Breakfast and Beginnings

[Zee]

The table is set neatly for many guests. Plates and silver ware already laid out, as is drinks and foods that are to be served at room temperature. Already in the room sits a small woman at the table waiting patiently. And a mammoth of a man with an angrily consternated look.

Almost at the same time a young woman enters one end of the dining hall opposite an elf. The woman red of hair and blue of eyes is dressed in a green tunic with black pants. The elf with his long dark hair and golden eyes moves fluidly turning to one side revealing a long scar on the side of his face.

The woman at the table smiles politely motioning to each of the new pair in turn for them to make themselves comfortable. "My master should be along shortly to explain any questions you may have. He had a pressing matter to attend to this morning."

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Tearing into his fourth piece of fruit, this one being an orange that he doesn't bother to peel instead simply biting off chunks and eventually spitting out the rind, Jereth looks up eyeing the newcomers with narrowed eyes, juice dripping down his chin. Measuring the woman and her elven counterpart, the expression on his face is neutral as he notes that the woman wasn't sporting the frills and lace he would suppose any guest of this host to adorn themselves with. Figuring that she and her scarred elven companion were outsiders as well, the grizzled warrior wonders at the purpose of this breakfast meeting.

Wiping the juice from his chin and then off his hands on the tablecloth, the brute takes a drink of water and reaches again for another piece of fruit.

[SilaceMortalis]

Silace makes his way to a seat that he deemed would be best to make a quick exit if needed. After adjusting his position in his seat, he scanned the room measuring up each of the people in the dining hall determining his chances against each of them. Then as he determined that until he sees them in action would he make his determination of them. Looking down at the food it seemed nice but he did not touch any of it, picking up a glass of what appeared to be wine he brought it up to his nose and sniffed at it, thought about it a moment before taking a small sip. Then waiting a moment as if waiting for something to happen to him, he took a gulp when nothing happened. He put down his wine and picked up his dinner knife and deftly twirled it in his fingers unconsciously.

~What am I doing here? This was not part of the contract. All I had to do was steal some gem for my employer and that was the end of my contract with them. I am charging extra for this extension of the contract.~ he thought as he reached for some grapes, while still playing with the dinner knife, finding the grapes untainted and quite tasty.

[Zee]

The woman at the table sighs. Both of the men had dug into the food before the master had arrived. One if them was wiping his mouth on his hands and the other was playing with the silver ware. She waits patiently at the table her hands folded in her lap ocassionally reaching up to slightly straighten the already appropriatly placed utensils, clearly the atrocious table manners and lack of courtesy to wait bothered her.

It is not to long before the bard and ranger enter the room, their hands intwined. The man holds the chair out for his woman before taking a seat next to her. The man sits up right and seems content to wait until it was appropriate to have their breakfast.

Almost as soon as the couple is seated the man most would recognize as Ingto precedes an older man. Both of whom take their seats and the old man who seated himself at the tables head speaks. "For those of you who waited please make yourselves at home." He reaches onto the table and places some fruit and bread on his plate. "Now as to why you're all still here. I have a job for you. It is going to be dangerous but the rewards will be more lucrative than anything any of you have ever been rewarded with before. If that doesn't interest you please leave now and return to your room. We will contact you later and compensate you for your time. But if you stay I'm afraid I will require you to undertake this job."

[Paks]

Paks sits in the chair, having leant her staff up against the wall, that Joe offers her and begins to gaze around the table at the other guests. She doesn’t get a very good look though before the old man begins to speak. She frowns at him, her anger not yet abated, and sits tensely at the table not wanting to trust him for one moment. At the mention of a job, the ranger raises her eyebrow. No one had actually employed her to take on a job before, at least not the kind she assumed he was talking about, and she wondered why he had gone to all the trouble to track her down as surely there were others with much more skills than hers.

Turning to Joe the two share a look, they’d come this far, they might as well stick around and see what was going to happen. After all, if the bard wanted all those luxuries he was so fond of, they were going to have to pay for it somehow. So, she remains at the table, not touching any of the food as she’d lost her appetite a short time earlier and returns to watching the others to see what they would do.

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Jereth leans forward as the old man speaks. Eyeing the speaker with distrust, he gives a snort and sits back in the chair, his bulk causing it to creak, and with a scowling glance at the twirling knife in the elf's hands he says,

"Another job offer? The last I was given turned out to be a deception.... A deception by you! How is it to be known whether this is as well? Explain old man!"

His scarred features twist into a frown as he crosses his arms and leans back, waiting for the old man's response, clearly not caring the least about anyone else in the room.

[Zee]

The old man at the table laughs to himself as he looks at jereth, clearly both unafraud a d unimpressed bt the mans yelling. "I simply had to make sure you wre good enough. I sent my men to target about twenty potentials. You lot are simy the ones that succeded in your mission. Now since you all have decided to stay you will still be paid for your previous job. Regardless that the mark wasn't real. But we will get to that later, any other questions or accusations before I describe your job?"

[SilaceMortalis]

Silace remains impassive at the large man's angry outburst and smirked. Clearly waiting for the old man's explanation of this new job, however he is surprised at the number of cantidates they had gone through. His task was much simpler than some of the retrievals that he had been contracted to do in the past.

~We are all that succeeded? Interesting~ Silace chuckled aloud as he thought about it. At that moment he realized that he was still playing with the silverware and promptly stopped. To draw attention away from himself he chose to speak which he found uncomfortable. "Explain away" he said relatively quietly but just loud enough for all to hear. His voice though quiet was more rough than the traditional melodic voices of elves. ~The reward had better be good for this inconvenience.~ he thought.

[Feff]

The red headed woman sits down comfortably at the table, remaining silent as she already knows the general idea of what's going on. She looks around the table, her gaze lingering on the smaller woman that had already been seated at the table, and then at the other woman who comes in a bit later. She seems to give them a bit more attention then the men, catching herself from openly sneering at Jereth's comments.

[Paks]

Paks eyes Jereth as he speaks, he looked like someone she wouldn't want to cross in a dark alley, perhaps it would be best to keep out of his way. She did find it interesting to discover he had been employed to take on a job to test his skills, but then, she found it interesting that it seemed they had all been employed to take on some kind of job. It made her wonder exactly how badly Burcanto had screwed up his orders concerning her but thinking of him just made her anger want to surface again. She looks towards the old man and shakes her head, indicating that she has no questions to ask, silently wishing he would just get on with it if only to distract her from her current frame of mind.

[Zee]

The old man nods as he sees that no one else has any questions. "I have a staff in my posession that is missing the headpiece. I want it. The staff is an artifact from ages long ago with capabilities that have been forgotten. But I stumbled across an equally old text that hints at it's purpose. I want you all to retrieve this headpiece for me. As such I have rounded up a number of candidates here that should help you acomplish this." he pauses as he indicates the woman with the red hair blue eyes and is dressed in the green shirt and black pants. "She has worked for me before and has been supplied with the necessary information to retrieve the headpiece and will be supplied with a means to return you all here."

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Shaking his head as the old man lays out the underlying reason the lot of them had been brought together for, Jereth sneers as he leans forward resting his elbows on the table and his chin on crossed fingers,

"All that is well and good, You have brought us here, You have tested our abilities, You want us to perform a task for You. Would You find it too forward to ask just who in the black hells are YOU!?"

His tone is even and quiet, though his rumbling baritone gave the words an underlying sense of hostility. Having levied his question, the grizzly warrior looks casually around the table, wondering what kind of people would be willing to listen without wanting to know who it was they were listening to. He eyes the woman the old man had referred to, suspicious of her as much as the old one.

[Zee]

The old man turns his head to look at jereth, the tone of his voice indicates he is growing quite tired of the man. "I am the man who is going to pay you all slot for an item that alone is worth much less than I am paying. I am also the man who would recommend to you that you stiffle that tongue for a spell before I have my wench drag you out of here." He pauses for a short moment before continuing. "Muscle is quite easy to find. Now would any of the others have any questions?"

[Paks]

The ranger finds herself fighting back a grin despite her current frame of mind, provided she could stay out of the big mans way, he may just prove to be somewhat entertaining rather than just downright frightening on this trip they were about to partake in.

Turning her head towards the older man, Paks leans back in her chair a little. "I assume you'll be providing us with any equipment and funds that we will need" she states, her voice not quite hostile but not friendly either. "When do we leave and how long do you expect this retrieval to take us?"

Folding her arms across her chest, she can't help but look to Joe for a moment, wondering what he thought and felt about all this

[Jereth Ingsbe]

Remaining silent during the old man's chastising and not so subtle threat, Jereth manages to keep his expression neutral, finding the man's threats to a degree to be hollow, considering the level of precautions he took simply to bring the monstrous warrior on board. Seeing that the others were content on letting some mystery figure shape the course of their actions, Jereth cocks his head to the side as he listens to the ranger's questions, itching to get back not only to his armor but a non-magical climate where he could actually wear the said armor again.