"I was actually thinking that maybe we should ask the Bartender ourselves. I mean, that's how places like this usually work, right?"
"Then by all means, lead on", Victor responds, with a small bow and gesture.
Flare moved to the bar, looking to each individual that she could see as she passed; sure, it was about privacy in a lot of ways, but if they were out in the open, they were choosing to be.
She flashed the bartender a smile. "Hey there, I'm Flare. Flare Brent... I'm not really from around here. Sona was just letting us know that you don't really share that sort of information, but I was hoping you could help me find two people? They were friends of our teachers; they used to adventure together. Well, the older man was. His name was Sloanne and he'd adopted... or something to that effect... a kid named Malcolm?"
"We'd honestly appreciate it." Cynthia chimed in, working to support Flare as the other girl worked on convincing the bartender to spill the beans. They were all on their best behavior at the moment... and hopefully they could get her to talk. To the best of her admittedly limited knowledge on the subject, most bartenders weren't the mute, uncaring type.
"I know them and I consider them friends but I haven't seen them in a while. You can talk to Menge over there in the corner of the game tables he and Malcolm are best friends if anyone knows were he is it would be him."
"Right... ah." she frowns slightly, letting the facade that 'everything is okay' break down for a moment. "Do you know what he likes to drink? I'd like to buy him one before we head over. At least we won't have to worry about trying to prove who we are, if they were best friends."
She counted out a few more coins, looking over to Riven, guiltily, before setting them on the counter, to pay for everyone who wanted drinks to have something, plus a drink for Menge.
You give 5 gold to the bartender to pay your drinks and for a drink for Menge. "He doesn't drink much but you can give him this. He prefers to play dice.
If so:
"Thanks much!" Flare says as she slips away from the counter. Assuming the man in question is easy to pick out...
Flare would head towards the gamblers, offering out the drink. She'd really have rather had a waitress take it, so it wouldn't be suspect at all.
She'd wait for a gap in the game before pressing any further. "Hey there. My name's Flare Brent, and I was hoping you'd have some time to talk to me and my friends about something in private. When you have the time, we'll be in the other room at a table, alright? It's kind of important, but take your time." she flashes him a smile before heading back into the main room.
Menge looks at you suspiciously "You want to talk? Fine, but we talk here. Sit down and lets play dice.We wager honest answers. You win a round I answer one of yours and if I win you answer one of mine. The penalty for being caught lying will be...50 gold. Are you game pretty miss?"
"Ummm. Sure, with two caveats. You can't tell what you learn to anyone. We've already been dealing with some nasty things. And I won't answer a question better suited to someone else. Like... don't ask about Cynthia. What if someone's caught cheating? Oh, and what are the rules?"
"Hmm very well then I ask for the same rules as well you do not share what you learn from me with anyone outside this room. The rules are simple we each roll five of these six-sided die. We try to get as many matching sides as possible of the highest number of pips possible. You can re-roll as many die as you want up to two times. In the event of a draw we re-roll. If your caught cheating then you forfeit the match and must answer hmm five questions with no restrictions."
"Sounds good to me." Flare acquiesces. "Do any of you have a problem with that?" she looks to the others. "I don't really have anything personal to hide... but there are things I'm definitely going to tell you after, regardless of the game, that you can share as you wish. If they don't come up during."
"I'll watch the game." Cynthia volunteered, figuring it was practical to have someone on the lookout for cheating. With that, she calmly began paying attention, blinking about half as often as usual as she looked at both players and the table itself.
Riven would try to cast detect Magic specifically on the dice while she watched the game.
You cast detect magic and see the dice are not magical but that some of the pieces of gear worn by Menge and the others around him are but everyone at the gambling tables gives you a dirty look.
"Oye! No casting over here! Are you crazy? If you tried that in any other tavern in Riddleport you'd have a knife in your ribs right now!" says Menge.
"Lets get started. He hands a cup and five dice to Flare. Roll em" says Menge.
Menge rolls
"Now then you can reroll as many dice as you want keeping the ones you want"
Flare rerolls the fours.
Then frowns when she's left where she started.
Menge keeps the fives and rerolls the rest
giving him 5, 5, 5, 1 , 2
He grins looking at his rolls "You get one more chance to reroll"
"Nope. Looks like you win." she says as she leans back in the chair, frowning. "Go ahead."
"So why are your looking for Malcolm then?"
"Completely skipping Sloane?" she asks, going from annoyed at the dice, to immediately surprised, tilting her head, and looking up. "We were actually looking for Sloane. We followed him out to a castle, and one of the spirits there told us that Malcolm killed Sloane, and took something. Personally, I want to know why he killed him. He was our only lead."
"So Malcolm did kill him...Well not surprise really. The old man was going to use Malcolm's gift for his own means."
another round?" he says
Opting to hedge her bets, Flare tries to get three of a kind of either the 6's or the two's... and gets three of a kind, in the end.
"Allow me." Cynthia said, sitting down at the table and picking up the dice before lightly shaking them in her hand. "I think I understand how this game works now."
She smiled sweetly at Menge. "I do believe it's our turn to ask a question." And it had all been sheer luck, too, with no sleight of hand or attempts to manipulate the dice.
"Damn Cynth! You should do this more often!"
keeping fives
reroll same 3
Beating Flare once more this time he asks "What to you intend to do if you find Malcolm?"
Then once he gets his answer he plays againts Cynthia.
keep sixes
reroll 2
Menge looks befuddled as you both end up with the best possible hand.
"Well then that don't happen often...Looks like a tie. Lets let a single die decide this."
"..." Maybe it would be best to call this one an actual tie? She was actually frowning at the dice now, faintly wondering if someone was messing with them.
"Don't know. That depends on his story, why he did it, what Sloane was trying to accomplish. Sloane was friends with our teacher, but I don't know that he was specifically a good person. There's a reason he wasn't teaching us, you know? You said that he was trying to use Malcolm for his own needs, so that's already giving me reason to listen to Malcolm's side of things. I just... want answers."
Menge starts laughing "A tie then! Very well ask your question and I will ask another. I assume you want to know were Malcolm is?" says Menge
Cynthia simply glanced over to Flare, clearly willing to let the other girl ask the question. She was a little miffed at rolling excellently and still failing to outright win, but hey, that was how luck worked - and they'd gotten a question, which was the part that really mattered.
Flare frowns, a she notes the look from Cynthia. "But... there are so many. And more are getting added. We need to hurry after him, if we're going to catch up, but I think it's more important that we know the story from an outside source, first." she said, as she looked to the others. "Alright, how's this? You mentioned that Sloane was trying to use Malcolm. What's special about Malcolm?"
"Alright no more games. Malcolm has a special mark. According to the old man it was a blessing cast upon his grandparents by some ancient goddess that was passed down to him. The mark is some pretty potent stuff it warns of danger and in extreme situations can protect him from harm and even bring him back from the dead. The old man has or had a ring that would let Malcolm focus the mark's power to do other things too. Perform miracles like breaking a century old curse of undeath, but when you use the ring and the mark to do something like that then that's it the mark is gone forever. Malcolm wasn't too trilled that the old man wanted to use his gift to break some stupid curse and he wanted the ring so I guess he killed Sloanne for it and took off." says Menge.
"So... the ring lets someone with one of these..." she says, taking off her spiked gauntlet to reveal the birthmark, showing it to him, "Perform miracles, at the cost of losing the mark? Kind of like a divine seed or something?"
"AH! So THAT is how you fit into all this. I see. Well if you looking to find Malcolm I spoke to him the day before yesterday after he came back from the castle and he didn't give me too many details but he said he was joining the bloodhands. Apparently they made him some great offer he plans to take them up on it." says Menge
"Yeah... that's one of the problems we've had, and why we want you to not just... you know, tell people. They made us an offer as well, but it was at club-point."
"Well if you want to find Malcolm maybe you should go there and accept the offer. Either that or join the pirate offensive against them, I hear the pirates are about to make another attempt to drive out the bloodhands"
Victor doesn't look very thrilled with the idea. "Frankly, if the bloodhands had asked nicely, or had been a little forthcoming with information I'd be more open to the idea, but on the other hand. getting involved in a pirate turf war doesn't seem a particularly intelligent option either. Still it might be worth talking to someone at least."
"Well what you do next is up to you but I've told you were you can find Malcolm. He is a close friend of mine since we were kids growing up on the streets toghter so I'd apreciate it if you didn't kill him." says Menge
Flare sighed, "Yeah, I can't think of a reason to worry about us killing him... I'd be more worried about the man who tried to force us to come with him doing so." she shakes her head. "On the other hand, I guess it looks like their leader -would- know more about what's going on than we do." she says, looking down at the dice.
Cynthia calmly listened to the exchange, filing away each bit of data for future reference. Well, at least they had their main explanation, though people who wanted to be special - regardless of who it hurt - were so... bleh. Ah, well.
So what is your next move?
"I honestly don't know what to do, guys. It's almost a macabre joke that everything we come across turns into a literal dead end." she sighs, shaking her head. "And I'm not about to join a group that pressgangs people, just to find out more about what's going on. There are plenty of other ways to learn that without doing something quite so stupid. But... I'm at a loss for what else there is."
At that, Cynthia smiled. "Groups such as these always have spies working for them - people who know things. If we can find one of them, we might be able to convince him to talk." she suggested.
"And where do you suggest we go to find such a person?" she asked, looking to Cynthia.
"Well, they usually hang around near where the groups are. Favorite bars and places like that. We could probably bribe some local children with a few coppers to get them to tell us who would know these kinds of things, too." she noted. "I'd rather have them show us the way and get paid after, of course."
"I guess. So just canvas? Seems like it may be expensive." Flare frowns. "Does anyone else have any ideas?"