K is for Kevin

Welcome! What would you like to drink?

Oh, I forgot! I’m at the Forbidden Cauldron, not serving drinking at the Tipsy Hedgehog in Caerac Keep. Wait a moment, is my pub still called the Tipsy Hedgehog?

Not that it’s mine. I just work there. The Tipsy Hedgehog belongs to Maggie. Long ago, she used to adventure with Lord Caerac himself. That just goes to show my mistress isn’t completely human, heh, not that I’m judging. We get a lot of nonhuman types at the Tipsy Hedgehog. 

Take this very pretty golden-haired boy who comes in from time to time. If that wasn’t exotic enough, sometimes his blue eyes turn golden. 

Others mutters it’s a Sign of the Serpent, but I think it’s, ah, quite attractive. Besides, Lord Daeric, pet sorcerer of Lord William, Earl of Caerac Keep has golden hair, too. Lord Daeric has done nothing but help the folks around here, even he is a bit spooky with his black clothes and spending most of his time in a ruined tower older than Rowenda itself. He keeps the monsters at bay, always on the look out of that tower. 

Not that everyone thinks that’s good. Some people think sorcerers caused way too much trouble picking fights with monsters already. Others even think the monsters have every right to raid us. They’d clear out the earl’s treasury and give it all back to the kobolds if they had their way. 

Maggie has plenty to say about that. Grumbles that in her adventuring day, a monster was a monster. Killing them would actually make you stronger, almost magically elevating your strength as you went up a ‘level’. I’m not sure if I believe in all of that. Maggie likes to talk and sometimes she enjoys pulling people’s legs. 

Besides I find her talk about monsters a bit harsh coming from someone whom isn’t human herself. 

The nonhuman activists do have a point or two. We do think more kindly upon certain races than others, the ones that look more human. Although we still shiver at the very notion of the dead; ghosts and spirits. Not to mention the undead, especially vampires. 

Lady Ylynessa, Lord William’s sister says we should be more tolerant of all creatures; living, unliving, or dead. Vampires still give me the shivers. Valerian, my adopted sister (and the local weaponsmaster) used to scare me half to death with all her stories about the Vampire Corwyth. Now with all the rumours and people disappearing, well, it makes me even more jumpy. 

I’ll admit, I’m not very brave. I’m still working up the courage to talk to Rhodry. Ah, yes, he’s the pretty, golden-haired boy I mentioned earlier. The adventures Maggie talks about area are full of danger and discomfort the way she tells it. Not sure I want to try anything like that. Working in a tavern is as close to adventure as I like to be. Lots of folks come in with tales of their own which I can listen to. 

All of this vampire tales what with people disappearing from Caerac Keep itself is closer to adventure than I like. I guess this is why the story I’m in is called Trouble at Caerac Keep. Yes, it’s still a Work in Progress. Here’s hoping I get to kiss the boy rather than be fed to a monster in it. Alas, our creatrix can be a wicked one. I wouldn’t put it past her to have me kiss the boy and be fed to a monster, knowing her. (shakes head)