HP: 47/68
SP: 52/52

[hr]
The blast from the fire knocked that which once had been Gruffydd to the ground.  There was a wail of pain when the fire struck, and a grunt on impact with the ground.  Somehow, the shovel had not been knocked away.  Standing up again was slow, but it was done.

[color=red]"Well, that was enlightening."[/color]  Great amusement could be seen in sickly yellow eyes.  [color=red]"But to so readily play with fire?  You might burn yourself.  Or me."[/color]  That which once was Gruffydd approached Kazuo, now much more slowly.  [color=red]"So calm.  So collected.  And all the while you play with fire.[/color]  A deep chuckled echoed from beneath the stag's face.  [color=red]"You could kill someone like that, you know.  Do you even care?  Maybe you do belong in this Den of Monsters after all.  But even if you do, I don't take kindly to people trying to kill me."[/color]

[Roll: 16!  11 Damage dealt to Kazuo!]

The swing of the shovel was fast, and hit Kazuo solidly in the body.  [color=red]"I simply [i]must[/i] return the favor."[/color]

[hr]
[color=forestgreen]"What are you talking about?  I have a home.  I have a family."[/color]  Gruffydd was upset at this random bartender's assertion, but was doing his best to remain calm.

[color=red]"Sure, you have a family.  They're good people.  Your parents don't force you to leave home, or deride or degrade you.  But come on Gruffydd, you know better."[/color]

[color=forestgreen]"And just what the hell does that mean!?"[/color]  He snapped.  The song and dance in the tavern had died.  Everyone there, from the Giants to the Rats, was staring at him, and the people close to him backed away.

[color=red]"Quite simply, Gruffydd, you don't belong.  Not there, not with them.  They're [i]good[/i] people, after all.  Hell, they're [i]people[/i]."[/color]

Gruffydd was unnerved by the silence and the stares, but he pushed beyond that.  [color=forestgreen]"And you're implying that I'm not?"[/color]

The Innkeeper chuckled.  [color=red]"It's quite simple, really, only Monsters kill."[/color]

Gruffydd flinched.  [color=forestgreen]"It was in self-defense"[/color]

The Innkeeper's laughter reverberated throughout the room.  [color=red]"Yes, because that makes it all better.  You ended human life.  Living, breathing, thinking people.  The law may make exceptions for [i]self-defense[/i], but you know as well as I do that nothing can morally justify what you did.  There is no ethical exception.  It just proves what they were saying about you in the first place.  [b]That you are an [i]animal[/i][/b]."[/color]  The ground beneath Gruffydd vanished, and he fell through.  He landed hard on the cold ground, a sharp contrast from the warmth of the fire. Looking up, he could see the hole he had fallen through, the light from the fire streaming down.   

The hole in the roof vanished, and the light of the fire with it.  But the room was not dark.  There was a faint glow emanating from behind where Gruffydd fell.  As he stood, he heard the breathing of a very large creature behind him.  He slowly turned around to find a large beast, covered in white fur, with long proud horns, and unblinking, piercing [color=forestgreen]green[/color] eyes.  Gruffydd jumped back with a yelp, landing on his behind.  The beast move, and he heard the clanking of metal.  A second look revealed that the beast was shackled to the wall with great iron chains, and it was the source of the faint glow in the room.

[color=red]"So stay a while in the cage, where the animals [b]belong[/b]."[/color]