Adyss' Diary: The Inn

We reached the inn at noon and to my horror it was already full of people. We sat at a table in a dark corner of the dining-hall, to avoid curious looks. I don't like when people stare.
The air was full of bad smells coming from fried meat and clothes that haven't seen a good wash for ages. Karsten opened the window and thus we avoided death by suffocation.
We ordered food and when we told the unpleasant young creature that came to serve us that we want to eat vegetables and fruit, she looked at us like we were mad. Or some sort of buffoons. I didn't like that one. She was lucky we don't eat meat.
She came back with two big bowls of cabbage soup, that smelled even worse than the sailor sitting nearby. She threw the tray on our table and went to make someone else feel like shit.
I started to pick the cabbages out of the bowl to be able to drink the broth at least. I was hungry and miserable for losing our provisions in the storm last night.
Karsten didn't seem to be affected by the surroundings. He ate his soup and then walked around the inn listening to conversations. I saw that his attention was caught by another of the food serving creatures. This one was big, redheaded and laughing loudly, quite the opposite to her mean food serving friend.

Regardless her weight, she seemed to flow easily between the tables and enjoyed the looks the men were giving her.
Karsten tried to start a conversation with her, but he is as good at talking as a wooden log, so no wonder the woman cut it short.
He then moved to the bar, I suppose to listen to some stories that a stranger with a bird on his shoulder was telling to the inn keeper. Why do they allow birds inside? I know this kind, usually it is trained to steal gold. I should keep an eye on it and rip its tail off if it decides to get anywhere near me.
Suddenly, one of the sailors sat in front of me. My blood froze. I don't like surprises.
He was tall and blond, looks like one of the inhabitants from the north. He smiled and asked me what I was doing there. I was in no mood to spill my beans, so just answered a random thing. Despite his ragged and unkept looks, he seemed quite cultured. This made me relax a bit. I could always reason with a smart man.

He put some pouches with what looked like herbs on the table and said those were special herbs from some sort of place I never heard about. They had healing properties and could also be used in magic. Why do humans think that if I was an elf I should deal in magic?? I declined the offer saying I had no money to spend on magic herbs. He didn't feel upset, making me think that selling herbs was not his purpose after all. I looked towards the bar and saw Karsten still eyeing the big woman. Where were my muscles when I needed them? Argh!
The Northman then proceeded to tell me about a tower not far from the village, one surrounded by tales of mystery and magic. And that I should go see it, because I looked like someone who could be interested. I was about to ask him why he thought so, when I felt Karsten behind me. I knew he had put on his threatening face, because the blond stranger gathered his suspicious belongings from out of the tabletop. He handed me a strange looking device, which looked nice, blue with an interesting glow, but clearly a cheap trinket. When I was about to take it, Karsten grabbed it, making the man look surprised. He smiled awkwardly and left. Karsten examined the trinket and said there is nothing suspicious about it. I told him to keep it and give it to his new girlfriend, maybe he get's lucky.
He laughed and put it in a pocket.
I told him about the fact that the sailor told me about the tower so we should be very careful. Karsten said everybody there knew about the tower, he heard the inn keeper say it is an attraction for visitors. We decided to go and see the tower that night. We were almost out of money and we had no time to spend. We got out of the inn, and with the corner of my eye I noticed a young man following us. I remembered him staring while we were inside. I told Karsten to keep an eye on the boy, but it turned out to be unnecessary. He left to the opposite  direction towards the village.
We went on foot for a while and after climbing a hill, we saw the tower.

It was far away, further than we expected. There was no way we could reach it by midnight. We talked about what options we had and decided to go back to the inn and borrow a pair of horses. And so we went back.