Adventures in Esyldien - Campaign Thread

”I get that. Cities can get weird. I’ll be in a little later, you can join them.”, just before they reach the tavern 9 leaves Witt and wonders around the city. She tries to get the general feel of people on the street by observing and looks to see any eye catching symbols for her in alleys or on people in general. She doesn’t do this too long though, she’ll head back towards the tavern as the sun is setting.

Insight: 21

Perception: 17

 Witt and 9 have little difficulty catching up to the others even before they arrived at the Sturdy Unicorn Inn. Particularly given that they had to spend some time finding their way there. ( Gerald had by then already reminded Witt that he and the rest of the caravan would be staying at the Oxen Cart Tavern near the outer wall of town. ) 9 looked about the town very carefully as she walked, making sure there weren't any symbols of note on the way there. There were a small few people here and there with divine symbols on them, but nothing offensive; Durn, Oryn, Sura and the like. For the most part this was a town filled with fairly normal people of all the common races. By and large everything was business as usual for most of these people, but 9 could sense that subtle undertone of unease and the quiet trading of rumors that came with it. It was clear that the current scandal happening with the royal throne was on everyone's minds, if nothing else it remained the most interesting topic of conversation for all the locals. 

Before they knew it, they too had joined up with everyone else and were standing within the eccentric confines of the Study Unicorn. The flamboyant man that walked up to everyone continues keenly observing everyone with a huge smile and seems absolutely delighted being introduced to everyone's pets.

"Oh my, aren't you all just the most adorably scrumptious thing." He says while shamelessly but delicately petting both Cali and Rusty, "So tell me you lovely darlings, what can I do for you? Need a room? Need three? Or perhaps just one very large and exotic one?"

Nemeia ponders the possibility of all sharing a large room and telling stories until they slowly fell asleep. It was a tempting offer but didn't know that her companions would share her sentiment. "Quartermaster...." She turns to the others with a puzzled look. "Did he tell us his name? Oh well. No bother. The Quartermaster told us to find shelter here so that we could receive our reward for outstanding service to the throne." Nemeia does her best to sound official about the ordeal but honestly didn't pay much attention to the details. She was just excited to see a castle and hopefully spend some time in their library. "I do not know how this land rewards those that fight off invaders as we have, but surely it's enough for a room or two?" She seems hopeful in her plea and her desire to stay in such a wonderful place is probably causing her to be a bit more excited than she intends to show.

Moira

Moira gets an excited look on her face. "Ohhh, a slumber party sounds like fun! So long as that is okay with everyone else? I am sure we have enough to cover what ever accommodations we would like for a few days."   She looks to the rest of you pleadingly about getting one large room while also pulling out the fancy coin purse from the 'baron'. Setting the purse down on the counter she looks back to the proprietor. "We will also need information....? I'm sorry I don't think I caught your name."

"Well I'm down for sharing a room, especially if we get a better rate for it." Sora mentioned with a shrug, still looking around at all the details of this unusual inn. This place was definitely went way beyond what she was expecting, which was impressive considering she was already imagining a pretty interesting place based on the name alone.

The innkeeper leans in close to Moira with a wide, charming, slightly cocked smile stretched across his face before bowing deeply before her and the rest of the party, "Guastielle Armond Siam, Keeper and Proprietor of The Best Inn in Tarrin Kingdom, at your service." He stands back up to his full height still wearing that same smile on his face, "You may call me Gus if you wish, nearly everyone does. If you are interested in one of our special rooms, which I would highly recommend for such a fun and energetic young group of adventurers like yourselves, I can have the accommodations prepared for you right away." He looks over the party before resting his gaze on Nemeia for the moment, "If you are awaiting a reward from the quartermaster then rest assured I will make certain you receive any correspondence as our welcomed guest." His gaze then moves over to Sora, "As for the rates, the suite in question is two gold per night, which once you've experienced our hospitality you will agree is quite a bargain." 

Moira

Clapping her hands at the magnificent bow and the seeming agreement of the group to a shared room Moira digs out a couple gold and holds them out. "That sounds wonderful Gus! Thank you. Now while I am sure you have the best food and drink in the city some of us enjoy a workout along with our drink. Do you know of any where a good tavern brawl can be enjoyed?"

I'll take one food and drink, hold the brawl please, says Witt raising his hand.  Do you never get indigestion Moira?

"Wonderful! I'll have you setup right away." Gus says cheerfully, before clapping his hands loudly as he turned behind him, "Jamal, Elise, prepare the second penthouse with two additional beds for our guests, also Goeff, bring me the guestbook." On the other end of the inn several servers instantly began moving, two of them, a man and a woman, moved past everyone and up the stairs too quickly to get a good look at them. The third was quickly walking over with a large book under his arm. Taking a look at him he appeared to be a young half orc. His hair was slicked back and he wore very simple, albeit high quality formal attire. He moved right next to Gus and opened up the book, holding it for him.

"Since you are all new here I will tell you a few things you'll find interesting." Gus continued speaking without missing a beat, "All of the service establishments in the merchant sector are rather specialized and unique. Meaning you won't find a bar with rooms for rent, or an inn with a kitchen for serving guests. Including this one. If you want spirits you will need to find a separate tavern, and if you want food you will need to find a restaurant. That said we often make partnerships for such services, and I particularly pride myself of being able to provide anything I can for my guest." He paused only long enough to emphasis his words, "And I do mean anything." He smiled and winked at the group as a whole before he continued, "To that end I highly recommend The Rose and Olive Restaurant next door for top quality dining. They are also dear friends of mine and the restaurant we partnered up with for all your meals here at the inn. So if you request any food items you'll be able to order directly from their menu and have it brought up to your room. Now then, before we get too sidetracked, I'll need a name and two gold for the room." You're not sure where he pulled it from, but in his hand he held a quill over the opened guestbook looking over the party expectantly.

Moira

Dropping the two gold from her hand Moira takes the quill and quickly writes in the book. “I hope group names are alright.”

 9, characteristically enough, decided to stay silent and observe. She was somewhat surprised by the flamboyancy of the person in front of them and unwillingly compared it to what the Duke was trying to impress. While others were talking 9 walked around the room, looking for anything notable or hidden. Not touching anything, just observing. She also tries to get a general feel of Hus, who to her, seems to be more than he reveals. He feels too... characterized to her.

Insight: 16 + 4

Perception: 11, this changed for some reason. The actual roll is 13

Sora frowned slightly as she looked over Moira's shoulder looking at what she was writing in the guest book. She didn't bother saying anything about it however. Though she would have been happy to pay for the room, Moira did have the gold that the Duke had given them, so she was fine with letting her write down any name she liked. 

"I would love to pick your brain later about what's going on in this town. Especially if you have any good recommendations for a tavern brawl. But I think first we all need to get a bit of rest, and I for one am really curious how exotic this penthouse is. I'm pretty sure we'll definitely be ordering from this Rose and Olive to our room." 

With a flourish, Gus takes the two gold and waves the half-orc next to him away. Without a word Goeff takes the guest book and heads off somewhere to the back of the inn. Meanwhile Gus regards the whole party with a happy smile, "Perfect, I am absolutely pleased to welcome you as guests of The Sturdy Unicorn." Seemingly out of nowhere he produces five keys in his other hand that he holds out for everyone to take. "These are for you, your rooms should be ready soon so feel free to head up now if you wish. Simply take the stairs all the way up to the top floor, your room will be the first door on your left. Quite the lovely street side views I must say. I'll let all of you get settled in before sending one of our crew members up with a menu to let you order whatever you desire. Anytime you like you're welcome to come down and discuss anything you need to with me in great detail. Unless, of course, you really need to find a brawl immediately to quench your primal needs. Whatever the case, I am at your service, my dear guests."

Do you want to eat in the room, or at the restaurant?  Witt asks the others.  I think I'd vote for the restaurant.  If you'd rather order in, I can give them your order at the same time.  Witt seems restless and eager to get to dinner, in one form or another.

”I don’t mind either one. Although I think eating in the room would be more comfortable. I’ll actually stay inside, want to relax a little.”

"Well hells, I wanna check out the room first. So my vote is we head upstairs and get comfy in our big shiny room, and order some great food for everyone to enjoy! In fact I think I'll head there now." With an eager smile Sora took her key and rushed up the stairs to their room. As she ran up the stairs she called out back to everyone in the party, "First one there gets to pick their bed!"

Nemeia nods in excitement and says, "room then restaurant!," as she dashes up the stairs towards the room in anticipation.  Cali bounds after her keeping up in stride. Nemeia isn't the fastest so she probably wouldn't beat the others there unless they took a slower pace.

Heading up to the room, you climb a long flight of stairs to reach the top floor of this inn before reaching the door to the room. What awaits you on the other side of the doorway is an impressive sight. This penthouse takes up nearly half of the entire floor, and opens up to a sizable living room in the center just past the doorway. Several high end leather couches and a quality built custom dining table fill the area. Beyond that you see several rooms, interestingly these rooms don't have proper doors but instead use heavy curtains to divide the entry between each of the spaces. There are three bedrooms in total within the suite. One is the master bedroom with a large double sized bed, it's also the largest room. The other two guest rooms are slightly smaller with two beds. One of those beds is permanent with a sturdy wooden bedframe. The other was clearly placed there recently and is a far simpler affair with little more then a mattress on top of a supporting box spring. The whole room is well appointed, with artwork, vases filled with fresh flowers, and smaller decorations throughout to give the entire room a warm touch. Nothing in here seems too expensive, but there is clearly an attention to detail by those who manage this place.

All of the bedrooms come with good views of the streets below giving a great sense of the town and its people. The rooms are laid out along the outer edge of the building in order to accomplish this, and all three have access to a simple balcony that wraps around the corner of this penthouse. Interestingly one of the smaller guest rooms has arguably the best view as in addition to the street view, it's northward balcony access provides a lovely view of the large castle above the rest of the town.

"Oh my," Nemeia says taking in the finer details of the room. Her life of studies hadn't afforded her the chance to indulge in things of this sort and it was all quite fascinating. She swipes open the fabric to each room trying to get an idea of what the options were. She smiles when she sees Cali nestled into the corner of one of the rooms performing a self check diagnosis to make sure the metal plates and springs were all still in alignment. "I guess this room will do," she says to Cali. Nemeia drops her pack down onto the nice bed but then quickly picks it back up hoping there wasn't any oil or grime still on the pack from her travels. "Oops," she blurts out before setting the bag on the floor. 

She then unloads the burden from the day, setting her crossbow and other unneeded items down into the corner. After a moment, she comes back out into the main room and smiles at the beauty. "I could stay here forever," she says to no one.

"I couldn't. Even the shiniest gilded cage gets boring eventually." Sora spoke up as she walked out of the side room with the castle view where she had placed all her stuff. She paused for a moment as her words brought back some unpleasant memories from long ago, but she shook those away quickly, preferring to focus on the present. Even she had to admit this place was great. The innkeeper had been right in his sales pitch, this room was a great value for the price they were asking. She motioned with her thumb over her shoulder to the room where she had placed her things as she added, "I'm taking a bed in that room. I really like the extra balcony access from there."