Newfound Neighbors

by FrostTheWolf


07- All Fun and Games (Part 2)

So, to begin Gizmo’s journey, I started with something straightforward. I had her character arrive in a town I named Port Lunaris and after a successful history check, Gizmo learned that the town was originally founded by followers of Selûne, the goddess of the moon when they were on pilgrimage. It was a seaside city that was home to many scholars, adventurers and sailors alike and the light of the moon shimmered over the coastline. Given her character’s background as a sage, she had a letter from a dead colleague containing a question that had not been answered and part of her backstory was to come pick up on the research that her colleague was not able to finish.

Unfortunately, her luck at the start was starting to wind down, “You arrive at a dusty old tavern with a wooden sign out front that reads ‘The Royal Flush’. Given how late it is this evening, there are not many patrons around. The only people you would notice as you walk in is a female Tabaxi with light yellow fur and a few brown spots in a four pointed diamond shape pattern behind the bar, cleaning out empty mugs with what you see as a dish towel and a red skinned Tiefling with short black hair. The tiefling is dealing a deck of cards to what look to be a human and an elf as they’re conversing among themselves. The only one unoccupied is the one at the bar. What do you do?”

“One question first,” the unicorn asked. “What’s a Tabaxi?”

“Tabaxi are anthropomorphic cat-like creatures, who have all the different traits of cats while also being bipedal. They’re known to be a rather curious bunch, but it depends on who-”

“Oh, so like the abyssinians back home!”

The… what?

“Oh, right,” Gizmo snapped her attention back to the game before I could inquire more, “Given that the Tiefling is occupied, I’ll try to talk to the Tabaxi at the bar.”

Alright, here we go. Time to voice my first NPC. “The Tabaxi would be surprised when she notices you and sets down the mug she was cleaning. ‘Well, hello there. Haven’t seen your face around these parts before. I take it you’re a newcomer to town or just passing through?’”

The former,” she replied, going into character on her part while trying to find the sweet spot between professional and uncomfortable, “I-it’s a bit of a long story. Trying to find a place that belonged to a friend of mine that r-recently passed, though the journey here has left m-me a bit weary.

“The bartender would look at you with a sympathetic glance in her eyes. ‘My condolences. Must be difficult to try and process the passing of a friend.’ Given what you just shared, the Tabaxi would assume that you would want to have something to ease your troubled mind, while also introducing herself. ‘The name’s Jack of Diamonds, though all the locals call me Jackie. Is there anything I can get for you? Maybe a drink?’”

N-no, I don’t think that would help,” she shook her head, “Just need a place to rest my head.

“Jackie would smile at that, before stating something else in addition to that. ‘If that’s the case, The Royal Flush does have lodging available. Provided that you have the gold to pay, that is. After all, not all of our funds come from the lack of success most of our guests have at the card table.’ As she said that, you would notice that the tiefling would be counting up how many coins were in the pile that he had just liberated from the two at the table. A sizable amount for sure.”

H-how much would that be?

Now was the kicker. Let’s see how Gizmo could work her way out of this. “Jackie would point to a wooden sign along the back counter that would have the word lodging carved in capital letters, along with a list of prices, ‘Since you’re by yourself, one night would be sixty gold, with five gold every other night you stay afterwards. However, unless you have a specific reason for an extended stay, you’re only allowed to stay for roughly a week. Not exactly what I would do, but I’d rather not argue with my boss.’”

For a moment, I watched as the unicorn twitched in her seat, before looking back at her character sheet as the realization set in. Despite the starting items she had for her character's background as well as her class, the one thing that she did not have a lot of was gold. If anything, the price that I had Jackie tell her was six times higher than the amount of gold that she started with. This was intentional though, because I wanted to see if she could be calm under pressure and see how she would do if she had to roll a specific check where she did not have a proficiency bonus. For her only two proficiencies were Arcana and History.

“T-that’s definitely high,” I heard her say, no longer speaking in character.

“It is,” I nodded, “So, what do you plan to do?”

“C-could I convince the bartender to make an exception? M-maybe give me a discount?”

I knew what came next. “Roll a persuasion check.”

One roll of the dice and immediately, the results were clear, “Uh oh… I got an eight.”

“Yeah, that’s… not going to cut it,” I had to inform her. At least she didn’t roll a nat one. Otherwise, that would be the worst case scenario, “Despite you telling the bartender that you can’t pay the full price and asking if there was a way to reduce it, Jackie shakes her head. ‘Yeah, that’s not how things work around here. If I gave a reduced price to you, then everyone else around town and passing through would expect the same kind of treatment. Which my boss sees as bad for business since we’re barely keeping our head above water.’ Though, after she finishes speaking, you would notice her look over to the Tiefling at the card table one more time. The two other figures at the table are gone, but in their place is a sizable amount of gold, something that made the Tabaxi grin.”

Oh dear.

“‘Tell you what… the amount of gold that Ace was able to take off the hands of those deadbeats that were just in here is more than the usual share and could make up for your stay tonight. However, in order for you to ‘pay’ for your stay, you’re going to have to do us a favor.’”

W-what kind of favor?” Gizmo asked, trying to stay in character.

“The Tabaxi would look over to the Tiefling for a moment and tilt her head, a sign for the card shark to come over and join the conversation. After a small conversation among themselves, the Tiefling introduces himself as Ace of Spades,” I told her. New character, new voice. Really hope I do well with the impression I’m going for with this, because I’m going for the ‘Twisted Fate’ impression with this. “‘Well, ah’ll be. Ya really think that she can lend us a hand, Jackie?’”

Now for Jackie to speak, “‘It’s not like she has much of a choice. Plus, considering how long the boss has been gone, I would prefer for someone to find him alive rather than a corpse on the side of the road. He’s the only thing keeping this place together.’”

“‘Really? Ya sent that dragonborn to go look for them already,’ The tiefling says, before looking to you, ‘What makes you think your little friend here can-.’”

“I roll for intimidation.”

That… threw me off guard almost immediately. “What?”

“You heard me. Prim wouldn’t stand by and have herself be called out like that, so I roll to intimidate.”

Okay, I was not really expecting this. Though, like with persuasion, she did not have any stat modifiers. “Okay, I’ll allow it, but you’re going to need a very high roll to-”

“Haha!! Twenty!”

Oh my god, are you kidding me? Forget pony Tchaikovsky, I have pony Edward Elric sitting across from where I was at our dining room table. 

Well, if the dice say so, “So, how would you ‘intimidate’ him?”

“I would stand up on the barstool and take out the knife that’s in my bag,” Okay, that checks out. Knife is one of the starting items in her background, “Then I would say ‘D-don’t. Call me that. Ever.’”

“Immediately, the Tiefling would raise his hands up, caught off guard by the fact that a stray comment provoked such a reaction from you. ‘H-hey, easy there. Ah didn’t mean to offend. With so many faces in town, it’s difficult to tell what some races see as offensive and others see as you pulling their leg. Didn’t mean anything by it.’ At the corner of your eye, you would see Jackie nodding her head. A possible sign that he was being true to his word.”

“I put the knife away, before looking at Jackie so I can explain myself, ‘S-sorry, it’s… a personal thing. B-bullied a lot as a kid for being small, s-so-.’”

“‘Say no more, I understand.’ Jackie would tell you, ‘Now, before we continue where we left off, would you be so kind to introduce yourself. I mean, we introduced ourselves, so it would be polite for you to do the same.

“‘Primrose.’” Gizmo replied, with a cute squeak added for extra effect.

“The Tabaxi would fold her arms, ‘What a nice name,’ she replied, before looking over to Ace, ‘Now that we all are familiar with one another, would you care to bring our friend up to speed Ace?’”

“‘Of course,’ As the tiefling speaks, he snaps his fingers as magic flows around him, taking the form of playing cards as he places two of them on the table for you to see.”

“Is there anything on the cards?” the unicorn now asked.

“You see the image of two half-elves, male and female, both with chestnut hair, sky blue eyes and light skin. They’re dressed in casual attire and the female is holding a lute. Both of them were also wearing special silver pendants, with the male wearing the symbol of a club on his and the female had the symbol of a heart. ‘To put a name to a face, these are Erric and Elynas. Though, they’re more commonly known around here as King of Clubs and Queen of Hearts. They’re the proprietors of the tavern and, from time to time, they would have to leave Port Lunaris on business. However, that was a few days ago and they haven’t returned.’”

“‘You t-think something might’ve happened to them?’”

“‘There have been occasions where their stage names have gotten themselves in trouble in the tavern, but not to the point that we can’t handle it. However, considering that this might’ve occurred outside the city, that’s where things get difficult.’ Another snap of the Tiefling’s fingers and the cards disappear. That is, before a new card is drawn and placed on the table. This time, the figure on the card is a massive blue scaled figure with features you would normally find on a dragon. He wore barely any armor, except for a belt around his waist, leather shoulder pads and greaves. The figure also has the skull of a wolf on the left shoulder, something that could be seen as a trophy. ‘We asked a local who was friends with Erric and Elynas to see if he could look into it. Yet, since they’ve not returned, Jackie’s concerned that he might’ve come across something too difficult for him to handle.’”

“‘S-so wait… you’re asking me to find and help him? Where would I even look?’” Gizmo questioned.

“‘We know that they were heading east towards the Capital City of Skystead, but outside of that, the only things we know are what the guards tell us and they claim to have not seen anything unusual.’ Jackie told her, ‘Still, getting them back is more important than you might think. Those two helped us turn our lives around and we would be locked up in a gaol cell if it weren’t for them. They’re that important.’”

“I motion to the card on the table, ‘S-so, I… find him, help him find who he’s looking for… and then everything’s all good.’”

I look back to her, before letting out a small breath, “‘Why yes, that is the arrangement, ah reckon. Unless you have second thoughts.’”

“‘N-no no!! That’s fine. W-works for me! Definitely on board!!’” Gizmo squeaked. I wasn’t sure whether or not she was having her character panic or if she was actually panicking, but she was doing rather well.

“The Tiefling would smile, before using his tail to raise up your arm as he extends his hand to shake yours. ‘Well, ah guess we have an agreement then. Keep the card though. It’ll probably be the only way to convince our ‘friend’ not to assume you’re an enemy. He’s… not exactly one for conversation and solves most problems with either brute force or with the business end of an axe, if ya catch my meaning.’”

By that point, I took a moment to see that a couple of hours had already passed since we started. So, I took a moment to get up out of my seat as I looked back at Gizmo. “Let’s take a quick break first and then we can get back at it. Are you enjoying this so far?”

“Oh yeah, this is FUN!” She smiled, “Can’t wait to keep this thing going!”