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The Four Guilds Of Gravenhall
Gearing Up - Part One

Gearing Up - Part One

Terri woke to the sound of Aggy’s singing and the smell of sizzling bacon. Her head was pounding, her stomach rolling, and she had no idea where she was. The room Terri occupied was bright and cheery, with sunlight streaming in through an open window beside the bed. The young cleric rolled into a sitting position and found that she was fully clothed, if somewhat rumpled from the night before. She stood and walked groggily out into a large open room that contained a galley kitchen, table and chairs, and a couch underneath the window.

"Good morning Terri," Aggy greeted her with a cheeriness that belied the amount of alcohol the dwarf had consumed the night before. "How are you feeling lass, are you ready for a day filled with excitement and adventure?"

"If by 'excitement and adventure' you mean lying on the couch groaning and trying not to throw up then yes, I'm ready for that," Terri replied. "How is it that you're not suffering the same way I am?"

"One of the benefits of being born with a dwarf's constitution lass, we shake off hangovers like a dog shakes off water. Didn't you notice my special skill after any of those big nights we had during the past year?"

Terri sat down at the table and cradled her head on her arms. "I never saw you after any of those big nights Aggy, I was too busy lying on my bed, groaning and trying not to throw up."

"Och, you're a glutton for punishment lass," Aggy commented. "Why not just call on Avandar to cure your ills? I thought that was one of the perks of being a cleric."

Terri groaned gently. "Unfortunately Avandar expects his clerics to take responsibility for their actions. I could ask him to cure me and he probably would, but I'd definitely lose favour. Lose too much favour and I'd lose the ability to call on him at all, so I prefer to play it safe."

"Well, in that case you'd better drink this," Aggy said, plonking a steaming plate of breakfast and a mug containing an unknown liquid down in front of Terri. "A mug of my special dwarven hangover cure and a plate of bacon and eggs will have you right in no time."

Terri took a tentative sniff of the mug. It didn't smell bad, just spicy with a hint of flowers. "Why would you need a hangover cure if you never get hangovers?" she asked suspiciously.

Aggy's eyes twinkled. "Well, I don't get hangovers off the tepid booze you humans brew up. But there's not been a dwarf in history, not even Delevar himself who didn't have a hangover after drinking straight Dwarven Firewater. Go on, get it down ya and stop your snivelling, you're not going to die."

Terri screwed up her face and then downed the mug of hangover cure in one draught. It tasted the way it smelled and although it was thicker than she expected, it wasn't unpleasant.

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"Good," Aggy smiled. "Now eat your breakfast and curl up on the couch for a while. We've still got a couple of hours before we have to meet that damned lizard at the task board and by then you'll be feeling much better. I'm going to rustle up another batch of breakfast and then I'll go and wake Flem." Aggy returned to the kitchen whistling happily while Terri bravely tucked into her bacon and eggs, crossing her fingers that Aggy's hangover cure was as good as she said it was.

Despite the deliciousness of the breakfast, Terri's fiercely complaining stomach meant she found it difficult to finish the bacon and particularly the eggs. When she finally managed to overcome that enormous challenge her next mighty achievement was to stumble over to the couch and collapse in a heap upon its well stuffed cushions. After ten minutes of gazing at the blue sky outside the window and silently praying for Aggy's hangover cure to kick in, the young cleric finally felt well enough to sit up and talk again.

"Aggy, how did we get here last night and where exactly is 'here'? I'm assuming it's the house you mentioned at The Drunkard's Cup?"

"Och, even with a hangover you're still the sharpest tack in the barrel lass. Yes, you are currently residing in your new home, a three bedroom cottage in the east section of Providence. We got here at three in the morning by walking, or more accurately by weaving, determinedly in approximately the right direction for about three quarters of an hour. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to go and wake our other housemate and let him know his breakfast is ready."

Terri collapsed back down onto the couch cushions with the intention of getting back to sleep before Aggy returned to the kitchen. She didn't quite make it as snatches of Aggy and Flem’s conversation filtered through before Terri finally drifted off into unconsciousness. Something confusing about daggers, initiations and the weakness of human alcoholic drinks was all she could make out. Terri resolved to ask them about it when her hangover wore off, which from the feel of it would be in about three weeks time.

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Terri woke for the second time that morning to the sound of Aggy's singing, but this time as an accompaniment to washing the dishes. Flem was doing the drying and looking a lot healthier than Terri felt, although.......as she eased herself up into a sitting position the young cleric noted with satisfaction that Aggy's potion had done an exceptional job. Her headache had receded into a relatively inoffensive dull ache and her stomach had settled. All in all she felt a lot better.

"Are you sure you're not a cleric as well as a warrior and a mage?" Terri asked while standing up to take a gentle little walk around the room. "I feel a hundred times better."

"Nay lass," Aggy replied, "I'm certainly not a cleric but I am a woman of many talents, that's for damn sure. Now shake a leg and get yourself all geared up, we've got to leave in the next ten minutes if we're going to make it to the task board in time to meet Grumpy McLizzard."

For Terri, ten minutes was plenty of time to 'gear up' as there simply wasn't very much gear to put on. Nonetheless she quickly walked to her room, pulled on her boots and slid the blacksmith's hammer through a loop in her belt. Now completely geared up, Terri arrived back in the kitchen just as Aggy was placing the last dish in the rack. "Well, that was quick lass, hang on a sec while I grab my backpack and Flem gets his gear together."