The rest of the road was uneventful and I soon arrived at the hut of Abigail, the local witch. She seems to share the same issues that the non-human races have in the Northern Kingdoms. People are uneducated and, frankly, stupid. Uneducated and stupid people tend to fear things they don’t understand, so there’s racism aplenty. There’s also a significant surplus in fear against magic and magic users.
Abigail was not surprised the reverend was suspicious of her, but there was no reason for me to trust him over her. After all, she was the one to take in the orphaned boy, while the reverend was nowhere to be seen at the time.
Abigail lacks the warts of a proper witch.
I decided to return to the inn to check up on the latest rumors. On my way there, I encountered a group of local idiots pestering Vesna, who works as a waitress at the inn. Thing’s would have gotten ugly for her extremely fast, had I not arrived when I did. As it was now, the thugs were easy to dispose of and I’m sure no one will miss them. Vesna was so grateful; she offered to “repay” me if I meet her at the local mill after dusk. I’m not sure I’ll take her up on that offer, but it’s always good to have options.Once I reassured her, she offered to help in my investigation. The beast is definitely supernatural in origin, so she got the idea to use Alvin, the boy, as a conduit to commune with whatever forces that caused the beast to appear. In order to do that, she needs to brew a potion and I am to acquire the ingredients. I agreed, but for now, there are other things I must do.
I returned at the inn and spoke to the dwarf Zoltan. I acquired a set of dwarven dice, so I asked him about it. He explained the game they are used for, which is basically poker with dice. I played a few games with him and even won some money, so he directed me towards a few active players in the area.
The easiest way to make money in the game.
I was just about to leave, when a rich merchant walked in. He was looking for his friend and offered two hundred oren for any information about him. I was interested so I spoke to him in detail. His friend apparently used a cave beneath the city walls to smuggle goods, so that’s probably where I should go first.After the game, I’ve spent some time earning money at the local fight club. Most of the fighters were local drunkards, so I had no difficulty in beating them. I also spoke to Shani, but she didn’t have anything new to tell me. A merchant that was staying there sold me a few books about the local flora and fauna, but other than that, nothing of importance happened.
I left the inn and started looking for the plants Abigail needed. Thanks to one of the books I bought, they were easy to identify and I soon had more than enough for the potion. It took a while for the brewing process to complete, but she was done eventually and Alvin drank it.
It worked almost instantly. The spirit possessing Alvin was aggressive and angry, speaking of the beast as a punishment the village rightfully deserves for its wickedness. Things started to look ugly, so Abigail repelled the creature before Alvin got hurt. She sent the boy to bed and I decided to visit the reverend with the information I now had.
