How It All Goes Down
- By the time Blind Hugh leads the man to the Broken Drum, word has already gotten out: A stranger is in town, and a rich one at that.
- The sight of the man and his steadfast chest cause many of the Drum's patrons to question their choice of beverage.
- The man asks for lodgings in his peculiar fashion and pays for it with three gold pieces, or "four times the worth of the Broken Drum, staff included" (1.4.13).
- In the corner, Rincewind the wizard has locked eyes on the chest rather than the stranger. He knows sapient pearwood when he sees it, and he's seeing it now. He also knows just how insanely valuable the wood is.
- Rincewind asks the man if he needs assistance in several languages, finally hitting on it in Trob.
- Broadman tells the wizard to tell the man that breakfast will be one gold piece; Rincewind warns him that staying at the Drum will end in a knifing.
- The man laughs the warning off, introducing himself as Twoflower.
- As the two sit down for mugs of beer, he asks if this is a place frequented by heroes and adventurers, saying he would like to meet some—not to hire, mind, just to tell the others at home that he did.
- Rincewind questions where the stranger's from. The man answers the Agatean Empire, and the wizard chokes on his beer when he realizes its location: the Counterweight Continent.