Rosie watches Burn rush from the room with evident concern. She gathers up the materials she saw Burn looking at and stuffs them into her knapsack with plans to give them to the talented maker later. She accepts her rapier from Angus with a smile. Finally she picks up the scroll detailing the process for smelting adamantine, the two throwing hammers and the shortsword.
"Could I possibly take these? Might be useful to have a few more weapons with us on the expedition. Can never have enough pointy things, I always say!"
She then departs from the smithy and heads upstairs to find a room and freshen up before dinner.
Torwin smiles at Bruno's interest in history as well as in his own research. One would get the sense they might of been blushing if not for the fact they are covered in scales. "Of course! I'd l-like that." Torwin looks over to Fifi and seemingly daring offers "Fifi, you can j-j-join too of course." The studious lizard man then gets back to reading but seems a bit more comfortable in the library room now. The seemingly content lizardfolk now reading and studying until something interrupts his pursuit, they seem to be fully absorbed into Volo's book in a matter of minutes. They would only pause from reading when taking down a few notes in their own journal.
The last few months had been difficult for Burn and it was starting to show. What most people would regard as an innocuous interaction with Rosie, triggered feelings in her that she did not want to deal with right now. Her stepfather's death was 5 years ago and yet she had never really processed it. The day after the funeral, she moved in with her uncle. To deal with the pain, they both just threw themselves into work. Uncle Belden was an artificer for some of the most disreputable thieves' & assassins' guilds in Waterdeep, so he taught her what he knew. There were no uncomfortable conversations about feelings, just work. The fact that Uncle Belden was deaf-mute didn't help matters either.
From time to time she would sign things like "The baker put some extra cookies in my basket today, Uncle. She is a very kind woman. I wonder if my mother baked. Do you know, Uncle?" To which he would reply with something like, "Deliverthat case of modified crossbow bolts to Darkin brothers. We don't want to be late, lass."
It took 5 years for them to have an actual conversation about anything that actually mattered. That conversation is what led her here.
"Keep it together, Burn," she says to herself as she looks for a space to calm herself and think.
Food had always helped to settle her, so she decided to look for the kitchen.
Geraine finds that the door has some sort of modification made to it so as to block magic detection from passing through it. He can't make out what specifically has been done to the door.
The vacant bedrooms all appear to be furnished exactly the same: a simple bed with cotton sheets, a side table with an unlit lantern sitting on it, a wardrobe, a lidded washtub in the corner, and a backpack sitting at the foot of the bed.
As Geraine looks over the room's contents, he hears footsteps coming up the stairs. It's Rosie.
Fifi, Torwin
"Excellent! I look forward to working with you. Now if you'll excuse me, I had some questions for Mr. Klage. I'll leave you two to your reading. See you at dinner!"
The minotaur lifts himself from the couch, leaving a noticeable indentation in the fabric where he had been sitting. He then makes his way to the door, his hooves shaking the room with every step.
Burn
Burn finds the kitchen with no trouble, led by the smells of pastries and cooked meat. It's situated on the long side of the "L" shaped building, near the high end.
You can hear some people talking and laughing in what seems to be the dining room, one door away. The kitchen itself is something of a mess. Bowls of flour and chopped vegetables are strewn across various tables. A brick over is the rooms sole source of light, painting everything in its orange glow. A large leg of lamb is simmering on a spit above the fire in the over. On one counter, near the door, someone seems to have been making a large quantity of mushroom salad, and a tray of meat pies are laid out next to it, steaming hot.
A dwarf woman in a bloodstained white apron moves about the kitchen, back and forth, working on multiple activities at once. She doesn't notice the you in the doorway.
At the back of the room is a door leading to what you assume is the storage room. You recognize the voice of Radu from within.
Rosie
"I don't see why not. My father made this place specifically for you all to make use of it. Take what you need!" Angus reaches down to pick up one of the throwing hammers off the floor and hands it to Rosie.
Reaching the second floor, she finds that it is one long hallway that encompasses the entirety of the "L"-shaped second floor, lined all the way down with doors. There are eighteen doors in total, spaced about 10 feet apart. She sees that there are five rooms with open doors, which she assumes are the vacant ones. Geraine stands in front of one of them, looking inside.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Burn scans the kitchen in search of something small, like a bread roll or a piece of fruit, she can swiftly pilfer without raising the ire of the cook. While she was not a trained thief, she had spent much of her life amongst the shadows and is accustomed to blending in and remaining inconspicuous. Burn keeps her head down, walks with a swift yet constant gait, and palms what she can en route to the storage room.(Stealth: 15)
Radu's earlier mention of alchemist fire hung in her mind and reminded her of home and Uncle. The way Radu carried himself was familiar to Burn and right now talk of optimizing the burst radius of an incendiary spray weapon was much more comfortable than talk of family or the lack thereof.
Geraine studies the open room from the threshold for a moment, about to walk in to clean himself up and see what the backpack contains when he hears the gentle clink of Rosie's scabbard against her leg as she approaches from the stairs. He pauses a moment to wait for her to catch up, a warm smile worn on his face.
"Hello again Rosie, quite the place Klage has here wouldn't you say?" Geraine gestures around briefly as he continues. "And, it would seem, that Klage has gathered quite the mix of talent here as well. I am quite excited, really, to see the entire group together later at dinner - I suspect it will be quite the scene indeed!"
After a couple more hours of resting and exploring the house's interior, you hear the welcome sound of a bell ringing throughout the halls. On your way, you run into some of the acquaintances you've made so far. As you make your way to the dining room, you find it is the largest room in the house. From the room's entrance to the back wall it is about fifty feet, brightly lit with lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A couple of parallel tables are laid across the room, ready for food to be placed on them. A smaller table is positioned at the back of the room, seated for only three.
A dwarf in a stained chef's apron (whom Burn, Geraine, and Radu remember from earlier that afternoon) stands in the middle of the room, a rusty cowbell in her hand, and a welcoming smile on her worn face.
Geraine recognizes Emilia and her halfling and dragonborn friends from earlier, all sitting together at the close end of a table. The halfling is in the middle of telling a funny story, at which Emilia and the dragonborn are eagerly anticipating the punchline. Next to them sits a red-haired elf woman wearing spectacles, whom Geraine is fairly certain he has not met yet. She doesn't seem to be interacting with the others.
Fifi, Rosie, and Torwin notice the minotaur Bruno sitting next to a shy-looking young woman in blue robes whom you haven't met yet. Bruno seems to be making polite conversation with her. Something about education in Baldur's Gate. You can't hear what she says, but she seems amused by the topic. Across from them sits a grey-bearded dwarf in green robes, smoking a pipe as he listens to Bruno's tangent.
Burn and Rosie see Angus seated at the far end of one of the tables. He is speaking with an grey old elf whom you don't recognize. They seem to be discussing something serious. Geraine remembers briefly seeing the elf from the kitchen, while Radu recalls their formal introduction.
At the far table, Sheska sits alone, watching everyone inquisitively.
At the back end of a table sits a brooding, leopard-spotted tabaxi whom none of you recognize.
The hall is filled with activity. Faces both familiar (even if passingly so) and unfamiliar. It seems that no one has quite settled down or started eating yet. The food has not been served yet.
Geraine walks over and takes the seat directly beside the taxabi. "Good evening to you both. I am Geraine." He looks across at the elf before allowing his gaze to land on the taxabi. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
With the supplies in hand he left the storage, meeting Burn on the kitchen. Or at least he thought that was her name. He greeted her with a wave of the head and left making his damn best to not look into Breda’s direction. After the stairs he find an unoccupied bedroom and locked himself there. With a crossbow in hand he checked the inside of the wardrobe, then under the bed and only after making sure no one invisible was there he moved the bed out of the range of the door. That way, if someone broke in, they wouldn’t have a direct line of sight.
On the time before the dinner he checked his inventory, maintained his crossbows and asked himself if the dwarf wouldn’t take her chance to poison his meal. She could still be a serial killer, after all. When the bell rang he was starving.
“****.”He muttered under his breath as he entered the dinning room. Every sit he could see was either in front or besides someone. Sometimes both. All but the two seats by the table before Sheska. Radu considered sitting on the end of it, but then realized that if that was the house staff table then Breda would be his neighbor. That would be awkward, even for him.
Out the remaining seats the one with less obstacles, in case he needed to run from some cultist trying to sacrifice the guests to a fiend or a dark god, was in front of a dragonborn so there he goes, in the most absolute silence. You know, just in case.
Notes: Radu takes the seat in front the dragonborn. He also waits until everyone eat and drink before putting anything on his mouth.
While finding her room, Rosie nods politely to Geraine and agrees with his sentiment that this was going to be quite the scene. And indeed it seemes so, as she enters the dining room and her eyes widen at the number of people gathered. She first looks around for Burn and seeing the artificer has not yet arrived, she sees Angus with an elderly elf next to him that based on the family resemblance, Rosie can only assume is his father. She takes the seat opposite from Angus with a wide smile.
"Oh my, this is quite the group. I must say it's a little intimidating seeing all the young folk gathered, and me a little old halfling who only picked up a sword a few years ago."
Burn spent the rest of the afternoon tinkering with her cannon and replaying her awkward exit in her head.
"You are a dolt, Bernadette Jopfrey. No one cares about your life story. Just stick to the mission, girl." she said aloud as she struggled to get her cannon to respond to her commands.
When she heard the dinner bell, she cringed and exclaimed, "oh gods"
"Pretend you fell asleep, " she thought to herself before mentally picking herself up by her collar.
"Head to the smithy and act as though you didn't hear it" she schemed as she wiped the grease onto her pantlegs and straightened her tunic.
"Fake an injury" was the final plan that raced through her mind as she ran her still dirty fingers through her hair.
"Smile," she spat out as she forced the corners of her mouth to reach for the sky.
Burn used the chair as a post to push off of and launch herself from her room. She slinked slowly to the dining hall. Upon arriving, her countenance fell as she found the situation worse than she imagined.
"Who are all these people?" she wondered as she scanned the room for the least threatening seat. She saw Rosie and immediately started to walk toward her until she caught view of Angus and was reminded of the earlier scene. "No... we won't be doing that, " she said to herself and quickly made a course correction toward Sheska.
"May I?" she appeared to ask Sheska as looked around the room and took the seat next to her, as usual, without waiting for a reply and not making any eye contact.
The tabaxi doesn't look up at Geraine as he sits down beside him. "Aju." he says, not caring to elaborate whether the two syllables were his name, or some greeting in another language. His demeanor isn't exactly what you'd call welcoming, but he doesn't necessarily seem opposed to Geraine's company.
The elf briefly looks up at Geraine, but soon turns back to writing in a leather-bound notebook. Geraine can make out sketches of the canyon they'd seen earlier that day.
As Radu takes his place at the table, the halfling pauses his story. The dragonborn smirks and leans forward towards Rad, his leering yellow eyes study his face. "Well, well, well! With whom do we have the honor of sharing a table with?" His tone is biting and arrogant.
"Mrs. Gavan, was it?" the grey elf says to Rosie. "I'd like to introduce you to my–"
"We've alreadymet." Angus interrupts, giving Rosie a smile.
"Ah,good!" he claps his hands together. Rosie notices that while Angus and the elf do have some similarities, Angus lacks any trace of elven heritage.
Sheska shrugs her shoulders in response to Burn. "Sure. With no blacksmith, we have an open spot at this table."
After a delightful time in the library reading on many different creatures the lizardman comes to the source of the bell sound and looks around. Very nervous at first they seem incertain until they spot the familiar minotaur. Torwin makes for the seat next to Bruno as they are very curious what is being talked about. They don't interrupt as they prefer to listen at first to get a better sense of the conversation. While they do, they look around the dining area at all the other people.
“Radu Ashford.”He answered to the dragonborn in a monotone not too dissimilar to that of the tabaxi by the other end of the table. It was almost ironic that out of everyone there it seemed more likely that he would get along with a jaguar man. And by get along he imagined a dead silent meal, with both minding their own business and completely ignoring the presence of the other. There could be no interest in killing if there was no interest at all, the Blood Hunter considered.
He turned his head from a side to another, trying to spot any kind of pan or bottle. He was hungry and thirsty but not enough to be the first to put anything on his mouth. No, Radu would wait for someone taking food and drink from the same place as himself. The poor devil would take the first bite and if nothing happened, then everyone could breath in relief, not having to worry about poison. At least not of the fast-acting kind. Slow acting would take time. So much, in fact, that he would be starving by the time someone reacted to the intoxication. At the end of the day, delving in an unknown frontier at the Underdark weakened was not that different from being infected by some substance. It was death all the same. I just hope that if the food have slow poison that it kills painlessly.
Burn pulls two unmodified marbles out of her pouch and begins to roll them in her hand under the table. She looks over the sea of faces and eventually lands on Torwin.
"Damn. I really need to talk to them. What to do?... what to do?" she mumbles to herself. Burn had a habit of talking to herself and often would inadvertently say things aloud that she thought resided only in her head.
"Aju, splendid. It is a pleasure.." His gaze stays fixed on the elf for a moment before allowing his gaze to travel about the room, and then back to the elf.
"A picture is worth a thousand words, and with fine drawings like that I am sure your records are quite thorough. Are you here for academics, or..?"
Fifi enters the room and scans each table. She finds Torwin and Bruno sitting together and seats herself across the table from them by the dwarf in green, "Mind if I sit here?"
Fifi does not wait for an answer before briskly sitting down. The satyr places her elbows on the table and rests her head on her palms as she listens in on Bruno's conversation for a while. Having entered the conversation midway, Fifi loses a bit of interest and turns to the dwarf and extends a hand for a handshake "The name's Fifi."
Rosie pays no mind to the lack of elven heritage in Angus. To be family meant more than genetics. She returns the smile to Angus then turns her attention to the elf.
"Aye, please, call me Rosie. Only my library students called me Mrs Gavan. And you must be Mr Klage. The one who has brought us all together? Again, this is quite the group you have assembled here. Will you be accompanying us also?"
"Torwin! Fifi! Good to see you again!" the minotaur bellows as they take their seats. "I just made some new acquaintances here!" He gestures to the dwarf and the human. "We were talking about our educations before you arrived. Mallory here has us all beat for having the finest schooling in her upbringing. She's from Candlekeep!"
The young lady shrinks back in embarrassment at the attention drawn to her. She manages a slight smile and a wave to the two new companions at the table.
"Gerard, at your service!" the dwarf says to Fifi, vigorously accepting the handshake. "I look forward to traversing the depths with you and your friend."
"Indeed, I am Eduan Klage." the elf says, his crystal blue eyes sparkling as he confirms Rosie's question. "And of course, I shall be accompanying all of you into the chasm. I'm something of an adventurer myself, you see. It's always been my passion. From my youth I have felt called to exploring the unknown. I admit it is a bit of an obsession, to the point some might call me a bit nosy." He gives a small chuckle. "You say you worked in a library? What brought you out of such a quiet life, if I may ask?"
Angus' eyes dart back and forth between Klage and Rosie, as if eagerly waiting to see what either would say next.
Aju grunts in acknowledgement of Geraine, then shifts away to look at a moth fluttering around one of the lanterns on the ceiling.
"Why thank you!" the elf says in response to Geraine's compliment of her sketches. She adjusts her spectacles. "You are correct, my occupation requires that my records be quite thorough. I'm an archaeologist, you see. I'm here to study any remains of lost civilizations we may encounter down there. My name is Lisana." She adjusts her spectacles again.
"Not the social type, I see." Sheska says to Burn while looking across the dining room at all the conversations being had. Introductions being given. Friends being made. "Keep in mind, you're going to be stuck with these people for who knows how long."
Radu finds that plates had been arranged at all the spots, but no food has yet been served.
"Ashford. Hmm. Alright." the dragonborn says, as if evaluating his respect for Radu based entirely on his name. "You can call meRyuma."
"I'm Emilia. Nice to meet you." says the lady next to Ryuma. She seems much friendlier, holding out her hand with a genuine smile. Radu notes that the way she offers a handshake is similar to how Klage did so.
"And I'm Mat." says the halfling next to Radu.
"Where do you come from?" Asks Emilia.
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"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
At the mention of colleges, Fifi's ears perk up. The satyr invites herself into Bruno's conversation, "Ah Candlekeep, how delightful! I myself attended the bardic college, Fochlucan, at Silverymoon. Isn't it delightful that institutions of such concentrated knowledge and history exist? And to think: not a single book nor professor has any information on what lies below the canyon. Should our venture into the abyss prove fruitful, we wont simply be in the history books. We'll be writing them!"
Rosie watches Burn rush from the room with evident concern. She gathers up the materials she saw Burn looking at and stuffs them into her knapsack with plans to give them to the talented maker later. She accepts her rapier from Angus with a smile. Finally she picks up the scroll detailing the process for smelting adamantine, the two throwing hammers and the shortsword.
"Could I possibly take these? Might be useful to have a few more weapons with us on the expedition. Can never have enough pointy things, I always say!"
She then departs from the smithy and heads upstairs to find a room and freshen up before dinner.
Torwin smiles at Bruno's interest in history as well as in his own research. One would get the sense they might of been blushing if not for the fact they are covered in scales. "Of course! I'd l-like that." Torwin looks over to Fifi and seemingly daring offers "Fifi, you can j-j-join too of course." The studious lizard man then gets back to reading but seems a bit more comfortable in the library room now. The seemingly content lizardfolk now reading and studying until something interrupts his pursuit, they seem to be fully absorbed into Volo's book in a matter of minutes. They would only pause from reading when taking down a few notes in their own journal.
The last few months had been difficult for Burn and it was starting to show. What most people would regard as an innocuous interaction with Rosie, triggered feelings in her that she did not want to deal with right now. Her stepfather's death was 5 years ago and yet she had never really processed it. The day after the funeral, she moved in with her uncle. To deal with the pain, they both just threw themselves into work. Uncle Belden was an artificer for some of the most disreputable thieves' & assassins' guilds in Waterdeep, so he taught her what he knew. There were no uncomfortable conversations about feelings, just work. The fact that Uncle Belden was deaf-mute didn't help matters either.
From time to time she would sign things like "The baker put some extra cookies in my basket today, Uncle. She is a very kind woman. I wonder if my mother baked. Do you know, Uncle?" To which he would reply with something like, "Deliver that case of modified crossbow bolts to Darkin brothers. We don't want to be late, lass."
It took 5 years for them to have an actual conversation about anything that actually mattered. That conversation is what led her here.
"Keep it together, Burn," she says to herself as she looks for a space to calm herself and think.
Food had always helped to settle her, so she decided to look for the kitchen.
Geraine
Geraine finds that the door has some sort of modification made to it so as to block magic detection from passing through it. He can't make out what specifically has been done to the door.
The vacant bedrooms all appear to be furnished exactly the same: a simple bed with cotton sheets, a side table with an unlit lantern sitting on it, a wardrobe, a lidded washtub in the corner, and a backpack sitting at the foot of the bed.
As Geraine looks over the room's contents, he hears footsteps coming up the stairs. It's Rosie.
Fifi, Torwin
"Excellent! I look forward to working with you. Now if you'll excuse me, I had some questions for Mr. Klage. I'll leave you two to your reading. See you at dinner!"
The minotaur lifts himself from the couch, leaving a noticeable indentation in the fabric where he had been sitting. He then makes his way to the door, his hooves shaking the room with every step.
Burn
Burn finds the kitchen with no trouble, led by the smells of pastries and cooked meat. It's situated on the long side of the "L" shaped building, near the high end.
You can hear some people talking and laughing in what seems to be the dining room, one door away. The kitchen itself is something of a mess. Bowls of flour and chopped vegetables are strewn across various tables. A brick over is the rooms sole source of light, painting everything in its orange glow. A large leg of lamb is simmering on a spit above the fire in the over. On one counter, near the door, someone seems to have been making a large quantity of mushroom salad, and a tray of meat pies are laid out next to it, steaming hot.
A dwarf woman in a bloodstained white apron moves about the kitchen, back and forth, working on multiple activities at once. She doesn't notice the you in the doorway.
At the back of the room is a door leading to what you assume is the storage room. You recognize the voice of Radu from within.
Rosie
"I don't see why not. My father made this place specifically for you all to make use of it. Take what you need!" Angus reaches down to pick up one of the throwing hammers off the floor and hands it to Rosie.
Reaching the second floor, she finds that it is one long hallway that encompasses the entirety of the "L"-shaped second floor, lined all the way down with doors. There are eighteen doors in total, spaced about 10 feet apart. She sees that there are five rooms with open doors, which she assumes are the vacant ones. Geraine stands in front of one of them, looking inside.
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
Burn scans the kitchen in search of something small, like a bread roll or a piece of fruit, she can swiftly pilfer without raising the ire of the cook. While she was not a trained thief, she had spent much of her life amongst the shadows and is accustomed to blending in and remaining inconspicuous. Burn keeps her head down, walks with a swift yet constant gait, and palms what she can en route to the storage room.(Stealth: 15)
Radu's earlier mention of alchemist fire hung in her mind and reminded her of home and Uncle. The way Radu carried himself was familiar to Burn and right now talk of optimizing the burst radius of an incendiary spray weapon was much more comfortable than talk of family or the lack thereof.
Geraine studies the open room from the threshold for a moment, about to walk in to clean himself up and see what the backpack contains when he hears the gentle clink of Rosie's scabbard against her leg as she approaches from the stairs. He pauses a moment to wait for her to catch up, a warm smile worn on his face.
"Hello again Rosie, quite the place Klage has here wouldn't you say?" Geraine gestures around briefly as he continues. "And, it would seem, that Klage has gathered quite the mix of talent here as well. I am quite excited, really, to see the entire group together later at dinner - I suspect it will be quite the scene indeed!"
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
After a couple more hours of resting and exploring the house's interior, you hear the welcome sound of a bell ringing throughout the halls. On your way, you run into some of the acquaintances you've made so far. As you make your way to the dining room, you find it is the largest room in the house. From the room's entrance to the back wall it is about fifty feet, brightly lit with lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A couple of parallel tables are laid across the room, ready for food to be placed on them. A smaller table is positioned at the back of the room, seated for only three.
A dwarf in a stained chef's apron (whom Burn, Geraine, and Radu remember from earlier that afternoon) stands in the middle of the room, a rusty cowbell in her hand, and a welcoming smile on her worn face.
Geraine recognizes Emilia and her halfling and dragonborn friends from earlier, all sitting together at the close end of a table. The halfling is in the middle of telling a funny story, at which Emilia and the dragonborn are eagerly anticipating the punchline. Next to them sits a red-haired elf woman wearing spectacles, whom Geraine is fairly certain he has not met yet. She doesn't seem to be interacting with the others.
Fifi, Rosie, and Torwin notice the minotaur Bruno sitting next to a shy-looking young woman in blue robes whom you haven't met yet. Bruno seems to be making polite conversation with her. Something about education in Baldur's Gate. You can't hear what she says, but she seems amused by the topic. Across from them sits a grey-bearded dwarf in green robes, smoking a pipe as he listens to Bruno's tangent.
Burn and Rosie see Angus seated at the far end of one of the tables. He is speaking with an grey old elf whom you don't recognize. They seem to be discussing something serious. Geraine remembers briefly seeing the elf from the kitchen, while Radu recalls their formal introduction.
At the far table, Sheska sits alone, watching everyone inquisitively.
At the back end of a table sits a brooding, leopard-spotted tabaxi whom none of you recognize.
The hall is filled with activity. Faces both familiar (even if passingly so) and unfamiliar. It seems that no one has quite settled down or started eating yet. The food has not been served yet.
Where do you sit?
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
Geraine walks over and takes the seat directly beside the taxabi. "Good evening to you both. I am Geraine." He looks across at the elf before allowing his gaze to land on the taxabi. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
With the supplies in hand he left the storage, meeting Burn on the kitchen. Or at least he thought that was her name. He greeted her with a wave of the head and left making his damn best to not look into Breda’s direction. After the stairs he find an unoccupied bedroom and locked himself there. With a crossbow in hand he checked the inside of the wardrobe, then under the bed and only after making sure no one invisible was there he moved the bed out of the range of the door. That way, if someone broke in, they wouldn’t have a direct line of sight.
On the time before the dinner he checked his inventory, maintained his crossbows and asked himself if the dwarf wouldn’t take her chance to poison his meal. She could still be a serial killer, after all. When the bell rang he was starving.
“****.” He muttered under his breath as he entered the dinning room. Every sit he could see was either in front or besides someone. Sometimes both. All but the two seats by the table before Sheska. Radu considered sitting on the end of it, but then realized that if that was the house staff table then Breda would be his neighbor. That would be awkward, even for him.
Out the remaining seats the one with less obstacles, in case he needed to run from some cultist trying to sacrifice the guests to a fiend or a dark god, was in front of a dragonborn so there he goes, in the most absolute silence. You know, just in case.
Notes: Radu takes the seat in front the dragonborn. He also waits until everyone eat and drink before putting anything on his mouth.
While finding her room, Rosie nods politely to Geraine and agrees with his sentiment that this was going to be quite the scene. And indeed it seemes so, as she enters the dining room and her eyes widen at the number of people gathered. She first looks around for Burn and seeing the artificer has not yet arrived, she sees Angus with an elderly elf next to him that based on the family resemblance, Rosie can only assume is his father. She takes the seat opposite from Angus with a wide smile.
"Oh my, this is quite the group. I must say it's a little intimidating seeing all the young folk gathered, and me a little old halfling who only picked up a sword a few years ago."
Burn spent the rest of the afternoon tinkering with her cannon and replaying her awkward exit in her head.
"You are a dolt, Bernadette Jopfrey. No one cares about your life story. Just stick to the mission, girl." she said aloud as she struggled to get her cannon to respond to her commands.
When she heard the dinner bell, she cringed and exclaimed, "oh gods"
"Pretend you fell asleep, " she thought to herself before mentally picking herself up by her collar.
"Head to the smithy and act as though you didn't hear it" she schemed as she wiped the grease onto her pantlegs and straightened her tunic.
"Fake an injury" was the final plan that raced through her mind as she ran her still dirty fingers through her hair.
"Smile," she spat out as she forced the corners of her mouth to reach for the sky.
Burn used the chair as a post to push off of and launch herself from her room. She slinked slowly to the dining hall. Upon arriving, her countenance fell as she found the situation worse than she imagined.
"Who are all these people?" she wondered as she scanned the room for the least threatening seat. She saw Rosie and immediately started to walk toward her until she caught view of Angus and was reminded of the earlier scene. "No... we won't be doing that, " she said to herself and quickly made a course correction toward Sheska.
"May I?" she appeared to ask Sheska as looked around the room and took the seat next to her, as usual, without waiting for a reply and not making any eye contact.
The tabaxi doesn't look up at Geraine as he sits down beside him. "Aju." he says, not caring to elaborate whether the two syllables were his name, or some greeting in another language. His demeanor isn't exactly what you'd call welcoming, but he doesn't necessarily seem opposed to Geraine's company.
The elf briefly looks up at Geraine, but soon turns back to writing in a leather-bound notebook. Geraine can make out sketches of the canyon they'd seen earlier that day.
As Radu takes his place at the table, the halfling pauses his story. The dragonborn smirks and leans forward towards Rad, his leering yellow eyes study his face. "Well, well, well! With whom do we have the honor of sharing a table with?" His tone is biting and arrogant.
"Mrs. Gavan, was it?" the grey elf says to Rosie. "I'd like to introduce you to my–"
"We've already met." Angus interrupts, giving Rosie a smile.
"Ah, good!" he claps his hands together. Rosie notices that while Angus and the elf do have some similarities, Angus lacks any trace of elven heritage.
Sheska shrugs her shoulders in response to Burn. "Sure. With no blacksmith, we have an open spot at this table."
She pulls back the chair next to her.
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
After a delightful time in the library reading on many different creatures the lizardman comes to the source of the bell sound and looks around. Very nervous at first they seem incertain until they spot the familiar minotaur. Torwin makes for the seat next to Bruno as they are very curious what is being talked about. They don't interrupt as they prefer to listen at first to get a better sense of the conversation. While they do, they look around the dining area at all the other people.
“Radu Ashford.” He answered to the dragonborn in a monotone not too dissimilar to that of the tabaxi by the other end of the table. It was almost ironic that out of everyone there it seemed more likely that he would get along with a jaguar man. And by get along he imagined a dead silent meal, with both minding their own business and completely ignoring the presence of the other. There could be no interest in killing if there was no interest at all, the Blood Hunter considered.
He turned his head from a side to another, trying to spot any kind of pan or bottle. He was hungry and thirsty but not enough to be the first to put anything on his mouth. No, Radu would wait for someone taking food and drink from the same place as himself. The poor devil would take the first bite and if nothing happened, then everyone could breath in relief, not having to worry about poison. At least not of the fast-acting kind. Slow acting would take time. So much, in fact, that he would be starving by the time someone reacted to the intoxication. At the end of the day, delving in an unknown frontier at the Underdark weakened was not that different from being infected by some substance. It was death all the same. I just hope that if the food have slow poison that it kills painlessly.
Burn pulls two unmodified marbles out of her pouch and begins to roll them in her hand under the table. She looks over the sea of faces and eventually lands on Torwin.
"Damn. I really need to talk to them. What to do?... what to do?" she mumbles to herself. Burn had a habit of talking to herself and often would inadvertently say things aloud that she thought resided only in her head.
"Aju, splendid. It is a pleasure.." His gaze stays fixed on the elf for a moment before allowing his gaze to travel about the room, and then back to the elf.
"A picture is worth a thousand words, and with fine drawings like that I am sure your records are quite thorough. Are you here for academics, or..?"
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
Fifi enters the room and scans each table. She finds Torwin and Bruno sitting together and seats herself across the table from them by the dwarf in green, "Mind if I sit here?"
Fifi does not wait for an answer before briskly sitting down. The satyr places her elbows on the table and rests her head on her palms as she listens in on Bruno's conversation for a while. Having entered the conversation midway, Fifi loses a bit of interest and turns to the dwarf and extends a hand for a handshake "The name's Fifi."
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Rosie pays no mind to the lack of elven heritage in Angus. To be family meant more than genetics. She returns the smile to Angus then turns her attention to the elf.
"Aye, please, call me Rosie. Only my library students called me Mrs Gavan. And you must be Mr Klage. The one who has brought us all together? Again, this is quite the group you have assembled here. Will you be accompanying us also?"
(On mobile, apologies for lack of formatting)
"Torwin! Fifi! Good to see you again!" the minotaur bellows as they take their seats. "I just made some new acquaintances here!" He gestures to the dwarf and the human. "We were talking about our educations before you arrived. Mallory here has us all beat for having the finest schooling in her upbringing. She's from Candlekeep!"
The young lady shrinks back in embarrassment at the attention drawn to her. She manages a slight smile and a wave to the two new companions at the table.
"Gerard, at your service!" the dwarf says to Fifi, vigorously accepting the handshake. "I look forward to traversing the depths with you and your friend."
"Indeed, I am Eduan Klage." the elf says, his crystal blue eyes sparkling as he confirms Rosie's question. "And of course, I shall be accompanying all of you into the chasm. I'm something of an adventurer myself, you see. It's always been my passion. From my youth I have felt called to exploring the unknown. I admit it is a bit of an obsession, to the point some might call me a bit nosy." He gives a small chuckle. "You say you worked in a library? What brought you out of such a quiet life, if I may ask?"
Angus' eyes dart back and forth between Klage and Rosie, as if eagerly waiting to see what either would say next.
Aju grunts in acknowledgement of Geraine, then shifts away to look at a moth fluttering around one of the lanterns on the ceiling.
"Why thank you!" the elf says in response to Geraine's compliment of her sketches. She adjusts her spectacles. "You are correct, my occupation requires that my records be quite thorough. I'm an archaeologist, you see. I'm here to study any remains of lost civilizations we may encounter down there. My name is Lisana." She adjusts her spectacles again.
"Not the social type, I see." Sheska says to Burn while looking across the dining room at all the conversations being had. Introductions being given. Friends being made. "Keep in mind, you're going to be stuck with these people for who knows how long."
Radu finds that plates had been arranged at all the spots, but no food has yet been served.
"Ashford. Hmm. Alright." the dragonborn says, as if evaluating his respect for Radu based entirely on his name. "You can call me Ryuma."
"I'm Emilia. Nice to meet you." says the lady next to Ryuma. She seems much friendlier, holding out her hand with a genuine smile. Radu notes that the way she offers a handshake is similar to how Klage did so.
"And I'm Mat." says the halfling next to Radu.
"Where do you come from?" Asks Emilia.
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
At the mention of colleges, Fifi's ears perk up. The satyr invites herself into Bruno's conversation, "Ah Candlekeep, how delightful! I myself attended the bardic college, Fochlucan, at Silverymoon. Isn't it delightful that institutions of such concentrated knowledge and history exist? And to think: not a single book nor professor has any information on what lies below the canyon. Should our venture into the abyss prove fruitful, we wont simply be in the history books. We'll be writing them!"
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN