Anneth Mage-singer watches the spectacle that is the Elf and the two buffoons.  'That can't end well... I'd like to help him, but I'm sure he'd understand.' she thinks to herself, clicking her tongue and shaking her head.  She continues on her way, until she hears a rapier being drawn, and sees a Dwarf intervene.  'Well, now the scales are a little more even.  And it would be a shame for two bounders like them to pound somebody who would outlive their great-great grandchildren into the ground like a post... Might as well see if I can get them to back off.  There could be benefit in it, in the long run...'

Anneth comes up to the scene.  She calls out to Rodrigo in the Elven tongue,

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
"Follow my lead!"

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Holding up a finger animatedly, she continues in the Common tongue, "Yes, I, ahh..." 'Hmm, what to say.  Well, these two seem to need to share a brain...shouldn't be too hard to get them to back down.' She cleared her throat as she thought of something convincing to say.  "I read his fortune, earlier, and he appears to have mis-interpreted it." The dabbler-in-arts put a hand on the Elf's sword-shoulder...hopefully before it fell twitching on the ground.  "I said you'd meet a tall, handsome stranger, not beat two tall, handsome strangers!" She choked back revulsion and winked at the two men.

"Follow my lead!" was in Elven; it was put in the Spoiler tags for the benefit of others whose characters speak the language.

As the two thugs advanced on Rodrigo, he glances around for the city guard, but, of course, there are none to be seen.

Then the Dwarf steps in, and tries to dissuade the two thugs. For a moment, the red-haired one smiles amusedly but then seems to realize he's facing a Dwarf. This confuses him, as Elves and Dwarves have never been known to get along. He looks at his buddy as if wanting reassurance. His buddy just shrugs, clearly as confused now as Red.

Then someone else intervenes. That someone appears to be an attractive female, and she starts talking to them.

"Huh?" Red says.

"Wha'd she say?" his buddy adds.

"We was just joshin' 'im," Red tries to explain.

"Yeah," agrees his buddy. "We weren't meanin' no harm."

"Yep. He was just dressed too fancy for this part o' town. Thought we oughta warn him afore somethin' happened to him."

"We was akchooly gonna buys him a drink, wasn't we, Buzz?"

"Um, sure," Buzz replies, clearly none too happy with his buddy's sudden generosity. "But since your friends joined ya, we'll just letcha go on about your bus'ness."

"Yeah, sure! Maybe some udder time!"

Red then turns and starts dragging his buddy away.

"I didn't know 'sinus fluid and blood' was the name of a drink around here..." Anneth says under her breath when the men leave.  Her hand slips off of the elf's shoulder.

"Perhaps they were too absent-minded to be affected by your spellcraft?" Her tone of voice is friendlier, now.

Rodrigo is furious at the lack of constables in the marketplace, but surprised and pleased at the sudden, unlooked-for assistance from of all people, the dwarf, and a young girl! He is amazed at the transformation that comes over the two ruffians, as well. Could the girl be an Arcaner? He stands his ground, rapier still in hand, as the two humans turn and walk away. Taking a deep breath, he sheaths his weapon and turns to his rescuers.

“Well, I really must thank you both!” He carefully attempts to kiss the girl's hand (OOC unless she obviously pulls away, in which case he recovers gracefully), and bows to the dwarf. “I am Rodrigo de Çamora, of Belcadiz,” he says proudly. To the dwarf, “And I apologize for not giving my real name earlier. I really meant no harm. But,” and here he seems quite puzzled, “Perhaps I don't have that spell worked out yet! Those two ruffians should've fallen asleep immediately! Unless they are very experienced fighters...” And he shakes his head in disbelief. “It seems more likely that they have some sort of anti-magic device, which I would dearly love to obtain!”

The elf looks after the men again, in front of the cafe. “In any case, I had been hoping to sit down for a drink; perhaps you two would do me the honor of joining me?”

Anneth politely pulls her hand away.  Well, if a soft jerking motion backwards would be considered polite...  It's the thought that counts, 'Nettie.

"Who knows?" Anti-magic?  On those two oafs?  Well, stranger things have happened!

"I don't see the harm in that, and drinks are a great way to collect information," Comes Anneth's reply to the Elf's offer.  'Wait, did he, an Elf, just offer a Dwarf a drink?  This is a strange thing to happen right in front of me!'

Seeing the thugs backing off, Gierdon turns the the young lady and the elf. "Yer lucky we got here when we did," he said to Rodrigo as he motions to the human. "Just like a couple bullies they were. Ready to attack only when they have the advantage; running away with their tails when stood up to."

At the suggestion of a drink, Gierdon paused to consider the offer before responding, "I suppose I could forgive you for earlier over a drink. My name's Gierdon. Gierdon Warbeard."

"Excellent! Please, this way," and Rodrigo leads the two to a little Belcadizan Tavern he's familiar with, ordering red wine with fruit in it, and a tray of little appetizers to share. "I'd love to introduce you to the food and drink of my culture, but if you prefer, please order something more to your taste."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

Gierdon sat down, looking over the veritible food and drink Rodrigo ordered. He picked up a glass of the wine and tentatively sampled it. He had wine in the past but it held more of a kick than any flavor such as this one had. He puckered his lips and set the glass down. "It tastes good but is much too sweet for me." He takes a cursory glace around then remembers the taste of the Beastie Beer he had at the stand. "Do the have any dwarven ale here?"

Rodrigo nods. "I'm certain they have some sort of ale. Or we could get small glasses of the hard spirit of Boldavia..?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

Anneth samples her own glass of the wine.  Then, she hears mention of spirits... "I'll take the spirits."

She sets her glass down.  "So, what brings you two to this neck of the woods?  My name is Anneth, by the way.  Anneth Mage-Singer."

“Enchanté,” Rodrigo replied, signaling to the waitstaff for the drinks. “I attend the Great School, and my family is attached to the Princessa. Master Gierdon, I believe you mentioned that you had been sent here?”

"Yes. I was summoned to the city to help with some masonry. Though it seems the city has requested the help of more than they could handle so I haven't much work to do, presently. That's why you found me in the market when you tried your failed con," Gierdon replied, his eyes shot towards Rodrigo with slight suspicion at the last statement.

Rodrigo sighs, and drinks his wine. "There was no con, friend. A bit of a tease, perhaps, but that was all. Most activities here require licenses, although buying a drink does not. And I wanted to try my spell of somnambulance. I had no plan to cast it on you in the marketplace where you might be subject to thieves. You see, I was taught that dwarves are able to shrug off the effects of magic, and I wanted to test that for myself. Again, there would've been no harm done. I was trying to give you an incentive to agree to that. And in point of fact, if you do end up requiring a license for anything, you most likely will require the sponsorship of someone such as myself. And I would be glad to do so, since you have turned out to be a good friend."

He pushes the tray across the table where his new friends can reach it, as the waitress brings the Boldavian spirits. "Now, do try these tapas."

Anneth thanks the server, and nips at one or two of the tapas that the elf recommended.  She grunts in satisfaction.  "Not bad!"

"Would the telling of fortunes require a license?  Outside of my dabbling in the arcane and divine, I fancy myself a dabbler in fortune-telling and hope to dabble in its finding, sooner or later." Under her breath and drink, she says, "The two are not mutually exclusive."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:07, Sat 25 Jan 2014.

Smiling at the young girl's apprecation of his cuisine, the elf replies, "In point of fact, I'm sure you would require a license for that. It is a means of making an income, and therefore would need to be accounted for and taxed. Since we are now such good friends -- if I am not being too bold? I would be happy to sponsor your application."

Passing the small glasses of clear liquor around, Rodrigo raises his and proposes, "To making an income!" and then drinks.

Anneth nods.  "To my cards!" She, well, slams her beverage.  "It goes without saying that I would require some assistance in possibly becoming licensed, here, depending on the market for my profession.  Your odd hamlets and little villages need only a smile and a promise," Another drink, with "and there are many willing to shell out good coin for 'insights'..." hidden beneath her sip. "But this place is a touch larger than one of those."

Gierdon, taking the offered spirit, raises his glass. "To new acquaintances!" He exclaimed and drank it in one gulp. He began to relax a little after his indulgence of the various drinks today.

He turned to Anneth, "I'm from one of them odd hamlets 'n' much prefer t'live there over a larger city like this. They seem to be much quieter and yer less likely to get into trouble with some ill-tempered goons."

Rodrigo chuckles at the dwarf's comment. “Those goons, yes. Quite frankly, I was surprised that they didn't show deference to me. And they shrugged off my spell. I can't imagine they were great warriors, veterans of some sort, or why would they be simple hired muscle at a tavern? So the only other answer is that they had some sort of anti-magic effect. Perhaps it was something cast on the premises by a powerful wizard, for a secret meeting. But if they had an anti-magic item, then I'd like to acquire it!”

The elf shakes his head, bemused, and downs the rest of his Boldavian drink. “So, do either of you have any plans?”

"I've got none. Th' city has more than enough help so they're just payin' me t' roam th' streets." Gierdon shook his head, "If they don't get me t' work soon, I'm likely to just head back'ta home. There's no sense in payin' me if I ain't doin' nothin'."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:22, Mon 27 Jan 2014.

Gierdon and others were hired to repair the damage the city had sustained many years ago, but, as usual with large bureaucracies, the left hand doesn't always know what the right hand is doing.

So while there was an anticipated need for so many Dwarves for construction, the permits and funding and red tape were still being 'processed'. It could take as much as a year, perhaps longer, before Gierdon was actually assigned to a project.

On the other hand, a couple of other Dwarves that Gierdon had met had seen a building that needed repaired, and just went over to it and started working on it. After all, they were getting paid to do that... just maybe not that particularly building.

Anneth blinks at the dwarf's mention that he is from a hamlet.  Such manners the fortune teller exhibited!  'What to do, what to do, what to do...'

"And I've noticed that people odd hamlets and villages tend to be more willing to help one another, with less expectations...and, as said before, less of this 'know nobody, no business', 'no coins, no business' nonsense." The liquid inside of the drink vanishes.  Oh, boy.  "I also have no plans to speak of.  My trade is as much a means of making income as it is of funding my researches in spellcraft."

"Well," says Rodrigo, "If you've nothing to do, I'm still wondering about those ruffians. Either they're more powerful than any street thugs should be, or they have a powerful magic item, and/or there's something big going down at that tavern. Bigger than the hot drinks they serve that I was craving when I headed that way."

The elf looks speculatively at his two companions. "Would you be interested in getting a closer look at whatever's going on in there?" he asks.

"I see no problem with looking into this," Gierdon replied. "B'sides, those two who were blocking your way shouldn't be allowed to stop people from entering a public place."

"Unless there's a license required, I don't see why not!" Anneth quips after finishing a few more of the tapas.

"Great!" smiles Rodrigo. "Let's finish up and go scout the place. If we can't find an easy way to either spy on what's going on, or get inside, we can check the surrounding buildings for access."

Rodrigo makes a brave effort at finishing his wine, ready to leave when his companions are.