In the morning Isabelle passed Ratface the mask to put on and showed her an image of what she looked like when she did.

It was weird to stare at the little girl that looked back at her. Her lovely green skin had been turned pale. Her wonderful pointy ears turned into green snubs and her eyes had lost their red sheen for blue. She even had a pupil of all things.

Her hair was still black at least which was nice. The girl before her looked entirely too adorable. She bet this kid had never even been in an adventurers’ brawl let alone caused one. She frowned at her image and was disgusted to see it turn into a cute little pout.

“I’m not doing that,” exclaimed Ratface. Abigail looked over and snorted.

“That’s the face you make every time. Did you not know?”

Ratface was horrified. Her dignified frown looked like this? They must be lying to her.

“Hold still,” said Isabelle. She walked around Ratface eyeing her work with a critical eye. She got Ratface to run in place and flex her hands. She even got her to tumble over the ground. Finding nothing out of place, the woman nodded and held out her hand to Abigail who deposited a bag of coin to her. Isabelle quickly ferreted the coin away and the group started to make their way towards the village.

Ratface decided she’d been lied to the closer they got. This place was far too big to be considered a village. The wall that spread around the place was all stone and looked sturdy and well cared for. She doubted any monster was breaking it down. The fact she could see some buildings from outside meant they’d have to be at least three stories high and the ground that the place was situated on was far too firm for a swamp. In hindsight so were all the roads they’d taken to get here. Someone must have done some serious earth moving.

The biggest difference was the amount of people. Pinewood had only had about one hundred and her own village had had one hundred and fifty.

This place was practically bursting with people. There had to be at least double that if not triple. There was enough that there was a line of people just to enter. Several roads connected just before the entrance and entered into the village. There were guards standing out front to guide them all through. Presumably all those roads came from similar little villages like Pinewood skirting the area.

“There’s no way this is considered a village,” she said to Abigail. The woman glanced at her.

“This is about normal for a village how many people were in yours?”

“One fifty.”

Abigail snorted.

“Guess you were from a hamlet not a village then,” said the old woman. She smiled under Ratface’s frown, and she was reminded again that it looked like a pout. She wiped the look off her face which seemed to only amuse the woman more.

Isabelle had reactivated her own old lady illusion and the three of them joined the line. People smiled as they saw her join and she realised she looked like she was out with her grandparents. At least they hadn’t made her hold their hands.

They stood in the line for a while and Ratface was able to get a look at the rest of the people trying to get in. Some had the gaudy outfits of adventurers, though none she recognised from before. Most were just normal people, hunters and traders. They were dressed in simple pants and tunics and either wearing a cloak or had one wrapped up on their bag. Ratface and her group didn’t look too out of place waiting and when people looked it was only to look at the ‘cute little girl’. Gross.

After half an hour of trudging forward the group made it to the guards. They were both in leather armour and seemed bored but alert. They didn’t expect any trouble but that didn’t mean they weren’t keeping an eye out for it.

The one in the front had a little sash of blue on tired onto his arm and he was the one who spoke to them.

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“Passports,” he commanded.

Isabelle handed over her own and Abigail handed over hers and Ratface’s. It was time to see if Isabelle’s forgery would hold up. The guard paused as he read the name on hers.

“Ratface?” he asked. His face painted with confusion but not suspicion.

“That’s me,” she said. She was careful not to let any of her Lurian accent come through when she talked. She heard Abigail groan next to her.

“I told her to put her real name, but she insists by going by her adventurer name,” the old woman said. This earned her the glimmer of a smile from the guard before professionalism whipped it away.

“Adventurer names are fine. I suppose you’re here for your first adventure Miss Ratface?” he asked.

Ratface frowned, you could argue that this whole trip was her first adventure.

“Yes, that’s right,” she said eventually. The guard smiled again, and she heard chuckles from further down the line as well as a few, ‘how precious’ comments and other such things. Halmir hearing the commotion made his way to her should and squeaked.

“This is Halmir the Sly. He doesn’t have a passport.” She assumed that animals didn’t need them but then she hadn’t ever needed one before.

“We will let him in on your good word,” said the guard. The grin had won its battle with his professionalism and was now on clear display. He waved them through and wished her luck. Ratface got to see her first ‘real’ village.

As she’d noticed from outside it was the amount of people that stood out the most. Outside they could at least spread out on the road but here the building boxed them all in and Ratface was closer to people than she felt comfortable with. She found herself placing herself between the two older women just to avoid bumping into people.

“I have some people to meet here,” Isabelle announced, “meet at the River Rat?”

“Sounds good,” said Abigail. Isabelle sauntered off and Abigail turned to Ratface.

“You and I are going shopping. You need to complete a quest before we leave here to get your trainee badge for your passport, and I didn’t bring you all this way just for a rat to get you.” Halmir squeaked in indignation that a rat would do something so ignoble, but Abigal pushed through.

“We’ll get you some basic armour and a short sword and buckler. Your knife should really be a last resort. Heck, maybe this place will even have a crossbow so you can try and backup your skills on that.”

They went and did just that. After a little bit of wandering they came to a shop called, The Little Quest. It had a picture of a little boy and girl fighting against a dragon made of straw.

“This is where everyone brings their kids when they first get the adventuring bug,” Abigail explained, “it’s cheap but the gear is solid for an adventurer starting out.”

“Can’t have peoples kids dying if they want to stay in business,” said Ratface.

“Exactly.” Abigail pushed open the door and they walked in.

The shop was well stocked and organised which worked well for the poor owner who was currently having to contend with multiple children trying to find their way through the place and dragging their parents.

The parents wore pained faces as they looked at the price and Ratface joined them when she looked. None of these prices were lower than silvers, emphasis on silvers and not silver. Two was the smallest price she saw that was available and that was just for boots.

This was incidentally where Abigail led her first and she got Ratface to try on and walk about on a bunch of different boots until she found some that balanced walkable with protective. They worked their way up from there, making their way to gambesons next. Abigail eyed the group critically until she could find one, she would approve. Ratface was surprised how well it fit her.

“Ideally I’d want to get you a cuirass to put over that but you’re not really going to find a good one here.” The owner looked up and Abigail smiled, “no offence.” The woman shrugged and went back to trying to wrangle the latest child in front of her.

They found Ratface a sword and buckler, but she’d stopped caring about that when she saw her real prize. A beautiful thing sitting behind the counter. A crossbow.

She rushed over with the rest of her stuff, and she eyed the beast.

“How much?” she asked. The shopkeeper eyed Ratface in her rags then looked at the crossbow.

“It’s twenty silvers.”

Ratface’s face fell. That was more than all the rest of her equipment put together. Abigail came and joined her at the counter and looked from the crossbow to her.

“Complete the quest and I’ll think about it,” she said. She handed over the money for the rest of the gear and Ratface was now the proud owner of all the adventurer gear. They left to the envious eyes of the other children.

Afterwards Abigail took her to lunch and grabbed meat on a stick which Ratface latched onto. She recognised the sweet taste of alligator which was in abundance but the spices on it were a pleasant surprise. After chewing for a bit, she turned to Abigail.

“Why are you helping me so much?” she asked. This was the kind of help she’d expect from a goblin not an adventurer.

“You don’t have anyone at the moment you know?” she walked forward, her eyes looking ahead to something Ratface couldn’t see, “I want somewhere to be there for you, and I’ll be that person if I can.”

Ratface looked away from her, absorbing the information. People watched them walk by and she realised how much Abigail looked like her grandma taking her out for a stroll.

In that moment, she didn’t mind.