An Overture (Part 16)

You've identified the owner of the home, Fullbrightsmile, as that most terrifying of all the monster you've ever faced: a dentist.

As Tonyon and the rest of you knock upon the door to his office, being shown there by his the dentist's servant, you hear a voice telling you, "Another visitor! Come in and stay a while!"

Hopefully not forever, though.

Skribbles walks through the halls, her eyes taking in everything before shaking her head, "This place is evil. I can smell it through the very fabric hanging from the walls."

Auranar glances around at the walls with mild concern for the decor. She however, has clearly not caught on that the man is a dentist. Either that or she's not intimidated by them. She shakes her head somewhat and follows along through following Tonyon.

"...It looks like fun to me," Nasrin replies, shrugging slightly as she joins Skribbles in surveying the halls. "The world needs a little evil once in awhile. Otherwise, good folk won't have much to punch, and then there won't need to be wars, and THEN where would we be? Bored. And broke."

You're shown into Fullbrightsmile's study and there, in fact, is a cheerful looking gnome sitting at a writing desk. He half turns to face you and holds up a bottle of wine, pouring it into a handful of cups for all of you. His servant, and he, approach to hand it over to you. He's inspecting your mouths. Of course he is.

Tonyon takes one and has a drink.

Skribbles sighs internally as it's another Gnome...it's always Gnome's that are inherently evil. She takes the offered cup of wine and looks at it, giving it a sniff, and then goes back to holding it. She's not a wine drinker, but it's impolite to toss it away. She smiles widely showing off bright, sharp teeth seeing as he's looking.

Auranar frowns at Fullbrightsmile, not even accepting the wine from his servant. Instead she elbows Tonyon and gives him a rather pointed look that says 'say something you're in charge'. Then settles back to wait for the man to actually do what he's supposed to do here.

Nasrin accepts the cup she's been offered, for her part, and then proceeds to throw it back in a single gulp. Shethen glances both left and right before snagging Auranar's cup as well. With that dispatched, she reaches for Skribbles before asking quietly, "...Are you going to drink that?" A brief pause follows. "Their wine is delicious."

Nasrin, for her part, actually has exceptional teeth.

"My! WHat lovely teeth you all have. It must be all the healing tonics you people drink when you're injured," muses Fullbrightsmile. "I wonder if I could do a larger survey on the dental health of the adventuring community in Alexandria.. Ahem. So I am given to understand that young master wishes a patron for the evening so that he might perform?"

Tonyon pauses, glancing at the others, before he nods. Then he drains the rest of the wine. All of it. "Yes," he finally says after a moment. "I am hoping to perform. These kind souls have helped me with a quest and we brought this wine, in turn."

"It *is* rather tasty," agrees Fullbrightsmile.

Skribbles looks at Nasrin and then looks at the wine, raising a brow, "Do I look like a wine drinker to you? It's all yours." She hands it over to the woman and turns to look at Tonyon as he finally speaks up, not saying anything to add to the bards words.

Edinaz has left.

Auranar for her part silently backs Tonyon up, quietly watching Fullbrightsmile. And now Nasrin. The woman's dark eyes take the other bodyguard in and there might have been a soft disapproving sigh when her wine was drunk down so uncerimoniously. But she didn't say anything.

Three wines down Nasrin offers Auranar another of those shrugs before turning to Fullbrightsmile. She squints slightly leaning forward as she turns her gaze downward to better look at the older gnome. "He's reallyy quite good," the redhead opines. "Or, err, we've heard he was really good- that is he said... Anyway." The Korite clears her throat uncomfortably. "He deserves a shot at doing this. You should help him."

"Yes, well! Before I put my name to it, I'd like to hear you perform, Tonyon. What do you say?"

MOMENT OF TRUTH.

Tonyon lets out a sigh and then nods, "Well... that's a sensible request. Why don't we see what we can do?" He glances towards the others, hoping for encouraging smiles. He may even get them.

He sets down at one of the chairs in the study, pulls his lute out and gives it a strum. Then he starts to play.

He's not /bad/. A journeyman at the lute, to be sure. He's had some training, and the tune is jaunty enough, but it's not the kind of skillful playing you'd like from a bard just yet. Then he starts to sing.

...well... he's actually kinda good there! Not the good that comes from abundant natural talent. The kind of good that comes from someone *trying really hard* to overcome a lack of natural talent. There's no ease here. There's just... determination. This is what he wants to do. The song is a recognizable tune about the Phalanx Falcis, the one-time heroes who struck down the Witch Queen of Alexandria decades ago.

Skribbles listens to the song, nodding her head back and forth to the beat but, not knowing the words, she doesn't sing or hum along. She looks around for the beer, but as the dentist is pure evil, she's sure she can't find any. She's sure that Reos can't see her in this den of teeth, but he is powerful.

Auranar watches Tonyon as he plays, having some appreciation for his effort if not particularly for his skill. Some people were born with skill but no drive, and she knew from experience that it was /drive/ that got you where you wanted to go in the end. Because all the skill in the world didn't do you a lick of good if you didn't do anything with it. She waited for the song to be done and then clapped politely.

Fullbrightsmiles listens, of course, as Tonytoin completes the song.

"Well, you're not bad," he admits, "not as bad as I'd feared, but not bad. You've got a long ways to go before I'd say you're worth listening to, but... not bad."

Tonyon winces at the description, but it's not exactly wrong. He *does* have a considerable journey ahead of him.

"Still, I'm willing to be the patron for your first performance, but you're going to have to do better there." Because he's responded /so well/ to pressure before now. He's wilting.

Skribbles takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, looking around a bit and wondering if, now that he has his patron, they can get the heck out of there and to someplace sane or normal like the Gates of the Underworld, or Gunahker's bathroom toilet.

Auranar puts a comforting hand on Tonyon's shoulder, trying to perk his spirits somewhat. "Well, you've got your patron Tonyon, and you /know/ your next performance will be better because you'll have time to warm up and all that." She offers him a warm smile, then lowers her voice. "You're really much better than some of the bards I've heard. Don't get discouraged."

Davienne listens to Tonyon finally play. Tilting her head and nodding along with the music. She recognizes the tune faintly. WHen he finishes she claps and says, "See? That wasn't so bad Tonyon," She tries to encourage him, reaching out to pay him on the bad. "Everyone has stage fright, but you got a patron! Cheers to that yeah?"

"Well, it's a start."

"WEll, yes, but you have to promise me all of your i-teeth if your embareass me."

Tonyon stares at him.

"What? I'm kidding! It's dentist humor! Sheesh."

... and with that, you're shown out and are able to return to your inn room. The performance is tomorrow. Tonyon is... terrified. He's sitting in his room, staring at his lute in abject terror.

Skribbles sighs and shakes her head, sitting at the inn's bar and drinking a beer. "Just great...GREAT! He threatens to take the bards teeth because...you know...Tonyon takes that kind of thing SO WELL!" She throws her hands in the air and then takes another drink of her beer.

Auranar is having some tea, watching Skribbles drink and thinking about their employer hold up in his room. "That was a bit odd, but he /did/ seem like an odd fellow with all those teeth-related paraphernalia in his home." She shakes her head and drinks the tea slowly. "I thought he was supposed to let us stay /there/. You know... so we didn't have to share a room?" She sighs.

Davienne sticks close to Tonyon as they head back to the inn. As they sit around drinking, having dinner, and that sort of thing she stays close. And as he eyes the lute she reaches out to snatch it from his lap. "Stop it," She tells him finally and firmly, not quite scowling at the sulky noble.

As his lute is snatched, Tonyon boggles at Davienne. "H-hey! Give that back! You're right, though. I need to st op this. I'm driving myself crazy. I don't even know what to perform! It needs to be appropriate. Something silvery." He puts a hand to his face.

"Are you sure you want it?" Davienne asks teasingly as she holds it up and back from just any old snatch. The bard wannabe would have to get up to get it. But as he seems to become focused she grins and leans in. "What you need right now, my friend, is to relax and be happy with what you have accomplished. Come on, let's get a drink and go for a walk and you can tell me about all the songs you know. I can help you pick and the festival might inspire you?" She gets to her feet, still holding his lute hostage, and holds out her other hand to help the noble up. Glancing at the others she says, "I think we're pretty safe in the city if you guys just want to stay and relax."

Auranar stretches a bit and shrugs. "I could do with a walk actually. Besides we didn't want to split up remember?" She's delaying the concept of /sharing a room with strangers/. Which she is /not going to do/.

Skribbles gives a wave to the two and says, "Go...find a festival or someplace to sing. Just make sure that it's not a bar filled with the pious or we're gonna get into another bar fight!" She then takes another drink of her ale before slamming her hand on the bartop, "Another!"

GAME: Davienne rolls diplomacy: (13)+0: 13
GAME: Auranar rolls diplomacy: (20)+3: 23
GAME: Skribbles rolls diplomacy: (1)+0: 1 (EPIC FAIL)

So, Tonyon agrees with Davienne, of course, and things continue into the night witht he lot of you trying to cheer Tonyon on. It seems to be working..

...but somewhere along the line, Skribbles says *something* about gnomes and their villainy in a gnomish inn and...

Well, the next thing you know you're running through the city streets with a horde of gnomish citizens running after you. And it's all her fault.

Skribbles turns around and yells, "You bunch of wankers! You know I'm right about thos...oi! You don't need to throw mugs! Not like you can hit the broadside of a barn anyway!" She throws a single finger...you know which finger...into the air! She laughs hysterically as she runs, GOBBO FOR THE WIN!