Beer Kicks and Silver Scratches
20th of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
After returning from the temple no one but Cob is in a mood to explore and he is soon distracted by the self-explanatory game of 'boot-beer'. A goblin's stomach is a hardy thing indeed and small deft hands make for spilling not a drop of the flavorful drink onto the sawdust covered common room. All in all you are glad for the distraction, the raucous cheering that never quite rises to anything more troublesome under the gimlet eye of the innkeeper. The thing that actually wakes you is Cob rummaging around in the packs upstairs to... put his winnings inside.
"Remember to give them a bite to make sure that's real copper," you offer, your distrust of the local coin offerings soon confirmed as four of the ten coins turn out to not have been real cooper at all but cheap iron, the shavings of some smith's forge no doubt.
Taking this in stride with three hiccups and a shrug your friend points out. "Got tasty beer. Longshanks're strange sometimes," and curls up on the other bed, almost like a cat, knives close at hand just in case.
Cob Plays Bar Games Fortitude/Reflex Save: 10, 16
Gain 6 cp (Bootbeer Winnings)
***
21st of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
What dark corner of the city Sirim had spent his night in, or if he even needs to sleep you do not know, but as soon as you take out the medallion he floats beside it and plucks it with
unseen fingers.
That's going to take all of his attention, not to mention risk drawing the eye of passersby on the way to Oldtown, you realize.
Akorian Spellcraft (DC 15): 1d20+7 = 21 (Success)
"I can hold onto that for you until we get there," you point out. "That way you will still have the use of your magic on the way should anyone think our backs are a good place to sheathe their daggers. I don't like how many of them were staring yesterday."
He considers you a moment, then deposits the medallion back in your hand. "Too true, yet you've little choice but to adapt. There is but one nation upon the surface of the world where your kindred can be found in any number and it is not this one."
"Can't say I'm too surprised I didn't end up there, I never was that lucky," you half grumble. Duergar is a good tongue for it and it's nice to speak a tongue where you do not have to consider every word least you unwittingly compare someone's head to a horse's ass.
"Perhaps... or perhaps you are more luckier than you know," he answers without elaborating why.
Mina and Gorok elect to come along, though when you try to wake Cob he mutters something that was either a curse in goblin or a recipe for cooking spider and turns over, still 'beer-kicked'. The remainder of the iruxi also choose to stay at the tavern to help guard him, obviously uneasy about the city and glad for an honorable task they can do instead of facing it again so soon.
Alas, this time your journey leads you not just across the river but ironically west of West Coppertown, onto the broader, wealthier and more well-lit streets of Oldtown where guards are waiting with one hand on their swords and the other cupped for coin. Sirim explains that they will make up some pretense about papers or taxes or some minor misdemeanor you must have committed, but between the fine steel of Gorok's axe and drow spun silk of the coat visible under your cloak they will mark you as adventurers, foreigners both rich in coin and safe to part from it.
What do you do?
[] Pay the bribe, it can't be that bad and you are going to have to pass by their post many times over
[] Try to bluff your way past
-[] Write in how
[] Sneak past invisibly
OOC: I imagine you guys can guess what country Sirim is referring to, but Kori does not even know enough of the surface world to roll an untrained check here. 
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