"Aye aye, mate." Alayna disappears back into the press around the winning roulette table and makes her way back to Sylee. Feck and burning pitch! Mayhap I shou' take the chil' off shore - the pay 'ere ain't commensurate with the risks no how! She gets back on the catwalk and grins for the girl, At least she's not getting cut or beaten up in here in tha riggin' Plopping down she opens her arms and welcomes the girl child into her embrace, "I see tha' we both be in need a'hugs." Sylee climbs into Alayna's lap, fighting back tears. Alayna struggles to fight her own, then whispers to Sylee, We can cry now, wha'ever worries washed off shore, aye? It's dark here and loud down there, and tis jus' us in the crow's nest." I ken keep her off a thug's beatin' but I can't keep her free of a harridan's beatin' lust! After a moment, she realizes, Desna sent Anderas; that's the cards she sent too! I'd be daft and deaf if I dinnae read this right. Sylee is the victim; not Saul's listin' vessel!
Where is mommy going? She doesn't want me anymore?
Alayna easily sense the fear of the child, her panic at the idea of being abandonned again. Sylee is nearly sucking all the little bits of love you can give her, and your tendreness and care.
Then comes an angry Saul.
What are you doing upstairs? Do I pay you to be a nanny? I am losing gold at that damn roulette! Go downstairs and do something worth your pay!
What the men want is quite obvious: winning money. Of course, sometimes the roulette wins, but it should win most of the time.
After a few turns of the game, Cameron has lost nearly eight gold pieces in small sums, never at the same player. As far as he can tell, no one is cheating. But something doesn't feel right. Money is bet, and more money is won.
The dwarf slowly goes, and soon disappear in the crowd. For once, the situation didn't evolve into violence.
You're nearly disappointed. ^^
Turning to her companions, Krucina smiles warmly,
You both did well keeping the rouser calm. Especially you, Master Hammerfist. You were as near as silver-tongued as some of the best con-men I have known!
She bows deeply to the two men with a flourish before heading back inside:
Gentlemen......
"And to you," Dolgrin responds to the dwarf. He glances down at the vial and continues. "I will be sure to use this when necessary. Tell me where you may be staying, if you are remaining in the city. Should the demons and devils finally show their faces, I'll be sure to send word to you." He bows solemnly to the dwarf as he departs.
Turning to Krucina, the dwarf nods. "No silver tongue required. I've been in a similar position as that good dwarf, and merely took a different path. We seem to be kindred in some things." He then returns to the casino, glaring over at the everpresent imp, his recent conversation reminding him of it's existence.
Entering the main floor once more Nessa looks and sees the roulette is still acting funny but she has no idea why so she decides it's time to check on Sylee and starts looking for her daughter.
As round after round goes against the house, Cameron keeps a running total of the odds, 'Each game of chance was weighted 60:40 in the houses favor, but we must have lost forty out of the last sixty games. That's about a 10000-1 chance. Either I'm in the presence of remarkable luck, or something stinks...'
He bides his time and watches, sooner or later the penny would drop.
Izkrael stands at Krucina while she bows deeply and call him a "gentleman": he cannot hold back a smirk. Of all the possible honorific names, this is the worst anyone has ever given to me. However, there was something in the pale-skinned girl that aroused Izkrael's interest: he couldn't explain what it was precisely. It was something similar to a sense of curiosity mixed with fascination. Maybe it was only her gray skin, someway similar to his own, to catch his attention.
=========================================================================
After the critical situation with the dwarf is passed, Izkrael prepares to join again the Varisian brothers on the entrance of the Gold Goblin. Before doing that, the elf enters the hall and gives an attentive look to his sorroundings, focusing in particular on that strange hole he noticed the day before. For a few moments, Izkrael studied the location where the hole was situated.
After having focused his attention on the hole, Izkrael decides to have a drink before getting back to work. He sits on a stool and, lost in his thoughts, asks for something to ease his mind without obfuscating it.
While he's sipping his drink, Izrael notices for the first time that the girl named Moyra, a recently hired cook, has got something similar to what others would define "elven ears", though her features betrayed her mixed heritage. An half-elf, uhm?.
"Hey, you!", he called with an unusually gentle voice, "Your name is Moira, isn't it? I was wondering if we could share a talk later, when our work gives us a pause". Izkrael doesn't barely realize that his invitation could be taken as a show of romantic interest. He never gave much importance to his feelings, and love was one thing that was yet to gain some importance in his life. Though misunderstandable, his invitation was naive: all he wanted was a chance to know if the half-elf knew something about elves, his people, about whom he personally knew so little.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
After Alayna comforts Sylee she sets her back up, "Now, kindling, that did us both good, nae?" The pirate wipes some tears off of Sylee's face and smiles warmly in the gloom of the catwalk. "For Nessa, I cannae say she does or does nae love ya, but she cares. She knows she will have a hard time being the mama ya deserve, but she'll try as hard as the west winds blow, and for as long, too." Standing up she takes Sylee's hand, "See, there she is now - and I think she's comin' ta get ya." As Saul comes up the stairs, Alayna whispers to the girl, "And your secrets are as safe wit' me as they'd be at tha bottom o' Cassomir's Locker." She squeezes the girl's hand as Saul begins his predictable tirade. When he's done, she looks at him and then lashes out at him with her won words. "Yer a damned fool o' a' Cap'n! Yer crew works by loy'lty ta' each other! Yer so damned focused on tha' coin ya could be makin' you forget, it's all o' us that make tha' coin and keep your land lubber arse safe! Ya wanna have at me? Nay, you won't yer a coward an' a thrice-curs'ed fool!" Knowing that she is getting ready to cross a line, she pulls Sylee by the hand to stand behind her, "An' yer too busy puttin' yerself inta' yer strumpets wares ta see wot ya need. Ya need us! Step aside, hide in yer cabin, but let us crew yer damned listing vessel!"
As she shouts down the man that would be her Captain, her hand creeps behind her back, and she feels the comfort of her dagger's hilt in her palm.
The sudden sound of Alayna yelling at Saul caught Nessa's immediate attention, as did the presence of Sylee. It was unclear exactly what had happened, but Nessa went from simply looking to moving as fast as she could, her great wings even flapped in an attempt to fly to reach Sylee and Alayna faster, not that they were able to of course but she still tried, as she ran towards the stairs leading up. With the protective stance that Alayna seems to have taken Nessa completely misunderstands the situation, I've got to reach them, I've got to reach her, my Sylee, I can't let him hurt her.
The half elf cook seems surprised at Izkrael, answering in a subdued voice
What do you want of me?
Saul looks at Alyana with rage, and he seems about to hit her. Nessa storms up the stairs, taking the Gold Goblin owner by surprise.
He choose to not answer the blonde piratess tirade, but Alayna is sure he will try to get even with her sometimes.
The door of Saul's office slams after him.
Letting Saul flee to his room Nessa practically swoops in and grabs up Sylee, "Are you alright honey? He didn't try to hurt you did he? If he did I'll bring such vengeance upon him he'll never recover from it." While she sounds pissed and serious, she also sounds terrified. As she holds the little girl close she looks to Alayna and asks, "Is everything alright?"
Cooling down, Alayna answers Nessa, "He wanred ta know why we play nanny, not wot he cou' do ta help. I set 'im straight. He'll be mad a'bit, but I've seen worse men madder. Sylee's safe and that's wot we're about, aye."
Dolgrin follows the gaze of the Imp to see what has caught the interest of the damnable creature.
Izkrael was not prepared for a question like that, even though he should have taken into account that the half-elf cook could ask him something similar.
Did I express myself wrong? His social sense was never particularly good.
"I...", he tried to say while gathering his ideas, "I just wanted to talk about el...Nah, it doesn't matter anymore. Forget I said anything". He was someway rude in his speech; and indeed everytime he tried to act like a social individual and get to speak with someone, the results of his long years spent alone in the wilderness emerged, forcing him to act in a brusque way.
He suddenly left the stool where he was sitting, emptying his mug all at once. I should have never tried. The cook's question was legitimate and perhaps even predictable, but he wasn't ready to react to it. In fact, he wasn't ready to build any relationship at all.
With a sense of solace, he went back from the Varisian brothers at the entrance fo the Gold Goblin. At least they don't speak at all, if not among themselves, and however they've never got nothing interesting to tell me.
Later in the day, Izkrael turns to Cameron and asks: Hey, do you know if we have some nails and a hammer here? That hole shouldn't remain open.
If Cameron doesn't know anything about nails and hammer, Izkrael turns to Nessa, using almost the same words. If not even Nessa knows anything about nails and hammer, Izkrael turns to Alayna, Krucina and Dolgrin, asking the same question.
If no one seems to know anything about nails and hammer, Izkrael would try to remember the location of a hardware store nearby. . If that's enough and there's an hardware store nearby, Izkrael goes to the store in a pause time and buys 10 nails and a hammer.
"Aye, It's a job I know." Alayna scavenges some pitch, find a saw and a scrap of lumber. She eyeballs the size and cuts the wood down making a plug. She pushes a nail into the back of it and then dips it in pitch. With a satisfied grin she stuffs the plug into the hole. "It's a simple thing, any a' you swabbies coulda' done."
Nessa takes Sylee in her arms and carries the young girl downstairs and into a side room, a different one than before, and sits with the child on her lap.
With a satisfied grin she stuffs the plug into the hole
I was afraid you wanted to abandon me. Again. I saw you going with a man somewhere... I watched you, but you didn't looked at me...
It's obvious for you that your attitude reminds Sylee of her own, "true" mother. Maybe she went with an unknown man when she abandonned Sylee
Cameron closes the roulette after an hour or so, before the GG lost more gold.
He hasn't seen anyone acting "too" strange. No professional gambler, no gang of thief.
Maybe it was just a bad luck day for the roulette.
Maybe not.
She gives Sylee a serious look, her eyes boring into the child's to show her seriousness, "I promise you this, I will always look for you before I go with someone that way again so you will know I won't leave you. I can't promise to always be able to see you, you've been learning how to be stealthy from Aunty Alayna after all and you might be hidden from my sight, but I will always try to look at you first." Her tears well up from deep inside and she says, "From now on, what I do I do for you, because I love you so much that I will do anything to keep you safe and close and to care for you. I will never leave you, I will always want you, I promise on my True Name, Nessaleonali Vitupari Meretrixia." With the words she spoke on her true name a swell of power could be felt between the two. Nessa felt a subtle shift inside, a click like a key in a lock, and knew that she would do whatever she had to for Sylee, the child of her heart. She looked seriously at her little girl, "I want you to remember, never repeat that name to anyone ok? If someone knows it they can control me and I don't want that to happen."
"A hammer? I think there's one out back in the stables somewhere. I agree the hole should get filled in, that a good notion." Cameron replies.
Later after closing the tables, Cameron tries to rustle up some help. He collars everyone he can and tells them straight, "There's something mighty peculiar going on at the tables, the house keeps on loosing at roulette and blackjack. The way those games are setup there's a house advantage, now people might get a run of luck but it never lasts. Thing is the house has been on a loosing streak for a week solid, maybe longer. Supposed to be virtually impossible for that to happen. I don't know how they're doing it but somebody's cheating. Obviously we had some weird goings on yesterday, but has anyone seen anything?"
He waits for everyone to have their say before suggesting, "To tell the truth, I've never been too keen on games with a house advantage. Doesn't really fit Desna's philosophy, but casinos usually love them because they're a steady earner. Except it seems they're a liability right now. There's a bunch of other games that the punters play against each other rather than the house. Poker mostly but there's also craps without a bank. Saal won't like it, but I wonder if we should run those instead for a while? They're much less risky, but the profit mostly comes from food and drinks if we do that."
*grins*
Seeing Alayna working on closing the hole, Izkrael (who was going to buy the proper tools before the woman arrived with all that was necessary to do the job) gets closer to her and helps the human to close the hole. In the meanwhile, he keeps an eye out for everyone in the hall looking at them with a suspicious gaze, just to see if the hole's closing seems to disturb someone in particular.
No one seems to pay real attention to Izkrael and Alayna's carpentry work.
There are a few more interested glances at the blonde piratess backside as she gets on all four to hammer the plug deep down in the hole...
The afternoon pass without more incident at the roulette table. All in all, Cameron can estimate the loss around twenty golds, much more that you should have lost.
There is a minor brawl between two gamblers, but nothing unusual, and nothing that Dolgrin and Krucina can't handle. The no weapon policy issued by Saul was a good thing, it seems, maybe the only good thing he has done so far...
I wanna give you a secret too: I don't like this name. I prefer to call you "mommy"
With still teary eyes, she spends a few minutes in your embrace
When everyone gathered together again Nessa sat with Sylee on her lap, holding the child close, "You know, it could be that for some reason the games are being rigged against the house for some reason, maybe it's Saul that's causing this? I don't know why he would want to, but it is possible." She turned her attention to Izkrael, "Uncle Izzie, do you have any ideas on what might be happening, magic, methods of cheating the system, or reasons why a person who sets up the games would want the house to lose?" She looks at the assembled group, "For that matter who sets up the games anyway and could they be tampering with them, or someone over night?"
When Cameron asked for other ideas Nessa replied, "I've heard there's a pirate vessel, the Wild Drake, arriving tomorrow. Maybe we can get them in here to gamble. Alayna, would you know what forms of gambling pirates regularly participate in or enjoy?"
Cameron chuckles softly. "Pirates eh? With plunder to spend no doubt. No offence to Alayna, one or two of them alone might be a boon. A group will be trouble, I think we can guess what they want: ale; sex; a chance to boast of their exploits and start a fight..."
"Aye, Cam. The louts'll be looking to dump their loot, spread some legs and may'ah a bout and more than they own share o' P's an' Q's. But, the Cap'n and the mates. Even the quartermaster and bosun'll have real coin ta' spend." She ponders for a moment, "Do we know if she be a Chelish ship? Mayhap they'll wanna row wit' a devil o' their own as they throw dice and make themselves known? I mean we are gunna be known for the loosest Jennies and games a'chance may as well get money for our trouble."
Surprised for having been consulted on the matter, Izkrael quickly answers Nessa's worries: "Well, it hasn't been a long time since I've been here, so I wouldn't know who could have any interest in seeing the Gold Goblin losing money...Maybe that Zilcher man you mentioned in the last days? Do you have any other enemies? Besides...", he adds lowering his voice, "I don't trust our manager, Larur. He's involved in this matter, perhaps?".
Izkrael doesn't join the conversation about pirates visiting the Gold Goblin: What are these folks trying to do? They're acting like managers of this Inn...What a waste of time.
When the discussion about pirates from the Wild Drake comes to an end, Izkrael asks: "Nessa, you told us Calistria's faithfuls were having trouble and that Mistress Pamodae was seeking our help to solve the problem. I was very interested, especially because Mistress Pamodae usually has a lot of useful information. You didn't mention the problem anymore, though. It has been solved or something?".
Nessa looked at Izkrael, "Well, not to my knowledge, that was only last night after all. I'm obligated to look into it whether all of you help me or not, though I would feel better if you helped. While I'm doing that I need to go see an old friend about a place to stay. You might remember her Izy, her name is Caithlan, she used to be an active member of the faithful, an older elven woman with silvery hair and emerald eyes, she's retired now but she still lives in town. I'm hoping she would let Sylee and I move in with her and be willing to watch Sylee for me while we're working or when I need to go to the temple."
Nessa quickly realized that Sylee might feel like she is going to be abandoned again so she hugged Sylee tightly and said, "Caithlen is the closest thing to a mother I've ever had, just think, you might have gotten more than just a mother honey, you might even have a grandmother, and I know she could use our help around the house, she's very old for her people and doesn't get around as easily."
An older elven woman you say, uhm? It could be interesting. Maybe she could tell me something about my natural parents...Or perhaps she'll look down on me as most elves do. But I guess it's worth a try.
"I'm coming with you, Nessa", quickly answers Izkrael, "Even though I can't recall this elven woman you speak about, maybe she's got some of the answers I'm looking for".