Jenny frowned as Tim talked to the old man, which she assumed was the storyteller he spoke of and handed over the five coins when she was asked. 'I'll just listen to this story to make Tim happy, then tell him that it was great and ask him nicely to snap back into the real world' she thought. But then the storyteller started telling his tale, and she couldn't help but get caught up in it.
"There was a wise Goomba from Boggly Woods gifted in knowledge of the world."
There was just something about the way he said it, that made the story sound so real.
"When beasts rose to take the woods, this knowledge helped the people fight them."
Yes, the people of Boggly Woods, with help from the Goomba, were able to defeat the beasts that threatened to knock down their doors. They fought the beasts until the woods were free of them. The Goomba was thanked tremendously.
"And the Goomba, who knew the way that every monster would attack, she began to think of a way to banish all monsters from the land..."
Yes, that was her, sitting there, with great knowledge, ready to get rid of all the monsters. Rid the land of them, get rid of them all…
The tale ended there. Jenny was pulled out of dreamland abruptly and she turned to glare at the storyteller. "That's all of it?" she asked "this was so not worth the five coins!"
"Nonononono!" Tim said, doing his best not to laugh "this is only part of the tale! There's more! And we can hear it if we have more coins. Of course, I'm out of money. My allowance has been cut a bit short and Larry's back in town so I don't have to water his plants anymore. Do you happen to have any more money?"
"No!" Jenny said "not any I can spend on this anyways; I'm still saving up to buy that book I really wanted for Christmas but didn't get."
"I can pay you back!" Tim said quickly "I'm starting a new job tomorrow that should pay well, I'll pay you back then!"
"I don't even have the money with me" Jenny said "look, meet me at the Inn after you get paid and we'll come back up here and listen to another story. I've got work to do." With those as her final words, she was off before Tim could argue any more.
Sighing, Tim also headed off to go get some more money. He had heard of a nice job that someone down in the sewers was offering, and needed to get down there before someone else claimed it. Also, it gave him a nice excuse to go explore some more.