[ADMIN - Sottie, the Inebridee Brewery and associated characters are
written and owned by Greg Dewey ]

[Fletcher]

Fletcher stood in the doorway of the Inebridee Brewery. He looked around for a moment, and then proceeded to enter, followed by a dark-skinned muscular woman. The woman bore a black whip at her side, and was dressed in a set of black leather armor that left very little to the imagination. Her chocolate skin was smooth and flawless.

"Do keep quiet this time, Zade," Fletcher spat over his shoulder. He would rather have left the woman behind, but Damion had insisted that his personal bodyguard accompany Fletcher as he went about his duties. There had been rumors of a new gang in Montfort, and Damion didn't want to risk losing his number one assistant to some young upstarts.

Fletcher smoothed the wrinkles out of his white silk shirt and brushed unseen specks of dirt off of his sleeves. He produced a small mirror from his shirt pocked and examined his face and hair. Both were acceptable. Finally, he popped a small mint into his mouth... he had just eaten lunch, after all.

"Mint?" he offered a mint to the woman behind him.

"I'm not talking, remember?" The quality of Zade's voice was smooth and alluring, but her tone was firm and slightly sarcastic.

"Suit yourself."

There was something surreal about the Inebridee Brewery, but it was hard to put one's finger on it. It wasn't just the scale of the main brewery, a massive building with large-capacity new-looking equipment and polished brass plumbing, and it wasn't just the fact that the brewery was as clean as a shrine. No, it was the workers, they all looked happy... even reverent, as if all of them had some great love of what they were doing, as if ale was something special to every one of them.

Fletcher scanned the Brewery's workers, looking for the man in charge. Not seeing anyone who looked of any importance, he walked up to a young woman who had just emerged from one of the back rooms. He stepped obtrusively into her path and said one word:

"Sottie."

[Amanda]
Amanda's nostrils twitched just slightly as she looked at the strangers, adventurers or criminals by the look of their armament. But Master Sottie's long list of friends included people from just about every walk of life imaginable.

"Brewmaster Inebridee is in the office building. I'm on my way back there if you'd like to see if he's available."

[Zade]

Fletcher nodded and the girl let him and Zade deeper into the brewery. As they walked, Zade's eyes scanned the workers.

She reached forward and tapped Fletcher on the shoulder. The man jerked as if she had sunk a dagger in his back.

"What?" he said as he inspected the shoulder of his silk shirt.

"Something isn't right here. Some of these workers..." she nodded her head towards a man and a woman who were staring at them as they passed. Zade had lowered her voice so that their escort could not hear the conversation.

"So?" said Fletcher.

"They're not right. I saw one of them sniffing..."

"I offered you a breath mint."

"Very funny. They might be security of some kind."

"That's not my department."

"eh?"

"You're the bodyguard. Guard my body."

"I'm Sinterbourne's bodyguard."

"Not today you aren't."

Zade frowned. She hated taking orders from Sinterbourne's lackey.

"How's this going to go down?" she asked. "I need to know."

"Same as always. We're going to talk to the man. He's going to ask us to leave. Then you're going to start breaking things."

Zade's frown deepened. She still didn't like the way they were being looked at. And the girl that was leading them...

Did her ear just twitch?? thought Zade.

The young woman led them outside, her auburn locks blowing in the breeze, her clipboard held loosely in one hand. The office building was to the East towards town from the main brewery. As the trio exited through the large wagon doors on the North side of the Brewery they entered a great shadow cast by a monumental structure to the West.

[Zade]

"...Seven Hells..." exclaimed Zade as she saw the huge rock. It looked as if the gods themselves had thrust into the ground in the middle of Montfort.

"What?" said Fletcher sarcastically, "You've never seen the spire before?"

"Yes, but not this close. Why is it shaped like that... like an ale stein?"

"Will of the gods, I suppose. Just Sottie's luck that it landed on his property."

"Sottie OWNS that?!?"

Fletcher nodded and kept silent while Zade admired the huge rock. She still had the feeling that all was not right, and the sight of the spire didn't help.

As they walked, Zade removed a small bladed hook from her belt and attached it to the tip of her whip. Her belt held many such attachments, each was slightly different, and well suited for its purpose. She had tips for slicing through wood and stone, even an enchanted one that cut through tempered steel as if it were butter. She had four attachments made just for human flesh. The particular implement she selected was designed for general use... it was best to be prepared for any situation.

Soon, the party approached the main offices of the brewery.

The brewery offices were housed in a two-story fieldstone building with a red ceramic tile roof. The surface of the stone and tile had been vitrified by the radiation of the false dawn. Its glassy surfaces reflected the morning light in a dazzling display of brilliance. The group entered the lobby of the building which was dominated by a private sample bar that served samples of the Inebridee ales to inn-keeps and other institutional customers.

After going down a corridor and up a flight of stairs. Fletcher and Zade were led into a waiting area that was overlooked by a secretary's office. No secretary was present, however.

[Amanda]

"One moment please. I'll check to see if the brewmaster is in his office and can see you. What would you like to discuss with him this morning?"

Just then, the door to the inner office opened and out backed a young man, Ramey Stout.

[Sottie]

"Most satisfactory indeed! With spring here, water will again be diverted into the canal and we can build our export business. I will work on getting a few more export accounts and then we will see about getting our own canal barge or two and teams of mules for the tow path."

[Ramey]

The young man turned, raised an eyebrow at the rather interesting strangers here to see the brewmaster and left the outer office smiling. It always felt good when he could tell Sottie that things were going well.

[Fletcher]

Fletcher looked the young man up and down, and then promptly ignored him and turned to Sottie.

The first thing that struck a person about Sottie was that he was enormous, like a sumo wrestler something a bit over seven feet tall, with an ale belly that stuck out beyond his wide belt by a few inches. He was obviously not from Montfort, his hair was black as jet and his skin was a dark coppery color. His features had some aspects that were of East Indian origin and others that looked quite Asian, probably Mongolian. It was hard to determine his age; at first glance one might have said he was thirty something but there was something about his demeanor that suggested he was older, perhaps in his forties. The scent of saki perfumed his breath and the air around him.

"Well now... very nice establishment you have here. Mind if we talk in private?"

[Sottie]

For a moment Sottie did not answer for he was much too busy admiring every inch of Zade's body. The brewmaster's eyes rested easily on Zade's best features as he licked his lips as if to stifle a pant. There was little the brewer liked better than strong ale, but he found strong women just as intoxicating. "Truly your beauty is as great as your strength, I have seldom seen a more impressive woman," Sottie smiled, his white teeth gleaming as his dark eyes caressed Zade's loveliness.

At last Sottie turned to Fletcher. "Certainly, if you don't mind talking while I finish my breakfast, you can come right in."

The brewmaster led the way into a large office with a deck and french windows that looked to the West. The brewery buildings could be clearly seen through the windows behind the desk and beyond them the ale stein spire presided over the scene like a sentinel. The desk was large and made of carved asteroid steel with a polished white granite top. The high chromium content of the nickel-steel alloy gave it a silvery sheen in addition to making it highly resistant to corrosion. The office was carpeted with Persian rugs, and a large fire place was inset into the near wall. Along the far wall was a well-stocked bar. The walls of the room were faced with the same type of granite that topped the desk. The office was lit with a crystal chandelier that shed mage-light throughout the room.

Sottie motioned to the chairs facing his desk, sat down and poured a little more saki over a large bowl of rice that appeared to be his breakfast. "May I offer you wine and cheese or ale and biscuits?

[Fletcher]

Fletcher acted as if he didn't hear the offer, preferring to get right down to 'business.'

[Sottie]

"What did you wish to see me about," the brewmaster asked as he took up the pair of chopsticks sticking up from his bowl and began to eat as he listened.

[Fletcher]

"I represent an... organization... that has an interest in the well-being of our local merchants. As I said, you have a nice establishment. Clean. Very profitable, I would imagine. I'd hate to see anything happen to it, what with all the crime and all..."

[Sottie]

Betraying no sign of uneasiness, Sottie reached out with his mind into the brotherhood of intoxication. Few close by were drinking at this hour, though the buzz of intoxication was humming along nicely on the other side of the globe where it was evening. The yogi of drink cast about for any of his family members. All were either asleep or had not yet touched a drop and were thus unreachable. Inwardly the vicar of intoxication sighed, this hour was not an auspicious one for calling on aid from his werewolf pack mates, what design might the gods have sending people such as this in the morning...

A jovial smile lit the brewer's face. "Here at the Inebridee Brewery we have a great and fervent devotion to the production of fine ales. I think our facility, though yet unfinished and understaffed, reflects that devotion. The mortar binding every stone of every brewery building contains ale, and each stone was laid to the greater glory of the gods. Surely you have seen the mark of the brewery's patrons and protectors. The fakir backhand waved at the ale stein spire in the distance behind him. Have no fear for our safety, the Inebridee Brewery is like a temple. The gods of drink protect the brewery with their might."

"Yet it is understandable that you would have those concerns. You seem to be fighters or adventurers." Sottie turned to Zade, in his eyes one could see an obvious enjoyment of her beauty. "I see by your movements that you have studied the art of combat. A strong, fit woman such as yourself is a joy to behold. How long have you been training?"

[Zade]

"Since birth." said Zade. She saw Sottie's eyes as they roamed over her mostly-exposed flesh. Ordinarily, such advances... even the unspoken ones... were returned with the sharp end of her whip. This man, however, intrigued her. There was something about him...

"Slavery tends to force an early end to one's childhood."

[Sottie]

"Ah, how unfortunate, beauty such as yours should not be caged. Something of it's essential nature would be obscured. If it were left to me, I would gladly unleash your power," the yogi of drink smiled meaningfully.

[Fletcher]

"Ahem..." Fletcher cleared his throat in an attempt to bring the attention back to the matter at hand.

"Never mind the... hired help. I am not an adventurer... you could say that I am in the business of PREVENTING adventure, if you know what I mean. I like things to go smoothly... for me and for you."

[Zade]

Hired help, indeed!

The brown-skinned woman winked at Sottie, not because she was particularly interested, but just to draw the large man's attention and annoy Fletcher. When Sottie's eyes fell upon her again, she took a particularly deep breath... which caused her ample bosoms to *almost* pop free of her skimpy leather armor.

[Sottie]
The Fakir heartily returned the wink, choosing just that moment to finessfully lick a single grain of rice from the tip of one of his chopsticks with his large, dextrous tongue.

Fletcher, completely oblivious to this, continued to speak...

[Fletcher]

"Now I am sure that you think the 'gods of drink' have this place under their watchful eye... but it has been my experience that the gods are fickle to say the least. Besides, storms... floods... these are in the realm of the gods. You need something more... mundane, to protect you from the more immediate threats. The criminal element is everywhere... on the streets... within your own business, or..."

Fletcher leaned on the edge of the table and brought his face close to Sottie's.

"... in this very room perhaps. Anything canhappen, Mr. Inebridee . At any time. To anyone."

Fletcher backed away and stood in front of Zade, blocking Sottie's view of the woman.

[Sottie]
As he looked genuinely disappointed at not being able to see Zade, Sottie clandestinely, beneath the level of the desk, fished out a mushroom from one of his belt pouches and fed it to his dagger.

"Unless, of course, you have someone looking out for you. Someone like myself and... my organization. Pay me... say... third of what you make... and you can be sure that some very NASTY things will NOT happen to you or your businesses..."

[Sottie]

"Surely you realize that, even if I felt such a need as you speak which I do not, I could not possibly afford such usurious rates. Most of the brewery profits are going into expansion. A rapidly growing business is not very profitable because it must capitalize its growth. What little is left after expenditures for growth hardly supports my own needs. To give up a third of it would take food from my table... And as you can plainly see, I am a *large* man, Sottie's eyes twinkled meaningfully as he caught a glimpse of Zade's face looking from behind Fletcher."

[Fletcher]

"Well, I can certainly understand. You are obviously the adventurous type that likes to take chances. That can be dangerous, Mr. Inebridee, but the choice is yours. I'll tell you what... I'll give you a few days to think things over. Of course, I can't be responsible for any... incidents... that occur during that time. As I said before: anything can happen, to any one, at any time. When I return, I am sure you'll be more amenable to my offer."

Fletcher whispered something to Zade, then he walked out of the office.

[Zade]

The leather-clad woman turned and started to follow Fletcher, but, just before she reached the door, she stopped and spun. She unfurled her whip as she turned, and, with a snap of her powerful arm she sent the thick leather strap hurtling through the air.

The whip snapped across the table and sent Sottie's breakfast flying. The airborne dishes crashed against the far wall of the office and shattered, leaving a very large mess.

In the blink of an eye, Zade's whip was once again curled tightly and securely on her hip.

"You'd better do as he says..." said Zade She started to say more, but changed her mind. Instead, she winked at Sottie walked away.

"See you soon." she said as she left the room.

[Sottie]

Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the ace of tiplers jerked backwards in his chair and looked suitably shocked to see his breakfast fly, yet he could not help returning Zade's wink as she left, nor could he help but lick his lips as he watched her shapely rump round the corner and disappear into the corridor. As luck would have it, the jug of saki had been left untouched. This morning, Sottie would just have to drink his breakfast, "such a shame," the drunkard smiled.

[To Be Continued]