Gristav and Tendal note that the more well-heeled patrons are heading upstairs to a balcony that edges three sides of the building. Less crowded than the main floor, the balcony is lined with tables and dealers for Golem. Prosperous-looking players are seated at the tables, while hangers-on and spectators jostle for the best views of the action. The presence of Gendarmes is more pronounced on the upper level as well, either because more coin is at stake at the high rollers' tables or because cheating is both more likely and more lucrative.
Tendal supposes that interrupting a Golem player is likely to draw down opprobrium, but if he were to be heard applauding fine play, he might well strike up a conversation with a victor leaving the table to cash in his winnings.
"Next?"
"I don't know. More wine?" she suggests. "Or would you rather try to win some money?"
Tendal points his cane toward the stairs, "I think that the gentle persons upstairs might have a better liking for our offerings this evening Gristav. I suggest we procure liquid rations and proceed to see what customers we might find." he suggests.
He efficiently weaves his way through the crowd then up the stairs. Reaching the landing, he quickly catches the eye of a waiter, and orders a glass of white wine before he approaches the players and the crowd surrounding them.
"Next?""I don't know. More wine?" she suggests. "Or would you rather try to win some money?"
"Lose some money, you mean. I'll get more wine. What would you do if you won all that money?"
"Hmmm," she giggles thoughtfully. "Maybe go some of those places from the restaurant. Magnimar and Korvosa and Kaer Maga. Kalsgard. Even Absalom."
Tendal and Gristav climb the stairs to the balcony, which they find both less crowded and less noisy, though Liry's cheerful voice still carries up to the second story between rounds of betting at her apparatus. Strolling among the Golem tables, Tendal spies a familiar face: Galen Wintrish, a shipping investor to whom he was introduced at the Gold Goblin's grand opening. The man seems to be doing well at the table and has a small entourage of well-wishers and hangers-on at his elbows, cheering him on.
"Shall we abandon your ships to the storm and seek to reinvigorate your competitive eye with a drink?"
"Oh, yes," she agrees, airily dismissing her abandoned stake. "I resign my commission. Let me know how the battle plays out, will you, Olin?"
She lets several strides and a few curtains of people separate the pair of you from the group at the lake before her fingers press more tightly against your arm and she hisses, "Oh, Phil, that awful man threw me out!"
Tendal makes his way over to the Golem table where Wintrish is currently winning, inserting himself deftly in the crowd before worming his way to the table, utilizing arched eyebrow and cane when appropriate to make himself a space. When the moment arises he simply nods at Galen, letting him know that he is present, then settles in to watch the game for a few minutes.
As a waiter passes him, he asks for ink, quill and paper, which is quickly retrieved. Tendal then dashes off a quick note: "Once you have finished taking the house for all it is worth, I have a business proposition that I believe will interest you. - T.D."
He passes the note back to waiter with a silver (for the waiter) and a gold (for the drink) and asks him to pass it to Wintrish with a snifter of elvish firewine.
"Hmmm," she giggles thoughtfully. "Maybe go some of those places from the restaurant. Magnimar and Korvosa and Kaer Maga. Kalsgard. Even Absalom."
"Yeah. That'd be great. I like travel. Just as long as there's not too much sea travel."
"Hmmm," she giggles thoughtfully. "Maybe go some of those places from the restaurant. Magnimar and Korvosa and Kaer Maga. Kalsgard. Even Absalom.""Yeah. That'd be great. I like travel. Just as long as there's not too much sea travel."
She laughs. "You can't get to Absalom without traveling by sea, can you? Isn't it on an island?"
Tendal continues to watch the game until the wine is delivered to Wintrish's elbow. The man raises his eyebrows, unfolds the note, and quickly reads it. Tucking it in his breast pocket, he meets Tendal's eye and gives him a nod, raising the glass in a brief toast of acknowledgement before taking a sip of the expensive wine within.
She laughs. "You can't get to Absalom without traveling by sea, can you? Isn't it on an island?"
"Yeah. It's in the middle of the Inner Sea. My father used to sail there all the time. It's only a day or two from... the main land."
Braddon looks down at his new boots, their shine hidden under a layer of dirt."I don't hate boats. You're just cramped into a tiny place, which would be more fun with the right person. And if you step outside, the ground is the wrong colour and moves too much."
"Going back to the flat and your humiliation was a choice though milady... you had coin and the ability to instead turn to more temporary lodgings if you wished." raising an eyebrow to gauge how Ethel responds.
"I don't hate boats. You're just cramped into a tiny place, which would be more fun with the right person. And if you step outside, the ground is the wrong colour and moves too much."
"Braddon, you're so funny!" she laughs.
You can see that the option never even occurred to her.
After another few hands of golem, Wintrish pushes away from the table, giving nods to the dealer and to his disgruntled opponents. He motions to a young man at his side to gather his winnings, then meets Tendal's eye and jerks his head toward the stairs.
The wizard catches up to him near the bottom of the staircase. "That's a fine wine, Mr. Deverin; I thank you. Why don't we step outside where we needn't shout to discuss business? My man will cash in my chips."
"Braddon, you're so funny!" she laughs.
"Only because you're drunk. Here, let me see if I can win something."
Braddon tosses some coins on a table and leans into Lexy."How do I play this?"
Leaving Tendal to his social graces, Gristav gave what distance he might, and still keep a line of eye and action; not that he expected trouble, but in company of the mage, and merchant, and man-at-leisure, Tendal, Gristav knew, he was definitely cast as the Tough. Not by Tendal, surely not deprecatingly, but by reason.
And Reason was fair enough company.
When Tendal made for the stairs, Gristav followed, not comradely, not unless beckoned, but still, close enough for any sudden support. It wasn't engrossing, but the boredom seemed the mask of the evening, apart from those in the very midst of the pleasures on offer. Who would waste coin on boredom would seem well coined indeed, which, Gristav guessed, was partmost the point.
When Tendal seemed set to exit, Gristav moved to exit as well, ahead or abaft, but not astern unless Tendal flew a flag of fellowship. Gristav couldn't know if that was his intent, and would not assume it, but neither would he have Tendal be unsupported.
So he was, within the leap of a look and the grasp of a glance, as Tendal met his mark.
Tendal glanced over his shoulder as he made his way down the stairs and out the door his eye catching Gristav's profile among the crowd, but moving towards him.
Excellent, Gristav is close if I need his assistance in this negotiation...I do hope that I can negotiate a reasonable price. Tendal thought, wondering if he had chosen someone with enough liquidity to cover the sale of equipment.
"Mr. Wintrish, I toast your good fortune this evening. Not only did you have an excellent run of luck but I have recently come into possession of some significant items, both mundane and magical. While I could spend the next several days selling piecemeal, I thought that I might do a good turn for someone who has been friendly in the past. And so I come to you", Tendal explained expansively.
"If you are interested, I would be happy to either describe the items, or accompany you to view them."
Braddon tosses some coins on a table and leans into Lexy.
"How do I play this?"
"Oh, this is a Tien game." She points to the square with numbered sides marked in the center of the table. "You bet on one, two, three, or four; then the dealer lifts up the bowl and removes the beads, four at a time. However many are left for the last batch, that's the number that wins."
"So... apart from being evicted... anything interesting happen in Riddleport while I was absent?"
"That's not enough? Everyone saying the place has shut down and that Old Stumpy's run off with the money?" She shakes her head. "No, I can't say I've heard of anything else unusual. What about Roderic's Cove? What did you do there?"
"Mr. Wintrish, I toast your good fortune this evening. Not only did you have an excellent run of luck but I have recently come into possession of some significant items, both mundane and magical. While I could spend the next several days selling piecemeal, I thought that I might do a good turn for someone who has been friendly in the past. And so I come to you", Tendal explained expansively.
"If you are interested, I would be happy to either describe the items, or accompany you to view them."
"Hmph. Need some quick cash, do you?" he divines. "Very well, if the objects are saleable, I'll have a look at them. I take it these items are at the Gold Goblin? Let's wait for my man to cash my chips, and I'll go with you to see what you have available."
Braddon slides his money to four.
"If he takes them in fours, there'll be four left."
He nods and wonders why everyone else hasn't realised this yet.
Lexy cheers and claps her hands as Braddon's airtight logic is vindicated. "I'll bet that'll buy another bottle of bubbly wine," she remarks of the pile of chips he collects. "And then maybe back to your place...?" she suggests.
"So... am I diminished within your gaze or does my rakish charm still endear?"
"I'll bet that'll buy another bottle of bubbly wine," she remarks of the pile of chips he collects. "And then maybe back to your place...?" she suggests.
Braddon is only too happy to comply.
"I'll get a bottle to go," he grins smugly as he rakes in his winnings.He gives a Lexy a quick kiss.
"You're lucky."
Tendal returns to the Gold Goblin in the company of Mr. Wintrish and Gristav, looking forward to some profitable trading.
By the time Tendal and Gristav arrive back at the Gold Goblin with Galen Wintrish, Braddon and Lexy are safely ensconced in the half-elf's room. The merchant drops a hint or two about seeing Saul, but the magic-users successfully divert his attention to the merchandise on offer. With the pleasant afterglow from both his successful evening at the golem table and Tendal's elvish firewine, he agrees to a more than fair price for the lot, and his men carry the items away.
Sometime later, Phillip and Ethel arrive at the once (and future?) casino and retire to their own room.
For the first time in five days, the remaining employees of the Gold Goblin awake in what they have come to consider in such a short time their home. The building, however, seems uncharacteristically empty. The bakery has either not been paid or been instructed to discontinue its daily deliveries of fresh pastries; picking over the stale leavings of previous days' baskets scattered in the kitchen is an unappetizing prospect. Phillip's prepaid order of Sargavan Red, however, shows up promptly, his generosity outlasting the dwarf's presence in the building.
Braddon remains ensconced in his room and seems in no hurry to leave.
Phillip moves out into the cavernous casino relatively early and is contented to find that at least coffee will be available for them. While seeing a large pot brewed he looks to confirm whether Bojasc remains with them... before setting table within the casino's main chamber, rather than the meeting room above.
Making his way toward the main room, Snake shares what was found with the others when/if they all show up. "Bojasc found this letter but I can't make heads or tails out of it." He lays it out on the table for the others to examine. "Not in any language I can understand," he says with a shrug.
Tendal walks out of the kitchen and into the room with the others, an open bottle of Sargavan Red and a goblet in his hand.
"It appears that there is little to break our fast this morning." Tendal says his face set in its characteristic frown.
"We will need to procure provisioning, and possibly see to the kitchens being re-opened. What is this about a letter?" he asks, setting his goblet and the bottle down on the table and moving around to stand beside Snake to investigate the item.