Atonement smiles and takes the five healing potions, "Not for me, thank you." He turns to Mirim, "Did you want to get anything else before heading out?"
As Chaenath debates what to do next, Ethan and Seraphine step towards the bar, eager to put the raucous backstreet behind them for a while. As the two of you pass by the Town Guard standing at attention near the alleyway, you briefly lock eyes with the helmless leader there, who sneers at you before breaking eye contact, scanning the other patrons as they come and go.
You walk past him and up to the door to the Cat Scratch, which, miraculously, appears to be secured on two hinges. You turn the handle and walk inside, and are immediately hit with a realization: the piss stench outside had an origin, and that origin was this bar.
You're assaulted by the foul smell of piss, beer, and vomit that seems to pervade every inch of the bar, which could hardly be called accommodating. The tavern itself is a little larger on the inside than you expected, and the front entrance opens directly into the main bar area, which is straight ahead. It is crowded, and you can see the bar is swarmed by thirsty day-workers, ready to spend what meager earnings they have on the swill they serve here. Beyond the small crowd of drunks, you see an elderly Tabaxi woman working the kegs that adorn the wall, filling up glasses and passing them to customers. You see her pour a full glass for a burly, bearded dwarf, who stumbles off to the left, where the tavern opens up into an area with six simple wooden tables. They look worn down and slick with beer and sweat, and almost all of them have a few patrons seated at them, talking and laughing, creating a cacophonous din. The dwarf swaggers over to a table with a Halfling and a Dragonborn and takes a seat, nearly spilling his drink. Just beyond their table, there is a table in the back corner, where more watchful eyes notice your entrance. You can see a few tougher looking men sitting there, they have heavy scars on their arms and a few on their faces. They each have a tattoo of a black diamond on their wrists, and when they notice your stares, they grunt to one another and turn away purposefully.
Opposite of that corner, which is near the street, and towards the back of the sitting area you can see some stairs that lead upwards. No doubt, this upstairs area is what qualifies this dive as an "Inn" and not just a "disgusting backstreet bar".
You stand now at the entrance, taking all of this in.
"Yes, let us be off. I'm sure we have kept the others waiting long enough. Though, I do need to make a quick stop by my room to change and retrieve the rest of my equipment." Atonement turns to leave the quartermaster's room but quickly stops realizing he has forgotten something important. Turning around to face both Mirim and the Dwarf behind the counter he says, "Ah you both must forgive me, I have forgotten my manners. I am Atonement, but you may use Tone for short." He gives both Mirim and the Dwarf the Order of Dawn salute along with a small polite bow.
Mirim curtsies to Atonement "I am Mirim, nice to meet you... A...toooone...ment. Hmm... I like Tony, that's your name now." She grins and begins walking to the inn, waiting for Atonement to take the lead
Flashes Mirim a smile, "A pleasure to meet you, Mirim; and I guess you can call me Tony, but only you." Takes the lead and heads off to the inn, after he retrieves his gear. As Atonement and Mirim travel to the inn, he will be playing his lute working out a tune to a song that he is working on in his head.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
Seraphine strides to the bar, signaling to get the tabaxi elder's attention. "Nice place you have here," she begins, "Takes a strong woman to run a bar like this. How much for for three pints for me and my friends? Oh! Make that five. Two more are probably on their way already."
Seraphine pulls the money out of her pouch as surreptitiously as she can. In her time on the streets, she'd become quite familiar with this type of establishment, and knew how quickly a fool might try and make that pouch disappear. Of course, they would have to be quite the fool to mess with me, she thinks with a stifled laugh, Quite the fool, indeed.
Before she enters the lower ward, Mirim tucks her tail into her dress and covers her horns with her hood, disguising- mostly- her true race. She looks to 'Tony' expecting him to do the same "You know we are going into the lower wards right? You might want to cover some of that up." She makes a sweeping gesture at Atonement
Pauses playing his lute and shrugs at Mirim, "The leather armor doesn't have much in the way of hiding anything. Besides, if I were to cover up, I wouldn't be able to hear all of the fun and creative insults that get thrown my way. Also, I'm kind of use to being the center of that stuff anyway; and hiding my features wouldn't help with my life's goal." Atonement then confidently continues on to the lower wards playing his new song on the lute and stopping to ask the guards for directions to the Cat Scratch Inn; and giving a silver to any beggars he happens to pass by.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
The Tabaxi woman turns to you and eyes you while you put in your order, her focus shifting from you to the other patrons intermittently. "Strong? Strong, yes. Nobody takes ol' Maude for a ride, no sir. I'd give 'em a hiding real quick, isn't that right boys?" She gets a little louder near the end, yelling at a couple younger, male Tabaxi that are seated further down at the bar, near the wall. They raise their mugs and grunt in unison before returning to their drink.
"But nobody tries anything funny with ol' Maude, not anymore." She finishes, slamming the last mug of cheap swill down on the counter top. "That'll be 10 silver for the drinks."
As the currency exchanges hands, she looks back at you again, and you notice a fierceness behind her look as she gives you a once over. "You're a pretty young thing, stand out too much though. Careful around those ones." She points to the back of the bar, the corner where the men with the black diamond tattoos are sitting. "Don't let yourself get mixed up with their lot."
[Atonement/Mirim]
You successfully make your way to the Lower Wards and acquire directions to the Cat Scratch, and you're only around half an hour behind the others due to your brief detour to the quartermaster and your personal chambers. As you begin to weave your way through the labyrinthine streets towards the Inn, you begin to notice that you're attracting some un-friendly stares. Even the beggars give you wary looks, and some turn away your coin entirely, but there are 10 beggars that accept a silver coin from you, ushering you along hastily after pocketing the change.
Mirim, a short distance away, is mostly sheltered from these looks due to her hood being drawn, but Atonement can feel the hard glares at his back as he makes his way down the winding road. Soon, you both pass the same group of dark-eyed youth that, unbeknownst to you, your allies had passed by just 20 minutes earlier.
There are 3 of them, all sitting on a beat down porch in front of a leaning shack, and they are all human with dark hair and eyes that remind you of someone who has missed several nights of sleep. They glare at Atonement with obvious contempt, and one of them whispers back to his two friends before the three of them stand up, walking into the street and cutting you off. They don't notice Mirim, or if they do, they haven't realized that you're travelling together.
One of them, the one in front, spits at your feet. "******* goat-boy. Whadd'ya think yer doin', prancin' round here like ya own tha place? 'ere lookin' for a little girlie to steal?" His voice is guttural and full of hate as he and his friends posture around you, blocking you from moving forward.
When you look them over, they don't look particularly menacing. They almost look like they haven't eaten in a few days, their arms and legs a little thinner than they should be, and their faces are gaunt.
"Heh." Maude gives a humorless laugh. "Not much to say, really. Gang members, part of a group what calls themselves the Black Jacks. Pretty silly name, if you ask me." She explains this to you offhandishly as she cleans out a few emptied mugs behind the bar.
"Creating quite a reputation though. Got a violent streak, that lot. Buncha bodies turn up mangled, and they ain't shy in claimin' em. Guards don't usually patrol this deep into the Lowers." She shrugs. "Got themselves some kinda big shot leader too, fancies himself 'king of the slums'. Pshh." She spits. "Not the first slum boss who got too big for his britches. I'm sure the Damascus Guard'll sort him out, one way or another."
Seraphine listens with bemusement. "Kings or commoners... when push comes to shove, they all burn the same. You say they've been taking credit for murders? Like the one that has the guards all riled up outside?"
As she's saying this, Seraphine is collecting up the drinks that Maude has given her. She tries grabbing all five before thinking for a second and handing three of them off to Chaenath.
Maude is already busy with the customers behind you once you move your drinks from the bar counter, but she shouts an answer to you over the heads of a few workers who fill in the space you left behind. "That's right, girlie. They been braggin' bout it all day n' night. Bunch'a twats."
She leaves it at that, going back to serving the various bar patrons. You have your two drinks now, Chaenath has the rest.
[Mirim/Atonement]
The lanky youth looks down briefly when he notices the movement there, and his eyes bulge out of his skull a bit when he sees the snake coiled around his neck. "Shit! ****! What the **** is this?" He exclaims wildly, clawing at his neck immediately.
His two companions begin to panic as well, they are shocked and afraid as they see the serpent wrapped around their 'leader's' throat. They move into attempt to help him with removing it, but he stumbles backwards, falling on his back. When they go to help him up, he holds up a hand, breathing heavily.
You can see one of his hands has passed through the simple illusion, exposing it for what it is. He glares furiously at Atonement as he stands, and his friends do the same. "I don' know what sort of ****in' dark magic ya used on me goat-boy, but ya'd best never show your face here again, or you're ******* dead! I've got friends 'round here that won't hesitate to string ya up by your ankles, remember that!" He yells this final threat as he scrambles to his feet, he and his two friends retreating down a nearby alleyway, apparently deterred for now.
Mirim runs over to Atonement, grabs his hand and pulls him into the inn, she is surprisingly strong. "I can't bear to see anyone treated like that, next time..." She glances around the bar, sees the people and huffs "Just, put something over it ok?" Mirim begins looking for the rest of the party while shoving a hat onto Atonement
Seraphine motions to Chaenath and walks where Ethan awaits. Handing him both her drinks, she grabs the other two from Chaenath and starts in on her ale, explaining what they'd heard about the Black Jacks.
Atonement rubs the back of his head with one hand and lets out a long sigh, "That situation could have been handled better, but what's done is done. Let us meet up with our comrades and see if they have found anything." He doesn't fight against Mirim putting a hat on him as his normal friendly and upbeat demeanor is replaced by a more somber mood as he scans the room for the others.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
"Hmm!" Mirim brightens up when she sees the rest of the party and walks over, sitting down "Hello again! Have you gotten any information on our case? Have you spoken to the Guard about the body yet?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Atonement smiles and takes the five healing potions, "Not for me, thank you." He turns to Mirim, "Did you want to get anything else before heading out?"
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
"Um... no! I'm good, should we go now?" She adjusts her belt with the shiny new rapier attached
[Ethan/Chaenath/Seraphine]
As Chaenath debates what to do next, Ethan and Seraphine step towards the bar, eager to put the raucous backstreet behind them for a while. As the two of you pass by the Town Guard standing at attention near the alleyway, you briefly lock eyes with the helmless leader there, who sneers at you before breaking eye contact, scanning the other patrons as they come and go.
You walk past him and up to the door to the Cat Scratch, which, miraculously, appears to be secured on two hinges. You turn the handle and walk inside, and are immediately hit with a realization: the piss stench outside had an origin, and that origin was this bar.
You're assaulted by the foul smell of piss, beer, and vomit that seems to pervade every inch of the bar, which could hardly be called accommodating. The tavern itself is a little larger on the inside than you expected, and the front entrance opens directly into the main bar area, which is straight ahead. It is crowded, and you can see the bar is swarmed by thirsty day-workers, ready to spend what meager earnings they have on the swill they serve here. Beyond the small crowd of drunks, you see an elderly Tabaxi woman working the kegs that adorn the wall, filling up glasses and passing them to customers. You see her pour a full glass for a burly, bearded dwarf, who stumbles off to the left, where the tavern opens up into an area with six simple wooden tables. They look worn down and slick with beer and sweat, and almost all of them have a few patrons seated at them, talking and laughing, creating a cacophonous din. The dwarf swaggers over to a table with a Halfling and a Dragonborn and takes a seat, nearly spilling his drink. Just beyond their table, there is a table in the back corner, where more watchful eyes notice your entrance. You can see a few tougher looking men sitting there, they have heavy scars on their arms and a few on their faces. They each have a tattoo of a black diamond on their wrists, and when they notice your stares, they grunt to one another and turn away purposefully.
Opposite of that corner, which is near the street, and towards the back of the sitting area you can see some stairs that lead upwards. No doubt, this upstairs area is what qualifies this dive as an "Inn" and not just a "disgusting backstreet bar".
You stand now at the entrance, taking all of this in.
"Yes, let us be off. I'm sure we have kept the others waiting long enough. Though, I do need to make a quick stop by my room to change and retrieve the rest of my equipment." Atonement turns to leave the quartermaster's room but quickly stops realizing he has forgotten something important. Turning around to face both Mirim and the Dwarf behind the counter he says, "Ah you both must forgive me, I have forgotten my manners. I am Atonement, but you may use Tone for short." He gives both Mirim and the Dwarf the Order of Dawn salute along with a small polite bow.
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
Mirim curtsies to Atonement "I am Mirim, nice to meet you... A...toooone...ment. Hmm... I like Tony, that's your name now." She grins and begins walking to the inn, waiting for Atonement to take the lead
Flashes Mirim a smile, "A pleasure to meet you, Mirim; and I guess you can call me Tony, but only you." Takes the lead and heads off to the inn, after he retrieves his gear. As Atonement and Mirim travel to the inn, he will be playing his lute working out a tune to a song that he is working on in his head.
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
Seraphine strides to the bar, signaling to get the tabaxi elder's attention. "Nice place you have here," she begins, "Takes a strong woman to run a bar like this. How much for for three pints for me and my friends? Oh! Make that five. Two more are probably on their way already."
Seraphine pulls the money out of her pouch as surreptitiously as she can. In her time on the streets, she'd become quite familiar with this type of establishment, and knew how quickly a fool might try and make that pouch disappear. Of course, they would have to be quite the fool to mess with me, she thinks with a stifled laugh, Quite the fool, indeed.
Before she enters the lower ward, Mirim tucks her tail into her dress and covers her horns with her hood, disguising- mostly- her true race. She looks to 'Tony' expecting him to do the same "You know we are going into the lower wards right? You might want to cover some of that up." She makes a sweeping gesture at Atonement
Pauses playing his lute and shrugs at Mirim, "The leather armor doesn't have much in the way of hiding anything. Besides, if I were to cover up, I wouldn't be able to hear all of the fun and creative insults that get thrown my way. Also, I'm kind of use to being the center of that stuff anyway; and hiding my features wouldn't help with my life's goal." Atonement then confidently continues on to the lower wards playing his new song on the lute and stopping to ask the guards for directions to the Cat Scratch Inn; and giving a silver to any beggars he happens to pass by.
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
Mirim continues following him, keeping to the shadows and trying not to draw attention to herself
[Seraphine]
The Tabaxi woman turns to you and eyes you while you put in your order, her focus shifting from you to the other patrons intermittently. "Strong? Strong, yes. Nobody takes ol' Maude for a ride, no sir. I'd give 'em a hiding real quick, isn't that right boys?" She gets a little louder near the end, yelling at a couple younger, male Tabaxi that are seated further down at the bar, near the wall. They raise their mugs and grunt in unison before returning to their drink.
"But nobody tries anything funny with ol' Maude, not anymore." She finishes, slamming the last mug of cheap swill down on the counter top. "That'll be 10 silver for the drinks."
As the currency exchanges hands, she looks back at you again, and you notice a fierceness behind her look as she gives you a once over. "You're a pretty young thing, stand out too much though. Careful around those ones." She points to the back of the bar, the corner where the men with the black diamond tattoos are sitting. "Don't let yourself get mixed up with their lot."
[Atonement/Mirim]
You successfully make your way to the Lower Wards and acquire directions to the Cat Scratch, and you're only around half an hour behind the others due to your brief detour to the quartermaster and your personal chambers. As you begin to weave your way through the labyrinthine streets towards the Inn, you begin to notice that you're attracting some un-friendly stares. Even the beggars give you wary looks, and some turn away your coin entirely, but there are 10 beggars that accept a silver coin from you, ushering you along hastily after pocketing the change.
Mirim, a short distance away, is mostly sheltered from these looks due to her hood being drawn, but Atonement can feel the hard glares at his back as he makes his way down the winding road. Soon, you both pass the same group of dark-eyed youth that, unbeknownst to you, your allies had passed by just 20 minutes earlier.
There are 3 of them, all sitting on a beat down porch in front of a leaning shack, and they are all human with dark hair and eyes that remind you of someone who has missed several nights of sleep. They glare at Atonement with obvious contempt, and one of them whispers back to his two friends before the three of them stand up, walking into the street and cutting you off. They don't notice Mirim, or if they do, they haven't realized that you're travelling together.
One of them, the one in front, spits at your feet. "******* goat-boy. Whadd'ya think yer doin', prancin' round here like ya own tha place? 'ere lookin' for a little girlie to steal?" His voice is guttural and full of hate as he and his friends posture around you, blocking you from moving forward.
When you look them over, they don't look particularly menacing. They almost look like they haven't eaten in a few days, their arms and legs a little thinner than they should be, and their faces are gaunt.
Chaenath follows Seraphine to the bar, just in time to hear what the old tabaxi has to say.
"What's the situation with them?," she asks. "Besides the usual, I mean."
She slips two silvers to Seraphine.
Xanni Leafhelm - Halfling Cleric (Life domain) in Helm's Inquisition
Chaenath Miahana - Elf Warlock (Archfey pact) in Order of Dawn
[Chaenath/Seraphine]
"Heh." Maude gives a humorless laugh. "Not much to say, really. Gang members, part of a group what calls themselves the Black Jacks. Pretty silly name, if you ask me." She explains this to you offhandishly as she cleans out a few emptied mugs behind the bar.
"Creating quite a reputation though. Got a violent streak, that lot. Buncha bodies turn up mangled, and they ain't shy in claimin' em. Guards don't usually patrol this deep into the Lowers." She shrugs. "Got themselves some kinda big shot leader too, fancies himself 'king of the slums'. Pshh." She spits. "Not the first slum boss who got too big for his britches. I'm sure the Damascus Guard'll sort him out, one way or another."
Seraphine listens with bemusement. "Kings or commoners... when push comes to shove, they all burn the same. You say they've been taking credit for murders? Like the one that has the guards all riled up outside?"
As she's saying this, Seraphine is collecting up the drinks that Maude has given her. She tries grabbing all five before thinking for a second and handing three of them off to Chaenath.
Mirim mutters something and a long, green snake appears around the leader's neck, curling around. (Minor Illusion)
[Seraphine/Ethan/Chaenath]
Maude is already busy with the customers behind you once you move your drinks from the bar counter, but she shouts an answer to you over the heads of a few workers who fill in the space you left behind. "That's right, girlie. They been braggin' bout it all day n' night. Bunch'a twats."
She leaves it at that, going back to serving the various bar patrons. You have your two drinks now, Chaenath has the rest.
[Mirim/Atonement]
The lanky youth looks down briefly when he notices the movement there, and his eyes bulge out of his skull a bit when he sees the snake coiled around his neck. "Shit! ****! What the **** is this?" He exclaims wildly, clawing at his neck immediately.
His two companions begin to panic as well, they are shocked and afraid as they see the serpent wrapped around their 'leader's' throat. They move into attempt to help him with removing it, but he stumbles backwards, falling on his back. When they go to help him up, he holds up a hand, breathing heavily.
You can see one of his hands has passed through the simple illusion, exposing it for what it is. He glares furiously at Atonement as he stands, and his friends do the same. "I don' know what sort of ****in' dark magic ya used on me goat-boy, but ya'd best never show your face here again, or you're ******* dead! I've got friends 'round here that won't hesitate to string ya up by your ankles, remember that!" He yells this final threat as he scrambles to his feet, he and his two friends retreating down a nearby alleyway, apparently deterred for now.
Mirim runs over to Atonement, grabs his hand and pulls him into the inn, she is surprisingly strong. "I can't bear to see anyone treated like that, next time..." She glances around the bar, sees the people and huffs "Just, put something over it ok?" Mirim begins looking for the rest of the party while shoving a hat onto Atonement
Seraphine motions to Chaenath and walks where Ethan awaits. Handing him both her drinks, she grabs the other two from Chaenath and starts in on her ale, explaining what they'd heard about the Black Jacks.
Atonement rubs the back of his head with one hand and lets out a long sigh, "That situation could have been handled better, but what's done is done. Let us meet up with our comrades and see if they have found anything." He doesn't fight against Mirim putting a hat on him as his normal friendly and upbeat demeanor is replaced by a more somber mood as he scans the room for the others.
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
"Hmm!" Mirim brightens up when she sees the rest of the party and walks over, sitting down "Hello again! Have you gotten any information on our case? Have you spoken to the Guard about the body yet?"