Speed dating at Blacktusk Inn - Part 3

The bartender pulls another wooden marble out of the bag, with a red and yellow striped pattern. Upon seeing it, the gnoll stops chewing on his chicken leg to give you a big, toothy smile. Pieces of food are stuck in between his razor sharp teeth, but he looks so goofy and inviting you barely care.

The bartender directs the two of you to your table, and quickly takes your order (your date asks for another whole roasted chicken and beer mug) before returning to the other patrons. You get yourself comfortable on your seat, while the man in front of you rushes to finish his dish.

“Dude, I’m so sorry”, he says, putting down the now clean chicken bone. “I thought we’d be waiting a little longer and I’d have the time to finish this before the dates started. Name’s Charlie, nice to meet you!”

“Charlie?” you say, “That’s an interesting name for a gnoll. Were you raised by humans?”

Charlie laughs. “I get that all the time, man. See, I’m not technically a gnoll, I didn’t look like this until like two months ago. I fucked up a shapeshifting spell and I’m stuck like this now.”

“Fucked up?”

Charlie scratches the back of his long ears. “Yeah, just a tip if you ever dabble in druidic magic: if your instructor’s notes say ‘add mandrake root and stir for twenty minutes’, you do them in that order, alright? If you get the order wrong, you don’t go all the way.”

“And it’s irreversible?”

Charlie gives a hearty laugh, making his belly jiggle up and down. “It’s easy to reverse actually! If you know what you’re doing, the potion takes a couple days to brew and you’re good.” Charlie takes a swig of beer. “But here’s the thing, those two days where I was stuck like this? I felt incredible. Food tasted better, I didn’t need to wear as many clothes anymore, you know, because of the fur, and I could see in the dark… By the time the potion was ready I told my master, sorry, man, I kind of don’t want to take it.”

“Did your master take it well?”

“Oh, absolutely not, dude was furious. I argued I could still do everything else he could teach me but he said shapeshifting is a core part of the job and if I don’t want to do it I’m not fit to be his apprentice. Well, fuck him, he can’t tell me how to live my life. So right now I’m working part time as a hunter. It’s enough to get by.”

Charlie takes another swig of his beer and immediately blushes. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even ask for your name. Tell me about you, man! what do you do for a living?”