Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

He nods, "Lute. I see. Ok. As for my position. I am good at respecting all types. I'm a good judge of character. And I think I'm quite smart about how I operate my business. Don't be too greedy, treat people with respect. Value relationships. And realize the truth of the matter, that everyone will take advantage of you, if you make it easy for them....so....don't make it easy." 

He finishes and looks up at the group. 

"Likewise, if any of you come across a magical paladin blade known as a 'Holy Avenger' let me know. I'm also currently seeking a wand of magic missiles, boots of stealth...sometimes called boots of elvenkind, a scroll of true resurrection, or any ioun stones you come across." 

It's evening time...which, unfortunately may be a great time to go look for Laffa, so you all head out, with Etain leading you back to the Yawning Rat. In the evening the Yawning Rat is a different affair. A rough and tumble place, you're greeting with an unconscious body with a blood nose laying outside, a halfling....bouncer?....manning the door, and the sound of a ruckus event going on inside.  The group passes the short man at the door who eyes you with suspicious bug eyes and find yourself into a jostling, shoulder to shoulder packed place. You almost forget the layer of disgusting filth that covers the floor...but mostly because you can't really see the floor through the press of bodies.  

You shove your way through the crowd and begin looking around for Laffa.  It doesn't take long...a couple inquires, to lead you to a table against a wall. There are four people there that look like the beginning to a good joke.  An githyanki, a tiefling, an aasimar, and the wizard described to you as Laffa. They are playing a game of cards...their cards pressed down on the table in front of them as they eye each other and take measure. The don't pay any attention to you. The aasimar, a gorgeous woman wearing a dress with a plunging neck line and an ample figure slides two coins forward, "Call."  

Meepo wanders through the crowd. As he is only knee-high on the majority of people, the halfling at the door quite a bit taller than him after all, he tries his best not to get kicked as he threads his way after the others. As he moves through he can't help but grab some of the things that look ready to be lost by inattentive owners.

Sleight of hand: 14

     Walking to the Yawning Rat, Ketch suddenly curses aloud.  “I should have asked him to get me a triangle,” he explained.  He then turns to Mordekai and adds “We could have started a band…”

     Elbowing and pushing his way through the crowd, Ketch does his bast to clear a path for the others.  Spotting the table needed and making his way to it, Ketch shoved someone aside and pulls their Warlock into the cleared spot.  “You’re the talker.  I’m just here to look scary,” he says and dons his best ( 16 ) intimidating glower…

Ulthan finally realizes and plans to go back to the merchant next chance he gets. "hrmpfh magical quiver to hold more arrows hrmpfh" seems to think of it "hrmpfh holding bag to hrmpfh". He smiles and puts forth his deck of illusions along with 9 arrows of unknown and dagger of unknown (magical, but can't be identified by party members... mainly because I have no idea what they are and either got told and missed it or didn't get told what they actually were).

Lionel left with one thought now stuck in his head - there is Holy Avenger somewhere around and they might come across it. But the city looked like they can come across literally anything, so, he pushed the thought back (not forgetting, of course) and concentrated on Laffa.

Nothing changed in that dirty excuse for a tavern (good thing the valuables were safely stored with Meepo's skeletons). Lionel glanced at Ketch "Maybe wait with intimidation of an already scared man?" said he quietly.  On the other hand, yes, why wait, especially in this place. He walked to the table with Mordekai - for support, if nothing else but once there smiled to the surprisingly well dressed and good looking player - he still was not used to the idea to see his kin everywhere. "Is this s private game or anyone can join?"

Mordekai will use the crowded room to discreetly cast Disguise Self, not making big changes to his appearance, but as he pushes between a couple of folk he looks down and is satisfied that his clothes and cloak are now brighter, richer, more eye-catching vibrant shades of their original colours, as if the act of pushing through the crowd brushed a layer of dust off Mordekai to reveal the gleaming colours beneath. Then he'll cast Guidance on himself as they approach the table, and will position himself in Laffa's eyeline but more directly opposite from the Aasimar woman (not sure how to explain it better as I don't know their seating arrangement, etc, but you get the idea), and will simply wait to watch this hand play out, watching both Laffa and the woman for any kind of tells, figuring out who seems more confident, their general demeanours as they play, and hoping his colourful appearance and intentional positioning at least attracts a glance from one of them. 

Ulthan's requests, and offers are added to the lists, as the octopus is quick to tap each thing. 5600 gp for the deck of illusions, 50 gold for the ten +1 arrows, and 900 for the lightly magical dagger. He adds the bag and quiver to his list of requests.

Ketch makes an imposing figure as he presses his way through the crowd clearing a path for the others to follow. There are some mean glares, but no one seems ready to test the half-orc at this moment. All the jostling and shoving also makes Meepo's habit tremendously easy. He finds himself clutching a bone key that appears to be made of an extra long finger bone, half of a dead snake...the bottom half, a crumpled paper that reads, "Midnight at the Seawind theater", a signet ring, with a finger still in it that appears to be a crab standing at the top of a mountain, and finally 35 copper, 15 silver, and 3 gold. 

Mordekai moves smoothly through Ketch's wake, the color on him seemingly coming alive. The metallic scuffs of Lionels' motion behind him. Ulthan took one look at the inside of the Inn and stepped back outside. Presumably he and the halfling are talking up a storm.

Lionel asks about the game. Without looking up the tiefling mutters, "Buzz off..."  No one at the table seems interested in correcting him. The woman doesn't give Lionel even a first glance, as she intently watches the others at the table. 

Mordekai, roll Insight. 

Insight with Guidance: 15

Deception : 17  Deception : 13 Deception 19 Deception 19 

The groups arrival may have distracted the table a bit since Mordekai has no problem telling that both the Tiefling and the Githyanki have trash in their hands. The Githyanki in particular seems like he may be close to a good hand, but has nothing at the moment. The Aasimar has a twinkle in her eye that is either a bluff or a good hand. Mordekai can't quite make up his mind. Laffa's face is a mask. He looks neither crushed, nor happy....just an emotionless wall. 

The betting and cards continue to roll out. 

Cards : 17 Cards : 20 Cards 21 Cards 22 

Insight : 16 Insight : 22 Insight 16 Insight 21 

Deception : 10  Deception : 15 Deception 19 Deception 7 

The Githyanki and Tiefling do a good job of hiding their tells, Mordekai doesn't pick up much, but they both fold after analyzing the table. Laffa decides to stay in, but to Mordekai it's clear the Aasimar's hand has actually turned out quite strong. Laffa seems to misread her though and stays in....and ends up losing more than he had to.  The Aasimar smiles broadly and sweeps her winnings across the table.  

The Githyanki turns to Mordekai and the others, "We're trying to play a game. Can we help you with something?" 

Mordekai smiles warmly, and says with genuine admission rather than any antagonism in his voice, "You three indeed seem to be trying to play a game. Your Aasimar friend is truly playing. Perhaps you should save yourselves some time and just hand her your gold." He smiled conspiratorially to the Aasimar woman. "Actually, we wondered if we might spare a moment of your Wizard friend's time? I'll happily give a moment of my own time once we're done, and join you for a hand?"

(Did Mordekai happen to notice how high the stakes were?)

The table is littered with copper and silver. Laffa looks up, his spell broken, and his eyes taking on a haunted look. “Whose askin?”  The githyanki’s hand slips below the table and the Aasimar looks up, “Just a bit of luck that round. But yes. Who might you all be.” She looks appraisingly at the group. The tiefling isn’t watching the group but seems to be staring right at the kobold with the ice shard staff, his eyes seem….hungry. 

"We have business with someone we believe to be an old rival of yours, kind of an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing, and just wondered if you might have some fun stories to tell... perhaps more privately?"

Mordekai holds out 5gp to the Wizard. "For your time. It might help to cover your evening's losses."

Meepo swallows hard as the Tiefling continues to stare at him. he doesn't believe he has been stared at so hungrily since the vampires... he tries moving behind one of his friends to break line-of-sight.

The woman belonged in this dirty hole after all. That was another side effect of the plethora of aasimars around - some were ought to end up in the slums. Lionel lost interest in this lot and just stepped in front of Meepo, hiding him from too much attention from the tiefling. They needed the wizard - maybe needed. Should he come - good, not - good as well, they'll save money. Their main goal was not here anyway.

The tiefling breaks his stare at Meepo when he moves behind Lionel, and glances up at the money. His predatory look is exchanged with a greedy grin.  He takes the coins off of Mordekai with a smooth grab and slaps them down in front of Laffa.  "Ahhh, good, more money for me to win....don't think about bully'in the table though......'wizard'...", he snickers at this last...though then looks....sorry about making the joke?  The table is full of downcast eyes for a moment. 

Laffa's eyes look haunted, but he responds, "You want to talk about Zikran. My dealings with him were the start of everything bad that ever happened to me."  He glances around the group, "I don't need privacy, everyone knows my story here...."

The Aasimar nods and says, "Indeed. Laffa here was an up and coming great...powerful wizard!"

The Tiefling grins showing a row of pointy teeth, "And he and this other wizard...named Zikran...were havin a feud. They was each working to show each other up." 

The Githyanki decides to play along, "Laffa figured out where Zikran's workshop was. One day when he knew Zikran was away, he went for a visit....and stole a magical book from him." 

Laffa looks around the table with a sour look, but also a defeated look. "The book was horrid. A terrible mistake. From the moment I touched the damned thing it began to infect me. Soon tattoo's began appearing all over my flesh as the connection deepened..and it began to transform me and played havoc with my magic." 

The Aasimar nods, looking a bit sad, "He went on a quest to try and solve the issue, during which, his love was slain."

The Tiefling's grin fades, and even he looks a bit sad, "And when Laffa found out the only way to rid himself of the curse and not be consumed by the book...was to use his most powerful magic.....he had a choice to make."

Laffa looked, "I figured...once I was cured, I'd still have power...to bring him back. So I thought...remove the curse first...then...bring him back." 

The Aasimar, still looking sad nods, "When he wished away the book and its infection, the book vanished.....but it took most of his magic with it, robbing Laffa of his powerful magical abilities. And his ability to bring his lover back." 

The Tiefling grins again, "And so, believing Zikran has left this book intentionally as a trap, Laffa spent most of his money and magical wealth hiring a Bronze Dragon to go to Zikran's lab and kill him. But Zikran had already left. Laffa's contract with the Dragon was air tight though, Laffa is no fool. That poor dragon is probably still stuck there waiting for Zikran, who hasn't been seen since." 

Meepo moves forward again. "What book look like?" He asks, frowning as he considers the single thing, well book anyway, they took from the place. He decides not to inform these that the dragon is gone now, as these are likely the only others who know where the secret lab is located, and thus able to get there if they wished to do so, and knew the dragon was no longer a threat.

Laffa closes his eyes, remembering.  "The accursed thing was leather....in a box. It was titled 'The Scrivener's Tale'." 

Meepo feels his scales go clammy as he considers the very book currently in his pack. "Meepo wonder what someone do if find book..." He comments, sounding a bit uneasy.

(At the start, Mordekai wouldn't just have let the tiefling swipe the coins so easily - don't know if I'd need a sleight of hand check or some kind of dex check for that? He'd keep the coins held out even if successful, but isn't about to let someone 'get the better of him' like that. Not that it makes any difference to the ensuing conversation, but it'd be a matter of pride to Mordekai)

"Interesting. So Zikran was skilled at enchanting books and tomes? Or was this a one-off? How close was your rivalry? Did you ever get the better of him? Remove or destroy his magic at any point? What is your love's name?"

Mordekai snatches the gold back.  Laffa raises an eyebrow, "You wanna talk, fine, pass over the gold and we'll talk."  (presuming the gold eventually changed hands, the conversation proceeded). 

Mordekai then begins to ask questions.  Laffa shakes his head at the first question, "No...this cursed book wasn't Zikran's.  It was something else. Something older, otherworldly...I don't know where he got it. As for our rivalry? It was a loose affair. A few stolen jobs on each side, a matter of pride on a few things. It should never have cost me so much. I never saw him again after. He left. Occasionally I check in with the dragon, but he has not been seen since. I suspect he went and died somewhere. Hopefully painfully." 

He ignores your last question.