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The man in the brown robe continues eating with a single-minded purpose that is hard to fathom. Belatedly he realized he is being spoken to, and replies, around a mouthful of bread: "The bees here are happy. Happy bees make good honey."

Up close, the man appears older than he looked from a distance, and fairly poor. His robe is threadbare and worn, and has burs and scraps of dead leaves on it, and in his hair as well, but he is not dirty or foul-smelling as a hermit might be.

And despite his apparent poverty, he is wearing a very large yellow gold ring, with a large red stone, on one finger.

He continues to stare at Angel for a moment longer, licking honey from his lips as her question percolates through his head, then he replies, slowly: "I can't say much of the road. I came across country.
"But I'll tell you this: I smell a rainstorm coming. Two nights from now. If you are headed out, pick your camp carefully tomorrow night.
"I'm Griin." He reaches out to offer a handshake, notices his fingers are covered with honey, then pulls his hand back with an embarassed grin, and begins wiping it on his bread in an attempt to clean it off. Halfway through the process he gives up and has another bite of bread, washing it down with beer.

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@ Ish -
"Ummmm, you'll need to speak with the owner about that sort of thing," the boy at the counter replies.

"Angel," she doesn't offer him her hand, "we follow the road in the Direction or Orrs Bay."

Watching the man closely, he is no hermit, he's something else, she distrusts magic, but he appears to be a mage..

She stands and walks over to Papa... "I think he is a wizard of some kind.."

"Well, you find the owner and see if he'd be interested in an exchange of mutual benefit." Bastian says with a wink. "In the mean time, here's some coin for the mead and bread!" Bastian neatly places a silver piece on the bar.

Turning away from the counter he glances knowingly at the table with the dwarves, smiles to himself and strides over. "Hullo fellow travelers! What brings you to this part of the Empire!?" Without hesitation, Bastian plops down in an empty stool, relaxes his staff against the crook of his shoulder, and tears his bread in half, silently offering a side to the dwarves.


Edit: Had to account for my change. I didn't have ten copper pieces, but I did have a silver!!!

The boy scoops up the silver coin so quickly that it does not appear to have been there at all, and at his earliest opportunity goes to fetch the owner.

The dwarves are a bit surprised by Batian's forward behavior, but rally quickly. They have a game board on the table, but the priest's abrupt landing has disturbed the pieces.


"Hello. I am called Grekki Brakkisborn, and this is my spouse, Vilrotti Hanisborn."

"You've disturbed our board," Vilrotti says, scowling, but then the dwarf's expression changes. "But I was losing anyway, so it's not all bad, is it?"

Neither dwarf takes the offered bread, there being two plates on the table littered with the crumbs of the couple's recently-finished meal.
Wait. Spouse?
If his life depended on it, Bastion could not identify which dwarf was female.

"He is definitely strange," Papa remarks to Angel, still staring with a slightly amused expression at the man in brown robes. "I was watching how he looked at you. Never seen anything like that in a functioning male."

Elias catches the eye of the serving boy.

"Can I trouble you for one of those pies? A mug of your mead would be wonderful as well."

"A pleasure to meet you both!" Bastian says with a genuine smile. "So tell me about this game! I've never seen anything like it. (Not that we're given much time for gaming in the temple, but we all have our personal hobbies, eh?)"


[OOC: Are they playing THUD!? ]

Ismaels-Legacy wrote:[OOC: Are they playing THUD!? ]

[OOC]They could be, but that would be too predictable.[/OOC]

"The game is called 'penge-soldat.' It is a game of combat."

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Fraso has seated himself and is enjoying a mug of beer while waiting for his meal - something not available from the grill.

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After Angel returns to Papa's table, the big man returns to his meal, eating purposefully and with enjoyment.

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The serving boy having run off with Bastian's coin, Elias is served by the young girl standing behind the counter. She is barely tall enough to see over the grill, and manages to make a mess of things, dropping the meat pie more than once in the process, once on the floor.

Angel stands, walking back to the counter.

"One more glass of water, please." She scans the room once more, everyone seems to be busy.. this social intereraction.. drinking the water in a single gulp she places the cup on the counter steps over to Fraso

Pausing to stop by Papa pointing at the "mage" she talks under her breath."Watch him, he may be useful, you never know when you might need one."

Angel sits down keeping her employer at arms length. "May I ask a few questions?"

"You may," he says, darkly, his voice gravelly, like the grit beneath a tomb's door as it opens beneath a moonless sky. "Hrrrrm. Ahem. Sorry. Dust from the road." He takes a sip of his beer. "You may ask. I mean, of course you may. What is it?"

"What do you expect to find when you get to Orr's Bay? I won't claim to know much about Magic or the Undead. But I know enough to know an Elven Lich is quite unlikely."

"Secondly, your party, how do you know you can Trust them all? Brusen I can vouch for, along with Papa, but the others?"

Elias always seems to be looking the other way when the girl does something clumsy. When she finally gets him his food and drink he thanks her and pays for the fair. After getting his food he approaches the man in the brown robe and addresses him in elvish. (OOC That's only if Elias would think the man would understand Elvish. If not, Lingua will do. OOC/)

"Good day sir, my name is Elias." Elias extends his hand (OOC or extends and appropriate elven greeting in the fashion of his people, whatever that may be OOC/) I believe I've met you before, if only briefly. In the Adri forest a while back? When Balin took the rights?"

Papa just listens. His eyes widened a little at Angel's directly asking their employer so early in the job, but he relaxes back to normal when he sees Fraso isn't offended.

Fraso considers the question for a moment, then replies: "What I expect to find is a bunch of rubes jumping at shadows. Elves don't become liches - anyone with a shred of knowledge about the vitality-challenged knows that. So this is clearly not an elven lich.
"And while elves can become vampyrs, but it's unlikely this is one."

He pauses, clearly trying to make up his mind, then plunges ahead. "Although a small thread of my being hopes that this IS something completely new and undiscovered, I am afraid that my role at Orr's Bay will largely be a charade. 'Look - the lord sent a necromancer to see the thing we found, and he says it's not a lich. I feel so reassured, now.' Waste of my talent, really. But on the bright side, I suppose a few days by the seaside couldn't hurt any of us."

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There is a brief pause as the big man pulls his attention away from his meal to look up at Elias. It looks as though he has to take a moment to find his voice before speaking. "Yes. I remember you. I've seen you in the Adri Forest. You're a ranger, yes? One of Captain Renwe's? I am sorry, but your name eludes me.
"Would you care to join me? The food here is very good. Have you tasted the honey? Happy bees here, I think."

"Thank you, I hope my questions did not offend? I am not used to working with amateurs..." she trails off, leaving that particular statement unfinished.

"As I said, unlikely. Trust me when I say the unexpected is usually problematic, however you are paying for my time, I will go where you go and keep you safe." She rises, nodding to her new employer "I will watch the horses, it is too stuffy inside."

Walking past Papa she adds "Shout if you need me"

With that she steps outside, lays her cloak on Presaul's back and begins to sharpen her weapon in the afternoon sun, pausing only to itch one of the many scars on her back.

[ooc] Stik you commented on how she would feel warm in her armor in the sun, granted. But elves have a different tolerance to cold and heat, she should have obtained some of that from her Eleven Mother??? (ref: Complete book of elves) [/ooc]