The Town

[singindemonhq]

They call this place a town but it'd hardly fit into a corner of Sunnydale. I'd call it a big village, but it's large enough to have a couple of bars. They'd seen the Minions in the smallest one. Nobody ever remembers Marty for long unless he's wearing his mask or he's done something really unusual. People just don't notice him. It's one of the things that makes him so valuable, but several of the men males remembered Nixi, A strange woman, in outlandish men's clothes, who knew nobody in the area and had no proper money at all - a couple of them had plans for her.

She isn't good looking by their standards, (the Hobbit females are buxom and she's built like a guitar string,) but they thought she was - she'd say a Greckle. She looked like an easy victim. Maybe if she'd turned up at a cottage with a sob-story someone would have taken her in, but they went to a bar and she'd wanted to buy a drink. A married guy had bought it for her and not in a fatherly way. If she'd tried to stick around after that the women would have run her out of town.

I got some strong, sweet mead, but not with glamored gold. They have charms against that. The Hobbit barman sang about Nixi. He was one of the guys with plans. That really annoyed the plump, placid-looking landlord - and not for any of the reasons you'd expect! (I ought to note that down when I've got more time.) It set off some action and I took what I wanted while it went on. The "Don't see me" charms work well enough, but not for very long.

Then I slipped away upstairs. They had a travellers rest, of sorts. Flea-ridden straw sacks for mattresses and I guessed from the smell that drunks sleep it off there. I ate and then drank most of the mead, although I'd rather have kept some for emergencies - at least now I know that there's something I can use here. I stashed the rest under the eves.

There was no way I would have slept in that attic - I couldn't even tell if Nixi and Marty had been in there, though I guess the Little Wolf would have known. That thought reminded me and I made sure to leave a trail of my own while I was in the town.

Then I smoked off to look around the place. People remembered them, all right. Marty had tried to change coin with a Smith who thought he was an agent of the enemy, and Nixi had tried to sell the Ring of Amara in the nearest likely store! The storekeeper turned it down. He'd tested it for magic but she couldn't demonstate what it did so he offered her one gold coin for the ring and services. She'd told him to insert his money somewhere dark and left with the ring. He'd regretted that since, there'd been enquiries. One guy had offered him a pouch of gold for the ring and a second had told him to get the ring or get a knife where it'd do him no good.

It looked as though there could be a bunch of hunters after my Minions, but at least the guy's song told me which way they went. "Towards Mordor" seems to be East. I smoked on through the town and found an open window and a clean, deserted loft that smelled of apples. Then I could finally catch some sleep. I'll breakfast on mead, if I get the chance, and then push on.