The Golden Perch Inn

[Firefoot]

"You stay out of this, Gable," snapped Cela, taking a passing notice as Dick hurried in, grabbed a towel, and dashed out again. She turned back to Tollers. "I don't see how helping yourself to the pie has anything to do with keeping the youngsters out of trouble - just the opposite, I'd say you're setting a very bad example for them!"

Tollers at least had the grace to look slightly abashed but offered up no words of explanation. Cela couldn't see any excuses that she would accept, anyhow. "Now you get on back out there and do your job like you're supposed to. Master Dick's looking mighty frazzled, and cleaning up spills is your job more than his. And you, too, Gable; I don't need any help in here. Both of you, out!"

The pair quickly obliged, leaving Cela alone in the kitchen. She shook her head. She was the cook, not the disciplinarian - truth be told, a disciplinarian ought not to be much needed around here, but that was such a false statement that Cela nearly laughed out loud. "Now let's see what we can do about that pie," she muttered to herself. She took a knife and cut off the edges where Tollers had fooled with the pie and irascibly tossed out those scraps. All told, at least a quarter of the pie had been wasted, and the common room seemed to be filling up quickly, from the sounds of it. Done is done, she told herself, and set the pie back on the shelf. There's other work to do.

[Child of the 7th Age]

"So? So what?" Tom stared down at his precious treasure and then grinned defiantly at his older sister. After that he snatched up the key with his right hand and began swinging it back and forth just an inch away from Daisy's noise, while continuing to talk, "Anyways, Lil is right. Nothing's happening here. Just some old gammers sawing away at each other. I'm bored. I want to go on an adventure. A real adventure doing things we've never done. This could help us. It really could. Who knows what we would find? Maybe a magic sword or a piece of treasure."

"But that's not yours." one of the siblings objected. "It's one of Master Dick's keys. He carries them on the big iron ring."

Tolman was quick to offer an explanation, "Yes, Master Dick has lots of different keys. He just didn't want this one. He left it sitting in a little basket on the top of the bar. I was trying to help him tidy up the room so I stuffed it in my pocket. That way, it won't bother anyone."

Tom stuffed the key back in the pocket of his knickers and ofered his grimy hand to his younger sister. "Come on, Lil. You lead the way and we'll all follow. I know the key is to the rooms that are just off the common area. It's the same hallway that has the stairs that lead down to the cellar. I think this might even open the cellar door. We can check that out later. Meanwhile, let's all have some fun. We'll find lots of candy to eat and maybe some other nice things." He pulled his sister up on her feet and then stared around at the others. "Well, are you coming, or are you just going to sit here like a bunch of dolts?"

[Folwren]

Lil had no question but to do as her older brother asked her to. He had always had her unswerving devotion and taking a kea wasn’t going to shake it. She didn’t question whether or not he had been wrong. Tom couldn’t be wrong. He was too smart to do that. He never got in trouble, he was so smart, except a few times.

She reached out for his hand and hopped up from her chair. He mentioned that candy might be found when they used the key to get into the rooms. Candy! One of Lil’s many weak spots. Tom payed his followers (or slaves, practically) well, when they did what he wanted. If the yield was good this time, Lil had no doubt she’d be rewarded.

Off she went, Tom’s hand holding onto hers, leading the way back into the hall from which they had just come. Hamilcar, a brother just a year older than Lil, came just behind. Next came Iris, and last of all, dragged most reluctantly by the hand, came Daisy, pronouncing prophecies of doom and destruction, but coming just the same.

Lil finally stopped, nearly half way down the hall, before a promising looking door (although it looked just the same as all the others). “Try this one,” she said, stepping back and looking at Tom.

[mormegil]

Kuric moved with speed that belied his massive girth, slamming his right hand down on the driving his metal spikes into the table splintering some of the wood on the table. Gripping his mace firmly in his left, he set his face within inches of Aranholt and through his gritted he managed to speak,

“Ye don’t speak enough and when ye do ye speak the wrong things, if ye can’t speak then don’t sit with me. I’m tired as it is and then you come and annoy me with your prying questions, I’ll warn you once, if ye do it again there won’t be much left of ye to send back to wherever yer from.”

With that he quickly spun on heels, hefted his pack onto his back and began marching through the crowd of people towards the hallway that would lead to his room. He longed for rest; it had been far too long since he had slept in a proper bed, and oft times the hard rock was his bed and the stars his ceiling. This was, after all, a dwarf who, despite his adventurous spirit, was brought up in relative luxury living with the thriving colony of dwarves living under the lonely mountain.

“I’ll be in my room if anybody needs me, though I don’t expect THAT to happen.”

With the emphasis placed on ‘that’ Kuric thought it should be obvious that he did not, under any circumstances want to be disturbed. His interactions in the common room had put him in a foul mood, and despite the ale coursing through him he wasn’t pleased. First, a hobbit who claimed to love adventure had falsely gotten his hopes up and then some young ruffian was asking about his mithril suit. He would need to be on his guard. With that thought in mind he climbed the stairs clutching his mace and making certain that everybody around knew that he had it with him.

Arriving at the entrance to the hallway he turned to glance all in the common room, taking stock of all the new comers. He saw the keeper of the inn busily mopping up a mess he had made. Normally, the sight of an elf in such a plight would have been the cause of great mirth and amusement but even now he couldn’t enjoy such a scene.

“Durned elf, probably deserved it anyway”

He left with that imagine stuck in his head, hoping that it would allow him to be in a bit better mood. He found his room in short order, and true to his word Tollers had given him a rather large room, he would have to ‘thank him’ Kuric thought, which usually meant giving him a little coin.

Kuric immediately sat on the bed and began removing his boots. Placing his ring and necklace on the table in front of him and placing his pack on the ground on the other side of the bed, he lied down, still fully armor clad when he realized that he had better wash up a bit. Putting his boots back on he trudged off down the hallway to the washroom, making sure to lock his door and bring his mace, he could ill afford to be unarmed with such ruffians about as he had just encountered.