>Then let us be off to investigate these hotels that Kyouko told us of, their prices, specifically. And note the opening times of that pawn shop, as well.
>And leave a modest donation in the offeratory box on the way out. Sumiko was helpful, after all.
>You extract a few more details from Kyouko regarding where the two inns she mentioned can be found; they aren't really as helpful or coherent as you'd like, but they'll hopefully be sufficient. Then you make a detour towards the offertory box and leave a modest donation of 10 guilders. At least you think that's a reasonable sum for the amount of time Sumiko spent with you - you don't really have much experience with this sort of thing. Then you finally take your leave of the shrine and head back toward the city center for the third time today.
>In the end, Kyouko's directions prove somewhat less helpful than you'd hoped, leaving you to flag down a passerby or two when a particular street fails to show up at the appointed time. This isn't very much of an inconvenience in the end, though you can already imagine the earnest girl's frown if you informed her of such.
>The Marble Falcon is a fairly classy-looking place, though smaller than you'd expected; it is built into a adjoined row of commercial buildings in a similar style to the Seeker's Guildhall and is actually no more than 10 minutes away from it, as well. The avian sculpture above its entrance is striking and dignified, if somewhat weathered - you think it's actually quite old. True to its namesake, it is almost certainly carved from marble. The interior of the establishment is less striking, but the polished hardwood and stonework accents nonetheless bespeak quality. The lobby is a small, cloistered space, scarcely more than an intersection of quiet hallways with just room enough for a reception desk against the far wall. Inquiring with the sharply-dressed woman behind it, you find their rates are... not as bad as as a place with marble sculpture might try to get away with. But still bad enough. The cheapest room they have on offer is 80 guilders a night. Unlike the Guild lodgings, this does come with a complementary breakfast at the adjoining cafe, though this is small consolation.
>You move on to your next task: finding the operating hours of the Rabbit's Attic. This proves challenging for two reasons. Firstly, because finding the Rabbit's Attic at
all presents surprising difficulties. After sweeping up the length of the street and down again for long enough to suspect Kyouko made a mistake about
this as well, your eye catches upon a curiously innocuous door tucked around the corner of a sheltered alleyway; it is scarcely visible at all except from a particular angle, but the sign above it clearly reads 'The Rabbit's Attic' - in surprisingly artistic calligraphy, no less. Unfortunately, being next to the door helps you not at all in determining when it might be open for business. The door itself is closed and locked, you can find nothing at all resembling hours posted outside, and the only window into the establishment is completely obscured by the back side of a shelving unit and a hat rack laden so full of polka dot scarves that it could pass for the gaudiest species of tree you have ever encountered. The closest thing to actual information is provided by a small placard handing from the middle of the door, which reads:
"On investigations. Will return. -K">While this notice is distinctly unenlightening, no alternate sources of information readily present themselves and the shop's hours aren't a high enough priority for you to start canvassing the neighbours just yet; you continue on to your next destination.
>The trip to the Owl's Roost is a long one, and feels even longer at this point after all the traipsing around the city you've done already. Kyouko's directions are accurate enough for the bulk of the journey and supplementing them with pointers from a few locals once you reach the neighbourhood finds you at the doorstep of the inn with little difficulty. 'Rustic' is perhaps not an altogether poor choice of descriptor for the place, but you might personally have opted for 'sketchy' instead. Well, perhaps that's a little unfair, but the curiously dim lighting in the tavern which the main entrance practically opens upon isn't helping matters. The building itself is more spacious than the Marble Falcon and fully detached, though of chiefly wooden rather than stone construction. The neighbourhood is quieter than towards the city's center, though the establishment itself brims with chatter and perhaps even a few shades of boisterous carousing.
>The tavern area is furnished with solid-looking wooden tables and benches, functional if modest, and is surprisingly full. The clientele range from a nondescript human couple quietly working through a soup and sandwich to a trio of scowling fairies arguing vigorously over who has dibs on what corner of their basket of fries to an indeterminate red-haired youkai halfway through an oversized pitcher of beer all on her lonesome. There's even an oni in the rear corner - a rather dour-faced and taciturn sort, currently engaged in a game of cards with a rabbit half her size and quite possibly losing, if you had to guess from her expression. Somehow the decor and layout here remind you a little of the Harvest's Bounty, if it were run by someone without either Minoriko's abiding warmth or fastidious domesticity. The food still smells pretty good, though.
>The reception desk seems almost an afterthought, tucked away from the bustle of the eatery, though the row of windows you saw from the outside implies a fairly reasonable lodging capacity. Inquiring after rates, you find them reasonably cheaper than the Marble Falcon at 62 guilders a night.
