'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony' (Every Friday; 2:00 & 7:00 PM)

The smell of pipeweed and the sound of merry laughter drifts from the open door of the Inn of the Prancing Pony. It is a Highday, and like every Highday, Barliman Butterbur has opened his  common room to guests from lands near and far to sample his beer in exchange for coin, conversation, and a promise 'not to go up into thin air, thank you very much!'

This week's (January 17, 2025) hook: 

‘The Common Room of the Prancing Pony is closed this Highday.’ …or at least that’s what the sign nailed to the front door of the inn reads! Yet Barliman Butterbur’s servants, Bob and Nob, have been ushering guests through the back door of the inn, and serving them beer in the parlour off the kitchen. Their master, Bob says, ‘is in no good way after last week’s robbery. He’s not thinking right—let alone left! Closing the Common Room indeed! Now who’s robber, stealing folk of beer and conversation? Silly man!’

It seems that though the belongings Barliman was robbed of last week have been restored to the innkeeper by a band of well-meaning errants, he remains shaken up by the whole affair—an anxiety unhelped, moreover, by the recent disappearance of his prize cow.

‘Oh, old Alice is at it again,’ Nob can be heard saying to one of the quests in the parlour. ‘Always fancies a wander, she does! Don’t know why it’s got dear Mr. Butterbur so fretted. Why, only three fortnights back Bob found Alice down in Staddle, turning her horded head to the piping of old Mr. Swatmidge! I told Mr. Butterbur, I did, “Alice will be home again—and if not, Bob’ll find her, and make no mistake!”’

Well, one certainly hopes Bob will find Alice, because if not, someone else just might… After all, the roads are full of wolves these days, and not all of them wear grey pelts.