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MUSIC:
youtube.com/watch?v=--RU438cUM0
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The hired carriage hits yet another bump and you are justled along with your companions. You look again over the letter:

“You and your companions are invited to Falkreath in Skyrim Provence to meet with my servant, Bildam. He will be waiting in the Dead Man's Drink awaiting your arrival. He will instruct you to your mission, the dangers, and the rewards. Enclosed is the sum of 50 Golden Septims to pay for your travels to reach Falkreath…”

The letter finishes with a few safe routes into Skyrim and a date that with after Bildam will no longer be present (and the quest forfeit). You hand it to one of your companions and look at the mountainous land of Skyrim, cold and oddly mystical. You crossed over the mountains, setting off from Bruma, and traveled a day and night through the wind blasted rocks until arriving at Helgen to resupply. Now you where mere minutes out from Falkreath.

As you gathered your supplies the carriage pulled into the small city. The coach driver turned around and said “We are here, grab your things and get going. I am sorry for the rush but I need to get to Markarth in a few days time.” You disembark and the carriage lurches into movement and quickly moved down the road to the eastern gates where new patrons pay and climb on. Again with a lurch the cart is moving again and disappears around a bend.

Now you stand in the middle of Falkreath, the sound of a bustling town surrounds you as farmers, children, and guards and a rare noble move about their lives.

Ka-Vara was the 1st to disembark. He leaped off the carriage, 25 septims jingled in his coin pouch as his steel boots hit the ground. His void black eyes scanned the hold capital that he now stood in. The light of the sun reflecting off his void black scales made them look white in certain places. After a moment, Ka-Vara spotted his destination: Dead Man's Drink. By the time the rest of his fellowship had a chance to join him on the ground, Ka-Vara was striding purposefully towards the inn. The argonian battlemage opened the door and walked into the warmth of the inn. Ka-Vara didn't stop to enjoy the heat. Instead, he approached the imperial woman at the counter. "Do you sell sweet rolls here?" He asked in a calm and polite tone "If so, I wish to purchase 2 of your finest". Ka-Vara had gone the entire trip without a single sweet roll. He needed some and he needed some soon.

Actions: Enter Dead Man's Drink and attempt to purchase 2 sweet rolls.

With a growl he jumped of the wagon, not a big fan of wagons as he was. While rubbing his ass cheeks he smiled bitterly at the driver saying, "That's as far as we paid, luckily..." At which the man only shrugged at him, as if saying 'what a big pussy'. Stretching a bitter his stiffened body he looked again at his current companions, a rag tag party they were...

The BattleMage stole the lead jumping of first and heading alone to the local pub. The meeting place, eh? With a sigh he followed after but more apprehensive then his Argonian companion. Some might call him paranoid, but he had just landed in unknown territory. Who's to say that this wasn't a trap of sorts.

As he entered the pub, to his right the local bard was playing some song he didn't recognize. Skyrim special or even some personal composition, he guessed. Following Ka-Vara towards the counter to the left, Qa'Ra ordered as well, but in a les courteous manner. "A pint of ale for me..." Nothing stirred would be assasins or thiefs as drunken target, Let's see if we can fish someone.

Maneuver: Checks out the in for possible traps
Action: Buying something to drink

Shinon stepped out of the wagon slowly and somewhat cautiously. This city was far bigger than what he expected and far louder as well. He didn't like it. Shinon's hands flitted over his sword, bow, and arrows, the movement reassuring him. Certainly with his companions at the very least he was safe. Eager to leave the city Shinon followed the others into the bar and glanced around nervously. Far too many people too close to him. Attempting to shrug the feeling off he opted to leave the barkeep alone and attempt to wave down a barmaid. "Excuse me, I'm looking for someone named Bildam. Is he here?" It only occurred to him as they arrived that he had no idea what this 'Bildam" fellow looked like, hopefully that wouldn't prove too problematic.

Action: Attempt to make contact with waitress and ask about location of Bildam.

Metosi jumped off the wagon, grunting slightly as his legs had gotten too relaxed from lack of use. He stomped a little to get the feeling back to his legs and feet. He spared a moment to wave farewell to the carriage driver, but the man's eyes slid off the Dunmer quickly. He'd expected such prejudice, being in Skyrim, but the reality hit home for the dark elf. Sighing, Metosi settled his pack onto his back a little more comfortably and followed his group of companions, spotting the Dead Man's Drink by it's swinging sign. The establishment looked... quaint.

The dark elf felt as if he was being stared at and went over his knowledge of spells, silently. Going over the magical words that burned in his mind always comforted the Dunmer, reminding him that he always had a weapon at hand. A hand went to a locket underneath his robes, a gesture that calmed his spirits. After a deep breath, he followed his companions into the tavern.

He settled into the third stool at the counter, next to the Khajiit. Traveling with an Argonian made him nervous, unsure if Ka-Vara would put aside his race's prejudice against the Dunmer for the sake of the quest. Metosi looked to the barkeep, "Water for me and the local rumors, if you'd be so kind." They might have been on a quest, but getting some more gold into his pocket sounded quite good to Metosi.

Action: Buying something to drink, inquiring of local information/going ons

@rush99999 Actions: Enter Dead Man's Drink and attempt to purchase 2 sweet rolls.

Instant Success, no roll necessary

@Regendorf Action: Checks out the in for possible traps; Buying something to drink

Vigilance check required: (2 Green 1 yellow VS 2 purple) = s == Simple success

Drink is bought, no roll necessary

@Eklispe Action: Attempt to make contact with waitress and ask about location of Bildam.

Instant Success, no roll necessary

@WittyWolf Actions: Buying something to drink, inquiring of local information/going ons

Drink is bought, no roll necessary

Rumours check required: (2 green VS 1 purple 1 Black [general racism against him]) = a == Failure with advantage

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The bartender looks up at Ka-Vara and sheepishly says "Uh-yes, here you are. That will be 4 Septims." After she hands the two rolls to he now excited Argonian, she turns to Qa'Ra. After receiving his order and giving payment (2 Septims for a tankard of Nordish Mead), Qa'Ra scans across the room as the bartender turns to Metosi.

Metosi request for local rumours is met with silence. She looks across the room and Metosi becomes of the feeling of being stared at from behind. The bartender looks at Metosi and says "Sorry, I do not have time for such affairs" and turns away.

Shinon walks up to a barmaid who is sitting at a side table cleaning some mugs and inquires about Bildam. "Oh yes! What an interesting fellow that Bildam is! He has been here for about a fortnight now with his Orc Friend. A quiet follow that orc, but nice enough. Bildam does not talk a lot, just reads and writes on some papers, says we is waiting for someone. I do not know who but it must be someone important to come all the way out to Skyrim. I have lived here all my live you see and I think..." and she carries on...

As all of this happens, Qa'Ra observes the inner halls of the interior of the 'Dead Man's Drink.' It is softly lit by a large fire in the middle of the drinking hall, several Nords and drinking and conversing amongst themselves around it. Off to the sides there are some shadowy figures sitting by themselves, what appears to be a pale High Elf and an accompanying well armoured Orc (an odd match). The two seem to be taking interest to the conversation Shinon and a barmaid is having.

Watching the bartender go behind some crates to grab something, Metosi sees her look at him, smile and wink. He may be not as unliked as he thought.

While incapable of facially expressing emotion, Ka-Vara was quite excited by the sweet roll fix he was about to recieve. He took a bite out of 1 of the sweet rolls as he placed 4 septims onto the counter. "Not bad" the battlemage said as he placed a 5th septim onto the counter "Give that last septim to the cook". With that said, Ka-Vara walked to an empty seat by the fire, sat down, and began eating the sweet roll he had taken a bite out of. All the while, he kept his eyes peeled for trouble makers. Being an argonian meant that Ka-Vara was occasionally troubled by the more intolerant sort of riff-raff. Traveling with a bosmer, a dunmer, and a khajiit increased the encounters 3 fold.

Actions: Tip the counter, sit by the fire, eat the sweet rolls, and look out for trouble.

Shinon nodded, that was enough information to located Bildam, in particular since he had noted an orc and a high elf together. Rather strange, certainly, at least from what Shinon understood of things. However the girl ehm, wasn't done talking. Unable to work up the courage to tell her he doesn't care and should talk to Bildam he stands there awkwardly listening to her life story, shooting hopeful glances at his companions from time to time hoping one of them will help him escape. This was one of reasons he wasn't fond of talking to people, some people didn't stop talking.

Actions: Listen to the barmaid's tale, hope for help.

Takes a long swig of the tankard and heaves a long sigh both of happiness, as he no longer felt the dust from the road clinging to his throat as sandpaper. And of awkwardness towards his companions. 'By the Nine, how did we get to be stuck together like this. It wasn't hard to deduce that the Orc-Elf duo were the it contacts,' well either that or up to no good, he thought with a shrug. With the Argonian in his sweet trance and the Boomer shooting pleading glances at the team, Qa' Ra had only the Dunmer at arms length so he tapped him on the shoulder and motioned towards the odd duo, "Seems our contact's here, wha'tcha wanna do? Stay here..." as he said that he gave a meaningful look at the bartender. "... Or come greet them?"

Not waiting for an answer he stood up and emptied the tankard, taking it with him. As he reached his Archer companion, he called out to the barmaid. "By the Nine! Girl, stop your babbling and get me a refill." placing in her indignated hands the empty tankard.

Actions: attempt to pry Sinnon from the waitresses clutches. Probably intimidation check!?

Metosi clucked his tongue behind his teeth sharply, wondering the same as Qa'Ra. It was a truly enticing though, their group having been on the road for some time... He emptied his own mug of water and enjoyed the cold drink immensely. The well must have been kept in good condition, the water tasted clean as if taken from snow. With his companions currently involved, Metosi thought he could spare a bit of time with the bartender. Qa'Ra was busy trying to get a drink, Shinnon seemed to enjoy the waitress's rambling speech, and Ka-Vara was eating a sweetroll and keeping a watch on the tavern. Metosi caught the bartender's eye and returned her wink. The dark elf walked around the counter and lounged against a nearby support beam. "Are you sure? Maybe there's somewhere a little more private that might inspire a tidbit... or two?" His words were laced with hidden meaning and promise. A slow smile crept over his face.

Actions: attempt to woo the lass

@rush99999 Actions: Tip the counter, sit by the fire, eat the sweet rolls, and look out for trouble.

Vigilance check required: (2 green 1 yellow vs 2 purple)= ss = double success

@Eklispe Actions: Listen to the barmaid's tale, hope for help.

No action.

@Regendorf Actions: attempt to pry Sinnon from the waitresses clutches. Probably intimidation check!?

Intimidation check required: (2 green 1 yellow vs 1 purple)= ssssa = quadruple success and an advantage

@WittyWolf Actions: attempt to woo the lass

Charm check required: (2 green VS 1 purple 1 Black [general racism against him]) = ft = Failure with threat

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As Qa'Ra handed the tankard to the barmaid, she was snapped out of her speech. "OH! Yes sorry mister!" she said and she took the tankard and started working on cleaning it in silence. As Shinon looked at Qa'Ra with relief when the large Orc Qa'Ra spotted earlier approached them.

Ka-Vara watched the Orc step up to them, his elven companion had stood up and stepped into a side room containing a table and pulling out some papers. Ka-Vara also noticed two Nords who where sitting and drinking get up and approach the bar, looking at Metosi with frowns.

The Orc said to Shinon "If you are looking for Bildam, I believe he is waiting for you and your companions." He then pointed to a small side room where an elf sat and said "He is ready for you."

As Metosi flirted with the Bartender, she was responding with a shy smile, but then looked behind him and frowned. Two Nords approached Metosi, one said "You had best to keep to yourself Dark Elf." He then looked at the bartender, "The same goes for you, OR we will have a chat with your father."

The orsimer and the altmer briefly attracted Ka-Vara's attention before he noticed the nords. They were approaching Metosi with intentions that Ka-Vara knew all too well. When the nords had finished talking, Ka-Vara put down what was left of his sweet rolls and walked over to his dunmer companion. "These 2 giving you trouble, Metosi?" Ka-Vara asked. The argonian stared at the nords with his black-as-the-void eyes in an 'I am wearing steel, go ahead and try hurting me' kind of way. Ka-Vara was clad in full suit of steel armor with 2 steel maces hanging at his sides. If that wasn't intimidating to a pair of drunken nords in plain clothes, Ka-Vara didn't know what was.

Action: Intimidate the nords.

Amused at the girl's reaction, he turned to his companion "The refill is on you, next time be more of a man and tell her to fu..." he cut his sentence short as the Orc approached them, to Qa'Ra's surprise the elf was no longer at his table either. And as the bodyguard spoke he understood the reason of the sudden disappearance, but before accepting his invitation he heard the someone threatening someone at the counter.

At the sight he couldn't help but faceplate himself, the damned was already behind the counter. 'Some people should know how to keep it in their pants..." was the first thing that popped into his head. Before long the battle mage stepped up and shot a subtle threat. "Sorry, didn't get your name..." he told the Orc as he equipped his knuckles "we'll be right there...but we need to take out some trash first. "

Leaving their side he advanced towards the the two Nords."Oi, Metosi, those two milk-drinkers givin' you trouble?" as he cracked his fingers one by one.

Action: steps up in defense of Matosi as he does that he insults the Nords. Probably an intimidation check(bad feeling about it)

Motesi was surprised at the quickness of his new companions, they responded with vigor and perhaps a touch of zeal. He was grateful, hoping this encounter could end without bloodshed. Even so, his mind was abuzz and his fingers tingled with ever ready magicka. With his focuse, he hoped for the Nords sake that they'd leave without causing scene.

"I believe these men were just leaving, actually. They seemed to have the wrong idea about my relations with the lovely bartender. I merely inquired about local gossip and rumor. Sirs, I suggest going about your night as you were, before anyone can do something they might regret," Metosi reasoned with the pair. He felt fairly confident in his group's skills and he didn't see the Bosmer close. They were most effective unexpected with room to breath.

Action: Attempt at neutralizing the situation.

Shinon nodded gratefully to Qa'Ra and followed the orcs directions to the high elf. However he turned at the sound of his traveling friends speaking somewhat aggressively with some Nords. Well that wasn't good at all. Shinon silently drew an arrow and stood partly inside the side room where Bildam was watching the situation carefully in case it came to blows. That wouldn't be a very good start now would it? He glanced at Bildam and said, "Hello, my friends over there talking with the Nords and I are here for the job. It seems it might get violent I don't suppose you'd be able to defuse the situation any would you?" Shinon asked somewhat wistfully.

Actions: Move to side room, get an arrow ready, ask Bildam for help

@rush99999 Action: Intimidate the nords.

Combined Intimidation check (with Qa'Ra and Motesi): (1 green 2 yellow 1 blue VS 1 purple) = sssaaa = triple success, triple advantage

@Regendorf Action: steps up in defense of Matosi as he does that he insults the Nords. Probably an intimidation check(bad feeling about it)

Assisting in roll.

@WittyWolf Action: Attempt at neutralizing the situation.

Assisting in roll.

@Eklispe Actions: Move to side room, get an arrow ready, ask Bildam for help.

No roll needed.

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The elf does not look up to Shinon, "I am here on my masters request to contract you for a quest, not intervene in petty bar fights." He replied, "Besides, I believe your comrades have the situation under control."

The two Nords looked at the Dark Elf, then to the towering Argonian and Khajiit cranking his now armoured knuckles. "Our apologies," started one of the Nords "Enjoy the rest of your evening in peace."
The other Nord pipped up, "Here, the next drinks are on me" he said as he put some Septims on the table.
The two quietly slipped away (along with some other rough looking locals) and where not seen again for the rest of the night.

The Elf looked at Shinon and said, "Shall we begin?"

Shinon nodded, well he should've expected a High Elf to act... well a little more high and mighty. At least the fight was already defused, he returned his arrow with a sigh of relief. "Hey guys." He called out somewhat vaguely, "Bildams over here, so grab your drinks and get in here." He hoped that wasn't too rude. Shinon didn't like being rude but he did need to get the message across. Maybe he shouldn't have broadcasted that to the whole tavern. Hm. He stepped fully into the side room and leaned against one of the walls and waited for Bildam to start talking somewhat nervously.

Actions: Call companions over, enter side room and wait and for Bildam to start talking.

"That went well" Ka-Vara said before looking at Metosi "Once your done flirting with the locals, find us in that side room over there". Ka-Vara pointed out the room with Bildam before taking the septims left by the nords, reclaiming what was left of his sweet rolls, and approaching the altmer. The argonian battlemage took a seat opposite Bildam and ate a bit of his sweet roll. "I take it you're Bildam" Ka-Vara said after swallowing the sweet roll "If so, please forgive the momentary diversion, but I am quite certain there will be no repeats of that for the rest of our time here".

Actions: Take the gold and approach Bildam.

Metosi breathed a sigh of relief as the men walked away. The last thing this party needed was a warrant for their arrest on their first night in Falkreath. He smiled at the bartender once more. "Maybe after I've conducted my business then, my lovely bartender?" His smiled turned into a broad grin.

He turned to the Khajiit. "My apologies, Qa'Ra. I had no idea what simply talking to a woman could incite in this land." Metosi walked across the tavern. He wondered if anyone else would try something, because of the bartender or Shinon's call. The situation might require a bit more discretion and he wanted surprise on their side in all affairs.

"At least not if they value their lives," Metosi said, chuckling slightly at the terrified faces of the men. That momentary pall over their faces almost made the diversion worthy. "Greetings Bildam, now let's get to the matter at hand."

Action: approach Bildam