24 HOURS BEFORE THE INVASION
After paying way too much to get my gear repaired at one of the vendors Ezzie had promised was cheap, I wandered through the streets of Rivercrest, trying to bait someone into giving me a quest.
It was not going well.
I said.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Many of the wooden ones were in the process of being stripped for materials, and it seemed a safe assumption that the villagers were repurposing the wood with defenses in mind.
I said, though Ezzie’s hopes had rang false. She was obviously trying to keep me from panicking, but she was a terrible liar; despite her android brain/circuit thing, she didn’t have much of a handle on vocal intonation, at least where interacting with humans was concerned.
I had zero doubt that Ezzie thought the dragons were going to roll right over the town, myself included, which was more than a little worrisome. But I wasn’t sure what exactly I could do about it, other than to try and get as strong as possible.
I rounded a corner and found a very displeased Trenton—the vendor who’d repaired my stuff earlier—standing upon the bare foundation where his stall used to stand.
He wore a pair of dark brown trousers beneath a blue silk shirt that had seen far, far better days, its underarms dark with sweat despite the chill of the early morning.
“Hey, I’m looking to buy some repair stones,” I said. “You got any for me?’
Trenton spat into the dirt. “Fifteen coppers a piece.”
“That’s pretty pricey,” I said. “How about six per?”
Trenton shook his head. “Sorry, they’ve been selling at fifteen. If you don’t wanna buy em, someone else will.”
“Alright, I’ll take five.” I handed over the coppers, which only left me with a little over twenty copper coins to my name.
“Pleasure,” Trenton said, as if it hadn’t been.
Ezzie said.