”On the road, the pass into the valley. We had just made it to the tree line. They must have circled around behind us. They stepped out, ordered me to relinquish my goods, and before I or my guards could do anything, their leader and warlock appeared. The warlock threw some magic at us that flashed brightly, blinding us and causing my nose to sneeze: I was helpless. My guards ran off when the Minotaur appeared: fearsome beast half bull half giant! As for where my goods are now, I have no clue, and such treasures I had brought. Casks of fine spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Chests of unset jewels: sapphires, emeralds, and rubies that shine like fire. Fine carpets, one very fine indeed, and bolts of silks and satins. All now in the grubby hands of heathen bandits and uncultured brigands. Not one piece remains to me, and then they burned my very wagon sounds could not leave.”
Felix's eyebrows shoot up as he realizes something, and he starts digging around in his belt pouch.
"I was also confronted by these thieves on my way into the valley, much like you were. But just before that, I saw what must be the remains of your wagon. I moved to inspect it out of curiosity, and wedged between two boards, I found... this!"
Felix takes out the ruby he found in Abdullah's wagon and places it on the table in front of the man.
"I realize it's not much compared to what you lost, but this ruby, at least, should be in your possession rather than mine."
Abdullah gasps at the sight of the gem. He carefully picks it up, examining it in the firelight.
"This is indeed from among my wares. One of them dropped my gem chest; this must have popped out and they missed it. I am beyond words at my gratitude to you, my friend, and in awe at your integrity. You could easily have kept this with nobody the wiser. Indeed, by all rights of the land, it would be rightfully yours, but for you to return even this tiny fraction to me, I have faith that you are just the kind of hero to restore to me the rest. I will tell you a secret, my young friend. Among my treasures, among the carpets, was a very special rug, a large red carpet with designs of clouds. One has but to sit upon it and say it's special word, 'Shazam', and it will lift into the air and carry wherever your heart desires. When you have restored this valley, as I now know you must, and have become a true hero, I will use this magic carpet to take you, Shameen, and Shema with me to my homeland. Shapeir needs heroes, too!"
"A flying carpet?! That's amazing!
"I appreciate your faith in me, I really do. There seem to be a lot of challenges in this area, so I'm eager to get started trying to help.
"Where do you think I should start to do the most good?"
"Alas, friend, I have no advice in this area. I know too little of this land. Speak with those who live here, those with knowledge, and they shall help you."
If Shameen or Shema was nearby to hear the last part of Felix's conversation with Abdullah, Felix asks the same question of them.
”Shema and I are also new to this town: we arrived last summer, and never could we have imagined this thing you call winter. The land of Shapeir is in need of a hero, and the Astrologer told us that we might find one in a valley called Spielburg, so here we came. If you are he, I have no doubt you will prove yourself and fix the problems of this land. The Sheriff and the Adventurer’s Guildmaster seem to be good men, so they might be able to help you get started.”
Felix nods in understanding.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to explore the town before getting some rest. I assume you have rooms available?"
After he arranges for a room, he'll head out of the inn and turn left on Market Lane.
The Sheriff and Otto have cleared off their porch. Next door is a barber shop, shut up right with the look of a shop that hasn’t been open in some time. A weather-worn note stuck to the door reads, ”Out to lunch.”
Across the street is a set of stables, all of the stalls empty. The far corner contains the market. A young female centaur puts the final produce away for the evening. Adjacent to it is a dry goods store and across the street the town well.
Felix nods a greeting to the female centaur. He knows that horses can run very soon after being born, but babies take weeks before they can hold their heads up, so he wonders what happens to baby centaurs.
But he doesn't say anything about it for now. Instead he turns left on North Street and strolls in that direction.
Along the left hand side of this street are mostly houses. The dry goods store is on his right, followed by a fairly posh-looking house. Also on his right are a bakery and butcher’s shop, both of which are shut up tight and both with weather-faded notes on the doors that read ”Gone fishing.”
After the butcher’s is a very seedy tavern, separated from the butcher’s by a narrow, grimy alley. Somebody appears to be sitting against the wall a little ways inside the alley. As Felix approaches, a young male voice calls out, ”Alms? Alms for the poor?”
"Certainly."
Felix digs a gold coin out of his pouch, doing his best not to draw attention to where he keeps his coin. He walks up to just a few steps shy of the alley entrance and holds the coin out.
"What's your name?" he asks the figure in the alley.
"Thanks. You know, it's really tough trying to make a living begging in this town since the brigands started scaring all the trade away. This used to be such a nice place to live. My advice to you is not to take up begging. It just doesn't pay. My name is Sam. I've lived here for five years now, and I think I'll be heading on once the pass clears of snow. There's supposed to be some good begging towns to the south."
"Is begging... your chosen profession? Or is there some other work you'd rather be doing?
"Don't get me wrong; I'm not judging. My chosen profession is basically use-violence-to-get-what-I-want, but I'm curious because you seem so matter-of-fact about it."
”Well, I hear you can get a job cleaning out the baron’s stables. Good if you need a place to sleep and want to build up your muscles, but you won’t get rich. I’d rather beg myself.”
"Fair enough. Hope to see you around, Sam."
Felix heads into the tavern, his mouth already watering for an ale.
”A word of warning to you: don’t drink the dragon’s breath!” Sam calls out after Felix.
At first blush, the Aces and Eights tavern appears wealthy and opulent, with gold leaf on the hanging lanterns, mahogany furniture, and intricate leaded glass in the windows. But as Felix takes in the sights (and smells of stale beer and unwashed men), he sees the flaking gold, cracked windows, and tables devoid of polish, their surfaces marred by cup rings and knife holes. It is the first place in Spielburg he’s seen with other customers, though.
At one table near the fire, two men sit over a game of cards, one still wearing a floured apron, the other with a blood-stained smock hung on the back of his chair. In one dark corner sits a seedy-looking man. He glances up as Felix comes in, then resumes writing in his notebook, referring to what looks like a crumpled note in his other hand. Sitting outside what looks to be a private eating room could be Otto's twin brother, though instead of innocent joy on his face, Felix sees something much more sinister.
The long bar on one wall seems to be the only piece of polished furniture in the joint. A townsperson sits slumped at the bar, clearly passed out. A tough-as-nails barkeep stands behind the bar, washing out a tankard with a dirty rag. Three large casks hang from the wall behind the bar, the central one bearing a chipped sign in the likeness of a dragon, with its mouth positioned over the keg's tap. Wisps of smoke rise from the dragon's "nostrils".
If the doors to the private dining room are open, Felix will obnoxiously strain his neck from elsewhere in the room to see inside on his way to the bar. He'll grab a stool three spaces down from the passed out townsperson and raise one finger to the barkeep to indicate one ale. So long as the ale doesn't come from the dragon-cask, everything is fine.
The doors to the private dining room are closed. The goon glares at Felix menacingly as he makes his interest a little too obvious.
"One well-aged house brew, coming up. 5 coppers."
Judging by the smell, well-aged might be an understatement. It doesn't come from the dragon cask, fortunately, but it smells somehow both bitter and weak. One sip burns as it goes down; still, it isn't the worst ale he's ever tasted.
As Felix sits on his stool "enjoying" his ale, the seedy-looking man finishes with his note, crumpling it further and sticking it in a candle flame nearby. The note quickly burns and he deposits the ashes on the floor, making no appreciable difference to its state of cleanliness. He turns to a fresh page and starts writing something down, but notices Felix watching him, so closes his book and scowls at him.
"Can I help you with something?" he growls at the would-be hero.
Felix raises his ale in greeting.
"I'm new in town. Just saying hello. Naem's Felix. Whatcha writing?"
"Your obituary, if you don't mind your own business."
Felix chuckles and finishes his ale.
"Writing's cool. I don't find much use for it in my line of work, though.
"Now, reading! Reading I use every day, almost! I bet you know what I'm talking about, right?"
Felix turns back to the bar and signal's the barkeep.
"This was good. I'll have another."
Turning back to the guy who goes to a social venue to not talk to anybody, Felix continues their conversation.
"I don't think about how I'll go out, but I think I've got quite a bit of time left. But when I go, I wouldn't want a long obituary. I don't want someone I know to see my obit and get discouraged by a bunch of paragraphs that they have to read through. Maybe just a few sentences. My name, what got me, and any wives or kids I have who're going to mourn me. Oh! And then maybe something nice for the reader. Something like, 'His final thoughts were of all of the friends he'd made in life, and how he hoped they're making the best of the time they have left.' Something real classy like that.
"What do you think?"
”I think you talk too much and your friends will be happy you’re gone.”
The man stands up and walks over to the private dining room. He whispers something to the goon outside who nods and opens the door for him, closing it behind him before Felix could nose a look inside. The goon crosses his massive arm and glares at him.
Felix shrugs and turns back to be bar and the barkeep.
"Not much for talking, I guess. Who was that?"
”This is a bar. People come here to drink, not ask stupid questions.” He slams Felix’s second beer down, grabs the empty, wipes it with a dirty rag, and puts it back on the shelf for the next customer.
"Most places, people can drink at home. A tavern is to drink with other people.
"In most places."
Felix takes a swig from his mug.
"Besides, he started talking to me first. I wasn't harassing him, or anything."
Another swig.
"Well, what do people in Spielburg do for fun if they don't come to the tavern?"
”They don’t.”
"Huh. Well, all right."
Taking the hint, Felix finishes his ale in silence. It doesn't taste as good, for some reason.
When he's done, assuming nothing happens, he pays for his drinks (leaving a bit extra) and leaves.
While Felix drinks his ale, two disreputable-looking men emerge from the private dining room, and head outside. Other than that, the townsfolk continue their sleeping or card playing, the goon glares at Felix, and the barkeep glares hatefully at everybody. Such a nice little place this is!!
Felix allows an appropriate amount of time to pass after the two men leave, and then pays and heads out himself. He'll say good night to Sam if he's still there, and head back to the inn.
If there's anyone out about at this time of the evening, he'll stroll by and see if they're up for a conversation.
Emerging from the inn, Felix sees that it’s much brighter than it should be, given the total absence of street lamps. The very buildings and walls themselves seem to glow on their own with no obvious source of illumination. Only the alleyway next to the tavern is shrouded in darkness.
Except…
There’s some sort of flashing coming from the ground at the back end of the alleyway.
Felix is equally intrigued by the light source of the town as he is the flashing at the end of the alleyway. He takes a moment to try and figure out why it's so bright.
He walks to the entrance of the alleyway and peers inside.
"Hello? Sam, you there?"
If there's no answer, Felix will unlimber his shield and fix it to his arm before cautiously venturing into the shadows of the alley.
Sam is not there. The alleyway feels colder than the rest of town and more sinister. Now that, for whatever reason, it’s gone, Felix notices that the rest of town is filled with a sense of peace and safety and calmness—almost a subtle euphoria.
But not here.
Getting closer, Felix sees that the source of light is a gold coin that flashes as if by magic. He approaches the coin when he feels more than sees a dagger fly over his shoulder, sticking it the far wall. He feels the pressure of a second blade on his back as one of the two men from the tavern steps out from behind some barrels in front of him.
”Heh. That flashing coin spell gets them every time. Now sneak has another of those daggers against your spine, so if you don’t want his blade sticking out of your navel you’re going to slowly untie your coin purse and hand it over. Now.”
"Wow. Okay.
"So, I should let you know that I'm an adventurer. The long and short of that is that I risk my life for wealth. It seems counterproductive for me to risk my life to lose wealth, which is what you're asking me to do.
"I'm also pretty good in a fight. While I bet the knife in my back will hurt, I also bet that I can take the both of you. You've lost your advantage of surprise, after all.
"All that said, I have a counter-proposal."
”We’re listening, but if we don’t like what we hear, your guts are on the ground in three seconds flat.”
"It seems like everyone here in Spielburg is hurting. It's not a great place compared to most other places I've been. And the bandits I encountered outside of town looked even worse! Nobody seems to be doing well.
"So, because everybody here that I've talked to so far needs something, I'm making a list of tasks I'm going to get done here. If there's something you need outside of town, I can get it done. Simple as that."
Care to risk a Diplomacy check with that offer?
The man in front of Felix seems to think for a moment, then waves his hand. Felix feels the blade at his back relax somewhat.
”Tell you what: chances are you don’t have much money on you anyway, and the sheriff would probably ask too many questions of you suddenly left the first day you got here. There is one thing you could do for us: troll chin mushrooms. Very profitable for…trade…when the pass is open. Agree to bring us half a dozen or so, and we’ll let you go. If you don’t bring us some before too long…well, we won’t give up the element of surprise next time.”
"Sounds like a plan. Where can I find them?"
The two thieves describe the mushrooms to Felix, including roughly where to find them (they grow in caves, though these guys don’t know any specifically).
”Now beat it.”
Felix assumes that the dark alley will hide his eye roll at being brusquely dismissed. He could have taken them.
But he doesn't waste any time when he beats it.
He steps back out into the strangely bright street and takes a few breaths to clear his head. He heads back along the street away from the tavern, trying not to let any worry due to his dark alley encounter show on his face.
The rest of the town is dead quiet, though the sense of calm and peace resumes as soon as Felix exits the alleyway. He feels that even if the thieves pursued him that very moment, they wouldn’t be able to do anything more than glare at him, nor he them.
He makes his way back to the Hero’s Tale Inn. The door is still unlocked. Abdullah seems to have gone to bed, but Shameen and Shema are still up, reclining on the large cushion on the floor in front of the blazing fire. They stand in greeting and bow formally and respectfully.
”Welcome back, friend,” Shameen says in his warm, middle-eastern tone. ”I took the liberty of preparing a fine room for you, in case you wished for such a thing. Softest beds in town, and you may sleep securely to refresh yourself.”
"Fantastic. Thank you. I'll see you in the morning."
Felix goes upstairs to his room (or is lead up), looking forward to his first soft bed in many days.
The bed at the Hero’s Tale Inn doesn’t disappoint and Felix sleeps comfortably, awaking refreshed and ready for his day. Shameen greets him as he comes downstairs and as he sits at the table, Shema brings him a small loaf of warm, crusty bread with butter, a bowl of porridge with maple syrup and dried berries, and a pot of steaming hot coffee.
With breakfast done, where to next? The only remaining points of interest in town are the magic shop and the dry goods store.
Felix also wants to visit the herbalist's home outside of town. But as long as he's still within the city gates, he'll check out the magic shop.
Felix approaches the magic shop, quite certain that the eye painted above the door is somehow following him as he walks. He reaches out to take the door handle when the entire door vanishes, revealing blackness inside!
Assuming he chooses to venture further, once he passes the threshold, he sees the dimly-lit interior. Shelves stuffed full of all manner of magical components line both walls of the shop. At the back, an ornate black mahogany counter separates the shop proper from a rather large ceremonial pentagram lined with dimly flickering torches (with green flames). A brazier provides fitful heat (and rather unpleasant aromas). The stone statue of a horned and winged creature perches impossibly on a wooden bar next to the ceremonial area. A large crystal ball rests on a stand to the other side.
When Felix reaches the counter, the crystal ball briefly blazes to light, and when the dimness returns, a tall, severe woman with long black hair, pale skin, and tall pointed ears is standing behind the counter.
"I am Zara, and my companion is Damiano. This is our magic shop. Ask what you will, but keep it brief."
"Oh! Um, hi. You surprised me.
"Brief, brief... I guess... what have you got for sale?"
"I sell many things, most of which would be of no benefit to you, as I sense you do not possess the talent for magic. Therefore, my magical scrolls and mana potions would be only a waste of money for you. I do sell healing potions, but I purchase them from the healer, and you would do just as well to buy them directly from her. That being said, it is possible we could do business. You have the appearance of an adventurer to me: should you find yourself exploring the valley forest, there is something I could use, and for which I would pay you handsomely: the tail of a flying mana ray."
"The flying mana rays are a magical creature sometimes found in these forests. It lays flat against the forest floor, blending in until prey comes near, when it takes to the air and circles its target. When it's ready, it moves in and attempts to stun its prey with an electrical charge. They are very dangerous and not for the unskilled, but if you should manage to encounter one...and survive...I will pay you 100 gold coins for its tail."
Felix's brow furrows in concentration as he tries to follow along with the sudden important information. When Zara is done, he nods a few more times as he attempts to retain the information.
"Yeah! All right! You know, I am an adventurer, and I was angling for a way to have exactly this sort of conversation! But you said to be brief, so I figured I'd lead with that.
"Flying manta ray tails. Got it. Anything else? Know anybody else who might need similar services?"