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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vertexx69" data-source="post: 4239590" data-attributes="member: 48854">The old bartender shakes his head to himself as he casts a worried glance around at his livelyhood, and then to the fearsome gathering that had turned out on this dark and stormy night. The scene in the tavern was unsettling to all but the stoutest of heart, the long table along the whole northern side of the great hall was packed with sky pirates, the boisterous lot looked to be gathered from a dozen different races if not worlds. The mountainous, crazy captain looked like the embodiment of chaos, with his rough angular features, massive claws and teeth, but draped in the strangely fine and ancient sailors garb. His sea turtle sized hands and feet are sheathed in nearly 2 inches of razor-spiked adamantine, yet his claws are all still bare. The bartender catches himself starring at the exotic gems that adorn the captains clothing and quickly looks away. With boisterous shouts and cat-calls, the crew oggle the serving whenches that move quickly among them, refilling tankards and setting platters of steaming meat. The bartender reaches for a dagger as one of the sky-rats grabs one of the voluptous girls, swallowing hard as he doubts his skill against such a fiend. But before he is forced to test his mettle against the letch, the giant half-ogre appears behind his crewman and lifts him off the ground by the scruff of neck, as if he weighed no more than a kitten, with one hand. "This isn't a whorehouse ya mangy pup!" The rest of the crew start laughing histerically at the unfortunate whelp, dangling like a scolded puppy from the claw of their undisputed leader.The captain takes a gentle hold of the frozen girls chin, and turns her head so she is looking up into his eyes. With his free hand he presses a coin into her hand and sends her on her way. "Back to your work child..." She snaps out of her stupor and scurries away. The bartender looks quite confused, but relieved as he eases his grip on his dagger. Slamming the sailor back down hard into his seat and clapping a tankard down in front of him, the captain calmly moves back to his own seat at the head of the table. The laughter dies back down to its previous racious levels, and the captain resumes drinking heavily, as a song breaks out at the other end of the table. Two more of the crew enter the tavern and move with purpose to the captain, handing him a large scroll and speaking low for a moment before departing. Setting his drink to the side he rolls out the large chart using several tankards to hold down the curling corners, and several of the crewmen lean in to see as the leader point to various points while talking in a voice that can't be heard over all the other conversations and stories being told around the tables farther reaches.The bartender sees the crew intent on something other than the desruction of his tavern, and wearily goes back about his other duties. A moment later there is a crash of breaking wood, as a tankard is crushed over the head of one by another... the bartender shakes his head, "I'm gonna have to replace half my furniture tommorrow." He turns and walks back through the wall to the storeroom, as the son continues to tend his bar. The painting of the young bartender's  long dead father on the wall behind him.</blockquote>

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