Young Writers Society

A rickety sign hangs in front of the medieval tavern at an intersection in the large cobbled roads, depicting three dragons in various places on a tankard - one's behind it, and the others are to either side.

The building itself is two stories, with rooms in the upper story and the tavern itself underneath. The latter is dim and smoky, filled with figures bartering, gambling, arguing, brawling, arm wrestling, eating, cleaning, bribing, and nearly any other imaginable activity.

This is the Three Dragon Inn, at the crossroads where adventurers, nobility, peasants, travelers, merchants, and the like come to stay a night or two and share a few words of their adventures or pick up the odd job before getting on the road once more.

Thuki


Thuki wipes down the bar as she keeps an ear out for tidbits of information that could be useful. There was a bard from northern lands who had stories of frost elementals; a traveling merchant claimed he'd seen an ogre on the road to the east; a knight that sat in the corner mentioned he'd come to battle a mighty dragon.

She wonders idly if it's to save a damsel. How cliché. She glances up as a newcomer enters the bar...

Zogin entered the bar with a skip to her step, which was quite unusual. Yet it was the end of a very unusual week, so the action was far from uncalled for. Not only had they faced off against their first angel, but, after several days spent rebuilding the destroyed houses and shops, the town had looked even better than usual.

“Zogin, wait up!” Soul shouted from behind her. He struggled under the weight of both of their bags, his armor clanging together as he stumbled into the building a good minute after she had marched up to the bar's counter.

She slammed her hands down on the wood. “Give me your strongest drink,” she said with a cocky smile, ignoring the sigh of defeat from beside her as Soul sat down. It was a completely unnecessary sound for him, but he had picked it up from her. Even though it was for celebrating a job well done - after all, this bar was supposedly the best in the area - he was still worried about her drinking too much.

Thuki smiles and plops down a large tankard of strong mead. "That'll be two silver," she says.

BENDS throws himself off of the balcony, attempting to land on his head. He does, but it doesn't kill him. "Damn it!" he mutters to himself.

"BENDS, what the hell?" CUPPACCINO yells from behind where he did so. "Please stop attempting to kill yourself!"

"The lighter side of hell, you mean," BENDS groans, rubbing his head. "And I will not. I will find a way!"

A group of folks sat around a round table, each eagerly awaiting the roll of the die. Bo himself leaned in, watching as the roller shook the dice in his hands and opened them up to let the dice fall on the table. Everyone's eyes were glued as the numbered cubes flipped their way to a stop - Bo held his breath -

"Well, it looks like it's..." The dice roller paused, waiting for the result. "8! We've got an eight!"

The announcement was quickly followed by cheers of success, sighs of relief, and frustrated groans.

"Gah, looks like that's it for me!" Bo exclaimed in defeat, throwing up his hands. "Looks like I'm out for the rest of the night, guys." He pushed his gold coins in to the center of the table and leaned back in his chair with a smug grin of acceptance. It wasn't the first time he'd lost, and it wouldn't be the last. Besides, gambling wasn't his game and he was only there for the social part of it anyway. His comrade Kixig jabbed him in the side with his elbow, egging him on to keep playing. "Come on, Bo, we know you're loaded with cash, you don't have to pull out so soon!"

"Hah! Who told you that?" Bo laughed, pushing Kixig's arm away.

"Well it was only an impression, but we always wonder how you keep managing to play so often... you don't exactly have a winning streak."

"Psh," Bo laughed, brushing it aside. "A loss in one area of my life doesn't make it all a loss."

Kixig scoffed. "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."

Bo rolled his eyes and pushed out his chair, getting up from the table. "I'm a grab a beer."

He made his way over to the bar, sliding in to a stool next to a gal and her seemingly exasperated companion. He looked at the server behind the counter, "Hey Thuki," (he came there often enough to know her on a first name basis) "I think I'll have what she's having." He said with a small laugh as he gestured to the girl with the large drink.

CUPPACCINO swings herself over the bars and lands on the boards with a thump. She picks BENDS up and drags him to the bar. "Come on, BENDS, a drink'll make you feel better."

"Sure thing, Bo. How's the game treatin' y'?" she asks as she fills up a tankard.

"Two beers, please!" CUPPACCINO orders for a still-dazed BENDS. She rolls her eyes and mutters something in his ear. BENDS wakes up out of his daze and his eyes widen. CUPPACCINO laughs and kisses him on the head.

"That'll be two silver," she tells Bo as she plops the tankard down in front of him and fills up two more with beer for the newcomers. "That'll be seven copper per beer, so fourteen copper please."

BENDS prevents CUPPACCINO from paying and slides 15 coppers over. "Keep the change." He drains the beer and sighs in delight. CUPPACCINO laughs and sips hers. "He's had a rough day. And a rough life. Don't worry, he won't get drunk until the 20th one."

"We get all sorts in 'ere," Thuki answers with a wink. "I wouldn't mind sellin' a few more drinks."

"Eh, you know, the game is what it is." Bo said with a shrug as another due came up to the bar with an order. He smiled and nodded as Thuki gave him the tankard of mead, and slid two silver across the table to her. "Thanks, Thuki."

"And she's right, we get all sorts in here. Met a guy with one leg and three feet once. Don't ask me how that works." His eyes searched the room and he spotted the fella over in the corner. "Speaking of which, there he his! EYYYY, DANNY!" He lifted up his beer and caught Danny's attention. Danny lifted his jug of beer with another "EY!" in reply.

"To the misfits!" Bo yelled across the room.

"Aye! Aye!" Was Danny's reply, before they both took a big swig of their drinks and turned back to their own business. Bo turned back to the others after a satisfied "Ahh."

"Sorry you've had a rough day, though, mate." He said with a gesture to the gal's friend. "That's rough."

She takes the silver and slips it into her apron with a smile.

Soul watched as Zogin fished the silver out of her pocket and handed it to the woman at the counter. She had a look to her eyes that Soul recognized all too well. Resisting the urge to groan, he watched as she quickly chugged down the drink that she had ordered. She was keeping her eyes on the guy that had ordered the same drink as her own.

"Zogin," Soul started, but he fell silent when he realized that she was more focused on the possibly of a challenge than his voice. He groaned and, resting his elbows on the bar, held his head in hands.

Zogin elbowed the man. "Hey," she said with a cocky grin. "Want to see who can hold more of this stuff down?"

She showed him her empty mug.

Bo turned to look at the woman with a growing smile, his eyebrows raised. "You know, normally, I would tell you no, and that if I were younger and had a good liver, I would say yes. But you know what? Why not. Just for you, ey?"

He lifted his mug, giving a nod and accepting the challenge. Then he swiftly tilted his head back and began to chug the drink quickly, pausing only once, before finishing off the whole drink in one long gulp. He slammed the mug down on the bar table, and waggled his eyebrows up and down with a smile.

Sliding another two silver pieces across the bar, he pointed to Thuki. "Another!" Then, leaning forward, putting a hand up to his mouth but speaking at normal volume said, "Hey Thuki, if I get too out of hand please, throw me out."