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The Adventure Shop– Part 3

The evening sun shone through the window as the shop went from noisy to silent. Though peaceful, Dahlia felt as if she was missing something.

She loved what she did and would not want it to change, but she missed the adventurer’s when they left her shop. 

The sudden exit felt like a void.

Stirring from her thoughts she noticed the evening lights made the disarray of her shop more noticeable. 

New Adventurer’s.

Wide eyed and often all her throughout her shop. They would pick things up and misplace them like curious children. She put away the knick knacks left about, some even on the floor as if the prankster wanted to catch his friends off guard.

Luckily none had gone off.

After finishing with that she moved on to cleaning the stacks of books and scrolls left on the floor. Kneeling down, she began going though, organizing, and returning everyone to its place.

The bell above the door rang as the door opened, “Be with you in a minute!” She yelled standing.

As she walked over to the front she heard a scream.

Growling in frustration she knew she missed one of the knick knacks. As she went to go save the unsuspecting customer she made a mental note to talk to Aster about his new protege. 

She got to the front where a gelatinous cube, that sprung from the knick knack, had a customer trapped as they were struggling to free themselves.

“Don’t struggle. Relax and the block will spit you out.” She told the man with brown hair.

The man stopped moving and laid still. As a result the block spit him out. Green covered the man’s blue robes and clung to his brown hair and goatee.

“I am so sorry. A new adventurer left these all over my shop. I thought they were all cleaned up. Are you okay?”

The man stood slightly wobbly,  as the cube decided to explore the shop on its own. 

“I’m fine, Dahlia, don’t worry.” He chuckled and continued as Dahlia wondered how he knew her name, “I’ll have to talk to Ronny about respecting your establishment and keeping his mischievous tendencies away from any of your potential future customers.”

“Have you been here before?” Dahlia asked using her bar towel to try to help remove some of the green left behind by the cube.

The stranger looked at her with mischievous and a familiar look in those eyes she would know anywhere.

“Aster?” Dahlia tilted her head with a smile, “Is that really you?”

“Guess you are seeing the real me.”

“Really?” Dahlia looked at him thoughtfully, “I never would have considered you being close to my age.”

“Technically,” Aster said, taking the towel from Dahlia to run through his hair, “I am. I just tend to change forms for my adventurers. It helps others respect the role I need to play in the guild. There has not been one situation that has made me lose the form I chose, except your new guard dog.” He said, tilting his head to the cube.

Dahlia smiled as she looked behind her as the cube continued to slowly make its way around the shop.

She could keep the gelatinous cube, as long as it didn’t snack on any more adventurer’s. 

Her attention was brought back to the man beside her. 

“So the real you huh? Are you certain you are my age?” 

“Yes, and also yes. Unless you have another meaning?”

“How do you know that I am your age and not far older?”

“You may act like an old soul, Dahlia, but you are as curious as a five year old.”

“Old souls can be curious.”

“Not like you. You see the world with wide-eyed wonder. Its different.” Aster looked around, seeming nervous, “If our cubic friend is gone, can I have one of your brews and maybe a snack?”

“Not yet slime boy. I cleaned my shop and will not let you track anything past this threshold.”

Dahlia walked to the back and a blanket sized-towel from underneath the bar. A new creation she was working on. A couple spells intertwined with a few fabrics she weaved together on her own loom. Unfortunately she had no test subjects, until now. She was excited to see if her latest creation would work. She smiled as she started walking back.

“Try this.” She said throwing it to Aster as she walked the remainder of the way back over.

Aster looked at her skeptically. 

“Go on.” Dahlia encouraged him.

“The glint in your eye disturbs me.” 

Dahlia smirked and stayed silent.

After a long silent moment Aster sighed and began cleaning the slime off his cloaks.

A few minutes passed as Dahlia waited for anything to happen. Slowly the wizard’s cloak were spotless without a trace of slime or previous stains it had had before.

Aster looked at his cloak, “Impressive. This is quite an interesting tool.”

Dahlia held up her finger, “Though thoughtful, your approval is too soon. It needs more time.”

They waited in silence.

Dahlia knew with every new experiment there was one thing that always went wrong with the prototype. 

They waited in silence, well almost silence.

“I’m clean. Can I please just have a snack?” 

“No. We wait.”

Nothing happened.

They waited.

Waited.

Wait.

Wa.

Dahlia’s eyebrow rose as something finally began to happen. She noticed the cloak looked like it was slowly being eaten as little holes began appearing.

As Dahlia watched she thought about the composition of ingredients, of the spells she used, and how they interacted with each other. 

As Aster began screaming, again, she realized she should probably make sure her solution didn’t eat him. Grabbing a powder base she threw it over Aster. The effect slowed leaving Aster with little of his cloak left. 

“Dahlia! This cost over 200 hundred gold pieces! It was made of the rarest material.”

“That is what they all say. To make it up I’ll get you a set of robes I keep in the back.”

Dahlia went to the back and got what no one had yet seen, but she knew it worked well. “This is the truly the rarest of materials. Made from leaves of the tree on the tallest mountain. It grows in the deepest part of the cave. The tree was born in the glow of stalactites. This is what you need. And since I ruined yours with my experiment and our friend over there,” Dahlia nodded her head as the gelatin consumed a barrel of her brew.

Dahlia handed them to Aster, “Try them on while I take care of our cubic friend.”

Aster tried them on and it felt like wearing nothing.

Dahlia headed back to the front. Aster was dressed so she readied the dagger.

Aster saw her as she stabbed him right in the chest and yelled, “What are you doing?”

“Look.” Dahlia said as she showed him he was fine, “I am pleased it works so well!”

“You didn’t know?”

“I did, but I wasn’t sure to what extent it works. The cloak is like armor in some respects. It should protect you from a variety of attacks. It’s yours for participating in my experiment.”

Aster looked at the robe knowing it must be worth a fortune, “Are you sure?” 

“Yes, and it is great advertising for other adventurer’s to come my way. Also, after meeting the group you will be adventuring with, it may suit you to be better protected.”

Aster smiled, “Thank you. Am I now clean enough to enter?”

Dahlia looked at Aster, still having a bit of powder on him. His hair a mess, she laughed softly, “Yes, come on. I was just about to go make dinner. Would you like to join?”

“If you don’t mind, that would be wonderful. Can I still have some of your brew?”

“Yes, we’ll get it on the way up.”

Dahlia and Aster talked as evening turned to night. 

Aster left once again in his eldery wizard form.

Dahlia closed and locked the door as a negative feeling settled over her and her shop. Something was not right. Before going up she placed a protection spell over her shop and hoped that what she felt might be would not come to pass.

In the shadows of the lamps waited a figure, overlooked by the adventurer and shop keeper. Ill intentions played in there mind as a wicked smile shown on their face. Looking over the shop they waited for the regulars to leave town. Without them protecting her it would be the perfect opportunity to get what they desired. The figure laughed, “I will get what I want. And little Dahlia, I will make sure you wont be able to say no.”