Udo's new roommates
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After our four friends spent several sessions ignoring the main quest and instead devoting themselves to side adventures such as the mystery of Grete, they have recently started making progress again. At dusk, our friends spoke to a stable boy from Chiraque, who is supposed to pass on a meeting place and time to Nina. At tomorrow’s meeting, the four want to discuss with Nina whether she could imagine passing on information from the Chiraque residence to her client for a longer period of time. But today, they are heading back from the Chiraque residence to Fichtenstein, where not only a warm bed awaits them at Udo’s, but also plenty of beer.
On the way, the four pass Wilhelm’s farm. Although they no longer have any scores to settle with him, they still don’t particularly like Wilhelm. Besides, when they confronted him about his betrayal of Feandal, his payment was more than meager. So our friends decide to pay the farmer a quick visit. But to their surprise, the farm lies deserted before them. At first glance, they can’t tell whether Wilhelm and his wife are working in the fields or have abandoned the farm, but it suits them very well that no one is there at the moment. Accordingly, they relax and look around both the farmhouse itself and the adjacent barns. After a little more than an hour, our friends meet again in front of the large farmhouse empty-handed. “They really don’t have anything of value,” Theo complains irritably, and his colleagues nod in agreement. “Then I’ll at least take two chickens with me,” Aldric says defiantly, and so our four friends set off again with two chickens.
After successfully completing the last thirty minutes to Fichtenstein, Löwenzahn jumps off his trusty steed and throws the reins to Aldric. “I’ll ask Udo where we can put the four of them up,” he calls to his three friends and disappears through the front door. Löwenzahn is greeted inside by Udo with a cheerful laugh. “What are you doing here again? I thought you wanted to be away for a longer period of time?” he asks the half-orc in bewilderment. But Löwenzahn just shrugs his shoulders and explains that they still have something to do here in this corner. Then he asks about a possible shelter for the horses. “It’s best to just put them in the small garden at the back,” Udo suggests and disappears into the kitchen for the time being. Dandelion also leaves the dining room, and after he and his friends have tied up the horses in the garden, the four of them return to the dining room.
They make themselves comfortable in a small corner of the room and have just sat down when Udo places four mugs of beer on the table in front of them. A short time later, the food arrives, and since they are the only guests today, Udo joins them without further ado. The conversation quickly becomes more relaxed, and our friends realize that a real friendship has developed between them and the innkeeper. “Say, Udo,” Aldric begins, addressing the innkeeper directly, “you don’t happen to need chickens, do you?” Udo looks at him in bewilderment, but then begins to grin in disbelief. “Why the hell do you have chickens?” he asks Aldric, who then briefly tells him the story of Feandal and Wilhelm and explains their role in the matter. “Yeah, why not? But then you’ll have to build me a shelter for the beasts outside so I can take care of them,” Udo agrees. However, our friends prefer to postpone this task until the next day, because now they have to concentrate on Udo’s beer flat rate.
Kel, Aldric, Löwenzahn, and Theo wake up the next morning feeling appropriately crumpled. To their surprise, they are not greeted by a cheerful Udo, but by an empty taproom as they carefully stumble down the stairs. While Kel Tuh Las tends to a small fire in the fireplace, Dandelion and Aldric trudge into the backyard, where they begin building a chicken coop. Theo, on the other hand, wants to combat his hangover in a slightly different way. He says goodbye to his friends and runs to the nearby hut of the herbalist Rosvita. He quietly knocks on the slightly ajar door, and a smoky “hello” echoes from inside the hut.
Theo enters, and Rosvita’s face lights up with surprise when she sees him. “You look familiar,” she whispers, and it seems as if she is desperately searching her brain to remember where she knows Theo from. “Yeah, I’ve bought herbs here before and brought you ingredients for a love potion with my friends,” Theo tries to help her remember, and a flicker of recognition flashes across Rosvita’s eyes. “I wanted to ask if you have any other herbs for smoking?” Theo asks, seeming to snap her out of her trance. “But of course,” she replies to the halfling and begins rummaging around in a large bag. She offers him different types of weed, and together they sample Rosvita’s selection.
Already quite high, Theo suddenly pulls out the Rhatcyler mountain herbs he found in Selbingen at the military outpost. “I have something very special here,” he whispers to Rosvita. “I’d be happy to share it with you, but I’d like a few grams of Odd in return.” Curious, Rosvita agrees and adds some of the mountain herbs to her joint. One drag is enough to completely knock the herbalist out. She is still sitting upright, but is no longer responsive and shows hardly any movement – apart from her regular breathing. Since the whole thing is no longer particularly communicative, Theo says goodbye to Rosvita after a few minutes, but not without securing his exchanged weed and the lit joint.
Comfortable and now also hangover-free, he strolls across the small Fichtenstein market square and from there directly into the backyard of Udo’s restaurant. To his surprise, a perfectly constructed chicken coop awaits him there, in which two chickens are romping around. Kel, Löwenzahn, and Aldric stand proudly in front of their work. “That doesn’t look too bad,” says Theo, immediately earning critical glances. “Not too bad?” repeats Löwenzahn contritely. “It’s awesome,” he corrects himself, dissatisfied. Satisfied with having annoyed his friends a little, Theo finally agrees with Löwenzahn and praises the thoroughly successful woodwork. “Now that this important item is off the agenda, we could actually head off to our meeting with Nina, couldn’t we?” Dandelion asks the group. He receives nods of agreement – but you’ll have to wait until next time on Arkanthia Pen and Paper to find out how the meeting ultimately goes.
