Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold

"Hehe... lizard offal, let's go wi'that. I'm Carlos Jalapeño de Muerta, by the way." - the dwarf waves heartily - "I work with Mr Magical Voice over there."

"Actually, it was bullywugs. Theo gave us a job!" Hunter says, puffing up. "These are my friends with the Golden River Company: this is Kathryn Amblecrown, Zoe Tahlavia, that's Carlos as you know..." He points to each of them as he says their names. "And this is Joshua Jordstad. We call him Jojo. He's sort of our boss. Guys, this is John's sister, Erin. And look, we made a new friend on the way here!"

He steps aside to show off Noble, his new hyena pet. "He's harmless, I promise."

Noble's tongue lolls out as he sits on his haunches, panting from an exhausting run from the cave back to Harken. Everyone's happy, he's happy too.

"It's nice to meet you, Erin," Kat says. "Don't worry about us Hunter. You can go help Erin while we wait for Meredith."

Jojo and Zoe wave hello when they are introduced.

Erin's eyes light up at the mention of Theo and the Rangers. While she offers her hand to Noble to sniff, she excitedly starts peppering you guys with questions. "What's his name? Why didn't the Rangers go take care of the bullywugs? Did you kill a lot? It looks like you did. You don't seem to have many injuries either!"

"Hello Noble." She scratches the little guy behind the ears. He seems pleased. "Anyway, it's just me and Mrs. Taylor tonight so I'll start drawing the bath. Do you remember the pump out back? You can get a jump on washin' up, maybe get the worst off for now. It'll be cold though so be careful."

"Good! But you will be buying it yourself!" She gives Hunter her best withering look, which is pretty damn good for a girl her age. After making her point, she shoos you all outside and tells Hunter to show you were the pump is.

He takes you around the back of the building, into a small yard lighted by two torches in wall sconces connected to two of the posts holding up an overhang connected to the inn. The yard itself is mostly packed dirt with the occasional standing potted plant. The pots themselves are full of various herbs useful for cooking like thyme, basil, and cilantro. The pump is in the middle of the yard. Hunter sets up a wash basin that was sitting against the wall of the inn and starts pumping water into it. It takes a while to fill up sufficiently, but it's easy enough for most of you to start washing off the worst of the dirt and grime. The water is as cold as Erin said it would be, though still a great deal warmer than the White River water and Hunter says so. This assurance doesn't stop Zoe's teeth from chattering almost immediately.

Erin soon joins you to fill up a bucket with water: a process she repeats six more times before all of you are done and piling into the inn's common room. Besides the bar with six stools and three booths across the south wall, there are five square tables set up around the room each with four chairs--two of them have been pushed together by Mrs. Taylor to accommodate the group, a kindly, but tired, old human woman with graying brown hair. The pile of broken dishes is still conspicuously where Erin left it. It really does look like half the dishes are on the floor, shattering into a million pieces.

Mrs. Taylor says, "Can I get you anything to drink? Erin also said to remind you to clean up the dishes Mr. Hunter. I would have cleaned them up already but she was most insistent." She smiles apologetically.

Hunter goes straight to the mess, and just stares at it for little bit, daunted by the prospect of picking up all the tiny pieces. Mrs. Taylor snaps him out of it when she delivers him the reminder. "Yeah, she was," he answers sheepishly. "I'll have a craft beer, please. Can I get a broom and a dust pan?"

Kathryn smiles at the old woman and takes a seat at the table she prepared for the party. She looks around the room, feeling a wave of nostalgia hit her. Otherwise, she is content listening to the others talk.

"Uh, some firewater would hit the spot after that shower, señora." - he requests, then looks at - "Zoe? Kind of a kick, but warms you right back up."

After that, he feels bad for Hunter's predicament, and walks over next to the shattered plates to give him a hand.

Kathryn does not feel bad for Hunter at all. She keeps looking at the room with an innocent smile on her face.

"The broom and dustpan are behind the bar dear," says Mrs. Taylor. Hunter finds them on the shelf there under the bar, just like always.

Zoe has her arms crossed and is rubbing her biceps, trying her best to warm up. "I-I-I'll try t-t-that-t-t thanks-s-s."

"I'll have the same as Hunter, thanks," says Jojo.

"Coming right up!" Mrs. Taylor walks over behind the bar to get everyone's drinks ready. She returns with them on a tray and begins placing them on the table by the time Hunter and Carlos are done cleaning up the broken dishes. The beer is from the local Cliffside Brewery, the two intertwined M's identify as a Morales Brother's creation. It's as good as always. Jo is pleasantly surprised and orders another. Zoe carefully sips hers and immediately begins coughing. Her teeth stop chattering at least.

"What would you guys like to eat?" asks Mrs. Taylor, "We have some leftover beef stew I'm keeping warm on the fire, though all the bread is gone. And we still have enough fixings for a salad. If I throw in the left over chicken that should be pretty good."

Carlos gulps down his drink, shivering slightly as he does so - "Aaah... take that, liver." - then notices Zoe - "Hey there, it's good stuff can knock the wind out of you the first time. Feel any better?"

Then Mrs Taylor recites the menu. - "Señora, that sounds downright kingly to me right now."

"Cool. I'll have a chicken salad with an apple, and for dessert, I'll have a slice of apple pie."

He has a drink from his beer after he gives his order. "Mm."

Noble yawns on the floor next to him. "Don't worry, buddy, I'll share with you."

Kathryn takes her tankard of beer and drinks it in less than a minute. She seems to enjoy it so much, she asks for a second round. "I've never tasted one of the Morales' beers until now," she says to her friends. "I'm glad we've stopped here."

When Mrs. Taylor presents today's menu to the party, Kathryn sounds disappointed. "No bread? Aw..." She thinks for a moment and then happily adds, "I'll have a bowl of stew and some salad too, please."

She stands up, turns to her friends and says, "I'll be right back."

She then leaves the room.
____________

Kat goes outside the inn and searches for houses with light shining through the windows. She goes to the closest one, knocks on the door and politely asks for a loaf of bread, which she is ready to pay for twice the usual price. If the villager doesn't want to part with it or doesn't have any bread to sell, she'll apologize for the interruption and wish them goodnight. She'll then knock on the next door.

Once she's gotten a load of bread, she'll thank the villager, wish them goodnight and retun to the inn.

OOC:

While Kat is gone, Zoe decides to finish her drink in one go, downing it and then drumming her fingers on the table while it burns its way down to her stomach. She laughs after. "I do now Carlos! Another one, Mrs. Taylor!" Her cheeks are now flush from the alcohol.

"Coming right up dear!" says the old woman from behind the bar as she disappears into the kitchen to start putting dinner together for you guys. She reappears a moment later, puts together the new drink orders, and then walks them over to you guys on a tray. She then gathers up the old glasses and takes them with her back to the kitchen.

This is when Kat returns with the bread. The knight has managed to scrounge up two partial loaves. Both are still pretty fresh, having only been baked earlier in the day.

"Hey, bread! Where did you find it Kathryn?" asks Jojo.

Zoe downs her new drink and wipes her mouth off with the back of her hand. She looks a little toasted now. "Oh, I want some bread." She tries to reach for it.

Hunter's mouth starts running when he looks at the bread. He'd grab some if it was sliced already. "Wow! Is this what you stepped out for?"

The white-haired woman backs away from Zoe so she doesn't grab the bread. "We eat it when dinner is here," she tells her friend half-seriously. "Wait, are you already tipsy? That was fast..."

She sits down while making sure the bread is out of reach of the cleric's hands and then answers her friends' question. "I talked to a few villagers, and... I made them an offer they couldn't refuse."

She says this with an almost vicious smile.

Noticing Zoe's state and Kat's reaction - "Yup, that stuff ain't beer. Better wait till you have some food in you before you go for the next round, though."

Carlos eyes the bread almost greedily - "Kat, you're king of trick-or-treat."

Hunter raises an eyebrow, and stares at her until his brain ticks and he understands what she means. "Well, we didn't have bread before, and now we do. Thanks! Let's cut it for now."

"That I am!" Kat exclaims proudly to Carlos' remark. When Hunter goes to cut the bread, she watches closely over Zoe so she doesn't grab any of it until dinner is here.

"You heard Carlos, Zoe needs bread badly!" She tries to reach for it again with both hands but Kat has no problem fending her off since she's mostly joking around. While Kat does that, Hunter starts carving up the bread with the knife from his mess kit. They'll be ready to go when the food arrives. Which it soon does.

Mrs. Taylor and Erin emerge from the kitchen with trays of stew and salad. Noble is so excited for chow that he barks and runs around in excited circles. Both women are surprised to see the bread as they set down the trays to begin distributing food.  Erin says, "I thought we were out of bread, where did you find some?"

Kat can't help but laugh when Zoe reaches for the food, and they play together like that for a while, at least until Erin asks where the bread came from.

"I bought it from a few villagers," she says. "I had to pay twice the price they usually go, but it was worth it!"

She then looks at the plates of food and begins to drool.

"Twice the price? No way would they refuse that." Hunter takes a bite of his chicken salad, then drops a helping of chicken on the ground for Noble.

He quaffs some more beer and looks over at Zoe, who's been pounding her drinks, and shakes his head. "Just...make sure you can hold it when we meet my aunt, okay? We're not here to party."