"Listen, Krackle. People work their entire lives to get a house of their own and sometimes that isn't enough. Maybe stop thinking of immediately getting them a house and start thinking of smaller things you can do. Like buying them something more affordable that will still make their lives better, or just sending them some of the money that you make on your adventures. Because it's incredibly unlikely that you'll suddenly stumble upon the money you need to buy a house and this way you'll still be doing something to help them."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
The three musicians laugh at Krackle's suggestion and the halfling Wendel speaks up. "I think I would be a wee bit frightened by a dancing bear... I'd always be wonderin' if it were about to gobble me up. But a dancing raccoon... now that would be a right funny sight.. with their little blindfolded eyes and their little hands... there're such adorable looking creatures! Still, you'd have to play every tavern and alehouse up and down the Sword Coast at least a dozen times to afford yerself a whole house, and that would take an awful long time."
"Lemme tell ya something, bein' an entertainer ain't about rain' in lots o' gold, because ya don't. It's about enjoyin' what you do and havin' the passion to keep doin' it, even when you ain't bringin' in the gold. The three o' us here love playin' music together, but we ain't rollin' in gold. We do it because it's because we love the feelin' of making songs together and watchin' them come alive when we play 'em in front of the crowd. Even on the nights when we're playin' small taverns with only a handful o' patrons, we still love weaving our instruments together underneath Lalissa's beautiful voice."
"So that's my advice, kobold. Do things because you love it, not because you're hoping you'll get rich from it."
"Here, here!" Lalissa and Brick echo with a toast of their glasses.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Haven't been as far south as Waterdeep. I'm from the north, up in the Spine. That's where I learned to play like this, listening to the sounds of the mountains, chants, warcries, tumbling rocks, and, well, the winds in the north. No one trained me. I... couldn't find an audience up there, nor could I find one in many of the towns between here and there. Actually Yartar was the first time I got requests for repeat performances. But I also like to stay moving. Hence the adventure with these folks. I wonder if a rock bard can balance a life of music and a life of adventuring."
Lumen will make more smalltalk with Lalissa, Brick, and Wendel. Insight check to see if they're concealing anything or just earnest musicians: 8
To Krackle and Vesper, Lumen just says, "never seen a raccoon dance before. Maybe later though."
He's ready to turn in for the night, the long day finally getting to him. Happy to split a room with someone in the party (or, as a semi-suave fellow, Lalissa if the conversation heads there).
"I haven't been up into the Spine, I've only been as far north as Luskan. I can't even imagine how rough and rugged it must be up there. Your style suddenly makes sense... you do a wonderful job giving the listener a feel for what that part of the world must be like, at least with the way you describe it. And self taught musicians are often the most inventive with their instruments."
"I great up in a nice family in Waterdeep and was fortunate that my parents made me take music lessons when I was young, because I always liked music. I think they wish I had grown up to be something like a scholar or a scribe instead of a traveling musician, but it's the life I've grown to love, moving about, meeting new people, and making up songs about the life I see up and down the coast."
"Well... I'm glad we met, Lumen, and I'm pleased to listen you play. I can still hear some of those melodies in my head; I'm sure they'll keep me up tonight! Good luck and fortune to you and your friends, and I hope we meet again. Until then, may the music always be in your heart."
Kess and Lalissa seem to recognize each other, from Kess's days working at The Lonesome Crow roadhouse in Triboar. Given that they play in numerous towns around the area, Lalissa has met quite a few people in the venues where she and her band play, and while it's more acquaintance than friendship, she does nonetheless have passing memory of Kess, who is quite recognizable with the way she dresses and carries herself. The musician greets her fellow elf with an enthusiastic smile, remarking that it's always nice to see a familiar face.
After visiting with them for awhile, you don't seem as their concealing anything, they seem to be a genuine trio of musicians who loves what they do, although given that they regularly make such a wide circuit around this part of the north, Lumen does get the sense that they might be just a tad more adventurous than they let on.
Regarding your lodging for the night, you were able to to secure two (or three) rooms from the innkeeper, at the cost of 2gp each. He's not the stocky man in his 50s, who last time, referred to Krackle as your "pet." This man is a thin, well groomed gentleman who treats you with a tad more respect.
"Well, now, that's right friendly o' you to bring it up,"Chrys replies to Ehrland as the food is brought out to the others. "I believe you said you'd give us 100 gold on completion o' this here task,"she answers. "And we could be needin' it, to be honest... 'twas hard work we did up there."
She finishes her meal with gusto, and as Lumen introduces the trio of musicians, Chrys makes sure to introduce them as a team: "An' we call ourselves the Pie Pals!" she says rather proudly, pointedly ignoring the others' dismay. Listening in on the conversation, she nods and lets the others do the talking, rather weary from the day. When it's time to pay up for the rooms, Chrys hums under her breath. "I think we earned ourselves a nice place to stay 'fore we hit the road again… an' we got a lot to be doin' tomorrow." In actuality, she's rather pleased by the good manners of this particular innkeeper, especially concerning Krackle, and so throws in her opinion about spending the night at the inn to the others.
"The Pie Pals?!" Wendel remarks with a hearty laugh. "Now that's a proper band name if I ever heard one! Although in your band, I guess the music's made by knocking goblin heads with yer hammer! But all joking aside... A nice slice o' pie sure sounds good about right now."
Upon answering his questions, Ehrland states that he will meet you here in the morning and give you your 100gp.
After all the socializing and eating, and with a slight buzz due to the brandy, Kess would take the chance to take a nice, long, hot bath.
"I'll need to see a tailor about my clothes at some point tomorrow... It will do me ill good to look like I just stumbled from Luskan's worst quarters," She says to herself, allowing her body to fall into the warm liquid.
"You are probably right Vesper.." Thr kobold would reply with a smal frown. "I guess I could send some coin back home. maybe send it to the the inn where mom works. I dont think I can have it delivered to the stables... The town is pretty far away. Maybe I could ask a bird to take them some coins... birds are nice." He would ponder aloud with a smile as the gears inside his head work to figure out a new plan.
Krackle would look up to his companions and smile. "I can share a room! I am small and can sleep on at the foot of the bed, you won't even know I am there." The kobold would offer as he collects his things and finishes his drink. After wiping the foam from his snout he would make his way to one of the rented rooms and curl up in a tight ball at the foot of one of the beds.. taking up as much space as a house cat.
(2 gold per room or two gold per person? If 2 gold per room then Krackle would pay 1 gold. are there 2 beds in each room? The kobold would just assume cram 3 people in one room and 2 in the other)
After getting out of her bath and changing into nightclothes, Kess looks MUCH happier... and smells pretty good, if the soap that was available is any indicator; a soft scent of mint and flowers follows her, especially her hair, which she has tied up into a simple braid for the night. Though Kess hadn't vocally complained, it would be evident to Vesper (assuming they're sharing a room) that the day's events were physically hard on her, having taken three perilously sharp arrows during the battle with the gnolls. She takes the chance to carefully clean her scimitars and maintain her bow as the night is winding down, inspecting their scrimshaw pommels carefully and assuring the blades are sharp and spotless to prevent rust and wear, as well as beat the dust from her shoes out into the window.
"Hm... perhaps, should we find them, we should inquire if my kinfolk in the Moonwood are willing to part with elven arms and armor," She muses aloud to anyone listening in the room. "After that shave with the gnolls, I am starting to understand what my cousin Rhaethian meant about armor being just as important as arms. That was... close."
"C'mon, Krackle,"Chrys says as she stomps up towards a room. "I'm guessin' we're roomin' together again. Sleep on the bed this time... ya need the rest, what with still recoverin' from that cold." She sighs a little when she sees Krackle curling up at the foot of the bed, and after a moment, simply leans down, picks him up, and deposits him in the middle of the fluffy bed. "I ain't givin' it ta ya," she says stubbornly, grabbing the pillow off. "I'm holdin' the pillow hostage for the night. No takebacks!"
With that, she sets her bedroll up on the floor and fluffs the fancy pillow on top of it. Then she gives Krackle a challenging stare. "Ya move off of the bed, an' I'll make ya share with Lumen next time. I hear he snores!" Chrys quite pointedly doesn't seem to acknowledge whether or not she snores (she does). Gathering her things together, she leaves Krackle to his dilemma to visit the outhouse, then come in again and wash up properly for bed. Sniffing an armpit for good measures, she wrinkles her nose, but figures as long as she's not leaving a trail of stink behind her, it's good enough. Before she settles into her bed, a thought occurs.
"Oi, Krackle, I know how you can pay for that bed,"she says, getting a crafty look in her eyes. "If yer sister ever taught ya how to do a braid, maybe ya can do up my hair 'fore I fall asleep. I never got the hang o' them, an' I always wake up with my hair lookin' like a bird's nest in the mornin'. If ya can help me with it, I'll call the bed an even trade."
Lumen, having assumed Krackle crashed with him for the night, wakes up early after falling asleep early, and goes in search for the kobold. He happens upon the empty room with the bath. He heats up some water and luxuriates in his first bath in in a while. Road dirt and dried blood and who knows what else melt away, and soap helps turn the half-orc into more of a dashing figure. He washes off his armor and organizes his things. He even combs his hair. He heads down to the dining area hoping for signs of complimentary breakfast and his traveling party. He looks... much better than he did before, and the rest of you will find him cleaning off and tuning his lute.
Krackle would follow Chrys and sit patiently on the bed until the dwarf returns. Once she returns and mentions braiding her hair, the tiny kobold would stand up on the bed and smile. "yeah! I know how! I used to braid Hellen's hair a bunch. She taught me how and would tell me about school while I did her hair. I would even practice on horses sometimes while she was at school when I wasn't working or helping dad." He would say as he bounced towards the dwarf. As she sat on the edge of the bed he would take her hair and begin using his thin clawed fingers to separate strands of hair before getting to work. "I practiced a lot so that I could make it extra fancy. The fancier i made it... the longer it would take.. and the longer it took meant the longer I got to spend with Hellen." The kobold would add as his fingers quickly moved through Chrys' thick hair, nimbly and gently forming it into strands and weaving it together. "She used to tell me all about her day, and would try to hold up her school books and show me the pictures in them. She would tell me about her friends and how she hoped to get all of us out of the stables and a house of our own. She taught me how to be a good helper. after she fixed me up" He would add as he worked on her hair, occasionally humming a song while his fingers danced along the back of the dwarfs head. After a while he would pause for a moment before continuing. "Do you have any brothers or sisters? If so what are they like? What do you want to do with all of your gold? Do you want to buy a house too?"
(spoiler above for pic of hairdo, I will insert more conversation in here if Chrys wants)
After Chrys lays down to sleep, the kobold would curl up in a ball on top of the sheets in the middle of the bed. After he heard the dwarf snoring, he would slide out of bed and curl up in a ball next to her and go to sleep.
When the evening winds down, you retire to your rented rooms, which as you discovered during your last visit, are much cleaner, comfortable, finely decorated and fresh smelling than the mildewy rooms at The Weary Knight in Melton. In addition, the separate, private bathing room with the large, free standing tub and buckets of hot water that are heated by a small hearth, offers a wonderful luxury for cleaning the week’s worth of dust, dirt, grime and even dried blood that has accumulated on your bodies during your recent adventures.
Finely cut and sewn wool and cotton blankets add the final touch, and as you lay down and cover up for the night, you enjoy the best night of uninterrupted, quality sleep you’ve had since leaving Yartar last time. When morning arises, you wake to the rays of the summer sun filtering through the small windows, feeling rested, rejuvenated and ready for whatever this day brings.
Downstairs in the dining room, breakfast is being served: a long tray of fresh fruit, warm bread with butter and jam, hard cheese, strips of bacon, sausage patties and fresh squeezed fruit juice for 5sp ea.
When the innkeeper sees you, he hands you a small leather pouch that contains your payment of 100 gold coins that has been left for you by Ehrland.
"Oh,"Chrys replies to Krackle, pleasantly surprised by his skill at hair-styling, "Yeah, I got family too. I got my ma, and my pa, an' I got a brother. We're all kinda on good terms with each other, though it weren't always that way,"she admits. "My parents were doin' okay, y'know? Owned a smithy an' everything. They were hopin' I'd want to inherit the shop from 'em, but I ain't no good at runnin' a business. I'm more the fightin' type. Caused some problems between us, 'till my brother was able to step up an' do all that inheritin' for me,"she says with a fond smile. "They're good people, even if we have our disagreements. Even when I was drivin' my own ma wild by defyin' her wishes, she an' my da never stopped lovin' me. It just took 'em a while to accept me for what I was. Sounds ta me like yer own sister was like that too. Guess that makes us both lucky to have family like that, huh?"
After finally making peace with falling asleep with a fancier hairdo than she's ever worn in her entire life, Chrys gets in a good night of rest, and wakes up fully refreshed in the morning. As she rolls over, she manages to stop herself before squashing Krackle, and stares for a bit, before sighing. "Oi," she says, gently shaking the kobold out of his slumber. "Rise an' shine, lil' one. Think ya fell outta yer bed there." Grinning at the sleepy kobold, she gets up and prepares herself for another day of adventuring.
Once her armor is securely fastened, and her hair - only slightly mussed from sleeping on it - is still in the fanciful braids, she grins and clenches a fist. "It's time... for the Pie Pals to assemble! Hah, I always wanted ta say that!"
Once downstairs, Chrys receives the bag of gold from the innkeeper and portions it out for the rest of the company. She also helps herself to some breakfast, also treating Krackle to the buffet. (everyone add 20 gold to your inventory!)
Krackle would have nodded in agreement before going to bed and in the morning he would help himself to a large breakfast "Thanks a bunch for breakfast!" he would say as bits of food fall from his mouth as he chews his breakfast.
Lumen thanks the innkeeper and once his lute is tuned and cleaned, a fresh shiny clean half-orc begins to play in the quiet dining room, assuming he is allowed to. The sounds emitted by the large but simple lute first make it seem like the room is meandering down a trickling mountain stream, lots of quick, high-pitched plinks that at first seem like a random noise, but actually contain a traceable rhythm and melody.
The song broadens and deepens as if the stream joins a river, and deeper notes and tones sound as Lumen's hands and fingers tap over the body of the instrument, eventually building into a large crescendo, and for a minute it feels like everyone in the room has fallen over a waterfall. Muffled echoes reverberate through the room, and then the familiar plinking melody joins a breathy bit of singing, as the song again floats peacefully across an open lake.
It's getting easier to see how Lumen's skill, though impressive, did not win over many fans in smaller taverns and watering holes farther north. He then moves into some crowd-pleasers, before taking a break to rejoin his friends, grabbing his upturned hat without looking in it, as is his habit.
"Chrys, that hair... well, it's gorgeous. I thought I was impressive after combing mine for the first time in a while. So! We have our gold. Where to?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
"Listen, Krackle. People work their entire lives to get a house of their own and sometimes that isn't enough. Maybe stop thinking of immediately getting them a house and start thinking of smaller things you can do. Like buying them something more affordable that will still make their lives better, or just sending them some of the money that you make on your adventures. Because it's incredibly unlikely that you'll suddenly stumble upon the money you need to buy a house and this way you'll still be doing something to help them."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
The three musicians laugh at Krackle's suggestion and the halfling Wendel speaks up. "I think I would be a wee bit frightened by a dancing bear... I'd always be wonderin' if it were about to gobble me up. But a dancing raccoon... now that would be a right funny sight.. with their little blindfolded eyes and their little hands... there're such adorable looking creatures! Still, you'd have to play every tavern and alehouse up and down the Sword Coast at least a dozen times to afford yerself a whole house, and that would take an awful long time."
"Lemme tell ya something, bein' an entertainer ain't about rain' in lots o' gold, because ya don't. It's about enjoyin' what you do and havin' the passion to keep doin' it, even when you ain't bringin' in the gold. The three o' us here love playin' music together, but we ain't rollin' in gold. We do it because it's because we love the feelin' of making songs together and watchin' them come alive when we play 'em in front of the crowd. Even on the nights when we're playin' small taverns with only a handful o' patrons, we still love weaving our instruments together underneath Lalissa's beautiful voice."
"So that's my advice, kobold. Do things because you love it, not because you're hoping you'll get rich from it."
"Here, here!" Lalissa and Brick echo with a toast of their glasses.
"Haven't been as far south as Waterdeep. I'm from the north, up in the Spine. That's where I learned to play like this, listening to the sounds of the mountains, chants, warcries, tumbling rocks, and, well, the winds in the north. No one trained me. I... couldn't find an audience up there, nor could I find one in many of the towns between here and there. Actually Yartar was the first time I got requests for repeat performances. But I also like to stay moving. Hence the adventure with these folks. I wonder if a rock bard can balance a life of music and a life of adventuring."
Lumen will make more smalltalk with Lalissa, Brick, and Wendel. Insight check to see if they're concealing anything or just earnest musicians: 8
To Krackle and Vesper, Lumen just says, "never seen a raccoon dance before. Maybe later though."
He's ready to turn in for the night, the long day finally getting to him. Happy to split a room with someone in the party (or, as a semi-suave fellow, Lalissa if the conversation heads there).
"I haven't been up into the Spine, I've only been as far north as Luskan. I can't even imagine how rough and rugged it must be up there. Your style suddenly makes sense... you do a wonderful job giving the listener a feel for what that part of the world must be like, at least with the way you describe it. And self taught musicians are often the most inventive with their instruments."
"I great up in a nice family in Waterdeep and was fortunate that my parents made me take music lessons when I was young, because I always liked music. I think they wish I had grown up to be something like a scholar or a scribe instead of a traveling musician, but it's the life I've grown to love, moving about, meeting new people, and making up songs about the life I see up and down the coast."
"Well... I'm glad we met, Lumen, and I'm pleased to listen you play. I can still hear some of those melodies in my head; I'm sure they'll keep me up tonight! Good luck and fortune to you and your friends, and I hope we meet again. Until then, may the music always be in your heart."
Kess and Lalissa seem to recognize each other, from Kess's days working at The Lonesome Crow roadhouse in Triboar. Given that they play in numerous towns around the area, Lalissa has met quite a few people in the venues where she and her band play, and while it's more acquaintance than friendship, she does nonetheless have passing memory of Kess, who is quite recognizable with the way she dresses and carries herself. The musician greets her fellow elf with an enthusiastic smile, remarking that it's always nice to see a familiar face.
After visiting with them for awhile, you don't seem as their concealing anything, they seem to be a genuine trio of musicians who loves what they do, although given that they regularly make such a wide circuit around this part of the north, Lumen does get the sense that they might be just a tad more adventurous than they let on.
Regarding your lodging for the night, you were able to to secure two (or three) rooms from the innkeeper, at the cost of 2gp each. He's not the stocky man in his 50s, who last time, referred to Krackle as your "pet." This man is a thin, well groomed gentleman who treats you with a tad more respect.
"Well, now, that's right friendly o' you to bring it up," Chrys replies to Ehrland as the food is brought out to the others. "I believe you said you'd give us 100 gold on completion o' this here task," she answers. "And we could be needin' it, to be honest... 'twas hard work we did up there."
She finishes her meal with gusto, and as Lumen introduces the trio of musicians, Chrys makes sure to introduce them as a team: "An' we call ourselves the Pie Pals!" she says rather proudly, pointedly ignoring the others' dismay. Listening in on the conversation, she nods and lets the others do the talking, rather weary from the day. When it's time to pay up for the rooms, Chrys hums under her breath. "I think we earned ourselves a nice place to stay 'fore we hit the road again… an' we got a lot to be doin' tomorrow." In actuality, she's rather pleased by the good manners of this particular innkeeper, especially concerning Krackle, and so throws in her opinion about spending the night at the inn to the others.
"The Pie Pals?!" Wendel remarks with a hearty laugh. "Now that's a proper band name if I ever heard one! Although in your band, I guess the music's made by knocking goblin heads with yer hammer! But all joking aside... A nice slice o' pie sure sounds good about right now."
Upon answering his questions, Ehrland states that he will meet you here in the morning and give you your 100gp.
After all the socializing and eating, and with a slight buzz due to the brandy, Kess would take the chance to take a nice, long, hot bath.
"I'll need to see a tailor about my clothes at some point tomorrow... It will do me ill good to look like I just stumbled from Luskan's worst quarters," She says to herself, allowing her body to fall into the warm liquid.
"You are probably right Vesper.." Thr kobold would reply with a smal frown. "I guess I could send some coin back home. maybe send it to the the inn where mom works. I dont think I can have it delivered to the stables... The town is pretty far away. Maybe I could ask a bird to take them some coins... birds are nice." He would ponder aloud with a smile as the gears inside his head work to figure out a new plan.
Lumen hits the hay, happy to not have to take turns to watch over Krackle to make sure he doesn't turn into a Sharmonster.
Krackle would look up to his companions and smile. "I can share a room! I am small and can sleep on at the foot of the bed, you won't even know I am there." The kobold would offer as he collects his things and finishes his drink. After wiping the foam from his snout he would make his way to one of the rented rooms and curl up in a tight ball at the foot of one of the beds.. taking up as much space as a house cat.
(2 gold per room or two gold per person? If 2 gold per room then Krackle would pay 1 gold. are there 2 beds in each room? The kobold would just assume cram 3 people in one room and 2 in the other)
(I'd assume we have the usual room breakdown, meaning Krackle would be sharing a room with Chrys, unless someone wants to switch it up)
Lumen’s happy to split a room - anyone who doesn’t mind some snoring is welcome.
After getting out of her bath and changing into nightclothes, Kess looks MUCH happier... and smells pretty good, if the soap that was available is any indicator; a soft scent of mint and flowers follows her, especially her hair, which she has tied up into a simple braid for the night. Though Kess hadn't vocally complained, it would be evident to Vesper (assuming they're sharing a room) that the day's events were physically hard on her, having taken three perilously sharp arrows during the battle with the gnolls. She takes the chance to carefully clean her scimitars and maintain her bow as the night is winding down, inspecting their scrimshaw pommels carefully and assuring the blades are sharp and spotless to prevent rust and wear, as well as beat the dust from her shoes out into the window.
"Hm... perhaps, should we find them, we should inquire if my kinfolk in the Moonwood are willing to part with elven arms and armor," She muses aloud to anyone listening in the room. "After that shave with the gnolls, I am starting to understand what my cousin Rhaethian meant about armor being just as important as arms. That was... close."
"C'mon, Krackle," Chrys says as she stomps up towards a room. "I'm guessin' we're roomin' together again. Sleep on the bed this time... ya need the rest, what with still recoverin' from that cold." She sighs a little when she sees Krackle curling up at the foot of the bed, and after a moment, simply leans down, picks him up, and deposits him in the middle of the fluffy bed. "I ain't givin' it ta ya," she says stubbornly, grabbing the pillow off. "I'm holdin' the pillow hostage for the night. No takebacks!"
With that, she sets her bedroll up on the floor and fluffs the fancy pillow on top of it. Then she gives Krackle a challenging stare. "Ya move off of the bed, an' I'll make ya share with Lumen next time. I hear he snores!" Chrys quite pointedly doesn't seem to acknowledge whether or not she snores (she does). Gathering her things together, she leaves Krackle to his dilemma to visit the outhouse, then come in again and wash up properly for bed. Sniffing an armpit for good measures, she wrinkles her nose, but figures as long as she's not leaving a trail of stink behind her, it's good enough. Before she settles into her bed, a thought occurs.
"Oi, Krackle, I know how you can pay for that bed," she says, getting a crafty look in her eyes. "If yer sister ever taught ya how to do a braid, maybe ya can do up my hair 'fore I fall asleep. I never got the hang o' them, an' I always wake up with my hair lookin' like a bird's nest in the mornin'. If ya can help me with it, I'll call the bed an even trade."
Lumen, having assumed Krackle crashed with him for the night, wakes up early after falling asleep early, and goes in search for the kobold. He happens upon the empty room with the bath. He heats up some water and luxuriates in his first bath in in a while. Road dirt and dried blood and who knows what else melt away, and soap helps turn the half-orc into more of a dashing figure. He washes off his armor and organizes his things. He even combs his hair. He heads down to the dining area hoping for signs of complimentary breakfast and his traveling party. He looks... much better than he did before, and the rest of you will find him cleaning off and tuning his lute.
Krackle would follow Chrys and sit patiently on the bed until the dwarf returns. Once she returns and mentions braiding her hair, the tiny kobold would stand up on the bed and smile. "yeah! I know how! I used to braid Hellen's hair a bunch. She taught me how and would tell me about school while I did her hair. I would even practice on horses sometimes while she was at school when I wasn't working or helping dad." He would say as he bounced towards the dwarf. As she sat on the edge of the bed he would take her hair and begin using his thin clawed fingers to separate strands of hair before getting to work. "I practiced a lot so that I could make it extra fancy. The fancier i made it... the longer it would take.. and the longer it took meant the longer I got to spend with Hellen." The kobold would add as his fingers quickly moved through Chrys' thick hair, nimbly and gently forming it into strands and weaving it together. "She used to tell me all about her day, and would try to hold up her school books and show me the pictures in them. She would tell me about her friends and how she hoped to get all of us out of the stables and a house of our own. She taught me how to be a good helper. after she fixed me up" He would add as he worked on her hair, occasionally humming a song while his fingers danced along the back of the dwarfs head. After a while he would pause for a moment before continuing. "Do you have any brothers or sisters? If so what are they like? What do you want to do with all of your gold? Do you want to buy a house too?"
(spoiler above for pic of hairdo, I will insert more conversation in here if Chrys wants)
After Chrys lays down to sleep, the kobold would curl up in a ball on top of the sheets in the middle of the bed. After he heard the dwarf snoring, he would slide out of bed and curl up in a ball next to her and go to sleep.
When the evening winds down, you retire to your rented rooms, which as you discovered during your last visit, are much cleaner, comfortable, finely decorated and fresh smelling than the mildewy rooms at The Weary Knight in Melton. In addition, the separate, private bathing room with the large, free standing tub and buckets of hot water that are heated by a small hearth, offers a wonderful luxury for cleaning the week’s worth of dust, dirt, grime and even dried blood that has accumulated on your bodies during your recent adventures.
Finely cut and sewn wool and cotton blankets add the final touch, and as you lay down and cover up for the night, you enjoy the best night of uninterrupted, quality sleep you’ve had since leaving Yartar last time. When morning arises, you wake to the rays of the summer sun filtering through the small windows, feeling rested, rejuvenated and ready for whatever this day brings.
Downstairs in the dining room, breakfast is being served: a long tray of fresh fruit, warm bread with butter and jam, hard cheese, strips of bacon, sausage patties and fresh squeezed fruit juice for 5sp ea.
When the innkeeper sees you, he hands you a small leather pouch that contains your payment of 100 gold coins that has been left for you by Ehrland.
"Oh," Chrys replies to Krackle, pleasantly surprised by his skill at hair-styling, "Yeah, I got family too. I got my ma, and my pa, an' I got a brother. We're all kinda on good terms with each other, though it weren't always that way," she admits. "My parents were doin' okay, y'know? Owned a smithy an' everything. They were hopin' I'd want to inherit the shop from 'em, but I ain't no good at runnin' a business. I'm more the fightin' type. Caused some problems between us, 'till my brother was able to step up an' do all that inheritin' for me," she says with a fond smile. "They're good people, even if we have our disagreements. Even when I was drivin' my own ma wild by defyin' her wishes, she an' my da never stopped lovin' me. It just took 'em a while to accept me for what I was. Sounds ta me like yer own sister was like that too. Guess that makes us both lucky to have family like that, huh?"
After finally making peace with falling asleep with a fancier hairdo than she's ever worn in her entire life, Chrys gets in a good night of rest, and wakes up fully refreshed in the morning. As she rolls over, she manages to stop herself before squashing Krackle, and stares for a bit, before sighing. "Oi," she says, gently shaking the kobold out of his slumber. "Rise an' shine, lil' one. Think ya fell outta yer bed there." Grinning at the sleepy kobold, she gets up and prepares herself for another day of adventuring.
Once her armor is securely fastened, and her hair - only slightly mussed from sleeping on it - is still in the fanciful braids, she grins and clenches a fist. "It's time... for the Pie Pals to assemble! Hah, I always wanted ta say that!"
Once downstairs, Chrys receives the bag of gold from the innkeeper and portions it out for the rest of the company. She also helps herself to some breakfast, also treating Krackle to the buffet.
(everyone add 20 gold to your inventory!)
Krackle would have nodded in agreement before going to bed and in the morning he would help himself to a large breakfast "Thanks a bunch for breakfast!" he would say as bits of food fall from his mouth as he chews his breakfast.
Lumen thanks the innkeeper and once his lute is tuned and cleaned, a fresh shiny clean half-orc begins to play in the quiet dining room, assuming he is allowed to. The sounds emitted by the large but simple lute first make it seem like the room is meandering down a trickling mountain stream, lots of quick, high-pitched plinks that at first seem like a random noise, but actually contain a traceable rhythm and melody.
The song broadens and deepens as if the stream joins a river, and deeper notes and tones sound as Lumen's hands and fingers tap over the body of the instrument, eventually building into a large crescendo, and for a minute it feels like everyone in the room has fallen over a waterfall. Muffled echoes reverberate through the room, and then the familiar plinking melody joins a breathy bit of singing, as the song again floats peacefully across an open lake.
It's getting easier to see how Lumen's skill, though impressive, did not win over many fans in smaller taverns and watering holes farther north. He then moves into some crowd-pleasers, before taking a break to rejoin his friends, grabbing his upturned hat without looking in it, as is his habit.
"Chrys, that hair... well, it's gorgeous. I thought I was impressive after combing mine for the first time in a while. So! We have our gold. Where to?"