Anna bounced down the stairs the next morning with her usual cheerful disposition. She had spent more time playing with Lord Emerald than usual, so her friends were already sitting at a table enjoying their breakfast. She took a seat next to Elaine and Rose and waved at a barmaid to get her own bowl of porridge.

“We missed you two getting back last night. How did it go?” Voekeer asked.

“I joined the Necromancer’s Guild. You wouldn’t believe how much paperwork was required,” Elaine replied.

“Will that interfere with adventuring?” Voekeer asked.

“No. The Necromancer’s Guild doesn’t take contracts. It’s really there to prove you are legitimate and not just some grave robber,” Elaine replied.

“So, what was it like?” Lyreen asked.

“Creepy, but the food was amazing,” Anna replied.

“You ate there?” Lyreen asked.

“Oh, gods, did we,” Elaine replied.

“What kind of grub they have?” Thokri asked.

“It was like the carriage stop but better and cheaper. Oh, and they had Brewbelly ale!” Anna replied.

“You’re pulling my leg,” Thokri said.

“Nope. I thought the same thing, but they showed me the cask!” Anna replied.

“How in the world did those lads get ahold of something that good?” Thokri asked.

“Despite their reputation, necromancers provide a very valuable service and are well compensated for it,” Elaine replied.

“So, what’s Brewbelly ale anyway?” Lyreen asked.

“Tell me, lass, what do you know of the clans?” Thokri asked. Lyreen frowned.

“Not much really,” she replied. Thokri stroked his beard.

“Well, you see, each clan specializes in one craft. Now, that doesn’t mean we all can’t do anything, but if you want the best, you go to the clan that specializes in that thing,” Thokri said.

“Oh, so the Brewbellies brew ale then? I guess that makes sense,” Lyreen replied.

“Aye, they brew ale, but that’s not all they make. They also make every kind of booze there is. They also like to cook,” Thokri said.

“Sounds like we need to go try that ale,” Voekeer said.

“I agree. I’ve been a lot of places, but I’ve never had the chance to try ale a dwarven brewmaster made. I’ll go, even if it is a den of wickedness,” Barika said.

“I’m taking Elaine to the den of wickedness tonight,” Anna replied.

“I thought I was going to take her, lass,” Thokri said.

“I appreciate the offer, but she’s never seen a hard cock and wanted to go. I really don’t need everyone to come along,” Elaine replied.

“Don’t let her get into any trouble,” Barika said.

“I won’t. Honestly, I might have her come and watch,” Elaine said.

“Really?” Anna asked.

“No,” Elaine replied. The others started to laugh.

“That’s just mean!” Anna said.

“Anyway, I heard the markets in this city are amazing, and I want to go look around,” Lyreen said.

“We should go to the Mystic’s Bazaar. It’s near the Mage’s Guild, and it’s filled with all kinds of enchanted things,” Elaine replied.

“Oh, that sounds perfect!” Lyreen said.

“Well, we could spend the day there and have dinner at the Necromancer’s Guild, and then come back here,” Voekeer said.

“That works. I checked in with the temple yesterday, and I don’t have anything else planned,” Barika said.

“Yeah, we just sat around here and talked to other adventurers,” Voekeer said.

“I took the lass out and got her hammered,” Thokri said.

“So that’s why she looks like that! Rose, do you want some hangover cure?” Anna asked. Rose shook her head yes then winced from the pain.

Anna handed her a potion, and she drank it down quickly, sneezing a few times before handing the empty bottle back to Anna. She smiled at Anna, and Anna smiled back.

Still have to ask around about healing her.

They finished breakfast, and her friends got their cloaks before leaving the guild hall and heading for the transport gate.

“I’m surprised it works on me,” Anna said as they walked up to the gate.

“It’s a portal I think, so the spell isn’t actually doing anything to you,” Elaine replied.

“How do portals work?” Anna asked.

“Well, they open up to a realm we call the Wyrding. You can stretch or compress the Wyrding with mana, so they just compress the space between the two portals so you don’t have to walk as far,” Elaine replied.

“That’s amazing!” Anna said.

“It really is. It’s a shame we lost the spells to make new ones though,” Elaine replied.

“Did that happen during the mage wars?” Anna asked.

“Yes,” Elaine replied.

I really need to learn more about the world.

They walked through the portal and found themselves in the same square as Elaine and Anna had visited the day before. Elaine started to walk down one of the large streets, and the rest of them followed her.

“The bazaar is a huge dome. It was built to be a colosseum for gladiators to fight in ancient times, but that was outlawed centuries ago, so they turned it into a market,” Elaine said.

“What’s a gladiator?” Lyreen asked.

“Humans have slaves fight each other to the death while a crowd watches. The fighters are called gladiators,” Thokri replied.

“That’s barbaric!” Lyreen said.

“Aye,” Thokri replied.

“That’s why it was outlawed, though some places still do it,” Elaine said.

“I think something is wrong with your people,” Lyreen replied.

“I’ve thought that for most of my life,” Elaine said.

Wow! That’s just huge!

They walked up the long street to the bazaar. It was the largest building she’d ever seen. There were stalls and people with blankets selling their goods all around the building. They walked past these merchants. Elaine had told them that anyone could set up outside of the bazaar, but only the best got a place inside.

They have better things than most of the merchants in Oldforge on the blankets! What in the world are they selling inside?!

Guards patrolled the makeshift market making sure none of the merchants blocked the road and keeping the thieves to a minimum. They walked up the steps to the bazaar, past an army of guards, and into a huge open space. Anna looked around in wonder for a moment.

I didn’t think people could build things this big.

The dome was painted with scenes of a battle that transpired in the distant past. It was lit with impossibly bright mana lamps. There were benches lining the walls that rose higher than the walls of most of the towns and even some of the smaller cities she’d passed through.

The open space was filled with stalls. They were lined up in neat rows. Everything sparkled with mana causing the air itself to shimmer in her vision. She blinked a few times to get used to it before rushing after her friends who had already walked away.

They looked through the stalls, slowly moving up and down the rows.

It’s got to take days to see everything!

She paused at a stall with strange little strips of metal with decorations on one end. She picked one up with a cute butterfly and held it up.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s a hair clip. You can use them to keep the hair out of your face if you don’t want to tie it,” Lyreen replied.

She took the clip out of Anna’s hand and brushed her hair to the side. She put the clip in Anna’s hair and took a step back to look at it.

“Perfect,” she said.

“It’s just wrong how cute she is,” Elaine added.

“You’re pretty too,” Anna replied. Elaine just laughed.

“You don’t have to be nice,” she said.

“I’m not. You are pretty,” Anna replied. Elaine just shook her head and then started to look through the hair clips herself.

“How much?” Anna asked the grinning merchant.

“A silver,” he replied.

“What’s the enchantment?” Anna asked.

“It won’t tarnish, and it shouldn’t break unless you do something crazy to it,” he replied.

A silver doesn’t sound like too much for an enchanted hair clip.

She looked over at Thokri who nodded subtly. She paid the man for the clip and waited for her friends to pick through them as well.

Lyreen found a clip with a little leaf on the end of it. She put it in her hair and then looked in the mirror the merchant held up. She smiled and paid him a silver as well before leaving.

“Couldn’t find anything you liked?” Anna asked.

“Nothing there was really my style,” Elaine replied.

“She’s right. I didn’t see any skulls, bones, or other dead stuff,” Lyreen said.

“Shut it, elf,” Elaine replied.

Anna found a stall that was selling what the merchant called expedition equipment.

It’s just adventuring gear for mages!

The party started to browse. She picked up a bundle of thin pure white rope.

“What’s special about this?” she asked.

“It’s woven from deep spider silk. It’s stronger than steel and won’t rot like hemp will,” the man replied.

She tugged on the rope far harder than a person should have been able to.

Wow, it really is strong.

She set it aside to buy it and kept looking. She picked up a heavy belt pouch and opened it up.

Oh, wow. It’s got a little pan and cup. I wonder what this thing is? Is that a heat crystal? Oh, that’s a strip of mithril. What in the world does this do?

She looked at the merchant in confusion.

“It’s a mana stove. Unfold the three top pieces and pull up on that lever, and it gets hot enough to cook food,” he said.

“What powers it?” Anna asked.

“The mithril draws mana in from the air, and the heat stone is faceted, so it doesn’t suck up all the mana at once,” the merchant replied.

Oh, I’m so buying this!

She set it aside along with the rope.

“I have a spice kit if you’re interested,” the merchant replied, seeing that she was interested in the cooking set.

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Anna replied.

He took a small tin out from behind the stall and opened it up. There were several clear vials filled with colorful powders. Anna nodded and the man put it aside. She found a few more small things like a twisted wire utensil set to go along with her new cooking set. Her friends bought a few things from the stall as well, and they went back to looking through the massive bazaar.

She ended up buying a pack to put all the stuff they bought into. She of course ended up carrying it.

“I guess we’ll go get some food now,” Voekeer said as they walked out of the bazaar.

“It is getting late,” Barika said.

At least we got to eat some lunch at a stall.

She secretly liked street food more than anything else, but for some reason, all her friends like eating at taverns or home cooking more, so that’s what she ended up eating the most of. Adventuring food didn’t count of course because you didn’t really have a choice out in the middle of nowhere.

Like Oldforge, as night fell, humans seemed to leave the streets and beast men replaced them, even here in what would have been called the Mage’s District in other cities, that was still true.

No dwarves around here, but none of them can use magic, so I guess that makes sense.

The beast men that were out at night were the ones that were mixed with nocturnal animals. Their large eyes followed the party as they walked. Most of them were wearing focus crystals indicating they were mages of some variety.

One of them hissed at her when he noticed Anna staring. She flipped him a rude gesture back, and he turned and walked off in a huff.

“You were staring again, weren’t you, child?” Barika asked.

“Yes,” Anna replied.

“Someone is going to fight you one day if you keep doing that,” Elaine said.

“Someone is going to get tossed one day if they fight me,” Anna replied.

“She has a point,” Voekeer said.

“Don’t encourage her,” Barika replied. Voekeer just shrugged.

“Look, I’m not saying that she should keep staring at people, but honestly, she’s not the one that has to be careful, that’s all,” he said. Barika just sighed and Elaine shook her head.

The Necromancer’s Guild was as creepy as the day before, and the other members of the party just looked at the skeletons mounted on the side of the building with a sort of revulsion that was expected of normal people when viewing such things. Other than Thokri. He just spit.

“How charming,” Barika said.

“It’s imposing, that’s for sure,” Voekeer said.

“It’s even weirder inside, but it’s worth it,” Anna replied.

“How could it be worse than that?!” Lyreen said, pointing at a skull with its mouth wide open as if locked in some eternal scream.

“The furniture is made from skeletons, and they have a basement full of dismembered bodies for sale,” Anna replied.

“Just go back to the guild if you don’t want to try the ale then,” Elaine said and pushed the door to the Necromancer’s Guild open.

She went inside followed closely by Anna and Thokri. The others shuffled in after them. Anna could see the shock and horror on their faces when they looked around the main room. Thokri went to spit but saw the necromancers looking at him and swallowed it instead.

Walter looked up and smiled at them. It would have been a warm smile had he been another man, but on his face, it just looked disturbing.

“I see you’ve brought the rest of your party today. Tell me, would they like a tour?” he asked.

“Maybe later. We were just going to have dinner,” Elaine replied.

“Of course,” Walter replied.

Elaine led them down the long hallway. The rest of the party huddled together like frightened rabbits as they walked.

It’s not that bad.

They walked into the dining room. When the apprentices saw them, they waved them over to a table where the party sat down.

“Bring out some of everything and Brewbelly ales all around,” Elaine said.

“Of course, Ma’am,” an apprentice replied. Barika looked around the room frowning.

“Such disrespect for the dead,” she said.

“Every one of them was a murderer,” Elaine replied.

“That doesn’t make this right,” Barika said.

Elaine just shrugged not wanting to get into an argument with Barika.

The apprentices came back with mugs full of the wonderful ale and placed them in front of each of them. Anna took a long drink out of her mug enjoying the rich spiced taste. Thokri grinned as soon as he smelled it and took a drink himself.

“Oh, lass. I could kiss you for bringing me here,” he said. Elaine laughed.

“If you weren’t married, I’d do more than kiss you,” she replied.

“You’d fuck a dwarf?” Lyreen asked.

“Sure, why not?” Elaine replied.

“’Cause they are all short and hairy,” Lyreen replied.

“I’ve bedded human men that were just as hairy as a dwarf and more than a few short ones. Don’t see how I’d be any different from them,” Elaine said. She took a drink from her own mug and sighed in appreciation.

Lyreen looked stricken.

“I’d fuck an elf, too,” Elaine added, grinning at the elves.

“Really?” Voekeer asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Elaine replied, winking at him. Lyreen elbowed Voekeer, who happened to be smiling at Elaine. Elaine laughed.

“Oh, come on. You know I won’t take your man,” she said. Lyreen glared at her for a moment then took a drink of the ale.

“Wow, this is amazing!” she said smiling again.

Rose took a drink. Then with a surprised look on her face, she took another deep drink.

“Looks like she likes it,” Elaine said.

“The poor lass likes every kind of strong drink,” Thokri said, patting Rose on the arm. Rose put the mug down and smiled weakly at them.

She does drink a lot.

Rose often drank until she passed out at the table, needing to be carried to her room.

Her friends looked worried every time the woman started to drink, but they didn’t want to stop her, this being the first time the woman was truly free in her life. While she couldn’t talk or write, they had managed to find out that Rose had been born a slave and lost her tongue when she was a young teenager.

Something wiggled in the back of her mind whenever she thought about it, and that something didn’t feel nice, so she tried not to.

They were brought fresh mugs along with a few huge trays full of food. Everyone started to pull different types of food from each tray and pile them on the plates that were placed in front of them. The food was just as delicious as the night before, and now there was more than enough to go around.

The room grew cold, and the door opened slowly. A fog of death mana flowed into the room. Anna and the others looked up from their meal to see what was going on. A tall thin man walked into the room. He was as pale as a corpse with black lines visible under his exposed skin. He was dressed in a black robe like the other necromancers, but his were enchanted and dripped with death mana. He looked around the room, and his eyes locked on their table. He walked over and loomed next to them.

“You must be the woman,” he said, looking right at Elaine.

“Last time I checked I was,” she replied.

He laughed. It was a hideous sound.

“I am high necromancer Bernard, and I am the head of the Necromancer’s Guild,” he said. Elaine hopped up and bowed slightly.

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” she said.

“Likewise,” Bernard replied. He looked at the rest of the party who were all staring up at him with wide eyes.

“What a colorful group of friends you’ve brought with you,” he said.

“Being colorful in here isn’t hard,” Anna replied. He laughed again.

“That is true, but I think you’d be colorful no matter where you happened to be,” he said.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Anna replied. She started to stuff her face again, thinking the conversation was over.

The high necromancer laughed again. He sat at an empty seat next to Lyreen. She looked like she wanted to jump out of her skin. An apprentice brought him a plate, and he filled it with a few things. Elaine sat back down.

“I had intended on talking to you, but you left before I could yesterday,” Bernard said.

“My apologies, sir. I didn’t know you wanted to speak to me,” Elaine replied.

“It’s nothing bad, my dear. It’s just we don’t get women in the guild very often, and certainly not ones that are also adventurers,” he replied.

“I know it’s rare for women to be necromancers. I mean, we can’t have children while we practice, so that stops most girls that are interested,” Elaine said.

“Indeed. Tell me, why did you decide to study the dark arts?” Bernard asked.

“I don’t have a reason. It just feels right,” Elaine replied.

Bernard smiled. It was a terrible sight.

“That’s good to hear,” he said.

Anna picked up a large piece of meat with a bone still attached and started to eat it. Bernard looked at her for a moment with a bit of confusion on his face. Anna swallowed a large mouthful without chewing and looked at the high necromancer.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he replied and started to eat.

They chatted with the high necromancer. Elaine talked with him about necromancy while the rest of the party did their best to ignore the strange conversation, which wasn’t that hard with a belly full of strong dwarven ale.

They finished dinner and said their goodbyes to Bernard before leaving the Necromancer’s Guild. It was late when they left, and Anna was carrying Rose along with the pack.

“That was the best food I’ve ever had!” Lyreen said.

“I agree, child, despite the strange company. I wouldn’t mind going back from time to time,” Barika replied.

“Aye,” Thokri said.

“Well, just let me know when you want to go back,” Elaine replied.

“Still want to go to the red-light district?” Anna asked.

“No way,” Elaine replied.

Anna put Rose to bed when they got back and passed out everyone’s purchases from the day before going to her own room and going to sleep for the night.