{{What is Heshaar doing?}}<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>The southern entryway to the Jolly Barbazu leads into the main hall: an eighty-foot square room that occupies most of the Inn's ground floor. The room is (or was once) a sight to behold: the floor tiled with polished marble, the high cieling paneled with imported wood, illumination provided by silver sconces and chandeliers containing everburning flames--to name just a few of the expenses taken in decorating the space. On the far northern wall is a grand staircase leading up to the second and third floors; its wooden banisters are carved with bas relief sculptures of dancing fey.This is not just some back-country watering hole; the original builder was clearly aiming to impress a sense of grandeur into the Inn's visitors.<br/><br/>However, it seems that the current owner couldn't care less about the decor. Night after night of hosting drunken, violence-prone mercenaries has taken a severe toll on the hall, and most of it is in a state of total disrepair. The southern door is in two seperate pieces on the front lawn. The floor is littered with fragments of smashed furniture, bloodstains from smashed-in faces, spilled alchohol and other debris. The spaces on the walls which once held framed paintings and tapestries are now bare, and one of the statues has been beheaded.<br/><br/>By the southern wall are three longtables, each with twelve chairs (minus a few that have been smashed or thrown across the room). The PCs are sitting at one of these tables. Another, about twenty feet away, is occupied by a mixed group of carnivorous mammals, all of them male: five gnolls (whose drunken, howling laughter is a large portion of the background noise), a griffonfolk who sits on the floor because no chair will support his bulk, three humans (perhaps tieflings, it's not clear from behind), a grizzlyfolk (who currently has a stuffed penalty of around -8, and is proud of it), and a pair of lynxfolk in plate armor (who look remarkably like the late Eyle, only male). A shivering squirrelgirl sits on the floor next to the table, chained in place by her collar until her turn comes.<br/><br/>The third longtable, which is pushed against the left-hand wall, is occupied by two minotaur.<br/>{{Minotaur are native to the grasslands of the continent, and are a rare sight in the eastern mountains (where the Orev Valley is located). They wear exotic clothing and speak Common with a thick 'foreign' accent. Rihyan, as a westerner himself, is more familiar with them.}}<br/><br/><br/>Spread across the central region of the hall are ten smaller, circular tables. These are occupied by a mix of groups of all different varieties, ranging from the mundane (one table has a group of leather-armored, sword-wearing humans), to the eye-catching (another table has a spidertaur with a busty female elf torso, who at present is busy binding a squirming male elf's limbs with her silk)<br/><br/><br/>The bar is located against the eastern wall. The shelves over it are completely bare; all of the spirits are kept elsewhere.<br/>At one end of the bar is a door leading to the Inn's kitchen and storerooms, at the other end is a door leading outside to the paved pavilion. Both doors are propped open to allow busy imps to fly through them without stopping. The rules of the Inn are posted on a sign over the bar (of course, since this establishment is run by devils, the rules are written in Infernal, in tiny dense print that is nearly impossible to read)<br/><br/>Seated near the center of the bar is an eight-foot-tall fox with brilliant white fur and four tails--a kitsune. Seated to either side of him are a neko girl and a human girl, both of whom seem quite charmed by his company. A little further down the bar sits a jealous-looking neko male, nursing an ale by himself.<br/><br/><br/>Flights of stairs leading to the second and third floor take up most of the northern wall. Here the cieling extends forty feet up, all the way to the roof; there are balconies on the upper floors overlooking the main hall. Sitting on one of the second floor landings is a gaggle of visibly intoxicated bullywugs (frogfolk), croaking merrily. One might think drunken four-foot tall amphibians to be harmless, but the barbed spears stacked against the nearby wall, tips red with recent blood, warn otherwise. The balcony next to this landing, accessible only by passing the bullywugs, is a private curtained-off section.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Yuki raises an eyebrow, and Jess silently hopes to see the mouse get eaten, but otherwise the girls appear uninterested in the Chrrou-Rihyan drama. They can't hear what is being said, so as far as they can tell and care to infer, this mouse is just a control freak who likes to make a fuss about the party's inventory.<br/><br/><br/>"It's crowded tonight." comments Soma. "Lot of new faces, not just you guys."<br/><br/>"It's the Soggies' tournament." says Jess knowingly. She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her ample chest. "Preds are here from across the Free kingdom. Those nagas...they've spent a lot of gold building up hype for it."<br/><br/>"Yeah, its a spectacle. Even those cow guys are here." says Soma, looking over at the pair of minotaur. "...I thought they were herbivores anyway."<br/><br/><br/>Yuki snorts derisively. "Every punk with a big mouth and big ego is here, with their eyes on cashing in that grand prize and 'living the sweet life'."<br/><br/>"Haha, yup, that's me." says Jess, her ears drooping in mild embarrassment to hear herself described. Soma giggles and elbows her friend playfully.<br/><br/><br/>"And its not just gladiators who are coming. They're luring in all of the lowlife that goes with them: spectators, and gamblers..."<br/><br/>Soma senses yet another cynical rant coming from Yuki and loses interest. She amuses herself by pulling her haversack into her lap and digging through one of its side pockets.<br/><br/><br/>*[Yuki uses Sleight of Hand: 1d20(13)+8=21; DC 21 spot check to notice]<br/>The tiefling appears to pull a Jejunian dubloon out of thin air. She moves her fingers in a wave, sending the gold coin rolling across the back of her knuckles.<br/>"...and you can be sure, that most of these tourists will leave this town penniless...If they leave at all, which many of them will not. The Sogluyem aren't generous. If the nagas are spending riches to put on a spectacle, its only because they expect to reap a<span style="font-style: italic">fat</span>profit from all of the new meat it attracts to the town."<br/>Her distrustful gaze is directed up at the second floor balcony, to the private, curtained-off section.<br/><br/>"Yup." says Jess to herself. She shakes her head at the memories of her time in the arena. "It's a nasty business to be in."<br/>"Pay's great though, when you win."<br/><br/><br/><br/>Soma finds what she is looking for: her purple coin purse. She moves a handful of gold and silver coins into her sweater pocket, then stows the purse, re-buckles her haversack and slings it back over her shoulder.<br/>"They don't do tabs here, you gotta pay when they bring it." she explains.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Jess slides a little closer to the Borygan dragonfolk, kindling an interest in him (her interest in Sen was only fleeting). "So what's your story, hun? You look familiar...remind me of a friend of mine, 'cept he's blue."<br/>She admires his muscular form, and notes approvingly that his body has already burned off the bulk of his Heodo prey. Casually, not drawing any attention to the action, she sniffs the air around him. The scent makes her mouth water.<br/>{{one of the downsides of accumulating lots of nutrion is that it improves your flavor >3 }}<br/><br/>"He's here to throw the Nezibolge out of the town." chirps Soma teasingly, before he can answer. "Isn't that right, Geno?"<br/><br/>"Ha!" Jess laughs at the silliness of the idea. When she looks from face to face and realizes that Soma is (at least partly) correct and not just being random, she laughs heartily. "Hahah-ha-haha! Wow. Hahah. Yeah, good luck with that, hun. Nice knowing you."<br/><br/>"You shouldn't keep joking about that." Yuki warns her friends sternly. "If the wrong type heard it, they might not think it's so funny."<br/><br/>"So..." says Jess, looking at the hooded scythe-gal, the big-haired monk, and the others in a new light. "...you're troublemakers, huh." She grins and wags her tail, liking the idea.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"Let's see this meat." barks a voice belonging to the griffonfolk, who has just noticed the sled of hobgoblins. He stands to his full height (tall enough to look the centaur in the eye) and walks over to examine the wares.<br/>"...huh...ehh."<br/>The eagle-headed brute gives Rihyan a sideways stare.<br/>"Give you fifty gold for the five."<br/>He then notices the squeaking mousefolk, and his mouth waters. Rodents are a favorite of his.<br/>"How much for that one?" he points a talon at Chrrou. Nocke crouches and peeps with fright.