"Hey. Time to get up." Hope knocks on the door to the guys' room for the second time. There's a grumble from behind it before it swings open, their tiny companion rubbing his eyes and giving a great yawn. "You're the one who drank till you passed out, lass, so how is it you're up first?"

Anna pops her head out from behind Hope, waving with her usual bright smile. "I'm awake too!" The halfling groans as Hope shrugs. "I'm used to waking up at this time. My biological clock just works that way now."

"Bah! I'm used to sleepin' in the elements, so I try to sleep when I can. Though it was kind of you to lend us a room for the evening." Tyrion turns to the curtains on the window and pulls them open. "Oooh, that sun's bright." He looks over at the one other bed, where Amadeo is busily preparing his things. The halfling stares at him in shock. "How? How am I the only one-"

"Because I'm also used to getting up at the crack of dawn." Amadeo responds flatly, waving to the girls. "We ready to go?"

"Nuh uh, breakfast first." Anna licks her lips. "I could kill some pancakes."

"Mmm, pancakes." Hope rubs her stomach with a sigh.

"Buttermilk or buckwheat?" Amadeo asks, grabbing his pack as Tyrion starts putting his own things away.

Hope tilts her head quizzically. "Does it matter?"

Amadeo stops in his tracks, giving the devilkin a long stare before he nods his head very slowly. "Yes. Yes it does. Because buckwheat is terrible, it tastes cheaply made, and yes, they say it's a good alternative for some people, but buttermilk is so soft and fluffy and delicious. I will fight you on this."

Hope laughs and holds her hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, I got it. No need to set me on fire." Amadeo chuckles in turn. "Nonsense. You'd just shrug it off anyway." He follows the girls to the main room to eat. Tyrion arrives shortly thereafter and rolls out a map of the countryside. "So what's the plan?"

Hope sips her coffee, grimacing and pouring some milk and sugar into it. "First, we go to the guild and get paid for our work with the ostriches yesterday. The job was to remove them from the area. They didn't say how, so payment should be easy. Then we head out the east gate to Kaina. It's a day's journey on foot, so we should arrive by nightfall if we walk at a decent pace. After that, I'm thinking we find work somewhere in the city. There should be alot of guilds there in need. We can even enjoy the beach too."

Amadeo holds up a hand. "I'd like to stop on the way. The Lothar Mountain apparently has a shape carved into its northern side that looks like a dragon."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I'd like to see that, actually." Hope nods, pointing to the map and tracing the road. "If we decided to stop for lunch, we'd have to camp outside for the evening, but it's doable."

"So we're sightseeing too then? Long as we're not visiting Lord Autumnsong's estate in Lorelei." Tyrion chimes in. "He's not my biggest fan. I might have taken a few things from him the last time I was there."

"Things? Like what things?" Anna tilts her head. "Money? Food? Buttons? Candles? Did you steal candles? Cause you know, not everyone can see in the dark like I can."

"Money, and a bit of food. And a few things more precious to him." Tyrion smirks, taking a bite of pancake.

Anna gasps and points at the halfling. "You stole his underwear?!"

Tyrion chokes, coughing and hacking before Hope gives him a heavy smack on the back. He spits the food out and gasps for air with a groan. "No, ew, no no no, definitely not that."

"You stole his wife's heart." Hope mumbles with a raised eyebrow.

"Or HIS heart." Amadeo clarifies with a chuckle.

"Neither of those, gods no." The halfling rolls his eyes. "Doesn't matter, let's just avoid that place if we ever come across it."

"Right, right. Thankfully, Lorelei is pretty far south, so we likely won't come across it unless we ever decide to head that way." Hope looks over the map again. "Maybe we can check out Whitemorrow at some point. I've always wanted to see the One Eyed Sentinel."

"The One Eyed what now?" Anna sits up, horrified at the thought of some poor soul having to stand watch with only his one good eye.

"The One Eyed Sentinel of Whitemorrow. It's a statue built nearly a hundred years ago by a gnomish engineer. Supposedly, the eyes were made of diamonds the size of your head, and one of them went missing about a decade ago. It's been standing in the same spot, but some people swear it changes position from time to time." Hope grins. "Like a stone ghost story."

Anna squeels with fright as much as delight. "That's so cool! I love a good ghost story!"

Amadeo shakes his head. "Ghost stories aren't really my thing, thanks. We have a game plan. Let's finish up here and head out."

"Agreed." Hope nods and stuffs her last portion of pancake into her mouth before standing. Anna follows after with a grin. "Shopping time!"

"Come along, then. Maybe we can pick up some new toys to play with." Tyrion leads the way, though Amadeo scratches his chin. "Maybe nothing too costly. Still need traveling expenses."

Their morning is spent acquiring the payment they're owed, before stopping at the marketplace to get a few goods. Amadeo and Anna acquire a few components, while Tyrion nabs a few choice snacks. Hope trades her shortsword in for a longsword, while Anna grabs a staff and fixes the orb from her necklace to it, the orb almost seeming to amplify the light around it before it settles into a soft amber color.

By nearly noon, they leave Mysthaven through the eastern gates. Hope sighs as they proceed down the road. "I wasn't expecting to make a shopping trip of our morning."

"At least we got some goodies!" Anna takes a strip of jerky from their snacks and chews on it.

"So we get there tomorrow rather than tonight. One evening in the wild won't kill us." Amadeo offers, using his staff as a walking stick.

From the gate, a lone figure watches, yellow eyes scanning over the party from under the hood of their cloak before turning off the road and disappearing into the fields.