"So, tell me, where are the best places to drink in Great Bakak?"
The parishioner's bloodshot eyes lit up. "Oh ho ho! There are so many!" he said, barely slurring his words. He was a devout of The Merry Twins, and Catt was walking him home after a fete of fermented drink at the Polypantheonic Temple.
"Well, what if you had to pick the best?" Catt asked.
"We're going the wrong way," he said, jerking unsteadily against her arm. "The best ones are all back in Temple Hill."
Catt prevented him from changing direction.
"Just tell me about them," she said. "I can't go now. I have to get back and help High Priest Lemmy clean up."
"Okay, okay. Wizards love good booze. Students love too much booze. The bars around there are the place to get too much good booze. Halfdragon's? Excellent. Stick and Stone? Too crowded, but fantastic. But my favorite… I think it is The Green Beard. They brew it all there, and they get creative."
"So that's where you usually go?" Catt asked.
"Nah, no," said the man, "too expensive. And too long a walk… sometimes the best… isn't the best, you know?" He flailed a limp hand in the air to emphasize the point.
They were getting closer to the terraced fields of Granary Hill. He lived in one of the farmhouses there. Catt double checked the paper that Lemmy had written the address on.
"Now local," the man continued,"one of my favorites is The Farmer's Guild Clubhouse. They do amazing things with malts and flashgrass root, I'm not a member anymore, but they have open house nights almost every week."
Catt saw the opportunity to steer the conversation in the direction she wanted. "So that's where the Farmer's Guild members all drink? Do all the guilds have places like that?" she asked.
"Mmm… lots of them, yeah, I guess. Climbers Guild is supposed to have a club up in the rocks you can only get to with ropes. I've never been. Not as young as I used to be."
"What about the Executioner's Guild? Where do they drink?"
The man chuckled, "Oh, there's a place called The Hidden Smile up on brickstack road that caters to 'em. It's terrible. The drinks are so weak, might as well be water. They ain't supposed to get drunk on the job. I think if one of them wants a proper drink, they have to wait until their shift is over, and take the mask and cape off."