Jacob was stunned. He had no idea what the problem could possibly be. Even after getting a good night sleep to clear his head he still had no idea why his status screen would have blank space. The only thing he could think of was that he was misinterpreting it. Luckily there was a well-known solution to this sort of problem.

Just about anyone could go to a guild hall and post a quest, for a minor fee (and the reward of course). Certain quests have requirements on class, level, and/or overall level. To clear these requirements, adventurers of all types can go and get analyzed. A full analysis magically creates a copy of the stats screen at the moment of the casting. Lesser analysis also exists which merely tells the person’s name, race, class(es) and level(s). Any [Wizard], [Sorcerer], or anyone else who has Maxed [Apprentice]s can use the lesser, but for the Full, it requires a Scribe of at least level 5. With a few levels of [Scribe] anyone capable of crafting can make an “Appraisal Scroll”. This one time use rod around 6 inches wide is basically a solid piece of paper colored wood that upon activated the white layer spools off with the subject’s status printed on the inside. The “paper” crumbles into dust 12 hours after activation. The remainder of the rod now resembles a wooden dowel, which can be recharged, but only by someone who could have created it to begin with. This allows any of the guild halls to check the information on people applying for quests without each of them having a [Scribe] on the payroll. The 20 gold fee for the scroll sets the minimum reward for those quests. Not that anyone capable of filling specific requirement quests would accept rewards any lower than 100 anyway. Unfortunately, with only 25 gold to his name Jacob was going to need to pick up some work there anyways.

So, first thing in the morning, Jacob headed over to Hunter’s guild hall. He wasn’t technically a member yet (they only allowed in [Hunter]s thus the name), but as [Hunter] was one of the classes that required [Tracker], he wasn’t the only one who hung around the building. Walking inside the door of the glorified wooden hunting lodge he made his way over to a side bar with a sign reading “QUESTS” hanging over it.

“Welcome to the Hunter’s Guild Hall” drowned the bored man behind the counter not looking up from his book. He was a broad shouldered brunette man covered from head to toe in brown Hide Armor. He was the head of the guild, and it was shifts behind the quest counter that always made him regret that. Most [Hunter]s don’t bother with quests or towns, but prefer to find a spot in the woods and do what [Hunter]s do. Still, as at level 75, he was one of the strongest [Hunter]s in the area, so it was only natural he’d lead the place. He’d rather be hunting of course. Still, there were some benefits to leading. Training the new guys the tricks of the trade was one of them. Which is why he embraced the nickname they had given him rather than destroy the rascals.

“Hi Beary! Got anything for me?”

“Jacob! I thought you were with the crowd that left yesterday” Beary said.

“Was gonna be, but they left without me. Long story, most of which I’m still trying to figure out. But since I’m obviously not getting that one, I was wanting to cancel the quest and see if you had any others.”

“You blew it drinking? Guess I should be grateful we still have all of our bars this morning, eh Sparky?” Beary said with a wink.

“… That was an accident, from a long time ago.” Jacob replied responding to his nickname allot colder than Berallow Huntsman had his. But with a name like that and his choice of armor, Jacob had no idea how nobody had come up with it before. Sparky on the other hand was a reminder of a big mistake.

About a year ago, the first [Tracker] in months managed to get up to level 10, met the prerequ, and leveled up into a [Hunter]. Jacob, who himself was only level 5 at the time went to celebrate with them. It was the first and last time he had drank any type of alcohol, and nobody warned him how much stronger the dwarf brewed specialty of Obsidiack’s pub was. He remembered the first swallow going down his throat, but that was it for the rest of the night. The way he heard it though, one of his buddies had spilled theirs on the table. Obsidiack had tossed the guy a rag per his “Clean your own damn mess up!” policy. A few minutes after the table was no longer covered, the other [Hunter]s started getting on him failing other trainings. Jacob retaliated insisting there were advantages to it, including never needing flint and steel at his campsite due to a few weak spells he knew. Just to show them, Jake casted his [Campfire] spell. While the spell isn’t going to hurt anyone (being incapable of dealing damage on its own), it does light combustibles it encounters a blaze almost instantly... which unfortunately includes ale-soaked rags. On instinct someone flung the burning cloth away from the table. Unfortunately, it landed on the top of an open barrel, which exploded not long after sending burning wood and alcohol in every direction … including at the other barrels stacked neatly behind the bar. Jacob got lucky nobody died and Obsidiack considered exploding barrels an occupational hazard of letting adventurers in the bar. Regardless, the local law insisted the drinking age of anyone with so much as the [Apprentice] class be raised from 16 to 20, and Jacob was imprisoned until he was back in his right mind. Still, despite legal ramifications being removed, the nickname “Sparky” he had amongst the trainees wasn’t as easily removed.

“Not that long”, Beary said smirking knowingly. “But anyway, yeah! I got 2 or 3 Tracker level jobs. One sec” he added reaching for a binder on the desk and flipping to the last few pages. “Let’s see, I got a farm with small animals going missing that needs someone to track down the predator responsible, and…” with a flip of the page “yes, the animal population needs reduced. Current count has 3 Beavers and 4 weasels ranked up to dire in the last week. Think you can handle that?”

“You can count on me sir!” replied the [tracker] with a grin. Some basic hunting is just what he needed to clear his head, and a roaming predator just might push him into being a [Hunter].

“Well Ok then. Come here” Beary said leaning over the desk. He placed the tips of his first 2 fingers on Jacob’s forehead. “Quest request! Local 33958 and temp quest 274! Confirm!”

QUEST REQUEST RECEIVED Local Temporary 274:

Hunt down and defeat the predator attacking the McFearon’s farm.

Confirm? Local 52987:

Reduce local animal population to prevent over crowding and ranking up

Weasels 0/10

Dire Weasel 0 / 4

Beaver 0/10

Dire Beaver 0 / 3

Confirm?

“All quests confirm!” replied Jacob

“Cancel quest 00298” continued Beary

QUEST CANCELATION Escort the wagon train

Completion 0%

Confirm?

“Cancelation Confirm” replied Jacob.

“Alright … Anything else I can do for you?” Beary asked leaning back in his chair again.

“Just an appraisal scroll. They’re at the bar, right?”

“Appraisal? Yeah but what for? You don’t qualify for full membership, do you?”

“Not yet. I just want proof that I’m just waiting on the prereck.”

“Alright, but you know nobody can tell you what the prereck is right? The system removes the memory when you approve your new class. You have to find it on your own.”

“Yeah, I know, but I want to show the guys I maxed [Trapper] anyway.” Jacob said with a grin. It wasn’t quite the truth, but he didn’t really need a reason and people have bought scrolls for less of a reason. “Thanks, Beary”

“No problem Sparky” he said with a chuckle finding his page.

“Can I help you with something?” Asked the male bartender as Jacob approached the bar moments later.

“Yeah! Appraisal Scrolls run 20 G right?”

“Yes Sir!” He said pulling the rod from below the bar. “Anything else”

“Only if the instructions are separate” Jacob replied putting the money on the bar.

“Nah” came the reply with a chuckle, “just hold still” he said. “APPRAISE” he added placing the first 2 fingers of his right hand on Jacob’s forehead. With a flourish the paper unrolled dropping the brown rod on the ground. Still chuckling the bartender bent to pick it up, looking at the paper his way back up.

“Shit, uhm… keep your money. I can’t charge for a defective scroll”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not supposed to leave all this empty space. It looks like it’s leaving stuff out”

“Oh, that’s ok” Jake replied his heart sinking fast. “I’ll take it anyway”.

“If you’re sure. But I still won’t charge for it. If that’s it, have a good day!

“Yeah, thanks” Jake said already heading out the door with his appraisal results in hand.