S1: The Strange Case of Aif Jenkins' Farm (E13 judge) - Concluded

[Manzanita]

So, Beamer, Reinert, and Tolar have so far had some wine. It tastes quite good, and the travelers are thirsty from the road. Is anyone abstaining? Anyone planning on getting drunk? Come one, have some fun!

"Well, Sir, as I recall I suggested you might hire me as an extra guard for your caravan, but you didn't take me seriously. No offense taken, of course, many people are fooled by my size. Though if you're inclined to test my skills, I'd be happy to enlighten you as to just how competent a halfling can be."

"Oh right!" Toler snaps his fingers. "Well, I would have taken you, but I wasn't in charge now was I? It was that martinet who was the boss. He was very particular about that caravan. Wouldn't let us drink neither."

Reinert's jaw drops. "No drinkin'? Now that's not right!" The dwarf wags his finger at the halflings. "You lot are more 'an lucky you found me. Drinkin's healthy. Look at me!" Reinert, though powerul-looking, has a jaundiced complexion, and is hardly attractive. "Oh, don't mind if I do..." Reinert has drained his mug and accepts a refill from Toler.

"We were fortunate that Mr. Reinert generously provided us a ride so no harm done. What is it that we are celebrating?"

"Well," says Toler, "we were well-paid for that caravan guarding job, and we're almost home. Rafferty and I have been traveling for years. We've made good money in the mines, and as mercenaries. And when we get back to Beth Hannon, my brother is going to hire us to manage his brewery. Yep. Times are good." Toler tosses back his mug, and wipes his mouth with his sleeve. "Plus, we got this wine pretty cheap."

 

[Patlin]

Banion will avoid drinking or eating in public, mindfull of the assassins that may be after him. The notion that the wine was cheap also bothers him, not because he's a particular conoseur of wine but because he immediately wonders who wanted these people to have the wine cheap, and why. Does someone want them poisoned, or possibly just drunk? If it's a lethal poison, it's too late to intervene, and if it's non-lethal...

Banion looks around the room, looking specifically for anyone who might be ready to take advantage of some weakness.

Spot +7
Sense Motive +0

ooc: It's too bad Bront's unavailable. I'm curious whether a male halfling would immediately rouse Julianna's ire as most males would, or if he's too short for her to bother with. As I recall, a dromite was too alien for Mistress Katrina to consider male...

 

[SlagMortar]

Beamer sips slowly on his wine, not wanting to become intoxicated. Beamer doesn't need alcohol to have fun, it just helps.

"Well, cheers to that! Managing a brewery ... most jobs one hates to start and can't wait to finish, but that's a job that is surely the opposite. How'd ya get the cheap wine? I bet a girl sold it to you. You know, one whose into the rough and tumble adventuresome type."

 

[Bront]

Juliana is a shapely woman with fiery red hair, and emerald green eyes. Her hair drifts down just past her shoulders, and is worn loose, though she sometimes ties it back. Her deep green eyes are cold and she often looks like she’s sizing up anything she sees. Her chain shirt hugs her tightly, and her clothing is cut for few loose hangings.

Boog will notice she's not in her usual plate armor.

"What are you doing here?", came his anticlimactic question. Boog was a being of few words and even fewer social graces.

Juliana chuckles to herself. "We just got done looking for you in that stain of a town Rivensblight. I see you found yourself out of there as well. Father Eusebius has requested my presence on a mission, and he was hoping for your help as well."

She still eyes Boog with an eye of suspicion, though her look is more of amusal than distrust. "So, who are your companions? And what brings you this way?"

 

[El Jefe]

Boog accepted a cup of Toler's wine. The psion could go without food or drink for as long as he wished, but was glad to partake of both so long as it didn't cost him overmuch. He decided that he'd drink enough to feel good, but no more.

"So, who are your companions? And what brings you this way?"

"That's Beamer, and that's Banion", Boog answered. "They said they attract trouble, and I thought fighting something would jar my mind enough to allow me to learn this pebble...thing." He held up his palm to show her, still oozing from the open sore in the middle.

 

[Patlin]

Hmmm. Hadn't considered the possibility of Boog repeating that to sane people...

"Trouble does seem to find us wherever we go." Banion confirms. "We're trying to travel fast enough and far enough to leave some of it behind, but I have the feeling some will find us anyway soon enough. Hope a little bit of trouble doesn't bother you?"

 

[Manzanita]

"Well, cheers to that! Managing a brewery ... most jobs one hates to start and can't wait to finish, but that's a job that is surely the opposite. How'd ya get the cheap wine? I bet a girl sold it to you. You know, one whose into the rough and tumble adventuresome type."

"Oh, I no. I picked it up off a caravan we worked on. Very cheap." He winks at Beamer. "So," Toler continues, "you halflings are a trouble magnet, eh? What kinds of trouble have you seen?"

 

[Patlin]

"Well, have you heard about what happened in Gotian?"

That one probably won't get worse if I talk about it, unlike the other thing...

 

[Patlin]

Thinking about it for a moment, Banion decides to say a bit more.

"...and let me tell you, that was not our fault. If our #%$# employers had listened to us, they'd still be alive and ruling their city."

 

[SlagMortar]

Beamer wonders why Banion is being so open with these men.

"That's right. We were just minding our own business supervising the docks when some of the guardsmen started asking some funny questions. We tried to warn the greedy merchants, but when has a rich man ever listened to his hirelings, eh?"

OOC: *In a deep bass*
No buuudy knows the trouble I seen, No buuudy knows but Banion