It is impossible to win gracefully at chess.
When you are pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen, brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can, so as to look Ready for Anything.
How long does getting thin take?
Come, come, come. Without a monster or two it's not a quest, merely a gaggle of friends wandering about.
James gave the huffle of a snail in danger. And nobody heard him at all.
It's always useful to know where a friend-and-relation is, whether you want him or whether you don't.