The ice elves were still standing in the door gazing at the costumers in the tavern and were silently judging them because of the state they were all in. After a few seconds, they noticed a human and a rabbit approaching them, neither of them looked very presentable but compared to the rest of the people in the tavern at least these two had fully regained their senses.
“Good morning, gentleman!” the woman cheerily greeted them. “To what do I owe the pleasure of hosting 2 Ice elves in my little Tavern?” she asked, wearing a big smile upon her tired looking face.
“You own this place?” one of the elves asked with a raise eyebrow, conveying his disbelief.
“Indeed I do, the previous owner passed away not too long ago and ever since it's been under my caring hand.” she responded, oozing pride in her hard work.
“Caring hand, eh?” the other elf asked rhetorically as he looked around once again. “This place looks terrible.” he stated blankly.
Then he turned to wards his partner, “Brother, we should leave this dump, clearly there isn’t anybody worthy down here. At least those arrogant dwarves had an army unlike these dirty bums.” he said while looking at his brother.
“Now, now Thallan. We came here to find skilled individuals, not to discredit their species as a whole. I must agree that they don’t look promising, but there must be at least one competent member in each of these lower species. Plus, you know that we can’t return empty-handed. The prophecies are never wrong.” he says as to remind his brother of their goals.
Brenda looked hurt by the insults to her establishment and felt shameful of the mess. Meanwhile, Drazdan was simmering in a silent fit of rage, fully aware he can’t afford to turn these 2 elves into his enemies.
“Your tongues are as sharp as always.” Drazdan stated with a forced smile. “Must be because of all those icicles stuck up your asses.” he retorted.
“You what!” Thallan gripped his sword and started unsheathing it before he was stopped by his brother. “Why are you stopping me, Elas?” he screamed. “This bastard just insulted us! He doesn’t deserve to draw his next breath!”
“Thallan calm down already. You unsheathing your sword only proves his point. Don’t disgrace yourself further!” he says as he scolds his brother.
“Harengon. You seem familiar with our kind. Tell me how do you know about us?” Elas asks Drazdan, curiosity evident on his face.
“I worked as a guard in Fendur.” Drazdan replied with a shrug. “Not the greatest job in the world, but I have had the pleasure of meeting a few of yours in my time up there.” Drazdan responds, explaining his familiarity.
“I see, got to say that is surprising. You are quite far from Fendur my dear rabbit.” Elas continues. “Had a falling out with the locals?” he asks, curious to the events leading to a man crossing half the continent to get away from their previous home.
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“Meh, you know how the dwarves are. Never really could get along with them. Also name’s Drazdan and anyway, their king disappointed me to no end, not to mention their greedy nobles.” he said calmly.
Upon finishing his sentence, a mug was slammed into the bar, breaking the mug and making a very loud thud.
“Did you just call yourself Drazdan?” a voice boomed across the tavern.
“Yes, that would be my name. Why?” Drazdan turned toward the dwarf and asked him.
“RABBIT!” the dwarf screams as he jumps off his stool and faces, Drazdan. “I SHOULD HAVE YOU SKEWERED FOR ALL YOUR INSULTS TO OUR GREAT KINGDOM! A KINGDOM THAT YOU SERVED! YOU SHOULD SHOW LOYALTY TO YOUR HOME, BUT PERHAPS I SHOULDN'T BE SURPRISED, SINCE YOU ARE A BLOODY TRAITOR!” the dwarf yelled.
Drazdan raised his eyebrow over his sole remaining eye.
“And why should I have loyalty to a kingdom that is corrupted to its very roots? As a member of the guard that served your worthless nobles ambitions, I know all too well how corrupt and incompetent you all are. And I was never a traitor. Hell, being banished from Fendur was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. That Snarfin Underbuckle deserved to die for his illegal slave trafficking.” Drazdan responded with no little amount of spite in his voice.
“YOU DARE SLANDER AND RUIN OUR GOOD NAME? AND THEY’VE NEVER FOUND PROOF OF IT! YOU DESERVED TO BE HANGED FOR STRIKING HIM!” the dwarf yelled some more.
“They’ve never found proof of it because the entire nobility is in on it! Your blindness is unbelievable! Did we serve the same kingdom? ‘Cause it sure doesn’t seem like it!” Drazdan screamed as he started getting more and more upset.
"All the evidence that was found has either disappeared or burnt down along with the building it was in! AND THEY ALWAYS HAPPENED WITHIN HOURS OF BEING FOUND!" Drazdan yelled at the dwarf.
"MEANING, YOUR DAMNED NOBLES HAD PLACED MOLES WITHIN THE GUARD! THE GUARD THAT’S NOT ONLY SUPPOSED TO KEEP THEM IN CHECK, BUT TO ALSO TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC!" He finished fuming with rage.
The slightly inebriated Dwarf reached for a mug and threw it at Drazdan but considering his respectable consumption of alcohol, he majestically missed and hit a fellow customer in the back of the head knocking him straight out, leaving him sprawled out on the floor next to the ice elves.
“Ah yes, the Oh so legendary accuracy of the dwarves.” Thallan mocked the dwarf, followed by a malicious chuckle.
Before the dwarf could start anything else, Brenda stepped in between the 2 parties, acting as a barrier in case anything happened.
“There shall be no fighting in my tavern! I don’t care who you are or what your business!” she screamed while facing the elves.
Upon hearing her ultimatum, the dwarf chuckled victoriously, as if all he wanted was to kick out the elves. However, Brenda didn’t miss it, and in an instant she spun around and looked the dwarf in the eyes.
“That applies to you as well, Half-pint. If you’re here to pick fights with my customers, you can leave right now.” she declared with a scowl.
“I… Wha… What about the Traitor, then?! He picked fights too!” the now shocked dwarf screams out, trying desperately to keep his room at the tavern.
“Real classy, mister Dwarf.” Marcus says dismissively.
Marcus and Xandarr along with the other customers had by now encircled the group. After hearing all the screaming, they just had to see what it was about. They weren’t surprised to see that the dwarf and Drazdan had been going at each other's necks. Since they seemed to have a bit of history.