"Bah," Devargo huffs, looking at Staryth and Sera. "Not even tossing in one gold? How boring."
"Let's see if you're love of betting can compromise with my own proclivities. If Silvio wins, I'll donate five gold to charity in his name," Staryth states with a slight smile, "If he loses, I'll still give the five to charity, but in Peg Leg's name."
Silvio agilely bends down and snags the dagger on the table, before attempting to topple Peg Leg.
Caught off guard and off balance, Peg Leg topples over, landing into the crowd of men at his end of the table, toppling them to the ground.
"Baahahaha!" Devargo bursts out laughing. "I like you, blondie. You're a crafty one. Straight for the legs! Glad to see at least some of you lot know your way around a game," He says, glaring at Staryth.
"Alright, alright. I'm starting to like you guys, so I'll at least let you know this: I've got some letters sent to Amprei by someone he'd hate for people to know he's associated to. I May be willing to share, but you'll have to make it worth my while... I'd be curious to see how the shoanti over here handles himself on the table, or any of the rest of you lot, for that matter, but if you guys have another idea..." he says, nonchalantly putting his hand in his pocket and jingling a few coins around, "I'd be glad to hear it."
"Why don't you tell us what you think the letters may be worth and we'll work from there" Nicolai tells Devargo.
Silvio tosses the dagger aside, hops down off the table and offers his hand to Peg-Leg to get him back up. "Sorry pal, I knew you'd be the stronger one, so I had ta go straight for it. Good show!"
Silvio starts to count up the coin, passing it to the victors and taking the party's share. He was starting to enjoy himself. Truth was, he hadn't given up all his vices just because he had been raised by acolytes of Sarenrae. Heedless of the dangers, he banters with Devargo.
"Let's get talkin'. But in the meantime, how about we all relax a little, yeah? Get everyone some drinks, enjoy ourselves! I'm sure this'll cover the festivities." Silvio spreads out half the party's winnings back onto the table. He turns and gives Staryth a shrug, figuring the paladin would appreciate that Silvio didn't profit from taking out a cripple, and Devargo's men would appreciate getting their money back, in an indirect way.
.
"Look, all we want is a square deal. Business. We might have some business again in the future, after all, so let's get off on the right foot. How much do you think those secrets are worth?"
"Hm... This information's some really useful stuff, kid. I can't just let my bread and butter walk off for a pittance. I'll let it go for... let's see... 1500 gold pieces."
"I see this is going to be a tough negotiation for you, sir, are a shrewd negotiator. However my colleagues and I were thinking somewhere in the 300 to 400 gold range."
Devargo's traits contort with anger for an instant and his hand reaches for one of his gauntlets for an instant, until he lights up with comprehension.
"Hah. You understand this kind of business better than I expected. I can string the guy for more than that in a couple of weeks... You'll need to be more interesting than that, or else I ain't motivated to pass on the goods."
I'm out of my depth here. Best I can do is keep ready in case things go very wrong.
His eyes scan others about them , looking for anything particularly unpleasant.
Of course, this whole situation is unpleasant
.
"He isn't worth that much. How about 450 gold? I'm pretty sure that's more than you could get from him in a month."
"He isn't worth that much. How about 450 gold? I'm pretty sure that's more than you could get from him in a month."
Staryth looks to Silvio, pondering it, "Especially since circumstances change so quickly ever since the recent riots. I imagine a lot is in flux and what was surefire knowledge before it is now a bit more mercurial."
Seeing Silvio stumble, Nicolai chimes in "Coming from such a shrewd negotiator like yourself, you flatter me, Sir. What my friend means is that 450 gold pieces is certainly an excellent starting point for these negotiations. If you would care to counter offer perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement and can conclude our business with some sort of pleasure." he nods at the table again.
"Alright, that's enough of you squawking offers over one another like a bunch of drunk seagulls." Devargo snaps with a loud slam of his hand on one of the table which he follows with a series of derisive squawks, much to the amusement of his followers.
"Here's the deal; take it or leave it. Give me 600 gold pieces on the table, and I'll spill the good stuff. I've had my fun with the ambassador; I may as well butcher that cow before it gets old."
Nicolai looks around at his companions before answering "Fair enough. That's a bit more than would have liked to pay, but I think we can part with 600 gold for the information." Turning to Silvio Nicolai nods "Go ahead and pay the man and we can get on to the rest of the evening's "festivities"." he says with a wink.
Nicolai whispers to Krojun "ale adánáistanoná"
"Be Ready"
Staryth doesn't speak Shoanti, so he just readies to follow Krojun's lead if it should come to that.
"Indeed, you drive a hard bargain. I trust it'll be worth it?"
Silvio reaches into his things, careful to hide the full scope of the party's wealth in case Devargo becomes tempted to try something, and produces the coin.
Sera just grumbles under her breath, hoping to be done with these deals quickly. Being in this place brings back too many bad memories and dangerous habits.
"Well, you know what they say about the good things in life," Devargo laughs. He looks the coin bag over, taking a general guess at the size and number of the contents.
Satisfied, he stands up. "I'll be right back with the goods, don't move a muscle."
The men watch as Devargo summarily gets up and leaves the room to head for his private quarters.
"You people sure are something!" One of the thugs declares, as the attention turns back to gambling, and two men step up on the table for another round of knivesies. "It's not every day we see people dealing with Devargo with that kind of guts, and it's even rarer they actually walk out intact."
While the men are distracted, and Devargo is away, the cage on the ceiling shakes at the end of its chain, jingling audibly. Anyone who looks to the cage sees the pseudodragon within looking at the party with hope in its eyes.
Can you hear my thoughts? He asks in his mind, once he sees it If so, how do I get you down from there? is there a mechanism?
Silvio also looks upward, and wonders whether he has any chance of quietly picking the locks.
Sensing the change in the atmosphere Nicolai looks up at the cage before whispering to the others "Business before pleasure"
Nicolai walks over to the table, keeping it between himself and the thugs "Thanks. Your boss drives a hard bargain and his reputation seems well deserved." Nodding toward the cage "Nice..."pet" you have there. How did Devargo come to "own" it?"
"Can you hear me, little fellow?" Nicolai directs his thoughts to the caged dragon.
Sera is oblivious of everyone looking up at the caged pseudodragon, and instead watches where Devargo left, wary of a surprise ambush.
Pseudodragons are tiny cousins of true dragons, and friendly, if skittish. This one clearly has seen better days. They can communicate telepathically with other creatures, but must establish the link themselves. The pseudodragon has clearly been battered and tormented.
The cage is low enough that one could reach it with some difficulty by standing on the tip of their toes. This would, however, attract much attention.
You'd just need to open the latch and I could get out, but... Barvasi did really awful things to the last person who tried, I don't dare think about it.
Before anything else can be said, Devargo walks back into the room, and flicks a bundle of letters onto the table, before snatching the bag of gold up.
"'s been good dealin' with you fellas." He says, jingling the pouch a few times in his hand.
"You guys look like you could use some time to relax;" he adds. "Go on, enjoy the festivities outside. There's something there for just about everyone."
Staryth takes the letters even as he thinks to the Pseudo dragon, My friends can be very resourceful. When I can, I'll see what ideas they have to perform a distraction or the like.
To Devargo, he answers, "You're kind to suggest it. Maybe we will."
Then he starts to leave, he whispers to his friends "Is there a distraction any of you can do that won't get us in trouble? There's someone we need to help, a small friend in a cage."
Nicolai will pick up the bundle and open one of the letters and begin to read it, just to make sure it's genuine.
"Define, trouble." Nicolai whispers back.
Nicolai will pick up the bundle and open one of the letters and begin to read it, just to make sure it's genuine.
[dice=Linguistics]1d20+7
"Define, trouble." Nicolai whispers back.
"Oh, attacked by the very men we just dealt with... if that's going to happen anyway, then there's no point in trying a quiet method."]
"Oh, that kind of trouble. Probably not." Nicolai looks at the bedraggled, caged dragon as his thoughts seem to reach a tipping point. "To the Hells with it." he says, turning before they reach the door and places both of his hands together, thumbs touching each other fingers splayed wide before shouting as a wave of coruscating colors envelops the thugs gathered around the table.
Before pulling out his wand of Acid Splash.
"So very much in so many ways the opposite of what I was looking for..." The Paladin mutters and races towards the cage...
"Wow, didn't see this coming!" says Silvio.
Sera had turn to leave, thinking their business complete when Nicolai surprises her as well as the opponents with his actions.
Thugs #4-6
Party
Devargo, Thugs #1-3
Catching everyone in the room by surprise, Nicolai unleashes a dazzling cone of colors. Startled, the six thugs still in attendance cover their eyes.
Thugs one and five successfully cover their eyes, while their companions are quite dazzled.
"I knew that lot was trouble as soon as they set foot in here!", Thug 5 roars, ignoring the fact that he'd wagered on Silvio just minutes earlier. drawing a longsword, he steps forward, callously shoving one of his stunned companions aside, who falls over the rickety table next to them.
Nicolai wisely steps back behind his more protected companions.
Silvio spends a Harrow Point to increase his base speed by 10 feet.
He then attempts to tumble behind Devargo, drawing his dueling sword in the process! .
As soon as he gets flanking (such as if Staryth draws his glave), or if Devargo is actually flat-footed (which would surprise me), Silvio attacks!
;
His wand already his hand, Nicolai sends a glob of acid toward the chain holding the miniature dragon's cage.
Sera, pleased with the way the battle is going for her side, takes a step back to where Krojun was, and offers a brief chant to Abadar, blessing her comrades as the strive to bring down this corrupt blister on her city.