Chapter 13
“Did yall hear those cheers cacaw!? Did you hear them when I blasted that cat cacaw!?”
The birdfolk could barely contain himself after they had won their fight. Roden had to admit it was an addicting feeling having so many people cheering for them.
“Do you guys see when I flipped around and hit’em with that kick cacaw?!”
Roden was still buzzing from the climax of the fight. By the time they made it back to their preparation room he realized it was because he had leveled up again.
The realization made him chuckle to himself a bit as that was right on track with how this campaign went. Rapid level advancement in a short period of time. He’d have to take care of that level up later as now that the fight was over they had a few things they still needed to do and really none of them were going to be quick.
First they got paid, which Roden almost forgot about. They ended up making a tidy some as most people in the stands had bet against them and the odds were not in their favor. Being that competitors were not allowed to bet on their own fights, the arena paid out a percentage of the profit in the event of an underdog win, which were generally pretty rare.
The coin bag the small man dropped off at their room was bulging with gold coins. They all stared at their winnings for a few moments before cleaning up. Riakon healed himself and Errrkkkk with his own ability so they could save the potions.
Existing the Arena lobby the men stepped out into the late afternoon sun. An ocean breeze ruffled their clothes and cooled their sweat soaked bodies.
“Where to next?”
“We need a place to stay cacaw”
“I know just the place, but we need a change of clothes first.”
Both men looked down and tugged at their clothes mildly affronted at Roden’s insinuation. While Roden couldn’t remember everything about Coastall he did know the main streets to some degree.
In this case, he knew he wanted to go to the Golden Dew Inn which was located on Port Street near the docks, but before they went there. They needed clothes of a better cloth, which he knew they could get at the tailor shop just north of Port Street.
It didn’t take them too long to make the journey and when they arrived they spoke with an older elven man who helped get them clothes that better suited VIP members of the Golden Dew. It was in the tailor’s shop that Roden got a good look at himself for the first time in this world.
He hadn’t really thought about it before, but of course he looked different. His brown hair was longer and hung down much more than it did in his other life. His eyes were a deep green instead of his natural blue.
He was less stocky and quite a bit more fit in this half-elf body. Then there were the all important ears, which of course were pointy and long. If he showed up to Ren Faire like this he’d be bombarded by people asking where he got them.
When the tailor was all done Roden had to admit the party was looking snazzy. Errrkkkk traded in his traditional gi for a set of silk kimono style ivory robes with a satin wrap in a deep blue. The tailor had managed to craft the wrap to go around his wings leaving him the ability to fly while wearing it.
Riakon went for an ivory cotton shirt with an even deeper V than his normal one. Which he paired with a black satin vest and pants.
Roden opted for a more elven style. He wore a forest green robe cinched at the waist and a matching overcoat with gold embroidered filigree. As ready as they were ever going to be Roden marched the three down the street to the Golden Dew Inn.
When they arrived on the street the line to get in was unreal. When the jaws of his friends dropped, Roden dismissed their concerns and strolled right up to the elf passing judgment on those who got to the front of the line. Before he could open his mouth Roden cut him off,
“My friends and I have heard this is the only place worth providing our patronage. Is that true?”
He gave the elf a deliberate once over trying to look unimpressed.
The elf took in the three men and looked like he was about to shake them off before Riakon pulled out their bag of gold and began tossing it up and down. The distinct jingle of gold unmistakable to the elf.
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“Well good sirs, for fine gentlemen as yourself there is none finer than the Golden Dew. I can assure you membership here is worth every coin.”
“If this is the best then I suppose give us three memberships.” Roden was shocked at how well his charade was going. He guessed the old saying 'clothes maketh the man' was true even here.
After gold was exchanged Roden, Errrkkkk and Riakon were led inside. Just as he had imagined all those years ago, the Golden Dew was the epitome of a high end club, tavern, and inn. When they were brought in they were taken through the members only entrance that avoided the main floor and took them along a mezzanine directly to the VIP area.
From there Roden could see the entire club, there was a main stage where a band of performers was playing a strange magically produced version of house music that had a crowd of people dancing, a massive bar in the center of the room was surrounded by thirsty patrons waving coins, and the various areas scattered about the room with booths and tables for seating.
The lights were mostly red and blues, except on the dancefloor where the club had an array of magical light projections from dazzling multicolored rays to strobe light effects.
No sooner than they were seated was a young elf woman at their table delivering the house wine and ale, she poured the ale into three frosty mugs before she took their orders for food and left to retrieve it.
“I must say being VIP is fucking awesome.”
“Caaa,caaaw”
“Let's toast to our first win.”
“To the Sons of Era-rchy!”
“Here here!”
With that a night of reverie commenced, the three men drank more than they had ever in their lives. Their prodigious constitutions withstanding the low alcohol beer just fine. It wasn’t until Roden introduced whiskey into the equation that things started to get a little dicey for everyone involved.
From time to time, Grok would poke his head out of Riakon’s pack and they’d feed him some of their scraps as discreetly as possible. After the majority of their first bottle of whiskey was gone and the night creeped into the darkest hours, Errrkkkk and Riakon began goading Roden to go play a song.
Roden wanted no part of performing at that moment, but the thought of adoration from a crowd like that sounded good to him. He considered the list of songs he knew and realized none were suited to the raging party atmosphere.
As the poet Jelly Roll once said, ya boy was living in Adele land, all the songs he could remember at that moment were ballads. He promised the guys if it started to slow down on the dance floor he would go up and give it a try. He had one song he could do that wasn’t completely out of place.
It gave him a chance to sober up a bit as well. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the band began wrapping up the performance.
Roden had a sense of this and worked up the courage to open his case and pull out what his memories were now calling a Ni’kiku. For some reason, he was flooded with memories of this instrument. How his father had purchased it for him and told him how it was a traditional wood elf instrument. By learning it he was becoming closer to his heritage.
While those memories were not all that helpful; the ones that followed where he had played his next song for his parents while they danced brought a smile to his face. Roden worked his way up to the stage and spoke with the rather stern looking woman who served as the stage manager.
“Hello, I was hoping I could play a song.”
The older looking elf looked him up and down as if critiquing every decision he had ever made that led up to this moment.
“One song?” the dryness of her voice could have ran the oceans parched.
“Uhhh yeah, pretty much.” he said putting on his best smile.
“Okay, we’ll give you a chance.”
“Thank you!”
Roden climbed the stairs to the stage and parked himself center stage. A stage tech came over and set up a stand with a ball of clear glass at the top. He could only assume that was what passed for a microphone here.
He instinctively tuned his instrument ever so slightly making sure he had it just perfect. The lights came down and the crowd hushed, leaving him in the spotlight and near silence. He started to play.
The song he had chosen started off with a tinkling intro that started in the midrange and worked its way down in scale before repeating once. The smooth plucking had some in the crowd swaying to the tune ever so slightly as he started to sing,
“ We get it on al-most eve-ry night, When that moon___is big and bright___its a sup-er nat-ur__al___de-light. Eve-ry bo - dies dan -cing - in___ the moon___ light.”
The flow of the music picked up and the couples in the crowd started turning into each other’s embrace. It wasn’t the raucous melody of before so it took a moment for the crowd to find the groove. Once Roden reached the chorus he sang out, putting his whole being into building the crowd up slowly.
He wanted to take them on a journey of notes and lyrics. The crowd responded in sync with his display of musicality. Every moment in the midst of his melodic maelstrom was simultaneously pure elation mixed with complete disbelief as he sailed through the climax of the song. He was actually doing it.
People were dancing and a part of the story he was telling. This was the feeling he always wanted, but he knew the song was coming to an end. It wasn’t a long song, which is probably why he knew all of the words.
He brought about the end of the song gently, wrapping up the chaotic mixing of sounds to a final complete harmony giving each listener a gentle end to the dream he had crafted for them. As his final notes dissipated the crowd erupted in boisterous clapping and cheers.
Roden stood in the lights, taking in the product of his effort. He remembered all the hours he had slogged away at various instruments to little effect. He had the memories of a young Roden practicing everyday by the light of a morning sun. All for this moment.
He gave the crowd a small bow and small wave as he exited the stage to the crowd's groans of disappointment. Part of him wanted to go back up for an encore, but he remembered the old saying it's best to leave them wanting more. He made it back to the table with Riakon and Errrkkkk to see they were both spent.
If he was being honest with himself, he was in no better shape after putting his all into his short performance. Roden signaled for a waitress to bring them their room keys and once they were in hand, they headed up the stairs to the VIP rooms.
They had to walk to the end of a long hallway that only had one door. Once at the door, Roden placed one key in the lock and opened it. Inside was a lavish sitting room complete with marble floors, high ceilings, and luxurious couches.
The room was lit by magelights from above bathing the room in a warm glow. The sitting room had four doors, three of which led to bedrooms and one held a toilet and shower. However, when Roden had created the Golden Dew he had devised, what he considered a pretty brilliant solution to a complex problem.
The issue he had was to reconcile the real estate space an establishment like the Golden Dew would need. It didn’t make sense to him for the building to be a skyscraper in a city of at most three story buildings.
His solution was demiplanes. Each room key held a private demiplane, all that was necessary to activate it was to place the key in a viable door. Another benefit of this concept was the ease at which patrons could create adjoining rooms.
Roden gestured for Riakon and Errrkkkk to unlock the doors on either side of his main room. When each man opened his door and was greeted by a room just as large and magnificent. They both broke out into wide grins before saying their good nights and shuffling off to bed.