A warm atmosphere greeted us once we opened the door of the tavern. Worn-down wooden tables are spread out, a few folks are sitting down at these tables, ranging from gnomes to druids. On the right side of the tavern, a cleared space was next to a band playing. I made the assumption this was a way for others to dance. I don't dance myself, I never took the time and I didn't want to. It served me no purpose.

I spotted the best part of the tavern after looking around, the bar. A roughed-up troll worked behind there, currently organizing a collection of wine. Lucifer nudges my attention to him, "I'm going to be purchasing a bedroom and sleeping up there, feel free to join us whenever you want." Lucifer digs some gold out of his pocket and heads over to the bar, making light conversation with the bar owner.

I stand there for a while watching him hand over gold and then head up the stairs on the left side of the bar. Once those two are gone, I rush over to the bar and slam some gold onto the counter. "What's special today?"

"It's called the goblet's fire, it's a mix of whiskey and rum. Many pirates are ordering this before going out to sea." The troll's voice was gruff and deep, once closer I could inspect many scars on his face.

"That sounds perfect." I slide the gold closer to him and he snatches it up. He turns away from me and pulls out a glass from one of the shelves. He picks up two bottles and pours them into the glass, swirling the mixture slightly before passing it to me. I take it all in one go and ask for another.

"You can handle your liquor well! I've only seen the dwarves handle it as you do." Someone comments this next to me, I turn myself to look at them and glare.

"Well, I'm not some drunk like you think I am, just a rough night altogether."

"A rough night? Care to talk about it?"

The stranger takes the stool next to me, I never realized I sat down but I get comfortable. I grab the glass once refilled and take the liquid down again, passing it back. I look towards the stranger to process their features. I can only see the eyepatch they wear over their right eye, everything else is covered up by a cloak. The cloak though is covered in filth and I can practically smell it from here. I'm assuming this might be one of those pirates the tavernkeeper was talking about.

"Usually I wouldn't talk about it to a stranger, but I'm feeling more confident right now, you caught me at the right time," I note, my head feels slightly foggy and unclear but I'm still taking in information.

"So imagine, this one half-elf won't leave you alone until you take him on a quest. Wouldn't that be so annoying?"

"Oh certainly, do you have a quest to take?"

I groan out loud, slamming my face into the bar counter. "I don't! But I had to lie, I was hoping I could just fake my way through it."

"Well, what if I could tell you that you wouldn't have to fake it?"

I lift my head from the counter, taking the refilled glass and drinking it all again in one go, but this time a little more shakily. I eye him, I feel trusting of him which is one of my worst ideas, no doubt. I'm at a desperate point though so I motion for him to go on.

"I'm looking for someone to take my quest. It shouldn't be too hard, I just need someone to collect some ingredients for me."

A few ingredients? That can get done by even Markus! I nod at him, already taking it without thinking of the further consequences. I look towards my glass to see it empty and another one next to it full of water. I glare at the tavern keeper for this.

"I'm cutting you off for now. You drinking more would probably put you in trouble here. You need to process this conversation before you try to take something you can't do."

"Well did I need your advice?" I mumble, but I drink the water and go back to focusing on the cloaked man.

"I have a few items for you to get me, do you think you will be able to remember them?"

I glare at both of them. "How much do you think I drank? It hasn't even been that long so just hurry with it!"

"Alright, I'll need a frog's eye, and not a normal frog, a mutated frog. I'll also need the hair of a magical being. It doesn't matter what magical being it is, it should work out either way." he goes silent for a second, before continuing, it was as if he started pondering it. "I'll also need a dragon scale, it doesn't have to be fresh."

"Alright I got it in my head, how much would you be giving for this?"

"One hundred gold."

I spit out the water I started to sip on. "One hundred?! You better not be scamming me." He places the money on the bar and gives me time to look at it and make sure it's real. "I got the money, do you think you can handle this?"

"I got this, me and the people with me can take this out, no problem!" I say with full confidence after double-checking the gold in front of me. He nods in approval, holding out his hand. "I'll give you five days, let's shake on it." I grip his hand into mine and shake it. He lets go a second later, starting to scoop up the gold he poured out of his worn-out leather bag.

Once collecting his things, he stands up and walks away. I keep my eye on that cloak, if it was cleaned, it could be sold for a lot of gold. I wonder where he could have gotten it. I turn back to the tavern keeper and he looks at me with disappointment. "What's your problem?" I spat, rubbing my temples in frustration.

"You just offered up your friends to a quest you didn't check into, I'd say that's the problem."

"Listen, you mind your own business. I give you gold to serve me drinks, not to tell me how to live my life." I force a snarl into my tone while moving my hands away from my temples. He backs away slightly and fills my old glass again with the past mix. I feel a weird sense of accomplishment. I convinced someone pretty easily, must be a persuasive type of person to get that done. I feel the need to brag about this but I don't.

"If you want to get drunk at my bar and pass out, that's on you." He moves away from my glass but holds the two drinks in his hand just in case. "You better let your friends know about this at least by tomorrow."

I take back my glass and chug the drink, slamming it back on the wooden counter in front of me. My head feels very unclear and I'm having trouble processing things. I'm pretty sure the past drinks are affecting my thinking ability.

"Whatever, I'm not going to pass out."

I feel myself being shaken awake by someone, drool coming out of my mouth. I lift my head and wipe my mouth. My eyes are slightly hazy as I look up at Markus and Lucifer, both looking amused.

"Good morning party animal, how was your rest?" Markus is holding in a laugh, I glare at him and rub at my temples.

"Is it morning?" I mumble, trying to take a peek outside. Lucifer slides the tavern keeper who seems to be just getting back extra gold.

"You slept here all night," Lucifer states, I lift myself in shock, finally getting a reality check. "Oh Ether, how much did I drink?"

"Two whole bottles of whiskey and rum so I wouldn't doubt you being out of it." The tavern keeper states, trying to clean up the mess of drool I left behind.

I can't remember anything after I proclaimed about not passing out. I go digging in my pockets for something out of the ordinary. I'm in the clear, everything is here and nothing is missing. I'm officially in the disgusting area. My outfit has alcohol and dried blood on it. The blood has crusted onto it and there isn't a way to remove it. I grimace, I lost the clothing I had paid for so I suppose I was stuck in this situation

Lucifer is eyeing it too, he has a different pair of clean clothes out. I don't remember where he had put these new additions beforehand so I'm surprised to see them. He hands them to me and I grab the fresh clothes, holding them up, it's similar to what Lucifer is wearing. I give him an immediate stink eye while he grins at me.

"That or what you wear now, so pick your poison."

I feel the need to protest this, but he also has a good point. I turn back to Lucifer to ask him to bring me to the room so I can change, but Lucifer isn't listening anymore, having a conversation with the tavern keeper.

I look at Markus, and he happily takes this look as a sign I need his help. I feel myself resisting the urge to roll my eyes. He starts walking ahead of me and expects me to follow behind. Once caught up to him, it's extremely silent, not a single word is being said. I have never had it be so quiet with him. He seems focused on finding the room. His brow slightly furrowed as he looked forward.

I decided to speak up, "do you even remember the room number?"

"Yes, I do! It's right here-" opening the door we see elderly gnomes in bed just waking up. Markus immediately closes it and chuckles, I hold in a laugh myself.

"It's the next one over." He opens the door next to the gnome's room. The room number carved into the door says 201. The door is woodenly carved, well carved, and it has leaf carvings on the front of it. He practically flings himself at the door as he easily slides it open. The room has two beds, this must have been so much gold. It's difficult to afford feather-filled bedding in Etheria. I step on the wooden floor and there isn't a single creak. I feel myself a little giddy at this.

"Why are there two beds?" I question, his face getting slightly red as he stutters out an answer. "Well about that, we have to either share a bed or one of us will have to sleep on the floor."

My train of thought stops. "Sharing the bed?" I've never shared a bed with anyone, and I don't think I'm going to start that anytime soon. I give him a deadpan look, "You can enjoy the floor, I'll pass you a blanket and pillow."

"Excuse me? I think I deserve the bed too! Who healed you when you were down?" He scoffs at me.

I knew it would come back to haunt me, I refused to owe him something and he twisted his actions so I would be in his debt. There wasn't any kindness in what he did. "I didn't ask you to, so that's on you."

"You would have died!" He just about shouts at me, but then he pauses for a second and collects his composure.

"I wouldn't have died," I say to him. I don't want to prove to him he's right so he can get what he wants.

"Just trust me!" He says, and I scowl at him and clench my fists to my sides.

"I don't even know you enough to do so."

He holds back his tongue, I feel myself practically steaming from head to toe. "You don't have to trust me yet, that's true. Just please trust me here."

I don't want to fight with him anymore, but I just don't like how I keep making these assumptions about his character. I wish for a reaction from him. "Why aren't you upset with me?" I say bluntly, sitting on the edge of the bed and covering my face with my hands as I toss the clothing to the side. I feel the steam evaporate within me as I hear him walk to where I'm seated.

He sits next to me, and it's silent. This time though I can understand the silence. After a while, he starts to speak up next to me. "It's not like I'm not upset at you. I feel as if we both have our flaws here. I tried stealing from you originally and you easily get upset, no offense."

I lift my head from my hands and glare at him, but I feel a slight smile appear on my face. "See, look at that! Isn't it crazy this is the first time I've seen you smile?" He points out, my face immediately turns into a frown again, and I quickly stand up and grab the clothes. Being so open was a dangerous mistake.

"Wait, what did I say?" He quickly asks, trying to reach out for me. I immediately slap his hand away and gesture toward the door. "Just let me get changed and we can stop interacting with each other after this quest."

His look of concern flashes to hurt, but he doesn't let it affect his voice. I feel guilty, but I don't say anything out loud. "Yes, alright, pleasure doing business with you." He says, walking to the door and closing it behind him.

I sigh a breath of relief once the door is closed, and I try to ignore this feeling of embarrassment for my behavior. I don't understand why he reacted that way, wasn't this just a quest all this time? I do feel bad, but they must not see that from me. I will act like how I was before, I can't keep acting in this childish manner. I quickly rush on the slightly oversized clothes and take a second to relax and decompress. I breathe in at the door, holding the doorknob tightly and letting the air out of my lungs after I pull the door open.

I go downstairs to see Markus sitting in the seat I was previously resting in, right next to where Lucifer is still talking. I look down slightly as I head over. Lucifer hears my footsteps and pauses his conversation. Markus looks towards me as well, his smile immediately turns into a frown and I feel an ache in the pit of my stomach.

"I heard you were socializing with someone while we were gone," Markus says with a bitter tone and I wonder why he is even upset with me. He really must know this wasn't even a friendship, and I didn't believe it to develop into one. I sit down in the chair next to Markus, he stays silent and I get myself wrapped up in a train of thought for a moment, considering my options here.

If I can't have Markus on my side and we go into battle that could be a risky move. I don't know what other magic he has besides healing powers and I wouldn't want to risk losing a finger or two. I also think back on that stranger of last night while I'm at it. He had a lot of gold for this quest and I took him up on his offer. That has a lot of red flags. I look at the tavern keeper.

"So, tavern keeper-" he interrupts me immediately. "My name is Fredrick."

"Fredrick? You don't look like a Fredrick." I remark, Lucifer awkwardly chuckles and nudges me out of my seat. "They don't mean it." Lucifer sneaks a nasty look at me, I glare back.

"Anyway Fredrick," I say mockingly, keeping my eyes on the prize. Markus nudges me slightly to cut it out. "The guy at the bar with me last night, do you have any information on him?"

"Him? A mysterious fellow that often comes here for a glass of red wine. He has an expensive taste."

I start to think about this a little more deeply. He seemed like he had more on him than he needed. He must save it to pay off others to get items for him. A rich guy with a little more gold than he knows how to handle, I can work with this.

"So I have a quest for us, are you ready to hear it?"

Markus looks right into my eyes wearing a confused expression. "I thought you had said you had a quest for us? If you didn't have one you could have just said so." He ridicules me, I shove him out of his seat and he falls to the floor.
"Someone has to get that chair fixed, seems a little unstable for him to sit in." I ridiculed him right back. I expect him to get upset, but instead, he lifts himself from the ground and chuckles. I immediately shoot my gaze away from him and to Lucifer. Once he notices me looking, Lucifer gestures for me to continue.

"As I was saying, this guy needs us to pick up a few ingredients for him." I pause for a second to think of the ingredients, "he needs a mutated frog's eye, the hair of a magical being, and a dragon scale."

Markus digs through his giant cloak of mystery for something, I want to question him but I decide not to. Once he grabs what he was looking for, he pulls it right out and slaps it onto the counter. It's a worn piece of paper, but good quality at least. It's a map of the whole surrounding area of Etheria. He points towards the area of the forest we had just left, but it's the route we had not taken. "I often hear croaking in this surrounding area, surely there's got to be some mutated frog up there!"
"You would be right about that," Lucifer complains. "I had a hit on a guy up there and when I got near him a long sticky tongue immediately wrapped around him and he was gone." He cringed slightly at that, "You would think after seeing a large amount of bloodshed a tongue wouldn't be making you grossed out, but here we are."

"Was he taken into the woods?" I question, wanting to know what I was getting myself into. "Yep, I heard screams and then had never heard from him again. I suppose I should be thanking that frog for getting me my gold." Lucifer laughs at that, and so does Frederick.

Markus looks disgusted, but then rolls back his shoulders and stands up straight. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He rolls the map back up and tucks it into his cloak. I start to get ready until I don't feel the hilt of my sword, I realize I must have left it upstairs while changing. "I'll be right there, just give me a second."

I hurry upstairs and look for our door. I notice that our door has been opened slightly, immediately I feel a panicking feeling and I rush inside. Scanning the room, I see nothing out of the ordinary except for my sword resting on top of the bed. I quickly search the room more thoroughly, looking under the two beds.

Nothing has changed so I push these thoughts to the side and move on for the time being. I pick up my sword and get ready to head out the door. Grabbing the doorknob to close the door gives me a shiver down my spine and an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something is off here, but I need to push it away and leave. I close the door and head down the stairs to meet the others.