Night fell long before we reached the river, so we made camp to avoid getting lost in the dark woods. The forest wasn't made up of pines like the one we'd crossed on the way up the mountain, instead it had trees with silver bark, but they weren't birches. Their branches spread out in wide canopies and they were covered in soft tear-drop shaped leaves of vibrant green.

It was, unfortunately, a very practical sleep. We found a flat, dry clearing and all set our timers for eight-hours. I think many of us would have preferred a more ... er ... vigorous before and after bed period. But the prospect of the house we'd spotted had filled us with anticipation.

Sure, it could be some kind of haunted-house populated with ghouls. Or a goblin fortress. Or a dozen other things we'd have to fight through. But it could also be a sign of a town. Perhaps Sulin had seen the closest building or the tallest, showing itself while the others hid behind the trees. 

A town would bring some problems for our group, but it would also mean stores, inns, bars, maybe even guilds and trainers. It would be a chance to off-load the equipment we'd been hauling around to sell. And there would be other players and a chance to get more information about the area we were in. Maybe even find out where we had to go to get to the pool, Yarrow and I had to purify.

We woke to a bright, sunny morning and got on our way without much discussion. Ellie and I walked hand in hand for a while but at some point, I found myself up front with Mack.

"I don't care if it's a town or not," she said. "I just hope there are men there."

"Oh?"

"Katie gave me the warning when I got up."

She didn't need to explain what "the warning" was. I may only have had average Intellect in Feronia but we all worried about that message.

Luckily, Ellie and I were able to get together often enough to keep those Arousal Potency points low. I'm not sure why Mack had become so resistant to simply masturbating, she could have done it several times instead of getting so close to the danger area of maxing her AP out.

It was around mid-morning, when we reached the building.

Made out of logs, it was narrow and stretched itself out on a high bluff overlooking the river. It reminded me of a longhouse from Norse history and mythology. There were no other buildings nearby, dashing our hopes of finding a town. A middle-aged woman in a peasant dress and apron swept the porch at the top of a tall flight of steps which led to the front door. Everything about her screamed: NPC.

When she saw us, she said, "Greetings! Welcome to the Last Lonely Ale-House." The name got several of us exchanging glances with one another. "Ever since that gang came down from the mountain pass, we've been pretty full, but there are a few rooms left if you're looking for lodging."

Crystal said, "So you're an inn?"

"Yes! The finest inn and tavern this side of Thistle Brook."

An old codger came out from the door behind her. He was bent over, and his corpulent belly sagged down covering most of his thighs. Wisps of white hair stuck up at angles from his head and out of his ears. "The only one this side of Thistle Brook," he added.

"No need to tell them that," she said.

I whispered to Mack, "Well, they have a man."

She whispered back, "I think I'll take my chances with the kink Katie gives me."

"So, do we get rooms?" Rick asked, conferring with us.

Mack said, "Well, it seems a bit ridiculous to pass up the only inn we've ever come across."

I approached the stairs. "Yes, we'll need seven ..." I looked to Yarrow before correcting myself. "No. Six beds in as many separate rooms as possible."

"Well, lets see what we got," the old man said.

Inside, the air was thick and warm, full of the odors of cut wood, smoke, and years of spilled beer. The scarred bar showing ages of wear doubled as the front desk. The room around us was filled with tables and a massive stone fireplace that filled one of the narrow walls. Despite the claims of being busy, there was no one else about. Although some sounds of talking and laughter could be heard from beyond the windows set on the wall facing the river.

"What's out there?" I asked, standing on my tip-toes, but from my angle, all I could see was sky.

"That would be our beer-garden. Now, let's see. It seems like we have three rooms available. One with two beds, and two with four.

Trogia said, "We'll take the two with four."

"Hang on," Mack said. "Some of us might want some privacy." She must have noticed that some of the voices coming from outside were clearly male.

"Yes!" Ellie, Yarrow, Rick, and I all said at once, agreeing with her.

Crystal ran her hand over her face. "Yeesh! Can we try and remember we're playing an adventure game, please. It's like traveling around with the cast of a porno."

"Excuse me, little ma'am," the old man said to Crystal, despite being only slightly taller than her. Although he'd add a few inches if he could stand up straight. "You seem a little pent up. I'd be happy to help, if you'd like."

The look of abject horror on her face nearly set me off in a fit of giggles.

"I think we'll take the rooms. All three of them for the next two nights."

"That will be 200 silvers."

"What!" Mack screamed. "That's outrageous!"

"You're of course welcome to go to the next inn," he said with an oily smile.

Mack put the money on the counter. "We also want food and beer."

"80 coppers will cover breakfast for all of you. Please take a seat out in the garden, and I'll have one of the servants bring it out when they're available."

"Available? Why not now?"

The woman walked past with a load of linens. "As I said, we're nearly full. They're all busy fucking the guests." She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world to be happening.

Yarrow asked, "Did she just say ..."

I replied, "Yeah, I guess 200 silvers is looking like a bargain now." No one laughed at my joke.

Sulin said dryly, "Welcome to Feronia."

* * *

The beer-garden was built on a platform like a deck and overhung the embankment the inn was built on. The valley continued down below us, and it was really a nice spot especially with the sun shining. There were six long tables with benches. Only two were occupied. One had a group of eleven scruffy adventurers all in starting gear. They were a mix of all species and genders, but were unified in their tattered clothes and unhappy faces. They looked as though they'd been through a war. Or hell. The table in front of them was filled with empty steins despite the early hour.

Another had four more seasoned travelers, but their gear was more conservative suggesting they weren't of as high a level as us. They had one of those otter-men (which I'd learned were called Lutrins). He was dressed as a light-fighter with banded-leather armor and a rapier. There was also some strange species with blue skin, a stretched out face, and horn-like ears in a mage robe. Despite her oddly shaped face, she was quite attractive. They also had one Felinoid dressed in a leather vest with a dagger on his hip. A thief of some sort, most likely. And their fourth was a little person. He looked a bit like a pixie but seemed to be wearing clothes made of twigs and dried, green leaves. His reddish-brown hair was a wild mess and almost looked like nest. I pegged him as another mage.

We sat at an empty table next to this group. The other ones looked ready to cry or fall into a drunken stupor, and I think we were feeling too good about finding ourselves sitting at an inn on a nice day to deal with that.

"So, how are we going to divide up the rooms?" Rick asked.

I said, "I was thinking we could use the larger ones for communal sleeping, and the smaller one could be taken by whoever needs it when privacy is required."

"You people," Trogia said. "Are going to need a sign up sheet. I can't see it ever not being occupied."

"I don't even want to think how messy it'll be by the time we leave," Sulin said. "You better tip those maids well."

"You're one to talk," Mack said. "You never miss an opportunity to finger yourself."

The otter-man interrupted our highly intellectual discussion to ask, "So, where did you folks come from?"

Rick pointed to the mountain we'd fought the wyvern on. "I don't recommend it unless you like getting stoned on dragon smoke."

Otter-man's eyes narrowed with interest, but instead of asking about it, he said, "We were following a branch in the river about three miles back that way. Got captured by an ogress, who forced us to suckle from her breasts."

The blue woman said, "I think she was fattening us up to eat, but we managed to escape."

"Huh," Rick said with a nonchalance that wouldn't have been possible a few days ago.

"Still, a heck of a lot better than whatever the hell happened to them." Otter-man nodded his had to the ragtag group at the other table.

"Why?" I asked. "What happened to them?"

Otter-man's voice went low. "They're kind of like refuges. See, when the changes swept Feronia, a lot of players were in a Tier 3 zone just over those mountains." He pointed out the high peaks of the range on the other side of the river. "Reset to level 1, they didn't stand a chance. Those who managed to survive made their way to a mountain pass that had a shortcut to this beginner's level. They hoped to get back here and to monsters they could actually fight."

"That's rough."

"That's not the half of it," the felinoid said. "The pass had been guarded by a crazy god that made you answer riddles in order to cross."

Otter-man interrupted, "But he'd changed by the time they got there. He was demanding an act of ... um ... sorry, there's really no nice way to say it."

"Anal sex," the Blue-woman, said staring into her beer.

"What!?!" Crystal said, looking more embarrassed than surprised for some reason.

Yarrow, in shock, said, "Wait, this god actually forced them to have sex with him?"

Otter-man said, "Not with him. Just in general."

Blue-woman said, "From the couple of people willing to talk about it, it sounded like they just needed to orgasm while something was in their butt."

"Although," Otter-man interrupted again. "It sounds like many of them interpreted it differently and ... um ... took turns with one another. They're all a little traumatized. Still, it was better than facing certain death."

Blue-woman added, "And death wouldn't have even been the worst of it. Apparently, there's monsters in Tier 3 that can enslave players."

"Well, I officially feel a lot better about the shit we've been through," Mack said.

"We will not be going to that bridge. Ever," Rick said.

"Aye," Otter-man said. "I'm Roger by the way. That's Sue." He gestured to the felinoid. "Barry." The blue woman. "And Tania." The fairy.

We introduced ourselves.

A server came out with a tray and placed a plate of food and a pint in front of everyone. She was a cute blonde girl with the body of a stereotypical Oktoberfest waitress. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were askew. She'd clearly been having sex recently. I think I even spotted some dry cum in her hair.

On each plate was some cheese, bread, and cured meats. The beer was a red ale.

"There you go," she said. "I know you've had a long journey. Would any of you be wanting to bed me now?"

Trogia said through gritted teeth, "No." I was kind of surprised he didn't jump at the chance. Maybe he was growing a moral compass.

Rick shook his head signalling, negative.

"How about any of you ladies? Some of you must be in need of a little relief."

"No," I said. "I think we're all good here."

But then to all of our surprise, Crystal stood up. "Me. I want to." 

"Wonderful! This way, ma'am. We have some back rooms ready."

Crystal didn't look at any of us, but downed her entire beer before following after the server.

Nobody seemed to know what to say after that and an awkward silence fell over the table. But then, Mack turned to the group next to us. "On that note. Sue, I know we just met and I'm guessing you're a woman under that mustache, but do you want to screw?"

She looked Mack up and down. "I'm not really in to being tied up and whipped," she said with faint disgust.

In a terse voice, Mack said, "Look, just because my armor—"

Sue held up her hand to stop her. "Relax. I'm messing with you. I'm actually pretty anxious to try out my new equipment on another person. And who better than a slutty cat-girl."

Mack stood and addressed our table. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to ..."

I filled in, "Drown in cat cock."

She gave me a wan smile, but didn't tell me to fuck off as I expected her to. 

It didn't take long for Yarrow and Rick to leave the table, and I kicked myself for not being the first one to claim the private room.

Ellie leaned over to the other table and asked, "Tania, is it? What type of fairy are you?" 

As a bit of a side note: in looked at playable species in the archives, it seemed that the breakdown of Feronia's population worked out to roughly 30% human, 25% felinoid, 25% regional folk (of which Elenians and Lutrins were included), and 20% fairies. The regional folk and fairies comprised of dozens of distinct species. The games explanation for all of this is that humans and felinoids have spread across Feronia in various diasporas throughout history. Whereas, regional folk and fairies tended to stay in one place and each species can only be found in certain locations.

Of course, this mostly applied to NPCs belonging to these species. Adventurers would of course skew to the rarer groups due to their species bonuses and skills (not to mention, Katie's whims). 

Tania mumbled an answer we couldn't hear.

"What?" Ellie said.

Roger said, "She's a leprechaun." Tania shot him a daggered looked. "And she's a bit sensitive about it."

"It's embarrassing," she said. "Of all the stupid things to get."

"Oh," Ellie said. "I'm a pixie and she's a wood sprite. And I really don't think it's bad. It's just a name. I think you look like Puck from a Midsummer Night's Dream."

Tania straightened up a bit, a look of pride emerging on her face. "Really?"

Was Ellie flirting with her? I couldn't believe it! I was suddenly filled with the desire to say something mean. But Trogia unwittingly beat me to it.

"Yeah, you barely look like that Luck Charms guy at all."

Tania slumped back down.

"Don't listen to him," Ellie said. "He's a jerk. You don't have to be ashamed of who you are. How are you coping with your gender? Is it something you wanted?"

Tania looked too terrified to answer.

And I suddenly realized I'd been as big as a jerk as Trogia, even if I didn't act on it. Ellie wasn't flirting she was being kind to someone she realized was in distress. I should have been doing the same.

Ellie said, "If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here."

"Me too," I said, all the words felt awkward in my mouth. "I went through something similar."

Tania gave a curt nod, drank some beer, and kept holding the stein in front of her like a shield.

Sulin stopped eating, (she'd been concentrating solely on the food in front of her since it came out) and said, "So, where are you folks off to after this?"

But at that moment, a group of six felinoids came out to the beer-garden. They were all women and from they lewd clothing, they must have been a very high level. There was one that was particularly noticeable because all of the others seemed to be in her orbit. She had orange hair and a large bust. She also seemed to have a heavy application of eyeliner and bright red lipstick.

She glanced over at our table and gave a haughty huff. Then, turning to her companions, she said, "Gawds, every time I look around, there's more trash in this inn."

"Shit!" Barry said. "It's Teresa and her gang. They're the worst."