DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3Ca - The Wink and a Kiss (Bern, Davroar and Jaliera)

<Bern>

He sighed as he grabbed the hand and stood, dumping her to the floor.

"Mind your coin purse", he called to his friend. Then he looked down at Rose and shook his head in disappointment. "You should leave now", he said simply.

DM


At just about that time, Jaliera returns with Boolgin following, dancing all the way. Jaliera clearly sees the women draped over her friends.

Bern's warning to Davroar has him reaching for his coin purse which is not where it needs to be.

Jaliera

She makes her way back to the table seeing both Davroar amd Bern are still there which is a bit of a relief to be honest.


"Time to go boys. Sorry ladies we have other business tonight. But thanks for your attention."

Coming over as a strong character probably will go down well with a female guild and she smiles at both girls.

Davroar

His mood sours immediately when he finds his pockets much lighter after Bern's warning. "You know a finders fee is acceptable to me Ivy", then using his shapeshifting ability to slightly turn his eyes wolf yellow, looks Ivy directly into her own eyes and continues, "If you could return mine." He immediately backs off on his shape shift, his blue eyes returning and adds, "Please."

DM

With Jaliera back along with Booglin and their hands caught in the cookie jar, the ladies release their hold on the purses and seem pretty angry about having to do it. The few coins that the men had put on the table were not up to the standards they had hoped for.

They rose to their feet. Ivy, the one that was on Davroar's lap came nose to nose with Jaliera and said, "He's all yours girly. A waste of time, if you ask me!" she sneered.

Jaliera

This time Jaliera uses Thieves Cant to indicate she is a friend. It could be a risk as she is not a guild member and that might be expected here.

"I appreciate your time ladies."

She smiles at both and slips each of them a gold coin.

<Bern>

He could only shake his head when Jaliera 'rewarded' the 'thieves'. He got up, quite ready to leave at this point.

Jaliera Persuasion
Gypsy rolled 1d20+1 and got 20

It's Christmas!

DM

"Oh, we didn't realize ..." Rose says as she moves away from the ranger.

As the pair walk away with their coin, she can be overheard saying to Ivy, "He was much more agreeable last week!" before the pair leave.

Davroar

Puzzlement is all over his face as Jaliera pays the two women as well as the turn of attitude from both of them. He looks to Jaliera and asks, "So, what just happened?"

His question is rather open-ended as he is also curious how things went with her and Booglin.

Jaliera

"Explain all in a minute!"

Then she turns and hurries after the two women.

"You just said you had met my friend last week, can you tell me any more about that? Someone is impersonating my friend and we'd like to discuss that with him."

<Bern>

With a sigh he sat back down. It didn't sound like they were going to be leaving any time soon.

DM

When Jaliera chases after the two dancers, Boolgin then bows towards the men as he starts to dance again and moments later he is gone, dancing away into the crowd which has swelled. Bern and Davroar cannot help but feel confused or puzzled. They don't know what transpired between Boolgin and Jaliera and Rose's comment as she walked away, about Bern being more agreeable last week was certainly curious and hinted at an encounter with his doppleganger.

Jaliera is only gone a short while before she returns, eager to leave. While she was away, Davroar and Bern talk amongst themselves and recalled that Jaliera had said "Time to go boys" before she went running off. They decided to settle up with the waitress so that by the time Jaliera returns, they are ready to leave.

They were now looking for Beldabar's Rest, the place that Boolgin had recommended to Jaliera. Whatever it was unclear was going on between the two, the relationship did produce results. They collect their weapons as they exit the Wink and a Kiss and told that they may keep their masks. One thing that the men had learned from the pretty lap dancers was that while it was mandatory to wear the mask in the Wink, wearing one elsewhere was becoming a common sight. It was now more common to see folks wear them in the seedier Yartar establishments. The masks offered a measure of discretion for those who wanted to keep their sorrid fantasies unnoticed.

Jaliera remembered that she had left a mark for Zhu to find. The first thing they did as they stepped out was to erase the mark. Then the trio went in search of Beldabar's Rest. The temperature had dropped by the time they stepped out of into the street. A cold wind howled through the buildings biting sharply into their faces, urging them to pull the hoods of their cloaks over their heads. There could be some slick ice spots on the ground, so they walked carefully but with purpose to find Beldabar's Rest. Boolgin's instructions were helpful and needed. They peered into the windows of the gatehouses they passed, following his direction, until they found one that looked like it matched the description. Through one window they saw the large candelabra that Booglin described. It stood about the height of a man and had seven branches arranged in a circle that held seven thick candles that burned. Jaliera, took care of marking the entrance but was slightly worried that without better information, Zhu would not know where exactly to go. The building stood alone, old and looked in disrepair.

They went in and started down the torch-lit steps. At the bottom of the stairs they come to the innkeeper's desk. Beyond it they see a large circular room with a bar, dining tables and chairs. From this room there are several passages that radiate out from here like spokes on a wheel. The whole underground area is softly lit by pale mauve and brown driftglobe lamps. The burly but handsome man sitting behind the desk greets you, "Welcome to Beldebar's Rest. I am Beldebar, how can I help you?"

<Bern>

He hardly notices Jaliera's departure as he considers the 'update'.

It was clear to him from Boolgin's comments that 'it' had been here recently ... apparently only a week ago. He =REALLY= wanted to 'catch up' so he could 'sort him out', as it were.

His 'musings' were interrupted by the indication that a 'hasty departure' was in order. He tossed a few coins in Davroar's direction to cover his part of the 'tab'.

As they walked ... discussing how best to 'leave a trail' that the others could find, he couldn't help but lament being 'in town'. Things were so much simpler where nature still held sway.

But he had to help his friends, so put those thoughts aside and did his pest to look for 'threats' as the continued to their lodgings.

Jaliera

As they walk outside to go to find Beldabar's Rest, Jaliera takes a look around to make sure they are out of earshot of anyone else before she explains.

"Booglin's name was given to me as a contact who might have useful information but he has to be careful as he is working for the Hand, a female thieves guild and his position could be compromised if that was known. So he didn't know much about the giants or the nobles but maybe he can find out more. He advised me to talk to the Waterbaron but that it is likely she would not approve of me.. but I think the others were planning to visit her so that might be best. He knows of the noble we rescued and has heard rumours of disappearances but thinks they are just rumours. He did think he had seen you in there before Bern when I asked about a Doppleganger but with masks he said it was difficult to tell. However the girls said the same. One of them spent time with him, as long as he paid that was OK. I have asked that they keep a watch out but whether they will or not remains to be seen."

"Booglin says we should try not to make enemies in the Wink & Kiss as it is a useful source of information and best not to make enemies of the Hand. He also provided information about where to stay. Beldebar's is under the city. It connects several of the warehouses in town. Service there is discrete in the extreme. But once you are in your room, you can bar the door will be left undisturbed. We might hear or see things that are unsettling, but we must not intervene. Beldabar enjoys some bloodshed and promotes a rather dangerous atmosphere. The inn staff includes many former or semi-retired adventurers who are ready to handle any type of trouble that might arise. You won't even be allowed inside the common room until you take a room. Only inn guests are allowed. That's how Beldebar keeps the mayhem under control. And to not mind the cats. They do a good job of keeping the rat population down. There ain't much to the rooms but it will be safe."

She paused for a minute to see if there is anything she had forgotten.

"I can send Whisper to roost on the roof of where we go to stay, that could be a useful doublecheck for Zho. Any questions?"

Davroar

He is amazed at how Jaliera has managed to get so much information in so short of time, and says to her, "I was fairly angry at Ivy for almost taking my coins." He turns to Bern and gives a thankful smile, "Thanks Bern for catching that."

Back to Jaliera, he continues, "They, the women, might not do anything for us on account of my less-than nice words when we left."

Being quite like a fish out of the water when it comes to skulduggery in a town of this size, he adds, "Jaliera, maybe we should come up with a better signal between us when this sort of bull crap starts hitting the barn door. That way I'll pay more attention and keep my mouth shut."

When they reach the decrepit building of Beldabar's Rest, he keeps his hood up and will let Jaliera or Bern deal with the inn keeper.

Jaliera

"Hopefully I fixed that as I tipped them and chatted nicely. As to signals, need to give that some thought as the Hand and my contacts both use hand signals to communicate and so would be watching for that sort of thing."

She smiles at Davroar.

"Let's get our room sorted before we talk more. Think it might be wise to share a room and have a guard roster tonight."

They go inside and she walks up to the innkeeper with a smile.

"I understand that you may have a room available?"

DM

"Aye, I have a room fer ya," Beldabar says to Jaliera. "T'will be a gold fer each of yer."

Looking more closely into the common room, you can see that there is a decent size crowd. At several of the tables you see folks playing games of chance, a number of tables are surrounded by men and women drinking heavily.

A nasty wrestling match breaks out at one of the gambling tables. The skirmishing couple is mostly ignored by everyone except for the barbarian whose table they happened to waltz into. He grabs two mugs off the table before it's destroyed, stands up and smashes one into the heads of both men. They crumble prone to the ground and crawl away.

Beldabar hears the skirmish but ignores it with a sigh. "We have a few rules. Don't be buildin no fires. Keep yer hands off my help and outta other folks purses. Don't be sellin no people and keep yer steel sheethed unless yer life's in danger. There be a bar to keep yer door closed in the rooms. Yer gonna need a torch to get to yer room and don't mind the cats." He provides directions to get there and identify it.

The clientele is mostly adventurer types, mercenaries, soldiers, caravan guards and the like. Glancing inside, you see Zindra Winterbow, your scout, sitting alone, a tankard of ale in front of her. She notices you and simply nods in your direction.

<Bern>

"You might want to make sure that your 'girls' know those rules as well", he said with a chuckle before taking a final sip from his beer and then following his friends out to find a place to sleep.

Davroar

"Hey! There's Zindra", he says to Bern and Jaliera. He gives a small wave of his hand to her, and asks, "Should we have one more ale with her then find our room?"

<Bern>

He follows Davroar's gaze. A smile appears on his face as he sees an unexpected friend. He nods greeting to Zindea. "Of course we should", he says and heads towards her table.

Jaliera

She has had enough excitement for one night and desires safety and rest above all else but it would not be very friendly to ignore Zindra. She just hopes they do not get involved in any trouble.

"OK, one drink then I need to head for bed."