With the aid of the burly patron, we managed to get the sack of lumpy dwarf onto the bed that she was using earlier. Tah'Styr went to give the man a thank you shake, which he took by the forearm like in those period dramas.

 

"Thanks for the assistance; I don't think we could have carried her back without it.”

 

"HEHE, no problem there. I've worked with dwarves back in the 25th green purge and the young ones always overestimate their resistance to strong alcohol. Good lasses but stubborn as mules, I tell ya! Many a times I've had to play laborer to haul them back to their bunks! HEHEhumm!...

You two best take care of her, ya hear? Dwarves may be stubborn but they're fiercely loyal. So don't betray her trust."...

 

 

 

...His jovial tone hardened causing Tah'Styr and me to grow stiff as a board. We nodded our heads in answer to his order/suggestion. As if his seriousness was imaginary, he goes back to being jovial after hearing our unspoken response.

 

"Good to hear! HEHE! Well I'll be off, got a date with a half-off deal at the Spread Eagle, HEHE!"

 

We waved to each other as he left down the hall back, our backs still ramrod straight from the tonal 180. When his back finally fell out of view down the staircase, our shoulders' slumped and two relieved sighs escaped our mouths. Tah'Styr was the first to start speaking again.

 

"So... Wanna help me go shopping?"

 

"Well only if we can check out the Spread Eagle, for science of course."

 

"Heh, for science, of course. Well, you ready then?"

 

"I am but shouldn't we ask for directions first?"

 

"Pfssh! I got this!"

 

With confidence in our step and shopping in mind, we locked the door behind us before setting off on a journey most men only do when prepping for a camping trip. Which, effectively, we were.

 

Down in the tavern, Tah'Styr asked the barkeep three things.

1. Where one can go to sell their sword arm?
2. Where can one go to buy sundry items?
3. Where is the Spread Eagle?

The burly lady gave an answer to all three, though not exactly what we wanted.

1. The Southern Contractors' Hall, located in the Guard's Barracks which is hugging the wall near the gate we entered.
2. The Southern Market, located two streets North and three streets West.
3. A raised eyebrow and an "Are you sure?" was given to us before Tah'Styr nodded.

Turns out the Spread Eagle is located in the Southern Market. Confusingly, when Margarida was showing the directions using her hands she kept insisting that the Southern barracks were North of us. Not wanting to waste time arguing over semantics, we gave our thanks to the kind lady and made our way to our first destination: The Southern Contractor's Hall.

It was a brisk walk to the barracks. Aside from the occasional guardsman coming or going from large double doors off to the side of the even larger main doors, it lacked activity. Inside was a very well kept room similar to a bank or even the DMV. Tellers, correction: female tellers, of a variety of proportions and some races, the notable exceptions being Orc and Elf, stood patiently behind barred "windows". Despite the differences they were all pleasant to the eye, but not overtly flaunting like a bar wench, or Tah'Styr. There was even a VERY professional minotaur wearing a yellow and red suit dress that, while tailored to her, was still having difficulties managing to hold her well-endowed chest from falling out.

Just inside and to our right was a ticket dispenser and, if context clues aren't lying, meant that we would be the 925th visitors since the last reset, presumably yesterday. Having claimed our ticket, we sat down and waited for our number to be called... which wasn't long, surprisingly. Even more to our surprise, and awe, our chosen teller was the Minotaur, which upon our closing distance was shown to have four nipples bulging at her blouse.

Upon sitting down in the two provided seats, the black and white minotaur began her well-practiced introduction.

 

"Hello, I'm Xenia, and I will be youra aid fora today. How May I assist you?"

 

The bovine-hominid's accent reminded me of my 6th grade teacher, a Mr. Nanos, who taught a little of the Greek alphabet to us and thought it was a great idea to show a bunch of elementary school students the OG Ulysses movie. It does appear that Tah'Styr has volunteered as the front man...err...frontwoman as it were, seeing as she does have the highest Charisma and Wisdom stats out of the three of us.

 

"Hi Xenia, Im Tah'Styr and this is Onimous; we would like to register ourselves as sellwords, if we can. We do have one more member, but unfortunately she is currently indisposed at the moment."

 

"Wonderaful! I can get you reagisterad, I will just need some inforamation froam you. If you would be so kind to Wraite it on this foram."

 

She slid a brown stack of papers towards us with a LOT of spaces to fill. Group name, party members, combat proficiencies, working range, past experiences, next of kin, restrictions, Etc etc. Upon completing what we could, next of kin being one that was entirely left blank, we handed back the stack of forms to the teller and she proceeded to go through it all.

 

"It is veray interasting that you ara grohp of threh. Most Sellsworads come in tens at minimum. It is a same you have no next of kin, my condolences. The fee is 2 Silveras to complete the reagistreation and I'll need a blood praint of youra last membera to complete it."

 

"Thank you Xenia, and if it is of no problem, may we come back tomorrow when our third member is sober and conscious? We won't be able to come back today as she hit the drink hard this evening."

 

"XaXa, no wohries! I can underastand, my Markos becomes a log aftera evening at the taverna. Herah let me stamp youra ticket with a rehturna token. Just sow up tomorraw with this ticket and you'll be next in line fora my stall."

 

I paid the two Silvs price this time, and after pricking our thumbs on a, hopefully, clean needle, we placed our thumbs down next to our names leaving red wavy lines behind.

We got up and waved to Xenia as we left and she cataloged the documents.

Leaving the Contractors' Hall, the shadows have lengthened, bathing the first floor of the buildings facing the dying sun in shadows. Following the instructions from Margarida we went "North" and then "West" towards the market street, and Spread Eagle, and away from the setting sun.

Again, it wasn't a long walk to the market, but with the sun slowly falling past the mountains that enclose this valley, we hurried to get there before they started to close.

With Tah'Styr as the negotiator, and my Silvs and Cops, we made several purchases at multiple stands to get fully equipped for a proper adventure...

 

 

 

 

...It started off a bit rocky with a vendor not even budging on his price. Thankfully, the next few went well and even the last one was so taken by Tah'Styr that she practically just gave us her wares for free, highly discounted more like. All in All we managed to get three single person tents, one couples' tent, an additional set of clothes- Don't ask me how she got our measurements.-, and three blankets and pillows for the low low price of 10 Silvs. Unfortunately, though we had to stop before we went to the whorehouse as Tah'Styr's hooves started to hurt.

 

"Man, This sucks! I wish I had some shoes or something."

 

I could see dirt and rocks trapped in her hooves when we stopped to sit on a bench.

 

"Hehe, Why not go to a smith to get some horseshoes?"

 

My shit-eating grin faltered when she gave me a stink-eye, but soon her glare turned contemplative.

 

"Actually... that makes sense. So, my dear friend would you like to go horse-shoe shopping with your dearest friend?"

 

I took her hand in mine and helped her off the bench.

 

"I would love to."