[IC] The Trouble at Durbenford

[Bloodcookie]

Ruathen rocks back in one of the chairs, idly twiddling a dart between his fingers. He happens to be facing the stage, but the faraway look in his eyes makes it obvious that his mind, as usual, is occupied with esoteric concepts far removed from the here and now. He doesn't seem to notice his sometime companions' approach.

 

[Dichotomy]

As Konstatine enters, he first spots Ruathen and joins him at the table while retriving the abandoned drink. "Ah, my elven friend, 'tis good to see you again. You missed out on a little fun just now." The bard proceeds to quickly tell the elf about the fight with the vine, meeting Helen Dunsreisch, and the woman's offer.

Taking a drink, he looks at the entertainment the inn already has and sighs audibly. "I guess she leaves me little choice. I'll either have to upstage her, or win the poor dear's heart. Anyone want to takes bets as to which it'll be?"

After any responses by his companions, Konstantine snaps his fingers. "Ah, yes! I wanted to inform you all of which I'd discovered so far...

"Apparently Lord Durben is having troubles here as of late. For starters, a nation of giants on the other side of the Kal'lugus mountains looks about to storm the place, and it was suggested that whatever irked them was Durben's doing.

"To make matters worse, the situation inside isn't much better. There's talk about Durben having perverse fancies, or some such. And there are two thieves guilds: one lead by Fat Man, or some such, and the other is the Grey Rock Guild.

"To top it all off, Prince Geoffrey himself is apparently going to visit to bring things in line."

The bard takes a quick drink and shrugs his shoulders. "Sorry I haven't been able to find out more yet. But I have only been here a few hours," Konstantine says sarcastically. "I need to talk to some Master Orin about the mountain trouble and the like, and there is some hermit by the lake named Juptal that supposedly has interesting tidbits. But, I suppose, that can all wait until after we hear from dear Helen."

The long-winded bard finally pauses to see what the group has to say.

 

[Bloodcookie]

As Konstatine enters, he first spots Ruathen and joins him at the table while retriving the abandoned drink. "Ah, my elven friend, 'tis good to see you again. You missed out on a little fun just now." The bard proceeds to quickly tell the elf about the fight with the vine, meeting Helen Dunsreisch, and the woman's offer.

Taking a drink, he looks at the entertainment the inn already has and sighs audibly. "I guess she leaves me little choice. I'll either have to upstage her, or win the poor dear's heart. Anyone want to takes bets as to which it'll be?"

Snapping out of his reverie, Ruathen greets the party with a smile. "I commend your able handling of the animated vegetation. I look forward to learning just what opportunity your success has attracted in the person of this Ms. Dunsreisch."

"To top it all off, Prince Geoffrey himself is apparently going to visit to bring things in line."

"Or bring things to a head, more like," he says with a chuckle.

He pointedly witholds his wager on Konstantine's prospects with the lutenist.

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

Padraig, Male Human Veteran (Fighter)

"Ruathen! Great to see you again! You've already missed out on some of the action, I'm afraid. The townsfolk are already hailing us as heroes. Don't worry, though--if anyone asks we'll tell them you were bravely guarding our drinks as we fought," Padraig ribs his friend with a twinkle in the eye. After noting the entertainment he adds, "You lucky dog, I see that while we've been saving a beautiful young woman, you've been ogling one!"

Padraig listens to Konstantine's story intently. His forehead screws up into a knot as he tries to keep track of all the puzzle pieces. The veteran quickly becomes overwhelmed. He thinks to himself how lucky he is to have companions that are wiser than he. Padraig wants to do good in the world. He sometimes finds that he is too simple to know exactly how to do that, and is thankful that his friends have yet to lead him astray in that endeavor.

"I'll gladly travel with you wherever we need to go, to be whatever help I can, but I'm afraid I won't be much use in gleaning useful information from these men. But even a simple man like me must agree that it makes sense to find out as much as we can before we go trying to take on giants or princes."

 

[Lazlow]

Gil slaps the elf on the back in a friendly greeting. "Ruathen! Good to see you again, you're just in time. I saw the most astounding halfling..." He blathers on until Konstantine snaps his fingers, which immediately gets his attention.

When the bard is through, he says, "Wow - giants, royal scandal, thieves, a princely visit, mysterious Masters, and a hermit." He slaps his thigh. "Welp! Where do we start?"

 

[michael_noah]

Time passes rather quickly now that night has come. The Ox fills with folk done with their daily work, and the lutenist entertains the clientele quite admirably. The only event of note, and it is a stretch to say that is such, is the entry of a very large human, his chest prominently displaying the symbol of house Durben on the surcoat worn over a suit of platemail. It is easy to overhear some of the patrons greet him as Captain Trindel. He openly stairs at the lot of you after entering, but passes you by to convivially great the bard on stage as she pauses between songs.

Also present is Shubryn, the rumormonger to whom Konstantine spoke in the square.
[sblock=ooc]You may do as you please here, or simply let me know if you'd like to wait until morning and a meeting with Helen.[/sblock]

 

[Dichotomy]

After things have started getting underway and the Captain arrives, Konstantine excuses himself from the group. "Wish me luck. It's time for the work to begin. Oh, and don't blow my cover," the bard adds teasingly.

With that he begins to weave a simple, but hopefully cunning enough, web of deception and intrigue.
[sblock=OOC]This is likely going to be somewhat complex. However you want to handle it will work fine with me.

First, I'm going to buy a drink for the lutist and approach her at a break. Offering her the drink, a few coins, deft flirtation, and promising her any extra coin that I might bring in, Konstantine tries to convince her to do a duet or two with him (offerring some song that she'd likely know on the lute). Diplomacy +25

During the performance (+22), Konstantine will cast glibness, using disguise spell.

After the performance, Konstantine will approach the Captain and begin making a new "friend." Using both diplomacy and bluff (+49, thanks to glibness), Konstantine will attempt to create the illusion that he is an agent of the soon-to-arrive Prince. He'll insinuate that lots of change is in store, hinting at the bad things that he already knows about, suggesting that since so much can happen, it is best for the Captain to get in his good graces. Of course, discretion on the Captain's part will be stressed as paramount. The more the Captain can help me, the more I can help him. All that sort of thing.

Assuming that all goes well, Konstatine will spend the entire night with the Captain, not only convincing him of his fake postion and wringing as much info from him as possible, but also trying to convince the guy that he should like him as well. Most of the heavy lying necessary will occur in the first 80 mins (after glibness is gone, my bluff is only +19).

Throughout the whole process, Konstantine will adapt however he think is necessary to make it work. Unfortunately, he's is far better at this sort of thing than I can accurately portray.

Let me know if you have any questions on it.[/sblock]

 

[Bloodcookie]

Ruathen lifts his glass in silent salute as the master of social combat goes to work.

 

[TiCaudata]

Jasper watches the bard start to work his wiles on the current performer. "I have 5 gold that he does BOTH. I'd toss the captain in too if I thought he could provide some good information.

What took you so long Ruathen? The road wearing you down after all these years? We could have used your ears if nothing else, no one but Zagnak and myself heard the lady screaming her pretty little head off. City life must be tough on the senses."

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

Padraig, Male Human Veteran (Fighter)

Padraig shakes his head in admiration and near-disbelief as he watches Konstantine work. Once he is sure that there will be no trouble with the Captain, he excuses himself momentarily to check on his horse Northwind in the stables. There, he takes some pains to see if he can see or "overhear" anything of potential interest.

[sblock=OOC]Spot (1d20-1=11)
Listen (1d20-1=12)[/sblock]