"Duly noted, Mr. Giligan." The stranger says with a slightly reluctant tone.

The dwarf barkeep's warning and advice was just another reminder that he was no longer in Arizona. The star he so proudly displayed on his breastplate was nothing more than a little decorative piece to his armor to folk here. Operating in new territory was always difficult, never was easy to begin with, and he doesn't like to admit that he was wrong...but he knew Giligan was spitting facts. He can't just go play the lawman and be bullheaded about it without attracting the wrong kind of attention and, unlike Arizona, there weren't any other rangers he can call to if things go sideways. If he kept on this path, it'll only lead him to a shallow unmarked grave somewhere in Paladros. Worse, get Giligan's daughter killed in the process.

It was around this time that he noticed that the wildling had stuck her head into the pile of clothes. The girl's action caused one of the stranger's unseen eyebrows to rise up in confusion. What in the 9 hells was the girl doing? he thought to himself just as Fera moved away from the pile of clothes and took tentative sniffs with her nose up in the air. "Well, I'll be damned. Girl's part bloodhound." He says incredulously.

Following Fera, the party would go deep into the Eastern section of Paladros. Further beyond the gambling halls and bordellos, pass the market place peddling knickknacks and trinkets, to the straight ghettos. The Eastern did a good job looking like a place which could cater to tourists and locals looking for a good time. But this part was where all the filth washed in. The group was barely five minutes in before they were being followed by orphans holding their hands out for coins, before they're then scared off by the sound of fighting nearby, which was between two homeless men beating each other up over a ratty pair of boots. The group would be called out by questionable characters offering fortune telling, "good times", and important information for a price. None of these people would bother going out of their way to stop the group though as Fera would follow the scent.

Soon the group would arrive to an abandoned harbor. There were a few stray dogs and beggars here, but there didn't seem to be much else going on. The only notable landmarks was an abandoned bell tower, a dock with only a few fishing boats, and a small but kept bath house. The group could see that it's a bath house due to the sign which was a wooden sign that showed steam with the word "BATH" written underneath it. It was here that the scent Fera found would end. The scent simply ends in this area. "Heeeeeey!" A drunkard approached the group. A ratty looking orc carrying a dirty bottle with a club on his belt. "Y'all tourists? Welcome to the Waterfront! Y'all got any questions? I might know something!" He shouted every word loudly.

The stranger glanced at the offerings Eastern offered to travelers and residents alike. Numerous gambling halls that have surely claimed many well-earned salaries of both men and women who dreamed to strike it rich. Bordellos and other houses of ill repute were scattered few and far in between the halls, enticing those who saught more carnal pleasures in their life rather than the thrill gambling provided. Shops that sold souvenirs and the like were soon present, though it boggled the ranger's brain why would anyone want a reminder of this cruel parody of a city.

Then again, he can say the same for a good chunk of the frontier towns he'd been to in Arizona and Texas. Hell, there were a couple towns worse than Paladros.

Regardless, gambling, sex, and useless trinkets were the farthest things he needed right now. A number of orphans would soon trail them. Likely begging for coins for food. The ranger may have been one mean looking motherfucker but he had a soft spot for kids and downtrodden folk. While keeping on Fera's figurative tail, the ranger subtly untied a pouch from his belt and let it fall to the cobblestone road. Allowing the orphans to pick up the pouch that contained 4 silver pieces just before a scuffle between two homeless men scared them off. He would have interfered but, as Giligan reminded him earlier, this ain't no place for no hero. Paladros was no place for better men. Stopping a fight among bums would have attracted attention that he didn't need on him. So with a defeated sigh, he simply ignored the altercation.

---

It didn't take long for them to reach the end of the trail. They had wound up in an abandoned Harbor that seemed as equally, if not more, rundown than the ghettos they passed by earlier. He'd have focused on the belltower and immediately tried to figure out where the entrance was and how they were going to infiltrate it. His musings would be soon cut off by a ratty-looking orc, seemingly drunk out of his mind, asking if they were tourists and if they were interested in asking questions. The ranger simply stared at the orc while whispering to his companions. "Guy is either a scammer, a lookout for the daughters, or both. Be careful what you say or ask from him."

"That she is, sir Ranger." Lei said, tipping her hat to Gilgan. "Don't you worry sir, I'll have your daughter back...mostly safe and unharmed." She flashed a grin before taking off after Fera.

Ah, Paladros. Never she saw a more debauched den of scum and villainy. She had visited almost every gambling hall in the city, except for the most obscure or restricted by now. She had half a mind to take her time and simply play around a bit, but she doubted her teammates would appreciate that. The place after that, though? Lei pursed her lips. She didn't want to get involved, even if she had some connection to this place. Having grown up here before the troupe had taken her in...

She ignored the orphans for now, and didn't react much when they stumbled on men fighting over a pair of boots. She did however, flash a playful smile to people offering a good time. Not that they were probably legit, and doing so would probably get her in more than a little trouble, but she could play along if only a bit.

"Let me handle the talking, friend." Lei said with a smile and a thumbs up to the ranger. "And keep an eye on our Fera for me, hm?"

"Yes, my friend, we are indeed tourists! And I have to say someone looks like they've had a good time." She walked up to him, offering him a playful smirk. Ranger was right, of course. He was likely an informant of some sort, but as drunk as he was they could use that to their advantage. "A good time we may want to get in on. The sort of good times we can only get in this sort of place, if you catch my drift. And ya see," Lei wrapped an arm around the Orc, pulling out the chip and running it through her fingers. "I got a particular place in mind. I got a friend, who suggested a very particular place. Specifically, the place thats got this chip. I've been all over Paladros already and can't seem to find which upstanding drow establishment it belongs too. See, the spider is just a little to the left."

If it weren't for Lei giving her the mission of tracking this girl, Fera would have become trouble here. There were too mnay interesting things to plunder and scents to explore that Fera could have been lost in here for a while. As it was, she had lost concentration for split seconds when interrupted. The children she was able to tolerate, though they didn't seem to get as close to her as the others. And even when they did, she would just climb up onto awnings, crates, or stalls to avoid them and concentrate. Any bars she stayed away from as they smelled heavily of alcohol, and she had all she could stande of that already today. The brothels nearly made her stray off coarse, the scents were heavy with both pheromones and heavy perfumes, which made her very curious of the former but at the same time repulsed by the perfumes. This stalled her for a moment as she had to relocate the trail again, dropping the sock from her mouth to her hands and taking in the scent once more and then smelling the air and ground again. Once found, she was back on track once again.

The scent ended at a bath house. It simply vanished, and Fera was quite confused as to how that could happen."FEH! Scent gone! How just gone!?" Fera exclaimed in frustration before she quickly had climbed onto the top of an old street stall. She Sniffed at the air around her to see if she could pick up any other lingering trail, ignoring the orc. How could a scent simply end? Surely there was more. Maybe she went inside and the trail just got covered somehow? "Lei," she whined, "Fera lose trail...." This was a blow to her pride as a hunter, to just lose a trail-, what was she, a child? She couldn't even remember the last time she failed to track her prey, how embarrassing. Her master would surely be displeased, at least, so she thought. It was almost similar to when she lost the scent around the brothels, but just... cleaner.

The orc smiled as Lei got close to him, feeling quite randy for no good reason. Seeing the chip he blinked before his smile twisted a bit. "Ayo, I remember this! Damn daughters kicked me out of their casino for using it! Fucking drow man. I think I got this... What, somewhere around here. Real dump of a place. Wait wait wait, I remember now! I won a couple of these chips from some skeever behind the bath house. They got a lil dive back there. Played some cards with them, won some tokens, and tried to use it at the Daughter's but they said the chips were fake man! I'd kick their asses if they didn't have so many goons around." The orc says as he takes a swig from his bottle. He looks over to Lei with a mischievous smirk. "Hey hey, I got a great idea how to fuck em over! Why do y'all say? Wanna help an old orc out?"

The orc points towards the alleyway he came from. "Those shitters operate out of a warehouse just behind the bath house. Sell cheap booze and you can win some coppers playing craps or cards, but the real money is betting on their bare-knuckle brawl. Y'all look like some scrappers, if y'all go in we can clean em out! Odd'll be against you cuz you're new but none of those guys are worth shit in a fistfight. Well, cept the house champ, but he's a big fish in a small pond. We pool our coins together and bet on your guys, split the winnings. And hey, if you're looking for more info about that chip, I'm sure the drow bookies there would know something. Might even give you some good info for being one of the scrappers!"

The ranger looks to the orcish man and didn't need to be a mind reader to know that one way or another, he'd try to screw his group over to his favor. He sneered slightly underneath his helmet. Despite this being their best lead to finding Sandy's whereabouts, he couldn't help but feel reluctant to play along to the orc's tune. For all they knew, the drunk may be just setting them up to be left alone in a den of wolves for slaughter while he gets some quick coin to buy more rotgut with. Regardless of his personal feelings, it was up to the rest of the party to decide if whether or not they would be going along with the plan or not.

Nanaya gave the orc a good look. He would sell them out if he had a good reason, but if she made him a bit more cozy, it might insulate them from the easiest payouts. She sidled in close and poured a shot's worth of her rum into the cup from her mess kit. "Well, perhaps you can tell us a bit more about this, hmmm? Winners don't go into something like this blind." She offered him the drink and looked at her companions.

If she knew anything about how this type of thing would work, it was that cheating was going to be rampant. She didn't want to go in blind if she could help it.

"Hrrrrrrrrrah! Fera no like...," Fera shook her head and growled from her perched position a couple feet above their heads looking down. She should.... really wear more if she was going to hang out above people like that... "Orc smell funny, like nasty drink," she said looking at the orc with narrow eyes. Her face then quickly changes to a happier one as she quickly cast her interest in the man aside and hopped from awning to awning until she rested atop the one above the door to the bath house. "Scent stop here, we try?" she asked, her face now more inquisitive. If they left her alone to her own devices, odds were she may wander in herself. She would then proceed to hang slightly upside down as she leaned over the edge and looked into the doorway going inside.

The orc was more than willing to share a drink with Nanaya and took whatever she gave him. Having already reached his limit before, he barely managed to stay on his feet afterwards. His words were slurred and he was visibly dizzy and swaying. "Chaaaah! Dats da guuuuud stuff right dere lassies laddie! Yare yare, dey got sum real ANIMALS in dere dontcha know, champions a -hic- Fuckin BEAR, soze da odds ain't never in yer favor... Newcooms always sumthin... Thirteen-ta-one... Good shit." The orc continued to sway and his body was slumped against the wall. "Gotta get dat copper... Damn drow got me indebted mhmmzer... Lots ol lads and lassie copper coinflip... Washed up and brought down under ta... Ta spider chow..." The orc stopped talking as he suddenly just fell asleep on the side of the wall.

The notion of the fighters having to fight an actual bear caused the man to raise a brow in amazement underneath his helmet. With how the drunkard told them, it was a wonder how the fighting ring managed to keep fighters coming. Then again, he'd heard stories of men and women that would go against worse odds back west. The ranger could only grimace at the thought of going against a three-meter tall bipedal dinosaur with razor-sharp claws with only a dagger in hand. There seemed no better options than to participate in the savage and unfair arena-style combat if they wanted to make any progress in the investigation in locating Sandy. "Welp. Time to take the plunge and decide who does what." He looks over to Fera and makes a sound by clicking his tongue, hopefully catching her attention, before gesturing her to participate in the planning.

Nanaya let the orc fall into a blackout. She knew the likelihood of the night being more than fuzzy snippets was minimal, so she was not worried about him causing problems for them in the near future. She turned to the others and took a swig of her rum. "Well, it appears the drow are indebting people, threatening them to be spider food if they don't pay up, and letting them pay up by getting money off of luring new blood into the unfair arena. Who's up for some illegal fighting ring busting? I know I am." She stretched out a bit, revealing the desert clothing under her cloak as well as the dragon scales on her body. She looked more like a wandering dancer than a diplomat, but that simply was a useful tool in negotiations.

She looked at Fera, weighing her words carefully for a moment. "Hmmmm, yes, trying the bathhouse first may be the way to go. After all, the scent ended here. Let's do our primary objective and then do some drow shenanigans." She moved over to the door, one palm placed against it. "Everyone ready for anything? I hope so."

The ranger nodded in agreement with the suggestion. Nothing else to be done now that their informant unconscious. "Yeah, as ready as I can be right now." He replies while making sure that the crossbow was loaded with bolts and his dagger and sword easily available just in case things go south real quick inside the bathhouse. With nothing left to say, he spearheads the group into the establishment.

The group would move into the bath house together. Entering, things looked pretty official. Wood furnishing, clean cushions, and there was a desk with a receptionist sitting behind. A large burly orc stood near the door brandishing a wooden staff and some leather armor with the bath house's emblem on it, a uniform of sorts. He was likely a guard or bouncer for the bath house. The receptionist was a fairly old human woman who looked at the group with an indifferent smile. "Welcome to the White Waters Bathhouse. Are you here for an hourly bath, the day treatment, or just an appointment?" The old woman would show the group a menu with the bath house options.

The scent here was thick with incense and other artificial aromas. While it was certainly better than the muck and stink of the eastern ghettos, it was apparent that this place was trying to overpower the scent outside with the very strong scents here. Muffled behind wooden doors you could here chatter of bathers and some splashing of water, likely the baths themselves. On a display nearby were two robes, one of men and one for women, presumably to wear while within the bath house. Overall this place was an oddity in such a run down area, and it seemed to make efforts to look better than it's downtrodden neighbors.

The ranger gave the reception area a quick once over. Trying to look for any sign or clue to its relation to the drow gambling den...though he couldn't spot any immediate signs and as far as he could perceive, this was your simple run of the mill bathhouse. Albeit one with an almost nauseating miasma of sweet-smelling aromas. He could only imagine what kind of sensory overload their resident wildling could be experiencing right now.

Nonetheless, he knew of the true purpose of this establishment. Just like back West, the bathhouse was simply a front. The actual business ran along the lines of any bordello or whore house they passed by earlier that day. But he wasn't here to play the holier-than-thou routine. He was here to look for further leads as to where Sandy's current location.

And if it meant that he had to become this establishment's customer to do it, so be it.

The day treatment was the best shot he had on stumbling upon any clues, what more, maybe even discover more valuable intel than they expected.

"Howdy ma'am. I would like the day treatment." The ranger said in a friendly tone as he slightly lifts his helmet by the brim to politely greet her.

Fera's ears twitched when the ranger clicked at her. Taking the signal, she rolled the rest of the way forward over the awning and landed on her haunches before stalking her way inside with the rest of the group. When the doors opened, the poor wildling was assaulted my a myriad of perfumes and scents. She backed from the door as if she had been struck. It was enough to elicit a small whine from the girl, her eyes watering from the unpleasant sensations ravaging her sinuses. She tried rubbing her eyes and nose, exhaling sharply from her nostrils to eject the offending scent, but it was so persistent that it was no use. She couldn't leave them however, and tried her best to carry on, but not without voicing her discomfort. "Fera... can not smell. It burn...," she said pitifully. To her, all the smells outside were much more pleasing than this. She was already skeptical of this place because they kept on sing the word 'bath' around here and Fera really didn't feel like taking one right now. She could keep herself clean well enough in her eyes, so why would she need this 'bath' thing everyone was always so crazy for? Especially with these dreadful scents everywhere, how could the others stand this?

Even Nanaya, being used to some cultures being heavy on the perfumes and incense, was taken aback by the strength of the smells. She turned away and politely covered her mouth and nose with some cloth before taking off a bit of her clothing and kneeling down in front of Fera, wrapping it around the poor girl's nose and mouth, tying it behind her head. "It will be a bit uncomfortable, but it should make it feel better. Besides, my perfume smells much better and is far more subtle, I would imagine." Once she took care of Fera's predicament, she approached the counter.

"I am here with my friend looking for the day treatment. If you don't mind answering a question, I would like to see if you saw a certain someone around. I have some pressing business with this person that could involve parties much more powerful than myself." None of it was a lie, but it was carefully crafted to sound like the powers that be above both of them may have taken an interest, or not. It was ambiguous and open to interpretation, which made sense to use given the diplomat's experience and the proclivity of criminals to assume the worst if any authorities took an interest.

The receptionist smiles and bows her head as the party choose the day treatment. She directed the ranger to a door designated for men, and directed Nanaya to another door designated for women. "I'm afraid that I wouldn't know, I just started working an hour ago and your group would be the first customers I've served. Additionally, we do not disclose our customer's privacy. I hope you understand. But feel free to converse with any of our other patrons, if you wish to ask around." The receptionist took note of how Fera was reacting to the scents and gave her a sympathetic smile. "If you wish, we have a resting area where your friend can wait. We only have natural scents there. The day treatment should only take an hour."

Meanwhile, in the male changing room Martin would find a surprising guest. A woman, and not one who appears to be a patron. She seems to be searching through the various locked boxes and other containers, opening them by force if need be.

Yesterday

"What a fool. An absolute fool." In a ruined smithy, a tall blond woman sifts through the wreckage, taking note of the blood, damage, and markings on the all. "That stubborn pride of his is going to get us both killed. Why didn't he just tell me?" On the wall was a strange looking star with eyes. She wasn't familiar with the symbol but she could recognize a cultist emblem after her time in this city. But what was her friend doing getting involved with cults of all people? She looked around more and the only hint she had was the foot steps leading towards the Eastern. "As if things couldn't get worse, you had to go there. The one place where I don't have friends." Sighing, the woman opened her umbrella as she stepped back outside. She had to move quickly before the rain washes away the trail.

Today

"White Waters Bathhouse. It's no Honeybee that's for sure. A place with this much incense must be hiding something wretched." Walking inside the lady took notice of the bouncer and the receptionist. She ordered a Day Treatment package, entering the female's side. But instead of getting changed she simply stayed out of sight and moved towards the bath area. There was a narrow hall with the sound of bathers on one end, and the male changing room in the other. "If they brought him here, I'm sure they stored his belongings in the male side." Once she made sure that the coast was clear she snuck to the male side and started looking through the lockers. She needed to move fast before someone would spot her. What few had locks, she broke them with a single swipe before searching again. She wasn't interested in anyone's belongings but her friends.

Free as they may be to talk to the other patrons of this establishment, the ranger wouldn't risk talking to someone out in the open where the eyes and ears of the drow could easily pick up on their conversation. Regardless he had to keep dancing to their tune if he wanted to investigate the bathhouse further and hopefully uncover something.

Inside the changing room, the ranger was met by a rather peculiar sight. A blonde woman dressed in strange clothing rummaging through the lockboxes the establishment provided for its patrons. Particularly for the male kind. Though he could be mistaken and this woman was actually a rather effeminate man. He wasn't really too sure though...

Regardless, he made himself known.

"Looking for something, ma'am..ermm...sir?"