Rolling the Dice Against a Stacked Deck

[Zero]

[Not sure if you saw my return thread, but I'm posting again. If you want to drop this thread I understand and you can just not reply anymore.]

"Yep, I figure if I get a few more years of experience under my belt I can build up enough of a reputation to gain an audience with the Queen. I don't know if all bards have that kinda goal, but I think it would be a pretty big achievement." Not every bard could brag that they got to perform for royalty, and Elysia definitely liked the idea of all kinds of bragging rights.

[DaGlobster]

"Played for any noble courts?" came his next question, and by this point he'd turned to face the small, energetic woman, taking a moment to study her with a quick scan of his eyes.

Gods above, she really was small! And cute, too...

"I wouldn't be surprised, you look like you've been all over the place," he said, noting her interesting fashion sense with a point of his finger.

[Zero]

"I've played for some nobility, yeah. Just a couple of the less grand parties, mind you, but it was still pretty great." Talking about what she did, it was pretty clear how passionate Elysia was about her performances by the way her eyes lit up and the excited tilt to her voice.

"I have been all over Serendipity, and some of Adela too. I want to see and perform everywhere someday." An ambitious goal, but she was certainly driven to try.

[DaGlobster]

"It's a pretty world out there. Thanatos, Essyrn, I've been around," Herrick said.

"Not a stranger to the courts of nobles either," he added, although the left out the part where he was in the houses of nobles because he was robbing them.

He smiled, and leaned on the counter before.

"I've been inside the Shah's palace."

[Zero]

Well that got her attention.

"The Shah's palace? No way! Seriously? What was it like?" Elysia leaned towards him, stormy eyes wide and absolutely enthralled. Her ultimate goal was to perform for the Queen herself, but performing in the palace of foreign royalty would also give her major bragging rights.

"You're not lying? Not just trying to impress a pretty girl?" It wouldn't be the first time she'd listened enraptured to a tall tale.

[DaGlobster]

"Oh, I may be trying to impress a pretty girl, but I speak the truth," Herrick said, giving her a grin.

"The stones are polished. Marble columns, velvet tapestries. All the ceilings were so tall and domed, it took my breath away to stand there," Herrick said.

"When I was there, the Shah was a big fan of art, so there's statues and paintings everywhere, even in the bathing hall and the stables. The wealth was staggering."

[Zero]

Elysia flashed her own grin at Herrick, for his honesty.

"That sounds amazing, and beautiful. I'd like to see it one day," Elysia sighed wistfully.

[DaGlobster]

"I wouldn't mind going back. Last time I was there, I was in a bit of a rush," he admitted, stroking the back of his head.

"And the city around it's interesting too. I spent more time than I want to admit in hookah dens."

[Zero]

"Oh yeah? I've heard tons of stories about Essyrn. I really want to go there, but I have a feeling I'd burn quite a lot." Elysia gestured to her very fair complexion.

"What are the hookah dens like?"

[DaGlobster]

"Well, it's the same concept as a tavern," Herrick said, and he scooted his seat over closer to hers and put his back against the bar, looking out across the inn.

"They keep 'em dimmer, and instead of a bar they have lots of tables with plenty of seating space. The hookahs are these tall pipes on the table that have smaller pipes connected by tubes," he explained, and took a deep drink of his stout.

They didn't water it down here, so he could feel a buzz coming on.

"People share tables or groups take 'em up and they pay for the tobacco or other stuff to put in the pipe and smoke. Lotta those places also got booze and food," he said.

He looked over to Elysia.

[Zero]

Elysia listened and sipped her drink while he explained the hookah dens.

"Sounds like an experience, when I manage to get to Essyrn I'll have to try one out, just so I can say that I have been to one," Elysia smirked, looking over at him as the alcohol warmed her pleasantly.

"I like doing things just so I have a new interesting story to tell."

[DaGlobster]

"Really now?" Herrick said, and he turned back to her.

"I've just recently been there a couple weeks ago. If you want to try smoking something I brought some of that stuff back, but it's not tobacco," Herrick said, setting a couple of golden coins on the counter to get a refill on his drink.

"Apothecary who sold it to me says it's an herb."

[Zero]

"Oh yeah, you can't be a good bard without a sense of adventure," Elysia chuckled, still drinking slowly from her first drink. She wasn't a big person, so it didn't take a lot before she started feeling it.

"I'll try anything once, if you're sure you want to share some of this herb of yours. What's it supposed to do that's different from tobacco? There's got to be a reason people smoke it," she hummed, setting down her mostly empty drink.

[DaGlobster]

"It's not that crazy of a thing, the Essyrnis grow it locally," Herrick said, receiving his next drink and downing a sip. Herrick had the opposite problem, he was a big man with a strong liver, and thus needed more than her to start feeling right.

"But if you smoke it, you'll feel like you're drunk. I had some over there and liked it so much I bought enough to bring back. He even sold me some dried tobacco leaves to roll it up in," he explained, and he studied her.

"So we could do that, if you're feeling adventurous," he added with a teasing sort of grin.

[Zero]

"Makes you feel drunk?" Elysia questioned, quirking a brow as she glanced at her drink.

"So if one drink at the bar makes me start feeling warm and fuzzy, then we go smoke some of this herb of yours, I might be more than a bit tipsy," she mused softly, considering.

"I'm curious enough to try it, but I'm not sure I want to just be wasted with no assurances that I won't be passed out on the street later, you know?" Elysia gave him a questioning look.

[DaGlobster]

"I give you my word as a gentleman that if you pass out, I'll put you in a room at this very inn," Herrick said.

"I'll pay for your breakfast and everything. It's the least I could do after breaking up your previous gig."

[Zero]

"Well aren't you generous?" Elysia said with a soft laugh at the offer.

"I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. My brothers think as a young woman traveling alone I shouldn't be so trusting of strangers, but let's have an adventure," she smirked before picking up her cup and finishing the last of her drink.

[DaGlobster]

"To adventure," he said simply and he guzzled a good bit of his new drink. Giving his head a little shake, he shot her a smile and left some more coins on the bar to pay for their drinks.

"Funny enough, all my things're in the place we skipped out of," Herrick said.

"So you can grab your stuff while we're there."

[Zero]

"Oh yeah? Well hopefully things have settled down over there, and hopefully my stuff is still there. I wouldn't be surprised if it was stolen while we were gone, though." Elysia hopped off her stool with a sigh.

"Are we going to smoke over there? Seems odd you'd promise to put me up here if I pass out over there. Seems like just leaving me over there would be easier." Or smoking here.

[DaGlobster]

"It's not that far of a walk," Herrick shrugged.

"It's not like I was planning to go here anyways, either. This is just the first inn that came to mind when the first one got a little too heated for me," he added. He finished his drink and stepped off his stool. He walked ahead of her, glancing back.

Now that she saw him from behind, she'd notice that he wore a rather large pistol on his rear-hip. The barrel was the size of a forearm! Just as quickly as she'd seen it, he turned about, walking backwards out of the inn as he spoke to her.

"We could come back here and smoke up one of the nice rooms. I think that'd be fun," he said with a cheesy grin."