Once the groups had been asked to leave the shop, much to Magnolia’s chagrin and embarrassment, they decided to have breakfast at one of the Inns. They traveled through the docks, following a systematic pier set up of docks branching off a long strip of the dock. Along the way, they noticed several exotic and interesting boutiques selling trinkets and baubles. While they perused passively, they made note to mark the stores they’d wish to see later on. Merely five minutes into the walk, and adjacent to the Broken Sail, the local tavern, stood the Inn with favorable remarks. The inn happened to be a single story, stone walled building. Many of the windows were leaded with stained glass and had a particular nice mezzanine for resting. In the back of the building had a fairly large cellar, mostly for storage of commercial goods and grub. 

Upon arrival they were greeted by a slightly overweight male halfling. He stood behind the bar counter, cleaning a few tankards left over from a previous parties meal. Despite his fervent task to clean, he remained amicable with their large party choosing to sit by the front window. All of the males started to push together three tables, while some of the girls gathered enough chairs for them all to sit comfortably. Once seated, they were given a small leaflet from a young halfling girl. Her bright brown eyes and rosy cheek complexion looked similar to the older male halfling still cleaning. 

“Why thank you dearie,” Rebecca replied as the younger girl beamed at her praise. “Could you perhaps get us some waters, that would be lovely.” 

And with that the little girl ran off with her next task at hand. Magnolia watched the Inn Keeper look over at the little one hustling to gather them clean glasses to fill and also smiled. A short memory, just a tidbit of a flash of when she was younger with her own father. They were playing in the kitchen, where her father cooked food, her mother played as a patron, and Magnolia played as the server. She couldn’t have been more than five at the time. The memory ended just as quickly as it began as a glass slid in front of her. 

“Smoked Pork, Dried sausage, Boiled Shrimp and dried onions, roasted shrimp and leeks, boiled eggs and leeks, stewed Watercress… man!” One of their loudest party members, Nick, slammed his now empty glass onto the table. The shock of the impact caused some onlookers at other tables nearby to jump and look back in fright. “Would it kill someone to make chicken and waffles! I mean, come on!”

Violet, who happened to sit next to the loud boisterous brunette, sighed into her manicured hand before plucking up her own menu. “Nick, quite being an ass and pick something.” 

Rebecca stifled her own chuckle before smiling to the slightly fuming brunette. Ricky cheered his comrade on, thinking the exact same thing. 

“Can you settle down so that we don’t get kicked out from another establishment again.” Chiharu reprimanded the group with her stern expression. She had never been asked to leave a store before until earlier that morning. 

Rohan stayed quiet, enjoying his drink and looked intently to the side. He seemed to have found something that peaked his interest. 

When the little girl finished delivering the last four waters out to the end of the table, she started collecting their orders with very slow, precise handwriting. Cassidy ordered dried sausage with barley bread, while Eugene ordered smoked pork and curd cheese. Magnolia had been approached to order as well, and she hastily pointed to the boiled eggs and lentils option. 

Fifteen minutes later, their food had been taken to the kitchen and now the parties discussed miscellaneous topics. It mostly was led by Violet’s party members while Eugene, Alex, Magnolia, and Cassidy listened. They had been able to pick up small rumors from townspeople whispering of ferocious monsters gaining grounds on the shore. In fact, Nick and Kitsune just that morning, talked with several townsfolk before leaving about the rare monstrous crab that reigned over the ocean waters. 

“There wasn’t any large monsters to be afraid of though.” Nick replied after finishing the last of his drink. “We didn’t find anything above level five. Just small piranha looking fish and octopus.” 

Alex went to stroke the bottom of his chin. He stayed deep in thought as Ricky continued to talk about the crazy Octopus battle that fought. With grandeur and grace, Ricky lifted his arms and hands in strong motions, hoping it would greatly impact his story. Also, he was slightly hoping to impress the girls at their table, but did not get so much as a wink his way. 

Before he could pour any more affection toward them, the little steward girl had come by to slide a piping hot plate of food in front of him. Behind the young girl stood the Inn Keeper holding a majority of their food while she balanced a plate of food on her head. She walked slowly before reaching up and placing the plate in front of Rohan. He gave her a small smile and thanked her, which she gave an immediate flushed response. 

A heavy chortle arose from what they assumed was her father, delivering the last of their food before beckoning her to his side. “Thank ye kindly fer yur pati’nce, this wee lass want’d ta welc’me ye all. Did ‘er good, eh?” 

Magnolia nodded, smiling to the small girl. “My compliments to you and your staff sir.” 

“Aw shucks,” he muttered, rubbing his index finger under his nose. She could see he was also appreciative of her kind words “ye all enjoy now. Le’ m’know if ye need ‘nything.” 

They finished their breakfast with little to no issue. It was only after they finished eating that something had begun in the background. Rohan had been watching from previous, elbowed Ricky to direct their attention inconspicuously to the racket being made. 

The clattering of chairs alerted the rest of the inn guests of the possible scuffle about to occur between a stout older man with silver hair and blue eyes. The scale mail he wore was shined with peculiar detail, but the large bastard sword sheathed behind his back drew most of their attention. His hand rested evenly on the hilt as if to pull it out. Quarreling with this man stood a tall couple, the female dressed in exquisite  clothes and numerous rings adorned on her hand had wavy brown hair with bright green eyes, and a sharp nose. Her partner dressed in plainer clothes with simple tools dangling off his belt had white long hair pulled back into a pristine low ponytail, but his dark grey eyes blazed in anger. 

“Quit acting high and mighty! If I didn’t know any better Hogi, I’d say you’re robbing this dock of its revenue for your useless services!” The taunt had been directed to the stouter male, who huffed in indignation. His face flush, possibly from the tankards of ale he drank from early on, turned a crimson red now as he tensed.

“Oh yeah? And yet here you are checking in daily to gather your supplies. It seems like you’re just as useless Eled!” In this moment, the woman stepped in with her nose held high. She glared down at the older male with disgust. 

“Save the excuses, we hired you to acquire the materials we need for our art shop and you haven’t fulfilled your end of the bargain. I want compensation for this perpetually terrible experience. If not, I wouldn’t mind going to the dock guards.” The woman gripped her hand onto Eled’s arm, hoping to bring him back and also avoid a fight indoors. “I expect the materials by the end of the day. And our money back for this costly waste of time.”

“Your words are wasted on this drunkard Cleo, let’s just go to the guards.” Eled all but hissed. He then steered his partner away from the stout man to the inn keeper. He tossed his several gold pieces to pay for the food and left without further incident. 

The door to the inn slammed shut before a chorus of ringing alerted the large party sitting up front to look at their wristbands. A notification popped up notifying them of a new quest. Nick jumped at the new lead while Rebecca read in greater details what was needed. 

The only ones who didn’t seem to be reading their wrist bands happened to be Magnolia’s group, who awkwardly waited for some sort of loud beep or notification to pop up. 

It never did. 

Violet gathered all of their attention back to her. “Alright guys, it looks like we found a good quest. Let’s get started as soon as we pay for breakfast!”

Almost as if programmed, the Innkeeper came by with the bill. “Before ye take off, here’s yur bill. Thank ye fer yur bus’nuss.” 

Eugene started to pull out his money pouch to pay for his food, but had been stopped by Chiharu’s hand. She smiled sweetly as she explained. “Didn’t you all arrive last? You probably don’t have any funds yet, so don’t worry we’ll pay this time.” 

Rebecca also interjected, “Yeah! Before we all met at the store, we were battling all the monsters in the area for an hour or so. This area is great for grinding for money!” As soon as she finished, she immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. She didn’t want to appear like she had gloated about that, and explained so afterward. “Not that you all wouldn’t know! I mean, we’re all beta testers!” 

Magnolia opened her mouth to say they were good on funds, almost a little over seven thousand gold pieces, but a swift kick underneath the table to her shin silenced her protest. 

She squeaked in pain as Cassidy gave her a narrowed expression.

“Yup—no funds.” Cassidy faked as she shrugged. “We’ll manage somehow.” 

Magnolia rubbed her sore shin under the table with a hand as the group with green cards started to move. 

“Well, we won’t bug your progress anymore. You all still have plenty of stuff to find in Bellcester before attempting to fight the monsters.” Violet said as she easily procured 90 gold pieces for the Inn keeper. 

“Check out the weapons and armor store! They have rad collections!” Ricky offered what he thought was the best advice he could think of.

Nick nodded in agreement. “Oh, and check out the boutiques for those beginning tasks. I think I remember Fynn saying we needed to fill out our tutorial help page a bit before getting the first quest.”

Rohan silently nodded over to Eugene and Alex, giving them a firm acknowledgement. 

“Bye!” And before Magnolia and the rest could stop or warn them of possible dangers, they were gone in the blink of an eye. 

“And they’re gone.” Cassidy remarked as she tapped her finger on the oak table. The little girl had started to come and collect their dirty dishes around them.

“Should we have told them about the—you know—everything?” Exasperated Magnolia looked out the window at how happy the six green card players were. 

Alex crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. 

“No, I don’t think we should. I’d hate to make a panic without fully understanding what is going on. Maybe this is only happening to our group? And if so, that would mean it’s specifically targeted to us. Or, another possibility is that our situation could be nothing more than a bug.” 

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain that Emrys person.” Cassidy added, she played with her tankard of water in her hand. “That thing he did to Eugene is definitely not something I would consider a game bug.” 

Eugene sipped his tankard. “Emrys couldn’t be a bug in the program. He seemed too real. It was abnormal.”

“Did’ja say Emrys?” Another voice, gruff, and familiar from earlier perked up beside the four. Looking up, the group came face to face with that same stout, red-faced man who possessed the Bastard sword. 

“What would that name mean to you stranger?” Cassidy asked with a pointed gaze. She peered with keen eyes at the drunken man who set up their friends latest quest for who knew what. 

“Ohh terrible things lass—I reckon he’s long gone now—but they say he’s a troublesome fella.” With the mention of his possible presence, all four straightened up. A tinge of fear seeped down Magnolia’s spine as she remembered their first encounter. 

“He was here old man?” Eugene pandered for any type of response, and was given one. The older man huffed at the nickname. 

“Hogi’s the name, dragonborn. Get it right.” 

Alex interrupted, hoping to get the man back on track. “You mentioned that he’s long gone? Do you know what his business was?” The blonde waited as the older man thought, he quirked his head up to look up at the ceiling. 

“I don’t really remember, but McKinnon might know. She’s a mystic who has a small makeshift shop down the dock. Can’t miss her, she’s old and has a giant clear orb.” 

Deciding it best to leave, the four thanked him for his intel and went to scour the streets for this McKinnon.