Subject: Surin goes out

Ragnar thinks for a moment. "Ok the Lady obviously wants to talk to Ran and it seems that she wants him to show up alone. Alone may not be the best idea, but we might have to consider it. First, lets see where she is. Surin, can you go out and try and find where the Lady's quarters are. If you find out, see if you can do a bit of recon and see how easy it might be for us to get in." The halfling nods " I met this old dwarf when I was out and about earlier. Let me see if he is still at the bar. Give me some gold. A good drink usually loosens the tongue." Ragnar nods "Harp, give Surin some gold." The dwarf turns to hide the wide grin on his face as Harp sputters and then digs into his pouch to give Surin some spending money.

Surin head straight for the small bar he had met the old dwarf in earlier. He had been making his way around the closest thing the dwarves had to a city center. It was a large open cave but cave was the wrong word for it. The floor and all the walls had been finished and except for stone walls of the confining cave, it looked just like a city center. Merchants, tradesmen, inns, and pubs filled the area. There were even several parks. There were no trees in the parks, and no grass, but there were still open places with running water and other underground flora. One park had a large fungus growth that had a myriad of colors while another had a stone garden that boggled the mind.

A half hour after leaving the parties quarters Surin shows up at the bar, The Broken Anvil. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light. As they do, he sees that his acquaintance, Garlin, is still in his corner, his head slumped on the table, his tankard on its side. The halfling motions to the barkeep for two more tankards. He then heads over to the table and takes a seat next to the sleeping dwarf.

When the barkeep puts the tankards down Surin pays him and gives him a nice tip "Keep the ale coming" he says. The smell of the ale causes the sleeping dwarf to stir. Surin speaks up "Garlin, I'm surprised at you. Look at that, you wasted some ale." The sleeping dwarf wakes up groggily 'Wasted ale? Me, not a chance. Must have been schum other guy." The two start telling stories and drinking. Surin is able to switch tankards with out Garlin realizing it so the dwarf is drinking almost two tankards to every sip or two of the halfling.

Over the next hour Surin is able to get Garlin to talk about where the Ambassadors stay. "They gots them up Long Stone Way. Real nice places. Not houses, dwarves don't build houses like you outside folk do, but still nice quarters, big you know, lots of room." "How about guards? The Lady did not have any guards with her when she got here, other than the Centurion of the patrol that escorted her here. She didn't even have any Ladies in Waiting. Sort of surprising I thought." Garlin laughs "You don't know nothing about how those Ambassador's work do you? We supply all protection for other countries Ambassadors here as well as all their help. The other countries do the same for our Ambassadors at their courts. Gives us good reason to keep them safe. Not that that helped the last Ambassador from Byho."

OODM: I will write more tomorrow. I am going to Kevin's house to watch the Bengals game.