Dr. Si's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Beta Group

[Dr Simon]

Lynn surveys the crowd. There are a mixture of genders and races amongst the gamblers, but most are human men, the most likely to be receptive to Lynn's attentions. Several potential options present themselves.

A serious-looking man in workman's clothing, playing Crowns, a simple beat-the-bank card game. His pile of chips is rapidly dimishing each round, and he shakes his head sadly every time the croupier gathers up the chips.

An excitable-looking young nobleman, playing a dice game. His luck seems about even, but he's getting fairly drunk, and a bit raucous. With each round, he bets a larger ante.

A gnome at the Wheel of Misfortune. Although his chips are slowly depleting, he seems overjoyed at the result of every spin, whether he wins or loses.

 

[Oni]

Lynn looked at the noble, then looked at her chips. Those probably weren't going to make much of an impression there. Besides, he was probably trouble. Her eyes continued to drift across the room, falling on the gnome. Uh...no. Continuing on she spotted the sad looking worker playing at cards. Perfect.

Taking only a moment to think over her approach, Lynn made a beeline for the Crowns table. Sitting down near him she smiled and addressed the poor sap cheerily.

Hello. This looks fun, how do you play?

[sblock=ooc]

Maybe we should sic Dj'hân on the gnome.

And uh...Edmond can try his luck with the noble.

[/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

Nah, Edmond would have too much fun with prestidigitation and he'd be out before you could say cookie. He will patiently stay near the wall just as other bodyguards do.

 

[Dr Simon]

The man is about to reply when the croupier chimes in.

"Three cards each, two chances for an extra draw, highest wins, bust if you go over twenty one. All cards in the Crowns suit are worth ten. Ante-up, ladies and gentlemen."

"Yeah... like that," says the man. "So...you never played before?"

OOC: Basically, it's like blackjack or 21, except that the card pack is based on the Harrow (minus the pictures). Six suits - Hammers, Keys, Shields, Books, Stars and Crowns. Nine cards per suite, numbered 1 -9.

 

[Oni]

No, never.

Lynn looked at the table, a somewhat perplexed expression on her face. After a moment she turned back to the gambler.

Maybe I could watch you play, just to see how it works. Here, you can use some of my chips.

She slid a gold sails worth of chips toward him.

This seems like a very exciting place. Do you come here often? I bet you meet all sorts of interesting people here.

[sblock=ooc]

Ack, I've been lazy, sorry to to reply quicker.

[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

The man's hand hovers over the chips.

"Seriously?" he asks. "I mean... my luck's not good tonight, I wouldn't want to lose you money...." He looks a little suspicious, but takes the chips anyway.

"To be honest," he says in answer to Lynn's last question, "Most of the people here are boring losers like me." He gives a self-deprecating laugh. "It's the staff who are more interesting, I mean, look at those two with their Twin Tiger schtick," he gestures to the two Vudrans in red. "And then you've got the guy who runs the whole place, calls himself King of the Spiders, has this whole mysteriosa persona going on. I guess it works, he's got guys lining up to work for him." He wins this round of Crowns. "Hey! Guess my luck's changed. You can come again!"

 

[Oni]

Lynn looked over in the general direction of the two identical Vedrans running the place.

Hmm...I see what you mean. I wonder if those running the other establishments are as colourful...

She glanced down at the man's now greater pile of chips.

Oh! I suppose I should have paid more attention. You can keep using my chips, maybe you'll win again.

So, King of Spiders you say? That's quite the scary sounding name. Have you ever seen him?

[sblock=ooc]

For some reason, I'm suddenly picturing this King of Spiders wearing a spider themed luchadore mask to maintain his "whole mysteriosa persona".

[/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

Dj'hân watches the gamblers and gaming action while dredging his muddled memories for what he might recall concerning these unusual surroundings.

[sblock=OOC]Looking for anything relevant or noteworthy; Perception +6. Knowledge (history) +6 and Knowledge (local) +7 checks regarding Eel's End. It's something to do. [/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

Edmond scans the surroundings, looking for danger, hidden doors (or people appearing suddenly without entering through visible portals), cheats, bouncers, number of strangers and any other detail that might become useful in potential fight or cause one.

He remains near the wall, but takes care to leave Dj'ahn fairly broad field of vision always looking slightly off center so that backpack faces the other way around and not the wall.

OOC: knowledge (local) +7; Linguistics +3; Sense motive +3

 

[Dr Simon]

"He does the rounds sometimes, but usually he stays tucked up in the Eel's End. He's a scary man alright; they say he's got the blood of fiends in his veins. Not that he looks like one of them tieflings they have up at the academy, no, he's just a normal man but with a hard edge to him. But they say he's got some sort of power over spiders, hence his name."

[SBLOCK=Dj'hân]
Dj'hân recalls nothing much about Eel's End other than what you already know - a den of iniquity ruled by a man calling himself King of the Spiders. There is nothing much of interest going on in the Twin Tigers. The two men in red are keeping a carfeul eye on things even as they do their job. The patrons are engrossed in the gambling. Since the walls of the structures on deck are open-sided, you can see comings and goings between the five moored vessels, but you also note that there seem to be six armed guards who do the rounds (chainmail, sword and shield), plus two more stationed at the end of the pier.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Edmond]
There doesn't seem to be anything suspicious or out of the ordinary going on in the Twin Tigers. You recall that there are rumours that Devargo Bavarsi, King of the Spiders, has connections to the Arkona family, that they pay his vice taxes for him and keep the guard off his back in exchange for some unstated service.
[/sblock]