After having returned to the town, you and dAnkan sit at the tavern with the map you acquired yesterday.
— “Alright, let’s see here” dAnkan says scanning the map, tracing the possible routes with their beak, which is not very efficient but, after 15 eggnots there are only so many fine motor skills left in the body and one utilises what one finds available.
— “Okeey look heeer BUDDY!” dAnkan utters, lifting their head from the map and which instantly, after realising the difference in altitude pressure, falls back down again.
— “Wh… what I’m tryINg to.. wh-aaAAt whaa I’m tryy… too… teeell yooo… yoou WHAT YOU LOOKIN AT?” dAnkan once more lifts their head from the table but this time they’re not looking at you. Instead they’ve locked eyes with one of the other patrons that happened to be visiting the same tavern.
— “OI, CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN DUCKIE!” shouts the gruff patron who possesses the eyes that dAnkan is staring at.
— “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME BOY!” dAnkan responds, now displaying complete lucidness.
The “BOY” on the other side of the tavern now rises from his chair, revealing himself to indeed be a boy but what some would call a bear, towering at a towering height of 209 cm. The man starts lumbering towards you and dAnkan, and as you turn over to dAnkan you realise that they also have left the table and are now waddling towards the man. In the middle of the tavern, they meet.
— “Listen heeeere boyy, teellll mee so… teelll me sorry… and then.. Then go BUY me an EGGNOT… and I’ll forgive yooou ” dAnkan says in their most menacing voice or at least an attempt to do so. However, you are not entirely convinced and neither is the bear.
— “You know what, you are not even worth fighting, looks like you’ve managed to almost knock yourself out on your own.” the bear states, observing dAnkan.
— “However, you are disturbing the other patrons of this tavern, which isn’t very nice and therefore I’m going to help you sober up.” the bear asserts and then, before you or dAnkan can react, he picks up dAnkan from the floor, speaks a short incantation and dAnkan disappears into thin air.
— “Hey, what did you just do to dAnkan?” you exclaim with a panicked tone.
— “Don’t worry, I only sent them outside to sober up, you’ll find them if you go looking outside, probably.” the man says nonchalantly.
You quickly rise from your table and run outside looking for dAnkan. After some time of not finding dAnkan, you sit outside on a chair when the bear comes out.
— “I see you haven’t found your pal yet.” he smugly states. You glare.
— “Look. When I meant outside, I meant more in a fashion of, you know, outside of our eyes’ reach. If you want to find your friend, you’re going to have to employ your best tracking skills”.
Frustrated, angry, but mostly tired, you decide to heed the bear’s advice.