Calabria Adventures

The docks of the island are subtly different to the ones in Triskellian. There are a lot less beggars - for the truly destitute consider the busy town a more likely place to get a meal. Although there are no extremely poor animals, there are also no extremely rich - for the merchants have no desire to visit such a tiny place in their quest for wealth. What remains is a lower class who uses the seas as a means to survive.

Despite having never stepped foot on Salento Island before Flint's keen intuition allows him to immediately navigate to to a filthy sailor's tavern. In an old fashioned font, somebody had painted 'The Seal of Approval' over the door, despite there being hardly anybody in the island who could actually read it. To make the point clear, there is also a painting of an official looking wax-seal, depicting a seal with a stein of beer in its flipper and cartoonish spirals for eyes.

It was still the early morning of the holy day, so as expected the pub was at its most quiet. A few sailors sat along the bar making smalltalk, while two young pigs were busy cleaning. There was a large, very fat man, and a younger girl in a blue frock. They were very different to Flint, for they had pink, hairless skin and lacked tusks.

They looked up and smiled at their new guests.

Johannes swaggered into the tavern as he looked around."My, what a quaint little tavern. " The Frog spoke with a large smile on his head. He took note that the patrons here seemed to be mainly sailors. Of course Flint would take them to a sailor's dig. Johann would let Flint do the talking, as this was his scene.

Flint whistles. "I likes it.", he says, even though everyone knows he likes pretty much every tavern. He flashes a tusky smile at the two pigs and waves. "Good mornin', friends!"

"G'Morning my man," the fat pig replies with a grin. Even from across the tavern, one can smell his sour breath. "You new in town? I aint never seen your faces 'round here before."

Prim appreciates the place not reeking of people spoiling their livers, but then again it wasn't the evening when most of that activity seems to be partaken in. She nods, keeping close to Flint--that is, as close as his own scent would allow.

"Why, yes. We just arrived, in fact." Johann replies as he takes a seat at a nearby table."The Seal of Approval." He repeated the name to himself."It takes someone with a good sense of humour to come up with such a name." The knight errant-spoke, making smalltalk.

"Aw thank you sir," the young pig girl says, beaming ear-to ear. "I came up with it m'self. Painted the sign too, 'though I had to ask the preacher how to write the words."

"Aye, we's outta towners. Speakin' of which, we's hungry and thirsty from the trip." He turns to his two companions. "Whaddya say ya two, how's bout some good brew and a taste of the local cookin'? S'all on me."

"I don't usually open tabs for out-of-towners," the man admitted with a meek grin. "Since this is the holy-day and all, you got something to trade? Or something you can leave behind as uh.. what's tha word?"

"Collateral." The girl interjected.

"Yeah that's it. Collateral, to make sure you return and pay-up tomorrow."

Johann nodded at Flint."I could go for some ale and a warm meal." He agreed.

"Hmm... I believe I do have something." Johann spoke as he drew his glaive and spun it around, making the steel whir before letting the handle slide over his hands and onto the ground with a loud thud."You're looking at fine Vallaine steel here, dear friends. It is my most prized possession. Will it suffice?"

The two pigs looked at each other, not fathoming that the frog was offering up such an expensive piece of equipment. "Yeah, of course it'll do," he spluttered. "Prue, put a couple of the crab-pies in the oven for our guests, will ya."

Prim eyeballs the glaive with skepticism. "Are you going to get in trouble if you lose that?" She murmured.

"Oh, dear lady, do not worry about that. I'm sure I'll get it back. Besides, I've nothing of value on me besides my weapon. And I'm not about to allow either of you to risk your possessions." He explained as he handed over the Glaive to the owners."That wouldn't be very curteous of me. Especially since one of you is going to be paying for my meal." He said with a sly grin as he returned.

Prue took the glave into the back of the tavern. Through the door you can hear her fumbling with lighting the oven for the pies.

The other pig sits down and gestures for his three new guests to take seats of their own. "So what business brings you to this island?"

"Tha' one'll be me! I always celebrate after any crossin' of a body of water that don't end with us drownin'.", the boar proudly proclaims, slamming his fist into his chest. Then, rubbing his hooves together, he makes his way to the table. "Ah, ya know, work. Don't mean we can't also have a good time while we's here."

While Flint doesn't seem to keen on letting them know of their intentions, Prim considers the best way to ask for details. These pigs--while surely informed in their own right--may not even have any information that would be of use to them. Then again, they were likely to overhear conversations the locals--perhaps even things that they shouldn't due to intoxication. Sitting at the table, she tilts her head. "Indeed! We should maximize our enjoyment with the time that we've been allotted. I'm curious--aside from your humble establishment--what are places of interest that would be worth a visit?"

The pig snorts while he laughs. "Good of a reason to drink as any." He says, standing with a grunt. He trots over to an enormous barrel and pours three light-coloured, frothy beers. He places them upon the table. "It's usually busier here," he began, "but every holy day my clientele decide they're good, pious, upstanding citizenry."

"Anyway... I can't imagine there's much to do here for folk from the big city," he begins bringing a trotter to his chin."

"They could go to the lookout!" Prue says, scurrying in from the kitchen.

"... Well I suppose that's about the best we got." The pig gave a foul-breathed grin. "If you keep following that road right round the island, you'll eventually reach some steps goin' up. There's a nice little lookout you can watch the sunset. It's the kinda place for lovebirds." He rolled his eyes.

Johann gladly took the beer and began taking plenty of generous sips from his mug."Sounds like a place I'd go to when I still had my tail." The knight-errant muses."But I doubt I'd go there with the likes of Flint. These little towns have more to see than meets the eye. Surely there's something else worthwhile here?"

"You look like a fancy type, so you might like the teahouse." The pig said with a snort, to punctuate his sentence. "Prue can draw you a map, she's good at things like that... but to be honest I don't really see the point of going somewhere to drink something which isn't gonna give you a buzz."

The smell of pastry begins to mingle with the smell of sweat, blood, piss and cheap beer. Prue ducks back into the kitchen, and you hear the oven being opened and closed. Very soon, she returns with three plates, balanced carefully up her arm. The pies are small and crusty and steam is gushing through he vent cut into the top. They smell sweet and buttery.