The Chained Watcher

Candy

(I'm gonna be honest, I don't feel like writing out the whole part where they sell potions and then bail before someone can start tailing them. Nothing particularly noteworthy occurred, and they made it out without difficulty. Now they've got money to spend where they want, yippee!)

~~~

Wandering through the streets of the modern/medieval town, the Hermits joked around about how out of place some of the buildings looked.

There's a row of house-recreations that could be rented out for an 'Authentic Town Experience', which wouldn't be quite as funny if not for the modernized plumbing and kitchen. At least they looked medieval on the outside, but the same could not be said of the bureaucratic buildings. A few of them put in the effort to use wood and stone bricks, but the skyscraper in the middle of town made no such allusions.

Said skyscraper sticks out -both figuratively and literally- like a sore thumb. The towering mass of steel and glass wasn't even trying to blend in with the medieval buildings around it, and that was honestly jabbing at several of the builders' sense of aesthetics. Like, if one of them had to design it, they'd probably make it closer to an abnormally large wizard's tower, or maybe the eye of Sauron if evil vibes were ok. Just not... that.

Grian resisted the urge to stretch his wings, instead just rolling his shoulders as he tugged at the oversized coat he's stuck wearing. This is the problem with worlds that developed without magic, they just aren't used to seeing people who aren't quite human around. Quite a few of the Hermits are also stuck wearing heavy coats and hats, along with funny glasses if their eyes are an odd enough color.

Any extra limbs or body parts have to be tucked away, be they tails or wings, to avoid drawing unwanted attention to themselves. It's mildly uncomfortable to say the least, but if they're just going to walk around town for a bit then it's manageable.

Currently, the next destination on their list is a large open square dedicated almost entirely to food, lined with everything from food carts to fancy restaurants. There are even a few dessert stalls, but only one true bake shop can be found here if the maps at the entrance are correct. That struck Grian as a bit odd at the time, but he'll probably learn more when they actually go get something from it.

Coming up on the square, their first impression is of the veritable wall of noise from all the people either eating or waiting in line. As they probably should have expected of a tourist trap, the food court is very loud, with the stalls lacking customers calling out their products like they were in a market.

After giving themselves a moment to adjust to the ambient noise levels, they started following their noses to find something that they'd want to eat. None of them went off alone, what with Xisuma having drilled it into their heads that they will be doing a buddy system, and anyone who does not want to is welcome to stay back at base.

Needless to say, they stuck to the buddy system.

Heading over to a skewer stall that didn't have a line, Grian bought a few before finding where the other Hermits had sat down. He's pretty glad that, for a more 'authentic' shopping experience, you can pay in either coins or credits. The only thing he'll have to watch out for are pickpockets, but he just puts his coins into his inventory while pretending to tuck the pouch away in a pocket on the inside of his coat.

(You know, I hadn't realized this before now, but my default food stall/cart food item is skewers. I don't know why, I don't think I've ever even gotten skewers from a food stall! It just feels like a common thing to find.)

Trying out his skewer, he found it to be much spicier than he'd expected, which explains the lack of a line in front of the stall. Too many spices, and it's a bit overcooked if he's not wrong. Overall not terrible, if you can handle the heat, but if he wants more to eat he'll be checking out a different stall.