Blood, Plunder and D&D

Excerpts from " Tales of Alice" by Rufus the Well Travelled Death and Black Alice It came to pass one day (on Black Alice’s 100th birthday as a matter of fact) that Death arrived on her cottage doorstep. Since even Death had heard of Black Alice, he made special effort to present himself well, taking the form of a distinguished older gentleman with greying hair and wearing somber but expensive clothes in an impeccable style. He was armed with a suitably exotic accent. And a cane. It was made of some expensive black wood and had a silver knob on it. He knocked on the door politely, because while he could freely enter any building he liked, he valued etiquette. Black Alice answered the door. Because she was Black Alice she knew immediately who was standing there, of course. “Well, hmph. Fancy seeing you here. Didn’t plan on company today. I suppose you should come in and have a cup of tea” she grumbled, ushering him inside. She already had a pot brewing on the fireplace, so ...

“Oh the door been misbehaving again has it? Aye it does that occasionally. Got a will o it’s own that door.” BlackJack Macafetty  greeted them from behind his bar, polishing one of his many mugs, the motion completely ingrained and on autopilot from years of repetition. He appeared almost exactly as they had left him, three months ago when the Lady Jezebel had sailed from the great metropolis of Haven Town and into the wilds of the Northern Reach. “So you lot aren’t actually back in Haven Towne at all then?” “No?” Dakhir replied bemusedly. “We’re at least a thousand leagues away in a town called Puerto Lejos . Or at least I think we are?”. BlackJack looked blank at the name of the town. “Not familiar with Puerto Lejos, so must be quite a ways away.” “Far into the Northern Reach. We were just walking down the Main Street and we saw the door to this Inn. How is that possible?” Dakhir asked. BlackJack shrugged.  “Magic. Black Alice’s magic. Or at least my da said it all started...

  Black Alice’s Brew As told by Black Jack McCaffeety, owner and proprietor of the tavern “Black Alice’s Brew” in Haven Towne, to the Adventuring Party known as the Lords of Doom.  “This is the story as it was told to me by my father who got it from his father before him and so on.   In those days Black Alice was newly arrived in Haven Towne, from far off Valoria. While Haven Towne was much smaller back then it was still a great city and she didn’t really know her way around yet. Black Alice was generally not a fan of cities (unlike her sisters) but she had business that brought her here and thought she might as well see the sights. One day as she was wandering Northport getting the lay of the land and taking in the sight of all the fine ships and busy docks she passed a big old pub right on the water and she decided she fancied a beer. She went in, sat down at the bar. The place was crowded and the barkeep was busy chumming with his regulars and didn’t have much tim...