 | Finding a comfortable seat was a little harder than the Baron had thought it would be. "Troll taverns aren't like anyone else's," thought the Baron as he scans the available seating. In one corner of the room was a pile of rocks (some of them sharp, green, moldy looking and pointy) while in another corner were a pile of sticks (more of those being sharper and pointier than the rocks). |
Nowhere did there appear to be a regular chair or seat to sit down on while he and Fiddlefaddle waited for Hewy and the Rock band he was jamming with to finish. After another quick glance of the room, he noticed Fiddlefaddle waving to him and pointing at a log that was up against a wall. "At least I will be able to sit down on something not pointy," decided the Baron and started towards his faithful BAT man.
Meanwhile, Fiddlefaddle was brushing the lose bark off of the log and setting a cloth over it so the Baron would have a place to sit without sticking to the sap leaking from the tree. It was then that he realized that the log (being about 3 feet around) had not been cut down but had been broken in half like it had been smashed with something heavy. "A fist maybe," thought Fiddlefaddle! If he was worried about what kind of place they were in before, he was even more so now...
"Sir, I have prepared a place for you here," he told the Baron. "What would you like to drink while we wait for Hewy?" Thinking that this was turning into a new adventure, the Baron decided to go with the flow. "Whatever their special is today would be fine."
| Hoping that the Baron would have said something like, 'oh, just a glass of water would be fine' was what Fiddlefaddle had wished for, never the less he started to the counter where a large troll was standing and wiping a stone tankard with what appeared to be someone's old shirt. "My good troll, what is today's special?" he asked. After staring at the BAT man for a couple of seconds, finally the troll smiled and answered. "Aged goat's milk with a little extra special ingredient for flavor." |  |
Now Fiddlefaddle was not going to ask about the extra because he really did not want to know what it might be, but went ahead and ordered one for the Baron. As he was taking it back to him, Fiddlefaddle noticed that the Baron was now talking to Hewy who had finished his last practice set and was now taking a break.
"I know where some of the Borrowers live but they are a secluded group and usually live away from each other instead of in a community. Borrowers like to work alone when they can. They normally don't like to be too close to neighbors because either a fight happens because they 'borrowed' something or the neighbor did," he heard Hewy tell the Baron.
"But Hewy, we must find this Borrower because it has a Dragon tablet that may change our entire realm if it gets into the wrong hands," whispered the Baron as he leaned into the troll, hoping that no else was listening in.
"Or Troll's hands you mean. This must be what the Troll King Druzzy is wanting," replied Hewy. "Lately he has been trying to get me to bring Hungry to him and he keeps asking me about any information or old songs about Dragons that I might know about. The last time he summoned me to his audience room, he said that as a musician I must know how to read music, but could I also read Dragon? It made no sense to me at the time, but now it does. He must really want that tablet."
"I don't think it would be a good thing, Sir, if he gets it," interrupted Fiddlefaddle. "Sorry sir, your drink..." holding out the tray to the Baron. As the Baron's thoughts were on the problem he and Hewy were discussing, he grabbed the handle of the drink and started to take a sip... but before he could, Hewy's hand covered the top of the tankard and pulled it from his grasp. "Is this today's special?" he asked Fiddlefaddle. "Yes, it is what the Baron requested," he replied.
"Unless you want us to carry you out of here, I would not drink that. The special ingredient is a large shot of aged Dragon's Brew and even that is strong enough to put a troll asleep under a tavern table let alone under a bridge," Hewy told the Baron. Deciding that Hewy's warning was good enough for him, the Baron decided to forget about the drink and continue the discussion. "If Druzzy is interested in Hungry, then we should warn him or maybe consider hiding him deeper in the forest."
 | "Let me get my gear and I can take you to where he is training with his other teachers," answered Hewy sitting the drink down on the wooden tavern floor and starting to the stage. As he was setting it down, a small drop spilled from the tankard and started smoking and bubbling where it landed, leaving a hole in the wooden floor that hadn't been there before. |
"Fiddlefaddle, next time you order the special, maybe you should get some ice (lots of ice) to water it down a little bit?" the Baron told his BAT man as they followed Hewy to the tavern door and into the street. As Fiddlefaddle followed the Baron out of the door, he made some notes in a little journal that he carried for information just like this.
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