((OOC: @philomel yes please! My overall story arc here involves deep-earth magics from the mining in Scara Brae effecting the Brokenthorn forest and its inhabitants! So having an earth mage to advise would be very helpful!))

“I hope he doesn’t die on us, I really don’t want to deal with that today,” Zeph said from his perch on the fireplace. He poked the snoring faun with the toe of his boot, which elicited a muffled grunt.

“Oh, I doubt it,” Kalli replied, “He’s only about as bad as you were last week!” She and Dellen started laughing, pantomiming Zeph stumbling through the inn, knocking over stools.

“And then he asked the Orc if he could hold his toothpick, I was worried he was done for!” Dellen wheezed. Zeph grinned back at them.

“And don’t forget how I managed to convince that girl to tell me what shop she worked at.” He said. “Now, if only I had written it down, I’d be a happy man. I’d probably be married by now, five kids and a stable job, and you two would be stuck here drinking alone every night.” He shook his head. She had had the prettiest eyes but the rest was still pretty fuzzy. A whole bottle of rockwine did that to a guy.

They poked fun at each other about past drunken escapades until the fire burnt low in the grate. Finally, Kalli announced she was heading to bed, and that they’d better keep an eye on their guest or she’d have their hides decorating the wall behind the bar. Zeph said he’d take the first watch, and pulled out his knife and started adding to the decades of carvings that covered the wooden mantle of the fireplace. Dellen pulled a warm cloak from his cupboard in the back hallway, settled into a deep chair, and promptly fell asleep. When he was certain that he couldn’t fit another stylized “Z” anywhere nearby, Zeph stood up and wandered over to the bar, poured himself a drink, and took a seat staring into the coals of the fire.

He awoke to the sounds of Kalli yelling at Dellen, “One job! Did ya hear me when I turned in, you granite-skulled menace? WATCH THE FAUN. That’s all ya had to do, but no, that’s too hard. You can’t even manage to LOOK AT SOMETHING.” Zeph rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at the floor by the fireplace, where only a patch of dried mud and a rumpled blanket showed that the faun had been there recently. He tucked down lower into his cloak, trying to avoid detection, but even his skills were no match for Kalli when she was on a path.

“AAAAAND YOU!” She hollered across the room. “Don’t try to hide from me Zeph, I’ll hunt you wherever you go, I’ll string you up, I’ll skin you! I’ll start with a hangnail. I’ll just peel it back until your whole skin comes with it! And then I’ll –“ She was interrupted by a loud repetitive banging from the direction of the bar. A single mug was lifted above the bar, repeatedly being smashed on the counter, until everyone stopped talking.

“there we go”, came the quiet slow voice. “god. damn. peace. and. quiet. I was quite enjoying *hic myself until your caterwalling started up.” Dellen, Kalli, and Zeph rushed to look over the top of the bar. Sitting on the floor, mud still wedged in the cloves of his hooves, was the faun they had pulled from the street. He was drinking a beer, eyes closed, with a relaxed look on his face. His head was leaned on a shelf that was just the right height for being sprawled on the floor.

“And exactly HOW do you suppose you’re going to pay for our hospitality, SIR?” Kalli said forcefully.

“oh, that’s easy” the faun replied, “I don’t. I just drink until you throw me out, and then I find the next pub.” A wide grin spread across his face, and Zeph and Dellen physically restrained Kalli from jumping over the bar and strangling the faun then and there. They struggled for a moment, then finally Kalli said, “Alright, I’m not gonna kill’em! But I’ve got some questions I wanna ask.” They dragged the faun out from behind the bar, and plopped him into a chair stuck in a corner so he wouldn’t fall out. He struggled against them, but he was too sloshed to be of any real resistance. His captors pulled up stools and sat around him in a loose semi-circle.

“What’s your name?” Zeph asked him as an opener.

“My name’s gofuckyourself, but my ma always liked to call me Terry.” Terry seemed quite amused at his own joke.

“Ok Terry, and what brings you to Stonevale?” Zeph asked, always trying to be the peacemaker.

“Oh, you know, I popped in for the attractions, lovely weather this time of year, nice babes, I was hoping to stop by the library and do some light reading before I moved on”.

“We have a library?!” Zeph excitedly asked his two companions. Their dark looks informed him that there was, in fact, no library in town. Zeph looked disappointed.

“Alright smartass” Kalli said cutting into Zeph’s line of questioning, “either you tell me everything I want to know, or I’m going to go find every barkeep on this whole island that you’ve screwed over, and we’re all gonna have a nice little sit-down chat with you. Together.” The look of fear in Terry’s eyes indicated that the number of people who would be interested in such an evening was even higher than they had assumed.

“ok ok ok, it’s fine, no need for that. Um, I’m Terry,” he said, gesturing to himself dramatically, “I used to live on the edge of the Brokenthorn forest. But then they came and ran me out. The Earth Elementals that is. They just came storming through, didn’t seem interested in poor old Terry, no no, they just made a path right through the middle of my house in between wherever they were at and wherever they were going.” He paused, and the three stared back at him silently. He looked at the door, considered, then continued, “Don’t know where they came from or why, they just decided that’s their pathway now, and I had nothing else to do. I’m homeless now. So I just wander around, and I bounce from inn to inn, eating and drinking when I can. I’ll pay you back right away, not a problem, I’ve just gotta nip over to the … inn … place … where I’ve got my coin! I was just joking about being broke, totally good for it.” He gave them all a half grin and tried to see if they would buy it.