The food and drink arrived, Hiro took a look at the ale that was placed in front of him.  He took a small sip of the drink, feeling something that felt like warmth, but also a strong bitterness, and a numbing effect.  He nearly choked coughing, for it was strong, and packed quite a punch that he wasn't expecting.

"Wow, t-that's some drink."  He watched as Kreed talked about himself, being a Monk of the Waters, blessed by the great water spirits, and so forth.  He spoke of the mission he had been tasked with, stopping a group called the Hush Pirates from taking over villagers' land illegally.  He wondered why a feudal lord or something wouldn't send knights to stop them, but then realized, they were in an area with no law.  There was no feudal lord, no one would protect them here.  No ordinary people would come to help them.  It would take either an army of ordinary warriors, or a few good adventurers such as Kreed and Hiro to take care of this.

"I know nothing about the about these pirates, but that sounds like a worthy task.  I'm in, I would be glad to help these villagers out, and help you knock about some pirate skulls."  He started to eat from his stew, which tasted much better than his first sip of ale.  Wait, why did Kreed drink so much of his ale all at once?  Hiro then remembered something that the old man had mentioned earlier.  He has a drinking problem.  His father told him about alcohol, when taken in excess, bringing out the worst in people.  Now he was starting to see that.

"Kreed, maybe you should drink a little more . . . slowly?  You told me not to let you drink too much."  He gave a worried look to the Barkeep, who merely shrugged.  The young lad was somewhat at a loss of what to do, to prevent his companion from drinking too much.  He didn't have a lot of experience with this kind of situation.  Maybe distract him?  "Mmm . . . this stew is really good, don't you think?  I'm glad you brought me here to have it."