DnD Fanfic: A Meeting at Midday Part: 2
Madame Freona’s Tea Kettle is a tea house in the city of Phlan proper. Run by the halfling Madame Freona and staffed by her five daughters, it is praised for its excellent service. Unlike the rough and rowdy taverns of the seaside town, the Tea Kettle is a classy place for people to relax and forget the troubles outside those walls.
But like many of those taverns, they hired a bard to provide an atmosphere. In this case, the bard was Kelvis. He was a handsome man in his mid 20’s with styled brown hair and fine clothing. He had been spending the past few hours playing the lute as entertainment for the Tea Kettle.
But for now, Kelvis is taking a break, talking to a group of adventurers.
“…and this is a potion of the Eagle’s Eye." Kelvis says. "When you drink it, it'll let you see as far as an eagle. Great for scouting, archery, things of that nature. I’m sure that you can think of a lot of uses for it”
“I have a few ideas” The adventurer he was talking to says. She was a young human. She was beautiful, but her looks mattered less to Kelvis than the longbow on she kept next to her. It was how he decided what the “potion” did, after all. “So how’d a guy like you get your hands on all these potions?”
“My parents were adventurers. Pretty good ones too. They moved out here for retirement, but age caught up with them.” Kelvis says. He paused for a moment, looking forlorn, like an actor giving an audience time to react. “I’d like to keep what they had, but the farm wasn’t doing too well. Crop Rust. It’s a nasty mold. Its hitting every farm this side of the Moonsea. I’m trying to sell the things that they left behind to tide me over for a season. If I get enough, maybe I can even hire a cleric to bless the land.”
Like most lies, this was built on truth. Crops had been doing poorly all season. That meant more food needed to be shipped in, which meant more guards and adventurers to protect those shipments. Which meant a lot of traveling people with more coin than they really needed.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss" Another of the adventurers says, a halfling man with a pair of daggers says.
"You ever think about adventuring yourself? A lot of people would kill for some good starting equipment" The third adventurer, an elven man with plate armor and a greatsword says.
Kelvis shook his head. “Yeah, but I've heard too many stories. People die doing it, and adventurers come back broken. Besides, I don't really have anyone to adventure with. Still, I can tell you guys will do a lot of good with these potions. "Kelvis says, looking at the potions that he has in front of him. A “Potion of Giant’s Strength”, a “Potion of Silence” and a “Potion of Eagle Eye”. Also known as “’Potions of Colored Water”
“Fair enough” The human says. "So, how much will all these cost?"
“Well, individually, they're 100 Gold each, 300 total. But if you buy all them at once, I can just charge 250." He says. "I know it sounds like a lot, but its a lot cheaper than going to buy them off the market."
“We can afford that easy" The woman says with a smile. "What do you say, guys, we each chip in 80 or so gold?"
The halfling and the elf agree. As they take out their coin purses, Kelvis' kept his somber expression, but inside, he was giddy. Before gold can change hands, Kelvis feels a tug on his sleeve. He looks down and sees Reese, one of Freona's daughters. A Halfling girl that worked as a waitress at the tea house.
"Pardon the interruption, but there's a man over there looking for you" Reese says, pointing to a man wearing a hooded robe across the common room. Kelvis looks around, puzzled.
Kelvis looks at the man, then back at the adventuring group. "I’ll talk to him after we’re done here. Its possible that he's looking to buy some things from the estate sale"
Reese furrows her brow. "I doubt it." She turns to the adventuring party. "He's lying. Those "potions" are just colored water. He's trying to con you out of your coin."
"What?!" The human asks. "You were trying to con us?!" The halfling man is already drawing a dagger and the elf looks like he's about to cleave the Kelvis in half.
"Look, if you have a problem with him, please sort it out outside Reese says. "But I'm warning you, if you start a fight here, I will call the guards" Even though she was short, her presence caused everyone sitting around the table to shrink back slightly.
"Alright, alright." The human says, staring daggers into Kelvis. "Come on, guys. We still gotta meet up with the caravan. It'll probably be leaving soon and if we aren't there to escort it, we don't get paid."
As the adventuring group leaves. The elf looks back at the conman, "We'll be sure to pay you a visit next time you're in town." He says in a low, threatening voice. One more call of "Out" from Reese convinces him to leave the teahouse without incident. A few seconds later, Kelvis turns his head to the halfling waitress. Anger etched on his face.
“Why did you do that? I had them! What, do you want a cut? If that's what you're after-"
Reese crosses her arms. "Because Mom told you what would happen next time you tried to con our guests. The tavern by the docks may let that kind of thing pass, but not us. Now, the guy really did want to see you. But after that, get out. And don’t bother showing your face around here again!"
Kelvis huffs, but nods. If he managed to sell those "potions", he could've quit this place. For a few months, anyway. But now, he was out of a job. He walked over to the hooded man sitting at one of the tables.
"Thanks for seeing me." The man said. Looking closer, Kelvis could see that this was an older (7 or 8 hundred year old) elven man with gray hair. He reached out to shake Kelvis' hand, which Kelvis obliges. "I was wondering if you had time to do a quick job for me. A job that you are in a… unique position to help me with. It shouldn't take more than an a few minutes in total."
"Well, my schedule just happened to open up." Kelvis says sardonically. "Though if you're looking for an adventurer, then I'm afraid that I'm not much of a fighter."
The elven man shakes his head. "I'm not asking you to go out and kill goblins or anything along those lines. You see, I work for Those Who Harp" He says, gesturing to a pin on his shirt. It depicts a harp inside of a crescent moon.
"Never heard of them" Kelvis says.
"We are order dedicated to fighting evil wherever it hides. I'd be more than happy to tell you more, but time is of the essence." The elf says. He looks around before continuing. "You see, my associates recently encountered a merchant who is going to illegally purchase a Black Dragon Egg." The elf starts. "We can't let this egg fall into the wrong hands."
"And I assume that your hands are the fight hands?" Kelvis says, eyebrow raised.
"Its better than the egg going to the highest bidder" The elf counters. "Now, we're... delaying the merchant. And if we need someone to make the exchange with the seller and make sure that this is planted on them"
He takes out a different pin. This one is a plain circular pin with a pattern carved around the edge. "This is enchanted to allow us to track it." He places the pin on the table. "Now, the reason I'm asking for your help is that your brother has enough of a resemblance to the merchant, but we've been having trouble finding him"
"You're going to have to be more specific about which brother you're looking for, I tend to lose track of them" Kelvis says jokingly.
"I'm sorry, the one that’s on the farm is the one I'm looking for. I believe his name… Louis?" The elf clarifies. "In any case, the seller wants to trade the egg for a bag of diamonds. Kelvis' eyes widen. "So we have a bag of fake diamonds" Kelvis' almost visibly deflates. "If you can, convince your brother to make the trade, bring the egg back here, and make sure that the pin is on them when they leave. We don't know where these people got a dragon egg but we wish to investigate. If you do all of this, I will pay you 200 Gold."
Kelvis thought about it. Louis would probably insist on splitting the gold 50-50 so thats 100 Gold for an easy job. And while he didn't trust this guy, but at least he could give Louis the line about the Harpers being some organization dedicated to fighting evil if he needed some motivation.
"I mean, that sounds good and all, but you said that we're going to be dealing with criminals, right?" Kelvis says. "And there's no guarantee that that things will go smoothly. And I this while dragon business, I guess that stopping it is important. If you pay 50 Gold up front, then I can do the job."
The elf shakes his head. "I saw what you were trying to do with those adventurers. If I gave you gold now, I’d never see you again. No, you either do it or not. No deal"
Kelvis huffs. "Fine. When is this deal taking place?"
"In about 30 minutes." The elf says.
"Well, you weren’t kidding when you said time is of the essence" Kelvis says. "Alright, I'll get Louis"
He left the Tea House in haste, partially because of the time sensitive nature of the job, and partially because he could feel Freona’s gaze boring into his skull. Half-walking, half jogging, he started heading back to the family farm. He hadn’t lived there for years, but he knew the way like the back of his hand. But after a few minutes of walking, he saw Louis in the street.
He was dressed in Dad’s old armor, and was holding an old shortsword that had seen a better decade. Silently, Kelvis thanked the gods and walked over to his brother.
“Hey Louis, it’s been a while” He says, joy painted on his face.
“Oh Kelvis, it’s been a while...” Louis says. “I thought you’d be working right now. You on break?”
“Not quite.” Kelvis says. “What are you doing here?”
“The harvest… it’s pretty bad” Louis says. “Nothing much worth selling. I figured that I’d look for a job. Something to help the family, you know?“
Kelvis smiled in relief. “Its funny you should mention that. I actually met an elf right before I left the Tea House…“
