2000-12-01: A Chance Encounter
After a quiet night of storytelling and cards, I walked over to the local tavern to catch up on some weekly news. Most of the stories I overheard were old news, with the exception of one, which struck me as being particularly bizarre. The tale concerned a tavern called The Great Horns, and a man by the name of Hobart. Thinking back, I vaguely recollected something of importance in relation to this man’s name. When one of the participants brought up his full name, Lord Augustus Trelanis Hobard, I knew I had hit upon a story. Lord Hobard was a member of the Noble House Methis, of Sacred Magincia. Something about the name and its obvious nobility, led me to believe that this story would prove to be quite interesting. Sitting down near their table, I summoned a waitress and ordered a nice bowl of stew and some homemade bread.
As the two men continued to speak I took down some quick notes. First, Lord Hobart was a man of great nobility who owns the Great Horns Tavern. Second, he planned to move the tavern to Trammel due to the unrest in the realm and the growing tensions. Hmm… Ben Kahns now there is a name that I recognised, I thought to myself. Wasn’t Ben Kahns he keeper of the Great Horns Tavern? Questions continued to poor from my brain as I sat and listened to these two continue their talk. The name Kirra sent my hand to still from my vigorous note writing. Kirra…. Now I knew I had heard that name before… or perhaps I had met her? Curious I listened with excitement to hear more. Then they mentioned her full name; Kirra Mornai, niece of Lord Hobart. Apparently, Lord Hobart planned to have her run the tavern now that Ben Kahns had retired. Looking up at the clock, I was amazed to learn I had sat there for 2 hours listening to these two talking. Grabbing my stuff up and paying for my food, I quickly hurried out of the tavern. Thinking to myself that perhaps I would have the time to make a quick jaunt to Magincia, I headed for the shimmering blue portal. After making a couple runs through the public portal I found myself in Magincia, home to the rich and important. At least… that is how I always viewed it. Walking as fast as I could, I went to the Great Horns.
I really didn’t expect to see anyone there, but to my surprise, I did. And to make things even better, it looked as though it was the person I was looking for. Gathering my courage, I walked up to her. “Excuse me, M’lady, how are you this fine eve?" Turning her head she looked at me. "Good day to you as well Miss. I am fine thank you." Then a look of uncertainty came over her face. "Do I know you?" Nodding my head no I quickly spoke up. "No, you don’t know me, my name is Kendra. I’m a writer. I saw you and thought you might know a little something on what I have currently discovered." Looking a little relieved she nodded her head towards me. "Well, I don’t know how much I may be of help, but I’ll try my best.”
Smiling I took a seat and motioned for her to join me. While she walked over to my table, I noticed how she looked. Dark Brown hair cascaded over her shoulders and onto a silk dress with a bonnet to match. She looked quite noble and was actually quite lovely to look at. Sitting down she folded her hands on her lap and looked at me. “Ok." I said. "I’ll ask you a few questions now and if you can, answer them. If you don’t know then just tell me so and we will continue on." Nodding her head, I continued on with my first question. "First of all, might I have your name?" "My name is Kirra Mornai." Kirra Mornai!!! I thought to myself… what luck! This was going to be better than I could have ever imagined. Quickly I wrote down her name and continued on. "I heard that due to a slowness in business and what not, Lord Hobart, your uncle as I’ve found out is moving his business to Trammel." Smiling at me she replied. "Yes, that is correct, uncle feels that moving the business to a less hostile environment will help bring back the people again.”
Nodding my head I continued. “I also heard that you would be the one to run it now, is that true?" Nodding her head. "Yes, Uncle asked me to run it for him." "I see," I replied. "But how did you find yourself in this situation?" When she replied she almost seemed a little sad. "My mother and father died when I was young while they were traveling in Trinsic, during that horrible battle with Minax’s minions and the liche Juo'nar. Uncle took me in and raised me as his own." Sighing, she continued "Now that I’m older, he has entrusted me with the running of his tavern." Nodding my head, I wrote down my notes. "So what do you plan to do with the tavern?" I asked. Turning away a little and looking around she nodded towards the door. "Care to follow me?” Agreeing I quickly jumped up and follwed her.
Out the door she went and around the building to an iron fence. “Come on up," she said. Following her through the gate I made my way up the sandstone steps and sat down on a bench. "This right here, is my favourite part of the tavern. This is where I come when I wish to think and clear my head." I understood what she meant. There were flowers up here and everything was quiet. Only the sound of the soft breeze could be heard other than the flickering light from my lantern. Walking over to the flowers she bent over to smell them. Then she began to talk again. "I’m hoping to make the business flourish again. I want to see people coming here again to laugh and eat and talk of old and new times. I want to use this stage and put on shows for my customers. There are so many things I want to do, I don’t event think I could remember them all." Smiling, I could tell she was truly excited about the days to come. "So this tavern will be moved to Trammel then?" I asked. "Yes, Uncle believes that a move to a more peaceful land will help the tavern to grow. And unfortunately, this land is becoming more hostile as time passes and that is not good for business.”
Sitting down she looked at me and took my hand. “It has been a great pleasure to talk to you, but I’m afraid I really must be going." Then she shook my hand and stood up. "But I have some more questions to ask you." I said. Standing up she did a small bow to me. "Yes, I’m sure you do. But I really must be on my way. I have quite a bit to look forward to and still more that I must get finished before things can be finalised. Perhaps we can meet again when I have more time.” And with that she walked down the stairs and onto the city street below.
