Default Quest: New Thread Edition

“Welcome, friend.” The priest, a wrinkly clean-shaven old man, greets you. “May I help you or are you just here to pray?”
“Uh, well... I was hoping there'd be someone who could help me choose. You see, I have two things I could do and...” You quickly go over the situation you're in, showing the bounty note and telling about a possible treasure somewhere in the wasteland.
“I see. Ultimately, you'll have to make the decision yourself, but I'll tell you what I know.” He goes on to tell about the apocalyptic event that created the wasteland two hundred years ago and how it's now full of undead. Weak ones, mostly. “And since the undead appear to be incapable of crossing the river, this place's the westernmost human settlement on this continent. ...What was the other option you were considering? I seem to have forgotten.”
“A bounty for a troll. In Ironhill Mine.”
“Ironhill Mine? I thought that place was abandoned... Anyways, all I know of trolls is that they are strong, tough, stupid and very weak to fire.”
You thank the priest for the information and agree to receive a blessing before leaving.

It's starting to get dark when you exit the temple. The noise of the city is dying down, and the streets aren't anywhere near as crowded as they were, when you head towards the affordable and acceptable looking inn you saw earlier. There's some questionable types around, but the guard is making itself very visible, so they cause no trouble, at least as far as you can see.

A room for the night and a meal set you back 3 silver pieces, leaving 25 in your purse. The common room is crowded and noisy and the food is bland, but at least your bed is clean and dry, even if you may have to share the room with someone should anyone else show up for the night. No-one shows up, though, and you fall asleep despite the people in the common room only getting started with the drinks.

The inn is extremely quiet when you wake up. There isn't even the faintest of sounds. You put on your armor and get ready to leave, trying to decide what to do next.

>Head for the mine and the bounty.
>The treasure in the wasteland won't wait.
>Maybe the guard office will have easier bounties.
>Something else, what?

Sadly, it is very "late" and I must go to sleep. I wish I had more time. It's actually early morning and I've been up all night

>>340423
>>Maybe the guard office will have easier bounties.
Lets make some cash and stock up before doing anything crazy.

>>340423
>The treasure in the wasteland won't wait.

A tie has formed.
Someone needs to break. Who could do such a thing?

>>340910
This

I should just give up, shouldn't I?

>>344931
All up to you OP. You can keep waiting for people that may or may not show up, run with a couple of people, or just end it here.

>The treasure in the wasteland won't wait.

The city is slowly waking up as you pass through it on your way to the western gate. Merchants are setting up their stalls and bakers are baking. You do your best to take in the best parts of civilization as there certainly won't be any where you're going. There's barely any life in the wasteland, none apart insects and runty foliage. Yet that's the destination of you and Hel.

“Another adventurer looking for old trash to sell, eh? Let 'im through.”
The guardsman, whom you explained the situation to, signals his pair to open the gate.
“Just remember to not come knocking at night. We only open the gate during daylight.”
Promising not to, you say goodbye to both the guards and humans in general before heading towards the unknown.

At first, the land is like it was on the other bank of the river, only wild and untouched by man. The road you follow grows grass and tree roots have displaced some of the stones, but is otherwise in good condition. There's birds flitting from tree to tree, butterflies flying between the flowers growing by the road and even a herd of deer which flees as soon as it catches a scent of Hel. Yet as you proceed further away from the river the trees gradually grow smaller, the birds smaller and less vibrant and the flowers vanish altogether. Eventually, as the day starts turning to evening, all that's left are stunted, shoulder-height pines, flies, small beetles and sand. Cursed sand, they say. Any water that falls in this area goes straight through it and disappears somewhere – there's no rivers flowing from here, either. You grab a fistful of it, letting it fall to the ground from between your fingers. It's quite coarse, all the particles are of similar size and doesn't leave any dust behind. Unnatural indeed. Luckily the weather is good, mild and sunny. You've heard stories of this place's sandstorms. Rip the flesh off a man, they say.

The sun is slowly sinking below the horizon when you come across a ruined building. Approaching cautiously, you note the hieroglyphic carvings on the still-standing stone walls. A closer inspection has to wait since you hear something moving inside and take a step back, hand on the hilt of your sword. Glancing backwards, you notice Hel has dropped low to the ground, prowling and waiting to pounce. A sense of dread radiates from within the walls of the building as the sound of something metal being dragged on stone approaches the doorway. Swallowing, you steel yourself and draw your sword.

For a moment, the only thing you can hear is the beating of your own heart. Then you see something moving and in the next instant the air is filled with reverberating sound of metal on metal as you reflexively raise your sword to parry the blow of an ax aimed at your head. Hel's paws beat against the sand as the animal takes a few running leaps towards the zombie as the realization of what just happened suddenly hits.

>Fight
>Run
>Other

(Hit the character limit)
If you choose to fight, roll a d20
If you choose to run, roll a d20
I will randomly choose between your rolls.

Yes, I'm changing how combat works. One roll for the entire fight.

Also, I guess I'm going to try to continue this shit. Wish me luck and tell me what to improve.

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>347381
>Fight
Lets see if I can avoid a crit fail.
Maybe I'm just too easy to please but there really isn't anything to improve on. Maybe pretty up your posts with some color text and move line breaks so it isn't just a wall of text. Another thing to keep in mind is that things just don't work out sometimes. I'm following some other guy who's got some nice work on him but it just doesn't seem to get that much attention for some reason.

>Fight (18)

Hel storms past in a blur of gray just as you slash at the zombie's chest. Whatever's inside its rotting head can't quite process the information and it tries to block both attacks, failing miserably at the attempt. In a single instant your blade bites deep into its chest and Hel latches onto its forearm mid-leap. The undead groans in confusion as its entire arm comes off at the shoulder, the wolf's momentum being too much for the decomposing joint. Its confusion is short-lived as you seize the opportunity and strike at its neck. Your blade cuts well, nearly severing the head and the blow causes the zombie to collapse onto the ground. A moment passes in silence, but the corpse doesn't move again. Whatever energy was letting it move seems to be gone.

Stepping over the motionless heap of rotting flesh and bone, you peek into the building. The roof has either collapsed or never existed in the first place, meaning what little space there is inside the walls has been at the mercy of the weather. Not that there's much left, though. There's stone bricks scattered all over the floor and there's only two small rooms. The one further away from the entrance has a set of stairs which leads into a small basement that only has a large, smooth stone slab in it. The slab appears to be what the zombie was lying on before something woke it as it has some remnants of cloth on it.

As it's getting dark outside and you'd rather not find out what the cursed sand desert is like at night, you decide to stop for the night and set up camp in the basement. There's no wood for a fire nor anything to eat apart what you brought with you, but the stone slab is somewhat comfortable to sleep on after you spread your bedroll on it. Despite being more than a little worried about being eaten by undead in your sleep, you eventually fall asleep.

The morning is crisp and clear, even a little chilly. Nothing tried to eat you in your sleep, but Hel gave you a bit of a shock by licking your face as soon as it noticed you waking up. It's probably hungry since it isn't used to rationing.
The zombie corpse is exactly where it fell last night, proving that whatever you kill(?) stays dead(?) instead of reanimating. As you forgot to do so after the battle, you quickly go through the pockets of its ragged clothes and discover nothing. The only remotely valuable thing on it is the rusty axe, and it's not worth carrying back. Slightly disappointed, you check the map and manage to place yourself on it after a moment. There's some sort of a mountain range – visible on the horizon now that it's daytime – between you and the ruin. There's a few options as to how you'll cross it.

>Scale it. Shortest but the most difficult way.
>There's a valley some way off that goes most of the way through. Longer but less difficult.
>Go around it altogether. By far the longest route but also a lot easier than the others.

>>349724
>>Scale it. Shortest but the most difficult way.
I was taught to take shortcuts.