Another day home from school…



"I'm telling you Ms. Zelamoyer is a witch, there's no way she could know what we did unless she read our minds!" David says.

"Yeah maybe she's even a demon in human disguise!" Tom adds

"Or maybe you two looked guilty as hell and laughed the loudest when she sat on the thumbtacks you put in her seat." You say. "I told you guys that was a bad idea. I'm surprised she only paddled you and didn't have you kicked out of the school permanently."

"Yeah well it didn't even hurt. My dad beats me harder than that. Though I guess Tom thought it hurt with the way he cried! Hahahaha!" David taunts.

"Shut up David!" Tom exclaims.

"So are you playing Smash Sphere over in the park today?" David asks you.

"I hope so, but my dad's been on my case about me studying harder. Says he wants me to make something of myself when I grow up."

"That sucks. My dad is always either at the mines or drinking at your dad's place. The only time I have to worry about him is when my mom tells him about something I did, then I get a beating. I don't think I'd survive it if he was always around." David replies.

"My mom doesn't beat me, but she'll yell and throw me into a small dark closet without food if I do something bad." Tom says.

"Your mom is one scary ass dyke, Tom. My dad said he saw her scare away a mountain troll in the mines once."

"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke!"

"Yes she is! What about that other lady that lives with you then?"

"That's just mom's roommate! She needs a place to stay so she helps around the house, like cook dinner or clean up. Mom is at the mines all day, so she can't do that stuff, so it works out. She's kind of like a live in maid!"

"Sounds more like a second mom…"



As much as you enjoy Tom's naïve defense of his lesbian mother and David's taunting of it, you arrive at the Inn where you say goodbye to your friends and tell them you might see them later.



As soon as you get in, you dad calls you over to the bar.



"So do you have any homework?" he asks.

"Yeah, but it's not due until next week."

"Hmm, well if it's not due until next week it must need a lot of attention, better get started on it."

"It's really not that much dad, I can do it over the weekend. I'm going to go out and play smash sphere with David and Tom."

"Is that what you think? Better cancel that idea. You're hitting the books, besides I vaguely remember you mentioning you were also going to have test next week too."

"But dad!"

"Don't dad me! You've been letting your school work slide lately and getting into trouble at school with those two little hoodlums you hang out with."

"They're not hoodlums, and I didn't get into trouble today!"

"You aren't supposed to be getting into trouble in the first place! Look son, I know you think I'm being hard on you, but this really is for your own good. Your little friends don't have fathers that give shit about them, I should know because David's dad is in here all the time and as for Tom, well the less said about his situation the better."



Doesn't look like you're getting out of here today, but you make one last attempt.



"But I really don't have that much homework, I really can do it quick over the weekend!"

"Well if that is the case, you can help me out here instead."

"What?"

"One of my barmaids is sick and I'm expecting a full house here tonight due to it being one of the miner's birthdays today, so you can carry food and drinks."



You certainly weren't expecting that.



"What? Can't mom do it?"

"Your mother is going to have her hands full attempting to cook the giant cloudspeak ram in the kitchen for the celebration, in fact you can start off by helping her chop up the beast."



As usual your dad has given you no "choice" at all.

You resign yourself to doing your homework

Well, you'd rather not do any real work and lying and sneaking out is probably just going to get you into more trouble.



"Alright, I'll do my homework!" you say.

"Good choice son. Make sure you lock the door to the private quarters as usual."



You head upstairs to the third floor where your family has their own living space and lock the door.



You get started on your homework to get it out of the way so you'll at least have the weekend to enjoy. As you go through it, it's a little more difficult than you thought it would be and it was probably good that you have given yourself a lot of time to work on it.



A few hours pass and you're finally finished. Your dad might be right; if you'd paid more attention in class your homework wouldn't have taken as long. It's too late now to go out and play even if you were allowed, but that still doesn't mean you have to do anymore studying tonight.



You spend the rest of the night playing with some of your toy soldiers and reading a few of your copper dreadfuls. You sometimes can hear some of the louder drunk miners using a bunch of curse words in an amusing way. Eventually you fall asleep.



The next day you wake up early, your parents are still asleep so you grab some cookies before you go out to play. You run into Quincy on the way to David's house.



"Hey, where were you yesterday? You missed all the excitement!" Quincy says.

"Yeah, I had to go my homework. Damn, I knew I was going to miss a good game of smash ball!"

"No, not that! David and Tom got arrested!"

"What!?"

"Yeah! After we played a few games, we all went to the sweet shop. Well David and Tom tried to steal some of the candy and when Mr. Blek saw them, they ran off with it! They didn't get far though. From what I know they spent the night in Juvie Hall!"



This is surreal to you. Your dad was right again. You wonder if you would've went along with them and gotten in trouble as well if you'd snuck out yesterday. You can always say now that you wouldn't have, but who knows at that moment?



One thing is for sure; you're not going to hang out with those two on a regular basis anymore.



…



The day is finally here and you're heading off to Klyton University. All your hard work has finally paid off and your parents couldn't be happier.



"Now remember, I've been saving for your tuition since you were born, but remember why you're there. To learn! I don't want you getting caught up in wild parties and failing your classes. Maybe the upper class kids with super rich parents can afford to, but you can't."

"I know dad."

"Oh, don't mind your father, have some fun when you can. We know you'll do the right thing."



For the most part you do, accomplish the right things in your days at Klyton University. You study, you make contacts, you make friends, and in your free time you have fun.



You initially thought you might be "looked down on" due to your working class background. While there are a few like you here, a university education is still expensive and generally only the rich can afford to send their children there. Still, you managed to get here, you (and your family) must have earned it, and so you're treated with respect.



Your years at Klyton University are busy but happy ones. You can only imagine that when you just started you pre-med courses that more of the same would've come about, however that's not to be…



You're in your dorm when you get the message from a courier.



Your father has died of a heart attack. Happened suddenly last night while he was working and by the time a physician arrived nothing could be done to save him. You sit down in shock for a brief moment and when you finally gather your strength, you catch the next coach to the Miner's Mug Inn.



When you arrive the Inn is closed, so you let yourself in to find your mother who is unsurprisingly upset. You console her as best you can for the time being and help make the funeral arrangements.



Your father didn't want an expensive funeral, so it's a small one. The Inn's staff is invited along with a few of the miners that were genuinely friends with your dad. Everyone pays their respects before dear old dad is put into the ground.



On your way home with your mother, you suddenly realize you've missed a couple classes during all this. You then start to wonder about your future college plans and while it's still a fragile time for your mother, you need to ask her about it when you get home.



You don't know it yet, but you're in for more shocking news…

The long talk

"You're selling the inn?!"

"I have to! I can't run this place myself."

"Well that's what you have staff for!"

"Oh son…(sniff) I don't think you know the entire situation. You haven't been around as much over the years."

"Mom, I always meant to visit more, but…"

"No, it's not that. In fact I'm glad you had fun at college. You at least had some enjoyment. I'm just sorry you won't get to have any more."

"Mom, I don't like where this is going."



You mom at this point begins cry again until you eventually get her to calm down. What comes next almost makes you cry though.



While your father did indeed save for you, it wasn't enough to put you through college completely. Costs were higher than he thought and even though business was okay, he had unexpected expenses such as making fixes to the inn and price hikes in his alcohol supplier.



Your father was determined to not pull you out of college though, so he found another way. He borrowed money from a moneylender.



"WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me? I could've taken less classes or gotten a part time job at the university!"

"No, he didn't want you to worry or get distracted."

"Well I guess that's good since all that worry can go to this now! By the gods, why didn't he at least go to a bank to get the loan!?"

"He tried, but didn't get approved. They wouldn't even take the inn as collateral. I pleaded with him not to borrow money from criminals, but he claimed it would be fine as long as he opened the tavern earlier, found a cheaper supplier and made a few cuts here and there. And for a while things were running a little smoother, but I could see the stress taking a toll on him. It's what ultimately killed him. I'm just so sorry that we failed you. We wanted so much better for you. Now I'll have to sell the inn off to pay off the moneylender and hopefully I'll be able to find a job as a cook elsewhere."



You just sit in silence and try to wrap your head around all of this. Your bright future in medicine as you know is gone. You still have quite a bit of education, and you're fairly certain you could still find a job to support yourself, but it's going to be hard initially and you probably won't be satisfied with it. You're also worried about your mom, what if she can't find a job? You won't be able to help her much.



You can only think of one solution.



"Would it help if I ran the inn?" you ask.

"What?" your mother replies.

"Would it help if I helped you run this place. I mean granted I don't have excessive experience, I have watched you guys do it while I grew up here. I think I can manage the basics. If we managed to keep this place running at least long enough to pay off the loan, maybe then I can save enough to finish my education."

"I don't know son, I mean…I would love to see you finish your education, but it's a lot to take on. Would you have time? I don't want you getting burned out and suffering a pre-mature heart attack like your father because of the stress!"

"Well, I'm going to have nothing but time now, if I drop out and focus on this place. I think the main concern is getting us out of debt…just how much do you owe?"

"Uh…about ten thousand gold coins."



You really hoped it would be significantly less than that.



"Okay, well I'm guessing he takes smaller payments to buy you time but then charges more interest with each passage of time. We'll have to get this place whipped into shape so it's making enough profit that we'll be able to pay the entire sum as soon as possible. After that, we'll have some breathing room."



Your mom looks apprehensive about all this and then shakes her head claiming she can't let you shoulder this responsibility especially with the risk of physical danger involved if you anger the moneylender in some way.



She says that you should go on with your life and forget about the inn, she'll be able to sell it and pay off the debt with no problem. And as for her, she also tells you not to worry about her either, but she hopes that you'll forgive her and your father for failing in giving you the life you deserve.



It is true you could walk away from all this. You don't really have any great desire to run the inn. It was just a solution you came up with to help your mom and possibly help yourself. But there's no guarantee it's going to work, just like there's no guarantee that you can't still achieve your goals on your own.

You take over the inn

You shake your head; you can't walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won't have enough to fall back on.



You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.



"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.

"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."

"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better…okay how is this place doing for business?"

"It's doing about as well as it always has."

"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."

"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."

"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"

"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."

"How about the staff?"

"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.



Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.



Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.



Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.



Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.



Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.



Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.



He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.



"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way…" Calwin says.



While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.



"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."

"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."

"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."



You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.



Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.



Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)

You deal with him and agree to the free room

If it's only for a couple days, what can it hurt and you're getting a good deal on his alcohol, so you figure it's a good idea. This does not go well with your mother who says you're going to get the pair of you further into debt. It takes some time, but eventually you manage to convince her that the money you're saving will be worth the couple days out of the month that he actually comes up here.


Meanwhile Calwin calls his lackeys to unload his cart and take the stuff down to your cellar. Calwin then states he's going to retire to his room and that if any of your barmaids want to join him his door will be open.



The next couple days aren't exactly pleasant, Calwin is a complete lecherous slob and leaves not only his room a disgusting mess, but hangs around the bar all day trying to grope the barmaids. (Rita in particular) You have to warn him several times to leave them alone, and eventually one of the miners who has a crush on Rita punches him in the face resulting in a minor scuffle in which Calwin is not the winner.



You fully expect Calwin to claim that he's never dealing with you again, but as it turns out he doesn't think anything of it. Indeed he claims if it had been a bar in Hessla he probably would've gotten a knife in the eye instead, so he considers himself lucky. Eventually he leaves and everyone is glad, but there's the sickening feeling that you know you're going to have to put up with him a few times every month.



By the end of the week you haven't saved any money. In fact you've barely broke even.



While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.



"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.

"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying…" Mr. Reynolds says

"No, no of course not. I've got some of what my father owed."



You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.



"My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!"

"It was a rough week…"

"No, no, I don't give a shit about your excuses, you've chosen to take on your father's debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you're obviously new to this, I'll let you off with a warning. Olaf."



Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.



"That was my warning, let's hope I don't need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let's get out of here."



As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on. She helps you up when she sees you.



"Oh no son I can't let this go on. We're selling the inn right now!"

"No, no mom, it's alright, you'll see. We're going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we'll be able to take the next step."

"Son, I love you, but you've made a lot of questionable decisions as far as business is concerned. I mean if this keeps up, I'm stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city."

"You won't get enough for it!"

"Well I'll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I'll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville"

"You can't live with aunt Enora, you always said she's crazy."

"She is, but that still doesn't mean she wouldn't help me out."

"Look, we've still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon."

"Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I'm not privy to. Alright we'll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment."



You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.



The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that's a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one in particular Ular has been chewing your ear quite frequently. He's the one that has an obvious crush on Rita, but you've never seen him actually talk to her on any serious level. Strange that a big tough miner would be too shy to speak to a girl, but there it is.



"So how long have you known Rita?" Ular asks.

"Me? Well she started working here just before I left for college so I didn't speak to her too much back then, and I haven't really spoken to her too much other than about duties around the inn since I've got back here."

"She's so beautiful, you know? I always wonder if she isn't a Delantium Princess hiding out or something."

"Yeah, she's a pretty girl." You reply.

"Can you speak to her for me?"

"What?"

"Just speak to her for me. I try, but I…dunno I don't have the words! I get all tongue tied an' shit. I mean you're a smart guy, you went to college an' shit. Maybe you can tell her better how I feel than I can."

"I dunno if should get involved in this…"

"Please man, just do it…oh shit here she comes!"



At this point Ular stumbles over his own feet trying to get to a dark corner before Rita arrives for more ale. Feeling a little sorry for the guy, you talk to Rita.



"Hey Rita, this is going to be strange question, but…"

"Oh gods, you're not going to start hitting on me too are you?"

"What? Uh no! But well, there's a miner named Ular who's sort of nuts about you."

"Yeah, he's nuts over me like every other miner here trying to get under my skirt."

"Heh, I don't think so, he's so damn shy he's practically afraid to speak to you, and surely you've noticed."

"Yeah I suppose I have. I will admit he's a little different than the rest of these ale swilling pigs."

"So are you interested in him?"

"Eh…I dunno. I mean from what I know of him he seems respectful and he did punch out that fucker Calwin when he groped me, but that's not really enough. I need a man that's going places. I mean he's a miner; where's that going to lead me? Not in fine Selkie furs and a big house, I'll just be barefoot and pregnant and still living here."



Same old Rita. Still, you can certainly understand her desire to move up in the world. However, a miner still makes a decent living. A lot better than her that's for sure. She'd still be "moving up."

You tell Ular she's not interested

There's no point in trying to convince Rita, she's obviously looking to marry into money, though there's a lot better ways she could go about it. Ular seems like a cool guy and probably should know the type of girl she is anyway.



As Rita walks off, you look for Ular and see him slowly coming out of his dark corner. You explain to him how the conversation went, he's obviously upset about it, but thanks you nonetheless.



"Well, I guess it's true about that old saying. You can't judge a book by its cover. Give everyone a round for the house on me, everyone else might as well be happy even if I'm not. Just don't have Rita serve my drinks anymore okay?" You understand and carry on with your duties.



The remaining days until the next payment go as normal and Mr. Reynolds is satisfied with the payment he receives, and you still have a little saved over. You have hope that in time you'll get out of this debt eventually.



However, trouble rears its ugly head when Calwin shows up on his monthly delivery. He says that he's decided to bump the price up on his alcohol. You furiously ask why, and he says that the last time he was here he noticed how nice the rooms were and that if you can afford to fix them up, you must be able to afford to pay him more for his product.



It doesn't need to be said that your mother does not want to deal with him at all at this point.

You comply with his demands

He's got you over a barrel, you agree to his price. Your mother throws up her hands and rolls her eyes in disgust. Calwin smirks and calls his lackeys to take his alcohol into the cellar, while he "retires" to his room again.



Like last time, Calwin is a lecherous slob and Rita doesn't have Ular defending her "honor" anymore. This time she quits when Calwin practically molests her when she takes food up to his room.



Deal or not, your mother isn't going to put up with his shit any longer, grabs your dad's Troll Gun from behind the bar and kicks him out of his room. He screams at you saying that you'll regret reneging on the deal like this before leaving.



Now you're a barmaid short and you'll have to go back to the old Klyton supplier. While it's true you don't have to pay Rita anymore, you end up losing a couple of customers that liked looking at her. That's not even counting the extra work that Eliza and Wendy have to do now who are now miserable to the point of wanting to seriously quit. You and your mother take up some of the slack, but it's a drain on the pair of you.



And while you have enough to pay Mr. Reynolds this month, you're not optimistic about the future. The problem is you won't be saving money like you were going to while Calwin was your supplier. Your nice rooms haven't really been helping like you thought they might and while you can keep on this way, you're never really going to get ahead.



The thought of continuing to work here any longer is disheartening to you. Maybe you're just being impatient, but after all the problems and headaches you've encountered you really don't feel like dealing with this job anymore, especially not when there is potential danger constantly looming overhead. You're ready to tell your mother to just sell the place.



So you do.



You fought the good fight for as long as you could, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. You're not going to finish this one, which is a familiar theme to you since you dropped out of college. You tell your mother what you think and she seems just as eager to sell the place off too since the past few months have been pretty stressful.



During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.



When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.



Your mother finds work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville, which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.



After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.



At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.



As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.



You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.



Sometimes you look back and wonder where you exactly went wrong with the inn and how you could've done things differently.



You'll never know.