Leaving the rest of the group, the two cousins went to the table of the acrobats they had encountered earlier.

When Blythe saw them, she smiled a smile that lit up her face. And Julian asked what they had missed.

"Not much," Blythe said. "And the drinks are on us."

[Private to Gabriel Uth Argus: You can level up now.]
[Private to Julian Uth Argus: You can level up now.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:33, Tue 18 Dec 2007.

Gabriel took a seat across from the entertainers. He took a drink but sipped slowly to keep his mind clear. After a few drinks he leaned in across the table before Julian became amorous. "I was wondering if maybe you could give us a little information. I assume you see many things traveling the city." Gabriel was speaking quietly but loud enough for the table to hear "Do you know anything about the elves in Pashin? We are searching for a woman that is at odds with the Knights of Takhisis." Gabriel hoped his line of questioning would prove more fruitful than Marcus' had been with Dove.

Julian is mildly disappointed with Gabriel's forward attitude; then again, his cousin was probably going to go to bed and cradle his sword all night.  He chuckled and dismissed himself from the business-like proceedings, instead focusing on having a good time.

"The drinks are on you?  My favorite kind of drinking companions!  Did you hit a spot of luck, or are you just filled to the brim with the cream of goodness?"

Now, tramping through the snow to kill a man and his friends and steal something from their freezing corpses was all good and fun when it helped to save the world in some abstract and yet-to-be-determined fashion, but having drinks with happy people in warm places was a solid competitor on Julian's to-do list and at the moment it was winning.  The man was friendly, jovial, and smiling broadly, clearly enjoying himself.

"The knights have shown them to us as well," Blythe said. "But as far as I know the elves have all left town. As you can imagine they didn't get along with the knights at all."

"We didn't get a spot of luck," Blytne said. "But you came to our rescue, so the least thing we can do is to buy the two of you a drink. But perhaps we can only buy you the one drink," she finished with a lovely smile and moved a little closer to Julian.

Julian put his arm around Blythe, grinning.

"Nah, you should probably buy two.  I'll take it if Gabriel doesn't - its an unfortunate man that's too busy to accept the warm hospitality of new friends."

He took a strong pull on the drink offered and felt his ego and confidence swelling.  An objective observer aware of such a development might wonder how such a miracle could occur, Julian's ego and confidence being what they were.  Satisfied, he started being his entertaining self - asking them about where they'd been, swapping stories and jokes and generally having a good time.

As a good sport, he even includes Gabriel in on it.

[Private to GM:

Just hand-waving it a bit here; he's going to try and sleep with Blythe that night.

11:39, Today: Julian Uth Argus rolled 35 using 1d20+24. Persuasion.
 - using it here as Diplomacy, to make friends and be a generally fun guy to hang around
- machanically speaking, a 35 is good enough to make even the Indifferent into Helpful; not sure how far that'd go in ingratiating myself to Blythe though]

Gabriel sighed, he had expected a little more from the acrobats. He thanked them for the drinks they offered and then stood nodding once to Julian before looking for Gina.

Blythe smiled as Julian put his arm around her and she got comfortable there. And she too to a swig of her ale.

"We'll see," she said. "As you saw today, business haven't been that great lately."

Looking for Gina, Gabriel quickly noted that she was seated with the others at the original table.

"What, bad business?  Well, that's a failure of luck, not skill, I'm sure.  Have you made the proper offerings to the gods?  It never hurts."

He thinks for a second about the local Knighthood and their particular religious affiliations.

"Well, okay - it almost never hurts.  I'll get the next round and we'll offer up a short prayer to Chislev's bountiful and mystical fermentations with our reverent drinking.  Then some more joking to placate Branchala - laughter is music for his divine ears.  And I'm sure that there's some way to tie a god to eating snacks and as soon as I figure it out I'll let you know."

He leaned in a little to Blythe.

"And maybe just a little bit of pious cavorting in the name of Sirrion."

"That sounds like a good idea," Blythe said without saying exactly which of his suggestions she agreed with after Gabriel had left the table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:12, Sat 22 Dec 2007.

Julian continued to enjoy himself with his new friends.  He kept an eye on his purse - no point becoming broke due to the actions of others when you'd do it just as likely yourself - and angled to get Blythe into bed that night.

He didn't want to get drunk and didn't want to spend all his money, either, but sometimes you just don't get what you want.

At the table Blythe was just as friendly as Julian had hoped she would be, though he noted that the others were leaving.

"Pardon me, miss.  I think my friends and family are leaving, and to my knowledge we really didn't talk about where they were staying the night.  I'll be right back."

Julian excused himself, made short conversation with Gabriel and company, and then returned.

Blythe giggled. "Don't be too long," she said.

And when she returned, she smiled.

With the arrangements made, Julian happily noted that he was alone with Blythe and didn't hesitate to mirror her companions in leaving for happier places.

Similarly, he wasn't intending on going alone.

"So, Blythe - it seems we're finally alone.  Let's move on to a warmer place to keep it that way, yes?  I'll regale you with entertaining historical anecdotes and we'll pass the night in pious reflection."  He winked and smiled at her mischievously, taking her hand.

He wandered with her over to the innkeeper to ask for a room.

Blythe returned his smile and followed him to the innkeeper.

"Five silver pieces for the both of you," the half ogre Blackbird told them.

Julian graciously paid the tab for the both of them.  After all, it only seemed proper considering that he'd help kill a man just earlier that day that he should do his full part to amend the cosmic balance.

Blackbird took the money and showed them to the room.

[OOC: We can continue this thread for as long as you like. When you're ready, we'll fade to black for the night.]

Fade to black is fine by me.  Although Julian might end up hearing shouts from the alley, depending on how close by that fight is.

[It's further away than that.]