Without a hint of hesitation Pias slammed the door shut as soon as everyone was safely inside.  The trio of deadbolts were swiftly locked followed by the wooden beam being settled back into place.  The young weasel faced gypsy let out a sigh of relief as he leaned against the door for a moment and caught his breath.  With a look of bewilderment to his features his gaze followed the movements of Esperanza and Katya as they pair entered the establishment and went about their business.  Whatever thoughts were floating around in Pias's head he made no mention of them as he moved to grab the coins with his greedy little hands and stuff them into the pocket of his pants.<br/><br/>Arik remained seemingly disinterested in anything and everything as he continued to dutifully clean goblet after goblet to a perfectly polished shine.  Though the barkeep must of noticed Esperanza approaching as he assembled a set of four spotless goblets atop the bar.  The thin and wiry barkeep with sunken eyes mumbled as he turned around and bent over "We only sell bottles."  Shaky fingers parted a dingy red curtain that hid an arrangement of wine bottles.  As she inquired about food and a room for the night Arik rose back up and set a dusty bottle of red wine down next to the glasses.  He spoke in that same muted tone as he avoided making eye contact with her.  "Beef stew and bread, we got one room, two beds.  Two gold for the wine, one for the stew, and five for the room."  Arik spun back around and headed through an opening that led into a darkened kitchen where the light from a few candles danced about.  From the kitchen his voice carried softly through the inn.  "I'll be back with your food."<br/><br/>"Be glad we let ya in lass, just keep ya voices down and don't make no ruckus."  Pias gave Katya an annoyed glance as he double checked the locks on the door before peering out of the spy hole briefly.  He slid it shut, adding before returning to his mates at the table.  "Nay, we don't have outsiders popping in every night."  As Pias joined the rest of the gypsies at the table a few of them gave the young man their own stern and annoyed looks as their game resumed.  Silently cards were dealt, without a word bets and raises were made, and voicelessly pots were collected and ante's for the next round slid into the middle of the table.  Just the sound of the cards being shuffled for the next round joined the modest crackling of a few logs that burned in the hearth.<br/><br/>The lone figure off in the shadows of the corner of the inn sipped away at his glass of red wine.  It was all to obvious that the plump and well dressed man was fully intoxicated as he swayed side to side despite being more or less firmly seated.  The sound of an occasional hiccupped snort fell from his fat lips.  Barely visible in the dim light to his side was a decorative scabbard for some short blade that was leaned up along the wall.<br/><br/>Abruptly his slurred voice broke the relative silence as he looked towards the group.  "Hey, you there.  Did my father, did my father send for you?"  He attempted to stand as best as he could, knees wobbling beneath him as he one hand fumbled to keep grasp of the table while he balanced his glass of wine in the other.  "I'm, I'm Ismark, the Burgomaster's son, my father went to find help, did you see my father?"  As he stood the faint lights in the tavern hall washed over him highlighting his disheveled appearance and the wine stains upon the white of his shirt.<br/><br/>Not even heeding any answers to his question he staggered towards the bar where Esperanza was waiting for the barkeep to return with her stew.  As he drew closer his blood shot and watery eyes hovered on the young lady's face and in an effort to clear his vision he blinked and hardened his stare upon her.  "You, you look just like, just like Ireena, except your hair's to dark to be."  Some sort of realization dawned on the drunkards face as he looked towards Katya and then back to Esperanza.  "You, your her daughters."  His forward progress awkwardly halted as his hip planted against the bar and he started to shuffle clumsily backwards away from her as if she had the plague.  His head shook feverishly from side to side as he mumbled and muttered in disbelief.  "No, no no no no, go away, you shouldn't be here, it's not safe, she sent you away, no."  His feet stumbled over one another nearly as much as his words did and with a thud the plump son of the Burgomaster fell onto the cheeks of his rounded ass.  Inexplicably he managed to spill only a few drops of his ruby colored beverage as it waved about in his wobbling hand.  "He'll come for you, just like your mother."<br/><br/>As suddenly as Ismark had fallen onto his rear, two of the gypsies rose up from the table with a look of disgust etched across their mustached faces.  "Just leave him be."  The older of the two spoke up with a threatening glance towards Xavier and then Bucren.  "He's a drunkard who doesn't know what he's talking about and the last thing we need is him getting out of hand."  The pair of gypsy's cut a business like path across the tavern floor towards Ismark who by now had fallen onto his back.  His precious glass of wine had faltered from his grasping hand, leaving the watered down red liquid to soak into the floorboards.  "You want to talk to him, talk to him in the morning when he's sobered up."  He spoke as if it was an order while the other two gypsies who remained at the table found their hands falling back towards the handles of their weapons once more.<br/><br/>As the pair weaved their way towards Ismark to gather him up and escort him up the flight of stairs towards his room, the barkeep Arik returned from the darkness of the kitchen and set a wooden bowl, spoon, and a half a loaf of dried up looking bread down in front of Esperanza.  "Eight gold."  He whispered, barely paying attention to the scene as he set a simple brass key down next to the stew.  "Room three."