Thariel looked over the village before her.

She stood on top of a hill, from this distance, the people didn't look as threatening or feel as intimidating as they did in her anxiety ridden mind.

When she first left the house, she dismissed the villagers so much that they didn't even cross her mind.

Now that she's in Streamwise though...

She realized that they could kill her. Easily at that.

She did have her potions, those could help her but she didn't want to kill anyone and she also didn't want to leave this place as a wanted escapee.

Killing was a no go no matter what, she's clear on that stance. She knows she'll do it eventually, but she expected it to happen a year from now, not today or in the near future.

Hopefully the situation doesn't get to that point.

Thariel pulled her hood over her face and started making her way down the slope.

A tie easily hid her hair and her hood covered her ears well enough, sadly, she couldn't hide the color of her eyes but she hoped that the shadow over her face covered their red-tinted hue.

Her eyes didn't glow in the dark so no one should recognize her as a Damphir like this.

Thariel soon reached the village and fortunately for her, no one reacted to her presence.

She got a better look of the houses as she explored the streets and they were exactly the same as they did back in the game; not destitute, but also not extravagant.

They were constructed using a mixture of materials with a stone foundation, wooden supports, and clay rooftops.

The houses had a same-y look to them, like they were all based off of a previous design that got copy pasted over and over again.

Tainted Orchids didn't explain why this was the case (probably because it didn't need to, as games tended to not have unique structures unless they had a purpose) so they looked completely out of place in Thariel's eyes.

Thariel eventually decided to not bother with the way the houses were just clones of each other and turned away from them.

She focused on everyone around here instead.

No one seemed to mind her presence and even the guards only gave her a few seconds's worth of staring before looking away and continuing with their day.

By all means, everyone just treated her as if she was another traveler. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thariel soon passed by the river port that earned the village its name.

It seems that a boat had stopped by to drop off wooden crates, captains were negotiating by the docks and crewmen were hopping off the vessels to head into the village, presumably to take a break and enjoy themselves.

Maybe she could also buy something while she's here?

Thariel turned away from the port and went back to exploring the village.

Thanks to a flashback to the canon Thariel's past in the game, she knew a few places in Streamwise and if she were to buy something from here, then she had a place in mind.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And it was about time she met the original's sponsor anyways.

The Three Ways market was named after the three interconnecting streams at the head of the nearby river, and it is a place bustling with all kinds of people and full of stalls selling various items.

She wasn't interested in buying anything from them but the stalls could be rented by the hour.

She could rent one of them to sell her potions but Thariel wasn't interested in doing that since there's no guarantee that she'll sell everything by the end of the day.

No, instead, Thariel picked the even riskier option and headed for the house of one of the only merchants who settled in Streamwise.

The building she found herself standing in front of was a mostly wooden structure with stone pillars holding up a metallic roof.

A wooden sign with a water droplet carved onto it hung above the double-sided doors of the building, below it are a series of alien yet comprehensible lettering that spelt out "Dripblood Inc."

And no, the name and symbol didn't mean anything or were connected to vampires. Liora just chose to follow the common themes found across the Tenlor territory.

Thariel walked past the sign and reached for the doors.

The walls were enchanted and prevented sounds from going through them so she could take off her hood and reveal her identity to the woman inside.

Quite possibly, this was the only time where being a Damphir would turn out in her favor when interacting with humans, as they are known to be good alchemists.

Thariel jogged her memory for the traits and characteristics of the merchant who owned Dripblood before going inside.

Liora Dewbright was a middle-aged woman who came from a family of merchants, she had honey colored hair and bright almond eyes which can discern the quality of items and people alike from just a single glance.

Liora also likes to take on risky deals, which Thariel hoped was enough for the woman to buy her potions without so much as a second glance.

Thariel opened the doors and walked inside.

The inside of the building was heavily decorated, a thick shag-coat carpet topped the floor, shelves supported by metal bars lined the walls, and large oval lanterns hung from the ceiling, their weight held aloft by bronze chains.

It was clearly a show of wealth and opulence, and you know what? Good for Liora, she's clearly wealthy, possibly even wealthy enough to buy everything in Thariel's sack.

Without batting an eye that is.

She admits that she may have concocted these potions in a hurry.

At the opposite end of the door was a counter; it was made with orange colored wood and carved with intricate designs of river weeds and cattails.

Behind that counter stood a woman with a face attractive enough for her to be an actress, on top of that, she was also quite curvy. All of that is offset by a mean demeanour.

Okay, maybe that last one was just because she was looking at Thariel in a suspicious manner...

"Can you take off your hood?"

Thariel met Liora's eyes, the merchant was expectedly blunt, it was a part of her character that made her so hard to talk to back in the game, as choosing dialogues for the merchant always ran the risk of running Liora's amicability meter to the ground.

And that was when Thariel was in the player's party, according to other players, Liora increased the prices of her wares when the Damphir wasn't involved.

Fortunately, she's never experienced that and talked to a more laid back Liora who was amicable to the player, it was during those times where she learned more about the merchant's character.

Liora didn't like suspicious people, but if they were honest then she'd be more willing to talk to them, even criminals.

"Is this place sound proofed?" Thariel asked in return.

"Of course, most important buildings often are," Liora answered in confidence, "why?"

"Because I'm a Damphir," Thariel's reply caused the merchant to raise an eyebrow, "strange, I know-"

"No, not really," Liora shook her head, "Damphirs are uncommon, but not rare, you're one of them?"

"I am," Thariel took off her hood to confirm it, Liora nodded in response, "I'm not here to buy things-"

"I assumed so, yes, what do you want? Help?" Liora scoffed, "I'm afraid I can't do that,"

Wait, this feels familiar...

... So she actually managed to get the conversation to become similar to Thariel's flashback in the game. The dialogue should be familiar from here on out.

"I'm not here for help, I'm here to sell," Thariel said the same words the original did when she first met Liora, and if things were the same as they were back in the game...

"Potions?"

Okay, that was different, as Liora should have said something along the lines of 'you're an alchemist?' but this works too. Hopefully this still leads to a contract.

"Yes, potions," Thariel nodded, she decided to advertise a bit of her wares to garner the merchant's attention, "I have magic amps, strength, durability, and stamina boosts,"

"Show me,"

With Liora's permission, Thariel stepped up to the counter and one by one, placed her potions on top for showcase.

Liora grabbed and inspected them as they were placed and the way the merchant narrowed her eyes at the bottles made Thariel's heart race from fear.

It reminded her of how she felt during job interviews, no need to panic, she could get through this...

"They're good," Liora looked away from the potion and towards Thariel when the latter sighed, "you weren't confident in their quality?"

"N-no, I'm not," Thariel let out a nervous giggle, guess that particular cat is out of the bag, "I wasn't sure that they'd pass as good products,"

"They're- well- they are of good quality, better than the first brews of most alchemists at least," Liora nodded in approval, "I'll buy them for 8 gold each,"

"Uhm- I was thinking that maybe I could be your supplier for them?" Thariel suggested nervously.

This was a farfetched request but she hoped that Liora would at least consider it-

"Sure, why not,"

Thariel almost dropped her bag, "excuse me?"

"I said why not?" Liora repeated, "are you deaf?"

"I- I mean, why-" Thariel let out a nervous giggle, how did it even come to this? Why did Liora agree so easily?

"Because like I said, they're pretty good in quality, I'm hoping that you spend more time making the next batch though, if that's okay with you?"

"Uh, how do you know I?.." Thariel trailed off.

"It's obvious when potions are made hastily," Liora explains, "their quality doesn't drop but their coloration is dull, don't worry though, the effects won't change beyond the duration,"

"A-ahaha," Thariel didn't know that, "I guess?"

"Yes, you guess," Liora drawled, "so, how many potions did you bring me?"

"I have 15 more, there's four of each type and a few extras so I think if we go by your original price-" which Thariel still couldn't believe was 8 freaking gold! "- you'll only need to give me uhm..."

Thariel paused, did she count that right? 152 gold coins?!

"152 gold," Liora confirmed what Thariel thought was a miscalculation but nope, she was apparently correct! Liora grabbed a pouch and started counting out a few coins from it, "Let me just..."

Thariel stared at the pouch that was dropped onto the counter, wait, was being an alchemist this lucrative? Seriously? 152 gold coins was a pretty big deal- like, mid game level big deal.

Whu?