contrast [quest/open]

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]He could not believe his luck, as he crossed over the sanctuary line into the town of Horunka. After his recent quests, Bunyan was slowly starting to grow up as it were, and live his current life. When life gives you lemon, as the only saying goes. As long as his body was being taken care of, he would be alive in the game, and what kind of a person would he be if he just stayed in the Town of Beginnings until some unknown time in the future when they would be able to finally finish the game. Plus... quests were finite. You had to advance to grow, and advance to live. Even crafting would require a move every now and then.

That's honestly what brought the man here, he just got information on how to start crafting armor out of leather and hides, but it required a visit to Horunka to meet with an expert tanner. As the crafting system began to diversify, different branches would end up in different areas. Hell, there were even rumors that the different crafting divided and merged into all sorts of crafts. Most for combat, but some were purely for living, or for money making. If Bunyan couldn't be a front line fighter fighting to get out o the game, he would at least be able to live out a good life... one not much different from his own.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait. It was already nightfall when he arrived, and luckily not a moment too soon as his health was in the yellow. A couple of wolves snuck up on him, and he was forced to fight for his life. He would have to visit an inn for the night, but at least health restored itself once he slept. The town itself seemed to be just as dark, despite the fact that as he opened his map, it was a thriving town. He drifted near another player with a lantern, when he finally realized that there was a quest event for him... a quest to light up the town. He could cancel it and he would be able to see the town normally, but...

"Good evening." he said, walking up next to the player with the light. Bunyan reached over and grabbed a lantern himself to accept the quest. "Guess we both lucked out on this one. You've ever been here before?" he said, holding his hand out. "The name's Bunyan."

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]Bunyan nodded,giving a small smile. "Same here.. though that was more of the fact that I was always busy at nights before." he said, looking around the town until he heard the boy mutter something.

"What was that?" he asked, not really hearing the Germany comment.

The man shook his head softly. "I'm afraid not, this wasn't in the Beta at all. However... it seems very simple. If we party up, we can probably go down the street and take care of two lights at the same time... that should make this thing go quickly, right?" he said, stepping more into the town. It did make sense... at least to him.

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]Bunyan nodded, accepting the party invite to update the quest. Now that it registered two people for the quest, they would be able to start working on it, and the man watched his companion head towards the first house, and the first light. He stood for a moment, and then started towards the other side of the street, when he heard Ruler call to him. The man stopped and turned, nodding in the dark for some strange reason.

"Yeah, I have it, just need to light it." he said, turning back and going towards the first light, he looked from the lantern to the light and reached over to light it... but it remained dark. Thinking there was an issue with him, he tried it again, and this time noticed the error message that popped up.

This light seemed to be broken. There may be one you can replace it with over by the lanterns.

Well now... guess it couldn't be too easy, right? Bunyan picked up the second lantern and walked back, grabbing a replacement and putting it in the correct spot. Once that was done, the lantern was able to be lit. He turned to see where Ruler was, and then went for the next house on the block.

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]As he moved onto the next house, Bunyan turned to the younger man, after hearing him call out again. He shrugged, but again, a bit of a futile gesture in the dark.

"Yeah, it looks like this isn't going to be as easy as just lighting a bunch of lights. This one was broken and had to be replaced. Keep an eye out, there may be more curveballs thrown at us." he said, though his second house proved wrong, as that one was very easy to light. He was working towards house three and turned, seeing that Ruler was still on two.

Bunyan stopped and pondered for a moment. "Maybe its purposefully missing. Try lighting the post it should be on, maybe it will tell you if you need to get another one or if you need to find it."

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]Bunyan smiled, as the third house easily lighted, and brought itself a nice glow of the area. Still dark, but the light was giving a sense of comfort.

He started down the path to the 4th house, but once he got to the door, the lantern suddenly stopped working. Figures, he had a couple of houses left, and the game was trying to make this more than just a profession type of quest. He grunted with annoyance and started back down to refill his light. "Hold on, looks like there is only a small reservoir of fuel in these things. Either that.. or I got lucky." he said, going down and finding a canister. A few menu options later, it was refilled and glowing bright once again, ready for him to light the other ones.

"Not exactly the type of thing you read in those stories that romanticize adventure, right?" he said, reaching house number 4. With the exception of the empty fuel, the house lighting itself came off without a hitch. As he moved onto his last house, he spoke more.. they were almost done anyways.

"Its interesting though... imagine living in these times. No electricity, no power... you had to have people walking up and down the streets to light the fires as it were. Considering how dangerous the road to the town is, this quest is a nice change. Certainly easy col. I could definitely use a rest." he said, finally lighting lamp number 5.

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]Bunyan chuckled, having just finished the 5th house and moving across the street. "I'm coming, no worries. I think we'll be good on this one." he said, going over to light the last light. Even though he did agree with Ruler on the mundane tasks, he honestly wasn't that bothered by them. It was a nice.. reprieve.

"Are you familiar with the hero's journey? Not like Star Wars or Ronin, but like the Trials of Hercules. The hero is tested with a broad range of tasks, some of them being mundane. The hero has to learn that not every task has a glorious story to tell. Being a hero is not about slaying monsters, its about supporting the people. By doing this frankly beneath us tasks, the hero also learns humility and compassion for the needs of the people. RPGs are by definition the hero's journey. Tasks like these will be with us for the first couple of floors. But trust me, as you get stronger, so will the quests. Its usually after the first quarter of the grind that you start missing these simple missions." he said, as the 10th and final lantern light, and like that the town itself seemed to glow birther as all the lanterns got stronger, and were joined with others to put into the same phase as other players.

"Looks like we need to turn this into the inn... look, she's already out waiting for us."

[attr="class","junior"]

[attr="class","gaignun"]The gentle giant of a man followed close behind Ruler as they made their way up to the inn to turn in the quest. Mundane was mundane, yes... but there was another sinister way of thinking about it. It was mundane because this was their new life. This was no longer a game, it was their reality. Without a way to exit, there was no diference between what was virtual and what was real. By all accounts, they were virtual. These weren't their bodies, they were avatars that just happened to be designed to mimic their body.

But then, isn't that what they were? Minds inside avatars of flesh? Just like in the real world, they could feel pain here too. They could taste, they could starve, they could live. This entire world was fabricated, but for their own minds, there was no difference. Only the mental assurance that this was a game world.

"For a lot of us, we are stuck until the professionals get through the game. This is our life now. Its horrible, but there is an old saying.. when life gives you lemons. If there is something I have to give Kayaba credit for, its that this game is clearly ever evolvin. I wouldn't be surprised if people start finding lifestyles to inhabit while we're here." he said, shrugging as he accepted the rewards from the quest.

"A weapon smith, huh? I tested the crafting system during the beta... haven't decided if I'm going to be your competition or not." he said with a chuckle, opening the door into the inn to go inside after the quest quiver, the innkeeper, headed back in. For now, though, there was a room and a bed with his name on it.. and he needed to restore some health.