GIl looks over at the party and nods at Gaèl finishing up his last song, "Thank you gents, that was Freebird.  I had a great time tonight and look forward to coming back again to play for you.  Have a great night, don't forget to tip your waiter and waitresses." 

With that Gil grabs his lute and slings it over his back exiting the stage scooping up any coin that's been thrown his way.

"Looks like we just need Silyvar to complete his game and we're good to go."  Dylan watches the game as the monk gets caught cheating.  "Or, on second thoughts, perhaps now is a good time to vacate the premises..."  Moving over to the table he taps the elf on the shoulder.  "Come on, friend.  We have an appointment to keep."

Sylivar audibly laughs and winks at the patron who spotted him cheating. ”Mighty fine eye there, lad; you know how they say it - old habits die hard. Won’t happen again - tell you what; I’ll cover a round o’ drinks for you three afterwards for the trouble.”

Sylivar easily catches the hints thrown his way out of the corner of his eye. Feeling Dylan nudge his shoulder, he ostentatiously turns around and grandiosely stands, not quite meeting eyes. After briefly connecting gazes with Dylan, he quickly winks. “Lost yer’ way from the North Ward, there, mate? Piss off, I’m in the middle of a nice bit o’ gamblin’ here, can’t ye see?”

Sylivar then sits down and turns to the rest of the table. “Where were we then, eh? Right,” he says while throwing down two Silver pieces. In a lowered voice so only the members at the table could hear him, he continues. “In for another round, then I ought to head out - I have my own fish to fry. Say, I had a friend ‘ere write to me about the Zest, er- Zhen, ah, Zhents, was it? Anyhow, he said to contact one of ‘em when I got here. You know a place where I can? If ya do, I’d be glad to receive some information with the proper reward,” he says while rustling his coin purse, and giving the occupants of the table a charming smile.

His strategy this time around will be similar to the one last time, but he will not attempt to cheat. If his opponents tell him what he’s looking for, he’ll judge whether or not he thinks they’re lying. If Sylivar discerns that the opponents are telling the truth, he will purposefully make a bad call and give up the pot and leave. If he can tell that the opponents are withholding information, he will attempt to bribe the opponent(s) by giving up the pot.

Syl Insight 25

The head of the table looks at you carefully and says, with a smile cracking his face, "Ain't no shame in cheatin'.  Plenty of shame in gettin' caught.  We'll chalk this one up to you not knowing the rules."  He then gestures at the barkeep, "Oy Trevor.  This gent here is paying our next drinks!"  Trevor starts pouring the drinks and says "Well you can darn well come up and get them yourself.  I'm busy here!"

Once Dylan approaches, the man looks at him after Syl speaks and says, "Yeah, get off, pomp.  I can't be bothered with you right now.  We're having a nice discussion here."

At the mention of the Zhents, he says, "Now why would you want to bother with those folk?  We ain't tied up in neither, but I think the Guild pays better for much the same work, ain't they?  I can't imagine why you'd want to get tied in with the Zhents.  Their whole thing is crime, but they got limits.  If you're going to get strung up if you get caught, why bother with the limits?"

This set goes much better for you.  Largely understanding how the game is played, you swing from 2's to 5's when you notice that the person before you feels a little too confident about their bet.  Unwilling whether to call your bluff, the next person raises your bid from four 5's to five 5's, which the table leader immediately shoots down, saying, "You scoundrel, you're a blasted liar!"  He knocks over the man's cup and you count out only three 5's on the table.  He should have called your bluff.  His loss.

"Well done!  The Zhents come in here sometimes.  They typically keep to themselves, but we've played cards with them more than once.  Friendly folk, if a bit off-putting at times.  They're far too good at cheating, so we stick to games where that's difficult to do, like Liar's Dice.  They hang out in the area.  I think they were here two nights ago?  They followed out the princelings and we haven't seen 'em since.  I know they spend time out in Candle Lane.  I also know they've been real tense, lately."  

"What's making their hackles rise?" you ask.  The man ignores you and starts the round.  The three of you shake your dice and slam them on the table.  This one is tighter, but you sense that the man to your left is not tracking the game well.  Perhaps the drink has gotten to him, but you swear you heard him start to say four 5's before shifting it to four 3's.  Thinking to yourself that he's got fives instead of threes, you take a chance and call him a liar.  Sure enough, he's got 2 fives and a 1, leaving the total number of 5's on the table at two.  The man is eliminated.  

As the table resets, the table leader says, "Right then.  I think they're upset because the Xanathars are starting to move.  Somethings got them flustered and no one can pin down why.  My boys and I are taking a sailing contract for the next couple months, because we don't want to be in town if there's a war between the two factions.  I think it's going to get bad.  But.  That's enough talk.  Let's finish this round."  You sense that he is scared, under this bravado.  Once he rolls the dice, the bravado goes away.  He's hard to read.  Taking a chance and reading the odds, the bids bounce between two 1's to two 5's to two 6's.  He's trying to set you up like you did to his friend in a previous round.  Following your gut, you call him a liar at the next bid of three 6's, and flip up your cups, seeing not a single 6 on the table.  "Nicely done!  I thought I had you!"  You say your farewells and scoop up your winnings, and he says, "Look.  You're not bad.  You're welcome back any time.  We ship out in three days, and after that, we won't be back for about two months.  Come look us up again."

All told, between your lost first game, the drinks you bought, and then the won pot, you end up with a profit of 25 nibs (cp) and 2 shards (sp).  Not a bad set at all.  

Sylivar gladly shakes hands with the occupants of the table, cordially taking his winnings. "Thanks for th' information, lads, I had fun gamblin with you. I'll make sure to come visit, whether that be in the next few days or when you make your way back."

With that, he makes his way out of the tavern, giving a surreptitious nod to the rest of the party.

Gaèl notices the nod and, respecting the little scene moments ago, decides to wait a couple of minutes. He then rises from his chair, glancing around at the group. "Seems like everyone is finally ready, no need to force our presence on these poor people any longer than necessary." He says with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. Gaèl waits for everyone to get up as well, then heads for the exit straightaway. He meets up with Sylivar outside, one eyebrow raised. "And here i almost thought you'd find better friends already! Did you manage to get anything interesting out of them?"

Responding to Gaèl, Sylivar curtly smiles to him and says; "I have my talents, and I'm afraid I learned to gamble more than I ought to have. In terms of what I have found out, nothing more than we already know - it seems that Candle Lane is a rendezvous of the Zhentarim. Perhaps it is worthwhile to allocate our time investigating Candle Lane some time more."

(Sorry, not to slow roll things, but are you done with the Dragon?  Are you moving on?)

"Well done." Gaèl gives him a commendatory nod. "Thats about as much as Dylan managed to coax out of that barkeep too. Let's see what Candle Lane has to offer us, we too thought that'd be the best course of action. Off we go then" With that, Gaèl begins strolling onward.

(Yeah, i think we were just waiting for Sylivar to regroup, apart from that we should be good to go)

(Sylivar is already outside the tavern with the rest of the group, I probably did not make that clear.)

(My mistake!)

You leave behind the Dragon, heading back the way you came.  It's easy enough to find the place, though it is much darker now as you press later into the evening.  You keep walking deeper into the alley, past the house you'd previously entered it from, toward the flickering light.  Across from the light is a warehouse, which, upon inspection, bears the mark of the Zhentarim, about the size of a small hand, over the door handle.  The building itself is a large two story building that looks like it was last in regular use about a decade ago.  Windows are shattered on the second floor.  A couple of the floor level windows have been boarded up or the glass painted black.

Assuming that the urchins were there still watching the door when they passed Gil would stop for a moment and ask them about the door with the Zhent's mark on it and also if they'd seen anyone drug back this way in the past few days.

Dylan will take up position in the darkness nearby waiting to see what his more skilled friends make of the door.  He'll keep a watch in the dark, though he is well aware he's not very observant.

Perception: 18

Eekz noisily munches on the rest of the chicken.

Gil, the urchins are no where to be found.  You suspect that they flitted away as soon you were out of sight.  Little bastards.

With that check, you sense that there is nothing in the alley of note.  You also hear the whispered voices of what sounds like many people inside the warehouse.  These voices range from high pitched to low, with one sounding an impressive bass that unsettles you.  These voices are distinct.  And then you hear Eekz growl and tear some meat off of a bone.  The bone snaps, a quiet sound that only is heard because of the silence in the alley.  The voices inside the warehouse die down.

"Uh oh.  I think there is a welcoming committee inside - and I think they know we are out here," Dylan whispers to the group.   "Any signs of a back entrance?"  Dylan will look around for any obvious other ways in.

"Perhaps the time for subtlety is over," a sinister smirk forms on Dra'vos. "A bit of fire could easily draw them out." The smirk fades as Dra'vos looks to the broken windows, "If not then we could possibly use one of the broken windows on the second floor as a means of entry." Dra'vos looks around for anyway they could access the on the broken windows easily without drawing too much attention.

Slightly frowning at the mention of the hidden Zhents lying in wait, Gaèl quickly glances down the allay. He begins march off the perimeter of the building directly next to the group, along the walls. Trying to remain as silent as possible, he tries to look for any potential alternative entrance into the building, or any traps that might have been installed to prevent exactly this.

Stealth: 7

Investigation: 6

(now that is a pretty big oof)

Responding to Dra’vos, Sylivar mentions; “While a fire will certainly draw whoever is inside the building out, it will also draw the attention of the local guard and any Zhentarim in the area. I would suggest we use more subtle means than that.”

He will then scour the perimeter and outside of the building, noting any entrances that aren’t visible at a quick glance. He will also note if the group is being watched, be it by anyone inside the building, or anyone spying from the streets.

Perception: 18

(Oof, Gael.  Bad luck.  haha)

Gael, you get so distracted looking around, hunting for another entrance that you trip over some boxes in the yard, causing a big sound, and making a couple of your less focused party members jump.  

Between Gael's investigation and Syl's perception check, all you are able to ascertain is that the building is two stories tall and is roughly L shaped.  (If it's an L as printed, you are standing on the right side, inside the yard on the right edge.)  There are some old crates outside, one of which Gael has just tripped on.