Pleased to Meet You

(OOC – I'm looking forward to seeing the new extended map and those game history write-ups, SC! And Tedwar, wow, you're very prolific today! Writing only two characters, I'm feeling so inadequate all of a sudden...)

“So, you wish to strike a deal?” He said in a manner that might seem much more sinister if it were not coming from something sounding like a chipmunk. “A bottle of wine to end this fun, really?” He smiled and showed a series of crooked teeth all glittering with an opal like quality.

Kalena's face filled with fascinated amusement as she got a good look at the creature. She'd never been so close to one of his kind before and he was not quite what she expected. She had thought the pixies all pint-size women. But he was male, almost like some gnome or a hob. But she knew these were a kind of fey too. She hoped he would be magnanimous enough to accept her proposed offer. If Kline's camp had encroached on their territory she was willing to accept them needing to exact some sort of tribute or a minor toll as their ancient customs might have compelled them to do, but she did not have to like it. Not one bit. She gripped her sabre in one hand, ready to slash it forward and cleave the imp in half should he try anything funny.

“I am Glumly,” the little man said with a sweeping and formal bow. “You seem particularly sharp for a human, asking to bargain with the fair folk of the woods. Sharp and brave.” He stroked his long chin and considered her slowly as he paced across the barrel top. “Brave in some things, yet fear is like a shadowy beast for other things.”

Kalena smiled charmingly, but also with a trace of cunning. “Fear has its uses,” she replied evenly, meeting the diminutive man's gaze. “You might be a bit too bold for your own good, but all the same, I'm pleased to meet you, Glumly. Did I say it correctly, Glumly?” He might have been careless in giving his name away so readily, for she recalled another important tidbit of folklore: there was power in knowing a faerie's name.

Kline moved, and any good fighter would know he was positioning himself in a way that would be ready for a fight.

“You best watch what you say,
All those heads over there
That may be the price you
Pay.”

The words were in the soft bardic cant, though the tone was clearly malicious. The comical aspect of it all made Kalena almost have the ridiculous feeling that she was in a stage play performed in verse, which were all the rage at the moment in the capital's lively theatre district.

“Open the wine, let’s have a taste,” Glumly said, looking at Kline.

“Oh, allow me,” Kalena volunteered graciously. She stood her sword up against the wagon with the hilt within easy reach, and pulled the cork out of the bottle with her hand. Grabbing a wooden cup, she poured a small amount of the ruby-coloured wine into it and gently handed the cup over to the little Fey man. It smelled so nice that she almost felt like having some herself. She normally preferred mature wines, but some were meant to be drunk fresh and could be quite good. The aroma from the bottle suggested this might be the case.

She turned her attention back fully on the brownie, who now held the oversized cup in his tiny ruddy hands. “I was wondering if I might ask you something, Glumly,” she said conversationally, and speaking his name aloud a third time. “Did you perchance witness our fight with the bandits? My friend here is under the impression that someone might have put them up to their attack. You wouldn't know anything about that now, would you?”