Speaking of the owner of this inn, Kor'Ak had completely forgot about him.
"Ah Mr Gale, heading out already?" The gnome took some time to notice Steal stood beside Kor'Ak, too busy scrubbing a stain of blood out of his wooden floor. "And you friend? I may be old Mr Gale, but I'm certain I never saw such a person ever even enter my establishment. Care to explain Mr Gale?" The gnome grinned a little, a smile similar to the uncontained look on Steal's face when his greed overtook him, though far, far more mischevious and mellow. "You understand I have a strict, one person, one room policy correct? I trust that if they are to be staying here, you will be paying for two rooms" Another odd look plastered the gnome barkeep's face as he looked over the two of them "Even if you are only using the one"
Kor'Ak was visibly irritated, but smiled nonetheless. "No no, ranpa, this here is a new associate of mine, Ma'Bizzle Dizzle, a gnomish rogue. I'd call him the strong silent type, if the concept of you ranpa being strong wasn't almost as comical to me as a scholarly troll!" The two chortled to themselves a little as Steal stood there in silence, listening to Kor'Ak carry on, not understanding a word. "But yes, no wonder you didn't catch him sneaking in, most wouldn't. He'll be staying a night here, would you mind if we paid the room fees when we come back? I'm afraid I'll have little to pay you with until I collect my reward from the guild."
"Ah yes, the wyvern wasn't it? Damn beast had been taking a lot of cattle and damaging crops all over the place, raised food prices quite a bit, not great for business y'know" The gnome paused for a moment, face making an ugly expression before he spoke again, as if fighting against his very instinct "tell ya what, you can both stay the night for free if the two of you killed that shitty fucker,"
Kor'Ak nodded back as he began to walk Steal out of the inn "My thanks.. Fo'Shizzle, I feel like giving your vile swill another try when I get back, until then, goodbye.." Kor'Ak smirked just before he was about to step through the inn's front door "ranpa."
The door closed behind him as the two stepped out into a rather grimy cobbled road on the outskirts of Veera.
Steal froze in place, so many men and women, people of different races mingled together, some like the gnome he'd met before, others displayed features that reminded him of the wolf he'd killed on his first proper hunt with Grak. Some were as short as him, some wiry, some muscular, others wrapped in thick clothing, others walking almost bare, with nothing but a cloth adorning their genitalia to offer a slight semblance of decency as they walked the streets. Outnumbering all of these people ten to one however, were the humans, masses of them converged together, spilled out across the cobbled paths and crowded dingy market stalls and shops.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Yet, with all these odd people, it was Steal's new companion that stood out the most. This myriad of races had one thing in common, there skin was quite light, not pale, but tan; nothing alike the deep brown hue of Kor'Ak.
Kor'Ak didn't only stand out in Steal's eyes as well, as the adventurer began to pull Steal gently along, trying to navigate him through the busy streets wthout the goblin getting knocked down or trampled on, the goblin could see head's turn, not to look at the figure wrapped in clothing from head-to-toe, but their eyes lockled on the plainly-dressed, burly man, muttering words like "filthy fuckin Djaalics" "foreigner" and the one that made Kor'Ak's head lower, the single word that made his giant frame feel like a lie, a shell for a frail and meek man was "monster."
Kor'Ak pressed on for a few minutes, not once losing sight of Steal as he urged the goblin along with him. But something had certainly changed, confident strides forward now just tentative steps ahead.
They eventually made it to a building that stood out from the others, it was surrounding by stores, ranging from alchemy to weaponry and even what appeared to be a high-class restuarant. It wasn't the fact that it wasn't a shop that made the building stand out however, it was that, unlike the stores around it, it wasn't packed to the brim with bodies, buyers and browsers. No, only a handful of people wandered in and out through the doors, almost always with a blade at their side, and they all wore tags around their necks, small metal pendants with words engraved on them. Name and rank it would seem.
The two made their way into the building, a few clerks sat around a counter at the back of the room, whilst a handful of adventurers sat at a wooden table to one side, chatting, laughing and drinking from their canteens.
The laughing began to quiten as Kor'Ak and Steal made their way into the Adventurer's Guild, a few of the adventurers sat at the table turned to look at them, whilst one scowled, glared and then spoke "Get the fuck outta here ya fuckin Djaal, we know what your kind are like, fuck off before I run ya through!"
The voice came from a short-looking woman, perhaps barely even an adult from her small stature. Her body was covered in a simple layer of cloth, with thick, cured leather covering her torso. That same leather made up a apir of bracers that stretched from her wrists to just before her elbows, metal studs set into the material. Steal looked at the fine bow along her back, though inside, it was likely useless, which was why her hand instead lay on the hilt of a shortsword, still sheathed at her side. A bronze tag dangled from her neck, the same went for her three companions sat around the table. One of which glared at Kor'Ak as well, a simple, but clean skull-cap topped his head, and a chainmail shirt covered the gambeson beneath.
Another of the companions seemed to be trying to make the seething girl sit down, perhaps wanting to stay out of trouble, and keep her out of trouble. His relatively dark-coloured robes and hood, which he did not have pulled up, marked this man as a caster, atleast in Kor'Ak's eyes, though he couldn't see anykind of arcane focus in his hands or on his clothes.
The final of the adventurers looked at the iron tag that dangled around Kor'Ak's neck, before sighing, closing his hand tight around a small sculpture of Lira, the god of life. He returned to slowly drinking from a bowl of some unknown stew, eyes flitting up to glance at Kor'Ak as he leisurely made his way towards the adventuring group.