It was not a stretch to say that the woman’s touch is one of the most soothing things a man can partake in. I am not a demanding man when it comes to my whores, I just ask for a young woman with clear eyes and good body. The woman at my side right now fits that description like a glove; young and with green eyes that have some kind of… hypnotizing effect on me. Either way, a fine lady for a fine establishment. The madame knows its customers well…

But I’m satisfied and relaxed. The day is going great, and we must push on, into the heart of the beast. The girl is already getting up and dressing herself, without uttering a single word. A quiet one which may mean many things, all of them ignored by the less emphatic customers.

“Sorry ma’am, I didn’t quite catch your name?” I asked, still half naked under the sheet.

She looks at me, slowly and gracefully, but with a look that betrays her soul. Her eyes meet with mine for a few seconds, that seems like long hours to me.

“Telana.” She says with a tired smile as she leaves.

This… heat on my chest. Surely the alcohol and the sex, natural reactions. There is nothing more pathetic and disgusting than liking a prostitute, especially if you paid for her.

I lay there, staring blankly at the door from where she left until they tell me to leave; such is the way of the brothel. I find that my companions are still busy, so I wait by one of the couches in the reception while one girl serves me a cold drink. Top service, curtesy of the Madame.

I keep thinking about that girl until the elf comes out. He sits by my side and doesn’t speak, just looks intensely at the ceiling. He must be very pleased with himself. Or he has been crying. Either way, not a single word is exchanged. Some don’t understand the value of silence, how can no words mean so much.

Unfortunately, my scaly friend is one of them. He comes up to us just a little bit later, loudly asking the kid about his first time.

“So how was it? Did you last a minute or less?” He laughs as the elf ignores him.

With our business in the brothel taken care of, we leave with a clear plan in mind.

“So, we go get the stuff and to gamble?” I ask while getting back on the cart.

“Yes indeed. Tonight, we go to the Golden.” Those words have doomed many men before us. The Golden Joker is a famous casino here. In reality, it's more of the same as everywhere, but indulgence and excess is practiced and encouraged there to no end, so it’s a very successful place to lose all of your money.

“Driver! Take us to the alchemist!” We resume our journey through the streets, the ambience and lights only getting stronger. Nightfall came while we were, eh, doing the same back at the brothel, and the night has just started to start. Now, the full power of corruption is at display here, in this very time at this very moment.

The fumes of the city, the smell of alcohol and raw depravation is the only thing you can smell on the streets. The dwarfs have already finished their work for today and their savage night is but commencing. We see the barrels rolling on to the street, full of mead or some other type of alcohol. If we are lucky and manage to maintain some semblance of sanity by the end of the night, we will drink a couple of cups with the dwarfs…

“Why are they rolling the barrels down there?” The elf asks, a confused look painted on his face.

“The tradition, boy.” Explains Resabio, looking to said barrels. “They are highly communal and love nothing more than drinking with their buddies somewhere big. I personally think it's something sexual, but I don’t want to confirm it.”

Valec nods meekly as we arrive to our destination.

“Wait for us here. Next, we are going to the Golden, so prepare. “I whisper to the driver as I get out the damn thing.

The alchemist shop is as typical as many others of the kind, full of strong odors and strange looking plants and instruments. For the experienced drug abuser, these are nothing but rabble.

“Tobacco, 5 gold of it. Give me your best stuff.” I explain to the man on the counter while putting down the gold. The man scrambles behind the counter and takes a big box of decent tobacco, handing me a good amount.

As I stand back, I let my companion do the rest. There is a certain art on buying drugs that many fools ignore. Some would just go up to their dealer and get scammed by him, addicts are scum and can't differentiate between good and bad. That gives them superiority and a contempt that they will use against you.

What you want to do here is prepare yourself, mentally and physically. You look him in the eyes and close the distance, fast. Don’t talk fast or slow and maintain the same tone. Never look around and focus on the dealer. When he realizes you are not to be crossed, that you are a respectable citizen, he will also realize that he is, in fact, nothing againts you. That makes your position strong.

Then you say, strongly but firmly, that you want 200 grams of whatever drug you will snort on that particular day. He will be filled with fear, knowing that a superior being is before him. His legs will tremble and his breath not leave his chest. Then he will try to give you the drug, but the sheer amount of fear your alpha presence emanates will paralyze him.

With a swift strike and to finish the deal, you must inform him, impatiently, that you are busy proceeding to throw the gold at his face and taking the drugs yourself as you leave as gracefully as you came.

In reality, the mage just shouts and threatens with grave injury if the poor fellow doesn’t hand over the drugs, quickly. He disappears and soon after we have restocked sufficiently for a few more days of heavy abuse, which is very likely at this point.

We leave in less than 5 minutes and hop back on the cart, ready to head for the Golden. Expectation fills my chest as fairy dust fills my nostrils on the way to the casino. But as every good place of entertainment, a healthy amount of varied drug consumption only makes the experience better. So, we decide to include some morning root with that dust and top it all off with some drinks on the bar there.

Devil drugs… they make you as much a fool as a clown. They affect the brain and lets you experience what is like to be god or be a woman, whatever you like best. Those few minutes of pure bliss arguably make up for the long-term effects.

By the time we arrive, basic motor functions such as adequate speech and the use of both legs to walk, one at a time, is foreign to us. We stumble directly to the door; the elf guiding us the best he can, until the guards stop us.

Fools dressed as cuckolds; they ask for money to enter but we are unable to stand long enough to answer as we lose our footing. Fortunately, this city loves drunks and vermin, so when our godsent pointy eared friend pays the paltry entry, they take us by the arms and throw us inside, laughing as we go.

The insides of the beast are the stuff of nightmares. An orgy of debauchery greets our weary brains as the lights blind us. A grand place, this casino. In the lower floor, you can gamble your money away as you drink your own vomit and perky young woman serve your drink on adjusted and erotic costumes, leaving little to imagination.

On the upper floor, the ultra rich do the same as clown and fools perform magic tricks and acrobatics for the unsuspecting public, gaping as the dealers steal all of their hard-earned money.

One thinks I must make clear is the total of the spectacle. When you are a drug abuser, visions and hallucinations are a common occurrence, so much so that watching a dragon crawl up your butt with a knife is quite humorous. This place, however, is a high I wish no one had to experience…

The place is full and the night is young. We make our way to the bar as the floor shakes and turns. When we try to order, we are informed by a rather naked drake behind the counter that this is employee only, the real bar is downstairs.

I flip him off; the magus calls him a faggot and the elf apologizes as we make our way downstairs, dodging and evading other drugged men and annoyed bartenders. The stairs seem eternal and going down slowly is a necessity. While I get ahold to the railing very closely, the drake trips and falls, shouting like a madman about nothing in particular as he tries to reach for something.

In the end, the floor stops him, but a fall like that will not stop a dangerous psychopath. I laugh, the elf laughs, everybody laughs; the drake not only doesn’t laugh, but starts to salivate fire and threatens to kill every son of a bitch here. That shuts them up quickly.

We manage to reach the real bar as the ceiling starts to move. I’m unsure if it's because of the drugs or some funky magical addition to the place. Either way, the bar is really nice, a circle surrounded by various attractions where you can also invest your money, but are less luck based and more “hit that little goblin with a knife” based.

When we step into the circle, the thing changes! Very clearly seeing as this is no lucid dream, the exterior changes landscapes every few minutes and shows exotic and mysterious lands, to make the patrons of this fine establishment feel more adventurous.

Finally, on the stool, we manage to order some rum punches and commence the next step of our plan.

“Alright, hear me out.” The mage says, “You control the doors for guards and you kidnap a couple of hotties. Ill burn this to the ground and take the money.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, the hoping no one important heard that. “We are here to gamble, you fat cocksucker. Relax.”

“You know what we need? A red destroyer wand. That show these bastards who is in charge here.” He spouts, seemingly changing the subject.

“Is that good? “I ask.

“Oh yes. Top quality wand with reinforced structure and double infused magicka base. Any decent mage can raise hell with it. Enough to show these pigs who is the boss here.”

“You will find me gambling, gentleman.” I hear a voice saying that.

“Sure buddy.” I respond absentmindedly. “Anyway, we will ask around tomorrow for the wand and come back. Then we will strike back.”

“Of course, but don’t forget the whores, man.” He asks for more alcohol; we are done with the first round. “That blonde whore of yours was quite juicy, but plain for my refined tastes. I got a brown-skinned bitch. God, they know how to please a drake.” He snorts with an indecent look on his face.

“What do you think the elf did? I hear they are weird with the sex.”

“Well, he went in there pretty easily and didn’t come out crying, so I think it was okay. Better than that time with the dwarven lasses. Remember?”

“Oh! How could I forget. Those freaky bastards…!” He shouts as we laugh and drink merrily.

The conversation grows ever confusing from this point on, so I won’t bother remembering the details. When we have enough of booze and leave to gamble, the elf is nowhere to be seen.

“Where is the kid?”

“Probably gambling, better than us, carry on now.”

“Up the stairs again, goddamn gnomes.” He puffs as we head to the top.

Ten minutes later we are on top, no falls this time, as we decide to scatter and do a pincer attack to the casino. In no time, I find myself seated at one of the many tables playing a couple of games.

A young man, sharply dressed, gives out the cards, gold embroiled and with fine pictures, hand drawn on each card makes you feel the luxury of the place. A pig man to my right, almost choking himself on wine, a red face shouting at the employee for more cards.

To my left, another drake, tall and slim, very quiet and smoking some kind of pipe. I sometimes find myself thinking about all of these souls. Who are you, oh drake, that at three in the morning you are losing cards in a miserable table? Who hurt you, oh pig faced man, that you feel the need to shout and grope those bunny girls as you please?

And the men dealing, isn’t he tired of seeing the same faces day after day at ungodly hours with that disgusting false smile…

Then again, what would others think of this man, dressed in flower garments and drunk out of his mind, shooting dirty and deep gazes to anyone in range? What would they think about the odd pair of a potentially criminal drake and the creepy human laughing as they collapse on the ground?

Who cares? What I need now is try to win some gold. The game has been going on for some time, even if I’m not thinking about it. I don’t care about the losses, as the gold is not mine, but its pretty inconsiderate to waste all the gold without having the decency to give something back, to honor the friendship.

But alas, fortune is not with me. I lose almost all as the drake sights as he leaves the table and the pig man makes a guttural sound while almost rolling away. I find another seat while the show goes up upstairs, a new shout of delight forms the audience as one of the performers falls, probably for real. They laugh as others go to him and lift him up to take him away.

That is nothing but a good example of the pride of the national character. Everything will be fine, in the end. I cannot contain myself as I laugh as well, making me no different from the scum on the upper floor.

A server, one of the scantily clothed women suddenly appears before me. A big smile and abundant breast make for a powerful ally, its clear to me why she is here. The men here are as unreasonable as they are rich, so the sight of such beauties make them lose their bags fast.

“Good night, my dear sir!” She says happily, “We have started the happy ours. There is an opportunity to win with a double or nothing. Would you be interested?”

“I don’t have more money to spend on women today, little girl.”

“I’m not a little girl, my dear sir. And the first time is free.” She has one of those smirks that knows who is in control here. I resign to my fate.

“Okay. Go on then.” I sigh as she giggles.

“Left, or right?”

“Left.”

She then takes her vest, which leaves little for imagination, and pulls it down, her breast exposed to the winds. For a few seconds of incredulity, I look at it with pure surprise, but a welcome one. She puts the vest back and smiles.

“You lost. Better luck next time!”

“I hope they pay you a lot for this.”

She just winks and leaves me utterly confused in my sit. Blood flows freely thought my body, bringing renewed purpose and newfound energy. The high already left, leaving me with the alcohol poisoning in my veins.

With enough gold lost, I make my way back to the bar downstairs and enjoy a cigar while chatting with a man, one of the performers, on break.

“We do this every night, and it’s always the same. But eventually they ask more and more until some of us gets hurt. Tonight, it was Tormund, tomorrow it could be anyone.” Ha says, drinking a beer.

“Yes, those fucking pigs, eh. Laughing as the poor man fell. Honestly, there is no more decency between humans anymore.” I say, disapprovingly. Thankfully for me, no truth spells are here. If not, he would accuse of me of being a hypocrite which I am, but it's not pretty to say out loud, nor is it?

After a while he leaves to keep on the show. I remain alone, starting to feel tired when a nervous and sweating drake barge in and sits at my side. He is breathing surprisingly heavily.

“Hank has found us; we need to leave.” He looks at me with his big eyes. “He is coming, he knows we are here.”

“Who?”

“I felt him. He is coming. He is.” He repeats that with fear in his voice.

“How did you feel him?” I ask, feeding the madness of the poor fool.

“With the fear. He is here.” He is almost crying. “We must leave! Quickly!”

“It's late, anyway. Off we go.” I guess today's escapade is over. What is happening here is a common product of the drug binge, the so-called fear. It's when your body rejects your attempts at control and it gives in to the deepest depths of our psyche, destroying our perceptions along with everything in their general vicinity.

As we leave the building, early morning is already upon us. We wake up the driver, sleeping in his cart loudly, and ask for an expeditious retreat back to the inn. My friend passes out in the way and I start to feel my body shouting in pain.

When we arrive, the key for the room evades us, so the drake breaks the door in. While I try to close it at best I can, my body finally snaps. Down I go, almost falling over, barely managing to get to the bath before puking all the last evening. And with a glorious headache I fall into sleep, once again drunk in an inn room…