Zilo twirled about, finishing his fantastic performance on stage at the Swords and Sorcery Inc. Tavern. He took a seat by his companions, Leo, Jin, Alaroc, and Sparky.
"Spectacular as always, Zilo!" Shouted Alaroc as he began drinking deep from his ale. Jin did the same, not giving encouraging words, but rather a thumbs up as he tilted his head back to drink. Sparky nodded excitedly saying, "Good good!"
Zilo looked to Leo and waited for more praise. Leo seemed quite busy reading over a paper he had received from Maldrek earlier in the day. Sparky leaned in and began to try and read what he was looking at. The little goblin's brow squiggled before nodding and smiling big.
"So what does it say young Sparky?" Asked Alaroc. Sparky confidently turns and says, "Dems words!" Jin let out a sigh then asked Leo, "Whats got ya so lost bud?"
Leo shakes free of the paper and begins to speak, "Oh, my bad. Maldrek, May, Cruxis and I have a Job in Shadeville. There's been a string of murders and a client wants us to track down the killer. Since I think like the folks from there, he wants me to try and connect some dots."
Zilo smiles and says, "Oh, Its rare that Maldrek takes up a job himself."
Leo looks down to the sheet and says, "Yeah, well this killer seems really intelligent, so might need someone like Maldrek to get him."
Sparky smiles big and motions his thumb to himself, "Say nun more, me will help. Me good thinker." Leo stifles a laugh before saying, "No offense, but there's a reason its me, May, Cruxis and Maldrek going rather than you guys."
Jin takes a breath away from his flask and says, "What chyou implyin dere?!"
"I'm not implying anything, I'm saying you all are too dumb to track the guy down."
All four of the others look hurt by the phrase as Leo waves them away and says, "Now please, I gotta focus on this contract. I'm going to my room, you guys have a good night." Leo makes his way up the stairs as the four witless heroes look back and forth to each other and sulk for a few hours as they clean that tavern for the night.
"Me no get what he mean, Sparky good good head." Speaks Sparky who turns to the others with big puppy dog eyes and says, "Right!?"
Jin, and Alaroc hesitate, but Zilo immediately assures the goblin, "Sparky, you have a great head!" The little goblin smiles and coddles his head. Zilo turns to both Jin and Alaroc and says, "And you two, sure you drink a lot, but I know very few people with more knowledge of Deneval than Alaroc. Then Jin, you have the keenest eye for detail I know!"
Both men clank their drinks together and drink down some mighty gulps in joy. Zilo motions up the stairs and speaks, "In fact wait right here." Zilo makes his way up the stairs and a few minutes later he descends them again, slamming a paper on the table.
"We are gonna go solve these murders and prove that we are just as smart as them!" The table looked worried, but Zilo shouted to the bar top and said, "Aria! We're smart enough to solve these murders right?"
Aria looks up from cleaning the counter and gives a look of a deer in headlights. She speaks, "Uh, sure Zilo. You can do anything you put your mind to." She finishes off with a thumbs up. The other three begin to nod and agree now. Alaroc stands and points to the door before saying, "I'll ready the horses."
Jin lifts the little Sparky from the ground and says, "We'll get the provisions." Sparky gives two thumbs up as the monk runs off with the goblin in tow. Alaroc runs out of the bar toward the two horses. Zilo walks over to Aria and gives her a peck on the lips as he says, "Thanks, Love you."
Zilo spins to help Alaroc with the horses as Aria stands stunned. She touches her hand to her lips and says, "Lo-Love?" She blushes and smiles before she whimsically continues to wipe away the stains on the bar of the previous day.
Within ten minutes the 4 friends have the new carriage ready to go and they hit the road for Shadeville. The city was about a week's journey from Deneval to the southwest following along the coast.
"Zilo, this is along the road we first found you on a bit more than a year ago."
"We'd best be on the lookout for giant frogs then."
The two laughed as Sparky and Jin look over the sheet. Well, both look at the sheet, but only Jin is reading. The monk takes a swig and says, "Well from de looks of de contract, the killings have been goin on fer 5 years, and none o' de guards care ane' more. People tink it's de same guy cause he always leaves de body wit a single arrow in de belly."
Sparky nods the whole time as Jin speaks. As they travel on the road they slowly begin to arrive in the area around Shadeville. Alaroc explains that Shadeville is named for the sheer cliff it is built at the bottom of casting a shadow for most of the day, with only afternoon and evening having the natural light of the sun.
The town is set near the cost and is a merchant hub with many people trying to live there and make a living selling a vast number of goods. That being said, rumors go that the city has many down on their luck and desperate folk who don't have the luck to become merchants and need to resort to begging or maybe stealing for a living.
Deneval needs to step in every now and again, but with how many people constantly immigrate to the city for making a fortune, it's not very easy for the kingdom to keep track of everyone there, and so they can't ever really be sure that they stamped out all the crime there.
Jin remarks, "I guess dats why Leo was de one lookin at the contract, he'd fit right in dere." Sparky chuckles, but his eyes widen as he looks to see the giant cliff of Shadeville. The group arrives in the city around the morning, so the streets are darkened and the details are hard to make out.
as they make their way through the streets the folks eye them suspiciously with some smiling and others looking with hesitation in their eyes. Zilo turns to a man on the street and asks, "Hello there, do you think you can show us to the nearest inn?"
"What's it worth to you?"
Zilo is shocked, but follows up with, "It is worth a lot, rest is vital to the body to make sure we continue to do our best."
"No, I mean how much will you pay me."
"Why nothing, I haven't hired you yet."
"PAY ME AND I'LL TELL YOU!"
Zilo's face suddenly crosses with understanding as he reaches into his belt pouch and speaks, "Can you make change for gold?"
"No, but don't worry a gold will do."
"How kind of you, here you are." Zilo tosses a gold coin to the man. Jin smacks his forehead and shouts, "ZILO, THATS WAY TOO-!"
The man snatches the coin, smiles, and points to a building only a few meters away and says, "That one, so long." And the man retreats down a nearby alleyway. It all happens so quickly that Jin is unable to halt the terrible deal before the man is long gone, Jin hangs his head as Zilo points to the building nearby and says, "Lucky us! It's right there!"
"Sure. Yeah. Lucky." The group arrived at the inn and quickly secured a room for the next few nights to stay in town and investigate. Hopefully, they can avoid being tricked again in the coming days.
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