John – Ian McShane played the unforgettable Al Swearengen character from the Deadwood tv series. When creating Griska, the owner/proprietor of the Craven Dragon brothel I used Swearengen as a basis but removed the paternalism and the loyalty to his allies. A very self-serving character who cares little about his merchandise and employees.

Last time we left the party they had slaughtered a group of Redbrands on the porch of the Craven Dragon and successfully angered Griska who demanded the party explain themselves. Leading the way upstairs, the party got their first look of the brothel which was currently filled with miners in various states of drunkenness and eying off the various whores in residence.

The party also had their first glances of Griska’s two main bouncers, Dan and Gregore. Dan, or as the girls call him Danny, was a good looking, muscular meat head who almost always had the attractive whore Eve hanging on his arm. Gregor was the complete opposite; mean and cruel he bore a jaggered scar below his left eye. He always was armed, most of the cliental and women gave him a wide birth.

Upstairs in Griska’s office Griska admonished the group about his loss of business and enquired about the party’s intention. Aurelia experienced a brief communication from her patron who warned her about confronting Griska directly, as he would be far too dangerous an opponent for her and the party.

Both Aurelia and Wendel attempted to argue their case against the Redbrands with Griska but complicated matters by enquiring about Griska’s involvement with the Redbrands. Griska was very non-committal and seemed only interested in the Redbrand’s patronage of his brothel. He seemed mollified by the party’s actions and gave them permission to make use of his women and booze but pointing his crossbow at the party, warned them that any violence would be put down hard.

The party exited the office and took up Griska’s semi hospitality, Asterin approached the bar, Merric wandered over to play with some dice while Aurelia and Wendel found a corner table. Asterin joined them at the table carrying a bottle of fine whiskey.

Aurelia was keeping a close eye on several of the whores and determined there were five main girls who were down on the floor.

• Meredith: Half-elf female, fair skinned, long brunette. Brazen. She seemed to own the room.
• Eve: Human female, fair skinned, long blonde hair. Blonde bombshell who could not seem to keep her eyes (and hands) off Dan the bouncer/barkeeper.
• Jasmine: Human female, dark skinned, short black hair. She looked as though she came from Calisham, Asterin’s & Aurelia’s homeland. *think Turkey & the Ottomon Empire*
• Crystal: Human female, fair skinned, short mousey blond hair. Seemed very drunk and quite ill-kept.
• Sierra: Half-elf female, fair skinned, dark red hair done up in bun. Tall and provocatively dressed, she grabbed patron’s attention and held it. She also caught Aurelia’s eye looking her over and gave a look in return, seeming to like what she saw.

Aurelia (due to her backstory) was quite knowledgeful about brothel practices and noticed that quite a few of the girls had concealer makeup on their faces. This would usually suggest that they were all concealing bruises, more than is usual for this type of business. Damaging the merchandise was bad for business.

During this time Asterin was successfully drinking Wendel under the table, Wendel lost count of his drinking and did not seem to have a good head for the strong whiskey meanwhile Merric won quite big on the dice poker tables. Hoping to potentially gain a future ally Aurelia walked up to Sierra and passionately made out with her in full view of the room. This received a few cat calls from the patrons, hopefully driving up Sierra’s asking price for the night. After which Aurelia sashayed back to her table.

Grabbing a drink at the bar, Merric met both Dan and Eve. Eve eyed the short halfling presenting him with her wares and expressing an interest, as she had never bedded a halfling. Merric offered to double her fee if she successfully enticed Wendel into one of the rooms. Seeing that Wendel was even shorter than Merric, Eve accepted the challenge to Dan’s chagrin and promptly introduced herself to the table.

The slightly tipsy Wendel had no chance when the beautiful Eve set her sights on him. Falling for her attention he quickly found himself being escorted to one of the rooms. Dan gruffly demanded from Merric the price for Eve’s services and looked disgruntled by the whole ordeal. It was clear that both he and Eve had feelings for each other.

It was at this time that our session was regrettably cut short. Parenting comes first and our little one had been having a restless night requiring both parents. Fortunately, the Craven Dragon had been successfully introduced and we will see what trouble the party will be in for next session.