Miri shifts from one foot to another excitedly.  "So we're heading to the Dock Ward?  And the - what was it? Something Dragon?"  She looks at the others questioningly.

Boo quickly pockets her 10 GP thinking that at first opportunity should it present itself along the way and there is time to spare that she get herself situated with either a suit of Leather armor or used/secondhand Studded Leather at a discounted price if she can locate one that she can afford with what funds that she available. Boo then considers Volo mentioning of the Skewered Dragon, a tavern in the Dock Ward where he last saw his missing friend. Boo scratches her chin as she struggles to think and remember History 9 what she may know about the Dock Ward in general and the Skewered Dragon specifically that may be of any help to the group on their quest and share whatever she may know and remember or what she has heard with the others...

Boo remembers that the Dock Ward is probably the roughest area of the city.  She can't recall ever hearing of the Skewered Dragon.

Zuldarr pockets the gold and potions then claps his hands together, "Well, we are burning daylight just sitting here. Thank you Mr. Volo for the employment opportunity and your generosity." 

Boo looks up at Dragonborn Zuldarr and follows his lead and thanks Volo giving him another polite curtsy, "thank very much m'lord Volo for both the job and your generosity, we won't let you or your friend down!" 

Miri leans over to Boo.  "He's a lord?!" she whispers loudly.  "This is so exciting! New friends, a job, and now I've met a lord?!  I knew coming to Waterdeep was a good idea!"

Boo looks up at Miri and shrugs, "how would I know, I am just a poor homeless waif..." She sighs and adds, "it's been my experience that someone like me is either polite and respectful or we get our heads knocked about or worse if you know what I mean! So when someone is nice to me especially when they don't have to be, gives me something special or looks like they could beat me senseless and just might... then to me they are m'lords. Just to be safe and cover me bum! Call someone m'lord respectful like no matter if they are a real lord or not, it shows respect and they will eat it up and be less inclined to cause you trouble or hurt you. Better safe than sorry I always say."

Miri listens to Boo, eyes wide, nodding.  "Treat everyone with respect . . . m'lord . . . Wait! People have beaten you?  You're homeless?" Miri looks at Boo, horrified that someone has mistreated the poor little thing.  "That's -- that's terrible!" She goes to hug Boo, hesitates, then shrugs and hugs her anyway.  "I'll keep an eye out for you and you let me know if anyone bothers you."  Her eyes blaze angrily and she straightens up to her full 7'+ height.  Miri immediately appoints herself to keep watch over Boo.

Boo is somewhat surprised by Miri's reaction to her explanation and then freezes in fear when the towering woman hugs her and replies to offer of protection, "not so much these days anyway, I am bit older and wiser... besides Mercy over there kinda looks after me... well, we sort look after each other." Boo pointing at her friend, Mercy, a Tiefling sitting nearby. "So not to worry so much about me... besides in this city there is much more to worry and fear than mortal bullies and the like, both highborn and lowborn... rather it's the monsters... they are what you really need to be careful of!!!" Boo points to the horrible scars around her mouth and lips... at least a decade old, long healed over but permanently marking her. The waif smiles shyly at Miri, "I got this when I was eight years old... the creature that did this killed me mum but I and my twin-sister survived though not unscathed. I was lucky, I more or less came out in one piece but my sister Loo, well what's left of her I keep close to me in my pack here." If Miri looks closely at the old dirty second-hand backpack for a bit she can see it sometimes shake or move about on its own, as if a small animal was trapped inside moving about. Then suddenly... without warning, the tip of small semi-decayed looking human finger sticks out of the opening!!! Boo giggles and swats it back inside, "Loo, don't be scaring this kind lady... she's a friend."

Miri looks over at Mercy as Boo is talking.  She looks tougher than Boo, but not by much, she thinks.  As Boo's words sink in, she turns back to her.  "There are monsters loose in the city?  This is turning out to be more of an adventure than I anticipated."  Miri silently resolves herself to look out for both Boo and Mercy as they travel.  The small ones should not be homeless or unprotected.  As she is thinking this, her eyes widen as she sees the finger sticking out of Boo's pack.  "You carry around your dead sister's hand?" she whispers hoarsely.

Boo smiles up at the expression on Miri's face and responds to the tall female's whispered question in a rather simple straightforward manner... as if nothing at all was wrong or strange about the whole thing, "no... of course not, don't be silly... she's all in there!" Boo pauses for a moment as if reflecting on a fragment of a lost memory then adds, "and let me tell you, it's not as easy as you would think to squeeze all of her in there either."

Miri looks confused as she stares down at Boo.  Her mind has broken as a result of the horrible treatment she has suffered, Miri decides.  Regardless, the poor thing needs looking after.  "I'm sure it isn't easy," she murmurs to Boo.  "It's very kind of you to look after her like that."

Boo smiles up at Miri, beaming with delight at the compliment, surprisingly Boo is not one to receive all that many compliments in her life, "yes... I think so too! I keep telling Loo that... but you know she just doesn't always appreciate all I do for her. But I am happy to have my sister with me close by... always together and she helps too, a lot actually. I don't know what I would do without her."

"It must be nice to have family," Miri whispers softly.  I don't even remember my parents, she thinks.  Although Master Keko was like a father to her, he wasn't her father.  Miri sighs.  Nothing she can do to change things, so moving forward is her only option.  "I wonder what the Dock Ward and the next tavern will be like.  Hopefully it won't take long to find Lord Volo's missing friend."

Boo smiles again at Miri, "yes family is nice, I have Loo and of course Mercy and she has lots of friends being rather popular, not like me. People don't much take a shine to me for some reason and I do try so hard to be polite. It's just the monsters, they tend to pop up all over the place and ruin things. I have only been to the Dock Ward a couple times, mostly just passing through chasing something or other and I am a good girl, so I don't usually go inside taverns, I am not a tart, after all, its rather unseemly for a lady to go into a tavern don't you think? At least that is what my mum used to tell me. I only came here because Mercy brought me, said we could find a job and get paid. I like getting paid, don't you?"

"Well, you have to get a drink somewhere, and a tavern seems fine to me.  Of course, I'm not a lady, so maybe I'm not the best one to ask.  I didn't have a mother to teach me these things." Miri sighs again.  "Master Keko taught me many things, but etiquette lessons were very few.  I am good at combat, though, there were many lessons on that."  She smiles at Boo.

While Miri and Boo are having their conversation, Zuldarr walks over to the barkeep and slides two gold their way to pay for the group's food and the mess from the fights. Zuldarr will then go and gather his belongings before shouting to the others, "Daylight is burning, and I'm sure we need to stop and shop for supplies before heading down to the docks. You can keep your conversation going; just walk and talk." With that Zuldarr will start to make his way out of the tavern and wait outside for the others to catch up. 

The barkeep laughs and refuses to take your money.  "Your cat friend took out a troll, that's worth a few drinks, even if it was a stroke of luck."

[[OOC: Assuming there are no objections I'm gonna hit a little bit of fast forwarding here.  Please avail yourselves of a virtual long rest, and assume you can do any purchasing at PH prices.]]

You leave the Yawning Portal and began heading to the Dock Ward, stopping for supplies on the way.  As you enter the Ward, tall, densely packed tenements leave most of the neighborhood in shadow at ground level. Most of the streetlamps have had their glass smashed and their candles stolen, and the smells of salt air and excrement linger as you pass by rows of run-down buildings.

As you turn a corner, you find yourselves on a street that has been cordoned off by the City Watch. Lying on the cobblestones are a half-dozen corpses, seemingly the victims of some terrible skirmish. Watch officers have disarmed and arrested three blood-drenched humans and are in the midst of questioning witnesses. One of the officers sees you. “Get on,” she says. “Nothing to see here.”

Miri watches the proceedings with wide eyes, trying to see as much as she can from her higher vantage point.  She describes what she can see to whichever companions are closest to her, paying attention to the corpses and the arrested humans. 

Investigation?: 10

Perception?:  15

Boo stops along the way in the Dock Ward just long enough to quickly purchase a cheap worn second-hand suit of leather armor from a very unsavory looking Goblin rogue selling used weapons and armor out of the back of a broken down wagon. Lucky for Boo she is able to talk him down to 10 GP,  the price of a brand new suit of leather armor spending in one go the entire upfront payment she recently been given to take on the task at hand.

Most of the streetlamps have had their glass smashed and their candles stolen, and the smells of salt air and excrement linger as you pass by rows of run-down buildings.

The darkly clad ragamuffin Boo in her home-made ratskin cloak sticks close to the others especially Mercy and Miri, taking from her pack a left-over roasted-rat skewer on a stick tearing at it's burnt flesh with her teeth and chewing it up... then gulping down as she walks along. Pausing only to take in the thrilling sights and sounds of the wonderous and aptly named Dock Ward, before she stops for a moment to take a deep long breath smiling as she turns to her new friend Miri, looking up at her with a wide grin, "Do you smell that?... excrement, my dear Miri. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of excrement in the morning. You know, one time a pack of monsters chased me into a sewage tunnel, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked out safe and sound. Covered in pooh I could see 'em all, a dozen stinkin' monster corpses spread all over, like a field of corpse flowers. The smell, you know... that glorious smell, of death and dung... the whole area. Smelled like... victory! Someday, someday soon I am going to end every last monster that dwells in Waterdeep..."

As you turn a corner, you find yourselves on a street that has been cordoned off by the City Watch. Lying on the cobblestones are a half-dozen corpses, seemingly the victims of some terrible skirmish. Watch officers have disarmed and arrested three blood-drenched humans and are in the midst of questioning witnesses. One of the officers sees you. “Get on,” she says. “Nothing to see here.”

Boo breaks rank pulling out her brass beggar's bowl approaching the biggest and meanest looking officer, shaking it (the bowl) and holding it up squeaking in a child-like voice as she moves closer for a better look, "please kind ser, spare a copper penny for a poor homeless waif?"

Looking up at the officer her eyes locking on his then darting about looking over the area for any clues as to what happened, as well as signs to indicate if it was a monster attack or something more mundane as Boo does not immediately think the blood-drenched humans being arrested are responsible. Looking about Boo takes special note of the corpses to make sure none of them look like the description of the Floon fellow they are supposed to be looking for! Investigation 13 Perception 14