Blast scrambled into the wagon and pulled out Scritch’s storage pack. She dug into the mouth of it to pull out a sizable quantity of coins into her little bed and curled up on it for a nap while Baldir peddled about rearranging their goods and organizing things.

She shot a tiny flicker of flame at Baldir when he passed by and they shared a derisive look.

“You understand me, right?” Baldir asked. She nodded.

“Maybe I’ll look into learning some draconic, then,” Baldir said as a means of amends. Blast posed herself with a little pride before wallowing into the gold a little. It felt good on her new scales, stretched as they were from her recent growth. The bed she had just gotten was already looking a little small. She was no bigger when he first met her than a small cat, and now she was probably big enough to square off on the cat she was stalking before she shed.

In the city, Leoric walked down the streets with Scritch close in tow. Her big red eyes gleamed out at the bustling streets, swinging open coin purses and towering people that glided along, paying no mind to the gnome and his small lizard companion. Leoric found it odd that so few people gave her a second look. He wondered if she had some stat hidden deep in her repertoire, likely in rogue, that was allowing her to go unnoticed as she was.

The few that were attentive enough to see her only gave her the briefest of glances or had the awkward misfortune of seeing her strange blinking gaze.

“Gods damned stairs,” Leoric said as he saw the church ahead of them. Ostentatious white stone steps led to the plinth of the entrance. Each equally metered step up was only eight or ten inches, but to his tiny frame, it might as well have been two feet. Scritch, for her part, stared at the terraced structures and watched as Leoric hoisted up them one at a time with a stooping gait.

“Come on, then!” Leoric shouted to her. Scritch walked to the side of the stairs, right as the edging met the baluster. It formed a fairly straight ledge for her to scamper up with her tail out for balance at a full scramble. Leoric heard the skittering before he saw her racing up to the top and balked as she sat patiently up at the top and canted her head.

“Whatcha doin?” She asked, as if she didn’t understand why he was having such a struggle with it.

“Climbing the stairs,” He said as he hoisted himself up over another, then yet another.

“Oh,” She said as her head tilted curiously and he came to a full stance at the top of the plinth.

“Okay, come on in,” He said as they pushed their way forward and into the ajar door.

Right inside the inner hallway was a billboard of sorts posted with leaflets detailing rewards and quests. It went almost to the floor, with lesser quests at the bottom all the way up to seven or so feet in the air. Leoric focused on the small ones at the bottom for a solid minute before he heard the sharp note of a throat clearing. He peeked up and saw a looming acolyte of the church staring down at him. He wore fine red robes, a matching velvet wizard’s cap and carried a staff that was somewhat religious in theme.

“Sheet, please,” he said sternly. Leoric dug in his pack and pulled out the folded paper for the gentleman’s inspection. He looked from the sheet to Leoric with a sneer and then turned his eyes to scritch.

“I like your hat,” Scritch said as his attention drew to her. Leoric preempted his questioning by handing him her sheet, slightly less neatly folded. He glanced over it and tisked sharply.

“Artificer,” he mumbled.

Scritch beamed.

“Just as well it be a beast and not a man,” The wizard said with a sigh before tossing the sheet back and jerking his head for them to continue their glances over the job board. A bird, which was one of many that had lived a long free life in the rafters of the temple perched high above. Leoric glanced up to it and was met with beady little eyes full of mischief. He took a step aside and turned his head in feigned ignorance as the bird shat right on the wizard’s fine red velvet hat.

“Hehehe…gross,” Scritch said before turning her attention back to Leoric and the task at hand.

“Goblins… ghosts… missing people,” Leoric said with a mumble as he thumbed over the tacked up notices. One of them struck a chord with him and he grinned with glee.

“Boars of Elderwode forest,” He said with a note of triumph.

“Oooh,” Scritch said as her tail perked up with excitement.

“You want to do this one?” Leoric asked as he pointed to the crude illustration of an angry boar with a 1gold reward per set of tusks.

“I wanna eat it,” Scritch said excitedly. He saw her tongue move in her mouth, a little more wet than usual.

“I guess that answers that,” Leoric said as he tapped the ad and looked up to the attendant.

“You’re a little outclassed for it, but if you’re training your pet here…” The man started, not noticing as the white streak of bird droppings streaked lower down his pointed cap.

“I assure you, she’s very well behaved,” Leoric said as he reached his hand out to her maw to stop her from saying whatever accursed thing was about to come out.

“Fair enough,” The attendant said with a reserved smile and gestured for them to be on their way. Leoric grabbed the flier and went back the way they came, holding Scritch’s hand in a quick grab until they reached the daunting steps once more. Leoric took a page from her book this time and sat atop the baluster and slid all the way to the ground.

Back at camp they found Baldir asleep at his post with Blast curled up on his chest, both idly snoring as gold lay in full view through the open end of the cart. It was a miracle nobody had snatched it, but Leoric didn’t say anything about it as he tried to make a little noise to wake them.

“Grandpa has returned victorious, I hope? Have you stolen the quest from the puny worshipers?” Blast asked.

Leoric held up the flier and waved it around a bit.

“He had a neat hat and then a bird pooped on it,” Scritch said happily.