[NR] Numbered, Not Named - Chapter 762

The group is once again back in line, though for a different desk. After an hour and change of research, the three finally admitted they couldn’t figure out which of the nearby farming villages would need them, even if you ignore the whole money issue.

Good thing the guild is ready for such questions as they’re not the first looking for a few low-end side quests to burn some time. Once they reach this receptionist, it is relatively easy to get a list of nearby farming towns to go and help. Though calling them a town is a bit of an exaggeration.

These places don’t even have official names. Instead, being officially referred to by what order they were founded in and the rough cardinal direction. So 1N, 2SE, and so on. Not that there is a 1 or 2 anymore.

The small farming communities around this town haven’t quite stabilized yet and so the first few attempts didn’t survive more than a couple of years. A sad, but inevitable outcome when the process of settling these farms is basically a shotgun approach. Without even fully exploring the region, people were sent to the locations with fertile soil and if they managed to build enough homes, the land was theirs.

Some real homestead energy. Though while less dangerous than grabbing unclaimed land from the Deep Wilds. These small farming communities, if anything, had a lower survival rate. After all, if someone is going to set up in the Deep Wilds, they need a certain amount of strength to begin with.

Out here in the more mundane areas of NeoRealm proper? Some of these farming towns might not have a single third break, depending entirely on patrols from the town the party is currently in. So unsurprisingly, if a dangerous monster shows up, these small farming towns of five to ten families can vanish from the map between patrols.

Admittedly, most of these towns do tend to have one person among them who is a third break and the main town does send a third break scout along with them when first choosing an area. It is simply that you can only find what is there. If aggressive bird monsters use a patch of trees to rest while migrating or if there are ice bears which hibernate in the summer instead of the winter? Well, there's not much a scout can do about that.

Though Rosha’s worried question about the survival rate reveals that many times, more than half of these towns’ population ends up surviving. It is a simple fact that even monsters don’t charge into the middle of town and murder everyone.

Courtney and Jason both feel a bit suspicious about this, though they let it slide as Rosha was satisfied with the canned answer. Who cares that they noticed that the statistic was for the farming towns that actually got set up and that they weren’t given any specific point at which a farming town was considered established. All that mattered was they knew that 14NE was having some troubles. Oh, and the locals called it Riverforde because they were, shocker, built on a river at the place it was easiest to ford for miles in either direction.

Beyond that, they received basic information on what to expect. So the group knew this was one of the bigger farming towns with 15 families. It had been set up for six or so years. Oh, and the fact that this is where the river is easiest to cross plays into their current problems.

So with a destination and a letter of introduction from the Guild, the party is once again on the road! Oh, and they arrived. These, uh, farming towns aren’t exactly spread too far from the central town. It takes the group only six or so hours to make it there and farmland greets them with some wooden houses stretched out along the road, which leads right to the river.

Though the view isn’t, the only thing to greet them. While across the river, there are trees and such. On this side, only the rare fruit tree remains standing, and so the party was seen while still a way off. The only reason they weren’t seen sooner is that the land has a subtle rise and fall to it. Not even enough to be called rolling hills, but the line of sight is still being interrupted.

All around the party are the farm fields. There seems to be more than such a small number of people can handle, but skills likely make up for the difference. Whatever the case, there are farmers out in those fields watching, but it is an old man who ambles over from one of the bigger houses.

Though saying bigger might give the wrong impression. The wooden house is bigger, but more in the sense that it has an extra room compared to the other nearby places. Jason saw it more as a two-room building getting a third room added on to fit a few more people.

The old man’s ears perk up as he approaches, “Well now! Not everyday we get visited by a couple of princesses!”

The group is a bit confused, but he ignores that and laughs, “Don’t mind me. I get that you travellers aren’t fit into our gen-er-al groupings, but in case you lack the knowledge, white lagomorphs are seen as a sort of royalty.

“Not quite a modern view, but then again, I’m not quite a modern man! Most feminine travellers who come around as rabbitkin seem to enjoy white or black. Both rare since they don’t exactly let one hide. Yet here you are with an actual little princess in your arms as well! And my whiskers are shaking so I can tell she’s a wild one.

“Adventurers like you sorts don’t come around often, so how about you come by my house and we can sit on the porch. My dame will serve us up some sun tea and we can chat a bit. If’n you all are fine with that? Oh, and my names William, though all the folks round these parts call me Old Liam.”

From the house he ambled over from another rabbitkin pops their head out, showing grey fur that, like William’s also seems to be from age. “Because everyone knows you have a hard enough head you don’t need anymore will! Did you ask their names or are you just going to avoid referring to them like the last group?”