Finnan's Day

It was a clear, sunny day in Everguard. It had only been a couple weeks since the attempted coup had been foiled, and already most of the signs of that dark time had been cleaned up. There was an air of joy in the city, today especially as the new King was to be crowned, and the heroes of the kingdom were to be recognized in a grand ceremony that all the capital would get to partake in. Amidst all this celebrating a young man wandered about the streets.

That's me, Finnan Lightfoot, halfling tavern owner and adventurer extraordinaire. It was nice to see the city coming alive again. Don't get me wrong, the zombies were fun. But they weren't as good at tag as the food vendors in town. Speaking of food vendors, one had left out some tarts for samples, so I grabbed one. I waved thanks to the vendor, and he started up a game of tag. We ran around the square for a bit but I got bored cause he couldn't catch me and ducked behind a barrel to play Find-The-Fox. I'm really good at that game.

I hid so well that they didn't find me for hours. By then the ceremony had started, and I hurried to the keep because my friend Norren was supposed to be in the ceremony. He was a guard who worked for the thieves' guild and had smuggled the regent and prince out of the castle. But that had revealed his involvement with the guild, which had gotten him in trouble, so maybe he was getting executed. I saw an execution once. It was weird. People were yelling and throwing things, and the head winked. But Norren had saved the regent, so I'm sure he was gonna be fine.

I slipped through the crowd, finding all kinds of neat things that people dropped, before climbing on a fountain to watch. It was fairly boring, but eventually Norren was called, and I perked up. The new king went on about Norren betraying his oath, and fired him as a guard! One of the Kings' councilors had a smug smile at that, and I made sure to remember his face. I had a few trinkets I'd been meaning to test out.

But then the King talked about Norren saving his life, and the kingdom! Then he made Norren a Lord. A Lord! A Lord? But lords were fat and lazy. I didn't want my friend getting fat and lazy. A pretty woman next to the now scowling Councilor hugged Norren. I think it was the woman Claire he was always talking about. I don't know what else happened because my mind started racing.

Norren was a Lord. While it was nice for him to have lands and money, it wouldn't do for him to get fat. I needed to come up with a way to help him. But how do you keep a lord fit? This would take some thought, so I headed to my favorite thinking spot, the river docks.

On my way to the docks I passed the old run down coliseum. The rumor was that the new King was having it rebuilt to put on shows for the people of the city. I bet it would be fun. I was wondering what kinds of events they would have when I noticed a figure sneak out of the ruins. I got curious and followed, until I realized it was Josiah, one of the assassins' guild assassins. I was pretty sure he was still mad at me about the itching powder incident. I didn't see what the fuss was about, but those assassins have terrible senses of humor. I was gonna have to work harder to make them laugh.

I made my way to the market, hoping for some more samples, when I saw a large, well dressed man getting out of a carriage and remembered. Norren! I needed to find a way to keep him fit. Then it hit me. Chickens! The perfect exercise. Chasing chickens always tired me out and kept me in shape. If I got Norren chickens he could chase them every day and not become fat and lazy. It was perfect.

But now I needed chickens. So happy to have an idea I completely forgot Josiah was mad at me and yelled a greeting to him as he was quietly getting into the fat man's nice carriage. He noticed me and his face got this funny look before some guards began yelling and then Josiah was playing tag with them. I wanted to join but I had a mission. Chickens.

Now I couldn't just get him one chicken and call it a day. No, I needed to give him a regular supply of chickens so that there was a variety. Getting tired from all the walking, I climbed into the fat man's carriage and tapped the roof twice. With a jerk the carriage started rolling away, taking me further into the city. It was nice of the fat man to let me use his carriage. He needed the exercise anyway.

Eventually I hopped out of the carriage and said thank you to the driver. He must have been having a rough day, or had gas, cause he got this weird look on his face afterwards, and the carriage took off. He really shouldn't have driven so fast. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have crashed into the wagon full of chickens. Chickens!

Feathers flew everywhere as several cages tumbled out of the wagon onto the street. While the wagon driver yelled at the carriage driver, I began picking up cages of chickens. Unfortunately I could only carry about four, but I figured I could get more later. The drivers still seemed to be trying to figure out whose fault the crash was, so I decided to head home.

Did I mention home is a tavern? I live in the tavern with my adopted father Granger. He's a dwarf. He runs the tavern for me so I can adventure. He tends to grumble at me a lot, but that's just how he shows he cares. He wasn't happy about the chickens. Especially after I dropped one of the cages when I waved and the chicken got loose. It ran all over the tavern before we could catch it. I was real tired afterwards. More proof that this was a great plan! I took the chickens up to my room, closed the door, and let them out. They ran all over the place, getting feathers everywhere, before finally calming down and huddling together on my bed. I climbed up with them, and thought they would make a great present for my friend Norren. And who knows, maybe one day he'll marry that pretty lady. I'll have to plan a big surprise for him then. I wonder how well chickens go with weddings...