Prolouge

  Mike sensed the man from a long way off. With a sigh, he collected Sammy, and they sat down at the table in front of their pit.

  "This is it!" The player slammed a stone onto the table. A brief silence, then Sammy pounced on it. Mike suppressed a groan. Damn, that one's actually pretty. Greenish, polished, it shimmered like an emerald. Would the man tell him where he'd found it? He still needed a gift for Sammy's upcoming name day.

  Wide-eyed, the girl admired the sparkling stone in the sunlight. Her enthusiasm for rocks sent Sammy completely over the moon. As an actress, though, she was a disaster. She kept pushing the stone toward Mike to show him its full glory.

  "Sammy…," Mike growled, shoving her away in embarrassment. He'd specifically written her a non-speaking role, and now this. The player grinned at him triumphantly. He just had to get it over with. "No, sorry. That's not it."

  The soaked, filthy man stared at him in disbelief. "What?" Irritated, Mike took the stone from Sammy and placed it back on the table. "This is clearly not the stone that villager Sammy lost in the river." He shot her a dirty look. She finally remembered her part. She glanced at him guiltily for a moment, then leaned over the table. She studied the stone with a critical eye and shook her head in disappointment. Well, all those rehearsals really paid off.

  "Sorry. Just keep looking. It's got to be out there somewhere." That was the last straw. The man slammed his fists on the table, knocking over several of Mike's wooden figurines.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "I searched the whole damn river! Of course that's the stone! Just give me the goddamn reward!"

  Mike said nothing. The frustration was understandable. The man had set out almost five days ago. Mike had a whole lineup of frustrating quests to offer. But the current stone quest had earned its place among the most maddening in video game history:

  A poor girl lost her precious stone to the stream. Small and round, a pretty sight. Bring it back, and the reward's a dream.

  Mike had learned from experience that his nonsensical quests went over better when they rhymed. He'd promised that you'd recognize the stone when you saw it. And of course, nobody ever did. By now, someone only rarely stopped by to present a stone.

  Hopefully the players would lose interest in his quests for good soon. In the beginning, he'd had to come up with new idiotic rhymes almost every day. The players had filled their notepads with them and charged off into the valley. By now, even the few remaining diehards only came by every couple of weeks to pick up a new quest.

  When Mike noticed the man reaching for his dagger on the sly, he focused on him. Slowly, he walked around the table and draped an arm around the man's shoulder. "Like I said, that's not it, I'm afraid. Want to give it another shot?" The man nodded jerkily, drenched in sweat. Mike gave him a gentle push toward the forest. He didn't look back.

  He gave Sammy a light smack on the head. "Really impressive. Want to run through your lines again?" The girl giggled, stuck her tongue out at him, and snatched the stone. Mike watched her go, shaking his head. Pretty soon, there'd be no room left in the pit for new stones. Would Sammy ever make a decent questgiver? Probably not. The family business wasn't her thing.

  It wasn't really his thing either. He thought back to his years at the academy and shook his head. What a waste of time.