Darkbiter settles into a nice booth along the wall, and orders an ale and bowl of soup, watching the bar as he waits for his food.
A small boy comes to your booth to take your order as you arrive "The soup today is potater n leek I think" before scurrying off to fulfill the order.
Scanning the establishment, Darkbiter doesn't see anything that piques his interest beyond what you would expect in a bar just before the commencement of lunch serving.
Seeing that dark has the corner covered Grusk takes a similar position on the other side....
"I will have some meat, cheese an a half-loaf of bread with a tankard o ale, an make it snappy I aint eet yet."
Doc gets a drink at the bar, looks around for a dice game, and if there isn't one, finds a table that he can sit with his back to a wall, breaks out a few of his own and waits.
When Doc Walks in and by him Grusk pulls his plate closer to himself and puts both arms in front of his food, he narrows his eyes and watches Doc pass by, once seated Grusk continues eating.......
Doc is unable to find a dice game though the tavern is starting to slowly fill with the lunch crowd.
As time passes you see a few platters of food carried upstairs by the serving boy - obviously some of the tenants are taking lunch in their rooms. Apart from that the room fills up to about three quarters full with a range of customers from lower and middle class backgrounds - and even a few Kalabuto Mwangi as well.
Darkbiter will eventually start to ask the wait staff about some of the more employer looking individuals, especially scholar looking folk, while keeping an eye on anybody particularly armed.
Grusk finishes his food and sees Dark is talkin rudely with his mouth full of food......
Approaches Doc.....
"Finish main course and put foot in mouth. He must still be hung over."
Darkbiter unfortunatly accosts the wait boy when he is at his busiest, so just gets a hurried shrug of the shoulders when he asks. None of the men in the common room look too scholarly to your eyes. Mainly seems a mix of common laborers and some of the town militia.
Sentis sat and watched the suns arc as they waited for the others to get a head start to the Laughing Monkey and jumped up as it neared a turn past its zenith.
Its time Blaze.
Blaze looks up from studying the book he had found in the ruins. "So it is. Let's go." He goes to grab his scimitar and then remembers it's being enchanted. "I really hope this doesn't turn physical" With that he gathers up the others and they all four make their way over to Laughing Monkey.
The remainder of the squad arrives to the Laughing Monkey with Blaze. Enquiring from the barkeep, he replies "Oh aye, Mister Homburg is upstair, in the double room at the end of the corridor. Lovely gent, though a bit... you know..." tapping his head and making a swirly gesture (as though implying craziness) "Still 'e pays his rent on time so no complaints. 'E's in at the moment if ye want to go up, or would ye take some luncheon?" he adds hopeful of some extra business.
Cort feels Blaze's pain. "Yeah, I'm stuck with just my backup knife if it becomes an issue." He shows the blade with a little flourish before tucking it back into his boot.
The Brevic man steps into the bar slightly before Blaze, checking around and making eye contact with his squadmates. He falls into step behind, playing the part of the bodyguard with a professional detachment.
Kaavel shrugs at the mention of violence. He than follows Blaze and Cortland to the tavern watching everything carefully.
Sentis stayed mostly silent during the walk to the inn and tried to take in everything he saw.
Perception -
He was relieved to see his squad mates there and apparently having no troubles. He hoped they could stop and eat when their business here was done.
Blaze turns to Cort "What do you think, should we bring the others with us, or have them stay down here?" The Keleshite asks his second.
The note said he was interested in what we found in the jungle temple. Maybe he can help us figure out what some of these things do. Or better yet maybe he can actually read and interpret these books.
"No reason fer all o us tah storm his bedchambers."
"I might like em tah look over mah book while yer up there."
With the barkeep's able, yet somewhat reticent at the potential loss of a luncheon sale, direction you are able to easily find the scholars room. Just outside the door you find a wooden tray with what looks to be the remnants of a deep pan pie atop it, next to an empty tankard.
Knocking on the door, you hear a muffled "Coming, coming" in a high-ish pitched voice and a few moments later the door swings open revealing the inhabitant.
Before you is a man in well made - though ill kempt clothes, stooped slightly and gazing upon you through thick glasses. His hair is a grey unruly mop and a rough stubble lines his face. He addresses you "I am Holmburg, and you are?" waiting expectantly for a response.
The young man responds "I am Memluk Seljuk, though most call me Blaze. Behind me is the rest of the Steel Wolves. We heard you were interested in meeting with us."
Clearly unused to such social situations the druid blurted out
Im Sentis! Uh...that is Sentis Spinis.
He'll push his way into the room to shake the man's hand and to make way for the others.
Kaavel looks at the man closely for a moment than says "I am Kaavel." He than starts to read the man and waits for him to begin speaking to all of them to get a better feel for him.
Sips the last dregs of his beer and considers ordering another....
Scratching strange symbols on a small chalk board, Doc ordered another pitcher. He was content to keep out of the mission negotiations. Best to let others work out the details. They'd tell him once they worked out the contract.
The man scratches the back of his neck as he thinks "Steel Wolves.... steel wolves... Ah, yes - the mercenaries that Mr Vankerman spoke of. Do please come in" and he beckons you within a sitting room that has a number of chairs around a table. The table is laden with knick-knacks, books, journals and maps. "My apologies for the state of my abode, it is not often that I receive guests"
Holmburg takes one of the far seats and rests within it. "Now Robert was looking to sell some very interesting articles, but was relatively tight lipped as to the hows of their retrieval. He did let slip your squad's nom de plume however, which brings us to here today. Do you feel open to talk to that?"
Darkbiter eventually wanders over to Doc, accepting the dice game, a bit bored, wanting to be done with this city business and back in the wild where he belonged.
When Dark wanders over Doc waves Grusk over. No point 'n pr'tendin' we ain't 'ere t'gether anymore. If'n they need us, they'll let us know."
As the game begins Doc asks "So what'd you lads do b'fore gettin' mixed up in this outfit?"
I cant see that we did anything wrong in retrieveing this stuff...unless there are some laws against such a thing. Sure we'll talk about it...uh, wont we?
he'll ask the other Wolves.
"If there is a law against what we did, we weren't informed, seems like the kind of thing the higher ups shoulda told us" Blaze then begins to recount the retrevial mission, pausing here and there if Holmburg has any questions
When Dark wanders over Doc waves Grusk over. No point 'n pr'tendin' we ain't 'ere t'gether anymore. If'n they need us, they'll let us know."
"Whaddayah mean yah came in an looked hungry I jus protected mah food a bit. I did enjoy hammin it up a bit though!"
Holmburg listens as you explain your travails within the jungle. Occasionally he stops to ask a question of detail, and you get a sense that he is quite knowledgeable on the subject. After you have finished explaining he pauses and leans back into his chair from the tensed excited position he had been holding.
"Ah I wish that I were there, as you may have garnered from my questioning I am quite enamored with the ancient times and the Ghol-Gan in particular. I've spent many of the most recent years in search of what fragments and tidbits I could find." tapping the tips of his index fingers together as the rest of his hands are clasped.
"Robert has offered up your haul for sale and unfortunately I have not the means to purchase it. Would you have any tomes or articles that I might peruse?"
Having the sense that the Holmburg was telling the truth and just wanted to learn more about the Ghol-Gan, he pulls out the book he found at the ruins "Here I found this at the ruins. Robert did not want it saying it just was some training manual. Might be useful for you so you can understand some of their combat tactics."
Trusting in his fellow half-elf's instincts regarding the old man Sentis also drew forth his book.
I have one too that you can look at when you're done with Kaavel's.
The druid will find a seat against the wall sensing that this might be a long afternoon.
"Wandered around the jungle, helped out on some of the local fishing boats, that kind of thing. Pleasant life, really, but unstable. When Sentis pointed out that the Wolves were recruiting, I took the chance, and haven't looked back since despite the idiot sergeants and employers."
Holmburg takes the books that Kaavel and Sentis have proffered and puts on a pair of thick glasses before opening them up with an air of reverence. He scans through them both muttering under his breath, you catch snippets of words as he speaks them "..pwen..kraze zo..voye jete.." and he looks up after a few tens of seconds.
"Most interesting, I am not an expert in the content, but I believe I may be able to elicit the thrust of intent and express it in simpler vernacular.... given time to transfer to a separate book of course. Would that be an offer of interest to you?" looking up and blinking. "Were these the only tomes you retained?"
Kaavel thinks than says "That seems fine with me. I think there was other tomes found." Turning to the group he asks "Did any of you find tomes or have them on you if you did?"
Grusk had handed his book off to one of those going upstairs earlier, so the old man should be able to peruse that one as well....
"Feel free to look at mine, I can't make head or tale of it." Cort hands over his small tome easily, still uncertain of how much Hornburg is to be trusted.
The man accepts your tomes with reverence and thanks you. "You're welcome to stay while I work, but I confess I'll likely not be much of a conversationalist. I thank you for your generosity, and hope that my penmanship is easy enough on your eyes"
How long do you think it will take sir?
Smiling Holmburg replies "If you sat at the window as I worked, you'd likely see the burning orb track across the sky a few times afore I was finished."
"I suppose so. Thank you for transcribing it for us. Will we owe you for this?" Cort asks curiously of Holmburg. No such thing as a free meal.