There was a large and strong-looking woman with an axe and an iron helmet, with one of the horns having been lobbed off in some battle long ago. She had pauldrons the size of my chest covering each shoulder with a blade along one of them to protect against blades swinging at her neck. Getting a closer look at her, she certainly wasn't human judging by her face and arms, yet somehow I knew she was female judging by the shape of her frame.

  She walked forward, gruffly voiced, walking over to the inkeep who I assumed was now named Shanice. "Shanice, come on, look at the poor thing. Don't you remember adventurers like us starting off paupers just like him! They gave us a chance, so why can't you? "I saw she had a snout; it was long and furry, but unlike a dog or any other creature I would grow familiar with, almost lizard-like with fur over her face and piercing squinted brown eyes looking down at the inkeep.

  Shanice flicked the large plate a bit, moving it around on the floor, almost fiddling with it as she leaned against it for support. "I can't just give free help to every peasant that makes his way inside my inn! Sage is expensive; the pottage is of meat! Where do you think we got that from, eh?"

  The creature who gave pity on me suddenly slapped a few coins beside Shanice, and she smirked a great grin, one grin that could only be garnered if they spat on the challenges of the world. Her confidence was gleaming in front of the moment, albeit just a tiny inkeep with a corset too tight for her. The female creature spoke: "Now, now, Shanice, do me a favor, and why not get him a room for the night, and some fresh pottage, and in Necroton's graves, a beer, or two, or three!"

  The others who sat at the table began laughing, a couple hooting and hollering at me, making faces and drinking motions with their hands. I couldn't help but chuckle in the moment, then seeing the creature looking back at me with a smirk. The coins she splayed across the table looked different from what I had placed on the counter. This one had what appeared to be a vertical line and a "greater than" symbol (<) to the right of the vertical line. (|<) Sure enough, Shanice quickly pulled the money off the counter and looked back at me.

  "Looks like you have a friend looking out for you! Very well, clean up you will have, and a room for a night, and libations!" The others cheered, and I looked to the adventurer who stood at my height (thankfully), and she slapped my shoulder harder than I could ever imagine. My body fell forward a bit as I gripped onto the counter. Whoever this creature woman was, she was certainly STRONG! She smirked again with that same smirk she gave Shanice.

  "Relax, adventurer, you'll find your way. The world is your oyster. You will become rich and powerful as gods. Today you begin a pauper. Tomorrow, on a journey to the rest of your life!" I looked at her and wanted to know her name, but I was too afraid to ask! She was quite powerful, with arms as thick as a gorilla's, covered in fur. Yet she smiled, and she quickly shooed and kicked at my shins from behind to urge me forward and up a set of wooden stairs. I stammered to speak in the moment as she rushed me in the midst of her generosity. I couldn't understand this creature; at least she could have told me her name after having spent so much on my room, board, and "libations."

  I stammered a yell as she pushed me up. "Ma'am! Please! I don't know what I'm doing! I don't even know what you are!" She nudged me up as I complained. I wanted to stammer a thank you, a statement of sorts, for meeting her and her party, but she simply wouldn't offer me the chance! I was placed at the top of the stairs, and she began to walk back down, hearing the heavy creak of her footsteps. There I could see her feet were covered in armor, huge and thick claws, 4 of them as she stepped, with the thickness of an elephant's foot! Human she was not.

  "Bird-khan! Honorable I am, and honor I shall keep among my people!" She unsheathed her axe and slammed it across her chest-plated bosom. "HOO-RAW!" The others cheered her on, speaking of her tribe, quickly rising in a chant of song:

  "Khadar-Khan always settles their debt!

  Find in battle, you will regret!

  To love, to fight, to drink, always in duet!

  But who is to stand in the way?

  Thus say I, Nay!

  Nay, said the party!

  Nay, said the adventurer!

  Nay, said the fighter,

  For fear strikes in the mind of those that step,

  Khadar-Khan!

  Khadar-Khan!

  Khadar-Khan!

  HOO-RAW!"

  Their songs continued, and I turned to look to the right along the hallway. I could see all the doors were closed save for a single one. Did she really pay for an entire room, food, drink, and bath? Certainly the short woman with giant ears and a tight corset wasn't hounding me. In that moment of the commotion downstairs, the thought of "bath" came over my mind. I walked along, rubbing my shoulder, which was hit a bit too hard by the birdkhan woman. She really was as strong as her songs told of her.

  I reached for the open door and saw it was a well-worn wooden door. The cracks in it were large enough to see through, but only if you angled yourself just right along the door. I quickly closed the door and saw a small straw bed that had been wrapped in a comfortable but coarse linen. There was a singular thin rectangular window with a succulent plant in a small pot along the side of the window. I could smell a bit of a homey, lived-in smell of cardamom and sage. Along the corner was a single desk containing parchment, a quill, an inkwell, and a small handful of linen papers ready to write a letter on.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The room was only lit by the thin window, leaving it comfortably dim inside. Additionally, a table with a small bowl of potpourri. I could see inside had the source of the smell; both cardamom seeds and bushels of sage filled the bowl. Looking to the left, I saw a large cylindrical tub no taller than up to my knees that had a generous amount of water inside, likely lukewarm. Beside was a bucket containing a tallow soap and a rough wool rag to clean and dry myself with. Inside the bucket was a large sponge for scrubbing. It was surely a sight to behold while looking at my dirty knees, arms, and hands!

  A sigh of relief! A quick undressing of my ragged clothing; a sudden splash; a collecting of the bucket, pouring water over myself, allowing the tallow to work its wonders, scrubbing with a splendorous sponge, no doubt plucked from the nearby ocean, still smelling of ocean breeze. I ran the sponge across my arms, seeing the dirt wash off. The dirty clothing lay before me alongside a chair hanging from the back end. Certainly I would take the time to clean off my clothes. I sunk into the bath and looked to the right without moving my head, my mouth submerged in soapy water.

  The bed looked nice; certainly my adventure would begin there. What a comfortable and undeserved start! The thought came over me; everyone had been calling me an adventurer. I felt it in my bones, in the recesses of my brain; while I forgot all, I didn't forget my profession or my name. "A good night's rest and a quick turn to the shop" was what Kaal-sa told me, and even without money, I would figure something out; something would happen; this I knew in my mind.

  After a long evening of cleaning, I could see the sun begin from the light shaft peering through the window sill begin to recede along the wall. The walls were painted an off-color white, somewhat peach. I had washed my clothes to the best of my ability, allowing them to hang alongside the windowsill to dry. Somehow I knew the sun would have been enough with an open window. After preparing myself, I lay in the hay and linen bed.

  I couldn't remember the last time I layed in a bed, and judging by the dirt that I washed off, it must have been some moment, yet somehow I could not remember. I took a breath and shut my eyes as the evening turned into a subtle night. The voices and mutter of those downstairs were but a muffle, hearing them as I drifted off to sleep.

  There I was, floating and witnessing an expansive battlefield. I floated and looked upon smokestacks and what looked to be piles of dirt at first glance. However, I slowly floated down and realized it wasn't dirt; it was bodies from a battle.

  I peered upon the piles of corpses with forked-tongue monsters carrying pitchforks, spears, halberds, and scythes slicing and poking at bodies presumed already dead. The blood carried down dried riverbeds and replaced the water that was once there, maybe a long time ago. I saw a man who wore a green set of robes and a white flat cap that covered his ears. Ribbons flowed from his body, and he had a metal staff, hearing the clanking of the staff as it moved with rings looped around the design at the top.

  Whoever it was in green robes, it wasn't a threat to the creatures. They were busy in the cleanup of what appeared to be a hard-won victory. They overwhelmed villagers, soldiers, and adventurers that stood in their way. There stood among a pile of bodies pierced into pikes and the rot and smell of fresh iron in the air from grotesque coagulations of blood. At the top of one of the largest mounds of corpses, there stood a man with a goat's head, black pupils wide to scan the horizon.

  He held rippling muscles across his physique, only covered by a furred loincloth and the red blood of victory. He held a pike 20 feet high with the heads of dogs pierced, roughly 6 or 7 of them. Whatever he was, he was clearly the commander of this horror.

  "You do not hold the stench of the villagers. Who are you?" The goat-headed figure stood up casually, holding a long black chain in his left hand and the pike in his right. He held himself up casually by the support of the pike, looking down at the man in green. I floated to witness this terrifying scene.

  "I am Halgarth. I am but a lonely adventurer, here to bring blessing upon lost souls." He also knew his profession, and he spoke resolutely in the face of death. He looked to the terrifying black goat-headed figure. He was practically shaking as the goat-headed man looked to him. I could sense the fear in his body.

  "A priest here to provide succor in times of grief, I see. I cannot possibly hold you away from your duties, priest."

  Halgarth, priest in green, took a sigh of relief, looking down to his robes and seeing that they had been stained with the blood and mud of battle. The creatures around him laughed; others tended to the wounded by stabbing them in the chest.

  "You probably think me evil," said the goat-headed demon, quietly walking down with his pike and black chain, wistfully and casually allowing the weight of his body to carry him down the hill of dead bodies, flies following him down the hill. His reek was enough to send the priest to his knees, terrified of what this was. "But tell me, priest, do you wish for peace, or do you wish for balance?"

  Halgarth chose not to speak, eyes darting back and forth as the smell of red iron and the sound of flies' wings picked up, almost drowning out the question given by the goat-headed demon.

  "Peace, or balance?"

  I woke in a sweat. It hadn't even been morning; the smell had been so vivid, but the smell of battle was suddenly swept away to be replaced with the smell of fresh bread, butter, and tamarind juice. I made an audible sigh of relief. The terror of the goat-headed man washed over me and quickly faded. I got up and dressed, clothes already dried from the washing of the night, albeit raggedy from what appears to be many days of wear.