After breakfast and a short meeting, Coloua heads out alone to gather information. Before leaving she lets the group know "I will be starting off the day selling our ivory and some extra items. We have enough coin to give you each your share before I head out, and the proceeds from the sales will finish off my share. That way if you wish to shop as well you don't have to find me in town." She hands each of the other three a heavy pouch jingling with a mixture of coins. "As I am the one least easily noticed, I'll spend the afternoon watching the tower itself. I shall return for dinner, and hope to see you all then."
After a few niceties, she heads out and asks for the location of the town marketplace. She wanders between the shops selling the ivory, axe, and small statue, and is excited to find a scroll in one of the shops for a spell she'd been wanting.
After the shopping is complete, Coloua spends a portion of the morning in the marketplace chatting with merchants and other people to try and find out anything useful about the town, tower, or garrison. When she feels like she's asked around enough that she might be beginning to seem suspicious, she finds a quiet corner where she can observe the tower itself, within earshot so that she can both listen and watch. She spends the afternoon hidden there observing until it is time to meet the group back at the inn for dinner.
1st Gather Information Check: hours for a result of
1st Gather Information Check: hours for a result of
Rest of day spent near the objective observing while listening for rumors.
"Soldiers today! A worthless, shiftless lot! Balentyne is in total disarray. Soldiers today are too lazy not like in my day." is said by an older grizzled looking man during your attempts to learn about things.
"Have you seen Kaitlyn Mott? She’s the most beautiful woman in town! How did an ugly lump of a man like Captain Franz Mott bag a looker like her? And how does he keep her, that’s what I want to know!" is said by a one of the women in a group of gossiping ladies in the market.
Ella will spend the day accompanying one of the 'nobles' acting as a bodyguard and keeping an eye out.
Things she'll be keeping an eye out for. First and foremost, police or militia presence. A lot of them, just a few? Are they bumbling idiots or competent. Any noteworthy ones she notices.
Second- busy bodies. People that scream I am watching you and will tel other people if ANYthing is out of the ordinary. People that might need to be distracted or killed.
Shopping wise, she would have made a list of chemical bits she wants to whoever she is traveling with. The thickly armed bodyguard would look odd asking about potion materials. Tools would be lovely too and asking about any formulas.
Godfrey joins his companions in the morning still looking worn and tired from the previous day. With coffee in hand he listens to Coloua, nodding his agreement as she leaves, "A sensible plan. We'll reconvene this evening. Best of luck to you."
For his own part, Godfrey hadn't fully considered what he'd wished to accomplish in town before they began their work in earnest. The bizarre green flash... and the wounds... something is very odd with my blade. It would be unwise to wait much longer, but it must for a time.
With other matters on his mind, he resolves to browse the towns market's to both see what strikes his fancy and also to gain perspective on the nature of the town itself. Perhaps there's something to be learned about the garrison by who else is here.
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"There’s a pack of dwarves in town led by a grumpy short fellow named Barnabus Eisenbauch. They’re here to fix up the watchtower or so I’ve heard. A hard working fellow, just don’t challenge him
to a drinking contest. He’ll drink you under the table every time!" is overheard while talking to the local Armor Smith.
" Have you had any of Mama Guisseppe’s beef stew? Delicious! I hear she goes up to the Watchtower and cooks a big batch of it for the men every Monday! What a nice old lady." says one of the ladies at the vegetable stalls.
"Ah thank you Coloua." Ileosa said with a graceful nod. "I have a few things I wish to buy that might prove useful. We shall see." She stated as she took the pouch of her coins and places it upon her belt. "This evening it will be." She agreed.
With that she stood and left, with Ella. Ileosa also made use of the Mitran sunburst, wrapping it around her wrist so that people would assume that was her god and put them at ease. She also hoped it would make moving around easier as any guards could see it.
The purchases she made helped in her little disguise as well, a wand of the cure light wounds spell and a commission of an arrow magnet. Things an adventuring priestess would use to keep her friends safe and alive.
All the while she listened to what the people had to say about the area.
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"Do you know how the Lord’s Dalliance got its name? It was once a brothel! I hear there used to be a secret passage to the basement that allowed the Lord of the Watchtower to sneak in here and have a good time. Of course it must have been sealed up years ago." is overheard when talking to a gaggle of womenfolk in the market buying vegetables.
"Lord Thomas Havelyn is the most honorable and capable commander that Balentyne has ever had. If he can’t keep the Watch Wall working, then no one can!" is offered by a local guard when Ileosa asks about the safety of the town.
"They say the bugbears are massing up north. I wonder what their up to? Well, it doesn’t matter! We’ll be ready for ‘em! You’d think those shaggy walking carpets would have learned by now that the Watch Wall is unbreakable!" is uttered in small talk between a guard and a smith.
Ella is first to find herself a nice place to blend in and people watch. Finding a main road to watch the comings and goings, she is just in time to watch people begin moving around for the afternoon. Guards patrol the town from time to time and it's quick enough to observe that the town itself doesn't seem to have their own militia or garrison so it's safe to say that all the men are from Balentyne itself. There only appears to be a small detachment in the town at any given time so the bulk of their forces must be inside Balentyne or outside of Aldencross patrolling the surrounding areas.
Getting close to dusk however, she is able to spy a group of men and women coming from Balentyne, covered in dirt and sweat from their day's labor. Some appear to be construction laborers and others appears to be more unskilled labor like maids or cooks.
Coloua makes her way up to the main street towards Balentyne, her small stature allows her to slip into a crowd of people headed that way a little after noon. She is able break away from the group out of sight and ignored by those around her to find herself a nice tree to hide in and watch from.
There is a bustle of activity and though she has a good vantage point, she is still a ways away to make out exact faces. However, her keen eyes still allow her to try and piece together numbers and the results are pretty staggering if her own eyes are to be believed. The amount of guards here is robust, not so compared to the bugbears but their armor and weapons quality is superior to the bugbears, add in the stone ways, ballista and stone throwers, and the potential for allies to come to their aid should the attack turn into a siege...it's no wonder you were sent forth to throw open the gates and sow chaos to give the bugbears a greater chance to destroy the place utterly.
When dusk begins to fall, Coloua notices a band of dwarves leaving as well as other unskilled laborers headed back towards the town.
As dusk begins to fall, Coloua starts to meander towards the inn, falling in with the crowd headed that way in order to avoid suspicion. When she reaches the inn, she secures a table for the group and orders dinner for all, while letting the innkeep know that they will be staying at least one more night.
As the others return and join her, she has little to initially say. "I spoke with some people and explored the town a bit. A good portion of what I've found seems relatively normal but there's a couple things you might find to be of interest. It's much too loud to really chat at the moment though, so I plan to enjoy this meal and maybe spend some time with the folk of this lovely town. What do you say to sharing the details of our day later when the crowd dies down?"
Godfrey returns, satisfied, from his surveyal of the town's markets and shops. He'd spied several items that seemed likely and had purchased a few trinkets to complete his disguise as a travelling nobleman.
As he listens to the banter and the chatter among the cities elite, his thoughts wander from time to time to the blade and its mystery that awaits him back in the inn. Ultimately, whatever befalls this city will be its just reward. Had the Mitrans simply left well enough alone, I would not be here plotting their death and destruction. Blinded fools.
The majority of the insipid chatter of the town's resident did little more then serve as background noise to the magus. But a few tidbits occasionally rewarded his patient small-talk and courtly manner. A watchtower under repair? And a dwarven crew hard at work doing their best to make sure it is in good repair? We can't have that... can we? And a stew that all the guardsmen eat? What a shame it would be if they all came down sick after. With a thoughtful smile, Godfrey returns to his shopping.
Some hours later, having located (if not purchased) most of what he had hoped to find, he returns to the inn to join the others.
Sliding in next to Coloua, he orders wine and listens to her report. He replies, "Yes, I think it makes all too much sense to share all we've seen later. The town is really quite fascinating and its people have much to say. It wouldn't do to lose any of the gossip in all this noise, especially not when there's more people to meet! Such fun." Godfrey grins jovially, though his companions can't help but notice the grin is a little too wolfish for fine company.
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Ella mutters her agreement at their suggestions, eats her food quickly, then heads out into the night. She figures the military presence would continue, but another reason to be in the dark is to notice the criminal elements. Someone will be out, watching from the shadows, not expecting someone wandering the streets to be able to see them.
"I can agree with that. Have a good deal to tell." Ileosa said with a smile. She sipped on some tea that she had ordered but said no more on the topic. "But I'll see what else I can get from the dinner crowd."
"I’ve heard that Father Donnagin was sent here after the church demoted him from bishop. He got into some sort of trouble – serious trouble I’d wager to be banished to the Watch Wall."
"Here’s to the soldiers of Balentyne! One hundred of the finest fighting men it’s ever been my privilege to serve with."
" I hear Captain Varning is leading another patrol out tomorrow. I wonder how long they’ll be gone this time? The last time they were gone for five days! If you ask me, these patrols are a waste of time. They’re just an excuse for Varning to get out of the tower and gallivant around the country side instead of doing his fair share of guard duty."
Coloua tries her best to speak to the dwarves but ends up insulting one of them and a drink is poured on her head in anger.
You find yourself a spot where you can easily see the tavern doors and also watch around the area fairly well. You watch for several hours and spot a few of the guards patrolling the area. They do a fairly good job, seeming well organized. However, you don't notice anyone really suspicious. You suspect that this close to a large garrison, there is actually very little crime. Apart from the occasional Drunk fight, you'll likely not see much in the way of actual criminal acts.
After several hours, it seems that the stream of drunk fools is dying down and the inn is looking like it's close to closing time.
Once the crowd dies down, Coloua rejoins the others and starts speaking quietly about her day. "I really didn't learn that much today around town, but my time spent at the tower was productive. Rumor has it that Franz Mott, one of the Captains, has a quite beautiful wife that is out of his league. There might be something to work with there but I'm not sure what. Other than that it was just the usual complaints about lazy soldiers that you hear in any garrison town."
She leans in and speaks a little quieter "The tower, though, is interesting. There are quite a few people in the garrison, a lot more than I would have expected. There is also a group of dwarves, craftsmen of some kind, that are working there and seem to be staying here at this inn. That might be a potential way in, or at least a way to get more information. I don't think that I would be the one to deal with them though, they don't seem to fond of me..." She glances down at her soiled clothes with a small chuckle. "What did you all find?"
"The watch is made up of soldiers from the tower. Good, efficient, so much so there is no sigh of the normal crime one would expect from a town this size." Ella relates with a sullen disappointment. Crime meant potential chaos and distractions, now lost. "Also I saw the workers from the tower coming home. Construction labor, maids, cooks, and the like."
After hours of chatting amiably with the town folk, Godfrey rejoins his companions in their private room with his face fixed in a sly smile. He listens to Coloua as he mentally runs over all he'd heard and seen that day. He answers Coloua while ticking off the rumors he'd heard with his fingers one by one, "There is a work crew of dwarves, likely the same ones you heard about, who are working on the repairs for one of the watchtowers. Their leader, Barnabus Eisenbauch, is apparently fond enough of drinking contests to have developed a reputation. There might be something there if the repairs can be halted."
"There is, apparently, a woman who prepares stew for the watchtower every week. Given how much people were talking about this grandmother's stew, it wouldn't surprise me if many of the guards partook. I'm no expert, but that seems like an interesting opportunity if we time the assault right and see that a special ingredient makes it into the stew." Godfrey pause a moment, collecting his thoughts, "The last I'm less sure about. The local priest was demoted from a fairly lofty position -bishop- and sent here. Why and how I didn't hear but that is a severe punishment that might warrant further probing."
"I've got something that would ensure to be a great help, if is proves to be true." Ileosa began. "While I was out shopping today I overhead that this place is called Lord’s Dalliance for a reason, it use to be a brothel and that there is a tunnel that leads from here to the Watchtower so the Lord of it could move unseen. If it is true we could fine and use it. Depending on how well the sealed it up." She explained.
"I also heard that Captain Varning is leading another patrol out tomorrow and tends to be gone for days at a time. The last one was gone for five days. It seems he likes to do so because he doesn't like being in the tower doing his share of guard duty. So I would say we have two says at the minimum. Which will draw a few guards away." When she finished with the useful things she had heard she moved on to ideas.
"Wait for Captain Varning to be gone, throw something extra into the stew to ensure the rest of the guards are ill, seeing if that tunnel is operational, and we might be able to take this place with ease."
"Hmmmm...striking while this Varning is out might be a good idea. There's also the possibility of taking him and his patrol down while they are out, leaving us one less Captain overall. If we did it early on then the ones here wouldn't even suspect it until they were quite late."
She pauses for a bit as she thinks about all the new information. "The place I think I can be of most help here is this supposed tunnel though. Tonight I can sneak down there and have a look around, and I can leave my little friend down there searching and watching all night long. If any of the inn staff go down there they'll never think it's more than just a random insect, if they even notice him at all."
As they continue to mull over options, Coloua speaks up again. "In addition to possibly searching downstairs tonight, I have something to take care of in the morning which might take a little while. I'll be down late for breakfast tomorrow."
Coloua acts as if she is going to head upstairs to prep for bed, then sneaks down to the basement when no one is looking. She takes some time to carefully search all the walls looking for anything that might denote a secret door or passage.
In the morning, after her little friend feels her awaken and heads upstairs for their morning communion, she burns her scroll of Touch of Idiocy and feeds the ashes to her familiar.
After taking her morning spell ritual, she heads downstairs for a late breakfast.
Godfrey mulls the information gathered by his companions a moment, running his hand through his stubble distractedly. "This tunnel certainly sound promising as a means of entering and leaving. We'll have to be sure it's not warded somehow. If it's common knowledge I have to believe it's either guarded or arcane warded. With the ability to enter and leave at will, however, we can certainly play havoc with the Watchwall's defenses." A sly grin spreads on Godfrey's lips as he contemplates the many possibilities. "As for this Varning, I don't think we can rely on him leaving again while we need him to. Better, I think, to leave in a morning or two and end his patrols in a more permanent fashion. With the patrol's bodies hidden, there's no reason to think anyone will find them before we can strike. It may even drain resources from the tower that we either eliminate piecemeal or leave alone. I'd suggest the day after next. We may even be able to enlist Draa'lik's assistance in the hunt. I have some additional purchases and preparation I'd like to do before we leave, so I'd suggest we leave the day after tomorrow if that is the route we wish to pursue."
Godfrey wakes early the next morning, eager to be about the business that brought them there. He is aware, however, that any successful endeavor of this sort requires careful preparation and ground work. To that end, he seeks out the arcanist he'd visited already to purchase access to new spells that will certainly prove useful. "Good morning again, friend. After thinking it over, I have decided to have a look at those spells we've discussed. I found our conversation so enthralling that I simply had to to have a look at the arcane underpinnings of those spells." Godfrey pauses, looking sheepish, "The fact of the matter is, however, that I'm rather shorter of coin then I'd originally thought. I was hoping, one enthusiast to another, that you might allow me to transcribe a few of those spells from your notes to my own. I'd certainly still compensate you, of course, maybe on the order of twenty crowns per spell? I'd be very grateful."
"Thinning their numbers is good, one of their leaders even more so." the large woman leans back with her arms crossed in thought. "Do we know their patrol route? If not we'll need to track them. We could go as a group, or I could and then come back get the rest of you once they camped." she'll arc a brow and wait for thoughts.
Once they turn in she'll do her best to learn a spell from the purchased scrolls. Starting with cure light wounds.
"While I'm sure he will leave it is a problem as we've no idea how long he will be gone. Maybe you could have Draa'lik follow them then come get us as Ella suggest she should. Normally I would leave it to one of our own but if Ella goes missing it might cause alarm. We don't want to risk anything we don't need to." Ileosa pointed out.
The following day Ileosa greeted the group respectfully as normal, and while they went out about their day, Ileosa chose to listen to more of what the people had to say.
However she was still tired so she wasn't able to actually hold a proper conversation.
Coloua makes her way down to the basement of the inn later that evening, carefully and quietly. Once down there she pulls out her centipede and sends him skittering about as she herself begins to look as well.
The basement is filled like one would expect out of an inn, boxes of linen, kegs of ale, bottles of wine, and a half stocked larder for the kitchen. Coloua walks around carefully before she notices a small corner of the basement which has less foot traffic. The dust here is thick save for a single set of tracks.
Something surprises Coloua, a box of Elven Wine. Although one bottle is missing, the remaining eleven are untouched and quite expensive. She moves the box a little and notices the tracks make to a stone wall. A bit of careful looking and she notices a bit of dust disturbed on one of the bricks. A bit of gentle pressing and it moves surprisingly easily. Pushing it in all the way causes a clicking sound some of the stone bricks unseat from the rest of the wall. With a little strength applied, it is clear to see this is a hidden door of dwarven quality.
Inspecting inside, it is clear to see the tunnel is still in great condition. Deciding that it's best not to sneak up into the castle by herself, she takes the information she's learned and heads up to bed.
Godfrey finds his way back to the Alchemist's shop. The wizard behind the counter listens to Godfrey's words and nods. "Aye, I understand the desire for knowledge for knowledge's sake. Hmm, I know you lot are traveling and these spells could be useful to yah but I gotta worry about my own living. Keeping this shop open isn't easy...But, I think we can reach an arrangement. You let me look over your own book and let me copy a few spells for myself as well on top of the twenty gold per spell and you've got a deal. I'll be able to replace all the ink and reagents used and once you lot are gone, I'll also be able to make a few new scrolls to sell." he offered.
When Coloua comes down for her late breakfast, she grabs all of the others that are still in the inn.
"So...The rumor was true. I found a passage in the basement that heads in the direction of the tower. I didn't explore it in case it was dangerous. I just closed it back up carefully and we can check it out whenever you want"
"Also, I was thinking about the dwarves. If we waiting for Draa'lik to find the patrol, we have some free time. If one of you wanted to distract them with a drinking contest or some such thing tonight, I could try and sneak into their room and copy any plans they have relating to the repairs. What do you think?"
"Well there is no way I can do that." Ileosa said with a small shrug. "I do not do, drunkedness." She stated bluntly. "However, maybe Ella?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "For I am fairly sure that Godfrey is much the same as myself."
Godfrey maintains his friendly smile as he listens to the wizard's reply. Yes, yes, your living in this dreary little town must be continued for a time. So be it. He mulls over the offer, running over the spells in his book and considering the risk to himself and his group.
Despite his natural reticence to share the knowledge that he has so carefully hoarded, Godfrey finally relents, "I think that's a reasonable enough trade. Passion for the art drives me and it's only fair that I share my knowledge with you as you do with me. I can begin whenever you're ready." If the man agrees, Godfrey sets his pack on the ground and then gently, and lovingly, draws a well-thumbed, plain leather tome from his pack.
When the shopkeeper makes his book available, Godfrey positively beams as it is set in front of him. With little patience, he begins to copy with a quick confident hand into his own book.
Ella meets Ileosa's gaze with narrowed eyes, the insult whether intended or not is plain. Answering without averting her gaze. "Yes." a single word is enough, but she adds, "I warn you though, I am not a pleasant drunk."
"Oh calm down Ella." Ileosa said as she offered the changeling a smile. "We all have our uses." She reminded her. "This is but one of many from your side." Ileosa then stood. "I'm going to listen to more gossip till tonight." She told them.
Ileosa got up and began to walk around the town once more, enjoy it a little before it was destroyed.
Ella grunts in accepting the insult had been unintended, and takes what the noblewoman says as close as an apology as she was likely to get. Falling into her role as bodyguard, she keeps her trap shut as Ileosa wanders and chats, just keeping her eyes out for anything interesting.
After several hours of scrupulous labor, Godfrey sits back from his work with a satisfied grin. "I think that will do. I thank you again for your generosity and hope the exchange has proved valuable to you as well." Godfrey gathers his goods and his spellbook, dropping a hefty pile of crowns into the wizard's hands, and departs without further delay. And when this town burns, perhaps the spells might help you... until a bugbear cleaves you end to end.
Whistling merrily, he makes his way out to the town and returns to the inn only to find that most of his companions have departed. After dropping off his purchases, he also takes his leave to gather what rumors he can. First, however, he makes his way out of the town (ostensibly for a breath of fresh country air). Once safely beyond the sight of the walls, he starts his search for the kobold Draa'lik.
When (if?) he finds the creature, he relays his instructions, "There departed from this town a man with a retinue who you are to seek. They will be armed and mounted, and the leader of this group is known as Captain Varning. You are to find them and alert me when you have found them. We can't have you wandering about town, so once you have found them leave sign here and we will come out in force."
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As the others go about their day, Coloua spends hers in the inn's common room, relaxing and watching the staff and customers to see how well traveled the basement may be during the day.
"Lord Havelyn is a good soul but so grim and gloomy. For so great a lord to be unhappy, he must be guilty about something!" is overheard between two ladies working on their laundry together.
The day goes on with everyone going about their plans. Godfrey makes his purchases and slips out of town. He leaves a letter for the kobold to find alerting the creature to the desires of it's master in the discreet location they had thought up beforehand.
Once he is done, he heads back into town to listen and take in the sites.
Ella and Ileosa make their way out into the town, gossip seems hard to find where they headed, most of the guards are making rounds in the area and the two of them make their way into some of the farmland before finally realizing they had walked a ways too far to find any good gossip today.
Coloua watches idly from her place she has encamped herself. The inn gets busy here and there but for the most part it is only for an hour or two at a time. The foot traffic as it is seems to be mostly for the night and around noon. The owner and his wife go about their day, bringing stuff up from the basement on the rare occasion but always in quick succession. The basement it seems is mostly for storage alone and they only bring things up close to the time they need it.
Finally dusk begins to fall and the town starts to slow down as it is time to take in supper and drink. Guards change shifts and those with coin or already having a room like the dwarves make their way towards the inn. Soon the inn is loud and raucous once more with wine and ale flowing and stews being slurped.
Godfrey returns from his errands amidst the hustle and bustle of the castle's workers returning to their home. He listens idly to the chatter around him, distracted by thoughts of the wealth of arcane lore he'd gathered that very morning. When he finally finds himself back at the inn, he stops briefly in his room to drop off his spellbook and his purchases. Taking a moment to clean the dust of the streets from his face, he returns to the party's private room.
To Ella, when she returns, he says, "I managed to track down much of what you were looking for. Some I copied myself and, of course, you are free to peruse my notes. For the rest, I needed to buy the formulae themselves. I'm afraid some of your work is altogether outside the realms of my experience."
With the rest of the group, he says, "I think tonight would be best for starting Coloua's plan. We'll need to leave shortly when we hear back from Draa'lik and who knows how long those blasted dwarves will be here. If there is any information to be gleaned from them, sooner is better. If Coloua is searching their rooms and Ileosa is pumping them for any information, that would leave either Ella or I to try and outdrink them." He eyes the amazonian woman as she towers over him, "I suspect that I will come out the worse for wear in any competition. I'm not nearly as hale and hearty as you, my dear. If you'd prefer me to try, I will, of course. Maybe the fool dwarf will try to beat us both if we can make it a contest of ego?."
A sudden thought seems to strike him and he smiles thoughtfully at Triss, "Do you have any brews that might be useful for this? An anti-toxin or some such that will let an imbiber ignore the effects of drink for a time?"
"I think this is the rudiments of a plan, do you have any objections or thoughts?"
"You want me to speak with them?" Ileosa asked with a raised eyebrow. "I doubt there is much I can speak with them about, both may get bored swiftly." She stated "However I am willing to give it my best try, keeping them here longer so that the other plans can fall into place." Ileosa said as she offered a shrug of her shoulders. "We all have our part to play."
"Boring it may be, but at least I'll be there suffering with you. These dwarves are effecting repairs on the watchtowers. I don't know the nature of their work, but if it's something we can sabotage then that seems like valuable knowledge. Knocking out mangonels or ballista or whatever they have up there seems particularly useful."
"I will do it." Ella agrees for a second time.
In the common room she'll order the largest drink in the entire place, sit near the dwarves, and raise an eyebrow at their tiny drinks.
Coloua stays off to the side of the room, sipping at a drink. As soon as the dwarves are distracted by Ella she will slip upstairs and try and get into their room.
Triss sadly shrugs her shoulders at Godfrey's request "I'm afraid I have never been in the business of not getting drunk when I'm drinking. I can offer you a great hangover cure Luv but that's the best I can manage about the drinking." she offered in response.
Coloua slips away unnoticed and makes her way up to the rooms that she has seen people moving in and out but much to her disappointment every door she checks is locked. Perhaps she can find a spare key somewhere or alert the others to her needs.
Ella makes her way to a nearby table easily enough, most of the patrons have been giving the Dwarves a bit of room with their boisterous behavior. She quickly notices that they are playing some kind of Dwarven card game she's never seen before and the lot of them are drinking eagerly.
When the large tankard is set down in front of Ella, there is one or two of the dwarves who look up but quickly it's back to the card game. A few minutes later though it seems an offhanded comment sends the attention of the head hancho towards Ella. The older dwarf laughs and elbows one of the others. "Get a look at that little human lady. She must think she's a big drinker." he said before gahawfing loudly.
"Ye Merrie Men are coming to town and the handsome William Marcus Marlow is coming with them! Can you believe it? The Bard of Barrington! Here! They are doing the “Fall of Amberlyn”! Oh, I can’t wait!" is overheard from the lady of the house while she's serving some nearby customers.
Coloua, frustrated by the locked doors, is about to just head downstairs in failure until she remembers that she once noticed Triss had some tools that looked like lockpicks. She heads downstairs and surreptitiously tugs on Triss's sleeve. "I may require your assistance upstairs for a bit. Could you find an easy way to excuse yourself and meet me up there?"
She then wanders back up as if heading back to her room.
Ella shakes her head, raising a corner of her mouth in a smirk, "Little men should keep their opinions to themselves and concentrate on not spilling their tiny little minuscule cup of..." she leans over to act like she's looking into his drink "Water is is?
No, wine probably. Do you have a little bit of elven in you, dwarf?"
Godfrey, with a less impressive drink in tow, sits near Ella and raises his mug to her in greetings. "I'm glad I've found you at last. See you've already found a healthy little refresher-" he nods his head at the dwarves, "-and some friends, is it? Don't be giving them too much trouble just because they can't handle drink like you. If they've a taste for a bit of lighter wine instead of something real, then that's their business, eh?"
Ileosa gave a small chuckle as she moved to join Ella and Godfrey. Unlike the others Ileosa was drinking tea. "I would not think so lightly of my dear friend here." Ileosa said as she motioned to Ella. "She is full of surprises." She told them before taking a drink. "Oh, don't mind me." Ileosa began with a smile. "I'm just here to watch."
The Dwarves began exchanging worried looks between themselves and the older Dwarf as if worried how he might react. Sudden he burst out laughing loudly "Listen to this lot, a couple of humans feeling awfully full of themselves and their ability to hold down some liquor. I bet they think they'll become the next Cayden Cailean!" he said loudly.
The tavern grew a bit quiet at the utterance of a god different but their own but the Dwarves seemed to not even notice. The Older Dwarf spoke up again "The name is Barnabus Eisenbauch. Since you lot seem to have a bit of fire in yah...what say we see who really can hold their liquor?" he said pulling out a small bag of coin. He waved the owner over and let the purse clink. "Lets get into the harder stuff and keep it coming till someone is licking boots under the table." he said laughing.
He grins "First one under between me and you two pays the bill." he said grinning.
Triss nods to Coloua and fakes a yawn "Well, looks like you lot got yourselves something to do. I think I'm a bit too tired from the long journey still. I'm gonna call it a night." she said before just making her way upstairs.
Once where there was no more people watching them, she dropped her pretense "Say, what are we doing anyhow?" she asked quietly.
Coloua looks around the hallway frustrated. "The plan was to sneak into that Dwarf leader's room and see if we could find any information on the tower, since they are doing repairs. The doors are locked and I was hoping you could help with that...I made a mistake though." She starts pacing angrily. "I didn't get a chance to identify which room was his before the others started their distraction downstairs and I doubt we have time to unlock and check all the rooms...." She glances up at Triss apologetically "I'm sorry to bring you up here without a better plan that that."
Ileosa shook her head with a smile "I'd never be so arrogant to think I could be a god." She said before taking a sip of her tea. "Also I am well aware I cannot handle much in the way of alcohol, thus the tea. Though I would be very glad to sit here an watch the entertainment!" Ileosa said as she gracefully set down her teacup.
After listening to Ileosa, like a guard getting permission from her employer, she'll smile down at the dwarf "Sounds like we have a contest then." she'll heft her pouch of coins and drops it with a thunk to the table "My name is Ella. Please try and remember that when you wake up from your drunken stupor." she grins wide, fake orc tusks dominating her toothy maw.
"I'm afraid I'm a lightweight compared against my dear friend here, but I'll lay your little game. Just promise that you'll keep going against the real heavyweight drinking in this inn, eh friend?" Godfrey maintains his smile, but mentally curses as he finds himself in the middle of a drinking game he was likely to lose.
Triss nods at the littlest one's plan and pulls out her gear from inside her coat. She looks at the floor they are on and sighs a bit "Luv, there ain't no way I'm gonna get through all these in a reasonable time. Even if we get lucky and get the right floor, good chance we don't get the door on the first batch. I'll narrow down the floor, go see if you can't sneak your way into the kitchen or behind counter of the inn and try and find the keys while I start to work." she said trying not to be irritable about the amount of work being offered to her.
She begins work on the first door.