When Aiden returned to the table, Jax, Selene, and Kaelen were all staring at him.
He made his way to his seat and laid his head down on the table.
The food had not arrived yet, but there were several mugs of alcohol scattered around. Jax had already finished about three of them.
So while Kaelen and Selene looked concerned, Jax had a dopey grin on his face as he swayed slightly to the music playing in the tavern.
They ended up sitting there for a good hour before a very tired-looking Liora and Thalia finally made their way inside.
Both of them sat down in their seats and let out sighs that seemed to carry part of their souls away.
"I apologize for judging you that first day," Liora said, rubbing her eyes. "We had to sign twenty-two separate forms."
"Not willingly," Thalia said, grumbling. "You wanted to leave at form twelve. I had to convince you we were already halfway through."
Aiden looked over the menu.
There were a variety of items, from meats and barbecue to salads and assorted dishes. Once everyone had ordered, Aiden turned to Liora and Thalia.
"So I talked with the quest giver. They still want our help. They have a large metal vault where they are keeping their coke, and there are around four salamanders walking around on top of it. They sealed the vault to prevent the coke from burning any more due to the lack of oxygen, but the salamanders don't need to breathe, so everyone is at an impasse."
Liora and Thalia nodded.
Kaelen jumped in, pulling out the quest paper.
"We were given basically free rein on how we approach it, but just to make sure we are not remembering anything wrong, here is the quest."
Smelter Salamander Quench (E)
A small fire elemental called a salamander has entered the coke stocks in Coalhill and started burning them to make its nest. You must either kill the salamanders or contain them so they stop burning the supply.
Reward - 800 gold + 1 Fire Ward Charm
Failure - 600 gold for burned coke and replacements
They passed the quest around and read it over again.
Jax leaned forward, ears perked.
"Now hear me out," he said. "What if we, like… told them to leave?"
Everyone looked at Jax.
Then Thalia and Liora glanced down at the table, where several empty mugs sat.
Both of them seemed to recognize the state of their inebriated party leader and turned to Aiden.
Aiden knew what they were asking.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I would, but he would use it as an excuse to buy more."
Thalia gave a worried look that broke through her usually neutral expression.
Most people probably would have only noticed her eye twitch.
After a few days with Thalia, Aiden had started to recognize those tiny shifts as entire emotions.
Selene raised her hand.
Everyone turned to her.
"I-I think we also need to look at what our skill set actually is," she said. "While Liora's wind is normally very helpful, in a situation where there is coke that is only not burning because of the lack of oxygen, her abilities might not be as helpful. N-no offense to you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I just—"
As Selene started to ramble, Liora nodded.
"No, you're right. My abilities won't be much help here. Plus, we can't use water or anything like that because it would ruin the coke below them."
Everyone went quiet for a moment.
Then the food arrived.
Aiden would like to say they were polite.
That they calmly thanked the server, waited for everyone to receive their meals, and ate with the dignity of civilized people.
They did not.
They had eaten almost nothing but nuts, dried berries, and beef jerky for the past three days aside from one actual breakfast. So the moment a full, succulent meal was placed before them, it was not long for this world.
They practically dove at the food.
Meat vanished.
Bread was torn apart.
Plates were scraped clean with the kind of ferocity that turned a few heads.
Luckily, they were not the only adventurers in the Steel Palette that day, so their ravenous hunger did not stand out as much as it could have.
Once they had practically licked their plates clean, they all let out satisfied sighs.
With actual food in his stomach, Jax seemed to sober up.
Slightly.
"So, like," Jax said, "is the plan to try and lure them away or something?"
They thought for a moment.
Then Will spoke up in Aiden's head.
"Got an idea for you. Want to be my voice to the party?"
Aiden lifted his head.
"I have my cloak," he said. "It can store things in a separate space. If we empty it out, the room inside should be enough to hold the four salamanders. We could close the cloak, carry them somewhere else, and dump them out."
The group looked him over.
After a moment, Thalia nodded.
"With my strings, I could grab them. The question is where the best disposal site would be."
That was a good question.
A very good question.
Everyone sat in silence.
After a moment, they all shook their heads.
Nobody had really had time to explore Coalhill. Unlike Hopestone, none of them lived here, so nobody knew the city layout well enough to suggest a safe salamander dumping spot.
As they sat there unsure of what to do, Thalia left the table.
She walked over to the bar and used her strings to pull herself up onto one of the taller barstools. Then she made a small motion to signal the barkeep.
The barkeep was a lightblood beastkin. His skin had small green scales scattered here and there, and a long green scaled tail slithered out from beneath his shirt.
He made his way over with a friendly nod.
"Welcome to the Steel Palette. What kind of drink are you looking for?"
"Can I get a shot of fire wine?"
The barkeep nodded and grabbed a large bottle filled with orange-red liquid. It almost resembled tomato juice, if tomato juice had decided it wanted to look like molten metal.
He poured a shot.
Thalia downed it, then looked up at him.
"Do you mind if I ask a question while you refill me?"
The barkeep gave a curt nod and poured more.
Thalia swirled the glass.
"I am new to town and trying to deal with a group of salamanders. We have a way to transport them, but we do not know where we can take them to get them out of people's hair."
She finished and downed the next shot.
The barkeep refilled the glass again.
"There is a lava stream if you head down a few layers. It's full of salamanders. They love to play in the lava, so bring them there."
Thalia nodded, downed the last shot, and placed fifteen gold on the counter for the three glasses of expensive alcohol.
Everyone at the table stared at her.
Aiden did notice, however, that she was swaying slightly as she walked back.
The alcohol was clearly working.
Thalia climbed back into her seat and tried to cover her mouth, but a small burp slipped out.
The air from it reached a nearby candle.
A sudden plume of flame ignited in front of her.
Everyone leaned back in surprise.
Kaelen nodded as if this was perfectly reasonable.
"Well, that's fire wine for you. I heard in some places it's used as emergency paint thinner."
Aiden stared at Thalia, wondering if he would need that antidote sooner than expected.
Then he turned back to the others.
"Okay, so we know Jax is the fastest of us. Is the plan that Liora, Thalia, and I stay near the coke pile to snatch the salamanders, while Jax, Selene, and Kaelen wait down by the lava stream to dump them?"
The others thought for a moment.
Kaelen raised a hand.
"Wouldn't it make more sense for Liora to go with Jax and Selene, and for me to stay with you two?"
"No," Aiden said. "Remember, the vault has burned through all its air. When it opens, it could suffocate us. Liora is there to prevent that."
Kaelen nodded.
So did the others.
They paid their tab and started to leave the tavern.
The group split up outside.
Jax went first with Selene and Kaelen to find the lava stream. Once they were in position, he would return to Aiden, Liora, and Thalia, ready to grab the cloak.
All they had to do now was execute the plan.
Which, based on their history, meant something was probably going to go wrong in a very creative way.