Pleasant

I find myself liking Varlow, or Thug as he’s called. A little dumb but friendly and easy to talk to. And easy to get information out of.

“So everything has been destroyed?” I ask Varlow looking for clarification.

“Yup, me an the rest of us militia made a big ol fire of all the paper in da cave, den I thru the witch inside the fire.” Varlow replied his speech slow with a slight lisp.

“You were the one who burned the witch?”

“Oh yeah capn said since I’m such a big guy I might as well do all the heavy lift’n, so I threw her and all the spooky ones into the fire.”

Spooky ones must mean the undead I thought.

“So nothing was left of the witch? Nothing valuable?”

“N-no.” Varlow replied not making eye contact, fiddling with his fingers.

He’s hiding something I realized, noticing his discomfort. I want to know his secret but I can’t push him too hard. It’s just like making a sale if I push too hard I lose the deal. Find something else to talk about, something they are passionate about, let them reveal there wants and needs and use it to your advantage.

“So that woman we seen on the way here what was her name?” I asked Varlow.

“Oh that’s Miss Marian she don’t like us militia.” Varlow said with a faraway look in his eyes, and a hint of smile during the utterance of her name.

“But you like her right?”

“N-no s-she just—“

“Oh please, don’t deny it, I know that look.” I say knowingly.

Varlow goes quiet for a few moments and finally says. “She gettin married I can’t be crushing on no woman who gettin married.”

“What if we could make her fall in love with you, wouldn’t that be something.”

“Yeah something.”

“I can make that happen.”

Varlow stops walking. “How?”

I stop walking and face him. “Believe it or not but I am a talented alchemist.” I lied. “I can whip up a potion that will make her fall head over heals for you.”

“Oh I don’t want her to fall down.”

“I mean make Marian love you.”

“Oh well that would be good!”

“Yes... But not for free, and I don’t want money either. If perhaps something belonging to the witch survived the fire I would be willing to trade.”