[hr][center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjk2LmRkYTBkZC5VbUZ1YzI5dElFeGhZbVZzYkdVLC4y/golden-jewelry.regular.webp[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/HvlcxJd.pngp[/img][/center][right][code] The Waystone Inn
Interactions: Lila, Kel [@NoriWasHere]
Outfit: Well-worn  [/code][/right][hr]

[color=plum]“No no, my dear, I said that [i][b]I[/b] must be too cute for my own good,[/i]”[/color] said Ransom over the rowdy crowd. [color=plum]“It is loud in here, isn’t it? Perhaps we should go somewhere a bit quiet-[b]OW![/b]”[/color]

Lila’s shockingly iron fist smashed against Ransom’s pauldron so hard that it sent him stumbling into the person behind him.  How was her hand not broken? More importantly, how wasn’t his shoulder? His teeth clenched together as he seethed. He grasped for his wrist, his hand caught by something before it could tear off his glove so he could throw it down in a challenge. 

Ransom turned sharply to see what idiot had stopped him from defending his honor and nearly blinded himself on the tusks of a towering half-orc, freshly soaked in what had once been a full beer, flanked by several of his less-than-happy looking pals. After a quick bit of mental calculus–four against one, minus one arm–the look of indignation on Ransom’s face became a nervous smile as he took up his cloak in his unhooked hand and dabbed at the half-orc’s soaked shirt.

[color=plum]“Gentlemen, let’s not do anything that Rosa will make us regret in the morning. Allow me to explain myself,”[/color] said Ransom, watching for any sudden movements. 

This was what had happened: he’d been made the fool by some swamp bitch. Ransom had been quite happy to spend the entire night losing his life savings in a card game against Gulda and friends. That was until he noticed one of his bounties laughing when he suffered a bad beat, pretending to look away whenever he threw her a knowing smile, yet ordering round after round so that she could keep watching the show. What else could it have been but flirtation? Now normally Ransom wouldn’t be caught dead reciting poetry to someone so dirty that their lice had lice, but he wasn’t above going for a romantic moonlit stroll through nature if it meant bagging a bounty early.

After all, the antes had been practically eating him alive. So Ransom made his move moments before the game went all tits up and Gulda saw to it that the cheating cat went from nine lives down to eight. Now his last few silvers had been spent replacing the beers and paying off the tab of the new “friends” he had made. The bastards had even taken the drink he’d ordered for himself. It was hard to say which one would suffer the bigger bruise come sunrise: his shoulder, his coinpurse, or his ego. 

No, no, it was definitely his ego. Every drop of blueblood that coursed through his veins demanded that the insult Lila had suffered on him be met with satisfaction in the form of a duel. Only she had really done a number on his swordarm; Ransom winced and rolled his shoulder. Perhaps it would be better to listen to the advice from those annoying heavenly pricks and turn the other cheek. At the very least, he should consider the amount of zeroes on Lila’s bounty before taking it to the streets. 

Sod it. Ransom allowed the stupid angel massaging his wounded shoulder to talk himself out of getting killed, so he turned only to spot a devil over his other one. A rather [i]pretty[/i] devil. A rather pretty [i]familiar[/i] devil. Ransom huffed out a half-laugh as he shifted closer to one of Waterdeep’s Most Wanted. The overpacked Waystone Inn was starting to feel like a treasure trove. Nearly made up for his rotten luck during the card game.

[color=plum]“Buy a guy a drink?”[/color] asked Ransom as he sidled up to Kael’zar Vexmoor with a smile that got him into trouble as often as it could get him out. Ransom snapped his fingers together and pointed at Kel, his voice rising with realization. [color=plum]“Wait, haven’t we met before? How do I know you?”[/color]