AnnouncementThought I'd add a bit of mostly useless lore for the characters. We know Lilit's stat blocks from the second chapter. I thought I'd add each companion's original and modified stat blocks with the next few chapters. To start out, here is Awenda's.

  Awenda Original Stat Block:Str:14 Dex:10 Con:12 Int:10 Wis:8 Cha:4 Mana:10 Stamina:12Awenda Modified Stat Block:Str:18 Dex:10 Con:18 Int:10 Wis:8 Cha:6 Mana:10 Stamina:20

  The sound of ughter from all over the room washed over them. A waitress, or serving wench, or whatever came over and guided them to an empty table near a window. She was tall and willowy. From within her dark hair protruded two, pointy ears. Her skin was a dark ochre with dark freckles across her bare shoulders. What really caught Lilit’s attention were her eyes, they had no sclera at all. They were a solid, crystalline blue with a small, bck pupil. Both beautiful and alien at the same time.

  “Welcome to The Inn, looks like this is your first time with us. We have food and drink you can take down here or up in your room. Each party has their own suite of rooms. The suite will expand to fit the number of people in your party. If you’re not in a party we can set you up with a temporary room until you join someone.

  “You’ll come back here after clearing each dungeon. The Inn acts as a neutral zone with several buffs on the area including sped up healing and mana and stamina regeneration. You can advertise to join a party or for a party member on the bulletin board by the fire.” She gestured behind them. “On the third floor—”

  “I only saw two stories when we…” Lilit gestured vaguely toward the door they’d come through.

  The waitress winked. “Things are a bit rger on the inside. Otherwise how would we fit all of you in here?

  “On the third floor are the dungeon merchants. They’ll buy your gear from the dungeon and sell you equipment, travel food, armor, weapons, potions, et cetera.

  “On the fourth floor you’ll find the suite merchants. You can customize your suite of rooms to match your taste and preferences. Add more space to rooms. Buy furniture and decorations. Though if the party splits only the person in the party that paid for it will retain its use for their future rooms.

  “On the fifth floor are training rooms. You can train solo, as a party, or hire a trainer to work with you.

  “You can attempt a dungeon whenever you want, but you have to start one within seven days of leaving your st dungeon. A party disbanding does offer an additional seven days to recruit before needing to head out.” She took a deep breath, “So, any questions?”

  “How much do the rooms and food from the inn cost?” Lilit asked.

  Their waitress straightened up. “We actually take a small percentage of your gold when you clear a dungeon and step across the threshold. So all meals and rooms are already paid for.”

  Lilit pulled up her delver and after a few false starts navigated to her bank account screen. Sure enough, she’d completed the dungeon with sixty-three gold pieces, and there was a deduction of three gold pieces beled as The Inn. It really was a small percentage, but it would help if she knew what a gold piece was actually worth. Hopefully she’d figure it out when they visited the merchants ter. First she needed a shower and to crash for like ten hours. And a giant dinner.

  Rana on the other hand sputtered in rage. “Y-you just take…and we don’t…what the…”

  Awenda reached across and pced her hand on Rana’s to calm her down, “It’s not that bad. It’s a fair trade.”

  Lilit chimed in, “If you check your account, it’s only like five percent.”

  Rana shook off Awenda’s hand and pulled up her own delver, a small blue screen popping up above it. From this side though, Lilit couldn’t see what was on it at all. A few minutes ter, Rana let out an aggrieved sigh. “I see it wasn’t that much, but still. I want at least the illusion that I have the choice.”

  “Would you have not paid a rger fee for the same services if given a choice?” Awenda asked.

  “That’s beside the point. It’s the principal of the thing,” Rana ranted.

  “Let’s just eat down here for now, then head up to the rooms, clean up, and crash for like twelve hours. We’ll figure the rest out ter,” Lilit said.

  The other two nodded in agreement. The waitress pced a set of menus down on the table and left them to peruse it for a few minutes.

  After they pced their orders and the waitress walked away, Lilit leaned back. “So, for now at least, are we sticking together? I feel like for the most part we get along. I can even deal with that hot head if she’s going to go around saving my skin.” Lilit cocked her thumb at Rana with a grin.

  Rana leaned forward, bck eyebrow mark raised, “Next time I don’t have to, you know.”

  “Who says there’s going to be a next time?”

  “Of course there will be. You have the least weapons training among us.”

  “A trainer might not go amiss actually,” Awenda interjected.

  Lilit huffed out a breath. “Yeah. You’re probably right. I was just a biology professor in my other life. No combat involved. A lot of this is pretty new to me.”

  “Really? With the way you guided us through several of those encounters I assumed you had some kind of tactics training, maybe led a small strike team or something.” Awenda said.

  “Nope. I just pyed a lot of these kinds of games on my computer,” Lilit answered. “Wait, what did you two used to do?”

  Awenda and Rana exchanged a gnce over the table. Rana answered first, “I was raised in the ruling caste, hence my,” she gestured up and down her body.

  Lilit just stared at her confused. No idea what Rana was referring to.

  Rana leaned forward and combed the fur aside on her upper arm. “My golden skin is the mark of the ruling caste.”

  Lilit nodded in understanding. Rana continued her story. “Anyway, I had an illicit affair with one of my maids. She opened my eyes to the corruption inherent in our system. A system based on something as unlucky as birth.

  “One day she introduced me to a group of rebels. Well, they kidnapped me first. But then we talked and I ended up joining their rebellion. I led the cell of rebels that captured the Grand Duke and forced him to surrender his forces.

  “Then a bomb went off, killing me instantly. Turns out one of the rebels in my cell was a little more zealous than the rest of us.” Rana ughed. “Anyway, then I ended up here. I’ve had training in all sorts of weapons and armor.”

  Lilit leaned back, “Huh. I just thought you were an asshole. That’s kind of cool. Props.”

  Rana looked at her funny. She started to ask something, but Awenda spoke over her. “I was just a grunt in the army. These swords are a lot less effective than the vibrobdes I’m used to. I served alongside my sisters in arms in combat in several campaigns. I’m most familiar with rge shields and longswords like I use now.” She shrugged with a smile, “Why mess with something that works.”

  “How did you die?” Lilit asked.

  “Oh. That.” Awenda actually blushed. “Well, I actually tripped over a mine. But turns out, setting it off like I did saved half of my ptoon.”

  “Ummm…wow. That is unfortunate. At least you get to be here with us now.” Rana beamed at Awenda. Lilit nodded along.

  Rana turned to Lilit with a sultry smile. “How did you die sweetheart?”

  It was Lilit’s turn to blush. “I—I got hit by a bus. I jumped in front of it to save a little girl that ran into the street.”

  The three sat in silence, each reflecting on their own deaths and what they meant when the food arrived. Lilit couldn’t help but compare her life and death with the others’. They had both been warriors, trained to fight. Dying heroic…ish deaths. Lilit was the odd man out in this situation.

  When they were done, the waitress appeared again. This time she had several keycards she pced on the table. “You gals are at the top of the stairs and down the hall to the right, room 309.”

  They thanked her and made to stand up. Before they did, they heard the same feminine voice from when they entered The Inn. “Hold up a second, dies.”

  Lilit turned toward the sound of the voice. Standing next to the table was a very short, very green, woman in a set of purple robes. She looked like she might come up to the bottom of Lilit’s breasts, putting her at less than four feet tall if Lilit had to guess.

  She had sharp features, pointed ears, thick bck hair, and tiny little tusks poking past her bottom lip. Goblin was what Lilit immediately pegged her as. That felt like the closest equivalent anyway. She was also eyeing the three women like they were juicy steaks and she was starving.

  She pulled over a tall stool from another table and hopped up onto it, bringing her closer to eye level once Lilit and the others sat back down. In a sultry voice, “Let’s see, we’ve got curvy and pink,” she looked at Lilit. “Tall and fuzzy,” looking at Rana. “And extra tall and muscur.” She licked her lips while looking at Awenda.

  “Ladies, let me be the first to welcome you. Name’s Izumi. If you’re nice, I’ll let you…” Her voice trailed off and she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Anyway, you’re a lovely bunch. Are you all staying partied up?” Izumi looked around at all of them.

  “Yes,” Awenda answered simply. She looked a little confused about what this little woman was doing at their table.

  “Look, whatever you’re selling, we don’t want any. Got it?” Rana gred at Izumi. “We just got in, we’re tired. We’re going to go crash for a few hours.”

  “Maybe after you’ve all had your beauty sleep,” added sotto voce, “not that any of you need it.” Izumi met everyone’s eyes in turn. “We can have a conversation. I’m looking for a new party, and I like what I see.” Again with the suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

  “Sure,” Lilit answered. “Maybe after we come back downstairs. For now, goodnight.” They all stood up from the table and made their way to the staircase at the back of the room. A few minutes ter they were walking into their team’s suite.

  The door opened on a sitting room with several couches and armchairs. A tall bookcase stood against a wall, stretching nearly its entire length. Lilit looked forward to checking that out ter, after she slept for twenty or so hours. She was so exhausted. A firepce sat in the far wall, logs crackling in a warm fire. The whole room screamed rexing.

  Lilit stopped Awenda and Rana before they could leave the room through the door across the room. “I think I should be able to hit you guys up with some heals now. Let me just look you guys over real quick.”

  “Actually, I think I kind of already healed all of it down in the dining hall.” Rana lifted the edge of her armor where there had definitely been a gash earlier. “Yeah, looks like I’m all good. You?” She looked over at Awenda.

  “I didn’t sustain anything in the st engagement. But, how are you, little one?” Awenda asked Lilit.

  “Oh, huh.” Lilit patted along her abdomen absently. Not even any tenderness anymore. “I guess I’m good too. I mean I know she mentioned increased healing, but I didn’t think it would be that fast. That’s kind of cool.”

  Rana nodded her head and was the first through the door leading out of the room. A short hallway led to the left and right. Doors were closed up and down the length of the hall, but all on the opposite side from the livingroom. Shrugging their shoulders at each other, they split up and wondered down the hall in different directions.

  Lilit turned left and opened the first door. Inside was a small, round table with several chairs. Light streamed in from windows on the far wall. She went to flick the lights on anyway, only to discover a slider instead of a switch.

  She shrugged and pushed the slider up and down. Nothing inside the dining room changed, but the light through the windows went from early morning to bright afternoon as she pushed up, and then to twilight as she pushed down. She could see starlight through the window.

  She definitely wasn’t looking out at the world actually outside the inn. Although since the waitress mentioned that the inn connected to every dungeon, maybe she kind of was. Outside the windows she saw an idyllic meadow with wildflowers blowing in a gentle breeze. At least the view was nice.

  To her left was a swinging door. She pushed it open to see a small galley kitchen. Awenda was inside, digging through the fridge.

  “Dining room through there,” Lilit hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Did they stock the fridge? Is there stuff to cook with?”

  Awenda stood up, closing the fridge. “Yes, it appears they did. I saw several items I recognized from my world, and others I didn’t that I assume are from yours and Rana’s.” She shrugged, “There are also pots and pans in the cupboards, so yeah. If someone wants to, we can cook for ourselves.”

  “Do you like to cook?” Lilit asked.

  “Not particurly, though I know a few staples. Do you?”

  “Yeah. I find it rexing. I enjoy cooking for people. Maybe I’ll cook for us.” Her voice was very upbeat.

  “Let’s go see what’s down the other way,” Lilit suggested.

  Awenda nodded her head in agreement and they headed back into the hallway. Rana had just stepped out of one of the rooms down the hall. She looked back at them.

  “These are all bedrooms. They look pretty simir, so it shouldn’t matter where we sleep. What did you guys find?” Rana said.

  “Kitchen and dining room,” Awenda hooked her thumb over her shoulder.

  Lilit followed Awenda down to the other end of the hallway. They peaked in each room. There was a queen size bed, a small desk and chair, what she guessed was an armor stand, a wardrobe, and a door that she hoped led to a bathroom. The only difference was each room was done in different colors.

  One, she mentally dubbed the autumn room. It was full of muted oranges and reds. Another was the royal room. It was full of deep purples and bright gold accents. The st was the ocean room. It was filled with soothing blues and greens. Awenda took the autumn room, Rana the royal room, and Lilit didn’t feel slighted in the least when she accepted the ocean room.

  They separated into their own rooms after wishing each other a goodnight. Lilit immediately began untying her armor. It was surprisingly easy with several ties, a few buckles, and one zipper. She hung everything up on the mannequin in the corner of the room that seemed to be set up for it.

  Underneath the armor she had on a light cotton, loose fitting shirt and close fitted, linen pants. Everything was soaked through with sweat. Looking around she dropped everything on the ground when she couldn’t find a hamper. In a sports bra and boyshorts she opened up the only other door in the room and was rewarded with the view of a tiny, but serviceable bathroom.

  There were the usual bathroom features, small counter, single sink, mirror, and toilet. There was also a tiny, enclosed shower. No bath. That was going to be one of the first things she ordered to add to her rooms…a soaking tub.

  She peeled off her sweaty undergarments and climbed into the shower. There was instant relief feeling the hot water sluicing down her tired muscles. Lilit ended up staying in the shower a bit longer than she had originally pnned. When she finally crawled out her fingers were pruney.

  Lilit pulled back the heavy comforter and silky sheets, both in matching light blues, and slipped into bed naked. By the time her head hit the pillow she was already out.