Act 2: Upheaval II - Revelations and search

Once they have a moment to speak, Mihai relays the information about the Goodman Estate to the party (Whispers the actual name, then gives the rest of the details verbally) then goes to inquire about Davis Dreyfus at the Inn's reception.

Steve will stay in the bar area with Rafal and the others while Mihai does his thing with Davis.

"Let's find a table, shall we? Somewhere toward the back where we can chat in private."

He'll lead them to a private alcove, wait for them to be seated with himself between Rafal and the edge away from the wall, then unlock his manacles.

The receptionist in the inn area is the same one he spoke to yesterday; a woman in her forties who styled her hair into an elegant bun. She looks up at Mihai and smiles to him. "Oh, it's you again," she says. "How can I help you?"
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Amber sits next to Steve and as far away from Rafal as possible. The thug may have been an obedient prisoner so far, which makes her even more suspicious of him. Fluffle has decided to make himself discreet and hide into Amber's hood, while Florolf is sitting next to her.

As soon as Konrad unlocks the manacles, Rafal throws his hand in the air and shouts at the nearest waitress, "Six tankard of beer please! My good friends here are feeling generous with their wallets!"

He wraps his arm around Konrad's shoulder as he says this. His smile is beaming with playfulness. "Coming right up!" the waitress replies.

"Looking for a guest you had earlier. Boy with two bodyguards."

"And make 'em good and cold, dear, cuz we're good and parched!"

When the waitress has left, he turns to Rafal. "Dig deeper into your minders' purses, and you'll soon find less hospitality in our company. You're in good spirits, despite that we haven't promised to let you go. Why so cheery, pal?"

Deception 19
Is he answering untruthfully?

"Oh. This is regarding your... investigation?" she asks in the same language Mihai is using. "Wait, it's better if you don't tell me. Um... well, I don't know where he is at the moment. I think he left the inn earlier this morning."
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"You and everyone here," the waitress answers with a smile.

Rafal joins his hands together and waits patiently for his drink. When Konrad talks to him, he listens attentively and says without missing a beat, "Because whether you want it or not, I'll be walking out of that door a free man."

With a grin on his face, he points to the entrance. Amber can't help but wince at Rafal's cheerfulness.

Konrad:

"Oh... thanks."

He goes back to the table.

"Kid's not here. We're probably better off just dumping him back in the grey till we take care of business."

Perhaps Konrad could find him later with Scan, but he doesn't give that away, and just nods. "Let's cut to the quick. You know why we're agitated. Tell us what you told our friend."

Amber scoots over, letting Mihai sits down next to her if he wishes to. Rafal frowns at the mention of the Shroud, but he relaxes once he sees that Florolf is lying down on the seat. When Konrad asks him about what he told Mihai, he sighs and repeats what he knows about the Goodman estate.

When he finishes his explanation, the waitress comes back to the table with the six tankards. "Here you go," she says while placing the drinks in front of each party members. "That'll be 3 silvers."

She's a little confused to who she should give the sixth tankard, so she places in front of the carbuncle. Amber is hesitant what to do with the beer she's just been offered.

Konrad:

OOC:

Sour, Konrad digs out 3 silvers and drops them into the waitress' hand. "Thank you, miss! We'll flag you down if we need anything else."

He lifts his own tankard and takes a hearty quaff from it. When she goes, he pushes the sixth tankard to Rafal. "I see. Naturally, you know this means we'll be going after this... 'Goodman'. Your loyalty is to the coin he pays you as part of your deal, yes?"

The black mage ignores the booze and waits to see what Rafal will say.

Mihai sits next to Amber - "Do you actually even like that?" - he asks, referring to the beer in front of her.

"I don't know yet," Amber replies. She examines the foam in her mug with a curious expression until she finally decides to take a sip. Her reaction is instantaneous; she grimaces and puts the tankard down, clearly disgusted by the taste of the drink. It takes a few more seconds before she tries it again.

"Of course," Rafal replies. "But he's not worth the trouble you're causing, I can tell you that."

OOC:

"We shouldn't actually be drinking right now, all things considered."

Mihai doesn't touch his beer, and keeps an eye out for anyone trying to eavesdrop.

Suddenly, at Mihai's words, Konrad looks down at his drink. He's already taken one good quaff from it. He's not taking another.

"Good, so you won't have a problem when Goodman, however this goes from here, cuts you off. You don't warn Goodman, you don't warn the other lads involved in his deal, and you and your lads can go back to selling dragon rides to junk fiends. Oh, no one else will have a problem, will they?"

Deception 25
vs his answer

"Guys, I don't know what he's playing at but he's keeping us talking. We should go as soon as possible." Steve says in Lofellian.

Amber nods at her brother and immediately lets go of her tankard before refocusing her attention on the conversation at hand; which doesn't help much since she doesn't understand the language. Rafal is quick to reassure Konrad.

"Oh no, they won't," he says after taking a sip from his beer. "Well... I don't think they will. But I believe that if you leave us alone, they'll do the same."

Konrad:

When Steve speaks up, he raises an eyebrow at him.

OOC:

Konrad looks over to Steve. Then back to Rafal. He continues in Wytrwaly. "Very good. We thank you for your cooperation, and we go our separate ways from here. Enjoy your drinks."

He gets up to leave.

Mihai gets up - "By the way, we're being watched. If those are friends of yours, you've got nothing to worry about. If they're not, you've still got nothing to worry about. Probably. So long as you don't leave here."

"I'm glad to hear they will do that because we found you and your buddies in a few hours. I can't stress enough how ridiculously easy it was for us. And on top of that no one died and we got exactly what we wanted and we won't tell anyone about any of it. Not a peep. However, if you and your friends make any trouble for us or our friends in the future we'll find you again. And we won't be kind next time. This is the truth and a promise. Have a good day Rafal. I hope we never have reason to meet again." Steve gets up, tips his hat and leaves with the rest.

Rafal doesn't bother to answer for some reason. He simply drinks from his tankard and stares at them. And then, the adventurers hear the scraping of a chair being dragged on the floor.

A man donning a fashionable coat over a very-well crafted leather armor is now standing right next to them with a chair in his left hand. He places it at the end of the table and sits down on it. With a casual wave of the hand, he gestures to the party to sit down. This is when the adventurers notice the four armed men who have joined the other patrons in the tavern; two of them are sitting at a table near their alcove, while the other two are standing at the bar; they're all making their presence known to the adventurers by staring directly at them. It's unlikely they will let the party go unless they're ordered to.

The man with slick hair extends his hand towards the sixth tankard and wraps his fingers around the handle. He takes the time to smell the flagrant aroma of the beer before taking a sip. He then puts it back on the table, looks at the party members and says nonchalantly, "I can afford to burn this building down if need be. What about you?"

The man in question:

Mildly annoyed at being stalled, Mihai stares coldly at the... Chair Man - "We're just passing through. If you'd like to upset that, i guess we can afford to reduce your boy over there to ash."

Konrad holds the edge of his side of the table, waiting for someone to cut the fuse or for the fuse to blow.

Ready Action
When a thug attacks with a lethal weapon, and not with nonlethal damage: Dual Cast Fire 5 (Intensified) on that thug, and Curse 5 (AP-optional) on Mikolaj regardless of whether he was the hostile actor.

"Oh good, I get to threaten you myself. I honestly didn't trust Rafal here to not fuck it up." Steve actually does look pleased by this. "We are going to leave now and go back to our own business. You and your trash goons are going to fuck off back under your rock and pretend you never met us. Since no one is dead, yet, you'll accept this and we'll be happy to do the same." Steve looks quite pleased with himself, like he does when he's taking the piss from Zelk. It's an expression meant to maximize the annoyance of the person he is giving it to.