"CITY SIZED MAJIMONSTERS?!", Savina and I shouted at the same time.
[If that old grasshopper is still alive, I owe him a ducat...], Voxea commented at the revelation.
"Mhmm. That's what a kaiju is, and the one I'm from is named Terraboar, the roaming harvest king", Bori explained with a smile and a mouthful of rabbit stew.
Thankfully, the inn tonight was rather rowdy so our shouting didn't illicit too much attention from the other patrons, but that didn't stop Albina from hushing us down and reprimanding us. One would assume Bartleby, our escort would've, but he was too busy chatting with the barmaid.
"Aish. Just cause it's loud doesn't mean you two can be as well. You never know who's listening or watching", she said with mild annoyance.
"Sorry", Savina and I said in unison and quieting down.
"Wait. Is it because you live on a kaiju is that why you look...", Savina said while gesturing to her head and mouth.
"Yup! None of the Scholars know why, but due to several generations of living on a kaiju, we dwellers end up with quirks reminiscent of our home kaiju. I once met this merchant of Harlechid who had fours arms! But despite the changes, every last one of us kaiju dwellers are fully human", he said with pride.
"So we won't suddenly develop piggy ears and tusks if we visited?", I asked rather bluntly.
"Nope"!
"Neat".
"While we were talking about ourselves...Albina was it? What was that stuff you had me smoke?", I asked the dark skinned woman with a quizzical look in my eyes.
"Hmm? Oh, you mean the Chimney-sweep weed?", she asked after taking her pipe out of her mouth. The pipe in question was rather ornate and looked like a three horned lizard with gems for the eyes and horn. Maybe that's where she keeps her drajules?
"Chimney-sweep weed?", Savina asked.
"Aye. I'm from a valley called the 'Garden of Healing'. My clan specializes in cultivating various types of aromatic herbs, smoking agents and incense. Chimney-sweep weed is something we use when someone has smoked a little too much, ate too much or just feel ill in my chest. It helps to burn out any impurities or build up", as she said this, she pulled out a small vial with characters on it I didn't recognize. She then tossed it to Savina and said "Here. You never know when such things can come in handy. I also have herbs here for headaches, nausea and...delicate matters". Proving her point, she then produced several other vials each with different colored herbs and labels.
"Impressive collection".
"Thanks. I only hope that the Academy has some place I can grow more of this stuff", Albina idly commented as she played with one of the vials.
Before we could move the conversation onwards, the sour smell of spilt alcohol, vomit, bad herbs and dried blood assault our noses.
"Well hello there ladies, can I interest you all with a drink with a real binder"?
Coming out of nowhere like a smelly Bullistic, a young man,with a ruddy face and obviously one too many tankards of mead in him showed up at our table and rudely slammed one of the aforementioned tankards onto our table. Hanging from his necks were three different colored crystals on a gold chain. My immediate impression of this guy: massive blowhard.
"I am the great Dolvina Gulvadan! The Scour-err..Hero of the Red Rock Spires! And if you fine young flowers join me and my friends for a pint or two, I can tell you how I got that title", the man said with an obvious slur and a drunken lustful gaze. Evidently, his sketchy title and sketchier demeanor did not win him any points in my book.
I was going to tell him off, but Albina had beaten me to the punch.
"Apologies my drunken compatriot, but my friends and I are trying to enjoy a nice dinner together before our early morning travels. So I suggest you go back to your friends snickering in the corner before you embarrass yourself further", she said with a smile that seemed sweet yet condescending.
Apparently too drunk to be deterred, the drunkard replied with, "Oh come on ladies, wouldn't you rather spend your evening in the arms of real men instead of bacon walking on two legs"?
A look of offended shock appeared on all of our faces after he said that.
[Voxea, this guy's a fake right]?
[One hundred percent].
[Great].
In the next moment, Albina and I had decked this idiot in the face.