Relkin's Relics

i

He stepped into the pier tavern and slammed the door behind him.

Waves crashed against the piers and the whine of seagulls filled the air behind him.

The stone and wood tavern building looked worn down from years of use, but the ice caught in the oxidized patina gave it a sense of age that matched his mood; weary and resigned.

The innkeeper nodded to him as he walked in. "Nice seeing you again," he said and pointed around him.'

"Look at that storm sucking away at the sea!"

Peter laughed and nodded and sat at the bar, unwilling enough to buy anything when he was fleeing the ferocious sea at the edge of the storm but now, unwilling to resist.

"So what do you want to get drunk for?" the innkeeper chuckled.

The inn was small but the shelves at the bar formed a wall between the end closest to the sea and a second one that lined the rest of the tavern.

A smaller booth stood off to the side with an open door that led to the back.

A fractured skull laid encased in glass on the shelf, Peter, curious, slouched down to get a better look at the mysterious skull.

Peter stared at Relkin and nodded, "I like this relic here," he said.

Relkin nodded and continued to ramble throughout the bar;"Well," he said to Peter, "it's said that that skull belongs to a wizard who was cursed with madness and came back in the afterlife to haunt a pirate ship long ago.

And, well, it's my job to scare the customers into buying a bit more whiskey, but you never know around here whether things are true or not, right Peter?"
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