[AVALOR – THE HEARTH INN]
"Something doesn't smell right," Kristan said firmly as she sat at the table with her arms crossed.
"Yeah…I don't like it either but as we said earlier, we need to get our hands on a dungeon raid ticket if we want to increase our levels, gears, and drops." Arthos replied in a soft whisper.
"Who are these guys anyway…how do we know we can even trust them?" Kristan asked.
"The innkeeper's husband at the Kettle said he knew an information broker with connections everywhere. The info-broker connected us with this group of guys we are about to meet." Wain chimed in.
"Sounds very sketchy to me…think about it…why would a party of three guys have a dungeon raid ticket? Where did they get it? Only three members? Where is the rest of their team? Something really smells bad here." Kristan said flatly.
"Yeah, I know…let's just talk to them…and if we don't like it…we walk away…we are a team and we all have a say in this." Arthos said calming the group's anxiety.
"I think that's them over there." Wain commented as he saw a group of three heroes walk into the inn. Their armor, faces, and even their steps appeared seasoned with many battles.
"Hi there! I'm Cliff, we spoke earlier. These are my teammates Brad and Daniel," a friendly man said as he extended his hand in a polite greeting. His hair was kept short, military style. His face did not appear to have many smile lines, which suggested he didn't smile much.
"Cliff…yes, hi. We spoke earlier, I'm Arthos and these are my teammates Kristan and Wain. Glad you could meet us here at the Hearth Inn…please have a seat." Arthos said as he shook hands and extended an invitation to the newcomers to join their table.
"This is a nice place…are you guys staying here?" Cliff asked clearly fishing for information…probably trying to figure out what levels and experience the group had.
"Here? No way…it's way too expensive. We were in the area, so it was a convenient meeting spot." Arthos answered coolly, not wanting to give away too much personal information to a group of strangers he just met.
"I see…well let's get down to business then. As I said when we spoke over video-messaging, our group has a dungeon raid ticket and we need to find a few additional players to clear the dungeon…to make things fair we can split the dungeon ticket cost evenly and share the drops evenly as well." Cliff proposed with a big smile that seemed a bit forced.
Arthos, Kristan, and Wain remained silent for a moment. They exchanged a quick glance which served as a signal to continue talking.
"Sounds fair…but if you don't mind me asking…how did you end up with a dungeon raid ticket? Those are hard to come by." Arthos asked with a semi-casual voice.
"You mean…did we steal it? Is that what you are getting at?" Cliff and his buddies burst into laughter as if the idea was ludicrous.
"No, we didn't steal it. My ex-wife…well she kicked me out of the guild we started together a few years ago. The marriage started off with passion but fizzled out. I got the dungeon ticket as part of the divorce," Cliff's voice trailed off as he quickly thought of something further to add to the conversation.
"I know we just met and it's not any of my business…but…are you guys together, together? Like sharing a bed?" Cliff asked. The question had nothing to do with the dungeon raid ticket and was clearly as a diversion tactic.
He looked at Kristan, eyeing her from head-to-toe as he said, "I would…I definitely would."
'Creep,' Kristan thought as she glared at him.
'Bastard,' Wain thought fighting his desire to cut his throat.
Arthos looked at Cliff intently, holding his gaze for a long moment.
"We are family, and we look after one another…against any and all threats." Arthos said firmly.
The group had heard enough and were preparing to leave the table.
!ALERT!
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – 4 DAY BONUS NANOCOINS DROP!]
[For 4 days, Nanocoin drops will double. Event starts tomorrow.]