“You,” the wood elven maid sneered as she answered the call bell at the front desk of the ‘Vanquishing Dragon’ to see Torryn. The best inn in town, it was just on par with a less than average one in Everlund. “Yes me,” he growled back, in no mood for such a hostile welcome after the nearly two-week trek from the Tree Ghosts camp to reach Reitheillaethor. He, Syn and Ytharra had arrived just before sunset; they were tired, hungry and clearly all in need of a bath… including the lythari’s wolf companion, Garuu. “We need a room… one with a large bed,” he ordered, knowing that, being flanked by the beautiful sun elf and the stunning lythari, the final bit would raise her ire, as he placed a small stack of gold coins on the counter. “You’re planning on staying that long,” she grumbled as she reached for the keys hung on the wall behind her, passing one to Torryn as she collected the coins. He had paid enough to secure one of the inn’s best and largest rooms for the whole season. “We’ll also need a bath prepared,” Syn chimed in, her feigned congeniality intended to increase the surly maids annoyance. She obviously had some unfavorable history with Torryn, but at the moment all the sun elf cared about is soaking her weary body in a hot tub. “It’s already in the room,” the maid snapped, then scowled; “You want food sent in?” “No,” Syn continued her taunting geniality, “the tap room looks lively… we’ll dine there.” Torryn couldn’t help but wear an amused smirk as he led his gorgeous companions to their room. A large hearth, already prepared for a fire, dominated one wall, opposite it framed glass doors accessed a small terrace. A large tub sat in one corner and a small door to the privy in another, both butting up against the trunk of the massive tree the inn was partial built around and partial grown from. Carpets covered much of the floor and the furniture included a large bed, cabinets and chests, and a table with four chairs. By Syn’s standards, being used to some of the finer inns in Everlund, it was primitive, but serviceable. “I suppose we fetch our own water for the bath,” the sun elf huffed, as she laid her pack on a chest and scooped her cat familiar, Nykademous, from the enchanted pocket that he seldom left in the presence of Ytharra’s wolf companion, Garuu. Although the two animals seemed to have come to a tense truce at the moment, the tension between them remained high, and the feline quickly found its way on top of a tall cabinet, while the wolf settled down on the opposite side of the room, by the doors to the terrace where he could at least see solid ground. “No need,” Torryn informed her, raising from where he’d knelt to ignite the fire in the hearth, to approach the tub. A pipe with a lever attached extended from the wall that fronted the tree’s massive trunk and when he moved it water began to pour out, then he worked another lever near the bottom. and it began to fill. Both Syn and Ytharra rushed to his side to see it close up, exchanging looks of amazement, while he continued as if it where a common thing; “Usually you need to put coals from the fire into the heater box below to heat the tub, which then heats the water, but we can do better than that.” Dropping it into the water, he commanded his hearth stone to yield the light of a candle and the heat of a campfire, then taunted his exquisite companions; “Who wanted a hot bath?”