Post by andycd on Apr 18, 2019 11:44:02 GMT
[Just a bit to flesh out the Three Headed Ettin a little]
==Pre-Dawn==
Coll's eyes opened a few hours before dawn, waking up as his body had trained to do through years training in a mountainside monastery, reinforced by a decade or more of innkeeping.
He jumped out of bed, feet landing on a soft rug, and for the hundredth time gave a single chuckle at the thought that the bearskin rug made the cold morning floor far more bear-able.
A few minutes of stretching and some light exercises later - a habit he hadn't lost from his monastery days - he emerged from his small, single-bed room and walked over to the bathhouse in the courtyard, an incongruously loud patterned dressing gown wrapped around him. Cecil had bought it for him as a birthday present the year before, and he loved its gaudiness though the thin fabric did not grant much warmth. He nodded to Darius as he passed across the yard, the rugged soldier who had taken to training in the courtyard in the early morning. Coll had dared to spar with him a few times now, but had learned readily that he was little match for the warrior's years of experience. The last bruises were still healing.
Just as the eastern sky started to become tinged with the promise of a rising sun, Coll was washed and dressed in his simple white tunic and brown leggings. Catching his reflection in a water barrel out the back of the tavern, he mused not for the first time that if he wasn't one of the most well-known people in town, no one would have looked at him twice for how plain he appeared. He shrugged, rolled his shoulders back, slapped his best friendly-barman smile on his face while looking at his reflection, and then flung open the doors to the kitchen to get to work.
The Questing Hall was usually empty at this time (Coll called it that, though no one else seemed to), save for the occasional brave and heroic adventurer who had not managed to successfully make it back to their rooms - their noble, dragon-slaying, village-saving faces stuck to the table in a puddle of last night's ale. Last night, it seemed, all had made it staggering back to their beds.
Ursule had done his work well behind the bar last night, too. The tiefling hadn't left any dirty glasses for Coll to finish this morning, which was a pleasant surprise. He made a quick inventory of the bottles and looked over the notes left from last shift for anything unusual. 2 new arrivals - through the portal thank-the-gods. The cheaper ship travel into Port Ffirst had meant that more new adventurers were staying there now, and breaking into the tavern market there seemed a daunting prospect. Business was still good, but there were a few more empty rooms than Coll would like. A new note had been pinned to the Rumour Mill - an enterprising dwarven merchant looking to make a run to Vorsthold to start up trade there. Bold, and unlikely to succeed, but the trip should be easy enough to make through the Feythorn. Coll made a note to point it out to some of the newer guests at the Ettin for them to get their bearings with.
As all was quiet out here and the news caught up on, he undid the latch on the big front door to the Questing Hall/Taproom, opening the Ettin for business for the day. Then he pushed opened the door behind the bar to the kitchen to check in there. Reki was already there, peeling potatoes and tossing them into a pot. They were whistling a tune to themselves, but jumped slightly as the door swung open. "Morning, boss," Reki said, nodding quickly in his direction.
"Morning, Reki. How's the family doing?" Coll replied, picking up a spare peeler and helping with the potatoes for a few minutes while they caught up. He could hear the unloading of bottles and crates in the yard - that must be Tiana unloading the latest shipment of stock for the basement. Coll kept peeling and chatting until he heard the back door open - the door towards the yard and guestrooms - and he hurried out, wiping his hands on his tunic for the first of many times that day.
==Breakfast==
Over 4 years of running this unique establishment, Coll had discovered the breakfast crowd to be a variable lot. Some would still be celebrating recent victories; others hungover and only interested in food and quiet; the newer denizens would look around nervously - uncertain how to proceed - and almost always end up sitting together or listening in on the conversations of more veteran adventurers; and often a group would be meeting already dressed in full travelling gear and armour, gathering around the Rumour Mill and discussing travel plans and - if Heret was involved - contracts. The latter group typically just wanted a quick meal - something light but hardy to last them on the journey ahead.
Today, the quick-and-light Breakfast Club was the most suspect party he'd seen assembled in some time. He nudged Mavunda next to him behind the bar as she started towards the kitchen to get the next batch of plates. "A thief, a trippy paladin, a blacksmith and a man who seems more 'survivor' than adventurer. I feel sorry for Pieni on this one. He's not going to know what he's gotten himself into."
Mavunda chuckled. "He's been through worse already, from what I hear. They all have. It'll make a good story for when they come back." She emerged from the kitchen a moment later laden with plates.
"You're not wrong," Coll murmured as she passed by again, picked up his cloth and reached for the first dirty cup of the morning.
==Brunch==
It was mid-morning, the sun streaming in through the eastern skylights when he heard Cecil's familiar voice in the kitchen. Most of the taproom had cleared out by this point, each group off on their own adventures, errands or morning naps, so he poked his head through the kitchen door to say hello. "Much on today?" he called out. Cecil looked up from several pieces of parchment he had spread out on one of the cooking surfaces - a seating chart, a list of courses and a separate task list. "Jordon the baker - their son comes of age tonight, so we've got a full Banquet Hall tonight. Plates down at sunset," Cecil explained in a wearier tone than usual.
"Sounds straight forward. Something wrong?"
Cecil grimaced. "They've asked for the full 7-course experience."
Coll whistled. "Better get cracking then! I'll just be out here staffing the empty bar," and quickly closed the door on his co-proprietor's scowling face.
And empty it was. For nearly an hour and a half, Coll and Mavunda served only a handful of drinks and a scrap of food to the very late risers or the casual brunchers. Dorian, the shabby but absurdly powerful tiefling, swung by to say hello and glance over the board for new notices and adventurers. He'd moved out to the Gilded Mirror long ago, but still came by quite regularly to catch up. Casually chatting with customers who could level buildings with a thought was just part of the day for the Daring barman, and Coll was well used to it, though Mavunda obviously treated the sorcerer with a lot more deference. And it made sense - though understated, the tiefling had a powerful presence wherever he went that you could feel in the room. Dorian was just one of the reasons that the Ettin's fire insurance premium was a killer.
Clifton came through to grab a mop and headed back out to the Dormitories, throwing a quick wave to the pair behind the bar before heading back out. One of the more temporary hires - Clifton was a monk just starting out his adventuring career and had been willing to clean the adventurers' rooms while they were away. He and Lukas - a local half-elf - made a pretty good team keeping the dirt at bay, and they got the linen washed at a place round the corner that did it cheap. If the mop was involved though, Coll did not want to know what Clifton needed to clean.
The only other person to walk in through the door was Wendy with the post. That always prompted a brief 5 minute burst of activity as the various denizens of the inn crept from their hiding places to see if any mail had come for them. Letters from friends and loved ones were exchanged, and Coll exchanged one pile from Wendy for a pile that had been left with him over the last day behind the bar. Wendy's arrival was also always a useful opportunity to get the local news - or at least, the obituaries. Every day she would list with interest the people who had just died, which would be weird in a place not full of the bizarre like Daring was.
==Lunch==
Around lunch time, a message girl ran in with a note. Coll glanced at it and rolled his eyes. The Council was being summoned. One look back into the kitchen and it was clear that Cecil was swamped, up to his elbows in mixing bowls and frying pans, even with Veros, Reki and Tiana working as well. Veros had been a great addition to the team - a dwarven woman with a fantastic ability to make even a simple stew somehow unique and surprising, but in a good way. She brought a strong sense of order to an otherwise disorganised kitchen, and though Cecil was often trying to prepare 4 dishes at once, Veros was the one able to work around him and direct the other two staff to pick up the pieces where he couldn't keep up with everything. Coll shook his head at the scene and turned back to Mavunda. "Looks like you'll have to hold the place together for a few hours," he said. She gave a mock salute, which made him laugh as he headed back to his room, throwing a silver piece to the child who had brought the message. It was his turn to attend the Council anyway.
Fifteen minutes later, in a fresh shirt (it didn't do him any favours to turn up covered in beer stains and grime) and with a small satchel he kept his more official parchments in, he walked into the Town Hall and made his way straight to the council chamber - the Mayor's old office. Captain Jadefist, Kensington and Samed were already there standing around a map of Daring Heights with Aurelia, who waved Coll over.
"Good, we have a quorum," the Aasimar said in her soft voice. "I've just been catching our colleagues up on the latest questions about mining rights in the Sunspire Mountains. The Guild of the Emerald Tradition are claiming the right to not only the mine they possess, but the entire mountain above it..." Coll sighed as the conversation continued. As he feared, this was going to be another dull meeting.
==Dinner==
By the time he was able to tear himself away, the sun sat much lower in the sky and he had to run back to the Ettin. It had been more interesting than he'd expected in the end - Tabetha was a member of both the Council and the Guild, and so when she had arrived the debate got much more spirited. Still, he was glad he got back to the Ettin when he did - things were getting busier and Mavunda was looking a little swarmed behind the bar, and Bally was scurrying between the tables and the kitchen holding trays of food above his short halfling frame. Coll didn't have time to change again, and so his nice business-shirt was covered in stains within a few minutes of him clambering behind the bar.
The punters were coming fast as the sun set - a surprising number of townsfolk had taken to coming to the Ettin in the evening to hear the latest perfomance or tale of adventure. The current entertainment for the evening was a duet of two bards - a human and an elf. Both women sat on stools a little way apart on the small stage - their music was fast and toe-tapping, and they both conjured illusions and additional sounds with their magic on the stage between them. Coll rather liked them, and hoped Mix and Yacra would agree to stay for the full week as they were really drawing the crowds in. Plates of stew and mugs of ale rapidly began to cover the many tables of the Ettin - simple food only today, given the grand event that Cecil was working to pull off.
This was Coll's favourite time of day: the room was bustling, full of people, music, laughter and - perhaps most importantly - stories. He heard a never-ending stream of stories from customers over the bar from tales of an epic but bizarre race through a Shadowfell Necropolis after a skeletal cat to a story of a cart heist that somehow involved a mouse, a bear, 2 giant eagles, a one-man cavalry charge and Baine and Ginead attempting street theatre.
At one point he was carrying a stack of plates and cups back into the kitchen to put down by Leaves at the sink, as the Tabaxi had unfortunately drawn the short straw and was on washing duty tonight, and he had a moment to check in on Cecil's banquet. They were 2 courses in and every surface was covered in either plates of food mid-preparation, pots and pans on flames or bowls and boards where ingredients were being chopped, mixed and whisked. The full kitchen staff was here and trays of food were being carried out across to the banquet hall in a steady stream.
Coll managed a sympathetic wave to Cecil before they both were swept away in their work through different doors, as Coll went back out to the main hall and the wave of noise and raucous conversation.
At the end of Mix & Yacra's set, and after several stories from adventurers standing on the stage in various stages of drunkenness, it was probably close to midnight when Coll put down his cleaning rag and stretched. Mavunda had gone home several hours ago and Ursule was now next to him behind the bar, looking particularly fine as he'd had his horns waxed, apparently a thing for some tieflings. He put a hand on Ursule's shoulder and waved to Bally - still moving about the tables with a nimbleness that always surprised him - and then he headed to the back rooms. He passed through the kitchen first and saw that the banquet was over. It was obvious as everyone in the room was sat on stools relaxing against walls and surfaces, no one speaking as they all decompressed from a manic day's work.
Coll and Cecil would catch up tomorrow on how the banquet had gone. They had their ten-day meeting in the morning, so that would be fine. He went through a side door into the back rooms, where his room was.
Opening the door to his room was always a welcome moment - the chance to peel his shoes off for one, and to get out of his stained and sweaty clothes. He'd have to give his shirt to Cecil later to use Mending magic on it.
It had been a pretty standard day, all round. The Council had argued a bit, but that was hardly surprising - one day hopefully they could pass their seat on to someone else. Politics was not his thing. There had been some good stories though in the bar tonight. These Amaranthine Games kept coming up - something the Feywild seemed to be up to with strange competitions.
He lay back in the bed and put out the candle he had lit. Well, he'd find out more about it soon, he was sure.
==Pre-Dawn==
Coll's eyes opened a few hours before dawn, waking up as his body had trained to do through years training in a mountainside monastery, reinforced by a decade or more of innkeeping.
He jumped out of bed, feet landing on a soft rug, and for the hundredth time gave a single chuckle at the thought that the bearskin rug made the cold morning floor far more bear-able.
A few minutes of stretching and some light exercises later - a habit he hadn't lost from his monastery days - he emerged from his small, single-bed room and walked over to the bathhouse in the courtyard, an incongruously loud patterned dressing gown wrapped around him. Cecil had bought it for him as a birthday present the year before, and he loved its gaudiness though the thin fabric did not grant much warmth. He nodded to Darius as he passed across the yard, the rugged soldier who had taken to training in the courtyard in the early morning. Coll had dared to spar with him a few times now, but had learned readily that he was little match for the warrior's years of experience. The last bruises were still healing.
Just as the eastern sky started to become tinged with the promise of a rising sun, Coll was washed and dressed in his simple white tunic and brown leggings. Catching his reflection in a water barrel out the back of the tavern, he mused not for the first time that if he wasn't one of the most well-known people in town, no one would have looked at him twice for how plain he appeared. He shrugged, rolled his shoulders back, slapped his best friendly-barman smile on his face while looking at his reflection, and then flung open the doors to the kitchen to get to work.
The Questing Hall was usually empty at this time (Coll called it that, though no one else seemed to), save for the occasional brave and heroic adventurer who had not managed to successfully make it back to their rooms - their noble, dragon-slaying, village-saving faces stuck to the table in a puddle of last night's ale. Last night, it seemed, all had made it staggering back to their beds.
Ursule had done his work well behind the bar last night, too. The tiefling hadn't left any dirty glasses for Coll to finish this morning, which was a pleasant surprise. He made a quick inventory of the bottles and looked over the notes left from last shift for anything unusual. 2 new arrivals - through the portal thank-the-gods. The cheaper ship travel into Port Ffirst had meant that more new adventurers were staying there now, and breaking into the tavern market there seemed a daunting prospect. Business was still good, but there were a few more empty rooms than Coll would like. A new note had been pinned to the Rumour Mill - an enterprising dwarven merchant looking to make a run to Vorsthold to start up trade there. Bold, and unlikely to succeed, but the trip should be easy enough to make through the Feythorn. Coll made a note to point it out to some of the newer guests at the Ettin for them to get their bearings with.
As all was quiet out here and the news caught up on, he undid the latch on the big front door to the Questing Hall/Taproom, opening the Ettin for business for the day. Then he pushed opened the door behind the bar to the kitchen to check in there. Reki was already there, peeling potatoes and tossing them into a pot. They were whistling a tune to themselves, but jumped slightly as the door swung open. "Morning, boss," Reki said, nodding quickly in his direction.
"Morning, Reki. How's the family doing?" Coll replied, picking up a spare peeler and helping with the potatoes for a few minutes while they caught up. He could hear the unloading of bottles and crates in the yard - that must be Tiana unloading the latest shipment of stock for the basement. Coll kept peeling and chatting until he heard the back door open - the door towards the yard and guestrooms - and he hurried out, wiping his hands on his tunic for the first of many times that day.
==Breakfast==
Over 4 years of running this unique establishment, Coll had discovered the breakfast crowd to be a variable lot. Some would still be celebrating recent victories; others hungover and only interested in food and quiet; the newer denizens would look around nervously - uncertain how to proceed - and almost always end up sitting together or listening in on the conversations of more veteran adventurers; and often a group would be meeting already dressed in full travelling gear and armour, gathering around the Rumour Mill and discussing travel plans and - if Heret was involved - contracts. The latter group typically just wanted a quick meal - something light but hardy to last them on the journey ahead.
Today, the quick-and-light Breakfast Club was the most suspect party he'd seen assembled in some time. He nudged Mavunda next to him behind the bar as she started towards the kitchen to get the next batch of plates. "A thief, a trippy paladin, a blacksmith and a man who seems more 'survivor' than adventurer. I feel sorry for Pieni on this one. He's not going to know what he's gotten himself into."
Mavunda chuckled. "He's been through worse already, from what I hear. They all have. It'll make a good story for when they come back." She emerged from the kitchen a moment later laden with plates.
"You're not wrong," Coll murmured as she passed by again, picked up his cloth and reached for the first dirty cup of the morning.
==Brunch==
It was mid-morning, the sun streaming in through the eastern skylights when he heard Cecil's familiar voice in the kitchen. Most of the taproom had cleared out by this point, each group off on their own adventures, errands or morning naps, so he poked his head through the kitchen door to say hello. "Much on today?" he called out. Cecil looked up from several pieces of parchment he had spread out on one of the cooking surfaces - a seating chart, a list of courses and a separate task list. "Jordon the baker - their son comes of age tonight, so we've got a full Banquet Hall tonight. Plates down at sunset," Cecil explained in a wearier tone than usual.
"Sounds straight forward. Something wrong?"
Cecil grimaced. "They've asked for the full 7-course experience."
Coll whistled. "Better get cracking then! I'll just be out here staffing the empty bar," and quickly closed the door on his co-proprietor's scowling face.
And empty it was. For nearly an hour and a half, Coll and Mavunda served only a handful of drinks and a scrap of food to the very late risers or the casual brunchers. Dorian, the shabby but absurdly powerful tiefling, swung by to say hello and glance over the board for new notices and adventurers. He'd moved out to the Gilded Mirror long ago, but still came by quite regularly to catch up. Casually chatting with customers who could level buildings with a thought was just part of the day for the Daring barman, and Coll was well used to it, though Mavunda obviously treated the sorcerer with a lot more deference. And it made sense - though understated, the tiefling had a powerful presence wherever he went that you could feel in the room. Dorian was just one of the reasons that the Ettin's fire insurance premium was a killer.
Clifton came through to grab a mop and headed back out to the Dormitories, throwing a quick wave to the pair behind the bar before heading back out. One of the more temporary hires - Clifton was a monk just starting out his adventuring career and had been willing to clean the adventurers' rooms while they were away. He and Lukas - a local half-elf - made a pretty good team keeping the dirt at bay, and they got the linen washed at a place round the corner that did it cheap. If the mop was involved though, Coll did not want to know what Clifton needed to clean.
The only other person to walk in through the door was Wendy with the post. That always prompted a brief 5 minute burst of activity as the various denizens of the inn crept from their hiding places to see if any mail had come for them. Letters from friends and loved ones were exchanged, and Coll exchanged one pile from Wendy for a pile that had been left with him over the last day behind the bar. Wendy's arrival was also always a useful opportunity to get the local news - or at least, the obituaries. Every day she would list with interest the people who had just died, which would be weird in a place not full of the bizarre like Daring was.
==Lunch==
Around lunch time, a message girl ran in with a note. Coll glanced at it and rolled his eyes. The Council was being summoned. One look back into the kitchen and it was clear that Cecil was swamped, up to his elbows in mixing bowls and frying pans, even with Veros, Reki and Tiana working as well. Veros had been a great addition to the team - a dwarven woman with a fantastic ability to make even a simple stew somehow unique and surprising, but in a good way. She brought a strong sense of order to an otherwise disorganised kitchen, and though Cecil was often trying to prepare 4 dishes at once, Veros was the one able to work around him and direct the other two staff to pick up the pieces where he couldn't keep up with everything. Coll shook his head at the scene and turned back to Mavunda. "Looks like you'll have to hold the place together for a few hours," he said. She gave a mock salute, which made him laugh as he headed back to his room, throwing a silver piece to the child who had brought the message. It was his turn to attend the Council anyway.
Fifteen minutes later, in a fresh shirt (it didn't do him any favours to turn up covered in beer stains and grime) and with a small satchel he kept his more official parchments in, he walked into the Town Hall and made his way straight to the council chamber - the Mayor's old office. Captain Jadefist, Kensington and Samed were already there standing around a map of Daring Heights with Aurelia, who waved Coll over.
"Good, we have a quorum," the Aasimar said in her soft voice. "I've just been catching our colleagues up on the latest questions about mining rights in the Sunspire Mountains. The Guild of the Emerald Tradition are claiming the right to not only the mine they possess, but the entire mountain above it..." Coll sighed as the conversation continued. As he feared, this was going to be another dull meeting.
==Dinner==
By the time he was able to tear himself away, the sun sat much lower in the sky and he had to run back to the Ettin. It had been more interesting than he'd expected in the end - Tabetha was a member of both the Council and the Guild, and so when she had arrived the debate got much more spirited. Still, he was glad he got back to the Ettin when he did - things were getting busier and Mavunda was looking a little swarmed behind the bar, and Bally was scurrying between the tables and the kitchen holding trays of food above his short halfling frame. Coll didn't have time to change again, and so his nice business-shirt was covered in stains within a few minutes of him clambering behind the bar.
The punters were coming fast as the sun set - a surprising number of townsfolk had taken to coming to the Ettin in the evening to hear the latest perfomance or tale of adventure. The current entertainment for the evening was a duet of two bards - a human and an elf. Both women sat on stools a little way apart on the small stage - their music was fast and toe-tapping, and they both conjured illusions and additional sounds with their magic on the stage between them. Coll rather liked them, and hoped Mix and Yacra would agree to stay for the full week as they were really drawing the crowds in. Plates of stew and mugs of ale rapidly began to cover the many tables of the Ettin - simple food only today, given the grand event that Cecil was working to pull off.
This was Coll's favourite time of day: the room was bustling, full of people, music, laughter and - perhaps most importantly - stories. He heard a never-ending stream of stories from customers over the bar from tales of an epic but bizarre race through a Shadowfell Necropolis after a skeletal cat to a story of a cart heist that somehow involved a mouse, a bear, 2 giant eagles, a one-man cavalry charge and Baine and Ginead attempting street theatre.
At one point he was carrying a stack of plates and cups back into the kitchen to put down by Leaves at the sink, as the Tabaxi had unfortunately drawn the short straw and was on washing duty tonight, and he had a moment to check in on Cecil's banquet. They were 2 courses in and every surface was covered in either plates of food mid-preparation, pots and pans on flames or bowls and boards where ingredients were being chopped, mixed and whisked. The full kitchen staff was here and trays of food were being carried out across to the banquet hall in a steady stream.
Coll managed a sympathetic wave to Cecil before they both were swept away in their work through different doors, as Coll went back out to the main hall and the wave of noise and raucous conversation.
At the end of Mix & Yacra's set, and after several stories from adventurers standing on the stage in various stages of drunkenness, it was probably close to midnight when Coll put down his cleaning rag and stretched. Mavunda had gone home several hours ago and Ursule was now next to him behind the bar, looking particularly fine as he'd had his horns waxed, apparently a thing for some tieflings. He put a hand on Ursule's shoulder and waved to Bally - still moving about the tables with a nimbleness that always surprised him - and then he headed to the back rooms. He passed through the kitchen first and saw that the banquet was over. It was obvious as everyone in the room was sat on stools relaxing against walls and surfaces, no one speaking as they all decompressed from a manic day's work.
Coll and Cecil would catch up tomorrow on how the banquet had gone. They had their ten-day meeting in the morning, so that would be fine. He went through a side door into the back rooms, where his room was.
Opening the door to his room was always a welcome moment - the chance to peel his shoes off for one, and to get out of his stained and sweaty clothes. He'd have to give his shirt to Cecil later to use Mending magic on it.
It had been a pretty standard day, all round. The Council had argued a bit, but that was hardly surprising - one day hopefully they could pass their seat on to someone else. Politics was not his thing. There had been some good stories though in the bar tonight. These Amaranthine Games kept coming up - something the Feywild seemed to be up to with strange competitions.
He lay back in the bed and put out the candle he had lit. Well, he'd find out more about it soon, he was sure.
