Lyra looks from person to person within the room, scanning the crowd, her companions, and then settling on Karib and Rogram. When she receives no further support, her eyes narrow and she points her sword again at Rogram. His blood drips from it onto the muddy floorboards. "Pray you don't see this blade again," she says, storming back up the stairs to the kitchen. Her companions turn their sneering faces away and follow as the crowd disperses, leaving to the tavern themselves or to their rooms to retire for the night. The half-orc watches for a while until most of the crowd is gone, then retires himself to the room beneath the southern stairs to the balcony, leaving the party alone with Ardred Briferhew for a moment, only one or two workers lingering in the courtyard otherwise.

Earlier, during the fight. 

Merric looks over at Jamna and nods “This one is completely empty. I thought farther away from the kitchen would be best, maybe not.  Let’s check the two closest to the kitchen, then work our way back down the balcony.  Quickly!”  Merric moves to the far end of the balcony and continues checking rooms, pushing the doors in and searching, before shutting the door behind him.  They check as many rooms as they can before he hears Karib shout ‘Enough!’ 

At Karib’s yell, he moves over to the balcony railing, heart rising in this throat as he sees Rogram lying on the ground, bloody, defeated, but thankfully still alive.  Without thinking, he draws back his bow and aims an arrow at the woman, lowering it only as the woman turns away from Karib.  As the crowd disperses, he puts his bow away and leans over the railing of the balcony, looking like a spectator who was watching the fight.  When the crowd clears, he races down the stairs, taking two at a time, to Rogram and Karib.  “Rogram, what happened? Are you okay?”

Rogram gets to his feet and watches as Lyra storms away. He wants to call out to her, but she disappears too quickly.

Grunting, he bends over and picks up his sword. He rubs the blade against his bloody pants, trying to clean it as best he can before sheathing it.

After Merric asks him what happened, the half-dwarf shakes his head. "I got myself almost killed is what happened," he grumbles. "What a joke I am."

He walks over and sits heavily upon the stair. "All I'm good for is tricks. When it comes to actual fighting, I'm like a toddler swinging a stick."

Between the two of them, Merric and Jamna are able to search the entirety of the upper floor. None of the rooms have locks, and none have a private layout, with all containing bunks for at least four people and the larger rooms six. Most are currently unoccupied, but Merric hears Jamna offer the same excuse when she walks into two occupied rooms - "Sorry, my mistake! All these damned rooms look the same," complete with an embellished drunken affect.

The pair find little more than trunks full of personal belongings, and nothing that would indicate something out of the ordinary - that is, until Jamna calls quietly for Merric to join her in a corner room. She's laid out a personal bag from a trunk onto one of the bunks. Its contents, six polished gems and an assortment of small, easily concealed items of jewelry, must be worth well over a thousand gold pieces in total. "It looks like our cultists have a little thief among them," Jamna mutters. "What do you make of this?" After some brief discussion, she returns the item to the pouch and returns the pouch to the trunk, as she found it.

As Merric and Jamna rejoin the party, Carlon helps stand Rogram up and dust off his bloodied tunic. "Hey. She'd have dropped me in half the time. You don't learn how to dual wield like that overnight. That's a trained killer you just fought," he says.

Rogram shakes his head, his eyes staring at nothing as the memory replays. "She was so fast," he almost whispers.

He looks up at Carlon. "I was an idiot to tie one hand behind my back like that, but she seemed so drunk. I never would have bet on her still being able to fight so well." He shakes his head. "I won't make that mistake again."

Sighing, the bard says, "I don't see how I'm ever going to curry her favor. I guess I need to give up on that idea."

Rogram turns and puts a hand on Karib's arm. "Thanks for pulling me back from the void, friend." His smile is clearly forced, but he gives a little nod of encouragement.

He looks up at Carlon. "I was an idiot to tie one hand behind my back like that, but she seemed so drunk. I never would have bet on her still being able to fight so well." He shakes his head. "I won't make that mistake again."

Sighing, the bard says, "I don't see how I'm ever going to curry her favor. I guess I need to give up on that idea."

"Yeah...wouldn't bet on that happening," Carlon says. "You were lucky there was an audience. Even with the crowd it was obvious she was going for the kill."

Jamna struts somewhat impatiently. "So's anyone gonna ask us what we found, or are we going to stand here feeling bad for Rogram all day?" She watches the cultists' final retreat into the kitchen. "And you're correct, by the way. You're an idiot for hobbling yourself when it was obvious she wasn't holding anything back. Why should you have to hold back? Honor and integrity only serve to get you killed."

Akira shudders. "You are far braver than I. That was such a dangerous one to face. I would agree with Jamna in that fighting one armed against a hydra is always a poor idea."

Rogram is both bolstered and confused by Carlon's, Jamna's and Akira's comments. He stammers for a second before turning to Jamna. "What do you mean ask you what you found?"

Karib breathes a sigh of relief as the woman walks away. That could have turned ugly, he thinks, remembering his hotheaded younger days.

He walks over and sits heavily upon the stair. "All I'm good for is tricks. When it comes to actual fighting, I'm like a toddler swinging a stick."

Looking down at the young half-dwarf, he grunts and offers a hand to help him up.

"All she proved is that you can be an idiot; and all you proved is that she's right." He smiles, hoping to soften the words.

"One thing I learned at temple try never to start a fight, but make sure you win any that come your way. And the only way to do that is to use all the gifts that the gods gave you."

As Rogram stands he shakes his head, "She did make a mess of you. I think we all need some time to recover, eh. Are you up for some more ale?". He raises his eyebrows looking back toward the eatery.

He looks up at Carlon. "I was an idiot to tie one hand behind my back like that, but she seemed so drunk. I never would have bet on her still being able to fight so well." He shakes his head. "I won't make that mistake again."

Karib nods, "Aye; that's a lesson well learned."

"As to currying her favour, had I known what I know now perhaps we could have asked her friend who killed them. But that was not Gond's will. Besides, even the dead can lie."

Jamna: So's anyone gonna ask us what we found,

"I'm all ears, but let's find somewhere the lad can rest -- perhaps a room?"

Before leaving the courtyard, Karib walks over to  Briferhew holding out his hand, "Thank you sir for your timely intervention. You saved a lot of lives. Probably mine as well."

"There's been bad blood between them since Rogram was framed...probably by her so-called allies. They don't seem to like people like Rogram."

He watches the man closely, hoping for insights into his allegiances.

((After response))

"You seem like the closest thing to the boss around here; I'm not sure if it's already arranged, but do you know how we might get a place to rest up in private?" He looks back at the wounded half-dwarf. "I think he could do with some peace and quiet."

“Curry her favor!?”  Merric barks out a sharp laugh “Yes, I would say that ship has sailed, especially since she just tried to kill you. Keep an eye on that one, I wager she would try again if she had the chance. Why do you still want to impress her, anyway?”

Merric turns to Karib and the others. “Yes, let’s find a room.  There are some empty ones upstairs, and most of the ones we searched had nothing unusual.  We still need to find a way into that warehouse.”

Ardred Briferhew holds his hands up in a tired exasperation when Karib begins to explain Karib's history with Lyra. "Their bad blood is between them, as far as I'm concerned," he says. 

"You seem like the closest thing to the boss around here; I'm not sure if it's already arranged, but do you know how we might get a place to rest up in private?" He looks back at the wounded half-dwarf. "I think he could do with some peace and quiet."

Briferhew shakes his head. "I do have a permanent room here to stay between trips to and from Waterdeep, but Bog Luck is the man in charge around here. You can't miss him, the surly fellow with the tusks? His room's down there, in the corner under the stairs. Mine's the small one over here on the opposite end, if you need me. I'll procure a room for you, you can just grab one unless you have a preference? Some of them upstairs have six bunks, but if you don't mind splitting up I'm sure you could take a couple of the empty four-bunk rooms as well."

"What do you mean ask you what you found?"

"Let's wait until we have a room to ourselves," Jamna says as she watches the interactions with Briferhew.

“Curry her favor!?” Merric barks out a sharp laugh “Yes, I would say that ship has sailed, especially since she just tried to kill you. Keep an eye on that one, I wager she would try again if she had the chance. Why do you still want to impress her, anyway?”

Rogram opens his mouth and cuts his eyes toward Briferhew. "Not that it matters now, but I'll explain later."

After Briferhew explains about the rooms, Rogram smiles. "Let's get a room all together," he says excitedly. But then he looks at Akira and Jamna. "That is if you can stand to share a room with a bunch of smelly blokes."

OOC: Keeping us moving, assuming everyone is fine to get a room together but I don't want to strip away any agency since Briferhew mentioned you could grab any room you wanted.

 Karib nods, "Agreed," then he turns to Jamna, speaking a little more quietly. "Do you have a suggested room...perhaps with nearby points of interest?"

Jamna gives a sharp nod, waiting for the pleasantries to be done and for Briferhew to leave before she says anything further.

"Merric and I found something in one of the rooms. Someone has quite the hoard in their footlocker. Now, unless there's a wealthy someone who's high on philanthropy and enjoys roadwork, that has to be a cultist's room. It also begs the question, why does a cultist have stolen goods in their own footlocker? So I propose we take the room next door, see what we can hear," she says.