The door creaked open on partially rusted hinges. Humidity was a way of life this close to the marshlands of Blackwood, and it worked it's way into the iron of many of the poorer settlements. To hear a rusty door was like hearing a bird call, or horse clop - it was simply another background noise that said life was going as it had always gone.
A murky interior greeted milky eyes, torches struggling against the soupy air, flickering in the breeze that managed to rasp it's way through the loosened window panes. Winter chill was settling in, and a pair of hearths were blazing to try and keep the cold away, but it did little more than remind you of how cold you really were.
Fires were useless when your building was so porous it just let all the heat straight outside. Thankfully, he often wore furs with his chain, leather and plate.
Approaching the barkeep, he dropped a few coin onto the countertop for roast bird and immediately stalked away to a darkened corner. He had been through once or twice, but he didn't recognize the barkeep. But he'd spied the tavern wench, and she knew just what he'd want - some of the roast goose they managed to poach out here.
It wasn't good, but food was food.
Easing his armored bulk into a seat that immediately protested against his weight, he settled in and waited for his food to be brought. When it was, the new barkeep scowled at him as he set down the plate, and then left behind a dirty spoon. Staring down at Septimus, he waited to see what the blind knight would do, and was surprised when he went straight for the fork on the plate.
"I can see." His voice rasped from his throat like fetid air escaping a freshly opened tomb. Pulling a bracer back, he took some of his chain and started using the steel to scrape the grime off the fork he'd been brought. "It's disrespectful to give your customers soiled utensils." He didn't even bother to look up, just lifted his helmet enough to take a forkful of meat and slip it beneath the covering. After a moment - and with the barkeep leaving to return to his counter - he snuffed out the torches in his corner of the room and removed his helmet. Food was food, and he still very much needed to eat. But so too did everyone else.
A murky interior greeted milky eyes, torches struggling against the soupy air, flickering in the breeze that managed to rasp it's way through the loosened window panes. Winter chill was settling in, and a pair of hearths were blazing to try and keep the cold away, but it did little more than remind you of how cold you really were.
Fires were useless when your building was so porous it just let all the heat straight outside. Thankfully, he often wore furs with his chain, leather and plate.
Approaching the barkeep, he dropped a few coin onto the countertop for roast bird and immediately stalked away to a darkened corner. He had been through once or twice, but he didn't recognize the barkeep. But he'd spied the tavern wench, and she knew just what he'd want - some of the roast goose they managed to poach out here.
It wasn't good, but food was food.
Easing his armored bulk into a seat that immediately protested against his weight, he settled in and waited for his food to be brought. When it was, the new barkeep scowled at him as he set down the plate, and then left behind a dirty spoon. Staring down at Septimus, he waited to see what the blind knight would do, and was surprised when he went straight for the fork on the plate.
"I can see." His voice rasped from his throat like fetid air escaping a freshly opened tomb. Pulling a bracer back, he took some of his chain and started using the steel to scrape the grime off the fork he'd been brought. "It's disrespectful to give your customers soiled utensils." He didn't even bother to look up, just lifted his helmet enough to take a forkful of meat and slip it beneath the covering. After a moment - and with the barkeep leaving to return to his counter - he snuffed out the torches in his corner of the room and removed his helmet. Food was food, and he still very much needed to eat. But so too did everyone else.