Khorus Bale at the Pearl Spittoon.
Khorus Bale is the Ghanish proprietor of The Pearl Spittoon Inn in Betrayal in Antara. He appears in Chapter 6.
Biography[]
Bale is a brassy, rough-spoken man with his right eye and left arm missing. He enjoys telling tales and arm-wrestling, and can be found at his inn, the Pear Spittoon in Ganath.
According to Bale, his right arm was even brawnier than the left, which he calls a "wrestling champion." He lost it on a dark and stormy night in a rainy dugout deep in Mehrat territory, when a Mehrat leaped in and cut it off with an axe. Bale's buddy Lon, who had been snoring loudly moments before, killed the Mehrat, bound the arm, and dragged Bale to a medic, saving his life.
On another dark and stormy night, a stranger burst into the Pearl Spittoon and demanded a Januli Julep, a Bale specialty, extra heavy on the blister peppers. Bale prepared the drink, whose fumes sent several regulars screaming from the inn, but the stranger sipped it and protested that there was "not enough blister pepper in this to stick in your eye." So Khorus pulled out the blister pepper and stuck it in his eye, which burnt the eye out. He describes this decision as, in retrospect, not one of his brightest.
When Bale recounts these events, he calls on his buddy Lon and a man he refers to as "Stranger," both of whom are present at the bar, for confirmation that every word is true. Both readily confirm the stories, but can't wheedle Bale into giving them free drinks "for old times' sake."
Bale is familiar with the province's mercenary groups. Though he doesn't know exactly where to find Khaleth, he can provide information if the party impresses him at arm-wrestling. In a fair trial, Bale easily beats William Escobar at the game; if William takes 1 Halder's Brew before trying again, he still loses, but not as easily. Approving of the effort, Bale then directs them to Lokath in Choth, who's always looking for "strong arms, or at lest what passes for them in general company," and could use someone with William's "resourcefulness."
On departure, Bale invites the party back "if you ever get to be missing me."