Bob The Innkeeper

It seemed like they were all talking with each other, and spreading the word that Bob was doing this all for them. He didn"t correct them, that he was really doing it to make more money, because it was pretty much the same thing, right?

"Hey, Bob?" called an adventurer, who had a deer carca.s.s thrown over his shoulder, "You have that butcher up and running, right?"

"Charlie is set up over there, but eventually, there will be a butcher"s shop next door," said Bob, pointing the man and his son out. They had been pretty busy over the past day, processing all of the game the influx of adventurers brought with them.

"Bob, there"s a n.o.ble servant wanting to know about the new furniture we have in?" called Vivian from the side door, as Bob had just finished grabbing himself a bowl of soup and checking on the construction progress.

He hurried after her, knocking the snow off his boots on the way, and smiled at the tall man waiting for him.

"I had heard you might have some nice furniture available for sale?" asked the man, looking rather bored, as if he didn"t believe Bob had anything worth his time.

"I do. You are welcome to come see them. My father, Master Hector had them special made for some of the n.o.bles in town, but because they were damaged, he couldn"t sell them. I have a full bed, with a matching side table, two tables, and a nice chair."

The interest in the man"s eyes blossomed as he looked over the fine workmanship. There was obvious damage on each piece, but nothing that prevented use.

"How much for the bed?" he asked softly, running his hands over the delicate carved wood.

"How does 58 gold sound? My father was asking over a hundred."

The look on the man"s face was sad as he turned to look at some of the other furniture. While he seemed to admire them, he kept coming back to the bed. It had ornate scrolls carved into the headboard, that entwined with themselves and formed curlicues across the entire piece.

"The driver lost control of his horse and dumped the entire shipment out onto the streets. This piece has a long scratch along the entire side, here, that made it unsellable to the n.o.ble who ordered it. It"s perfectly sound, just marred," explained Bob, watching as the man warred with himself over it.

"I want it, but there"s no way I can afford it. I guess I will have to wait until I get paid at the end of the month, and hope you still have it."

"Very well, have a good day," said Bob as the man sighed and left.

Taking his bowl of soup, he moved over to the other counter, to help Vivian watch the few adventurers that were in the store at the moment. No sooner had he taken a sip of it, when Alastair entered, and smiled at him as she approached the counter.

"Good day, Ali…" he started to say when she raised an eyebrow, cutting him off.

"Good day, Bob, I see you are healthy as ever."

Blinking, Bob realized that she appeared different from the last time he had seen her. She wasn"t in her cat form, but a human one, except this human form was different. Her appearance was of a young girl this time. She must be able to take several different human forms. The magical aura around her was still the same, which is how he recognized her.

"What brings you to my store?" he asked, setting his soup down.

"Curiosity," she answered, with a smile, flicking her hand at him, and hitting his shirt sleeve gently.

"What?" he asked, watching as the faint magical aura his shirt had been giving off seemed to fade. He could tell it was still magical, but the aura was no longer visible. She did the same thing to his vest, as if chasing a fly.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her as she giggled and turned to leave.

"It will be now," she said in a high-pitched sing song voice.

Bob could almost see a cat tail swishing back and forth as she disappeared through the door, and shook his head.

"Excuse me, Master Bob? Do you happen to carry any of the special ink for mages? I had a friend recommend you, and I could sure use some. I tried to buy some from the other places around town, and couldn"t even get any from that magical shop of Alastair"s."

"That"s odd," said Bob, glancing at the man as he pulled a bottle of the ink down. "You must not like cats."

"No, actually," said the man surprised. "I can"t stop sneezing whenever they"re around."

"Are you cursed?"

"No, I went to see a cleric about it, and he a.s.sured me there was no curse. I"ve decided I"ll just avoid them."

The mage thanked him after paying and turned to leave when several thugs entered, along with Jack, the Merchant Guild Master.

"Good day, Jack. How may I help you today?" asked Bob, sighing about his cooling soup.

The few adventurers, and Leo and Zach were all sizing up the three thugs who were with Jack as Jack sneered at him.

"I was informed that you have broken your contract with the guild, by selling magical items in your store without the proper permits. That is a violation that will result in the forfeit of your current permit and the closure of your store," touted Jack.

Bob raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Why, Jack. I don"t have anything magical for sale. You"re welcome to check yourself?"

"Don"t think I won"t!" he declared, turning to another smaller man, who had entered behind them.

Bob hadn"t even seen the man; he was so much smaller than Jack. Bob watched as the man pulled his sleeves back, and began to cast his spell of detection. Anything that was magical in the room began to faintly glow. All of the adventurers had something, even Leo and Zach had magical items, but none of Bob"s wares lit up. There wasn"t even the faint glow of his shirt and vest. Alastair may have heard about Jack coming and hurried over to hide them.

Jack frowned as he snooped in all of the rows of shelves that Bob had behind his counter, pausing at the furniture his father had given him to sell, before whirling to point to Bob"s bowl.

"The soup! It must be what"s magical!"

"It"s but a common bowl of soup?" a.s.sured Bob, picking it up for him to see.

"Where"s the kitchen?!" declared Jack, rushing through the side door to where Liam was stirring the giant pot of soup. His thugs and the mage followed him.

"There! See!" he declared, pointing at the faintly glowing pot.

"What?" asked Liam, stopping his stirring, and the glow faded.

"I don"t believe the soup itself is magical, and that is what I am selling," argued Bob, lifting his bowl to take a sip. It had gotten cold, but still had a good flavor.

"It is a violation to sell anything magical, and the soup was obviously glowing magical!" insisted Jack.

"That"s ridiculous!" cried one of the adventurers.

"That"s a load of crock!" cried another.

"Who in their right mind would sell magical soup for a copper a bowl?" argued another.

Jack stood there, looking confused as close to twenty different adventurers started yelling and arguing with him over the stupidity of his allegations.
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"I sell a bowl of soup for a copper. Perhaps you could have your mage cast his spell again?" asked Bob, as Liam scooped a bowl full out and handed it to Jack.

The mage cast his spell again, and the bowl did not glow.

"I guess I must have been mistaken," said Jack through his teeth, handing the bowl back to Bob before storming off to the continued shouts of outrage of the adventurers.

"Don"t think too much of it, Bob," they a.s.sured him. "We"ll beat some sense into him if he tries to come back and start anything!"

"Thank you," he said, handing the extra bowl to Liam.

"I cast magic on it when I stir the pot," admitted Liam. "It keeps it from going bad. You would be amazed to hear some of the things my grandpa could do with a good Purify Food spell."