Oswald the Human Bard

Oswald looked up from his drink into the faces of his party. He was pleased to see that everyone had a healthy red glow on their cheeks. As usual, the dwarf artificer Benton was leading the party with six drinks down and was starting on his seventh. The goliath fighter Sabor was four ales in and was already beginning to belt out another raucous drinking song in her gruff native language. The tortle wizard Durska was taking his time as usual, only now starting on his second pint. Oswald himself was about to finish up his third drink and could feel a pleasant warmth spreading through his stomach. He saw that even the half-elf cleric Luna had decided to cut loose and had finished a whole half glass of wine.

The party found itself in a good place for once. They had finished up a long escort job for the regional magistrate, and the guy had straight up paid them. No backtracking, no nickel and diming, just honest pay for honest work. So now they were celebrating.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Benton slamming his empty mug on the table.

“Well, that was a good warmup,” he bellowed. “Now we move on to the good stuff.”

“What kind of good stuff?” Durska asked.

“We start with rum and work our way to whiskey!” Benton declared, slapping the tortle on the shell. Durska only nodded his head and smiled agreeably.

“I think I’ll pass,” said Luna, who finished the last of her wine, and stood up. “There’s a full moon tonight and I need to offer a prayer at the temple.”

“I’m gonna pass too,” said Sabor, following a loud belch. “I hear the bath house in this village is amazing. And soaking in a hot spring in the moonlight sounds heavenly. Anyone care to join me? A bath wouldn’t hurt any of you.”

At the mention of a bath house, Oswald’s eyes perked up.

“Bath, ha,” barked Benton. “The men here are gonna shut this bar down.”

“That sounds nice, but I have an obligation. I could be at the temple for a while.” Replied Luna.

“You’re going to be there all night by yourself?” asked Oswald. “You should take someone with you.”

“Are you offering?” asked Luna with a smirk. “You want to be my gentlemanly escort this evening?”

This made Oswald blush. He knew that Luna could take care of herself, but it still wouldn’t hurt for her to have some backup. On the other hand, that bath house sounded very tempting as did the prospect of Benton footing the bill for more drinks. What to do, what to do?