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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3444407" data-attributes="member: 11760">"Kat, excellent! I was just looking for you and Bufer." Hazel tips her head to the side and glances behind the babbling wizard. "But he's clearly not with you."She unfolds the paper Kat hands her and grimaces at the corrections."If this stupid alphabet made any sense, I'd be making much better progress." Hazel points to a rare line free of red ink. "But, hey, at least I can ask kobolds if they'd like an apple. Or possibly if they are an apple."Reed, tired of standing still, repeatedly tries to dangle his full weight from his sister's arm as she reads."Cut it out, sprout. I'm trying to -- wait, Kat, did you say the constable? He's over at The Cat & The Fiddle. Is Bufer headed there?" Hazel shakes her head and tucks the homework into a pocket. "Always comin' and goin', but never meetin'. I've gotta drop this one," she raises her arm with Reed attached, "with my folks, but I'll meet y'all at the bar after, unless it's important. "You do seem more agitated than usual, Kat. Don't worry. I'm sure your cousin will do just fine in the competition. He was in high spirits when I saw him last.""Contest," Kat mutters. "Yes, yes, you should be there, it's important. Just meet them. Us. Find them with Bridger. And tell others. Bufer ... Bufer wanted more of us, I think."Kat lets out a long suffering sigh as he takes out the battered letter and looks at it again."I just need to ask him about this. He could know..."Khenemet-Apep squelches his way through the square, trailed by Renraw and Bufer."Well, there's the man with the answers," Hazel says, from across the square. "Who's he following, though?""I need more tea," Khenemet-Apep tells Renraw and Bufer. He pushes his way into the tavern, with the younger wizard and gnome scrambling to keep up.Hazel eyes Reed, then the tavern as the trio disappears inside. Her shoulders droop as she lets out a long sigh. She bends down to look her brother in the eye and grasps his chin in her fingers."No drinking, no questions, no playing tricks of any kind, no acrobatics, and for the goddess's sake, keep your axe in its sheath. Stay right beside me unless I tell you otherwise, ya hear?"Reed pulls away from Hazel's grip."I hear ya. I'm not a baby."Hazel opens her mouth to respond, then reconsiders. She starts toward the tavern, tugging on Kat's sleeve to distract him from counting dwarves."Well, c'mon then. Bufer wants roughnecks, we'll give him roughnecks. Put some swagger in your step, boys."Inside The Cat & The Fiddle, the Wizard of Green Mountain heads toward a lightly occupied table that is empty by the time he arrives. He pulls out a pouch of dried red flower petals and signals Ella."More hot water and a cup, please." Khenemet-Apep spies Emmerson and Constable Bridger talking at the bar. "Constable! A moment of your time, please?"As Hazel pushes open the tavern door, it seems the whole crowd is staring at something near the bar. She can't quite catch a glimpse of what's happening, but Renraw and the stranger are standing near Emmerson and the constable, so she heads that way with Reed and Kat. A break in the crowd reveals Bufer between them."So I guess you're finally getting that drink, eh, Bufer?" Hazel raises a hand in greeting. "Found Kat wandering in the square again. Care to get him a drink and a chair before he starts counting lines in the wood grain?""You have no idea the day I've had, lass," Bufer says, grinning with relief, even as Katadid attempts to get the attention of Khenemet-Apep. "Listen, I'm glad ye're here. Stick around for a bit, would ye? Kem's gone and ... well, I can't say rightly what he's done, but he's in it up to his ears, this time, an' he's like to drag the rest of us down with him, from the sounds of things."Besides," he adds, as he reaches up and fiddles with something in his pocket, "I'd-I'd appreciate a quiet moment or two with ye after all this is done, if you can bear to take yer eyes off the rug rat. There's, uh, somethin' we need to talk about."Hazel's eyebrows go up, and she nods at the gnome.Reed Sawyer is eyeballing the small glass on the bar, trying to figure out if he could surreptitiously take it while his older sister is talking to her friends. It's about half-filled with a thin, golden liquid that looks like the stuff Tock ordered earlier and he never got to try. As he reaches for the glass, it seems to slide away from him with a loud scrape. It takes the boy a moment to realize that he was the one who moved: Deputy Gallaway has just pulled his stool back a few feet, moving the bar top out of arm's reach."Sorry, lad, that stuff's not for you." He leans between Reed and the rest of the group, flicking the glass back toward Milos with two fingers. "At least not while yer sister's right here."The dwarves are all taken care of, constable. The two clans are keeping their distance, and the three who got knocked out in the brawl are propped up against the wall of the bar."The door to The Cat & The Fiddle bangs open and a tiny, cloaked figure the size of a gnome pushes its way inside. From the squeals of people leaping out of the way, the figure seems to be stomping on toes of any who refuse to move of their own accord. At the bar, Milos leans across, exchanging a room key for some coins and beckons his wife over to take the visitor's belongings. The small figure throws off his cloak and lifts the dark goggles from his eyes. He looks around, a sneer spreading across his reptilian snout.Fiddler the Kobold has arrived.</blockquote>

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