Darren stepped into town.

The first thing he noticed was the mud roads. In most of the RPG games he had played and published, even the most far-flung regions the roads were cobblestone. At that moment a southerly wind blew across town, then it him.

Shit.

The smell of horse and cow shit filled his nose, there was even a more pungent smell which Darren suspected was human shit.The rain mixing the potpourri of feces with the mud. Damn those MMORPG games never capture this element huh? Darren felt bile rise in is throat. He forced it back down though, disgusted as he was he didn’t want people to see him just retching on the sidewalk. The people here were used to the smell, spilling his guts by the front gate would probably cause suspicion.

Darren wondered what to do from here. In most games the player was a chosen one or an unlikely farm boy that found an ancient artifact of great power to defeat the Dark Lord or whatever.

Not in this world though.

Darren looked around at the wooden fences and thatched roof huts on the roadside. He decided to walk around to see if anything could alleviate the literally shitty situation he was in. He followed the road in to the center of town where there was a market place. Stalls formed a semi-circle around a well that was lined with people carrying various buckets, jugs, and vases

Darren took the time to look at each stall. The cacophony of voices hawking their goods reminded him of the times when he was young where he would go with his mother to the city wet-market .

“Meat here! freshly slaughtered pork and fresh chicken”

“come get salt herring ‘ere 5 coppers a piece!”

The smell of baked bread wafted through the market place. He heard metal clanging in the distance. Behind the meat stall could see an open air kitchen with three huge pots & counters crowded with people.

A guild!

Darren remembered that in most MMO’s he played people went to guilds to get quests and to find other people to finish those quests with them. Excited, he half jogged to a group of people looking at a board near the well.

"excus-"

"Fuck off twig" grunted The big burly man Darren first approached Okay then, t"hat ever-so-friendly locals" was sarcasm wasn't it, god I'm starting to hate that bastard more and more.

He approached another man with a mop of brown hair, this time not so burly, thinking those kinds of people put all their points in strength and nothing else.

“Excuse me sir, where is the nearest guild?”

“Well, that be Bluepond ” He pointed his finger west of the well. “follow that path road, then turn left.”

“Thank you very much sir….” Darren probed

“Cael” he said gruffly

“Darren” flashing a smile before walking towards the direction the man told him

Darren knew it was a guild immediately.

It wasn’t really different from the architecture of the other buildings in town, but the materials looked much more refined.

It was a long-house with a thatched roof. Smooth hardwood pillars,three on each side, supported the building along with a polished stone brick base. Merry music was emanating from inside the building. Darren could hear the laughter and the camaraderie of the men and women inside.

Darren opened the door.

a huge fire-pit lay in the center of the room. The smell of roasting pig on a spit and ale filled the room, reminding him of all the fiestas he’d attended with his mother back home.

god, I miss her

Tables with merry men and women flanked the fire-pit. Darren gawked at the various equipment they had. A bald man with a greatsword strapped to his back was chatting merrily with a woman in robes holding a staff. Another man was playing a guitar-like instrument and had an array of daggers on his belt and right leg.

I can look at them later, all this food is making me hungry. As if to emphasize his thoughts his stomach growled.

He walked to, what he assumed to be, a waitress serving a table burly man with a warhammer by his side and a pale skinned man in full plate armor and a shield as big as a door strapped to his back.

“excuse me” Darren smiled

“what can I get you sir?” she said politely

“where do I register for the guild?”

“Oh follow the fire-pit towards the back” she pointed to an area emanating blue light.

Darren walked in the direction she was pointing. A huge board plastered with pieces of paper first caught his eye, then the beautiful brown-haired lady held it. He discovered the source of the blue light was the five wisps on energy hanging in the ceiling above the counter.

The lady smiled at him, her expression slightly faltering when she saw the filthy inquirer.

“Welcome sir…..”

“Darren”

“Sir Darren welcome to the Krakia province guild Bluepond. Our guild has a five silver entrance fee and a one silver monthly fee. Various people post their quests on the Questboard when they require the aid of adventurers, the guild subtracts a fifteen percent commission for the rewards of these quests” she said with a smile.

What the actual fuck?! guilds need money to join?

Shit Darren thought. Why didn’t he ask for at least a bit of starting cash? Hell, he could’ve even asked for a goose that laid golden eggs. Idiot, such an idiot!

Darren forced an awkward smile ” uhmmmmm would you excuse me for a second?” he murmured.

He rushed out of the guild hall. The laughter & merriment a while ago seemed like mocking cackles to his ears now.

The sun was setting. Darren guessed he had about an hour left until night time. His stomach growled once more and he realized I don’t even have a place to sleep.

He wandered around town. The sound of ravens and a faint sound of ,what sounded like, a huge bat could be heard to his north.

god, I’m probably gonna die of embarrassment but, fuck it, im not sleeping outside on the first night in a world populated with bloodthirsty toads.

He walked to a thatched roof house whose burning candles could be seen through the window. He knocked three times then another awkward half knock.

An old man answered the door, wisps of gray hair circled his head, he was holding a candle and was wearing a thick brown robe.

“what be your business at this late hour young lad?” the man said kindly.

Darren knelt down in front of him and begged.

“Please sir, I'm lost so lost in this land. I can help you with your household doings. Please, im begging you let me stay in your house at least for the night. I could give you this book as an exchange for anything I might break or destroy in your house and I can pay you by the end of this month. I just need help getting on my feet. Please” Darren held up the book with a distraught look in his eyes.

“Well lad, I’m a wizened old man living alone and you’ll see that I have no possessions worth stealing. I do not need that book because I know not how to read. What I know is a soul in need when I be seeing one. Would 3 coppers a week be fine?” he said with a wry smile.

“Thank you sir, thank you so much” Darren said with gratitude

Lacraea was a hard place with even harder people, but he was overjoyed to find that no matter what universe, there were still some kind people.

“Well come on in, the ghoulbats be hungry tonight” he smiled

Darren stepped in as soon as he was invited, he didn’t want to find out what ghoulbats were.

The old man led him inside. A small cooking place was in the main room, the main room connected to another room by a wooden wall and a door made of wooden planks. Spices hung from the ceiling. What Darren had mistaken for a candle when he was outside was the cookfire under a pot of stew held up by three iron rods.

“wait here” the man said.

Darren did as he was told and examined the main room again, there was a bed near the cookfire and a small wooden table with two chairs, a shelf with wooden plates and utensils was placed above it.

The door opened.

“Here wear these, it was my sons clothes, I think they would fit you” he said, handing him a clean tunic and leather pants.

Darren resolved not to ask the man who showed him kindness why he had used the word was “Thank you sir, I can't thank you enough” he bowed.

“ehhh,call me Osric don’t call me ‘sir’ I ain’t no knight” the man chuckled and waved his hand.

“The goddess of luck be with you lad, I’ve made a bit more stew than usual and it almost done.” he smiled as he mixed the stew with a wooden ladle

“thank you so much Osric, if there is anything I could help with just ask” Darren said, voice filled with gratitude.

“Ehhh, this world be a hard place lad, just helping someone survive another day, gods know many have done the same for me” he said, handing Darren a wooden bowl of hot stew.

“oh, dont forget this” Osric broke a piece of dark brown bread in half and handed it to Darren.

Darren gladly took the piece and observed how Osric ate.

Osric broke his half of bread into small cubes he placed them in the stew and mixed them in with his spoon.

Darren did the same, then he took a spoonful of the soup soaked bread into his mouth.

an explosion of flavor, it was the best thing Darren ever tasted since coming to this land, or maybe he was just starving, either way it was delicious.

Rosemary, thyme, a small hint of a spice that tasted almost similar to pepper and a light tangy taste. Bits of meat gave a slight gamy taste but that gave way to the taste of chicken and the light taste of a meat he did not know.

“woah, whats in this stew Osric?” Darren questioned, a bit louder than he had meant.

“Giant toad meat with a bit of grass snake” he said with a smile

A miniscule of disgust formed in the back of Darren’s mind, but that was immediately squashed by a tidal wave of memories of eating frog adobo in his mother’s hometown

“what’s that tangy taste?”

“Well that be the lemon-beetle. Lemons are expensive and hard to come by, but two decades of being a cook in a war camp helps one to learn cheap substitutes” he winked as he took another spoonful.

Darren was dumbfounded. He thought all people who were not nobles in the medieval era were poor and ate dirt or something. These thoughts were quickly banished however as he finished his stew and both of them finished what was left in the pot.

“there be a water basin out back if need a bath, I be retiring for the nigh– oh you have not told me your name yet lad” the old man smiled

“Darren” he said with joy for the first time since coming to this world.

Darren went outside and took a long bath scrubbing himself with a rough stone. When he was done, he changed his clothes and went back inside.

Osric had put a bedroll near the embers opposite to him. Darren thanked every known and unknown god for Osric’s help.

“Tommorow we grind” He whispered to himself and fell into a deep sleep