As I'm glancing around the room, I see the two hooded travelers from before talking with the waitress near their corner table. The small one, I think a woman, sets a huge coin purse on the table – I can't see anything but gold inside it. Are they, like, begging someone to rob them?
I look around nervously on their behalf, but nobody is looking their way. The smaller of the two travelers pulls a gold coin out and hands it to the waitress. They waitress seems to resist for a bit about the obviously excessive coin, but ultimately relents. The traveler then slides the coin purse off the table and…drops it on the floor!? Again, are they nuts?
I snap by head forward in surprise and look to where the coins fell on the floor. Or rather, where they should have fallen on the floor. I keep scrutinizing the area and can find no trace of it. What in the black magic shenanigans happened to it?
I suppose it could have been an invisibility spell, which I've been wanting to experiment with. That wouldn't keep it from spilling out and making noise though. Hmm…could it be one of those nifty dark class item box spells I heard about from Azazel? I thought those were supposed to be extremely rare.
I've wanted to experiment with using that kind of spell, but I don't understand the fundamental mechanism. Earth has no science that I know regarding how to generate that kind of phenomenon. So, I need someone to explain to me how it works, a good incantation, or both.
Naturally, between the drug lord level cash, potential rare dark magic, and shady attire, I'm very interested in meeting these two.
As I continue watching them, they finish their meal and gather their things to leave the tavern. Seeing this, and being thoroughly intrigued, I quickly walk over to the waitress by the bar and pay my tab with exact coin. Then, I return to my table to collect my things. As I do, I see the larger of the two cloaked travelers talking with a table of about five adventurers.
One of the adventurers is rather burly, and he seems quite drunk as well. He makes a dismissive gesture to the cloaked travelers towards the tavern door, and after a moment the two travelers exit the tavern. The burly adventurer chugs the rest of his drink, then hollers at his comrades to follow him and exits the tavern after the cloaked figures. That can't be good.
I wait a few extra moments, then quickly slip out the door of the tavern. It's quieter outside, and I can hear several voices around the side of the building. I quietly edge my way towards them so I that I can hear better.
As I get closer, I can see the burly man from before. He and his group are standing at the entrance to an alley. They are talking into the alley, presumably to the two cloaked travelers from before.
"Yeh got a lot of nerve suggesting something like that! Tell me h-how yeh gonna make it worth our while?" (burly adventurer)
Oh yeah, clearly plastered.
"All we've asked is for you to do exactly what adventurer's come here to do – take us into the forest in search of a creature. We can pay you in gold, half up front even. Just name your price." (male traveler)
"Pfffftt…yeah, except yeh want to spend weeks or even months in that godforsaken place! Yerrr also furgetten the best part, yeh don't just want to find any creature. Yerr lookin' for an Elder Dragon. That'll cost extra yeh know?" (burly adventurer)
Well, even I think he has a point. Hunting an Elder Dragon is probably suicide from what I've heard. He's kind of being a douche, though. I don't feel great about the direction this is headed.
"As I said, please name your price." (male traveler)
"Oh yeah? Hmm…well then, I think yer been awful quiet there, sweetheart. I like that hair uh yers. I'll tell yer what, if yeh let me and my friends share you tonight, and yer toss in a bag a gold for us showing yeh such a gerd time, we'll take yer to the forest. Whatcha say?" (burly adventurer)
He shifts his focus to the female traveler as he says this. He wears a smile that even makes me feel dirty, but it elicits a round of laughs and whistles from his friends.
"I'd gut you and feed you your own entrails before I let a filthy pig like you touch me." (female traveler)
Damnnnn. This is about to go south hella fast, and they are really outnumbered. I better do something quick. I can't afford to be implicated, though.
I was hoping to practice this under better circumstances later, but I guess I need to try it now. I hold my hand up in front of me to gauge if it's working, then I will my magic to form a thin barrier around my body.
I close my eyes and imagine the inside of the barrier shifting the light reflecting off my body out of the visible spectrum. Then I imagine the outside detecting the light passing through it and replicating the light emission out the opposite side of the barrier.
I feel my magic start to 'writhe' around on my skin, and I open my eyes – my hand isn't visible. Looking down at my body, there is still a faint shimmer, but I must focus to see it. It looks like it only partly worked.
Even though it's not perfect, the cover of darkness should take care of the rest. I can still make sound normally, so it's not a full concealment spell, but I can work on that later as well. I'll just have to mind my footsteps and make do.