House Millithor in the City of the Spider Queen

[Xael]

Quertus has been quietly following others, thinking about the coin and his vision/dream. He was quite pleased to hear that the goblins would be sacrificed and the coin and it's holder are now out of Grivak's sight.

Awakened from his slumber by the ruckus, Quertus decides that the situation is still under control. He will watch the situation, and only take part on the "fight" if it looks like it will get serious (multiple dwarves attack).

 

[Endur]

With uncanny accuracy, the twin snake heads of Narcelia’s whip leap into the Dwarf’s face. One of the snake heads sinks its fangs right below the dwarf’s right eye, the other snake head injects its poison into the dwarf’s chin.

The dwarf yells out in pain, stumbles back, knocking over his chair, and falls on the ground. He tries to get back up, but his body is spasming out of control, his mouth is making weird noises, and he can’t stand back up. His face is already beginning to puff up where the serprents bit him.

The female Duergar who was sitting right next to him, turns and with a look of disgust, drops a full tankard of ale on his head. The blow knocks him senseless and the tankard breaks into pieces and ale splashes all over him.

At this point, many of the other customers in the Inn are beginning to pay attention to the fracas. Of the fifty or so customers in the tavern, half are Duergar. The rest are various races from the Underdark, including a trio of Illithids, several Grimlocks, some Quaggoths, half a dozen Goblinoids, and a couple of humans. In particular, Marckarius notices two large aberrations, snakes with the face of drow (Spirit Nagas), and Marckarius moves to place himself in between the snakes and the members of House Millithor.

The two dwarves and the four duergar who were sitting next to the odd looking dwarf are beginning to react. A red-haired shield dwarf at the table is talking in dwarven to an older, bald duergar wearing full plate armor. The other shield dwarf, a dark haired dwarf wearing a chain shirt with an axe slung over his back, stands up with his hands open before him, and speaks.

Speaking in undercommon, “Please forgive my father’s brother’s son. I am Tanis, son of Hanin Steelshadow. My cousin Django…” He looks at the senseless dwarf lying on the floor, sighs and shrugs his shoulders, and looks back at you and finishes speaking, “He just doesn’t understand.”

 

[Thels]

Stupid Dwarves! So much for a silent entry...

Dariel stays put near Narcelia, his swords ready in his hands.

 

[Raurth Snowfang]

Krecil seems bored by the antics, though if aynone looked closely enough they might notice a slight twinkle of amusement in his startling eyes. As the rest of the family go about their business Krecil approaches the barman...

"Tell me, human, how does a man like you come to run a bar in a city like this?"

He puts five gold onto the bar and slides them across to the barkeep... "Give me something strong, and keep the change, maybe you'll be able to repay me later."

 

[Radiant]

Speaking in undercommon, “Please forgive my father’s brother’s son. I am Tanis, son of Hanin Steelshadow. My cousin Django…” He looks at the senseless dwarf lying on the floor, sighs and shrugs his shoulders, and looks back at you and finishes speaking, “He just doesn’t understand.”

Narcela takes the whip down again and nods, accepting the apology but waits to see if the matron is statisfied too.

 

[Endur]

The pale, gray haired bartender pours a glass of whiskey for Krecil and leaves the bottle on the counter next to the glass. The bottle is dated six years ago and the label on the bottle is L’Renor Vress’lve Tar’annen (The Black Claw Company).

The bartender begins to speak:

“Ahhh, the tale of how I came to work one of the taverns at Laral’s of Skullport … I’ve worked for Laral off and on for a couple of decades, but not in his taverns. I was a sea-faring man, and I plied the seas both above and below the surface. I was an honest trader, crossing the Darklake and minding my own business, when IT happened. I don’t rightly remember what exactly what did happen, but I remember waking up many years later, as if I had spent several years in a deep fog.

“And that’s what did happen, or at least what the svirfneblin Kallian Torrush Alkar told me later. I and the rest of my crew were captured and mentally enslaved by one of the creatures of the Dark Lake, a tentacled creature of the depths called an Aboleth. Kallian said that I and the others had been transformed into a creature that looked more like a frog than a human.

“I might have spent my whole life as a humanoid frog if not for the fact that Kallian tricked the Aboleth and freed me and the rest of the slaves.

“Even though I look more or less normal these days, bright light bothers me and I have to swim in water every day. And the Dark Lake feels so comfortable, that I want to stay near it. But I can still feel the Aboleth in my mind and I don’t dare work as a sailor anymore. So, instead I work for Laral as a bartender and occasionally help out on the docks.”

 

[Prince Atom]

Marckarius keeps an eye on the spirit nagas and an ear on the conversation with the dwarves. If the spirit nagas seem too interested or move too close to the party, Marck tries to Intimidate them into minding their own business.

Meanwhile, he tries to gauge their power relative to his family's through reading their body language and carriage.

"Can we go nowhere without drawing attention? 'Tis as if some higher being were purposely moving to place these situations before us! I swear the dwarf in motley was goaded into his action by some mysterious will not his own."

OOC: Is there any way (possibly involving a skill check) that Marck can hazard a guess as to the power of the spirit nagas?

TWK

 

[Raurth Snowfang]

Krecil takes the glass and downs the drink in one.. although many would think it strange a Drow liking dwarven whiskey so much Krecil's time in Jarlaxle's mercenary band taught him some strange habits. After downing a glass Krecil turns his attention to the story the barman is telling and tries hard to hide his boredom ... He leans across the bar and slides another gold coin onto the table.

"Perhaps you could inform me of more.. recent.. occurances? Anything... strange or out of the ordinary?"

 

[Endur]

The bartender lowers his voice to a whisper so that only Krecil can hear.

"Well, perhaps you have already noticed that there are more gray dwarves in town than normal. The rumor is that his royal highness, the crown prince of Gracklstugh is visiting Mantol-Derith, Prince Horlbar Steelshadow himself in the flesh. Dwarves are notoriously tight-lipped, but many of the customers in the tavern are probably members of his entourage. Nobody is quite sure why he is here, but there is a rumor that he is negotiating trade rights with a prince from Mithril Hall."

 

[Thels]

Dariel stays put with his swords in his hands, wary for anyone coming close to the group, ignoring the patron for now.