At The Slashing Sword...
Manzanita and Alyssa approach the barkeep and proprieter, who is a fat human male with a broad smile named Lagren. Manzanita pays 2 gp for a private room for her and Alyssa, and in a conversational way drops the names of her companions. The barkeep doesn’t look like he’s heard of your names before.
Dunathar, Devan and Zanock order drinks and stay with their elven female companions at a large table not far from the bar. Dunathar studies the crowd.
Devan asks Lagren, the barkeep, if he knows anything about the posting for Shadow, or the Silent Traders. “The Silent Traders eh? Their guildhouse is in the warehouse district. Unmarked, of course, but it’s not too hard to figure out which one it is. They’re merchants. Don’t know much else about them. Me, I’m a simple man. I don’t deal with trade agreements and such. I just run a simple tavern and inn, that’s all. Shadow’s some sort of mercenary rogue, as far as I know.” Devan gets the feeling Lagren knows more, but isn’t telling.
“The man who posted that notice comes in here pretty regularly. Red-haired human fellow who goes by Allard. You can’t miss him, he wears all red. Always has his red helmet nearby too.”
Adromon orders a drink and wanders off on his own. He finds a quiet corner giving him a good view of the main room, and settles in with his back to the wall, drinking his ale and observing.
More people start to come in, mostly human, elven, and dwarvish laborers, their workclothes covered in dust and sweat. Off-duty soldiers start to come in also, settling down in large groups to eat and drink.
A group of seven mixed human and elven warriors enter, wearing violet cloaks. They cause quite a stir as they enter, as many of the soldiers look up to eye them with looks of distaste. As they stride into the tavern, their cloaks open and you see they wear violet tunics over their armor. On the front of the tunic is a swirling spiral of yellow, surrounded by yellow stars. You recognize this as the symbol of House Hulvan, which holds the Duchy of Rogan. These men are House Hulvan’s soldiers, part of the Duke’s forces. They find a table and settle down with drinks.
House Hulvan is a member of the Council of Five, the five noble houses which rule Shillen, but they have not been involved much in local politics, either in Rogan or in any other part of the kingdom, until they assumed control of the Duchy after Duke Dharnan’s death.