Vol. 5 - Journey - Chapter 18
Entering the city of Botshofn was a simple affair. The city guards performed an inspection of the wagons to make sure there was no contraband then charged Volcrag a bit of tax. None of the guards or drivers had to pay an entry fee to get inside of the city. If they did then trying to transport anything a good distance would cost more than the merchant would make. Who would choose to do a guard job or drive a wagon if all of their pay ended up just becoming taxes for doing their job?
Once everyone was inside of the city the caravan was led to a section of the city filled with various inns. Since there were so many people in the group, Volcrag had booked all the rooms inside of several inns. Thomas was asked to share a room with another man but decided to get his own room in a different inn. He needed privacy and wanted to keep Snowlily away from other people, for the time being. There was also one more reason.
Due to Volcrag renting out the entirety of several of the cheaper inns within the city, Thomas was forced to rent a room in a rather expensive inn for fifty gold. The price wasn't much of an issue given his financial means but it was still twice as much as he was used to paying for a nights stay. The real thing he had an issue with was that a 'high class' inn only served regular animal meat with their meals. His dinner ended up being a thick-cut steak from a regular cow with some vegetable sides. That's not to say that the meal wasn't well seasoned and flavorful, it just lacked that extra deliciousness that came from monster meat.
Snowlily didn't really seem like she had noticed anything different about the meal. As long as it was meat and had a good flavor she would happily devour it. When their dinner was over they retired to their room for the evening. The room was slightly larger than he was used too and the bed was surprisingly soft. If the higher class inns server monster meat he would have happily stayed in them to enjoy the more comfortable beds. Once they were settled in for the night he logged out of the game.
Back in the real world, Darren opened the lid to his gaming pod and stretched while groaning. The pod took great care of his body but it always felt so good stretching right after he logged out. Once his muscles all felt loose and warm he climbed out of the pod and made his way over to his terminal. He had a couple of things he wanted to do and only about two hours to do them. He had to be back in the game to leave with the caravan in the morning. Even if he was skipping out on a night of sleep he could take a nap while floating down the river.
Once his terminal was up and running he opened a chatting program and checked his friend's list. Tamara, his friend obsessed with game lore, was not online. She was either working or logged in, either way, he couldn't talk to her in person so he decided to send her an email.
| Hey Tammy, Got something lore related I think you might be interested in. If you get the chance look into a long lost race called the Garou. They were wolf shapeshifters that the humans in AoG exterminated. Or at least, made go deep into hiding. I'm not sure on the whole race, only about one group that was for sure wiped out near a city called Ulvstad in the Rheykhoten country. I'm really interested in if there's any information on when they can shapeshift into a human form. If you do find anything out let me know and I'll give you your usual payment. Thomas
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