For 5 copper a young girl pointed the way to Joth’s elvish inn. They hadn’t been too far off: The Silver Buckle was 2 streets over from the muddy lane where they’d faced the muggers.

Isa felt a small pang of disappointment. The inn looked ordinary. She’d been expecting a vine-covered castle with a filigreed silver door, or a treehouse or something that screamed “I’m elven!”

The door of The Silver Buckle stood open to the evening air, and the sound of a single flute drifted out. The place was empty. A human man leaned behind the bar, and an elf sat at the edge of a small stage with a flute in his hands.

When he saw Joth and Isa, the elf hopped off the stage and bowed low. “Welcome friends to The Silver Buckle. Are you in need of respite?” He waved to indicate the empty common room. “I think we can find accommodations for you.”

“Where is everybody?” asked Joth. “I was here last year and the place--”

“Joth,” Isa placed a hand on the wizard’s arm, “I bet it’s the off season. Late in the year, the temperatures are falling…. Not as many travelers. Is that right?” She looked at the elf.

He smiled and bowed. “Smart and beautiful. And deadly, no doubt. The quarterstaff is an elegant weapon.”

“Thanks, I guess.” She looked at the cold fireplace and at the bored man behind the bar. “Are you, um, available to house and feed the two of us? We don’t need much….”

“Of course, of course! Brown! Light the hearth, wake the cook.” He smiled at them. “She’s not really sleeping. That’s our little joke. Dinner is in 1 hour.”

The bartender brushed past them to lay logs in the fireplace. Within a minute small flames were peeking through the logs.

“We’ll pay for 1 night,” said Joth. “But we might extend that by another day. Depends on our business.”

The elf nodded. “That will be 1 gold, 5 silver, please.” He held out his hand.

“That’s, that’s….” Joth sputtered, and the elf nodded. “A bargain. True. The Silver Buckle lays the finest table in Hanchen. Everyone says.”

“What if we skip dinner,” said Isa.

The elf pursed his lips. “It is, as the dwarves say, a fixed price.”

“I can’t help but notice,” Joth peered up at the mantlepiece, “your vermin problem.” He glanced at the elf to make sure he was listening. “I happen to have a lovely spell for that. Eradicates them,” he snapped his fingers, “like that.”

“If word of that got out,” said Isa, “it could seriously affect your business. You wouldn't want that.”

“Hahaha, no indeed. If, as you say, word got out, that would be very bad for business.” said the elf, and then he sighed. “I am Maldinar Visrathis, and you have a deal. I do have costs, so shall we say 5 silver for the night, for you both?”

“How much is your ale,” asked Isa. “I want to toast my friend for a successful journey.” She gave Joth a smile.

“We do not sell ale. You are a far-lands traveler, like myself, so do not trouble yourself for the simple mistake. Elves drink wine. I bottle up my own Uvanti, when I have the time.”

“I’m game,” Isa shrugged. “How much for a bottle?”

Maldinar started to say something and then seemed to change his mind. “The summer pressing is a mere… 1 silver a pitcher.”

Isa thought of the few silver coins in her pouch. Thanks to a bandit on the high road she had more coins now than she’d had this morning. “And a pitcher is like a carafe or something? How many glasses?”

Maldinar fluttered his eyelids. “One would expect to get 4-5 mugs from a pitcher.”

“Sold,” Isa grinned.

“Do sit anywhere,” the elf gestured to the empty tables and chairs.

The fire was starting to crackle so Isa set her pack and staff down at a table near the fire. Joth joined her. With a sigh he opened his pack and pulled out a worn notebook. The black cover was scuffed, and the top corner was bent.

“Have you been sitting on your notebook for, like, years?” Isa blurted out. She held up her own notebook which looked brand new.

“It came this way,” he said. “I'm an old soul.”

Isa noticed that he had not opened the book yet, and Joth noticed her noticing. “I just, I’ve been level 4 for a very long time.”

“Yeah and since they were packed away,” she patted her notebook, “we don’t know if we leveled.”

Joth moved his hand across the cover of his notebook. “I will get access to class 3 spells if I have, in fact, leveled.”

“And I’ll get that fighter focus you talked about.”

“Martial archetype, yes.” He fell silent.

“Hey Joth, the day we met--” Isa stopped short. Had it really been only three days ago? It felt like a lifetime somehow. “Like 3 days ago when we met, Lund--” Isa stopped short again. She didn’t want to make Joth mad and make him think that she’d been talking about him. “I don’t understand magic, I guess. So you have a level and the spell has a level.”

“Yes,” he sighed. “Wizard levels and spell levels are only marginally related.”

“I’ve heard the phrase ‘Class 7 Wizard’ before. So that is about the level of spell?”

“That would describe what level or strength of spell he or she can cast. In order to cast a spell that powerful, you’d have to be a level 13 wizard.”

“And you’re a level - hopefully a level 5 wizard now? Because you haven’t been here very long, right?”

“That’s one way to look at it. You level by gaining experience, and you gain experience by fighting, and interacting, and taking on quests and challenges. Just like in real life.”

“I’ve never hurt anyone in real life.” As she said it, she thought of the animals she’d dissected in school. She hadn’t technically hurt them, but they were dead because of students like her. But that is just the way things are, right? “And what we did today, and the fight I had with that gnoll thing, that was self defense. I didn’t walk up to those guys and punch them. No one paid me to fight.”

“You don’t have to convince me, Isa.” Joth reached out to touch her hand. “This is a brutal world. I learned that long ago.”

To keep from having Joth touch her, Isa put her hand on her notebook. “Shall we take a look?” She smiled at him. Don’t mess this up, she told him silently. More than one male friend had convinced himself that he could “change” Isa given enough time.

“Sure,” Joth said with a crooked grin. “I can’t stall forever.”

If he’d noticed her hand movement, he hadn’t let it show on his face. Isa returned the grin. “Count it down, brah.”

“3, 2, 1!” Joth opened his notebook, and Isa did the same. “Level 3,” she breathed.

“And level 5. Righteous.” He smiled broadly. “I have been thinking about class 3 spells for a long time.” He nodded. “A long time.”

Just then the bartender brought over a pitcher of wine and two clay mugs. “No glasses?” Isa said to Joth as she poured the wine.

“It’s an elf thing.” He held up his mug. “To leveling!”

“To leveling,” Isa agreed and took a sip of the wine. It was tart, sharp, and cold. It reminded her of the apple wine she’d drunk the summer she spent in Europe.

Joth set down his mug with a pinched look on his face. “To being able to afford decent wine,” he said softly.

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Name: Isa Chamberlin

Race: Human

Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs

Class: Fighter Level: 3

Alignment: Good

Background: Stranger in a Strange Land

Hit Points: 20 AC: 13

Current Hit Points: 10

Combat: +4 to Hit

Weapons: Rapier (left hand) 1d8 +2 (piercing) / Quarterstaff (right hand) 1d6 +2 (bludgeoning)

STR

11

0

DEX

14

+2

CON

11

0

INT

13

+1

WIS

13

+1

CHA

12

+1

Saving Throws: Str and Con +2

4

Acrobatics* (Dex)

1

Medicine (Wis)

1

Animal Handling (Wis)

1

Nature (Int)

1

Arcana (Int)

3

Perception* (Wis)

0

Athletics (Str)

1

Performance (Cha)

1

Deception (Cha)

1

Persuasion (Cha)

3

History* (Int)

1

Religion (Int)

3

Insight* (Wis)

2

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

1

Intimidation (Cha)

2

Stealth (Dex)

1

Investigation (Int)

1

Survival (Wis)

Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Class Features:

Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.