While Joth and Isa had been eating dinner a few tables filled up. People, humans mostly, sat down in 2s and 3s, talking quietly and drinking from mugs.

The murmur of voices was soothing. If she closed her eyes, Isa could almost imagine she was sitting at the little coffee shop by her apartment.

How was her apartment, her friends, her life? She'd been too busy with surviving to think about them.

Is that what she was doing, sitting by a now blazing fire, having eaten a fine meal? Was that surviving or was that living? She looked at the dregs of wine in her cup. How do you know, right? How do you know when you stop being one thing and become another?

She thought about the day she found out about Celeste and Roni. She stopped being part of a couple that day, that moment, that instant that she picked up her girlfriend's phone and saw the text. Such a cliche. Such a God damned cliche.

Isa was dimly aware of movement at another table. Two men sitting nearest her vacated their table, and she could see other patrons now. She plucked a piece of roasted carrot from the serving dish and considered ordering another pitcher of wine. It wasn't like she had a big day planned tomorrow. Buy some plants, sell a dead man's scimitar, that was the extent of Isa’s agenda.

Dead man’s scimitar. That should be the name of a murder mystery or a very niche punk bar. Isa smiled to herself, and decided that perhaps she’d already had too much wine tonight. She leaned forward to put the vegetable bowl on top of her dirty plate when she heard a man say, “It’s getting harder to find kids.”

Without moving her head, Isa cut her eyes to the side to see who’d said such an odd thing. Maybe he meant goats. Baby goats are called kids, right?

Two men sat one table over from Isa. They looked normal, at least what Isa had come in her 3 days to think of as “normal” for Varana.

One of them said, “I know. Been thinking of trying the farms. They’re not afraid of hard work.”

The first one gulped down his drink. “I don’t like taking them away from their families though. With the street, you know you’re saving them. Making cloth beats what else could be waiting them.”

“Don’t let Thorn hear you being all tender, right? No place for that shit.” The second man pushed himself away from the table. “Now’s a good time to hunt. The little ones are scurrying to their hidey-holes.”

These men were talking about kidnapping children and using them for factory work? Was that what Isa was hearing? She needed to follow them and see where they went. Then she could report it. But to whom? Joth said there wasn’t police like she was used to, but someone must keep the peace - a town guard or something.

She hurriedly gathered her pack and staff and stood. The men were leaving and she couldn’t let them out of her sight. As she left the table she spied Joth’s pack. She couldn’t leave it here, and she didn’t have time to stow it with the bartender. With her free hand Isa made a grab for it and almost fell over from the weight. Instead she dragged the chair 2 feet, which made a horrible racket as the chair squeaked across the stone floor, and then she almost tipped it over completely as she fumbled to lift Joth’s pack free.

By the time she looked up, the men were gone. With a sigh Isa approached the bar in time to see a familiar face slipping out the door. What was Mery Braydon doing in Hanchen of all places?

Without considering the consequences Isa dropped both packs at the end of the bar and said, “Can you put these in our rooms? Tip you later.”

With her staff in hand, she stepped into the evening to follow Mery.

The streets were not crowded, and Isa realized with a start that she had no idea what time it was. She also didn’t know what day of the week it was. She’d entered Lund’s on a Wednesday night in Portland. Did that mean it was now Saturday in Varana? Maybe it was too early or too late for any serious weekend partying. And of course, weekends might not be quite as big a deal here.

She spied Mery ahead on the street and hurried after her. Was Mery part of the kidnapping scheme, or maybe she had the same idea as Isa? Best to follow along and see where everyone was going.

Which was a great idea on paper, but very quickly Isa got lost in the maze of streets, side streets, lanes, alleys, and paths. She realized about 5 minutes too late that she’d somehow begun following a young man on his way home. Light spilled on to his face as he opened a door, and his smile and the cheers of greetings that burst from the house told Isa of her error.

“Well fuck,” she said quietly. Her first attempt at spying had been a failure. Maybe not a miserable failure, she consoled herself. She hadn’t been caught, after all; no ruffians had--

A tap on the shoulder made Isa cry out in alarm. She whirled around, her staff in attack position.

“Were you perhaps looking for me, then?” Mery Braydon asked with a smile.

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:

(Used) 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.

Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter

3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 round studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 rounds to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.