Jonah motions for Bri to have a seat. The comment that Westcrown is in civil war is news to him. "Civil War can be be profitable."
"What type of business are you looking to start?"
Adriel joins eveyrone at the table, but no longer partakes in alchohol, he'd learned the hard way about drinking to exess.
He intended to finish out the night with his friends, SOBER. He would enjoy himself, but in a den of sin like this the potential for violence was too great to lose oneself in the drink.
Meanwhile Adriel, darius, Sath, the Capt, Henk, and Dugan have seat at nearby table. One of the crewman with Jonah sends over a round of drinks and five gold to Dugan as bonus. He acknowledges the gesture.
Dugan looks at sailors, "Sailed in my younger days. Enjoyed the freedom...it was a way off the streets but the captain and some of the crew were bastards. Ruthless lot." He spits on the ground. You can tell it was not a pleasant time in his life. "Perfer the land now...and well, as long as I can take and give punch to put food on the table for my family, this is my calling."
"How long are you in town for?
The crowds starts to get rowdy as the next match is about to begin. "I'm feelin' good about Belok he just needs to get his head on straight...a new cause." He laughs.
"Betting will close in 5-minutes the announcer bellows over the crowd."
The bard gives a nod. "If only we were blacksmiths, eh Embri? I could sell equipment to the Thrune, you could sell equipment to the rebels, and we'd retire on a big ol' estate in Absalom."
She looks at Embri and shrugs. "Darius said he wanted to open some kind of tavern right?" The half-elf grins. "If that's the case, I aim to be the main attraction."
Hearing the call for bets, she scrambles up, almost falling over as her head feels like a bowl full of water. "S$*+." She catches herself on the chair, however, and acts like nothing happened. "Dugan said he's got a good feeling about Belok- I have to make my coin back."
The bard puts 200 gold down on Belok, returning with her betting stub.
"I couldn't help notice that you were staring at me," he says as the wine is brought. He pauses to refill her glass.
"I'm curious; was it just my conversation - or perhaps something else - that drew your attention?" he asks as he watches her.
"Well both actually. I was curious why the questions about Falken and how it concerned you?" she takes a slow sip of her wine. Her tongue plays a the rim of the goblet. "More importantly, it looks like I won't be sleeping alone this evening."
Odds:
Belok Talog (-205)
Thi' Ring (+190)
An large looking human with cords of muscles and multiple whip marks on his back, somersaults into the ring with great fanfare. His leathered flesh is marked with various tattoos. For being a big man, he seems quite agile he is wearing simple but wearing worn leather shoes and tan breeches.
The announcers: "entering the ring 42 and 3, is fierce-some Thi' Ring, the the pit bralwer!"
"And the NOW, the fighter you've all been waiting for...making his 15th come back fight since his devastating defeat to Jin, the ffforrrrrrrmer CHAMPION - Belok Tal...l....lorg!"
Jonah leans over to Bri and Astri, "they always like to remind him he lost to Jin." He chuckles. "He's only lost twice once to Jin - recently- and once to Amory Fairbanks, early in his career."
The crown d stomps and hops and hoots as a large half-orc wearing simple robes, leather leggings, and a holy symbol moves through the crowd. Right before he enters the ring he smashes an oak table to splinters with his fist.
Astrianna watches with excitement as the brawlers enter the ring, pumping her fist in the air and cheering when Belok smashes a table. She leans over to Jonah when he makes his comment and laughs. "Never seen him before, but I keep hearing about him."
She grins at Jonah. "You got any money riding on this fight? I'm thinking of getting the crowd stirred up."
"Former Wave Rider before they disbanded, lost a piece of his soul them. He looked up to Solomon Trafalgar before his death." He nods. "My bet is on Belok."
Astrianna pauses for a moment when the Wave Riders were mentioned. "Heard that group before, met Zalen Trafalgar earlier today and one of his acolytes mentioned the Wave Riders. Who were they exactly?"
She grins as he says his bet is on Belok. "All right, watch this now." The bard stands up- a bit slower this time. She belts at the top of her voice a chant to get the crowd fired up, clapping and watching the ring.
BE-LOK
ROCK 'IM BE-LOK!
BE-LOK!
ROCK 'IM BE-LOK!
The crowd starts to chant with the simple chant. The plank floors vibrate with the stamping.
The half-orc glances over making eye contact with bard who started the chant. He gives a subtle nod.
Astrianna gives Belok a smile as he looks over. She continues chanting and stamping her feet, eager for the fight to begin.
The half-orc touches his holy symbol and his lips move slightly, he begins to frown at his opponent. His deeply lined brow wrinkles.
Seeing the man splinter a table with his bare hands, he says, "Pardon me, gentlemen."
He slips over to the betting table and puts 820 gold on Belok.
Astrianna notices the spell and Belok studying his opponent. She mutters her on cantrip and stares at the arena.
Astri there are several magical auras going on in the ring: Belok has several divine auras while Thi' Ring's tattoos show arcane magic auras that are part of his body. You catch Belok speaking again and a divine conjuration spell washes over the his opponent's fingernail as they touch knuckles before the fight.
Astriana's eyes dart over the two combatants. Each are covered in a plethora of auras.Like the Captain says, as long as they don't have a notable effect, anything goes. She admires the magic tatoos for a few moments. I need some of those...
She is quite concerned about the conjuration spell that affects Thi' Ring's fingernail. What was that...This aura is... Conjuration? A confused look appears on her face. A healing spell...? Teleportation? A summoning? Doesn't make much sense.
Seeing Belok touch his holy symbol and then give a prayer, and then seeing how his brow wrinkles as he frowns at his enemy, Sath suspects that something is going on in the ring not visible to the naked eye. She takes no immediate action but prepares herself in case whatever starts in the ring manages to spill out of it...
"Excuse me Jonah, but Soloman Trafalgar you say? Was he any kin to a Father Trafalgar, a priest of The Sea King?"
"Well both actually. I was curious why the questions about Falken and how it concerned you?" she takes a slow sip of her wine. Her tongue plays against the rim of the goblet.
David nods as he pours himself another shot of the whiskey, studying the woman thoughtfully.
She’s interested in me asking about Falken then I’m guessing she’s either a friend or enemy to the guy and wants to know which side I favor…
"More importantly, it looks like I won't be sleeping alone this evening."
He looks at her, noting her fine and expensive clothes and the fact that she’s alone in a small tavern. He is also very aware of her eagerness to be so friendly with a relative stranger.
She’s not a copper; no copper would be sharing drinks with a strange sailor at a tavern in the middle of the night – especially without an escort…
He picks up his whiskey and drinks it, his eyes on her.
She's not a doxy – she's to well dressed and too high class for that… So she’s here for her own reasons… That being the case I’m betting she’s not fishing for details on Falken because she’s an enemy of Falken, but someone who likes him…
He puts the glass on the table and leans back, studying her appreciatively, his eyes overtly caressing her body with their gaze.
He decides to gamble on his hunch.
”Maybe I don’t like seeing a good guy get knocked around by a bunch of poxing, sodding, whores like those bloody dragoons,” he says, his expression disgusted, as if the very mention of law enforcement annoys him.
”Those basterds did that guy wrong. I don’t like that,” he adds, watching her.
”But I don’t know if he got away clean, or if those scum pinched him and took him in…” he says shaking his head.
”I’m hoping the guy made it clean, but who knows? Everything that happened down there happened quick, so I hear.”
He pours another glass of whiskey, but doesn’t drink it, instead he leans back in his chair, his eyes on hers.
”I hear tell Falken’s a good skipper and a square boss, despite what those dragoons seem to think,” he adds.
”What do you think about him?” he adds, watching her carefully.
Thrasher chitters into his masters ear, Magic. Is he prey?
Adriel notes the message and replies. He is nothing to us. He might be predator to the other man.
Adriel casts DETECT MAGIC and studies the combatants, when he notes the conjuration pass to the fighter's fingers he studies them for 3 rounds....
David's gaze roams over the creamy flesh of the woman in front of him thoughtfully, then he continues to stare into her eyes, curious for her answer...
[dice= Perception]1d20+12
Seeing Belok touch his holy symbol and then give a prayer, and then seeing how his brow wrinkles as he frowns at his enemy, Sath suspects that something is going on in the ring not visible to the naked eye. She takes no immediate action but prepares herself in case whatever starts in the ring manages to spill out of it...
"Excuse me Jonah, but Soloman Trafalgar you say? Was he any kin to a Father Trafalgar, a priest of The Sea King?"
"His daddy. Soloman was the leader of Wave Riders til his death."
Adriel casts DETECT MAGIC and studies the combatants, when he notes the conjuration pass to the fighter's fingers he studies them for 3 rounds....
There are several divine spells attached to the Belok the auras have you a bit confused with your spell check. You figure his opponent's tattoos are a lenient arcane but again you are not able to figure much out. there also a ton of magic outside of the ring on the customers.
"Well my, er..."scum" companion, would think otherwise." She winks. "I can assure you that Commander Chambers would not appreciate another rebel rouser in port." She sips her wine and stacks a few gold coins on the bar, she slowly places her gloves on and she picks up her fan. "Good night, Dirk. Thank you for that last drink, your company was delightful." There is a slight emphasis on your name. She stands to leave.
"Well my, er..."scum" companion, would think otherwise." She winks. "I can assure you that Commander Chambers would not appreciate another rebel rouser in port." She sips her wine and stacks a few gold coins on the bar, she slowly places her gloves on and she picks up her fan. "Good night, Dirk. Thank you for that last drink, your company was delightful." There is a slight emphasis on your name. She stands to leave.
David leans back in his chair, studying the woman.
"Come on now, don't be upset," he says to her as he observes she is now ready to leave.
"Stay a while; at least another drink," he says.
"After all, I wasn't trying to be offensive. I was just trying to learn, and so far all I've been able to do is repeat information that others have told me," he says standing as well and gesturing to the chair politely.
"Truthfully I don't know of this Commander Chambers," he says with a somewhat conciliatory tone.
"Of course, I don't know much about this town in general. I'm trying to learn about it from decent, upstanding people," he adds.
"When I arrived I was informed that the authorities here were dangerous; not to be trusted - of course, I was not sure, so I tried to learn more," he adds.
"You seem to be an educated woman; sophisticated and certainly someone who knows the town well - I've asked you what you think of things."
"If my information was wrong, I'd be pleased to hear the real truth of things from you," he says sincerely.
"After all, Dirk Cutter is a man who does what he can to correct his mistakes," he says as he watches her.
"I'm not upset," she smiles and walks off to front door. The opens, holds, then closes the door as she leaves.
The crowd is rocking the Broken Skull as the two combatants square off against each other.
Belok:
the half orc launches with devastiating flurry of punches and kicks:
;
;
;
confirming crit:
;
------------
Thi' Ring looks a bit desperate as he is caught off balance,
;
plus 1 str.
The chilling blow hits and zaps a bit of strength.
-----
Crowd to sense the spell casting:
Darius cheers as Belok appears to have the upper hand, "That's it, get him!"
Astrianna pumps her fist in the air, continuing to chant with the crowd.
BE-LOK
ROCK 'IM BE-LOK!
BE-LOK!
ROCK 'IM BE-LOK!
RD 2:
the cleric growls as he looses a bit of strength but he focuses his flurry one more time, "Down y'go boy"
IC
;
;
;
confirming crit:
;
Thi' Ring's eyes roll to the back of his eyes exposing white's to the crowd, he wobbles on jelly legs and crashes face down on the canvass. A puddle of drool forms under his open mouth.
Belok raises his hands to the crowd, then he kneels downs and says a prayer reviving his opponent.
He helps the man to his feet and says a few words in her ear. Thi' Ring nods shamefully and Belok
Belok gets out of the ring and head immediately to Astri, "Thanks for the song. The least I can do is buy your party a drink."
Darius claps the man on the back, "Friend, you just won me a nice chunk of change, so thank you!"
He then allows the man his moment with Astrianna as he makes his way over to collect his winnings.
__________
Most of the crowd is still chanting "Belok...Belok...Belok."
Astrianna is jumping up and down, wooping and shouting Belok's name. The bard dashes over to the table where Embri and Jonah is, beaming with excitement. "That was incredible! I feel a fool for not betting more money, Belok dropped him faster than a drunken halfling down a set of stairs!" She is about to rush over to collect her winnings when Belok makes an appearance, the bard stopping and turning to the half-orc.
"Ah you were fantastic, you crushed Thi' Ring!" She gives him a slap on the shoulder before her arm slips underneath his massive bicep. "I think it is us that owes you a drink- we just made quite a lot of money from your victory, and enabled me to buy a new fiddle." The bard makes a gesture at Darius, Adriel, and Sath.
"DARIUS BUY THIS MAN A DRINK AND COME OVER HERE SATH, ADRIEL, WE'RE CELEBRATING!" She shouts across the bar, projecting her voice over the din.
David looks at the woman leave and sighs.
Well, I guess that no only did I waste my time this evening, but I failed to get anything useful for any of my companions…
He considers leaving the tavern at this time and heading off on his own. Of course, that plan seems rather stupid – traveling through an unexplored town – alone – after dark, given the dangers that he has already seen.
It’d be both smarter and safer to remain here until my friends returned…
However, David did not travel the entire width of the great sea to do nothing but sit meekly indoors and be of no use or asset to his companions.
You go out alone at night, you could die…
He looks around the tavern, finishing the whiskey.
The people who work here won’t give you information of note – that guest was disgusted with you for what you said… You’ve wasted your time and the evening… All of that can be forgiven, but you’re letting down your friends – that can’t be forgiven…
Regretting the circumstances of the situation, David grabs his gear and decides to exit the tavern and head off into the night.
"I haven't seen you here before and well, ...it was good to hear my name chanted like that again. It's been awhile." He is clearly grateful. "I'm glad you made some coin, careful displaying it in a den of thieves."
Astrianna laughs, nodding her head. "Ah you're right, I've had too much drink tonight, I keep saying stupid things. I can't help it though, these fights get me so excited!" She looks up at the fighter with a smile. "I see why you were the champion once- I think you can do it again, honestly. Let's get you a drink, and you know what- I want to hear your story. I've been looking for some song writing material, and you seem like just the man to supply inspiration."
David leaves the Captain's Wheel and begins to travel down the road back towards the docks and the Tide district.
David leaves the Captain's Wheel and begins to travel down the road back towards the docks and the Tide district.
David as you leave the Captain's Wheel you don't see any trace of Jalia. The streets are crowded heading south into the Bawd district, the eastern route to tide District less so. As you travel east you see a dragoon patrol walking towards you about 45 feet away. They stop, peer down an alley then continue to walk on the main road.
After collecting his coin, he makes his way back to the fighter and Astrianna,saying, "The man is right, but I do owe you a drink at the least. Find me later and I will treat you to a nice evening."
David as you leave the Captain's Wheel you don't see any trace of Jalia. The streets are crowded heading south into the Bawd district, the eastern route to tide District less so. As you travel east you see a dragoon patrol walking towards you about 45 feet away. They stop, peer down an alley then continue to walk on the main road.
With nothing else to do, David will move to the alley that they ignored and examine it.
The dragoons pass you David without any sort of acknowledgement as they head towards Silk District. When you get to the alley and look down it you see two shadowy figures as they beat on a third person. The cries are muffled.
Back at the Broken Skull:
Belok smiles at the pretty bard. "Stories not worth telling." He waves his hand over the drinks concentrating on each before he drinks his own. "Been fighting for while now. Jin's tough - clean but tough - hard to beat." Another title fight? If only...
Darius asks, "So how many more fights are left for tonight?"