Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: tim@mik.uky.edu (timothy c huesman) Subject: [inn] Doc Pan Mary, Short-ogre-cook, Serene, Prill Keywords: Serene, Mary, Doc Pan, Prill, NPC, Inn Message-ID: Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 17:43:17 GMT In the weeks since Doc Pan arrived in Generica, he has been making tours of almost every fact of life in the merchant-city. From visits to the library, the market, and the docks, Pan now ventures into that most protected of domains, the kitchen of the Dragon's Inn. Pan's risk has paid off, the short-ogre cook, Mary and he have exchanged volumes of information on nutrition and Pan was very impressed with the stores kept here in the Dragon's Inn. We see him exiting from the back of the kitchen to the bar to meet with Prill. "Thank you both, I think then that the diets I outlined for Lady Prill and myself shall be among the best we have ever had. It's always been my opinion that the merchant cities of my home..err...world, Thera, had the finest to offer those who chose to live by a regimen. How much more so here in Generica, for with its contact with many other worlds, the opportunities are multiplied. Again, thank you." The Doc and Prill were next sated by the most sumptuous python pie they had ever tasted...wonder where they found the python?...no matter, nothing amazes one who has spent a week in the Dragon's Inn. The Doc was questioning Serene about its source just as Lek came running up to his table. "Ahh boy, come sit and have some snake pie..very nutritious!" Lek hurriedly bowed to Prill and seated himself while pulling a clean kerchief from his pouch. Serene, took her cue and provided the speedy service for which she was known...often arriving with the order before the order was made. Lek looked different, far different from the youth Pan and Prill had found emptying privies for mere coppers a week. And yes he smelled different! Lek was a gangly youth in that awkward stage between boyhood and maturity. One sees few boys of his age about as they are usually apprenticed to some craftsman and kept in the backrooms of the shops while they learn the trade. Lek had not the fortune to learn a trade until the Doc entered Generica for he was a slow-learner. The craftsman had thought him too slow on the uptake to learn a trade and so he was already past the age of bonding by several years. It took the Doc minutes to discover the problem. "Is it pizened, Master?" asked the tentative Lek. "Well if it were a poisonous snake...all the better....but no, one would have to boil the snake whole to retain any poison, which would then break down in the heat. The poisonous variety have the most succulent meat...I believe it to be their own strong enzymes at work in their systems. No, the Inn wouldn't poison you, eat up!" Lek didn't need any further encouragement and ate in an efficient, yet elegant style...the Doc had been coaching him. While he ate, the Doc began posing a question for the boy...a query that circled back on itself and lacked all apparant logic. Lek hesitated in his eating only long enough to answer the question having given almost no time for thought. Prill was silent, still working on the question, but the Doc smiled. Lek, for all his slowness could probably outperform any in this room when it came to abstract thinking. His left-handedness had clued the Doc that this might be the case upon their meeting for though he was slow to answer even in the most casual of conversation, his eyes showed an intense concentration. Always a misfortune to be born left-handed in the working classes of a merchant town, among the wealthy, he would have become a gifted artist, or if he had had a patient instructor, the lefty would become a deadly warrior. Lek was undoubtedly a gem of a find in this harsh town, but for all his learning, even the Doc would be hard put to find someone to tutor the boy. For Doc Pan was among the right-handed and logic was his life... the ways needed to aid Lek in adapting his skills to a world bent dexter were beyond the Doc. He would have to find an able lefty....but that could wait yet a little while. Lek still needed to see the world so as to decide what craft he would call his own... or crafts. Having eaten two helpings of the pie and checking with Pan the regimen designed for the growing youth, Lek reported on the tasks assigned to himself and the others. Suddenly Prill piped up, "Yes....I see it. You were right, Lek. Doc, how did you come up with that riddle? It was a toughie." The Doc switched tongues to answer Prill that he had been coached on that question years before and it had taken him the better part of a day to answer. The Doc was glad Prill had not taken so long in her answer either... it meant that as a group, they were balanced in their thinking. Lek continued, "Alfie has covered the nor'west out to nearly a mile, Egbert the east, Jerome and 'Tasha the south, and the shore and sands were done by me at low tide. The nor' is practically done for us by 'steaders. We've documented all the plants we found for a mile and more. I've drawin's of all but what was found today and tomorrow, I'll be ready to go wit' ya on the the outing. Oh, and 'Tasha asked me to thank ya for the escort near the south gate... though i think that Jerome was more askeered than she. "Good...actually excellent! The Library had volumes on local flora but from all I can tell, the merchant locality of Generica and all the otherworldly visitors have added some new ones. Most are so close to those native on my homeworld that we could forage for an hour or two and have a day's meals provided. Let's see if the outfitters have finished up our gear then, eh?" The Doc got up and pulled Lady Prill's seat back for her and the three of them exited the tavern, with the Doc only pausing long enough to read a poster from the guard. A generous tip was left for Serene for the promptest service on any world. As they moved through the streets, young people, many children, would come up to the Doc and ask if they could join on his forays. The Doc would cast a furtive eye at Lek who for most would give a sign to the negative and the Doc would decline the offer. But for some, the Doc would start up his queries, checking the aptitude of the youth....and some not youths, finding always that Lek knew more about the young in this town than they probably knew about themselves. The Doc had come to trust Lek's keen observations. The Doc would then let Lek handle the arrangements of worktimes, teams, and training. Lek had assembled close to 40 people of keen eye to aid in the forays hunting for plants often no larger than a fly's wing. Runners and delivery boys were coming at a premium now, for though the Doc worked them all day, he paid them a generous wage and fed them from what had been foraged. Many had acquired a taste for the 'weeds' and seaweed the Doc was feeding them and would bring a few sacks of the plants to families surprised at how tasty and FREE the weeds growing in the cracks of the street and the sewer-gullies were. Merchants had taken to hiring the drunks and beggars to do their errand-running, and since such were far less reliable, were beginning to grumble. One guild had no scarcity of young workers though, for though the risks were greater, the thieves' guild could offer far better wages. The Doc and his troupe marched to the outftters. Several of Lek's companions would be joining the three of them on a wider ranging foray this time, and spending a while in the woods. The ever capable Alfie was already there, his 5' 3", stocky build contrasting with Lek's tall, lanky frame. Both though had the red hair and green eyes that marked them as cousins, however distant. Beatrice arrived within minutes. Beat, was of that mountain stock that maintained its Matriarchy into this era, and used female warriors as often as male. She was already as tall as Lek and at 16 was perhaps her full height of 5'11". She was strong and determined and still had some difficulty taking orders from Lek, whom she had been calling 'the dummy' only weeks before as had most of the town. 'Tasha rounded out the campers. The Doc still didn't know why 'Tasha worked for him. Lovely, graceful, and of well-to-do family, she relished in the outdoor work. She could instead have her pick of suitors asking for her hand...rather than crawling among rocks and ravaging her nails and skin. The Doc thought she had some love of the outdoors and that she was strong-willed enough to get her way from her parents. When the large, brown eyes of the 5' 5" 15 year old asked for duties, the Doc hated to send her off to see what was growing in the manure piles, but off she went, delightedly. The gear was ready, they tried on the clothes, armor in some cases, and filled their packs with the gear purchased. When all the final purchases were made, they went home to get sleep before the pre-dawn muster. Tomorrow, there was work to do. < I apologise on using Mary and the short-Ogre-cook as I have if their duties were misunderstood. I still have only the briefest info on NPC's. Many of you have already received mail from me requesting more info for the sake of a smooth story line. 8) > -- Doc Pan tim@mik.uky.edu Tim Huesman