— Marsaili Stonefury —

As Marsaili led the way out of the industrial district and up one of the ramps that ran along the cavern wall she felt a familiar, albeit somewhat rare swell of emotions. It was rare that she not only made a new friend but one who had never visited her family distillery. It was always enjoyable to see the reaction of someone whose company she enjoyed when they first walked into the side cave it was contained in.

Before they got to that portion of the evening, however, they still had a bit of a walk. Like all of the roads that spiraled up the cavern walls, the path they were walking was a wide, gently sloped road carved directly from the stone of the wall. On the side facing the cavern was an ornately carved wall that came to about mid chest on the average dwarven adult, all carved in a single piece.

The other side of the road was lined with storefronts carved into the cavern wall and the occasional open or gated archway that led to caves, mines, and tunnel systems.

The road in between was filled with a somewhat more diverse crowd than was typical in the pillars or to a lesser extent the cavern floor below. Moving along cleared paths with more roughly textured stone were the occasional hand cart or even small wagon filled with barrels of booze and produce or crates filled with stone and ore.

As they walked Marsaili noticed Keir observing the store fronts, most of which were taverns, inns, restaurants, and stores catering to travelers. The elven woman was clearly a bit confused but it took Marsaili longer than she’d have wanted to admit to realize why.

Nothing about Keir’s introduction to the city had been typical. After a few steps debating whether to bring it up Marsaili said “Aye, ye dinnae get the standard spiel fer a new visitor ta the city, did ya? It’s nay the only option fer lodgings but most of the inns are built along the main cavern’s walls. Since most’a the travelers stayin’ fer a short time stay ‘ere the other industries ta cater ta ‘em built up ‘ere as well.”

Keir nodded to herself and said “That makes sense now that you say that. I hadn’t really noticed it until I saw all of these, but then I realized we’d walked around most of the day and not seen any inns or other rooms for rent.”

With the topic opened Marsaili spent much of the rest of the remaining walk pointing out shops the elf might find useful, places with eating or drinking in, and some of the more interesting archways.

Eventually they reached an open arch wide enough for a good sized handcart full of barrels could pass through without obstructing pedestrian travel. The arch was carved with barrels as well as her family crest and the words Stonefury Distillery written in nine languages.

Beyond the archway was a six hundred feet long tunnel covered in carved fields of grains. When seen out of the corner of the eye as they walked down the tunnel they carved grains seemed to wave in the nonexistent wind. That feeling was made even stronger by the scent of soil and roasted grains carried down the tunnel by the city’s ventilation.

As they walked down the tunnel the subtle enchantments worked into the murals dulled the sounds of the city leaving the rustling of dense plants in the breeze and the gentle trickle of water running down stone into a stream.

Marsaili didn’t even try to hide her smile as they approached the end of the tunnel. The tavern portion of the distillery was nice in its own right but this reveal was always her favorite and Keir’s reaction did not disappoint.

The cave would have seemed massive if not for the mountain sized cavern they’d just left with a wide variety of moss and lichen, many of which gently glowed bioluminescent shades of green, blue, and purple, coated the majority of the stone walls and ceiling.

As Keir stopped just inside the large cave it was clear that the first thing that drew her attention was the gentle branched waterfall that flowed into a crystal clear pond along the back wall. From there her gaze followed the streams flowing out from it. A few of them flowed along paths lined with gently glowing runes towards the main distillery, but Keir’s attention seemed to instead follow the others that split into irrigation channels.

Those channels served to water a handful of small fields growing obsidian rye in various stages of growth. The earlier stages of growth were characterized by glowing red and later, dull orange veins along the dusty black sprouts and leaves. The field that was almost ready to harvest was filled with tall thin stalks of the same dull dusty black, but with bright crystalline black rye growing in rows at the ends.

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Around the fields and the pond were several areas built for guests to sit and enjoy the scenery.

From there the elven woman’s attention was drawn to the buildings of the distillery proper. There were a few storage buildings, the main distillery, a smaller distillery, and the tavern, All of which were carved in an archaic dwarven style of architecture that combined intricate stonework with mycelium wood elements. The style was originally linked to a form of druidism practiced by an ancient dwarven empire.

After a few moments of staring Keir said “Okay this definitely warrants that smug little smile you’ve got over there.”

Marsaili chuckled and said “Aye, Now ye jus’ need ta try the whiskey so ya can admit I was right about tha’ to.”

Keir tried to keep a straight face but a little snort of laughter as they made their way into the tavern.

The interior of the tavern was a mixture of polished dark mycelium wood and pale jade streaked marble lit by crystals filled with firefly like motes of light. The furniture was mostly carved from mycelium wood with decorative inserts of polished stone.

A bar ran the length of one wall. More than half of the bottles were different years and blends of Stonefury whiskey. The rest were a mixture of other liqueurs and mixers. Taps along the bar were fed from kegs of ale, beer, and cider.

The tavern was reasonably busy but certainly not full. A handful of servers were making their way among the tables carrying trays filled with drinks and food, most were dwarves though there was a young half elven half harpy and a pair of orcish twins.

As Marsaili scanned her gaze along the bar her focus snapped to Alasdair who was working as one of the four bartenders. For a split second she almost thought she was seeing things when she saw her dead son standing in front of her. When her mind caught up to the situation she smiled and led the way over to a pair of free stools in his section.

The surface of the mycelium wood floor wasn’t exactly spongy but it had a faint give that absorbed the sounds of Marsaili's steel shod boots at least as well as thick carpet. The wood of the stools had a similar give that accommodated armor more comfortably than hardwood or soft cushions.

As soon as the pair were settled Alasdair walked over and said “Oh Hey Mum, Keir. Ya here fer a drink? What’re ya havin’?”

Keir nodded in Marsaili’s direction and said “Yeah, She brought me here to try to prove dwarven whiskey can hold its own against Steel Coast rum.”

Taking the que Marsaili ordered a first round of drinks and some food. With that out of the way she chatted with her son while he sent their order to the kitchen and retrieved an ornate mithril bottle and pair of tumblers. After confirming they both wanted it on the rocks he placed a rune etched crystal cube in each glass and poured a generous portion of the amber liquor.

After a quick wordless toast Keir and Marsaili each took a drink. As they did Marsaili savored the rich smokey rye and more complex herbal notes, and the reaction of her elven friend in equal measure.

Some of the tension clearly left her shoulders as her face relaxed into a grin and she said “I don’t have any rum to compare it to, but I admit this is entirely worthy of being served along it at a royal feast.”

While they finished their first drink and waited for their food to arrive they split their time between talking with Alasdair and each good naturedly advocating for their drink of choice being the objectively superior choice.

Barely any time seemed to have passed before the young half elven woman approached carrying a tray with their food. As she set an order of boar ribs in a whiskey based sauce, a loaf of rich brown bread, some fried flame leaf root seasoned with the spicy powder of the plant’s leaves, Marsaili said “This all looks great, thanks Ita.”

Ita smiled brightly revealing her beak-like teeth and said “I’m glad everything in the village seemed to have worked out for you. Enjoy your meal.”

The bar wasn’t packed but it was too busy for Ita to stick around and chat so after a quick introduction she returned to work and Marsaili and Keir dug into the food and their freshly refilled drinks.

They spent a while leisurely eating, drinking, and chatting before a thought occurred to Marsaili and when Alasdair next stopped by to rejoin the conversation she said “I’m glad yer out here ta chat with, but I thought Graeme roped ya into helping in the kitchen. How’d ya end up behind the bar?”

Alasdair grimaced before looking over at Keir and said “Aye, he did, but I had ta get out a there. It’s nay easy ta be around so much delicious food tha’ can nay touch my hunger. I dinnae know how yer happily eatin’ tha’, Keir. Aren’t ya miserable being starving even as yer eatin?”

Marsaili felt a bit guilty that she hadn’t thought about whether undead could eat normal food. Before she could say anything, however Keir cocked her head slightly, a perplexed expression crossing her face as she said “I definitely feel like I’ve missed a few meals, especially after the last part of the day, but I'm hardly feeling starving. Let alone so starving that I can’t still enjoy delicious food that doesn’t fill that void.”

It was Alasdair’s turn to look confused as he said “How can tha’ be? Ya were brought back back well ‘fore I was. How’re ya not more hungry than tha? I feel like I’ve nay eaten in days.”

As they compared their experiences it soon became clear that for whatever reason Keir’s hunger had come on weaker and slower than Alasdair’s.

With that established Keir explained her plans to leave the following night if possible and Alasdair agreed to pass that message along to the rest of the undead that had come with them in case others were at least as affected as he’d been.

After the conversation moved on to happier topics and Alasdair excused himself to send the messages, Keir took a hearty sip of her drink and grinned as she said “This has been an excellent night, I hope I get the chance to let you experience the hospitality of the Steel Coast one day.”

Marsaili smiled as they prepared to go there separate ways for the night and wondered if she would dream of stark rocky islands and the warm welcome of a good friend.