The door creaked and there they were, a little short of breath but on time for once. Eli casted Preddy a onceover on reflex, and her innkeeper eye spotted nothing out of the ordinary, except perhaps her bard might need their recently acquired… Oswald to give their boots a good brushing. And maybe a bath. Eli’s nose wrinkled as the rest of Preddy eventually caught up.

“You’ll not be performing tonight in this state,” she told them sternly. She followed that with a helpless smile, as her words seemed to deflate her poor bard further. But the smile only encouraged Preddy to come closer to the bar.

Everyone else on the other hand began to clear away in the exact shape of the radius of Preddy’s stink. 

“Preddy…” Eli began, in warning.

“Oh but Eli, I just had the most awful time! In the sewers!” With that Preddy turned in a half-circle, arms wide, like they were about to embrace the very miasma trailing after them. 

No one wanted to come close for the smell, but conveniently it seemed to have provided Presdemer with something like a spotlight. With nothing else in the way, even the sweat – the clear sign of exertion from whatever it was that brought Preddy to the sewers – glistened like glitter. Eli shook her head a little. Elven bards – a tricky lot with all that charm. Still, she could see the rest in the inn were a little caught by the glamour, so she continued to clean her tankards and settled in to enjoy the show. She would burn some incense later and open the windows wide. It’s summer after all. 

“Now what’s a gel like you doing in the sewers?” a voice called out.

Theatrically, Preddy gasped. “I’m flattered that you can see a person like me would never step foot into an open manhole, but I’m offended that you think I’m a girl.” Somehow Preddy whipped out their lyre (thankfully; Eli couldn’t bear to think of chancing a bagpipes along with a literally shitty entertainer for the night), and began strumming a tune. It sounded strange, like all of Preddy’s songs, but they swore up and down that Abba was a famous band from a land beyond her imagination. Sweden. Even the name sounded infested with trolls. 

Eli shook her head again. Preddy had somehow made their way to the small raised platform that they were meant to be at, and perched on the stool like how they had always done in the last month. Singing some strange military tune it seemed like – something about super troupers. Even the heckling felt like part of the act, a call and response. Smell forgotten, all is forgiven. Eli’s evening entertainment has started. 

And that, is where I last left my character, an Eladrin with a Dark Past (™) in the city of Southmark, investigating a series of murders like they and their party has any business to (several NPCs would agree). I’d attach a photo but Hero Forge deleted it. Just imagine someone very cute. And in need of several showers. Definitely traumatized (not from showering).

Anyway, tonight hopefully I’ll be risking my life at somewhere less dire. Thus ends this quasi-Blaugust post.