The not-immortal Blacksmith

It oozed through smaller and smaller cracks in the depths of the world. Slowly it moved, a ponderous pace, deliberate. It needed to find that which it was missing, to consume it back into itself. So, it moved.

-

Ghondish, the goat god of eating stuff, meandered to the water trough in his corral, and sipped the cold and ever-clean water. He took a deep breath of the farmyard, and smiled. Today was a good day to spy on the world. Placing his shining front hooves on the edge of the trough, he waived his left horn, then his right, over it. The water became as a looking glass, smooth and glossy. With his magic he followed the heretics movements across the land and onto the boat.

He watched the boat almost fly across the water, and made a mental note to speak with wisdom about the device. Eventually he tired of the shipboard shenanigans, and turned his attention to other things, like the silly Bear in the boat with a fishing rod in one paw and a bottle of what looked to be beer in the other. The Bear was waiving its paws around like it was talking to someone, but Ghondish couldn't see anyone else in the boat. Eventually he changed his focus to other things.

After hours of amusing himself over the follies of mortals, he panned around one more time, but his mind slipped, and he found himself watching a dark…cloud…ooze through the bottom of the world.

A chill slowly wove itself around his heart, and he fled.

-

Bear was enjoying the third bottle of beer the silly man on the stained and rumpled robe had brought to their fishing day. The man wasn't exactly young, but not old enough to go bald yet, even though there was grey streaking his beard. Bear continued the story of the three little bears playing with the golden-haired girl, before Bear had had to take her home. The girl had gifted Bear with a lock of her hair, which Bear showed off, just as a fish bit down on the bait, almost pulling the unattended fishing pole into the water. Both Bear and the disheveled man jumped for the pole, barely managing not to lose it, the beers they were drinking, or spilling the boat.

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Several hours later, Bear watched the silly man call out to a passerby for help getting the boat moored to the dock. The obviously drunk man waddled over and actually caught the mooring line, and tied it off. Silly man patted the drunk on the shoulder, and thanked him profusely, and both wandered in different directions.

-

Paul Costello, notorious drunk, had waddled up to the small boat when the man onboard with the Bear called him over for help. He had tied up the boat, and departed, having done his good deed for the day. As he bellied up to the bar, he reached into the pocket of his stained and thread bare pants, pulled out a coin, and called for a beer.

Jock, the bartender of the day, looked at the coin, then looked again, "Are you sure you want to pay with this?" He held up the slightly dirty and very old gold coin.

"Yup!" Paul answered, still smiling from his encounter with Bear…and someone else?

"Okay. I'll put the rest against your tab." Jock replied. Did he start grave robbing or something?

"Did I tell you I helped Bear and…Bear tie up at the docks?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, Bear was out fishing again today. Tossed me the mooring line and everything!" Paul smiled. "Such a good fisherman. Had a full stringer of lake trout this time." He downed his brew in one long guzzle.

"That's good." Jock said, glad to have a diversion from the weird coin. "You want another one?"

"Sure!" Paul reached into his pocket again, and pulled out the coin he found there, and placed it on the counter.

Jock slid another mug across the counter, then stared at the now coin. It had similar markings as the last one, but was twice as thick and made of silver. He held up the coin to Paul, "You sure you want to spend it?"

"Yup!"

By the time Paul left that night, he had a wonderful buzz going, and had left behind a very disturbed owner and group of bartenders. The three servers and owner spent a long time staring at the small fortune of antique gold and silver coins, before the owner spoke, "Well, his tab is paid off for the next decade. When he shows up tomorrow, get him some food and maybe some newer clothing?"

The other three just nodded.