“Will you take something with your wine?” the innkeeper asked with feigned offhandedness. Bramt Hex had been frequenting the inn for some weeks. He was always resolved to order wine alone, but the keep knew he could, with the slightest nudge, be stimulated to order a large meal as well.
“Yes, in fact,” Bramt Hex replied promptly, “since you suggest it. A salad of spindlewort. The broasted homunculus as well, followed immediately by a chilled crab tart.”
“The domestic or the wild homunculus?”
“The wild, of course.”
“We cannot give it to you, sir. The trappers bring none in. The vampires have lately increased in the hills.”
“Do they feed on homunculi?” Hex asked with surprise.
The innkeeper shook his head: “Trappers.” ...
