text: [Themes: fantasy, humor]
  
  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)
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  "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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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..."