Chapter 25

The enticing smell of food hit Lilith’s nose as she walked over to greet Wendel and Sharl, causing her to unconsciously lick her lips as she started to smile ear to ear. She couldn’t believe where she was it was literally like a dream come true. The Lady Luck Tavern was more of a hall of revelry than a simple bar. The first floor had a kitchen, weight staff, a bar with beer and wines, and many tables and chairs which were about half filled with patrons. Most were eating food and a few were already drinking. At the corner of the room there was a 5 piece band that was playing up beat and mellow tunes in even mix. In front of the band was a dance floor big enough for ten or so couples and in the center of the room was a great pillar. This central column was covered in retired adventuring gear of all types. There were swords and shields helmets boots and even the odd cloak. In contrast, the outer walls were lined with the handy work of some of those same adventurers. Mounted and stuffed heads of many wild and dangerous beast and monstrosity hung from the walls no two alike. And hanging over it all was a well preserved black dragon wing. The lighting in the room allowing it to cast a dark shadow on some of the tables.

The second floor had a small game room and about 12 guest rooms for the patrons if they were unable to make it home for the night.

As she greeted Wendel and Sharl, Lilith noticed a few other familiar faces. Gonald Ironhammer was there and the mountain dwarf was still as short as ever. Present as well was the Well dressed Banker who she soon discovered was named Hamlin Miles. Lilith had only spoken with him briefly but he left a good impression, especially since he seemed to be friends with Sir Tanel.

Now looking back at the entrance Lilith could see the replica of a large golden coin above the door way. It had the image of a comely looking woman on it. ‘perhaps the Duchess” she thought.

With everyone seated they began talking and ordering food as the barmaid tapped the town champion on the shoulder.

“Whats all this Wendel? how did you get everyone here?” Lilith asked genuinely surprised to see everyone there that she was acquainted with.

“6 Dinner plates and 3 bottles of wine. Also bring out a leg of sliced ham just in case the lady here gets extra hungry.” Sharl had put in their order with the server and went back to his conversation with Celeste and the banker.

“You know me, Master Wendel, human sending stone.” He said with a chuckle.

“Ya its a bit unnerving having his voice pop in when you are washing up after work if you can imagine.” Gonald said with a huff.

“Does it produce a noise or is it inside the mind only?” Lilith asked as five tankards of ale were placed on the table one by one by a different barmaid who had come from the bar.

“Its completely in your mind and theirs and they can even reply to it” Wendel said in a calm voice. He then set out a hand to stop the server from leaving. *“What are these for we didn’t order this.” Wendel asked under his breath before looking back at Lilith to hear what she was saying.*

“Oh you will have to teach me that one. It will be great if we are ever in different towns or just a different part of town.” Lilith demanded, thinking how much she missed having a cell phone.

“So you aren’t just a demon with a sword you know magic too?” Gonald asked with a bit of sarcasm.

*“Its from that red ladies suitors, at those three tables over there.” The female server said in a hushed tone. Wendel brought his hand out of her path and smacked it against his forehead.*

“I know some very powerful magics actually so don’t try and sell me short.” Lilith said with a wry smile.

Gonald squinted at her trying to decide if he was impressed or angry at how well she had worked that in. “It would be hard to sell you short considering that entrance you made. What was that, misty step?”

So he was familiar with magic ‘I bet he won’t see this coming’ Lilith thought to herself “I am afraid it isn’t. I seem to know a cantrip called teleport that just looks very similar but it has double the range.”

“What? There is no such cantrip that I know of.” Gonald said as if he was some kind of expert.

“Me either.” Said Wendel as he took a drink from one of the five unwelcome mugs of ale now on the table.

“So you can just jump around like that whenever you choose? What are you some kind of Blink Dog?”

Lilith squinted at him in a slight mockery of the look he had given her moments before as she hardly appreciate being compared to a dog. That, was going to cost him.

“Oh tell him about Fabricate. Gonald will love it” Celeste said trying to pick up the conversation.

“Aye whats that do? It sounds important.” Gonald asked as he too grabbed a tankard of ale off the table and took a long draft.

“It allows me to make a physical object out of raw materials using magic. So If I had the right amount of steel I could make 200 spear heads in short order.” Lilith said in as dry of a tone as she could without even a hint of humor.

Gonald’s face began to twitch again but Lilith didn’t care. She knew she was winning this battle. So she smiled and looked towards Celeste wondering why she wasn’t talking to Sharl. Seeing that Celeste was doing a bad job of holding back her laughter at the diminutive jokes that had been made, Lilith let out a slight giggle of her own as if the laughter was contagious.

“Pfff” Celeste let out as her face turned a bit red. Then a sudden burst of laughter erupted from the two of them, all of it at Gonald’s expense.

While trying to calm herself down, Lilith looked away from her friend only to notice Sharl standing at attention as if he was on guard duty. Looking closer she could see he was staring daggers at a couple of the tables on the far side of the room. Without breaking eye contact he reached behind himself grabbed one of the remaining tankards of ale and began to empty it in slow purposeful gulps while keeping his head locked on his unfortunate targets.

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Lilith thinking she was witnessing some kind of drinking game suddenly felt a bit left out. So she did the only thing a competitive person from Texas would do at a tavern. She locked eyes on the same table Sharl was staring at, opened her mouth much wider than what was humanly possible, lifted the next to last tankard tilting it in the process letting the entire pint slip into her throat, gravity doing all the work.

There was an instant cheer from one of the tables on the far side followed by a boo from the others. Lilith turned her head to where she had heard the boo and began to reach for the second tankard.

Sharl’s expression had gone from one of defiance to one of confusion but Lilith did not see this. Her face was pointed skyward about halfway up the pillar in the middle of the room while her right eye was focused on the last tankard of ale. There was a cheer from multiple tables around the room as she once again downed the whole pint and slammed the mug down thinking she had just won some kind of cross table drinking contest.

The whole room became electric, as there was a game afoot. A game between a mysterious woman and her two wood-be suitors. Little did Lilith know she was the only person in the room who had a completely different type of game in mind when she exclaimed. “Alright losers who is ready to arm wrestle!” Lilith looked around at the room which was erupting in cheers as she stood and put on a big toothy grin. ‘This is going great’ she thought to herself as the cheering was joined by the sound of many moving chairs and the sound of others standing.

Sharl was confused, his eyes looking back to Lilith and the two empty mugs in front of her. He stood to look her eye to eye to see if he could deduce what had possessed her to drink two of the suitors ale when he knew she had rebuffed him only just hours before. Then he saw it, the biggest shit eating grin he had ever laid eyes on. So he returned her smile in a much more relaxed way and thought ‘she must have some kind of plan’.

Lilith wiped some of the foam from the edges of her face before she turned to Celeste to give her a smile too. Celeste didn’t seem to understand what was going on either but she knew watching Lilith arm wrestle was bound to be good fun, so she patted Lilith's hand and did a few of her signature excited hops to encourage whatever was about to happen.

There was much noise and motion as men began to line up and jockey for position where the reserved tables were. Most of this died down to a pleasant din as the line was established and the guests began talking amongst themselves. Lilith pulled out a chair at one of the other reserved tables and waited for her first challenger who seemed to be rubbing his hands together at the front of the line.

Sharl was torn, should he get in line, sit down at a separate table and challenge others to arm wrestling, or just cheer on the subject of his spurned love. The wound on his ego was still fresh. But then his mind turned to what any devotee of Tymora would be thinking at a time like this. He was going to take bets.

Sharl smiled as he considered the near impossibility of someone overpowering the red hair demoness. So with much fanfare he announced that he was taking bets and what the odds were in his loud distinctive voice. He then recruited the banker, Hamlin Miles, to be his bookie as he had both a pad of paper and an enchanted quill on him at all times. Celeste locked eyes on Sharl for a moment and the two of them knew exactly what to do without either of them saying a word.

The odds started out at 2:1 in Lilith’s favor so any bet on her would only pay out half of what a bet on the challenger would be. Sharl began taking bets and then called a halt to betting when he had about 8 to keep track of, Hamlin scribbling out bet stubs as fast as he could. The bets had been spread 50:50 for either person so Sharl was going to be way ahead on this first round. Wendel had gone around to the side of the table where Lilith was sitting and began to officiate.

“Both feet stay on the ground One hand must grip the table and start on my command or I will call for a redo.” Wendel called out in a calm and practiced voice. As he got agreeable nods from both Lilith and her first challenger he wondered how Lilith had managed to get him into this most interesting of situations. Who would of thought when he got up this morning that he, a master of conjuration, would be officiating an arm wrestling contest before the day’s end. Letting out a short breath through his nose to focus his mind, he saw both contestants were ready. “Begin!” the wizard shouted as he lowered a hand.

Lilith just held her arm steady at first and pouted her lips like she was impressed.

Then in a sudden flurry of movement both the doors to the tavern flung open and two guards walked in.

Lilith easily flung his arm down, ending the match so that she could greet who she knew was about to follow. Everyone in the room heard the thud of the young carpenter’s arm as it hit the table. The young man was stunned, he just left it lying there as the rest of the room turned to face the entrance.

“Lilith wins” Wendel called out not forgetting his duties. But no one else moved except for the slight shuffling of feet and chairs.

One of the guards then called out. “Announcing his grace, Sir Anthony Tanel Defender of the Keep, and Regent of Daggerford!”

With that, Sir Tanel entered the room taking a few extra steps forward allowing the guards closed the door behind him. Two more could be seen standing outside as the light from the tavern spilled out in the now dim town, cloaked in orange twilight. He immediately began walking over to Wendel and scanning the tables around the area now seeing Lilith seated at the table he was standing over. The first challenger had just now gotten out of his seat mumbling something about her cheating like Sharl.

Starting to catch on to what was happening Sir Tanel gave Lilith a side eyed glance before he announced in a dead pan voice. “I see the party has gotten started without me…. And there is betting.” He then gave Sharl a nod and began to search for his own coin purse. “Ok, what are the odds?” he asked much to the surprise of many of the other guests. This of course didn’t surprise Sharl in the least, he going over to shake his hand and read out the new odds.

As the next challenger arrived he sat down in front of Lilith saying “Your eyes burn like the embers in my heart.”

Lilith thought this guy was trying to psych her out like she was some delicate maiden who could be cowed by sweet words. But what she didn’t know was this man had bought one of the ales she so eagerly drank only minutes before. Still ignorant of her incitement, she tapped the palm of her right hand with the finger tips of her left saying. “Flattery won’t get you mercy.” in as sultry a voice as she could manage.

After the cheers died down again the betting stopped and Celeste could be seen holding yet another ticket.

But before Lilith gripped the table, the doors to the kitchen opened and two platters of food and wine were brought to the reserved side of the tavern. Lilith turned her head slightly to the side and her eyes turned to the right to look at the food in anticipation. As she did this she gripped the table fully to steady herself as the upper half of her body was turned to the right tracking the food.

The wizard had been looking at the challenger/suitor but he noticed Lilith's hand grip the table fully now. So with full enthusiasm Wendel’s voice rang out sharply, “Begin!” But neither competitor moved or strained The suitor was looking at her eyes after all and knew she was distracted. Instead he cleared his throat quite clearly and waited for her gaze to drift back to his. When they did, their eyes locked and he nodded forward at their clasped hands. Lilith put a bit of pressure against his and he took this as the signal to start. He pushed with all his might and Lilith allowed her arm to move a little. He had been a good sport and she could respect that a lot. But the outcome was inevitable. After 10 seconds she pushed his hand to the table without a single bead of sweat anywhere her face.

“The Defender of Daggerford wins!” Wendel exclaimed reflecting the energy in the tavern.

Lilith held up both her arms in victory while she looked to survey the room. She was having a great time and so were her friends. Celeste turned in her second betting ticket for another IOU that would be settled at closing time that evening. Looking at her friend Lilith put on her best puppy dog eyes she could manage considering they were always glowing bright red due to her true sight. “Celeste, can you bring me a plate of ham. There is a line forming here and I am hungry.” She pleaded with a lot of emphasis on the word ‘hungry’. Celeste nodded her head before she went to make a plate forgoing her bet for that round. Lilith then leaned over to Wendel and asked if he knew the last competitor’s name and his station.

“I don’t know his name but he is a member of the cavalry. Sharl should know for sure.” Wendel replied while bending over to keep the conversation a bit more private.

Meanwhile, Sharl began changing the odds as he expected more and more people would be betting on Lilith going forward. He had her fixed as an 8 to 1 favorite now in order to hopefully stay ahead of the curve.

The next contender was wearing the distinctive cotton and leather work clothes of a blacksmith. The burly man receiving a few wagers and well wishes. His huge arms and callused hands showed the tell tale signs of the many years he had plied his craft. Not surprisingly Gonald cheered him on as he sat down and brought up his massive hand to meet hers. He wasn’t taller than Lilith but working the forge all day everyday combined with his wide frame meant that his hands dwarfed hers wrapping almost completely around, leaving only her finger tips visible.

With both competitors ready Wendel let out the familiar bark “Begin!” as cheers broke out in full.

In an instant the blacksmith pressed with all his arms and shoulders could muster. The table creaked from the force being applied by both competitors. Lilith made a small smile and nodded at him in order to acknowledge his strength. But unfortunately for this tradesman, she intended to run the table tonight. With her toned arms and rippling muscles that had the density of forged steel she only needed to exert her full strength for a moment to put his hand on the table. With a thud it was over. The Blacksmith lifted his hand shaking it off before he thanked Lilith for ‘being so gentle’.

Lilith decided to take it as a compliment since she really was trying not to literally rip someone’s arm off. On that count she was 3 for 3 for the night. No one having been injured of mamed.

As the next contestant was showing off and posturing, Celeste brought over the plate full of ham with a giant fork stabbed in the middle. She had learned that Lilith was eating mostly meat now and really preferred pork sausages and ham, as well as any type of lamb.

The food didn’t last long. Lilith used the oversize fork obviously made for serving to serve herself large chunks of ham that she devoured quickly before her next match would start.

As Lilith continued to eat, Celeste went back to betting on her friend and the night went on.