Chuckling over his observation "haha well most men shoot with the bow and arrow, The Army i served in introduced to us the "Firearm" It's a single shot, hand-held, shoulder firing weapon, capable of shooting a small projectile a couple hundred feet per second!"  it'll blow a hole in someone's chest or blow a head or limb clean off if ya aim properly!"  "you just point me to them orcs and i'll do my part in taking them bastards out!" 

Sarahlle takes Norvalor's hand into hers. The gleam in her eyes suggests an age far older than her little body has lived. "Like this," she says, and guides you through the simple movement and incantation she had cast. Beacon of Hope.

Arutha looks around again. "Soo, do any of your contacts have the ability to get us through the gate faster." He chuckles in a friendly manner. "I am a man of action and this waiting is killing me."

"No lass, it's not alive, not how you are thinking.  The Spine of the World is a great mountain range hundreds of miles north of here.  Maybe someday you will see it for yourself but it is a hard place to live and close to many dangers."

"If'n yer askin' me Arutha to sneak into Baldur's Gate, we can't." Blundr turns his pockets out. "Other than me spectacles, I carry only a small bag with a few coins. The new security measure," he adds, "is what's causing all this delay. The Fist have negotiated an agreement—"

"Ordered," Dundr snorts. "The patriars are to blame. Place it in the hands where its meant to be, brother."

"Fair enough. No one gets through the gate without a thorough magical reading. Every sort of detection. Magical. Elemental. Planar. Abyssal. You name it, the rods search ye. Paranoia, lad. The deaths of a few patriars has them nobles wanting' eyes blinking from the back of their heads."

"The patriars are afraid of something', and they ain't tellin'." Dundr grumbles. "Zavakk keeps the peace. All he can do."

"Haha! I like your fighting spirit, John Cooper," Zavakk roars. "Are you sure you're not dragonborn? A demonstration, then. What do you need?"

"tell ya what if ya got a coin, flip it in the air for me and i'll quick draw and shoot it before its hits the ground" "john get into a ready stance"

"Should I step away?" Zavakk asks.

Arutha grows a contemplative look at their words. "So the nobility in the city have been dying as of recent and it has led to these measures? That does sound suspicious. I winder if it is the work of an external or internal hand."

"lest just make sure my weapons are always point in a safe direction" john eagerly waiting!

"Hundreds of miles," Sarahlle muses.

Kaiylin crouches down beside her daughter, refreshed from the spell. "Yes, Nali." She traces tall, deep mountains in the dirt at her daughter's feet, drawing swirls for the biting wind, triangles for the fish that inhabit the lakes, and a smiling spider for the drow rumored to live, or have once lived, there. A wicked smile plays across her face. Kaiylin sketches out a sled sliding down the hill, she and her children howling with laugher as they smash into a puff of soft snow.

Zavakk gestures for John Cooper to continue.

"Aye, Arutha," Blundr grunts. "Ever suspicious, the chant of the patriars."

Dundr mutters something in dwarven, over the tip of his nose.

Does Arutha speak dwarven?

(yes he does)

In dwarven—The patrairs are embarrassed, beards to braids. They spend countless coin insurin' their safety. I've been ponderin' and brewin' a thought a patriar is ill beyond a healin'. Mad. Pure, uncontrollable madness. Keep yer eye on Cenareon. He cannot be trusted. Damn fool sold his birthright to the Zhentarim."

John grabs a coin from his pocket and tosses it into the air.......suddenly his eagerness turns into a calm serene stair, focused only on the coin as it was flipping in the air.  His 5 years of military training kicked in and it was almost as if time was slowing down.....he does not forcefully grab his flintlock pistol out of his holster for that could cause him to miss, but rather smoothly and swiftly pulls it out.  He takes a deep breath to slow down his heart rate, a fast beating heart could cause him to flinch too much and miss his target. the tip of his finger is on the trigger applying a slight but gentle pull, for if he squeezes the trigger to hard it could cause him to miss.  Waiting for the right moment.............he shoots!   the area around John suddenly fills with a loud and thunderous boom!  The coin shatters into pieces as it falls to the ground!

Cenareon, Arutha recalls, knows a priestess of Myrkul. You overheard him tell Gramdal.

"Well done, John Cooper!" The gold dragonborn takes a step forward. "May I? Examine the weapon?"

Some of the people in line gasp at the sound of the unexpected pow, then inhale sharply in what can only be described as having a mixture of horror and wonderment as they watch the splitting coin shower the ground in melted metal shards.

John flips the pistol in his hand so that the handle is facing Zavakk "sure thing pal, here ya go" He then tips his hat and smiles

"So Cenareon is dangerous and a friend to the Lord of Bones. This city may well be in more danger than a band of orcs." Arutha says in dwarvish back to the brother companions.