Murder Most Foul - Tierce's Absalom Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Tierce

You have come to the Lusty Leopard, a tavern to Cayden Cailean on the first floor, and a special temple to Calistria on the second floor. The perfect combination for anyone needing to lose a months’ worth of money in one night.

Tonight however is a special night. Tonight is the Festival of First Brewing! A night in honor of the harvest where devote patrons of Cayden Cailean sample the first sips of this year’s brewing harvest. Thousands have shown up for the chance to get in! Lucky for you, you were invited! You have been selected to rub elbows with the elite of Absalom.

Everyone important in Absalom is here tonight, from key members of the Pathfinder Society to various members of the Grand Council. The social event of the year, and here you are!

Welcome to the Lusty Leopard, where all dreams come true!

I thought I was in the discussion thread, just posted wrong. Hence the delete! Sorry Tierce!

Eldren strolled through the door, his palm resting lightly on the hilt of his blade. He stood there for a moment, chest out, hair swept back behind him. When he caught that no one was looking he deflated slightly, sighing. 'Damn. Wasted a perfectly good entrance!'

He walked slowly to the bar and signalled to the bar man, nodding friendly. "The usual please!" He grinned when Dimitri slid an ale before him, paying the man and turning from the bar, taking a sip. 'Where is he...?' He sighed before straightening and nodding to himself. 'Well I can just start without him...'

He took a slow glance around the room, before nodding and moving towards a likely target. Against the wall stood a young woman, Varisian in decent. He walked to her slowly, a small smile sliding on to his face. He reached her and was about to speak when she looked up and smiled. He frowned, thrown for a moment before muscling through. "Would you li..."

"FARIN!" He was bowled out of the way as she threw herself in to the arms of the tall, willowy Elf who had moved up behind him. Eldren stood there for a moment, staring, before his eyes dropped to the ground.

"...ke a drink? I guess not..."

He sighed and moved back to the bar, leaning against it and nursing his drink sadly. 'Well... That was... Yeah!'

Swarley shifts down to Eldren and raises his glass to him, "That was possibly the most embarrassing play I've seen tonight. Not to worry, I'm sure I can outshine you by midnight!" He straightens his jacket, looking around at all the ladies with a smile.

He gets a bit closer and whispers, "So did you get one of the red invitations? Rumor has it that there is a private party within this already private party. Apparently Dimitri has a cask of winter brandy he brought from Irrisen when he came to Absalom. Its been aging for close to twenty years and he's uncorking it for this "red invite" party! So did you get one?"

Your invite is certainly not red, printed on a thick black paper. All party members will have black invites

Kristen sighs as she waits in line at the ladies' room. Every time... She thinks, before shaking her head ruefully. I suppose with the amount of time I usually take, I have no room to complain.

"Kayla!", she yells out to her friend. "Order another wine for me please!" Her eyes scan the room, resting momentarily on Swarley before moving on. Haven't had enough wine to believe THAT guy's lies yet.

Entering the front door just in time to see Eldren get acosted by an elf, Davick thought to himself, Well that certainly didn't take long.

Making his way to them, ordered a whiskey, turned to the Cavalier and said, "Sorry I'm running late, had to finish the patrol paperwork. I see you've already started."

"Not too worry Kristen, I went ahead and ordered a whole nother bottle for the three of us."

Kayla waves over the server with the chilled bottle and three glasses and remarks to her remaining tablemate and winggirl: "Pretty quick service for such a busy night huh? Speaking of busy, have you seen anyone that sparks your fancy yet? I've yet to see anyone that I would be bothered to get up and leave this table for yet."

A noticeable silence penetrates the entrance of the Lusty Leopard and many people stop and stare as a lone man walks in. Dressed in a fine but not overly dressy uniform, the graying but handsome man leans upon an intricate walking cane. Many people begin whispering, for Venture Captain Talon Vraie, patron of the Taldane noble family of Vraie, is a rather famous figure around Absalom.

Mostly famous for two reasons. His well known objection to temples of Calistria and the affairs that go on within, and more recently for the largely scandalous nature of his recent divorce.

He sits down at an empty table and summons over a waiter. The silence is now replaced with whispers about his presence, considering his outspoken nature towards an establishment that he is currently in.

Talon? is that who I think it is?

It's Tierce's dad

Kir nods at Kayla, "Agreed." The largish bard seems to be enjoying looking at all the people here regardless of whether they're worth getting up for or not. "But the ones who aren't are kinda funny too." She observes the Venture Captain with her eyebrows raised.

Seeing the Venture Captain walk in, Davick couldn't help but ask, "What's he doing here I wonder?"

Eldren pauses for a moment, following the Venture Captains progress to his seat, before turning back to the bar and taking another swallow of ale. He ordered another for himself and whatever his two companions are drinking, before turning to Swarley.

"Yes it was quite bad. I did not see the Elf till it was too late. Bad play by me, leaving my flank exposed. I will do better next time. And, as a man like yourself well knows, next time applies to when it actually works!" He grinned, taking a moment to stare around the room, before shaking his head. "No. My ticket is not red sadly. I would fight a Minotaur bare knuckle for a taste of that brandy..." He sighed and patted the ticket in his pocket, before turning towards Davick.

"No need to apologise Dav. You are here now. Yeah sorry about leaving you with the paperwork. I got a message from one of the Watch Captains to go to him as soon as we got in. The wretch wanted help to move a damn desk. Sometimes I swear the Captains just use us as lackeys!" He shook his head softly and downed the last of the old ale, before starting on another.

"Already started? HA! I have already flamed out and all. I do not think I am up for this whole dating game. I would probably be better off taking a vow of celibacy!"

He laughed softly before leaning in closer to Davick, so as not to be heard. "Probably has re-thought his whole stance against Calistria, praise be to she, after his divorce. Man gets a cold bed and his morals crumble!"

"You? Are you kidding? You wouldn't make it a week." Davick downs the rest of his whiskey and picks up the second one Eldren ordered for him.

He whispered back, "I wouldn't know."

Eldren laughed softly before nodding. "Fair enough. You might be right there. Within a week I would be clawing at the walls of this place begging to be let in!" He grinned before laughing.

"Wouldn't know about what, having morals? Or having a cold bed?" He clapped Davick on the back and sighed. "By all the gods great and small, it is good to not be working tonight!"

Noticing Kir's raised eyebrows, Kayla looks off in the same direction and notices the Venture Captain taking his seat.

"Well now, I wonder what brought him in here? Perhaps he isn't handling his recent divorce very well and is need of some comfort?"

Kayla giggles a bit at that remark and keeps an eye on his table, wondering who will making their way over to it. "Making a conquest of that one would bring with it some serious bragging rights in here."

Dimitri comes over to the table of Kayla, Kir and Kristen. He holds in front of him a rather old bottle of red wine.

"Red Egorian Chelish Wine, 4510. Compliments of the gentleman over there" He points over to Talon who raises his glass in salute to the girls. Dimitri uncorks the wine and pours three glasses for the ladies before leave the bottle and walking away with a slight bow.

"Well now ladies, this is a rather fine vintage. I wonder which of us has caught his eye? Or perhaps he just wants to overindulge with all of us to celebrate his freedom from marriage?"

Kayla salutes Talon back with her own glass.

Kir laughs at that, "Oh well, no harm in having some wine at an old goat's expense." She sips hers with a happy smile. Its good.

"Actually ... I do wonder though ... Its a little sad if that's all there is to the story, isn't it?"

As soon as Kristen has rejoined their table, Kayla suggets: "C'mon ladies, let's go descend upon his table like a flock of, of...Well, of something that travels in a flock."

Giggling a bit tipsily, Kayla will get up and make her way over to Talon's table and smiles down at him as she bats her eyes.

"Mind a little company sir?"

Talon stands as the ladies approach, he smiles before saying "Of course, please have a seat." He pulls out and holds each of their chairs for them in turn before taking his seat once again.

"I hope the wine was enjoyable. Vintages from before Cheliax that were bottled before the fall of Aroden are quite difficult to track down, but are always exceptionally better then anything after."

Talon takes out a small case from inside his coat and opens it. He removes a pipe and stuffs it with smoking weed before lighting it. He lightly puffs on the pipe and a light acrid but old tantalizing smoke begins to fill the air. "I am Talon Vraie, and I'm quite sure that you all know of me. I'm not full of myself, I just recognize that I am well known. So please tell me about yourselves."

Eldren stared at the group gathering at the Venture Captains table, with a mix of shock and self loathing. 'By the gods... I should have just stayed at home. The old loon has gotten three women to give him attention and I get shot down straight away. Well... here is to you Venture Captain Vraie!' He downed the rest of his ale, before turning back to the innkeeper.

"Stronger friend. Stronger. Do you have any Dwarven Firewater perhaps? Or some Elven Mead? Hell I can afford neither... Rotgut or Grog will do. Something to dull the senses or kill a cold!"

"Woah, slow down friend. Women are always attracted to the freshly wounded faun. And I think he sent that bottle of wine to their table."

Kir shrugs and smiles, "Nice to meet you. We have to admit, we're curious what the story is." Ever forward.

Talon smiles politely, "My story? Well that's certainly a hot topic. I'm afraid I don't know the three of you well enough to divulge that tidbit. Please tell me a bit more about yourselves so that we can get to know each other more."

Talon looks over to the bar counter, "If you will excuse me a moment ladies, I appear to have spotted two men from the militia. I have a small tradition to always buy them a drink as I used to be a Captain for the Royal Guard back in Taldor."

Talon raises his hand for a waiter to come over. He indicates Davick and Eldren at the bar and hands over a small stack of coins. "I'd like to buy them each a drink. I'm thinking either a dwarven stout ale from the Five King's, or a Janderhoff whiskey. Make sure you inform them of the potency of both drinks as I don't want to have to help carry them out"

The waiter leaves with a nod, he walks over to the bar counter where Davick and Eldren are. "Excuse me sirs, the Venture Captain would like to purchase you both a drink in honor of being members of the militia. He has proposed a stout ale from the Five King's or possibly a whiskey from Janderhoff. Both drinks are rather potent and I would like to stress that they can be harsh on the human system." The waiter waits calmly for their preference.

Talon looks back to the ladies at the table "Sorry about that, where were we? Ah yes, getting to know each other better."

Looking over at the Venture Captain, raises the glass he already had in hand and downs the contents. "I'll try the whiskey my good man."

Eldren grinned and saluted the Captain before answering. "I will take the ale dear boy. Thank you for the warning. I will drink it slow to savour the flavour!" Eldren leaned closer to Davick and began to whisper above the low murmur of the Tavern.

"The man is not all bad I guess. He may have taken a bad stance against Calistria, praise be upon she, but he seems to have some respect for the Militia anyway. That is fresh and new hey?"

Kir laughs, "I'd hardly expect a story without one in return. Or in payment." She says.

"It certainly is, my friend. It certainly is."

"How about we get a table? I do not feel like being shot down again so fast after the last time!" Eldren grinned, taking his complimentary Ale from the bar and walking to a table in the corner, putting his back against the wall and his eyes on the door. He eased his blade in its scabbard as he repositioned it. He was not expecting trouble, but sometimes trouble happened when it was least expected.

The corners of Talon's mouth raise up in amusement. "I see, well then miss...I'm afraid that I don't know any of your names. What story would you like me to tell in order to get to know each of you better?"

Picking up his complimentary drink as well, Davick followed his friend to the corner table and positioned himself similar to Eldren. "So what do you think got our Sergeant all up in arms last week?" he asked while taking a sip of his whiskey.

The table that Davick and Eldren sit at is suddenly pushed over as Swarley is thrown against it, tumbling over the side. A rather burly half-orc customer comes barreling over. "That was my girlfriend's ass that you just grabbed, human!" He looks posed, ready for further violence.

Swarley tries to tumble away on the other side of the table, but a few other burly looking men, obvious friends of the half-orc, prevent him from escaping.

"You know I have no idea. Could be any..." Eldren pushes back from the toppled table as the scuffle ensues. He lurches to his feet, drawing the longsword and stepping between Swarley and the Half Orc.

"That will be enough of that!" He cast a glance over his shoulder at his partner before squaring up to the Orc again. "By order of the Militia you are to leave this place and take your friends with you. If something happens to this man, I will find you and, with the full power of the law behind me, I will clap your green ass in chains!"

Diplomacy-1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

He dropped the sword till it was point down on the ground before him. "Take what he did as a compliment good sir. He pawed at your girlfriends rear in admiration. He can look but at the end of the day... She leaves with you. Now... Make it the end of the day and go!"

As Swarley tumbled over the table, Davick stood up placing one hand on his rapier.

The half-orc and the group of men appear to be weighing their options. The half-orc seems about to say something before giving it up and barking at his buddies to leave. Swarley watches as the men leave, he gets up and grins, See, told you that I would best you by the end of the night. Challenge Completed! Although in all fairness, she came on to me."

"Why do I have a hard time believing you, Swarley?" Davick asked releasing his grip on the rapier and sitting back down.

Pausing for a moment to watch the brief scuffle, Kayla keeps an eye on the two guardsmen as she replies to Talon.

"My name is Kayla Adrianas and I think that we would be interested in hearing a story back from your first year right after you joined the Royal Guard in Taldor."

Talon also watches the scuffle with a keen eye, "Our militia men are sure vigilant, even when off duty."

He looks to Kayla with a nod, "Glad to meet you Miss Adrianas. So you want to hear about my time in the military? Well not sure it would be a very good story. As a noble of the Vraie family, it's a tradition for all men to enter into military service for a short time. Actually I do have an interesting story from my time in the Royal Guard, but not about combat. It was about love...

"Her name was Lillyann, she was an elf maiden from Kyonin. She joined the Royal Guard for reasons of her own and I was her commanding officer. Even though I was married, I was smitten beyond any help. It didn't help that she was aloof as she was beautiful. I was rather glad for that as it would have made things considerably more difficult for me."

"However the surprising part came when I resigned from my post. My time in the military was up and it was time to begin my legacy and join the Pathfinder Society. I journeyed to Absalom and began my training at the Grand Lodge. My surprise came one day when all the new recruits were assembled, Lillyann was among them, having secretly followed me from Taldor. I confronted her about it, learning that she did indeed have feelings for me. Our affair was unlike anything I had every known, and I risked everything when I told my wife of the affair. You see my wife at the time was a rather severe woman who is accustomed to getting what she wants. It was a political marriage, and I was never truly in love with her. We both knew it, so Samara took the excuse and left Absalom for her home back in Restov. She took one of our sons with her, Caelus, who still to this day hasn't forgiven me. Tierce however, my other son, takes after his father a bit too much, and stayed with me here in Absalom."

Talon takes a long drink from his wine "I hope that was a worthy story for you"

Eldren turned slowly, glaring at Swarley. "You pawed a Half Orcs girlfriends ass? Are you..." He took a shuddering breath to calm himself, before slamming his sword back in to its scabbard.

"Are you an idiot Swarley, my dear friend? Has the drink rotted what little brains you had?" He growled softly, flipping the table back upright and pushing it back in to position.

"Next time... go for an Elf. You know they tend to swing less!" He grinned, setting his knuckles on the table before him, staring up at the man. "Now get your ass to that counter and get myself and Davick another drink or by our good lord Cayden Cailean I will drag you in to an alley and stomp a hole in your head myself!" He grinned, taking his seat once again before turning to Davick.

"As I was saying before we were interrupted... the Sergeant is an unreasonable fellow. It could have been anything!"

"Well I hope he gets out of it soon." Takes another sip of whiskey, "These long days he has us working, are just draining the life out of me."

"I know what you mean brother. The sooner we get back to normality the better. You know what we need? A couple days leave. Maybe go fishing or something. Hunting could work. Hell I would be happy if I got a day to just go visit my old mum. I send her most of my wages but I have not seen her in awhile. Would be good to catch up, even if all she does is badger me over the fact that I have not got a wife yet!"

"At least you could get one if you wanted, I have a difficult enough time getting a woman to even talk to me."

"Ha! Even with all that magic? Surely you have a spell that can help. Isn't that how magic works? You have a fix it for anything, right?"

"You would think, but even so they are still unimpressed. Must be something about me they don't like."

"Nonsense man... You are just out of practice is all. Here... Pick a likely looking lass and we will approach her together. You need to learn to fly properly at things such as these. And as we know... A bird can not fly with only one wing. So allow me to be your other wing. Yes! A wing man. That is what I will be!"

"Well, it was certainly an interesting story. Do you often having women traveling across countries to follow you around in the hopes of you noticing them?"

Talon chuckles "Don't make me sound so callous! And no, it was just the one"

Davick finishes his whiskey and contemplates for a bit. "Better idea. Since you have the keener eye, how about you select the lady, then I'll try to talk."

Eldren frowned for a moment, taking a casual glance around the bar. "Okay... What you need is a woman who is drinking, obviously. Lucky we are in a Tavern huh?" He grinned before leaning forward, his arms resting on the tabletop. [smaller]"Then you need a woman who looks like she likes to laugh. Comedy is your way in. Make her laugh, buy her a drink and get talking to her. If you can avoid putting your foot in your mouth too badly... You should be all go!"

He grinned before pointing towards the group of women sitting with the Venture Captain. "They look likely. No one man needs three women. Just talk to one of them even!"