Nashkel

Sheemish reorients himself - that was annoying but regains his composure pretty quickly. He hears Aiwes command but first wants to thank one of their helpers.

"Many thanks friend" he says offering a hand to the tattooed man, "we greatly appreciated the help, but do apologize about the cake" he eyes the mess on the floor and gives an apologetic look to Stella.

"I hope we did not spoil the birthday?" Sheemish leaves the question open ended, hoping to find out more from the strange man.

Shar-Teel pockets the coins one by one, but doesn't touch the drink. "I'm here. You better not be wasting my time, or I might be tempted to collect on that bounty myself."

When Runeson approaches, she gives him a stare. "Ah yes, the paladin." She leans back against the bar. "The Iron Crisis has been bad for business. But no, I'm not here for that. I'm not doing anything about that unless someone offers to pay me for it."

She gives a nod back in the direction the guards took Aldous. "i've got my hands full with him. Spoiled noble's brat, wouldn't know privilege if it bit him in the face."

The tattooed man gives a hearty laugh at Sheemish's words and pats the huge sword laying across his lap. "Bahaha! We are always happy to help good people in need! And to give evil a good kick in the backside." He looks down at the splattered cake remains. "Ah, the casualties of battle. Still, I do not think Boo will mind."

He gives a little whistle, and a small mammal rustles out of the salad plate on the table, its enormous cheeks puffed out. It gives a little squeak and scurry-waddles over to the big man, deftly climbing into his open hand. It looks much like a mouse, but bigger and with only a tiny little nub of a tail.

The tattooed man leans down from his seat to scoop a fingerfull of frosting off the floor and offers it to the strange creature. It sniffs eagerly at the offered treat, then snatches some of the nuts off the cake and stuffs them into its cheeks - no doubt where it has more food safely stored away.

"Yes!" The big man cries. "Boo's birthday is a good one! Beautiful song, tasty cake, and a fight against evil. What more could a pair of heroes ask for?"
"Ah, I thank you, young witch!" He looks around at the other party members as they perform various tasks. "Which one is your warrior? Every witch must have a protector, no?"

As Stella tends to the man's wound, she notices the old scar of a nasty head wound opposite his largest tattoo. Something like that may have done lasting damage to the man, and not just the physical kind.

Bardolan frowns as he reads the note. "Such confidence in their 'evil'... Well. I am shamed this happened on my watch. I'll get a couple of soldiers to help clean up." He nods to one of the men with him, who jogs off into the night.

Officer Bardolan sighs. "When I saw the bodies, I was worried there'd been a repeat of last week's murders. I'm relieved to see that's not the case, though I offer my sincerest apology to you for having let these assassins into town. I'll be sure to warn my soldiers to be on the alert for any other bounty hunters that come this way."