The city of Brega was lively, its main street crowded and busy, much more than I anticipated, considering the season.
It was already getting late when we entered the city proper, so we decided to search for an inn.
Since we planned to stay for a few days, Sasha suggested searching for on in the middle part of the city, so that we could easily reach everywhere.
'A room for two, three nights? I do have something, but it's costly'
Said an halfling, lazily sitting behind the counter of the inn.
'How much are we speaking of?'
I knew prices on the main street were high, but we had some money to spare thanks to Jago
'It'd be 24, gold, but we can make it 20'
The halfling was smiling, but his face clearly said "Not that you can afford it either way"
'Ah, I see, sorry to have bothered you'
I returned to the meet-up point we decided earlier with Sasha, in the middle of the city.
The center was adorned with a beautiful plaza, trees and parks all around, the main street splitting up to accomodate a huge fountain in the middle.
This plaza was supposed to be a monument to the twin culture of Brega: the stones were pristine, some of them had bas-reliefs to show the history of the valley, perfectly detailed, but the architecture wasn't as angular as you would expect from dwarvish craftsmaship, and instead was full of round shapes. The statues represented the council that united the two original cities under one banner only, two dwarves and two halflings.
I had some time to waste as Sasha was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to sit on the fountain for a bit.
For a brief moment, my reflection gazed back at me in the cristalline waters.
My hair was a mess, my face was dirty from the journey and my clothes were... passable at best; we did take a few supplies from the monastery, robes and weapons included, but we were still looking like homeless travelers.
Which we were, I realized grimly.
I distracted myself, looking at the crowd: there were way more halflings than I first thought, but being the size of a child, they were often concealed in the crowd.
My companion found me as I was reading the inscriptions on the central statue, which describied the history of the city in great detail.
'Interesting story, isn't it?'
She said approaching me
'I guess...'
'Oh, come on now, two cities, merging together in harmony! A perfect story in my opinion'
'They don't look that harmonius, still'
'Give them a little time, it's only been a thousand years or so'
'Right, just a thousand years. Did you manage to find anything?'
'Not at all, the main street is booked through the whole week, it seems, I'm guessing you found the same'
'Indeed, but I don't know why so many are travelling right now. I don't remember of any occurrences in this period'
'Nothing we can do but search for a place to stay on the East side'
'You're not even considering the West side?'
'I don't want to be spat on. Can't say I'm thrilled about sleeping underground, but it's better than dealing with Dwarves'
'I thought they were used to elves in here'
'In the main street they pretend to, at least, but I could hear some talking behind my back'
'Then I guess we have no other choice'
It took almost no time to get to the East side, but it felt like a completely different city: the paved roads made soon way to dirt road, the smell of a crowded city was replaced with the ones typical of a farm, the crowd dissipated, and now mosly halflings trodded along the streets.
Some were lazing away on the roadside, smoking their pipes.
Others were grouping up to play cards. They all seemed so relaxed.
Even the few couriers that passed along every now and then had a relaxed attitude, and often stopped to greet a friend.
It didn't take us much to find an inn, "The Endless Keg".
While it would have been a perfectly normal building in a minor town, it felt a bit out of place, its two storeys above ground were contrasting to most other buildings, which looked like tiny hills with a door and windows.
'Welcome, welcome! What can I get you? A room? Dinner? Both?'
We had barely crossed the entrance, and the innkeeper was already getting down from its stool to greet us.
'A room for two, please, and dinner as well'
'Perfect! How many days? One or two beds? Tonight we have stew, is that fine? Otherwise we can give you some eggs, bread and tomatoes'
'Three days, two beds'
'Of course, of course, my apologies. Meals included? If I can, our meals are the best in town! At least according to my wife'
'How much would it be, meals included?'
'Three... two... seven... ... six?'
Counfused by the question, I didn't know how to answer
'Probably six. Gold. Should be six, at least'
'Seems reasonable, here'
I counted and handed the gold to him, who now had the widest smile
'Sit down, then, please, and give me your bags, I'll carry them to your room. Oh, and do you want beer? Of course you want beer, but which one?'
We sat down, and as Tommy, the innkeeper, bombarded us with random questions, we had our dinner. The inn was empty, apart for us, and had three more tables, it was a small place, completely different from the grandeur of the main street.
Tommy was a real chatterbox, and kept us company, at least until more customers arrived. They were few at first, mostly ordering drinks at the counter, but soon the whole place was filled up.
Turns out the place was known for holding tournaments of "Trade the Jack", a popular card game played between three players. Some tried explaining me the rules, but the rules were too complicated for me, and I got lost trying to understand how to calculate the score at the end.
We retreated into our room upstairs.
It was cozy, if a bit small, but the beds were human-sized, to my relief.
It took a while for the nose downstairs to calm down, so we had time to plan our visit for the day after.
'First of all, we need new clothes'
While I just looked dirty, Sasha's clothes were also a bit too big for her, not enough to make it difficult to move, but she .
It reminded me of when I just joined the temple, and it pained me to constantly have to remember what I had lost.
'Aw, I was starting to love these ones, I now get why you monks love them, so airy and spacious'
She pretended to check how much bigger the sleeves were compared to her arms
'After that we need to check the graveyards out'
'Ignoring me, are you?'
'Am I?'
'Never mind...'
'Back to the graveyards, we didn't really get close to one, but whoever I spoke to couldn't recall any recent incident with the undead. Even Tommy, downstairs, hasn't heard anything of the sort'
'Why do you worry so much, I assure you, within three days they'll have some disaster somewhere, and we'll be ready to help. That's how it usually goes for adventuring parties, right?'
'I only hope you have a backup plan'
'Don't worry, it'll be fine!'
I woke up the day after, and went downstairs, where I found Sasha and Tommy chatting and laughing.
'...and so, get this, he blocked the gryphon's wing, and as they both fell down, he screamed "If I can't fly, you're not allowed to either!" all the way down!'
They both burst out laughing
'We wasted so many potions on that idiot, but it was worth it. Ah, Tarkus, took you long enough'
'I'd say it's still quite early'
'Well, Tommy, it has been a pleasure, but we have to go now'
'Aw, I was hoping to hear another one of your adventures'
'Don't worry, we'll have lots of time tomorrow morning, thanks to mister sleeps-a-lot'
We parted ways with Tommy and started our proper visit of the city.
First we went into the main street to search for clothes and some provisions for the journey; a tent and camp supplies were our priorities.
A shop just off the main street caught our eye: "Enchanted Fabrics"
Entering, an elf greeted us.
He was dressed like nobility, but the clothes were uncommon for elves, who didn't usually like to display their wealth like humans and dwarves do.
'Greetings, How may I serve you?'
He already had an air of superiority to him, but after squaring us up, it was even more evident.
'We were looking for clothes, for the both of us'
'That makes sense, let's see what we can do'
'Something not too expensive'
'Clearly'
Although his attitude was terrible, he had some great products.
The shop also had a single magical item on sale, a magical cloak whose runes protected against the elements. Magical items were notoriously expensive, and this one was exceptionally so.
We could already barely afford our clothes, but I couldn't help but ask a few questions.
'I noticed you also sell magical items'
'Just that one'
'You sound disappointed, but already haing one is prestigious enough for a shop, isn't it?'
The elf sighed and looked at me, and I was surprised to see sadness in his eyes, instead of his usual air of superiority
'For a normal shop, yes. But I suppose this is just a normal shop, now'
'If you don't mind me asking, why do you say so'
He sighed again, louder this time
'You see, this shop was my wife's dream. She was a powerful mage who travelled the country far and wide. She always wanted to settle down and leave her nomadic life behind there, so I opened this shop. I would create the clothes, and she would enchant them. We were renowned far and wide, customers from all over came here, asking for our goods'
He paused a bit, reminiscing the past glory
'We spent half a century together, but in the end...'
'I'm sorry for your loss'
'We always knew it would end this way, our races were too different, but we couldn't help it.
And now that I only have that one cloak, I'm scared at the idea of selling it.
Ever since they forbid me from entering her mausoleum, the only way I can remember her is by looking at that one cloak'
'I'm sorry, but why did they forbid that?'
'I don't know the details myself, but twenty years ago or so, I was suddently told that entry in that specific mausoleum was forbidden at all times. I tried going to the council, but nobody cared about a mage who died 200 years ago and her grieving husband'
After we were out of the shop I looked at Sasha
'Doesn't that feel strange to you?'
'Yeah, right? With that kind of quality he should be selling his stuff for at least twice the price!'
'Were you even listening?'
'Can't even make a single joke... Yes, I did hear his tearful story'
'You don't sound too impressed'
'His story is more common than you'd think'
She said pointing at her own ears
'Even so, why forbid entrance to a mausoleum?'
'I can think of a few reasons: it was built so long ago that the ceiling is about to fall down, or maybe the groundskeeper lost the key to that specific gate.
We're talking about a building that's 200 or more years old'
'I'd still say we investigate'
'We were going there anyway. Did he tell you where it is?'
'Yes, it's on the West side'
'Ugh, can't we check the one on the East side first?'
'Not so fond of dwarves, are we?'
'I'd be fine with those walking beer kegs, it's them who hate me for some reason'
'Then let me do the talking'