Maro composed himself as he left the house, hungry as hell, he went for breakfast in the courtyard… he needed to be outside for a bit.
A small marketplace was forming in the courtyard, he smiled and went to a new vendor that was busy cooking up some bacon.
He ordered a shit ton of food, he tipped pretty well. He hadn't spent a cent in a while.
With a kilo of bacon on his plate and his morning beer, he started feeling normal.
Kadrin sat down beaming with a huge smile
"What's got you so happy" the contrast in their facial expressions was stark
"For the first time in my three hundred years of life, I think I found a wife" his grin was from ear to ear
Maro didn't want to bring down anyone's mood with his own
"Finally I'd thought you'd get to a 400 year old
Bachelor, happy for you Kadrin." They clinked their beers
"By the time you come back with Gnarlo we should have our first full harvest of beer and Gnarlo can start selling it! The world shall know of our revival through the sale of the best dwarven beer to exist!" Kadrin had a lot of good things going on right now.
"Please save me a barrel of beer haha"
"Don't worry, you'll get an entire barrel of our first batch of whiskey too" hell yeah Maro thought
They cheersed again and downed their beers
Gnarlo walked in
"When we are heading out, the gnomes are looking for me. Those little weasels over rely on me too much… go tame your own troll… be careful what you wish for" he muttered
"As soon as possible, I'm not sure if I'm not being stalked right now by a 300 kilo cat monster… two of them and an ice witch…"
Kadrin laughed at both of their misery
And then he spat.
"I knew you drunks would want to run away, cart and horses are both prepared… along with supplies and a bit of spending silver" Kadrin took a swig from a fresh beer
They both hugged Kadrin and rushed on out… Gnarlo quickly stopped to say bye to Rolf and Bellina
Both men were solemnly quiet, they never even decided which city to go too.
After a couple hours of travel "where are we going"
"I don't know" Gnarlo shrugged
Contemplating their life choices, both men kept quiet for a long time.
They kept going down the road until it became a bigger road and then a cobblestone road and finally after a couple nights and a couple hundred kilometres later they arrived at a city they didn't plan on going to and didn't even know its name.
It seemed lively enough, the energy was infectious and two men's moods got a lot better.
It was some time in the after noon, they looked at each other and in unison said
"Brothel?"
They high fived and nudged the horses to the city gates. The two guards at the gates were both dwarves.
"halt" the dwarven guard said
Maro wasn't going to judge the dwarf yet… a pay check is a pay check sometimes… just then he got a bright idea
"Purpose of your visit and we will have to inspect your cargo" the guard said
Maro smiled heavily and Gnarlo caught on fairly quickly.
"Some business and a lot of pleasure" he winked, the guard took it the wrong way and put his hand on his weapon
"But do we have something to share with you fine dwarves this beautiful after noon"
The Dwarves got more confused. Maro showed them around back and they had a couple of kegs of the original small batches brewed.
He poured them two fresh mugs of ale.
They looked at him with unease, so Maro poured himself one and chugged it.
They each took a curious sip, big gulp and then downed the rest… satisfied.
"That's really good Dwarven ale you have there" The guard said curiously
"Thats our business lads, We're trying to find a market to steadily sell this ale to, so we are shopping around for longterm vendors" Gnarlo informed them
"Where did it come from, who brewed it??"
"That's kind of a secret… the only way I can tell you, is to ask your opinion on the following statement… Orcs are disgusting savages and should be killed on sight"
They both glared at him with daggers, hands tight on their weapons.
"You can't say racist stuff here like that, you can go to jail…" the guard walked closer and whispered "I agree though".
"My new friends, let me tell you the story of Kadrin the Reclaimer… Him and his allies laid siege to an ancient Dwarf fortress and liberated it from the hands of the goblins, they slew tens of thousands of them… they recovered a lot of ancient Dwarf secrets… including an industrial scaled, in original working order, both a Distillery and a Brewery"
Maro made it a show, the guards were small boys being awed by their dads bedtime story.
"Gentlemen, Kadrin is always seeking volunteers… at the edge of the border on the ancient mountain range… a couple days travel due east of here. Gentlemen, Kadrin's plans don't end at that fortress… "
The guards looked at each other like they just heard the most beautiful fairy tale.
"Boys…They are brewing our first full scale batch of beer as we speak… did I mention it goes down 30 stories into the depths of the mountain… All the Dwarves I saw go down there came back changed. They all mentioned something about appeasing their ancestors"
The guards couldn't possibly believe it, but the beer told the truth…
"Its hard to trust strangers, but send someone there to check it out… we can even take someone on our way back if you want." Maro offered
"No no, we are fucking tired here… being yelled at by Goblins, beastmen and even Orcs giving us shit for doing our job… they have zero fundamental understanding of how to build… just to tear down… the beer is enough.. This beer brings tears to my eyes… we are grateful… we will have our loved ones and our things organized here and we will be on call until you are done… all dwarves will treat you as friends in the city, the word will spread"
The four of them nodded to each other and Maro took a barrel of beer out the back and gave it to the Dwarves to share amongst each other.