milliways_bar | (no subject)

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An exile wanders into the bar, carrying a loaded crossbow and wearing an animal skin that doesn't cover very much of her at all.

She has just bid farewell to a good friend and a great warrior whom she suspects will soon die in vain, so her mind is uncharacteristically elsewhere as she walks through the portal. It takes several seconds before she notices the change of lighting and the absence of foliage.

Leela blinks several times. Her eyes narrow as she hefts her crossbow to waist height and scans her environs.

"What is this place?" she demands of no one in particular.

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"New?" She frowns.

"New where? What is this place? Why have you brought me here? Tell me, or I will show you how well this crossbow works."

It should go without saying that she's now aiming the business end of the crossbow at the dwarf's head.

"Whoa." Varric puts up his hands. "I didn't bring you here, serah. I'm just one of the patrons. This is Milliways, and it's a tavern. They tell me the door's magic. Haven't seen any reason not to believe them, personally."

She ponders the dwarf's words for a moment. There are a number of different questions she could ask in response to that. She narrows in on two.

"What is a tavern? And why would I be brought to one by sorcery?"

The crossbow is still pointed exactly where it was before.

"You don't know what a tavern is? Maker's breath, that's sad." Varric shakes his head and mentally adjusts his assessment to 'probably some kind of Avar barbarian who got her hands on dwarven weaponry'. "Do your people ever make drinks from fruit or grain that's gone off? You know, drinks that make people relaxed and talkative and prone to doing things on an impulse, and they wake up the next morning with a pounding headache, but at least they had a good time the night before? A tavern is a place where drinks like that are sold to people who want somewhere to drink them and enjoy the situation."

Her brow furrows. "The fruits of the janis vine can lift the spirits and weaken the will. There is a store of them kept in this place?"

She shakes her head and her eyes narrow further still. "You are a stranger. You talk of me as one who is not one of your people. Does this mean that you are Tesh?"

Her finger moves closer to the crossbow trigger.

"From what I understand, there's a store of everything kept in this place," Varric assures her. "And no, my family name is Tethras, not Tesh. Varric Tethras, second son of house Tethras, at your service. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a dwarf, not a human."

Some of these barbarians aren't always clear on the concept.

"The priests of the Sevateem speak of only two tribes - ourselves and the Tesh, who serve the Evil One. They have said nothing of Tethras. Or Dwarves."

Her body language relaxes slightly - emphasis on slightly. "Though it is not impossible that you are of some third tribe. I have never believed the priests' lies."

"That's probably for the best. In my experience, priests tend to have their own interests first, their flock's second," says Varric. "Myself, I don't particularly serve anybody, unless you want to count working with a friend of mine from Ferelden. That's... not the same thing, though."

"That does not answer my question," she responds curtly. "Who has brought me here and why?"

"Well, people say there's a Landlord who's in charge of the magic," says Varric. "Never seen him, myself. Or seen any sign he's for real. More likely someone left an old magic artifact in existence and it just hasn't worn down yet."

"Land Lord?" She sounds out the word. "Has no one seen this sorcerer? If they have not, how can they know of what he does?"

"All I know is, people come here by accident and blame it on the Landlord, and come here on purpose once they figure out how," says Varric. "And somebody enchanted the Bar so that it takes orders from anyone coherent enough to ask for a drink. Where they get a landlord out of this I don't know."

"Then they are foolish, to believe in that which they have no cause to." She turns her head around very briefly to look for an exit. She does not see one - the door has vanished behind her.

"Is there a way to leave this place?'

"Oh, the door vanished on you?" says Varric. "That happens sometimes. It'll come back. People tell me there's a labyrinth of caves and tunnels in the mountains out back that you can follow to get home, too, but I've never tried. Underground travel doesn't agree with me."

Lousy joke, considering he's a dwarf, but hey- he's surface born. Not like Orzammar ever went out of their way to give him an orientation.

"Once it lets you out again, you'll be able to come and go here more or less as you please. Which can be useful, but first you have to get out, obviously."

"That is assuming I wish to return," she says. "And in the meantime, what do I do? Am I simply to wait until whatever brought me here sends me back?"

"Well, if you're not planning on getting a drink or something to eat," Varric says, "there's plenty of hunting and shooting opportunities out back. That door over there leads to some nice open country- lake, forest, mountains, you name it. Sometimes I take Bianca out there and practice on those fire-breathing rabbit things they've got."

Leela finally lowers her crossbow. "I think," she says, "that I ought to learn more of this place, since I seem to be stuck here.

"So there is food and drink here? And game as well? It is good to know I won't starve, at least."

Varric nods. "I don't recommend the rabbits. They smell like an herbalist's trash pile and they taste awful. The fur's nice, though," he notes. "The deer in the forest are pretty good hunting, and they've got some game birds. There's fish in the lake, too, if that's your thing."

"I've not heard of either of those first two creatures," she says. "Birds and fish I do know."

Naturally, her birds and fish are both very different than the creatures to be found out back of Milliways. More limbs, for one.

"Huh. Guess your Sevateem aren't an Avvar tribe after all," says Varric. "Not if you don't have deer in your territory... anyway, make sure you don't hunt the horses. Those are the big creatures with four legs and long tails and manes. People get mad if you shoot at those. Also, don't shoot anything with two heads. Apparently someone's got a couple of two headed cows they bring here. Weirdest creatures I ever saw. The other stuff's fine."

"No, they are not. And they are not my Sevateem. I am no longer one of them."

Her eyes glance downward for a moment before returning to meet Varric. "Who are the Avvar?"

"Tribal folk," says Varric, "who live in the mountains of Ferelden. They tend not to interact much with outsiders, if they can avoid it."

"There is a mountain within walking distance of the Sevateem village," Leela says. "But they do not live in it. There is a great face carved upon it which supposedly resembles the Evil One."

"Huh. Someone went to all that trouble?" says Varric. "For a mountain? We've got massive carvings and statues around Kirkwall, but they're part of the city. Someone must've really wanted to keep people away from that mountain."

"Yes," she says. "I have often wondered who carved it. Not the Evil One. I do not believe he exists."