Dominik, bartender of a tavern down on his luck

"Here you go, sir!" I whispered nervously at the man seated at the table.

He was a really tall elf with a messy mane of red hair framing an androgynous pale freckled face. He was smiling, but I could clearly see an unsettling spark in that smile. There was definitely malice in there somewhere, people like this were customers you could never trust. I quickly placed the plate of bread and vegetables in front of him and smiled a nervous smile back.

"Thank you, though I'm afraid I don't have any coins on my person at the moment. I hope this would suffice as a payment." The elf produced a wooden box from his emerald green vest. "Consider this a tip for you, Dominik. You can pay for my meal and take the box as compensation. Although you could sell it and make enough to buy the tavern yourself, I doubt you will be so shortsighted."

I grabbed the small box and carefully opened it, knowing not to trust a customer that didn't want to pay, even if that customer looked like a powerful enchanter. Inside there was a rectangular metallic object, with a dark tinted glass incased on the front face of it.

What artifact could it be? I picked it up and was startled as a light behind the glass lit up. The almost blinding light revealed a long text written in common. I tried to see if it was engraved or something but the surface was smooth.

"What is it, sir?" I asked looking up but the man was gone. The plate on the table in front of me empty and clean like it never had seen a trace of asparagus on it.

Wizards, man...

I was feeling really weird about everything. Not just about this exchange. You grow up this close to Neverwinter and you know not to trust powerful arcanists. It was my guts that were telling me some bad shit was coming.

The tavern was almost empty, which was normal for being this early in the afternoon.

There were just a couple of regular early drinkers, a small group of travelers that decided to pass a couple of days in the city only to never get out of their rooms, and two water genasi with big pointy knives making big steps towards the counter.

"Katnia! Where the fuck are you hiding?" Screamed the first of the two shady characters.

"Where is our fucking money?" The second one looked way more composed, but he was as menacing as the other one.

I knew of them. Quite the infamy, not many genasi around these parts. They were known as Ebb and Flow, two of the sleaziest criminals of the Dusty League.

This could only mean Katnia, my boss and proprietor of this fine establishment, had gotten in trouble with the League.

For Lathander's sake!

Don't get me wrong, she knew her shit. She wouldn't have been that stupid to keep a debt with a criminal organization, and if she did she clearly knows very well how to defend herself and her property.

"You could lose this crappy tavern, or even worse if you continue this way..." Continued the first figure, Ebb. He was tall, bald and with a handsome but rough face. He was playing uncarefully with the knife while scanning the entire room.

Time to go on the defensive.

I shifted back towards the counter, holding the strange wizard stone in a tight grip. Just as I reached the kitchen door, it swung open and Katnia screamed herself into the room with her loaded trusty crossbow. "Get the fuck out of my tavern, and tell Evanna Darklaire I already paid her well enough!" The stacked dwarven woman had fire in her eyes as well as her hair.

At this point most clients quickly made their quiet way out of the room, understanding the situation. I made myself small against the wall and watched nervously, wondering if I should step in to prevent a massacre and eventual property damage that we could not afford right now or just feed the two thugs to my boss's temper. They had no chance of actually surviving a fight with the dwarf.

"It's not nearly enough. Boss said five thousands is what you owed her." Continued Flow, seemingly not bothered by her intimidations. Compared to his partner in crime he was a bit shorter and less muscular. His light blue face was smoother and well kept, framed by medium long dark hair.

Katnia let a bolt go off from the crossbow. With a "thwonk" it stuck to the table next to Flow. "Fuck off!" She clearly wasn't in the mood for negotiations. If I didn't intervene now blood would be spilled.

Should I just let the two thugs die?

Probably...

The gut feeling was telling me something else though. Shit was coming, and I felt like I had to act. Maybe for once in my boring and uneventful life. I summoned all the courage that I could need and took two steps forward. "Five Thousands! We- we can do it..." My throat was dry as a desert.

Flow smiled at that.

"See? That wasn't so unreasonable. Your little **** man gets it."

Katnia looked at me with rage. Sorry Kat... Well, no point in backing down now. Now, if I couldn't deescalate I would probably be the first to go down to the mad dwarf's arrow.

"Look Kat, I know you were an adventurer and a capable fighter, but me and the girls are not. And if you start this fight we could loose everything we have built in the last few months. Let's just pay them. Then we won't have to see the Dusty Cloaks ever again! Don't you want to do it just to get this fuckers off our back once and for all?"

Wait, was her expression... blank? No time to think, I turned to the the two men.

"We can get your money, just come back here at the end of the month. We will pay you and nobody has to see each other again."

-60 BS. 40 remaining

Ouch! What was that? I felt a jolt of electricity spark from the metal thingy, traveling through my body and up to my throat. My head was spinning. I felt tired all of a sudden. Drained, even if I couldn't tell of what.

What surprised me were the words coming out from Katnia's lips.

"You heard the guy. End of the month! Take a step back into this tavern a day earlier and I shoot a bolt right between your eyes."

What? How? Why was Katnia actually backing me up on this?

"Fine, we wait for now. But we will be back." And with that the two genasi left as fast as they came in.

I needed to sit. I felt sweaty and tired. "You are going to cost me a fortune. I would have preferred just dealing with them now... but you are right." As I made my way to a place to sit Katnia approached, arms crossed in an assertive pose, even if she was as tall as I was on this tiny stool. She was wearing a tight corset over a shoulderless dress, her hefty cleavage always on the verge of spilling out. The redhead dwarf smiled a hearty smile. She only reserved those for rare moments, it was strange seeing it after what had just happened.

"If I just killed them Evanna would have sent someone else to do their job. Better to pay them up and be done with them. But I have no idea how we will actually be able to reach that amount. We are not really swimming in gold."

It's a rare thing seeing her in this calm mood, and I know I shouldn't push my luck. But something told me I couldn't stop right now.

"Well, that's actually easy. See, most taverns don't make money on food and rooms, they do it with incentives. Ways to keep the clients around so that they can spend more money. We already have Basil the Bard around every other night, we could find some other different alternative ways to find customers and we would get rich in no time." Absolutely not that rich and not in just one month. Please Katnia, please don't think to much about it. Don't be bothered to make this one easy calculation... Wait, was her expression blank again?

-10 BS. 30 remaining.

Again with that draining feeling. This time it was not that strong.

"Well, good thing we can easily make the amount then! Let me know when you have those alternative ways you are talking about and we will try them."

Shit.

Well, it worked... But I could end up in royal shit really easily. Best to keep quiet for now. "Do you mind if I take five minutes? It seems we lost some clients anyway."

"Okay, but don't be too late." Was the response I got from the woman. She was looking at me with an expression that was... serene? At least more quiet that I would feel Katnia should have been after the Cloaks visit. I got up and made my way outside, so that I could get some air and take a look at the artifact that was probably the cause of what I was feeling.

I found an isolated bench on the streets and looked around. When I was sure no one was around I finally opened the palm of my hand to take a second look at the artifact. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Sophistry Generator was written in bold letters on the glass, followed by a long explanation of how the magic tool worked. I couldn't start reading the details because other text appeared on top of the existing one, covering it with a drawn box.

Congratulations! You have won your first argument.

BONUS XP +5! Next level in 5XP.

BONUS CASH +5!

New profile added: Katnia Flameheart.
New profile added: Ebediah Jupiter.
New profile added: Florentius Jupiter.

Fucking magical artifact! The first name was Katnia, the other two had to be those of Ebb and Flow.

How can I go back and read everything? I try touching the glass, placing my finger on Katnia's name and another box of text appeared on top.

Katnia Flameheart
Age: 53
Occupation: Owner of the Pretentious Peacock Tavern

Beliefs:

• If she manages to gather and pay up 5.000 GP in one month she will never have to deal with the Dusty Cloaks.
• She and the user are perfectly able to gather up that amount of gold as long as they try alternative methods of earning money.

Those were the things I said earlier, when I felt the electricity! Was it possible that...?

I spent a couple minutes trying and understand how could I move from text to text. Apparently putting the finger outside of a box would close the one opened at the top. Similar boxes were accessible for Ebb and Flow, saying they believed that we would totally pay 5.000 Gold pieces by the end of the month. Then, closing everything, things were back to the explanation text. I started reading.