[hr][hr][center][h3][b][i][color=b8860b]Keystone[/color][/i][/b][/h3][/center]
[b][center][color=b8860b]Location:[/color] Woods North of Salarn, Orc Encampment, Cave [/center][/b][b][center][color=b8860b]Interacting With: [/color] The Group [/center][/b][hr][hr]

	Leaving someone behind wasn't exactly optimal. More than that, it screamed of ulterior motive. The Orcs seemed to be dealing fairly, but this... Keystone simply didn't see how this helped anyone, sending their group back one warrior light. If indeed there were bony dead people about under the command of a dark cowled miscreant with the power to do so, leaving a single teammate behind could tip the scales unfavorably. One soldier more or less wouldn't make a bit of difference for the Orcs, with their defensible position and vastly superior numbers. The caveat to leave someone behind was extortion, pure and simple. 

	He supposed that, given the circumstances, they could just be chopped into steaks and fed to the footsoldiers, their fat melted off to grease the axles of the carts in which their bones would be carried away for fashioning into tool handles and trophies. A little shakedown from the locals wasn't so bad in comparison. Far be it for Keystone to limit his options, though. That could still happen. The evening was young, yet. 

	Suffice it to say, he wasn't in the best of moods when he returned to the campsite, outside of the cave. Keystone was careful to maintain his stoic, granite exterior (the same one he demonstrated on the way in) until settling back into his group. When he was in the relative security of the circle of his acquaintances, he let out a deep sigh and squeezed his eyes tight, as if warding off a headache. 

	[color=b8860b]"Right then, we're tops for the night 'ere, but we've got points what need some addressin' fore dawn. Best talk on a full stomach. I promised you lot a big, hot meal. Take me a bit, promise it'll be worth waitin' on."[/color]

	Keystone looked upon the rabbit carcass in front of one of their number, the Half-Orc with questionable grasp over the Common tongue of the realm. Glancing around to the obviously hungry faces of other members of the group, he said with a touch of disgust in his voice, [color=b8860b]"But I see [i]some of us[/i] just couldn't bear the wait."[/color] 

	The large man was not a person of classic, mannered upbringing. Until recent years, the more polite uses of a fork escaped him. Then there was that matter of having to learn to eat with sticks... but it was immaterial to the subject at hand. Even a man lacking in manners, such as himself, had the basic morality not to prepare a meal in front of hungry folk and have them watch while he ate it. [color=b8860b]"Really? Sodding really?"[/color] he asked aloud, looking very much like he didn't wish to hear an answer to his query. The very real question of how the animal could have been skinned, cooked, and eaten in the time it took them to get dome with their introductions with the Chief came to mind. They must have been in that cave for longer than he had reckoned. 

	His mood brightened, at least incrementally, when he looked upon the bounty that Sana brought back from the forest. Keystone shook his head, trying to move his mind away from the rabbit and on to what he would be preparing, courtesy of the efforts of his old adventuring partner. It looked like she slaughtered an entire damned watering hole of small woodland mammals, including foxes for some reason. Now, Keystone had never prepared fox; at least not on purpose. There was a long story behind that incident, one into which he absolutely refused his mind to wander. No, bigger things at hand. Nevertheless, he shuddered involuntarily. So much blood. So many doilies. The stench was great. 

	Pulling to together the fracturing pieces of his psyche after nearly mentally delving into the Infernoing Fox Incident, he took to note the root vegetables that had been revealed. [color=b8860b]"Oi! What's all this, Sana? Bloody 'ell woman, are those Baigies and Neeps? Aw, and with greens still 'ttached, they are. If I wasn't stone-cocked certain it'd lead to a fistfight, I could bloody well hug you."[/color] 

	Keystone brought out the entirety of his culinary tools, downstacking and locating the proper pieces for what would amount to a proper feast, in comparison to what they had been eating the past few days. [color=b8860b]"...'k, then. Here's what's what: I'm roasting off the birdies in the big, iron pan. Rabbits can be stewed off with the greens, the foxes, um... well, let's break it down and cook 'em off slow. Mayhap have somethin' set for breakys tomorrow, with oaty scones, yeah? Now, I'd be obliged if'n some of you lot what's handy with a short blade'd give me an assist. This is a fair collection of meat to run through, and suppertime's gettin' on. I'll start on the fowl and rooties; just need the beasts charcuter'ed, if you would, then."[/color]

	The uncouth culinarian did reach for one item from his pack. It was a bit of whole bacon, which he diced up and threw into two pots and his great iron pan before resting them in the coals of the fire. He immediately began cutting down the vegetables, becoming just slightly optimistic in outward appearance. [color=b8860b]"Those o' you ain't already partaked heavy today'll be lovin' this 'fore long. Just what we need - good food an' wiseful talk."[/color] Behind quiet eyes, Keystone already had in mind a candidate for the group's bartering piece. 

	As he set to preparing what promised to be a excellent repast, a repetitive humming sounded softly from his lips. It continued for a bit, until one could barely hear the large man singing a childhood tune, [color=b88608]"...baigies an' neeps, baigies and' neeps, I'm a lit'le lad who loves Baigies ...and Ne-ee-eeps..."[/color]