Bob The Innkeeper

"How did you know that?" asked Trudy uncomfortably.

"I know a lot of things lately. It"s been rather odd, having information suddenly pop into my head, but I think I don"t mind."

"Neither of us have that ability," said Liam, glancing at Trudy. "How do you have it?"

"I believe Joseph had something to do with it. He"s your grandfather, right Trudy?" he looked at her as she swallowed and nodded.

"You"ve met him?" asked Liam.
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"Not yet, but I have a feeling I probably will. Where is Wizardia?" he asked.

"It"s our home, on a different realm from this one. Joe searches out safe realms for all of Joseph"s descendants to travel to when they reach maturity. It"s a new requirement, since he"s had so many born this generation," explained Trudy.

"The same Joe as Saint Joe?" asked Bob, surprised.

"Probably. He gets a lot of followers in some of the less advanced realms he visits. I"m surprised he has clerics that can actually use magic when they follow him. I wasn"t aware it worked like that," admitted Liam.

"It"s going to take me a while to get used to this new ability, do you know what else I can expect to be able to do with this?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head as he was overwhelmed with all of the possibilities.

"Only Joseph could answer that question. We"re surprised he gifted you the ability to gain information," said Liam.

"It"s only information that is spoken of in an inn or bar setting. Though the concept of what is a bar can be stretched pretty thin, to include any place where alcohol is drunk."

"That"s impressive," mused Trudy.

"Alright, then you guys head off to bed. There"s a lot that needs to be dealt with in the morning," said Bob, noting Leo poking his head into the room.

"No a.s.sa.s.sins yet, right?" he joked.

"No, they"re just outside though, if you and Zach want to deal with them. Be careful, one of them has a poisoned blade," said Bob, heading towards the stairs. He wanted to check on his father, and the looks of surprise and horror that appeared on their faces made him want to break out laughing.

Zach and Leo rushed outside, with their swords drawn, and the sounds of shouts of surprise rang out, beckoning the adventurers to swarm back outside as well. Bob doubted there would be another a.s.sa.s.sin attempt on him after this.

As he reached the top of the stairs, he paused to look at the layout of the second floor over the shop. It was odd with the wall separating this area and the upper floor of the inn. As he stood there thinking it over, Bob decided that he would talk to Sam about redoing it, and taking out the stairs in the middle of the shop. If he handed the store back over to his father, until he got back on his feet, he could focus on getting the inn and the bar running. All of the different drinks he could try and make were swarming through his mind, and he couldn"t help but chuckle. It would take some practice to get them right, but he was sure he could make his money just from serving drinks this way.

Reaching his bedroom, he peeked in on his father, and saw he was sleeping fitfully. The smoke had hurt his blood, making it hard for him to get the air he needed. The cleric"s heal had restored the damage to his body, but the affect on his blood would take several days for him to get over. Bob didn"t understand all of the knowledge that came to him about it, but he could understand that his father would be alright after a couple days.

Shutting the door gently, so as not to wake him, he checked on the large room that all of his employees shared. The kids had their beds shoved together, to be able to share their body heat, as they were used to it. Vivian was out on her bed, against the wall.

Liam and Trudy were getting ready to sleep, in the large bed that they shared, and glanced up at him. He waved and stepped out, realizing that he probably needed to give them their own room. The thing that surprised him the most was how Cookie and Benjie were sleeping side by side, instead of Benjie sleeping across the room with his father, Charlie. Were the two serious about each other? Bob decided he needed to check on that in the morning as well. He didn"t recall noticing them getting interested in each other. She did talk a lot to Benjie, but seeing as how Benjie couldn"t talk…

Bob suddenly wondered if Cookie knew Benjie couldn"t talk? He was intrigued by the thought, and turned as Leo and Zach showed up, out of breath and surprised to see him waiting on them.

"How did you know they were outside? No one was there to have seen them!" panted Zach, leaning against the wall as he fought to catch his breath.

"It"s a long story, and you probably won"t believe me anyway. Let"s get some sleep. Tomorrow"s going to be busy," Bob said, handing them blankets and making himself comfortable on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Leo and Zach looked at him for a moment, sharing looks, before they settled in for the night themselves.

The next morning, Bob found himself waking earlier than normal. He had struggled to sleep at all the night before, and wondered if he didn"t need to sleep anymore with the divinity he had gotten. Would it run out? Did he need to build a group of followers to keep it up? There were so many questions that ran through his head as he headed downstairs to get the fire built up before everyone started showing up for the day.

Liam and Trudy, with Cookie trailing after them, showed up first, surprised to see him, but disappearing quickly in the direction of the kitchen. Leo and Zach watched as Bob swept the floor and straightened the wares on the shelves after building the fire. They looked more tired than normal, and Bob decided they could be let go that day. He would talk to his dad about it when he woke up.

Benjie showed up next, blinking in the lantern light as he waved on his way to the kitchens as well. Charlie followed soon after, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. It wasn"t long before Vivian and the kids started to show up, pulling clothes and boots on as they trooped over to the kitchens for their breakfast before starting on their day.

"Timmy, don"t play hide and seek while you"re supposed to be working today," cautioned Bob, watching as the boy nodded quickly before darting off with a guilty look on his face. "And Fergus, tell your big brother I would like to talk to him some time."

The look on Fergus"s face as the other kids turned to look at him in confusion was priceless.

"How do you know I have a brother, Master Bob?" asked the boy, obvious fear on his face.

"Just tell him that I don"t mind the Thieves" Guild coming to my bar, as long as they don"t cause any trouble."

He nodded very stiffly, and turned to leave, not making eye contact with any of the other kids. Bob knew they were going to grill him mercilessly, but he wanted them all to know that they couldn"t hide things from him.

As Hector came down the stairs, groaning at each step, Bob turned to him with a smile.

"Father, I think that you should run my store, with Vivian as the manager, of course, until you can get your other shops rebuilt. I would recommend Sam, my builder, but I have him pretty busy on my own projects."

"It"s alright. I think I need a few days to get with everyone and see what I can salvage. Clark"s gone too far for anyone to overlook this. I"ll be back in time for supper, if you can have Liam save me something?"

There was pain in his eyes, as Bob realized his dad was having a hard time dealing with the thought of losing Edith and Stewart, so soon after losing his mom.

"I want you to take Leo and Zach with you. I"m safe here, with so many adventurers around, and I fear your health after that fire. The cleric may have healed your body, but poison from the smoke may still be in your blood."

His father nodded slowly, not liking the thought of taking the safety away from his son, when there were obvious a.s.sa.s.sins targeting him, but they both knew Clark would be stupid to try anything else, and Bob wasn"t about to tell his dad at the moment, about the a.s.sa.s.sins from last night.

He gave Leo and Zach warning looks as they looked at him questioningly, and they seemed to pick up on the fact he wasn"t going to like them sharing that tidbit just that moment, and both kept their mouths shut.

"I have a lot to take care of today, so perhaps it wouldn"t be a bad idea to have them by my side. Don"t leave the store today, so I don"t worry about you," his dad said, moving to the inn for something to eat.

As he opened the door, the smell of the soup Liam had started warming up drifted into the room, and Bob"s stomach growled. At least that still worked like normal, he thought.