After some searching, Warnado once again found the rest of the strange group he was now a part of. Just like Kay had proclaimed, there was a pub in town, and sure enough, that's where they were. When Warnado drew close, Fire's hushed whispers subsided. Warnado frowned slightly but didn't question whatever the two were initially conversing about. He raised a hand in greeting.
"Shall we go inside, then?" Kay asked.
"Isn't Warnado underage?" Fire asked back.
"Who knows?" Warnado responded. "Who cares? So far, this world has no rules. I'm not going to create any to change that."
"Fair enough," the half-endersomething replied, and the trio walked in.
The first thing Warnado noticed was the smell. It was like a mix of rats, rat poison, alcohol, and sweat. Unfortunately, Warnado's sense of smell was about ten times stronger than that of normal humans, so he tried insanely hard to hold back his lunch (which, once again, consisted of salted meat). Blinking twice, he stepped forward, observing his surroundings. Circular tables were set throughout the room, most of them already seating two or three people. Most of the patrons were human but a plethora of strange beings took up some of these tables, which was to be expected if the wolf-bandit was correct about no one being from this world. A man wearing a dark cloak and hood and a skull mask, a girl with blue skin and weird tentacles that sprouted from her head, and a dog wearing a suit of armor and sitting upright.
"I'm not even going to ask."
Kay immediately approached the bar and struck up a conversation with the bartender. Fire followed, but Warnado lingered behind. He had just spotted Jorge the arms dealer from earlier, who was giving him the death glare.
"Hello!" Warnado exclaimed cheerfully. Jorge shook his head and went back to his conversation.
Warnado finally crossed the room to Kay and Fire, who were paying for their drinks. "This stuff ain't cheap, y'know," the bartender said, eyeing the two. "You can pay, right?"
"Is this enough?" Fire smacked a diamond on the table. He added with a slight smirk: "It's better if you don't ask where I got this from."
"Fair enough," the bartender replied, taking the diamond and stuffing it into his pocket.
While Kay and Fire went to get a table, Warnado decided to get his own drink. "What do you have?"
"Wine, ale, brandy, skooma, the usual stuff. But aren't you a little young to be drinking?"
"I have money."
Warnado carried his drink over to the table Fire and Kay had picked, which was close to the center of the room. Kay had already downed his ale and was shouting for another. Then his face lit up. "Hey, Fire, how about a little contest?"
Fire smiled. "I think I see what you're getting at."
Warnado pulled over a chair. "This should be good."
Kay suggested: "Let's start off with some ale. Need to get warmed up first."
Fire just nodded and ordered some more ale from the bartender, who was more than happy to oblige. By then, a small group of people had gathered around their table to watch. Warnado cast a spell to obscure his face, then threw back his hood and dumped a load of popcorn from seemingly nowhere into a mug.
Kay downed his second ale, while Fire calmly did the same. Kay's eyes had already started to droop a little, but Fire looked perfectly fine at the moment. The two ordered another round and drank. This one seemed to have a little bit more of an effect on Fire, but Kay shook his head and smiled. "What next?" he asked, his voice a little slurred.
After their third round of ale, Kay announced that he was "warmed up." While the bartender went to get something stronger, he smiled at Fire, who raised his eyebrows. "Ready for the good stuff?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Fire responded.
The bartender soon returned with more drinks, this time carrying two mugs of fairly strong rum. By now, a large group of people had gathered to witness the contest taking place, some with their own drinks in hand. While the two chugged, Warnado did a fantastic impression using his mug of popcorn. Then he realized that popcorn wasn't liquid and choked.
The two stared each other down. Both were somewhat drunk at this point, but both refused to admit defeat. The bartender brought out another round, and both drank again. It continued like this for a while, until Fire's face lit up.
He turned to the barkeeper once again and said: "Bring a large bucket of water."
Warnado frowned, and the group of people looked on interestedly. The barkeeper was somewhat confused but didn't argue, the diamond in his pocket and the associated respect for Fire still weighed very heavily. A few minutes later he turned up with two other men carrying not a bucket but a whole wooden basin filled to the brim with water.
Without further words, Fire took a flask from his backpack. Inside was a clear liquid, almost too clear to be water.
He triumphantly exclaimed: "Drandinian Heavybrew!"
"Bless you," Warnado said.
Fire ignored the comment, removed the cork from the bottle and let a single drop into the basin. As soon as the liquid came in contact with the water, the water changed color to a deep red. He then proceeded to dip his mug into the liquid and put it down onto the table.
"Let's see if you can handle this." He also invited everybody else in the pub to drink, earning him some appreciative roars from the other patrons.
Warnado dipped his own mug into the barrel. He took a sip and jumped. "Wow, that's strong." He blinked. "And spicy. Bartender, do you have any more water?"
Fire downed his drink in a single gulp, then turned to Kay and said: "Your move."
It seemed as if the red liquid was strong enough to affect even Fire. This seemingly gave Kay confidence, and he mimicked Fire's action but then did everything he could to suppress some coughing that the spicy liquid had caused.
Kay shook his head. He smiled. "Let's keep it going."
Fire nodded and refilled their mugs. By this point Warnado had stopped holding back his laughter at the contest, as had most of the group that had formed. This didn't affect the two participants, who continued drinking heavily. By the fourth time they refilled, they were both extremely drunk. Fire lazily flicked his hand towards his cup, a single spark flew from his fingertip, and the liquid inside was set alight.
Kay jumped. "Bloody hell, not all of us can drink flames!"
Fire raised his mug, then chugged both the Drandinian Heavybrew and the fire on top.
After another five minutes of war, Kay finally dropped his mug. At this point, he was half-lying on the table. He shook his head. "How?"
Fire decided to drop his act and smiled. "I'm immune."
Kay sat up, which costed him more willpower than he had wanted to. "Excuse me?"
"I wanted to make it seem like you had a chance at beating me. But, I'm immune to the effects of any and all alcoholic beverages. See you tomorrow."
At this point Kay let go of all dignity and dropped to the floor. Fire strode out the door towards the inn he had spotted earlier. Warnado looked from the unconscious Kay to the still-swinging door. He frowned at Kay, then followed Fire. As he left he caught a glimpse of the barkeeper and two more men carrying away the basin of Drandinian Heavybrew, presumably to be stored and sold expensively at a later date.
Warnado shivered and pulled his cloak closer as the cool night air nipped at him. He looked around for Fire, but couldn't spot him. He sighed and decided to walk to the inn alone.
As he walked, his mind reeled from the day's events. He was especially worried about her presence, and he was hoping he would bump into her again at the marketplace tomorrow. Hopefully she knew something about this "Entity" character, and what he wanted with their worlds.
When he came to the inn, Warnado walked inside, closing the door behind him.