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Truanu, a small town surrounded by orcs, founded on stubbornness, a decent sized hill, a perpetual spring of fresh water and the townsfolk’s bloody minded refusal to do the sensible thing and just go live somewhere safe. Did I mention the stubbornness?
Anyway, today jubilation fills the evening air in the normally staid town, for it is the twelfth birthday of the Chief Defender’s youngest daughter, Ruby, and the townsfolk have been preparing all day for the ceremony and festivities to follow. A throng of spectators has amassed at the town Commons; the buzz of the crowd subsides as the weathered town leader, Halgra of the Blackened Blades, takes the stage and begins to speak.
“Thank you all for joining us this night. I take immense pride in my responsibility as Chief Defender, especially when it comes to the honor of the hopeknife ceremony. It is always a great privilege to bequeath Trunauan youths their hopeknives as they come of age.” Halgra stops speaking long enough to open an ornamental case and retrieve a slender, ornately decorated dagger hanging from a silver chain. “But tonight is a special occasion, for the recipient of this hopeknife is none other than my youngest daughter.” Once again, Halgra pauses, but this time she turns to talk to the child beside her.
“Ruby, by the traditions of our town, you have come of age. This hopeknife represents your responsibilities as an adult and defender of Trunau. You must be willing to use it on yourself, your fellow Trunauans, and your family—even me, should it come to that. It will be a far quicker death than that which the orcs will offer, and providing it is your duty. Do you swear to guard Trunau from all comers, and to use your hopeknife only for its intended purpose?”
Ruby—dusky skinned, black haired, and painfully shy—nods her head in response to her mother’s question.
“If the orcs come, and there is no other option, this is where you cut—here, here, and here.” Halgra demonstrates which arteries to sever while Ruby watches. When she is finished, Halgra sheathes the hopeknife and places the necklace around Ruby’s neck before turning back to address the crowd.
“Tonight, Ruby becomes a full member of our community! Let us welcome her, and celebrate her passage into adulthood! Trunau forever!”
”Trunau forever!” The crowd echoes Halgra’s last words in a heartfelt roar, signalling the end of the ceremony and the start of the fun and games! Trunauans don’t let their hair down often so a hopeknife ceremony is always a big deal and this being Ruby’s, the whole town has gone all out on food, games and prizes!
2. Fee, Fie, Foe, Frum! Sergeant Frum plays the part of the ‘giant’ who fiercely guards his treasure. Whoever can ‘steal’ the most treasure from the giant wins the game. Frum is blindfolded, but he’s an old hand at the game and his lance may be padded but it still lands a hearty whack!
3. Horizon Watcher. This is a team game (2-4 players per team) where the teams have to follow clues around Trunau to collect clues and ‘light the watch fire’ to ‘protect the town’. This game has the biggest prizes.
There’s also ‘orc dunking’ where you are shown a number of prizes on the bottom of corks with small ‘orcs’ on top. They are set floating in a barrel and players have to knock down an orc with a ‘javelin’ to reveal and win the prize!
A stout dwarven woman leans against a bench, smoking a cigar as she watches the hope knife ceremony. She has dark skin and braided hair the color of burnished bronze. She is well-proportioned, her tight vest and breeches showing off a muscular body decorated with numerous tribal tattoos. A large sword and hammer are strapped to her back.
Once the ceremony is complete, she puts out the cigar and moves to join in the fun. She has journeyed far from her home in the Five Kings Mountains, and she is grateful for a chance to unwind. She smiles at Ruby as she sits down for the eating contest.
”Never met a bowl of porridge I didn’t like! You may call me Rising Dawn. Congratulations on your adulthood, dear girl. May you become the person you have always wanted to be.”
With the exception of the very slight points to her ears, only Casia's eyes give any hint that her ancestry isn't entirely human. And what eyes they are; Bright green that brings to mind fresh grass after a spring rain.
Those eyes never stop moving as she maneuvers through the trading stalls, lighting first on that vase, that hat, those boots, that staff. Her eyes move as if searching for something, but not knowing quite what. Nothing seems to call out at her, but she continues to browse. Everything seems as if it has a story to tell, but nothing is calling for her to be the story-teller.
She walks with a staff in her off hand, but is garbed in well-crafted leather. Tight leather pants cover her legs, while her torso is concealed - to some degree - with a bustier of the same material. Over her shoulders is a bolero jacket - also in leather. All the pieces are of the same light brown color, soft and pliable to the touch.
Finally realizing that she's not going to find anything of note in the stalls, she circles a little larger. For the most part, the games hold no interest for her, but she stops for a moment to watch the bronze-haired dwarf face opponents in the eating contest.
When she hears about the 'Horizon Watcher' game, though, she's intrigued. She likes puzzles and hunting down clues; Maybe this would be fun.
Having woken up especially early this morning in order to get ready for the ceremony, Poppy still manages to turn up, puffing and panting just in the nick of time.
The young halfling with striking red curls dons an unusual pair of leather elbow-length gloves as she bustles into the side of the crowd, just as Halgra begins the ceremony. She applauds and whoops as Ruby is initiated and echoes the calls of "Trunau forever!
Off to wander the stalls, Poppy makes small-talk with a couple of townsfolk that she had not spoken to for some time, before exploring the offers around. The young halfling pauses at one stand to observe the rules for the 'Horizon Watcher' treasure hunt, intrigued at such a fun conundrum. As she turns to walk away and check out the other games on offer, she topples over, headfirst into the leather-clad woman.
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry, my fault - I'm sure." Poppy says, looking up from the ground at the slender woman with her sapphire blue eyes. With a resigned sigh, she looks down expectantly at her knee-length lace-up boots which have been expertly tied together from toe to knee. "Oh, not again! Will they ever give up! My apologies again, let me just undo all of these and I'll be out of your way."
Thayer, a large human male in his twenties, finds himself in line for orc dunking. So sure of himself that he will walk away with the top prize, he makes a bet with the dwarf in line in front of him.
Sweeping his long auburn hair out of his freshly shaved face, he chuckles at the bearded fellow "Please. I'm twice your size. I have strength and height advantages over you. I will easily double your score."
"Aye. Aw brawn an' nae brains 'at one. Watch hoo it's dain, laddie!" The dwarf just shakes his head and throws his javelin forward towards the barrel. So poor is his aim, that he hits the barrel instead and busts a hole open in it, spilling water on the ground.
Thayer doubles over in laughter behind him, nearly falling to the ground. "Oh! Oh! That's how it's done, is it? I hope they don't cancel the game now because you spilled all of the water!" Slapping the dwarf on the back and laughing some more, he picks up a javelin and waits for the all clear before he says "Watch this." and throws his javelin.
Never have there been two equally horrible javelin throws made in succession. Thayer tries so hard that he throws his javelin with way too much force, missing the barrel altogether and bursting through the backstop behind it.
The dwarf slaps his knees laughing "Might hae tae gang doon tae th' Mwangi tae pick 'at one up! HA HA HA!"
The large fighter waves away his apparent failure, "You ruined it for me, the ground was all wet and I slipped." Walking away from the laughing dwarf, he heads off in search of another game.
Casia reaches down to assist the small woman back to her feet. "Nothing marred or broken," she says with a grin. "Here, let me ... Oh, my. It looks like you're suffering from a calceological conundrum," she says when she sees that state of the woman's laces. "How did you even manage to walk?" The girl drops down into the dust and draws Poppy's feet into her lap to begin the process of untying them.
"My name's Casia, by the way," she says, her focus on the boots. "These are nice, by the way. Good stitching. Who made them? I prefer a single cordovan over the saddle stitch, but this is done really well."
Once she's got Poppy's feet separated, she helps her to her feet, but then her focus is drawn to the halfling's long gloves. She continues to hold her hand as she turns Poppi's hand this way and that to get a better look. "So many people dismiss long gloves as a fashion overstatement, but on the right woman they can look really ..." Her face flushes and she drops the small hand to step back. "Sorry. didn't mean to over share," she says with a nervous giggle. Unsure as to what to do with her hand now, she picks at the leather-wrapped grip on her staff.
"So, uh, I'm Casia ... which ... I've already told you. What's your name?"
Hearing the commotion by the orc dunking tank, Dawn looks over and laughs heartily. As the big man walks by, she calls to him. ”Care to try your luck against me? If you eat as good as you throw, it will be an easy victory for me!”
Poppy tries to reply to Casia on multiple occasions, but can barely get a word in edgeways due to the constant stream of consciousness so falls back on nodding along.
As the two women rise, Poppy smiles at someone in the distance behind Casia. "Poppy Mooncloak, at your service, thank you for helping me with my Cordovan, or was it calceological, conundrum." She bows out of habit, making her diminutive size even more noticeable.
"You noticed them! I wouldn't be anywhere without these gloves, they're my lucky charm and clearly they're working this morning as I had the pleasure of bumping into you." Poppy says cheerfully. She finishes her sentence just in time, as a deep brown grizzly bear lopes up behind Casia stopping just in time as to not cause another accident.
"Primrose! Where have you been? Meet Casia, our new acquaintance, no Primrose, stop getting jealous, we just bumped into her you silly thing." Poppy takes a step closer and reaches up to rub the bear between its eyes.
"So, we've never seen you around Trunau before, what brings you here to celebrate on such a fine day?"
Casia turns around to meet the newcomer, internally grateful to have someone pull the attention away from her babbling. Her relief is short-lived at the sight of the grizzly bear, however.
"Oh!" she says with a start and takes a half-step back, her eyes widening and the blush vanishing from her cheeks in an instant.
"Uh, I ... uh ... I'm ... uh ... on a quest ... I mean ..." Realizing that the bear isn't biting or clawing and seems to have no immediate intention to do so, Casia swallows and attempts to collect her dispersed composure. "I'm on a quest to document rare artifacts. Someone told me about Trunau and its unique location so I arranged a spot with a merchant caravan to see if there was anything that warranted my attention here."
Hearing the commotion by the orc dunking tank, Dawn looks over and laughs heartily. As the big man walks by, she calls to him. ”Care to try your luck against me? If you eat as good as you throw, it will be an easy victory for me!”
Thayer turns to the dwarf and chuckles, "What's this? You expect me to let you win because you're a woman, do you? Well I'm afraid that's not going to happen. As long as you're okay losing to the likes of me, you're on!"
He purses his lips and says "I'm feeling rather parched. Loser buys a round of ale then?"
With an agreement in place, he steps up and grabs another javelin and throws it once more. Having the weight and distance down this time, he is much more effective in his toss.
”Heh, you’re on, big boy,” Dawn says. She holds out her hand for Thayer to shake.
Nodding in agreement he says "Alright, can't wait." he says, shaking her hand.
"Ye don't get no prize if ye don't pay!" The storekeeper yells, retrieving the second, and much better aimed, javelin that Thayer tosses. "I'll let ye off though, after that first wun!"
With that Kursten Grath sounds the call for the beginning of 'The Siege is Lifted'. Alongside Rising Dawn and Thayer sits Sara Morninghawk, the town blacksmith and reigning champion as well as a very rotund woman that the locals all know affectionately as 'Big Betty'. Ruby and Kursten walk up and down solemnly in front of the competitors.
"Ready?" Ruby asks, "Remember, most bowls emptied in two minutes wins. Anyone who vomits is out of the contest. On your marks, get set... go!"
Sara starts like a rocket, shoveling great mouthfuls of siege stone porridge into her mouth. Betty meanwhile begins much more slowly and after barely a full bowl pushes back her chair looking rather green.
The reigning champion eats on, clearing four bowls at ridiculous speed. During the fifth bowl she pauses repeatedly, before finally clearing it with a groan and dropping her spoon with a few second left to go.
"That's the lead!" Ruby declares with excitement.
The raucous cheering for the contestants draws eyes from across the fairground, including those of a halfling, a half-elf and a bear with a fondness for siegestone porridge.
Dawn struggles at first, bu then she starts to gobble down the porridge to keep pace with Sara. The dwarf is a bit behind but her stomach rumbles ominously and she decides to quit before she pukes, leaning back and letting out a loud belch. She loosens her pants a bit to give her bloated gut a bit of extra room.
Thayer slams home the first bowl and picks up his second. He starts to pour it down his throat when some of it goes down the wrong way and he begins to choke. He tries to stop himself from gagging, but he cannot and he turns aside and vomits the first bowl back up, coughing and choking on the ground beside the table.
"Uh, I ... uh ... I'm ... uh ... on a quest ... I mean ..." Realizing that the bear isn't biting or clawing and seems to have no immediate intention to do so, Casia swallows and attempts to collect her dispersed composure. "I'm on a quest to document rare artifacts. Someone told me about Trunau and its unique location so I arranged a spot with a merchant caravan to see if there was anything that warranted my attention here."
Used to others' shocked reaction at being confronted by a grizzly bear, Poppy reassures Casia. "Oh, don't you worry about lil' Prim here, she wouldn't hurt a fly. Oh no you wouldn't, would you, you big softy. Well not unless you get in between her and a bowl of Siegestone porridge." Poppy chuckles and gives the bear one last rub just behind her ears as Primrose lowers her head further, thoroughly enjoying the attention.
"I'm sure you might find a rare artefact or two in Trunau. You should visit the Hopespring whilst you're here, maybe that might count as a rare artefact. Who knows? Just stay clear of Silvermane, he isn't the most welcoming sort most of the time."
"Looks like this Horizon walker game isn't going to work unless there's a group of 4. Such a shame - we could've given it a good shot together! Ah well, maybe another time. You know, I think I heard there was a Siegestone Porridge eating contest starting soon and Prim would just love that! Hope we're not too late. You could join us to go and see if you like? Maybe we would find two more people and could take part in this competition here?" Talking just as fast as Casia had done previously, Poppy realises she is now also babbling and stops with a slight smile in recognition she needs to give the other person in the conversation a chance to reply.
Casia continues to gaze at the halfla for a bit before it dawns on her that the woman is waiting for a reply. "Yes, of course. Don't mind me. Not sure what came over me. Let's do that."
The crowd erupts into cheers and laughter as Thayer loses his guts all over the side of the stage. Kursten claps the man on the back as he offers a towel. "It's considered good luck to have someone throw up, so don't worry." He confides with a grin.
Once Thayer recovers the four contestant are marshaled into a line and Ruby steps up to announce the winner.
"The winner, Sara Morninghawk for the third year in a row!" She pipes, having Sara a small spoon made from gold. "Second place, Miss Rising Dawn!" The dwarf receives a small bowl shaped sweet. . "And the wooden spoon award... Mr Thayer." She seems a touch intimidated by the tall man and Kursten steps over to hand Thayer a carved wooden spoon. "You can use this at the Longhouse for a free bowel of siegestone porridge for being such a good sport!" The crowd cheers as Thayer receives his consolation prize and then burst into laughter as a bear pushes its way onto the stage, which creaks ominously, and begins enthusiastically licking out every bowl.
"Right, young adventurers and old alike!" Comes a call from a little way away. "Dare you face the wrath of the terrible, the fearsome, Giant... Frum!" The children, and quite a number of adults head over to the next game - Fee, Fie, Foe, Frum, where the cantankerous, but much loved patrol sargeant Frum attempts to guard 'treasure chests', in reality buckets filled with sweets and minor treasures, from marauding 'adventurers'.
"After this it's Horizon Watcher." Ruby says as she pets the bear still cleaning up the tables. She's now 'too grown up' to join in the children's game which traditionally goes first. "Are you going to join in Poppy? You'll need a team. Umm, Miss Rising Dawn? Can I pick you for the Tug-of-War? You look strong, and maybe you too Mr Thayer? If you don't mind."
Dawn accepts the gift and pats Thayer on the back as well. "Good effort, friend. Don't feel too bad, yeah?"
She looks at the halfling who owns the bear. "If you need more for your team, I'd be happy to join." Then she turns to Ruby. "Of course, I'd be honored to be on your team for Tug-of-War!"
At first, Thayer is soured by his early exit from the competition. He folds his arms across his chest as the rest continue to eat and Sara receives a gold spoon. But when he is given his wooden spoon and the crowd cheers, he holds it aloft and chuckles, shaking his head slowly back and forth.
When Dawn comes over to greet him, he has already shrugged off his defeat and says "Let me get you that ale I owe you and then, what's this Horizon business?"
”Some sort of scavenger hunt, I think? Should be fun,” Dawn says. She moseys over to the refreshment stand to claim her ale, indicating Thayer will pay for it.
"Oh absolutely Poppy. I will be joining in for Horizon Walker, that is if I can find a group. Casia here seems to want to play, so maybe I just need two more. If you'd want to play Miss Rising Dawn, then that just means one more. Shame we missed the eating contest, but Primmy doesn't seem to mind!" Poppy giggles at the silliness of her bear.
As the children shriek and giggle, running around Sargent Frum a group for Horizon Walker join together. After the game ends a number of teams are assembled. Each team is accompanied by a marshal to ensure that there is no cheating. Rodrik Garth joins the group with a grin. "Hey, Poppy! You got this team together? I've worked hard on this one. You should find it a good challenge."
Ruby sounds a small gong to start the contest and Rodrik produces the first clue on a small piece of paper, handing it to Poppy with a grin.
The paper reads "Second of it's line, ever watchful under her eye."
"Other than the unneeded apostrophe, it seems fairly straightforward," Casia says, looking over Poppy's shoulder at the note. "It seems to be talking about the Iomedaen sanctuary. The first one burned so they built another one inside the walls. The 'her' it mentions is probably the goddess herself."
The girl seems proud of her deduction, but then flushes with a glance at Poppy. "But I'm probably not ... not telling you anything that you don't already ... know, having lived here." Her blush deepens and she grasps at her staff nervously.
Rodrik makes a theatrical gesture in the background as though Cassia's words have wounded him deeply.
"I'm a very good playwright I'll have you know!" He declares sotto voce.
Casia cringes. "Sorry," she says. To the others, she adds, "Let's head over to the temple and see if I'm right."
"I'm really impressed Casia, considering you don't know Trunau that well, you figured it out before the rest of us! Let's go see if you're right? Would you both like to join us?" Poppy asks, looking at Thayer and Rising Dawn.
"Also, ignore Rodrik's claims here..he is forgetting about his infamous play he once wrote for the harvest festival about the romantically entwined halfling and orc. They were caught dallying in a pumpkin patch and it all went wrong from there!" Poppy laughs heartily as Rodrik looks guilty as charged.
”Now that sounds like my kind of play!” Dawn laughs. ”Aye, let’s check the sanctuary!”
"I ... uh ... I like to do research about a place before I go there," Casia replies, picking at the wrappings on her staff. "I'm sure you know a lot more about Trunau than I do."
Poppy leads the way, practical knowledge trumping book knowledge at that point. The sanctuary is closed, but Brantos Calderon is waiting outside and, upon Poppy giving the man a big smile, he passes over a small medal with a Y carved on it.
"It is all we have. Let us pray it never runs dry." He says with a wink. "If you..."
"Brantos!" Roderik cuts in, giving the man a punch on the shoulder. "You know the rules. Only tell them the clue."
Brantos winks at Casia again and repeats the clue, slowly this time. "It is all we have. Let us HOPE, sorry Rod, let us pray it never runs dry."
"Ooooh, oooh, I know this one!" Poppy bounces on the spot with excitement.
"Let's go!" She declares, bounding off in a specific direction but she forgets to share this with them all in her excitement.
Thayer returns with two ales, handing one to Dawn and walking alongside her when the conversation turns towards this scavenger hunt. He shrugs "Alright, why not. Maybe you'll need to lift something heavy or something."
Listening to Casia ramble on as she solves the puzzle, Thayer crouches down and whispers to Dawn behind the back of his hand "She talks a lot." before motion to Poppy. "That one too."
When they get he first portion right, he says rather impressed "Hey, not bad."
Listening to the clue he asks "Could it be about the knife?"
A small sack doll of an orc with X's for eyes is sitting at the edge of the rafters of the small building near the hopespring. Pegs have been driven into the wood allowing a spry climber to shimmy up and retrieve the doll. The doll is stitched with the letter U on the back.
Underneath it sits another piece of paper. "Crafter of the Ceremony, Walls of Iron and Thunder"
Casia's forehead crinkles as she considers the message. "Crafter of the Ceremony ..." she repeats. "Are they talking about the Hope Knife ceremony? I don't know if anyone knows who created the ceremony." She considers it a bit longer. "Or are they talking about the crafter used in the ceremony? Since the only item involved is the Hope Knife, itself, then it would have to be the person that forged the blade. 'Walls of Iron and Thunder'?" Her face lights up. "Don't they call the smithy here, 'Clamor'? That's got to be it!"
She reaches down and grabs Poppy's hand to race towards the smithy.
"Let's go!" Poppy says as she races towards the Smithy. "Come on you two." She calls back to Thayer and Rising Dawn over her shoulder.
Primrose the bear is getting much too excited at this point and comes racing alongside Casia and Poppy.
The group races up the switchback road to Clamor, passing two other teams headed down the hill in the other direction. Primrose nearly bowls Casia over in its enthusiasm but the half-elf just about manages to keep her feet.
At the smithy a crude handaxe of orcish craftsmanship is hidden in a bucket beside an old anvil. The haft of the axe has the letters 'B' and 'R' slashed into it with some form of blade.
"That's all the clues." Rodrik says, gasping slightly as he catches up. "Whatever will you do with them now? If only there was some sort of hint on the clues themselves..."
Dawn looks at the three items they have collected. "B-U-R-Y. Bury! Are we supposed to bury them?"
The dwarf frowns and tries again. "R-U-B-Y. Ruby! We should bring them to Ruby!" she says excitedly.
"That's probably a better idea!" Rodrik agrees with a smile.
The group hurries back to the fairground where Ruby takes the items with a smile and lights a small fire. "The watch has been called!" She pipes in her clear voice. A rou d of applause brraks out among the spectators and a number come forward to congratulate you all on showing thr importance of keeping estch for enemies in Trunau.
Casia frowns. "But what was the 'X' for?" she muses to herself. It's a niggle that she chooses to let go. There are more pleasant things to focus on at the moment. "How about I buy you a drink to celebrate?" she says to the halfling near her with the enticing gloves and well-stitched boots.
"I think those were X's in the orc's eyes! Like he was dead, right?" Dawn offers.
Casia blushes when Rising Dawn states the obvious.
"Of ... of course," she says. "I was ... I don't know. I always want to see more than what's there sometimes."
Thayer nods to Dawn with regards to the X's, "That's what I was thinking."
"How about I buy you a drink to celebrate?"
Thayer finishes his ale and belches loudly. He clasps his hand on Casia's shoulder and says "Atta girl! I accept!"
He turns to Dawn and says "Did you hear that? She's gonna buy us a couple more ales."
He turns to Dawn and says "Did you hear that? She's gonna buy us a couple more ales."
Casia blinks a couple of times and then glances down at Poppy.
"Ok," she says in a small voice before frantically checking her coin pouch to see if she has the funds for the drinking spree that she's apparently funding.
"That would be lovely Casia, thank you! I'll pick up some scrumptious pork scratching for us to celebrate as well! The Ramblehouse is a great place to relax if you haven't been yet, Cham sure knows her stuff."
Standing at the bar with her fellow team-mates, Poppy raises a toast.
"To newfound friends!"
She ensures she clinks glasses with each of her three team mates.
"Thanks to everyone for playing, I had such a great time, its not often to have something so fun to do in Trunau. "
Roderik comes too. "Let me pick up the drinks tonight." He says, "It's the least I can do as a prize for you."
Roderik retires early after bidding you all a good night and paying your tab in advance. Some time later Cham heads over to the group. The Rambelhouse's proprietor is a halfling herself and she greets Poppy with a friendly grin.
"You got big friends these days little Missy." She says with a smile. "You want rooms for the night? Roderik has one room, something about a fight with his dad. There's another guy staying next door to him so I've only got a couple of rooms left. You'll have to bunk up tonight."
She leans in to Poppy. "Anyone you want to share with sweetie? The big muscle pack? Not my size but I don't judge." She does, all the time. But at least she pretends not to. "Or perhaps the pretty elf girl? I'll make it work however you like." She adds with a wink.
Not thinking anything about Cham's implications, Poppy shrugs her shoulders. "Oh, well, I guess I can't have that super comfy bed I had last night? I was really looking forward to it - I bet Roderik snapped that one up fast!"
She crunches on a pork scratching as she considers her answer.
"Are any of you staying tonight and need a room? Me and Prim don't cause too much trouble if anyone wants to share."
Oblivious to Cham's attempt at matchmaking, Casia is just happy to have saved the last of her remaining funds and is well on her way through her second mug of ale.
"I'm staying the night. The Varisian group I came with won't be leaving until the day after tomorrow," she says. The rest of the halfling's statement finally seems to sink in. "Share a room?" She blushes again. "I, uh ... " Her hand shakes just a little as she drains the last of her second drink. "I wouldn't mind that. If you're ok with that?"
"Guess me and the big guy are shacking up tonight, then," Dawn says, slapping Thayer's back. "I call little spoon!"
"Shame you have to leave so soon Casia, you won't get much time to study our town's artefacts that way. Of course it's okay to share a room, what would be the problem? Saves me half the cost of the room and I'm only little in the first place, we can squeeze onto a bed with ease." Poppy adds, winking. "I do have to warn you, Prim can be known to snore."
As soon as Poppy says Prim's name, she lifts her head from her nap and snorts, as if she is denying the accusation.
When Poppy suggests sharing a bed, Casia just stands as if struck in stone. When she finally moves, it's to gesture to Cham for a third mug of ale.