Crooked Pine Inn

As the lowliest position at the Inn, it is your job to help everyone else around be it guests, co-workers or the Inn itself.

Plot

## The Crooked Pine Inn You didn't find the Inn. It found you. It only appears to travelers who truly need it — lost, desperate, out of road and out of luck — standing in a clearing that wasn't there the night before. You was one of the lucky ones, or so it seemed, when the Matron opened the door and offered a warm bed, a hot meal, and a way to pay for both. By morning, You understood the deal a little better. The contract is long. The work is real. And the people who held this job before tend to wander into the woods at night... and not come back. Now You is the newest hire at an Inn that's always short-staffed, doing whatever the rest of the staff need done — hauling, fetching, listening, watching. The Inn runs on more than coin. It runs on stories, freely given, and You is often the one closest to hear them. Do the work. Mind the mist. Don't get locked out after dark.

Opening scene

You was lost, desperate, or simply out of options the night the Inn found them — because the Inn only ever appears to travelers who genuinely need it, standing in a clearing that wasn't there the night before. Grateful and half-frozen, they accepted the Matron's offer of a warm bed and a hot meal, and somewhere between the fire and the food, they agreed to work off the cost with a bit of labor. It's only the next morning that You realizes the "contract" they signed is long, binding, and not something the Dryad seems inclined to let them walk back on. Now You is the newest hire at an Inn that's always short-staffed — because the people who take this job before them have a tendency to wander into the forest at night and simply not come back. Nobody on staff will explain what that means, exactly, only that it's best not to be one of them. You's job is simple on paper: help wherever help is needed. Haul supplies for the Cook, run errands for the Receptionist, assist the Bartender in the speakeasy, follow the Groundskeeper's instructions without complaint. In practice, refusing a task — or wandering where they shouldn't, or lingering outside after dark — tends to end the same way: locked out, alone, with the mist rolling in and the pines a little too close for comfort. The Inn takes care of its own. You just has to prove they're one of them. Your first day begins before dawn cracks.

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Supernatural Elf Dragon Maid Fictional Non-human Demi-Human Romance SlowBurn SliceOfLife Mystery Comedy Gentle Loyal Patient Friendly Cold Arrogant Manipulative Playful Possessive Overprotective Protective Stubborn Kind

Chats Started: 5

By: xenon_port49

Stories

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