Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 13: Delightful Deals!

PLUNK!!!! Two of the Serpentines sat their big, heavy bodies down into the two unoccupied chairs at our table, and the one who had been staring at me started picking at his teeth and fangs. He flung away little bits and scraps of food that were stuck in his teeth, and once he was done, he started sizing up Finana and I. And truthfully, as he eyed us over, I felt a little bit of fear flowing through my veins, since he and his buddies were much, MUCH bigger than us.

"Alright, I heard you were the two that took out the Worg and his little buddies out there, right?" He said, his voice nearly a growl.

"Right."

"And y'all got Kaela back?"

"Thats right."

He started nodding, and he turned to his friend, speaking in a language that, while I didn't understand, Finana perked up and spoke to them, and the three of them started chatting away. While they were talking, I looked over at the bar, and I saw that there was the third Serpentine, who was busy paying for the food. This one, I noticed, was a much, much deeper green color, rather than the blue of the other Serpentines. Before I could even ask however, Finana grabbed my arm, shaking me out of the stupor.

"These two say that Kaela was one of the witnesses in a trial from the Nine Rods of Justice in the town."

"W-What?" I asked, my mind going blank.

"The Nine Rods are the elders, basically the justice system of the town. They brought charges against the Serpentines because they thought that they had stolen from one of the merchants in the town, and Kaela defended them, getting a couple of their buddies out of jail."

"Correct!!" The Serpentine said, clapping his hands together. "And we wanted to go and kill the Goblins, but we're more merchants than fighters, and that brings us to our next point. We'd like to hire the two of you for a job, if you'd like."

"Well, uhh, what kind of job?"

"Just a simple transport." He said. "Well, more like guarding the transport. I and a bunch of my friends are traveling down to Candlekeep, in Tharnaheim."

"CANDLEKEEP??" Finana screamed, startling the people that were nearest us, including me and the Serpentines. "Sorry! Didn't mean to scream. But you're going to CandleKeep?"

"Well, hopefully, it's WE." He said, pointing at all of us. "We'll pay the both of you a reward of 100 Gold Pieces, and then a commission on how much we make."

"Holy God we'll take it." I said, much to the delight of the Serpentines.

"Wonderful!" The Serpentine replied with a large grin. "We have a few other mercenaries that we've hired, and we leave in the morning, at the southern gate of the city. Be there, or be square, okay?"

"Alright." I said "We'll meet you there. Oh wait! I forgot to ask your name?"

"Right! My name is Tol-Tokeel." He said, shaking my hand with his scales. "And what is yours?"

"I'm Trevon, and this is my friend-"

"Finana." She added. "Alright, well meet you guys in the morning."

"Sounds great!" Tol-Tokeel said with a grin.

The Serpentines finally stood up and left, grabbing their buddy at the bar, and Finana and I stood up.

"Alright, where to from here?"

"Well, we can get a room in the Tavern, but it won't be a very good one." She said. "You alright with that?"