[ WP ] Write about something mundane that happens in a fantastical world .

The Raging King's Tavern was lively that evening: a roaring fire kept the damp of the night out and far from thought, while laughter and song drowned out the rain of the storm outside. Ribald lyrics were flowing from the bard's mouth almost as quickly as the inn's patrons quaffed their hearty ales. Dancing, drink and music, occupied nearly everyone, except for a small coterie of foreigners. 
 
 There in the middle of the festivities was a group of outsiders who sat half-shouting to one another in hushed and hurried whispers. Every time a patron would draw too close they'd be met with silence and a fivefold set of icy stares until the moved away. The party of stalwart adventurers continued their meeting with an air of portentous intrigue, and that's what got some of the tavern-goers talking. 
 
 Old Reiliegth the Boatswain said they'd like as not be paladins heading downriver to fight the unnamed god of the slimy fish men of Dun Dar'larth. Rue the Baker's son shouted they were knights off to fight Fodum the Giant, who had killed the candle-maker only a week before. Arland the Farmer thought they might be clerics come to demand the Count return the village's missing women. Gwendolyn the town's Lady of the Night posited that they were probably wizards going to the circle of Krum Durig, to unravel the mystery of it's alabaster stones. 
 
 The argument of who the strangers were, and where they were going got rather heated, and then the betting began, which only made it worse. Grimstank the Crooked Goblin acted as bookie, jotting down all manner of bets: six ha'penny for dragonslayers after the gold of the Fen-drake Galdamire, twelve silver ducats for barbarians come to slay the Lich and her hundred undead children, a single sterling gold crown on dark cultists to raise the dead lord of the crumbling wastes. 
 
 As the night wore on, the strangers retired to their room and the townspeople made their last wagers. In the morning the true horror began: the strangers were neither great heroes nor true villains, but simply tax collectors in the service of the crown.
