Winter at the Tavern

Winter has well and truly come to the tavern. Amongst the snows and festivities, you may have noticed a lack of letters, books and travelers. Well, things are always a bit slower this time of year. It’s a time to reflect, enjoy warm drink and for us out in the country, try to not freeze to death.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been eventful. In fact, I’ve about had my fill of eventfulness this season already. Let’s see, first there was the misdelivery of two hundred freshly plucked archer ducks intended for the Lively Frown Tavern. Then there was the winter solstice, always a thumping good time made even better by them ducks. Finally, there was that small matter of a murder.

About three weeks past a couple of ‘knights’ arrived looking for room and board. ‘One week’ they said, ‘until our third arrives, and we can be on our way.’

Something was fishy about these two. They said their names was Frida and Luka, members of the Order of the Sunset, a knight’s house from up north. Now I’ve seen plenty of knights in my time and never have I seen two so disheveled. Their patches of heraldry were literally hanging on by threads, Frida had her tunic tucked under a rusted chain while Luka didn’t tuck his in at all, and both was missing the odd tooth. While all that added up to fraud, their honking big swords made me more agreeable to their claims.

Merri didn’t like these two either but their coin was good and as bad luck would have it, she had to leave just before a storm to help at Arthur Appleby’s Billy goat ranch. Arthur is just down the way and hasn’t been doing well as late.

A few days pass and Frida and Luka don’t do more than sit round the hearth fire, brooding. Once or twice, they venture out into the Brambles Forest for gods know what, returning before dark all sullen and mud covered.

As I said a storm was coming. Snow clouds were forming on the horizons and all the tiller squirrels were rushing back to their burrows. A final caravan of winter travelers arrived just as the snow started coming down. Five shivering souls came pouring into the tavern; a clergyman from some city out east, two ore traders from Black Pine, a hunt master for House Kirrian, and a baker heading for Port Lokaway.

All the travelers warmed up and settled in but it wasn’t long before the trouble started. The clergyman, not a frumpy clergyman mind you but one of them ‘drink is a blessing’ pulpit parrots, starts inquiring after the knights. ‘By the blessings of Ria I know you two, but where?’ His line of questioning made the two very uncomfortable and the shouting started. ‘You don’t know us you daffy old pelican, shut your mouth or we’ll shut it for you!’

A few drinks on the house later and I was able to calm the situation and get everyone to bed. I really hoped that’d be the end of it once they’d slept off the libations but…

I woke the next morning to a blizzard pounding down on the tavern. The snow drifts outside had risen so high we couldn’t even get the front door open. All the guests collected by the hearth for a morning meal, all except that clergyman. Had too much of the gods blessing, I assumed. By midday he still hadn’t shown so I found myself duty bound to check on his well-being.

Now, I wish I could say this was the first corpse I had stay at the tavern but, well, never mind that. I found the holy man stiff as a board, a look of terror chiseled into his face. No stab wounds or bruising, but a mess of purple stains around the corners of his mouth. I’m no alchemist but poison was what I had figured. I had to think carefully, one of them folk downstairs was a murderer and Merri was still at the bloody goat farm.

I came up with a plan. First, solicit help from one of the ore traders. His name was Jon Talbot and he’d been through the tavern enough that I trusted him to not be the murdering type. Second, quietly get the swords away from the false knights. Third, tell them all a murder had been committed. Lastly, figure the rest out.

The first three points of my plan went off without a hitch. Surprisingly, the last part proved to be devilishly tricky. Turns out a group of strangers don’t much like being accused of murder, and so, there’s was plenty of shouting and finger pointing. The false knights looked the most panicked, either because they done it or knew we’d all think they had.

Jon and I managed to restore calm and before long we were taking turns interrogating each of the guests in the storage room. I was filling up roll after roll of parchment, detailing everyone’s names, backgrounds, and movements the night of the murder. We’d constructed a board of suspects and made our deductions; without a doubt we had a clear picture of our murderer.

Night had fallen and so we called everyone around the fire, ready to paint our portrait of nefarious deeds. I took my time, slowly revealing truths to the group that they didn’t even know themselves. I must say, the look on their faces when I proved that they had ALL taken part in the murder of the clergyman was really something. What followed was an overwhelming din of shouting and protesting, much of which I couldn’t understand. Thankfully it was disrupted by the front door of the tavern bursting open.

Snow drifted in as a figure completely caked in frost stomped inside. They took their hood off to reveal Merri, back from Appleby’s. I filled her in on my deductive work in the hopes of a showing of gratitude, instead she just rubbed her temples while taking deep breathes. ‘A hunt master for House Kirrian huh?’ She walked back into the storage room and rummaged around before emerging with a half melted azure candle.

‘Folks, I want to take a moment to apologize to you all for these unfortunate events and for the unjust accusations of my benefactor here.’ Merri walked over and lit the blue candle on the hearth fire. ‘I want all to know that your room and board will be free, I wouldn’t dream of charging you after the trauma you’ve endured.’

Casual as a cork mouse Merri walks over to the hunt master. She snapped her fingers in front of their bearded face and shouted ‘Tomur!’ The man’s cracked face evaporated into a stream of smoke to reveal a young woman. Merri held the person down with one arm while hoovering the blue candle over their hands which in the light were covered in purple stains. The revelation caused the false knights to jump up and attempt to flee. The rest of us sprang to action, subduing the imposter and false knights, restoring calm to the tavern.

What followed was a lot of information, fast and confusing. First, how did Merri figure it out? Well, apparently House Kirrian hasn’t existed for about five years now, not since The Yellow Prince annexed their lands. The poison the woman used was Black Dew, which apparently doesn’t truly wash off, not for months, hence the stains in the light of the candle. As for the face dissolving into smoke, it’s well known that Merri knows loads about wyrd spells and tricks, I don’t question it anymore.

Who was they? The hunt master was in fact the third the false knights was waiting on. According to the local sheriffs, they was a band of thieves who robbed a Temple of the Green Light last spring. The clergyman had seen them in their getaway and I suppose it was just fate they all ended up here. The fates are fickle like that. Apparently, they buried the loot somewhere in the Brambles Forest and came back to dig it up and live fat, now that the authorities had settled down. You get all that?

All’s this to say I’m spending the rest of the winter in Brentford eating silver honey cakes. I figure I’ve earned it for all the stress I endured. Also, I think Merri would’ve murdered me if I stuck around a minute longer after making such a mess of it…

Once the snows clear I’ll head back to the tavern to provide you all with more letters, notes on the world and introductions to travelers. Happy Seasons and keep yourselves safe.