Meadgard quest rewards are unlocks, not item drops. A quest hands you a crafting station, a vendor, or a character who comes with upgrades to sell — the two quest lines visible in the demo pay out in exactly that way, and the reward chain itself is the tavern's progression.
Meadgard quest rewards: what the objectives pay
- "Full Bellies" — Gather scraps (12/15). It turns into "Find Ernst - The Carpenter", and the payoff for handing over the scrap is a crafting station: "Bring me some Scraps and I'll have the station built before you can say 'splinter!'"
- "The Viking Escape" — Rescue Brokkr from Goblin Camp (0/1). The payoff is Brokkr himself, who is a character rather than a vendor.
- Clearing the daytime objectives that advance the tavern. This opens the bigger service — more stations, more recipes, better crowds.
What the objectives do not pay is gold or item drops. The rewards that are visible are of the unlock type: a station, a vendor, or a character with an upgrade to sell.
What the unlock actually gives you
- A station is the reward that pays in building work. The station is what lets you craft, and the crafting chain that follows from it is in the crafting weapons guide.
- A vendor is the reward that pays in shopping. Sven the Travelling Merchant sells food, materials and weapons, and a shop with better stock is itself an income upgrade — the recruiting townsfolk guide covers how he arrives.
- A character is the reward that pays in a quest of their own and a set of upgrades to sell.
One thing is worth expecting rather than being surprised by: players report that working hard to unlock the blacksmith ends with a vendor NPC instead of a weapon, and that the new vendor's stock is out of reach with the gold you have at that point. The unlock is the start of that villager's contribution, not the end of it.
Where the objectives show up
The tracker in the top right of the screen during the day phase shows the quest name, its objective and a progress counter, and a "NEW QUEST - CHECK LOG" prompt appears in the village when the next one opens. The demo covers the opening five quests of the main story with 60+ minutes of gameplay. The main story quests guide covers how the chain runs.