The Chronicles of Zaor Dreharice

Part 11 : The Cunning Snapdragon Inn

          The Cunning Snapdragon Inn, from the outside it looked nasty, cheerless and unenjoyable. Spruce and huge, stone beams made up most of the building's outer structure. It was difficult to see through the darkened windows, but the gloominess from within could be felt outside. As I entered the tavern through the heavy, wooden door, I'm welcomed by a layer of smoke hanging below the ceiling and a horrific scent, this was my first mistake. The bartender was trying to catch a spider and makes no effort to acknowledge my presence. It's as somber inside as it is on the outside. Rounded, wooden beams support the upper floor and the light fixtures attached to them. The walls are covered in a layer of dust, making it near impossible to see what the few paintings on the walls are about. The tavern itself is almost completely abandoned. The few people inside I'd like to stay away from, but whoever they are, they give me an uncomfortable feeling of dread. I did hear rumors about this tavern, supposedly it's infamous for something, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what for. Though judging by everything I've seen so far, I didn't really care and I probably didn't want to know. I walked up to the bartender and asked what they have, he mentions something about a Wicked Whistler or a Brew Hell. I asked for a Wicked Whistler and a room. The bartender grumbled " That'll be 40 Hyria." I reached for my satchel and realize it's gone. I looked around and see a small creature running off with my satchel. I told the bartender I'll be back and I chased after the little creature. I caught the little urchin and took my satchel back. I returned to the bartender and gave him my Philter of Visions, which is worth about 50 Hyria.

       He gave me 10 Hyria, a concoction with a thick consistency, red foam, and a deceptively sweet scent, and led me to my room upstairs. The room he led me to was probably the only reason this place got business. The room was lavishly decorated with a black and green contrasting paint job. The bed was a queen size with a comfortable looking amount of pillows. I turned around and he was gone. So I closed the hard oak door, that was my second mistake. As I admired the room, I began to feel drowsy and put down my drink and fell asleep on the lavish goose-feather bed. I awoke in a dark room on a hard floor with a lit torch on a nearby sconce. I got up and grabbed the torch. I got to the door and I realized I was chained to the wall. I then grabbed a little metal scrap and fashioned it into a lockpick, and busted myself from my chains. A small boulder in a bleak morass marked the entrance to this cave. Beyond the boulder lied a large, dark room. It was covered in moss, dead insects and roots. My torch allowed me to see remnants of sacks, crates and caskets, wasted and desolated by time itself. Further ahead were three paths, I took the right. Its twisted trail lead past long lost rooms and tombs and then I entered a dusty area. Small holes and carved paths covered the walls, it looks like a community or burrow for small creatures. "What happened in this place?" I wondered to myself. I cautiously proceeded onward, deeper into the dungeon's secrets. I passed a few more rooms and passages, some of them have collapsed, others seemed to go on forever. I eventually made it to what was likely the final room. A large wooden door blocked my path. Countless runes were all over it, somehow untouched by time and the elements. I stepped closer to inspect it and I thought I heard a growl coming from behind the door. I slowly entered the room and find a beast chained to the wall.

       Two small eyes surveyed their surroundings from their enormous sockets. A snake-like nose rested below, but it's the overbite mouth below that took all the attention. A shy smile revealed several huge dull teeth and a slimy tongue. Tiny stubby ears sat on each side of its massive, triangular head, which itself was covered in scaly ridges. Its average chunky body was hunched over. Two lean crooked arms hung chained to the dirty wall and ended in tiny hands with long fingers, of which it had 10 in total. Its legs were skinny and stood straight, each ending in crooked feet. Its body was covered in coarse skin and its shoulders were narrower than its pelvis, from which a forked tail swayed back and forth.

       I attempted to stealthily navigate around the creature but I am immediately noticed. It whispered in a raspy voice "Help me out of these chains, brother." I pretended not to notice, but he repeats. I left the room with a feeling of dread emanating from it. When I closed the door I hear a long, eerie creak. I looked around and saw a door, slightly ajar, at the top of an old staircase. I ascended the stairs without a second thought. When I opened the door I realize I've made a grave mistake. I remember seeing my reflection and not seeing myself but a grotesque creature. Specifically one that looked like the creature in the basement. I ran out of The Cunning Snapdragon Inn and into the nearby woods, they were dark and ominous, I thought that my current appearance would scare away any goblins that may have wanted to eat me. I then stumbled upon a campfire. 

           I saw my original body in a casket nearby, open. There were three creatures that looked similar to me. One had a blind eye, one a scar over her nose, and a final with half of his mouth sewn shut. So I asked them, "What's going on with this corpse?" They replied in synchronization with one monotonous voice, " We need to burn the corpse to finish the job." "What job?" I inquired. "Your job." They replied. " Then proceeded to pull my sword off of my currently almost dead body, and stabbed one of them through the eye. I tripped up the other with my tail. I kicked up some dirt into the third one's eye. The second one was impaled by a sapling she cut down to make a trail. I slit the third one's throat with a bit of a struggle, after pulling the sword from the first one's skull. I immediately smelled rotting flesh and saw three white gaseous forms, slide out of the ground and into the sky, all sighing in relief. I thought, that perhaps, if I hopped into the fire, that my consciousness would travel back to my original body. So I decided to drip some of my current form's blood into my original body's mouth, because I feel stronger in this form, and if my travels taught me anything, blood is a strange and sometimes, useful thing. I then proceeded to hop into the fire and burn. I woke up with a jolt and sour blood soaking into my tongue.  Next to a fire, with my temporary form's liquids, steaming out of him like a crab. My blood pumping and a pounding in my head, I got up and realized what just happened. 

          This was a rare case of body swapping, specifically into slavery. They would knock you out, and transfer your soul to another body, as a makeshift life force. Then they would burn your original vessel, to remove any link to it, which would leave your soul malleable and very suggestible. If you are to kill yourself before your original body is destroyed, you may be able to return to it. If you can find your birth body and kill yourself near it, then you have a high chance of reclaiming your original vessel. However if you stayed outside of your original vessel for too long, you'd snap the Ætherial Rope and be lost forever. I was lucky enough to be in that other body for about an hour and a half.

           After that ordeal, I decided that this was not a good area to exist, so I decided against staying here for any longer than I had to. I had to get to the nearest port. That was back the way I came though. I decided to go a roundabout path, instead of right through the inn which almost stole my soul. I hadn't kept a map so I would have to travel on only my wits.