Dirk is looking out for danger and patrolling.

Kyrie rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 10, using influence.
The result is a success.

The slums are places of brilliant colour, and grey drudgery, dull flat food and sharp, painted architecture. By the sign of a badly painted drunken man, half a dozen tables are set out. Each is just a board balanced on a couple of fragments of masonry. Each has an etched chequers game and some coloured rock pieces, none quite matching. Inside the little shack, there are more serious gamblers; knucklebones. Asking around has revealed that anyone who has a deck of cards... Is in that back room.

It has been a while since Dirk started patrolling, and trouble has found him a couple of times, but as he has caused none, this sort of place is open to him generously, without fear.

Back room card games? That's her jam. Kyrie has had a harder time making a real connection with the locals than she ever did back home, but she's hoping a few good games of cards will help create an in road. She first looks over the tables set up outside, and smiles a bit. She's headed to the door of the shack though, a deck of cards resting in one hand.

Dirk heads into the gambling den. He smiles and looks around.

As the back door opens, the smell of cheap spirits and good cooking floods out. Chatter rises briefly. People look at Kirie, and beyond her to Dirk, obviously wondering if he is coming in too.

Dirk walks in with Kyrie.

Ah, that smell she's missed. Kyrie smiles as she steps in and to the side so she's not in the way, then takes stock of the room as she politely removes her hat. The deck of cards is shown as she looks for an invitation to sit.

Many of the tables are crowded here, but many are empty. When Kirie holds up the cards, several people perk up, and a big man in a tough canvas jacket nods her to one of the empty tables. "Tell them your name and game when they sit down," is all he says.

Dirk gets hardly a second glance. Kyrie, and her cards, are far more interesting to most people.

Kyrie nods to the big man, and heads to the table he indicated. Her hat's hung on a rack on the way, and she adjusts her rapier as she sits like someone who has done it so many times it's automatic. From inside her coat, she draws a small pouch of coins. As for the game? Basic five-card.

Several people join her, and one of them sits down on the other side of her from Dirk, after a nod from big-jacket. "New here?" he says. "It's friendly to let other people look over your card backs. Just checking, you understand?"

There's a smile of understanding, and Kyrie lays down her cards on the table, face down, and fans them wide. An invitation for inspection. She's never needed to mark hers.

Dirk keeps his few cards in his pockets. He does have the signet ring with the Unicorn on.

A few are picked up, and there are a couple of people that everyone looks to. Both shrug, and the cards are offered back.

Kyrie rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 10, using gambling.
The result is a success.

Against a new dealer, with new cards, and a friend who came in with her, nobody bets big. But still, it's the game that is in town - these people know each other and Kyrie is offered a drink and a round of names that are definitely street-names. Bux. Fenlin - call me the cudgel. Two-eye Boras. Mermin. Daffyd Cracker. Money moves around the table, some to her.

Once all are satisfied that her deck is on the up and up, Kyrie collects them again for a good shuffle. Now, she is an outstanding shuffler, when she wants to show off. This is not the time to show off. She just gets them shuffled thoroughly before offering them to the right to be cut. Meanwhile, she starts with the coins she'd won some time back in the other section of Amber. There's also a time to show off as a gambler and take the locals for all she can. It's not that time, either. She's not here to win big. She's here to listen and learn.

Dirk rolls with advantage -1 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts.
The result is a failure.

The names are a blank to Dirk, although he knows the sort of person these are. Minor faces. Some people think them important.

The flow of coins goes towards a couple of people, with Kyrie being one, but she is mostly here being friendly. There are some serious players here; Mermin is one. He was looked to about the card markings. He too is not trying to take too much. Others? Soft. This game is soft. But it is also talkative, as the men - all men at this table - talk to each other about the street and the market outside, and their regular jobs and... there are curious blanks around how else they fill in their time.

The softs are there as padding, clearly. This is a game Kyrie knows, and it's not about the cards. It's about feeling out the new player. Is she a player, or is she a Player? The real game is between her and Mermin, and there's a nod of respect to the man as she studies him and gets a sense of who else in the room really matters. She does chat some, having spent a few days in this section now. Also, about nothing that really matters.

Mermin and... it is difficult to tell, but Daffyd is slowly losing his money and has had worse cards than that implies. And Two-eye and Bux are definitely armed with hidden weapons. A couple of new players join and a couple leave, and time passes. Then outside, there is the sound of scuffling. Some kind of fight out on the street.

Dirk listens and to the sounds outside. He keeps an eye out for trouble here and an ear out for the noise outside.

Kyrie is content with the game. She hasn't had one in a while now, and that was making her itchy. Learning a new town and room is fun for her, so she's definitely enjoying herself. There's sounds of a scuffle then, and she pauses to glance at Mermin. Is he the one that has to go deal with that, or the big guy who was directing traffic when she came in?

Oddly, it is Bux and Two-eye who get up, almost instantly, their cards left where they are. "Put aside the pot," Mermin says quietly. "We'll play for the rest until they get back." The big guy is now covering the door.

There is no trouble inside, although there are several people here alert for it just in case.

Kyrie seems familiar with the protocol when someone at the table has to go 'deal' with an issue, and nods to Mermin. She carries on while they wait for the others to return. "With no official deputies spotted around here, there must have been a hell of a turf war after the thing." she remarks casually.

Dirk moves closer to Kyrie just in case. He lets her do the talking

That makes the table chilly for a moment, but Mermin says, just as casually, "I'm sure it's all fine." And Daffyd was the one who just focussed on Kyrie, razor sharp.

That was fun. Watching the reactions, while not looking like she's watching them too carefully, teaches her a bit more. "I'm sure it is fine. I've been impressed by how little chaos there is out there. Expected more. So, what's the house special? I could eat."

"Ask for the fish," Mermin says after a pause. "We're all trying hard together here."

Kyrie gestures for one of the staff, so she can order the fish. Once that's done, she says "That's good to hear. What kind of help do you need? I know a bunch looking to do good."

"You'd have to come back here a few times," Mermin says, as Bux comes to sit down and the issue of his cards and Two-eyes are dealt with. "So people know what you're good at. We could likely find you work." There are many things he is not saying. Like 'come here once and you could be anyone'.

Dirk nods quietly.

Kyrie smiles. "I plan to come by regular." she says. "I've missed the game. My cousin here's been trying to make himself useful. I know the others want to, too."

"Mhm." Mermin does not look at anyone else, or indeed at anything but his cards, but something tells Kyrie that he is not the decision-maker. "We'll see how it goes. If you want someone else to do your dealing, look after your things, while you eat, that's fine." Notably they have used her as a dealer who also plays, and that is a telling detail. Beyond checking them for marks, nobody has tried to touch anything of hers.

"Much obliged." Kyrie replies. She's pretty sure every word will get back to the decision-makers, so she's not concerned there. The deck is set down once her food is ready, and she'll sit out while she eats. Gives her another opportunity to study the room as a whole.

The rest of the room, both when she looks at it and when Dirk does, contains just players. Not... Players. The newbie in the room got covered by the pros. They are both getting checked out, and now that the game is relaxed without her, there is always at least one pair of eyes on one of them.

Kyrie enjoys that, too. She's very aware of her movements and posture. Not looking to come across as too arrogant, or pushy. There's obviously more to her, sure, but she's not looking to wave a flag around and declare something.

Food comes, food goes, and after about half an hour Two-eye walks back in, sits down, and picks up his cards. There is no conversation. He is wearing a different shirt.

Kyrie clearly enjoyed the food, and sends a compliment back to the chef. She rejoins the game, but seems okay if others want to deal. There's a not to Two-eye when he returns, then she asks generally "Where's the fishing around here?" Because, fish.

pinion says, "Docks, mostly," says one of the newcomers. "Out to sea?" Another explains, "We're not so much in the sailing line, but you can fish from the docks if you don't mind floaters, and the city wall, if you don't mind being shoved off by bastards." There is a general laugh."

Kyrie laughs as well, though her eyebrows also rise a little. "I haven't been to the docks. Thought they were cut off. Maybe someone can show me the way later. For a tip, of course."

There are looks, and a sudden thoughtfulness. "Change of subject," Daffyd declares, and to change the subject, he finally makes a serious raise.

Kyrie inclines her head, accepting the change of subject. She's meets his raise, and orders a glass of the house's whiskey. Rotgut, she's pretty sure. Just the thing.

Kyrie rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 13, using gambling.
The result is a failure.

More dissolve-teeth than rotgut. This whiskey has never seen the inside of a barrel, and probably fought on its way into the bottle.

Over the course of the session, Daffyd takes back most of Kyrie's winnings, and a little of other people's, and a few other people get out of the way, and ... it is a pleasant time. Nobody much cares to cause trouble, there is no cheating she can spot, and drunkenness would be easy but so is laying off the drink.

Kyrie sucks a bit of air through her teeth at that first sip. "Ooh. Very fresh." she jokes, then sips again. "I might need to look into setting up a still somewhere."