OoC - Quasi cracks me up, lol

"Aye, we have had quite an experience with crawling things.  We just got back from helping a nice lady with her house, underneath it was an old, uh, what was it Drusk?  A...oh yes, a Lich." He says, and spits on the ground, "An old Lich's liar.  Down in the guts of this liar was an elf with an evil hand.  We hacked it off and it crawled all over the place!  Even free from its corporeal moorings!" he leans in and lowers his voice, "It may yet crawl still..."

He sits back in his chair and takes a drink of the Dwarven meade, "Oh this takes me back to the halls of Moradin and the ringing of hammer on anvil!" he says, with a great smile.

Ilena walks a little more slowly as she notices the halfling and the large bipedal lizard approaching Volo's table, but seeing that Volo is introducing himself she relaxes slightly and reaches for her cup. 

"Apologies, Master Geddarm, the roaring of the crowd drew my attention and at times my mind wanders and the rest of me tends to follow." She remains standing, but tosses back the cowl of her heavy winter cloak which had crept its way over her head while she was leaning over the well. She holds a hand outstretched in greeting to the lizardman and the halfling. "I'm Ilena Casquinha, pleased to make your acquaintance." She smiles, a little too broadly.

Behind you all, during your conversations (but before our next official post check-in, just moving events along, feel free to take all the time you want RPing), the crowd cheers/jeers as the rogue disappears down the well, and the wizard steps into the bucket and plunges into darkness, prestidigitated sparks and streamers in his wake. The cheering eventually dies off, and some people start making for the door. It is late, after all, and the evening's entertainment is done.

Quote from abunny >>

Ilena walks a little more slowly as she notices the halfling and the large bipedal lizard approaching Volo's table, but seeing that Volo is introducing himself she relaxes slightly and reaches for her cup. 

"Apologies, Master Geddarm, the roaring of the crowd drew my attention and at times my mind wanders and the rest of me tends to follow." She remains standing, but tosses back the cowl of her heavy winter cloak which had crept its way over her head while she was leaning over the well. She holds a hand outstretched in greeting to the lizardman and the halfling. "I'm Ilena Casquinha, pleased to make your acquaintance." She smiles, a little too broadly.

 Pascal takes her hand and lowers his head a little bit, almost like a lizardly bow, “The pleasure is mine, Madame Casquinha, bonjour. Pascal LaRoux at ya service.” He turns to Volo, “And you, Mr. Volo, I’ve heard a great deal about you, a pleasure to put a face to the name!”

"Oh, yes," Volo says, clearly pleased at being recognized. "Perhaps you have read a copy of my latest book, Volo's Guide to Monsters? I should very much add a section on red lizardfo... er, em, I mean, of course, please won't you join us? I was just telling Mistress Casquinha here about my trip to Chult!"

Pascal will take a seat, “Ah, more of a cookbook fan myself. However, my friend here seems quite the fan.” Pascal gestures to Hildi.

Ilena shifts her weight to one hip and takes a sip from her cup of watered down whatever-it-is. "Ah a fan of the culinary arts, do you have any particularly exciting recipes? I grew up in eating monastery food which meant whatever Master Ardelez felt like cooking at the time which invariably seemed to be some kind of bland porridge."

Pascal’s eyes light up, while at the same time looking at you with what seems like intense pity. It’s hard to tell, he’s an alligator. In any case, he nods firmly, “Oh Madame, I got just the thing for you.” He pulls out his pack, removes some brewing supplies, pours in some strangely translucent liquid along with some black liquid. He shakes the two together in a tumbler and pour’s them into a mug. He then releases a freezing beam from his mouth on the mug and adds a puff of Prestidigitation for flavor. With pride, he sets it before Illena, “The Iced Cube, a fine beverage that will knock your socks off. I recently perfected this recipe during my travels.”

Yeah, he mixed the black pudding with the gelatinous cube. That stuff oughta be strong.

Ilena takes the concoction in front of her with her left hand, wafting the odor toward her with her right. The odor alone is enough to tell her that she probably shouldn't even try it with her poor constitution, but she lifts the mug to her lips to get just enough to taste. She draws back coughing and nearly passes out from that. 

"It's delicious, but it might be too much for someone stricken with lifelong illness such as I. I thank you, but would you be offended if I offered it to our mutual friend here?"

She passes it in Volo's direction and watches him carefully. 

The alligator's head droops, "Oh... nah, please share." That look of intense pity is still in his eyes, but after a beat, he looks expectantly to Volo.

(OOC: I'm really looking forward to Ilena and Pascal bonding over getting Volo super smashed.)

OOC: As am I. Also Pascal continuously feeling bad over Ilena's tragic and flavorless upbringing. The poor girl! 

Hildigrim, not rudely, but a bit awkwardly having ignored Ilena, his eyes wide and watching Volo in stunned silence for a good half a minute or so, finally seems to shake himself back to manners. He blinks and licks his lips, which are now a little dry due to his codfish impression. He looks at the monk and gives a slight bow. "Hildigrim Goodbody," he says distractedly, his eyes cutting back toward Volo. "Very pleased to make your acquaintance." He quickly climbs onto the bench beside the wizard, unceremoniously making room by causing Volo to move in. "You've written a new guide? A guide to monsters? Fascinating! I've read your others: Volo's Guide to All Things Magical, Volo's Guide to Cormyr, Volo's Guide to the Dalelands, Volo's Guide to the Lands of Intrigue, Volo's Guide to the North, Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast, and, of course, Volo's Guide to Waterdeep. There's a bookseller here in town that claims he's heard of a Volo's Guide to the Moonsea, but I told him it must not exist or the libraries would know about it. He blames the Zhents, but why would anyone suppress one of your guides? But, a new guide. On monsters! Hainard's hairy toes!" Hildi exclaims, his voice rising. "Please, tell me all about it." The halfling looks around the crowd. "A drink. I need a drink. Oh," he says, spotting the concoction Pascal has pushed toward Volo, "here's one. May I?" he asks. Not waiting for an answer, the rogue downs the mixture in one.

I'll just post a constitution check and let the DM decide what happens next: 21

Ilena leans on the edge of the table with both arms as Hildigrim downs Pascal's mixed drink in one gulp. Barely enough to taste nearly knocked her out, so she's staring at Hildigrim intensely, waiting to see what the drink will do to him.

Perception check to see if Jorin notices his good friend Pascal, offering a mysterious drink to someone else, and feeling a bit like he's been held out on...17

edit: ha!

(OOC: Seems to me that, depending on your interpretation, he might notice really hard and feel super bad about it.)

Pascal now looks expectantly toward Hildi, waiting on a reaction

Also, Mingo, I am using the healing version of my ability, should that affect your interpretation.

Drusk, Jorin, and Jalester

Jalester smiles at Jorin's comments, and leans in. "It sounds like there are stories to be told here! An elvish half-orc and a dwarven human? And a lich's lair?" Molly returns with some food. "Molly," he says, "Get us another round, on me, looks like I'll be staying a little longer." Molly deposits the food, takes payment for it (5 shards apiece, to Drusk and Jorin), and is off again.

"So, tell me about this lich," he says. The free drinks are enough to distract Jorin from whatever his friends might be doing at the back of the place. Surely they aren't getting free drinks!

Pascal, Hildi, Ilena, and Volo

The four of you squeeze into the booth, though the table shifts uncomfortably towards Volo to make room for Pascal's bulk. As Hildi slobbers all over Volo, Ilena and Pascal engage in their cocktail concoction, and eventually push it towards Volo, but Hildi stops to take a breath and seeing the steaming cup, downs it in one gulp.

Everyone stares at the Halfling for a quiet second.

Then Hildigrim gives an indelicate burp, it was actually sort of refreshing!

Volo, to his credit, takes it all in stride. "Well, yes, my Guide to Monsters has been out for a while now, but I am currently," and he pats his stuffed bag, "working on a Guide to Spirits, though it seems I should make that a guide to the drinkable sort!" he laughs too loudly and indicates the still smoking mug.

A different barmaid approaches your table. "Hallo! Me name is Bonnie. Can I get you anything?" While she looks generically Tethyrian, you cannot place her accent. She seems very friendly.

In the Rest of the Tavern

The crowd is thinning quite a bit, as people realize the entertainment is over. People are leaving, coming down from the balconies, etc. At the arm wrestling table, the half-orc is continuing to win handily, but a small crowd has gathered, so you can't make out the details. Across the well, a small group has begun a bawdy drinking song, accompanied by a young bard. Durnan remains behind the bar, cleaning glasses and keeping an eye on things.

A map!

Drusk will slap down a GP to cover his and Jorin's food (since Jorin covered the first round of drinks).

While he and Jorin continue talking, he is watching to see if Jalester gives away the reason for his new interest in Liches. Eager in a creepy Evil way, or concerned in a Good aligned way?