Rainy Ambience

---

With howling winds and a ceaseless torrent of rain, it was obvious that tonight, the gods were not looking favorably towards adventurers. Klaus, for the duration of the night that had just recently began, had descended into a stormy cacophony of desperate footsteps and annoyed rain haters. Indeed, for tonight was a most unnatural of storms. Fog had slowly begin to settle in throughout the town, and it is at this point in time where any outsiders new to Klaus would likely be making their way indoors to settle for the night.

Shops have all closed up for the night, the night watch has been forced to resign to their watchtowers and sentry stations to take cover from the brutal storm, and the rest of the town guard has taken up shelter in the barracks. The miners have yet to return from the caverns a ways out of town, but it's the hope of the town that it was simply because they decided to take shelter from the storm in there. In a usually sleepy and uneventful town apart from the silver trade, this storm was something to rile up the townsfolk in a way few other things can.

The illustrious Golden Goose inn was the main goal of adventurers seeking shelter. With an establishment set up in nearly every town in all of the Central Kingdom of Kimohrun, they are renowned for delivering the best service possible to weary travelers.

With adventurers pushing and shoving their way into the inn, it was undoubtedly going to be a busy night for the employees of the Golden Goose. More worrying than that is rumors of undead lurking the outskirts and mines at night. Nobody would truly want to be outside during such a time.

With seats filling up as quickly as the drinking glasses and bedrooms, it would surely be a night for the various aspiring adventurers , mercenaries and merchants in Klaus to mingle and get to know one another - some through hand-to-hand combat, as noted with the square fighting ring set up in the middle of the inn for entertainment and gambling.

Regardless, tonight would be a night to remember. With seats almost ready to fill up, the buff and balding middle-aged bartender eyed the door to gauge how many more would be arriving tonight.

Wet fur. Cursed heavens and unforgiving gods. Harzax tisked as he broke his sprint into a paced jog, taking refuge at the Golden Goose's porsche. This rain was the most trouble he'd encountered on his way here from the next town over. 'Feline luck', that's what grandpa Malachy used to call it. Useful only against the least of your problems. A string of bounty jobs gone wrong and now he was unemployed again, but he'd get a fresh start in this town.

Harzax shook himself like an animal, his fur going from drenched and dripping to a spiky mess. He sighed and then puffed his chest, getting a job is a job in of itself, and it was time to get his paws to work. He opened the door with confidence and walked into the warm abode for adventurers and travelers. He made his way in unnanounced, past the noisy folk and up to the barfront.

"Barkeep, a mug of ale and plate whatever warm food you've got." he announced with a cold-ridden raspy voice, then sat at a table overseeing the fighting ring while he waited for his order.

Being an adventurer wasn't an easy profession, and the first order of business was getting decent and reliable partners to make for a balanced team. Hmmmm...

Hmm, the gods must be quite displeased tonight..., murmured Vandred, inspecting the black, cloudy sky. Standing under a thick leafy oak, his companion Fang, paces nervously back and forth and around the tree, grumpy from all the water around him.

Vandred tries to convince (Handle Animal Roll ??) his friend to take shelter at the town's inn, which wasn't very far from their position and where they would be sheltered from nature's elements.

Fang, uncomfortable with the next few seconds that will pass, agrees with Vandreds suggestion, signaling him through a loud exhale as he usually does.

Ushering the panther to prepare, it doesn't even wait and bolts straight for the inn, startling the townsfolk that are also running for cover. Vandred doesn't mind the rain too much, so he doesn't rush to his destination. Arriving, Fang was sprawled near the inn's entrance on the veranda. Thanks for waiting... said Vandred jokingly as the panther snarled grumpily.

They both entered as silently as possible, trying to attract as little attention as possible. While the people knew Vandred and his animal companion due to his work as a herbalist in the town, he still preferred to be left alone most of the time. Making his way to the bar, he salutes the bartender and asks only for a piece of bread and a medium sized chunk of raw meat, then go towards the more or less empty corner of the inn, taking a seat and waiting for his order.

This herbalist work isn't helping a lot...The demand is too low to make a living at the moment. We need to think of something soon or hard times will await us...Well, I'll see if anything interesting comes up around here. thought Vandred to himself.

The barkeep nodded at the newly entered Catfolk and fixed up some proper food and drink. Moments later, a plate and mug are on the counter and one of the waiters zooms by to deliver it to its recipient. This little Halfling man seemed rather energetic about his job, wasting little time in putting down a mug of ale and a plate of sliced up turkey meat at Harzax's table.

"That'll be 3 silver, please!" the halfling said with a smiling face looking up at the Catfolk.

"These things don't come for free, after all."

In the meantime, the barkeep was immediately met with another entering adventurer, this one with a panther. While normally this would be cause to turn them away, Vandred was known somewhat in this town to begin with - and his pet hadn't killed anyone in town yet at least.

A few customers turned their heads to look at him, and then nodded back to their drinks frustratingly.

The barkeep nodded at Vandred's order, saying "wait just a second. Gotta go in the back and see if we have any raw meat on hand".

With that, he placed another employee in charge of the counter - a rather nervous looking half-elven youth who just shook awkwardly in place. Afterwards the original barkeep went into the back room to check for raw meat.

The bar was starting to fill up to its maximum capacity, it seemed. Harzax's table and Vandred's table were the only ones that were yet to fill with others.

Harzax ears twitched as the door was opened, letting in the whisling winds inside. He turned his head towards the peculiar man with the panther as they made their way in, almost entirely neglecting the halfing waiter trying to get his attention.

"Hmmm, that should do." he mumbled, looking at the panther prowling through the tavern. Then with startled look in his face at the 'sudden appearance' of the waiter, he added: "Oh...here, and open a tab for me, I'll be around for a while." And passed him three gold coins with a hand-written business card.



With a smile (which showed an impecable row of sharp canines) and a nod, he excused the waiter as he dug into the warm turkey, his eyes dead-set on the door. The men at the tavern, aside from the mysterious animal handler, didn't quite catch his attention, and there were at least two more roles to fill in a proper adventuring party.

Waiting for his and Fangs food to arrive, Vandred ganders around the establishment, making a quick scan over the faces that fill up the room, noticing quite a mixed atmosphere. Lots of happy and cheerful though loud small groups of townfolk chattering away, others more quiet and in thought, not disturbed by the typical pub-ish noise and some even eyeing Vandred, either with a serious glare or with a nervous, intimidated worrier look, most probably due to Fangs presence.

Sighing, he starts talking to himself in silence as he usually does when he tries to think in a less calm enviroment.
"Now..let's see, what options do we have?...I guess we could get something else to work besides herbalism, hmm I don't like hunting, and I'm not fit as a miner either." Vandred furrows his brow, just having noticed his somewhat lack of capabilities when he remembered a rumor he had heard not long ago. "

"Hmm...the mines, miners have been disappearing, some say it's some kind of Drow society that kidnaps people and execute them. Others say ... it's the damn dead...disgusting monstrosities" said Vandred with a slight chill running down his spine. "Hmm there are some options... should also ask the waiter or barkeep if they have any leads or can point me in the right direction..yeah..I should do that" as he waits patiently for his order to arrive and proceed with the questions.

Keris stepped into the tavern, her cloak soaked through from the rain. This was the first tavern she could find after the rain hit, and sadly it took a while for her to find one. The half-elf walked up to the bar and ordered herself some food and a tankard of ale, then found herself a seat.

Gotta find myself some work here soon. Gonna run out of coin soon if I don't... Upon finding somewhere to sit, she pulled off her wet cloak and set it on the chair, hoping it might dry out some while she was there. Keris scanned the room, looking for job postings or someone who might need something done while waiting for her food.