A Pirate's Life for Three

O'Rlech - Chapter 6

"Ugh 'ow much longer is it? I feel like my feet are gonna fall off." Rusty whined.

"Not that far now, I think I can see the town gates." Argus replied. 

"400, carry me."

"Hells no, I'm not a horse."

"You're so mean."

Gwen rolled her eyes and smiled at her friends as the three of them followed Argus to O'Rlech. After a little while longer of walking and Rusty's whining, they made it to the town gates, where a man gleefully handed them a map of the town as they walked by. Gwen inspected it curiously and tilted her head a little.

"The town is in alphabetical order?"

"Yeah, that's their little gimmick. They think it's hilarious. All fun and games until the baker needs a woodsmith."

Gwen laughed and shook her head as she scanned the parchment for the cartographer. The group eventually found it and approached the door, which Rusty knocked on enthusiastically. 400 looked at the wall beside the door where a notice had been pinned. Sketches of two people were stuck to it with the word 'BARRED' printed underneath each of them.

"What do you have to do to get banned from a place like this?" She asked as she eyed the drawings curiously.

"Maybe they're flat-world-ers." Rusty suggested.

A few clattering sounds could be heard before the door was finally opened by a Half-Elf woman. Her heavily-freckled face was surrounded by a mane of wild orange, grey-streaked curls. The hair probably would have fully taken over her whole head if it was not held back by pencils, scribe compasses, and random pieces of string. Her huge green eyes scanned the group quickly before giving them a huge smile with her slightly crooked teeth.

"Hello there! Can I help you?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask if you could give me the location of a lab?"

"I can give the location of anything, sweetie. Come on in! Apologies for the mess, heh."

Argus, Gwen, and Rusty all walked through the door. Rusty immediately leapt onto a table and sat on it, crossing her legs comfortably. Argus stumbled over to the bookshelf and began inspecting it curiously. Gwen walked incredibly cautiously, being as careful as she could to not knock anything over. 400 sighed as she once again stood in the doorway, unable to fit inside.

The woman tried her best to tidy the bombsite of papers, inks, books, rulers, quills, pencils, and paperweights before simply giving up and turning back to the group, "So, before all the business, I just have to ask. Are you all pirates?"

"We are," Rusty piped up, gesturing to Gwen and herself, "These two are along for the ride."

"Amazing! Gosh, you must get to go everywhere. I bet it's beautiful to see all of the islands and the seas with your own two eyes. Ah! I always love it when I get real pirates as customers!"

"We're glad to bring you such joy. I'd be happy to tell you everything you'd like to know but, um, well, about the lab-" Gwen pleaded, trying hard to hide her impatience.

She was so close now...

"Oh yes! Of course. What kind of lab are you looking for?"

"Umm...a Simic Scientist's lab?"

"Ah, very interesting choice. Hmm...let me think."

The woman began scouring through all her mess. Somehow, it seemed as though she could make some sense of all the chaos. She walked over to Argus and pulled a book right out of his hands without a word, as if he were simply another piece of furniture.