Some time later, Mika and Audrey sat together in the tavern's main room. It was meal-time so it was packed full of people (or at least as packed as a small tavern in a small town could get). Most of them were locals in drab peasant attire and covered with varying levels of grime, but in the corner there was an adventuring party consisting of four warriors, including an elf and a dwarf, fairly rare sights in this region, and a man who Mika recognized as being a fellow wizard. Mika had considered talking to him, but the stranger seemed to be of the Red Order while Mika was of the Blue Order. Not exactly enemies, but hardly the best of friends. There was also a plump, well-dressed man in the corner flanked by bodyguards who had to be a noble or merchant, and a shady-looking man sitting alone at the bar who didn't seem like a local. A couple of buxom serving wenches were running around the room attending to the customers, and the gruff, heavyset innkeeper stood at the bar.
Mika wanted to just enjoy his supper (and his brief window of humanity) in peace, but apparently Audrey. "So what do we do now?" she demanded.
"...Eat supper?" Mika proposed weakly.
"You know what I mean," Audrey snapped back. "All we know is that the pieces are somewhere in this province, and that's the only lead that damn seer gave us. One of these hicks has got to know something about them." Immediately, Audrey started to stand, and Mike tried to gesture at her to sit back down, but it was no use. She announced loudly, "Listen up, this kid and I are here looking for the Rocks of... the Stones of... Mika, what are they?"
Mika groaned and cursed to himself. Audrey was always brash and reckless, acting without thinking, and always accusing him of being a coward or a weakling when he tried to dissuade her. Reluctantly, he supplied, "The Shifting Stones of Sharn."
"Yeah, the Shifting Stones," Audrey continued. "We're looking for them. Any of you happen to know anything about them?"
For a few moments, there was stony silence. The locals clearly were not pleased. Finally, the innkeeper said in a threatening tone, "Don't you go asking about those stones, they're nothing but trouble. I don't want no trouble in my tavern, understand?" There were a few angry shouts of agreement from the locals.
Mika could see Audrey opening her mouth to say something in response, and before she could make things any worse he grabbed her arm and tugged on it. He expected a thrashing for it later, but for now she just glared at him, so he was able to urge, "Come on, let's just get out of here for now." Audrey made a number of disparaging comments towards Mika's mother but complied, following him out of the tavern as the barkeep and the locals glared at them.
They exited the tavern, and suddenly someone said in a quiet and urgent voice, "I can help you find the Stones." Surprised and intrigued, Mika turned to the source of the voice and saw...