One of the large rooms of The Gilded Boar Inn was loud that night. The air was thick with the smell of sweaty bodies, ale, roasted meat, and woodsmoke.
In the center of the room, two heavy oak tables were pushed together. It was laden with plates of roasted meat, bread, greasy chicken, leftovers of a meal, bones piled on a wooden platter, rinds of hard cheese, and several pitchers of ale.
Around this table, a group of young men from the kingdom was crowded onto benches. They were the sons of wealthy merchants, major and minor officials of Lycanthria, elders in council, wealthy landowners, men with coins in their purses and time on their hands.
