« Reply #34 on: June 24, 2015, 02:27:35 AM »
The Dorfs look at Phaedra, look at each other, and put on wide grins.
"I think goliath lady wants to hear our pipes!" says Lachdanan.
"I think she does, brother!" says MacGruber.
"Yes, we will glad to play the bag of pipes."
"Yes, we have practiced much on pipes this last week-OW!" MacGruber is cut off as Lachdanan steps on his foot. "-I mean, practiced much our whole lives."
"Yes," says Lachdanan, "We have been raised with much traditional Dorfish culture."
"Now, we play the pipes!"
The twins hand their travel sacks to Pepe, who finds the bags to be surprisingly light. To face the carts, they position themselves directly in front of the wooden building that serves as an office for the stables. They then raise their matching contraptions, press their lips to the appropriate tubes, and begin to play. The sound is horrific, lacking any melody, rhythm, or harmony whatsoever, though the Dorfs try to compensate with sheer volume. The noise causes a nearby cat to begin shrieking, while just across the lane you see a bird nosedive through the window of a small house. You can just barely hear Tanya whine, "Someone make it stoppppp..."
Then, suddenly, it does stop. With a final shrill blast of sound, one of the bagpipes ruptures, with the other one doing the same about a second later. You hear two "thwunk" noises near them immediately afterward. Lachdanan and MacGruber look at each other in amazement.
"Brother! You did burst your bag."
"Yes, brother, and I think you did burst yours."
"How did it happen?"
"We were playing very hard."
"Yes, we played with very much passion."
"Our Dorf prides and spirits were too much to be holding in bags!"
Both Dorfs grin as widely as they had before, and resume laughing to themselves as they walk away from the stable building and hand the deflated instruments off to Pepe. As they do so, you all notice that another person has quietly slipped in among your group. It's the woman from last night, still wearing her same hooded cloak. She walks close to Rasputin, and says softly, "I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet journey." She has her coinpurse in her hand, and gives it a slight jingle as she calmly passes on to the wagons.