Searching for dragons. Part I.

[Kredine]

She takes another silver for your drink.
"Have it your way, but you won't find any of them nearly as interesting as me I assure you."
The bar area is not overly large, seating only nine tables across the floor, only five of which are occupied. Sitting at the bar is a hobgoblin, mumbling to himself. At the first table sits two goblins, in heated discussion. The second are three goblins, playing some kind of dice game. At the third sits a solitary half-orc. The forth houses a pair of gnolls, laughing manically and at the fifth sits a tired depressed looking tiefling.

[Orran]

"I don't know, those gnolls seem a giggle, it's a shame I don't speak the language." The kobold smiles, after dragons, dogs are the creature he most resembles.

Some quick deliberation has him approach the tiefling, but en route he subtly listens to the 2 goblins argue.
"Bluff, because he's a subtle 2 foot dragon" - (1d20+12)[32]
"Listen, a nosy one too" - (1d20+5)[14]

"What could be getting you down so much buddy, this whole city is an opportunity?" He says, hoping that this tiefling isn't a Sharlang. A city that had conquered the demons would be a lot more than he signed up for.

[Kredine]

The goblins don't seem to take notice to you, and though you're sure you've heard the words fine, the conversation leaves you unsure.
"No, no, no, you half-witted fool. It has to be scale of the troglodyte."
"Are you mad? Wyvern intestines will always yield a greater crop."
You approach the tiefling, proposing your question.
"An opportunity" she spits. "This city is hive of self righteous racism, like I choose to be born with horns."
She turns to face you, as though not aware of your presence until after she had already responded.
"What do you want, dragonkin?"

[Orran]

Goblins, useful allies sometimes, but farmers, who knows?
"I want the same thing you do, to go about my business, but twice today I've had to skulk past men with spears. They may have even been different men, they all look kind of the same." Strixi offers his claw. "The name's Strixi, yours demonborn?" Kane crawls onto the table, looking around for morsels.

[Kredine]

"I was born of no demon"
She pulls up her hood, taking a drink.
"I am just kin to one. A dead one at that"
She drinks again, silent for a few seconds, before taking your claw in her hand.
"My name is Abatheer, I hail from a small town south of here"
She wavers slightly when expressing her origin.
"And where are you from from?"
She then turns to your bat curiously, raising a hand as if to pet him.
"May I?"

[Orran]

[Sense motive: Was she involved in her demon relatives death? Did she like them?]
"Apologies, planar entities aren't my specialty. I come from the deserts on the Broken Isles, we never interacted with much but ourselves." Kane trots forward and squeaks. "He doesn't seem to mind, careful though, he's a bit of an attention fiend. Might not leave you alone." As if answering, Kane starts nuzzling into her outstretched hand.

"So what do you do in the big city miss, chasing dreams?"

[Kredine]

You can tell that her past involving said relative weighs heavily on her. You get the impression she was involved somehow in its demise.
Ashara becomes quite distracted by Kane, interested in the seemingly affectionate creature.
"No, she says," clearly not focusing on the conversation any longer. "Not a dream. A promise"
She then snaps back, realizing what she has said.
"I mean, I'm here to meet a contact, nothing special."
Clearly uncomfortable with her slip of the tongue, she sits upright and finishes her drink.
"Its late, I must be getting to bed now. Pleasure to meet you Strixi"
She stands and heads up the stairs in a hurry.

[Orran]

You know, I'm a specialist in meeting contacts, you could make a worse friend. Everything is an opportunity. He projects to her, then sits back to see if she waits.

"Rushed Diplomacy" - (1d20+6)[17]

[Orran]

Kane attempts to look disappointed. It's difficult, he's a bat.
"Aid another DC 10" - (1d20+3)[4]
Success makes Strixi's diplomacy 19.

[Kredine]

She stops, but just for a moment, barely turning her head. She seems to be considering your statement. She does not turn around however, continuing up the stairs.

[Orran]

"Yes Kane, I'm sure you'll get to see her again." Strixi says to the bat, who has started looking around the room, perhaps bored again. Then he takes a look around the room, shrugging at Ashala, striking out that quickly was almost embarrassing. Hopping down, he heads over to the goblins playing dice.
"Evening fellas, what's the game?" While they answer, he takes a look at their drink levels.

[Kredine]

"Karcha"
Grunts a pale yellow goblin, taking a swig from his nearly empty drink.
"You wouldn't know it"
Adds another yellow skin, though not so pale, his drink also nearing empty.
"Goblins only"
Adds the third, deep orange skinned goblin, holding a drink about half full.

[Orran]

"You're damn right I don't know it, I care less for dice than I do wizards. I'm just a traveler wondering what there is to do in this city, apart from getting stick from a bunch of self-righteous humans. You guys must know all the characters around here, right?" Strixi punctuates his question by downing the majority of his drink, and putting it down heavily.

Kane is eyeing up the dice.

[Kredine]

"If you didn't care why'd you ask?"
The pale yellow takes his turn at the ask.
"We know plenty sure. What's that gotta do with a nosey 2ft of scales?"

[Orran]

"Well I asked because it's polite, just like it's polite to make yourself known to the important players when you arrive in a new town." Strixi is rapidly losing patience, there's just something about goblins that irks him. Probably that they don't know what's good for them, and he's not a fan of having to show people these things. "It's going to be a busy few days around here for me, so getting up to speed would make it easier." He looks both of the speakers in the eye as they speak and then responds slowly and carefully, not risking any miscommunication being the cause of more disagreement.

[Kredine]

"Important? You think there's anyone important in the pits? The only important one here is Ashara, and that's only in the pits."
From the corner of your eye you see Ashara looking at you laughing, as though she knows something you don't.
The orange goblin chimes in.
"Why would we want to make your life easier? You don't even know you. Could be here to steal our die for all we know."

[Orran]

Directly to the yellow goblin, Strixi says "You know, it's that kind of attitude that keeps those like you where you are. At least your buddy here has the sense to think about what's good for him." Then he turns to the orange skin.
"You don't have to care about me, but I'm about to go see Ashala for a refill, maybe a round. I could be coming back to this table, or another, depends. Tell me, Ashala mentioned that drinks and rooms weren't everything they did here, what was she talking about?" Then he finishes his drink and pauses.

[Kredine]

"More drinks, now that's the kinda talking we like to here."
The other two laugh.
"Now I can't be telling you about things like that per say, but once I've had my thirst quenched I might be able to tell you about our 'situation'"

[Orran]

"You know, I should have known the way to get a goblin to talk was with alcohol, but hey, can't blame a guy for wanting to keep his coin to himself." Strixi laughs, "Ok, let's not go for the big secrets right away then, start with you guys, what makes goblins want to live in the big human city?"

Has anyone brought drinks to a table, or are customers expected to go to the bar?

[Kredine]

She does not bring them to you, but Ashara has caught onto your conversation and has poured out four drinks.

"Want? I think you've missed a few things things here. That oath Ash was talking to you about, almost everyone in the pit is under that thing. That oath is the reason the pits exist. There are very few non-humans that 'want' to come to Osmath, Strix was it?, very few. You're a rare breed if you've come here your own accord."

[Orran]

Strixi eyes Ash quickly, signalling he'll be right there "But there's hundreds of you, thousands maybe! No wonder the humans are living like royalty and parading around with enough weaponry to arm a marilith." He stands up to grab them.

At the bar, Strixi is counting out coins. "There's nothing quite like a fresh city to make a nomad feel stupid Ashala. You know, I've got to give them their credit, these humans sure know a thing or two about oppression." He waits to see if she has much more to add, then returns with the drinks.

"Yeah, I'm a strange breed. First thing, I've got ambition, you'll never meet another Kobold like me, but I'm fair. Gotta keep the peace if you want to get anything done." He takes a swig of his drink, apparently starting to settle in a little. "So just how strict is this Sharlang thing, first sign of impudence and off you pop, or does it have to be direct?"

[Kredine]

"You keep saying that like the rulers want them here." Replies Ashara as she walks away to her lockbox.

"You're not the first Kobold with ambition, I assure ya. Its the most famous ambitious Kobold that's making things as bad for us as it is. It'll be even worse for you. Things weren't that bad before Kredine's lot started their desperate campaign for approval. As far as the Oath goes, its not so sudden. There are rules defined when we accept it. Where we can live, where we can go, what our jobs will be. That kind of thing. If we deviate too far, we are warned. A dull headache at first. Most stop at that point. Some don't. Some think that they'll be the one to survive it. Fools. If you continue to break the Oath, then the bad times start."
The first yellow goblin shudders, though the pale one sits silent, distant.
"Its not just a dull pain after that. Its like, well, its been described as"

"Torture"
His silence breaks.
"Its only ten seconds. But it feels like months. Months of blistering pain."
He finishes his drink in one.
"No one ever dies of the Oath."

[Orran]

"Well they might not realize they do, but someone has to do the dirty jobs right?"

"Perhaps, but then I don't think anyone here's met him either, and if my ambition should be compared to anyone, the one that ascended seems flattering, if a bit extreme." It's obvious that Strixi realizes the goblin wasn't actually comparing him to a deity, nobody would be that arrogant, would they? When the talk progresses to the oath and the pale one speaks, Strixi seems to be paying a lot more attention, "Well I think that's all I need to know about it then really, let me tell you a few things about my culture."
Strixi proceeds to tell an amusing tale of how his half-dragon great grandfather, back when he still was in charge of the clan, tried to retrieve some powerful magic item from a buried desert tomb. It involves an androsphinx, several less than helpful lizardmen, and a type of fortune telling device the lead Kobold priest called 'the headdress of uncertainty.'
"and then the priest says "no, you're thinking of a phylactery of faithfulness, no wonder they were so angry!" man that guy was lucky bloodlines were so important."

"Bluff, for creative embellishment and theatrical retelling" - (1d20+12)[31]

[Kredine]

As you return to the goblins she laughs.
"You know nothing little kobold"

-----------------------------------------

At first the goblins seem disinterested, but soon they are listening intently to your story. After you finish the orange goblin turns to the bar.
"What's the time Ash"
"Coming up to that time, ten minutes left"
The not so pale goblin's face drops.
"Already?"
"We haven't much time left, but you have been an amusement tonight, is there anything else you would like to know?"
[Time ~920]

[Orran]

This whole place just gets more curious every minute, Strixi may yet come to like it, much less boring than home at least. "I think I've learnt enough for one night, but that tiefling girl left me wondering, any of you know her story? He figures he'll find out sooner or later, but wants to see what all this fuss is about, idly wondering if he should be prepared.

[Kredine]

"The horned one? She arrived a few hours before you did. We don't often talk to new folk. They usually come talk to us."
All three goblins are drinking faster, now aware of their time limit.
"She came in with quite a lot of gear though, a bow, a large backpack, all sorts of stuff hanging off of it. Seemed to be wearing some armour under her clothes. Seems to me she'd been on the road some time. If that is all, we'd best be off."
He finishes his drink.
"I have a feeling I'll be seeing you tomorrow"

[Orran]

"Yeah sure thing guys, I'm sure I can survive a day in the city, my plans aren't that dangerous." The kobold takes a look around, seeing if that time limit affected evryone or just the goblins. Regardless, he heads back upto the bar to sit with Ashala again. "Alright, so you're the most interesting then, but you're going to have to tell me where they scuttled off to, I hate living in suspense.

[Kredine]

Most of the room seems to be getting ready to leave. Only the Orc remains, drinking alone.
"The farmers. They've gone home. They start work at dawn, so I cut them off at half nine. I don't want any of them blaming me for their Oath warnings triggering."
She pours herself a drink
"They get off work early afternoon though. Lessers do the early morning work, the common folk work start a bit later, around nine."

[Orran]

"Well that's a dull answer, but I guess the pits aren't all that exciting. Listen, I'm only going to be around a few weeks, but I need to do a lot of research. I can handle the big stuff, but until I get some official papers, it's just going to be reading through a whole bunch of history books. Strixi doesn't say that like he actually considers it boring, just that most people would. "Do you know anyone sharp enough for that kind of thing that wants to earn a little coin?"

Kane is angling towards the door, ready to go hunting for the night.

[Kredine]

She looks slightly taken aback.
"You want to hire someone to help you read?"
Her orange eyes look at you for a few moments.
"You can find plenty of common folk looking for work in the common grounds, especially the younger folk who aint started working on the farms yet. You'll have to find one willing to help a kobold though."
Ashara pours a drink just as the orc approaches the bar.
"Thank you kindly" says the orc in a refined voice, handing over some coin with a slight nod.
Ashara turns back to you.
"Have you not got any papers of passing then?"