Trouble at Mount Cerena IC

[Tormsskull]

Rhedon, the capital city of the continent of the same name, was under assault by a fierce wintery wind, the chill cutting through the thickest cloaks. The sky was overcast, the sun hidden behind the clouds even at midday.

In Cartier Square, set against the side of Castle Rhedon, Councilor Draab Ironside sits at a large wooden desk. A pale blue canopy is set over him, and two small fires contained in circular metal containers are at both ends of the councilor.

In front of the councilor a few dozen people have gathered. There are two guards dressed in the red and yellow livery of Rhedon trying to keep the crowd organized. The individuals of the crowd are a mish-mash of people, humans, elves, dwarves, gnolls, and a few hobgoblins, all clad in metal or leather armor, and all holding weapons as if they know how to use them.

Councilor Ironside stands, his black hair and long beard shifting from a sudden gust of wind. Grumbling at the wind, he addresses the crowd.

"You all have come to answer the call for adventurers to take on a dire threat to my homeland. For this, I thank all of you. Even if you should decide not to take my offer, a free meal will be provided for you at the Golden Stag Inn, at my expense."

With this the councilor points towards the inn, his wrinkled finger bent at an angle that suggests it has been broken more than once.

"I will not lie. We have very little information about this sect of kalasti supporters that I want you to take care of. We do not know their numbers, we do not know their organization or amount of arms. If you should decide to take my offer, walk up to my desk and sign your name on this scroll in an orderly fashion."

The crowd all looked at one another...

[Toliudar]

Gana

It was easy for Gana to look over the crowd, standing a head taller than most. There were certainly older and more experienced warriors than her here. Would she be selected?

Not for the first time, Gana was also very conscious of being hemmed in on all sides by these more civilized folk - well, maybe not the gnolls. And also that her clothes still smelled like horse. She must remember not to turn too quickly and knock one of them down with her spearsword.

A moment after Councilor Ironsides finishes his opening statement, Gana does indeed look around at the others around her, and shyly raise her hand. She clears her throat, and her voice is surprisingly soft and high-pitched for one so big.

"Um. So, you're going to tell us what you do know, or do we have to sign up first?"

[esorscher]

Thanos

Ironside's words echoed out over the room, reaching the ears of all in attendance. The councilor was a hardened veteran of war, and Thanos had always admired him. There was no question in his mind that Ironside would have been a preferable patron to his craft, but fate had destined him to work with a lesser man. Perhaps if Thanos performed this service for Ironside, Ironside would look favorably on him, and help him find his father's killers.

Thanos looked around at his peers, trying to pick out the cowards from the brave, the ruthless from the charitable, the weak from the strong. Feeling confident that he possessed the latter attributes of all three pairings, Thanos stepped forward, moving to sign the document on the table.

He was stopped by a lofty, high-pitched voice. A beautiful voice, Thanos turned, guessing the owner paralleled the promise visage. Surprisingly, the voice belonged to an orc female. Not quite what Thanos had imagined, but he stopped his forward motion to listen to the answer.

[Cespenar]

Daen

A black-haired, armored man, standing amongst other armored men, almost invisible.

Looking blankly forward, Daen was reliving the previous month's events in his mind, yet again. Councilor's voice was in the background, as if coming from behind a heavy curtain. He heard them though, brain processing without letting the mind know. Kalasti supporters, not enough information, mere details.

He "awoke" with the combination of a motion and change of sound. A man had bolted forward, but stopped as a high-pitched woman's voice cut in. She was asking for more knowledge, if he had heard right.

Feeling rather numb at the moment, Daen walked stiffly forward and started to sign the scroll without waiting for the councilor's answer.

[Tormsskull]

Councilor Ironside looks towards the speaker from the crowd, and then nods with a hint of a smile at the dwarf who approached the table. Glancing at the black-haired armored man who also approached, a look that could be called mild approval covered his face.

"All we know at the time is that there is a group of men dressing up in blue robes and wearing feather costumes to appear as kalasti. Needless to say, this has caused a bit of a problem. Ever since one of our mining groups excavated into a hidden fortress and ran into the sect, the whole area has threatened to go into a panic."

The councilor frowns a bit, clenching his right fist in the process.

"I've been told that the tunnel that connects to the fortress has been closed down, and a squad of soldiers has been placed there. As I said, our information about inside the tunnel is sparse at best. I'm sure the commander on location can provide more information."

Councilor Ironside looks down at the scroll as the first signature is added.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos wasn't sure about the mission, but he'd already made steps toward the scroll. It wasn't as if he could back out now. As soon as the armored man was clear of the parchment, Thanos scribbled his signature below the hastily scrawled "Daen."

He stepped to the side of the desk, watching as others would come forward, trying to size them up. As he did, he attempted to size up his peer. He carried a sense of sternness to him, an admirable and favorable trait for an ally to possess, and he didn't look like your casual ruthless, bloodthirsty mercenary. Of course, the good ones rarely do, so it was anyone's guess as to what really lay behind this man's eyes. There was something more, something lying under the surface, however--an aspect Thanos recognized because it was something his own eyes belied.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana nodded silently at the dwarf's response. She couldn't really think of what else to ask at this point. All would be made clear.

Following the others who had stepped forward, she took up the stylus and inscribed a rough circle underneath the men's squiggles, and then let it drop back down next to the scroll. All this focus on marks on paper seemed silly to her, but the men here seemed to put great stock in it.

"Okay. I'm in," she murmured.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"Er, sorry," says a man who has been standing slightly off to the side. His sharp features and high voice mark him as an elf, but not the type of elf common in the Capitol. Beneath chainmail and a sturdy jerkin he has dark skin, and his hair has a reddish hue to it.

"I'm not used to this business of being a hired blade," he continues, but then glances at the big, unstrung longbow gripped tightly in his right hand. He carries a sword and shield, as well, but the large quiver on his back (and the fact that it's half-empty) proves his bow sees much more use. "Um, or hired... hand. At any rate, I guess what I'm getting at is... well, will we be... compensated for this?"

His words have long vowels, confirming what was suggested by his dirty boots, bulging pack and faint smell -- the man is a ways from home. Those who have travelled might recognize the accent as that of a southerner.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

The sound of something clacking against steel rings erupts into a bubble of silence as the adventurers standing at the back of the crowd notice a horrific figure making its way up to the front of the line.

What strides forward could be the reanimated corpse of dwarf, though instead of rot and disease it is the vague stench of ale and urine that radiate from him. Half of his beard, and his face as well, seem to be missing. An unnatural crater of scabs and scars mark the right half of his face, where a jagged piece of his cheek bone juts out, barely covered by the skin.

Even the old veterans who have seen the horrors of war cringe at the sight of this walking monster. The more observant of them notice he wears a leather strap around his neck with an ivory bear statuette, a small silver ring set with an amethyst, and a small tube that could be a miniature scroll or map case, hung about his neck like totems.

He is still bleeding slightly from a gash across his forehead, droplets of blood lazily making their way down his brows to the end of his nose and staining the flagstones and his iron-shod boots.

He walks directly up to the front of the line, pulls out a quill out of a pouch, inks it and scrawls 'Noftur Ironhelm - Siege Engineer' in the linear, scratchy style of Dwarven runes. A drop of blood sails downward from his nose and lands squarely on his name.

As he looks up from the scroll, he stares coldly at everyone around him, daring someone to say something. He pointedly avoids the gazes of the dwarves until he finally locks gazes with Draab. 'These surface dwellers will be needing a dwarf if they're to be going down into a mine,' he grumbles in a gravely voice before making his way to an empty spot of wall which he leans against, eying the ground.

Noftur Portrait (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/FPQm0zyYr15tBVL-X4t_xg?feat=directlink)

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana took stock of the five men who had also stepped forward and signed up. She'd heard that dwarves and elves sometimes had a bad reaction to her folk. Sounded like that elf had come a long way too, and from the opposite direction as her. Not a lot of dwarves, and just a few elves up where she come from, so it was all one to her. Gana tried a small smile as the group stood around.

"Um, hello. Gana."

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos extended a hand in greeting toward the she-orc. Even by orc standards, Thanos mused, she was odd-looking. Her hair was unlike any he'd seen on an orc, and a sharp contrast to his own inky-black ceaser 'do.

"Greetings, Gana. I am Thanos." He spoke with a pretentious, refined air, as if he'd been schooled in oratory as a child, trying to impress upon his new allies that he was of high standing. He hadn't been, and he wasn't.

As if she didn't already know who he was--although it was possible she wasn't familiar with the competitive archery league the city held, and that his name was at the top of every list. It was relatively small-time, after all.

But Thanos's thoughts weren't toward Gana, they weren't toward his modest fame as an archer, but toward the disfigured dwarf that had joined their midst. Half tempted to make a quip about how a dwarf with half a beard is only half a dwarf but deciding against such a statement, Thanos instead choked down the rising bile at the dwarf's ghastly visage, hoping it would go unnoticed among his peers.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana looked down at the man with the bow. He talked pretty.

Uh. Hi, Thanos.

She followed his eye over to the dwarf with the smashed in face. Looked like somebody wasn't quite done smashing it in yet.

Remember to keep her mouth closed when she smiled. Remember to keep her mouth closed when she smiled.

Gana smiled down at the dwarf.

You want a bandage or something for that?

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

A strange look crosses the dwarf's face as he stares down at floor. He lifts his eyes up... and up to Gana's. The black, brown, red, and purple skin on the right side of his face twists and stretchs as the other half of his face cracks into a smile.

'It's not often I meet someone nearly as ugly as myself.'

He grins, or grimaces, up at her, and then suddenly bursts out laughing.

'Well met, Gana, was it? I've only myself to blame for this,' he says gesturing at the gash on his forehead. 'Helga doesn't take kindly to me sharing her stall, nor drinking myself into a stupor.'

After a short pause, he adds, 'My horse.'

Casting a glance over to Thanos, he snorts and shakes his head. Turning back to Gana, he asks, 'You know your way around a hole in the ground?'

[Tormsskull]

Councilor Ironside seems content to allow those who have signed and those in the process of signing to talk amongst themselves and get to know each other. He does, however, nod in Nevan's direction, and speaks quietly trying not to interrupt any other conversations that may be taking place.

"The Grand Council has authorized me to dispense 1,000 gold coins, a paltry sum, really."

The councilor grumbles to himself, a clear sign that he has had past disagreements with the council.

"I've added another 1,000 gold coins from my own estate to that, for a total of 2,000 gold coins to be paid to the persons that end any threat posed by the sect. The payment will be made after I am informed from the area that a patrol has gone through the fortress and found it to be of no danger."

[Cespenar]

Daen

Not sure of what to do now that he has signed the scroll, Daen lets his gaze wander around, returning some looks in the process. The man called Thanos had sent a rather sharp one though, and Daen wonders if the man really saw through him, or it was just an intimidating look.

Sighing, he focuses back, and finds the councilor talking to the elf. A moment's listening reveals, however, that the subject is payment, and thus not interesting to him. He lets out another sigh and continues to look around, starting to get bored of all pleasantries that's been going around.

[HempRope]

Nevan

The elven man blinks when, for a moment, he is under the impression that he might get a thousand gold for his trouble. When he understands that it will be two thousand split among the group, he pauses for a moment to look at the few people who have signed up. If it's only split among half a dozen people, that's a decent sum.

He nods and steps forward, reaching for a scroll case that hangs across his body from his left shoulder to his right hip. From a small compartment on the side he pulls a large quill, dips it in the inkwell on the table, and scrawls a loopy signature with a small flourish at the end. He pauses for a moment, his pen hovering over the scroll, and then letters "Nevan Alibo" in a neat, tight hand beneath the signature. Switching the quill to his left hand, with the bow, he offers Ironside his right to shake.

"Nevan Alibo," he says.

The deal now sealed with a handshake as well as a signature, Nevan moves to the side to join his soon-to-be comrades, wiping his quill clean with a cloth from his pocket. He nods to the others, taking a second look to inspect Thanos' bow.

"Nevan," he says to the group at large.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Seeing the ugly orc's attention shift to the ugly dwarf and musing on how birds of a feather flock together, Thanos is pleased to find that there would be no awkward silence; a new member of the party had just added himself, and Thanos takes the opportunity to greet him, holding up a hand in a half-wave.

"I'm Thanos," he starts, briefly pausing and then continues, "That's quite a smart looking bow you've got there. Are you any good with it?"

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Thanos realizes that they might be taken offensively. He meant them as a mere conversation starter with a fellow bowman, but if Nevan figured them as an insult, or a challenge, things could get off to a rocky start.

[Toliudar]

Gana

The big orc has been looking down at the strange, scarred dwarf, trying to figure out if she's been insulted, befriended or hit on. All three seem possible, and it was so hard to tell, with things being so very different down here. She settles on the middle one, since it seems safest. Her smile widens, revealing an array of long, crooked teeth.

Nearly. So you slept in a stables too, last night? Least I was smart enough to sneak up to the hayloft. I'll have to show you sometime.

Gana freezes, the green/grey of her face darkening significantly for a moment as she takes in what she's just said.

I mean...that's...

She glances around, looking for a way out of this moment.

So, do you know where this Golden Stag place is? Maybe we should all go over there now, and talk with our mouths full.

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan opens his mouth for a tart riposte, but is interrupted by Gana. The look on Thanos' face suggests perhaps he wasn't trying to be mean... Nevan decides to be equally ambiguous.

"I don't waste many arrows," he says curtly to Thanos before turning to Gana.

"Sounds excellent," he says. "I haven't had someone else make me a meal in far too long. Is this everyone?" he asks, turning to Ironside and the rest of the rabble assembled before the dwarf.

If no one else appears to be signing up, Nevan makes his way toward the building he thinks the dwarf's gnarled finger had indicated.

[Rettu Skcollob]

The ambient chatter of the square and its occupants is abruptly interrupted by a sound that seems remarkably similar to shattering glass. This is most probably because it is the sound of shattering glass. With a dull thump, Adtasi landed on the ground in the square, quickly hauling himself up and brushing what remained of the window of the tavern he was just thrown out of off of his shoulders irritably. He made an obscene gesture in the general direction of the bar angrily. He shouted a curse that he'd learned from an Orc a while back, which roughly translated meant "May your weapon fall from your hands and cut off your genitals, spawn of a wild boar."

A raucous babble of angry voices was heard from the tavern, as Adtasi turned, shaking his head to remove yet more of the razor sharp pieces of glass from his blond hair. Irritably, he rubs at a cut on his cheek that has begun to bleed profusely with a gloved hand. He looks surprisingly young, and couldn't be younger than twenty, but carries himself with an air of wary confidence, supplemented by the exquisitely crafted crossbow that hung from his back, and the toughened, studded leather that obscured the majority of his skin, save for his knees and elbows, which were covered with winding black cloth. He throws his hood over his head, suddenly transformed from a handsome young boy with rather a lot of weaponry to a slimly built man that looks as if he might disappear if he walked into shadows.

A wickedly sharp rapier hangs at his side, though he has attached it to his armour rather inexpertly, betraying his inexperience with the weapon. It too appears to be well made and balanced, however. His eyebrows raise as he hears the words "Two thousand Gold" clearly, despite being at the very back of the throng. He strides through the crowd slowly, lacking the bulk to be able to push through the crowd. A string of curses, variously in Dwarven, Elven and Orcish emnates from his mouth as he weaves his way as best he can through the crowd. Eventually, he makes his way to the front, and signs his name on the scroll therein with a flourishing, elegant script. That done, he turns to the rest of the motley group that appears to have signed on. Despite his vulgarities earlier, he speaks Common with a refined accent.

"Greetings and all that. My guess is you'll be needing a man who knows his way around a lock and trap on this trip. I'd be happy to oblige; for a share in the reward, of course. Times are hard. I'll wager that I'll be able to retrieve enough loot from the corpses of the bird-lovers to make this worthwhile."

A drop of blood falls to the floor from the cut on his obscured face, and he absent mindedly rubs at it again with a dirty glove.

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan looks over his shoulder as the young man in black joins them.

"You two are gonna need to get cleaned up, or we're going to be easier to track than a gaggle of Owlbears," he says, waving a hand at Noftur and the new arrival. "What's your name, by the way?"

[Rettu Skcollob]

"Hm? Oh, call me Adtasi. Ad' for short, if you like. And don't worry about me, it's just a cut or two. Minor issue with a few of the drinking crowd." Adtasi let his first name slip easily, but he kept his last to himself. There was always a chance that one of the group or those nearby would have heard of the hefty reward offered for his return to his Father, and decide to jump him. Come to think of it, Adtasi was a fairly uncommon name anyway... Might need a new one some time.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

With a ghastly grin at Gana, Noftur quips, 'It would hardly do to leave Helga alone, now. And why waste perfectly good effort dragging yourself up when there's a bed of soft hay at your feet, hmm?'

Smiling, Noftur quickly adds, 'Oh I think that Stag's off that way,' and he starts walking off. 'I'm not so sure about talking with mouths full, though. That is, unless you'd like to see even more of my food while I'm chewing it.' After he says this it becomes immediately apparent that anyone sitting on his right would have a clear view of anything in Noftur's mouth.

As Noftur hears the young human with the rapier say the words 'locks and traps,' he stiffens up and a dark cloud passes across his eyes. The muscles in his face suddenly twist themselves in a spasm and his hand twitches upward from his side toward the tokens dangling from their leather strap at his breast. He seems to gaze through the human into some other place for an instant.

All at once, he seems to relax, and he tilts his head sideways up at Gana and begins, 'Shall we head off to the Stag? You know, if we do this, bards may write songs about the lot of us. Imagine it: the Green Queen and Skullface the Dwarf. Prissybow the elf and Hightalk the queasy. I saw that look he gave me. Let's see now, who else have we here. Shardface the silly, and... Daylen the Disinterested? What was that one's name again?' Noftur seems to be rambling on glibly almost without thinking, certainly without giving a thought to the fact that almost anyone within a hundred feet can clearly hear everything he is saying.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises an eyebrow at the Dwarf's monologue, but lets the vaguely insulting epithet slide. He waves a gloved hand in front of his eyes briefly.

"Are you alright, friend? Perhaps you should get those injuries treated..."

He runs his tongue along his teeth thoughtfully. Shardface the silly? This Dwarf must have taken an impressive blow. Shardface. Doesn't sound so bad, actually. Hmm. Shard. That was a good name. He'd have to remember it later, in case he needed an alias.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

'Hrmm? The ones in my head or the ones on my head?' he grins.

'Well met, Adtasi. As for this,' he says, pointing to the gash on his forehead, 'it's nothing more than a scratch.' As he says this he scratches at the wound, bleeding on his right glove and starting a small rivulet of blood trickling down the normal half of his nose.

He turns his attention toward the elf and then quickly mumbles something under his breath. The words 'stinking elf,' 'flesh wound' and 'bloody' can vaguely be heard. He quickly smiles, though, and offers a grubby left hand to the elf. 'Nevan, isn't it? I suppose if it will shut your silly mouth I'll submit to having this cleaned up.' Noftur is already laughing and turning away as he finishes the sentence, walking on toward the Golden Stag.

[esorscher]

Thanos

As the group moves away from him, Thanos frowns inwardly, already feeling the animosity building amongst the group, most of it directed toward him. No matter, he reasons as he catches up, they'll soon appreciate me when the battle comes.

It was the dwarf's prodigious disrespect that brings his already simmering anger to a boiling point. As the group walks out of earshot of Councilor Ironside and toward the Inn, Thanos, bringing up the rear, mutters under his breath, dropping all pretense:

"I thought honor was what the dwarves valued. I guess with only half a beard, you're really only half a dwarf. Maybe when you need my help, you'll show a bit more respect."

As soon as the words were out, Thanos felt a twang of guilt, but he wasn't about to let a slight against his honor go unpunished. Warranted or not, the words were out there, and if Thanos has correctly interpreted the skittish, reflexive fear that has passed over the dwarf, more than one of this party had their share of queasiness.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi follows the group, beginning to like the Dwarf already. He smiles, revealing his canines under his hood as the Human rises to the Dwarf's taunting, looking forward to seeing how this would turn out. If it came to a fight he probably would remain neutral, but bet a gold piece on the Dwarf nonetheless.

[Toliudar]

Gana

The orc tags along towards the back of the group. Some part of her remembers the spectacle of the orc men in her village, lining up at the edge of a frozen stream, angling their water up to try to see who could go the furthest. This...smelled the same.

[Cespenar]

Daen

As if doing it unintentionally, Daen walks between Thanos and the dwarf, and abruptly stops on the point their lines of sight intersect. He touches Thanos' shoulder softly, gesturing him forward.

"I heard the Golden Stag serves one of the best mutton stews around here," he says with a calm voice. The irrelevance of the sentence is almost as blatant as the implication underneath.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi continued on in silence, indifferent to the conflict that Daen had just attempted to defuse. Vaguely; the fact that one less party member meant more treasure all around occurred to him. He shook his head slightly, banishing the thought from his head. He always got like this when coin was scarce. He really had to fix that later... In any case, he'd have to reserve judgment on the others before he took a side, if he ever did.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Blissfully unaware of what is happening around and behind him, Noftur begins belting out a song in hoarse, gravely voice to the tune of an old Dwarven drinking song:

'The Golden Stag, it reeks of stew,
And mugs of ale wait for you,
A fine free meal and finer company
So gather your wits and come with me,
To what they say is the best in town.
Turn at High Street then all the way down.
You'll never taste a better meal
Than their venison or salted veal.

Down at the inn - The Golden Stag,
Drink up! Drink up! Drink up, me lads!
Down at the inn - The Golden Stag,
Drink up! Drink up! Drink up!'

Looking unsatisfied at the end of his impromptu song, Noftur immediately says 'In honor of our great, grand quest to rid this underground fortress of the feather-headed, addle-brained idiots who care to stand in our way, join me in this one. You all know the words!'

Slapping his hand against his thigh in the measured rhythm of a marching song, Noftur rumbles into the Kalasti War March:

'Boom! go the wardrums,
Forward march the lines,
Boom! go the wardrums,
Creatures of all kinds!

Down! with the bird-men,
Bring them down to earth,
Down! with the bird-men,
Graves shall be their berths!

Up! with the spears now,
Run the bird-men through,
Up! with the spears now,
Let blood be shed anew!

Out! with the swords now,
Cleave the wings in twain,
Out! with the swords now,
Avenge the years of pain!

Twang! go the bow strings,
Let the arrows fly,
Twang! go the bow strings,
Pierce them in the sky!

Thud! go the bodies,
Hear them as they fall,
Thud! go the bodies,
Kill them as they crawl!

Rah! shout the victors,
Never slaves again,
Rah! shout the victors,
Bury now the slain.'

He whispers the last line, and absentmindedly continues to walk and beat his leg in time to the rhythm of the song.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos, understanding Daen's gesture, lets the matter drop. It wasn't worth tearing this freshly formed party apart, at least not yet. Besides, while Thanos could likely finish the dwarf with a few well-placed arrows, the hulking she-orc looked a sight tougher. He does not join in the song, however, instead opening up a dialogue with Daen.

"Thanks. I never caught your name," he says awkwardly, as the party rounds the corner and the Golden Stag comes into view. Hopefully, this would silence the scarred dwarf's gravely singing.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Content that the man heeded his advice, Daen's expression relaxes a bit, and he even lets out a slight smile.

"Daen Achea," he says with a tone as if he's been asked by a high ranking officer. Pausing a moment, he extends a gauntleted hand. "And you are Thanos, if I heard correctly?"

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos shakes hands with the armored man, continuing the convesation:

"Yep, that's correct. I guess you could say I'm handy with a bow," he said, downplaying his considerable prowess. "That's some sword you've got there. Family heirloom?"

Thanos flagged down the bartender for a pint of elven mead, which was brought to him. He takes a good drink of it and smiles, the warmth spreading to his extremities and soothing his bruised ego.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana collects two lagers at the bar, and takes one to Noftur as he finishes his song. This was different from the chants she had heard, but she recognizes the rhythms underneath. Gana waits patiently until the dwarf emerges from his reverie, and offers him one of the drinks.

Sorry. Haven't heard that one before. Are you old enough to have fought in the war?

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur looks up and takes a lager with a smile. He tilts his hide to the side as he drinks to keep from spilling out of the open side of his mouth. After downing a quarter of it, he wipes his lip and beard with the back of his hand and says, 'You've got good taste, even if it is a little light.'

After a moment, he adds, 'No, my great-grandfather did though. I thought everyone knew the song, but then again you're not from around here, are you?'

[Cespenar]

Daen

Having ordered a pitcher of ale himself, Daen was sipping his drink with care when the question struck. He keeps silent for a short moment, swallows his mouthful and clears his throat.

"Well. Hmm. Something like that, I guess. It was my sire's sword."

He puts one hand onto the sword's ornate pommel and takes another sip from his ale.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos finished his mead and flagged down the barkeep for another. He loved the taste of alcohol in most all its forms, but particularly enjoyed the mead the elves brewed.

"Ah, I see," he said in response to Daen's answer. "Achea, that's an interesting name. Are you from around here?"

The bartender brought Thanos his drink, and Thanos took another large gulp, smiling.

(From OOC Thread: Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - (1d20+5)[17])

[Cespenar]

Daen

Being a rather slow drinker, Daen have barely drunk half of the pitcher when Thanos orders his second. He throws a glance at his drink and shrugs.

"It's my father's name, actually, and probably only Eyr knows where he's from. Heh."

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan would be offended at being called "prissy" were his epithet not followed by a string of other mildly-insulting nicknames for his new allies. A lesson learned, though -- he clearly needs to relax. Ironside isn't making any decisions on how the group is presenting themselves, and it won't be necessary to get along with this lot.

So when Noftur offers his hand, Nevan takes it with a smile.

"No trouble, friend," he says, "You can bleed all you want in the Stag, getting some food in front of me will shut me up a hell of a lot faster."

[hr]
Nevan proves to be true to his word. When he gets a venison pastie and a big mug in front of him ("Something local," he'd said with a wave of his hand when the bartender asked him what kind of beer he wanted), he settles down between Gana and Daen and spends the next five minutes in silence as he devours his food. His plate emptied, Nevan heads to the bar, returning not with another mug, but a large bowl of salad1.

After a bite of salad and a draught from his mug, he leans across the table toward Adtasi, the only one of his five table-mates not now deep in conversation.

"So, young sir," he asks, refraining from calling the hooded man 'boy' -- by his standards, he is probably quite mature, Nevan reasons. "Where do you hail from, and what calls you to the taverns of our fair capitol?" he continues with a half smile.

[hr]1. Did they eat salad in this faux-time period?

[esorscher]

Thanos

Never a shy drinker, Thanos finishes the second mead quickly.

"Eyr?" he asks, not sure of what, or who, that was. His family had never held much truck with religion, preferring to look inwardly for answers instead of some phantom. While there may well be a higher power, Thanos's father had always taught him that any "gods" mortals attempt to understand could not be gods, true gods were beyond our ken.

He flagged the bartender down again, feeling the buzz from the latest drink hit him, sliding the empty glass across the table slightly, so that there was room for another. "This time, Thanos says to the barkeep, "you'd better bring a pitcher."

(From OOC Thread: Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - (1d20+5)[10])

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises an eyebrow at 'young sir', but quickly returns it to its usual position; not wanting to appear rude. He'd ordered a cider, he'd never really had the stomach for drinking, didn't like the taste either. His grip on his mug tightens slightly when asked about himself, but he smiles, turning to look at his questioner. Occasionally he pauses. Despite his other skills, he'd never been a very good liar, and was almost compulsively honest in conversation. He tried to stay as close to the truth as possible. "... Westwards. A small village... You probably wouldn't even find it on a map. I've come here seeking work. Coin is becoming harder to come by, and I need a chance to hone my skills and fill my coin-pouch."

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan chuckles at Adtasi's answer.

"Couldn't find it on a map, eh?" he says. "Well it just so happens, my young friend, that I have made a career out of putting tiny towns on the map. Quite literally -- I'm a cartographer, and I specialize in mapping little-travelled areas, hamlets and their hinterlands. It's a niche market, but it keeps the money coming in, and I get to travel, to boot. It fits me pretty well, really..." Nevan trails off as he realizes he's sliding into the little speech he gives whenever anyone asks him about his job. Which no on has.

"So, um, anyway," he continues, "I'll admit I haven't been too far westwards yet, but I promise you, if I don't know the name of your home town, and don't have it on a map, then when this is all done, we'll head over there and put it on one. So fire away. Where are you from?"

[roll0]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi's heart skipped several beats. A Cartographer? A God's damned Cartographer?! Why did he say that? He took a sip of his drink to get some extra time to think, furiously trying to find something to say. Lying again was out. He didn't know anything about the towns west of here, and if he made something up then the curious bastard would most probably know. He placed his mug back on the table.

"While I appreciate the offer,", he remarked in a tone that was fairly clear that he did not. "and I'm flattered you have such an interest in my background; I'd rather not go into it... While I'm sure your intentions are naught but benign, in future you might want to try and stave off your curiosity around strangers, who might such sudden questions..." Adtasi's voice lowered to a tone that was slightly darker. It promised not only inexplicably violent things happening to you in the immediate future, but also similar unfortunate events happening to your family, friends, and maybe your household pets as well. Suspicious. Curiosity did kill the cat, after all."

Trying to shift the conversation, Adtasi leaned back pleasantly, seeming to forget about everything he had just said. "But enough about me. What do you think of this... job? I'm afraid I came to the signing on a little later than you, but the reward was enough to catch my attention."

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Distracted for a moment from his conversation with Gana, Noftur looks over toward "Shardface" and "Prissybow," chuckling to himself about the monikers he had thought up for them. The amusement suffers a quick death as he catches the look passing from Adtasi to Nevan.

Glancing back at Gana, when he turns back to find out what is going on, he wonders if he was just imagining the vicious look that he thought he had seen. He looks back into his drink with a quizzical look, shrugs, then downs what's left in the tankard with a swift toss and gets up to grab another.

Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - [roll0](+2 vs. poison)

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan is, to say the least, taken aback by Adtasi's response to his friendliness. His gut reaction is to laugh -- such a dramatic threat from one who appears so young seems incongruous to Nevan -- but he checks himself. The boy -- young man! -- may be serious. And/or older than he looks. So Nevan just stares at Adtasi for a long moment. Still grasping for something to say, he follows it with another long sip from his mug, though he stops drinking far before he lowers its brim from his lips.

"I don't think your style of chatting will make you many friends," Nevan says finally, glancing at the chatty pairs on either side of him and wishing he was talking to any one of the others, even Thanos. That man might be arrogant, but not as much as Adtasi, nor does he seem actually unkind, secretive, mean, cruel, violent or any other of a handful of unpleasant adjectives Nevan might apply to this young hooded man.

Or maybe Adtasi was just trying to be a lot harder than he actually looked. Much more likely. He doesn't drink, and he clearly just got kicked out of a bar... while sober...

Nevan stands up, grabbing his mug from the table on the pretense that he had emptied it. He won't make any judgments yet, he tells himself as he moves away to the bar. He'll treat the kid a hell of a lot differently if he's a fool than if he actually means all of that bluster.

Arriving at the bar, he decides on a bottle of wine rather than filling up the mug again. The beer wasn't anything special, and he can always re-cork a bottle. Despite his decision to not decide anything, Nevan looks over his shoulder at the table anyway, just to make sure Adtasi doesn't do anything to his plate of salad.

[Tormsskull]

HempRope's Know. Geo. check

Roll Result = 19.

The land west of the capital city is mostly rolling farmlands, though only a portion of them are well-maintained. There is a large river, the River Swog, approximately 25 miles west of the city. The land not covered by farms is dotted with splotches of trees.


The Golden Stag inn remains a hopping place, several patrons come in and out. A few are even humming the tune that Noftur belted out earlier. All are seemingly enjoying a good time.

There are few coins exchanging hands inside the establishment, most likely due to the fact that nearly all of the patrons showed up at Councilor Ironside's call for adventurers.

As the night wanes on, patrons begin leaving slowly, leaving by the ones and twos. With only a dozen or so people remaining inside, and the lantern oil ready to be changed, a one-eyed hobgoblin enters through the main door, dressed in the livery of a town guard. His skin is grayish green and his thin hair is gathered together in a center pony-tail, the rest of his head is shaved.

The hobgoblin walks towards the group, his mouth twisting into a toothy smile.

"You guys signed up for Ironside's mission?"

He drops a meaty arm onto the table and places a piece of parchment in front of the others.

"This is from the councilor, it is a half-way decent map of the area you're headed to. I recommend that you take the train in the morning. Its the quickest way to north-central Rhedon."

The hobgoblin looks at the group, preparing to leave unless they have any questions for him.

OOC

The train refers to a caravan that is drawn by massive lizards know as Storads. Storads were domesticated just after the war to end enslavement. The lizards are initially from far to the south-west of the continent.

The lizards are over 40 feet long, and weigh nearly 10 tons. They are very docile, and are difficult to startle. They are light brown in color, and eat small trees or other greenery.

It is up to you if your character's know about the Storads or not, they are definitely popular enough for most people to have heard of them, however, anyone who lived outside of the capital city most of their lives may not have.

[Rettu Skcollob]

"All my friends are dead." Adtasi feels a twinge of guilt, sighing as the man walks away. It seems his question was innocent after all. Still, it was better that way. The people that got close to him always seemed to either die or try to kill him / turn him in for the reward his father offered for his return.

His skills were prodigious for someone of his age, but it was still nigh impossible to get anyone to take him seriously without seeming, well, mean. He reaches underneath his robe, taking out the small locket his mother had given him shortly before his leaving. For a moment he fingers it, polishing the dulled metal with his thumb, before replacing it sadly. It was one of the few things he had taken from his family that he had kept. The piece of jewelry was not inherently valuable in any case. It had been passed down through his mothers side of the family for generations, and contained nothing but mundane metals and a picture of his family. If he had stayed, one day it would've contained a picture of his, after he'd wed.

No, but he couldn't waste time on somber recollections. There was a job to do. It was too bad that he'd had to push that man anway, but there was no sense in taking unnecessary risks. Bad things seemed to happen to those that got close to him. He remains silent as the Hobgoblin arrives, examining the map.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Nofter grimaces - a truly awful sight - at the mention of the train. 'Ah, it'll be the great stinking lizards then. You spend enough time riding on one of them and you'll wish you'd walked... upwind.' He winks with his good eye at the hobgoblin guard. 'I remember we had to put one down back in the Siege Engineer Corps. It had been mangled when the ballista it was towing snapped like a rat trap. That awful lizard was the only thing my ballista team ever got to shoot.'

As Noftur continues his story to anyone who will listen he makes large hand gestures to accentuate the actions he describes. 'We drew straws and were the unlucky ones who got to be the first to shoot. The artillery train driver said we had about an even chance of being trampled or smashed under its tail. If we were lucky it'd simply lay down and decide it wasn't worth it, and die. But we hit the damn thing right here!' slapping the base of his neck with his hand, 'and thud!' he says as he slams the table with his fist. 'And that is how I won this' he says, patting the elaborately decorated throwing axe at his hip.

'Storad steaks, Storad meat pies, Storad sausage, but the worst by far was Storad Surprise. Pray to the gods that none of them dies on the way.' He makes a face at the thought of the last dish.

[esorscher]

Thanos

As soon as the hobgoblin mentioned the train, Thanos began reminiscing. He'd been a young boy, and his father had taken him to see the Storads the way some parents take their children to the zoo. They were smelly, foul, and in every way offensive to the senses, but Thanos had admired their strength and size.

The dwarf's hand shook Thanos from his thoughts, as well as almost knocking over his mead. To remedy this situation, Thanos downed it, a broad smile growing on his face. Already he was filling the effects of the first two, but there were at least three more pints in the pitcher, and it had been ordered. Once the mead was on the table, there was no going back. He refilled his tankard, and turned to the dwarf, attempting to patch up the rift he felt growing between them before things got too far. Besides, it looked as if the shiftiest among them had the map, and though Thanos still wanted to know who Eyr was, it didn't look like Daen was interested in telling him. The fellow had begun staring intently at his mug, probably lost in thought.

"Noftur, you were in the Siege Engineer Corps? When?" Thanos says, mixing a tone of admiration and respect into the words. Thanos has no idea what they are, but they sound important, and he guesses that Noftur is proud of his time there.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Distracted by the hobgoblin's sudden entrance, Daen forgets about Thanos' question and focuses on the scroll of map he hammered down on the table. After examining it a while, he casually declares, pointing the map.

"If there's someone who is good with maps, a huntsman, ranger, whatever, I think he should hold on to this."

He eyes the group members one by one, but his stare finally locks on the elf called Nevan, remembering the part of dialogue he overheard minutes ago.

[HempRope]

That check was actually supposed to be for when Thanos named a town, but thanks for the info. on the West!

Nevan

Storad train isn't Nevan's favorite way to travel. It's efficient, but not amazingly pleasant. And it'll probably be worse boarding with this group... hangovers don't lend themselves well to being bounced along a rutted road in a rickety wooden carriage.

[hr]
Nevan smiles when Daen speaks. All this about maps all at once!

"Well, that's a pretty good description of me. In that order," he says, looking at the others, half expecting someone to object to Daen's suggestion. "I'll be happy to look it over."

Sliding a hand across the table, Nevan takes the map by one corner and gives it a cursory once-over before furling it.

"Anyone opposed?" he asks as he picks up the scroll case sitting next to his chair. When he opens it, a thick roll of other papers is visible sticking out of the top. He quickly slides the new map in with them and closes it back up.

"I'll go over it more carefully beore I turn in, but it looks to be a good map," Nevan remarks.

Anything you wanna tell me about it, Torms?

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur


As he talks, Noftur glances down at the map of the region near the mine that uncovered the fortress before Nevan tucks it away.

A blank look crosses Noftur's face as he turns toward Thanos until it registers that he has just been asked to tell about his time with the Siege Engineering Corps. 'Well, it would've been about the time your voice began cracking for the first time and your nether regions burned for those of the female persuasion...' he says with a flat look on his face, enjoying the moment it takes to make clear that he is joking. He begins chuckling to himself and says, 'It was a few years ago. I couldn't stand guarding the mines without being allowed to work in them as a dig leader, and a fellow engineer knew that I had a knack for machinery. He asked the Captain if he could pick me up for ballista duty. I'd already learned as much about digging and mining as I could without actually working the big projects, and I thought it would be a nice break from guard duty. I figured it would be an adventure.' He lets out a great sigh as he says 'adventure.' Slowly continuing, he says, 'It wasn't all that I thought it would be. That Storad was the most exciting thing to happen the whole time we were stationed on the border. I was promoted to Ballista Commander. My team was the best out there in only two months of training or so. As it turns out, reloading one of those things is pretty much the same as one of these,' he says, tilting his head back toward the sturdy-looking crossbow on his back, 'except that this doesn't take four people to reload. They would have killed us if we had wasted the big ammunition, but we had our ways to keep amused. A few bets here and there, and studying what exactly is the best way to bring a structure down around the ears of someone who would rather it stayed standing. That sort of thing. They also had us do goodwill projects,' he says with a hint of hurt professional pride, 'to keep up the local spirits. A hundred bored soldiers armed to the teeth without any women around leads to things getting out of hand. Bridge building and canal digging will take the fight out of almost anyone.'

'Oh, and I almost forgot,' he adds, glancing up from the map, 'something our young friend here might be interested in.' He nods to Adtasi as he says 'The local blacksmith also happened to be a locksmith who paid a fair amount of coin for pick-proofing tests. I'm not bragging when I say he never made a lock I couldn't pick given enough time. Perhaps if we get the chance we could arrange a little friendly competition?'

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos finished another three beers while the dwarf was telling his story. The pitcher now empty, Thanos slid his tankard across the table so that it clinked satisfyingly against the pitcher.

"That's shummthin," Thanos mumbled, then, realizing how drunk he was, abruptly shut the mouth, taking deep breaths through his nostrils. Opening his eyes wide, he turns to Nevan, struggling to speak clearly.

"Have you been to many places?" he asks, carefully enunciating each word and stressing every syllable. His mouth feels strange on his face, but he shakes that thought from his mind and tries to focus on Nevan's answer.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Finally finishing the pitcher, Daen brings it and his glass over to the bar and hands them- mainly to open some space in the table. Returning back, and feeling only slightly tipsy, he listens half-curiously to the dwarf and his neverending stories.

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan watches with some alarm as Thanos starts chugging beers, and just shakes his head at the human's question. Or, more accurately, at his drunkenness. The elf takes his first sip of wine before saying anything.

"Recently, yeah," he says. "I grew up sort of on the southwestern edge of the settled part of the continent. Pretty sedentary life back then. My parents were sharecroppers, so I grew up on a farm, hunting and making most of what we had ourselves.

"When we grew up we moved off the farm, mostly -- my brother and sister and I, that is. My sister, she's a few years older than me, still lives in town; she manages the stables there. My younger brother's in the town over, he's the smith there, and I don't live too far from home, when I'm home. I mean, when I'm at my home in Sheridan1 I'm not too far from my parents' place. Liproge is the name of the place.

"Anyway, I'm not answering your question at all. I moved to Sheridan about a decade ago, and got into the cartography business... three years later, so seven years ago now, I guess. And, see, my... specialty is mapping little-traveled areas in great detail. First off, putting hamlets and tiny little towns on maps. That makes the maps attractive -- well, first to people from those tiny towns. But more importantly, from an economic perspective at any rate, when those maps place the towns accurately, and show the terrain around them, they're immensely popular with merchants and traders. When they include wilderness, they're getting popular with trappers. And we're working now to get the army interested -- one of the reasons I'm hoping to impress Ironside on our adventure."

Nevan pauses here to flash a smile and drink some more wine, as his throat is getting dry.

"But I still haven't told you where I've been, have I? I'm mostly been mapping the south so far. I know the southwestern wilds from growing up there, and I've swung quite a ways east now. Most of the way to that coast, but I'm not quite ready to take on doing another coastline -- it's no fun at all, and loads of work, let me tell you.

"Actually, I won't, you don't seem nearly so fascinated as when I started. Maybe it'd be better for an industry journal... At any rate, I was passing through the Capitol because I'm just beginning to map out some of the north country. It's a very different sort of land, I'm finding -- a whole new challenge! And we're also thinking of opening up a new store in the city here, so I was sort of taking a look at the competition in town. Doesn't seem too stiff so far. Mostly, though, I was exploring further north.

I need to find a good, reliable guide for the northwest, though -- I don't suppose any of you are from that region, are you?"

Nevan looks around expectantly, and takes another long sip of wine. His story seems to be, at last, finished.

[hr]1. A medium-sized town a few days travel south of the Capitol -- which is still unnamed despite my agitation for its christening, might I add [smalltongue]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtas's face reveals a slim smile at the Dwarf's suggestion. "I'd like that. Perhaps we could make a wager or two. I always look forward to a chance to test my skills."

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

'Great! It's settled then. We'll have a little contest of dexterity and ingenuity. Maybe Nevan and Thanos here could give us a demonstration of their archery, though I still trust Minnie here,' he says, indicating his crossbow, 'more than any dainty piece of flotsam such as they're carrying,' smiling. 'Maybe we could even get Daen and Gana to wrestle for us! It'd be a grand celebration of our victory over the dangers that supposedly wait for us. It's too bad we don't have time to arrange something tonight. I'd almost do it to pass up on having to inhale the lizard stink. Helga doesn't mind carrying me, but I don't know about all five of you. She thinks I'm fat enough as it is.'

He seems to contemplate the idea for a moment, then begins again, 'Speaking of food, where's mine? We'd best get something hearty to eat if we're going to be on the road tomorrow. I'll be damned if I'm going to be eating more trail rations than I have to.' He looks up to see about getting a heaping plate of anything that used to be alive.

[Cespenar]

Daen

"Uh..." Daen mumbles uneasily at the dwarf's "wrestling" idea, "I think I'll pass on that."

Throwing a glance at the orc woman, he carries on. "It's not like it would be a fair match..." Though his voice fades away at the end, his grinning expression can be seen by all.

[Toliudar]

Gana

The big orc woman has been content to eat and let the five men's conversations wash over her. She smiles, pleased that the tension seemed to be dispersing. The suggestion of a wrestling match broadens her smile.

"No indeed, Dael. You are a big strong man, and a trained warrior. A simple girl like me would be no match for you.

I have not travelled on these trains before. But at least they sound easier than walking."

[Cespenar]

Daen

"You misunderstood. I meant that it wouldn't be a fair match for me," Daen retorts swiftly.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos nodded. He was a bit too drunk to say much of anything else. But when the topic of archery contest was brought up, he began speaking at length.

"Archery contest? I've been in a few of those already. I suppose I could handle myself, even in my current state. In fact, I'd wager that if Nevan and I were to compete tomorrow, before we leave on the train--that would be the best time."

Thanos isn't sure how much of what he said make sense. He too was getting hungry.

[Tormsskull]

OOC

Nothing odd about the map. It looks pretty straight forward, and looks to be free of damage. It is in good condition.

I'm going to shift the scene now, as it seems like you guys have gone through what you want to.


The rest of night went by quickly, each of the members of the group talking a bit here and there, and at other times silence. Eventually someone mentions that it probably is a good idea for everyone to get a good night sleep before tomorrows journey.

The hobgoblin stayed only a bit more, speaking with the innkeeper shortly and paying off the balance of the night's activities before saying his good byes and leaving the Golden Stag Inn.

The innkeeper mentions that the councilor has even left coin for each to spend the night, and no one turns down a free night. Each of the group went up to find a clean room, stuffed with an abundance of blankets, and small fires in each room's hearth.

The night went by uneventfully.

Morning came sooner than most would have liked, a previous long night does that even to the best. Each member of the group came down and took a provided breakfast before putting their belongings together and heading towards the storad train.

...

The group stands at the station, the mildly unpleasant scent of storad hanging in the air. The station is two miles outside of the capital, enough space that if one of the massive lizards got out of hand it wouldn't be able to cause too much chaos.

A man who is dressed in a uniform of sorts notices the group standing on the on ramp, looking about. He approaches them with a smile.

"Greetings travelers. I've been informed of your destination, and I have the crew prepping the storad now. She's one of the best storads at this station, we've named her beauty."

The train conductor smiles at the group. The ground begins to vibrate in rhytm. Boom. Boom. Boom.

"Here she comes now."

The conductor looks to the south, and a massive lizard can be seen. It plods forward, dragging a dozen or so wagon on wheels behind it. Four men come over to the track, large yellow flags in their hands. As the storad approaches, they wave the flags, and the storad comes to a stop.

"All aboard!"

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

The morning had passed relatively uneventfully. Noftur disappeared for a while and came back leading a large warhorse. A few people on the street looked away in disgust at the sight of Helga nuzzling his broken face outside the Golden Stag.

----

As the man says 'beauty,' Noftur chuckles. As the storad comes to a stop, he looks back to the man and asks him 'None of those are cattle wagons, are they? Helga here's a lot more fond of walking on her own.'

Noftur looks like he already knows the answer to this, but waits patiently for him to reply.

[Toliudar]

Gana

In the morning, Gana emerges from her room looking a little less dusty, but no prettier. She is solemn-faced at the platform.

As the Storad comes to rest, Gana moves towards the wagons, then pauses. She turns and bows towards the conductor.

"Which wagon for orcs, please?"

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan is up comparatively early for his breakfast, going out for a stroll around the neighborhood to get some fresh air after he finishes his porridge. He has returned by the time the others are finishing their breakfasts, and quickly retrieves his full pack and weapons.

The woodsman watches Beauty arrive with some mix of skepticism and admiration on his face.

"She's gorgeous," he remarks without inflection to the conductor. He also waits for direction from the man, but doesn't pose any questions.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi looks upon 'Beauty' with an expressionless face, but although he probably wouldn't admit it even at knife point, the thought of traveling alongside the massive beast scares the living Hell out of him. He'd dressed and eaten quickly, and had resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't put off travel by Storad any longer.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos, his head pounding, manages to focus long enough to hear the conductor. The storad may be called "beauty," but it's still one ugly creation in Thanos's eyes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Thanos would rather not behold her.

Speaking of which, while Thanos is unsurprised by Gana's hesitancy to board, he doesn't make any attempts to stop her questions. Social decorum has its place, and while it may not always be good for the individual, it does support the common good.

He rubs his eyes, tired from the drunken slumber, and moves toward a wagon. He doesn't care which one it is; it looks like it holds passengers, and Thanos just wants to sit down.

He does so, inside the wagon. It is a passenger wagon. He shuts his eyes, trying to shake the hangover from his head, and hopes that the train starts soon. A passing cart is stopped, and Thanos speaks quietly, almost mumbling, to the woman behind it.

"Coffee, please."

OOC:
Let's all sit in the same wagon.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Still retaining his militaristic habits, Daen wakes up with the dawn and spends a fair amount of time walking around the town, tending to his equipment and having breakfast.

He stands in the station, looking serious like always, but doesn't try to hide a snort-like chuckle when hearing the name of the lizard. He's seen storads before, so he's hardly shocked, but rather content that they are making progress at last.

He is shocked however, when he hears Gana's words.

"What?" He turns at her and glances at the conductor. "You are a contracted servant of the Councilor now, and may sit in wherever all the other people sit." While his voice has hints of annoyance, his expression is resolved and absolute.

OOC: Okay, what does the customs or culture say about this? As well as other general racial relations, history, etc.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana hefts an eyebrow at the polite human man, Dael. There are a lot of questions in that look, but none get past her lips. She smiles, a bit warily, and turns to the conductor for confirmation.

[Tormsskull]

The conductor nods furiously at Daen and Gana, trying to make certain that he would never attempt to segregate the orcish woman. He glances at the heavy arms the group is holding and gulps.

The party is ushered into a passenger wagon, and the conductor says quickly to Noftur. "I'm sorry. We'll have to put your horse into one of the wagons." He motions for some of his assistants to take the horse towards the rear.

OOC note

I missed an earlier question. All former slaves are much more united in Rhedon than in other places. Some individuals have regressed towards racist thoughts/actions, but for the most part Rhedon is a very accepting place, as long as you're not a kalasti :smalltongue:


Adtasi, Noftur, and Thanos only

The three of you all catch a muffled sound, coming during a moment of relative quiet. It seems to be coming for a wagon behind you.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Nodding gratefully to Daen and the conductor, Gana slips into the front wagon, ducking her head carefully as she goes.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi gives a short smile to his companions, standing up and preparing to leave the wagon. "Excuse me for a moment, I shall be back before the wagons leave." There was a chance that whoever had made the sound had had an accident or some such. He makes his way to the wagon behind, softly. Once there, he attempts to listen out once again before he decides to return or investigate.


Move Silently
[roll0]

[Tormsskull]

Adtasi only

Adtasi's feet seem to glide across the ground, disturbing neither stick nor rock, he moves in absolute silence. Getting closer to the wagon that he believes the sound came from, he distinctly hears some quiet voices from inside.

"10 to 1 this guy's a noble. Regular chums don't wear those kind of clothes. How much you think we can ransom him for? 1,000? 2?" Definitely the voice of a goblin, squeaky and slightly guttural.

"Zero if you don't shut up. Look at Giz and Kash over there. Sitting. Quiet. Do the same or I'll make the ransom a three way split."


OOC (everyone can read this)

Just so everyone knows, these wagons are connected to one another by thick rope, and several thick ropes wrap all of the wagons to the storad. The wagon carts themselves are very large, about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. Each wagon cart has a door that opens and closes on either side. When the doors are closed, there's no openings to see into the carts. All of the carts have locks on them than can be locked from the inside.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi is silent, assessing the situation. Abruptly he returns to his companion's wagon, trying to remain silent while near the wagon containing the Goblins. Once he reaches his companions, he opens the door and talks rapidly in a low voice. "The wagon behind us contains some sort of bandits or highwaymen. Goblins. There are four of them. They appear to have taken some kind of Noble hostage. I am going to aid him before they cause him any harm."

I guess now I'll see which ones are mercenaries and which ones are heroes. He thinks silently, as he unstraps and loads his crossbow, and makes sure his rapier is loose in its sheath.

[HempRope]

Dammit, I almost took Goblins as my favorite enemy! And Goblin as a language. :(

Nevan

Nevan looks at Adtasi incredulously. The look passes through simple surprise to interest, then to concern, and finally to worry, when Ad states so simplistically that he is "going to aid" the noble.

"How do you know?" he asks bluntly, instinctively reaching for his weapons as the young man readies his.

[Toliudar]

Gana

The big orc woman rises immediately, her broad face furrowing hugely in confusion. Her voice softens.

How could they get away with such a thing, in the middle of the capital.

She slowly pulls her thick recurved bow off her back and tests its string.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

A sudden change whips over Noftur. His posture and the look in his good eye are those of a dwarf who is accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed.

In hushed tones Noftur incredulously asks, 'That's what that noise was?' as he realizes his crossbow is lashed to Helga in the other wagon. He begins a quick appraisal of the lock on the near door of the wagon car while pulling out tools from a hidden compartment in his leather bracers. He spits out, 'I'll get the lock. Nevan, Thanos, be ready with bows. You two,' he says, whipping his head up to Gana and Daen, 'be ready to charge in and break the door down if I can't get it open quickly.' Turning to Adtasi he demands, 'Can you take the other side?'

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises an eyebrow as his crossbow 'clicks' into the loaded position. "I know, because they were discussing how much they were going to ransom him for." He watches impassively as the Dwarf belts out orders, but shrugs when he realises they were good orders at least. He fishes in his pack for a small, dark brown stick, and fishes out a box of tindertwigs. He throws the stick and box to the Dwarf. "Here. Light this when you've opened the door, if you want to unlock it. It'll give us some cover, and let one of us get the Noble out of there in case he's harmed in the crossfire."

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos draws an arrow from his quiver and notches it in his bow. His heart began beating faster, pumping fresh, pure blood through his system and shaking away any hangover or residual effects from the night before.

The waitress brings him his coffee. "Not now, please," he says quietly, "My hands are a bit full at the moment."

He points the arrow at the door, ready to fire once he sees goblin. "Are we negotiating, or just getting straight to business?" he asks Noftur.

[Cespenar]

Daen

As if waiting for something like this to happen, Daen silently (that is, not without sound, but without speaking) unsheathes his blade and unstraps a large shield from his back. Considering the dwarf's orders for a moment, Daen nods like a good soldier and takes his place across the other door. His silent and reassuring posture almost radiates an aura of confidence around him.

OOC: :smallbiggrin:
Okay, the last sentence was there to inform you that everyone in 30' radius around Daen gets a +1 to saving throws, while those directly adjacent to him gain a further +1 to AC.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

After checking the lock on the wagon car they are in to see if he can learn anything about the mechanism that might be helpful in disabling the lock on the other, Noftur takes the smokestick between his teeth. As he does so, he mumbles something to Thanos that sounds like 'dunt in go shih ate wid high wuh men.'

Open Lock Check:

Open Lock for Competence Bonus[roll0] (-1,, open locks modifier +11, not +12)


He checks to make sure everyone is ready and that there are no apparent objections, waits for Adtasi to get into position and then attempts to pick the lock and alert Adtasi if he succeeds.

Move Silently & Open Lock Check:

Open Lock vs. Wagon Door Lock[roll1] (-1,, open locks modifier +11, not +12)
Move Silently[roll2]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi follows Noftur to the door, crouching to the side of the door as he works on the lock, crossbow in one hand. He whispers to the Dwarf. "I'm the quietest one here... I'll get the guy once you've lobbed the smokestick."

[Rettu Skcollob]

[My bad]

Move Silently

[roll0]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Realization dawns on Noftur's face as he realizes that the plan is not to rush in and kill every goblin face that pokes its head up while rushing in to protect the ambassador, but rather throw in the smokestick, let Adtasi sneak in, and then rush in behind him subduing the goblins.

'Got it. You coming from other side?' He gestures at Adtasi and then toward the back of the hostage wagon, then gestures at the near door to the hostage wagon with a quizzical look.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi nods. "Other side. Shout something when you noisy folks charge in to draw them to this side. I'll wait till then to grab the guy. Good luck." With that, Adtasi moves around the side of the wagon, laying his crossbow on the floor and taking out his lockpicking tools once there in preparation to enter, assuming the door will be locked.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Move silently: [roll0]. She will be making her own listen check [roll1] for further noise from within the wagon.

Gana follows back to the wagon with the goblins. She slides her bow back across her shoulder, and grips her guisarme instead.

"Okay. I'm here to get this door open, if you need it."

She takes position next to Daen.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"Wait," says Nevan as the group swings into action around him. "We don't have to attack if we can just get them out of the wagon..."

Nevan trails off as the others mill about, slearly paying much more attention to Noftur's barking than his attempt to think things through first. But Nevan is entirely unused to working with a group, so just follows the rest out.

"I'll go with you," he whispers to Adtasi.

Creeping around the cart, Nevan stands behind the rogue, notches an arrows to his bow, and angles it up toward the door.

[roll0]

[esorscher]

Thanos

"What?" he whispered in response to Noftur's disjointed warning. Don't in go, she ate with high women? What is that supposed to mean? It didn't seem too important, however, as there was much movement and the plan apparently changed.

Thanos moves closer, so that when the door opens, he'll be less than 25 feet away from the goblins. As he stands over the dwarf's back, he realizes what Noftur had said: Don't negotiate with highwaymen. Boy, that was a doozy. Mentally, he readies himself to let loose the notched arrow and then quickly fire a second at the same target, just in case the first one doesn't fell the goblin, as soon as a goblin is in sight.

"Ready when you are," Thanos whispers to Noftur.

[I'm readying an action to use Rapid Shot and Point Blank, once the doors are opened, on the nearest goblin.]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur nods and proceeds with picking the lock.

OOC:
I've already done the rolls, so he tries to pick the lock and throw in the smokestick unless someone stops him

[HempRope]

Ah, I've re-read the mass of posts that were made while I was asleep and I have a stronger grasp of what the actual plan is. Had I had the time to read it carefully earlier Nevan would have insisted we at least talk to the conductor first.

I still don't understand where the caravan doors are, though.

Nevan

"Are they attacking immediately?" Nevan whispers to Astasi. "It would be better to know what's happening for sure, they've clearly booked passage on this caravan..."

[Tormsskull]

Gana doesn't hear much of anything from inside the wagon.

Noftur works the lock; it easily pops open. As it does, the door is shoved forcefully open from the inside. Standing at the ready, ears perked up, are three short and green goblins. Their faces are contorted in anger, and they all hold light crossbows.

Passed the goblins, standing over a wriggling body, is a hideous goblin-like creature. Its eyes are pitch black, and it is much taller than the others. It wields a long sword, which at the moment it has pointed forward towards Noftur.

"Kill them."

Battle Map

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/Tormsskull/Strain-1.jpg


OOC

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana is happy to have the opportunity to distract the goblins from the far door. She does her best to make what she imagines an orcish war cry, her mouth opening wide to reveal sharp, jagged teeth.

Gr-RARGH!


Hoping that if she can drop an opponent, the field to the nasty sort-of-goblin behind will be clearer for the archers, Gana slips the hook of the guisarme behind the centre goblin, hoping to trip him up.

Initiative: [roll0]

Entering rage. Taking a 5' step back (and south, putting her next to Thanos) in order to bring G1 into threatening distance of her reach weapon. If someone else takes out G1 first, she will move as needed to attack another opponent through the doorway (you pick, Tormsskull), trying not to block the doorway if she can avoid it.

Gana is making a trip attack, and following it up with a regular attack if it's successful.

Melee touch attack: [roll1]
Opposed Strength check: [roll2]
Follow-up regular attack: [roll3]
Crit confirmation on a 20: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

The smokestick between Noftur's teeth and the lockpick in his hands drop to the ground as steps back and reaches across his body with his right hand, snatching the axe there and lobbing it into the fray toward the nearest goblinoid.



Taking a five foot step to the Northwest (top left of battle map), drawing MW axe and throwing it at the closest goblin in LOS, even if they are engaged in melee with another character. Before his count on initiative he lets Daen or Gana past if they attempt to push through the area.

Ranged attack (MW throwing axe):
Crit Confirmation on 20: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Additional damage on crit: [roll]1d6+1

[Rettu Skcollob]

Hearing that the battle has begun, Adtasi quickly picks up the necessary tools and begins picking the lock.


Initiative: [roll0] (Adtasi will delay his action until he hears the battle begin if necessary, I.E. When the first person attacks.
Open Lock [roll1]

[esorscher]

Thanos

As soon as the door is opened, Thanos sees and smells the offending goblin and smirks. It's almost not fair. The poor guy never had a chance. He lets his notched arrow fly through the air, whizzing piercingly through the air. Before he can tell if it his its mark or not, though fairly confident that it had--after all, he was Thanos--he drew and fired another arrow at the same target.

Thanos uses a full-round action to Rapid Shot (-2 to attack rolls) G2. He fires pointblank (+1 to attack and damage) with his Mastercraft Composite Longbow.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

I think I did that right. If I need any more rolls I'll roll them in the OOC.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Seeing his companions rain death upon the goblins, Daen grimaces and takes a step forward to the door, where the dwarf was. Brandishing his sword, he addresses the remaining goblin(s) and the other humanoid.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender! As you can see," he points to the other goblins who are probably out of commission, "...you're outnumbered and outmatched. But you don't need to die here."

Depending on their answer, Daen would either strike the remaining goblin with the flat of his blade, or go inside to apprehend them.

Taking a -4 for nonlethal attack.
[roll0]
[roll1]

Daen's AC is 22, by the way, if they'd attack.

[Tormsskull]

Gana hops black, slashing out with her guisarme, causing the goblin in front to fall to his back. In an instant she follow that up with a downward strike, piercing the goblins chest through his leather armor. The sound of bones breaking can be heard as the weapon makes impact. The goblin moves no more.

Adtasi, hearing the sound of combat from the other side of the wagon, begins to pick the lock on his side. It pops open after some working with it.

OOC

Sorry guys. Been having a lot of trouble posting on the site again. Hopefully this goes through.

[HempRope]

Nevan

The door opens on a scene rather different from the smoke-filled room of frightened goblins Nevan was expecting. Gana has already killed one goblin, but the rest seem very much ready for his new comrades' attack. So while Nevan had hoped to not to turn this into an all-out fight, he decides in a split second to press the advantage he has catching them off guard.

Twang, twang.


Using Rapid Shot to fire two arrows. Presumably both directed at the ?, unless it falls from the first one, in which case you can pick a goblin.
[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
AC: 18 HP: 21

[Rettu Skcollob]

Dropping his picks, Adtasi eases the door open quietly, and inwardly curses when he finds the room devoid of smoke and his companions engaging the enemy. Maybe he should've given them more time... Oh well. And there was a goblin blocking the way to the noble too... Well, he would be easily taken care of.

Snatching his loaded crossbow from the floor, he takes steady aim and fires at [?], hoping to catch him off guard.


Move Action: Pick Up Crossbow
Standard Action: Attack ?
-Attack: [roll0]
-Damage: [roll1]
-Sneak Attack Damage (If applicable) [roll2]

[Tormsskull]

1. (21) Nevan
2. (17) Gana
3. (16) Adtasi
4. (16) Goblin2
5. (14) Thanos
6. (13) Goblin1
7. (12) ?????
8. (8) Goblin3
9. (7) Noftur
10. (3) Daen

Nevan & Adtasi. Open Lock is a full round action. Opening a door is a move action. Adtasi picked the lock, that's his entire turn. If didn't seem as if Nevan wants to get into melee range, so I didn't move him up to open the door.


The northernmost goblin shrieks, jumping back before letting a bolt loose at Noftur.

Goblin 2 takes a five-foot step east, and attacks Noftur with his light crossbow.
[roll0] To hit
[roll1] Crit Confirm
[roll2] Damage
[roll3] Crit damage


As soon as the bolt is loosed, two expertly-fired arrows strike the goblin in the chest, and he crumples from the impact.

The strange humanoid roars in defiance, stepping forward and slashing out with its long sword wielded in two hands at Noftur.

????? takes a five-foot step forward and attack Noftur
[roll4] To hit
[roll5] Crit Confirm
[roll6] Damage
[roll7] Crit Damage


The southernmost goblin braces himself in the corner defensively.

Goblin3 takes Full Defense


Noftur steps back and throws his throwing axe straight at the weird looking humanoid, striking him in the chest, drawing a thin trickle of blood.

Daen jumps forward, shouting. Based on the flat look of death the strange humanoid is giving off, he strikes forth, but the humanoid parries the attack with a strong upward motion with his sword.

Updated Battle Map

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/Tormsskull/Strain-2.jpg

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan's brow furrows as he hears the shouts and clashes of steel from the other side of the cart.

Um, this turn Nevan will do what I meant him to do last turn. Unless last turn he could elect to ready the action to fire at the first enemy he sees when the door opens.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Eager to take advantage of the strange creature's aggressiveness, Gana tries using the same reverse-and sweep motion on him as had felled the previous goblin. Although her throat was getting a bit sore, she felt obligated to maintain the war cry.

Gr-uuugh!

Standard action to try to trip the strange thing.

Touch Attack: [roll0]
Opposed Check to trip: [roll1]
Follow-up regular attack, if successful: [roll2]
Crit confirmation, on a 20: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

And, if it's prone and tries to get up on its action, Gana will take an attack of opportunity:
Follow-up regular attack: [roll5]
Crit confirmation, on a 20: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

[esorscher]

Thanos

Spotting Gana engage the bizarre humanoid inspires Thanos to do the same. Stepping behind Noftur, he rapidly draws and fires two arrows over the dwarf's head, focusing intently on the wicked looking humanoid.

5 foot step to behind Noftur, Point Blank, Rapid Shot the ??


[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll=Crit (x2)]1d8+2
1d8+2


[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll=Crit (x2)]1d8+2
1d8+2

[Cespenar]

Daen

His offer refused, an annoyed Daen swings his sword at the creature in a diagonal slash, now with nothing held back.

"Try not to kill the goblin," he growls to his companions in mid-attack.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Screaming in pain, Noftur yanks the dagger from out of his boot, takes aim at the nearest enemy still standing and throws it. Those who do not speak goblin hear a nasty snarling and gurgling erupt from his lips as he lets the dagger loose.

In Goblin:

May your gonads be stripped from you by way of your lower intestines!


Ranged Attack[roll0]
Crit threat on 19-20[roll1]
Damage[roll2]
Crit damage[roll3]

[Rettu Skcollob]

As Nevan opens the door, (OOC: That was what you meant him to do, yes? I think you said in the OOC Thread. I don't have time to check again, sorry.) Adtasi, seeing the battle already underway and no smoke to cover his progress, sighs and picks up his crossbow, firing it at the first enemy he sees, which happens to be the strange humanoid.


Is using the rolls from last time possible? If not


Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Sneak Attack Damage [roll2]

[Tormsskull]

Nevan drops back, lets loose two arrows, and looks on as both plunge into the strange humanoid's back.

The weird humanoid gets tangled up with Gana's weapon, and tries to avoid being tripped.

[roll0]


Failing, he falls to the ground and immediately suffers from Gana's might. With a last hate filled roar, the humanoid crumbles to the ground, almost trying to fight off death its self.

The last remaining goblin, seeing the humanoid fall, immediately drops his crossbow and puts his hands into the air.

In goblin, he says

"No kill! No kill!"

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi strides into the room, sighing. He kneels down beside the captive and turns his head to Noftur, clearly fairly unamused. "Guess that plan didn't quite pan out. Luckily for us, it looks like our friend here is unharmed. You deal with the Goblin, then. Since you evidently know their language."

Gods damn it, he put this man's life in unnecessary danger just now... I guess he's just more mercenary scum. Too bad. I misjudged him.

He begins to untie the man on the floor, his mouth set in a hard line. He ignores the Goblin entirely.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Shoving the unthrown dagger back into his boot, Noftur grimaces as he jumps up into the wagon car. Picking up the crossbow at the surviving goblin's feet, he turns to Adtasi.
'It would've worked. How was I supposed to know they would be waiting for us?' As he says this, he turns back to the goblin, crossbow in hand.

In Goblin:
'You know, you really should take better care of your weapons.'

As he speaks to the goblin, he turns the crossbow over in his hands almost casually, inspecting it and clearly not approving of what he sees. There is something about the look in his eyes, and the direction the crossbow is pointing, that says this might not be a good situation.

In Goblin:
'This piece here, for instance, could break, and-'

As he says this, his finger points to a piece of metal in the trigger mechanism, brushes against it ever so quickly and THUNK! the crossbow fires into the floor near the goblin's feet.

In Goblin:
'See?'

As he says this, he shoves the empty crossbow into the goblin's hands, then turns around, planting a foot on the weird humanoid's corpse and yanking out his axe. Ignoring the squelching, sucking sound as the axe comes loose, he wipes off the gore on the body. Heading outside, he collapses against one of the wheels groaning and looking absolutely miserable.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"No one's hurt, right?" Nevan asks, hopping up into the cart. He looks out over the others, checking for wounds he might not have heard, but they appear unscathed.

Dropping his gaze to his feet, he looks over the creature with his arrows in its back with a mixture of apprehension and interest.

"What race is this?" he asks. "Not any type of goblin I've ever seen."

Nevan crouches, checking the crerature's wounds but trying not to bloody his gloves.

"Sorry we were late," he adds. "Door took a minute."

Checking to see if he's alive.
[roll0]
If so, will stabilize.
[roll1]

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana takes a deep breath, clearing her head from the blood-rage. She kneels by the strange goblin-like creature, feeling for a pulse of life. When Noftur steps on it, she hisses.

Careful! I'm not sure it's dead yet.

She pushes its sword out of the wagon, out of its reach. She sets her polearm down to unsling her pack, drawing out a coil of slender rope.

I'm going on Tormsskull's "almost trying to fight off death itself." and being a bit paranoid. Heal check as needed [rol]1d20[/roll] to determine if it's mostly dead, or all dead.:smallwink:

[Cespenar]

Daen

Seeing his companions quickly attend to the matters at hand, Daen sheathes his sword and looks around if the brief "battle" caught anyone's attention.

A moment later, he turns his eyes on Noftur.

"Aren't you going to interrogate him? I doubt if anyone else can speak that foul language."

Just as he finishes his words, he realizes the wound he got from the creature.

"Uh... never mind." He looks expectantly at the others. "Could any of you attend to his wound?" he asks, pointing at the dwarf.

[HempRope]

Nevan

The twang of the crossbow going off next to his ear brings Xander's head up with a jerk. He opens his mouth to admonish Noftur, but catches sight of the dwarf's wounds and shelves his criticism.

"Damn," he says instead. "That's a bad gash you've got. Here, put some pressure on it."

Nevan rips more clothing from the creature at his feet, passing them to Noftur to use as a makeshift bandage.

Can't actually do anything useful. I wish there were a shrugging smiley.

[Tormsskull]

All attempts at determining if the creature is dead are conclusive, it is dead. Dead with a capital D.


The goblin stares at Noftur incredibly as the dwarf is inspecting the weapon. It looks terrified.

The man on the floor stands in a hurry after Adtasi unties him. He rubs at his wrists with a look of pain to his face. He is dressed in a long red formal garnment, trimmed in yellow. He is a human, middle-aged, with pale blue eyes and a balding head. He wears a golden armlet on his right hand with a scintillating red gem set in its middle.

"Thank the Flame Walker you are here. These creatures..."

The man shudders as he recollects his recent experience. He looks from the remaining goblin, who avoids the man's eyes, towards the corpse of the weird humanoid. Moving towards the corpse, he lowers his hand and inspects the creature.

"I don't believe it. I don't..."

The man looks around, glaring out each doorway.

"If there is one of these, there are more."

The man now turns his attention back to the prisoner goblin.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises his hands in an attempt to calm the man. Must be a Cleric of some sort. "Calm down, friend. There's no more Goblins about. And even then, they're not exactly hard to deal with."

[Toliudar]

Gana

Must be a southern thing.

Gana, now convinced that the nasty creature is dead, yanks the body out of the wagon so that the blood and guts don't foul the floor more than they already have. She moves over to the goblin and delicately removes the crossbow from its hands. She speaks softly in the common tongue.

"This won't hurt if we both do it right. If you could lie down on the floor with your hands at your sides. I'm going to tie you up, and then we're going to have a nice chat about that strange thing. All right?"

She smiles at the goblin, clear that she's not expecting any trouble. Once it complies, she'll do her best to hogtie it.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Taking the 'bandages' from Nevan, Noftur does his best to stop the bleeding.

Heal Check[roll0]

As he wraps the rags around himself, he begins muttering something to himself that forms itself into a horrendous rhythm of grunts and phlegm and hisses.

Singing In Goblin:

'dwarves they come they make us run away
kills us mash us stick us til we dead
crunch us smash us kick us in the head

what we gonna do now they coming down the tunnels
wes gonna die soon drink the blood and eat the gore
feed wolves on our corpses until there bes no more

no one comes to help us dying in the dark
mush us slash us scrape us bleed us
punch us hammer us pierce us beat us

theys will never stop until they leaves us all to rot
our blood will run down to the center of the rock
kill us til wes all dead and give our heads the knocks...'

(OOC): Noftur has strategically switched the lyrics of this goblin war chant specifically to disconcert the surviving goblin.


As he mutters in time to himself, Noftur occasionally glares at the surviving goblin, sending a horrific grin its way. He all but ignores the noble as he focuses on tormenting the goblin. He seems incredibly agitated and not at all like the morbidly cheery dwarf he was back inside the capital.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos stands in the doorway of the cart, looking out on the surroundings, keeping an eye out for any more of the goblinoids, or for the train conductor. Either would be an unwanted intrusion.

"We should probably not stay here for long," Thanos suggests, "Last I checked, murder was a capital crime."

He twangs the string of his bow absentmindedly as he watches the scene unfold.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana shrugs.

True, but we have to stay with the wagons, yes? For job. Maybe this nice man will help explain what happened to others.

She pauses, a new thought filtering in. Gana looks up at the man.

Um. What did happen?

[HempRope]

Tol, I think he's already disarmed.

Nevan

Nevan frowns when he feels the creature's pulse -- or lack of one, rather. He was not hoping to actually kill any of them. But he stands up as Gana removes the body, turning his attention to the ex-prisoner.

"And who are you?" he asks. "And what race is this?" he adds, motioning to the dead ?.

As the man begins talking, Nevan moves to the felled goblins, trying to keep them from bleeding to death from their wounds.

Heal checks to ascertain proximity to death and stabilize.
[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos nods. "Yeah, but we don't need to stay in this cart, do we? Let's get back to our wagon."

He looks from Gana to Nevan, notching an arrow and pointing it at one of the goblins laying on the ground. "Did we miss one?"

[Toliudar]

As he says this, he shoves the empty crossbow into the goblin's hands

Noftur rearmed the goblin for dramatic effect. Gana, unfortunately, is oblivious to dramatic effect.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi looks at Gana, then to the man again.

"Yes, I believe our Orcish companion here has said what we all want to know, friend."

[Tormsskull]

The man, still obviously shaken up, looks between all of those standing around him.

"This creature... I had heard of these before, if it is, in fact, what I believe it is. Well, I should not jump to conclusions, I suppose. Unless the prisoner wants to explain."

The man turns his attention to the surviving goblin.

The goblin remains terrified. He seems to flinch at each turn in Noftur's song. He turns when Nevan speaks to him, but does not respond.

Thanos, standing at the door and looking outside, does notice the conductor walking quickly towards the wagon. His face seems a mix of anger and fear.


The healing checks are unneeded. The other goblins are dead.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Glancing the conductor's way, Noftur stands up after finishing his chant. He steps inside and tells the others 'We've got company.' He then turns to the goblin.

Glaring at it, he barks something at it in Goblin:
'Don't make me angry wormscum. Now, who are you, what were you doing, and why?'

'Quickly!' He half-screams at the goblin.

[HempRope]

Do we die at 0 rather than -10 in this game?
And Nevan was actually talking to the human, not the goblin.

Nevan

Nevan moves between the goblins, shaking his head as he discovers that they are beyond his help. The group will need to restrain themselves in the future.

"Who's coming?" Nevan asks of Noftur and Thanos, picking up his bow and moving toward the door.

[esorscher]

Thanos

"The dwarf is right," says Thanos, his voice filled with irritation and apprehension. "The conductor is coming. I'll try to stall him."

Before anyone can say anything against his plan, Thanos quickly stows his bow, steps out of the car and begins walking on an intercept course with the conductor.

"There you are!" Thanos calls out to the conductor, loud enough to be heard by the rest of the party and praying they understand his meaning. "I've been looking through the wagons for you. One of my traveling companions tripped stepping into our wagon, and suffered a rather terrible wound. I'd hate for you to be exposed to litigation--do you have a medic or healer amongst your company?"

This plan was not a very good one, but maybe it would buy them enough time to get back to the wagon they belonged in; if it did work, Noftur would get adequate healing instead of the makeshift bandage he had now.

[roll0]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Replacing his crossbow, Adtasi quickly skitters along back out the door. Once outside, he looks to see if he could make it back to their wagon without being spotted.


Is there any way that Adtasi could leg it back to their wagon without being spotted/heard? If so;
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana shakes her head, not understanding why they wouldn't just tell the conductor what happened. Perhaps this was more of this civilized behaviour that she found so difficult to track the meaning of.

She helped the former prisoner up, and offered him a drink from her waterskin.

"Easy, Mister. Looks like the goblin is too frightened to talk right now. Maybe you can start off?

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

'The game's already up. The wagon door's open and he's seen me anyway. What are you going to do, drag the bodies out the other side, have someone stay behind and guard ugly here, close the door behind me and have me go out there and say I tripped and slashed myself with my axe?'

As he says this he looks around at the others in the wagon. He waits momentarily for any acknowledgment of what he obviously thinks is a ridiculous idea.

[Tormsskull]

The goblin jumps as Noftur address' it. In goblin, he says:

"Nomi, Nomi I am called. They said I get much coins if I come along. They said, they said. We, we just wanted to ransom this noble and flee again.


The former prisoner looks to Noftur. "What did he say?"

The conductor, intercepted by Thanos, looks incredibly flustered. "Oh my, terrible news, terrible. Let me see if I can track someone down to help."

The conductor summarily runs the other way, even faster than he had been before.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Poking his head out of the wagon and seeing the conductor heading in the opposite direction, Noftur mutters '...bought us some time...' loud enough for everyone to hear.

Then, looking at the former hostage he says 'It's name is Nomi. In it for the money. Doesn't know anything. Although, now that we have a moment...

Noftur turns toward the goblin, and then shoots his hand out toward its throat as he growls at it:

(In Goblin)'What is that thing and where did it come from?!'

He points toward the strange humanoid's corpse as he brings his scarred and broken remains of his face within inches of the goblin's nose.

Intimidate check[roll0]

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos nods, and as soon as the conductor whips out of view, sprints back to the goblins' car. He pokes his head in the door and says sternly, "The conductor is getting a medic. I don't know how long it will be. I need someone wounded to come with me, buy Noftur some more time."

He draws and aims an arrow at the goblin. "Of course, if there were no survivors, we could just all leave."

He doubts the goblin speaks common, but his meaning is clear. Thanos urgently worries that the conductor will see through his lie and then they'll seriously be in trouble.

[roll0]

[HempRope]

Nevan

"Thanos," Nevan says with a heavy sigh, clapping his hand to his head. Even if they could hide the bodies -- and wanted to -- the human wasn't going to evaporate into thin air. Stupid. Naive.

"You're very right," he says to Noftur. "Adtasi, where are you going?"

Turning back to the rescued human, Nevan takes a deep breath. Looking the man carefully in the eyes, he puts his mind to paralleling Noftur's work on the goblin. In a slightly softer way.

"So you still haven't told us anything about yourself. Or thanked us, for that matter. But I at least want to hear who you are, where are you from, and how you got captured by this lot. Oh, and again -- what species is this creature I killed?"

[Cespenar]

Daen

"Wouldn't it be actually better if the conductor would find a healer that can help Noftur? We can then separate them and send the conductor on his way, while the healer would be more sensible to hear our part and be persuaded," Daen offers, stationed near the other door and looking wary for other potential incomers.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Seeing that the conductor has started heading back the other way, Adtasi scampers back into the wagon, embarrassed that he panicked. "Sorry about that. Reflex action. Did you manage to get the conductor to go away? I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we told him the truth, actually."

[esorscher]

Thanos

It was now Thanos's turn to sigh, which he did.

"It's up to you guys. If one of you wants to help me fool the conductor, let's get going. I'd suggest Noftur, but we need him to interrogate the goblin. Still, though..."

His voice trails off, irritated at Nevan's air of superiority. He didn't see Nevan contributing all that much to the overall well-being of the group. A dead monster was a dead monster, Thanos didn't much care if it was a goblin or a golem, so long as it didn't get back up and attack them.

[Tormsskull]

The prisoner frowns at Noftur. "In it for the money? What money?"

The goblin's voice squeaks as it replies to Noftur, in goblin:

"Uh, big goblin? I don't know, many of them back at Gromshead."


As Nevan speaker, the former prisoner turns his head at glares. "I.. I did thank..." He coughs. "Excuse my manners. Thank you, thank you all. I very much appreciate your assistance in freeing me from these creatures."

As he collects his robes around himself, he continues. "My name is Berrian Thames. I am a priest of the Flame Walker, Gregarin. I was traveling to the capital city from the east, accompanied by two of the faithful as guard. These creatures descended upon us from the hills. We tried to outrun them, but our horses were already overworked. They overtook us, slew the two guards, and bound me. Many of them fled into the hills as quickly as they had appeared, and these few brought me here."

Berrian peers at the weird humanoid. "As for this...thing. I wouldn't want to be so suggestive, but since you're demanding," he pauses, his eyes flickering towards Nevan, "I believe it is a troll derivative. Some of the books in our library mention the...alchemy that the kalasti performed to create new races. This one has blends of troll and another humanoid, perhaps goblin, I don't know. But, if one survived all this time unknown, there's no readon to believe there aren't more."

[esorscher]

Thanos

"Unless it hasn't survived all this time. Unless the Kalasti are back, and they're breeding again," Thanos says, lowering his bow in dread.

He pokes his head out of the cart to see if the conductor is coming.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana grunted at the explanation. The goblins were pretty brazen, bundling a kidnapped prisoner onto one of those wagons. She scratched her head.

How long you been on this wagon? You think the conductor knows about you being kidnapped?

She looks around in the wagon, trying to see how the goblins might have disguised their intent.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"Pleased to meet you, Barienn," Xander says, offering a firm hand. "Nevan Alibo."

Wonder if I shouldn't have given my last name. Probably safe.

"I would guess that they meant to hold you for ransom," Nevan says. "Have you or your church much money?"

Nevan tries to make it quite clear in his voice that he's only asking to figure out the goblins' motivation, but he's not sure if he quite manages.

Thanos' words sound at first ring of melodrama, but considering that the group is travelling to meet another Kalasti disturbance, there might be... well, something to what the boy says.

Young man! Nevan reminds himself.

He doesn't comment on the young man's words. But he scowls.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Listening to the goblin, Noftur tells the group 'It says it doesn't know what the 'big goblin' is but there are more of them near Gromshead.'

As soon as Berrian says 'troll' Noftur lets go of the goblin and whirls around, whipping out his axe as he does so. He lops off the head of the hybrid goblin with one smooth motion and dumps some of the liquid from the flask at his hip over the severed neck. The liquid hisses and sputters at it hits the corpse.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Looking with some confusion at Noftur's sudden action, Gana glances around at the others.

So...trolls live more than once, do they?

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan chuckles a bit.

"Forest lore says that they can regenerate missing body parts, and that their wounds close very quickly," he says. "But I can assure you, Noftur, that that... thing, troll or no, was quite dead from the wounds I gave it alone."

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi refrains from introducing himself to the man, unenthusiastic about spreading his name further. His first name wasn't noteworthy enough to instantly key him in as a man with the price on his head, but there was no sense in taking too many unnecessary risks.

[Cespenar]

Daen

As theories run wild in the crowded wagon, Daen patiently continues to stand guard near the door, but part of his mind tries to focus on the conversations to pick up any useful information.

Gromshead. I got to remember that for later.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Stopping up the flask, Noftur nods at Nevan. 'Can't hurt to be sure. I didn't spend six months studying giants for nothing.' Noftur wipes the blood off his axe and replaces it at his hip. As he does so he tells Gana 'Nevan there is right. Trolls are infamous among the dwarves for getting back up after being killed, even torn to bits. Takes a bit of fire or acid to really kill them.' He pats the flask as he says this. 'Now, what are we going to do about the conductor? And for that matter, what are we going to do about ugly here? What say you, Berrian?'

[Tormsskull]

Berrian firmly shakes Nevan's hand. "Good to meet you." After hearing Nevan's question about the churches financial standing, he eyes Nevan for a moment, but then his attention is drawn away.

Berrian turns his attention to Gana. "I've been captured for past two days now, but we have only been on that cart for a short time."

Berrian then shrugs in Noftur's direction. "I'd like to say off with the bugger's head, but I know that's not the real way to deal with this. I think it is important to turn him over to the law."

As if Berrian's voice summoned the law, the conductor appears rushing forth with what appears to be a medic and two guards behind him. The conductor is motioning with his hand towards the group, the guards nodding occasionally at him and motioning for him to hurry.

[esorscher]

Thanos

"Speaking of which," Thanos says quickly. "The conductor is one his way. He brought two guards with the medic. At least they'll be able to revive us after they knock us unconscious, I guess."

Thanos slumps back against the wall, resigned to whatever is about to happen.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur takes a quick assessment of the situation and mutters 'To the hells with it,' hopping out of the wagon in the direction of the conductor and his escort. Exaggerating his injury, he calls out to the group, 'You'll never believe it! I stopped against this here wagon because of the grievous injury I incurred when I tripped getting out of ours, and we found a hostage being held by a bunch of nasty stinking goblins!' He waves his arms about and gestures wildly as he says this, then appears to half-collapse on the wagon from the pain. Whispering out of the side of his mouth to the others, he says, 'The game's up. Got to get rid of ugly here anyway.'

[Toliudar]

Gana

Straightening and throwing back her shoulders in a "they're welcome to try knocking me out" manner, Gana looks over at Thanos. She is clearly puzzled.

"But...we didn't do anything wrong. We helped Mister Berrian here. Maybe the conductor would worry because he let this happen on his wagon, but that's his problem."

Crazy dwarves.

She looks around the wagon, but sees neither the opportunity nor need to dispose of the goblin-troll, and so simply waits for the conductor to arrive.

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan starts shaking his head, and then realizes that he's just mimicking Gana. He looks up and offers her a conspiratorial smile. Orcs are savage and brutish, but they're not as stupid as humans sometimes -- especially when it comes to dealing with other people. They tell it like it is.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Watching Noftur in awe, Daen thinks that the charade he's making is both inadequate and out of place. Deciding to take the matters to his own hand, Daen grabs the goblin from the neck and storms out of the wagon to meet the guards. Using his free hand, he flashes a quick salutation.

"Daen Achea, from the Church of Eyr, at your service. Me and my companions have chanced upon a kidnapping situation, here in this very wagon, and neutralized them before the caravan took off. The hostage is secure if you want to question, however, take note that he is a bit shaken from the event.

There were four of them, three goblin and some other creature. We could only capture this one, sadly." He dumps the goblin near one of the guards.

"So if one of you could help us removing the bodies, we would be doing the conductor a favor, right?"

Lastly, he nods to the healer and points at the dwarf.

"He got a deep gash from the creature's sword, but there's no one else injured, I believe. Though you might want to check the hostage anyway.

If you need anything else, we are here to comply." He looks to each of them expectantly, with a "What are you still waiting for?" expression.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Ah. Someone whose words I understand.

Nodding in support of Daen's suggestions, Gana helps shift the last of the dead goblins out of the wagon. She glances quizzically at Noftur, and over at the healer.

"Maybe check his head for bumps, too."

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan looks at Berrian, raises his eyebrows, and jerks his head toward the cart's door. Hopping out quickly, he offers a hand to the priest as he climbs down.

"They had captured this man," Nevan says when he and Berrian reach the conductor and guards, and Daen finishes talking.

[Tormsskull]

The guards seem to come to alert when they see Noftur and his injury, not to mention the fact of the bound goblin. They approach the group cautiously.

The conductor's face is filled with anguish. "I thought he just tripped! Oh my, this is much worse, much much worse."

The guard's seem to ease their tension after listening to Daen speak, and the guard on the right even has a small, proud, smile come to his face.

Berrian thanks Nevan as he assists him down from the cart. "My good man, these brave individuals saved me from a cruel fate, I am sure."

After listening the group, conferring with Berrian, and speaking with the conductor, the guards seem to have a firm grasp on the situation.

"Thank you for preventing this crime. We and the entire city are in your debt. We will take this scoundrel to the Imperial Prison, where he will be brought up on charges. Father Berrian, if you'd be so kind to follow us we will escort you to the capital and make sure your stay is comforting."

Berrian smiles and nods. He turns to the group. "Thank you once again. If there should come a time when I can repay this favor you have done me, seek me out in one of Gregarin's churches."

The medic busily tends to Noftur's wounds, removing the makeshift bandages, applying a cooling salve from a green jar, and then wrapping the wound in a clean bandage. "Take it easy and you should be on your feet in no time" she says.

The conductor once again apologizes to everyone. "If there is nothing else I can do for you all, the storad is starting to get ancy. we really should be going." He eyes the group expectantly.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi dusts his hands together, despite having done none of the actual work, although it wasn't really any fault of his. "Problem solved. Let's get back to our wagon then, shall we?"

[Toliudar]

Gana

Cleaning off the last of the goblin-troll-ish blood from her polearm onto the ground, Gana nods. She had stood with downcast eyes during Berrian's thanks, fidgeting and smiling, but it is time to come back down to earth. Waving good-bye to the man they had saved from an uncertain and probably brutish fate, Gana heads back to the wagon they had previously occupied, and hopped on.

Once all were back in the wagon, and the storad underway, Gana settled in, tucking her swordspear into a spot where it wouldn't roll around and hurt someone. She smiled at the others.

"You know, that was the first time since the mountains that I could actually let go in a fight. I am glad to have you beside me on this job."

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos walks to the cart, nodding at the train conductor. He slips his bow back into place next to his quiver. He sits down on the train in their wagon, and rests his head against the back of his seat.

"You fought brilliantly, Gana," Thanos compliments the orc female with his eyes closed, unpatronizingly. "We all did."

[HempRope]

Nevan

"Er, sorry," Nevan says, quite aware that he's about to ask the conductor an uncomfortable question. "How would a band of armed goblins with a bound prisoner get in to one of the carriages?"

[Tormsskull]

The conductor nods towards Nevan. "I... I don't know. But trust me when I say I will find out. I will get to the bottom of this."

As the group all settles into their wagon, the trip begins. There is a slight jerking feeling, rocking everyone forward, when the train first takes off. As the journey goes on, the trip is rather jumpy, the entire wagon seeming to jump half a foot or so as the wheels hit rough terrain.

Eventually, after what must be half a day, the train comes to a stop. Exiting the train, the group finds themselves in very mountainous terrain. There appears to be a path through the hills and mountains that stretches to the north and south.

Forty feet from the stopped train is a loading dock, complete with several would-be passengers, a conductor, a few armed guards, all dwarves. One dwarf in particular, a rather rotund young dwarf, smiles and approaches the group.

"Greetings, greetings! Are you those sent by Councilor Ironside?" The dwarf's smile masks an otherwise weary face. He looks hopeful.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"We are," Nevan says, stepping down from the cart and buckling on his weapons. He offers his hand to the dwarf.

"Nevan Alibo. You are?"

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi wordlessly walks up beside Nevan, letting the others take care of the talking. He'd wait until he was needed.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur seems to draw into himself the further north the party travels. When the train finally stops, he pulls a cloak from among his things and pulls up the hood as everyone steps outside.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Despite the noise and jolting, Gana had wedged herself into a kind of fetal position in the wagon, and had slept most of the trip. Now, at their destination, she rises and un-wedges her swordspear. Glancing around the car as the others leave, she makes sure that everyone has their various belongings.

She uses the butt of the swordspear as a brace as she steps stiffly down from the wagon and looks around at the mountains. Surrounded by all the dwarves, she feels even more stupidly obvious. Her shoulders hunch in.

Gana stays close to Daen as he disembarks, saying nothing but listening intently to the proceedings.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Finally getting off the train, Daen tries to relieve his limbs from some of their stiffness by exercising them very briefly. Like the rest, he leaves the talking to the elf, as he has opened the conversation.

He notices Gana at his side a moment later, and turns to her.

"You don't like storad trains much, do you?" Sighing, he continues. "Being in mercy of forces larger than yourself is a bit unsettling to most people," he quotes directly from his late sire, wondering if those were the exact words.

"But you get used to it over time."

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana glances down as she mulls over Daen's words.

"I know all about being at the mercy of bigger things. And yeah. Got used to it for a long time. A long time."

She glances up to connect with Daen.

Thanks, anyways. It is good to be back on the ground, though. I'm guessing you liked the trip?"

[Cespenar]

Daen

Returning the look, Daen shrugs.

"I'm glad that it's over too, I guess. Though it was the inaction that was getting on my nerves."

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi has had some time to think on the journey, and something had clearly been bothering him in it's last legs. His face looks slightly worried, even under his hood. He remains silent as Nevan speaks to the Dwarf, however.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur continues to hang back, and the necklace that normally dangles at his chest is hidden from view along with his face.