Chapter One - A Noble In Need

[Trogdor]

Lady Vanderboren smiles as John kisses her hand, and then moves to greet Knarra, though she politely defers the dwarf's question. "In a moment, my dear, once we've been seated. Best to settle everyone in before we get to business.

Then she turns to face Shumba and gives him a genuine smile as he presents the bird to her. "It's beautiful," she says, taking the cage from the ranger. "And so very thoughtful." She places a hand on his arm for a moment and smiles at him. "I can already see you're a person of hidden depths." She speaks with the bearing of a diplomat, showing no trace in her of any of the prejudice Shumba is used to seeing in Sasserine, especially among the upper classes.

[mackaber]

As it seems he must speak for himself Berek bows humbly to the lady of the house. while he is no man of formalities he knows his manners, at least until he has signed the contract. In a deep and pleasant voice he addresses the lady Vanderbron: "Berek Steinhardt's the name my lady. At your service whatever it need you be doin. "

[Trogdor]

"A pleasure, Mr. Steinhardt," Lavinia replies with a bow of her own. "I appreciate you taking the time to come and hear my offer."

"Now please," she adds, moving towards the table. "Let's start our meal. My cook has a fine clam chowder to start us off, and we don't want to let it get cold." She takes a seat at the head of the table and gestures you all to take the seats on either side.

In time, the soup is served, followed by a finely grilled snapper encrusted in herbs, a salad of local greens and fresh vegetables, and lamb chops topped with an exquisite sauce, served with rice. Throughout it all you enjoy several bottles of wine, a crisp white with the soup and fish, and a full-bodied red with the lamb chops. Both food and wine are better than most of you have seen in some time.

Throughout the meal, Lavinia keeps up a fine conversation, sometimes talking about local politics, sometimes about current events, but always deferring talk of business until the meal is ended.

Finally, as Kora brings in coffee and desert - a custard tart topped with heaps of fresh fruit - Lavinia at last turns to the reason she gathered you here.

OOC

I'll give time for one more round of posts of dinner conversation before I jump to business.

[Vardaen]

Daerith sits leaning back, his weapon belt, and other items are piled up on a nearby chair, neatly taken away by Mrs.Whistlegap at the start of the meal. Here in his friend's home he has no need of blades. He laughs and jokes with the group during the meal, enjoying the fare very much. He talks poltics, and generally brings back the conversation to the action in the arena, bonding with anyone else that enjoys the sport.

"Your house has always had excellent cooks," the Elf eventually comments as he finishes his desert. He can't help but notice that no one else of the family is around however, and finally Daerith comments on the painting above the mantle. "So where is that brother Vanthus of yours? First skipping out on my lessons and now on his sister's dinner party? I was hoping to see him tonight as well." He holds his empty glass out for a refill from Kora, it will be his third glass this evening, not that it will matter much, he's eaten everything put in front of him.

He finds himself whistling some other tune as he waits for a reply.

[MadVlat]

Display

Sorry Mack and Catty. I had typed a huge introductions post for our characters but the site clocked me out and it was lost. I hope they fix the problem soon.

John remains relatively quiet throughout the meal, instead prone to moments of staring at their host. He answers any and all questions and rebutals, but starts none of the conversations himself. Politely he dines passing coy smiles throughout the meal...

[Eanwulf]

Shumba's etiquette? is nothing short of refined as he enjoys the rather sumptuous meal placed before him. The noble savage makes sure to thank Kora for each of the place-settings presented to him and even takes the time to comment about the sheer delectability of every course as well. By the time that desert finally comes around however, the half-orc's stomach has begun to churn violently as it is filled with a rather sizable gas bubble. Fearing the worst, Shumba quickly begins to try his best and stifle one of perhaps the realm's biggest burps ever. In the end, the ranger's efforts prove to be successful but sadly, his rather gluttonous agony is ultimately resolved in the form of a particularly nasty S.B.D. - silent but deadly! Fearing the social repercussions of such an act, Shumba remains quiet and keeps to himself. If however, Daerith or the surrounding patrons seem to notice the affair, the embarrassed half-orc simply replies with a feeble "Sorry mon..."

[Cattywumpus]

Knarra laughs and jokes all through the meal, paying particular attention to the political discussion and complimenting the host on her lovely table, home and the quality of her chef. She does her best to be absolutely charming and glean as much information as she can from the host.

As the tart is brought out Knarra says, "My Lady! Such a fine spead and fine company! It does me good to think of such fine folk such as yourself in this city! A table such as yours is truely Blessed by Berronar."

[Vardaen]

Daerith, sitting right next to Shumba wrinkles his nose, stops whistling, and turns all his attention to the half orc, "Oh god man, was that you?" He is nearly tearing up and makes a motion to clear some unformed tears from his eyes. "Remind me to call on you if I ever need to learn to cast the Stinking Cloud spell!" He laughs, joking with the Half Orc as he waits for Lavina's reply to his previous question.

[mackaber]

While Berek had relished the prospect of the night's feast what is served was clearly not cooked with Dwarven taste buds in mind and wine however good it may be made his stomach churn. As he is none for polite conversation and he is busy enough not making a fool of himself while pretending he is enjoying the food, he keeps quite and waits till the lady gets to business.

[Trogdor]

"I'm afraid Vanthus is away from Sasserine right now," Lavinia says in response to Daerith's question. "I'm not sure when he'll return." She keeps an even look on her face, and talks in an off-hand manner. But you can tell that she's a bit upset by his departure. For a moment she seems as if she might say more, but then Shumba puts an end to any thought of serious conversation for a bit.

"Shall we have our coffee on the courtyard?" Lavinia asks after a moment, studiously ignoring Daerith's comment and the stench filling the room. "It's such a nice evening; such a shame to waste it." She stands and picks up her cup and saucer. "Kora," she calls. "Please set the lanterns out in the courtyard."

A short time later, you're all seated in the courtyard of Vanderboren manor on some stone benches in front of small marble tables, one of which has an intricate marble and iron dragonchess set built into the top. Eternal lanterns light this haven in the middle of Lavinia's home, a courtyard filled with exotic flowers and plants. A small pond dotted with water lilies sits in the center of the courtyard, a gentle stream draining away to the north.

"But I must beg your apology," she says to Knarra. "I must beg all of your apologies," she adds, looking around to them all. "I've avoided your questions until now, I suppose just to have a short time to try and forget my troubles and enjoy a moment's peace." She smiles weakly.

"As some of you may have heard, my parents recently passed away, and I have inherited their estate." She looks quickly over at Daerith, but then moves her eyes away before they can betray any of the emotion behind them. "Along with this fine house, unfortunately, came a fine amount of debt, owed to the Dawn Council,. the harbormaster, and a variety of guildhalls. It seems that my parents, for all their success as adventurers, were not as skilled in finance as I might have hoped. If I'm to get these debts repaid, I'll need to access my family's vault under Castle Teraknian."

"And that's the problem, you see. The vaults are magically locked - keyed to special signet rings. Both my parents had these rings, at least until recently. My mother lost hers a few months ago. She arranged for a replacement, but it won't be ready for another month, far too late for me. That leaves my father's ring. He never wore it - he said he never cared for men wearing jewelry. He kept it hidden somewhere in his ship, the Blue Nixie. The problem there is that the harbormaster has seized the ship until someone pays for the last four months of mooring. I've paid the fines to the man the harbormaster has put in charge of the ship, a brute named Soller Vark. But when I went to claim my ship, Vark's men wouldn't let me on board, claiming I hadn't paid the fines. I spoke to Vark again and he denied ever receiving my payments. My complaints to the harbormaster have fallen on deaf ears - he's a doddering old fool who trusts his men and won't relent."

"Vark and his men are up to something on my ship, I know that. What I need is to find out exactly what they're up to. Unfortunately, Vark isn't the type to react well to diplomacy or logic. I need someone who speaks his language ... which is where you come in. If you can find out what he's using my ship for, or even better, recover the money I paid him, I'll pay each of you 200 gold coins once I've access to my family vault."

Lavinia takes a deep breath and settles back on her bench. "Please tell me that you can help me."