Iliskra's words echoed the thoughts in Leon's head as they made their way through the 'better' district of the city. Already his mind was at work drawing together a web of possibilities now that he was among a more public kind of area. The sight of courtesans particularly interested him, though not for the usual reasons. Ladies or men that sold their bodies often learned plenty of secrets in carrying out their work, either from the mouths of sleepy bed mates or from rooting through the purses of their satisfied clientele.

He did hope that Elthel was right about the tavern master paying protection though, the last thing he or his companions needed was unexpected visitors allied with Shagarm in the middle of the night. Even if they broke free and killed their captors, it would draw entirely too much attention to them to safely operate out of this area. And based on the gallows that had been built here Leon certainly wasn't going to entertain the idea of going quietly.

Leon nodded at the door man as they passed by him, taking his warning into account. Double checking the buckles on his weapons and armor, he stepped into the noisy tavern and let the atmosphere wash over him. Despite the state of the city, it seemed this particular tavern was in good spirits. If anything, it could easily have been mistaken for a tavern in any of the major cities were it not for the view outside of some of the windows.

"Ibdur, help me with a table real quick," Leon said, making his way over to a table that had a good view of the front and back doors to the room, as well as a view of the route to where he suspected the rooms were. Unfortunately the table was currently occupied by four drunks that seemed to be arguing something trivial.

"Friends, I do hate to interrupt what I'm sure was a stimulating argument," Leon said, changing his tone to sound more like a man who was unafraid to beat the hell out of someone for disagreeing with him, "but you're sitting at my favorite table. And I don't like changing my habits, so how about an offer. I'll buy this table from you if you take your drinks and move along." Four gold coins appeared in his left hand, one coin perched between each finger.

"Or I could spend this gold on the biggest guy in here to see if he wouldn't mind cleaning up my table for me. The choice is yours," he said, putting the coins down on the table.