Carver watched the irritated half-elf storm off and shook his head sadly. If the man wanted to be surly, that was his own business; at least there hadn't been a confrontation. 

He removed the thirty-five coins from his (now even lighter) coinpurse and slid it across the counter to the barkeep. "A hot meal, then, for the gnome." The barkeep pocketed the money and barked an order to a barmaid. Carver leaned in closer to the man then, still smiling with his mouth, if not with his eyes. "Yes, I will take care of any trouble. And perhaps, another time, you and I may have a discussion about your business practices, and you will not like how I do [i]that[/i]."

This done, Carver turned and crossed the crowded room back to where the gnome was seated, alongside three others. One was the bearded man that the gnome had been speaking with, while the other two, a muscular looking young man and a very... shapely young woman seemed to be either arguing or flirting. Carver furrowed his brow at the girl. Though looking at her appealed to his baser urges, the higher part of his mind found something undisputably [i]off[/i] about her. This was someone who did not know the love of the sun.

He sat down next to them and patted the gnome on the back. "Food on its way, my diminutive friend." Just then, a barmaid set a sizeable bowl of stew in front of the gnome and was quickly off. 

He smiled at the others and nodded his head. "A fine day, friends. Hope you have a seat for another."