Lina’s eyes dash around the room frantically, there are around 16 cloaked men along with this tavern keeper, meanwhile Ashen can’t use his blessing without a soul to use.
Lina considers letting them rip them off so they could at least escape without trouble but then they wouldn’t be able to afford new gear, with their tattered and shattered gear they have now they can’t escape into the wilds to avoid the paladins or make it to the dwarves.
But before Lina can take action, Ashen speaks to the tavern keeper,
”Is all this really necessary? We are only a few streets from the public, plus we aren’t the type to go down easily.”
The tavern keeper laughs and waves over some of the patrons, Ashen remains focused on the tavern keeper and then he says something that shocks the room,
”I’m a priest of death, and so are some of your patrons.”
The room goes silent, Lina stares at him like he’s lost his mind, the tavern keeper’s face remains neutral though he raises an eyebrow as he asks,
”You do realize you just committed heresy by claiming a forbidden religion yes? Plus what makes you think my patrons are criminals like that?”
Ashen doesn’t budge as he continues by saying,
”Yes but since we are all criminals here it should be fine yes? So how about instead of trying to rob us and risk getting your patrons caught, you let us be 2 more of your patrons.”
Lina can feel her mind go blank, what could Ashen be thinking? First he admits he’s a priest of death, then accuses the others that they are as well, now he’s offering to work for the man trying to threaten them?
The tavern keeper looks equally as surprised, he looks towards a cloaked man near the back who gives a slight nod, afterwards he returns his gaze back to Ashen then says,
”What are ye offering kid?”
Ashen nods towards the rusty ring the tavern keeper is still holding,
”You can keep that and sell it for a profit, in return you let us go and appraise the rest of our loot, then we go our separate ways until we do business again in the future.”
The tavern keeper smiles as he leans down and says to Ashen,
”Why should I only take this ring when it sounds like you have better stuff in your bags?”
Ashen doesn’t miss a beat, he’s had to live with misfortune all his life so he knows how to make the most out of a bad situation, he looks the tavern keeper dead in the eyes then says,
”Cause wouldn’t it be better to take the safe profit rather than risk your patrons for an unknown one? If you’re so focused on profit that you’d betray the trust your friends here placed in you, then I wonder if they will stick around.”
The tavern keeper is surprised by the argument, he looks around the room and suddenly becomes more tense as he looks at the cloaked men he’s been harboring, the tavern keeper curses under his breath and heads to the back room.
Ashen follows with Lina following him shortly afterwards, still a little shocked at how Ashen handled that.
As they walk into the back rooms, the patron near the corner whom the Tavern Keeper nodded at earlier, stands and heads towards the back rooms as well.
Meanwhile the Tavern Keeper digs through his cabinets for his appraisal tools for more in depth details, Ashen is nearby sorting through his bag as Lina walks in.
The room is pretty sparse with a door behind her, to her right, and a cabinet on her left where the tavern keeper now searches for his tools.
Lina goes to Ashen to ask how he convinced the tavern keeper to hear them out, Ashen then explains,
”I didn’t, in my experience people are greedy and selfish, they only care about their own survival first and other things like profit second. I figured if we were so scared of those cloaked guys, then he might be as well, just had to stir it up.”
Lina thinks it’s a fair point, but then asks,
“Then why admit you’re a priest of death? And why accuse them of also being the same?”
Ashen frowns slightly as he says,
“That was my first idea, I sensed souls in them, I figured if they knew we all shared the same religion they’d be more hospitable, but I guess not.”
Lina chuckles as she nudges Ashen then says,
”Your luck hasn’t been that badly today besides that minor hiccup, but we were just in a room full of Death Priests and didn’t die, I’d call that lucky.”
Ashen continues his frown as he says,
”That’s what worries me.”
Their conversation is interrupted as the tavern keeper grabs his tools then appraises the items they pull out.
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Ashen and Lina show him the rusty ring, rusty sword, black cloth, and rusty bracelet they got from the dungeon.
They have other items like bones from the skeletal monsters and some drops from the paladins but that would draw too much attention.
The tavern keeper whose name is Wyrmtide finishes the appraisal then stands firm as he talks business.
”3 artifacts here, decently made but not great, the most valuable is the sword which has a life steal curse carved into its blade, on the other hand this ring and bracelet are weak with passive regeneration effects.”
Lina is confused as she points to the black cloth,
”Wait so is this not an artifact then? But we found it along with the others.”
Wyrmtide shakes his head then says,
”Nope doesn’t have any runes, decent cloth, maybe a craftsman can make something with it but it’s gonna cost ya.”
Ashen grabs the rusty bracelet and sword then the black cloth, as he’s putting them into his pack, the cloaked man from before steps out of the shadows and says,
”Not so fast, let’s have a little talk so called priest of death.”
Lina can tell this guy is bad news just by be fact that Wyrmtide is suddenly sneaking off with his rusty ring as payment, if Wyrmtide is that desperate to avoid confrontation with this guy then he’s bad news.
Lina steps forward to defend Ashen but Ashen speaks before she gets the chance,
”Yeah, what’s it to you?”
A sharp smile breaks out barely visible underneath the shadow of the hood, then he says,
”It’s just that I don’t sense any souls in you, so either you’re a lying newbie or you’ve got yourself a death wish.”
Ashen responds a little agitated,
”So because I haven’t consumed a soul I can’t be a priest of death?”
The cloaked man steps closer to Ashen, gloved hand resting on the hilt of his sword, before he continues,
”We priests of death can achieve great power thanks to the divine gifts of our father, death should not be feared, so what’s the harm in killing others when they try to kill you?”
Ashen responds with anger that surprises even him,
”No death is something to be avoided, just because you can kill someone doesn’t mean you should, if everyone accepted that logic then everyone would be dead and there would be no more death.”
The cloaked man gets angry at Ashen’s words, he draws his blade and points it at Ashen’s forehead, But Wyrmtide speaks up freezing the blade inches from Ashen’s forehead.
”Wait Hurine, you promised me you wouldn’t cause trouble for me or my business while your group hides here, I don’t want the honor faction knocking on my door looking for missing adventurers do you?”
The cloaked man glares at Wyrmtide both for revealing his name to these people and for speaking against him, then an eery smile crosses his face as he sheathes his blade, Hurine then says to Ashen in a mocking tone,
”If you think death should be avoided then you wouldn’t mind giving me that rusty sword artifact you got? Lifesteal is quite a handy perk for a killer such as me.”
Ashen is silent for a moment, still agitated though he doesn’t fully understand why, he then says,
”Yes but death needs to be avoided, which means I need to defend myself.”
Hurine smiles more as he responds,
”Oh what a shame, cause you’re not leaving here that easily, think of it the price to pay for pissing me off.”
Ashen glares but remains calm as he says,
”I won’t give it to you but you can buy it from me, 20 Gold Pieces.”
Hurine is quiet for a long time before responding with,
”10 Gold coins, that hunk of junk is useless without a craftsman repairing it.”
Ashen doesn’t budge,
”Yes but Wyrmtide said it’s the most valuable of the bunch, and you yourself said life steal is a valuable perk for a killer such as you. If you value the effects so highly then wouldn’t it make sense to pay 20 gold coins?”
Hurine stares at Ashen for a long time, Lina can feel her heart pounding in her chest. She can’t tell if they are about to try to stab each other or reach an agreement.
After what feels like eternity, Hurine pulls out his bag, counts 20 Gold coins, and hands them to Ashen, Ashen then hands him the rusty sword all while the 2 glare at each other.
Hurine starts admiring his new sword as Lina drags Ashen out of there.
They go to a separate room to speak which ends up being the kitchen, Lina is angry at Ashen, if he didn’t make Hurine so angry the situation might have gone better.
”What was that? In all the time I’ve known you, you never lose your cool so what was that?”
Ashen looks towards Lina, at first he remains quiet but since he isn’t alone anymore, perhaps it isn’t right of him to keep his thoughts to himself anymore either, he sighs as he says,
”I’m sorry for acting out but I won’t apologize for my words, it annoyed me that he picked and chooses the words of the scriptures like that, completely ignoring the part where death should be avoided.”
Lina wants to scold him but thinks about his situation. Ashen hasn’t gotten to meet many of his fellow priests due to them being forbidden criminals and all, and when he finally does meet some they try to kill each other due to differences in opinions.
Lina sighs also thinking about how her opinions differ from her fellow priests of life as well so she can’t complain. She then says,
”It’s fine, at least we got some coin from it, we have 2 artifacts and some coin, but we should probably sell the other 2 as well.”
Ashen thinks about her words for a moment before agreeing, regeneration effects are pointless since Lina can heal them, it would be far more useful to sell them for new gear or some actual weapons that aren’t half broken.
Lina and Ashen sell the rusty ring and bracelet to Wyrmtide then quickly leave the tavern.
As they make their way out of the city, Lina asks Ashen,
”You said you sensed souls in the patrons, but Hurine didn’t sense any in you, so is it determined by how many souls they have?”
Ashen looks grim as he continues walking,
”I think so, but thinking back, Hurine had a ton of souls in him, I can’t imagine how strong he must be to have killed so many.”
Lina tries to focus on the bright side as they start heading south towards the rocky wilds though it’s a far journey, she says,
”Hey look at the bright side, at least we won’t have to deal with him anymore.”
Meanwhile Hurine is in a dark alleyway holding his now polished and renewed Lifesteal Blade, he tests it out on a peasant sleeping soundly in the alleyway.
The man in his fifties is knocked out with the smell of ale around him, Hurine raises the blade and beheads him with one clean strike, Hurine then says to himself,
”Better than I thought it would be.”
Hurine’s mind drifts to Ashen, a priest of death who hasn’t consumed souls?! Hurine angrily stabs his sword into the cobblestone floor before shouting.
”Come here you stupid slave!”
A person in a brown cloak runs forward and kneels before Hurine, Hurine angrily kicks the cloaked person before calming himself and saying,
”I’ll deal with your impudence later, I have a new order for you, track and follow the 2 who came by Wyrmtide’s tavern earlier, relay information to me about them, especially that white haired boy. I want everything from locations to weaknesses and secrets, got it?”
The cloaked figure says nothing before Hurine angrily shouts,
”Well don’t just sit there! Get to it!”
The cloaked figure stumbles their way out of the alleyway towards the southern gate of the city, Hurine notices he got some blood on his cloak, he removes it to replace it.
As he removes his cloak, it reveals 2 curved black demon horns atop his head.
Hurine is a demon, whom Ashen just pissed off.
