The hinges on the door squealed, yelling out their desperation for a drop of oil when Eve pushed her way inside the pub. 

Immediately a wall of noise assaulted her ears. Chairs were being shoved around, tables got battered by tankards slamming down on them and voices turned to shouter whenever someone tried to strengthen the point they were making in the discussion they were part of.

Sometimes loud laughter overpowered the various conversations and a small group of drunk men tried singing a dirty shanty. Trying being the operative word.

Her nose twitched from the smell of bad body odor combined with delicious food and accentuated by a dark hearty beer smell. Smoke twisted like dancing snakes through the air and the floor felt sticky underneath her boots.

As Eve walked further into the pub a stray hand landed on her butt and squeezed almost painfully hard. The Ranger derived some pleasure out of breaking a few fingers on the offending appendage and the resulting pained shout.

She dropped it without wasting time to see to whom the hand had belonged. Wondering briefly if the stranger would've been daring enough to fondle her if she had Acute with her. It felt odd to only have the familiar weight of Swift at her side and not the larger weight of the rifle on her back.

Her eyes roved around the dimly lit room in search of a familiar form, which she spotted rather quickly at the bar. The Tiefling Barbarian was laying half-slumped over the bar and poking despondent at his half-empty pint.

With his reddish brown skin tone and long curved horns he definitely stood out in the otherwise mostly human patronage of the pub. His differing appearance was most likely also the reason why there was a small cleared area around him where people seemingly didn't dare enter.

It couldn't be his personality that made people keep their distance. Sharai could be the most charming and engaging person in the room when he wanted to be. Right now his body language screamed of extreme boredom and Eve smirked, knowing she was going to make his day with the knowledge she'd acquired.

She made her way over to him and leaned with her back to the bar, making sure to first pull her long auburn braid over her shoulder to avoid it from dangling in a spill on the bar's surface.

"You're gonna love me," she stated.

Sharai didn't even have the decency to pretend to be startled at her sudden appearance at his side. He sighed and brought the pint to his mouth, throwing back the beer as if it were water. 
He let his yellow eyes rake over her body as he rubbed with a tattooed arm across his mouth.

"Already do, Miss," he quipped with a smirk, but then frowned. "You look weird."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the compliment."

"No, I mean. There's something missing."

"My rifle?"

He snapped his fingers. "That's it!"

"On that same account, you look weird too without your axe," Eve said. "Either way, I heard a rumor," she told him and placed a hand on his muscled arm. This made him stand up straight and she now had to look up at him.

Not for the first time did she wonder what others thought when they saw the two of them together. She, a female Ranger who was by no means short of statue but most likely looking thin and frail next to the bulking horned mass that was the Tiefling Barbarian.

Most likely people thought he was intimidating her as he towered over her. She snorted at the thought and Sharai raised a brow, then the first real smile of the day spread across his face.

"Whatcha thinking, Miss?"

She punched his arm. Hard for her, but to him, it probably felt like swatting a fly. "Stop calling me 'Miss'. We've known each other for quite some time now."

A few brown locks escaped the knot at the back of his head and swayed into his face when he did a short headshake. It made her want to reach out and push them behind his long pointed ears.

Sometimes his behavior called up such mothering feelings in her: it was annoying.

"No can do."

Typical. That was a habit she couldn't get him to break no matter how many times she tried.

"Rumors?" he then inquired, interest very clear in the tone of his voice.

"Of a newly discovered dungeon in the woods of Undyn," the Ranger said.

The resulting grin nearly split the Tiefling his face in half. "Riches?"

"Aplenty. Or so I'm told."

"Nice! We got directions?"

"I've got a map," Eve replied with a corresponding grin. Sharai turned away from the bar and reached up to place a hand in her neck and squeeze slightly. She swatted his hand away.

"Guess I can love you more," he once again joked, making her roll her eyes. She pushed away from the bar to walk out of the pub, certain he was following her without her having to check.

Eager as they were to seek out the riches of this dungeon, the two went to their lodgings to pick up their respective weapons. On their way, they bought new equipment from the village's shopkeep, a shifty man who assured them their bought packages held everything a dungeon adventurer would need.

And with the map in hand, they went on their way.