Mr. Nonay Neveragain Nayrover Argeledougal has done it again. The last time he badly regretted getting drunk, he promised himself not to do it again. But you don't get a hangover like this by drinking water. Nayrover doesn't remember how many drinks he had last night, but he faintly remembers that Heather, the feisty barmaid of the Blue Boar, hit his new best friend Eric Shadowblade in the face with a lantern. And he remembers that there was a burping contest, and his wife Laveta put the rest of them in shame by burping the alphabet all the way to G. Nay's brother Ermien was there too, like he always is when there are people there offering to buy drinks... So nice to be drinking together again. Next time they'd have to drag Zano along.
Nay smacks his lips and tries to open his eyes very, very carefully. It must be late afternoon by now, and the light is pouring in from the windows of a cheap and stuffy inn room. The light hurts Nay's eyes and the pain goes straight into his brain. Nay moans and rolls over, trying to find a better spot on the bed. Now he notices that there's someone sleeping next to him. It's a woman, which is a relief and... Oh good, it's the right woman. The right woman would be lovely Laveta.
During the time they've spent together this married couple has had some ups and downs. They've lost their guild stone, their ships, and now they've even lost the famous bar Lovely Serpent, which they used to run for many happy years. Or maybe not so happy years, who knows. Well, at least that's one damn thing less to argue about.
But there's a pattern emerging. Every now and then Laveta would try and talk sense into her weary old husband who feels like he ought to just go back to selling sausages ("Nayrover's Meats - Might as well eat it") because that's easy, simple living and you don't end up in the King's Inn for that. Nayrover would either listen to Laveta's nagging with half-hearted grunts or get angry about the whole thing and tell her to get off his back. They got on each other's nerves. Laveta was frustrated and miserable and Nay felt like there was nowhere to go from here. But eventually they would sort of make up and end up having a few drinks. After a drink or two they'd start to reminisce on all the good times and have a laugh.
And in the end they would fondly grope each other and stumble through the streets at the wee hours and end up at the inn to dunk the dingus and make such a racket it would piss off the other tenants. And it was great.
It's almost good enough for Nay to start believing that old dogs might man up and get back to their mischievous ways. Raise a little - no, raise a LOT - of money and buy another boat and be free and sailing again. Get the Merry Ballooners a guildstone, maybe even some old shack for a guildhouse... Maybe spread the word, tell the world that the Honest Workers are looking for company. And yeah, then there's that thing with the Lovely Serpent. Apparently some drunkard called Viktor got lucky in blackjack and bought the old tavern in Skara Brae. And there's no way in hell Nayrover Argeledougal is going to let some idiot run a bar and call it The Lovely Serpent. That's HIS bar, goddamn it. The one and only Lovely Serpent might be gone for good, and if some sorry poser is going to try their luck running a bar, they'd damn well have to come up with a name of their own.
Filled with determination Nayrover decides to get up and do something about his life. He tries to move a little, but his old pal, Mr. Hangover Headache doesn't think it's a very good idea. Nay grunts as the stabbing pain behind his eyes nearly splits his brain in half. In all honesty, it might be a good idea to have some breakfast first... And maybe some hair of that dog that bit him. What's the hurry, anyway. These things take time. Determination might come later.