He nodded, looking ahead. The alley was long and lit, but the vendors looked shady. Many of them selling very illegal items. Unicorn horns, faerie ears, fingers, eyes, even elf ears. Hearthstones were there as well, but none looked familiar.
He shook his head. There was more stands; they sold suspicious meat, illegal potions, drugs, endangered animals. Eventually one vendor had a map behind him, labelled "Greater Demon Hearthstone".
The map caught her eye and she took Zerras' hand, squeezing it as she nodded in the map's direction subtly.
He looked over frowning slightly. He pulled his hood down further to cover his face before approaching. The vendor was an old goblin, their green face wrinkled. "Wha' can I do ya 'fer?"
Juniper gave the goblin a sweet smile, tilting her head. "Hello sir," she said gently, folding her hands easily in front of her. "My companion here and I were taking a stroll and we noticed your map."
She stooped down to his level, resting her head on her hand as she leaned against the table. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked, giving him a sparkling grin, looking around conspiratorily.
She laughed a little, sounding sheepish. "It's my birthday today," she said, sounding a little embarrassed. "And for my birthday, all I wanted was to go on an adventure. And my good, sweet friend here..." She gestured up at Zerras vaguely before looking back at the goblin. "He told me that this was the best place to go to find an adventure. I didn't believe him at first, but Mr. Goblin, sir, I think you might be in possession of exactly the kind of adventure we're looking for." She tucked her golden blonde hair behind her long ears. "Do you think that could be possible?"
She squinted, glancing back and taking it off the wall, carefully rolling it up. "Y'know, this stone belonged to a nasty ol' king. It's said to be very powerful for that, but it's quite a difficult journey."
Her eyes widened and she leaned forward in intrigue, resting her head on her hand. "What kind of monsters?"
