It just occurred to me that we should set out our chronology. These entries take place a few days after Reudh left Spearbreakers, about halfway through Tomio's turn.
Entry Five
We've been travelling for a while now. I just chose a direction that took me away from Ceshcacil and walked, and walked and walked.
Lurit, Strohe and Tedaz didn't ask me about the incident with Hathur. My puce face after I left was enough.
"Reudh, where are we headed?"
The little peasant Strohe looked worried.
"We're going this way. I think this is the right way," I said.
Every so often, I'd take a random change of direction.
After about twenty one hours of this, three hours sleep, and more walking, the three companions of mine seemed to be getting tired.
"Reudh, we can't keep marching forever. We're not dwarves, we don't have the endurance your people do. We need to make camp now, here." Tedaz was weary. Lurit was huffing hard, the greying lasher leaning forward and grasping his knees to catch his breath. Only Strohe seemed in good spirits. The little farmer kept up with me.
"Very well, Tedaz. I forgot to think of you three... I am sorry. Hathur angered me so. He didn't give me information about Vanya. He took my suggestion and told him exactly what he knew about Vanya, which was nothing," I said.
Lurit finally caught his breath. "Reudh... It's great fun being out, and you're a great fun dwarf to be around. Say... do you carry alcohol with you? A sup for us all as a reward for our forced march?"
Hah... I do carry alcohol with me. Dwarven alcohol though, not the weak swill humans use.
"Yeah, I have plenty. No self respecting dwarf leaves for anywhere without packing a couple of Urists worth."
Tedaz frowned, deep in thought.
"What's the conversion rate from Urists to litres? I can't remember. It's not something we're taught at the barracks..."
Strohe scoffs as he unrolls his tent, while Lurit collects firewood. It's quite nice country here, not many creatures are around. Sana was the only brigand in the area, and true to his word, Hathur Tammunique keeps his lands safe.
"I warn you though, my friends, dwarven alcohol is much more powerful than anything you're used to. This is how we get our water and most of our nutrients."
I pulled out a bottle of dwarven beer. The humans suppress a snicker as they see the lumpy brew glop into a mug I'd taken from my bag.
"Is that... Is that a Spearbreakers mug?" Strohe seemed amazed.
"Yes, Strohe. I've got a few with me in my bag," I answered. I handed a few out, one to Strohe, one to Lurit, and one to Tedaz. I poured out some more beer into each mug. I took a huge gulp. Ah, Spearbreakers Bitters is the best beer I've ever had.
"Go easy, guys. It's really strong." Perhaps my warning wasn't needed, but they drank the chunky beer (the humans call this kind of beer 'stout', as their arguably weaker version can keep a strong human marching for hours without tiring) in one long pull.
Then it hit them. Lurit's eyes went unfocused, and he sat down hard. Tedaz closed his eyes, dropped his sword and grabbed his temples. Strohe flinched.
"BBllllimey that's strong!" the little farmer exclaimed. Lurit passed clean away, and Tedaz sat right down.
"Hhhhhhhoowww do you dwarvsh take thish amount of alc'ol sho eashily?" Tedaz asked.
I had to think. I hadn't studied dwarven anatomy since I was a young one, nearly fifty years ago.
"Uhm, if I remember right, where you have brains, we have livers. Our brains are roughly where your livers sit, and are about the same size. Our livers are huge though, which is why our heads are bigger than yours. I did warn you guys."
Strohe just seemed happy. He put his wickedly sharp knife down and started singing a terribly bawdy ditty. I'm not going to jot down the lyrics, suffice to say that it entailed what would happen if a human male met an elf woman and a dwarf woman. The drunken farmer danced around our little campfire, swaying back and forth. The fumes were pretty intense.
After a short while longer, I gave up and went to sleep. Lurit awoke briefly, threw up, then went to bed also.
Tomorrow, we would march on.
We awoke at about mid-day. Lurit sat with his heads in his hands, but Tedaz and Strohe were fine.
"Reudh, do you have any anti-hangover treatments? My head feels like it's been hit with a hammer."
By chance I did have some dwarven anti-hangover. It's pretty rarely used, but I figured it might be useful. It's a minced pie made from plump helmets, rope reed and cat tallow. The rope reed provides roughage, the cat tallow makes them sick, and the plump helmets are mildly pain-relieving. Get the toxins out, up or down. Kills the pain of the headache. I got the purplish pie out of my backpack, cut a slice off and handed it to the groaning lasher.
"Thanks, buddy. This looks interesting." He took a bite, chewed thoughtfully, swallowed, then went green as I had seen an elf go once when confronted by Splint's hammer. He dashed for the bushes, and we heard thundering chundering sounds. When he recovered, we set off.
"Egh. As much as that was foul, I do feel better. Remind me to never ask for help from you again, Reudh." Lurit clutched his stomach briefly, then laughed. You really couldn't keep him down...
After three days more of this, we chanced upon a town. It was huge, no mere hamlet! I would be definitely able to say that it was the largest human settlement I'd ever seen! Probably about the same as Spearbreakers, but all above ground. We were stopped at the gate by a surly looking guard.
"'Ere, dwarf, you in charge 'ere? You want ter come in? This is Sewaturet. The biggest and best town on this planet. Come on in, bring yer mates. I'll be watchin', so don't do anything rash."
He let us in, and so we settled right in. We went STRAIGHT to the tavern, and there we stayed for what felt like a day. Lurit was loathe to have more alcohol, but Tedaz, Strohe and I had ale and stayed up until the early morning. What a town. Humans are great fun.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2197869 times)