A sudden knock at the door startled me from sleep as I floundered under the sheets, limbs flailing. I sat up, taking in my bearings as I blinked, my heart hammering inside my chest trying to escape my ribs. My dreams were plagued with water and the chill that had wrapped around me from our swim in the bay. The calm sunlight filtered in through the window and the door to our room clicked shut as Iagan turned away from the door holding a tray with two silver domes on it.

  “Food’s here,” he said lifting the tray a little for emphasis.

  The stark contrast of serene morning routine juxtaposed against the drowning nightmare that had consumed my mind was enough to steady my heart rate after a few breaths. The deep bitter notes of coffee wafted through the room, filling the space as Iagan poured himself a cup.

  “Cream? Sugar?”

  “Yes,” I croaked, scooting out from under the covers and dipping into the shared bathroom to give me time to compose myself more. I splashed sink water on my face, the drops dripping off my chin cooling my skin from the heated sweat that had pooled across my forehead. I changed out of my clothes from the day before into a fresh set and dried my face with one of the provided room towels.

  I opened the door to find Iagan standing there waiting for me with a pale brown cup of coffee.

  “You okay Mica?” He asked handing the cup over to me. “You didn’t seem to be sleeping well.”

  I took a sip from the cup, “I was drowning but not. I could breathe but I couldn’t move and—” I let the rest of the sentence hang as I gestured emptily. “I guess everything from yesterday is starting to hit me.”

  Iagan stared at me, his mouth traced into a thin line. “Yeah, it was a lot wasn’t it?”

  “You said it,” I chuckled dryly. “Thanks for saving me from the squid.”

  “Now we’re even for the bear fiasco.” A smirk tugged at one corner of his lips.

  “Says the man who willingly walked into a bear den.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who blinded that oversized calamari and pissed him off so much.” he paused for effect. “Damn, we should have kept some to cook with.”

  I rolled my eyes and pushed past him, heading to the last remaining plate of the same breakfast the Two Fin Inn was known to serve. I sat down on the terrace outside and let my feet dangle between the bars as I ate relishing the peaceful scenery of Seamyst. The wind rushed through the street below, sending the multicolored banners into a waving frenzy as the gulls cried. My camera plopped into my hand at the vaguest thought and I snapped a picture through the bars. Iagan sat beside me, eating his meal as he stared out at the bay with me.

  “Only a few more quests for this town and then we can move on.” Iagan said sipping his coffee.

  I glanced to the Tracker in my HUD at all the things I still had to complete even just for being here in the town and the side quests I’d picked up. Today marked the sixth day since my arrival at the tower and I had only just begun my search for everything I could find for my quest.

  The Seamyst quests that were still available for us aside from the repeatable [::Quarry that Weight::] quest were the [::Clucks for Bucks::] quest and the [::Ghoulish Guests::] quest. Thankfully the [::Clucks for Bucks::] and [::Ghoulish Guests::] quests were in the same general area on the map towards the farms at the edge of the coastal city.

  We packed up after finishing our breakfast and left the Two Fin Inn for the last time. I made sure to leave a keychain in the room with a thank you note for the room service as well as one up at the front desk. The trip out to the stone quarry was peaceful as well as the trip back into town where Iagan and I split the reward once more. We took the path back up toward the quarry but turned the other direction instead climbing up into the rolling hillside farms.

  The smell of dirt and farm animals filled the air as we left the thin stretch of forest that separated the two areas like a green rope barrier. The small wooden farm houses sat perched on the peaks of the slopes, their long rows of produce raked down the sides. The sun was reaching mid morning height and there were few people left outside tending to the basic farm work. A man and his draft horse were busy bringing a cart back around to their house when he noticed us and gave a wave.

  “You folks lost or somethin’,” he asked in a thick hick accent, hiking up his wide brimmed hat.

  “Not lost yet,” Iagan called out, trotting up to the basic branch fence posts marking the edge of the property. “We’re looking for Old Hallan’s Farmstead.”

  “Hallan’s place is up the road a ways and a right at the fork.” The farmer gestured with his hat. Iagan gave him a big wave and it wasn’t long before we found the fork he’d mentioned. The right path took us back toward the forest barrier and back in between the trees once again. The blinking quest marker on my HUD map said we were in the right place when we passed a pair of large stone statues of two grumpy gnomes holding small shovels.

  The farmhouse sat proudly albeit in disarray. A two story affair with chipped and peeling green paint decorating the outside. Wild overgrown plants filled the front beds, tangling around one another as they sought to claim the house as their own. The wrap around porch had several missing spindle posts throughout it. An old half rotted swing hung from the rafter creaking as the breeze swept through. The curtains were drawn in, shutting out anyone from looking in the large front windows.

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

  The quest pulled up automatically as we approached the peeling door and knocked.

  [::Ghoulish Guests::]

  [Deal with the strange intruders at Old Hallan’s Farmstead]

  [Reward: To Be Determined Upon Completion]

  I reread the text over once more to make sure I’d read it correctly. There was no named reward which was different from all the other quests we’d undertaken until now.

  “I hope we can get this done with quick.” Iagan said under his breath as the wood within the house creaked under the weight of a pair of footsteps. The door flung open and a haggard bedraggled man stared at us with tired but shifting eyes.

  “Whaddya want?” He grumped, keeping his voice in a hoarse whisper.

  “Hi, I’m MykaReviews and this is my associate Mr.BigwIggy, we saw your ad for help in town and wanted to come see what we could do to help.” I tried my best to be cordial putting on my best customer service facade. An equally tired woman peeked out from behind the man, holding a small bundle in her arms and bouncing it up and down.

  “Who’s there Paul?” She stage whispered.

  “A pair of exterminators hopefully,” the tired man said opening the door a little wider. “I’m Paul and this is my wife Eisree, please come in.”

  Iagan and I exchanged a glance, crossing the threshold into the spacious farmhouse. All the lights were off casting the high vaulted ceiling into darkness, a stairway to the left led up into the darkened second floor. An eerie feeling settled in the back of my neck that I was being watched.

  Paul ushered us through the main hall and into a kitchen in the back where the natural light filled the small space. A typical country style kitchen it held a small stone fireplace, a single sink with a hand pump for water complete with a small cabinet pantry and old dried herbs pinned to the walls. It seemed to be the most lived in space of the whole house as Paul hastily moved a mess of sheets and pillows off into the corner and carefully pulled a table out from against the wall. Eisree was already in the room tucking the small bundle back into a cherry wood carved crib, quickly came to help move the table and set about gathering chairs to sit around it.

  “I apologize for not having a more hospitable welcome for you both after you’ve gone through all the trouble to come and help us with,” Paul paused as he gestured around the house, “whatever the hells this is.”

  “Why don’t y’all start from the beginning.” Iagan said in a low voice, casting a glance back to the bundle as he sat down at the table. I dismissed my camera back into my inventory as Eisree set out a set of four mismatched teacups in front of each place.

  “This was my father’s home.” Eisree said quietly, pulling out a copper teapot and using the hand well pump at the sink to fill it with water. “He’d always loved living out here in nature, so when he died last winter we weren’t able to keep up with the old place since we lived in Dawnrise.”

  Eisree sat the pot over the small flame in the hearth and sat down at the table as she continued. “So when prices soared too much in Dawnrise we decided to move out here and take over the old place, live a life of peace and quiet out here on the farm. Only it’s been anything but that.”

  Paul placed his hand on top of hers and gave her a tired but reassuring smile. “Eisree was heavily pregnant when we moved in and I thought we’d have more time to get the place up to snuff, but children run on their own time tables. Not even two days after we moved into here were we busily rushing into Seamyst for Eisree to give birth to our first child: Torren.”

  “Babies and housework don’t mix.” Eisree smiled, grasping her husband’s hand.

  “So it was fine for a while until it wasn’t.” Paul’s haggard expression returned. “There’s things living here. I’ve tried every method of extermination to get rid of, but no matter what I do they won’t stop terrorizing us.”

  “Lights blow out on fresh candles when there’s no draft to speak of, I can’t count the number of spoons I’ve found braided in my hair when I wake each morning. Things go missin’, movin’ when I know I haven’t touched them.”

  “It’s been hard dealing with a new infant and trying to taking care of the farm work to keep our family afloat but I’m afraid I can’t deal with it much longer.” Paul admitted. “This was Eiree’s family home and I don’t want to have to sell it.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the HUD latch onto something, marking it with a square before vanishing as I turned to look.

  “Did anything like this ever happen when you were a girl?” I asked, Eisree shook her head.

  “Not at all, my father may have had some strange tendencies but nothing like this ever happened to him when we came to visit or even when I lived here.”

  A soft ping sounded in my ears as my [Investigation] sense honed in on her words as the teapot on the fire let out a low whistle. Eisree wrapped her hand in cloth and pulled the pot free and poured us tea.

  “What kind of tendencies?”

  “Strange ones, but it was always rather endearing now that I look back at it.” Eisree said with a sad smile. “He had the strangest superstitions that he upheld around the farm. Always bowing at the house when he’d come home from town, dumping the first three squeezes of cow’s milk onto the ground and leaving small bowls with honeyed cream in them in every room.”

  “The man was, stubborn to say the least.” Paul said, carefully eyeing Eisree as he did.

  “So how can we help you with this problem?” Iagan asked, taking a lump of sugar from the small bowl that Eisree brought to the table.

  “I want it all gone. Whatever it is that’s tormenting us. I want a peaceful life here in the woods and a calm place that I can raise my son. I’m at my wit’s end with this disruption.” Paul’s hands shook as he took his drink, the steam from the cup shifting in his shuddering breath. “‘tween the babe and the whatever this is I’m getting no sleep all together.”

  “We’ll look into it.” I promised, taking my tea plain. “Do you mind if we look around the house a little bit?”

  “Have at it,” Paul obliged. Iagan and I set our cups down we walked back into the hallway, our long shadows melting with the darkness in the rest of the home.

  “So. What do you think?” He asked as he summoned Fog Machine.

  “I’m not sure,” I said honestly. “What about you?”

  “Sounds haunted, maybe we’ll get to be real Ghoul Getters.”

  I looked back to the quests on the right of my HUD. Something about this being a simple kill the ghouls quest didn’t sit right with me as my [Investigation] skill had honed in on that strange instance of nothing. With my [Thorough Search] perk activating in the kitchen it seemed like there was still something left for me to uncover about this.

  “Let’s look around first before we get into any Ghoul Getting. We’re missing something.”