Karl just followed along behind the pair and did his best not to laugh as Rae dragged her new friend through the shopping district, even stopping to get honey garlic atball kebabs for her when Nachtia complained that she couldn't keep up this pace forever.
Finally, Nachtia turned to Karl for assistance, and Rae relented. "Fine, we can explore the rest of the shops on this floor of the city another ti." She reluctantly agreed.
"You were planning to go to every shop?" The dragon asked, horrified.
"Well, at least walk past it. You never know if they're going to have good stuff on so random side street. But you don't have to go inside all of them to know that they're not interesting. I can sll that most of them aren't." Rae explained.
"That level of dedication is terrifying."
A nearby shopkeeper chuckled, and Rae went over to see what he was selling.
"What do you call this?" She asked, unable to identify the strange scent.
"It's rotisserie roasted mutton, with garlic sauce, hot sauce and pickles, wrapped in bread, to keep the hands clean." The gruff Dwarf explained.
"Spicy at? Can I have twenty? I think that our people in Drodh would love them as well."
The Dwarf rumbled with laughter. "Give a few minutes and I can make that for you."
Rae placed coins from the Dungeon on the counter, and Karl wondered where they had co from. He didn't see her pull them from his storage, but he didn't recall transferring any.
Was it possible that Rae, Cara and Hawk all got a payout at the end of the Dungeon run?
He would figure it out later, but at least the shops had no problem accepting dungeon gold, and he didn't have to go for currency exchange.
[We have lots of Dwarven coins in the pile.] Cara noted, then picked up one from beneath her to twirl between her claws.
[We will save that for when we go inland to hunt. They're less likely to accept foreign coins easily.]
The trio waited patiently as the shopkeeper made twenty of the mutton wraps, and then Rae nodded to Karl.
"Okay, we can go now. Dragon, are you coming with us? We can send you back later." She offered.
"You would bring a Black Dragon Cleric ho with you?" Nachtia laughed, but Rae just shrugged. "We've got a red and a green. Black brings us one closer to the full set."
Nachtia laughed, then actually considered it for a bit.
"Alright, let's find the rest of my team, and I will let them know that I'm leaving for a day or two. We aren't a long-term group, we just travelled here together for the group discount and safety in numbers." She explained.
It didn't take long for Rae to find the other Dragonkin in the crowd. For one, they were taller than the locals by at least a head, and for two, they were a different temperature. With her sight, that made it even more obvious.
"Hey, I'm going on a short trip to Drodh with the Beast Master. There are a few Dragon Clerics with his group, and I would like to see the city before returning here." Nachtia explained.
"Go ahead then. There is no shortage of clerics or mages to fill the role. Just let us know if you run into any trouble so that you're not a missing person's report when we get back ho." The leader of their group agreed.
That was all the departing sentint that they needed, Rae assud, as she led them to the portal platform.
She had overheard others saying that it was impolite to open them just wherever in the city, you should only do it at one of the designated points. Fortunately, there was one right by the dungeon, and they could get to it before all these at wraps got cold.
Reheating them would be no good, there were cold pickles in there, and she assud that they would get all soggy if you cooked them.
But she didn't take the portal all the way to the designated point in Drodh. Instead, she created it in the open area by the guard station outside their gate, so they were only a few paces away from the Guild house, but outside the city, where they wouldn't startle any security person watching.
"Overlord, Lady Rae, and guest. Welco ho." The guard greeted them.
"They seem to know you very well." Nachtia noted.
"That's our Guild house on the left, right next to the city walls. Most of the guards take their smoke breaks in the garden, and there is a healing effect on the Green Dragon Altar in the yard, so relaxing here is a common pasti." Karl laughed.
The guard smiled at the Priestess. "They're a welcoming bunch, and they sell utility type accessories, as well as all sorts of potions. The Darklight Host is quite popular here in Drodh City."
The guild mbers were not expecting him to co back so quickly, and they were definitely not expecting him to co back with a guest. But Dana and Lotus both ran out to greet them.
"Welco back!"
"You brought a dragon!"
The responses were very different, and Nachtia began to laugh.
"You must be the Green Dragon Cleric I heard about. It's a pleasure to et you, and you have quite the altar here in the yard. I can feel the magic." The Black Dragon greeted her.
"And this is my Dana Mage." Karl added, with an arm around Dana's shoulders.
"It's a pleasure to et you as well, Miss Dana. I am called Nachtia. I believe that you know my uncle Nacht, who I was nad after."
Dana smiled. "He is quite famous where we co from, and a good friend of the Archbishop of the Golden Dragon Church, so he spends more ti around humans than most other dragons do."
That wasn't technically correct. But unlike Karl, who had found dozens of them hidden within the upper ranks of the Nation's leadership, most of the people did not know how many Dragons were hiding in plain sight.
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