[Inktober 2016] Day 4—The Unlucky Stableboy

For today's inking, I turned to the recently released Stronghold 'Zine Issue #3 for inspiration. When crafting this issue, I was intrigued by one of the shops mentioned in the map section: a little roadside food stand called The Unlucky Stableboy. I envisioned this as a D&D-era food truck, essentially.

Unfortunately, space issues restricted how much I could delve into the shop and how detailed I could make the map. When I saw today's Inktober key word, I saw the chance to revisit The Unlucky Stableboy. Of course, such a small structure looks a little silly with all that white space around it, but there you have it.

 

 The Unlucky Stableboy Food Stand

(Key word: hungry)

The Unlucky Stableboy is a food stand owned by Horgan Skulison, a wretched-looking dwarf, with thin gray hair and one hazel eye. He wears dirty, ragged leather armor (pieces of which occasionally find their way into customers' food) and serves bad food, fast. Horgan may also know a few odd rumors, which may be of interest to some of his customers. (For sample rumors, see Issue #3 of The Stronghold 'Zine.)

A typical menu: 

• Boiled shredded flounder stew  (7 cp)
• Dog roast hash  (9 cp)
• Hot pepper bread  (4 cp)
• Rice bread and filleted bass  (12 cp)
• Diced octopus  (9 cp)
• Rat testicles on a stick  (5 cp)
• Heavily watered-down ale is available at 2 cp per cup. (The ale is watered down with the wash water.)

The back of the booth is dominated by crates and a large keg of ale. A grill/oven and large stewpot takes up the east side of the space. A wash-vat is on the west. Stacks of bowls and cups litter the ground around the wash-vat. Stools sit outside the front counter.