Playing in the Sandbox

The kalashtar nods and replies, "I'm sure you will find our beds to your liking. If you would like, you could have a meal in the dining area or we could bring something up to you. Is there anything in particular you would like our chef to make for you? Or would you prefer if I brought a menu?"

"A menu would be preferable!" He said, obviously happy to get a good meal. "Oh, and before I forget I think it would be best if it was brought to our rooms, I don't do well with large groups of people." He added rather timidly.

"No food for me, thanks. Unless you have some snacks or something." Skaimos said. "If you could lead us up to our rooms, that would be appreciated."

Maihime hides a small yawn behind her head before speaking. "I'd rather just get to my room if that's alright. How shall we be splitting them up? I assume Toku and Skaimos-san shall be in one. Perhaps Uhiya-san and Masaru-san in another, and myself, Tethe, and Cyrta-san in the last?"

"Do you serve sake here? Or anything really, I'd really like a drink before bed!" Tethe asks immediately, muttering something near completely inaudible about being sober too long.

Toku shrugged a bit, thinking. "It makes little difference to me, to be honest. I'll share a room with Skaimos...Though, admittedly, I'm good...I would like to see our rooms as well..." He glanced at Tethe...Maybe he should see if he could make something later on. But it didn't matter in the long run, he supposed. The kobold shifted his weight back and forth, thinking about what he'd like to do with their empty house...If he had his way, he'd need a table...Perhaps a small forge or-On second thought, he needed a lot of things...

"There is a complimentary bottle of sake in each room miss. And of course however much food and tea you like is included in the price of the room. I will be right back with those menus and then we'll head on up." The Kalashtar replied with a smile and then went around the bend to the left. She came back in less than a minute with three menus and said, "Please follow me." Then she lead the way around the right bend. Turning the bend the group saw a long wide hallway the gently bent around. A ways ahead of them was a staircase going up. On the walls there were torches flickering with silver flame every so often that gave off a bit of heat but, didn't seem to actually burn. Only every other torch was lit for some reason. Due to the heat of the torches, the air was pleasantly warm in a way the members of the group (aside from Cyrta) rarely were at night without being next to a fire or under thick blankets. This was a bit surprising given that as the group had headed north, the night had become slowly colder.

When the group reached the stairs, the kalashtar lead them up. The hallway up on the second floor was a perfect match for the one on the first. They continued on for a bit, but really not too far from the stairs, before she stopped. She turned around to face the group and handed out the keys. 217 to Skaimos, 218 to Tethe, and 219 to Uhiya. She then handed a menu to Toku, Maihime, and Masaru.

Room 217 & 219 were the same size and on the inward side of the hotel. Each had two very nice looking beds, a bureau (the kind that's also something of a desk, these ones with a little door on the front of one side where drawers would otherwise be), two chairs, and a large closet, and what appeared to be another smaller closet next to it along the same wall. In the center of the rooms there hung silk lanterns like the ones seen in the entryway and lounge area of the hotel. On the bureaus there were little silver bells attached to the top.

Room 218 was about half again the size of the other two rooms and while it also only had two beds, these beds were larger ones. There were two bureaus, one right under a window facing towards the palace (though not directly) and lacking a silver bell. There were four chairs, a large closet along one wall and two smaller closets on the other, and two hanging silk lanterns. On top of the desk board of the bureau under the window there sat a tiny and very beautifully crafted bed, a few inches longer than Cyrta (though about right for her wingspan). As the door was opened to Room 218 the kalashtar said mostly looking at Cyrta, while indicating the bed, "The bed for the pixie is our gift to you from our proprietor." After a pause she continued, "If there is ever anything you need, please ring the bells and someone will come as soon as they are able. Would you like for me to wait here for you to decide on any orders you wish to place?"

---

Do you guys actually want me to make menus? I will if it's something you actually care about but, otherwise I'm kinda feeling lazy about it.

I could really care less about the menus, so if you don't want to make them we'll just say Masaru choosed something he could actually afford. (Read: Not much.)

---

 "Wow... we get these fancy rooms?" Masaru replied in wonder, akin to that of a child seeing magic for the first time. "I'm used to just getting the cheapest room in the town..."

"Quite nice...This is much better than my usual lodgings..." Toku smiled a bit. Making friends with the daimyo clearly had benefits, even if it was unofficial at best. The warmth was nice for himself and anyone else who might happen to be cold-blooded as well...He looked over the menu for a moment, shaking his head. "I don't think that will be necessary, except for our friend there..." He indicated Masaru with a smile. It all looked good, but he had eaten recently...He looked over at Uhiya for a moment, realizing something. "Oh, Smithe-san...Do you know if the artificing equipment has been sold yet? I suppose you've been with us, so most likely not, but...If it hasn't, I believe I can find a use for it now that I'll have somewhere to set it up..." Truth be told, that had been the biggest reason for him NOT bringing it up earlier...There had been nowhere to put it, and it was impractical to carry around what was needed...But with the Empty House, that changed things...

Smithe replied, "I highly doubt it. The brothers would have handled selling off those weapons and armor and then our normal supplies. Still, I'll send them a letter tonight telling them not to. It's thanks to you folks after-all that I won't miss the extra coin selling those would bring." Then Smithe went into the room he'd be sharing with Toku and Skaimos and began drafting the letter.

"...How much food are we allowed?" He asked curiously.

"As much as you would like. Though of course our chef would ask that you only order what you think you can eat at the time. He doesn't like for people to judge his food by how it is hours later." The kalashtar replies.

"Then I would like a full-course meal, chef's choice!" He exclaimed, practically drooling at the thought of all that food.

Cyrtanthus bows and thanks the kalashtar for the bed before giggling at Masaru's exclamation. "Why so hungry Masaru-sama?"

The kalashtar nodded to Masaru and then to Cyrta and after a brief pause for any other orders or questions she left, leaving the group standing in the hallway.

Tethe immediately begins moving about the room. Inspecting the closets and looking out the window like an excited 6 foot tall child before making a beeline towards the sake. "If any of you don't want your bottle, just let me know!" She raises the bottle in a 'cheers' motion before immediately pouring herself a dish.

Maihime on the other hand simply heads for one of the beds and sits down on the edge, watching Tethe run around for a moment.

perception for Tethe:

In the large closet Tethe finds extra bedding and pillows and two spare cots along with towels. In the two smaller closets she finds rudimentary toilet-like things. The walls in these smaller closets have a simple wooden wall straight ahead the way Tethe is facing but, the three other walls have a simple mural on each. She finds a rectangular inkwell, a calligraphy pen & brush, some paper, some paper clips, and envelopes in the desks.

"Why am I so hungry? I don't remember the last time I had a good meal, that's why!" Masaru said with a chuckle, he then went to his room and basically threw himself onto the bed "Ah... Now to relax until my meal arrives."

Uhiya shrugs in response to Tethe and looks to Masaru and asks, "Do you want the sake?"

"Thank you!" he then snatched the sake and started chugging it down before anyone could say anything about it.

Skaimos went to his room and sat down on his bed. It had been a long day, and he had missed sleeping in an actual bed. "...Smithe-san, I do have one question of you. You said that you had figured out that my friends and I...were not who we claimed to be early on. So...why did you allow us to travel with you as opposed to selling us out?"

Smithe chuckles and replies, "I've dealt with travelers like you guys before. You didn't seem the type to put us in any danger and I'm not really a citizen of any city in particular so, the rest wasn't any of my business. I just judged your group on its ability to do the job. If things came to it, I'm sure you would have behaved in a far less mercenary fashion than most guards and well, you just can't buy protection like that."

"...I see. Well, thank you again for...well, everything." Skaimos laid back in his bed. "...So, do you normally just go between Kabikyo and Hanko, or does your trade route take you to other cities as well?"

"For the last few years it'd been Kabikyo and Hanko but, I've done other routes at other times. Hashirudo and Suikkito. Otherwise it was smaller places along the way or some a bit off from other places when I was starting out. A lot easier to establish yourself in the trade of trade in places where you have less competition." Smithe replies as he takes out the bottle of sake and looks out into the hall where Tethe is, clearly wondering if Skaimos or Toku are going to offer it to her or decide the three of them will drink it themselves.

Skaimos glances out into the hall and sighs. "If nobody else here has any particular desire for the sake, I think Tethe would appreciate it more than we would. I still don't know how she's able to process it with her new...physiology, though."

"She can have the sake," Toku said with a shrug.