

"Oh, I've been living here for quite a while, dear. 20… maybe 30 years? I've been here a long time. I don't get many visitors." she said, while boiling water for the tea.

"That's a shame to hear, it's sad that no one comes to visit you. Don't you have any family or friends?" I asked curiously.

"Oh no, all of my family and friends are long gone. Either they went off to see the world, or died long long ago." The old lady stated.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's quite tragic." I responded.

"No no, don't worry about it. It just means that when someone does come to visit, it's all the better." she continued, putting down our tea and handing my cup to me.

"Ah, I guess that's very true. Right, well we should get on with the extermination, right?" I said, sipping on my tea.

"Right right, I'll lead the way." The old lady stated, as she brought me into the basement of her home.