"Oh, okay," Gavyn says. "So....hmmm...what about the lady singing there? Can you....arrange something? Just a hello here at the table, maybe? I don't know..."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Gavyn scowls. He whispers, the words drenched in anxiety and contained frustration."For 20 gold, you see, you can at least introduce your friend. You know, a 'big fella' like me. I could, um, be a bit scary, do you know what I mean? Unless...unless your preference is, I don't know, to entertain Nathaniel here for the next hour."
"Come on and pluck up the courage to talk to the women. Do you need some liquid courage? Ava is just a woman like me. She won't bite. Anyway, I don't mind spending my time with Nathaniel" says Mariel.
Gavyn turns to Nathaniel and says, "You...you owe...you better get my money's worth."
The tortle makes his way through the crowd to the bar. He pauses momentarily when he realizes he left his ale on the table, pondering for a second whether or not he should go back for it. He decides to move on.
Once at the bar, he attempts to get the singer's attention. "Um....Miss Ava is it? Yes, I really enjoyed your performance. Miss Ava? Hi."
Ava turns to Gavyn and gives him a smile "Thank you for compliment. It is so nice to meet people who appreciate music. Are you enjoying the festivities this night?"
As the waitress comes around for drink orders Kaelen just smiles “I’ll take the largest size of your strongest drink please.” As the tiefling mentions that they’ll need escorts to get up, he just nods “Sounds like a decent plan; the question is how we ditch those who escorted us once up there. I’m sure they won’t be willing to let us walk around.” as the four people walk up he just smiles keeping quiet as the tiefling responds. As he works his ways Kaelen just takes a sip of the drink in front of him “My desire is just to enjoy this drink and that woman’s singing, maybe more music later. You know what they say music calms the savage beast.” He just gives a light chuckle, which for him carries a hefty weight to it being a minotaur, as if he cracked a great joke. As she steps down he just goes back to enjoying his drink, a minotaur walking around asking questions was sure to draw attention and that seemed to be the last thing his party needed or wanted.
Gavyn thinks for a moment, almost surprised at getting a response. "Actually," he says slowly as he is trying to compose his thoughts. "I find it all a bit overstimulating. I'm used to the quiet of the library's scroll stacks, to be honest. I'm really here at the behest of...well...I suppose the city. So, you see, I wouldn't normally come here of my own volition."
He catches himself rambling and halts his tongue for a moment. "I'm glad I did, though,"he says eventually. "I would never have heard music like that otherwise."
He orders an ale as Gavyn makes himself comfortable at the bar. He catches Ava's eye for the first time, a meek sideways glance. "Can I...well, you see...I am looking for help. And Mariel said you might be able to help."
He finally shuts his mouth to drink his ale, letting Ava speak.
Ava raises an eyebrow "At behest of the city and you need help. Mind explaining what you need help with. I find it hard to believe that it's for singing lessons."
"Singing lessons would be amazing," Gavyn says effusively. "But no. I...well, I have to be delicate about what I say, you see, but, in brief, someone has betrayed the city and the kingdom. I have been asked to find out how this happened...how bad it is before it gets worse."
Gavyn takes a long drink of his ale, letting his words sit. He turns to Ava fully and, at length says, "When someone comes to the library, that's where I work, you see, they need information about something. I am not an expert in most things but I can direct you to who is. Pilaano for philosophy and logic, Geartoken for engineering, Leaf Chaser for gardening, and so on. I know people, you see. But, like I said, this isn't my...uh...my typical place. So I need a guide...someone who knows the right people to ask...a...uh....librarian of sorts. And Mariel said you might be the one who can guide me in the right direction."
Ava turns for a moment to the waitress and makes half circle motion with her index finger. The waitress then subtly nods and says something to the guard at the stairs and she heads up.
"Betraying the city is a grave offense. Now who is it that sent you here?" says Ava in a nonchalant tone.
"I...uh...," Gavyn says, not hiding his anxiety at the question. "Well, I have a drink with Watchmaster Gulchswattle now and then. He set me on this path, you see. I'm not sure why me, but I promised him..."
“I need to get a drink for my friend,” she says, pointing towards the direction of the man that she heard talking about the songstress. She leans in slightly, offering a description of the guy and pushing a small stack of coins toward the staff*. “And I need a message delivered with it. The message is `For the good times we shared once… but he is still better than you can ever hope to be`.”
Then she turns to leave… and comes across the tortle from her group, also standing at the bar. In deep conversation with the same songstress that the rogue now knows has a relationship with a bad guy.
Nisha’s eyes widened in surprise, she didn’t take the tortle for a guy who would approach someone like the songstress in public. But then, the rogue remembers what he did in the constabulary and her eyes dart around her companion nervously. She can see him going on and on and on and that can't be good. Where are the rest of the guys???
“Damn it” In one swift motion, Nisha’s hood is off, her lush hair falling on her shoulders. Unfortunately, she thinks that barging in all hooded and mysterious will make the songstress too suspicious, so that's the best Nisha can come with to reduce that risk a little.
She pushes herself forward, standing between the tortle and the singer.
“There you are!” Nisha cries out as she grabs the tortle’s forearm. “I was so worried about you! You shouldn’t sneak out on me like that, what will your mother say!”
Nisha then turns toward the singer and makes a face of profound regret.
“I am so, so sorry, Miss! I don’t know how little Buddy here got so lost and ended up here. He is a bit slow, you see? His mother entrusted him in my care but he must have slipped out of the house. He really likes to bother young pretty ladies and tell them all sorts of crazy things so he can make an impression on them. I am so sorry if he was taking your time with one of his stories!”
Nisha gives a sad smile. “I am very sorry for all the bother. He means no harm, but I do worry about him, you see, it's not good to get so obsessed with other people, and to be making up stories to get them interested… Ah. But we must go now. I again apologise, Miss, we wouldn't want to disturb your evening any longer. Come on with me, Buddy, we leave the nice lady alone and maybe she can sing us another nice beautiful song.”
Nisha then starts pulling the tortle away. "Let's get you back home, Buddy."
* just whatever it costs for the drink and the extra service I am not sure for the skills so I rolled for Persuasion: 15, Deception: 11 and Performance: 22
Watching as the tortle starts dealing directly with Mariel, the pale tiefling seems quite discombobulated, too much so to intervene with what happens. He had thought the tortle was aware of his limitations in this situation but apparently that was not the case. The attempt from the tortle to hold him responsible for getting his money's worth is only met with a cold glare. "And you should not meddle with things you don't understand." He snarls quietly as the tortle leaves for the bar.
Trying to regain his composure, Nathaniel's attention briefly returns to the lovely Mariel, but the pale tiefling quickly realizes the tortle will most likely continue his bumbling ways of investigating and he glances over at the bar where Gavyn gets into a conversation with the songstress. He's about to intervene as, to his relief, Nasha appears out of the crowd and starts to lead the tortle off again. He could only hope the tortle didn't share all that he knew before the half-elf intervened.
Perception to possibly have noticed the songstress sending the waitress upstairs and realize the gravity of the situation: 19
The bartender does as Nisha ask and delivers the note and drink. The forlorn man reads the note, and he has a look of disbelief and sadness. He knocks the drink onto the floor shattering the glass and rushes to leave the bordello. People nearby turn to gawk.
The guard by the stairs moves over to see if there is trouble. For this brief moment the stairs are unguarded.
"I...uh...I suppose I can part with that," Gavyn says and counts out the coin into her eager hands.
20 days wages is a steep price for Gavyn and he hopes it will be worth it.
Mariel takes the coins and tucks them into her purse. "Well, I seen the odd gentlemen talking to the songstress from time to time."
"Can you...um...introduce me...er us?"
Mariel says "The odd gentlemen? No can do, I still need a job to put food on the table. My involvement ends here"
"Oh, okay," Gavyn says. "So....hmmm...what about the lady singing there? Can you....arrange something? Just a hello here at the table, maybe? I don't know..."
"You are a big fella you can head on up to the stage if you want to talk to her. Oh, look her song just ended. Her name is Ava" says Mariel.
The songstress takes a break and goes to the bar for a drink.
Gavyn scowls. He whispers, the words drenched in anxiety and contained frustration. "For 20 gold, you see, you can at least introduce your friend. You know, a 'big fella' like me. I could, um, be a bit scary, do you know what I mean? Unless...unless your preference is, I don't know, to entertain Nathaniel here for the next hour."
Intimidation (unintentional): 3
"Come on and pluck up the courage to talk to the women. Do you need some liquid courage? Ava is just a woman like me. She won't bite. Anyway, I don't mind spending my time with Nathaniel" says Mariel.
Gavyn turns to Nathaniel and says, "You...you owe...you better get my money's worth."
The tortle makes his way through the crowd to the bar. He pauses momentarily when he realizes he left his ale on the table, pondering for a second whether or not he should go back for it. He decides to move on.
Once at the bar, he attempts to get the singer's attention. "Um....Miss Ava is it? Yes, I really enjoyed your performance. Miss Ava? Hi."
Ava turns to Gavyn and gives him a smile "Thank you for compliment. It is so nice to meet people who appreciate music. Are you enjoying the festivities this night?"
As the waitress comes around for drink orders Kaelen just smiles “I’ll take the largest size of your strongest drink please.” As the tiefling mentions that they’ll need escorts to get up, he just nods “Sounds like a decent plan; the question is how we ditch those who escorted us once up there. I’m sure they won’t be willing to let us walk around.” as the four people walk up he just smiles keeping quiet as the tiefling responds. As he works his ways Kaelen just takes a sip of the drink in front of him “My desire is just to enjoy this drink and that woman’s singing, maybe more music later. You know what they say music calms the savage beast.” He just gives a light chuckle, which for him carries a hefty weight to it being a minotaur, as if he cracked a great joke. As she steps down he just goes back to enjoying his drink, a minotaur walking around asking questions was sure to draw attention and that seemed to be the last thing his party needed or wanted.
Campaigns:
Wildemount: The Felderwin Irregulars (2020) - Balassar Silverstone - Dragonborn Fighter (Rune Knight) Lv. 5 | Rise of TIamat - Aiwin Aralana - Wood Elf Fighter/Ranger (Arcane Archer/Gloom Stalker) Lv. 9
Gavyn thinks for a moment, almost surprised at getting a response. "Actually," he says slowly as he is trying to compose his thoughts. "I find it all a bit overstimulating. I'm used to the quiet of the library's scroll stacks, to be honest. I'm really here at the behest of...well...I suppose the city. So, you see, I wouldn't normally come here of my own volition."
He catches himself rambling and halts his tongue for a moment. "I'm glad I did, though," he says eventually. "I would never have heard music like that otherwise."
He orders an ale as Gavyn makes himself comfortable at the bar. He catches Ava's eye for the first time, a meek sideways glance. "Can I...well, you see...I am looking for help. And Mariel said you might be able to help."
He finally shuts his mouth to drink his ale, letting Ava speak.
Ava raises an eyebrow "At behest of the city and you need help. Mind explaining what you need help with. I find it hard to believe that it's for singing lessons."
"Singing lessons would be amazing," Gavyn says effusively. "But no. I...well, I have to be delicate about what I say, you see, but, in brief, someone has betrayed the city and the kingdom. I have been asked to find out how this happened...how bad it is before it gets worse."
Gavyn takes a long drink of his ale, letting his words sit. He turns to Ava fully and, at length says, "When someone comes to the library, that's where I work, you see, they need information about something. I am not an expert in most things but I can direct you to who is. Pilaano for philosophy and logic, Geartoken for engineering, Leaf Chaser for gardening, and so on. I know people, you see. But, like I said, this isn't my...uh...my typical place. So I need a guide...someone who knows the right people to ask...a...uh....librarian of sorts. And Mariel said you might be the one who can guide me in the right direction."
Ava turns for a moment to the waitress and makes half circle motion with her index finger. The waitress then subtly nods and says something to the guard at the stairs and she heads up.
"Betraying the city is a grave offense. Now who is it that sent you here?" says Ava in a nonchalant tone.
"I...uh...," Gavyn says, not hiding his anxiety at the question. "Well, I have a drink with Watchmaster Gulchswattle now and then. He set me on this path, you see. I'm not sure why me, but I promised him..."
Nisha has found herself a nice spot at the bar.
“I need to get a drink for my friend,” she says, pointing towards the direction of the man that she heard talking about the songstress. She leans in slightly, offering a description of the guy and pushing a small stack of coins toward the staff*. “And I need a message delivered with it. The message is `For the good times we shared once… but he is still better than you can ever hope to be`.”
Then she turns to leave… and comes across the tortle from her group, also standing at the bar. In deep conversation with the same songstress that the rogue now knows has a relationship with a bad guy.
Nisha’s eyes widened in surprise, she didn’t take the tortle for a guy who would approach someone like the songstress in public. But then, the rogue remembers what he did in the constabulary and her eyes dart around her companion nervously. She can see him going on and on and on and that can't be good. Where are the rest of the guys???
“Damn it” In one swift motion, Nisha’s hood is off, her lush hair falling on her shoulders. Unfortunately, she thinks that barging in all hooded and mysterious will make the songstress too suspicious, so that's the best Nisha can come with to reduce that risk a little.
She pushes herself forward, standing between the tortle and the singer.
“There you are!” Nisha cries out as she grabs the tortle’s forearm. “I was so worried about you! You shouldn’t sneak out on me like that, what will your mother say!”
Nisha then turns toward the singer and makes a face of profound regret.
“I am so, so sorry, Miss! I don’t know how little Buddy here got so lost and ended up here. He is a bit slow, you see? His mother entrusted him in my care but he must have slipped out of the house. He really likes to bother young pretty ladies and tell them all sorts of crazy things so he can make an impression on them. I am so sorry if he was taking your time with one of his stories!”
Nisha gives a sad smile. “I am very sorry for all the bother. He means no harm, but I do worry about him, you see, it's not good to get so obsessed with other people, and to be making up stories to get them interested… Ah. But we must go now. I again apologise, Miss, we wouldn't want to disturb your evening any longer. Come on with me, Buddy, we leave the nice lady alone and maybe she can sing us another nice beautiful song.”
Nisha then starts pulling the tortle away. "Let's get you back home, Buddy."
* just whatever it costs for the drink and the extra service
I am not sure for the skills so I rolled for Persuasion: 15, Deception: 11 and Performance: 22
Aeran Dormaris - L2 Paladin on his way to Phandelver
Vesna March - L1 Cleric in Etharis
DM The Missing Farmer
Watching as the tortle starts dealing directly with Mariel, the pale tiefling seems quite discombobulated, too much so to intervene with what happens. He had thought the tortle was aware of his limitations in this situation but apparently that was not the case. The attempt from the tortle to hold him responsible for getting his money's worth is only met with a cold glare. "And you should not meddle with things you don't understand." He snarls quietly as the tortle leaves for the bar.
Trying to regain his composure, Nathaniel's attention briefly returns to the lovely Mariel, but the pale tiefling quickly realizes the tortle will most likely continue his bumbling ways of investigating and he glances over at the bar where Gavyn gets into a conversation with the songstress. He's about to intervene as, to his relief, Nasha appears out of the crowd and starts to lead the tortle off again. He could only hope the tortle didn't share all that he knew before the half-elf intervened.
Perception to possibly have noticed the songstress sending the waitress upstairs and realize the gravity of the situation: 19
Yes, Nathaniel saw the subtle signal between Ava and the waitress. You have a gut feeling that your task has become more challenging.
Ava does not stop Nisha, but she has a skeptical look.
If anyone rolls insight DC 14
From her body language and expression Ava is not sure what Gavyn said is true, but its best that she report it anyway to her employer.
The bartender does as Nisha ask and delivers the note and drink. The forlorn man reads the note, and he has a look of disbelief and sadness. He knocks the drink onto the floor shattering the glass and rushes to leave the bordello. People nearby turn to gawk.
The guard by the stairs moves over to see if there is trouble. For this brief moment the stairs are unguarded.