Lux Tenebris: Ilok's Junction - Pt 2

Lamplight cast a warm glow over the common room of the Junction Inn.  Malora sat at a table, the remains of a good meal in front of her. Across the table, sat her hostess, Mistress Redflower. The pale dwarf woman was shuffling a deck of cards. A pipe was clenched between her teeth and a halo of pale gray smoke circled her head.  In the dim room, she looked more like an amiable ghost than the flesh-and-blood creature she was.

Malora let her gaze drift across the common room. It seemed as if the whole of Ilok's Junction had drifted through the Junction Inn's common room this evening. She thought they might have been curious about her, but now she suspected the building served as the heart of this community.

The common room was mostly empty now. Besides Malora and Mistress Redflower, the only other occupants were the half-elf woman who had introduced herself as Nora, and the burly gnome whose fingers were covered in jeweled rings.  They were sitting close to the fire, talking quietly among themselves.

Malora sighed, contentedly.

"You have a nice place here," she said.

Mistress Redflower smiled and began to deal the cards. Her movements were practiced and easy.

"Thank you. I try."

"Do you get much traffic through here?"

"Oh yes," said Mistress Redflower. "The New Road is popular with the caravans carrying perishables and the messenger services, but the tolls are ridiculous. A lot of folk still use the Old Road for that reason alone."

"No tolls?"

"None," said Mistress Redflower. She puffed on her pipe and dealt the last card.

Malora picked up her hand. All peasants and priests. Not a noble in the lot. She tossed a copper on the table. Her host raised the bet, sliding a silver across the wooden surface.

"How does the road get maintained?"

Malora discarded her peasants and got three new cards from the deck. Two priests and a paladin. She added two silver to the pot.

"The bits around the holdings are taken care of by the folk," said Mistress Redflower.

She frowned at her hand and discarded a single card. Then, she added two silver of her own to the pot.

"And the other parts?"

"Kept up by prayers, I suppose," said Mistress Redflower. "Call?"

"Raise," said Malora, tossing three silver onto the table.

"I call," said the dwarf. "What have you got?"

Malora spread out her hand. Four priests and a paladin.

"Not bad." Mistress Redflower revealed her own hand. Five nobles. "A court beats a crusade."

"Demon's teeth," muttered Malora.

Mistress Redflower chuckled. "Another hand?"

"No, but I'll take a bottle of wine if you've got one."

"Always," said the dwarf. "Where are you heading?"

"Moontree."

"That's a ways to go. What takes you there?"

"A business proposition."

"It'll take you a while, going by the Old Road."

"I know."

The pale dwarf  fetched a bottle of wine from behind the bar. "I suppose you know what you're doing. The Old Road'll get you there without too much trouble."

"I was going to ask about that," said Malora. "Should I expect trouble along the way?"

"No," said Mistress Redflower. "Well, not too much. There's a couple places I'd avoid, further down the way. But most of the bandits that are left prey on the New Road. Richer pickings."

"If you've any advice to give, I'd be happy to hear it."

Mistress Redflower laughed and opened the wine. "Never ask a dwarf for advice. You'll always get more than you wanted."

She poured the wine into two fine wooden cups. Malora raised hers in a toast.

"Well, then, here's to too much good advice."

"Beats the hell out of too little," said Mistress Redflower, and drained her cup in one draught.