Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

"Ugh," Jalin leaned against the bar and came back with sap on his arm. "I think the counter's been scarred up."

Sinach peered over and sighed, "It's a tree, Jalin. Why do you think I prefer bookshelves?"

 

[Fangs9090]

“That sap makes for a good drink though.” The bartender smiled at them. “It’s actually our specialty.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin raised an eyebrow at that, "This sticky goo oozing out of this counter is a drink?" Really that was the dried stuff from spilled drinks, but Jalin couldn't see that the counter was not in fact sliced open by the knives of careless patrons.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Well, not from the counter. But yes, we use the sap from the trees as part of a drink. Don't try drinking it straight, it's not as good." He sounded like visitors did that frequently.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Have fun with that," Sinach fluttered up to the branches in the ceiling to take a look at things from above, or at least away from Emilia before the atmosphere inside that tree got spider sweat on his pages. Not a fun thing to try and clean.

"And what is this drink?", Jalin asked. He assumed that the bartender meant the sap was processed into syrup used to flavor some kind of mead, but he'd been wrong before about alcohol. Last time it had been fun, this time... not really, he really needed to practice his utility magicks, not just his hemomancy and necromancy.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Well, the popular one is a mead, but we also have a juice mix that uses it, for those who aren’t looking to forget the evening.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hmm," Jalin nodded, "How much for the juice?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Two copper. And three for the mead."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin fished out his coin purse and, after sniffing to make sure he had the right coins, and set two coppers on the counter. "One sap juice."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia set down another three coins. "And a mead."

The bartender nodded as he took the coins. "Coming right up."

Roy glanced at the other two. "Are either of you hungry?"

Emilia nodded. "I am."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin shook his head, "I ate some cheese on the road, I'll be fine until it's time to leave."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Alright then." Roy and Emilia took a look at the posted menu. They had the expected wild salads, but they also had items with meat. Roy had salad, Emilia had meat.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin realized something was off when he hadn't heard anything from Shuffle. "Where is the golem?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy blinked and glanced around. He'd gotten used to traveling without her, he'd forgotten to keep an eye on her. "...well, that's not good..."

Emilia looked around as well. "She seems to have run off somewhere."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin's throat made a groaning noise as he tapped his cane, "Book, go look for the golem."

"No, have you seen this place? Don't answer that," Sinach shook his head, "I can't navigate this city, it's too complicated!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy shook his head. "I'll track her down. Just watch my food when it gets here." He got up and started heading for the door.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin sighed and turned back to the counter, sipping on his sap juice. "Three silver says he finds a mess."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia looked at Jalin. “What sort of mess?”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Eh," Jalin shrugged, "Knowing what I know of Shuffle, a gory one."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Hm...very well. I’ll take that bet.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hmm," Jalin nodded and turned his attention back to the bar. The sap juice was about as strange as he expected, but not horrible to his palatte. He imagined Niudisa might have liked it, were she present and inclined to consume food and drink.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia drank her drink and kept an eye on Roy’s food while she ate her own.

After a few minutes, Roy returned guiding Shuffle by the hand. She smelled significantly more like the woodland city now and had leaves stuck to various parts of her person.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin sniffed the air and sighed, passing a few coins to Emilia as he did not detect any gore in the air. "Because the divines never will I be correct."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia giggled as she took the coins. “Sorry. She just doesn’t seem the type to kill without reason, even if she can.”

Roy sat at the bar again, Shuffle sitting on the floor nearby, and let out a sigh. “She started scratching at some trees and, for whatever reason, rubbed against it and got sap all over her. She was trying to rub it off on the ground when I found her.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin groaned at that, "That will not wash out easy." The sap on the table already seemed like it would take ages to remove. "Do we have an update on the marshalling of materials?" He knew he was being impatient, they'd only been there a few minutes, but he was already feeling restless. Something was off about this place, and not just that he had no clue where he was since everything sounded the same outside the structure.