Well the trial opening for my beloved tavern went as expected. Very few guest found their way to the Crow and none of them was your common Bree-lander and I guess most of those are still going to the old and worn Barliman's place out of old habit and suspicious nature to everything new... *spits
During the entire evening I had to entertain two guest and what a strange pair of guest.
My first customer was a lady with dark skin complexion, but her dialect and her own story betrayed that she are not from the south, but actually north of Bree somewhere. It's strange to think that there are people living north of this desolate and empty land, and that Bree at all exist. Three things I learned about her, she is a wine drinker, but then again, what lady does not drink wine. And she dabbles in all kind of potions, which seems to be her passion. Pleasant and polite to speak with, but there are something mysterious about her, something she wants to hide, but that is her personal life and nothing of my concern. The last thing she revealed was her name, Rivangneth. What a strange name and I have no knowledge what that does mean, but then again I am a stranger to these lands and know little of their ways.
The second guest was an odd dwarf, who presented himself as Odkeg Fourbeards and came on like most of the dwarrows I know, gruff and straight to the point. So much boastful, I suspect he is rather young for a dwarrow, even if he called me a lad… *laughs
Odkeg hails from the Iron hills which is closer to my birthplace, than Bree is, and he is also a newcomer and stranger to these lands. Beside asking rather odd question about rumors I should know, about traders and trade caravans, he told he enjoyed being underground like most dwarrows and mine after jewels and silver. He actually paid for the beer with a very decent ruby, even if he called it a cheap stone. But then again, I think he was just boastful.
Despite only having two guests, the evening went fast, due to the stories from both of them. The ruby from Odkeg gave me good surplus in income, and I even managed to strike a deal with both of them. They could sell their wares in my tavern, as long as I got a small percentage of their profit.
Before I closed my tavern for the evening, Rivangneth made us all three toast “to strangers in a strange place”.
Strangers indeed...
