Chapter 130: The Little Things in Life (Patreon)

Jessica lay in bed for an entire day. A real bed, too, not the stone slab sitting in the Respawn Chamber. She got up briefly as Al helped move her to a recovery room, but she was so drained it took almost 3 times as long as it should have to wobble down the hall normally. As she lay there, a singular thought kept gnawing at the back of her mind, unable to be banished.

She had been a fool.

This wasn’t one of those self-deprecating thoughts that crept up on her when she was embarrassed at having failed something. It wasn’t the regret of not meeting a standard she thought she'd exceeded, only to find her hubris had artificially inflated her ego. Jessica had plenty of self-esteem and knew, more or less, exactly what she was worth.

This was an honest admission of a bitter truth. She was naive and took death too lightly.

Nobody would ever call Jessica a cautious person. She was well known for speaking her mind and not shying away from a fight. But she wasn’t reckless and she wasn’t suicidal. She wouldn’t throw her life away, even if she were certain she’d come back.

At the same time, she had dismissed the concerns of her elders, who told her about the horrors of respawning. She had even seen the effects of Resurrection Sickness with her own eyes. She had seen it break people, and if she was honest with herself…she had thought them weak.

She never admitted it before, but the thought was always there. Here were people, oftentimes a higher level than she was, knowing full well what they were getting themselves into, and yet they still ended up bedridden and catatonic long after the Sickness wore off. Sometimes for weeks. Even months. Many of them never fully recovered.

Why not? She had once wondered. Jessica never voiced those thoughts out loud because the thought of dying scared her, but she knew there were some absolute lunatics in the world. Surely somebody would have the mentality of, “If I always come back to life, all I have to do is keep trying until I succeed.” Certainly, some people operated like this in a much milder capacity than Jessica’s imagination. She wasn’t thinking of the [Breakers], who perished in the dungeons while they learned their secrets, so nobody else had to. She was thinking of the idiots who thought they’d struck gold and their brilliant plan was to throw themselves, alone, into a dungeon as if they could brute-force leveling up.

It wasn’t that simple.

Even now, as her memories of the event returned, the exact moment of her death was muted, but it shook her deeply. She could feel phantom bite marks as undead jaws ripped chunks out of her flesh, tearing her limb from limb as the weight of a horde crushed her. A slight tingle on her bicep made her reach instinctively to check if her arm was really there, and it hadn’t been cleanly sheared off by a scimitar.

She closed her eyes and banished the waking nightmare. The giant dog-men were real, but they couldn’t hurt her. Not here, not now.

Especially not with a grumpy little dragon-gnome sleeping across her lap.

Yes, she was a fool.

Several years ago, when she was just starting her adventuring career, she had seen a flyer in the guild. Death Lessons, they had called it, which made Jessica laugh. At the time, it was the stupidest idea she had ever heard! The biggest waste of money! Only an absolute idiot would sign up for it…or so she thought. Why would she ever pay a whopping 20 silver just to die? She’d written it off as insane.

Jessica couldn’t say she’d pay the price now, but at least she could understand why they offered it. Not everyone was on friendly terms with the local abbey and could pretty much get free counseling and therapy whenever they wished. Nor did they have access to giant maids who had storage compartments larger than a bank. Even if somebody decided to test the whole respawn thing on their own because they wouldn’t– or couldn’t –pay the guild, it would probably end up as a one-time deal. They’d lose all their stuff.

Jessica glanced down at the white robe she was wearing. The abbey provided it for her, but when she woke up, she was butt naked. Strangely, she actually did have a single item with her, something she’d almost forgotten about.

Her [Harpoon]. It was Soulbound.

Jessica had a nearly out-of-body experience, observing her cloth-covered body, otherwise robbed of worldly treasures, clinging tightly to a [Harpoon].

And yet, now that she was forced to recuperate an ailing body, she could look back on her previous attitude in a little more…objective light. Was she going to change? Maybe a little bit. She knew herself and she was honest. And, as Al would say, that was good enough.

“Hey, are you up yet?”

A knock at her door accompanied the voice. Y’cennia seemed to have recovered the fastest, and Jessica wondered if it was because she was also the highest-level mortal. The dragon-gnome didn’t count.

“Kind of,” Jessica called back.

“How can you be kind of up?” Y’cennia asked, stepping inside. “Either you are or you’re not– oh.”

Jessica didn’t need to say anything. She shifted on the bed and pointed at the gnome. Y’cennia shook her head.

“I don’t get it. Some days she’s a perfectly normal person…other days, she’s a cat.”

“Maybe that’s the real secret behind dragons,” Jessica mused. “They’ve fooled us the entire time.”

“How are you feeling?” Y’cennia asked, taking a seat next to the window. “Any better?”

“At least the day’s nice,” Jessica said. It wasn’t as hot today as it had been the last few weeks since Midsummer kicked off…but that could also be because they weren’t traveling in the middle of the desert.

“Right?” The catkin grinned. “I went for a walk with Elsie. The breeze was cool.”

Jessica nodded, looking out the window. Several moments passed. Jessica couldn’t hold it any longer; she let out a long, cathartic laugh.

“Is this really what we’re doing?” She cackled. “Talking about the weather?”

“There isn’t much else to do,” Y’cennia giggled. “Just need to be grateful we aren’t dead.”

“Right,” Jessica sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I can still feel it, you know,” she said, her right arm instinctively covering her left. “It’s like they’re still there.”

“Same,” Y’cennia agreed. “Sometimes, if my mind’s not occupied, I see flashes of sand exploding as hands reach out of the dunes. I…don’t know if I could go through that again.”

“Hey, nobody’s going to make you if you want to sit out,” Jessica said, trying to put on a brave face. But her heart wasn’t really in it. “Hell, I don’t know if I’ll go back.”

“Do you think this is the end of us?” Y’cennia asked. She often was the worrier in the group, but today, Jessica couldn’t fault her. It was a legitimate concern.

“Maybe,” she agreed honestly. “But I don’t think so. I’d want to talk to the others first, and besides, this is probably the first-day-back blues. My debuff only ran out a little while ago and I’m finally starting to see color again.”

“Oh gods,” Y’cennia grinned. “I didn’t think it was going to be literal. You hear survivors talk about how bleak the world looks when you Respawn, but I didn’t know it made everything black and white!”

“I had some color,” Jessica said. “Maybe it’s different for everybody?”

“You’re lucky, then,” Y’cennia pouted. “I thought I’d try taking my mind off things by brewing a potion, but I couldn’t tell the difference between liquids. It was all grey.”

“At least you recovered enough to work,” Jessica pointed out. “I can barely get out of bed.”

They both looked down at the dragon lump.

“Not that it’s an option right now.”

“She looks so peaceful,” Y’cennia said with a small smile.

“If this was all you saw, you’d never know she’s actually a giant monster,” Jessica said wryly.

“Aww, don’t call her a monster,” Y’cennia pouted.

“I mean, am I wrong?” Jessica shrugged. “She beat up a god because he touched her stuff. How is that not a monster?”

“Hmmm,” Y’cennia agreed. “You got me there. Say…what do you think’s more comfortable for a dragon to sleep on? A person? Or a giant pile of money?”

Jessica glanced down at the sleeping girl and could easily imagine her purring. She couldn’t speak to all dragons, but hanging around this one gave her a fairly good idea.

“I suppose it depends on what they value more,” Jessica said. Her eyes went wide and she snapped her fingers as she broke into a wide smile. “Hot damn, now there’s a pickup line! Hey babe, you’re more comfortable than gold.”

“I think it needs work,” Y’cennia laughed. “Good try.”

“Hey…serious question,” Jessica sighed. “Back in the day, how do you think they did it?”

“Mmm?” Y’cennia tilted her head.

“I mean, not all the Visitors were like the lump,” Jessica grinned, giving Melia a jostle. She growled cutely and grabbed more of Jessica’s blanket in her tiny mitts. “From what I heard, they died a lot. Could you imagine? Fighting against somebody so powerful and so insane that Chaos made a dungeon after them?”

“Well,” Y’cennia began, casting the gnome some side-eye. “We kind of know somebody like that.”

“Yeah,” Jessica admitted begrudgingly, “But also, no. I get your point and I mean, technically, you’re right, but she’s not, like, trying to bring about the end of the world.”

“You remember what her class is, right?” Y’cennia giggled.

“I mean she’s not evil or insane!” Jessica huffed. “You get me. That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. I mean…look at the Frozen North. Before a hundred years ago, we weren’t at peace with the Barbarians, right? Sure, there were a few tribes that were friendly to the rest of us, but as a whole, they were kind of dickwads, right? Send-a-raiding-party, kill-on-sight sort of savages. And then the Frost Giants decided to have their little tiff, which threatened to bring on an ice age…somebody had to stop them, right? How many people died doing that, do you think? And the Visitors were relentless, you know? Fighting against the Titans should have been a long, drawn-out affair. If adventurers today needed to take care of a problem like that? Decades. We’d be fighting for decades. The Visitors took care of business in a handful of years. 2…maybe 3. And then they moved onto the next world-ending threat like they were clocking in for a job.”

“You’re right,” Y’cennia agreed. But beneath her calm voice was a shaken interior; Jessica could see it in the way the cat’s ears flattened against her head. “I can’t imagine what that’d be like. Do you think…something big is coming?”

“How can it not be?” Jessica groaned. “Sure, according to Melia, Order said there wasn’t…but he’s a god, right? Big things to us are small to them.”

“I almost wonder,” Y’cennia said in a very small voice. “What would happen if we didn’t help bring them back.”

Jessica stared at the catkin long and hard. She understood the fear; really, she did. The uncertainty, too. The desire for the status quo to remain and for everything to simply…coast on by. But they didn’t get much of a say in that. So she tried to look at things in a better light.

“I’m sure some of them are crazy,” Jessica said. The legendary tale of the Visitor named Leroy was immortal…even if the man himself was not. “But they all can’t be that bad. After all, there’s Eluna. What if more are like her? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

Y’cennia brightened as her tail swished to life.

“I suppose not. Though if they’re really like the [Saint], I suppose the church is going to start swearing a lot more….”

“Heh,” Jessica chuffed, shaking her head. “The church is already gonna start changing, bet. Celestara was absent for a hundred years and then she grew an avocado tree. I’ll give you an entire gold if she isn’t known as the goddess of avocados in another century.”

“Please!” Y’cennia laughed. “As if you or I will be around to collect.”

They both paused momentarily as the gnome started to stir.

“Then again,” Y’cennia said thoughtfully. Jessica didn’t want to think about her impending longevity. Making it through one day was hard enough.

“Hey, dragon-loaf,” she needled, poking Melia in the belly. “Wake up. I need to pee and I’m getting hungry.”

“Fooood?” The sleepy dragon mumbled, already starting to rise. “Where?”

​

The answer was, of course, no where. That’s why they were hungry. The gnome wasn’t dismayed, and in a bizarre twist, seemed to consider the lack of food a benefit. She took it as a sign that she needed to cook, which was something Jessica would never argue against. But instead of taking over the abbey’s kitchens, she took a different approach.

“How do we feel about halflings?” Melia asked. Jessica and Y’cennia shared a look.

“Just so we’re on the same page here,” Jessica stated slowly, “Do you mind clarifying a little?”

“A while back, I promised I’d have them for dinner.”

“You know,” Jessica grimaced, “It didn’t sound good then and it sounds worse now. I’m not eating a halfling. Sorry. Keep that to yourself.”

“Argh,” Melia chuckled. “You know what I mean.”

“How about we pretend that I don’t?” Jessica ventured.

“Jess,” Melia pouted, earning a laugh.

“I jest! I jest. Fine. You want to have dinner with short people. I don’t have a problem with that. But why?”

“Well, I was listening to you talk about your recovery–”

“Wait,” Jessica stopped her. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Yeah,” Melia grinned nostalgically. “I was.”

“How can you be asleep and listen? You can’t do both… never mind. Not the point. What about our recovery?”

“It occurred to me that it might do you guys good to experience the real slow life,” Melia said. “Learn from people who don’t take the little things for granted.”

“That’s…not a play on words, is it?”

The gnome paused and thought back about what she just said. Her eyes widened briefly before narrowing into crescents as she giggled.

“Sorry, no it wasn’t. But maybe it might help you feel better if you can see some of those things worth fighting for? At the very least, I promise you’ll be full.”

Jessica couldn’t argue with that. Melia wasn’t a liar…especially when it came to food. Wrangling all the halflings for dinner, on the other hand, Jessica wasn’t so sure.

She needn’t have worried. Melia dragged her and the cat all the way over to Abbytonshire to propose a feast to the family heads. Poor Ellesea and Al were going to miss out, since they were visiting the [Mage]’s family to explain what happened, but Jessica considered it a trade-off for Al getting to ride all the way to Horizon on a [Flying Carpet]. Jessica was a little nervous when they crossed the border into the halfling shire and not a single small person could be seen. If they were all busy, maybe this wouldn’t work? After all, they were trying to wrangle at least 50 people on like an hour’s notice.

Melia didn’t seem to mind. She walked up to the first hole and knocked on that weird round door. After several moments of patiently waiting with a smile on her face, a bewildered halfling answered the door. Perhaps the woman was just shocked to see someone shorter than her. But all the gnome did was blurt out an open invitation, saying to stop by the large pavilion with the tents if they wanted to join for dinner. To Jessica’s surprise, the halfling immediately agreed.

As did the next. And the next.

Every house they stopped at (for those that answered their doors) agreed to come. A few even asked what they needed to bring, as if it was already a foregone conclusion that this mega-dinner was happening. As the list of attendees grew, Jessica began to get anxious.

“Melia,” she pulled the gnome aside and whispered in her ear. “What are we going to feed all of these people? Heck, what are we going to feed us? I don’t have anything in my inventory.”

Really. Layalee had returned with their stuff in her storage, yes, but Jessica hadn’t seen the need to claim it all. At the time, it seemed so pointless. And right now, it wouldn’t help them anyway, since most of her stuff was spoils of war and inedible loot.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Melia said, smiling confidently. “We’re going to make [Halfling Stew].”

Jessica caught Y’cennia’s eye and they shared a barely concealed smirk.

“Those allegations, Melia,” Jessica snickered. The gnome rolled her eyes.

“It’s not made of halflings,” she said. “But they’re famous for it. So famous, the system made it a recipe.”

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Jessica said. “What’s in [Halfling Stew]?”

“You can’t have a good stew wiffout [Taters],” a passing halfling said. Melia pointed at the guy and nodded.

“They know what’s up.”

“Why do I get the feeling this is going to turn into a whole thing?” Jessica groaned. “I thought you wanted us to appreciate the slow life?”

“It won’t be that bad!”

​

It was that bad! Melia led them to the pavilion, where they came across a whole host of halflings eager to relax and eat. Jessica was shocked to see so many of them; it looked like the entire shire turned up. Yes, they made a few detours to knock on some remote doors, but it wasn’t like they took their time getting there!

“Tha’s cuz Bimbobble ran to the fields,” a red-faced halfling explained. It seemed the party had already started, as somebody had brought out several kegs of alcohol. “Farmer Grimrose sent his lads around to make sure nobody was left out.”

“All this for a feast?” Jessica scoffed.

Several nearby halflings froze in the middle of a lively dance and a spirited conversation fell deathly silent.

“You know what?” She immediately backpedaled, “Perfect. No better time.”

But Jessica, you know, a [Hunter], understood a basic truth. “[Taters]” did not a stew make. Not on their own.

“‘Course, you need carrots,” a plump little woman in a cooking apron said as she bustled around carrying a pot larger than she was. “And some tomatoes!

“Toe-mah-toes!” An older gentleman, his bare feet on the table, called.

“‘N oonions,” another lady agreed, directing two burly little dudes with large woven baskets full of veggies. “Can’t forget those!”

Y’cennia made the mistake of getting too close to one of the baskets, peering curiously down into it.

“Ah, have an interest in farm-fresh produce, do you, lass?” the director-halfling said. “Why don’t you grab that basket and give the boys a hand?”

“Eh?” Y’cennia muttered, and before she knew it, she was assisting in the kitchen.

It happened so fast, Jessica didn’t even have time to laugh. But before anybody could try to recruit her, she made her stance on cooking quite clear.

“Listen, you want good food tonight, right?” She asked a nearby table of loiterers. They all agreed merrily and drank more booze. “Then I’m straight out. I’ll kill it dead, and that’s my contribution to the pot.”

She got a round of cheers and someone stuffed a pint of mead in her empty hand. Her grin was feral; these people were all right in her book. As far as she was concerned, they were genuine members of Abbyton.

“So what else goes in?” She asked. She was starting to understand that conversation with a halfling was a group effort. People dropped in and out as they pleased, yet everyone seemed to catch the basic drift. Another old [Gardener] answered.

“Oi, [Rabbit],” he said enthusiastically. “Can’t have a good stew without a bite o’ [Rabbit].”

Jessica thought back to the fabled Westshire incident and shook her head. A [Rabbit] that size could eat a halfling whole.

“And on the chance you can’t get [Rabbit]?” She asked, before muttering under her breath. “Or if the [Rabbit] decides you’re the food?”

Little did Jessica know that she opened the floodgates of war. Apparently, [Rabbit] was seen as the traditional meat in [Halfling Stew]. If a substitute was needed, opinions got heated.

“Fish,” said some.

“Goat!” Claimed others.

Jessica was sure that: a) if the halflings weren’t so lazy with their feet kicked up; and b) far too fond of food, a fight would inevitably break out. But nobody was going to be throwing the mysterious little bread rolls that started showing up at people and they certainly weren’t going to waste their booze so they could pummel a neighbor with their mug. Instead, they heckled. Quite loudly, at that. A chest-high tray of baked rolls walked by and Jessica snagged one.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously: she knew this recipe. The same thing Jessica had made that day in StoneCairne. And sure enough, when she turned around, the catkin was running ragged in front of a stove, cranking out batches of bread by the dozen.

“Ain’t this a fine sight?” A proud voice asked. Jessica looked down and saw a round old man hooking his thumbs under his suspenders. “To think we’d live to see our own hobnobiggan.”

“A what?” Jessica repeated. The man chuckled.

“Ah, forgive me, lass. A party, you might say, involving the whole shire. You’ll be stayin’ for the games, won’t you? As a host, I feel it’s my duty to make sure yer looked after.”

And for some reason, Jessica had thought that they were hosting this mess, but clearly not. Somewhere along the line, the halflings clearly took over. In fact, she saw some small ladders being carted around as paper lanterns were being hung around the pavilion. Two…young men? It was hard to tell a halfling’s age when they were so small, but they clearly weren’t old. Two energetic youths had brought out an angled board with a hole in it and were taking turns trying to throw a small sack inside. It was clearly a drinking game, as there was much booze involved…but then again, to halflings, booze was always involved. Oblivious to her thoughts, the old halfling carried on.

“And to think, we owe all this to a dragon! Who would have known?”

“Jessica?” A familiar voice cried out. “Jessica!”

“Speaking of dragons,” she grinned. “Melia! Over here!”

“Oh!” The gnome said. “I couldn’t find you through the crowd!”

“Melia,” Jessica said flatly. “If you’re about to try and say everybody else is too tall, you can shove it. I’m surrounded by short people. All you had to do was look up.”

“Fair,” Melia grinned. “I’m glad I found you! Let’s go get some meat!”

Jessica stared down and felt…nothing. Absolutely nothing. But not nothing in the bad way, not like she’d been feeling several hours ago. In fact, right now, she was feeling great! If she thought about it, she’d been smiling nonstop for the last hour. She just…wasn’t surprised by the gnome’s antics.

“Don’t tell me we need to go get [Rabbit],” Jessica groaned. Knowing Melia as she did, Jessica wouldn't put it past her to know where a second [Giant Rabbit] spawned.

“No,” Melia said sadly. Ah, Jessica nodded. Some things were sacred. “For Brandy’s sake, I can’t do it.”

What was she just saying? Nothing was sacred in this world. Jessica remembered the strawberry telling her about pet [Rabbits]...the thought made her shudder.

“So what do you propose?”

“Goat!!” One of the old curmudgeons yelled out. By now, Jessica understood procedure. She flipped him off and got rewarded with a chorus of laughter.

“I’m thinking [Crimson Cattle],” Melia grinned. Jessica rolled her eyes. Because of course Melia was.

Jessica followed the small gnome into an open field beside the pavilion, where she could revert to her true form. Several curious halflings did too, and to Jessica’s surprise, they weren’t nearly as shocked as she expected them to be. All she got from them was an I’ll be! and a Don’t see that every day, do ya? in response. She felt like telling them off, but her apathy levels were rising. It wasn’t her fault their sense of bewilderment was skewed.

Melia did that funny dance where she pranced on all four feet before she happily lowered her head. By now, Jessica was an expert at [Dragon Snout Climbing] and was expecting a new skill any day now. She slithered to the top of the head like a stealthy serpent and knocked twice on Melia’s right horn.

“We’re good here,” she said conversationally, knowing the dragon’s senses were just plain ludicrous.

“Hang on!”

Jessica didn’t know why Meliastraza bothered, but she supposed it meant she cared. Jessica didn’t need to hold onto anything, even at the dragon’s preferred speed. Not even today, when they traveled considerably faster than that, creating a visible cone of distortion at the front of Meliastraza’s face as she flew. If only Ellesea was here…perhaps she could explain. Surely it had to be magic.

Within 10 minutes, Meliastraza had taken them back to her preferred hunting ground…which, as a [Hunter], didn’t sound right. At all. Meliastraza didn’t hunt. She browsed. They wandered through the browsing ground, swooping up several large, fat [Cattle]. Thankfully, none of them were off, and Jessica considered herself a [Cattle Connoisseur], able to spot beef past its prime. The dragon ate a few and delicately placed several more into her inventory before quickly returning to the party.

On the return, Jessica noticed many more halflings had shown up, most likely all the stragglers. Some of them saw Meliastraza’s approach and pointed up excitedly. Fortunately for them, the dragon did not perform a strafing run with her flaming breath, and she had to hover anxiously over her landing spot until all the silly Little People got out of the way. While she was still a dragon, she pulled out one of the [Cattle] from her inventory, like she was showing off a prime cut of meat she scored from a butcher…and she was immediately swarmed. Another kitchen crew led by a formidable woman wielding a baking pin assaulted the dragon and raided it for its meat.

Did these halflings have no fear? Yes, Jessica discovered, but not in this particular moment. As simple folk, they’d already made their peace. They’d seen the terrifying dragon and assumed that if it wasn’t going to eat them immediately, it probably wouldn’t in the next few minutes. Besides, their memories weren’t that short; not a single halfling in Abbytonshire would ever forget this black dragon.

After relinquishing her [Cattle], Melia quickly followed the crew back to the kitchens to help prepare the meat. Jessica could also tell that Melia was taking over production of the [Stew], because the pavilion grew noisy as cheers and laughter rang out around the kitchens. More beer was brought out, and Jessica made herself comfortable. Before she knew it, Y’cennia (looking incredibly happy and tired) sat next to her, and bowls were placed in front of them.

​

[Halfling Stew]

​

Level: 75

Rarity: Epic

Quality: 5-Stars

Made By: Melia the Magnificent

​

On Use: Spend at least 30 minutes eating to become [Well Fed]. Gain 15% primary stats for 4 hours. Gain a bonus (+1) to any agricultural skills.

On Use: Spend at least 15 minutes eating to gain [A Little Satisfaction].

​

Regardless of the number, this stew is good for any breakfast.

​

Before, Jessica wasn’t a big fan of stew; it was just throwing ingredients into a pot and letting it boil. As soon as the first waft of steam hit her nostrils, she became a believer. It was like the god of [Cooking] descended to bestow his magnanimous blessings on all people under 4 feet tall. And Jessica had seen divine food; she might as well be the expert.

But expert or not…she should probably have looked at the [Stew]’s secondary effect. As should have Y’cennia. But the poor cat was so hungry she forwent her spoon and almost shoved her face into the bowl in her haste to consume it. Jessica, not wanting to be left behind, dug in too.

They went through 3 whole bowls…and not those puny, human-sized bowls. Apparently, halflings really knew how to eat, and a normal bowl to them might as well have been a pot to Jessica. By the time she finished the third bowl, her brain caught up, and her belly groaned painfully. She pushed the bowl away with a wince and scooted her chair back.

As she did so…the transformation kicked in.

Because, of course, it was made by Melia.

Her chair skidded to a halt as her feet were yanked up off the ground. Jessica yelped, and she heard Y’cennia do the same next to her. Her whole body rapidly compressed, shrinking down to match the size of everyone around her. She stared at her hands, which suddenly seemed both very small and unnaturally large, but her eyes were instantly drawn to her shoes. Or where they should have been, because they were gone. Instead, she stared, transfixed, at large, hairy feet.

She hiccuped once and wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry.

​

[Little Satisfaction]

​

Enjoy life, take it slow. Become a halfling. Duration: 2 hours.

​

Jessica looked next to her and found out which of the two she needed to do. At the sight of Y’cennia’s mortified face, she burst out laughing, nearly falling out of her too-tall chair. Jessica never stopped to consider what a beastkin-halfing would look like, and now she had an answer. It was hilarious.

Y’cennia’s normally short, trimmed hair grew long and curly, her fangs sprouted cutely in her mouth, and her skin took on a fuzzy, soft look. Of course, she was barefoot too. She wobbled off her stool, trying to get her new bearings, but quickly lost her balance. Jessica didn’t know if it was because her entire body had just been rearranged or if she’d just had too much to drink.

And now that Jessica thought about it, another drink sounded like an excellent choice! And perhaps a roll!

She closed her eyes, knowing full well the transformation was speaking, not her. But what the heck. Why not embrace it? She slid off her chair and landed ungracefully on the floor next to Y’cennia, laughing just as hard and as jolly as their neighbors. They helped each other up and instantly got roped into a growing circle of dancers. The beer could wait.

And as Jessica worked up the appetite for another bowl of stew, it hit her. She was feeling excellent. This was exactly what she needed.