Storytime in the Dragon's Den

"And that is when I beat him up! And poked him in the eye! It was very good. Let that be a lesson to you. Do not bully people! I do not like bullies. I will tackle them and make them cry." Boshter nods his head, firmly.

Most of those listening are proceeding to buy him drinks just to shut him up.

Gragnar makes a bah noise, having been the one throwing drinks (often literally) at Boshter to make him change the story. "Tell de one about de dragon again!" he bellows. His sports stories had failed to impress earlier, but mostly due to looks of confusion about some of the terminology.

"But I do not want to be that guy! You know the one. The one who is always telling the same story over and over. But okay. I will tell it. There was a mighty dragon in the sky! And I saw it and I said 'I am Boshter! Of Blar1' and it said 'phwoar', and then I said 'PHWOAR' back and then I drank a potion and it made me HUGE!! And then I leapt into the sky and I grabbed its wings and folded it behind them so it could not fly and I brought it down to the ground!" Boshter puffs up his chest. "And then I said! I am Boshter! Of Blar!"

Gragnar laughs, slapping Boshter on the shoulder. "You tell it betta with fewa drinks!" he shares. "I tell ya about da one where I lost my tusk?" he wonders, gesturing with the necklace.

"No, you did not," says Boshter, "Tell it, brother! Tell this story of how you lost your tusk!" Boshter slams his mug into the table hard enough to crack the pewter.

Gragnar beams, and pushes back to rise to his feet, some of the regulars already clearing some space, many of Gragnar's stories coming with vivid and violent demonstrations. "I was a 'ittleun," he says, gesturing a height still taller than several of the shorter folks in the room, but still short for an yrch. "And I'd discovered Bludball!" This draws groans from some tired of the Bludball stories, but gets the interest of some others who are still trying to piece together the rules from his stories. "It was all I played, why play anythin' else? Well, da bigga kids wanted ta play, and I wasn't gonna tell 'em no," he says, gesturing a relative height that would imply the teens who he was playing with were full grown Jotun.

"Of course! Bludball. That is a great game!" Boshter says it in the kind of manner that indicates eh really has no idea what that is.

"Well, dey were bigga than me," Gragnar reminds, "lot bigga. But we played, and I was runnin' past with da ball when one of them swung a fist at my face," he says, gesturing the swing at his broken tusk, and completing it with a tumble to the ground. "Broke my tusk right off!" he says, gesturing from the floor with the necklace. "'n' I'd just gotten my adult tusks too!"

"Wow! That is very impressive!" Boshter says, "Must've hurt, but it is a good story! Did you punch him very hard back?" He asks.

"Well, I still had the ball," Gragnar laughs, gesturing clinging it to his chest. "So dey kicked me a few times," he says, rising to his feet, and den I got up and tried ta pound 'em into the dirt!" he says, pounding on his broad chest proudly. as he moves back towards his seat.

"You better have pounded them!" agrees Boshter, firmly, waving a hand at him. Then more ale is drained. Proudly.

"Nope," Gragnar laughs. "They beat me inta the mud!" he says, beaming. "But I didn't stop 'til I couldn' move!" He slaps Boshter on the back. "I lost, they were bigga dan me, and dere we two of 'em, but I didn't jus' lie down at da first hit! Nah, I made 'em work for it, I fought back hard as I could. Dat's the important thing!"

"That is very right!" Boshter points a finger at him. "You did well, then, sir. You did very well against foes stronger and tougher than you and showed them that you were made of steel!" He nods his head up and down again. "HIS NEXT DRINK IS ON ME."

Gragnar nods his agreement. "Da game's not ova 'til it's ova! I lost a tusk, but one of their noses is still crooked," he says with a deep, belly laugh.

"Damn right," agrees Boshter. "I will have to learn about this one day! More, I mean. I have never played it. I imagine I would be good at it, though, if there is a lot of punching and kicking!" Probably too good, honestly.

There's no such thing as TOO good at a game. "I'll teach ya sumtime! Da temple's got a big field we could use," Gragnar says, gladly accepting his drink from the barman, downing it quickly.

"Okay! We will do this. We will try to get a full team, then? How many people are needed?!" Boshter asks, excitedly. He's looking very pleased!

"Long as dey even," Gragnar says, wiping the foam from his mouth. "But da more da betta!" He thinks for a moment. "22's da max, though."

"Okay. Then we will get people and we will do this because it will be very good"! BOshter nods his head up and down.

Gragnar grins, and raises a glass to make it official.

And so does Boshter, actually, cheering.