Same people.
Different idiots.
A living scrapbook
of our adventures.
Explore
Four Blood Elves make a ruined arena their proving ground, then test the limits of a harbor tavern’s patience.
The first thing Blaedy did at the ruined arena was ask her friends to cast dice, which is how the Village Four—Blaedy, Summoneyy, Meho, and Arrowyy—put order to an evening expressly arranged for them to kill one another. Sensible people might have noticed the felguard waiting beside the warlock, or the hunter’s bat watching from the stones, and reconsidered. Blaedy merely smiled and announced the tournament. The ring would furnish duels, unarmed challenges, and several failures of dignity; before the gathering was done, a tavern would have trouble of its own to absorb. I recorded the matter faithfully, though faithfulness is not the same as endorsement.
Blaedy · Battle Ring, Gurubashi Arena
Before the ring received them, the Village Four were briefly scattered. Blaedy exchanged an old mantle for the Starfire Mantle of the Prophet and paused, delighted, over a sprig of goldthorn. Arrowyy called Friendly, his giant bat, to heel and gave a courteous bow to Olgreyhide, a tauren druid encountered along the way. Meho, having found Summoneyy, displayed a remarkable lack of concern for decorum. In due course all four reached the Gurubashi Arena, where Meho fortified herself for whatever Blaedy had planned.
The Battle Ring yawned beneath the vine-choked terraces of the Gurubashi Arena, its cracked floor far below the gathered villagers and armed spectators. Jungle insects rasped beyond the ruined walls. Blaedy held a little die in her palm, watching the others ready theirs. They had agreed the rolls would set the opening order; it seemed like a very sensible way to begin a tournament where people were, technically, meant to die.
“Welcome, you guys, to the annual Village Death Tournament!” She spread her arms toward the pit. “Roll your die!”
Dice clicked over old stone. Blaedy followed each tumble with eager concentration, then clapped when the order was clear. “First up, it’s me and Summoneyy!” She pointed brightly from herself to the warlock. “Then Meho and Arrowyy!”
Green fire breathed over the terrace beside Summoneyy as she called Haaroon forth. Her felguard emerged from the smoke in heavy armor, weapon held low. Summoneyy gave an excited little cheer, while Friendly, Arrowyy’s giant bat, stirred its wings nearby.
Arrowyy kept looking into the ring as if he could already see how the fights would go. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Blaedy smiled at him, though she was not entirely sure whether that was excitement or a warning. “If I die, Summoneyy takes over as host!”
She glanced through the ring-side crowd for Craig and did not find him. Meho followed her gaze. “Where is Craig?”
Blaedy started down the worn steps. Behind her, Arrowyy lifted his voice toward the terraces. “Craig!”
No answer came. Only birdsong drifted down from the jungle.
At the bottom, Blaedy stepped onto the circular floor and faced Summoneyy across it. She raised a Power Word: Shield around herself. Holy light sealed close to her skin, dimmed beneath the first pressure of hostile magic, and she renewed it. Again. Again. She kept rebuilding the pale ward until five shields had flashed and thinned around her.
Haaroon moved.
The felguard crossed the ring with terrifying speed. His intercept hit Blaedy like a hammerblow, locking her limbs in a burst of force before she could retreat. Summoneyy’s Corruption immediately crept through the failing shield, cold and foul beneath Blaedy’s skin.
At the rim, Meho threw up both hands in a bloodthirsty cry. “I want blood.”
Blaedy forced one hand open. Shadow Word: Pain leapt from her toward Summoneyy, a dark answer to the rot spreading through her. She reached after the warlock’s power next, burning at it with Mana Burn, but Summoneyy remained composed. A Curse of Agony cinched around Blaedy’s chest. Fresh Corruption followed. Haaroon’s cleaving weapon struck against her ward and drove the breath from her.
Meho · Battle Ring, Gurubashi Arena
Summoneyy’s roar rolled beneath the jungle canopy, fierce enough to turn a few heads along the broken ledges of Gurubashi Arena. Meho glanced back. The warlock stood with her shoulders squared, looking entirely pleased with the sound she had made.
Summoneyy pivoted toward the stands where Meho and Arrowyy waited and called them to the ring center. “Keep it clean, keep it deadly. Let’s get the next round of mak'gora started.”
Meho and Arrowyy hopped down onto the uneven stones of the fighting ring. They traded a brief nod before Arrowyy came forward with Friendly, his giant bat, hanging dark-winged behind him. The hunter bowed. Meho returned it, gauntlet to breastplate. The air was wet and close; old metal rang somewhere above as spectators settled in.
Arrowyy took the far side. A hunter’s mark kindled over Meho, a cold certainty between her shoulder blades. She raised her shield and bowed once more.
“Shall we?” she called.
“Ready,” Arrowyy said.
“Then I walk toward you.”
She brought Holy Shield around herself in a flare of gold. The first Concussive Shot struck before she had taken three strides. Leaden magic dragged at her legs, and an Arcane Shot cracked blue against her armor. Arrowyy kept moving, bowstring whispering; ordinary arrows followed the spellwork with cruel efficiency. Meho set Seal of Righteousness burning along her weapon and trudged after him, more wall than woman beneath the weight of shield and plate.
When she closed, she gave him no room to draw again. Her hammer flashed forward. Hammer of Justice caught Arrowyy squarely and locked him still for one precious instant. Meho drove her blade in, then stamped its point against the stone. Consecration spread out from her boots in a bright, searing circle, taking hold of the hunter as he shook free.
He slipped back beyond her reach. Meho hurled her shield; it struck him with a ringing burst of light and checked his retreat. For a heartbeat she thought she had him.
Then another Concussive Shot hit. Frost burst under her feet as she crossed Arrowyy’s hidden trap, ice climbing her greaves and biting through the joints of her armor. His Arcane Shot found her again; his next arrow followed it fast enough that she heard only one impact after the other. Meho answered by renewing the radiant ground beneath them, catching him in its glow even as he circled away.
Summoneyy · Battle Ring, Gurubashi Arena
Death gave Blaedy and Arrowyy no rest but the graveyard’s pale interval. Each rose there as a spirit and crossed the arena to the body left in the Battle Ring; neither was alive on that walk, a distinction worth keeping in any proper chronicle. Meho waited at the ring. When the two spirits had reached their bodies, Blaedy made them welcome among the ghosts, while Arrowyy admitted, with admirable economy, that losing had saddened him.
The Battle Ring held its heat close. Sun baked the exposed stones at its center while creepers spilled over the high Gurubashi walls, green and indifferent. Every footstep scraped loud in the bowl.
Across the stone, Mehoiminoy set her shield before her. The vigor of the provisions she had eaten after the previous match still warmed her beneath her armor, a little extra endurance for the final round. Holy light drew itself tight along the shield’s rim.
Summoneyy, still master of ceremonies, acknowledged Meho’s advance to the finale and congratulated her on a battle well-fought. "Today we have truly witnessed greatness in the ring. Now, we will find out who is the true champion of the village!"
She waited while Meho healed and restored her mana to its full measure. Once the paladin was ready, Summoneyy declared that the finale between herself and Meho was about to begin.
"Prepare yourself, Meho! Three, two, one... Begin!" Summoneyy's hands shot up and weaved coils of shadow in the air. Meho dropped into fighting stance.
“Shield up. Closing in.”
It was the last duel, and that made the space between them feel narrower than it was. Summoneyy lifted one hand. Agony went first: an invisible hook beneath Meho’s armor, taking hold before the paladin could settle behind her defense.
Meho came on beneath a flare of Holy Shield. Summoneyy gave her Corruption in answer. Shadow seeped into the curse already gnawing at Meho, staining the gold-white gleam about her plate. The shield flashed again and again as Meho advanced, each burst of light thrown back sharp from the ancient masonry. Righteousness kindled along her weapon, clean and hot.
When Meho came close enough for the shield to fill Summoneyy’s sight, Summoneyy opened her other hand. Arcane power washed over the paladin in a brief, hungry torrent, draining the reserve behind her holy magic. The light along Meho’s shield shivered thin.
Blaedy · Battle Ring, Gurubashi Arena
Blaedy walked back to the body that had lain cold on the sand of Gurubashi Arena, its old battle ring hemmed by crumbling tiers and jungle-dark arches. Arrowyy walked back beside her toward the place where he had fallen. They resurrected, rose unsteadily, and brushed grit from their sleeves.
Blaedy brought Meho back to life shortly afterward. The three healed themselves and rested until their mana had returned in full. The previous tournament had determined its champion: Summoneyy, the village’s dueling champion.
Blaedy resumed her place as the host. She stood before the others, drew herself up. "Thank you for coming today and participating in our death tournament." She paused and cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Summoneyy,” she said, “is the village’s dueling champion!”
A round of applause and whooping rose around the little group.
Blaedy thanked everyone again. “But! We are not done yet. Our very own dueling champion has a proposal for an all out brawl. We will now all jump down into the arena and the last elf standing will be the free-for-all champion!”
Summoneyy spoke up. “Everyone take one side of the arena. We'll all go down together.”
Everyone assumed their positions. Summoneyy made sure they were ready, then hollered across the arena stands at everyone, “On the count of three, two, one... JUMP!”
The village descended into the ring.
Several things happened all at once. Blaedy cast Power Word: Shield around herself, then cast it again as arrows and holy force battered the shining barrier apart. Meho drove in beneath her raised shield, its holy ward snapping bright about her. Blaedy flung out a Psychic Scream, and Meho recoiled, driven away against her will.
Pain answered from another direction. Summoneyy’s Curse of Agony tightened through Blaedy, then Corruption stained her blood with shadow, then Immolate set heat crawling across her skin. Blaedy renewed her shield, trying to hold all three rivals in sight.
“Behind you,” Arrowyy said.
Meho’s Hammer of Justice caught Blaedy before she could turn. Gold flashed; her limbs locked. Consecrated ground kindled beneath her boots while arrows struck her shield and Summoneyy’s curses gnawed deeper. The warlock’s Agony found Meho as well, and soon Arrowyy bore both Agony and Corruption, yet he kept firing. Blaedy forced hurried healing through the punishment until Meho’s Arcane Torrent ripped the strength from her spellwork.
Summoneyy · Battle Ring, Gurubashi Arena
The Gurubashi Battle Ring baked beneath broken shafts of jungle sun, its old flagstones slick with damp and shadowed by vine-choked tiers. Summoneyy waited at the center where the contest had spent itself, listening to Stranglethorn’s insects beyond the walls. Death had sent Arrowyy, Blaedy, and Meho to the graveyard near the Cape; their spirits had risen there and begun the long return.
She saw Arrowyy’s pale shape pass through the arena first, scarcely more solid than heat-haze. While he continued toward the body he had left within the ring, Summoneyy raised a hand and called for Gelqua. Her imp answered the summons in a curl of fel-green smoke, small and sharp-featured at her boots. “Easy, Gelqua,” she murmured, and the imp settled close. A moment later Arrowyy’s spirit found its waiting flesh. He rose again, whole and steady. Behind him, Meho and Blaedy’s spectral forms crossed the ruined arena on their own return.
Arrowyy looked at Summoneyy, then abruptly broke into a lively dance across the weathered stones. There was no mockery in it; only the loose-limbed release of someone who had met the ground, walked back from it, and found the victor still standing. Summoneyy watched him with a smile she could not quite suppress.
When he stopped, he gave her a direct, appraising look. “Well fought, Summoneyy. Scary stuff.”
The praise landed more warmly than she expected. Arrowyy had always kept his words lean; he would not have spent them for politeness. Then he bowed, low and proper, before her.
A giggle escaped her before she could catch it. Summoneyy dipped her head toward him, the fel-green gleam around Gelqua tinting the edge of her sleeve. “Thanks, Arrowyy.”
Meho returned next, stirring from her body with the stiff economy of someone testing every joint after a hard fall. Blaedy followed shortly after, rising with one hand already lifted as if she had remembered something important halfway through waking. The priest moved through her protections in a quiet, careful sequence: a strengthening word over herself, a warmth kindled within, then a ward laid against fear. She looked around the ring as though counting them all without making a show of it.
Meho tended the injuries left by the contest with two brief flashes of healing light. Then the paladin drew superior wizard oil along her weapon with meticulous strokes, the sheen catching sunlight before sinking away. At last a settled, well-fed vigor came over her, easing the drawn look from her face. She rolled one shoulder, checked the others once, and stood ready beneath the broken tiers.
Meho · The Salty Sailor Tavern, Booty Bay
With the formal tournament settled, Meho immediately pointed at Summoneyy and demanded another duel—this time stripped of weapons and armour. Gelqua, Summoneyy’s imp, fell during the business, and the rest proceeded by flexing, whistles, mock menace, and fisticuffs. Arrowyy twice played dead without dying, a technicality I approve of. The four danced by the ring until Meho drank a Noggenfogger Elixir and became a skeleton again; she lay down protesting that no bread be brought near her. Laughter eventually prevailed, and the company went on to the Salty Sailor Tavern in Booty Bay.
The tournament was behind them, and Meho had no intention of letting Booty Bay receive the news quietly. The Salty Sailor rocked around her with dice, shanty scraps, and the wet groan of ships beyond its open windows. She planted both hands on the bar.
“Goblin! Your finest ale.”
Nixxrax Fillamug, the goblin behind the counter, blinked at her. Arrowyy stepped up beside Meho, calm as a post in the harbor pilings.
“You heard the lady.”
Whiskey Slim, a patron at the next stool, found something to say. Meho answered by slapping him across the face. Summoneyy laughed, warm and sharp, while Slim recoiled. Meho leaned toward him.
“What did you say, short man?”
She spat onto the floorboards and slapped him once more before turning away. There were more important matters than a man with a loose mouth: dancing, for one. Meho burst into motion beside the bar, armor and boots thudding time upon the timber.
Arrowyy relayed Slim’s opinion with the gravity of a battlefield report. “Slim says you look like a bag of bones. He wants to put you in broth.”
“Barkeep! More.”
At the same moment, Blaedy examined a slice of pie as though it deserved careful study. “This cherry pie is really good.”
Meho swayed, and the lingering strangeness of the Noggenfogger Elixir finally bled out of her. The room settled into its proper shape again, though it had begun to seem perfectly reasonable as it was.
She caught Nixxrax by the hands and pulled the goblin into the dance. Blaedy cheered when Meho mounted a tabletop, and warm lantern light flashed off the cups raised around them.
“Meho is such a great tabletop dancer.”
Then Summoneyy’s Fear took hold.
Blaedy ran.
She did not choose the direction. Her boots slipped over cracked stone while panic hauled her away from the center of the pit. Behind her, Summoneyy set Immolate upon her, and fire climbed her back in hungry pulses. When fear finally loosened, Blaedy spun, shaking, and began pouring Flash Heals into herself. Each burst of light closed what it could, while Agony, Corruption, and flame tore at the work almost as quickly.
The duel stretched into a cruel circuit of the ring. At the first opening, Summoneyy layered Corruption over Blaedy again and renewed the Curse of Agony. A Shadow Bolt slammed into Blaedy hard enough to blur the terraces. Fear seized her a second time; when she regained herself, Haaroon was already close, his blade biting through another hurried defense. Blaedy answered with more pain and more Mana Burn, but Haaroon intercepted her again, stunning her in place as another Agony curse and Corruption settled over her. At last Summoneyy cast Immolate once more, and Blaedy burned beneath everything else.
A golden pulse burst from Summoneyy: Arcane Torrent. It took hold of Blaedy and tore her spellwork apart just as she tried to gather another heal. Her hands went numb. Summoneyy set a new Curse of Agony on her, then another Corruption.
Blaedy saw the warlock make a quick final motion and send a shot across the wavering heat. She tried to answer with light.
Corruption struck first.
Her knees folded. The ring rushed up, rough and cold against her cheek, and then she was dead.
Yet death did not carry her away at once. Spirit of Redemption took her: a brief, angelic priestly form rising over her fallen body, pale wings of light opening behind her. She could still heal for a few precious seconds, though no breath moved in her chest and no life remained in her body. Tears blurred the arena below.
“Goodbye.”
Her voice was thin. The holy shape flickered, its wings thinning to a trembling outline, and Blaedy’s spirit faded.
Afterward, Meho came down into the pit and bent over Blaedy’s body, weeping against her shoulder. Summoneyy joined her and pressed close in the same sorrowful gesture. Above them, Arrowyy gave one short cheer, its bright sound carrying over the ancient stones.
Arrowyy measured the ring with shot after shot. An arrow, then a Multi-Shot that struck like a fan of thrown knives; another arrow, an Arcane Shot, and more arrows whenever Meho forced herself a step nearer. Friendly swept in from above, wings beating the humid air, then fell beyond the edge of the contest while Arrowyy never stopped firing.
A Concussive Shot dragged Meho’s pace down again. She found another patch of frost, and the cold seized her ankles. By the time she tore free, Arrowyy had put six more arrows into her armor in a steady, patient rhythm.
“Persistent,” Meho muttered.
She reached beneath her cloak, thumbed the fuse of a thorium grenade, and sent it skittering across the stone. It burst at Arrowyy’s feet in smoke and metallic thunder, stopping him short. Meho surged forward.
He met her at close range with a Wing Clip. Pain snapped through her leg; before she could compensate, another Concussive Shot burdened every movement. She flung Avenger’s Shield anyway. Its bright arc smote him and staggered his retreat, but his Arcane Shot answered at once. A Multi-Shot and two quick arrows battered against Holy Shield as she pressed on.
Meho extended her free hand and reached for the mana around him, drawing at it with Mana Tap. The effort bought her nothing she could feel before Arrowyy’s last trap took her. Frost climbed from the stones in a sudden prison and sealed her in place.
He used the moment cleanly. Multi-Shot struck first; arrows followed. When the ice cracked at last, another Concussive Shot caught her halfway through her first step, with an arrow close behind it. Arcane fire burst against her shoulder. One more arrow came singing through the damp air.
Meho drove through it.
Holy Shield flared as she reached him. The radiant ground still burned beneath their boots, and her weapon carried the stern glow of her seal. Arrowyy gave ground until there was none left worth having. At last he fell dead, cut down in the duel.
For a moment Meho stood with her shield raised, chest tight beneath dented armor, while the arena noise returned around her. Friendly remained down beyond the scorched stones, no longer able to join the duel.
She lowered her weapon and bowed toward Arrowyy’s body.
Then Meho’s Avenger’s Shield came spinning through the heat.
“Catch.”
Summoneyy slipped aside as it cut past. Its edge rang against stone behind her. She answered with Fear, sending the cold command after Meho—but the paladin kept advancing, shield-light breaking around her like surf.
So Summoneyy gave ground around the curve of the arena and made the duel patient. She laid Agony on Meho anew, then Corruption, and let their work begin beneath the paladin’s armor. Another curse followed as Meho pursued. At last, Summoneyy’s next Fear found purchase.
Meho broke away beneath its grip, her path no longer her own. Summoneyy did not waste the opening. Corruption flowed over Meho once more and took hold; Agony followed, layered carefully atop every shadow already worrying at her.
When the fear released her, Meho turned back to find Summoneyy’s voidwalker, Jhaznos, standing between them. His broad shoulders hunched beneath the paladin’s oncoming shield.
“Hold her, Jhaznos.”
For a few breaths the duel became a knot of shield-light, steel, and the voidwalker’s dragging black hands. Meho forced past him. In the close press that followed, the party fought through Jhaznos, and he fell on the sunlit stone, his dark bulk loosening into shadow before Summoneyy could draw him clear.
The loss opened the ring between them.
Meho came on through the fading darkness, but the layered curses had made every movement cost her. Summoneyy planted her feet. The paladin lifted her shield once more; its holy sheen wavered.
Summoneyy gathered shadow between her palms until it seemed to tug at the light around it. “This one’s mine.”
She cast the Shadow Bolt.
It crossed the short distance in one violent breath. As it struck Meho squarely, the strength from the paladin’s earlier provisions finally faded from her as well, that last small edge of endurance gone. Meho folded behind her shield and fell. The force of the bolt lifted her up and carried her across the arena, throwing Meho into the wall on the other side with a sickening crunch.
The ring gave the impact back to them as an echo, then held still around Meho’s body.
Summoneyy stood where Jhaznos had vanished, looking at the paladin on the stone. The victory did not feel broad enough to stand in. After a moment, she crossed the heat-baked ring, knelt beside Meho, and bent over her fallen friend.
She cried on Meho’s shoulder.
When Blaedy’s second Psychic Scream sent Meho stumbling away, the opening lasted only a breath. The three nearest combatants pressed through spellfire and lingering curses until Arrowyy brought Summoneyy down. She fell silent on the sand.
There was no time to look at her. The consecrated earth still flared, arrows still cut the air, and the spells Summoneyy had left behind still bit. Blaedy healed what she could, spreading Shadow Word: Pain whenever she found a gap.
Arrowyy shifted his aim toward Meho. Blaedy turned on him instead. Her Mind Blast struck his chest, and Shadow Word: Pain took hold before he could retreat behind the paladin’s shield.
“Not personal,” Blaedy said.
Arrowyy’s Concussive Shot slowed Meho’s advance. Meho answered with Avenger’s Shield, the spinning holy disk smashing into Arrowyy and leaving him reeling. Blaedy sent Mana Burn into Meho’s reserves. Then Meho struck Arrowyy down, and he fell, the dark mark of Blaedy’s spell still clinging to him.
The ring seemed suddenly enormous. Arrowyy lay motionless; Summoneyy lay motionless. Meho stood across the churned sand, shield raised. Blaedy could not stop for either of them. She burned Meho’s reserves once, then again, before the paladin could close the distance.
Meho marked her with Seal of Righteousness and struck with Judgement. Blaedy laid Shadow Word: Pain upon her and retreated from fresh consecrated ground, burning more of Meho’s strength away. A second Judgement hit; a third left Judgement of Wisdom on Blaedy, making each spell feel like a thread pulled loose from inside her.
“Still standing,” Meho said, advancing. “A concern.”
“So am I,” Blaedy said, and screamed.
Meho fled beneath the Psychic Scream. Blaedy burned her reserves, renewed Shadow Word: Pain, and burned them again. When Meho returned with another Hammer of Justice, Blaedy stood frozen while righteous blows rang against her. The instant she could move, she stripped Meho’s protections with Dispel Magic—once, twice, three times—then scorched away more of the paladin’s power.
Another Psychic Scream scattered Meho. Blaedy renewed Shadow Word: Pain, struck her with Mind Blast, and ran as Meho turned back through the long shadows of the ring.
The fight stretched into retreat. Blaedy fired at Meho, ran, marked her again with shadow, and fired again. Nine further times she turned just long enough to shoot at the pursuing paladin. Between shots she forced Mana Burn through the distance, again and again, until Meho came slower but still upright.
Unbeknownst to Blaedy and Meho, Summoneyy had used her Soulstone and returned to life. She had done it stealthily, eaten her provisions, and waited beyond their notice until both remaining fighters were nearly dead.
Then fresh agony curled around Meho.
Blaedy looked toward the far side of the ring. Summoneyy had risen and returned to the battle ring. She could hardly comprehend what was happening. I thought she went down already! Blaedy thought.
The warlock’s Curse of Agony and Corruption took hold of Meho, followed by Immolate. Before Blaedy could decide whether to flee or strike, Agony and Corruption caught her too. Summoneyy blasted them both with relentless fel energy. Meho’s Hammer of Justice pinned Blaedy in place once more. Summoneyy’s Immolate wrapped Blaedy in fire.
Meho staggered beneath the overlapping spells and dropped onto the sand. Her Well Fed glow winked out. Meho died there, armor still catching firelight.
Blaedy strained against the fading stun while Corruption remained within her like a cold stain. Beyond Meho’s fallen form, Summoneyy lifted both arms and cheered.
Blaedy stared at her as her strength gave out. Her knees buckled, and she died on the sand of the Battle Ring. Still very confused.
BlaedySummoneyy came out of nowhere! Almost had a heart attack
Blaedy had evidently decided that readiness required ceremony. She stepped into the open ring, turned so her voice could carry from one vine-hung wall to the other, and lifted both hands toward Summoneyy.
“And the undisputed champion is Summoneyy!”
Arrowyy answered at once with a cheer, sharp and wholehearted. Meho gave a small nod, accepting the verdict with the grave composure she might have used for a battle plan. Gelqua bounced once at Summoneyy’s side, though whether in agreement or simple impish excitement, Summoneyy could not tell.
Blaedy’s grin widened. “The village champion!” She cheered then, bright enough to fill the old arena beside Arrowyy’s voice.
Heat rose into Summoneyy’s cheeks. She tried for her usual calm and failed completely; a pleased smile broke across her face as she threw one hand into the air. Around her, the ruined ring no longer felt like the place where they had fallen. For that brief moment, beneath the jungle sun and the ragged green walls, it belonged to her.
“I take tips.”
Meho next delivered Runecloth—an undead visitor—to Blaedy with a grand sweep of one arm. Blaedy sniffed Runecloth with earnest concentration.
“Smells... clean.”
Arrowyy laughed. Meho accepted the judgment with a solemn nod. “Thank you.”
“Meho, put this ring somewhere on your body... hic.” Arrowyy held out a Tundra Ring of the Tiger.
Meho stepped down long enough to change part of her gear, then took the ring. It was cool against her finger when she slipped it on. Blaedy offered more wine; Arrowyy answered, “Me.”
Summoneyy gave a gleeful cry and climbed up onto the table beside Meho. Blaedy passed Arrowyy ten jugs of Badlands Bourbon, which he received with a nod.
“Thank you, Blaedy.”
Meho glared across the narrow tabletop at Summoneyy. “Only room for one girl on this table.”
Arrowyy’s brows rose. He did not appear distressed by the problem. After another quick adjustment to Meho’s gear, he said, “I don’t mind two dancers... hic.”
Meho sighed at Summoneyy, then took her hands and danced with her anyway. Summoneyy lifted her staff between them.
“Look at my staff. It’s so pretty.”
“But what about my illusion rod?” Meho asked.
Blaedy pressed ten jugs of Badlands Bourbon into Meho’s hands. “There’s more here, but go slow, okay?”
The tavern took that as permission. Arrowyy offered his repeater to anyone willing to bear its weight. Meho beckoned Speeding, a Night Elf hunter of the Alliance, closer and began dancing again. Twice, bright consecrated light spread beneath her boots, turning the scuffed floorboards gold and making nearby drinkers hop back from the heat.
Meho danced with Arrowyy while Arrowyy waved Lightyearxx, a Human paladin of the Alliance, into the widening revel. Across the room, Summoneyy spun with a patron named Ian Strom amid the clapping and spilled drink.
When Meho looked up from Arrowyy’s shoulder, the party had expanded around her table like a tide.
“What have we here? A party started without me?”
Summoneyy beckoned Arrowyy with her staff. “Bring that staff over here, Arrowyy.”
“No. I’ll watch.” He smiled into his drink.
“Meho needs a spanking... hic,” Summoneyy declared.
“That’ll do,” Meho said.
Blaedy had gone flushed with heat. She changed her gear with sleepy care, then folded down beside the table and fell asleep amid the bourbon jugs and the crumbs of her excellent pie.
Arrowyy looked from Blaedy to Summoneyy as the warlock drifted toward the sleeping priest. “What else do girls do when they lie down together like that?”
Summoneyy lay down in front of Blaedy, her dancing spent. “Sleepy.”
The word sounded sensible. Meho lay down as well, one arm under her head, the new ring cold against her hand. Arrowyy nodded at the slackening room and smiled as the harbor bells and surf took over where the music had left off.
Sleep did not hold cleanly. Meho and Blaedy stirred long enough to change their gear again. Eranikus the Chained appeared beside Arrowyy, and a Poison Cloud rolled free across the floor, mingling with smoke and stale ale.
“Sorry. I couldn’t hold it in.”
Then Arrowyy fell asleep.
Meho waited just long enough to answer. Her own Poison Cloud drifted after his, and Eranikus the Chained appeared near her in return. Satisfied that the last word had been properly delivered, she lay down again while the tavern gutters burned low amid harbor noise and fumes.
That is where I close my ledger: not with a moral, for none would survive this company’s scrutiny, but with the durable comfort that friends may test one another mercilessly and still remain friends. I have learned not to call such an occasion quiet. Finished is the safer word.
