In the morning, Kaldalis found himself in the tavern’s main room eating breakfast, surrounded by all his friends for the first time since they secured their room the previous day. The common room was abuzz with conversation, and Kaldalis picked out that everyone was discussing what they’d done the previous day, and what their plans were for the next day.

Balrim and Myrin had been working on the main quest in Baimer, and the Talsar was talking with Garyung about what had happened and what was coming next. The Bhogad was trying to play coy to avoid spoilers, but Balrim was very genre-savvy, and had guessed whatever the big twist was.

Despite that, Garyung was surprised that they hadn’t gotten farther on their first day.

For his part, Garyung was going to spare some time today - before the big War Council meeting - to check on his estate, and was promising Balrim the same reward if they could push a little faster and get through the whole questline before they returned to Cotanaku.

Reno and Ess had spent all day farming experience from quests and monsters, and Myrin was offering some advice to improve their efficiency. Apparently there were pens of mobs who weren’t part of the quests, where mob “farmers” would sell access to mobs for grinding. It was an easy way to convert crescents to experience points, and Myrin was trying to do the math for the optimal way to farm exp, based on their level and kill speed of the various mobs on offer.

Kaldalis was sitting between Gavinkim and Bangen, and elected to make some small talk with them over breakfast.

“Did you get good research done yesterday?” Kaldalis asked Bangen.

“A good start, at least,” she said cheerfully. “There’s more to do, so I’ll be heading right back today.”

“Do you need me to come grab you later? I have an appointment tonight, so I will be later than I was yesterday.”

“I would appreciate it,” the Vathon said with a laugh. “Otherwise, you won’t see me again until the trial.”

“Gavinkim,” Kaldalis said, turning to the Bhogad on the other side of him, “what are you doing today? Are you going to be available tonight?”

“I need to track down Demriv,” he grumbled, still poking at his breakfast. “We haven’t seen her since we dropped off Onirioago. It worries me.”

“That worries me, too,” Kaldalis said, looking around the tavern. “Did she not get a room here?”

“Someone of her stature probably has a place in Baimer,” Gavinkim said with a shrug. “Like Garyung and his estate.”

“You’re a council member, too, aren’t you? Why don’t you have a place here?”

“I was in the military,” Gavinkim said. “I had assigned quarters in the city, which now belong to my replacement. I could probably stay with my family here, but they don’t have a spare room.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder towards the stairs. “I prefer a tiny bed here to a thin blanket on my auntie’s floor.”

“By the way, how is your family?” Bangen asked politely. “Are they freaking out like mine?”

“They’re fine,” Gavinkim said with a grimace. “They aren’t really invested in what’s going on with me. My aunt and uncle are the only ones still living here in Baimer, and they’re more concerned with their kids than me. My oldest cousin got married this time two years ago but still hasn’t got a kid yet, and so they’re getting fussy.”

Bangen shook her head, sharing in the grimace. “First thing when I walked in the door, my dad asked me when I’m going to settle down and find someone. He keeps saying he wants a grandkid while he’s still got strength enough to give piggyback rides, like he doesn’t have a good eighty years of life left in him.”

Gavinkim and Bangen shared a laugh about that.

It struck Kaldalis that this was a surprising degree of depth for these NPCs.

They were real people with lives entirely separate from any player interaction.

The conversations they were talking about had happened privately between NPCs. They didn’t lend anything to any overarching story.

Despite Baimer’s bureaucracy breaking Kaldalis’s immersion, a little interaction with the NPCs around him was sucking him right back in.

“How about you, Kal?” Bangen asked, stirring him from his reverie. “Do you have parents pestering you for grandkids?”

“Uh,” Kaldalis blinked a few times, trying to process how he’d become part of the conversation here. “Not really. I’m lucky; my parents are pretty hands-off. And my sister has always been the more attractive prospect for that if they start to get antsy about it.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Gavinkim said.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” Kaldalis said with a smirk, “but for all we have in common, you and I don’t really talk that much.”

Gavinkim shrugged, though nodded in agreement as he dug into his breakfast again.

Kaldalis realized that it was more than just an offhand remark.

It was true.

Kaldalis felt a degree of kinship with the only other person who’d been as afraid of Onirioago as he was, and they hadn’t had a single real conversation. He didn’t even really know why Gavinkim had been so obsessed with keeping her contained. If it was a fear of her subverting his free will with Geas Venom if she got loose, then perhaps they did have more common ground. He resolved that he should get to know the man a little better. Perhaps it would pay off with a friendship quest, like the ones he’d received from Heluna and Sivima.

“So what do you have planned for the day, then?” Bangen asked, changing the subject.

“I’ve got a busy day ahead,” Kaldalis said. “Garyung and I have a meeting tonight with some Zaran officials, so I can’t miss that. I also have a dungeon run blocked out for this afternoon, and they charged me a deposit that I don’t want to lose, so I can’t miss that, either.”

“Busy day,” Gavinkim agreed.

“Busy afternoon more like. Not sure what to do with my morning. I was thinking about chasing down some crafting to cap out my skill for this level, but I don’t know where to go for that.”

“There’s League facilities in the city for that,” Bangen reassured him. “I’m not sure where, though.”

“In the east quarter,” Gavinkim said around a mouthful of scrambled egg. “Near the docks.” He held up his hands, gesturing as he continued. “There’s the docks here, then the east warehouses here, and then the League facilities are on the other side of them. Not sure which is going to be which, but you should be able to figure it out from there.”

“It’s not free to use,” Bangen warned, “but it’s not prohibitively expensive.”

“I could have guessed that,” Kaldalis grumbled. “Probably a line a mile long, too. I’ll get in there for fifteen minutes and then have to leave for my dungeon run.”

“What crafting are you doing?” Gavinkim asked. “Some are more popular than others.”

“Charmcrafting,” Kaldalis said.

“You should be fine, then,” Gavinkim said, returning his attention to his breakfast. “You might have to wait for a station to open up for a few minutes, but the weaponcrafting and armormaking stations are the real busy ones.”

“Why’s that?” Kaldalis asked.

“Armormaking isn’t really a skill of its own. It’s governed by the tailoring skill,” Bangen explained. “Paying a little bit to turn scrap metal into pauldrons or shinguards is a cheap way to make it easier to make and mend your other clothes without ending up with a lot of ruined garments. But because it’s just forgework, it uses the same station as weaponcrafting.”

It seemed weird to Kaldalis at first, but after thinking about it for a second, it made perfect logical sense. It didn’t apply to charmcrafting - charms were the only thing he could craft with them - but the other crafts? It didn’t seem odd to him that Balrim could make a delicious pan-fried chicken in cream sauce after making a ton of random soups. It didn’t seem odd to him that Ess could forge a dozen daggers, and then use the same skill to make a better bow than she could before. Why was it so odd that NPCs could do the same? Hammering out a bunch of cheap metal into shitty armor in order to improve your skill before employing it for something you actually need was the logical way to respond to this system.

“It’s about that time, though,” Gavinkim said, glancing at the window. “The best shot I have at catching Demriv is hanging out during the jail’s visitor hours. Should be starting soon.”

“It’s been nice chatting with you,” Kaldalis said. “But don’t miss your window on our account.”

The Bhogad gave an unexpected smile at that, offering both Kaldalis and Bangen a polite nod before rising from the table to make for the door. Kaldalis hoped that he was going to be alright. Demriv could be tricky, and even among the council, he’d found himself trying to get on her good side despite knowing that her opinion wasn’t worth half as much as even Jetmorpan’s, let alone Cerh. Hopefully her resemblance to Onirioago would help Gavinkim keep his head on straight, just as it had for Kaldalis.

When Kaldalis looked up and around the table, he saw Gavinkim was just the most recent to excuse himself. Garyung was gone already, and so were Balrim and Myrin. He was left with only Bangen beside him - who was already pulling out notes now that she was done with her breakfast - and Reno and Ess sitting across.

“So,” Reno began with a grin. “Haven’t seen you since yesterday morning. How did the dungeon scheduling go?”

Kaldalis took a deep breath, trying to decide just how much of a rant he wanted to go on about it.