A Stunning Plan

Having the sun directly in your eyes when you wake up is not something that anyone enjoys, especially not Shalador… He was never really fond of mornings but then again who is. After waking up and complaining about the sun for a little bit Shalador got out of bed and headed downstairs back into the tavern part of the tavern.

"Oh hey you're up!" A excited voice rang from behind Shalador. Turning around he saw Febbs coming out of his room as well. 'Why did you collapse all of a sudden yesterday? Man you were quite a burden to carry up here you know" Febbs asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Recalling his collapse from yester Shalador laughed awkwardly for a moment before responding "Well i seem to have used up all of my magic. And a result of it dropping down to nothing was a large amount of execution thus the collapse" "Oh! What happened to the third goblin after my collapse and what of the man in black robes?"

"Ah don't remind me of that goblin. Just thinking of him makes my blood boil" "As for the black robed man, he is currently tied up and in the storeroom downstairs. I was waiting for you to wake before going to 'talk' with him" Febbs responded while beginning to walk downstairs.

"Ah I see. Well let's go talk to him then get something to eat. Hopefully we can find out about his intentions and what he meant by "contributions" " Shalador said while following Febbs down the stairs.

Upon reaching the bottom of the floors they saw the same room as before with tables with people either eating or drinking at them but this time instead of Meg being behind the counter there was a guy in a fancy looking outfit sitting lazily there. As for the damage from last they found it surprising but other then the door which was still missing the rest of the mess got cleaned up already.

After heading downstairs they began walking over to the door to the storeroom where the black robed man is but upon reaching the door a voice resounded in their ears "Oi! Where do you two think you're going?"

Seeing that the man behind the counter was speaking to them they were slightly confused for a second before Febbs responded with "Were going to talk to the man from last night. To see if he knows anything that could be helpful?"

Seemingly unconvinced by their response the bartender asked once more "And who are you two to want to speak to him hmm?".

Seemingly realizing that the guy just doesn't know and is doing his job Shalador told the bartender "Well we're the ones who captured him last night so may we go in now?"

"Do you have any proof that you're the ones who captured him? Any proof that you aren't trying to steal something from back there?" The bartender continued to question the pair.

Feeling that this guy is completely unreasonable and they weren't going to be able to make it by this man Shalador leaned over to Febbs and whispered "How about you distract the bartender while I go talk to the black robed guy". After hearing the idea Febbs nodded and walked over to the counter i front of the man.

"Since I can't do that how about some food then?"After saying so Febbs put down a silver on the counter which was quickly taken by the bartender. Taking the coin the bartender examined it for a moment before walking into the kitchen.

Seeing that bartender was out of sight Shalador quickly walked into the back room and immediately saw and old looking man in a black robe tied against the wall. Walking over the the robed man Shalador gave him a little shake… then a large shake in order to wake the man up.

Immediately after waking up the man stared at Shalador then in a assertive voice told him "If you let me go now i can put a good word in with gazar. That way you get punished maybe it would be a bit lighter of a punishment"

Pretending to debate taking the deal of not Shalador said "And if i wanted to ask for forgiveness myself where would i find "gazar" ?"

"See i knew you would want forgiveness, after all who would want to be on the bad side of a servant of god!" The robed man said seemingly unknowing that he was only being used for information.

After getting the location from the robed man Shalador began to ask the man a few other questions gazar and the place that gazar is i.

While wondering how the questioning is going the bartender returned and placed in front of Febbs a plate with a moldy piece of break and a cold piece of meat next to it. "Um do you have anything a bit more fresh than this" Febbs asked while looking down at the questionable food.

"Are you insulting our food? Because if so i'll have to ask you to leave! We don't accept people like that around here." The bartender responded coldly before going back to his lazily state.

Thinking about not eating the food Febbs pushed the food slightly away before his stomach started gurgling as if disagreeing with his decision. [Ugh fine i'll eat it, Happy?] Febbs thought internally.

By the time Febbs finished his food Shalador finished questioning and came out of the store room and immediately got a scolding by the bartender and eventually had to give him a few silver before being able to get away. After getting away from the round of scolding by the bartender Shalador told Febbs about gazar and that he is in a cave slightly north of the trail in the forest.

Walking out of the tavern Febbs looked at Shalador while asking "So what next?"

Thinking for a moment Shalador said back " If we are going to meddle in this situation I think we need to be prepared. Let's head to the store and see if we can sell the weapons that the goblins and the robed man had then see if we can buy some supplies." "and after that well go to the place that this 'gazar' is"

Nodding in approval Febbs and Shalador began to head deeper into the town with their first stop being being the weapons store. Running the store was a dwarf with an extremely large beard who was quite friendly towards the pair and gave them reasonable prices for the weapons they had.

After the weapons store the duo headed to the general store where they were greeted by what they would later call the "Selling Demoness".

"Hello! Welcome to Nazgoten General Store. Are you two looking for anything in particular?" The clerk asked..

"Ugh no nothing in particular just some things that could be helpful" Shalador said whilst looking around the store.

Hearing that there wasn't anything they were looking for exactly may have been the words they regretted most when thinking back to this moment in time.

"Oh then how about some caltrops! Neer know when they could be useful!" The clerc said even though she was already pulling a bag of them out.

"Um i guess that could be useful? Sure" Shaldor said while trying to think of the uses for them

"How about this map! Super useful! You always need a map or else you'll get lost!"

"Yeah that sounds reasonable, sure"

"And this jar of fine oil, What if you need a light?"

"Oh yeah okay that is useful as well"

"This holy amulet! If you don't worship the gods then who do you worship? The demons? Dont tell me youre a follow of demons? That's terrible!"

"No No No I don't worship demons or anything"

"So you'll buy the amulet?"

"Of course"

After a lot more of exchanges like that they eventually got to leave the store with a almost empty wallet and a bag full of semi useless items.

Walking out of the town the two were slightly tired already from all the stuff that they had to buy that will all be going to waste now. "Can… can we not head back to that store?" Shalador said while trying to hold back the tears while thinking of that 'boss monster' they just encountered. Upon hearing the question Febbs seemed to nod his head so many times that it looked like it would fly off which Shalador found quite amusing,

After another hour of so or walking the pair finally found a cave leading into the ground with two goblins guarding the outside of the cave.

Sneaking up to one of the goblins Febbs got closer and closer until he was within attacking range of one of the goblins and immediately launched a sneak attack on the goblin which was a instant knockout because of the force of the staff and that it wasn't fully guarded against a surprise attack.

The second goblin seeing that the his companion was defeated turned around and booked it into the cave which caused both Shalador and Febbs to be stunned at the shamelessness of the goblin.

Walking over the the entrance of the cave Shalador and Febbs looked deeper into the cave with stunned looks on their face at the fact that the goblin didn't even attempt to avenge his friend. Very quickly however the looks of scorn disappeared from their eyes as they head lots of footsteps coming towards them from deeper in the cave.

Upon realizing it Febbs spoke "Ah! He ran to get help. That's a pretty smart move wouldn't you say". Not hearing a response Febbs looked over and saw Shalador in deep thought for a moment before reaching into his bag and pulling out the bag of caltrops from earlier. "Umm what are you going to do with that? Febbs asked while genuinely confused by Shaladors actions.

Not even bother to respond to Febbs' question Shalador pulled out a glass of oil and spread it on the caltrops in the bag before throwing the caltrops into the cave entrance. After a moment of silence a series of tumbling thuds appeared before silence one more fell upon the cave. Looking at the stunned Febbs Shalador said in a calm voice "Well, Let's head in" followed by him walking carefully down into the cave.

Wanting to say something Febbs stood for a moment trying to think of the words to say but ultimately was unable to think of anything and began following Shalador deeper into the darkness.