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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3422961" data-attributes="member: 11760">In life, many problems are caused by what amount to misunderstandings.Take the word "drink." Humans of the Tarsisian Empire speaking the common tongue of the empire think they know what it means.Unfortunately, it means something very different to dwarves.In Dwarvish, the Imperial word "drink" translates to "sip." Dwarves do not sip.In Imperial, the Dwarvish word "drink" translates to "quaff." Dwarves quaff.Quaffing, for those who have never seen it, consists of hurling all the liquid in a container at a dwarf's open mouth. If most of it gets in, this is considered honorable to the clan, respectful to the brewer and, most importantly, tasty.When Emmerson put down his 40 silvers on the bar, he thought he was agreeing that the dwarves would be sipping the ale he purchased for them.In contrast, the Farrin brothers agreed to quaff.So it was that, less than a minute later, the pair barreled out of The Cat & The Fiddle, Erilon colliding with Tock from the side, tackling him into a mud puddle. His brother, right behind him, had a similar idea until he spotted the Glangirn dwarves headed toward the bar.Screaming a dwarven war cry that boils down to threatening to have enthusiastic and somewhat unpleasant sexual relations with the mother of the victim, Dalarn slammed into the Glangirn. This, of course, brought the rest of the Farrin dwarves in the square into the fray.On the periphery, Argus Glangirn climbs up onto Therurt's anvil and begins playing a rousing song on his banjo, roaring out a tune with gusto. Heda Littlelark shrugs, climbs up onto a barrel by The Cat & The Fiddle, and joins in the tune.One moment, Hazel Sawyer thinks she has her little brother under control, and then a moment later, she spots Reed and two of the Bergin gnomes leaning out of a window on the top floor of The Cat & The Fiddle, pointing to the fray below and apparently discussing how to get onto the roof.Khenemet-Apep grips Renraw with his bony fingers, fingertips sinking into shoulders like talons. "Now, while these fools are preoccupied," he hisses and shoves the younger wizard towards Maidensbridge's graveyard.Standing a safe distance from the fray, but close enough to watch with vivid interest, Ragglus laughs heartily, and more heartily whenever he spots Dalarn or Erilon on the receiving end of a Glangirn blow.He turns to catch an outraged woman's glace as she covers her small boy's eyes."Ain't life grand?" Ragglus asks rhetorically, grinning wolfishly.* * *Emmerson stops in his tracks as dwarven battle cries, cheers and epithets fill the air. He turns from looking for the constable to see the square exploding with beards, fists and feet. Among the quarrelers, he could definitely see Tock Chandler pinned by a dwarf. It wasn't pretty.The constable and Tucker were needed now more than ever.He tries pushing his way through the crowd to find them, but everywhere he turns, there's a wall of fists, mud and whiskers. (And in a few cases, body blows have led to puddles of vomit here and there, avoided by the combatants as best they can.)* * *Hazel freezes at the sight of her brother throwing a leg over the sill of an upstairs window at the tavern, then lets out a furious oath and starts running, dodging festival-goers and fighting dwarves as best she can, and throwing an elbow out when she can't."Get the hells out of my way!" Under her breath, she mutters continually. "Should've expected it. 'Oh, sure, Da, I'll keep an eye on him. No trouble at all. When has he ever not caused trouble?' Damn gnomes just egging him on ..."She pauses to take a breath about 20 feet from The Cat & The Fiddle, and cups her hands around her mouth."REED SAWYER! You get that skinny leg back inside that window right now! A tavern is not a tree!" Absolutely furious, she points a finger at the gnomes beside him. "And you! You just stay right there!"If Reed can hear Hazel calling up to him, he gives no sign. Instead, he and the gnomes have discovered a cache of what appear to be rotten apples and pass the basket onto the roof, where they will have an unobstructed firing line into the melee below.* * *Emus has been waiting patiently at the bar for the drink that Tock bought him. He was watching it being poured when he heard the scuffle start outside. He takes a step towards the door, but then he remembers his drink. He steps back to the bar and starts bouncing like an antsy child."Ooh! Come on! Hurry!"No sooner does his ale hit the counter than Emus picks it up, quaffs it, and then charges outside to join the fray.* * *As the fight boils around them, Erilon straddles Tock's chest, pummeling him with his meaty fists, grinning broadly."Not so pretty after I get through with you, boy!"And then Katadid's spell takes effect and Erilon's eyes cross and he falls forward, onto Tock Chandler. Two more dwarves nearby also fold to the mud beside them.* * *Once in the graveyard, Renraw wrests himself free of Apep's grasp."All right, wizard, you've got me. And I am suitably chastened for attempting to flee. But you'll have to pardon me for being a trifle nervous; I wasn't expecting my message to be delivered in the middle of a crowd." The implications of what he's just said set in and Renraw's normal prudence vanishes entirely. "What are you thinking, chancing compromising me like this? Did the kobolds tell you that our pact was a SECRET one? Most of the bumpkins here may not know your face, but they know who you are and with whom you associate. What POSSIBLE reason could you have to meet with me? What am I supposed to tell everyone?"A chunk of mud slides off the bookkeeper's nose.Khenemet-Apep slaps Renraw across the face, sneering and raking one hand back through his greasy black hair."Shut up, you idiot. If you had not panicked like a fool, we could have conducted our business quite calmly, and no one would have wondered why two wizards were discussing the mysteries of the ether among themselves."And I was not hired to deliver a message, I was hired to ensure you live up to your part of the deal."He looks Renraw up and down with a skeptical eye."Do you know what a geas spell is? No, of course you don't. Sit on that gravestone and we'll begin.""Don't take me for a fool. Of course I know what a geas is, and it isn't necessary. I said I would have no problems doing what was asked, and I won't. I'll do it under my own volition or so help me one day you'll regret it." The words are no sooner out of his mouth than Renraw realizes his error and goes pale, stammering in fear. "So, um, who do you like in the music tournament? Well, Fiddler, of course. Obviously. He's quite a talent. What's your favorite Fiddler song, Khenemet? May I call you Khenemet?"Honestly, there's no need for the spell. I give you my word, one wizard to another."Khenemet-Apep sneers and his vile little cat makes a noise that sounds like it, too, is scoffing."The word of a traitor?" He shrugs his bony shoulders. "I do not care either way. I do simply what I have been hired to do. If the kobold's new leader is intending to do what I think he is, I will be well away before the plan comes to completion."Now, if you interrupt me again, I will be forced to paralyze you until I am finished." He fixes Renraw with glare. "You face a true wizard of Kem now, boy."</blockquote>

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