Leoric rubbed his chin in contemplation as the bar’s doors were flung open once more and Baldir was thrown out into the street. He did not get up right away this time. He slowly climbed to his feet, staggered to the side of the building and dropped his breeches before deciding to take a lengthy alcohol-fueled piss all over the bar’s welcoming sign.

He buttoned himself with a hefting shake and made his way back towards the trio with a wide grin and a small sack in his hand. It jangled victoriously.

“Look what I got!” He said, grinning ear to ear as a thin trickle of blood trailed his face.

He opened his sack to reveal a single gold and a handful of silver. Blast looked up to him, moved off the sack, tugged the drawstring and pointed inside of the bag emphatically.

Baldir looked inside the heavy bag.

“By gods…” Baldir said.

“Hey, by chance did you get a message from the gods while you were in there?” Leoric asked.

Baldir looked guilty and wide-eyed.

“Bad influence?” Leoric asked.

“Bad Influence and ‘Cad,’” Baldir said sheepishly.

“Any idea what it does?” Leoric asked.

“I got mine for getting Scritch here shit faced. What did you do?” Baldir asked.

“Dragonweed,” Leoric said with a sage nod.

“We need to get to a temple,” Baldir said as he wiped his hand over his face.

“We need to get ourselves an inn,” Leoric said as he stared down at the bag of gold.

“On the other side of town, looks like. HOW DID SHE GET THAT MUCH GOLD?” Baldir asked.

“I don’t know, but we can ask her after she wakes up,” Leoric said before picking her up gently off the ground.

She was a foot shorter than his diminutive size, but she felt lighter in his arms, and her form curled to him like a sleeping child. Kobolds were small creatures and it was difficult to keep it in mind that Scritch was but a child in their years. Baldir leaned down and offered his arm. Blast clamored up his arm in a flail of tiny claws and legs to perch atop his helm with metallic clicks and taps. She snorted with appreciation and stamped as he reached for the sack.

“May I please carry the gold?” Baldir asked.

“I shall allow it.”

“yep,” Leoric said.

Baldir grabbed the sack, threw it over his shoulder and the four of them made their way to the nicer part of town before the brawling crowd in the bar beyond realize that their coin purses were significantly lighter.

They made it to an inn across the town and checked in with some strange glances from a less-than-thrilled innkeeper. It was a 5 silver for the room, a silver each for the ‘pets’ and a gold for them to not ask any questions. The innkeeper eyed the coins and swiped them into a small box beneath the counter before gesturing them upstairs.

“Strange. This place looks like the type that wouldn’t let our kind in,” Baldir commented.

“Correction. They do not let your kind in. My kind, druids, tend to leave nasty remarks in the ways that are bad for business,” Leoric said calmly as they bustled their way into the two-bed room. He unloaded scritch onto a bed and heard her snuffled muttering.

“Best grandpa,” She muttered. Leoric pursed his lips.

“Do I call you grandpa or do you actually have a name?” Baldir asked.

“Leoric,” the gnome responded, “And yours?”

Blast leaped off the dwarf’s helmet. Baldir shucked his boots, breeches, belts, and bags in a shimmy before throwing himself onto one of the straw-filled beds. It was comfortable and felt fresh.

“Baldir,” he said.

“What do they call you?” Leoric asked.

“I lucked out, apparently. She calls me Baldir,” he said, pointing to scritch. She bunched up the quilts and was half-asleep as she wound the blankets into a small nest. Blast was curious and watched with interest.

“I call him slave,” Blast said.

Baldir cut his eyes to Scritch, then Leoric.

“She said something nasty, didn’t she?” Baldir asked.

“Nah, she just says your name is ‘Slave,’” Leoric said

The two sat down at a small table as Blast crawled into the nest with scritch. There was a significant amount of burrowing done and the two stared at one another warily. Leoric and Baldir swapped their stories, focusing on the strange luck blessings.

“Okay, so one of our first steps tomorrow needs to be going to a Temple,” Baldir agreed.

“Got a current sheet?” Leoric asked as he fished around in his satchel.

“I’ve never gotten one, I’ll be honest. It’s a gold just to look and I feel like I know how strong I am without having to pay some eunuch to look in a crystal ball to tell me,” Baldir spat.

“It’s been about forty years, myself,” Leoric said as he straightened out a well-worn and ancient paper.

It laid out his skills and blessings. Baldir thumbed through them, the numbers and skills were all worn out. The ink had faded and all it guaranteed was that his name was Leoric, he was a cleric, and that was about it.

“I can see that,” Baldir breathed.

“Well you don’t even have one!” Leoric said.

“Blast, this is going to cost some gold. Are we good for three shinies?” He asked.

“Why three? There are only two of you,” Blast asked.

“I really think we need to get Scritch looked at. She’s the real mystery of us. We don’t even know her class,” Leoric said.

“Would knowing this help us?” Blast asked.

“Couldn’t hurt.”

“Hmm. I shall allow it. Though, most kobolds are rangers or rogues,” Blast said, speculating.

“Aren’t you curious about her luck? That can’t be normal.”

“First thing in the morning, then.”

They made their plans for the morning, to get their sheets, to obtain their needs and to leave before anyone could confront them. They had goals in mind, places to go, slaves to get. Blast was a small dragon now, but Leoric knew she’d get bigger sooner.

The two stared at her, small and cozily curled up with Scritch.

“Having second thoughts?” Baldir asked Leoric as he fiddled around with his pouch and brought out his pipe and leather dragon weed pouch.

“I’m too old for second thoughts. Blast said I can come along and grow my Dragon Weed, and the gods said to follow her, so I’m just going to go with the flow,” Leoric said as he packed a bowl full of dragon weed and fished for a match.