I arrived at the main room of the Hop on Inn, tummy protesting its lack of breakfast and the rest of me still miffed that I wasn’t in bed. I was so tired that my feet dragged and I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, but I had stuff to do, so I couldn’t just laze around all morning.

The room was nearly empty of delvers, only a few of them sitting at the back and minding their own business while the barmaid swept the floor or replaced chairs. Juliette was in her spot behind the bar, idly flipping through a big book and making notes with quick twitches of a quill. Her own version of the ledger I had found in Threewells, maybe?

“Heya,” I said as I slumped into a seat before her. I was only wearing my normal clothes because putting on my armour was too much to ask for before breakfast time. “Food, please,” I said before I let a handful of coppers clatter onto the counter.

Juliette snort-croaked.

My head landed on the bar and I might have snoozed because the next thing I knew there was a plateful of eggs and strips of meat and bread waiting for me. That energized me a bit. Juliette obviously hired the very best cooks because the food she served always tasted exceptional.

“So, what are you doing today?” Juliette asked.

“I don’t know,” I said after I swallowed. “Dylan gave me a quest yesterday, but it’s done. I guess I can go hand that in. But after that, I have no idea. Dunwich was way too scary, I’m not going back there until I’m at least level one hundred.”

Juliette hummed. “I’ll see you in some decades zen,” she said. “If you’re not going to do anyzing productive, zen you should consider heading out to Port Royal early.”

“You mentioned that the next caravan isn’t leaving for nearly a week,” I said.

The barkeep started to clean her counter, a habitual gesture, I noticed. “Zere’s a group leaving today for Port Royal. Just a small one. More danger, but you wouldn’t have to wait as much, and I zink zat maybe more danger doesn’t scare you.”

“Really? Do you know when they’re heading out exactly? From where?”

Juliette nodded. “Come back in a few hours, I’ll introduce you to zeir leader. Zat is, if you decide to go.”

“I’ll think on it,” I said as I returned to my meal. I was done all too soon and had to argue with myself not to order another helping out of sheer gluttonous greed. Back to my room I found Orange sleeping on my still warm pillow. I slid on all of my gear, put on my backpack and plopped my hat on. Orange went into my bandoleer again with minimal protest.

The weather had taken a turn for the grey, the skies hanging low overhead and the air strong with the scent of oncoming rain. The cheery people I had seen yesterday were all gone, and the few folk still hanging around the outpost moved around in a hurry.

I had a few things to get rid of. The plants for Dylan the alchemist came first though. Stepping into the clinic with a spear and a spade was a little strange, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone since there was no one to bother. The sylph I had seen last time was nowhere to be found.

A few knocks on the window to Dylan’s section of the shop summoned the clumsy grenoil alchemist. “Yes yes?” he asked.

“Hey Dylan,” I said before plopping the haversack full of flowers onto the counter. “I got your quest done,” I said.

“Truly?” He eyed my sack, then opened the top to peak within. “Incredible. And such a large haul. I’ll need to count these. A moment please.”

I didn’t get to protest as he moved to the far end of his lab space, shoved things aside on one of his counters and dumped out all of the flowers. He didn’t even flinch when one of them chomped on his gloved hands.

I heard him mutter as he counted the pile, then nod before coming back. “Seventy-eight in all. Some are damaged. I’d give you less for zem, but you brought more zan I expected in one go. You’re quite good. Did you want ze excess back?”

“Ah, no? I wouldn’t know what to do with them. But maybe we could trade them? I ran into these creepy monsters called Abominations out there and I realized after that I didn’t have so much as a healing potion.”

“Zat’s foolhardy,” Dylan said. “A good potion can be ze difference between life and death.” His mouth turned down in a scowl and he limped off, coming back a moment later with five bottles. Two were plain old glass bottles with cork tops, but the other three were strange. They looked like three separate bottles that had had their tops fused together into one opening. “Two health potions. Common quality. Forties. Zree trifectas. Twenties.”

“Um. Are the numbers the price?” I asked.

Dylan stared. “You’re not familiar wiz potions?” When I shook my head he went on to explain. “Ze number given to a potion is how much impact it will have, usually as a flat percentage. A good potion maker will round it down.”

“So those forties give forty percent of my health back?”

He nodded. “Depending on ze severity of ze injury. Zese won’t regrow limbs, but zey will assist in ze healing process. Scrapes, minor burns, bruising and such.”

“And the weird three bottle potions?” I pointed at the three he had set to the side.

“Trifectas are generally weaker and more expensive, zey are also prized more by ze sort of people who have run-ins wiz Abominations while picking flowers. Zey will increase all of your main stats wizout interfering wiz each ozer. Some potions can do zat. You don’t want to take a healing potion, zen learn zat when mixed wiz your water breathing potion it turns into a poison in your stomach.”

“Yikes,” I said. “Does that happen a lot?”

“No,” Dylan said. “But it has happened before. Zat’s why trifectas are popular. Also, zey help wiz many zings at once. Most delvers zat are low on heath are low on ozer zings too.”

“That makes sense. So the potions for the extra flowers?” I asked.

“And for my peace of mind,” Dylan said. He rooted around under the counter and then plopped down a single gold coin. “And zis is yours, for ze flowers you delivered.”

“Thanks Dylan,” I said as I picked the coin up and clasped it close. That was a thousand copper right there. A hundred nights at an inn. Totally worth almost getting tentacle monstered. “I’ll see you around!” I said once I was done stashing away the potions. One of the trifecta potions went into my bandoleer for easy access and the rest were dropped into my backpack with some cloth wraps around them to keep them nice and safe.

It had started to drizzle a little while I was inside, just a faint misting of rain that stopped and restarted twice in the time it took me to walk over to the general goods store. I considered selling my spear at the blacksmith’s shop, but the lady working there didn’t seem all that friendly to begin with.

“Hello,” I called out over the jingle of bells over the door.

The old grenoil by the counter looked up and gave her a big smile. “Ah, hello zere, young miss,” he said. “Looking for anyzing in particular, or just looking?”

“A bit of both,” I admitted. “I need stuff for a long trek. I’ll be heading over to Port Royal later.”

“Ah, zen you will need some zings, yes. Are you walking or taking a carriage?”

“Um, walking, I think.”

He nodded at that. “Zen food, a tent if you don’t have one, a pot to cook in. Do you have a warm blanket?”

“I do, but another wouldn’t hurt. Do you have all of that equipment stored in a way that I can carry?”

He smiled wider and moved off to the back with a ‘one moment’ called over his shoulder. He returned with a backpack with a rolled up tarp above it and a pot hanging off one side. “Zis is what zey call a traveller’s pack in any proper city. Everyzing you need for a week on ze road. Ze food isn’t tasty, but it’s nourishing enough, and it’s light.”

We both undid the pack together and what followed was a quick flurry of adding and removing things. I didn’t need some of the things he had added like water purifying tablets, but wanted others, like a proper flask and one of those nifty magic lights meant to be strapped to one’s forehead.

I made a small tally of all my gear, just to keep track of it because for some reason the world didn’t have handy inventories for everyone to use which was just totally unfair.

One and a half jars of honey

One silver candle holder with a dozen fresh candles

A small firestarter

Two blankets

Some bits and pieces of cloth

A length of rope

Herbology book

79 Copper coins

50 lesser silver coins

8 lesser gold coins

A sack full of hardtack and beans

Two healing potions (40)

Three Trifecta potions (20)

A magic headlamp

One waterproof tent

A poncho

My magic tea set

A scroll of fireball

A tiny compass.

That--as well as the things I was wearing, my spear and my spade--was the sum-total of the things I had. Not that much, but way more than I had started with. I thanked the shopkeeper, handed over a few silver and told him to keep my beaten old backpack. The new one was a little bit more snug anyway, which would make it easier to jump with.

My final stop was the inn. “Hey Juliette,” I said to the older grenoil lady who had moved out from behind her bar to chat with someone I didn’t recognize.

“Broccoli,” Juliette said. “You’re almost late. Zis is Milread, she’s ze leader of ze party heading over to Port Royal.”

I looked Milread up and down, she looked like a bird-person, like the blacksmith. Tall, almost a full head taller than me, with a sharp nose and inhuman eyes set in an otherwise ordinary, if pretty, face. Her uncovered arms had long brown and black feathers sticking out of them with sharp talons at the end and her bare feet were rough and ended in huge claws. “Hey there, lil’ human. Never seen a harpy before?”

“Ah, not really from up close,” I admitted.

“If you come with you’ll be seeing plenty of me, at least. Juliette says you’re good people, and she’s never done wrong by me yet.”

“Oh, I just helped her a little with the cleaning, not much else, really,” I said before looking at Juliette. The woman huffed.

“Broccoli’s a good kid,” she said. “Actually, before you go. Broccoli, can you do me a favour?”

“Sure thing,” I said.

Juliette reached down the front of her apron and pulled out a letter with a waxy seal on the front. “Zere is an inn near ze east gate of Port Royal. Can’t miss it. Ze owner is called Julien. He is my oaf of a husband. Give him zis, yes? I made a note to give you a room for ze night.”

“Thank you!” I said as I took the letter and immediately stashed it away in my backpack. Then I wrapped my arms around the wide-eyed grenoil. “Thank you for everything, Juliette, I had a lot of fun! I hope we see each other again!”

“You ready to go?” Milread asked. “The others are waiting.”

“Yes, I’m coming. I bought everything I need for a few days of walking. Are there a lot of us?”

“Calm down, little chick, you’ll have plenty of time to make friends,” Milread said, and I instantly knew I was going to like her.

***