"I was told this was once the home of dwarves, and that they want their home back. Did you know that?"
She looks behind Pat, at the bowl and the spilled food. "Is that tasty? It doesn't look tasty. What is it?"
Almalik fidgets behind Ama, watching a madwoman do the talking for the group is not quite the cup of tea for the arrogant arcanist.
"Pesky dwarves, some in the prison right now."
Pat answers the queen, he glances at the stew and smiles a big toothy smile.
"Rat stew, wanna taste?"
He grabs the bowl with a big meaty hand and offers it to Ama.
Fish like rat stew. You have more?" the kobold asks eagerly.
Nagbur looks at Fish, then back at Pat, nodding enthusiastically.
A meal offered to a guest is sacred. Evne if it's made out of rats.
Almalik smiles, nodding politely.
"Ama would love to try some."
Ama smiles and nods politely. "I'd very much like to, I've never tasted rat stew yet."
She accepts the bowl, takes a full spoon, and puts it in her mouth. "Hmm... I very much like it, but it could use some cheese. Do you like cheese? I love it."
Ama takes another spoonful before handing the bowl back to Pat. "I can get any food I want in my home. There's a kind elven lady named Vaara, and she's a very good cook."
Pat walks over to a shelf and grabs some slightly moldy cheese, offering it to Ama. He walks over to a pot sitting in the corner over a smoldering fire and ladles some more stew in the plate, before handing everything over to the group.
"Me no get many visitors, dwarves only yell..."
Nagbur snorts derisively even as he eagerly goes after the stew. "Nagbur not never met nice dwarfses. Always is want want gimme gimme, never precialate nothing!"
"Axe!", the large man responds, after tasting some of the stew.
"This is good rat, better than non-stewed rat I an sure!"
Pat nods.
"They no want my stew. They no friendly."
Ama slightly unsheathes her weapon to remove some of the mold on the cheese and cut off a piece for her to eat.
"So I was thinking, Pat... I can offer you a job where you can eat a lot of tasty things, and there are generally no dwarves involved. Just sometimes, but then they give us stuff after we complete a task for them. Are you interested?"
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Pat seems to think about it for a moment.
"You have prison?"
Almalik looks around somewhat uneasily.
"... We could?"
"Why?" Nagbur asks between noisy slurps of rat stew. "You gots somebody you wanna put in?"
"that's me job. Guarding prisoners."
He answers simply.
"Never done anything else."
"You try guard stuff? Same, but you no have to feed it." Fish tries to add helpfully. "We have lots stuff."
"That same as guarding people?"
The large and filthy man asks Fish.
"Then could try it."
"Just stop people no know from taking stuff," Fish replies. "No worry stuff walk away on own, very easy."
"They got jail in town?" Nagbur asked around a mouthful of stew.
Idris nodded as he finally followed the hectic lines of the conversation. If they could get this great brute to switch sides, then there was no need for anyone to get hurt. He rubbed the tender area over his left kidney and winced. He liked to scrap as much as the next guy, more than most actually, but this job had been a bit brutal. It would be nice to not have to pound someone's face in for a change.