Liya walks over to the bartender and smiles at him. “No, I’m not lost. Just passing through and thought I’d stop for a drink and a little fun.”

She turned to the men and laughed warmly. “What are we playing, gentlemen?”

He fills a glass with an amber colored beer smelling drink and passes it to her.
"First ones on the house beautiful, you watch yerself though dangerous parts."

Striding over to the men the one on the floor gets up. Looking none to pleased at his friend?
The other one smiles showing a few teeth missing on an otherwise handsome youthful face.
"Poker, you know how to play ?"

She thanks the bartender and takes her drink to the table and sits down.  “Poker? I’ve seen it played before, but never played it. Can you teach me?” She smiles at the men.

"Name's Tom, what's yours ?" He looks Liya up and down like a piece of select meat.

"Sure we can teachcha' can't we boys?" He looks at them almost daring them to say no.
The other guy grabs another chair pulling it over.

"I'm Liam." says the one who had been knocked down.

The others go around introducing themselves and eventually the cards are delt.

Liam gives her honest advice on poker he sits the game out since he is helping.
The others are a bit more opportunistic with a new player.

“Liya. But you can call me Lee.”

She listens carefully to Liam’s instructions, having fun with the group of men.

Liya plays a couple hours and due to Liam balancing out some outright cheating perhaps to get back for getting punched out of his chair. Liya does a bit more then break even and takes in some winnings at the end of it.

She also realizes that one of the pitfalls that Howard mentioned, about having the right currency in the right places is something one needs to come to terms with when traveling the many worlds. Is almost something that might have cost her some bodily harm here as a lot of the men look rough and ready to collect one way or another.

At the end of it though she pulls ahead and has a handful of colorful bills with pictures of people she has never seen before printed on them with numbers. From what she gathers she has enough to get buy on poor conditions for a few days or to cover a nice night somewhere.

Being a good sport, Liya offers to buy a round of drinks for the men at the table after their game, and walks back to the bartender.  “Can you tell me where I can get a room for the night?”

"Got a spare room here, or there are some hotels if your looking for full service places." He gives you the run down on some places and Liya gets the general idea of their level of snootery. (How rich you need to be to stay there) He also brings drinks around to the table which does seem to mollify the men some in their loosing.

Soon she is outside and knows which place she will go too.

Liya thanks the friendly bartender and heads back out into the street. Following the directions he gave her, she heads to the Brass Swan.

You go into an adjacent world finding a dead body, whom you rifle through and find some funds on, before returning to this one. Soon you find yourself before the Brass Swan.


"Hello love, welcome to the Brass Swan, we have nice warm rooms, hot and cold water, morning and evening service for meals and check out is at noon. Will it be just one?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:09, Sun 05 Feb 2023.

Liya nods with a warm smile. "Yes, just one. Thank you."

He turns and gets a key for you and hands it over. It has a number on it.

"Here you go Miss? The room number is on the key ring. If you need anything let me know, I should be down here at the counter." He tips his hat with a smile to her.

"Miss Garnath." She takes her room key and pays for two nights, "Thank you, sir. What is the evening meal tonight?"

"Honey ham, with garlic baked potatoes. Quite good Miss Garnath, I think you will like it. There is an optional stew though with fresh baked bread for those who prefer that. I am Thomas by the way."

He nods off to one of the large rooms down here.
"That is the dining hall, shall I have a bell ring you when dinner is ready ?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:37, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

Liya smiled, "That sounds wonderful," she replied looking towards the dining hall. "Yes, please have a bell ring me for dinner. If its not too much trouble, could I have some tea with dinner as well?"

She thanks Thomas again and goes to her room until dinner. She sets her pistol and fencing foil on her bed with her small traveling bag and washes up before dinner.

"Tea, of course Miss." Thomas says with a smile, "We have a variety of teas, you can pick when you come down. The stairs to the rooms are right there."


Soon Liya is relaxing in a bath of heated water in a relatively advanced in a steam punk technological sense bathtub. She noted the bell by the door most likely the one that will ring when dinner is ready. As she is relaxing, she sees the emerald ring she has on.

Outside she hears through the frosted small window of her bathroom the sounds of the city going on outside. A fairly bustling prosperous place after she had gotten away from the squalor. Some bath oils sit in odd shaped bottles on a small shelf by the faucet.

It feels very relaxing.

Liya poured some of the oil into the bath, the floral aromas filling her nostrils. She looks at her ring, spinning it with her thumb and sighs as she relaxes in the bath. Her eyes close as the outside world begins to come alive for the night.

She lays there soaking in the warm water finding her mind drifting off, soon she falls asleep.

She is walking along a crevasse and a foul-smelling gas rises up from it in small whisps. It is evening and the sun hangs low in the distance. As she walks rumbles come from the crevasse and small rocks near the edge tumble into it.

The slithering scaled necks of the Hydra can be seen within the crevasse. The same head she remembered that came down at her mouth open rises out of the crack in the ground. It side eyes her watching her it turns in her direction then she hears ringing.

Ringing...ringing... she wakes up.

Liya stops at the edge of the crevasse as she regards the familiar hydra head for a moment before the ringing of the dinner bell wakes her. She dries off and gets dressed, grabbing a small pad of paper and a pencil on her way out the door. She could smell dinner from down the hall and smiled to herself.

Dinner smells good and the smell of the fresh bread is also tempting.

The dining hall has nice seats with stuffed leather chairs. The tables are a rich dark wood that has a reddish hue that she can't place. Perhaps a local variety. Soon a servant asks her choice of meal once again stating the choice of ham and potato or Stew and fresh bread.

The dining hall has several other patrons down here eating and enjoying the evening and small murmurs of conversation could be heard as people spoke between bites of food.

A pot of steaming water is brought to the table and a tea cup. Along with several different packets of tea. All varieties she needs to sniff to learn a little about since the names are unfamiliar. She does find one has a pleasant aroma. Feyenland Rose Tea is on the tab.

Liya orders the ham and garlic potatoes and asks for a side of stew as well.  She steeps the rose tea while she waits for her food, taking out her pad and pencil to draw.

The Hydra head from her dream peers out her from the paper, the other heads drawn as shadows in the background of the image.

The servant seems surprised but doesn't argue noting an order of stew as well.

As good at art as she is it doesn't take long for her to make a nice sketch of what she remembers from her dream.

The order of stew is brought out nice and hot with fresh baked bread and a small wooden cup of butter. The server says the ham will be out momentarily.

He notes the picture, "Oh your an artist, drawing a dragon ? I used to love tales of such things."

She thanks the young man when the stew is brought out, cutting the bread in half length wise and buttering it.

"Its a hydra actually. The other heads are shadowed, but this is the one I remember the most from my dreams. I'll probably add the others later." Liya looks to the servant "Have you heard any stories of hydras?"

"No miss, I am afraid not. I mean I have heard of the creature some noble families use it on their coat of arms, but I don't know of any stories with them. It looks like a fearsome beast. Sorry miss if I am being too familiar with a guest. I will have that ham right out."

He gives a grin and slight nod and prepares to head off to the kitchens unless you stop him.

"I dont mind at all. But I dont want to keep you from your duties if it will get you in trouble. I'd be happy to tell you one of the stories I know if you have time later. I'll be here for a couple of days."