Cheers

Stepping into the Wet Saddle, we were assaulted by a wave of humidity, body heat, and the stench of ale. I’ve been to my fair share of post-game victories and just as many post-game pity parties, and even I had to wince. The numerous patrons kept partying on, oblivious to our intrusion.

How or why they were going at it so hard in the middle of the day was beyond me. Somehow the barmaids, all wearing a short brown dress with long, poofy white sleeves (fashion was never my strong suit), were keeping up with the cacophony of orders and refills. 

Gina wiped her brow and scanned through the bar-goers. Her scowl grew deeper and deeper with each flit of her green eyes. 

“This can’t be…” she said.

I kicked a nearby stool and swore. “That’s it, huh? We blew the only lead we have?”

“Daisuke, calm down.”

“I’m back at square one! I just wasted an entire day walking and we still have no idea how the hell we’re going to—”

“Gina? Gina Chest?”

We both turned our heads.

It was one of the barmaids, standing behind the bar. She was polishing a glass, which she chucked over her shoulder before coming around to approach us. The glass landed perfectly on the shelf amongst other clean glasses.

All of the tension evaporated from Gina’s body as she saw her. As the barmaid made her way over, I realized that she towered over the other patrons. She was even taller than me. Still, there was a sleekness about her, maybe from her narrow face, maybe from her cascading cerulean locks, maybe from her graceful weaving through the crowd. Also, she had pointy ears.

I nodded to myself. So this was what an elf looked like. Gina wasn’t lying; elves are hot.

The two rushed together to embrace. Gina had to jump to reach the barmaid’s shoulders, and they laughed as they spun around, Gina’s feet kicking midair. 

“Coral, you have no idea how excited I am to see you!”

They slowed to a halt and untangled themselves, dumb smiles on both their faces.

“By the gods, it’s been too long!” Coral said. “Where in tarnation have you been?”

“Where have you been? I was trying to find you in the sea of customers and I was so confused when you weren’t there. Don’t tell me you’re employed.”

“You know what they say. If you choose a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your dang life!”

“But you were such a troublemaker! Our whole party was banned from half the taverns in Questia because of you. Your name was adopted into two languages to mean ‘disaster’ or ‘chaos.’”

Coral’s smile grew wider. I could’ve sworn her teeth were pointy.

“I know!” she said. “Now the Wet Saddle is makin’ me work off my tab and all of the damages I’ve caused throughout the years. I’ll be workin’ here for the next century.”

“Do elves live that long?” I asked.

The two looked at me like I said something wrong. Probably because I did.

“Pardon?” Coral asked.

“Well since you’re an elf—”

“I’m mixed, actually. Half merfolk, half human.”

“Oh. Okay. But if you’re not an elf,” I said, “then why do you have pointy ears?”

Gina turned pale. 

“Oh my God, Daisuke, you can’t just ask someone why they have pointy ears.” She turned to Coral. “Don’t listen to this guy, he’s nice but he’s stupid.”

“Don’t you worry a thing, G.” Coral said, chuckling. “Us merfolk have pointy ears too. I reckon you’re new here, ain’tcha?”

I nodded. “Just arrived up a couple days ago. The name’s Daisuke.”

Coral nodded back. “A pleasure. I’m Coral.” She flashed her pointed teeth at me in a warm smile, and in that moment I understood why so many adventurers came to this tavern.

She turned back to Gina.

“He’s your party member, then. Now I thought you renounced being an adventurer. Why are you goin’ back to that life?”

Gina shrugged. “I was just taking a break,” she said.

“Last I recall, you said you were—”

I cleared my throat.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt this reunion,” I said, “but Gina and I have something to ask of you. And it’s urgent”

Gina gave me a relieved look.

“Shoot,” Coral said.

“As a fellow NPC,” Gina began, “I would like you to join our party to aid this hero in defeating the Demon King. In five days time.”

Coral crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Gina with an arched eyebrow, then glanced at me.

“Five days?” She whistled.

“Now I hate to be unkind,” she said. “Really. I do. But that there just don’t sound possible. It reminds me of the lofty ambitions you and me had, Gina, back in the good ole days. But that life is over for me.” She nodded her head back towards the bar. “Eustace pulled me out of the gutter and gave me a second chance. I owe that to him. I ain’t gonna turn back on him now.”

Coral shook her head, making her blue curls sway.

“I’m sorry, G. I can’t join your party,” she said.

Gina and I shared a distraught look. Gina’s face even looked apologetic. But I couldn’t fault her. She really tried.

“But,” Coral said. “I think there is a way I can still help you.”

She beckoned us to follow her back to the bar.

Coral pulled bottles of all shapes, sizes, and colors from the bar shelves with practiced ease. Gina and I sat down on the battle-scarred, smelly stools they had. My stool was squeaky. We were transfixed as Coral stirred and measured and decanted and poured liquids from all bands of the rainbow. 

The end product was a two glasses of glowing liquid gold. She slid them towards Gina and me.
“Bottoms up,” she said. “It’s important.”

So I drank it in one gulp. Gina did the same It was smooth and cold and also tasted like battery acid. I started coughing up a lung while Gina showed no reaction.

“What kind of potion was that? Ugh, the aftertaste is awful,” I said.

“Oh, that wasn’t no potion. It was an oromargarita. Just a cocktail of mine.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve had one of these,” Gina said. 

The room started swaying and my face was warming up. Wow, that alcohol kicked in quick.
“And why was it important?” I asked. I had to squint my ears to hear what she said and focus on her answer.

“So you would loosen up! Goodness gracious, you had eyes that could stare a cockatrice to death. You won’t make any lick of progress if you’re so tense. You need to go with the flow. There. Free advice, that’s one way I just helped you.” She reached behind for a wooden bowl. “And here’s the second way.”

Coral placed it in front of me and began pouring water into it.

“You know about classes, boy? Gina here is a thief, a damn good one too. Me on the other hand?” She sharply stopped pouring and put the water jug back on the shelf just as the bowl as about to overflow. “I’m a monk. A monk of sight. Monk is my class, and sight is my aspect.”

Even buzzed, I could tell that didn’t sound right.

“What kind of monk spends all their time at bars?”

“A bad one,” Gina commented, chuckling to herself. 

“A fun one,” Coral said. She raised her hands over the bowl of water and her hands began to glow. The silver reflection of the water began to deepen and gain other colors. First green, then blue, then yellow, red, and soon it became as rich as a photograph. “The aspect of sight grants mild clairvoyance.”

Gina leaned against me. “That meeeaaaans she can see the future,” she said. I shooed her off.
“And the class of monk means this clairvoyance typically pertains to wisdom, advice, and guidance.”

Her words bounced around my brain, taking a while before landing in places they could be comprehended.

“Should I really be listening to advice from you?” I asked.

“Oh, hush. Just look into the bowl already.”

I did.

I shambled to my feet, the stool squeaking in protest. I held my head over the bowl, which was a Herculean feat given my stupor. My eyes would focus and unfocus, blur and unblur, but after an embarrassing amount of time I saw something. 

My brain just couldn’t compute what it was.

Whatever it was, it was like viewing it directly from above. As if the bowl was like a porthole to the ceiling above this thing. 

“Uhhhh it’s…. It’s a blob. No wait. It’s sitting on a blob. A gray blob, a rock maybe? Yeah, a rock. And the thing on top is… a cross? A black cross. Wait a sec. I’m getting something.”

I leaned so close that my nose touched the surface of the water. Though it made ripples spread, the image was still visible.

“I think it’s… a sword? But it’s broken. It’s missing the pointy half.”

Gina and Coral started screaming. It made my already pounding head ache even more. 

“What, what? Oh my God what.”

At the very least they seemed happy. I think? Yeah, they were. In fact, they were chanting something.

“Half-sword Dave! Half-sword Dave! Half-sword Dave!”

“…Who?”

Gina got up from her stool and hugged me. It was strangely nice.

“Half-sword Dave is another old party member of mine! Can you believe that?”

“C’mon y’all, let’s drink to that!” Coral said, pouring more drinks. 

“Is it really that big of a deal!”

“Yes it is!” Gina said, still clinging on to me. “That vision means the next person we should see is Half-Sword Dave. And he’s particularly important to you!”

She put some space between us but kept her arms on my shoulders. Her green eyes glittered in the dim glow of the Wet Saddle’s candlelit interior. 

“Because he’s a Player too,” she said.