Morcant stared down at the vendor, narrowed eyes hidden by his mask. "Isn't that a little high?" he asked, doing his best to keep his disbelief out of his voice. It was a miserable day out, cooler than normal and with a persistent rain that was keeping most citizens away from the market. But the priest had found himself short on candles and lamp oil, so here he was. He wouldn't have minded, except that he was being charged a much higher price than usual by a vendor who was obviously new to the city.
"High? Not at all. It's a dreary day after all, and a person needs to see what their doin'," the man replied, looking smug at the fact that he was cheating a temple priest. Thankfully, Morcant's mask hid the look of contempt on his face as he stared at the vendor in silence.
"You are aware that the price is much lower in the shop a block over?" He had never been one to negotiate, so he was running short on ideas of how to get his own way.
"Is it? Then go there if you're so unhappy." The vendor leaning back and looked at his outfit, already damp from the rain. "Course, you might get those fancy robes of yours muddy if you go over there."
Seeing no other option but to pay the man his ridiculous price, Morcant pulled out his changepurse and began counting out the coins.
Meanwhile, a nearby halfling with short black hair featuring red streaks in it donning a mask, saw this as a great opportunity to get some coin and other valuables for the guild and herself. When the vendor wasn't looking and neither was the priest guy who was arguing with the merchant about an unfair price, Ruby snatched the chance before it could slip through her fingers.
Quickly sneaking over to the locked chest behind the vendor but off to the side a bit, Ruby undid the lock and swiftly took what she found inside. The halfling hadn't even needed to bring out her lock picks as the lock was a pretty measly thing anyway. A fledgling lock picker could even open that lock, for goodness sakes!
She darted off after quietly closing the lid, and fled into the sewers through the Warrens for an easy route back to the Den HQ. Once there, she plopped her prizes down on a table for inspection. A bag of gold coins in which she counted out 100 pieces of, and two gems, a fire opal and a malachite. She tucked away the coins back into her knapsack, and decided while the gems were pretty, they were to go in The Stash, as part of her guild dues all Soot Wolves had to pay.
Ruby had already done a couple of other small theft jobs, one where she had acquired from a passing caravan some silver coins when none of them were looking, from a sack lying within easy reach. The second task involved a few of the other Soot Wolves where Ruby had helped them to break into a safe in a nearby home. That one, while somewhat disappointing in what they found, still yielded some goodies to boot which they divided up amongst themselves.
After visiting the supply depot to deposit the gems and taking off the mask she wore, Ruby then headed off to the bar to go get herself a drink because man, was she thirsty! Thieving after all was a thirsty job! She had a certain hankering for some whiskey and with that in mind off she went, whistling a cheerful tune on the way there.
Lorin heard before she saw her. Whistling a bright tune, the elf's keen ears picked up the noise a block away. Unlike many elves, Lorin would not live thousands, or even hundreds, of years. Her lifespan was short compared to other elves. She would only live about as long as a human did, maybe five or ten years longer. The elf was leaning in the doorway of the tavern that the halfling, which was now in sight, seemed to be heading for. She brushed a errant strand of black hair behind a pointed ear as the halfling approached.
"Goodday, dear halfing!" Lorin called cheerily, crossing her arms over her chest. "Have you been busy lately?" Lorin dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper as the halfling got closer.
"Stealing, perhaps?" The elf chuckled. "I saw that priest and vendor. You took advantage of their argument! How unsportsmanlike! I would have done the same myself."
Ruby stopped at the door to the tavern, because, well, there was an elf blocking the way. Long black hair in a ponytail with green skin and pointed ears were the first things the halfling noticed about the woman before her.
"Oh, hi there!" Ruby replied chirpily. At the female elf's comment, she grinned and said, "It's my specialty! Finding goodies and stuff to fill the pockets with that is!"
Taking a better look at the elf, Ruby thought maybe she had seen this particular elf around somewhere before. "Say...do I know you from somewhere? You look a tad familiar..."
"Familiar?" Lorin asked as the halfling stopped in front of her, then the elf nodded. "Ah, yes, you might. I do work for the Soot Wolves on occasion and I've gone to some of their meetings."
Lorin smiled and stepped from in front of the doorway, motioning towards the door gallantly. "You were going into this tavern, I believe? Don't let me stop you, no one can ever accuse me of keeping someone from their drink" Lorin winked. "but do you mind if I join you?"
"Sure you can join me! I don't mind at all!" Ruby proceeded to walk into the tavern, her short stature only barely coming up to the myriad of tables placed in the main room of the drinking house, and even more evident was the fact that she was way shorter than the counter at the front of the bar.
Hopping onto a nearby stool, she got the bartender's attention and told him what she wanted to drink. "A strong whiskey for me, please!" Ruby winked at the elf and said, "Their whiskey here is to die for! I can't get enough of it sometimes!"
She paid for the drink with the newly gained coin she had retrieved from the merchant, putting down a gold coin on the counter top. "That's also to help pay for a drink for my new found friend here! What can I say, I'm feeling mighty generous today." Crossing her legs, Ruby looked at the elf next to her. "So, the same guild, huh? What's your name? I don't believe I ever caught it before. My name's Ruby! Like the gem, tee hee!"
Lorin followed the halfling into the tavern and walked up to the counter with her, though she was tall enough to see over the bar without a stool. "The name's Lorin, Lorin Silverith," the elf said. "And thanks for the coin, though you didn't have to."
Lorin took another coin from her pouch and put it on the counter for the bartender. "I'll have the same as Ruby, if the whiskey's as good as she says then I'm looking forward to it!"
A moment later the barkeep came with their drinks and Lorin took hers. She took a sip and smiled. "This is good!" She winked at the halfling. "You have good taste! Are you in Arca because of the Wolves? Or did you join the Wolves because you live in Arca?"
"Sure thing!" In response to Lorin's thank you for the coin. "My pleasure!"
Ruby also took a drink from her own whiskey, then another longer sip before setting it down. "Yep, just as good as I remember!" Swiveling around on the stool to face the elf, the halfling answered her question. "I've been a member for two years now. I used to live in a village in Ravensway before I came here. Quickly joined when word reached my ears as I couldn't pass up the chance to practice my talents more! After all, you either use 'em or lose 'em as they say. Can't have that, nope!" Ruby giggled and took another swig. "Good stuff!"
Looking over to Lorin, Ruby asked her a question of her own. "What about you? What's your story?"
Lorin smiled and took a long drink from her mug. "My parents weren't the kind of people who should have become parents," she said. "My earliest memories are of the workhouse in which they dropped me off into when I was born. Working there was horrid, that's why when I was six, I ran away. I started to steal to get money and food and other necessities, then I became really good at it, and people started to hire me. Then I got involved with the Soot Wolves at twelve. I'm not technically a member, but I do work for them every so often. When I'm not on a job for the Wolves or some other thieves guild, I work on my own."
She took another sip of whisky. "I've never had a real home, but that's fine with me. Sleeping in alleys and trees and on the tops of buildings is fine with me!"
"That's an interesting tale there. Kinda sad, but hey it worked out for the better, right?"
Ruby took another long swig of her alcohol and then grinned playfully. "Say, I've got an idea. Since this whiskey is so good, how about we each place bets on how much we think we can drink. Sound nifty?"
Swinging her legs back and forth on the stool, she tucked a strand of short black hair streaked with red behind one ear and looked at Lorin. "Come on, it'll be fun! I bet ten gold to start off."
Lorin grinned and slapped a hand on the table. "You're on." She pulled some coins from a pouch on her belt. "I'll start with twelve."
Then she tipped back her mug and downed the rest of her drink. "Do you think you can out-drink me?" she asked playfully. Then she ordered another mug.
Ruby giggled and tossed back the rest of her own drink before ordering another. "Confident, aren't we?" she teased. "I like that."
And then she began chugging down her second beverage. This was gonna be fun.
Lorin knew that most halflings could hold a considerable amount of alcohol, and actually doubted that she, Lorin, would win. But hey, it would be fun!
She picked up her second mug and drank it down.
Ruby finished her second drink and then ordered a third and a fourth! Gulping down the liquid, Ruby wiped a hand over her chin and grinned cheekily at the other thief. "Having fun?"
And she wasn't even feeling tipsy yet! So let the drinks continue...
Lorin finished her drink and ordered three more. "Having fun?" Lorin asked, laughing. "Am I!" After the fifth, she was feeling a little light-headed, but she wasn't going to let that stop her!
She ordered another.
Chug chug chugs could be heard as the halfling ordered four more drinks to oust Lorin! After finishing those, NOW she was feeling tipsy. But only a little. And so Ruby asked the bartender for another, and he responded by merely rolling his eyes but did as she asked.
"To the Soot Wolves!" Ruby raised her cup and drunk it down in one go as more chugging was heard. Hic! "Good drinks, yes?"
That would make the whiskey count at 9 for Ruby now. Still she wasn't done yet.
"More frisky! I mean whiskey!" she giggled. Another mug was placed in front of her.
Lorin ordered three more and chugged them down. She was feeling a little sick, but hey! She was having a blast! She ordered three more, taking the count to eleven. She wasn't even feeling sick anymore! She laughed and fell sideways off of her stool. She rolled on the wooden floor, laughing. She staggered to her feet and bought another.
"Twelvesh!" she cried, gulping it down. "Thish ish fun!" As soon as she finished she plonked the mug down on the counter, swayed a bit, giggling, and then she passed out, falling back to the floor, snoring loudly.
Ordering five more drinks, Ruby chugged each of them down one by one, feeling more light-headed as she went, but not as much as Lorin did. Giggling, she ordered another and began to drink that down too bringing the total count to 15 now. Finishing it off, Ruby's thoughts were a bit muddled and her words slurrish as she stated loudly, "Anuth'uh un fer da rod!"
On her sixteenth drink, the halfling gulped that down as well. Just as she was finishing, that was when Lorin fell down on the floor now in snooze land. "I win!" Grinning madly, Ruby swayed on her feet as she stood up.
Lorin blinked, and the world spinned around her, there were, like, six of everything! She looked to the side and found she was lying on the ground. She got to her feet, very, veeery slowly, grabbing the bar stools and bar to help her up. She wheeled in a circle and almost fell again before gripping the edge of the bar to stay on her feet.
"You won! I guesh you gets my money!" she slurred, stumbling and sitting onto a bar stool, still holding the edge of the bar to stay upright. She shakily slid her coins over to Ruby. "I can't remember the lasht time I wush thish drunk!"
Ruby sat down again in her seat, and giggled some more. "Yes, I wins! Hic!"
She grabbed the coins Lorin slid over and pocketed them into her coin pouch, then grinned a lopsided smile at the elf. "We should totally do this hic! again sometime! Hic!" And kept on giggling as she swung her legs on the stool.
"F-for sure! HIC!" Lorin giggled, then she called over the barkeep. "D-do you have, hic, any roomsh? I don't, hic, think I can go anywheresh tonight! HIC!"
The bartender rolled his eyes at her but nodded. "We do, rooms three and four are open."
"Thanksh, hic!" Lorin said, reaching into her pouch and attempting to take out some coins, but her fingers were so shaky that it took her some time to extract the money and give it to the barkeep. "Here you, hic, go, mate!" she said, getting to her feet, reeling around a bit before gripping a stool again to regain her balance.
"Thanksh barkeep!" Ruby in turn got out her own coins and put them on the counter, after which she fell off the stool dizzily and landed on her butt. "Owwee, that hurteth!" the halfling got up and swayed a little before grabbing her bag and money pouch, sticking the pouch inside her knapsack before giving Lorin a wink.
"Sweet dreamsh elfy! Don't get an overhang! I mean, hangover! Yeah, that's it!" Giggling again, she headed for the stairs that led to the upper rooms, tripping over her own two feet once or twice before she got there. "Night everyone!"
And the patrons that were there grumbled their response before turning back to their drinks. The barkeep simply shook his head and made to wipe down the counter the two were sitting at previously.
"Thanksh, Ruby," Lorin staggered up the stairs and into the room she had rented. She flopped down on the bed and was asleep in seconds.
The next morning when she woke, the first thing she did was puke off the side of the bed.
Ruby was also out like a light as soon as she entered her own room, a bit of drool rolling down her chin as she slept. And slept. And slept. In fact by the time she woke up, it was late afternoon and by the dilly whoppers did she have a hangover!
''Ugh." the halfling grunted in displeasure. But at least she didn't lose her cookies! So that was something! As the bright afternoon light shone on her face from the nearby window, she couldn't help but grab her head in pain. But at least the day before had been a good one! And many more to come just like that, she was sure.
((We can end the thread here if you like, as it is at a good stopping point. Or we could continue with it.))
(OOC: I say finish. ;)
((Alright then, we'll call it done, tie it up with a nice little bow. :D))