“All right, Safrun is just ahead,” The Caravaneer pulled back his reins and pointed down the road. Shaynen turned his head in surprise.

“You aren’t going into town?” He asked.

“We don’t have any business in such a small town.” The Caravaneer looked back.

“Oh.” Shaynen said. He looked down the road and back to the various faces of the large caravan’s people.

“You could keep on with us.” The older boy, Elion offered. Shaynen had taken a liking to him, and he to Shaynen. “Nothing down in the marsh but rats and toads.” Shaynen smiled as Elion’s hand wandered to his.

“I heard the Governor of Safrun’s been having trouble with rats.” An older man mused. “Offering a reward for someone to clear ‘em out.”

“Oh really?” Shaynen wasn’t really listening so much as he was flirting with Elion.

“Mm.” The old man said. “Bumped into a coupla farmers last time we made this trip. Poor bastards looked haggard. Like they haven’t seen a good meal in years.” Shaynen frowned and looked over to the old man.

“Oh, really?” He asked. “How long has this been a problem?” The old man shrugged.

“Who knows? It could have been a problem as long as the town existed.” He said. Elion grabbed Shaynen’s hand.

“Has that been long?” Shaynen asked.

“Not that I can remember,” The old man said. “If I remember right, the town was built by some old retired adventurer. Was able to rise solid ground out of the marsh and build on it.” Elion pulled Shaynen back toward him.

“Someone else will deal with it,” Elion insisted. “There’s always someone else when there is coin involved.” Shaynen threw him a stern look.

“If we always wait for someone else, then nothing would get done.” Shaynen said. He grabbed his light pack and quarterstaff and jumped off the caravan. “Thanks for the ride!”

“We’ll see you on the next route?” Elion asked hopefully.

“I don’t know,” Shaynen waved merrily. He felt a cold pit of dread drop into his stomach as the caravan pulled out of sight. The marsh was filled with the noise of toads and crickets. The sun was already gone behind the moping trees. Shaynen kept a tight grip on his pack as he walked down the road. It wasn’t much a road as a trail of sunken slabs of stone that made the ground in certain areas more solid than the rest of the marsh.

“It’ll be quick,” Shaynen justified to himself. “A quick trip into the town, I mean it’s RIGHT THERE, and then I’ll get back on the main road. Travelling in a group just like I promised. And it would be wrong of me to ignore something I can change.” He wrestled with the spirit of Master Ayra’s words. Swatting occasionally at the buzzing insects around him.

Shaynen passed abysmal looking farms. The crops were just beginning to sprout out of the ground in a bizarrely yellow color. The few scattered people that Shaynen saw were indeed haunted looking. With sunken eyes that stared at nothing, They didn’t even really see Shaynen when he waved to them. He entered the town as the sun rose high over head. Streets were mostly empty. Shaynen noticed an old man in scholarly wear walking with a thick ledger down the dirt trodden streets.

“Excuse me sir!” Shaynen yelled. He jogged lightly over to the surprised scholar. “I’m-”

“Adventurer enquiring about the rats?” The old man asked.

“Uh. Yes?” Shaynen said. Though he wouldn’t call himself an adventurer in the strictest sense.

“Follow me.” The man said. He led Shaynen into a house that had a sign out front suggesting that it was a tavern. There was a small handful of people inside. Shaynen followed the scholarly man to the corner of the tavern where he sat down and opened his ledger.

“Will all parties enquiring about the rats please come forward?” The scholar called. Shaynen stood on the opposite side of the table already, and then felt a presence swiftly approach him. He chanced a look up. A foot taller than him was a snowy grey Tabaxi, who hardly seemed to notice Shaynen in front of him. Shaynen stumbled off to the side, away from the stone wall of a man. He bumped into a slightly smaller man who shoved Shaynen hard.

“Careful!” Commanded the Goblin Shaynen had bumped into. He turned to look at the Goblin with the straw hair. Then he was forcefully grabbed by the arms from behind and moved to the side by a Human woman in thick armor and short dark hair.

“Thank you,” Shaynen attempted. She didn’t respond. The scholar looked at them with a disapproving scowl.

“Well. I suppose you’ll do.” He said. “My name is Gregory, I am the town librarian. You are?”

“My name is Shaynen.” Shaynen announced.

“And mine is Haagut.” The Goblin side eyed Shaynen. “A name that’s actually WORTH remembering.”

“I’m Odelia.” The Human said.

“Cleatus.” The Tabaxi made a noise.

“Very well. You know why you’re here. There’s rats in the food stores. For dealing with them you are provided three rooms here at The Rusty Nail.”

“Four rooms.” Odelia said.

“Three.” Gregory repeated.

“There’s four of us. Stands to reason we should be provided with four rooms.” She said.

“That’s as may be. But this is the only tavern in the town and it only has three rooms.” Gregory began writing in his ledger.

“I don’t mind sharing,” Shaynen offered.

“How much is this gonna pay?” Cleatus asked.

“You’ll have to take that up with the Governor. He’s at the town hall.” Gregory snapped his ledger shut. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I’ll be at the library if you have any further questions.” Gregory left the tavern. Leaving only the barkeeper and the party still inside.

“The town hall then.” Haagut directed. He turned, nose in the air, and began to walk away. Odelia stomped behind, Cleatus prowled beside her and Shaynen ran up behind to get up to the front.