Given that Dr. Kovas rarely compliments anyone, he has to like you a lot. You decide it might be best to take advantage of that fact. After his class you approach him about your situation, but he doesn’t seem very sympathetic.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure your problems are very important to you, but my question is why are you telling me?”

“Well that’s what I was getting at, I wanted to know if there was something I could do to help you out. Some way of maybe earning more money…”

“Money? Hah! What do you think this is a factory employment line? If you want to help me, you shouldn’t be doing it for cash m’boy. You should be doing it for the love of science!”

He starts to make his way out of the classroom, but you follow.

“Dr. Kovas, I’d love to help for the love of science, but I’m not exactly in a position to do so! I mean I’ve got so many expenses and responsibilities and…”

“Stop right there m’boy. Again you’re telling me these things as if I can do something about them…or that I WANT to do something about them.”

“(sputter)…because I thought that given how much you praise my work in class you’d want to help out a potential fellow future doctor.” You say getting exasperated.

“YOU? A fellow doctor? Ha ha ha ha! Granted you may have the ability to be a doctor one day, but if you think you’d ever approach someone of my caliber, I’ve sorely underestimated your capacity for logical thinking.” Dr. Kovas laughs.

At this point you’re angry, you came to get help, not be insulted by this asshole. You’re hesitant to outright insult him back though since you still need to finish his class, so you just decide to leave.

“Alright fine, don’t help me then. I just thought you were different from the other rich elitist bastards that look their noses down at me just because of my working class background. I’ll just leave…”

“Wait, wait, you think I’m looking down on you because of your humble roots? My, my someone has an inferiority complex. M’boy I’m looking down on you because you’re whining about your problems to me. You have much potential and despite your pathetic tales of woe it is obvious that you’ve overcome much and are determined in your goals to become a doctor. I think however you could do something more, but unless you’re willing to help me for the love of science, not because of money, or what I might be able to do for you then I think you will languish in mediocrity like most that pass through my class.”

At this point you don’t know what the hell kind of head game Dr. Kovas is playing with you, but if there is some sort of possibility that he might help you, then you might need to play along.

“I don’t believe you. Or rather I don’t believe you’ll help me for the right reasons. You’re going to help, because you still believe that I’m going to help you.”

“Yes.” You blurt out.

“Heh, well at least you’re honest now. All right I’m going to roll the dice with you and allow you to help me on a project I’ve been working on. I’ll even assure you that you will profit from this because I know you seem to be concerned about such things.”

“”I’m really not, I just need extra money to…”

“Don’t interrupt!” Dr. Kovas snaps. “As I was saying, you will profit from this, but it is my hope that you will come to do this for science more than anything. Because if you aren’t then you’re in the wrong field.”

“I thought the field of medicine was primarily to help the sick.” You say.

“Bah! Helping people? Nonsense! Most so called doctors aren’t in it to help people, they’re in it for the money! They’re all a bunch of soulless greed automatons that have no real passion for the mysteries of the human body and all this field has to offer!”

Dr. Kovas has a reputation for misanthropy and cynicism, but you weren’t aware how much until just now, still he says he’s willing to help you and that’s good enough for you.

“Now then, if you are going to help me, you need to meet me at my lab tonight and whatever you do, don’t tell anyone about it. When you get inside you are NOT to discuss what you see with anyone, do you understand?”

“Um, what exactly are we going to be doing?” you ask a little concerned.

“You’ll see soon enough, but it’s a secret project that will change the way modern medicine works! I can’t afford to have anyone stealing my ideas! So I need you to be all the way in on this! If you’re going to hesitate, then get out of my sight right now.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll help you.”

“Good. See you tonight.” Dr. Kovas says and walks away.

You put in some time at the inn, but later leave Wendy in charge and tell her to close it down if you aren’t back by closing time. You remind Alan to lock everything up. Wendy of course isn’t very pleased with this idea and reminds you once again of how she’s overworked. You just apologize and leave.

When you get to Dr. Kovas’ lab he doesn’t immediately open the door, and you have to wait about five minutes before he comes out to scold you that you’re five minutes late! You don’t argue though, you just enter only for Dr. Kovas to immediately ask you a disturbing question.

“Can you kill a man?”

“WHAT?!”

“Or woman, in fact a woman might be better. Yes, I need you to kill a woman.”

You’re literally speechless for a few moments before sputtering your protests.

“Dr. Kovas, I didn’t sign up to kill people!”

“Yes you did, the moment you said you’d help me. (Sigh) Look, progress in medical science has always required sacrifices. Sometimes that sacrifice has involved the lives of others. What is one life compared to the wonders that scientific break through can do?”

Dr. Kovas isn’t just misanthropic, he’s sociopathic and you’re out of here.

“I’m not a killer and I’m not capable of this. So I’m just going to leave. You needn’t worry I won’t tell anyone.”

“Sorry son, I can’t take that chance, nighty night!”

Dr Kovas suddenly produces a needle filled with something and injects you with it. You push him away and try the door handle only to find it locked. You don’t struggle with it for long though before you pass out.

When you wake up you’re strapped to a table, with Dr. Kovas shaking his head at you.

“What am I going to do with you? I placed what little faith I have in humanity in you and this is how you act? It’s my own fault I suppose.”

You try to talk, but most of your body is still paralyzed.

“Now then, I’m going to give you ONE last chance because I still see potential in you. After this wears off I want you to go out and get a girl. I don’t care how, just do it and bring her here. You don’t even need to kill her, just bring her here and I’ll do the deed. Do you think you can handle that?”

You still can’t talk, but you know damn well if you don’t agree he’s certainly going to kill you, so you strain yourself to nod “yes”.

“Good, I’ll release you. Oh and just to let you know, you only have until dawn. I’ve injected you with a toxin to ensure you don’t go running off or something silly like that. Don’t bother with trying to get an antidote either, it’s a special toxic mix that only I have the cure to.”

You get up, very wobbly and still a little dizzy. By the time you start regaining all your faculties Dr. Kovas has shoved you out his lab door and locked it.

You feel like you’re living a nightmare, but you don’t have much of a choice, you need to bring a woman back to the lab before dawn or you’re going to die. This isn’t going to be easy not just due to the immorality of the situation, but also because you haven’t exactly been a ladies man. What with all the studying and work at the inn, you don’t have much of a social life.

You figure your best bet might be to go to one of the many college parties near campus and hope to get a drunk girl, though you could just go get a regular whore.
> You go to the Klyton Militia
You won’t do it, you won’t kill anyone and you’re not going to bring someone to Dr. Kovas for him to murder either. Maybe you’ll die, but you’re going to make sure Kovas pays as well.

You head to the nearest Klyton militia station and tell them everything. The sergeant in charge asks if you’ve been to the hospital yet to which you say no. He says they need to get you there immediately and if you do indeed have some sort of poison in your system they’ll obviously be able to arrest Dr. Kovas with no problems.

You’re rushed to the hospital and thanks to the militia you’re seen to immediately. The physicians run all sorts of tests on you. They don’t find anything, but given the situation they put you on observation. The militia still goes to check out Dr. Kovas since there are several doctors they speak with at the hospital who don’t particularly like him and don’t put it past him to pull something like this.

You wait in your bed, getting more nervous by the hour. You don’t feel sick at all, maybe he was bluffing? You sure hope so. In any case, you realize that maybe you need to give up on the whole medical profession thing. You tried your best, but it seems that events have constantly conspired against you. You’ve even broken laws of your own to achieve your goals and all you’ve managed to succeed in is alienating your mom, earning the loathing of your staff and getting yourself poisoned.

After thinking about this for a while, you begin to get sleepy. It isn’t dawn yet, but you can’t be sure if it isn’t the poison or not, of course it could just be the stress of the night finally getting to you. In any case you close your eyes to darkness.

When you wake up you’re surprised to see your mom sitting there.

“Oh by the gods, thanks to them you’re alive!”

“Mom? How the? How’d you get here so fast? How did you find out?”

“Son, I think the first thing you should know is that you’ve been in a coma for about a month!”

“Whaaaa…”

You mother explains everything that she knows that has happened. You did have a deadly toxin in your body, but fortunately the hospital was able to keep you alive until the militia found the antidote in Kovas’ lab. Dr. Kovas himself was killed while resisting arrest.

They injected the antidote into your unconscious body, but they assume it didn’t work like it should have due to the toxin already running through your body and in the process of shutting everything down.

When the militia informed Wendy of your condition, she immediately contacted your mother by messenger. Being your only immediate family, she also regained possession of the inn while you were incapacitated and possibly on your deathbed. As a result she sold it to help pay for your medical treatment and she’s been by your side ever since.

You can’t believe that your mom has helped you like this after how you parted a year ago. Needless to say you and her make up in an emotional way.

You spend another week in the hospital still getting tested by doctors. They tell you you’ll be able to go home, but your body has been severely weakened by the toxin and how it is unlikely that you’ll ever be fully healthy again.

No more inn and no more college and somehow it all just seems like a great relief to you. Your mother takes you to her home in Teckleville, you have no idea what you’re going to do there, but for a while you just take it easy.

Just like the doctors said, you don’t make a complete recovery. You feel tired all the time and sometimes you don’t feel well at all. You mother and your aunt Enora make sure to look after you, but as the months go on you begin to get frustrated and depressed.

You try to occupy your time with hobbies, but nothing really works. You almost consider suicide, but that would probably devastate your mom more than anything, so you take the same determined mindset that you once had for college and place it towards finding a job you’ll be able to handle. Eventually you succeed and get a position at the small library in town where your extensive knowledge on the sciences comes in quite handy and greatly appreciated.

The rest of your life is fairly mundane, perhaps even a little boring, but you do come to appreciate the life you managed to carve out in light of everything that happened to you.


Again, the inn isn’t really like how it used to be where you’d get miners coming in wanting some food with their ale. Nowadays you just get plain ol’ drunks coming in. Even the adventurers don’t normally order anything fancy. You figure you’ll just cut down on food shipments and jack the price up so only adventurers or perhaps the odd merchant will be willing to pay for a hot meal.

You also decide that Wendy is a pretty vital part of running this place, so you offer her the only thing you can think of that would keep her happy…

“Less kitchen work and a free permanent room? Are you serious?” Wendy says in disbelief.

“If you want it. The catch is though, you’d be living here and need to make sure things are running smoothly on a regular basis, this means opening up the inn early, closing it down late, or whatever else is required.”

“Pfft, I basically do that now.”

“Perhaps, but now you’d get to live at a place rent free, not to mention you don’t need to walk that far to work anymore. Now that should certainly alleviate some of your problems I trust?”

“Yeah, that would help a lot.”

“Good, oh one more thing, I know you have kids, I really hope they won’t be running all over the place bothering patrons.”

“No, it won’t be a problem. Y’know I had my doubts about you running this place and while I know me living here is going to make it more convenient for your own goals, thanks all the same.”

“You’re welcome.” You say and feel positive that this decision is going to work out just fine.

A few months pass and your inn is making a little more money and you have a little more time for your academic goals. Things are nice for a little while, but as usual a problem crops up to make you life a lot more difficult.

Wendy’s kids are little monsters. Not to you, but to just about everyone else. Wendy tries to keep them in line through screaming and beatings, but it doesn’t work for long.

Her youngest Carl is a dirty little boy who is constantly trying to look up Eliza and Rita’s dresses or touch them in some inappropriate way. If he can’t get to them, the local trashy women who frequent the bar will do. Most of the time he tries to play it off like he doesn’t mean anything, but he knows damn well what he’s doing.

Wendy’s daughter Annie is obviously taking after her with the same grasp of verbal swears. She swears so much you initially thought she had Rosette’s Syndrome. Her mouth wouldn’t really be a problem except she’s loud and is always asking the inn guests strange questions (swearing the whole time of course).

Finally her oldest son, Henry is well on his way to be a future sociopath. The kid will sit in a corner watching everything and everyone with this creepy look like he’d murder everyone if he could. You’ve noticed that knives from the kitchen have been going missing and you never used to come across so many bloody cat heads in the alley before Wendy moved in. While you can’t prove the animal killing or knife theft, you know for a fact that he’s been fucking with Alan. For the past week you’ve noticed Alan limping, when you questioned him, he stated it was nothing, but on closer inspection you saw that his shoe was in a burned condition and he had a bruise on his neck. You question it further and Alan finally breaks down and tells you it was Wendy’s son, but states that Wendy’s son was just “playing” that it wasn’t a big deal and he didn’t want him getting into trouble.

That’s the last straw for you. You and Wendy need to have another talk about this arrangement.

“Wendy I need to talk to you now.”

“Can it wait…HEY GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” Wendy says shouting at one her little demons.

“That’s exactly what we need to talk about.”

“Wha…oh fine.”

You and Wendy step into the kitchen and you waste no time in expressing your concerns.

“Wendy you’ve been a great help her since you moved in, but it was my understanding that you were going to have your kids under better control than you have been.”

“Hey this is the best all of them have been in ages! Besides they haven’t been bothering you and business has been doing okay.”

“Yeah, but at this rate I’m not sure how long that’s going to last with how your kids have been acting lately. Your youngest is sexually harassing Eliza and Rita more than the lowest scum that drinks here. Your daughter is causing some the most hardcore adventurers feel uncomfortable. And your oldest son, hoo boy, you NEED to get that kid on a leash quick and instill some discipline into him because he’s one twisted little pup.”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to fuckhead? You think you can tell me how to raise my goddamn kids? You think it’s fucking easy? You don’t have any, so fuck you! Shit, you ain’t even got a woman, so I’m guessing you ain’t gonna have to worry about it ever. Faggot.”

“And who the hell do you think YOU’RE talking to? I’m your boss and I’m telling you need to get your kids in line! Alan just told me that your oldest son snuck down into basement and gave him a hotfoot while he was sleeping. When Alan predictably woke up, he nearly choked himself because your little psycho set up a wire noose around his neck tied to the table nearby.”

“And you believed Alan?”

“Alan’s a lot of things, but he’s not a liar. If anything I had to drag the info out of him. He was afraid of getting your son in trouble, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just afraid of your son period.”

“(Sigh) Even if it is true. So what? That’s just how boys play.”

“That’s how future murderers play. Look, I’m not arguing with you anymore. Your kids are a problem and you said they wouldn’t be. So get your shit together or face the consequences.”

“Fuck you, you gonna fire me? Pfft! Yeah right. Without me, you couldn’t run this place and pursue your precious education at the same time. Hell, I doubt if you could run it period.”
> You fire Wendy
It’s a risky gamble, but you feel you have no choice.

“Alright fine, you’re fired.” You say after taking a deep breath.

“Ha ha ha ha! Yeah right.” Wendy laughs.

“I’m not joking, you’re fired and you can pack your bags and get the hell out of my inn too.”

“Wait a minute!”

“No, you’ve made it quite clear you don’t respect my generosity and are just taking advantage of it. I’d expect this sort of behavior from Rita, but I thought better of you.”

“…you can’t fire me! You need me! “ Wendy sputters.

“It’s done. You’re gone. And while you may be right that I do need you, I don’t need your bratty kids. Especially one that’s setting my other employees on fucking fire.”

You begin to leave the kitchen and Wendy grabs your arm.

“Alright, alright! Shit. You win. I can’t afford to lose my job and a free place on top of everything right now. I’ll do something about my kids. (Sigh) I just hope I can do something about Henry. I’m not sure anything is going to help. I have to admit, I’m not looking forward to him when he becomes a teenager.”

“Well, have you thought about sending him away?”

“I wish. I don’t have that sort of money to send him to some boys school, besides he’d probably get kicked out within a week.”

“No, there’s a program that the city militia has been trying to promote lately. It’s basically like boot camp for juvenile delinquents. They say it has good results in turning them around.” You suggest.

“Well I’d try anything I suppose, but doesn’t that cost money as well?”

“No, basically you go down to the local militia guard station and sign your kid up, then at sometime in the middle of the night they take him away for a year.”

“Wow, sounds pretty extreme, but if it’s free hell I’ll try it.”

The next few days are slightly quieter. Wendy has obviously laid down the law once again to them, but it won’t last. You really hope she goes through with your suggestion because as much as you are perfectly willing to go through with your threat, you also know it would ruin your own goals.

Later that night, heavy banging on your inn’s front door and yelling wakes you up.

“This is the Klyton Militia open up at once! We have important business here!”

You smile and head downstairs to open the door, but you find that Wendy has already done it. When they take him away, he doesn’t cry or even protest. He allows himself to go quietly, which makes you believe that you made the right decision in pushing Wendy in this direction. You have your doubts if the militia program will help him, but he’s out of your life now and that’s what is important.

The best thing is, this event scared Wendy’s other two kids so much that they straighten up so as not to suffer the same fate.

Time passes and everything seems to be going well until one day when you get another visit from the Klyton militia who storm in the same way they did when they took away Henry.

“You the owner of this establishment?” the sergeant asks.

“Yeah?” you answer groggily

“You’re under arrest for serving illegal substances.”

“What?! I don’t sell drugs here!”

“You’re selling homemade booze ain’t cha? Clearly you’re violating alcohol law 3.6721. Gibbs! Check the basement, that’s where it’s supposed to be!”

You’re put into manacles and sputter in disbelief at all this. You were careful! Who could’ve ratted you out? None of you patrons would’ve cared given that they drink here. Even your ex-patrons just left due to the alcohol not tasting as good to them, they would’ve have bothered. Your staff? If this place goes down, then they all lose their jobs and if anything you’ve made strides in making things easier for them…shit.

You know now.

It’s Henry. That little bastard must’ve told all about this place. Whether he did it out of spite for you or his mom or if they really rehabilitated him and he felt it was his “duty” to rat you out hardly matters, you’re fucked.

“Found them sir. There’s a whole bunch of stills in the basement, along with some retard who seemed confused.” Gibbs reports.

“Ugh, you keep retarded sex slaves in this place too? What the hell are you running here?!” the sergeant says jumping to conclusions.

“Sex slaves? He’s the fucking janitor!” you protest.

“Save it you sicko! You’re coming with us!”

As you’re taken away you shout to Wendy who is standing by watching all this, to get the money from the safe to bail you out.

Eventually you’re brought up on charges of distribution of illegal substances, posing a health risk to the populous, exploitation of the mentally incompetent and tax evasion. Guess which one you got in the most trouble?

You spend almost all your money on a lawyer, and your inn is taken away by the city, along with your dreams of going into medicine. After all is said and done you’ve lost everything and are completely broke. The only good thing is the city decided that your inn would cover the cost of all the alcohol taxes you weren’t paying due to making your own so you didn’t serve any jail time.

It’s of minor consolation though, you’re still left with nothing and don’t have much future prospects. You wish you’d listened to your mother and you think about going to Teckleville to apologize to her in person, but you can’t bring yourself to even face her.

You do eventually get another job as a boring assistant clerk. It’s a mind numbing tedious job that does nothing for your mental well-being. After years of this drudge you hang yourself still lamenting about where you went wrong with the inn.


A year has passed and you’re back in college, though it’s not as much fun as it was when you didn’t need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.

Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately Wendy picks up the slack when you’re not around. You’ve also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were “friends” with before your “break”. Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.

As for the inn, it’s doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. Your regular patrons aren’t the upstanding working class anymore, most of them are petty criminals, broke losers and other ne’er-do-wells. You also have to do something about your overworked/underpaid staff. So far Wendy has been doing far more than she anticipated and is demanding more pay. Rita on the other hand is just plain threatening to quit. All of which is cutting into your study and school time.

A few bright spots are you’re getting adventurers coming in since those nice rooms you got awhile back started to pay off. You’re also saving money with your stills (You have multiple ones in the basement now) and your retarded janitor Alan who seems to be just happy to work and follow your orders. If only all your employees were so agreeable.

Today’s the day you make a change to the status quo.
> You keep things as they are and start cheating at school
Making any changes might make things worse than they are and you’re already got enough problems as it is. The only thing you can reliably control is yourself so you decide to cut a few corners in your studies. It’s not like you won’t completely know the information, it’s just between studying and managing the inn to make money for school, the money aspect is more important to your future in medicine…

This twisted logic doesn’t work so well.

First of all your inn isn’t really doing any better with you around more often. You’re still breaking even and your staff is still unhappy for the most part. Second of all, you spend nearly as much time scamming and scheming for your tests that you probably could’ve better spent it studying. Lastly, you’re going into the medicine, it’s not like law where you can just bullshit your way through and by it’s very nature you can’t really “cheat” at least not for very long. Some tests just can’t be cheated on and this becomes apparent during your advanced anatomy and physiology final where you’re presented with a real dead body and you get several parts of it laughably wrong.

YOU FAIL BASIC HUMAN BIOLOGY FOREVER is what is actually posted on your paper by your professor. You don’t do too much better in the rest of your classes. What this all means is you have to repeat most of your classes which means more money, or at least that’s what it would mean if you were rich. Since you aren’t, the university just throws you out since you failed to meet the academic standard.

Well all your short cuts, the home brewed hooch, the overworked staff, the cheating, it has all amounted to nothing. Sure you still have the inn, and if you made some cuts you could keep it running, but why bother? You never wanted to run this damn thing in the first place. This is all your parents fault, they pushed you in one direction and then they fuck up and you have to go into another direction. A direction which ended up leading to ruin. At this point you’re so fed up with busting your ass to get shit done, you decide to not do anything at all. Basically, you don’t learn your lesson from all this.

First thing you do is sell the inn for as much as you can. Not as much as you like, but it’s enough to keep you from having to do anything for a while. You spend the next few months mainly picking up loose co-eds at the university. It’s a lot of fun, but as the money starts running out, you realize you’re going to have to get a job again.

You wind up getting a job as a lowly clerk doing boring file keeping, but you pretty much slack off on that job quite a bit. You mostly get away with it for a long time, but eventually much like your cheating you don’t get away with it forever and you’re fired.

After a couple more failed attempts at keeping a job in the city, you’ve got no choice, but to either become a beggar or apologize to your mom in Teckleville and hope she takes you in for a while.

You take the remaining amount of your money and take a one-way trip to Teckleville and mentally prepare yourself for a lot of apologizing, even if you don’t really mean it. When you arrive you meet up with your mother (who now has her own place as opposed to living with your aunt Enora). She’s surprised to see you and isn’t immediately hostile. You explain your situation though omit some of the information (like cheating) and replace it with a hard luck story instead. This of course is followed by a lot of apologies and stating how she was right all along. It works and she takes you in.

Of course the problem is now you’re living with your mom and while she’s forgiven you, she doesn’t expect you to sit around doing nothing which you’ve decided to continue doing. This willful sloth, leads to a cycle of several never-ending arguments, but the result is always the same. You either get a odd job around the town to get your mom off your back for awhile or she throws you out and you live with your crazy aunt Enora for awhile until you can’t put up with her quirkiness anymore and you get an odd job around town anyway and beg to move back in with your mom (who always accepts mainly because she still has a lingering feeling of guilt that maybe her and your dad really are responsible for your decline).

The rest of your life is a rather miserable one and not very interesting in the scheme of things. You always remain bitter about “what you could’ve been” and this of course results in you thinking about that damn inn a lot and what you could’ve done differently.

You’ll never know.


A year has passed and you’re back in college, though it’s not as much fun as it was when you didn’t need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.

Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately Wendy picks up the slack when you’re not around. You’ve also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were “friends” with before your “break”. Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.

As for the inn, it’s doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. Your regular patrons aren’t the upstanding working class anymore, most of them are petty criminals, broke losers and other ne’er-do-wells. You also have to do something about your overworked/underpaid staff. So far Wendy has been doing far more than she anticipated and is demanding more pay. Rita on the other hand is just plain threatening to quit. All of which is cutting into your study and school time.

A few bright spots are you’re getting adventurers coming in since those nice rooms you got awhile back started to pay off. You’re also saving money with your stills (You have multiple ones in the basement now) and your retarded janitor Alan who seems to be just happy to work and follow your orders. If only all your employees were so agreeable.

Today’s the day you make a change to the status quo.
> You your staff (Current status)
Wendy: Head barmaid/cook

She has more responsibility and has higher pay, but she’s steadily not feeling like it’s worth it. The fact that you’re not there for most of the day means she has to oversee most things. Same is true if you have important school work you need to do. She’s basically doing most of the work your mother used to do, but the major exception is she is NOT your mother and has her own kids to worry about. This fact has been brought to your attention directly several times during one of her many rants at you due to her dissatisfaction.

Rita: Barmaid

Rita doesn’t have it nearly as bad as Wendy, but she complains just as much if not more. It is true she’s overworked more than she used to be however. Rita is always arguing with Wendy or you. If she isn’t then she’s taking out her frustration on Eliza or Alan if he gets in the way. She’s still trying to find that “sugar daddy” type to take her away from all of this, but the inn doesn’t get many merchants anymore and those it does aren’t interested in an obnoxious serving wench as a trophy wife. Her threats of quitting are a daily routine.

Eliza: Barmaid

Eliza is more or less her usual quiet self, though it is evident that even she feels overworked since every once in awhile she’ll make a couple of minor grumbles about things.

Alan: Janitor/Handyman

This is your prized employee. He never complains and follows orders. The best thing is he has managed to save you money in repairs since he’s good at that sort of thing. You don’t really know what you’d do without him. Part of you feels a little guilty about making him sleep in the basement and generally treating him like a second-class citizen, but he doesn’t seem to mind. The only problem you have with him is due to his slow mindedness in most things you get frustrated in explaining more complex stuff to him. However you usually tell Wendy to tell him so you can avoid all of that trouble.


If it’s only for a couple days, what can it hurt and you’re getting a good deal on his alcohol, so you figure it’s a good idea. This does not go well with your mother who says you’re going to get the pair of you further into debt. It takes some time, but eventually you manage to convince her that the money you’re saving will be worth the couple days out of the month that he actually comes up here.

Meanwhile Calwin calls his lackeys to unload his cart and take the stuff down to your cellar. Calwin then states he’s going to retire to his room and that if any of your barmaids want to join him his door will be open.

The next couple days aren’t exactly pleasant, Calwin is a complete lecherous slob and leaves not only his room a disgusting mess, but hangs around the bar all day trying to grope the barmaids. (Rita in particular) You have to warn him several times to leave them alone, and eventually one of the miners who has a crush on Rita punches him in the face resulting in a minor scuffle in which Calwin is not the winner.

You fully expect Calwin to claim that he’s never dealing with you again, but as it turns out he doesn’t think anything of it. Indeed he claims if it had been a bar in Hessla he probably would’ve gotten a knife in the eye instead, so he considers himself lucky. Eventually he leaves and everyone is glad, but there’s the sickening feeling that you know you’re going to have to put up with him a few times every month.

By the end of the week you haven’t saved any money. In fact you’ve barely broke even.

While you’re sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.

“Are you are Mr. Reynolds?” you ask, knowing that it has to be him.

“That would be me. I take it you’re the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn’t end with him dying…” Mr. Reynolds says

“No, no of course not. I’ve got some of what my father owed.”

You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.

“My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!”

“It was a rough week…”

“No, no, I don’t give a shit about your excuses, you’ve chosen to take on your father’s debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you’re obviously new to this, I’ll let you off with a warning. Olaf.”

Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.

“That was my warning, let’s hope I don’t need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let’s get out of here.”

As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what’s going on. She helps you up when she sees you.

“Oh no son I can’t let this go on. We’re selling the inn right now!”

“No, no mom, it’s alright, you’ll see. We’re going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we’ll be able to take the next step.”

“Son, I love you, but you’ve made a lot of questionable decisions as far as business is concerned. I mean if this keeps up, I’m stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city.”

“You won’t get enough for it!”

“Well I’ll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I’ll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville”

“You can’t live with aunt Enora, you always said she’s crazy.”

“She is, but that still doesn’t mean she wouldn’t help me out.”

“Look, we’ve still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon.”

“Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I’m not privy to. Alright we’ll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment.”

You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.

The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that’s a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one in particular Ular has been chewing your ear quite frequently. He’s the one that has an obvious crush on Rita, but you’ve never seen him actually talk to her on any serious level. Strange that a big tough miner would be too shy to speak to a girl, but there it is.

“So how long have you known Rita?” Ular asks.

“Me? Well she started working here just before I left for college so I didn’t speak to her too much back then, and I haven’t really spoken to her too much other than about duties around the inn since I’ve got back here.”

“She’s so beautiful, you know? I always wonder if she isn’t a Delantium Princess hiding out or something.”

“Yeah, she’s a pretty girl.” You reply.

“Can you speak to her for me?”

“What?”

“Just speak to her for me. I try, but I…dunno I don’t have the words! I get all tongue tied an’ shit. I mean you’re a smart guy, you went to college an’ shit. Maybe you can tell her better how I feel than I can.”

“I dunno if should get involved in this…”

“Please man, just do it…oh shit here she comes!”

At this point Ular stumbles over his own feet trying to get to a dark corner before Rita arrives for more ale. Feeling a little sorry for the guy, you talk to Rita.

“Hey Rita, this is going to be strange question, but…”

“Oh gods, you’re not going to start hitting on me too are you?”

“What? Uh no! But well, there’s a miner named Ular who’s sort of nuts about you.”

“Yeah, he’s nuts over me like every other miner here trying to get under my skirt.”

“Heh, I don’t think so, he’s so damn shy he’s practically afraid to speak to you, and surely you’ve noticed.”

“Yeah I suppose I have. I will admit he’s a little different than the rest of these ale swilling pigs.”

“So are you interested in him?”

“Eh…I dunno. I mean from what I know of him he seems respectful and he did punch out that fucker Calwin when he groped me, but that’s not really enough. I need a man that’s going places. I mean he’s a miner; where’s that going to lead me? Not in fine Selkie furs and a big house, I’ll just be barefoot and pregnant and still living here.”

Same old Rita. Still, you can certainly understand her desire to move up in the world. However, a miner still makes a decent living. A lot better than her that’s for sure. She’d still be “moving up.”
> You convince Rita that money isn't everything
Ular seems like a good guy and Rita could certainly do worse, so you decide to play matchmaker.

“I understand Rita, I mean I was supposed to become a doctor, but now I’m back here.”

“Yeah, suck to be you.” Rita says.

“Indeed, but my point is, you need to grab the good times when you can. I mean you think you’re going to find any of the type of men you’re interested in here?”

“So you’re saying I should just settle?”

“No, I’m saying Ular’s a nice guy who’s going to probably try to do everything within his means to make you happy. Now doesn’t that at least sound worthwhile?”

“Yeah I suppose it does…I haven’t really been happy in a long time. Okay, tell him to meet me after work.”

“Okay, and what the hell, you can get off an hour earlier.” You add.

Rita walks off with a slight spring in her step. You look for Ular and see him slowly coming out of his dark corner. You tell him that she’s interested and that she’ll talk with him in greater length after work. He’s ecstatic. He immediately orders a round of drinks for everyone along with giving you a large tip.

“Who says good deeds go unrewarded?” You say to yourself.

The remaining days until the next payment go well. Rita hits it off pretty well with Ular. She’s actually happy enough to the point now where her job performance increases. Ular is so happy with her that he routinely buys rounds for the house to celebrate his good fortune.

Mr. Reynolds is satisfied with the payment he receives, and you still have a little saved over. You have high hopes that in time you’ll get out of this debt. However, unexpected troubles arise in the next month.

Ular stops coming in altogether. Rita has had a great affect on him, namely she doesn’t want him wasting all his money at the inn anymore; she wants him wasting it on her. This might not be too bad, except Rita also quits her job to move into Ular’s home seeing as he makes enough for the pair of them.

While it’s true you don’t have to pay her anymore, you lose a couple of other customers that must’ve liked looking at her. That’s not even counting the extra work that Eliza and Wendy have to do now who are now miserable to the point of wanting to seriously quit. You and your mother take up some of the slack, but it’s a drain on the pair of you.

The kicker is when Calwin shows up on his monthly delivery. He says that he’s decided to bump the price up on his alcohol. You furiously ask why, and he says that the last time he was here he noticed how nice the rooms were and that if you can afford to fix them up, you must be able to afford to pay him more for his product.

Your mother who is already stressed out from overwork, is so disgusted with him that she grabs your dad’s Troll Gun from under the bar counter and points it at him, telling him to get the hell out before she blows his head off. He and his lackeys leave, which means you’ll have no alcohol supply this month. You’ll have to make due with what you have left and go back to the old expensive one.

The bigger immediate problem is Mr. Reynold’s payment, which you won’t have enough to give him this time around and it’s going to be that time again in a few more days. Your mother can’t bare to see you get hurt again and suggests forgetting all about the inn and just taking off with all the remaining money you have and going to live with your crazy aunt Enora.


You shake your head; you can’t walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won’t have enough to fall back on.

You aren’t angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don’t really help right now.

“Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?” you ask your mother.

“Mr. Reynolds. He’ll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He’s not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him.”

“The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better…okay how is this place doing for business?”

“It’s doing about as well as it always has.”

“That won’t be enough, we’ll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow.”

“Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I’m not sure if it’s worth it though. Adventures don’t care where they sleep half the time and it’s not always a sure thing that they’re going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time.”

“You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?”

“Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I’m not sure how that’s going to go through, if at all.”

“How about the staff?”

“The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we’ve got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they’re all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.

Grim stuff, but you’re determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won’t arrive in two days you’re just going to focus on what you can do now.

Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn’t just some place where miners get drunk.

Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it’s really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.

Your mother doesn’t agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you’re not firing anyone.

Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you’re taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don’t say to much to you. They probably don’t know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you’re not really “one of them” in terms of education level. Not to say they’re all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you’re used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don’t mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.

Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He’s a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he’s from Hessla that’s hardly surprising.

He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he’s made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she’s ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you’re not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.

“Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I’m willing to deal wit ya, but I’m gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y’all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain’t wanted, I’ll be on my way…” Calwin says.

While you’re tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.

“Alright prove it. Surely you’ve brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it’s any good.”

“Well I do have some with me, but I can’t just be givin’ this stuff away for free.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be compensated.”

You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they’d like to try some new beer, naturally they’re all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin’s beer and they say that it’s different from what they usually drink, but it’s just as good.

Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is “just as good”, but still maintains that it’s better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he’s apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.

Your mother obviously isn’t thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he’s been here; he’s also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they’re used to such behavior, he’s particularly revolting. (Plus he’s from Hessla)
> You deal with him, but no free room
You tell him if he wants to spend a few days here that’s fine, but he’s paying like everyone else, either that he can lower the price of his alcohol to cover the cost. Calwin protests saying that he should be put up for free, but you’re unmoved. Eventually he tells you to forget it and tells his lackeys to just carry his booze down to your cellar and he’ll be on his way.

“Glad you stood your ground on that one. Don’t really want his type hanging around anyway.” Your mother says.

The next few days are blessed ones. Some successful adventurers walk in with a whole lot of loot. They rest up in your nice rooms and tip generously. By the end of the week you’ve managed to save bit of money.

While you’re sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.

“Are you are Mr. Reynolds?” you ask, knowing that it has to be him.

“That would be me. I take it you’re the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn’t end with him dying…” Mr. Reynolds says

“No, no of course not. I’ve got your payment.”

Mr. Reynolds looks pleased that you’ve handed him a weighty bag of coins.

“Nice. Glad to see we’re getting off on the right foot, kid. Wouldn’t want to have to sic Olaf here on you.” Mr. Reynolds says while patting his ogre goon on the arm. “Be seein’ ya in a few weeks kid.”

As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what’s going on.

“Was that Reynolds? Why didn’t you call me up here?!”

“I had it under control, besides it all went well. We’re saving money, and hopefully those nice rooms we have will pay off still.”

The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that’s a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one of the older miners Aglim, remarks about the adventurers that spent a few nights here awhile back.

“Y’know that’s something I should’ve went into, instead of mining. You travel all over the damn place, killin things and take their shit. Sounds a hell of a lot more fun than spendin’ your time hittin’ the same damn piece of mountain over and over again.”

“They didn’t speak too much to me, but they said they were coming back from the Cloudpeak Mountains. Said they found some old crypt filled with treasure.” You say.

“Yeah, I’ll bet it was some old Dwarven tomb too. For their sake, they better hope the dwarves don’t find out about it. They aren’t too fond of outsiders desecrating their dead like that. Still, there’s been an increase in those types lately in the mountains and a lot of them have been passing back and forth through Klyton. You might want to do some advertising for your inn or something.” Aglim says before walking back to his table with his friends.

He does bring up an interesting point. You obviously have some nice rooms now, why not be a little pro-active and get more of these adventuring types to spend their ill gotten loot here?

You figure the best way to do this is appealing to the lowest common denominator. Sex appeal…

“What?! Son I certainly hope you aren’t suggesting that…”

“NO! I was thinking about someone a lot younger like one of the barmaids.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure if that’s more or less insulting…very well I agree that getting those adventuring type in here would help out a lot. We used to have more, but ever since the Flying Griffon Inn opened up in the merchant district we get less of their business.”

“Do you know anything about this other inn?”

“Not much except it doesn’t really offer anything more than ours, it just happens to be in a better location, what with all the shops around it and all.”

You weren’t aware of this other inn, then again you’ve just been focusing on your immediate problems. Maybe you should actively try to discredit this other inn while you’re advertising. The one thing you need to do is speak to your barmaids about this.

“Huh, well I can tell you right now I’m not parading around the streets trying to seduce passing adventurers like some harlot.” Wendy says.

“I’ll do it, but I’m not sucking anyone’s cock!” Rita exclaims.

“We…we have to suck someone’s cock?” Eliza asks looking a little worried.

“ Argh! Nobody is going to have to suck anyone’s cock!” you yell. “Look I only need one of you to go out on the street, find adventurers and try to entice them into coming to our Inn. I don’t really care how you do it, just try your best, and that will most likely involve you looking as pretty as you can.”

“Oh, well I suppose I could try to do that if I have to.” Eliza says.
> You pick Rita
You get the impression Eliza might be a little too shy for this sort of thing, so Rita seems like a better choice. Rita’s also the most extroverted and will most likely prefer doing this than having to work at the inn.

“Alright Rita, starting tomorrow, you’re working the streets…er so to speak. Don’t think you still won’t be working around here though; I’ll still need you during the late shift. Besides I don’t want you wandering around at night, people might get the wrong idea or something.”

“Fine, as long as it gets me out of this place for a little while I’m game.”

“Okay, also I’d like you to try to throw around some insults about the Flying Griffon Inn while you’re making your sales pitch.”

“Got it.”

The next day, Rita comes in and while she’s always been a pretty girl, she now looks like a succubus that you’ve heard about from old tales. You try to contain your own desire to shamelessly flirt with her.

“By the gods Rita, you’re going to have every guy within this area after you.”

“Meh, wouldn’t be the first time. Okay, I’m off, try not to fantasize about me too much while I’m gone.”

You’re not exactly sure how to take that, but you are wondering how this will play out for you.

Over the course of a few days you definitely see a drastic increase in customers, and not just adventurers either. You’ve got Klyton Milita (who usually just drink at their barracks) coming in and even a few humble storeowners. You’re making a lot more money, but it’s a lot of extra work for the rest of you.

Mr. Reynolds receives sizable amounts of money and he continues to be satisfied with your payments. At this rate you’ll probably be able to get out of debt by the end of the year.

The only major problems are how overworked the rest of you are getting and how arrogant Rita is getting.

Rita states that she should even have to work as a barmaid anymore because it interferes with her “advertising.”

“Advertising? You wiggle your ass at horny men! You’re basically a harlot that doesn’t put out…or is there another reason why everyone comes here?” Wendy accuses.

“Figures that you’d be jealous of my popularity. Face it; I do more around here than ANYONE to keep this place successful, and I deserve some credit for it!” Rita demands.

“Hey we all know Rita, but…”

“But nothing, if you expect me to keep working here, I want a raise and I don’t want to be working as some lowly barmaid anymore! I’m above serving food and drinks!”

“So you basically want to be paid to stand around and look pretty? What the hell kind of job title would we even call that?” you ask.

“I dunno, hostess maybe? Yeah, I’d be the hostess!”

“By the gods, this is ridiculous! You can’t seriously be considering this!” Wendy exclaims.

The only people who are silent in all this are Eliza who is being her usual quiet self, and your mother who just shrugs and says it’s your call since this was mainly your idea. You get the impression she doesn’t care for Rita’s attitude though.
> You make Rita a hostess

Sometimes you have to take risks to get ahead.

“Alright fine, if that’s the way this is going, then we don’t have much of a choice. Rita, you’re the Miner’s Mug hostess.” You say.

“WHAT!?

“As it should be.”

“Fuck this, I’m not working myself to death while she gets a raise to just stand around.” Wendy says.

“That’s good because you’ll be getting a raise as well since I’m promoting you to head barmaid and we’re hiring a new one. Now that should make you feel a little bit better now shouldn’t it?”

Before Wendy can reply, your mother speaks up.

“What are you doing? We can’t afford all this or have you forgotten that we still have to pay off Mr. Reynolds?”

“And we are, and we will. But this place has finally gotten the kind of business it should be getting and we need to broaden our base. We’re getting more than just miners and low ranking adventurers; we’re starting to get a slightly higher class of patrons. I think these changes will be good in the long run, so are we all in agreement?”

Everyone seems to nod and be fine with their new job titles/promotions and the idea of making the inn into a better moneymaker. Just then Eliza speaks up after being quiet the whole time.

“I have a suggestion. If we’re branching out past our usual miner customers shouldn’t we change the name of the inn to something slightly more inclusive?”

Eliza has a point, after thinking about it, you come up with “The Traveler’s Inn” which seems to be as good as name as any to signify people other than miners come here. The changes are made…

Months pass and everything goes as well as expected. Everyone is a little busier, but the inn is finally making a lot more profit and you were right, eventually you get out of Mr. Reynolds’ debt. You half expect him to try to pull a fast one to get more money out of you, but with the increase in Klyton Militia hanging around, he doesn’t and just says if you ever need another loan in the future you know where to find him. You’re definitely not going to let that happen.

You also re-establish your alcohol supplier with Klyton again. You’re making enough money to afford it and you won’t have to deal with Calwin anymore.

The inn is profitable again and you’ve effectively saved the place and your mother from potential danger (as well as yourself) but taking over your father’s inn wasn’t your dream and it wasn’t your parents’ dreams either. They pushed you to make something better of yourself and it stuck.

You’re not going to give up now, you have to find out a way of raising enough money to put yourself through school again AND finding the time to study while running the inn. You try to think about how you’re going to accomplish this, and you know you've got quite the challenge ahead of you.
> Back to school...
A year has passed and you’re back in college, though it’s not as much fun as it was when you didn’t need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.

Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately your mother picks up some of the slack when you really need time. You’ve also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were “friends” with before your “break”. Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.

As for the inn, it’s doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. You’ve got a much broader customer base and even classed the place up a bit, but this isn’t without its drawbacks. Namely the Flying Griffon Inn has stepped up its efforts to get back its customers. This has so far involved an aggressive advertising campaign, hiring a bunch of sexy barmaids and special deals. So far it has helped them a lot and if they continue to succeed, your inn is going to start losing money and you can’t have that. It doesn’t help that your place isn’t in as good of a location as the Flying Griffon

So first things first, you need to figure out how to deal with Flying Griffon and you call a staff meeting in the hopes of getting some other ideas on how to deal with them.

“Why don’t you just hire someone to cut up their slutty barmaids? I mean that’s what’s mainly getting the main draw right? Seems like you could easily solve the problem by getting rid of them.” Rita says. Naturally this doesn’t go over well with the others.

“That’s horrible!” Eliza says

“ What? I didn’t say kill them, they’d still be able to work and shit. They just wouldn’t be pretty anymore.”

“Have you gotten so jealous that you’ve gone completely barmy? By the gods, we’re not doing that, we’re not the Crimson Talons!” Wendy shouts.

As much as disfiguring Flying Griffon’s staff would solve some problems, you hesitate to resort to such measures.

“Maybe we could offer deals to traveling merchants like Flying Griffon does, like they get a discount on their rooms?” your mom suggests.

“Not sure if that’s going to help us a lot, unless we make an addition to the inn. It’s not like our rooms aren’t being used. If we start giving discount to merchants we might attract them, but we might not have enough rooms to accommodate them or we’ll be accommodating them, but won’t be accommodating adventurer types who are paying full price.” Wendy says.

“Well if you’re so knowledgeable Wendy, what’s YOUR solution?” Rita sneers.

“We have a lot of Klyton Milita that come here to drink now don’t we? Why don’t we get some of them to help us? Seems like some very public investigation during heavy business hours would help out a lot and ruin the reputation of Flying Griffon. Hell, maybe they’ll even find something and we’ll really get lucky.”

You take all these suggestions into consideration, but you can’t help notice that Eliza looks like she wants to say something.

“Eliza, do you have a suggestion?”

“Huh? Oh. Um…yes…but I... Just forget it. It’s silly anyway. The rest of your ideas sound better.”

“Eliza, just spit it out!” Wendy demands.

“It’s okay, just tell us.” You say with a lot less intimidation.

“Well okay, but it’s silly. I was going to suggest getting someone on the inside to spy on the place and finding something to use against them. It seems odd that they are managing to attract that much attention with just pretty barmaids when we have our own. I think maybe something else is going on there, like an illegal brothel or something.”

Most of you are surprised that Eliza came up with something so complex.

“Well, that’s a very elaborate plan Eliza, but I think we could accomplish the same thing just by sending in our militia buddies to harass them. Like I said, if they do find anything actually incriminating, then its even better.”

“Yes, of course. That sounds like a more efficient idea.” Eliza says.
> You go with Rita's idea
While all the rest of the ideas seem okay, you really think you need to act quickly on this. It’ll be ugly and ruthless, but unfortunately necessary. Since everyone is against Rita’s idea though, you decide not to say anything about it and say you’re going to have to think everything over later.

When everyone’s away you decide to talk to Rita privately.

“Rita, can I speak to you for a moment?”

“I knew this was coming eventually…look you’re alright looking and if you do manage to become a doctor then maybe I’ll be interested, but until then…”

“What? No! I wanted to speak to you about your plan.”

“Oh.” Rita says looking a little disappointed that you weren’t suggesting what she thought you were.

“Anyway, who did you have in mind to do this deed?”

“Well, I don’t know really. I figured you might know, I mean didn’t you have Crimson Talon connections or something?”

“Connections? Those were thugs that were going to break my legs if I didn’t pay a loanshark on time. I don’t have any connections. I mean with all the guys you go out with…”

“Hey! I don’t like what you’re implying! Contrary to popular belief I’m not some whore like those two half breed sluts you saw fit to hire recently. I’m a lot more selective and I’m certainly not going out with criminal types!”

“Hmmm, if you say so.”

“Why don’t you just go back to that Reynolds guy? I mean he’s sort of a connection right?”

“You must be joking!”

“Not at all, I mean surely for a fee he could lend you that ogre for a little while right?”

“I dunno if it works that way…(Sigh) alright I suppose I could try since I don’t have any other contacts.”

“Okay. Oh! Here take this.” Rita says handing you a small notebook.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the name of every whore that works for the Flying Griffon and their physical description. I have where some of them live too, but not all of them.”

You stare at Rita in disbelief

“What? Eliza’s not the only one who can think up spying you know.” Rita remarks.

“Yeah, but Eliza’s not the one who was stalking the competition out of jealousy either. Nevermind, I guess this will help since I never kept up on who worked there anyway.”

The next day after class, you don’t go to the inn, but instead head to where you know Mr. Reynold’s “office” is. It’s not in a good part of the city, but you make it without any problems.

Mr. Reynold’s is currently alone and smiles when he sees you.

“Somehow I just knew we’d meet each other again soon, so how much you need this time?”

“I don’t need money, I need something else and you’re about the only person I can think of who might be able to help.”

“Oh? Well this is interesting. What is it?”

“I need that ogre that works for you or whoever that other big guy was.”

“Olaf and Silence? They’re not freelancing for me anymore sadly. The Crimson Talons have them doing something more directly important for them. I believe they fight at one of those underground gladiator matches now.”

“Well, can I get in contact with them some how?”

“Ha ha ha! Well I suppose I could tell you, but I don’t think they’d necessarily let you in, I guess you’d have to speak to whoever’s in charge and well it would be a big hassle really…what did you need them for anyway?”

“Is it any of your business?”

“Well if Olaf and Silence had still been freelancing for me it would’ve been, but I guess not now. I’m assuming you need some sort of muscle though, and if that is the case I DO have two new employees that might work out for you. David! Tom! Get in here, we might have some business!”

“Yeah, boss what’s up…hey! I know you!” David says looking at you.

“Hey! How’s it been? Didn’t you go to college?” Tom adds.

Now here’s a blast from the past, your two old school buddies all grown up and obviously full blown criminals now. Funny to think back how your life turned out so different…then again maybe not considering you’re here to have several women horribly disfigured.

“Well, it seems you gentlemen all know each other, maybe now you’re ready to tell us what you need doing?”

You take a deep breath and state what you need done.

“Wow, didn’t expect that one.” Mr. Reynolds says. David and Tom are also surprised.

“Shit, what the hell did they do to you, cheat on you?” David asks.

“Fuck man, that’s some serial killer shit!” Tom adds.

“Look, I don’t need them killed! I just need them disfigured so they aren’t pretty anymore.”

“Yeah, I got that. Okay, so how much you willing to pay?” Mr. Reynolds asks.

You and Mr. Reynolds negotiate a price, which is agreeable, but Tom begins to speak up.

“Uh…I dunno Mr. Reynolds. I don’t think I can do this…”

“Tom, stop being a pussy! We’re just gonna cut up some bitches and get out, shit ain’t that hard.” David says

“But I dunno. I just feel weird about doing this. It’s not like beating up people who don’t pay on time.”

“You’ll do what I tell you to do! David, you better keep your little sidekick in line before I replace the pair of you!” Mr. Reynolds snaps.

You think back to your old childhood involving your former friends. Tom always was the weakest of you three, but he always went along despite protests. You have no doubt David’s capable of committing the act, you just wonder if he’s gotten any brighter since then. The last thing you need is for them to fuck this up for you and get all of you in trouble.

Getting the “real professionals” might be tough though. Might even cost more money.
> You hire David and Tom
Getting Olaf and Silence seems unlikely now, you’re sure you could probably travel the seedy underbelly of Klyton and hire some other Crimson Talon thugs, but you’d really rather not. Besides, you actually “know” David and Tom to a degree so you feel slightly more comfortable with them.

“Splendid! Now David and Tom, you go back with your old friend here and I’m sure he can fill you in on more details. I expect to see the pair of you soon with the money.” Mr. Reynolds before he goes back writing in a ledger.

You, David and Tom all walk back your inn. This whole thing feels a little surreal, like you’re all back in primary school again.

“So. What brings you back to the old neighborhood? Thought you were gonna be a rich doctor or some shit.” David asks.

“Ehh, long story. I’ve actually been back for awhile running my dad’s inn. Still taking classes, just not living on campus anymore.”

“Yeah heard about your dad dying. Wish mine was dead; mean old fucker’s still alive. Never talk or see him anymore though after he kicked me out of the house.”

“…huh….uh so Tom what’s been going on with you?” you ask changing the subject.

“Me? Um, nothing. Me and David just work for Mr. Reynolds beating people up who don’t pay. So you owed him money before we worked for him?”

“Well, not me, but my family borrowed some. It’s all in the past though.”

“That’s good. It would’ve been weird seeing each other again under those circumstances. I don’t think I could intimidate your mom. She was always so nice, not like my mom.”

“That’s because your mom’s still a big ass scary dyke that’s why!” David taunts.

“Shut up David! My mom’s not a dyke! She just has a roommate!”

Some things never change…

Speaking of moms, it occurs to you that actually taking them to the inn to talk probably isn’t a good idea as your mom will probably start asking you all sorts of question on why you’re hanging out with your old hoodlum friends. Instead you go into an alley.

“Okay, here’s a list of the girls you need to confront, their names, descriptions, and even addresses for most of them.”

“Shit, what the hell did you stalk ‘em or something? Sounds like you could’ve done this yourself.” David remarks.

“I didn’t stalk them, I just have an overly enthusiastic employee motivated greatly by jealousy. Now I’m depending on you guys to do this right.”

“Relax, we’re professionals now. None of this getting caught in the candy store for us anymore.”

“Okay, so how long do you think this will take you?”

“Ehhh, we can probably get this done in a few days if we hurry. Quite a few targets, but it really shouldn’t take long. Probably get most of them after they leave work or going to work. I assume we’ll meet at your inn when the job’s done?”

“Uh no, we’ll meet over in the park around five, where we used to play Smash Sphere in a couple days. If you haven’t finished the job by then, we’ll meet again there in two more days and that should hopefully give you enough time.”

“I told you we’ll be done before then, but fine we’ll do it this way since you think your inn is obviously too good for us…”

“That’s not…”

“Bullshit! The very fact that we’re talking in this alley is an indication that you don’t want us in your place.”

“Is that true? I thought we were friends?” Tom asks being slow on the uptake as usual.

“David, I have certain patrons and I can’t have known criminals walking around the place, not to mention my mom…”

“Fuck you, mama’s boy. All that fancy learnin’ and you still live with your mom. We may be lowly thugs but at least we’re not still livin’ at home. Rather be a goon for hire than a hypocrite like you. Too good to have us at your fancy ass inn, but not too good to hire us to wipe out the competition eh?”

You’re silent for a moment after David’s accurate statement, but you’re not going to let him get away with talking like that to you even if it does mean a possible beating.

“…Alright, fine David. You got me, I’m a fucking hypocrite, is that what you want to hear? At least I tried to do something with my fucking life rather than just rot in juvie for most of my youth and live a hand to mouth existence as some dumb ass goon. So are you gonna do the fucking job or what?”

David starts laughing.

“Sheesh, I was just fucking with you. You always did take shit so seriously. Anyway yeah we’ll get right on this. See ya in a couple days mama’s boy. Heh.”

You part company with David and Tom hoping that you’ve made the right decision.

A few days pass and you wait at the park at the time you mentioned. Time passes and neither has shown up yet and you start feel anxious.

“I have to say, I’m surprised at the lengths you went through to compete with me. I never expected you to pull something like this. You might’ve succeeded in this clumsy attempt, but a couple of my employees were a little more skilled than your thugs.”

It’s Frank, the owner of The Flying Griffon. You’re so shocked that you can’t even come up with an excuse. It doesn’t matter though since Frank isn’t done talking.

“Don’t bother with excuses, I know everything. Your little friends proved quite talkative when questioned. On the brighter side for you, you won’t have to pay them now.”

“They’re dead?”

“Oh I wouldn’t know about such things, but I do know they won’t be troubling anyone else any longer. Now the question is what to do about you?”

“…you don’t need to do anything about me…in fact I suggest you don’t. I’m friends with several Klyton militia and an investigation would certainly follow if I were to suddenly disappear.”

Frank smirks and your attempt to intimidate him.

“Truly? Might I also tell these same militia friends of your of how you hired two thugs to cut up my employees? But let’s get to the point, you’ve done a lot of damage to my business and I think some reparations are in order. I want your inn. Or rather your mother’s inn.”

“What?”

“You heard me. That’s the only thing that’s going to get you out of this mess you’ve dug yourself into. I’ll of course give you a few days to make preparations. Don’t bother asking if you can still live or work there, I‘m afraid I just couldn’t trust someone who has shady dealings.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’d advise against it. That’s all I’m going to say. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back, we’re a little understaffed lately.”

You quickly make your way back to the inn lamenting the mess you’ve gotten yourself into. You glare at Rita on your way in while everyone else asks you where you’ve been. You’re distracted all night and your mother notices it the most. At the end of the workday she asks if there’s anything wrong.
> You tell her everything
You can’t hide something like this, so you just confess everything. Your mother says nothing for a moment and then you feel a slap to your face.

“I can’t believe you would do such a thing. That is not how you were raised! Those poor women! They were just trying to earn a living and you had them disfigured just to hamper the competition? We were doing just fine!”

“No, we weren’t! Frank’s inn was starting to beat the hell out of us in everyway! With the way things were going we wouldn’t have had enough business to support this place let alone me trying to finish up my schooling!”

“Is your schooling more important than basic humanity or even the confines of the law? (Sigh) Nevermind, I suppose some of this is our fault. We pushed so hard for your education that now you’re willing to do anything to achieve it…well there’s only one thing left to do I suppose. Sell this place to Frank.”

“What?! He’s not going to do anything, he’s just bluffing!”

‘And what if he isn’t? What if he decides to do the same thing you did, or worse? No, I’m not living my life like that; I had enough of it with Mr. Reynolds who YOU just recently brought into our lives again by hiring your old hoodlum friends of yours. So first thing I want you to do in the morning is to pay whatever you agreed to Mr. Reynolds, I’m sure we can cover it or else you wouldn’t have made the deal. Meanwhile I’ll talk to Frank to hammer out the agreement.”

“So that’s it then? We’re just giving up?”

“Nobody’s giving up son. I stayed to help you as much as I could, but I can’t stand by and help you anymore if you’re going to engage in criminal activity. I’m selling this place and saving you from yourself. Now if you decide to continue being involved in criminal activity, well…I suppose I can’t stop you, but in any case I’m moving back to Teckleville.”

You protest, yell and accuse at your mother for a good half hour, but her mind is made up and eventually she just closes her door and goes to sleep.

The next few days go according to your mother’s wishes. Mr. Reynolds is paid, though he does wonder about where David and Tom are, you tell him that maybe he should take that up with Frank. The Traveller’s Inn is sold to Frank and your mother doesn’t give you any of the money from the sale. She just wishes you well and knows that with your intelligence you’ll be able to find work before she moves back to Teckleville.

It doesn’t need to be said that you’re very angry about all this, at your mother, at Rita, at David and Tom, at Frank, at everyone really, but you’re mainly mad at yourself. You should’ve shown better judgment and now you’ve lost everything.

You do manage to find work, but it’s only as a lowly clerk filing away insignificant papers and other dull material. You never really get ahead and your former goals are discarded anyway since you wonder why you wasted all that time studying only for it to all fall apart so spectacularly.

As the years pass you only grow more bitter and angry until one day you snap and arrive at work, killing your boss with your dad’s old Troll Gun.

The Klyton Militia soon arrive and as you lay dying from several sword blows and a few gunshot wounds all you do is laugh.

“Thanks dad…you heh heh heh finally came through heh heh heh (sputter) for me…”


Getting Olaf and Silence seems unlikely now, you’re sure you could probably travel the seedy underbelly of Klyton and hire some other Crimson Talon thugs, but you’d really rather not. Besides, you actually “know” David and Tom to a degree so you feel slightly more comfortable with them.

“Splendid! Now David and Tom, you go back with your old friend here and I’m sure he can fill you in on more details. I expect to see the pair of you soon with the money.” Mr. Reynolds before he goes back writing in a ledger.

You, David and Tom all walk back your inn. This whole thing feels a little surreal, like you’re all back in primary school again.

“So. What brings you back to the old neighborhood? Thought you were gonna be a rich doctor or some shit.” David asks.

“Ehh, long story. I’ve actually been back for awhile running my dad’s inn. Still taking classes, just not living on campus anymore.”

“Yeah heard about your dad dying. Wish mine was dead; mean old fucker’s still alive. Never talk or see him anymore though after he kicked me out of the house.”

“…huh….uh so Tom what’s been going on with you?” you ask changing the subject.

“Me? Um, nothing. Me and David just work for Mr. Reynolds beating people up who don’t pay. So you owed him money before we worked for him?”

“Well, not me, but my family borrowed some. It’s all in the past though.”

“That’s good. It would’ve been weird seeing each other again under those circumstances. I don’t think I could intimidate your mom. She was always so nice, not like my mom.”

“That’s because your mom’s still a big ass scary dyke that’s why!” David taunts.

“Shut up David! My mom’s not a dyke! She just has a roommate!”

Some things never change…

Speaking of moms, it occurs to you that actually taking them to the inn to talk probably isn’t a good idea as your mom will probably start asking you all sorts of question on why you’re hanging out with your old hoodlum friends. Instead you go into an alley.

“Okay, here’s a list of the girls you need to confront, their names, descriptions, and even addresses for most of them.”

“Shit, what the hell did you stalk ‘em or something? Sounds like you could’ve done this yourself.” David remarks.

“I didn’t stalk them, I just have an overly enthusiastic employee motivated greatly by jealousy. Now I’m depending on you guys to do this right.”

“Relax, we’re professionals now. None of this getting caught in the candy store for us anymore.”

“Okay, so how long do you think this will take you?”

“Ehhh, we can probably get this done in a few days if we hurry. Quite a few targets, but it really shouldn’t take long. Probably get most of them after they leave work or going to work. I assume we’ll meet at your inn when the job’s done?”

“Uh no, we’ll meet over in the park around five, where we used to play Smash Sphere in a couple days. If you haven’t finished the job by then, we’ll meet again there in two more days and that should hopefully give you enough time.”

“I told you we’ll be done before then, but fine we’ll do it this way since you think your inn is obviously too good for us…”

“That’s not…”

“Bullshit! The very fact that we’re talking in this alley is an indication that you don’t want us in your place.”

“Is that true? I thought we were friends?” Tom asks being slow on the uptake as usual.

“David, I have certain patrons and I can’t have known criminals walking around the place, not to mention my mom…”

“Fuck you, mama’s boy. All that fancy learnin’ and you still live with your mom. We may be lowly thugs but at least we’re not still livin’ at home. Rather be a goon for hire than a hypocrite like you. Too good to have us at your fancy ass inn, but not too good to hire us to wipe out the competition eh?”

You’re silent for a moment after David’s accurate statement, but you’re not going to let him get away with talking like that to you even if it does mean a possible beating.

“…Alright, fine David. You got me, I’m a fucking hypocrite, is that what you want to hear? At least I tried to do something with my fucking life rather than just rot in juvie for most of my youth and live a hand to mouth existence as some dumb ass goon. So are you gonna do the fucking job or what?”

David starts laughing.

“Sheesh, I was just fucking with you. You always did take shit so seriously. Anyway yeah we’ll get right on this. See ya in a couple days mama’s boy. Heh.”

You part company with David and Tom hoping that you’ve made the right decision.

A few days pass and you wait at the park at the time you mentioned. Time passes and neither has shown up yet and you start feel anxious.

“I have to say, I’m surprised at the lengths you went through to compete with me. I never expected you to pull something like this. You might’ve succeeded in this clumsy attempt, but a couple of my employees were a little more skilled than your thugs.”

It’s Frank, the owner of The Flying Griffon. You’re so shocked that you can’t even come up with an excuse. It doesn’t matter though since Frank isn’t done talking.

“Don’t bother with excuses, I know everything. Your little friends proved quite talkative when questioned. On the brighter side for you, you won’t have to pay them now.”

“They’re dead?”

“Oh I wouldn’t know about such things, but I do know they won’t be troubling anyone else any longer. Now the question is what to do about you?”

“…you don’t need to do anything about me…in fact I suggest you don’t. I’m friends with several Klyton militia and an investigation would certainly follow if I were to suddenly disappear.”

Frank smirks and your attempt to intimidate him.

“Truly? Might I also tell these same militia friends of your of how you hired two thugs to cut up my employees? But let’s get to the point, you’ve done a lot of damage to my business and I think some reparations are in order. I want your inn. Or rather your mother’s inn.”

“What?”

“You heard me. That’s the only thing that’s going to get you out of this mess you’ve dug yourself into. I’ll of course give you a few days to make preparations. Don’t bother asking if you can still live or work there, I‘m afraid I just couldn’t trust someone who has shady dealings.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’d advise against it. That’s all I’m going to say. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back, we’re a little understaffed lately.”

You quickly make your way back to the inn lamenting the mess you’ve gotten yourself into. You glare at Rita on your way in while everyone else asks you where you’ve been. You’re distracted all night and your mother notices it the most. At the end of the workday she asks if there’s anything wrong.
> You keep it to yourself
You can’t tell your mother what you did; she’d never forgive you. Frank is probably just bluffing. Even if he did say something to the Klyton Militia there’s no evidence and they probably wouldn’t believe him anyway. Besides he pretty much suggested that Tom and David are dead.

Of course that makes you worry that he might try to do the same thing to you, your mother or one of your employees. Maybe he wasn’t bluffing.

For the next few weeks you become increasingly paranoid asking your employees if they noticed anyone strange following them. You can’t concentrate in class and your grades start to suffer. The stress gets so much that you end up pulling your dad’s Troll Gun on a patron you don’t recognize. Fortunately nothing bad happens, unless you count several people questioning your sanity and no longer entering your inn. Several of your staff grumble about leaving, but it doesn’t quite get to that point.

You’ve been so stressed out that you haven’t been able to sleep properly for weeks, you constantly wake up and double check all the locks on the doors and sleep with the Troll Gun next to you. Eventually a wave of exhaustion causes you to collapse and fall into a deep sleep for once.

You begin to dream that you’re sitting near a tree studying. A pretty girl in a red dress sits next to you saying that you should come with her instead of putting your nose in a book.

“I have to study! I have to become a doctor! That’s my goal!” you answer.

“Is it? Or is it some high aspiration that your parents put into your head when you were young? Do you really know what you want? How hard have you pushed yourself only to be thwarted at every turn? Don’t you think you should take time to rest? Come with me.”

“I would like to rest, but I can’t. I have to continue.”

“No, you don’t. You can allow yourself time to take break. You’ve done as much as you can…perhaps more than you should have. But none of that matters now; it’s time to rest. Come with me.”

The words of this word are so soothing and she speaks in a way that you find alluring and truthful. Still, you can’t but think you know her from somewhere.

“…who are you? Do I know you? It seems like I’ve seen you before…” you ask.

“Does it matter? You must come with me now. You may not get another chance.” The woman says in a firm, but gentle tone.

You get the impression that she sincerely is looking out for your best interest, so you put down your book and hold her hand as you go walking into the fields with her…

“I can’t believe he just died in his sleep! He was too young! (sob)” your mother cries.

“I’m sorry for your loss, but he did seem like he was under a lot of stress lately. Dunno what would’ve caused that. Maybe his classes were getting harder and he just couldn’t take it any longer?” Wendy says not really knowing what to say.

“Well, at least he looked peaceful.” Eliza says, tearing up a little.

Rita stays quiet the whole time, looking a little nervous about whether or not her “idea” had anything to do with this.

After burying you next to your father, you mother has no more reason to stay in Klyton and sells the inn to Frank before moving back to Teckleville to live with her sister Enora.

Meanwhile...

“So sister, did Frank yell at you for disposing of his competition in such a gentle manner?”

“Hah, that little mage knows not to overstep his bounds. Oh I long for the day when we can figure out how to break his little contract over us. Honestly using us as mere barmaids, it’s degrading.”

“I agree sister, but I will never under stand why you choose to take the delicious life force in the manner you do.”

“Oh sister, you are truly a product of our race. Seduction and then a horrifying end to the victim. It needn’t always be so vulgar. Besides, I sensed so much stress, worry and guilt in him, I figured he could use a peaceful end.”