Doriandrin An'daran

"...So, the issue is, we'll need an expert on kobold metallurgy. And the only one I know of works exclusively for the Venture Company." He said with a frown. "I'm on their kill on sight list for undisclosed reasons. So I need to know if you've got a black mark in their ledgers too."

"Most people do. How else would it stay in business?" He asked with genuine curiosity. "The cartels deal with them, the factions buy and sell to them, the various pirate crews of Azeroth all get supplied by them, one way or another. The fact that they're able to repel attacks from not one, but two global superpowers, and still manage to finance operations as far as Outland?" He raised his mug of coffee towards them. "Yeah, they're doing great, in spite of constant 'downsizing'. The pays so good nearly half the Azerite specialists I met during the Blood War ended up going over full time." He admitted. "Sure, most of them are dead now, but that didn't change the fact the Venture Company offered them pay worth dying for. They shouldn't be dismissed as some lackadaisical outfit." "And poker, no, not for me. It's hearthstone." He said between sips. "Poker doesn't come with enchanted boards that prevent cheating." He said with a scoff. "Suggesting poker is like offering a game of three card ante. You're either a pirate or trying to pull a fast one."

"Oh, good grief. That is precisely why poker is the superior game. It isn't just about the cards. It's a game of trust and deception. It's psychological. Flirtacious. Intimidating. Charm and finesse are required to win and walk away from the table with your winnings, especially when dealing with goblins. Skill and bravery. The fact that you prefer a game that prevents cheating tells me a lot about you, actually. Your ... distrust of others, perhaps even a fear of losing." She shrugged and smirked. "Just don't lose." She stated it as if it were a simple matter of not burning toast or not falling off your mount.

"Playing psychoanalyst with me? This early in the morning?" He replied curtly. "Over my choice of tavern game no less. Poker, dragon ante, whatever you choose, is ultimately, a game of lower stakes. Weapons like flirtation, charm, intimidation." His cowled visage turned to focus on her entirely. "They have no place in real contests of power. Relying on something so flimsy as them is like being girded in tissue paper in the arena. Matter of tempo, of exploitation, and ultimately, domination. The quintessence of life itself is better reflected in hearthstone then poker. Losing has nothing to do with it." He explained. "Some of us endure the burden of losing every single hour of every single day. Losing is a minor distraction." "So I hope you've half a mind to adjust your views on the game. I believe you can ensnare our Venture capitalist in a meeting at the hearthstone board, while they're not flocked by their bodyguards. Who knows, maybe charm and flirting might get them to misplay." He suggested with a grin before he lifted his mug of coffee.

Doriandrin groaned and rolled her eyes so dramatically that her entire body moved with them. "Really."

"Sort of defeats the merit you're making about disarming with immaterial skills like a smile when you've never gone without." He said as he had more of his coffee. "Perhaps, and this is, much like your personal point, a matter of personal experience. I deal with people who unnaturally enhance their looks with blood sacrifice and siphoned youth and alchemical tinctures all the time. Sayaads barely held back with nothing but force of will and words. Living in Silvermoon, boasting the most attractive mortals on the planet. Some flirtatious smile and demure attire isn't going to stop my staff from taking all their teeth out when they're in my way." He stated flatly. "It's why I preferred hearthstone when I played tavern games. All the taunts, all the gambits, meaningless if I won faster then my opponent. Notions like flirting and mind games dismissible, because they lacked the ability to stop me. I say this, because if they also prefer hearthstone to say, poker, perhaps they are more like ME then like you." To which his grin widened. "Besides, I doubt you'll be able to flirt with a kobold with a straight face. I did mention that the Venture Company's expert on kobold techniques is in fact, a kobold right?" He said with a chuckle, knowing full well he had FAILED to include that part. "I just wanted to know if you're able to work with them, the strategy was you'd go play a hand or two, lose to bolster their ego, and work out a timetable to meet to discuss hiring their expertise, and then I copy their work after their done." He said with amused. "Maybe I should let you play psychoanalyst more often, I learned so much about you." He added smugly.

Doriandrin would have been offended by his entire speech if she had not already begun to lose interest in it. Then he informed her of the metallurgist's race. She groaned whole-heartedly. "A kobold?" Now she was fully disapproving of the entire situation. "Ugh."