Even Newer(er) Tavern Thread: The Hanged Man

"Please to meet ya gal." he replies from underneath the bar, popping up with a glass and a bottle. AS he pours some blue liquid on the glass, he says "Now, who are exactly your travelling companions? As you can see..." the bar keep makes a gesture to the hundreds of people sitting around, drinking, gambling, fighting, arguing....
The most closer to the bar are an elegant gentleman, dressed at the latest fashion. His impressive ornaments and clothes are the finest you've ever seen. At the same table sits a non nondescript gentleman, evidently from the jade empire, given his exotic tunic. He has a completely stoic face, devoid of emotion. He keeps his hands hidden between his broad sleeves. A glint of green shines from his eyes... or was it a trick from the lighting of the tavern?

An older looking man turns to the new comer, and give her a toothless grin."Say honny, that dwarf might want a little extra help. If you make it to his office you may be able to sign on to the contract before he sends it away with that group of adventures. If your going to you should hurry though." You find it very convenient that this by stander is able to tell you where to find the dwarf's office (which he does).

"Thank you for the tip sir, I will try to catch them. And please, have the bartender place whatever you like on my tab. I always appreciate meeting a friendly face. Barkeep, please take care of this gentleman, and the two seated at your bar. Now I must be off if I'm going to catch up with this crew."

OOC: By all means, I'm sure it was quite rough, so anything that makes it easier to get approved.

The old man gives another toothless grin, this time at the bartender. "You know what I'll have" he says.

Having found himself back in Daunton, Malakai makes his way, uneasily, back into the Hanged Man. He wasn't sure if he would see the lady that had hired his group to investigate the d'Argent manor, and he didn't really want to have to explain to her why it was that they were not there currently. All he knew, currently, is that one moment he was walking into the front door of the manor, and the next he was back here, with a nice new trinket on his arm. Looking around, he didn't see her, and so relieved, he found a seat at an empty table, ordered an ale from one of the waitresses, and grabbed Dein's book from within his backpack. The inn did not look particularly busy at the moment, so the likelihood that another patron would suddenly appear was not very probable. He had yet to find any real leads on the rituals shown in Dein's book, but maybe, just maybe, he could stop being lazy and study them himself. Malakai's lack of patience make actual book study nearly impossible, but Malakai did have one thing going for him: a focus on obtaining power for himself. If he kept reminding himself that reading the book and deciphering its contents (even if the process was insanely slow) would grant him more power, maybe he would keep at it... It was about as likely as a demon and an angel having children...but stranger things have happened!

Malakai looked at the symbols contained within Dein's book, smoke wafting lazily from his new gauntlets, his red-tinged dagger near at-hand...and his eyes burning with concentration as he willed himself to figure out what the book was talking about and read between the lines of its coded sections.

Jax, the kobold sitting at the bar, starts swaying woozily and nearly tips over his glass of wine. A few moments later, his head falls forward right into the bar.

Thunk.

This immediately wakes up Jax, who cries out and then falls backward several feet off his chair.

THUNK!

"Ackkk! Who put thish here??! The robot-wolf??"

The movement in the Hanged Man would have made the starved young man jump if he wasn't already so distracted, as he stumbles towards the bar. Nicodemus steps around the flailing kobold on the ground. "Well - signs of life. I was just about ready to leave. I was lead to believe this was a meeting place for those of adventurous disposition. I am called Nicodemus Stargazer, and would be surprised if you had heard of me." Pulling a scented handkerchief from inside his leather vest, the boy makes a barely veiled excuse to place it to his nose to avert the pungent odor of the rotting, flammable breath of the kobold's words.

The kobold stops flailing and tries to focus his eyes on the tall softskin. "Oh, well, hello. I'm Jax, Nico...demus..." He stands up, still swaying drunkenly, and scans the man up and down.

"Never heard of ya!" he says cheerfully. The kobold speaks in a staccato, barking-like manner. "But that can be good too! You have to be careful with fame. One day you're unknown, sleeping in alleys. You just have to find the sun-lit rocks to sleep on. But then I get famous!" Jax's gaze drifts away from Nicodemus and down toward his own hands. "Then the dragons come after me! And frogs and robot-dogs! And werewolves! And robot-werewolves! It never ends! Why didn't I just stay in the alley..."

Jax winces as if on the verge of crying.