A keg of beer
After Kel Tuh Las, Theo, Aldric and Löwenzahn set off from Wilhelm’s farm the last time, it takes a good three hours of more walking before Fichtenstein finally comes into view. A small village surrounded by a wooden palisade stands out from the otherwise flat and lightly wooded landscape. The cobblestones of the trade route lead them to a small gate with a sleeping guard leaning against it. But before they can pass through the gate, the guard is startled out of his sleep and looks at them in surprise. “Hi, I’m Simon, I’ve never seen you here before,” the guard introduces himself. During a brief small talk, in which our four adventurers are careful not to mention anything about their slave past, they learn that Simon is one of two city guards of Fichtenstein. Kevin, the other guard, is currently standing at the east gate, which belongs to the harbor of Fichtenstein . Suddenly concerned about laws and employee protection, Löwenzahn asks about breaks and general working hours. However, these obviously don’t exist in the Fichtenstein guardhouse, instead it is a 24/7 job, which is why they are forced to sleep during working hours. Confused by this more than pointless concept, the four wish Simon a good day (or a good night, whichever is the case) and then enter the first village of their adventure.
Fichtenstein is small, very small in fact. Besides a Jarl’s house, a church, a general store, the herb store ‘Apo’ and the tavern ‘Theke’, there are only a few other houses. Nevertheless, our friends are more than just euphoric and immediately start talking to every minor character, no matter how irrelevant. The first victim is the owner of the ‘Theke’, the barkeeper Udo. In addition to his legendary E’Sipp, a home-brewed beer, he also hands out some interesting information. For example, the Jarl has recently disappeared and a grave robber seems to be up to mischief in the church graveyard. However, our group does not allow such irrelevant sidequests to distract them from their main goal of downing as much beer as possible in as short a time as possible. This gives them an excellent idea. How cool it would be if they could not only get the beer in large quantities, but also for free. They present this idea directly to Udo, who initially has a big question mark on his face. But then Aldric, who is already emerging as the mouthpiece of the group, begins to come up with a comprehensive plan. They would organize a big party in Fichtenstein and significantly increase the number of customers that evening. They would also organize a drinking contest, for which they would be provided with the beer, but all other customers would have to pay. The resulting much higher profit would then easily be enough to cover the cost of their beer. Udo is unsure at first and not really convinced of the trustworthiness of our four. On the other hand, he is sure that the four sippers will certainly attack his beer supply. He insists that there must be at least ten more customers than on a normal Sunday. Then he would waive the price of their drinks and also throw in a bed for everyone.
As soon as these words have left his mouth, our four sprint out of the building and start beating the advertising drum. But then they have an even better idea and less than five minutes later they are back in front of Udo’s counter. They would like to have a keg of E’Sipp so that they have another argument for the potential party guests with free beer. Udo organizes this quickly, but prefers to pay for it. With kegs of beer on their shoulders and big plans, the four of them gather in the small market square and loudly announce the upcoming spectacle at Udo’s place. However, the whole thing doesn’t really work out and only the two twins Thorsten and Torben appear at the tap in no time at all. To their frustration, they realize that the two are probably regulars at Udo’s and are not among the ten new guests they have to acquire. Thankfully, there aren’t too many regulars in Fichtenstein, so they are able to convince a few other locals to spend the evening at Udo’s ‘Theke’ as well as the trader Hellebard Dunkel.
One of them is Ulrich, who lives right next to the cemetery. He lives here with his wife Helena and their two children. Helena opens the door to our friends after a short wait and greets them, while only Ulrich slowly crawls into the doorway from behind. After less than half a minute’s conversation, our four already know who wears the pants in the relationship and get to know Helena as a prickly steel fox. Löwenzahn, however, doesn’t miss Ulrich’s longing to finally be able to spend an evening in freedom again. And so, a little later, he sneaks back to the house and quietly calls for Ulrich. He is outside doing the laundry and is clearly delighted to see Löwenzahn. Although Löwenzahn is pretty much anything but socially adept, he manages to convince Ulrich of their party in no time at all.
With Ulrich in tow, Löwenzahn returns to the ‘Theke’, where the other three have already been busy dragging customers. Not only do they manage to collect the required ten customers in Fichtenstein, they even exceed this number by three. Satisfied, Löwenzahn, Aldric and Kel Tuh Las sit down in a corner of the guest room, maneuver the huge barrel onto the table there and start a game of ‘Ex your glass’. The only simple rule is that two people have to compete against each other and each have to drink a pint of beer on ex. The slower one loses and the faster one wins. The stakes can be renegotiated before each round. Theo is interested in the game, but first tries to take the money out of the pockets of one or two of the guests with his cards before his synapses trick him in the intoxication of alcohol. He isn’t really successful, but at least he manages to get one or two silver coins. After a few more or less successful attempts, Theo joins his already passionate drinking colleagues. Löwenzahn in particular seems to get on very well with Ulrich, who has apparently already drunk quite a bit. Find out next time at Arkanthia Pen and Paper whether this is really going well or whether Helena is playing the party crasher.
