Leander's Stealthy Predators

The day following Dryali, Fine Branch, and Ana's visit to the Green Grove, the three of them along with Tahu, Hikawera, Tai, and Quelenna decided to talk to Damakaios about slightly more exciting occupation.  They trooped up to the lounge expecting to wait for the Freelancers leader to open his door, but it already was open.  The Pungarehu hanyou was at his desk, which was clear.

The Freelancers entered and took various seats.  Damakaios had a large corner office, about 25' square, with guest chairs in two rows of semicircle facing the desk, which was decorated with geometric patterns and had a set of shallow drawers.  The walls were lined with glass cabinets with high-quality short weapons, except for maps of Commerce, with detailed maps of Ripa Daneo and Gata Nahaki.

Hikawera took a chair appropriately sized for a bulky dwarf, to the right of the door.
Ana took the chair that was most front-and-center.  It was too large for a Maker gnome.
Quelenna leaned against the back wall, which did not have cabinets blocking her.
Tahu took a chair near the case with the nicest daggars, studying them.
Tai took the sturdiest chair, careful of his own bulk.
Dryali sprawled across a chair in the darkest corner of the room.
Fine Branch sat in lotus position within the semicircle of the chairs, floating 2-10" off the floor, tails waving lazily.

As Damakaios opened a drawer and started pulling out papers, Dryali cast mage hand and tried to distract Fine Branch by tickling him at the base of his tails.  This attempt had no effect.  The others ignored this tableau and watched Damakaios.  Despite the apparent shallowness of the drawer, he was reaching well into it to get out five crisp pieces of paper.

By the time he was done reading off the available missions, the hanyou was convinced that these Freelancers got their kicks from derailing him.  But, he did his best.

First – clear out the Amabel villa.  Status:  there is a flying skeletal shark

Dryali:  crocodile
Quelenna:  no!  I want it to live
Ana:  that's what sculpt spell is for
Fine Branch:  I have revivify

House Hadid is still formulating a plan [in light of the information gathered from previous mission], but have asked us to be involved, and I'm not sure the Freelancers should be involved in revenge plots.  But they still want cheshire hides.  It's 500gp for a pristine pelt, and 60-80% of that for a damaged pelt, as long as it's not entirely charred.

Damakaios paused and looked closely at Ana, who pretended he did not.  In the back, Dryali briefly considered sending a firebolt past both their heads, but he did not.

Also – you were offered Leander herd protection mission.  Leander… rolls once a year, so is full of nomadic centaurs.  It is 300gp/person to help Redwind Tribe of centaurs destroy whatever has been preying on their herds.

Here Damakaois paused, and looked at them all.  "I would like to note, I can easily arrange an airship; right now, the airship can land; the festival town is on the outward side, and has docks."

Tahu:  what is the plant life on this?
Damakaios:  grasslands, low shrubs, is hard to get a tree to grow correctly.
Tahu:  is it just dead on the underside?
Damakaios:  no, the grass survives
Tai:  certainly it has no moss

Next mission – the Vathia Estia Tunnel Authority.  On the lower end of the tunnels there have been attacks.  Not on the caravans, but on the people who wander away from the main tunnel.

Dryali:  what does "lower" mean?
Damakaios:  where it comes out, near the base of the Rim.  This will pay 250gp/person.
Hikawera:  does anyone not have darkvision?
Dryali:  Tahu
Tahu:  I have goggles of night

Last mission.  There's a Garuda town to the west.  Past them, to the west, they are having problems with vegetation.
 

Ana:  would like to hear more.
Damakaios:  basically it's a half-day's travel west.  Used to be a safe meadow for young Garuda to practice flying, but now it's full of mean plants.

Damakaios was finished, and looked at them all expectantly.  From the conversation thus far, he had no idea which mission would be chosen.

Fine Branch:  fine with whichever
Hikawera:  tunnel, or plants, but fine with all of them
Tai:  least interested in cheshire; not that interested in the tunnel
Ana:  most interested in the last three.  Fucking up trees is fun.  Leander is interesting
Tahu:  Leander sounds fun
Quelenna:  would like to see the undead shark to conclusion.  <looked at Dryali>  not that I want the crocodile involved.
Tai:  cleric would help with that
Fine Branch:  I'm down with that
Dryali:  but Leander sounds intriguing, and we should go while an airship can land
Damakaios:  there is a bit of a festival...

Well, that did it; the Freelancers wished to go to the festival, so they took the Leander mission.

While Leander's orbit wasn't very far inward of that of Duquesne and Commerce, the skylith was not positioned conveniently, and it would take 5 days travel on the airship to get there.  The Freelancers took passage on the mechanical airship Mallory, captained by Shamoun, a half-elf.  The crew was eclectic since the Mallory claimed Ripa Daneo as its home port.  Since the orbit was in Commerce nearsky there were no real concerns about attacks; it was all too well-patrolled.

Ana, upon learning the booked passage was one-way, had asked Damakaios, "How are we getting back?"  Damakaios' entirely smooth answer was "I have arranged the dockmaster to get you transport back."

At about noon of the fifth day, the Mallory started its approach to a nearly spherical skylith, with a seam of mountains running across the top from the northern side, petering out at about 45 degrees local latitude.  Yellowish green landscape rippled like a thalassa, but as they got closer they saw it was grasslands rippling in the wind.  They also saw that as the mountains petered out into hills, fading into the plains, there were structures and tents.  The Mallory headed there.

The details became clear as they approached; the tents were very colourful, and the buildings were stone and rope, with very  little wood.  In some places, it looked like the rope had been used to strap the stone in place.  Looming above the town was a steep hillside with rope ship-hammocks similar to those used for docks on the rim in Ripa Daneo, and the Mallory was ensconced in one of these in short order.

At that point, Captain Shamoun wished the Freelancers well, then booted them and their own mounts off the Mallory, so he could unload.  Freed from being shipboard, the Freelancers looked down over the crowded festival below.  They spotted the Redwind tents, tan with a red horse blurred around the edges to imply the wind, and headed into the settlement.

The tents were very tall!  The Freelancers looked around to see what was getting celebrated or traded, and found livestock, such as goats, cattle, horses, and some alpaca.  Meat, milk, yarn, and the entire spectrum of hide to cured leather to finely crafted items were for sale.  The best, though, was the fibercrafts; knitting, crochet, macrame, intricate knotworks.  Woven cloth was for sale, but the fabrics tended to be ribbons of foot-wide cloth sewn together.

The festival had lots of humanoids, the most common people being Rock sagani, but by far all humanoids were outnumbered by centaur.  Even the smallest centaurs' withers came up to a human's chin, and Ana stayed mounted on Pelorus to avoid getting stepped on.  The Freelancers peered at the various peoples with interest, also curious about the various sagani phenotypes, but did not see anything resembling a centaur sagani, so their curiosity remained unsatisfied as they arrived at the Redwind encampment.

As they came up to the tents and announced themselves, they were directed towards the tent of Kleio, who was the leader of the tribe.  The group approached it, peering around the centaur camp.  The Redwind tribe seemed to have more leather than the others.

Kleio ducked out of her tent.  She was an elder, venerable centaur, with auburn hair in 2 braids.  The "horse part" of her was red chestnut, with a pale tail.  "Welcome," she said curiously, "Freelancers?  Very glad to have you here to help deal with our herds."

Ana produced her Freelancers badge, the enamel glinting in the afternoon daylight.  "Yes, we're Freelancers," she informed the centaur, "Please tell us about the problem you are having."

Kleio directed the mounted Freelancers to leave their mounts in the paddock, where they would be taken care of.  "Come inside for a snack," she invited them, and Fine Branch and Dryali exchanged a side eye.  That's ominous.

However once in the tent they found it to be mostly cushions.  Everyone settled down, and Kleio launched into an explanation:  "Redwind horse herds, 3 days northwest of Hoiho, are having depredation issues.  We don't know what's killing them, but they are just getting mauled."

Dryali:  how close to the mountains?
Kleio:  not too close.
Ana:  has it continued on festival?
Kleio:  yes
Tai:  what does this look like, creature-wise?
Kleio:  lots of teeth, not much is left of the horse.
Ana:  how long has this been happening?
Kleio:  a little while?  It's relatively recent.  At first we thought it was a wolf, but it has persisted, even with guards.
Dryali:  are the other tribes having this problem?
Kleio:  not that we have heard.
Ana:  so, guards.  Did they see anything?  Or, not much?
Kleio:  they really didn't see any thing.
Dryali:  wonder if cheshires are on this skylith?
Kleio:  Redwind herd guards know how to deal with cheshires, and they don't leave these marks.
<Narrator voice:  Shari rolled Nature and Dryali considers an invisible assailant but more likely one from above or below.>
Dryali:  when was the last time?
Kleio:  seems to happen every 2-4 days.
Fine Branch:  what creature needs to eat every 2-4 days?
Quelenna:  probably a big carnivore.
Tahu:  how many horses, each attack?
Kleio:  only one
Dryali:  you did not answer my question – when was the last time?
Kleio:  well, messages take time!

A discussion ensued.  The Freelancers had been under the impression from Kleio that the Redwind tribe and its herds were nearby to Hoiho, but they were not.  The main herds were still days northwest, and the attacks were happening there.

Dryali:  should we just travel there, and find out?
Ana:  we'll have to go take a look.  We'll need a guide,
Quelenna <interjecting>:  yes
Ana:  directions will not help in a featureless grassland.
Kleio:  it's not feat–
<Kleio looked at Ana and realized she was shorter than the grass.>
Kleio:  will be happy to give you a guide, it will take 3 days to get there.  Do you wish to head out immediately?
Hikawera:  might as well get started
Dryali:  do we need any supplies?
Kleio:  you might want to take…
Fine Branch:  how do horses get water?
Hikawera:  alchemy jug!
Dryali:  water is not a problem.  <held up decanter of endless water>
Kleio:  there are plenty of streams bubbling

Kleio deputized one of her herd guards, Mnestra, as a guide.  Mnestra was coloured like Kleio, but had a black tail and socks.  The Freelancers picked up 3 days' worth of rations in order to go, but quickly realized three days' travel for a centaur was a bit further away than it was for a walking humanoid, so Tahu, Dryali, and Quelenna had to borrow horses, and then they were on their way.

Travel was brisk and pretty.  Mnestra was not one for idle conversation; as a herd guard she spent most of her time in the company of horses, not sentient people.  She was happy to answer questions, and from her the Freelancers found out that the centaurs did not know what was assaulting their horses, because they would just find a slain horse.  The attacks were not always at the same time of day, and they were often on an older or weaker horse, or sometimes, a foal.

The borrowed horses were not terribly well-trained for riders, but well enough that Tahu, Dryali, and Quelenna were mostly okay.  Problems became training opportunities for Mnestra, and the trip was probably good for their future.  Ana, Hikawera, and Tai found themselves explaining about the pegasi to Mnestra, who very much admired them and clearly wished she could fly.

On the third day, they topped a low hill, to see herds of horses spread out before them in the grasslands.  A guard galloped up, concerned until he recognized Mnestra, who introduced the Freelancers and told him they were there to solve the mystery of the attack.  The guard pointed out another attack had occurred in the western hills, and gave markers that made no sense to the Freelancers, but Mnestra immediately understood.  She led them to where he'd indicated.  Other guards were nearby, but let Mnestra be about it.

There wasn't much left of the horse:  bones, some gristle, mane, tail.  Notably, no hooves.  Ana, Dryali, Hikawera, and Tahu checked out the bones & gristle, but the latter two were only able to conclude that it was gross.  Ana and Dryali were more methodical in their examination.  They determined the injuries were bites and claws from at least 3 creatures, with mouths big enough to grab a horse by the neck.  The bite marks showed teeth, not beaks.

Tai, Quelenna, and Fine Branch examined the surrounding ground for tracks.  Quelenna and Fine Branch only saw horse hooves.  Tai looked more closely, and saw some of the tracks were actually clawed…?  Maybe cloven.  They did not look like they belonged to flying beasts.

Tai pointed these out to the others, and everyone looked.  Hikawera tried to recollect if he'd heard any lore about such a creature, and Dryali thought about the creatures he knew of, but neither of them had a clue.

Ana had a different perspective, and exclaimed, "Oh, no, is it moving with the herd?!"  Concerned, she began a ritual cast of detect magic, holding her Arcane Grimoire over the dead horse and mumbling something with an almost musical cadence.  Dryali frowned slightly, and the rest continued to look around.

After ten minutes of this, the detect magic showed Ana nothing beyond the magical equipment the Freelancers were wearing, and abjuration magic on Mnestra's vest.  Hikawera suggested she fly over the herds, and she mounted Pelorus and did a couple passes, but the only things that lit up were on the other herd guards.

Upon hearing Ana's report, Dryali suggested the flyers look for patterns of avoidance in the herds; he reasoned if Ana was right and creature(s) were moving with the herds, the horses would be avoiding them.  

Hikawera, Tai, and Fine Branch mounted up and took off, Hikawera giving Fine Branch bardic inspiration as they left.  Hawkie also started circling, all on the lookout for patterns.

The horses were in a couple medium-sized herds, with smaller groups ambling along.  They saw no pattern like Dryali had suggested, but in one small herd, some of the horses did not look right.  It became obvious that these not-right horses were only pretending to eat the grass.

They landed to discuss, with Hawkie still circling, as hawks do.

Ana:  we should isolate, but I dunno how.
Quelenna:  is not my thing.
Dryali:  the guards know how.
Mnestra:  let me talk to the other guards
<trotted over to a guard, then returned as he called to two others.>
Mnestra:  we can do it, if you point them out.
Ana:  watch the hawk.
Dryali:  I can maintain dancing lights over them if you need.

Hawkie pointed out seven.  The guards started working on separating out the horses, but they weren't trained at all, and some of them spooked.  Dryali and Ana watched to see if the not-horses which were acting, were doing so based on intelligence and planning, or instinct.  Dryali could not tell, but Ana concluded it was instinct.  They turned to the guards.  "If we fight these like this, there might be a stampede."

The four guards got out rope, and all started lassoing some, shooing other horses out, until there were only a few left.  The not-horses, no longer surrounded by a crowd, were more obviously different to everyone.  But the few that were left were still enough to trigger a stampede, and Ana told the others she would try to sleep some of them to reduce the danger.

The Freelancers were still eastward of the horses.  Watching the guards work,
Dryali mounted, and used his all-purpose tool to learn ray of frost, thinking firebolt might start a grass fire.  He also created a force ballista.
Tahu drew a daggar, ready to throw it at the nearest not-horse, once Ana cast sleep on the real horses.
Quelenna readied herself to attack the not-horses, if they attacked any Freelancers.

The others, having flying mounts, flew up, and Ana cast sleep on a group of 4 horses near the center.  The two northernmost fell asleep, and Tahu loosed his daggar into [1], the blade sinking into its shoulder.

The not-horse reared up, at which point its claws became obvious, and let out a scream similar to a stallion's bugle, revealing a carnivore's teeth.  The centaurs' eyes widened.  A horror.

Hikawera flew over the horses, and cast bane on [1][2][6].  He called out to Tai, "I think it's their turn to get beheaded," granting bardic inspiration to the Silver dragonborn.

• Tai flew down next to [2] and jumped off Spencer Thundersparks, landing next to the horror, and flew into a rage.  A protective magic field sprang up around him, and he slashed [2] with his magical greataxe.  He swung again, but stepped in horseshit and slipped.  Almost sheepishly, he stood back up again.

The horses that were not asleep, started fleeing westward, away from the bugling horror.

• [1] charged at Tahu.  It bit the Wind sagani, then slashed him twice with its claws.  The last slash crit Tahu, who was now bleeding profusely, enough that others could see the blue-white air elemental infusion within.
• [7] also charged at Tahu and bit him, but the slashing claws missed.
• [6] charged at Tai and snapped at him, missing.  It swiped and crit with its claws, but Tai's rage hardened him against much of it.  The second swip missed.
• [2] attacked Tai as well, but entirely missed.
• [3] charged at Tai, biting and slashing him with both claws.  Again Tai's rage threw off most of the damage.
• [4] ran up to Tai but was only able to close.
• [5] ran up to Quelenna, but was only able to close. 

Dryali saw [5] nearby, menacing Quelenna, and [1] slightly further off, having injured Tahu.  He pulled out his decanter of endless water, and used it as a geyser on the two horrors, knocking them prone with the force of the water.  He backed his horse away, hoping they wouldn't charge him.

• Tahu disengaged and cast levitate on himself, too injured to trust he could survive another onslaught.
• Quelenna, mindful of Tahu's injuries, slashed at [5] with her fans.  She missed the first slash but sliced the horror on the second, then followed up with flurry of blows, one of which crit.  The Wild elf tried a technique to dull the creature's reactions, then used her Winged Boots to rise up in the air, out of reach from any of the horrors.
• Fine Branch flew over to Tahu and put him pillion on Nighthawk, then flew west over the horses and cast an uplevel'd bane on the horrors [3][4][5][7] that Hikawera had not already caught in his spell.  [7] shrugged it off.
  • Fine Branch then cast spiritual weapon next to [4] in the form of a 4' long inflatable carrot.  The carrot crit, whacking the horror with force.
• Ana saw Tai surrounded by 4 horrors, so Pelorus flew closer and the Maker gnome cast an uplevel'd shatter, sculpted to avoid injuring him.  The high-pitched sound split the air, injuring [3][2][6][4], although [3] was less affected.
  • The sleeping horses woke up, and they with the other nearby horses stampeded.
  • Dryali's mount also fled northward.  The Dark elf vaulted off gracelessly, and landed kind of on his ass, but otherwise uninjured, and the force ballista stayed intact.
• Hikawera drew a card from his deck of illusions, and an illusory orc with a greataxe appeared halfway between Tai and Dryali, roaring and swinging his axe.
  • Hikawera then cast healing word on Tai.
• Tai struck [2] with his magical greataxe, killing it, then slashed at [3], tearing a tendon and reducing its speed.

The horses were stampeding, with the centaurs following and trying to gain control.  That left the field with the horrors clear for the Freelancers to work, and nothing for the horrors to attack but the Freelancers.

• [1] and [5] both got to their feet, shaking the water off.  They moved to the orc illusion and bit it, to no avail.
• [7] also moved the the orc illusion and bit it.  Finding this outcome unsatisfactory, it followed its nose to the bleeding Tai and slashed him with its claws, but his rage halved the injury.  The first one struck, and the second would have, but Hikawera called out "Glue factory rejects!" and the cutting words caused it to miss.
• [6] attacked Tai, biting and clawing.  One of the claws missed.
• [3] attacked Tai, missing with its bite but slashing with both of its claws.
• [4] attacked Tai, taking him down.  The Silver dragonborn crumpled under the onslaught, bleeding out.

Dryali had seen this happen.  He stood up and moved closer, then centered a shatter over the prone Tai, capturing all the horrors [7][6][3][4] in its effect.  [3] shrugged off half the damage, so Dryali had the force ballista hit it and push it away from Tai.

• Tahu pulled out his light crossbow, and missed [3] with a critfail.
• Quelenna flew down to [4] and slashed it with her fans, twice in quick succession.  She followed up with flurry of blows, missing at first and then killing [4] with a crit.
• Fine Branch cast a thrice-uplevel'd healing word on Tai, closing the worst of his wounds.  Then the nekomata cast toll the dead on [6], which crumpled to the ground as its internal organs succumbed to necrosis.
• Ana cast shatter again, this time on [1] and [5].  The high-pitched sound split the air for the 3rd time, and both horrors looked the worse for wear.
• Hikawera flew over to [7], and Allegro kicked it in the head.  He cast vicious mockery on [3], reviling its bloodstained coat, which effectively gave the horror a distracting headache.
  • Allegro landed between Tai and the orc illusion.
• Tai stood back up and raged again.  The air shimmered around him with the energy of his rage, ready to retaliate against any attacks.  He turned to [7] and slashed it twice with his magical greataxe.

Two additional back-to-back shatters did nothing to calm the stampeding horses, and more of the herd and herd guards were occupied by it.

• [3] moved back to Tai, missing with its bite.  It slashed Tai with its claws, but not only did Tai's rage shrug off half the damage, the retaliation force killed [3].
• [7] bit at Tai, but overbalanced so badly from a critfail that it could not slash with one of its claws.  It tried to make up for it with the other slash and overbalanced so badly from a critfail that it stumbled.
• [1] pivoted from the orc illusion to Quelenna.  The bite missed, but Quelenna was slashed twice with its claws.
• [5] bit Allegro, who screamed at it.  Then it reared up and slashed Hikawera twice with its claws.

Dryali positioned this shatter a little bit between Allegro and Quelenna.  The whine split the air for the fourth time, injuring [1] and killing [5].  He moved southwest to get a view of Tai that wasn't blocked by Allegro, and had the force ballista shoot [7], pushing it away from Tai.  the horror fell over, dying.

• Tahu sank a crossbow bolt into [1], killing it.

The Freelancers found themselves rather alone in the field.  The horses were stampeding and the Redwind centaurs were having a nice run, thanks to four shatters.  Nighthawk landed, and Tahu dismounted, pulling out his healer kit.  He used it first on himself, then on Tai, then on Quelenna, patching everyone up.

The horses screamed and hooved thundered in the distance, but it seemed to be calming down.  After a while some herd guards circled back, and talked to the Freelancers, and inspected the corpses.  They were shocked and horrified at them, and told the Freelancers they were glad the Freelancers had come and survived.  They pointed the Freelancers to the central camp, then ran off to help with the stampede.

Some time later, the horses were rounded up – those which had survived – and there was time for calmer conversation.  The centaurs had prevented a big stampede; they were tired, unhappy they had to do it, but pleased with their success.

Hikawera spoke up, "I'd like to apologize for my idiot companions, casting shatter for an entirely straightforward fight," he started.  Ana and Dryali looked at each other, sharing the thought, "We avoided fire," but said nothing.

Anyhow, once everyone had decompressed and gotten over the shock that the cause of their slain horses had been embedded in their very herds, the centaurs put up the Freelancers for the night, then the next morning they sent the Freelancers back to Hoiho, with Mnestra as guide.

Three days later, Kleio kept her composure as the Freelancers and Mnestra relayed their tale to the Redwind leader.  She nodded at the barely composed annoyance the younger centaur had about the stampede, and pointed out that the deaths and injuries from the stampede were fewer than these … horrors had been and would have continued to inflict on the herds.

She paid the Freelancers 300gp each, and sent them on their way.  The Freelancers made their way to the Dockmaster, eyeing all the festival wares on the way, to find out about transport back to Ripa Daneo.  It turned out the Lamberton, an air elemental airship hailing from Ripa Daneo, captained by the half-elf Tele, would be leaving the next day and could take them and their mounts.  The Dockmaster told them where they could stay, and bade them enjoy the Festival.

Flush with coin and at loose ends at a Festival on a strange skylith, the Freelancers scattered to go shopping.

Ana, fond of fancy clothes, went looking for fancy fabric and was delighted with what she found.  As her shopping proceeded and she saw all the fancy leatherworking, she also shopped for equipment for Pelorus.

Tai, who was learning jewelcrafting, went shopping for beads and jewelry findings.  Hoiho had many booths with various types of wires, clasps, and beads, both metal and glass, crafted in Takahuri.  The wire was just wire, but Tai tried to get a variety of clasps and beads, much of which were cheaper than could be found in Ripa Daneo.

Quelenna started shopping at the leatherworking stalls, for fancier sheaths for her fans and daggars.  She then became distracted by the various fans, some with bone or horn frames, and more expensive ones with metal frames.  The knotwork patterns on some of these goods fascinated her.

Tahu was thinking about how supplies on an airship, in particular his healer kits, would best be secured, and how Hoiho was on the wrong side of the skylith for half of the year.  He discovered that how Hoiho secured things did not translate well to airships, but explored for ideas.

Dryali was just exploring.  He also was paying attention to how things were secured, mostly because he was fascinated by the mechanics of it all.  He also was looking for any interesting leather leggings.  But Hoiho was festive, and he wanted black.  

Hikawera found the bardic competition.  He did not participate, but watched the different styles.

There weren't a lot of exotic and delicious alcohols to be found, but Fine Branch looked anyhow, and found koumiss, which was made from fermented mare's milk.  He perhaps liked it, being a nekomata.  Dryali and Tahu were dubious – Dryali hesitantly suggested maybe it was a breakfast thing – but in the end Fine Branch and Tai bought a couple casks to bring back to Freelancers Tavern.

The next day found the Freelancers on the Lamberton, which was mostly laden with cargo for House Veltruska:  bolts of cloth, some leathers, and some hides and furs.  The return trip was 5 uneventful days, during which Fine Branch became more and more satisfied with the idea of presenting the koumiss to Damakaios.

Finally, they returned, and as Damakaios collected the 10% Freelancers Cut, Fine Branch and Tai presented the casks of koumiss.  The Pungarehu hanyou wrinkled his nose at the liquid, but Naranjos tried it and did not get sick.  After some consideration, Damakaios declared, "We will put it in the front of the tavern; people can dare each other to try it."  Naranjos laughed, and Damakaois shrugged.  "Or maybe, someone will like it!"