A night in the tavern

[Martok]

Dancing in a wild circle, nearly knocking a dwarf out of his stool, the loud and laughing man continued his grand flourishes in the description of his story. The patrons of the tavern roared in appreciation of his humorous tale, and systematically began smacking their mugs of ale upon the bar in their applause.

At first glance, the man appeared to be the tavern-keeper. He was relatively short, with a red chubby face that was certainly a prerequisite to the successful operation of any highly regarded tavern establishment. His robes must have been extravagant in years past, but had obviously seen many a dirty and muddy road. The runes sewn into the fabric were barely noticeable over the crusted mud. In fact, it would seem reasonable to assume that in those years past, the robe actually would have fit the man less snuggly as well.

Laughing again at his own tale, he made his way back to where he had left his mug of ale, and greedily drank in the way a dwarf would; slopping half of the drink down the sides of his mouth, and then down the front of his robes. Wiping the froth from his mouth, he continued his story to all the listening patrons.

“ And so, the gnome through his pebble at the Glabrezeu, and we all stammered in astonishment as it grew into an earth elemental!” he shouted as he waved his hands in mock astonishment, adding a particular flare to the conclusion of his tale. Again the patrons laughed, more out of their drunkenness than over the humor of the tale. Nodding his head in satisfaction to all those in attendance, he bowed graciously, and then sat down with the dwarves he had nearly knocked out of their stools earlier.

“Yer quite the fool indeed. If I hadn’t known ye better, I’d swear ye were the loudest and most obnoxious bard I’d ever met!” snorted one of his dwarven companions. “Next time we wander to a tavern, spare us the same stinking stories Martok!” grumbled the other dwarf as he finished his ale in a giant gulp.

Wiggling his fingers towards the insulting dwarf, Martok smiled appreciatively as a mug of ale appeared over the dwarf, upside down! The dwarf only gurgled as the ale poured from his head down his reddened face. “I never was able to quite get that one right,” the human mumbled as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin, “I’ll have to work more on that particular spell.”

[Lord Ser Brightblade]

Martok only travels with dwarfs cause they make him look handsome in comparison!