Climbing into the city, the party is able to pawn some of the valuables from the top of the tower and book a shared hotel room.

"We have a lot to talk about."

“We bringing new girl into the loop?” Mmmmm hotel free water, so tasty. She wants to fill up on water, eat several thousand calories, and take the hottest shower possible for an impossibly decadent and luxurious half and hour. She’s earned it after today.

But they can talk first if the boss wants to. She can drink water and talk.

Room service is also on its way up. 

"If you're going to tell me about how this teleportation key is going to make us rich, I'm all ears."

"A teleportation key by itself is difficult to monetize. We can't use the touchstones without scrutiny, limiting us to our worldlines, and we don't have an established network to profit from the transportation possibilities even that allows."

"More importantly, I am Princess Amaryllis Penndraig, tenth of her name, ..."

Fenn gets the same exposition dump on her identity and political status, made smoother by her being a native to this world. 

"There are several caches of entads and liquid assets that I have access to. Caer Laga, a fortress five days out from Barren Jewel, is the natural place to start. I propose we gather the available resources that will benefit any future plans we decide on. If you wish to retire on your share once those are secured, that option will remain open to you."

“So how influential is a princess of Angelcynn. Because If you can provide me with a low level political appointment with a comfortable salary far away from any front lines in any wars. I’m fine staying on with this outfit until you gain the power to enable that. Though… if game tropes are true… I might help with Joons thing, in case the final boss is who I hope it is.” That is vague enough for the new girl who hasn’t been briefed on everything yet to not know what they are talking about. If the princess wanted her to know, she’d have been told.

”I don’t know much about the local economy, but Fenn was a scavenger without a teleportation key into Silmar. It had to be profitable enough for her to do the job, so it would surely be even more profitable with a way to get in and out very easily and safely. High value goods could be taken right out of the city with minimal risk and a constant option to retreat.”

"Descendants in the Lost King's Court are all styled 'prince' or 'princess', but I am his most direct descendant and capable of investing many of the entads gathered to that family line over the centuries. I was also rising in political station. Once I overcome those who ousted me and reclaim my position, a rewarding sinecure for a favored ally would be well within my means."

"Scavenging exclusion zones, without special intelligence or bloodline access to wards, would be squandering the potential value of the key. Amnesty will allow us to profit from it in the conventional manner, by hiring it out for half a million obols per day."

Fenn is reasonably loyal, by the numbers. And he has no idea what an obol is worth. 

"Tanya, any objections to me sharing our common condition with Fenn? I get the feeling she likes us as much as Cy- Amaryllis did at the gates of Silmar City, or you did shortly after our conversation in the mechanic's."

"Is this a secret of yours? I love secrets. That's a secret of mine."

“The princess is the one employing us. I feel like our wether our secrets are revealed or not is a strategic thing, so that’s up to the boss wether to do that with the new employee. But I’m making it known my advice is that if she is coming on board she should be briefed. Bad intel gets people killed.”

"Thank you." She'll then fill Fenn in on the dream-skewer situation, which Fenn has never heard of before, along with the game layer.

"In short, Tanya and Juniper are unfamiliar with Aerb and its customs, but well worth the effort of investing in their training and education."

"Wait, if you don't know anything about Aerb, does that mean you've not heard any of the jokes? So, this duck walks into a bar, and he asks the bartender, got any grapes?"

Tanya doesn’t get the joke. But at least she isn’t expected to know the references this time. She will simply radiate disappointment at the new employee. That worked very well most of the time in her first life.

Joon and Fenn are undeterred. Fenn has a lot of experience of disappointment being radiated at her. 

"I have heard that one! Have you heard the one about the man lost in the desert who finds a talking snake that will grant him any three requests?"

Amaryllis turns to Tanya as the fellow serious ones.

"You said you had military experience. Was any of that in a desert theater? Caer Laga is five days away across the Datura Desert, and any thoughts you have on the necessary logistics would be welcome."

“If you are familiar with africa, I was part of a campaign there in the desert. But small unit logistics is rather different from what I dealt with. I ran a whole mage company with attached mechanised troops there. With an empire’s military economy backing it. The magic system was also entirely different. We had water trucks, I don’t know how feasible that is for stealth? I’d really need more information on the kind of desert, terrain, distances, threats, local levels of technology or useful applicable magic.”

"The key threat in the Datura Desert are the thaum-seekers. They are what elevate the region to an exclusion zone, devoid of any plant life or other inhabitants. Latent magic like the teleportation key or Fenn's warbow won't be detected, but any active or passive use of magic will draw them in from miles around. Thaum-seekers are approximately canine, each one the size of a horse and capable of running at comparable speeds to a gallop for extended period, and are fierce predators. So long as we can cross the desert without magic, relying on the supplies we can carry with us, we stand good odds. The moment someone uses magic outside the wards of Barren Jewel or Caer Laga, those odds plummet. Your experience from a world with less magic would be invaluable."

"The terrain is primarily sand dunes with some rock formations rising out of them. Caer Laga is built on one of them, fifty miles from here. Days are uncomfortably hot, nights uncomfortably cold; I presume our units of temperature wouldn't mean anything to you."

"Food and drink are trivial to stock up on here. The local magic of Barren Jewel allows unpalatable but nutritious fare to be summoned with a word. Besoneth."

A small loaf of bread appears in the palm of her hand. She eats it to demonstrate and out of principle, with a grimace.

"Try it for yourself, if you want to see why I let Fenn order room service instead."

That more pleasant food arrives soon after, announced by a knock on the door. Some kind of savory porridge with chunks of brown meat, a stack of flatbreads, and a red spicy stew with something like chicken legs arranged around the edge of the bowl.

Tanya shovels flatbread and chicken legs into her face with the practice of a veteran who doesn’t know when they will next get the chance to eat. Such a tiny girl making so much food dissapear would be impressive even to an american eating competition finalist.

She tries the summoned bread too, its not worse than some ration crackers, she’d be fine with this. The actual flatbread is much better though.

Fenn and Joon also join the meal and catch up on the conversation.

"It's like the rocket equation, right?" Joon asks. "The more supplies we carry, the further we can go, but we go slower with more load so it's diminishing returns."

"It's doable. I suggest that tomorrow Fenn and I procure the necessary supplies while you two remain hidden here, then we depart via teleportation key and begin the trek. Joon, if there is training you can do in the hotel room with Tanya, that could be worthwhile. It will be easier to acclimate you to Aerb once we have a buffer of resources with which to smooth over any missteps."

“I’m covered in zo- undead goo, smoke, and I smell like an alcoholic. Does the room have a working shower? If so I am happy to stay in here for as long as you like.” She wants to scrub entire layers of skin off of her. She feels gross.

"Our budget didn't stretch that far. Bear in mind that we won't have water to spare for bathing out in the desert, but I can understand wanting to get clean before them. If we do go to the public baths, you two will need to be on your best behavior to avoid notice. No speaking, no staring."

“What would I be staring at?… Is there something weird at the baths? Water elementals? Frog people?”