'would you like a drink with that?'

[Arya_Silvertears]

Arya wiped her brow with the sleeve of her coat as she pushed her way through the crowded sitting room of the tavern she worked at. Usually the room was nearly half as full on any normal day, but with the sudden unslaught of rain and thunder, the people in the streets poored into the tavern like the rain was pooring down outside.

Arya was a serving girl at this tavern. She had picked up the jod 3 years ago when she was 18 and the owner of the inn had told her father that she had apretty face, and that she could earn him a pretty price to go with it. The next day, her father had filled out the nessessary documents to have her working there full time. Arya recented him for that since her first day.

She shoved passed a couple wrestling with the arms on the table; to see who was the srontgest no doubt, till she found the gentleman who had ordered the plate of mutton and a mug of ale. 'Here you go sir, that'll be 5 coppers please.' She said with a smile. The gentleman winked back and handed her 7 coppers. 'Theres 2 for the quick service you can tell your boss.' He grinned back. Arya smiled back halfheartedly. She knew what he was after. 'Have a good day sir.' She said and turned back towards the counter for another round of pushing and shoving.

The room had been set up that morning with 7 large round tables and at each table about 10 wooden chairs that were marked with nicks and scratches from the years of rough use. One table inparticular was missing a few chairs due to a fight that had broken out before Arya had begun working there, thank the gods. Around the egdes of the room were 4 long benches for those who couldn't get a chair. In one corner of the room there was a raised platform for a minstrel that often joined the tavern staff on busy nights. When ever a minstrel was in town, Arya would listen carefully to his songs and memorize them with care so that she could sing them for the towns folk if the minstrel was out and about. This helped her earn an extra copper or 2 for her salary each night.

Upon reaching the front bar she leaned across the top and signed in relief. 'OH boy, this is by far the busiest day i've ever worked. The owner, Orin, stood behind the counter cleaning an ale mug with a dirty cloth. 'Yes it is missy and if you want your pay tonight you better get serving.' She glared at him dully and he laughed, then stood straight and said, 'Yes sir,' and marched off towards the kitchen for another tray of food.

[AdamTheMe]

Eildrimme entered the tavern, hod drawn over his head covering his face in shadow, and his cloak draped over his shoulders hiding all of his features. He slipped into a chair at a table in a dark corner of the tavern, with his back against the wall. For some reason the area seemed just a tad darker with the corrupted druid's presence.

Eildrimme leaned back a bit, relaxing, but he was careful to keep the shadows hiding his face. It was rare for him to come into society, because while the wilderness had all he needed to survive, the bit of Elf that was still left in him sometimes missed the finer things of life, such as food that wasn't cooked over a fire. Unfortunately his appearance lead to him not being accepted in most places, so he had to sneak into less reputable taverns and sit in a shadowy corner, all the while hoping a fight wouldn't start over his appearance.

[Arya_Silvertears]

Arya returned from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her brown apron as she scanned the room for poeple who needed food or drink. She passed by the counter where Orin was still polishing the same mug when she noticed a new costumer. He looked withdrawn, hidden in the shadows of his hood and alone in the corner. But as any good serving girl would do, she headed in his general direction to see if there was anything he required, be it room, food or drink, or just the company of a girl or song.

As she shoved her way through the crowd, the area around him suddenly seemed a little more spacious then the rest of the tavern. She put on her smile and walked up to him. "Good evening sir. Is there anything i might get for you to eat? We have freshly cooked mutton stew and fine Ale to cheer up any weary travellers. And if you plan on staying the night we have some extra rooms still available." She cocked an eyebrow at the end of her statement, surprised that she was still unable to see any of his features beneath his dark hood. But as any good serving girl would do, she refrained from ringing her hands in her apron in aspiration and kept her bright smile painted on her face. Anything must be done to keep the customers in the tavern, Orin had told her long ago. Be it extra Ale, or a peck on the cheek, or just a good old travelling song. Arya usually refrained from the middle option, it was not in her to use herself as a way to keep the customers.

[AdamTheMe]

Eildrimme had been considering what he wanted while he waited for the server, and when Arya approached he spoke,

"Some wine to start would be wonderful." After a brief pause to let her take the mental note he continued, "A salad would be good too. And if you have anything exotic, from the farther reaches of the Empire... Surprise me. Just as long as it's not fire-cooked venison." He bit his lip after he spoke. His S's had a slight hissing sound to them, another telltale sign of his change. He hoped the waitress wouldn't notice, or at least not care.

Eildrimme had been living off of a diet of whatever he or the Centaur could hunt, and it was getting repetitive. He had grown up as an Elven noble, not a nomad, so adjusting to this new life was hard on him.

[Arya_Silvertears]

Arya sighed slightly when he finally spoke, She reached a hand to her ear to scratch a slight itch as she noticed the slight hiss on his tongue. She didn't let it bother her, though it was hard to forget when you had to memorize a persons order. Flattening her hair she nodded and smiled as he finished his order, then proceeded to ask for some minute details.

'Would you like a red apple wine, or the white wine with your salad sir?' She asked politly. She tried to pier deeper into his hood, hoping to see any sign of a facial expression without any avail. When it looked like he was about to speak again though, a loud crash came from the bar and the crowd moved asside to reviel a large man on the floor with blood dripping from his nose and an even larger drunk standing above him, fists raised.

'I said move or i'll Make you move.' The larger man shouted. Orin put the glass down and moved around the bar to kick the men out when the man with the bloody nose stood up and landed a large punch in the other mans gut. The crowd burst into shouts of 'Fight Fight Fight!' and Hit' 'em dead Frick!' Orin's face was deep red by now as he barreled through the crowd and grabbed both men by the collers and shock them.

'There'll be NO fightinh in my Tavern you hear!? OUT Side Both of Yea!' She yelled as he pitched them out the door and into the rain. He dusted his hands on his apron and returned to the other side of the counter.

Arya shifted her feet as the crowd settled back down. Some of the people followed file and left the tavern. 'Must've been friends of them fellows,' she thought to herself. She turned back to her customer and began to ask her question again, in hopes of not being interupted. 'Your wine sir, Red apple or white?'

[Draak Geest]

Draak Geest walked into 'Dragon Scales Tavern' hopeing to find some information, of course he never excepted to find what he did. He went to his usual corner and waited for a serving girl, as usual he kept his ears open for anything he could use in the future, he heard two men arguing, one confronting the other about not getting paid the landlords fee, and Draak continued on. He heard one man hiding in a cloak asking for some food and wine, Draak moved his hearing range before coming back, the man had a strange 'sssss' sound, a lisp. This either meant a birth defect, a broken lip, or dragons. Draak had often heard of men bonding with dragons, and had always hoped to come upon one of those Drudic Creations, he wondered if this man was one of the creations. He needed a distraction and quick, he though back to the two arguing men, in the time span of a few short seconds he pricked the landlord with one of Draaks knives knowing that the landlord would think the other man had tried to stab him. The fight began and all attention was on the two men, he walked over behind the lisping man and helf a knife to the mans neck. He tried to pull the hood up slightly to glimpse the mans face, this would tell him if his suspescions were correct, or if he should leave and quickly.

[Arya_Silvertears]

Arya realized soon after she asked her question that another person now stood behind her customer with a knief to him. She stiffled a small cry and her eyes widened with shock. Upon instinct of some nature she leaned forward and griped the other persons arm with the knief and looked into his face.

'Please sir, theres no fighting in this tavern. I'll have to ask you to leave, i would much rather not have to. Please understand.' She pleaded him paitiently, not knowing where her courage came from. For al she knew, this traveller could turn on her and slit her throat if he was angry enough.

[Draak Geest]

Draak grinned at this pretty but foolish girl who tried to interupt his business " Ill have two glasses of ale and whatever my ... 'Aquaitance' here is having." and moved the knife so it was pointing now at the back of the mans head, covered by Draaks cloak. " Ohh and put my payment and his on Kalmaliks tab (an alias)"

[AdamTheMe]

((Just a side note, little is known of Elves here because of the emperor, so knowledge of druids is rare, and the mixed Corrupt variety even rarer so. That's not to say you couldn't have heard rumors, people have wild imaginations. Just true expertise is hard to come by. Anyways, not a huge issue. And so I don't have to do another OOC blurb later, it's worth noting that Eildrimme's hood is made of black wyrmling scales, so nothing short of a well aimed blow from a sharp mithril or adamantine blade will penetrate it, best to aim for the Elven skin. And finally, to clarify, with a black wyrmling's fear aura, it simply makes everyone around him or her afraid, tough usually at nothing in particular, so to make it easier to comprehend they attribute it to the scariest thing they have at hand. More often then not this is a wyrmling trying to eat them, but not always.))

Eildrimme sighed when he felt the presence of the other man. He shifted his head so the hood would fall well over his face, and then turned slightly more into his wyrmling form, coating his neck and lower chin with scales.

"For the wine, red, thank you." Eildrimme was sure to avoid the use of any Ss, they seemed to be drawing attention. He should probably work on finding a way to undo the shift, particularly with his tongue, but he knew it was futile. The price of corruption.

Curious about the courage of this intruder, Eildrimme focused his will outwards, using the power of his wyrmling blood, the power that had become so familiar: fear. Eildrimme's aura of fear spread out amongst the tavern, but he was sure to not go overboard. He need not make them scream in terror, just nervous would do, after all, that wouldn't be nice to the owners of this tavern, scarring off the customers.. Unless they where immune to magic, all in the tavern would feel a strange sense of uneasiness, mixed with some fear. The brave would shrug this off, but he hoped this intruder was not one of them, and might feel less comfortable in his position.

The animalistic urge to simply jump up and skewer the fool with his claws built up inside the druid, but he knew he had to fight it. If he did anything intimidating those around him would realize he was the source of their fear, and he wasn't in a mood to kill mostly innocent civilians.

[Draak Geest]

Draak felt somthing in the air, the very sence of fear that he had felt during his first training to be an assassin, the first thing his master had taught for him to sence but not be a part of, to inflict on others, he pressed the dagger closer, the point now pricking slightly into the scales of this 'things' cloak " Is that the best you can do?"

[AdamTheMe]

When it became apparent his magic was not doing much to the intruder, he lifted it, so the patrons need to be burdened by it.

Eildrimme's left hand extended out of his cloak, gesturing to the seat across from him, on the other side of the table. The fingers of his hands fanned out during the gesture, a smooth and flowing one. His wicked black claws where now visible, but he knew the patrons of the tavern where too busy drinking and eating; only this intruder would see.

[Draak Geest]

Draak sat down in the seat he was standing by, darker corner as costumary for him. He looked at Eildrimme's claw and stared at Eildrimme " Hmm so it is true, the druids do exist. What did you do to them to get turned into... what you are now?"

[AdamTheMe]

Eildrimme moved his hand back under his cloak, then turned to the man and spoke. "In truth, it is what I didn't do. But you lack true knowledge of Druids, this was not done to me. It is not a punishment, it just is."

Eildrimme paused a moment to let the words sink in, "Please, sheathe your dagger, it will do you know good. Besides, there's no reason we can't be civil, we're both Elf in part at least, from the looks of it. Unless I'm wrong, you betray your heritage with such rude introductions."

[Draak Geest]

"Elf? HA! I would never be of that filth. What do you mean by it just is? Druids punish those who they dont like is that not?" Draak said, confused by what Eildrimme was saying. However -although he did not know it- when Eildrimme was talking of the elf heritage somthing inside of Draak was awakened, somthing he would not know of for a while longer.

[AdamTheMe]

Eildrimme watched the man from the shadows of his hood.

"You speak much of that which you do not understand. Explaining to you the way of the Druid would be a timely endeavor, and one I'm not inclined to do without reason. After all, you've yet to show me any reason to be civil to you, let alone friendly."

Eildrimme leaned back, relaxing. This man was a fool, both in knowledge and in act, but he could tolerate it a while longer, at least until his meal was finished.

Is this the civilization that has forsaken me? Ha! The "barbaric" centaur are more civil.