Aranala's attention snapped right to the turtle thing with wide-eyed almost childish awe. It spoke.

"Spe'ks," Aranal said and immediately let go of her mace. She reached out for the turtle things face with furrowed brow and almost confused. Drink? Clouded thoughts. She tried to pull herself around, but nothing made quite sense. The floor tilted. Oh. There was the floor. She liked the floor. "Mmm." Aranala pressed her face closer to the floor and ignored the sting in her cheek from tripping and slamming down.

In a second, the tortle was in Aranala's space, placating her to stop. Rummble blinks several times to be sure he was seeing things correctly. Did it move that fast? He wondered rubbing his eyes. Did it talk?! Before Rummble could show too much excitement, his friend fell to the floor once again. She was in shambles, however happy she may be about it. Rummble got down and rubbed her shoulder pauldron. "Poor *hiccup* Aran-lanlan.. Tortle, you'elp." He began to lift the fully armored halfling up off the ground with all- despite how little that was- his strength.

A shout was heard. Something about getting paid for work. Rummble wasn't too interested in the normal earnings of gold, but he didn't say anything outright. He couldn't really focus on that anyways. His friend was on the ground. No friend of Rummble's should be on the ground!

The kobold made a strange reptilian sound with his throat that could be intuited as mocking, but nonetheless, Rummble didn't want too much of a hangover. it's sad to say that he got so bad off one drink. One! What would the guys say? But he began slowly slipping the water. "So iz'at wha't takes? Getchyou talk'n?" He raised the cup of water and shook it lightly to reaffirm he would be drinking it.

Kero shakes his head at the scene on the other side of the tavern. The turtle was quick and moved with skill. It'd be an interesting adversary. He turns back to the bard, "I'm ready to go. When can we leave?" 

Jhese listens intently as Broch describes his position in the Banner of the Azure Eagle. "Most interesting, he remarks. You bested a rival warmage, you say? You must be quite the warrior then, to mix both spell and blade in a cohesive manner. Most arcane purists would shun such practice."

Feigning having not heard Broch's request on his own life, Jhese turns his attention to Kero, the loud human. While the monetary reward offered little lure for Jhese, the thought of knowledge and answers did. Still seated, he calls out to Kero, "You say gold and treasure await those who follow the beautiful minstrel?" Looking at her, he smirks and gives her a wink. "To be in her presence is reward enough for me." Switching his gaze to the bard, he stands and asks, "When will we depart, m'lady?"

If he noticed Orilee's return, he didn't acknowledge it on the outside.

"My people are warriors before all else, Jhese Surion. There is no place for the weak." Broch is about to add more when the tortle jumps to it's feet and rushes past, towards the commotion behind. Hand on his sword-hilt, he turns just as the creature finally speaks to put and end to the fight before it starts. So, it does speak, and moves much more quickly than it showed as well.  What other secrets are you hiding, tortle. When Orilee returns and sits near them again he gives it a disapproving stare but doesn't speak.

His attention turns to the warrior when Jhese responds to his announcement. Gold and treasure? Are they not the same thing? Still, he had nothing else to pursue yet. "Yes, tell us more."

The bard seemed half surprised that Jhese and Broch'tur even noticed her, but she motions for them to join herself and Kero at her booth. "Two people does not an adventuring party make, but four and we're getting somewhere," she grins. "You men are all the same, regardless of your skin. Of course helping a poor woman who has lost all of her friends avenge their deaths doesn't appeal to you, but gold does." The woman chuckles and rolls her eyes. 

"Three day's journey away sits the castle from my song," she explains. "I barely escaped with my life the last time I attempted to go inside. I need to return, to avenge my friends and find what I originally sought out. Would you be willing to join me?"

Seeing that the tortle has the two most unruly customers in line, Brod decides to focus on the other patrons. There were half a dozen more reasonable, and much more quiet, people that he would much rather deal with. However, on his way past Orilee, he thanked the tortle. "Thank you for that," he whispers to them, pressing an iron coin into the palm of their hand. Impressed into the coin is the same fat and happy dragon that adorns the hanging sign outside the establishment. "I appreciate it. Please, let me know if you ever need anything."

Allowing Broch to lead them, Jhese took a seat near the bard, facing her. It was at that point that he noticed the half-elf heritage she bore. "We walk in two worlds but truly belong to neither. That is our plight, no?" he made mention to her in Elvish. His smile was faint, as if weighed down by countless years of struggling to find acceptance amongst some people. Not waiting for a response, he glanced back at the small duo. Light-hearted fools. They'll probably just get themselves killed with their own recklessness.

His gaze seems to drifts off as he looks into the open space in between the group. Ignoring the woman's sexist claim, he adds, "Gold brings greed, which sows the seeds of corruption, and vengeance burns the pure beauty of the world from one's heart. Both paths lead to failure and inner ruin."

He breathes in sharply, blinking a few times. His polite smile returns to his face, and he asks, "When will we depart? I have a small matter I should attend to before we leave, and I must secure my gear and other belongings from the room I'm renting at the Jaspire Laze [an upper-class inn]."

Aranala, from where she leaned against Rummble with water now in hand sipping, still thoroughly drunk, uproariously asked, "Didja say 'venture?" Aranala leaned over the table, eyes sparked despite the drunken haze that still overtook her. "S'like 'venture. 'venture funs'n'thins." She grinned, teeth around the lip of the water with a drunken giggle. "Smash'n'vil'thins'n'thins!" she slurred. "S'like...best. Ever." The last bit was said very seriously. "M'kay?"

 Broch rose from his seat with an inward sigh and moved over to the table where the bard was gathering her party of misfits. Patience, Broch'Tur, patience. Even these people must have something to offer. Just be wary. "Not all men seek mere gold, lass, but that doesn't mean we chase after myths and fables heard in a song either. To avenge your fallen comrades is a fine goal indeed, and worthy of honor. Defeating the foes who slew them raises your own fortunes in the eyes of the gods. Tell us, then, what challenges we might face, should we choose to join you. What did you see inside this ruin?" 

The hobgoblin pointedly ignores the drunken pair, but still looks over at Orilee occasionally, both puzzled and curious about the tortle. He did not appreciate it's deception, but perhaps that was accepted among it's kind. There was certainly more to it than met the eye, and he hoped to learn just how much more.

"Kero," the Human says, introducing himself to the three others that have gathered. He leaves his name at that. The hobgoblin and half-elf were very well spoken, and that always made him feel uneasy. You could cause a lot of problems with the right words, and those that were well spoken often times started those problems. Speak the right words and you can raise an army, raze a village, or rise to godhood. 

"Any reasons we have to help," he says slowly, "means help is given." Whether it's a damsel in distress, the appeal of destroying evil, glory, or treasure, at least the help is being given. To demean one reason is to remove a quarter of the people willing to help. 

“My name is Aria,” the bard finally introduced herself. “It is a pleasure to meet you all. I shall not judge your reasons for wanting to adventure so long as you promise not to judge mine. The castle I speak of has been bending the very magic around it, making the whole area unsafe. I worry that this blight on the land will grow, and I seek vengeance for my friends. Those are my reasons, and regardless of yours so long as you are willing to help I will gladly accept your aid.”

The half elf rose, making eye contact with each person at the table in turn. “I originally wanted to leave tomorrow at dawn,” Aria eyes the halfling and kobold, Knowing full well that they would be combating the effects of a hangover the next day. “But for everyone's sake perhaps we should plan to leave at noon instead.”

"Aria," Kero says, "I will meet back here tomorrow. We can discuss more details about your... castle." He excuses himself from the others, grabbing his glaive and making his way to the door. This was a minor interruption in his journey, but it might bear fruit for his ultimate goal. It would be impossible for him to find the information he's looking for with an empty pouch. Aria scoffed at his meager offering for information, but it was the closest he's gotten to a straight answer. He had hoped this city would bring back some memories from his childhood, had he actually resided there. But nothing came. 

As he opens the door, a deep cold wind blows inside the tavern. He smiles. Auril is watching, it seems. The human steps outside to find a place to rest for the night.

"I can work with noon." he replied. It was getting late anyway, and he needed to rest. His morning would be filled with searching for the elusive gnome.

Standing up from his chair, he looks around to each of the other members of his motley crew. I'm really going to be spending the next while with these rarities and oddities? He let a sigh out, following it with a smile. The knowledge gained from this venture could prove useful to his allies, and perhaps further his own ambitions. "To adventure is every aspiring bard's dream. I hope that my music and skills will make up for my many shortcomings. Just let me know how I can help and I'll do my best to do so. But until then..." he takes a bow to them all as he inches away from the group, "I bid you all adieu, until we meet here tomorrow afternoon."

With Kero's departure, and both Orilee and Jhese walking away as well, Broch also rises to his feet. "Very well then, Aria. Noon, as you say, though I'm not so sure all will be ready even then." He looks disgustedly at the halfling and mobile. "It seems we all the our fortunes to yours for a time. Until tomorrow, then."

Having not made accommodation earlier, the hobgoblin moves back to the bar and inquires of Brod about a room. Paying the rate, he'll find his way there and disappears for the night.