"Is nae our services, bur our pitch - there's nae 'nough word o' us on tha street as a fair, pr loose gamblin' hall. Add ta tha' the basterd's threats... Alayna stops speaking and only shakes her head. "Mayhap we should fin' a new cap'n tha dinnae 'ave so many low friends?"
Dolgrin nods. "Aye. Note when the "Cheat the Devil" event was on, this place was packed. It was well advertised and thus brought a good crowd. It also brought the bad kind of attention. It's less the lack of something to draw clientele, and more the risks they take coming to our establishment over another. Why risk coming here and being targeted by thugs when they can go to the competition and remain absolutely safe..."
"If we want to succeed, we need to assure our guests that they will be safe even after they leave us... which is effectively impossible. Or we can make it seem that the other establishments aren't as safe as initially thought and that their clients feel that they are no longer safe there."
The dwarf shrugs. "Or we can shut down the gambling an turn this place into an inn. Less potential for profits, but at least the thugs won't be trying to put us out of business."
Cameron listens to both of them respectfully and replies, "Advertising does seem to be an important factor. Should we get some fliers printed and posted? As for safety, well I do see Dolgrin's point. Still nobody actually got killed, maybe we should just gloss over that and make out that the goblin is THE place to be seen. If it's good enough for Zincher surely it's good enough for everyone else?"
Alayna rolls her eyes, "Zincher din't come ta be seen! He came ta show. Like a Chelish Warmaiden, turnin' marines onta yer decks - they may nae' kill ya' but ya sure will need yer brown pants. Zincher as much as recruited here for freelance spies n' thugs." She lowers her voice to a whisper, "Wha' I think is Saul has too many enemies tha' don' like 'im as a competitor."
Having sated herself and Saul both, and leaving the exhausted man alone in his bed, Nessa quickly redresses and casts a spell to clean herself before returning downstairs. She arrives in time to hear Cameron's suggestion and says, "I already mentioned the idea of incubi to Saul, he gave his approval for it. I'll see about that over the next few days. As for the advertising idea, it seems good and could be a big help. Safety isn't something we can guarantee, this [i[is[/i] Riddleport after all." Nessa shudders slightly at the mention of Zincher, "As for that bastard, Saul said very explicitly to keep away from him, he's more powerful than us and far more dangerous, we'd do well to avoid him and his thugs as much as we can."
Cameron whispers to Alayna, "Aye he's got a past that won't say buried. I've a feeling there's nothing we can do short of failing that will satisfy the opposition. I can't believe that's The Dreamer's plan, there must be some reason our unlikely family was thrown together."
Cameron then Listens to Nessa's words and hears the wisdom of it, "You're right, but the way they ride roughshod irks me something fierce. Makes me want to tweak their nose, to let them know I'm not cowed. I'm just like my fool brother in this respect... So instead lets just get this place well known, people will come even if just to gawk. Of course if they see and hear things they like, perhaps they'll stay awhile. How to do it though ? Hire the local crier? Go out ourselves?"
Nessa hops up on a table, crossing her knees, she then leans forward a bit and plants one elbow on them and puts her chin in the palm of that hand. Her wings mantle a moment before draping down over her and her tail snakes out and grabs a drink from one of the succubi which she brings up and takes a drink of. "I think a combination of the two would be best, we go out ourselves at first, if that doesn't seem to do much then we hire some criers as well. I'll ask around at the temple in the morning and see if I can recruit any incubi," she looks at Alayna and Krucina, "and if either of you spot any hot men who might look good in a skimpy outfit ask them to come and interview here. While I'm in town I'll make sure to spread word of our place here around as well, I might even be able to talk the High-priestess into doing something as well."
The night, and the recent events, take their toll, and whatever you plan to make to wait until the next day.
You all go to sleep, either in the Gold Goblin or elsewhere.
The next morning, you start doing your chores.
There are a few waitresses and minor servant missing, probably afraid of the crimelord show.
More surprising, two hours after you all arrived, Hal is still nowhere to be seen...
The mood, in the Gold Goblin, is gloomy and tense.
Having returned to the temple the night before, Nessa woke up and helped Sylee pick out some clothing. She helps her daughter get ready, and then says, "Would you like to feed Zith today Sylee?" With the child's enthusiastic yes Nessa says, "Alright," she reaches into a bin and pulls out a live rat by the tail and says, "Here, take the tail at this end above my hand." Once sylee does Nessa says to her, "Hold onto it now, I'm going to let go and open Zith's cage." She does as indicated and then gestures for Sylee to drop the rat into the cage. Nessa quickly closes the lid after the rat is dropped in. "I need to go talk to some of the other residents here at the temple, do you want to stay and keep an eye on Zith for me? If you do I need your word you won't open the cage, Zith is a poisonous snake and very dangerous if you don't know how to handle her." Nessa snaps a lock onto the cages latch to make sure the snake won't get out and sits on the bed again pulling Sylle to her and hugging her. She says quietly, "I love you Sylee."
Cameron wakes up with a pounding headache, "Uhg! What did I drink last night?" He totters over to a mug and sniffs it, "Coffee, strange - I don't remember getting drunk. Maybe I didn't, I had a crazy dream that Zincher tried to shake the place down."
He pauses, looks at his dishevelled form in the mirror and mutters, "Ah hell that was no dream, proper waking nightmare. Desna your humble servant is too dense to see your grand design, but whatever you have in mind, it seems we're sailing perilously close to the rocks."
With a heavy sigh, he splashes some water in his face and gets out his razor and a bar of soap. A little bit later a clean shaven Cameron gingerly finds his Harrow deck and starts shuffling.
He pulls out a card and examines it, "Hmm The Big Sky, representing strength through momentous change. A most auspicious card."
Feeling strangely better, Cameron saunters down to breakfast with a faint smile on his lips. When the others are assembled he says "Right we know what we needs to do. Lets get down to work!"
A woman knocks on the door of the Gold Goblin. Her clothes are in poor conditions, but she tries to keep a proud attitude.
Excuse me, is there a man named Cameron here?
I love you too, new mommy. I'll try to be a good girl this time, so you don't have to give me.
she sobs pitifully in your shoulder, her arms clutching you with all the strenght her tiny muscles can muster
I promise I'll be careful with Zith, mommy.
Nessa holds the sobbing little girl close and gently strokes her back with knuckles of her hand so as not to scratch her. "It's alright honey, I don't plan to ever give you up." Nessa has tears in her eyes as well while she comforts the little girl. She hums a tune she heard somewhere that comforted her and waited until the girl had calmed. Once that was accomplished Nessa tells her, [b]"I'll be back shortly, it shouldn't take too long, and we can go get some breakfast on the way to the casino so be thinking what you want to have. Nessa then proceeds to the main area looking for one of the abots, Marcus, to inquire about some incubi.
It doesn't take long for Nessa to find Marcus. But the man seems quite busy with two young women... Will you patiently wait ..or not?
The woman stands still in the doorway, looking to every human man's face carefully. She's holding tight something.
Nessa thinks to herself, I promised Sylee we'd go eat soon, and if join in I won't get back to her anytime soon...much as I want this I can't, I need to take care of my daughter. Hmm, I think I'll leave a note. Nessa goes and grabs a piece of parchment and writes a note one it..
Marcua, come to the Gild Goblin Casino later, I may have a job for you and a couple of our brothers here at the temple. Bring a couple of the best looking we have. I should be at the casino for a while today, if not I'll catch you later.
Your sister in lust,
Nessa
With the note written, Nessa goes back to where Marcus is entertaining and taps him on the shoulder with her tail which is holding the note. She gestures towards his clothes, or what amounts to the, on the floor and slide the note into the pile. As she leaves her tail snake out and smack both young women's butts as she returns to her room.
Once she reaches her room she looks at Sylee and says, "So, did you think about what you want for breakfast Sylee? I promised we'd stop somewhere and I intend to keep that promise." She takes Sylee's hand and starts walking to the rear exit of the temple.
Hearing Krucina call for him, Cameron comes down humming a hymn to praise the dreamer. After that auspicious reading, he's in high spirits today!
He sees the woman and tells her, "Hi I'm Cameron, servant of the great Dreamer." He peers at her and asks, "Are you here on church business? Or maybe you're looking for work? If so we actually have some vacancies..."
Krucina swears she remembers the lady asking for Cameron......
As Cameron approaches and greets the human, Krucina whispers into his ear:
I don't attend to a church, sorry. I have a message from Hal Dorel. But first he told me to ask you a question to prove you are the true Cameron Hawkwinter.
She switches to Elven
Silee answers with some appetite
I won't eat mice for sure! I'm not a snake like Zith...I'd like some warm milk, with honey, and some bread, and a biiiig apple, and some of these fancy little sweet cakes they sell in the street...
Nessa leans in and picks Sylee up, spinning her in a circle and says, "Then that's what we'll have. Come along Sylee girl, let's get breakfast!" She sets her daughter down and they leave, stopping and getting the food as they head towards the casino, they even get enough for everyone else including Hal and take it to the casino to eat.
Automatically Cameron responds in passable elven, although humans never could pronounce things the way they're really supposed to be.
At the inn, the woman seems satisfied by Cameron's answer, despite his human accent.
Here's a letter he gave me for you.
as you may recall, I put myself in debt to Hedarold the Pearl, the gnome fence we talked to a few days earlier. The time to pay my debt has already come, as he needs me for a lenghty mission in the land of my ancestors. If I have time enough, I'll try to contact someone who could help you, but I must go while the trail is still hot.
I do hope you will find a satisfying end to your own manhunt.
Dolgrin watches the conversation between the woman and Cameron warily. Speaking in that damnable elven tongue I expect... And she seems to be trying to hide her elven blood... I wonder if it is because she is rightly ashamed, or if it's something more... sinister...
Cameron reads the fancy elvish script with a little difficulty and as the meaning becomes clear his eyes grow large and he blows out his cheeks. He tells Dolgrin, "Apparently we have one vacancy I hadn't bargained on..." Seeing the unspoken question in the Dwarf's eyes he states evenly, "Hal has been called away, perhaps for good."
He then turns back to the woman and asks her something in elvish.
The woman switch to common
Sorry to bring you bad news. And I'm afraid I'm not very good with a bow. I can work in the kitchen, if you need someone.
Cameron nods, "Sure we can offer you a try out. The probation period is two weeks and after that you have two weeks notice. When can you start? Oh and what was your name?"
If she agrees he extends his hand and introduces her to the other members of staff.
I can start right now, if you wish so. My name is Moyra.
She seems happy, even relieved, of Cameron's offer. While the priest introduce her to the staff, Nessa comes back, holding Silee's hand, and some honey-smelling food
The Gold Goblin will open in two hours, so if you need something done, you'd better be quick.
Sauntering in hand in hand with Sylee, Nessa says to her fellow managers, "I...we brought breakfast! Come and get it." She leads Sylee to nearby table and begins getting the food out getting Sylee her plate first then one for herself. Both of the start eating as they wait for the other to come and join them.
Cameron smiles, "Awesome! Breakfast sounds good, but we need to eat it on the hoof!"
He catches the eye of Nessa, Dolgrin and anyone else whose there and says, "Come'on! We talked about advertising, now it's time to do it. This morning lets spend an hour going round the market and the streets, and make sure everyone know the goblin is open for business!"
He shoos them out and starts a chant as they walk down the streets, "Goblin! Goblin! Goblin! The place to be a gamblin', bless'd by the dreamer! Goblin! Goblin! Goblin! The place to be a drinkin', fanned by a succubus or maybe an incubus, whatever takes yer fancy! Goblin! Goblin! Goblin! It's the place to be! Goblin! Goblin! Goblin! Ladies get in for free!"
A tear forms in his eye and Cameron muses, 'Ah! If only Silas could be here, he'd be proud! He'd be leading the singing too, he always had a better voice than I did.'
Dot.
Krucina's spirits drop hearing that Hal is gone,
He didn't even say goodbye....my first REAL friend outside of the other kayal...I could have followed him....I..
She snaps back into reality and follows the rest of the staff out into the street. She repeats the chant, but the words are rather meaningless at the moment. However, she feigns excitement and puts on a happy face...
Nessa stares as Cameron just grabs his food and goes out the door to start trying to drum up business, she seems rather put out when Krucina simply walks out after him not taking her portion. Nessa expression has darkened as she and Sylee continue eating at the casino. She finally looks at Sylee and asks with a slight tremor in her voice, "We brought the food for them but why won't they eat with us?" Her tail hung kind of limply as she hunched over the table.
What's all this noise about, Cameron? Are you sick?
Larur's voice is amused, and the dwarf manager is even nearly smiling, showing that he means no offense.
Where's Hal? Usually he's one of the first in. Hope he's not sick for real...
Dolgrin snarls, ignoring Cameron's shooing motions "I'm not a billboard. You go right ahead and do what you want out there. I'll stay here to help keep an eye on things."
Cameron sighs sheepishly, "Perhaps Larur, sick enough to think my colleges were team players... Anyway nevermind, everyone in the area knows we are open. With any luck we'll get a couple of extra customers today."
He then goes in to set up the gambling tables.
Seeing Dolgrin, Nessa perks up and says, "Breakfast? Sylee and I brought it in with us, we have enough to share." Nessa gives Cameron an offer look and says, "I'll help you advertise after breakfast."
Glancing over at Cameron he frowns, "And I've already said I disagreed with the idea, as have others... Where was the 'team spirit' then? It doesn't matter, I wouldn't be useful for advertisement at any rate."
Turning to Nessa, he smiles. "Now that's something I can get into," the dwarf says, heading over to the breakfast area to eat.
After sharing breakfast, you notice four men entering the Gold Goblin.
They wear little armor, and it seems the armors were tailored to enhance their bodies more than to protect them.
All of them, somewhere on their bodies or on their clothes,sports some yellow, and all of them carry a whip.
Their leader is a man in his early thirties, well build and with a roguish smile. He's oozing machismo...
Cameron and Dolgrin soon realise that the Goblin is silent. The few waitresses still there can't get their eyes out of the unknown men. Even the usually talkative Liry is slack jawed.
And your half elf bardess is nearly drolling.
Please, allow me to introduce myself...I am Marcus Bellomont, priest of Calistria, but you can call me...
He smiles, and the women are breathless
anytime.
His name was Hal Dorel, from the Mierani Forest. He had to leave the town for a hunt, and was offering you his hunting grounds.
There was trouble and treason to be expected at a place named the Gold Goblin. But it was a good cover for someone who wanted to keep an eye on the city and the Blot. There was a man named Cameron, of the Hawkwinter clan, who wasn't too bad for an human and was honorable. He was a priest of the Great Dreamer, Desna. If you needed a place to work, you could see this Cameron, and tell him Hal Dorel sent you. If he asks a proof, tell him that Inceku found the empty grave when they were seeking Cameron's uncle in the hills. There was another smoke-skinned woman, named Krucina. As a favor, Hal asked you to tell her he was sorry not to have her by his side on his hunt, but that he hoped to come back. Cameron rag tag group of friends included a whip-carrying female pirate, a whip-carrying fiendblooded magician and a dwarf, but none of these were really important and deserving Hal's trust.
Nessa sees Marcus, and the men he brought with him, and squealed in delight at. She hopped up and ran over to him, "Marcus! I'm glad you made it!" She threw her arms and wings around him in a hug of greeting, "So have a seat and I'll explain the join I have for you." She breaks off and head to her seat next to Sylee again. Once they were seated she says, "So here's the join In for you. We're trying to bring in more business and decided to try to bring in more women."
Nessa folds her wings down and looks over at Sylee, "Do you need anything honey?" Once Sylee has answered her Nessa continues, "We have our succubi for the men, now we are looming for incubi to lure in the women." She looks at each man in turn, "I want you to become our incubi. I also want to point out that this is not the temple, we aren't do I our usual tricks here, if you want to setup a time to meet elsewhere for it after your shift that's fine so long as it doesn't interfere with your duties here." She looks each of them in the eye, "So, are you interested?"
On the way, Izkrael has gone ahead silently, avoiding main streets and concealing his face beneath his hood.
As he reaches the Gold Goblin, Izkrael inhales deeply, adjusts his hood and makes sure his bow and weapons are well concealed, after which he enters, pushing the door gently.
Once he steps in, he spots the large party gathered around one of the tables immediately and his black eyes focus right away on the winged tiefling engaged in a conversation with a man that Izkrael feels like he had already seen. Look…Seems like Hal Dorel has given me a more profitable lead than I thought, Izkrael thinks sneering slightly, that is Nessa!
In a glimpse Izkrael identifies the party as the group described by Hal Dorel. Well, this is my chance to find out more about the Blot.
Defeating his natural reticence and his solitary temperament, Izkrael approaches to the group in a nonchalant way, almost like he’s making his way to another table. On the way he mentally flips through all the possible overtures, but in the end his introvert nature gets the best of him and he cannot devise a better plan than glibly removing his hood when passing near to Nessa. I only hope that Nessa notices me and spares me the embarrassment of having to greet her first.
Cameron mutters "Holy moley..." and stares with disbelief when the bronzed Adonises walk in. There's a moment of silence before he remarks softly to Dolgrin, "All of them with whips, nice touch. I suppose that might be useful if a barfight starts, still this place is going to have an even weirder vibe than usual."
Inwardly he wonders, 'Great dreamer, am I abed with a fever? How much stranger is this going to get?! How deep does the rabbit hole go...'
Alayna is dumbstruck. She drops her honeyed roll to the plate and simply leaves. The wagtail heard not a word I said! She can't believe sex for sale is right n' natural!
* * *
Alayna gathers her gear, seriously thinking about her future in the Goblin. She mutters to herself, "Fine ta' be a woman in'a place as this, but to give it to a des'prit chil' as a 'this is normal' and a 'see, this is how ya sell sex!' She shakes her head realizing that the child needs someone to truly watch over her. Cam is as smitten with the haybag's tricks and trickin' as even Saul is! If she's kept here she's gunna fin' a worse fate than I! She's not even flowered and she's being taught the oldest profession! She catches her reflection in the mirror and sees her eyes are wet with tears of frustration and, if she looks deep enough, sadness. But I cannae leave the girl hiere ta' learn a trade a trollop! She sweeps her arm across the vanity, sending the wash basin crashing to the floor. "Grrr! Feck!"