Isla sat with Vanya, Maroftis, and Taloc at their regular table at the Silver Penny. She tapped the earring that she wore on her left ear and said, “Ewt, when are you getting back? We’re getting ready to eat, and Vult should be here any minute.”
A moment later she was able to hear Ewtain’s voice as if it were coming through her ear, but she knew that no actual sound was being created. It was more like telepathy. “I’m upstairs and about to head down now,” he said.
“Upstairs? I didn’t see you come into the inn.”
“Night Stalker, babe,” came Ewtain’s voice in her ear. “I was trying not to be seen.”
She doubted his claim but decided not to argue. She drank the last of her glass of wine and asked, “Hey, can you bring me a glass of wine when you come down?”
“You don’t already have one?”
“Well, I have a glass, and there used to be wine in it, and I don’t see Elsa anywhere.”
“Is that the pretty Dwarf with the braids or the Gnome who shows all the cleavage?”
A flash of anger struck Isla, but she realized that he was likely just trying to bait her. “You know that several women and even a few men have brought us food and drinks since we started staying here. You could stop objectifying them and learn their names, ass.”
“Hmm, well, those were the only two on duty when I came upstairs, so which one of them is Elsa?”
Isla quickly scanned the room. She saw a Gnome serving another table, and the woman did indeed have her blouse open, exposing much of her chest. Her name was Melladi, or was it Maudi? Elsa was nowhere to be seen, but she did recall her wearing her hair in braids. Maybe Ewtain had snuck upstairs without being seen. “It’s the Dwarf, but would it kill you to try to learn their names?”
“Tell you what, if I sleep with the Gnome, I will ask her name beforehand.”
Where the hell did that come from? She wanted to punch him through the earrings. “Just bring me the wine and keep it in your pants,” she said, much louder than she had meant to, and the others at the table were all looking at her. Vanya looked sympathetic, but Taloc looked like he was holding back a laugh. It was hard to tell with Maroftis, but probably him too. She tapped the earring to break the link. “Did any of you see Ewt go upstairs earlier?” None of them had. “Well, he’s coming down now, and Vult just got here,” she said, pointing towards the entrance.
The Wizard sat down and exchanged pleasantries with the others while Isla watched the staircase for Ewtain; she strove to not miss him again. After a few minutes, she had an odd feeling, and she looked to her right to see Ewtain strolling towards the table from that direction. He must have used a door from the kitchen, but she was at a loss as to how he had made his way there from the upstairs. Maybe he had climbed out a window? More likely, he had just been lying about his whereabouts. “You seem to have forgotten something,” she said pointedly.
In response, he produced a carafe of wine from within a fold in his cloak and filled her glass before setting it on the table. She was unable to see his face with his hood pulled forward, but she was reasonably sure that there was a smug smile plastered across his face. She tried to give him her best suspicious look before taking a sip. “Oh my God, this is delicious!” she exclaimed after tasting the wine. “What we’ve been drinking tastes like swill compared to this.”
He made a little bow and sat down before pulling back his hood to reveal an expression that she could only describe as self-satisfied. The others were interested in trying the wine, so they passed the bottle around the table, and everyone quickly finished whatever they had been drinking and poured themselves a glass. There were sounds of appreciation, and Taloc asked, “Where did you get this?”
“Wine cellar,” was Ewtain’s deadpan response.
“This place has a wine cellar?” Maroftis asked, shocked at the idea. He even laughed a bit at the question. Ewtain just shook his head.
“Then where?” Taloc asked.
“I took it from a guy in my guild that I don’t get along with.”
“You stole it?” Taloc said, his tone reminiscent of Isla’s parents when they were clearly disappointed in her.
Ewtain spread his arms apart, palms up. “He likely stole it himself or had one of his men do it for him. I found out that he has a thing for wine, and this one was in a special box… I left him the box.” A wicked grin spread across Ewtain’s face at the memory.
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“What if you were caught?” Taloc asked, much less like a dad this time. Ewtain stood up and patted the small teleportation knife at his waist. Isla was unsure what the cooldown on that item was, but she assumed that it was probably pretty long, possibly hours or even days. “Okay, you have a way out,” Taloc continued, “but what if he has safeguards from teleporting away from his house? You said that the others in your guild all have them, so he knows about it and may have magic to prevent others from using theirs. Besides that, aren’t you worried about pissing off an Assassin?”
Ewtain shrugged. “He already wants me dead, so I might as well enjoy messing with him until he tries something.”
“Well, I’ll take another bottle of this if you’re ever back there again,” Isla said after another sip of the fruity wine. It was made with something other than just grapes, but she couldn’t tell what yet. Alas, she had only half of the glass left to figure it out.
“There was only one of those bottles there.”
“Why didn’t you take anything else?” Vultressant asked. “You could have inventoried a case of wine.”
“That would have spoiled the surprise,” Ewtain said. “If he noticed other bottles missing, then he would have feared for his prize bottle. I want him to be utterly shocked when he opens it up.”
“Couldn’t that be years?” Vanya asked.
Ewtain smiled. “It doesn’t matter when it happens; in my mind it has already happened. I know that I won’t get to see it, but I can picture his response.”
The man was diabolical. She was grateful that there was someone that he could infuriate instead of her. She took another sip. Citrus maybe? Well, anyway, they were all here, so it was best to begin.
“I met with the council, and they tried to get us to take a mission fighting the Orcs.”
“What about the mission to the south?” Vanya asked.
“I got them to uphold our deal, mostly because Hufalon, the Human on the council, runs the docks and the shipping to the south. One of the whiny Gnomes, Murandor, is scared shitless of the Orcs taking the town and wants all efforts to shift to dealing with them. That ass barely acknowledges me at all. It’s such a boy’s club up there. I swear… women back home make like 71 cents on the dollar compared to men, and I was hoping for at least a little more equality here.”
“I just feel bad that they have to get paid in change,” Ewtain said before taking a drink of his wine.
She looked at him, confused by the statement, until she saw that he was hiding a smile with his glass. Taloc and Maroftis started laughing openly, and she felt her cheeks begin to flush. She shot Ewtain her best dirty look. The wine now left a bad taste in her mouth. She took another sip. No... still delicious. She coughed to clear her throat. “Anyway, they agreed to honor our mission, but they offered us 1000 silver a person for the Orc job, so double the other one. I told them that I would talk to you all and give them an answer tomorrow.”
“Oeister said that was likely to happen,” said Vultressant, and the rest of them looked to him for more information. “He said that normally there’s just one or two of the clans that raid the area independently, but now there are at least six clans working in unison under a Warrior that has taken command from the Shamans.”
“They called him Harbinger and believe him to be insanely tough,” Isla added.
Vultressant nodded. “Right. He said that the council would be focusing on the Orcs and that the people living outside of the town are now being housed here.”
“Yeah, I saw a lot more people in the market than I did before we left to go kill lightning monsters,” Ewtain said.
Vultressant pulled a box out of his inventory. He opened it to reveal the glass globe contained within. Soft cloth padding that lined the inside of the box protected it. “I made this today,” he said simply.
“What is it?” Vanya asked, her fingers hovering near the box just above the sphere.
“It’s called a disruption crystal, and it’s what Oeister made with the crystals that we got him. I learned the recipe by watching him make his, so I made one for us.” He looked at Taloc. “I used two of the ruby essences to make it.”
“What does it do?” the Ranger asked.
“Its main function is to remove an existing magical effect, but it can also nullify a magic item, at least temporarily.”
Taloc looked at Ewtain and raised his eyebrow before looking at the teleportation knife that he had strapped at his waist. “Fine, I’ll be more careful,” Ewtain said in mock annoyance. “That will be very useful,” he said to Vultressant.
“Well, it is a one-shot. It’s either consumed or stops working after being used.” Vultressant didn’t look to be bothered by this. “We can save it for an emergency, and we know where more materials are if we need another.”
“Did Oeister say anything else?” Taloc asked.
“Not about this,” Vultressant replied, “but I had him scry the location of the fountain to the south, and it’s still there. He said that it will be dangerous, but I want another try at one of the fountains.”
“Woohoo!” Maroftis exclaimed. “I need to power up!” He said the last two words in a deeper voice that made Isla think that he was imitating something, and by the knowing smiles that both Taloc and Vultressant displayed, they knew what it was.
“That sounds like two votes for south,” Vanya said. “The Orc situation sounds like a scenario, so there might be multiple quests if we go that route.”
“Hmm, we could always go south and jump into the Orc questline when we finish,” Ewtain said. “I’m fine with either, although I do want to travel to the southern cities at some point, so if we clear the path, so to speak, it might help us later.”
Isla nodded. “Also, clearing the way to the south might be needed if the city is overrun.”
“The pay is double for the Orcs,” Taloc reminded them. “What’s the actual job?”
“To patrol and engage this time,” Isla said. “No more reconnaissance missions like the last one we were offered to take on.”
He nodded. “That sounds a lot more dangerous. Is anyone actually opposed to the southern job?” When no one volunteered an objection, he continued. “Then we get some armor for the tank tomorrow, and we go south.”