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Dire Straits (Atroxa & Ostrich)

Atroxa

Star
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Location
USA
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To say that the war was making life difficult was a vast understatement. The economy suffered as the enemy pushed further and further into their country, gaining ground every day. Many towns and cities had fallen to these invading Orcs, and unfortunately, Westwatch was no different. As it's name might imply, Westwatch was in the west, to be precise it was one of the larger port cities along the western coast of Valanthia. For nearly two weeks now, the city had been captured and occupied, but honestly, Cassia thought things were no worse than they had been before. She knew that she should hate this, should be rallying against the invaders holding their city, her own husband was off fighting in the war, but she didn't have the time or energy. And she had her daughter to worry about.

War did not make bill payments stop, and she still had a business to run. Her husband had left the inn to her when he left, and she was determined to keep it running. It was the only way she could afford to take care of herself and Lorelle, especially if her husband never returned. Gods willing, he did, but Cassia was the sort who hoped for the best and expected the worst. Men were killed in war often, she knew that there was no way for her to know for sure if her own would survive or not. And if he didn't, no one was going to take care of her, she had to do that herself.

So she just kept her head down and tried to run the inn, which was difficult considering she had few patrons. With the city occupied there weren't as many people coming and going.

Cassia stood at the counter, chewing on her lip as she worried about how she was going to pay rent, and how she was going to be able to feed herself. She sighed heavily. Despite being in her mid thirties, she was an attractive woman, with long black hair and blue-gray eyes. In the past, her beauty had only helped the business, her husband hadn't much liked letting men look at her but if it brought them in, then it brought them in. So even when he had been here she had been the inn's public face, she was pretty, smart, and could be rather charismatic, but she also knew when to put her foot down.

Her husband had handled the business side and while he had taught her as much as he could before he left, she knew she wasn't as good with that side of things as he was. He probably wouldn't be having near as much difficulty as she was, but surely some. Cassia hoped it wasn't purely her own incompetence that had them in this situation. In fact, she knew it wasn't, as hers was far from the only business that was suffering. Some inns were doing quite well with the soldiers occupying the city staying in them, others had these soldiers but they were refusing to pay, so it was certainly hurting them. The ones closest to the docks were still getting sailors and travelers staying with them, but no where near the numbers they were used to.

Her own inn, the Sapphire Tide, had once been very successful because of it's location, halfway between the docks and the center of the city, but now that was hurting them. None of the travelers and sailors wanted to venture far from the docks for fear of needing to leave in a hurry but being too far away, and all the soldiers and the like were gathered towards the center of the city. She could only hope one or both groups started spreading out soon or she might lose the inn...

The inn itself was a nice two story brick building that was hugged tight by its neighbors, inside the first room was a common room with tables filling most of the space, a fireplace on the far left wall and a bar on the right, with a small kitchen and liquor wall. There were a few rooms downstairs but most were upstairs. There was a third floor as well, though it was more of an attic, made into an apartment where Cassia and her daughter, Lorelle, lived.
 
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Orcs were typically not a huge threat, not to a huge kingdom. They had several clans all spread out, and fought more among themselves than with the other races of Valanthia. A few years back, that had changed when Grumju Ironfist started his reign. Starting with one of the larger clans, he became the chieftain and slowly annexed the others. He was charismatic for an orc, and had the strength and influence to back up his words with action. Gaining the support of the other clans, he had an army. Then, his sights turned on the rest of the land, he hungered to conquer more.

Fast forward to the present, and the Orcish army had advanced through most of the country, occupying towns throughout and continuing to spread. What made Grumju a fearsome opponent was that he was as strong as the next Orc, but also intelligent, rivaling some of the smarter humans. He had infrastructure, officers to lead when he was away that he trusted. Having recently taken a key point in the city of Westwatch, Grumju knew this coastal location was important. Several officers were left to run the city and keep trade going, just now it was filling the coffers of the Orcs.

One officer was Durzol Loneblade. Like other Orcs, he was good in a fight, but what Grumju used him for was his strategic mind. Another smarter Orc, he hadn't been put to much use in his clan until Grumju came around, recognizing the talent of the warrior and putting him to use. Now he was stationed here in Westwatch, to help oversee things and get them to work for the war. Plenty of Orcs were in the city already, tearing up the place, still celebrating the victory in taking Westwatch. Soon they would settle enough to get to work. Durzol would help lay the groundwork, but first, he needed a place to stay.

Any inn near the docks was full of sailors and traders, and the ones closer to the center were full of Orcs making a mess of the place. Neither sounded too enjoyable as a place to come home to, so Durzol made the rounds to find somewhere away from them. With a grunt, he looked up at the sign of a building on the street. The Sapphire Tide. Looked decent enough. For an Orc, he had a bit of nicer tastes, and this seemed like it would do well enough. Durzol made his way inside, a bag on his back and another case in his left hand.

Inside it still seemed to be in all right shape, Durzol eying the place before making a deep grin at the woman behind the counter. For a human, she was rather attractive. He'd seen a lot in the past few years, and was fortunate enough to enjoy a good number in bed. Small, but they knew their stuff, and this innkeeper was easily in the top he'd seen. He approached the counter, setting the case down on the ground. "Looking for a good room, I'm gonna be here a while. This place gonna fit my needs?" he said, a grizzled, deep voice fitting of an Orc, getting another look up and down her body now that he was closer.
 
Cassia looked up as the bell rigged to her front door chimed, a charming smile immediately on her pretty face, but it faded a little when she saw it was an orc. That smile was practically gone by the time he reached her counter, the one that remained was polite, but cold. She was glad to see that he at least seemed to be alone, orcs in groups meant trouble, they got arrogant and stupid, destructive. The last thing she needed was a bunch of orcs coming in here and tearing the place up. If that happened she'd be better off just closing the place down.

When he spoke she had to force her smile to be a little bigger in an attempt to seem at least somewhat welcoming. Orc or no, money was money and she wasn't in the position to be turning away a paying customer, though she didn't like the way he looked at her at all. She hoped this orc wasn't her only customer though, she'd rather not sleep alone in the same building as an orc. “My eyes are up here, sir,” she told him, her tone as coldly polite as her smile, and she clearly did not mean that 'sir' in it's usual respectful title. “If you're looking for a good bed, good food, and good drink though, yes, your needs will be met. We also have an abundance of privacy at the moment,” Cassia told him, poking fun at how her inn was currently so empty, though less because she thought it was actually amusing and more because if she didn't make light of the situation she'd probably just start screaming.

“Three gold covers the room, it's extra if you want a bath or anything,” Cassia told him, “I do provide food as well but there's a charge for that too, one gold a piece.” Nothing new there, inn's charged for you extra for everything. “Dinner is served between five and eight, breakfast five and eight as well, lunch any time between though it's usually left overs unless you want to pay extra for a fresh meal,” she explained, her words practiced, she obviously gave this explanation a lot. “How long will you be staying?” Cassia asked as she pulled out the ledger to sign him in, if he didn't decide to leave anyway. He could probably find a cheaper room and cheaper food that was around the same quality but she couldn't afford to lower her prices any further. She might as well just let people stay for free if she did.
 
Durzol chuckled, eyes slowly moving up to meet hers. "I'm sure you have practice with that line," he said, considering it a compliment. The Orc nodded as she explained things about the inn, a small smirk at her joking line about the lack of patrons. A bit expensive, but it seemed like it would be decent staying here. Time may prove him wrong, but the pretty face giving the explanation made him want to give it a try. "That seems reasonable," he said, reaching to his back, fumbling around for a few seconds, then set a small bag on the counter. It was filled with gold coins, enough for a few weeks with food and some baths. "I'll be here a while," he said with a small grin.

He was an Orc, yes, but he wasn't ignorant to the fact that things were tough for the residents of the city. Their occupancy couldn't be easy, but that was a reason he was there. To help...smooth the transition, any way he could. "At that price, I'll expect some quality service. Are any sort of...amenities, offered with that?" he said, putting his learning to use with the fancier word. The glint in his eyes as he said it was not really needed to get his true meaning across.
 
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