Aimon wraps himself in his new cloak, liking the feel of it immediately.

He looks up at their giant guide and smiles. "Well, very large chaperone, think we need to get some food inside Oak here before he faints. Could you point out the Gholborne Lair for us?"

The giant nods and leads the party through the Blade Bazaar as it begins to close down. He takes you too the northern edge of the market and gestures towards on of the large, naturally formed pillars. In between two stone buildings, you can see scarves tunnel leading downwards. He solemnly says, "This is where I leave you. I will see you tomorrow." With that, he turns and walks back towards the city.

You follow a few stragglers into the tunnel and descend downwards for about 20 feet and come to large stone door with an engraving of a dragon's head. They push open the door and reveal an underground tavern. A bar is set  to the wall just ahead of you and to the left. A large central chamber serves as a dining room, and many tables and chairs surround a large put in the ground that has a low wall encompassing it. You can see a few doors scattered around in the walls, and a large staircase ahead of you and to the right allows access to then other floors. You can see many people of various races sitting at the tables and eating food while others stand at the bar and get drinks from an well dressed orc man. On the far side of the bar table thing, you can see a few people booking rooms from a short druegar woman. Chatter and smells of exotic food fill the air. The tavern is dimly lit and carved from the dark stone.

A map is posted on Discord.

Being closed off from the outside, Aimon notices that the air is not as filled with the think smoke of the furnaces like it was in the open market. He takes off his mask and stows it in his pouch and inhales the regular tavern smoke and the smell of food. 

He walks over to the center of the room and looks down in the pit.

"Not the most romantic design feature," Aimon says. "Maybe it's for unruly patrons. Better be on our best behaviour until we figure out what that's for."

He then makes his was over to the druegar woman who appears to be managing the 'inn' portion of the Gholborne Lair.

"Greetings, my fair lady," Aimon says with a bow and the doffing of an imaginary hat. "Tired and hungry travelers looking for a few rooms, perhaps a suite, something befitting our high status."

Oak follows Aimon into the tavern, and looks around the room. The smell of food and drink hits him, and a broad smile spreads across his face.

He sees Aimon approach the pit, but stays well away from the edge himself. “How far down does it go?!”, he asks.

While Aimon enquires about rooms, Oak finds a table and settles in, trying to catch the eye of one of the serving staff.

"I'm not sure we want to know..." Caelynn sits down next to Oak, unslinging her bow from her back and leaning it against the table. She leans back in her chair and takes a moment to survey the tavern, looking for anyone who stands out, is paying their group particular attention, or that she recognizes.

Perception: 23

"It's been way too long since I've had a proper drink," she comments once she's completed her visual sweep of the room. "We tried making our own once, from the plants we could find down here. It didn't go very well. We were all sick for days." She smiles fondly at the memory, remembering the weeks of pestering it had taken for her to agree to the idea.

Caelynn, you don't notice anyone directing unusual attention at the group.

After her previous customer leaves, the woman behind the bar answers Aimon without looking up from her notepad she is writing on and says, "Hello, my name is Gulla, and welcome to our fine establishment. Each room cost 1 gold per night, and a free breakfast is included. A suite of 5 rooms cost 4 gold." Her voice is monotone and nasally. She looks incredibly bored. She is wearing simple gray clothing and large, horn-rimmed glasses. Her hair is pulled up into a tight bun, and her lips are a vibrant shade of red.

Stool hops out of Caelynn's pack walks around a bit to stretch his legs. He stays near the party. Eldeth, Jimjar, and Topsy pull up chairs and sit at the table. One of the Druergar waiters notices Oak's looks and wanders over to the group. She is short for a dwarf, and looks fairly young. She too wears a simple gray uniform. She clasps her hands in front of her and says, "My name is Niola, and I will be your server today. Tonight's meal consists of drowbane mushroom steak with a side of umbercrab legs, or baked oonma roots in a hershay spider silk sauce, or yellow tromha caps in a cinder fruit glaze with a side of whimhizzers. Each meal comes with laelot dipping sauce. To drink, we have rum, beer, water, or fine wine." It is then she notices Eldeth at the table. A disgusted look comes over her face, and she sneers as she says, "We don't serve her kind here."

 Eldeth glares back at her as a hint of red appears on her cheeks, but controls herself enough to not do anything brash.

Oak speaks up in a gruff voice, with an annoyed exaggerated snort, “gGRrrrrumph!...  ‘She’... is ‘My’ slave!.... And I’d thank ‘You’... NOT, to address her in my presence! Thank you most very much!... fFRrrruumph!...”. He says this with a sly wink to Eldeth.

”mMMmmmm-m-m...... And I’ll have one of each meal and one of each drink, if you please... And quick about it!....” He turns seriously to the others and asks everyone except Eldeth, “What do you guys want?”.

Oak intimidation check (if needed): 22 (-2 for deception or performance) 

"Yellow tromha caps. To drink, rum."

"Very pleased to meet you, Gulla," Aimon says. "I think a suite of rooms will do us nicely."

He looks around to see if anyone is within earshot then leans in closer to Gulla as he places the coins on the table.

"An old friend of mine, a drow lord is supposed to be coming through here. I was hoping to surprise him. It's his birthday soon. Any chance he's booked into one of the other suites?"

(Persuasion / Deception - same modifier - 17 )

"I'll have the same," Caelynn tells the server.

Gulls looks skeptically at you as she hands you a cluster of keys and says sarcastically, "Sure, and I'm the Queen of Blingdenstone. Good day sir. Next!" She motions for the customers behind you to come up. You take the keys and take a seat at the table with the party.

Niola says with a smirk, "Of course. Scum like her don't deserve to be noticed. I'll be right out with your food." She disappears and returns about ten minutes later with plates of steaming food and strong beverages. The food is quite delicious, but a bit odd compared to surface food. No matter what it is, it sure hears fish and molds found in the wild. Niola comes back about 20 minutes later and incomes that the cost for the meals and drinks will cost 3 gold. You get the feeling that prices here are a bit high as it is a tourist trap.

Caelynn gives Eldeth a quick 'sorry' and a sympathetic glance once Niola has left, and makes sure she gets enough food shared from everyone else's plates. She keeps an eye on Stool during the meal to make sure he doesn't wander too far away. After reluctantly handing over the gold, she asks the group, "Do you want to stay here a while longer or head to the rooms? I wanted to test if some of our items are magical before we sell them, but casting spells in public like this probably isn't the best idea."

Oak says, “I got this”, and pays for the meals. He shares everything he gets with Eldeth, and anyone else who wants to try any of the dishes and drinks. Sitting around like this, eating and drinking and sharing, really warms his heart.

There have been moments of absolute horror and despair down here, then there have been sparkling moments of pure joy for him: dancing with Caelynn... when Trill spoke his true name for the first time... kicking the door down with Aimon while searching for Dawnbringer in the castle... ... and now this.... a feast with friends and the promise of a warm bed.

At a point in the meal, when the party are at their most raucous, and all chatting and laughing, he roars, “Haha! hHRrrraaaagh-h-h!!... To friendship and joyful times!!”, he says raising his drink with everyone.

Then, when the food and drink is mostly finished, and when Caelynn suggests moving up to the rooms, Oak agrees. He grabs one more cube of something spicy to eat, washes it down with something strong, and starts to gather his things to move upstairs.

Aimon enjoys the meal, and while good, the transformed tastes Trill created while they were out on the lake we’re probably better.

”Agreed,” he says to Caelynn. “We’ve probably drawn enough attention to ourselves for one day.”

He takes another look down into the pit before getting his things together and following the others up to the rooms.

You look at the keys you were handed, and they have "B1S2" etched in them. You go to the staircase and descend to the first floor of the basement. You find yourself in a large hallway that curves out of sight and then comes up behind you. You think that the tunnel loops around on itself to form a circle. You approach a wooden door with an engraving that matches your keys. You unlock the door and step into your suite.

You appear to be in a common room of sorts that has 4 doors that you assume lead to bedrooms. The 30 by 30 room appears to be made of a fine dark wood. The trimmings have very small but detailed adamantine inlays that spiral and twist. A stone fireplace on the far wall has a fire blazing brightly inside that illuminates and warms the room against the chill of the Underdark. On the red painted walls on both sides of the fireplace are fine porcelain plates  resting on racks set into the walls for decoration. A maroon rug covers most of the waxed wooden floor. Two cozy, white couches are set in front of the fireplace at an angle. To your left in the corner is a small wooden table several chairs surrounding it. To your right is a large China hutch filled with a variety of gemstones set on display. It is a bit surprising to see so much wood down here. Jimjar says, "I think the ladies should split two of the rooms and we boys take the other two."

Oak wanders in with the others, “mMmm-m-m... Wow!... This looks niiice!...”. He slowly circles the common-room, looking at all the finery. He also removes his shield and weapons and places everything besides one of the sofas, happy to lose the weight of everything for now.

In response to Jimjar, he says “Fine by me!...”, but his eyes flick to Caelynn, and Trill for a second to check they’re alright with that.

Then he remembers and sets the chest down in the middle of the room. As he opens it, he looks in and calls over his shoulder “m’Lady?... You wanted to cast magic on some of these things, or something??”. And he’ll traipse down into the chest to retrieve any of the items she needs.

When he returns, he thinks out loud to everyone: “hHhmmm-m-m.... I’m not sure how keen I am leaving all the gold in the chest... if we lost it or it got stollen that’s all our funds... maybe we should each hold onto a portion??”.

((OOC: I’m all for having and managing ‘group funds’ and Caelynn being ‘treasurer’, just as we are... but in-game Oak would rather we split the money x-ways just for safety! And leave little or none of it in the chest (if possible). Is it safer about our person?))

Aimon flops down into one of the couches by the fair and sighs audibly. 

"To be warm, well fed and comfortable for the first time in what feels like weeks," Aimon begins, "ah, that's luxury. A little bit of sunshine and the green of a real forest and I'd be set."

He sits up straight and looks over at Oak as he questions whether to leave everything in the chest or not.

"There's still a lot of coin in there. I think it would be more noticeable if we take it out. Bulging pouches and packs, making the unmistakable sound of coins tinkling, and that will attract every cutpurse in this town. My vote would be to leave most of it in the invisible chest."

Aimon then looks over at Eldeth.

"Quite the warm welcome they've thrown your way. Are all duergar like that? Do they all have such animosity to your kind or is this just falling in line with a city that allows rampant slavery?" 

Caelynn nods her approval of the plan, setting down some of her larger items as well. "Yes, anything we have in there other than the coins. Thank you," she tells Oak with a smile, then adds, "Trill, if you wouldn't mind passing me your ring as well? We never quite figured out if it did anything special."

"As for the gold, that's a good point. But the chest is invisible, and therefore unlikely to be stolen. If we're each seen carrying around hefty coin purses, that might make us targets for robbery. There's risks either way." She looks to the others for their input.

Once all the items are laid out in front of her - the painting, necklace, diadem, and ring - she sits cross-legged on the ground and begins tracing a large circle around them with her finger. "I've never tried this before," she comments to no one in particular as she continues drawing runic symbols on the floor and in the air.

(Casting detect magic)

Realising a little belatedly as Aimon speaks, Oak looks over to Eldeth too. “I’m so sorry for what I said out there.... You’re  not my slave! And you don’t need me to stand up for you!... ..I’m sorry on both counts. I dishonour you....”. He hangs his head ashamed.

Shortly after, he stands completely entranced by Caelynn, as she casts her magic. Her concentration, her arm movements. He can’t take his eyes off of her as she works...