Kivas Session 5

Teddy sits down for a talk with Daffy and convinces her that she needs assistance keeping the casino afloat given the way the town's higher-ups seem to have it in for her - specifically, she needs **his** help. Though she's still got some misgivings, the fact that Teddy's offering his work for the equivalent of three hots and a cot helps him cinch the job. Meanwhile, Abraham negotiates the conversion of Daffy's dining/conference room into an office for him to practice out of. Ren prepares his work for the evening's entertainment, and Vic is busy working on commissioned engravings.

Teddy's first task as the new business manager is to accompany Daffy as she heads out to buy beer. The last few times she's been out and about she's noticed some less-than-friendly faces following her, and she'd appreciate the muscle. Teddy convinces Abraham and Ren to tag along, and it turns out that Daffy was right to be worried as a trio of thugs peel away from the townsfolk outside to 'discreetly' follow her. Arriving at the brewery, Daffy is told that Mayor Burnsides is paying them considerable money to NOT sell her beer. After strongarming some details out of the brewer, Teddy slips out the back to confront the thugs following the group. It doesn't take a lot of convincing to determine that they were paid to intimidate Daffy - but they specify that they were told *not* to hurt her, and that they were slipped "anonymous" notes (signed with a "B") with the money. Teddy convinces them that they should probably not be hanging around in that part of town anymore, and they take off - with Ren convincing the third member of the group to follow his friends.

The group strike out at the other two major breweries in town: it looks like Burnside is willing to send 600 Thollars a week down the drain in the hopes of choking off Daffy's business. With nowhere else to turn, the group head back to the casino to check in before they decide to try their luck with the Dwarf brewmasters. Shepherd Bell is nearby, sermonizing about the inferiority of the beast-folk and the vileness of dwarfs. Abraham engages him in debate, but comes up a little short. The group then heads to the Dwarf ghetto, where Vic is able to negotiate an excellent price to supply the casino with a wheat beer - different from the usual beer they serve, but it'll keep the drinks flowing.

Outside, Abraham encounters the Dwarf Elder and his daughter; they manage a private conversation with the aid of her magic, where he warns her that Shepherd Bell is whipping up public sentiment against them. The group return to the casino and spend the evening hyping up the Dwarf beer rather successfully.

The 17th (a Saturday) dawns. Teddy heads out after breakfast to get fitted for a new suit, Abraham oversees the construction on his new office, and Ren and Vic continue to work on "day job" tasks. Teddy works to convince Daffy to make a move away from poker to faro: one of the advantages the Bar Gold has is the draw of its faro tournaments, and while it's hard to make an honest faro tournament profitable, poker is a lot more reliable. The casino can rake off of every pot and poker is much more of a spectator's game than faro, with spectators being people who will drink and play the casino's other games. Daffy agrees, but can't fund the conversion of her faro setups to poker. Abraham agrees to front the money once the beaverfolk are finished with his office.

On the 18th, Teddy and Ren visit the local newspaper and printing press; they book an advertisement to run in the Grande Times and arrange to get a stack of broadsheets printed advertising the upcoming tournament. Teddy makes a point of inviting Charles Foster Sr. to the tournament. While there, a deputy comes in to inform the newsies that there's been another murder in the beast-folk quarter. They return to the casino to gather the crew, and tail the newsies (and the deputy) to the scene. Rose Alexander confronts them wondering what their purpose is, but gets sidetracked by Vic being clever; the Sheriff and deputies scan the scene in a cursory fashion, ask few questions, then leave.

Interviewing the mourning family, the group learns that the victims were the cat-folk Athena and her roommate. They let the team in to examine the scene: Athena's house wasn't ransacked. She and her roommate were bloodily murdered by cutting weapon. There were deep, bloody footprints outside the window, partially obscured by a large movement of air. The footprints were suggestive of a unreasonably large harpy-kin taking flight. There were no other tracks outside the shack. Ren detected that something magical had happened in the room at in the last night. Athena and her roommate Carol were last seen the night before.

New questions are posed, and events in Arroyo Grande continue to advance.