"You should have let me kick his ass," Autumn insisted.

"I had dibs," the old man said, "little fucker tried to scam me." Even now that he wasn't yelling, his voice was still scratchy and angry.

"Either way, it's settled now," Eli said, taking an upturned stool from the counter, placing it on the floor and taking a seat.

"I told you, bar's closed," the old man waved them away dismissively and started heading towards the back.

"We're not actually here to drink," Eli said, "we were hoping to use that lift of yours. Though I wouldn't turn down a drink, too."

"The lift, eh? What for?"

"Adventurer business."

"Aye," the old man sized them up, "you look like the lot. Don't suppose you're interested in a quest?"

"Depends on the quest," Eli said, "and the reward."

The old man made his way behind the counter, grabbed a bottle and a glass, and poured a drink which he placed in front of Eli. Eli held it up to inspect, then smelled it wearily, before taking a sip and immediately wincing. The old man left the bottle on the counter and placed three more glasses beside it.

"Help yourselves," he said to the others.

Autumn, Iris and Victoria took stools from the bar and sat on either side of Eli. Only Autumn poured herself a drink. Unlike Eli, she seemed to enjoy the bitter taste.

The old man eyed the floppy wizard hat on Iris's head, just as she was eying his.

"Nice hat," the man said.

"Same to you!" Iris said with a wide smile.

The man placed his hands on the bar across from Eli and leaned forward a little too close, speaking in a conspiratorial tone as if others might be listening in, "here's the deal, there's this fish I've been looking for. Now, I'm a damn good fisherman, but problem is this one got smart. Little bastard knows I'm coming, senses my aura and takes off every time. So I need some intrepid young adventurers to catch him by surprise and bring him back to me."

"A specific fish?" Eli questioned, trying to pretend he wasn't overwhelmed by the thick scent of seafood coming from the man, "in the lake?"

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"Aye."

"The lake so big it has waves like an ocean? The one that has an aggressive hydra in it?"

"Aye."

"How exactly do you expect us to find and catch it? And without getting eaten by the hydra, on top of that."

"That's what I'm paying you to figure out. There's a certain reef he likes to hang out near, that should make it easier, waters are too shallow for the hydra to get close, so I wouldn't worry about that. This fish's got an aura that can't be missed if you know how to look. Once you lay eyes on him you'll know, glistening golden scales all over his body, only one in the lake. Can't miss him."

"That still sounds like a tall order," Eli said, grimacing slightly after taking another sip, "we'll need an appropriate reward."

"I ain't got gold," the old man said, "bar's been closed for months. Blown every last bit of my wealth trying to catch this damn fish. But I can give you unrestricted access to my lift, if that's what you're after. You'll have to make it look like commerce business though, else the guards are gonna come asking questions."

Eli swirled his drink while he thought for a moment, "you got rooms?"

"Aye, six of 'em. No service though, laid off all my staff way back."

"You plan on keeping this place closed for the hunt? You're missing out on a lot of coin."

The man spat on the floor behind the counter, "I don't care about coin, even if I had what I needed to reopen, wouldn't be worth dealing with adventurers."

"Tell you what, how about you deal with just five of us? Access to your lift plus rooms for me and my companions for the duration of the hunt – the full three months. We get the whole place to ourselves, you get your fish."

"And we get to use the kitchen," Autumn added.

"Hmm," the old man thought for a moment, "deal."

"Deal." Eli stood, reached across the bar and shook the man's hand. It was wet.

"Go through the Underbelly until it spits you out on the north docks, from there follow the beach until the gravel turns to rocks. When you start needing to climb over boulders to continue, the reef will be just off shore. If you see rainbow coral, you're in the right spot."

"Should we bring fishing poles? or nets?" Autumn asked.

"Don't bother," the old man said, "he's too smart for hooks and has torn his way through every net I've thrown at him. You'll have to catch him with your hands. And don't mess up the scales!"

"So no spear fishing, no fishing poles, and no nets," Victoria said, "I'm sure this won't be impossible at all."

"Great, now get the fuck out of my bar. And don't come back without my fish!"

The others pushed back their stools and rose to follow Eli as he made for the door, then he turned back and spoke again.

"Don't you want to know our names?" he asked, "or tell us yours?"

"I don't care what your names are," the old man said, "but people call me the Fish Wizard."

"The Fish Wizard," Iris whispered to herself in awe. As they exited the bar, she spoke aloud to the others, "I think I need a wizard name."

"What?" Eli asked.

"The guy I got this hat from, he called himself the Weird Farmer at the Edge of the Valley, and that guy's called the Fish Wizard. If I'm gonna wear the hat, I think I need a cool name to go with it."

"The Blip Wizard?" Autumn suggested.

"That sounds ridiculous," Eli said.

"Hmm," Iris thought it over, "maybe it's just the right amount of ridiculous though. I'll have to think on it."

"You need robes too," Victoria suggested, "every proper wizard wears robes."

"Yeah!" Iris said with excitement, "we should go shopping when we get in the city."

"Hell yeah," Autumn said, "shopping day!"

"One thing at a time," Eli said, "right now we have a golden fish to catch."