“Lost one of my pigs yesterday. Again.” Cassius announced sourly to the table. There’d been a cold, soaking rain all day, making it a bad one for trying to bring in the harvest. The main room at the Stone’s Sorcerer was correspondingly overfull and stifling. “Not gonna make it through the winter if it keeps going like this, damn Gozreh’s smelly, frigid breath!”
Jom groaned inwardly. Cassius could be downright miserable when things didn’t go his way, and he wasn’t in the mood to hear complaints even if they were legitimate. It’d been a wet, toilsome day and his joints were aching all over from the damp. “Knock off the cussing. Didn’t the militia put that beast down for you last week?” he asked.
Tetch chimed in before he could answer “Must have a breeding pair on your land, Cass. Best find where they’ve been tunnelin’ and plant something special. Blessings of Erastil are upon you! You’ll have a bumper crop for sure next year.”
“Gods.” Cassius thought, “Lose two sows and two ewes and leave it to Tetch to be going on about the bright side of things”. Not in the mood to have his situation downplayed he said, “Do I look like I got special seeds, Tetch? Magic beans, maybe? And if that patrol didn’t have no priest then there’d be a different kind of fertilizer out on my fields right now. Did ya ever have an ankheg on your land?”
“No” shrugged Tetch “but…”
Cassius talked over him, raising his voice. “Big as a horse, armor plates all over it, pincers and jaws and drooling acid all over the place. Yeah, they’re something next to magic for yer dirt, but dirt ain’t feeding my boys next month, if we even make it that long. So Old Deadeye can shoot that particular blessing right up his own hairy old….”
That got a reaction. A gasp of shock erupted from the table. “You quit that cussing!” yelled Jom, his fist hammering the table and knocking over Tetch’s pint. Jom wanted to join the priesthood when he was young and especially disliked that kind of talk. Tetch jumped up, rose tinted spectacles somehow washed off his face by the ale pouring down his lap. Cassius almost smirked at that, but Jom had a point. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to blaspheme against the patron god of farmers. Still, it’d been a bad week. Prospectors and locals paused their own conversations and pipe smoking to listen in on what they hoped would be an entertaining row.
“Settle down, folks” said a firm voice. Cronin was behind Cassius and moved to where all the regulars could see him. Sir Cronin, that is, Sir Cronin Chen. He doesn’t throw his noble name and title around though, ‘cause he goes by his first name like all real, hardworking folk. But when the local landlord and innkeeper used that tone it reminded people of how his scarred knuckles had settled a lot of previous conflicts, nobleman or not. “Cassius, it sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it and I’m sorry to hear it, but you need to keep it polite. I overheard your conversation. Hemenele is here at the Bluff. She and I will head to your place in the morning and get this squared away for you.”
Everyone thought on those words for a second, and the tension melted away from the table. Jom puffed out his breath and raised his eyebrows, Tetch sat back down a bit more the wet for wear, and Cassius spoke up after a moment; “Sorry for using Erastil’s name like that. You and the ranger coming over is more than I could’ve hoped for. That really is a blessing, and I’ll be obliged to you and Hemenele and I’ll say a prayer of thanks to Old Deadeye especially”. At that moment Dessa came to the table with a fresh round and a towel for Tetch. She might not have noble blood like Cronin, but with her looks and her smarts pretty much everyone in Basilisk Bluff thinks Cronin married up, so to speak, with Cronin himself topping the list. She gave her husband a slight smile and nod before heading off to make sure the rest of the room was attended to. Cronin patted Cassius on the shoulder and went back to the bar. The rest of the patrons got back to their own cups, plates, and smokes, and were only slightly disappointed that a good brawl wasn’t looking to happen.
There didn’t seem to be much more to say on that particular topic. A few quiet quaffs of ale later; “Well, anybody know where I can get some magic beans?”