This looks like the Old Mill in my memories. The waterwheel looks to be pretty battered, missing a few fins, but still fully functional.

A quick look around, I don’t see anyone outside. The door looks to be a bit slanted and needs to be re-hung.

I open the door slightly and poke my head in, “Hello?”

Noone responds.

“Anyone here? I’m from the guild”

Still nothing.

Looking around there are some stacks of sacks in the corners. The countertop has a couple of loose pages and spent candles with glass covers littered about. Two closed doors, one on the right side, and the other behind the counter.

“HEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO!” I shout, hoping to catch the attention of some hidden Mill worker.

Behind the closed countertop door a voice barely audible, “I heard ya’, ‘old yer damning ‘orses you damn needy ass bitch.”

A few moments pass by and a man comes out with a bit of a hobble. His shoulders are wide and his arms thick. Muscles clearly visible through a few holes in his shirt and pants legs. His face looks to be sixty andhis body looks to be 30. Deep wrinkles around his forehead, mouth, and corners of his eyes. The permanent frown lines have been etched in his face. I doubt the man has smiled longer than 5 minutes before returning to his grumpy demeanor. As he approaches, a small scar streaks across his face, abruptly disrupting his grumpy demeanor, running from the middle of his nose, across his left eyelid, and out by his temple.

His mouth contorts unnaturally. The corners of his mouth lift up slightly and his eyes start to look pained, “What can I do for you dear customer?”

“I am here for a job, you posted about an issue with rats?”

His facial expression immediately relaxes back to a frown, “Good... good” he starts slowly mumbling to himself.

Looking me up and down, “You’re a bit old for dis, ‘ave you done this before?”

“No, but I look forward to helping you out with th-” He cuts me off with a wave of his hand.

“Just s’utup and listen for a bit. T’e rats, t’ey got t’em taste for blood, see.” He lifts his pants leg to show a couple bite marks and some minor bleeding.

“You don’t look like much, bet you couldn’t even hit a wall if you wanted to.” He starts chuckling at his own joke. And turns his back to me, looking over his shelves.

Feelin my face heat up a bit, “Listen, I understand I am a bit older than most new adventurers, but the quest you posted is a low rank and I plan to - OWWWWWWWW, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.”

I could barely process what happened in front of me. The man had quickly spun in front of me, and whipped a small object at my right eye. Using my only good eye left it looks like he through a small pebble at me.

“See, yer not’ing but a quill pus’er. T’ese rats, t’ey be dire rats now. I can’t turn yer away, but yer should run back to the Guild and till dem of the news.”

Dire rats are a rare occurrence, and it would normally take a small city Guard battalion to dispatch them in the city sewers. Rats would become dire if they ingested human blood.

The man continues, “See t’is is the reason I don’t hire dem Guildies. T’ey always play down problems, and send out some weak ass members. I don’t have no stomac’ for killing animals no more, but I will ‘afe to do it myself. Last guy almost died by stabbin’ himself wit’ his broadsword… Bringin’ a broadsword tah kill rats? Re-dick-u-lust.”

I have gotten myself back up off the floor, my eye is still stinging, but vision is slowly returning. “Listen, this is my first quest, and I have no intention of backing down just because one or two rats have become dire rats. I know they are extra dangerous, but if you can let me first check out the outside of the mill, I might be able to assist with stopping any rats from getting into the mill in the first place, and then we can look at the extermination bit after.”

His eyes widened just for a moment. As he was about to speak, the door opened up with a woman and child. Walking in directly behind me. “Aye Miss Fairrow, lovely tah see yer. I will be with yer shortly.”

He turns back to me, “Aye, I might haf missed judged yer. T’at is a fine plan. Ask me if yer need any ‘elp and…” He moves in closer and whispers, “don’t be doin no sharin why yer ‘ere. Yer ‘ere to ‘elp with a drafty breeze, kay?”

I nod, turn and silently walk back outside. The blast of fresh air made me realize how stuffy it had been in there.

I see a large cart of grain and an ox hitched out front now. Ox seems non-plussed to be out there, but seemed to be enjoying a small patch of grass and warm breeze.

I make my way out to the waterwheel to muffle any muttering I might be doing, and lay out my kit.

Did that make any sense to you Nym?

Yes it did, child. Looks like nature is slipping into that pitiful human’s hovel and possibly ruining his ‘business’. He thinks you are too weak to kill the rats, and I hate to agree with a human, but he's right.

Nym hasn’t said anything that wasn’t condescending when it came to people. He started to talk to me about halfway on my journey to the mill. Walking through a patch of trees seemed to have stirred up some emotions in him to ‘awaken’. He seemed to know everything that had happened since I entered this body, but wasn’t terribly talkative. He ended up explaining we would need some plaster like materials for this first job, and ended up making me travel all the way back to the city. He never spoke when I was in the city, but I was able to get the supplies after talking to a lumber and building merchant, as they pointed me in the right direction.

I laid out my materials on the grass. A flat edge ‘putter’ and a tin full of a chalky dust. If I put in a quarter of the tin’s worth of water, I should have a fast acting putty.

Surveying the area and my tools, mastermind is only providing my nuggets of information, but not really providing me any information I can use to lead me to the next steps. It’s not able to identify any entry points for the rats, or provide any clues for the next steps.

Looking around for a while I am a bit surprised I haven’t heard any comments or criticisms.

Hey Nym, so what do you think should be our next step?

My apologies child, I thought it was self evident. Even with me here, I forget you are still just a human. Walk around the outside, and plaster up any of the holes. My expert tracking abilities will be able to identify any signs of these rats, and I will assist in this lowly work if need be.

Geeee, Thanks for your help Nym.

This wasn’t what I was expecting for the start of my first quest. Basically told I am too weak to fight a rat from a Mill Owner and reduced to a day labourer, while taking orders from some dick of a dead Elf.

You didn’t have any friends, did you Nym?

Child, I was far too clever and proficient to have an equal to call ‘friends’. Just do the task and we can proceed to take on these rats.

I start to slowly walk around the old stone mill. The stone being weathered and worn, the mill must have existed for generations. The mortar between the stones, upon touching, crumble and turn to dust. An uneasy feeling swells up inside me about this structure, but I set that aside and focus on the task.

I am not seeing any signs of rats leading into the mill Nym.

You humans are always so blind to the nature around you. Look at the small little blooming flower along the side of the mill. Notice anything?

I moved over to the flower he spoke of. An inspection just seems to be a flower. It’s not bent or anything…

Looks like it’s just a flower. What should I be looking for?

Lord in the 12 heavens! It’s not the flower child, follow the stem to the base of that flower. Tell me what you see.

My hands trace the stem of the flower to the base, feeling the base there are another 2 stems protruding, but no flowers as it looks like it may have been gnawed off.1

Windows pop up in my peripheral.

Skill Learned:

Tracking Skill (Beginner)

Tracks have become more visible

Synchronization with Nym increased

2.37% -> 4.01%

Skills Gained:

Wind Walk (Beginner)

Increase walking speed and decrease sound generated by 10%.

Longbow Proficiency (Beginner)

Proficiency with Longbows and similar weapons.

Far Sight (Beginner)

Ability to focus on targets from farther away and zooming in by 1.5x when squinting.

One with Nature (Beginner)

Nature is less likely to impede on travels and negatively affect the user. On higher skills, Nature will work towards assisting the user.

The gnawed stems start to glow lightly blue. Small little particles of light emanate from them. Everything is faint, but if you strain to look, it’s easy enough to tell. Looking around, I notice it’s not just the stem, it’s the grass around it.

Wait, I spin my head all around.

The entire space around the mill is covered in the light blue tint.

Ahhh the child has finally realized.

How many rats would have caused all these tracks?

Well, I expect there to be a rat’s den nearby. Looks to be over 20 some rats with the shape and size. Looking at these two tracks, it looks to be 2 dire rats.

My attention directs itself to the river bank, in the mud going into the water are 2 distinct sets of paw prints, much larger than a normal rat. Near the tracks I see a hole with a brighter glow than any of the other tracks.

Hey Nym, This looks like the tunnel the rats have been using to get in and out of the mill.

It appears to be the case little one. Take some of those large stones and fill in the hole for now. Once that’s done, let's go with our little trowel and dig out some earth by the mill’s wall. The gap they are coming in shouldn’t be too deep.

---

“W’at t’a ‘ell is t’is!!!” The Old Mill Owner Shouts.

“T’is been 4 hours of yer bein’ outside clankin’ about. Come to c’eck on yer, and yer dug up my entire lawn!” His arms swing back and forth frantically.

“Your Mill had a lot of holes for the rats to get in and out. It was like a small maze of tunnels they were using to get in and out. All the ones I could find are patched up and I will fill back up the holes and put the grass back on top.” I try my best to reassure him, wiping off the sweat beading up on my forehead.

“I don’t t’ink you understand boy!” He bellows, “W’at am I tellin’ my pate-er-rons on w’y me lawn is all dug up?”

I look around nervously. I always hated these kinds of confrontations. Why does he have to yell? I mean, I probably should have talked to him before digging… but still…

“I mean, most of these holes are near your walls. We could probably make flowerbeds to spruce up the place?” I ask, hoping to stop the yelling.

The owners face twists from anger to confusion. A silence lingers over what feels like an eternity.

His face still of a confused man, one you might expect to see if you handed a person a hammer and told them it was a cup, spoke after a short silence, “Yer people from ta city always t’ink t’ey ‘ave an answer for every’ing.” He turns around and starts walking away shaking his head. He looks like a man defeated, but his voice still carries his anger.

“A fookin’ flower bed. Someone from the fookin’ adventurers guild is buildin’ me a fookin’ flower bed to deal with me fookin’ rats. W’at t’e fook am I to do?”

The door slams behind him.

I guess I will leave the grass off the top and make it a flowerbed...