The Inn in the Woods

He sighed wearily. It had all been so peaceful and quiet until a few minutes ago but now his solitude had been so rudely interrupted. Half hidden in the shadows at a table in the corner he watched the mayhem ensue. He sighed heavily again and stood up.

First things first. He decided the annoying barbarian had to go. He muttered several words almost inaudibly and pointed at the barbarian. With the last word the spell was released. A few seconds later and the barbarian gave a short, sharp scream as the skeleton he had seen with the "gold" suddenly grabbed his leg and yanked him into the hole. A moment later and the hole was no longer there and nor was the barbarian. The confusion spell had been augmented with an illusion spell - a neat little trick he had learned on his travels - and the barbarian would be miles and miles away by the time it wore off.

One down. He turned to the bowman and starts to raise his hand. Then he has second thoughts. He steps forward into the dim light and pulls back his cowl. Smiling mischievously he says aloud, "I used to be an adventurer like you until I took an arrow to the knee!"

Mari stands with hands on hips glaring at the grotesque masked face and wonders what he's calling himself now. Beside her Pooka begins to growl and his size increases.

"I thought you were dead," she snarls, feeling half relieved to see him alive and half disappointed.

She throws a glance at Spellweaver. "Jerk a man right out from under my feet will you!" Looks at the extra ale she is holding and shrugs. "No sense letting this go to waste."

"I thought you were dead!" She snarls.

"Oh, don't look so disappointed, love. I bloody well nearly was thanks to this pathetic excuse for a-"

"Owe you money?!!" The wizard suddenly wakes up. He'd probably started this party well before anyone had arrived.

As the Spellweaver goes on one of his usual rants, the mercenary suddenly regrets coming back. He drops the bow with a sigh and a shake of the head and makes his way past the wizard, with an obscene hand gesture, to the bar at the end, casually taking Mari's extra ale as he goes by.

"Barman," he yells "Barman! Where are you?"

"Who, you mean old Nick?" He replies and produces a skull from under the counter. "He's been dead for ages. Everyone has. Look at this place," he covers the whole room with a sweep of his arm, pointing out its pitiful state, "no one's been here in years." He holds the skull up as if to examine it. "Alas, poor Norrick, I knew him well." Then tosses it back behind him where it lands with a snap, crack and pop. "As to the manticore issue," he continues after taking a swig of ale, "you'll recall that you had hired her. Dealing with one goddess wannabe was enough for me, thank you, I didn't get paid nearly enough to handle that sort of business. And yes, I was laughing my arse off at you. You would have as well, except you were incapable of appreciating the hilarity of the situation from where you were standing. Besides," he continues having swallowed some more of the drink, "I had enough on my plate already dealing with mad killer bat people and that bloke... whatshisname, tall dark and ugly with the fetish for black armour. And with regards to the kerfuffle in the temple," another chug of ale seems necessary to go on "you will recall I mentioned traps, yes? And what did I say, Martin? What did I say about touching the statues? But no, you had to cop a feel, didn't you? Well, I hope it was damn well worth it. Now pay up, you lying, cheating son of an imp."

"No, Martin, no. It really doesn't sound better! Would the two of you quit talking long enough to explain a few things!"

Mari turns her accusing gaze on the rune covered mask. "Don't you ever take that thing off?" Pauses, "Nevermind, I don't want to know! By the way, have you made up your latest alias yet?"

"You seem to have kept in touch with the old place and poor old Nick," winces slightly remembering the sound of splintering bone, "Fortuna or some other ill-intentioned deity has drawn us all back. Fill us in a bit on what you know about Nick and the inn. Seems odd to me we're all here on the same night." Glances thoughtfully at Spellweaver. "Martin you were definitely lurking in the dark, don't deny it. Did you," Mari waggles her fingers at Martin, "have a hand in that?"

Laurana had remained where she was watching the chaos erupt around her. At times she smiled and almost laughed aloud at the antics of those who had once been her friends. She wondered why Martin had banished the fool in the floor, but didn't think too hard on it. Slowly she moved towards the bar Norris was still hiding behind and waited for him to open th he'd found.