Cursed Bonds

The Ice Queen Tavern

The brothers stepped off their ship and onto the dock. Dressed in winter clothing, over their leather armor. They carried a backpack and their usual weaponry. They exhaled deeply as their feet hit the dock, relieved to finally be on dry land again. It had been months since they had stood on a surface that didn't rock back and forth. Devyn looked around and nodded to Wayne.

The wind howled as they turned towards the ship, Wayne was holding a glass bottle in his hands. He uncorked the clear glass bottle and began whispering the spell to activate the item. After the last word escaped his lips the bottle began to glow and a moment later the ship began to shrink. It shrank to the size of a small hand boat. The bottle flashed as well as the ship and suddenly the miniature version of the ship was floating inside the bottle with a bit of seawater.

Quickly Wayne corked and hid the bottle away in his backpack.

They quickly began walking down the dock, their black cloaks billowing behind them as the wind grew stronger and a mixture of snow and sleet began pelting them.

"That jar is a godsend, keeping us from having to pay those over expensive docking fees," Devyn laughed as they passed the Harbormaster's office.

Wayne laughed and pointed to a nearby tavern. Above the door hung a sign that said The Ice Queen's Tavern. It was a two story building. The first floor was a dining area and a bar. The second floor, rooms were rented out for travelers and sailors that docked in FrostHold. The inside seemed well lit and lively. Cheers could be heard from where the two stood.  Smoke rose out of the chimney at the top of it's roof.

" How about we get ourselves a drink?" Wayne asked as he headed towards the door.

Devyn quickly followed, and the two stepped into the tavern. The smell of grilled fish and ale nearly knocked them off their feet. A fire crackled in the hearth in the back of the room. People talked and drank at the bar, the tavern was nearly full. Many of the people were human, a few dwarves and halflings could be spotted amongst them. The barkeep was a beautiful woman, she was a comely blonde with a rather large bosom. The bar was on the left side of the room. The rest of the tavern was the dinning hall. A set of stairs led to the second floor on the right side of the room. A kitchen door was behind the bar.

The bar was full, so they found a table in the back of the room near the fire that was empty. The brothers took their seats and pulled down their hoods. The warmth of the fire quickly warmed the two as they waited for a barmaid to take their order.

"What can I get you?" The barmaid asked as she quickly scurried to the table carrying multiple empty tankards on a large platter.

"Two ales," Devyn replied.

She quickly walked away. She took a few more orders. Then stopped to yell at two drunks arguing at the bar. After getting the two drunks to calm down, she disappeared into the kitchen behind the bar.

"So, where do you think we should look for the amulet first?" Devyn quietly asked as the two took their first swallows of ale.

"I'm not sure, I figured we'd check the local magic shop first. Perhaps the owner might have one or know of the location of one," Wayne replied.

"The shops won't be open till the morning. Hopefully, the storm holds out until then," Devyn replied feeling slightly guilty that his brother would have to endure the sunlight if the storm didn't last through the day.

"I'll be fine. The winter clothes make it easy to keep my skin from burning and the hood will hide the goggles," Wayne replied trying to soothe his brother's concern.

They finished their drinks, ordering another round with a plate of the grilled fish. The smell had caused growls from both their stomachs. Devyn could survive purely on blood but he preferred to eat other foods as well, even if it was only for the flavor.

"What about tonight? Perhaps we can do a little midnight searching," Wayne asked as he took a bite of his grilled cod.

" I need sleep, Wayne. I've been up for too long. The pirates woke me up during my sleep shift remember? We can start in the morning," Devyn grumbled.

The two stared at each other for a moment, silently arguing over the subject without speaking. Wayne knew his brother was right, the search could wait one night while his brother caught up on some much-needed sleep. But he also knew he wouldn't be able to rest. Finally after an annoyed glare on Devyn's face, Wayne decided on his plans for the night.

"Fine, we'll wait till the morning," Wayne lied as he finished his ale and stood up. "Let's get a room then ."

Devyn left a few silver pieces on the table to pay for the drinks and meal. Then followed Wayne to the bar.

They approached the bar and asked the blonde barkeep if there were any rooms available. The barkeep eyed them warily as she served a customer his meal.

" You're in luck, I have an empty room upstairs. Five silver pieces and it's yours for the night," She answered as she passed a tankard to a drunken sailor further down the bar.

" How's five gold pieces and we use the room for the week?" Devyn haggled as he pulled the coins from his pouch.

" Fine with me, just don't cause any trouble," She replied taking the five gold pieces from Devyn and quickly stuffing them in a pouch at her hip.

A nearby sailor chuckled as he watched the transaction. "Selena, you should be ashamed. Swindling those two rich fools. You know damn well it's a silver a night to stay in the rat hole," He said taking a drink from his mug.

"Girl's gotta make her money somehow. How else am I gonna keep this place running?" She replied winking at Devyn as his mouth dropped from hearing the price change.

Devyn's face turned red from anger, but Wayne simply put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"It's fine," Wayne said as he pulled his brother away from the bar and grabbing the room key from Selena.

They turned to the stairs and headed to their room. The upstairs was a single hallway and with multiple doors leading into the rooms. After finding the door with the same number on the key, they entered their small room. Inside was a bed and a wooden chair next to a desk.

"Cozy, not worth five silver pieces a night though," Wayne commented with a sigh as he stepped inside.

"That wench! I'll have her blood for that," Devyn grumbled as he took off his cloak and boots. He set his boots next to the bed and hung his cloak on one of the bed posts. Afterwards He took off his pack and laid it down next to the bed.

"Calm down. Someone could hear you. No need to spill any blood on our first night. Just take a sip from your flask, it'll calm you down," Wayne hissed as his brother fumed on the bed spouting curses upon Selena.

Devyn grumbled and took a sip of his blood flask. He seemed to almost instantly relax as he took a large gulp. Devyn swore to himself he'd get Selena back for swindling him out of his money.

"I'll sleep in the chair. You get some rest. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow," Wayne said as he placed his pack by Devyn's and sat in the wooden chair by the window.

Devyn mumbled a reply and began snoring in the bed.

I guess he really did need some rest. Wayne thought as he looked at Devyn passed out in the bed.

Wayne stared out the window, gazing out onto the city street. The storm had picked up, and snow and sleet gathered on the ground. He glimpsed a shadow creature crawling up one of the buildings nearby. It was the first he had seen since they had arrived. Wayne tried to distract his mind from the shadow by focusing his attention on a group of sailors from the bar leaving the tavern. They were headed towards the docks. A few stumbled from intoxication as they walked.

Without warning a group of cloaked figures appeared out of the shadows of a nearby alley and attacked the group of drunken sailors. They attacked with blackjacks. The sailors thoroughly drunk couldn't hope to fight them off.

Wayne watched as the group of cloaked figures beat the sailors down. Wayne glanced at his brother as he debated on what he should do. After a quick decision, and change of plans. He whispered to his brother.

" I'll be right back."