Your father is dead. Now, having only just passed the threshold into manhood, it is up to you to provide for your mother and little sister. You've been waiting for this responsibility. Your father, once the great retainer of some (now fallen) lord, lost himself in his latter years to cards and spirits. He was, at least, never violent, but he squandered the little you stood to inherit and worse, left the family with significant debts.

Penniless and desperate, unable to even secure an apprenticeship with any of the masters of the village (debt is worse than leprosy in that regard), you've taken up his old sword and his round shield and come to the town of Hobcroft to try your luck as an adventurer.

It's been six days since your arrival and you've burned through the dozen or so silver staters you had come in with--coins your mother practically forced you to take, though it will mean subsisting on thin barley porridge and whatever chestnuts your sister can scavange from the woods. But you've managed to secure some leads on possible employment. The bigger jobs are reserved for those with the reputation to meet them, for the rest either the pay is uncertain or meager or the risk is great.

You have three offers before you:
>The guard captain is looking for someone to help infiltrate a mysterious fire-worshipping cult that has setup in a nearby ruin. The pay is good, and you'll be led by an expert in such things, but the risk of getting caught gives you pause.
>A merchant is looking for someone to survey the lands to the north, for purposes of a new settlement. The journey should easy given how many will be in the company, but the pay, split so many ways is equally paltry.
>An old blind man wants to be escorted to the Oracle of the Moon, a journey that will take you through the mountains and across the river. The pay is decent, but the journey, though through safe roads and lands, is a long one. At least you'll be paid up front.