Chapter 137: More visitors from afar
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Chapter 137: More visitors from afar
Zephyr stomped her foot, threw up her hands and half yelled, "Will you just go have some fun already. I have this handled."
Suzette looked unsure, "I don't doubt you. It's just that we've had quite a few new adventurers come into town, and some other odd people. I'd feel terrible if a fight broke out or something like that."
Zephyr filled two large flagons of Blud Dark and handed them over to a smiling barbarian and a duelist in grey, "That's silly. I have 5-10 workers in here at any one time who would help out, and I am an accomplished dungeon delver and Battle Alchemist. And because you worry so much, my mother and father decided to come over for a glass of wine for no reason what-so-ever." She glared at Suzette, then at her mother in the back of the tavern who took the opportunity to wave at her.
Suzette got the hint, "Well then, I'll just be heading out. Hopefully be back by sunrise. Ozzy said we'd be out all night."
"Well, best you get an early start then. Shoo, I've got this."
Suzette headed out the door and Zephyr got back to taking care of her customers. Business was good at the tavern and Suzette was relying on her more and more to help out. The hardest part of the job was getting Suzette to leave. It was easier when she'd just owned part of the tavern. Now though, as sole owner, Suzette was determined to make the tavern profitable, and stay ahead of any problems that might creep up.
One problem showed up in the form of a very upset Professor of a soon-to-be-rebuilt college. Johannes came down from the second-floor stairway and looked quite upset. Seeing Zephyr behind the bar and not Suzette he tried to rearrange his face into something of a smile, only half succeeding.
"Good evening young lady. I find myself in something of a bad position and need to speak to Miss Suzette. Where might I find her?"
The last thing Zephyr was going to do was ruin Suzettes evening by calling her back to the tavern, or telling someone where she was headed, "I'm sorry sir, but she is out for the night. How can I help you?"
Johannes began wringing his hands, "I'm sorry, but that simply won't do. I've just received word and...well, that's neither here nor there until it gets here. Suffice to say I need to speak to her about my room and other matters."
Zephyr took a deep breath and tried to make eye contact. The old guy seemed harmless, just worried. She spoke in a firm voice and repeated some of her words. "Miss Suzette is out tonight sir. Out with Mr. Ozzy. I believe they had plans for a picnic. She won't be back until dawn."
"But...please sir, it's all right. Why don't you tell me the problem, and I'll see if I can fix it. How's that? If I can't, then you've lost nothing."
Johannes seemed to calm a bit, "Very well, may we speak privately upstairs? I can show you easier than explain." Zephyr signaled to her father to come to the bar, happy that he was there but hating that it did turn out she needed some help.
Johannes paused on the second floor, "I have been staying in the end room, a lovely room, and while I hated to leave it, I felt it best to relocate to the city. By my calculations the amount of money I gave Suzette ran through today. I really should have removed my items by now, but got distracted by what I found on the third floor. Are you familiar with the rooms there? Simply astonishing to find them in an establishment in such a small town, but then again, I'm finding this town to be more and more interesting."
Johannes seemed relieved. "Yes! Spendid! I must say that I like this solution and my pardon for doubting you downstairs. I'll let Miss Suzette know how happy I am with how you worked things out, especially when you had to calm my nerves. But...shouldn't we write this all up? And arrange payment?"
There was a commotion outside. Shouting and the sounds of many horses entering town. Johannes found a room with a window, "OH DRAT! Here already!" He turned in a panic to Zephyr.
Zephyr stuck out her hand, "Shake on the deal." Johannes took her hand and shook it, his own huge paw many times the size of hers, "Are you sure this will suffice?" He seemed uncertain.
Zephyr shrugged, "Good enough for tonight. My daddy says if you can't trust a man's word, why deal with him at all. And Suzette likes you."
Johannes considered that, "Well enough, we will let Miss Suzette iron out the details tomorrow and consider the deal to be done. Let me pay you to add assurance of my intentions." Zephyr followed him down to his room where the old alchemist gave her a large sack of coins. Zephyr immediately took it up to Suzettes quarters and hid it under a pillow on the bed.
A sack of gold for two rooms! She was going to ask for a raise after tonight. She ran back downstairs to the bar and got behind it. She poured a beer for Johannes and her father, on the house, and suggested they grab an empty table before the crowd came in from the stables.
Within a minute, the door opened, and several strangers came in. All were dressed similarly to Johannes in long robes of a faded grey, tied with a belt of braided cords. But that was where any resemblance ended.
The one in the lead was barely four foot tall and so fat, he was nearly round. Volminous had grown lazy in the last century and taken up cooking.
He claimed that the difference between a potion using monster parts and a good meal was just a matter of the spices. Several of his guests over the years had to agree after they went through the strangest transformations after eating his culinary experiments. When he got too fat to fit through a door, he imbibed what others might consider a failed experiment. The potion was supposed to cure baldness, but it did so at the cost of the rest of the body. The rotund professor became thin as a rail and gained a glorious set of golden locks that would make Rapunzel jealous. There were rumored to be other side effects that kept him from selling this potion to other fat, balding men. He could have made a fortune. He was due for another dose soon. Only 3 lonely hairs adorned his otherwise bald head, and going through most doors was a squeeze.
The next two through the door were tall, and thin as rails. They also were identical enough to be twins. Professor Tommaso had sought to create the perfect lab assistant, and instead created a perfect twin. No one, not even Tommaso, knew which of them was the original. They were never seen apart from each other. Seeing Johannes, they waved to him and headed to the bar for a pair of flagons.
The last was a woman. What Titania lacked for in size, she made up for in hair. She was only five foot tall, and some of that was the heels on her boots. Her hair was bright red and thick, done up in braids adorned with the skulls of small animals. Her locks cascaded down her back to her knees, ending in small bells. A good-sized, single-bladed axe was shoved through her belt. Her sharp eyes scanned the room, coming to rest upon Johannes in the back of the tavern. Her voice boomed out across the room
"Already here, are you, Johannes?!
"Impolite of you, heading out in the middle of the night to get here first. Impolite, I say!"
"Girl, bring me a bucket of that swill Johnnyboy is drinking and you better have a room left with a hard mattress for my aged bones."
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Chapter 137: More visitors from afar
Zephyr stomped her foot, threw up her hands and half yelled, "Will you just go have some fun already. I have this handled."
Suzette looked unsure, "I don't doubt you. It's just that we've had quite a few new adventurers come into town, and some other odd people. I'd feel terrible if a fight broke out or something like that."
Zephyr filled two large flagons of Blud Dark and handed them over to a smiling barbarian and a duelist in grey, "That's silly. I have 5-10 workers in here at any one time who would help out, and I am an accomplished dungeon delver and Battle Alchemist. And because you worry so much, my mother and father decided to come over for a glass of wine for no reason what-so-ever." She glared at Suzette, then at her mother in the back of the tavern who took the opportunity to wave at her.
Suzette got the hint, "Well then, I'll just be heading out. Hopefully be back by sunrise. Ozzy said we'd be out all night."
"Well, best you get an early start then. Shoo, I've got this."
Suzette headed out the door and Zephyr got back to taking care of her customers. Business was good at the tavern and Suzette was relying on her more and more to help out. The hardest part of the job was getting Suzette to leave. It was easier when she'd just owned part of the tavern. Now though, as sole owner, Suzette was determined to make the tavern profitable, and stay ahead of any problems that might creep up.
One problem showed up in the form of a very upset Professor of a soon-to-be-rebuilt college. Johannes came down from the second-floor stairway and looked quite upset. Seeing Zephyr behind the bar and not Suzette he tried to rearrange his face into something of a smile, only half succeeding.
"Good evening young lady. I find myself in something of a bad position and need to speak to Miss Suzette. Where might I find her?"
The last thing Zephyr was going to do was ruin Suzettes evening by calling her back to the tavern, or telling someone where she was headed, "I'm sorry sir, but she is out for the night. How can I help you?"
Johannes began wringing his hands, "I'm sorry, but that simply won't do. I've just received word and...well, that's neither here nor there until it gets here. Suffice to say I need to speak to her about my room and other matters."
Zephyr took a deep breath and tried to make eye contact. The old guy seemed harmless, just worried. She spoke in a firm voice and repeated some of her words. "Miss Suzette is out tonight sir. Out with Mr. Ozzy. I believe they had plans for a picnic. She won't be back until dawn."
"But...please sir, it's all right. Why don't you tell me the problem, and I'll see if I can fix it. How's that? If I can't, then you've lost nothing."
Johannes seemed to calm a bit, "Very well, may we speak privately upstairs? I can show you easier than explain." Zephyr signaled to her father to come to the bar, happy that he was there but hating that it did turn out she needed some help.
Johannes paused on the second floor, "I have been staying in the end room, a lovely room, and while I hated to leave it, I felt it best to relocate to the city. By my calculations the amount of money I gave Suzette ran through today. I really should have removed my items by now, but got distracted by what I found on the third floor. Are you familiar with the rooms there? Simply astonishing to find them in an establishment in such a small town, but then again, I'm finding this town to be more and more interesting."
Johannes seemed relieved. "Yes! Spendid! I must say that I like this solution and my pardon for doubting you downstairs. I'll let Miss Suzette know how happy I am with how you worked things out, especially when you had to calm my nerves. But...shouldn't we write this all up? And arrange payment?"
There was a commotion outside. Shouting and the sounds of many horses entering town. Johannes found a room with a window, "OH DRAT! Here already!" He turned in a panic to Zephyr.
Zephyr stuck out her hand, "Shake on the deal." Johannes took her hand and shook it, his own huge paw many times the size of hers, "Are you sure this will suffice?" He seemed uncertain.
Zephyr shrugged, "Good enough for tonight. My daddy says if you can't trust a man's word, why deal with him at all. And Suzette likes you."
Johannes considered that, "Well enough, we will let Miss Suzette iron out the details tomorrow and consider the deal to be done. Let me pay you to add assurance of my intentions." Zephyr followed him down to his room where the old alchemist gave her a large sack of coins. Zephyr immediately took it up to Suzettes quarters and hid it under a pillow on the bed.
A sack of gold for two rooms! She was going to ask for a raise after tonight. She ran back downstairs to the bar and got behind it. She poured a beer for Johannes and her father, on the house, and suggested they grab an empty table before the crowd came in from the stables.
Within a minute, the door opened, and several strangers came in. All were dressed similarly to Johannes in long robes of a faded grey, tied with a belt of braided cords. But that was where any resemblance ended.
The one in the lead was barely four foot tall and so fat, he was nearly round. Volminous had grown lazy in the last century and taken up cooking.
He claimed that the difference between a potion using monster parts and a good meal was just a matter of the spices. Several of his guests over the years had to agree after they went through the strangest transformations after eating his culinary experiments. When he got too fat to fit through a door, he imbibed what others might consider a failed experiment. The potion was supposed to cure baldness, but it did so at the cost of the rest of the body. The rotund professor became thin as a rail and gained a glorious set of golden locks that would make Rapunzel jealous. There were rumored to be other side effects that kept him from selling this potion to other fat, balding men. He could have made a fortune. He was due for another dose soon. Only 3 lonely hairs adorned his otherwise bald head, and going through most doors was a squeeze.
The next two through the door were tall, and thin as rails. They also were identical enough to be twins. Professor Tommaso had sought to create the perfect lab assistant, and instead created a perfect twin. No one, not even Tommaso, knew which of them was the original. They were never seen apart from each other. Seeing Johannes, they waved to him and headed to the bar for a pair of flagons.
The last was a woman. What Titania lacked for in size, she made up for in hair. She was only five foot tall, and some of that was the heels on her boots. Her hair was bright red and thick, done up in braids adorned with the skulls of small animals. Her locks cascaded down her back to her knees, ending in small bells. A good-sized, single-bladed axe was shoved through her belt. Her sharp eyes scanned the room, coming to rest upon Johannes in the back of the tavern. Her voice boomed out across the room
"Already here, are you, Johannes?!
"Impolite of you, heading out in the middle of the night to get here first. Impolite, I say!"
"Girl, bring me a bucket of that swill Johnnyboy is drinking and you better have a room left with a hard mattress for my aged bones."
Chapter 137: More visitors from afarZephyr stomped her foot, threw up her hands and half yelled, "Will you just go have some fun already. I have this handled."Suzette looked unsure, "I don't doubt you. It's just that we've had quite a few new adventurers come into town, and some other odd people. I'd feel terrible if a fight broke out or something like that."Zephyr filled two large flagons of Blud Dark and handed them over to a smiling barbarian and a duelist in grey, "That's silly. I have 5-10 workers in here at any one time who would help out, and I am an accomplished dungeon delver and Battle Alchemist. And because you worry so much, my mother and father decided to come over for a glass of wine for no reason what-so-ever." She glared at Suzette, then at her mother in the back of the tavern who took the opportunity to wave at her.Suzette got the hint, "Well then, I'll just be heading out. Hopefully be back by sunrise. Ozzy said we'd be out all night.""Well, best you get an early start then. Shoo, I've got this."Suzette headed out the door and Zephyr got back to taking care of her customers. Business was good at the tavern and Suzette was relying on her more and more to help out. The hardest part of the job was getting Suzette to leave. It was easier when she'd just owned part of the tavern. Now though, as sole owner, Suzette was determined to make the tavern profitable, and stay ahead of any problems that might creep up. One problem showed up in the form of a very upset Professor of a soon-to-be-rebuilt college. Johannes came down from the second-floor stairway and looked quite upset. Seeing Zephyr behind the bar and not Suzette he tried to rearrange his face into something of a smile, only half succeeding. "Good evening young lady. I find myself in something of a bad position and need to speak to Miss Suzette. Where might I find her?"The last thing Zephyr was going to do was ruin Suzettes evening by calling her back to the tavern, or telling someone where she was headed, "I'm sorry sir, but she is out for the night. How can I help you?"Johannes began wringing his hands, "I'm sorry, but that simply won't do. I've just received word and...well, that's neither here nor there until it gets here. Suffice to say I need to speak to her about my room and other matters."Zephyr took a deep breath and tried to make eye contact. The old guy seemed harmless, just worried. She spoke in a firm voice and repeated some of her words. "Miss Suzette is out tonight sir. Out with Mr. Ozzy. I believe they had plans for a picnic. She won't be back until dawn.""But...please sir, it's all right. Why don't you tell me the problem, and I'll see if I can fix it. How's that? If I can't, then you've lost nothing." Johannes seemed to calm a bit, "Very well, may we speak privately upstairs? I can show you easier than explain." Zephyr signaled to her father to come to the bar, happy that he was there but hating that it did turn out she needed some help.Johannes paused on the second floor, "I have been staying in the end room, a lovely room, and while I hated to leave it, I felt it best to relocate to the city. By my calculations the amount of money I gave Suzette ran through today. I really should have removed my items by now, but got distracted by what I found on the third floor. Are you familiar with the rooms there? Simply astonishing to find them in an establishment in such a small town, but then again, I'm finding this town to be more and more interesting."Johannes seemed relieved. "Yes! Spendid! I must say that I like this solution and my pardon for doubting you downstairs. I'll let Miss Suzette know how happy I am with how you worked things out, especially when you had to calm my nerves. But...shouldn't we write this all up? And arrange payment?"There was a commotion outside. Shouting and the sounds of many horses entering town. Johannes found a room with a window, "OH DRAT! Here already!" He turned in a panic to Zephyr. Zephyr stuck out her hand, "Shake on the deal." Johannes took her hand and shook it, his own huge paw many times the size of hers, "Are you sure this will suffice?" He seemed uncertain.Zephyr shrugged, "Good enough for tonight. My daddy says if you can't trust a man's word, why deal with him at all. And Suzette likes you."Johannes considered that, "Well enough, we will let Miss Suzette iron out the details tomorrow and consider the deal to be done. Let me pay you to add assurance of my intentions." Zephyr followed him down to his room where the old alchemist gave her a large sack of coins. Zephyr immediately took it up to Suzettes quarters and hid it under a pillow on the bed. A sack of gold for two rooms! She was going to ask for a raise after tonight. She ran back downstairs to the bar and got behind it. She poured a beer for Johannes and her father, on the house, and suggested they grab an empty table before the crowd came in from the stables. Within a minute, the door opened, and several strangers came in. All were dressed similarly to Johannes in long robes of a faded grey, tied with a belt of braided cords. But that was where any resemblance ended. The one in the lead was barely four foot tall and so fat, he was nearly round. Volminous had grown lazy in the last century and taken up cooking.He claimed that the difference between a potion using monster parts and a good meal was just a matter of the spices. Several of his guests over the years had to agree after they went through the strangest transformations after eating his culinary experiments. When he got too fat to fit through a door, he imbibed what others might consider a failed experiment. The potion was supposed to cure baldness, but it did so at the cost of the rest of the body. The rotund professor became thin as a rail and gained a glorious set of golden locks that would make Rapunzel jealous. There were rumored to be other side effects that kept him from selling this potion to other fat, balding men. He could have made a fortune. He was due for another dose soon. Only 3 lonely hairs adorned his otherwise bald head, and going through most doors was a squeeze.The next two through the door were tall, and thin as rails. They also were identical enough to be twins. Professor Tommaso had sought to create the perfect lab assistant, and instead created a perfect twin. No one, not even Tommaso, knew which of them was the original. They were never seen apart from each other. Seeing Johannes, they waved to him and headed to the bar for a pair of flagons.The last was a woman. What Titania lacked for in size, she made up for in hair. She was only five foot tall, and some of that was the heels on her boots. Her hair was bright red and thick, done up in braids adorned with the skulls of small animals. Her locks cascaded down her back to her knees, ending in small bells. A good-sized, single-bladed axe was shoved through her belt. Her sharp eyes scanned the room, coming to rest upon Johannes in the back of the tavern. Her voice boomed out across the room"Already here, are you, Johannes?!"Impolite of you, heading out in the middle of the night to get here first. Impolite, I say!""Girl, bring me a bucket of that swill Johnnyboy is drinking and you better have a room left with a hard mattress for my aged bones."
