Smashed
Both of you are a little worse for wear as you stagger along the narrow alleyways of the Slab, you with your new club and Grom with a plate of cheese and pigs-in-blankets.
"We should get a pint to go with this cheese. My Ma would've loved that song. She carried me and my brothers down from the Blue Mountains all by herself. She's a good Ma." You agree with Grom and decide that the temple can wait but as you search around for a pub a hooded figure leaps out from behind a barrel and makes a strange 'wooing' sound that has the pair of you laughing. "It's not funny," the black-robed woman says. "I'm a necromancer and I want your bones." Grom shivers and drops his plate but you catch it for him. "Sorry, I have a thing about b, o, n..." Grom's eyes drift towards the ceiling as he tries to think of the next letter. "Kevin, get out here!" the necromancer shouts and a door handle to your right rattles. "Every time. Do you mind?" "Glad to help," Grom says before giving the door a shove. A skeleton lurches forward and Grom reels back in surprise. Without thinking you swing your new club and knock Kevin's skull clean from his shoulders. It soars through the air and hits the necromancer in the head knocking them to the floor where they lay unmoving. "Good shot!" Grom tries to applaud but the cheese starts to fall from his plate and he stops. "The heart attracts all sorts of weirdos. That's it over there by the way if you want to look at it. I'll find us some beer while you do your thing.
The temple's golden doors shine with an inner light but all you can see are the panels set into them. Each one tells a story on the land, with forests and mountains, seas and deserts. As you approach the song returns and you remember the words that had fallen from your mouth during the wedding. Your voice echoes around the cavern and faces appear at the windows and the hatches set in the roof.
When your voice falls silent it feels as if you have travelled across the entire realm and stood in every corner and a peaceful quiet fills your soul. Sure that the song is there to stay you turn and find Grom holding two mugs of ale and crying into both.
"That was it." Grom sniffs into his sleeve spilling some of the beer. "I want you to come to my Ma's with me and sing it for her. Drink this on the way."
You take the beer and walk beside Grom as you leave the Golden Temple.
"I want you to meet my friends. You'll love Bren and the Count but Elise can be a little cold to begin with but that's because she's a mage and smarter than the rest of us. She'll like you though."
On your way back you stop at the wedding and are asked to sing again but rather than the same song another comes forth, happier and more joyous than the last. You and Grom sing together as you leave the Slab and cross the Trado Bridge, both a little drunk but happy to have toured the Slab together.
"We should get a pint to go with this cheese. My Ma would've loved that song. She carried me and my brothers down from the Blue Mountains all by herself. She's a good Ma." You agree with Grom and decide that the temple can wait but as you search around for a pub a hooded figure leaps out from behind a barrel and makes a strange 'wooing' sound that has the pair of you laughing. "It's not funny," the black-robed woman says. "I'm a necromancer and I want your bones." Grom shivers and drops his plate but you catch it for him. "Sorry, I have a thing about b, o, n..." Grom's eyes drift towards the ceiling as he tries to think of the next letter. "Kevin, get out here!" the necromancer shouts and a door handle to your right rattles. "Every time. Do you mind?" "Glad to help," Grom says before giving the door a shove. A skeleton lurches forward and Grom reels back in surprise. Without thinking you swing your new club and knock Kevin's skull clean from his shoulders. It soars through the air and hits the necromancer in the head knocking them to the floor where they lay unmoving. "Good shot!" Grom tries to applaud but the cheese starts to fall from his plate and he stops. "The heart attracts all sorts of weirdos. That's it over there by the way if you want to look at it. I'll find us some beer while you do your thing.
by Chris Noonan
Parent Plot
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