The big green house for tallfolk wasn’t just a good descriptor, apparently it had also been adopted as the actual name of the local inn. A large sign above the door displayed it proudly, although the second half of the word “tallfolk” barely fit and was curving downwards so as not to run out of space. The door was wide open, with the local climate being as it was, there was no need to keep any warmth inside. Mirgia walked through the door, which was only a hair’s length higher than he was. Despite being for tall folk, it likely wouldn’t fit an Irkan or a Sazadin, some of the taller races on the continent.
Mirgia expected the place to be empty, but to his surprise, he saw a group of mercenaries sitting around a table, with two of them clearly wounded and wrapped in bandages. What had Yessep called them? Sahilad. Not looking for any problems, he gave a polite nod at the two who were looking in his direction before making his way to the bar. Behind it stood the innkeeper, a middle aged smallfolk man with a bushy red beard and a thinning hairline. He wore a bright smile when Mirgia walked up. The man being at eye level for Mirgia confused him, but a quick glance behind the counter revealed that the floor behind the bar was much higher than on Mirgia’s side. A smart solution to the height difference problem.
“I sure hope you’re looking for a room or a drink, otherwise I’m ‘fraid you have to look elsewhere,” the man with the bushy beard said in a surprisingly deep voice.
“Well, I’ve got good news.” Mirgia put a few coins on the counter. “I’d like a room and something warm to eat please.”
“That’s the two things I can do for you, excellent.” He grasped the coins and retrieved a key from behind the counter. “Name’s Garvin,” he said as he handed the key over to Mirgia. “Go up the stairs there and it’s the third door on your left, got the number four written on it in half-faded paint.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to find. My name’s Mirgia by the way, I appreciate the hospitality.”
“That’s what we do here at the big green house for tallfolk. Rooms, hospitality and slightly below average food.”
“It’ll do.”
Mirgia took the keys and under the watching eyes of the strangers in the common area, made his way to his new room.
He turned the key and with some effort the door opened and creaked as he pushed it inward. The room itself looked nice enough, a straw bed with some nice sheets and covers, a small chest to put his belongings in and a chair in front of the windowsill, with the windows currently boarded up. It was now that he took the time to sit down and look himself once over that he realized how little of his possessions he actually had on him. His bow was still on the ship of the pirate captain Tidescreecher and he lost his weapon somewhere during the scuffle or perhaps as he was teleported, he couldn’t say for sure. He more or less just had the clothes on his body and a little bit of coin that was in his pocket. He would have to figure out a way to make some money before leaving for Milinia. He dropped onto the bed. Elves generally needed less sleep than most other races, with the exception of dwarves who could stay up on pure anger and willpower if they so desired, but sleeping after a weird day like this was more than welcome. Soon he found himself dozing off on the straw bed that was only slightly more comfortable than the bunks they had on the ship.
By the time Mirgia woke up again, the sun was already setting and his stomach started rumbling. He made his way downstairs for some food. In the common room of the inn he found two other travelers – different folk from the Sahilad that he saw when he arrived. He sat at the bar and without even needing to say anything, Garvin put a plate with some bread in front of him. “Stew will be right with you, and I bet you could do with some ale on the side.”
Mirgia wasn’t going to say no to a drink. He tore off a piece of bread and to his surprise it was still somewhat nice and fluffy on the inside, better quality than he’d expected. He popped it in his mouth and slowly chewed it as he thought about his options. His instinct was to leave in the morning and head in as straight a line as possible towards Milinia, but he didn’t want to be in a strange land without enough money to cover a week of travel, so before he ran off, he’d have to figure out some way to make money. He let out a sigh.
“You alright, bud?” Garvin asked as he put the ale and stew in front of Mirgia.
“I’ve got a lot of things going on right now,” Mirgia replied, gratefully starting on the hot stew that almost burned his tongue. “This is good stuff.”
Garvin winked. “The secret is putting in a bunch of spices to hide the low quality of the other ingredients.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s working.” The stew tasted great to Mirgia, who was very hungry. “My main issue right now is money.”
“That’s a common one.”
“To make a long story short, I arrived in this town unexpectedly without any money on me, and I need to make my way back to Milinia somehow.”
“Milinia, eh?” That’s the elven city right? Well makes seein’ as you are one. Then again not every elf has to be from Milinia either, but you know what I mean.” Garvin lit up his pipe and took a puff. “Not many ways to get rich in a town like Redsan to be perfectly frank with you, but if you’re up for some hard work I suppose you could see if Teddy needs help with his farm. It won’t earn you enough to get rich quickly, but that man is more generous than he should be, so I’m sure you could work something out with him.”
Mirgia considered it for a little bit. “He’s already been so generous to me, I don’t want to abuse his good will.”
Garvin chuckled. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind it, he’s a good man, but he’s not all there sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
Garvin shrugged. “Just the oddest person you’ll meet in town, is all.”
Mirgia figured there was no point in pressing the subject further so he instead shifted the conversation to the Sahilid he saw earlier that day. “Any idea what that’s all about? I heard some of them were treated by Yessep as well.”
“Didn’t say what they was here for. But I heard from another traveler that something strange appeared to the west, maybe that’s what it’s about.”
“They discovered a strange maze,” a voice behind Mirgia spoke up. He turned around and looked at the two women sitting at a table. One had dark skin and a blonde buzzcut, the other woman had her hood up and was looking away from Mirgia.
“A strange maze?” Mirgia asked.
The dark skinned woman nodded. “Just appeared one day, they said, so the emperor sent some Sahilid to check it out, and it also piqued the interest of some mercenaries.”
“Yourselves included?” Mirgia asked.
She nodded. “Smells like money, and we’d like a share before the emperor’s men start flooding it like rats and there’s nothing left.”
“Does the emperor claim these sorts of things for himself?”
She shook her head. “He believes that treasure belongs to those who find it first, but he also believes he should do whatever he can to be the first to find the treasure. And he’s got more resources than most of us.”
“It’s all a facade, his toy soldiers just swoop in and claim everything anyway and then he pretends it’s a fair system,” the hooded woman who had been quiet up until now spoke. She turned around and Mirgia noticed that her eyes looked like flames from underneath her hood. It wasn’t something he’d seen before. “If you have any interest in whatever is at this maze, I suggest you give up on it.”
Mirgia smiled. “Thanks for the advice, but I have absolutely no interest in some random maze, I’m just passing through here and was curious.”
The woman shrugged and turned back around.
Later on Mirgia found himself in his room, unable to sleep. Because he’d spent such a large part of the day sleeping, he wasn’t as tired as he normally would have been. He decided to instead stay up and write some letters. One to Karnisal, and one to Cobal, that he would ask Karnisal to send forward for him. With a seal from the elven leader it would be much more likely to get to where it needed to go. Sitting down at his desk, he recognized he didn’t know what to say. He could just describe his situation as happened, but it would be very hard to convey just how crazy it was. After thinking about it for a bit he ended up writing Cobal’s letter first, just explaining that he was transported away, but would return after figuring out whatever strange thing is happening here. He then started on his letter to Karnisal.
Dear Karnisal,
I hope this letter finds you well. I know tensions have been high in the region lately so I apologize for the unexpected news. During my stay with prince Cobal Blueyerd I’ve come into contact with some strange magic that flung me from an island off the coast of Rilodar all the way to Redsan in the Severanti Empire. I’m physically and mentally fine, just a bit out of sorts from the sudden change in surroundings. It seems like strangeness is afoot in this region, so I intend to stay a little while longer to find the funds to travel home as well as figure out what exactly might be going on here. I have included a letter for Prince Cobal with mine, which I hope you could forward to his home in Saphestan with your authority, so it is more likely to reach him. Once I’m in a place where I can comfortably travel back to Milinia, I will report to you what I’ve come across.
Best, Mirgia
He considered for a moment to add his family name, but many elves weren’t too fond of sharing it and although Karnisal of course knew his, if the letter was intercepted at some point they would learn his full name, and Karnisal would quickly recognize that this was indeed a letter from him. Satisfied with what he wrote down, he made his way back down to the common room where he found Garvin dozing off. “Any place in town I can send this letter from?” He asked the smallfolk man, who woke up and had to take a second to process the question. “You’d best ask Sulvanir down at the post office, he’ll be able to get something sorted, but he’s probably closed by now, so you’d be best off waiting till the morning.”
Mirgia nodded. “Thank you for the information, I’ll wait until tomorrow.”
Done with the letters, he finally went to bed.
Opal Kaharis 