It was a night like any other, Robert was sitting in his usual seat, the regulars wouldn’t show up for another hour or two, and a gaggle of idiots had come in to talk tough, act brave, and be a general, if well-paying, nuisance. I had been working as the bar-fish for a few weeks, and after the first couple nights most folks had gotten over the weird guy serving them beer and assorted brews. A few more folks had wandered in, along with a message from the owner, that the bar would be expanding to a tavern, and as such a waitress should be hired. He was very specific on it being a waitress for some reason from the second note. I for one couldn’t really give much of a damn, all land walkers looked the same, and carried the same amount of gold on them after they passed out, namely none when the regulars were through with them. This would be difficult. As a bar in the shady part of the docks, how likely were they to attract a female who would willingly work in this dump? At least you could tell the difference between men and women pretty easily, you just had to look at the chest. Of course, I still got it wrong 30-35% of the time, but I’d call that decent for a month on land. A few more folks moseyed in, sailors fresh off the boat, followed by one of the strangest things I had ever seen. A pair of humans came in, and one of them was actually female.
The bar got quiet, and when the bar gets quiet, something bad is, or was, about to happen. As I reached down for my crossbow, I noticed that the patrons weren’t looking at the girl, but at her companion. I gave them both a harder look. They both seemed of nobility, with a merchant house seal on their clothes (you could always tell, minimum words and animals, just simple, easy to stamp on a crate.) He sported a black tunic with red trim, tan from too much time in the sun, good shoes, and no gloves. His eyes seemed to be made of fire, dark red and swirling. His tail swished about, and the claws seemed to be clacking against each other a little, as if he was nervous, but overall a decent fellow. Probably one of the more together, if foolish, humans I had seen so far. The tail was a bit odd though, maybe a bit of merfolk in his ancestry. Still, one couldn’t complain, they hadn’t screamed or thrown anything at me yet. Instead, their eyes showed, what… curiosity perhaps? The same kind when I created a new potion, or found out that some people never even considered the benefits of a tail, particularly as a bludgeon. His companion, looked a bit fancier, perhaps he as her bodyguard. Wearing a flowing skirt and blouse, colored as blue as the sky back home (I had these items explained afterwards, landwalker and their obsession with clothing still confuses me.) Her blue eyes matched her outfit, and black hair matched her companions. Perhaps they were sister and brother? I did the only thing I could think to defuse the situation, I poured a Special and handed it to Robert, who promptly took a sip, turned purple, and farted loudly. At least the gas was expected, but I had been hoping for him to turn green and grow wings instead.
The bar normalized, considering the bar-fish resumed his usual antics, Robert got a free drink, and nobody had died or blown up yet. As the lady and lord walked up to my station, I drew myself to my full height and asked in my best Common, “What dya’ll want?” This greeting was a proper one I had been informed, and from the notes and coaching from Robert, it had gotten to a point where it barely sounded like I was gargling the ocean. What I didn’t expect was the response.
“Pardon me, my good… person, but is the sign on the window correct? You are hiring a position as a waitress for this… establishment?” She held up the parchment from the window and set it upon the counter, looking around with care and some small amount of disdain for the surroundings. She quickly lifted her hand off the bar and pulled it back, as the paper started to stain from something I hadn’t quite cleaned well enough on the bartop. “I was perhaps wondering if you might hire myself? My father suggested I gain some ‘life lessons’ as he called it, and recommended this as one of his past… hangouts.”
I glanced at the dissolving paper, with only the letters HE ANT standing out, the rest faded away. I pondered on this for a moment, as if mayhaps it might reveal some secret to the land nobility before me. “Save me from ignorant fools and nobles, I had enough of them already,” murmuring under my breath in Aquan, I looked up once again. A few more new folks had come in, and had been sizing up the pair in front of me. I was given no guidelines on who to hire, merely that it be fast, and someone not likely to steal anything. Standing before me was that option, however short-lived it may be.
“Indeed, we are hiring for a waitress. Pay is 3 copper a day, plus tips. If you can handle these layabouts and drunkards, you can stay. If a fight breaks out, stay out of the way, and we split the remains of whatever is left. There are some clothes in the back, you might want to change out of that finery, it's likely to be damaged. What about your companion?” I motioned with a glass to the man behind her, who was now eyeing the three gentlemen who had walked in earlier. They had gotten their drinks and sat down, looking around wildly and slowly growing in volume.
“Oh, don’t worry about him, it’s just me. He’ll be on his way shortly. My name is Alyss, and it is my pleasure to be working with you.” She flashed me a smile and went to the back, coming back in a few minutes wearing an apron and carrying a tray. To color me surprised was an understatement, as she got directly to work taking drinks to tables as if she had done it all her life. Things went fine for the first few tables, they knew better than to start fights here, at least with someone they had no feel for. But the last table, that was where things changed and Alyss earned the respect of everyone at that bar, including mine. The final table had called for another round, and after pouring the drinks and serving them, they tried to do something incredibly stupid: they tried to cop a feel on the new barmaid. The operative word here was tried. As I watched, her companion who had been sitting next to Robert suddenly wasn’t anymore, and in his place was Alyss, with a look of pure fury. At the table, being molested, was her companion, with a look of enjoyment on his face, turning to the table slowly with an ever widening grin.
“Now gentlemen, I understand that humans are much more forward nowadays, but I must stress that the deal I have with my summoner is that she be willing for such advances, and unfortunately you do not qualify, and to be quite frank I agree with her judgement. You three wouldn’t qualify for a scrap of bread in a soul-swap, and honestly I wouldn’t fuck any of you for an entire level of Hell. Now remove your hand, or…. Now really Alyss? Spiders?” Alyss had turned quickly off the stool and after muttering something under her breath, was holding a writhing, wiggling, skittering whip. A whip, as I learned from her companion, was made of spiders. Her first swing engulfed the groper in a swarm, the second caught the next offender mid-scream and in the mouth, with spiders quickly moving in and out of the orifice, biting everything. Her guard quickly leapt on the third man, shoving his claws into the man’s chest, lifting him up above his head to throw across the room like a sack of fish entrails. The first two had already died, with Alyss quickly gathering herself together, and turned to the table next to her, the whip still in her hand.
“My most sincerest of apologies, those men should have had better manners. I can’t imagine where their parents went wrong, I hope you won’t count it against me or my cohorts. As a further apology, the next round is on the house, and as many further rounds can be from the pockets of the three unscrupulous individuals who dared to disgrace the peace of this grand establishment. I hope you enjoy the rest of your night!” WIth a quick turn, she walked back to the bar for the next round and called “Deus, search them and dispose of them as is accustomed for their kind, in the back alley.”
“At once milady.” The one known as Deus turned and removed any objects of value and money, then took them out back and dumped them into the water. The current would hopefully carry them away from my sleeping area, I preferred my silt blood-free. The rest of the night went largely without incident, whenever someone new came in and looked to cause trouble, they were pulled aside for a whisper and a miming of spiders crawling down their throat. Never before had I seen everyone behave so calmly and polite. Hell, they even cut down on the swearing (at least until Alyss dropped an empty tankard on her foot for the fourth time, letting loose a stream in some hellish language while clutching her foot that had everyone readjust their views of this girl yet again.) Deus, after his body-removal duties, resumed sitting by Robert, and from what I could tell was trying to buy his soul for wealth, riches, whatever he wanted.
“Come now my good fellow, anything you want! Gold, platinum, gems bigger than a Balor’s belly! Do you want women? Any size, any race, any age, it doesn’t matter to me I won’t judge! Maybe you go for the other team? Fine by me, I can go either way. That’s right, even I’m on the table. A giant hunk of smoking hot devil, right here, just for the small price of your soul. What do you say?”
It didn’t work.
“Umm, Mr Bartender?” I looked up from my latest concoction, looking at Alyss. Things had died down for a bit, everyone had drinks with a card game had popped up in the back right corner. I dropped in a copper coin in the drink and watched it dissolve, then slid it down to the oread three stools down. After drinking his (her?) beverage, they started eating the cup.
“Yes Alyss?”
“Why are there no menus? No wine lists? I admit, I didn’t exactly expect this tavern to have an extensive list, but they just seem to defer to your judgement. I think the last drinks you had me take could have doubled to melt the vault doors on the royal treasury!” This was quite probable, as it did have certain oxidizing properties, but when drunk by an organic it instead altered to more fizzing, leading to a rather pleasant sparking sensation when being drunk. The fact that it looked like a combination of horse blood and troll bile was purely happenstance. Where would I even get troll bile, that’s for the fancier folk! I settled for horse blood and tuna bile instead.
“People here have an understanding with me. I can barely tell any person apart from another, much less any race from another, aside from a few exceptions,” as I motioned to the Oread, Alyss, and Robert. “But I can read their bodies, their tolerances, and their personalities. How they move, how the talk, how they smell, they all speak to me as to how they might act, and what they might like. Some favor the basics, and so they get Ale or Grog, others prefer something more varied. And such, the ask and I deliver.” I bring out a glass and pour some ingredients into it. Some wine, a bit of elixir of this and that from my lab, and finally a strawberry. I slid it to Alyss. “On the house, give it a chance. Oh, and you might want to sit down for this.”
“Thanks you kind sir, I appreciate it.” Alyss took the drink, with admitted apprehension, and then downed it in one. Surprising, but probably best. As she sat on the stool, her eyes flashed red, and her eidolon shuddered, before both gasping for air. “What was that? It tasted like candied strawberries, with a hint of… something else? Kiwi? Banana? I can’t quite place it. And this feeling, like I could talk a dragon into giving up its hoard!” She studied the glass, as if questioning its secrets.
“The additional taste is Red Seaweed. Nothing tastes quite like it, I’ve started growing some next door under the water. That feeling was the addition of a bit of Sailfish’s Splendor, enough to give just a small boost and euphoric feeling. If you like, I can make it again tomorrow.” I admit, I like showing off. Nothing fancy, no big shows, but any experiment that resulted in someone feeling better than before was a small victory for me.
“I think I’d like that. Maybe add it to the menu, whenever we get around to making one. I think your concoctions might be the key to putting this bar on the map!” She sprung off the stool and strolled to the next table of folks who had come in. We? Menu? What was going on here? Put us on the map? I came here to be forgotten, be anonymous, not be famous! I spent the rest of the time mulling over these words, wondering if I might have to quit and try again someplace else, maybe even further inland, away from the ocean.
When everyone had been kicked out, after cleaning the blood and bile from the night out the door and escorting Robert to his usual guest bed upstairs, Alyss and I sat down to discuss her pay for the night and her schedule. I’ll admit, when I slithered out from behind the bar, her eyes grew wide for a moment, but quickly focused on other things, namely her pay for the night.
“So, the pay was 3 copper a day plus tips, but given the circumstances, I feel hazard pay, cleaning fees, spell costs, material fees, and other monetary charges should be factored in.” She started listing off various fees, dues, and other damages that my head started spinning, until it seemed that her final pay should have been over 1,000 gold. Needless to say, I couldn’t agree to that. But there was also no way in hell I could out-maneuver her wheeling and dealing. When she said she could talk a dragon out of its hoard, I realized she could probably have done it without the potion. Just who the hell did I just hire? So in the end, she got a raise to 3 silver a day (comparable to me, honestly fair, even I figured 3 copper was a lowball, but if I wasn’t the only one to keep this lot in line, might as well pay the same.) As we closed up shop, she stopped to shake my hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Typhon. They call me Typhon. Alyss was it?” I spoke slightly slowly, not used to small-talk any more. Apparently land-walkers talked about the weather a lot, complaining about rain, at least according to Robert. I didn’t know how to continue.
“Yes, Alyss. Alyss Vane and my Devil Eidolon Deus. My summoning classes at the college end at 7, so I’ll be back tomorrow at 8, and if I might make a suggestion? A bit of color might spruce up the place a little bit, or at least cover the blood stains.” As she left I wracked my brain. Vane? As in Vane Shipping & Trading? How ironic, the ship I followed into port was owned by her father. I owed her family my life, however thin the connection. By transition, I owed her my life. And the College? The young lady who gave me directions! Hoo boy, this was going to be a lot more complicated than a few drunks at the end of the night to toss out.
I approached the college in the Southwest section of the town nervously. I had nothing against spellcasters, mind you; but two wizards in one room equals either an argument and lightning bolts or the bending of space & time in a way it should not be bent. Same thing with clerics too, except that involves whose deity is better. Nothing like holy lightning and steam pillars to wake you up in the morning. This place seemed better though, students bustling to and from classes carrying tomes and scrolls, the teachers coming to and from the practice fields or escorting summons. It honestly was unlike anything I had ever seen. My home kingdom could have fit entirely on this campus three times over. Also, I’m pretty sure the classrooms bent space, there was no way 40 people just went into that broom closet.
“Excuse me, are you lost?” A young woman wearing a black a red dress spoke to me. She was carrying a tome that read ‘Gerhardt’s Summoning Taxonomy Volume III: Demons, Devils, and Dinosaurs’ that looked to be at least 20 pounds, and not bothering her a bit. I suppose not all mages can’t take a hit.
“Yes, I’m looking for the Alchemy Labs?” I nervously scratched my headfin. I had already talked to way too many people today, I was becoming exhausted. I still had to work tonight, how the hell was I going to get through my shift?
“Ah, yes, they are doing practicals next to the summoning fields, head down this hallway and take a right, then follow the sounds of cackling and explosions. It’ll either be them or the wizards, possibly both. Now I really must be going, have a good day!” She skipped off, and as I turned around I felt something graze by me, and heard the sound of nails against stone. I whirled around again, but there was nothing. Perhaps my time out in public was wearing on me.
I followed the girl’s directions, leading me to a wide field, with several groups of students surrounding stone circles on the ground, watching professors scribe runes and lecture, when off to the far side I heard “DUCK AND COVER” as a bolt of lightning arced up in the air, expanding and compressing the surrounding parcel before letting out a devastating BOOM! I threw myself to the ground with all the other students. The teachers seemed unfazed, simply raising shield spells and continuing to talk through the noise. I raised my head as I saw a shiny human shout again “IT'S ALL CLEAR. SORRY! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO HIGHER THAN THAT. IS EVERYONE OK?” The teacher’s just nodded. “OK! GREAT! HEY YOU, MERMAN, OVER HERE!” He waved at me as he ran toward me. What is it with landwalkers and being in a hurry anyway? As he arrived and pulled me up, he shouted in my face “HI THERE! NAME’S CORAX! I HAVEN’T SEEN ONE OF YOUR KIND IN THE FLESH BEFORE, JUST BOOKS! FLESH, SCALE, FINS? WHATEVER, WELCOME TO BOOM TOWN!”
On the docks I was scared. In the market I was nervous. I had now graduated to terrified.
I moved behind him as fast as I could as he pulled me over to what I could only assume were his students. All of them wearing goggles, aprons, protective gear, and what was described to me later as ‘earmuffs.’ Corax continued shouting about about mixing ratios, lightning essence, and proper glasswork, before turning back to me, “AND HERE WE HAVE A MERMAN! VERY RECLUSIVE PEOPLE, VERY SECRETIVE. FANTASTIC POISON & POTION MAKERS. NO FIRE UNDERWATER, SO THEY USE HYDROTHERMAL VENTS TO BREW AND TEND TO MAKE CONCUSSIVE OR LIGHTNING BOMBS. TELL ME, WHICH KIND DO YOU USE?”
I mumble “Vent actually, the local sulfur vents made it easy. Do you have to shout?”
Corax frowned a bit, and pulled out a device from his pocket. “AM I SHOUTING? Yes, yes I am. Sorry about that. Testing testing, one two, one two three. Ah, there we go. After a hundred years of explosions all decibels sound the same to me. Try as I might, I can’t heal it. Funny huh, an Aasimar who can’t heal? HAHAHAHAHAhahahaha, sorry… I’ll finish this up, then we can talk.” He finished his talk about elemental essence (did you know they have entire elementals of fire up here? Unbelievable!) and gave out homework, then sat down next to me. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for some more expensive reagents, some possibly rare, at least they were at home. Who is your supplier?” I shifted my coils, trying to be more at ease now that it was just him and me. “I can try and pay, or perhaps work in trade for some ingredients. I can grow some they probably can’t get either, so would that work?”
“We handle all our purchasing through the school, but I can tell you that my personal supplier would be more than happy to work in trade. He’s down on the edge between the merchant and lower class housing districts. I’ll talk with him and send him a recommendation for you. He prefers to do stuff by courier so he doesn’t have to leave his shop. Goes by the name Davran, so you know what to look out for.” I sigh. Finally, I thought this would never end. “Although…” I freeze, “If you wanted to, you could go to the botanical gardens on the north end of the city where it merges with the Silverbranch Forest, they let us in so we can take samples, pay to have our own plot, work with some more of the forward thinking druids. I’ll see if they have a slice open and let you know.” He stood up, “It’s been nice chatting with you, but I have to get to my next lecture, and I need to check on my next set of ears beforehand. Sayonara!” He waved goodbye and jogged off towards the school. Next set of ears? Was he growing body parts? What kind of place is this?
I took the most direct path to the bar I could find, until I finally arrived at what was my job and abode. Sitting between the door jamb and the wall was a parcel wedged in, addressed to me. A note from the boss. Apparently it was time to hire some waitstaff...
