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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mallak" data-source="post: 3533644" data-attributes="member: 37105">"Eh, his ship, the Pander Ban, is anchored in the harbor.  But, he's more'n likely up to the Three-Penny.  I hear he has a thing for the mistress there." The man chuckles and throws a handful of dice.  The other men groan as the pips come to rest, and the older man gleefully rakes in his winnings.Back at the Three-Penny Inn...Eloise favors Magyar with a smile that is only a little forced, but she winces as the bard strikes a discordant note.  She gives Grondar a frown as he walks up.  "Hm, no I don't know who he is. I don't think I like this song, though.  He won't last long around here with music like that."  Eloise frowns slightly, placing a hand to her forehead as she heads into the kitchen.Malachi eats his dinner as the bard plays.  He feels exhausted from the events of the day, weighing down on him.  Captain Turion, dead, Wakil imprisoned, perhaps to be Adonai's first martyr...It's all too much for him to handle. No doubt, death or destruction of some kind will walk through the door any minute and demand its due.  But as he eats, something blossoms somewhere inside him, a light growing and glowing.  The warmth of Adonai spreads through him, and he raises his head and looks around.  The mirth has died down, a lot. The general atmosphere has gone from giddy to gloomy. Folks aren't really talking any more. They're not really eating.  They sit slumped in their chairs or on benches, picking at food that has lost its appeal. It's as if everyone, all at once, suddenly realized how hopeless their situations are.  Something is very wrong here, but Malachi is finding it difficult to concentrate with the bard's jangling music running through his mind.The bard looks at the little gnome, standing there, and a smile splits the narrow face.  The musician begins to chuckle, ever so slightly, and the timbre of the music changes.  The instrument seems to spring to life in the musician's hands as slender fingers dance in a rapid, intricate pattern. The bard's head tilts back, an open mouth launching a high, tinkling laugh into the air where it bounces aand echoes from the rafters, infectious in its gaiety.  As if a dark, wet, smothering blanket were drawn from the off the room, the lights spring to life, shining more brightly, the patrons seem to sit up straighter, beginning to laugh and talk loudly again, and warmth returns to the room. The tune becomes a jig, and Colmarr's feet almost involuntarily tap in time with the music. "Do you dance, Little Gnome, when you're far from home?  Do your flitting feet in prancing roam?"Within Malachi, the glow inside him fades as the oppression around him lifts, and he is left with the warm memory of Adonai's touch.Meanwhile, Troth heads back to the docks to look for Denther...</blockquote>

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