Emerath sat in the tavern in Honeyhome, enjoying some of their famous honey bread, and a good glass of honey bourbon. Emerath had spent a lot of time adventuring, socializing, and otherwise just being in a lot of places with a lot of people. This was the first chance he had found to just sit around in Terrasphere and relax. Drinking, snacking, and laughing at the poor jokes of the other tavern patrons. Occasionally he would flip a coin into the hat of the bard who was playing a variety of music. It was a good evening.

That was when he got a wild idea. He pulled up his UI, and having been drinking, the other patrons didn't think a whole lot of his sudden odd hand gestures as he moved to his messages.

Mail

Hey @Rodger Clemens! I'm here at the Honeyhome Tavern, having a great time! But you know what would make it better? A good friend to enjoy it with. If you're in the neighborhood, why don't you stop by? I promise, there aren't any wolves this time. Besides, it's been a minute since we've hung out. It'd be good to catch up and hear your life story for the past month or so.

Reading over it a couple times, Emerath nodded, satisfied, before sending the mail. And then it was right back into the honey bourbon only soaked up by the honey bread. He flipped another coin into the bard's hat and waited to see if his friend would show.

 

Rodger sat around a kindled fire, eating some dried meat as he plotted his next route through the forest. He'd was just out side of Honeyhome, coming close to the town after losing his way, but maybe it was time to get back to civilization. The bowman had long since drifted into solitude from his previous adventures.

To be fair, everything had gotten so busy that it was nearly impossible to find any idle time anymore. People were far too busy rebuilding homes and property to really do much else. He helped them a bit, but after they were done he figured it was a good time to hit the wilds and sharpen his edge.

That's what he. For a few days out of the week, when he was free, Rodger would return to the woods to hunt. It wasn't easy or successful all the time, but he did his best to improve each time. His UI pinged and he raised his brow, 'A message?' He found himself beginning to smile as he read the message, 'Emerath huh? Guess I'm going to town after all.'

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Rodger arrived at the Tavern and was relived to see a bard spinning a tale. They always had such good stories, he couldn't help but be impressed with them. Still, he wanted to make sure that he found the right place so he turned to the crowd, looking for his friend. It didn't take long to find him, after all, how many people actually had that shade of red?

Apparently, three people.Then, he finally found Emerath. "Heh, well I hope you saved me a seat. Had a hell of a time finding you."

 

Emerath was on a second glass of bourbon, his cheeks had begun to glow from the warmth of the alcohol, though he wasn't really in any danger of being more than buzzed. At least not yet. He wasn't entirely sure if alcohol perfectly simulated how it worked in the real world here, but if the Dark Harvest Festival had been any indication, it certainly worked like how you would expect it to after a LOT of drinks!

Emerath laughed at one of the jokes another patron told, not sure if he actually found it funny because it was a good joke, or because he was buzzed. Either way, it was funny. That much he was sure about. But Emerath's eyes positively lit up as he saw his friend in the doorway. A part of him had considered the idea of waving his friend down, but how many other people had Emerath's fiery red hair?

As Emerath looked around, turned out two. But how about his green eyes? Looked like one of the others. Emerath grumbled, either Terrasphere had the most common recessive genes ever, or some things were just somewhat common in avatar creation. Maybe Emerath hadn't changed his features enough. Either way, Rodger found his good buddy, and Emerath laughed off the commonalities with other tavern patrons as he clapped his friend on the back with a huge grin.

"Here you are! Man of the hour! You know, I was getting lonely drinking with these schmucks I don't know." Emerath paused, and smiled at the other guys at the table before saying, "No offense gentlemen." One gave a raucous belly laugh as the other frowned for a moment, before he began laughing too.

Once they had settled down, Emerath offered, "Bourbon? Any other alcoholic drink? Milk? Hell, I wouldn't blame you for drinking milk. But this bourbon is amazing." Emerath called for a serving girl to come by the table, before continuing, "Drinks aside though, how have you been? It's been quite some time since I've seen you. Did you get lost in the woods or something?"

 

Rodger found himself smiling as he sat with his friend, the laughter of the other men proved to be infectious and carried him through to his bourbon order. "Heh I don't think milk would suit me very well. Never could stand the taste of it, and the whole tavern would thank me not to either."

His face was sporting a mild smirk as he waited for his drink to arrive. It wasn't long before the two of them were catching up with how and where ya been, "Yeah something like that. I've actually been busying myself in the forest to sharpen my skills. With things how they are, you never can be too prepared."

He had to scoot up a bit to allow another lady through before he continued, "I also kind of lent a hand with some minor construction. Nothing worth bragging about or anything, just helping some friends."

Thanking the serving girl, he flicked her a few coins and raised his glass to toast his red-headed friend, "To friendship and good health!" He held until their mugs clinked, tapped the table with his, before taking a drink. It took a minute, but he actually managed to keep it down, 'Man, alcohol is rough even in the game.'

"What about you, how things been going?"

 

Emerath couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he had been so on the nose with his comment about Rodger being in the woods. It didn't surprise him in the slightest, as he understood it the hunter liked to do just that. He did raise his eyebrows a bit at the idea of some minor construction, and would have asked for more details, but it wasn't like Emerath needed to know everything about the man's personal life.

As the man raised a toast, Emerath and the other men at the table were happy to return the favor, before each one took big swigs from their mugs and continued laughing and going over whatever poor joke had come up this time.

Then Rodger asked the fateful question, and it was all the buzzed man had in him not to suddenly spill the entire events of what had transpired since he had last seen the hunter. There had been so much! But perhaps he should stick to the basics.

"Let's see. The short answer is, I raided some mechanical ruins, met new friends in the woods, one of said friends burned down an inn, and it turned out that inn was full of bandits. You know, adventurer stuff!" Emerath explained, with a clap on Rodger's back, before pulling out his Rainbow in the Dark, his prized magitek lute, to show off to his friend.

"And I'm a bard now!" Emerath said, strumming a bit on the instrument, letting Rodger see both the colors and hear the sound. He gave a smirk, "Any requests?"

 

Rodger could do little more than raise his brow as he listened to his friend fill him in on his exploits since their last encounter. Needless to say, Emerath seemed to have taken a much more active role in questing. Making new friends and exploring different places, both of which had crossed his mind, yet he didn't act really on either. "Wow, it sounds like you've been busy! Bandits, burned inns, and now you're a bard? I'll have to take a page from your book and make myself more available for such adventures."

He took another swing from is mug and fought not to let the nectar sour his expression, "Hmm, how about Fish in the sea? I heard a sailor sing it once, but for the life of me I can't remember where." Actually, he'd heard it in the real world, but he didn't want to have to explain himself to any nearby NPC's. 'Last time they convinced themselves that I was some sort of wizard from a different realm.' He still remembered them asking for him to bless their land.

He would allow his friend to play,occasionally lending his tuneless voice should he remember the worlds. He took another swig from his mug, downing the last of the drink and exhaling passionately as he felt it burn the whole way down. He raised his mug to a passing server, "Another here, if you please!"

"Man, a bard. The only thing I've managed to pick up in terms of skills is some magic investigation. After that....thing in the war, I realized that I absolutely knew nothing about magic so I set out to change that." For a moment a sober expression flickered across his face, but the cheerful environment didn't allow it to hold for long.

 

As Emerath strummed his lute, he smiled at his friend, who seemed lost in the moment of Emerath's escapades. "You know, you're more than welcome to join me at any time, my friend. I'll try to send you messages more often when I have another fun thing going on. No doubt we can always find new ways to have a blast," he assured the man. He truly did enjoy Rodger's company. The hunter proved himself in combat, and he certainly seemed to have a clearer head than many of the other characters he had met in this game. Not that Emerath hated a good character here or there, but sometimes it was good to find someone he could talk to like a real person.

But Rodger had asked for a song, and so Emerath searched Assist Mode for the song. Thankfully, as an old shanty, it seemed to be one that he was able to play in the game. So he started to play for all the Tavern to hear. The bard that had been playing joined in, and between Emerath's electric sound, and his lighter acoustics, it sounded like something you might otherwise hear at a rock concert. Many of the patrons joined in, and Emerath caught Rodger putting his voice into the mix for a few of the verses. It was short, but a fun experience, as when he finished the accompanying bard slapped Emerath on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, before returning to the center stage for his own music.

The tavern continued to buzz with excitement, and the men at Emerath's table asked him for another song, but Emerath was more interested in the conversation with his friend, as he put the lute away and waved them off. They cursed and took jabs at him, but Emerath gave his own jabs in return, eliciting a laugh from the table before Emerath got his full attention back to Rodger.

"You know, magic investigation is a great thing to understand," he commented, rubbing his chin, "I've been considering looking into it myself. As a man of science, I think it's best to know how to combat the thing that science can't explain in this world." Emerath pulled out his lute again, and showed Rodger the features of it, explaining, "Then there's always things like this. Magitek it is, science powered by magic. From what I can tell, there's no easy way for players to make things like this on their own, even with Mastery combinations. Of course, somehow I'd like to change that if I can."