Kartakass : Chapter Five

[steveflam]

The man listens intently to Draven. He accepts the gold coin with a straight face. THe impression you get is that he gets bribed very often or was perhaps expecting such a visit from you. Looking around he says nothing, then leans in and whispers to Draven. " I can tell you right now the names mean nothing. The master Meistersinger left word that someone might be asking about some foreigners. We don't note or record visitors sir. I suggest you do as Mr Lukas said and go visit Mr Calrogan in town. You'll find him near the edge of Harmonia in a modest dwelling. You won't miss it for the huge tree in front of it, sir. I'm sorry that is all I can help you with." He leans back. A man and woman approach the desk. "Pardon me" the man says as he tries to get to the desk with the woman.

Lucius can hear his thoughts, the man first "I can't believe she said yes.......I hope noone finds out about this back in Lamordia... The woman's thoughts remain hidden.

[lostboy]

"Well it would seem our path is clear then!" Draven says with a slightly raised eyebrow at the clerks seemingly fathomless knowledge of them and their predicament.

A man and woman approach the desk. "Pardon me" the man says as he tries to get to the desk with the woman.

"Oh by all means, forgive my rudeness sir, milady." He says with a short nod to both. Eyeing them up he adds "Fellow travellers perhaps? May I say that this Inn offers an excellent line in food and accommodations, and the staff are most efficient and knowledgable, sometimes uncannily so." The last uttered slightly lower but still deliberatley well wtihin the clerks earshot.

[Ail]

Lucius disguises his worries, and instead walks into the common room, looking around and counting the people present. He kept his concentration, as he tried to count the minds he felt, and at the same time looked around for someone with a strange impression, almost sniffing the air as the clerk had been.

He couldn't tell the others just yet, but he was growing more and more concerned with the people around him.

[steveflam]

As Lucius looks around he gathers the thoughts of several of the patrons, nothing really interesting. He does notice that one of the bellhops does have the same maneurism as the desk clerk. And as with the desk clerk, he can't read his thoughts.

The woman with the man at the desk seems to have the same sniffles as the desk clerk. She looks at Draven and steps back a little almost as if afraid of him. She stumbles into the man she is with. "Hans, let's go to the room, I feel faint" as she puts her hand to her forehead. Then man turns from paying the clerk "Yes Sophia, are you allright? You look faint."

"No, no I'm fine. Let's just get to our room, shall we?"

The man wraps his arm around the woman and they head upstairs. Thoughts from the man It might be just a cold she has. That's why she has those sniffles and feels faint"

For the next few minutes Lucius remains in the common room, trying to blend in, so to speak. He finds a seat and as the minutes pass, he comes to realise two things. The first thing is that most travellers or foreigners, well their thoughts can be read with ease. The second thing he realises is that he can't read the Inn staff's minds. Most if not all have the same manuerisms, and sem to keep away from Draven.

[lostboy]

Draven shrugs as the couple head off. "Something I said?" he asks with a mock look of affront at the clerk.

"Nevermind, well perhaps we should be on our way to see this Mr Caldrogan, the acquiantaince of our fine Meistersinger then. Thankyou for your aid my good man." With that Draven extends a hand across the desk in an offer of a shake.

[steveflam]

The man appears to be afraid to even touch Draven but does shake his hand. He smiles halfheartedly and as soon as the next client approaches the desk, he puts his full concentration on the man.

[lostboy]

With a thoughtful look at the other man's discomfort, well if that didnt provoke any interesting thoughts then I dont know what will... he muses. Considering his job done , Draven turns from the desk and looks for Lucius.

Finding him in the common room he drops into the seat next to him, keeping silent until the spell has finsihed.

[Ail]

Lucius finishes his spell as soon as he reaches his conclusion about the guests. He sits for a few moments almost absent-mindedly until Draven sits in front of him.

Looking at his friend with a weary look, he says, softly

"We should be very careful here. And most of all, we should not attract attention. I've seen funny things here, and I want to remain as indistinguishable from everybody else as possible. Perhaps we should wait for the others and move about our business. This inn may turn dangerous soon enough."

Meanwhile, he looks around, trying to perceive where William is.

"Oh, and thank you, Alex. You were fantastic back there."

[steveflam]

Tarlyn and Jacob emerge from the dining room. Spying Lucius and Draven, they head for the two men. Tarlyn looks meaningfully at both and looks upstairs then back at the two. "Shall we reconvene in a room upstairs? I'd like to know what you've learned, Lucius." Jacob nods and both elves turn and head for the stairs and walk up.

[Ail]

Lucius follows them upstairs, and the group gathers in one of the rooms.

"I'm sure we can tell Van and Cornelius later. Better let them work for the day."

Barely waiting for a nodding of the others, he continued.

"I am worried. Very worried. Not by the thoughts I caught, but because of those I DIDN'T catch. The clerk was the first clue: I could see he sensed something, he knew someone was invading him and I could easily perceive he blocked his mind. But I'm not as sure towards the others. I studied the common room and I could see some people tipped off by my spell: none of them were detectable by me. What is worse, none of the staff were!

Well, I never had problems with this spell back at the university. I usually could probe the minds of others, when it was needed. Occasionally, there was someone that could defend himself, but I always felt a kind of brief mind-struggle. And that is the point here: today I didn't. Some of those in the staff simply shrugged the spell off, barely noticing something was going on.

I don't know, but I think these people are something more than just men and women...."

He looked at the others inquisitively, and then added as an afterthought

"Oh, and the pair that arrived while Alex talked with the clerk? The woman didn't register either. The man is sure going to have a bad surprise when he tries to bed her..."

[lostboy]

Draven crouches in the corner of the room listneing, yet his attention keeps wandering back to the pouch on his belt. Not yet! he chastises himself, then tries harder to focus on Lucius' words.

After listenign for amoment he adds "I cannot be certain but I got the distinct impression that several people were somewhat hesitant to come near me, and the reaction of the clerk when I shook his hand was most intriguing. He had the look of a man gagging on bitter medicine."

"I can understand why they may react like that" he continues with a shudder. "But how could they know?"

[steveflam]

Tarlyn listens to both Ail and Draven. It was very disturbing that the Inn staff couldn't be detected and that they seemed to be afraid of Alexander. This was however the land of were creatures so perhaps that might be an explanation. He spoke "Well that is rather bad news for your spell, friend Lucius. It does tell us as you said, let's be very careful in the Inn from now on. I don't want us to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves. When Van and Cornelius are done, we shall talk some more about it with them. What do you think we should do in the meantime? And why did they tend to avoid Alexander" Tarlyn asks this to the gathered group.


Jacob had trepidations about the results as well. "If Lucius spell didn't work it's probable these people are somewhat resistant to magics. That is not a good sign. As Tarlyn says we should be very careful from this point on. As to why they have an aversion to Alexander, maybe they can sense something powerfully evil within him. Other than that your guess is as good as mine. We should wait for the others to decide what should be done. If any of us do go out, please be accompanied by at least a party member or two for that matter."

[Ail]

"Funny you mention that, JAcob. I had thought that Draven had caught the blame of the spell simply because he was the one talking, but of course that doesn't make sense. Must be all the tension that made me think like this.

Perhaps somehow these people can sense the demon inside, and while that may yet protect us, that they should be able to do it it is never a good sign. Well, I'm willing to disappear as soon as possible."

[BigBadQDaddy]

"Funny you mention that, JAcob. I had thought that Draven had caught the blame of the spell simply because he was the one talking, but of course that doesn't make sense. Must be all the tension that made me think like this.

Perhaps somehow these people can sense the demon inside, and while that may yet protect us, that they should be able to do it it is never a good sign. Well, I'm willing to disappear as soon as possible."

William lips draw in a straight line as his brow furrows. Shifting his weight slightly and placing his hands on his hips, he lets loose a heavy exhale. "Just like our rotten luck. The first town with a decent inn keeper in our travels and all signs say something is wrong with the bloke." He shakes his head.
"Aye, I agree. We should leave. And the sooner the better."

[steveflam]

The evening arrives. The party is well rested except for Van and Cornelius of course. Once Van and Cornelius are explained what transpired during their studying, the party heads down for the dining room. There seems to be something filtering in the air, something almost electric?? You can't quite put your finger on it. The patrons of the Inn don't pay you much bother as you walk through the common room and head for the dining room. They nod at you in a friendly manner as you pass by. They seem more interested by the two elves than with you. The people working at the Inn tend to ignore you through the common room and as you enter the dining room the smells of the food assail you. It's not for anything that the Old Kartakan Inn is renowned for it's hospitality as well as it's food. The food especially. It assaults your noses as you are quickly seated.

The room seems quite occupied and as you look around, most patrons are young men. The remainder are couples whom you deem patrons of the Inn. The young men are definitely natives and are already loud and boisterous. A waiter approaches your table "Would you like to see a menu?" The man sniffles then leans in "Might I suggest a fine pint of Meekelbrau for you gentlemen to start the evening off?" Many of the young men stop for a moment to look at your table and whisper amongst themselves before continuing their loud and raucous activities.