Almar looks at Sandru apologetically and shrugs, signaling he too doesn't know what to do of the Shoanti's behaviour.
"I only heard from the local priest, but I know of such places in Sandpoint," Raziel replies to Almar.
"That place felt like a hangout of,... well, local petty criminals. They'll watch you until they've got you sized up, and then make off with whatever they can get. It might be minor, but it could be something important. Best to steer clear of such places, unless you have no other choice."
Sandru seems as perplexed by Lisabett's jesting as he is with Quoaral, yet it is at the young Ulfen woman that he smiles as he walks after him. "Well, we shall never see such a scene if you don't come along." he says. "As good of a tracker as you are, it seems you have competition."
"The two of you should join us as well." Sandru gestures to Almar and Raziel as well. "I'm curious where he will lead us."
The Shoanti disappears around the corner of a building a moment later, followed closely by your Varisian captain.
After giggling a bit more at the paladins' situation, Setomi asks, "Should I go and see about gathering the other?"
Lisabett flushes when the captain's smile turns on her. "I hunt beasts and enemies of men in the wild, not men in their homes," she dismisses.
It is an effort, but Lisabett resists the urge to crack her neck and settle the cask more squarely on her shoulder. With her new magics she was cleaner than she had ever been, and had scarcely taken damage since the creature with the hooky mouth, much less a new scar. But then, she had shown no courage, either, or won praise in battle.
"The wager was, I best you in the cups and I am allowed to sleep outside the walls, yes?" she says suddenly and adopts a false smile. "And if you by some miracle best me, I sleep within the walls." It was not the wager at all, but she was hoping that the captain had forgotten. The notion of spending her entire evening in the Lady's company made the skin on the small of her back crawl and the magics beneath her navel shrink in terror.
Copulation? Fifteen?
Sorin's mind goes blank as the gnome's words scatter his thoughts completely. AS the gnome walks away Sorin comes back to himself.
"Excuse me, but that is certainly not what Lady Shelyn stands for," Sorin says in a bit of a huff frowning. "I think that you're confusing her with Ca..." Sorin trails off as the gnome vanishes into his room.
He continues to stare after the gnome with a frown until Setomi's words finally penetrate his brain. "What? Oh, yes...the others..." Sorin turns and walks out of the inn mumbling under his breath. He then wanders off in a random direction sort of looking for the others.
"It sounds fair to me." Sandru answers. "If...if, we can find somewhere within walls to drink. Raziel speaks against The Oarsman, and from the conversation I have just had, I suspect he does so rightly. But where, then? The warehouse where our wagons are being kept is not-"
At that moment, you notice Sorin stepping out of a door in a tight alleyway.
"A-ha!" Sandru shouts.
Sorin is still mumbling to himself and doesn't notice anyone else until he's almost on top of them.
"Oh! Here you are..." He seems to be at a loss for a bit before he frowns. "I found an inn where we won't be robbed blind in our sleep though the innkeeper's a bit," Sorin's frown deepens, "odd."
He turns around and begins walking back the way he came sighing in a resigned manner. "It's this way I guess." he mutters out before resuming his under the breath mumbling.
"Many thanks, Sorin." Sandru calls over the rumbling thunder that sounds across the sky. He eagerly follows the paladin, with Quoaral right in step.
Lisabett gives a start at the sound of thunder, then begins to sway, almost as though she has already started with the cask that remains unbroken on her shoulder. She grips it hard as Sandru walks into the building, and looks behind her, conflicted. A challenge had been issued, but... everything she was screamed to escape the walls.
Resigned, Lisabett lowers her head and enters the inn, an expression of pain on her face as she passes the threshold.
Almar looks undecided for a while, then he just follows the others:"Very well, I'll defer to your superior expertise in these matters..."
The Gnome's Nose has a clean, if cramped, front room. Nobody attends you, but there are mugs, plates, and silverware readily available on the shelves.
By the time the three Ulfen hear word and make their way to the inn, Lisabett and Sandru are preparing to pour their first drinks. Andres's mood has been somber and serious of late, but he cheers with elation when he realizes what is happening. Koya smiles at this.
"You picked a good opponent, Lisabett." Ameiko insists. "Sandru can't manage a second mug of beer, let alone mead."
"You've never seen my drink mead." Sandru replies. Though he speaks to the Tian woman, he keeps his gaze on Lisabett. He raises an eyebrow, and then his glass.
Lisabett quirks her eyebrow at Ameiko's interference, but does not acknowledge her. When she has poured her mead, into a tankard of all disreputable chalices, she rises and lifts it above her head.
"First, the rules of engagement!"
Lisabett speaks loudly in Skald, then continues in the trading tongue. "We speak of the rules," she translates roughly. "No biting, choking, or punching in the face or below the belt," she says and levels her gaze at her three former mates. "And our Southern friends should know that any challenge issued, even in the cups, will be met with all appropriate force. "
Still standing, Lisabett tilts her head and the tankard back and does her best to drain it in a pass. When she has swallowed it all, she lowers the mug and turns it over to show that she has emptied it completely and nods to Sandru. "My belly has been trained by the greatest thanes in the employ of my Jarl, and these bravos here," she shrugged and gestured to Ulrick, Espen and Andres. "Show us your pride, Captain."
Sorin laughs at Lisabett's comment about her belly. "I think she's got you beat there, Sandru. The only training your belly has had is to put up with your, ah...unique cooking skills."
Sandru gives a sideways smile to Sorin. He finishes his mead surprisingly quickly for a Southerner. The Varisian immediately begins pouring another.
Almar just shakes his head at the scene:"Seems like you don't need me. I'll be in my room then. And good luck with your... challange"
Lisabett's eyebrow quirked up when Almar exits the room. If she wished a confrontation, she would call him back, after all, she had decided on this activity to foster some sense of camaraderie and he was the only who had left. As though the thunder had called to his blood the way it was roiling in hers...
Seeing that Sandru had already filled his cup for a second time, however, Lisabett smirks and refills her tankard.
"If nothing else, he will regret having missed the night when the battered idol that is Lisabett makes such a great fool of herself, hmm?"
Lisabett speaks in Varisian to her opponent and smiles as she lifts the next cup of mead to her lips.
"I believe that if you can best me in this challenge I will have to teach you Skald, as you will make a far better negotiator in our lands than myself," she says over the rim, then tips the tankard back and drains it, and once again turns it over. "Of course, if you could drag me about with my hair in your fist, they might actually believe it," she teased and winked.
Hopefully this won't be too loud for the gnome. I seem to recall they're sturdy sleepers anyways.
Sorin will pull out his flute and play a fast placed battle hymn. He'll play it in a higher note base though to give it a slightly comic tone.
While enjoying the party, Setomi shys away from all the noise and drinking. She steps outside for a moment, to cool off, as well as check the area. Slipping into the dark, she scans the streets.
Fortitude Save -
Fortitude Save -
"This is odd" Setomi thinks as she watches the Ulfen guard wander away. She quietly follows the man to see were he could be going.
Sorin is hardly surprised when Ulrick leaves though one might have thought the drinking would have kept him entertained. He's more surprised to see Setomi slip out shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, he continues his playing. If one of the contestants starts to falter too much, he'll switch to a funeral dirge.
Lisabett continues to drink beyond her limit, though she frequently relieves herself. Her movements become more fluid, and her tongue illiberal, sliding between her milk tongue and Varisian interchangeably as she is attempting to speak to Sandru.
Fortitude Save -
Fortitude Save -
As Sandru is leaning back, letting the last few drops of his fifteenth glass of mead trickle into his throat, he suddenly falls over the bench. His glass shatters upon the floor, but Ameiko's gasp is louder. A silent moment passes before Sandru's snoring begins. Andres and Espen raise a cheer for the victorious Lisabett.
The fourth Ulfen, Ulrick, does not seem to be present. You aren't sure how he slipped out unseen, but he did.
Lisabett rises from the bench, leans down and picks up the captain, lifting his arm around her shoulders and with the aide of her knees, him from the floor.
"Our captain," she says cheerfully. "Sorin, if you w-worry for h-his chastity, you... you c-can help."
Lisabett begins dragging Sandru towards a room.
Watching the Ulfen man continue out into the dark, Setomi get the feeling that something is very wrong. She decides to follow at a distance, continuing to keep in the shadows and keeping her eyes open to danger.
Sandru? Chaste? I suppose it's possible...
Without a word, Sorin will move to help get Sandru to his room. After, without thinking about it, he'll try to help Lisabett as well.
Lisabett sways in place when they have seen Sandru to a bed. She pulls off his boots, and falls on the ground, and giggles, then looks about and begins sobbing before picking herself up.
"I hate walls," she slurs, and gives an inebriated look to the captain. "The one before, he made me,"" she began and rubbed at the scar beneath her left eye with the meat of her palm. "He cut me and he spat on me, then he raped our peacemaker. Because I said no. And they all knew."
Lisabett turns bleary eyes on Sorin and staggers forward, then sighs and heads out the door. "I'll not sleep where the lady lays her head. The screams are too loud."
After dealing with Sandru, Lisabett staggers from the room, gathers her things from the common room and outside.
Raziel stands by the door.
"Tis not a night fit for any to be out, when there's a shelter at hand," he comments to Lisabett. "Abide a bit, Lisabett, and relax with those who don't drink for fun. You owe me my next lesson in Skald, at least."
Lisabett's blue eyes narrow, but have difficulty focusing. Her belongings slip from her shoulder, mostly unable to will herself to carry them and speak at the same time.
"Fæn i helvete," Lisabett curses. "Master in hell," she translates, "jeg skal ikke sove her. I will no sleep here."
Lisabett staggers back a few steps, then spies the cask still open and begins wandering back in the direction of the multiple tables, one frame at a time, pours herself another drink and downs it to protest having been stalled at the door.
Raziel's right. This isn't a place to be sleeping outdoors...or pass out in.
Sorin walks over to the cask and pours two drinks of mead. He hands one to Lisabett. "You can't sleep yet," Sorin proclaims cheerfully. "We, uh, haven't celebrated your victory yet!" Sorin then downs his drink in one gulp.
Thank the stars it isn't ale; I don't know how anyone drinks that stuff.
Lisabett raises an eyebrow, but accepts the next drink. She watches Sorin pound his and laughs before raising hers to her lips and mimicking him mutely. Whether or not language remains to her at this point in the night is a toss up, but she appears to have said everything she was willing to say.
Lisabett finds herself needing to take a seat a moment later, and a moment after that, she is out cold.
You are certain that somebody just spoke, out in the darkness, but there is no reply. You hear the chirping of crickets and the gentle lapping of the bay, but nothing more.
"The spirit is willing, but the body is weak," Raziel wryly comments after Lisabett's final drinks.
"Shall we deposit her safe in another room, Sorin? I know she loves to sleep in the damp and cold, but that isn't going to happen tonight."
Giving one last look around, Setomi shrugs her shoulders and decides to return to the inn. Perhaps she should tell Ameiko about the strange actions of this person.
Quietly she withdraws and heads back to the others.
Almar puts his guns under his pillow, as he usually does and goes to sleep. He feels he needs a good night of rest!
Sorin becomes indecisive at Raziel's question. It takes him a minute to respond. "No," he says slowly before pausing again.
"I think a bench moved close to the fire here in the common room would be best. Hopefully, when she wakes, she won't feel too startled or claustrophobic. Since there seems to be no others staying here, I grab some extra blankets from an unused room for bedding."
Sorin will go and grab some blankets and an extra pillow, set them on a bench (or series of chairs), and set Lisabett on that. Afterwards, he'll quietly play his flute until he grows tired enough to sleep (or something happens).
It is not long after that Setomi returns, wet from the rainy night. Ameiko sees her enter, and doing her best impression of the gnomish proprietor, tosses her friend a towel.
Whether it is the sweet song of Sorin's flute, or your journey catching up with you, your eyelids have grown heavy, and the need for sleep is upon you.
The morning light leaks through the windows of The Gnome's Nose. A cock crows to signal that the day has come.
"Vagrant!" A high, shrill voice pierces Lisabett's dreams, and her eyes open to reveal an irate gnome, just above eye level. Lisabett finds herself lying upon a bench in the common room of the inn.
"What does this look like? A gutter?" The gnome continues his rant. "I work very hard to keep my establishment clean! Out!"
"Her room is paid for." Ameiko Kaijitsu stands on the stairs. But for the breeches, she is dressed in finery more fit for a ball in Magnimar than an inn in Roderic's Cove.
"Ah, but this bench, is not!" The gnome insists.
"Then add it to our bill. We will honor it."
The gnome grumbles and stalks off, seemingly satisfied with the arrangement. It is then, however, that he finds Sorin, also asleep in the common room.
"Ah! The passionate knight!" The gnome tugs on his hair. "Debauchery, here?! I rented you so many rooms, but you had to sully one more!"
Ameiko does not speak on Sorin's behalf. It seems she has gone.
Having slept for the whole night Almar rises early and reaches the common room in time to see the scene betwen Lisabett, Ameiko and the gnome.
"this is going to be interesting... someone had too much fun yesterday evening, it seems..."
Lisabett is slow to comprehend the world, but the pain caused by the gnome's shrieking is incentive enough to rise, if slowly. She grumbles in Skald as she scratches at her neck.
"The knight will no touch me," she slurs in the common tongue, though she is uncertain how she ended on a bench when she was sitting across from him with her tankard last she remembered anything. "Stop your shrieking woman. Make yourself useful and bring me an ale."
"You cannot mean me?!" The gnome whips around. "Well...perhaps I am more woman than you, you slob!" He pauses as he considers his comment, then walks quickly behind the counter, and disappears. It is possible that he went into the back room, but as the bar is a foot taller than its proprietor, you cannot be sure. In any event, it seems unlikely that he will bring Lisabett an ale.
At that moment, Ulrick comes through the front door. His blonde locks are wet with morning dew. He takes one look at Lisabett, and laughs heartily.
Almar looks at Ulrick, surprised:"Ulrick up so early? Or did he just sleep outside? These Ulfen are strange people... but I never saw him doing as Lisabett does... He was always one for confort, our Ulrick... Where exactly did he go? And why?"
Sorin also wakes up slowly. He frowns at the irate gnome and says, a bit annoyed, "You said we could have use of the common room and we used it. If you bothered to look more closely, it's plain to see that there has been no debauchery here. For one shouting about it so, the only one who seems to have it on his mind is you."
"We also have a Priest of Sarenrae with us. Maybe you'd like to accuse his goddess of encouraging rampant copulation as well." He arches an eyebrow at the gnome. "I must say, mocking the gods seems an odd, and rather foolhardy, hobby for an innkeeper. Whose tenets did you say you adhered to again?"
He then crosses his arms and glares at the gnome. If the gnome disappears, Sorin will continue to glower for awhile. Eventually, with some reluctance, he'll get a half mug of ale for Lisabett. He ignores Ulrick.
Setomi awakes to the sound of raised voices. She quickly gathers her gear and heads out into the commons room. She listens to Lisabett speak to the gnome, and then Sorin harsh retort to the proprietor. She also notices Ulrick up and frowns at his chipper attitude.
"Perhaps I will go out and see about some breakfast." she says, heading out the door.
A testament to the alcohol in her system, Lisabett sneers at the gnome. "Very like with your shrieking and carrying on about the quantity of the copulation on your tables."
Lisabett slowly looks to Ulrick and raises both eyebrows, then responds in kind, nodding to Sorin during.
"Aye, and carried him to his bed for my trouble. Were my goal to spend the night alone, but the peacemaker," she nods to Sorin, "sang a honeyed song that rocked me to sleep."
Lisabett accepts the ale and takes a pull on it, then begins staggering towards Sandru's bedroom. "He deserves a better morning than that I had here," she says quietly as she moves.
The gnome calls out from a back room somewhere. "Bah!"
"Copulation on the tables?" Ulrick smiles, glancing after Lisabett as she climbs the stairs. "I should have bedded here last night after all."
Mother Koya smiles widely at you as she passes you in the hallway. You cannot seem to remember her presence during your drinking competition last night, but whether that means she was in the room or not, you are uncertain.
You come to Sandru's room. It is not difficult to hear his snoring through the oaken door.
The sun shines brightly. The reflection of light on the sea is reminiscent of Sandpoint. Though the roads are still wet with last night's rainfall, there is not a cloud in the morning sky.
You recall that as you made your way to the inn yesterday evening, you saw an open-air market, hastily closing down on account of the rain. Perhaps it is doing business at this early hour.