Ale with a twist of frog

My companions and i stumbled out of Nakahs makeshift portal into the Sideways Inn, feeling uneasy i then proceeded to vomit on the floor. As I gathered my wits about me i noticed that Ko Rava and Zyanya had not stepped out of the portal with the rest of my companions. Concerned for their safety i then questioned Nakah if he knew of their whereabouts, since it was his portal we just travelled through. Nakah responded saying they had not come with us in the first place, i hoped nothing bad had happened to them.
 
I glanced around the room and saw various groups of elves and dwarfs drinking merrily. There was also a group of elves in the middle of the room dancing to a catcy tune. Spotting both my dwarf and blue scaled lizard companions i recalled i did not know their names and thought now was a good time to rectify this. My dwarf companion told me his name is Arthom and my blue scaled companion said his name is Gurvel. I also had a chat with Mura and discovered that her and Zyanya had grown up together. She also told me the blue skinned beings i had seen back at the Crystalline Fortress in Zyniii were called Aurelian elves. She went on to say she did not know much about that particular group but is aware that they have shady dealings with the bartender there.
 
I then spoke with my Solen companion whose name turned out to be Syrus and he asked me why i had been staring at him back at the Crystalline Fortress. I explained that i was slightly alarmed when i first saw him because during my childhood i was told stories of my people's war with the Solen, which lead me to have a slight mistrust of the Solen people. I continued saying that I wished to start our relationship off on a good foot and not let those stories influence my judgement of him as a individual. Upon hearing this he seemed to accept my explanation and it appeared that we were starting to get along well. That was until we got into a disagreement about the Solen-Lupo war. I could see how important Syrus's religious beliefs were to him, so for the sake of maintaining a good relationship during our journey i suggested we dropped the matter, accepting that we both had different viewpoints of this war. Hopefully this won't become an issue during our travels, although it annoyed me that he had totally disregarded how many Lupo had been slain by Thorah's Solen followers. Religion has never been that important to me but when it comes to my tribe and people i will do whatever it takes to defend them.
 
Looking around i saw the bartender of the Sideways inn and figured he might know something about the torn Leylines or random portals opening up. Myself, Syrus, Mura and Arthom made our way over to the bartender and he introduced himself as Lottodad squire. He was quite built for a dwarf and was a very cheerful dwarf. He told us about how the Sideways Inn was a family business and that he brewed the local ale there called Squires smile ale. I could tell he was very proud of this establishment along with his brew, even proposed a business deal to import Squires smile ale into Zyniii. We then asked him if had ever come across any strange phenomenons recently at the inn. He told us that a couple of decades ago a gateway of some sorts had opened up in the Sideways inn and a bunch of creatures they had never seen before had stepped out. He also recalled that one of these creatures that looked like a red skinned female demon with horns had, through the use of magic and charm, seduced his daughter Franny.
 
We then decided to go have a chat with Franny to get more information about this demon, by this stage Lucid and Gurvel had joined us. Upon approaching Franny i could see she had a sense of longing about her and seemed very reserved when we attempted to talk to her. However she seemed comfortable with Gurvel and after opening up to him we found out she was an alchemist like her grandfather Frangan and that she had been very sad since her love affair with the demon had ended. She had been working on a potion that would detect spirites who would be able to open a portal back to her demon lover. She had been afraid to test it on her own and was pleased when Gurvel offered to test the potion with her. She sent Gurvel and Arthom down to her laboratory in the basement to fetch the potion and Lottodad squire called out to them to grab a keg of his Squires smile ale while they were down there. A few moments passed and they returned with the keg and what appeared to be the potion. Before Franny and Gurvel could test the potion Lottodad squire came over insisting we all have another drink of his ale which he drew from the keg Gurvel had brought up. Everyone except Gurvel took a swig, seemed Gurvel had thing for milk beverages only.
 
I had only taken a few sips when Arthom started shrinking down in size till he was no bigger than a mouse. Before i had a chance to react Mura and Lucidius then began to break out in song and dance. Stunned beyond disbelief i was about to ask Franny and Lottodad what had happened when i noticed they were getting bigger and the bar seemed to be getting higher above me. It was only when I heard myself croaking that i realised i was a frog. Next minute I could see Gurvel grab me and put me next to the shruken Arthom on the bar. I was trying to speak but all that seemed to come out was croaking sounds. Being a druid Arthom was able to communicate to me that while Gurvel and him were in Franny's laboratory Gurvel's tail had knocked over a bunch of vials filled with liquid into the kegs. I then started arguing with Arthom saying he should have kept an eye on Gurvel in the laboratory when next minute Gurvel puts a mug on top of us, mumbling something about wanting to keep us safe.
 
Not knowing how long the effect was going to last i figured the first thing i needed to do was get the mug off me. I was able to jump up high enough to knock the mug on its side. Hopping out of the mug i looked around to see what the current situation was. Even though it was hard to make out exactly what was happening through my small frog eyes i could tell that chaos had insued in the inn, seemed like everyone had drunken from the contaminated keg. After some time the effects of whatever it was that had caused me to shapeshift wore off and as i returned to my normal size I could hear Nakah saying that he had only needed to recalibrate his googles and now was able to fix the tear in the Leyline at the Sideways Inn.
 
Still reeling from the experiences of being a frog Gurvel then gathered myself, Arthom, Lucidius, Mura and Syrus round a table and used his cloak as a tablecloth. It was then i noticed he only had one arm and wondered what the story was of how he lost his arm. He then suggested that we all go round telling each other why we were following Nakah and going on this journey as a way to get to know each other better. Even though i was annoyed at him for knocking the vials into the keg I could tell he was a simple minded fellow who seemed like a nice guy. Arthom did not want to share his reason saying his business was own, i had a feeling under his gruff exterior there was a soft side. Lucidius disclosed that he had lost his family at a young age and was moving from town to town seeking companionship and Mura wished to learn more about alchemy. Gurvel was told by his master to follow a monkey and to kill bad guys in the name of his god Alpha. Syrus then shared his reason which unfortunately had something to do with sailing across the seas initially to kill the leader of the Lupo at the time that were hunting his people. Far as I knew my people were not hunting the Solen, I could see it was going to be a constant battle to stay on good terms with Syrus.
 
Lottodad squire came over and offered us all a bed for the night saying we would always be welcome at the Sideways Inn. As I lay in bed contemplating what had happened so far i was excited to see where our journey would take us next.