Prologue: Troubles at Red Larch.

Midnight

Harburk looks down at Midnight with a wide smile. "Aye. I will keep that in mind Lady Midnight."

Yohna

Yohna makes her way to Haeleeya’s (area 15). She sees couple of well-groomed, attractive young women in flowing white dresses out front cleaning up debris left in the wake of the tremor, pieces from broken vases, spilled soil and flowers, etc. One of them spots Yohna. "Welcome to Haeleeya's. Please excuse the mess. Come right in."

As she steps into the dress shop/bathhouse. She is overcome with pleasant aromas from various oil extracts, mixed in with herbs and flowers. It is instantly relaxing. The front is dedicated to dress shop and filled with displays of formal women's wear and more extravagant dresses on wooden mannequins. The place is in slight bit of disarray - no doubt from the tremors. There is another worker inside fixing knocked down flower pots, displays, etc. Yohna is greeted by a woman in her mid 40s wearing a long flowing red lace dress with intricately braided hair topped with flower halo.

"Good evening, dear. Sorry the place is bit of a mess. You felt the quake earlier right? Where's my manners. I'm Haeleeya, proprietor of this establishment. And you look like you need some relaxing bath and a massage!"

Breezy, Midnight, Keavan, Vardo, and Falka all head to the Swinging Sword Inn for a meal and a nightcap. The streets are lightly littered with debris from the tremors. The streets are still busy with townsfolk and out-of-towners in the aftermath of the quake. Midnight keeps her eyes peeled for any unusual activities but has some difficulty discern anything in the crowded streets.

Once the party arrives at the inn, Midnight stops by the bulletin board and peruses it but doesn't spy anything new or of interest except some new announcement about the commencement of preparation for the Midsummer festival tomorrow morning. There's a contact info for one Elak Dornen for any bards or entertainers who wish to sign up for a space at the festival grounds. The announcement informs in bold letters that "Premium spots still available in the market area! Reserve one before they're all gone!".

Rest of the party enters the inn and orders meals and drinks. Thankfully, the place is less busy tonight, perhaps due to the quake. Breezy goes and gets his pay for the day from Kaylessa who casually teases him. "Hey there sourpuss. Heard you had some trouble with the horses this morning." She lets out a chuckle. "So have you changed your mind about playing me a tune, darling? Seems you may be missing a calling. Stable boy doesn't seem like a good long term career choice for you." She lets out another chuckle.

In the meantime, a freckled young woman with curly red hair by the name of Ghileeda takes the party's orders. She's well-meaning but a bit overly cheery and enthusiastic with a nervous laugh between every sentence.

The place is sparsely littered with patrons. One table in particular catches attention of the establishment. An elderly gentleman with white hair and beard wearing fine clothes (for this area) with noble but dour visage is sitting with a middle aged sullen man with leathery skin and prominent reddish nose of someone who drinks too much and a potbellied cantankerous middle aged woman who seems to be at the end of a rant of sorts. "Well, fuck Dornen you gotta do something about this. Set up a gods damn meeting. He has to know!" The elderly man, looks at her sternly. "Sit. And talk calmly with less cussing if you must. You're making a scene."

Yohna

"Very good. Go through the curtains over there. Eliza will take care of you once inside." She points to heavy red velvet curtain dividing the dress shop from the spa area. Once inside she is greeted by a cheerful young woman attending a desk

"Good evening madam. Basic use of our public bath area will be 2 silver. If you'd like the bath and massage combo, that'll be 5 silver. Finally, our deluxe package includes a private tub where we also provide carefully selected collection of scented oils and candles for maximum relaxation. You will also find our special concoction of exfoliating cream. This is followed by massage administered by one of our massage specialists. The deluxe package will be 1 gold piece. So which will it be today?"

Yohna

Eliza grabs a robe and several towels and leads you down the hall. The hall is lined on both sides with changing rooms. "You may change into your robes in here." She says as she opens one of the changing rooms. After changing into your robe. She leads to the end of the hall where it opens up in to large chamber. There are two curtains into two sub-chambers, each marked with a symbol of a man and a woman. ""Those lead into the public baths.". She leads to down to the side of the chamber with the woman's public bath which leads to series of smaller chambers each with a private bath tub. "Here is your bath chamber."

Inside, Yohna is greeted to room filled with candlelights and mixture of pleasant aromas. The tub is already filled with warm clean water. Eliza tops the water with flower pedals. There are various soaps next to the tub along with a jar filled with the exfoliating cream. There is also a rope attached to a bell next to the tub. "Please enjoy. If you need anything or when you are done with your bath please pull on this rope and ring the bell. An assistant will come and take you to the massage station."

Keavan

As Keavan goes up to the bar, Kaylessa yells over to the disruptive table, "Hey Albaeri, use your inside voice. This isn't your quarry, I'm trying to run a respectable establishment here."

The pot-bellied lady looks over to Kaylessa scratches her head and smiles nervously, "Sorry 'bout dat Kay. You know me, I get excited sometimes. We're just discussing some business here. Dornen, tryin' ta, business competition sometimes get passionate you know. Luruth here is supposed to be the arbitrator but, he ain't very good at his job now. I'll settle down."

Keavan orders a mead with Kaylessa. She makes playful lightly flirtatious banter with him while taking the order. The mead is of excellent quality.

Vardo

Vardo, while fidgeting with his paper and generally trying to be inconspicuous, can feel all three pairs of eyes boring down on him. "I think we're done here tonight. We can discuss rest of the business matters at a future time," he hears the old man say. "Alright Dornen, just heed my words, or you may come to regret it... we may all." the woman says. The three then get up and leave the inn.

Breezy

Breezy looks around to find that literally everyone in the establishment has stopped what they are doing and shifted their attention to him. After a brief pause, Kaylessa begins clapping, then followed by all patrons. "Bravo! bravo! Oh darling. I knew you were something special. With that talent, I can't have you waste it on tending horses. Let's modify our deal. You perform your flute for my patrons here nightly. Just for a couple of hours, peak time. Same pay, same deal for free lodging. What do you say blue man?" She leans over with her chin resting on her fists and elbow resting on the counter.