Looking For King (IC)

[Falconknight06]

It's been three days since many of you were given free room and board under the Silver Cliff's Keep. The dungeon rooms come furnished with a small stool, a worn bedroll on the floor, and a bucket in the corner of the room. A small window facing the sea 500 ft below you is your only source of light other than the torches held by the guards outside each of your cells.

All of you pretty quickly found out that there is an antimagic field of no small power completely fills your cell and about ten feet out from your cell. But the fourth night, everything changes.

Some force seemed to compel each of you to be awake, either looking at the stars out your window, or sitting at the table twiddling your thumbs. The guards don't even see what's coming next. A soft *thwip* sound seems to happen five times as each guard falls to the floor, an unnatural green color quickly taking over their faces. A shadowy figure seems to move silently and effortlessly, unlocking each of your cells and motioning you towards a shadowy portal on the floor next to a large chest which you know contains your possessions.

The shadowy figure motions urgently towards the portal, and the sound of footsteps can be heard a ways off, but it is approaching quickly


All five of you are standing in a very dark room, all of your cell doors have been unlocked. The guards are dead, their torches snuffed out as they fell to the ground. The shadowy figure is motioning towards the portal which seems to be connecting to a field somewhere

[blackjack217]

The instant Aranthe leaves the prison cell he seems to hesitate for an instant, then he continues on to gather his things.
Casting vigor for 1 point. 19+5 HP. Also, I have low light vision, do I see anything more?

[Aldurin]

Travis wordlessly retrieves his equipment from the chest and equips everything. He takes a moment to make sure his spell pouch and backpack are in order, then he hesitates before deciding that he's best off getting to wherever this portal leads to, jumping right in.

[Falconknight06]

What Aranthe Sees
Even with your low-light vision, the figures face still seems cloaked in shadows, as if by magic. The figure motions towards the portal again, urging you to enter


Travis
You emerge in a field, the town lit up a ways away. You figure you're about a mile outside of the gates to town. You see an abandoned cabin, a creature beckoning you in from the doorway

[Aldurin]

Not wasting any time, Travis moves toward the cabin.

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek quickly gathers his belongings together. He hoists his greatsword onto his shoulder and nods his thanks to the shadowy figure before stepping into the portal.

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet wordlessly waits until last and grabs his few items out of the chest, nods politely to the figure, then steps into the portal.

As he comes out, he finishes adjusting his hat, reattaching the jewelry and his awkwardly large earring, and finally fastens his belt around his waist. His small coin purse tucked deeply into the folds of his clothing.

He idly brushes off a few specks of dirt from his fine clothing as he scans the area and follows the others to the cabin.

[ybot]

Sicarious stands up glaring at the hooded figure. He grabs his belongings but never lets his one eye leave the man until he walks out of the portal. He then turns and follows the others to the cabin.

[blackjack217]

Aranthe walks through the portal and into the cabin.

[Dancing Shadows]

Realizing he has taken too long to get his bearings and all the others have gone forward with out him, Rarek rushes to catch up with them at the cabin.

[Falconknight06]

As the last of the former prisoners enters the cabin, the door closes behind them and the shadowy figure from before steps out of one of the corners of the room, as if made of the shadows themselves.

The figure lowers his hood to reveal the face of a warforged, an unusual sight in these lands, especially a warforged so light on its feet as to be almost silent.

I see everyone is here. I believe we can begin. My employer is offering you a job due to your unique skills and less than moral methods. We need to retrieve an item, by any means necessary. I would recommend subtlety, but that is just my preference.


The warforged moves to the other side of the cabin, eyeing the assembled, reading their faces as best he can. He then continues As for payment, or what the item is, those are up to my employer's discretion. If you're interested, meet him here tomorrow at noon. The warforged tosses six scrolls towards the group, and then marches into another shadow in the corner of the cabin, disappearing into the night as silently as he came.

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek carefully inspects the scrolls, scratching his head while he does so. I wonder what they are for. Six scrolls, Five men. He grunts to himself before turning to the others.

"I think we should all put some careful thought to this matter. Whoever they are clearly wants us to help them. And they went to the trouble of freeing us from a pretty secure prision. One man took down 5 guards with no trouble. Whether or not they say we have choice, i doubt we do. If we leave then we become a liability and we would be hunted down and killed. I doubt any of us is a challenge for Mr. Silent metal. So fighting back clearly isn't an option. I, for one, am going to comply with their wishes for now and avoid certain doom"

He takes a deep breath and grins at the others "But i guess it's up to you what you want to do"

[ybot]

Sicarius grunts at Rarek. I don't do stuff to "help" people. They pay me and I do what they want. If they pay well enough Ill do, it if not ... then I just hope I can run fast enough. Sicarius looks over the scrolls examining each one to see what it is.


spell craft check if it is required [roll0]

[Aldurin]

Reaching for one of the scrolls, Travis says to the others, "This . . . is an opportunity. You may not see it yet, but the fact that a prison break just fell in our laps means that there is someone very powerful behind this. You can either take the opportunity, and strive to get yourself farther, or you can leave it, at best left in paranoia with the burning regret that you never found out what you could have gotten out of this."

[blackjack217]

"A ruthless sort. Unlike the rest of you, I am not so sure that accepting is a great idea. I notice that whoever is behind this hasn't told us who they are, and that they have very capable muscle they aren't relying on to do the job. We're disposable, deniable cats-paws folks. Still, I don't exactly see a choice.

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet's eyes shift from each of the individuals as they speak, listening intently. After they are done, he opens his scroll up and begins reading it to himself.

[Dancing Shadows]

He shrugs at Sicarius "Like, i said, it's your choice"

He then walks behind velvet and reads over his shoulder.

[Falconknight06]

The scroll seems to be in gibberish at first glance, but to those invited into the cabin, the letters morph into a map showing a small camp marked to the east of the town, roughly two miles to the east, along the cliffs overlooking the sea. It says to meet your predictive employer there at noon tomorrow. It also states that you should feel free to stay the night in the cabin, there is food in the cellar and beds upstairs.

[blackjack217]

"Hopefully we will find out what this is all about on the morrow.
Anyone have any objections to skipping to morning?

[ybot]

no objection

[Dancing Shadows]

"Yes, tomorrow we shall have the answers we seek. Surely it can't hurt just to show up." Rarek looks around the faces of everyone in the room, trying to get a feel for whether they're in agreement.

No objection here either. Just as long as everyone in the party is convinced to at least show up tomorrow.

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet shifts his gaze to the man behind him, then to the rest of the group as they speak of spending the night here.

"A night in an abandoned cabin of benefactor prepared for us with a gaggle of people whom only just recently were broken out a prison.

I prefer to reach the meeting point now."

He rolls the scroll back up and heads for the door.

[Aldurin]

Travis rolls his eyes as he watches Velvet leave, "Impatient and foolish. If someone wants to hire us for a job important enough to break us out of prison with such powerful measures, then I doubt we're going to be subject to anything worth the paranoia." He heads down to the cellar to have his first fulfilling meal since his pre-incarceration days.

[blackjack217]

"Agreed. We won't be harmed until we have completed whatever task they brought us out of prison to accomplish. I do not know enough about their MO to guess what they will do after."

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek follows the smooth-tounged man through the door, grabs his shoulder and hisses at him, "You idiot! do you really think the city's not going to have patrols looking for us?! They're going to be on high alert searching for 5 prisoners that recently broke out of a pretty dam powerful prision. If you go now you'll be on your own. you'll have for to wait for hours outside, visible for as far as the eye can see, cold and wet and hungry. I swear that if you wait no harm will come to you in the cabin."

[ybot]

Sicarius laughs at Velvet and turns to Rarek. Let the fool leave if he wants. turning to Velvet he states I personally don't think any of you would be stupid enough to attack someone else, so I feel pretty safe sleeping right here. Sicarius follows the rest of them into the basement

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet blinks once at the man who tried to persuade him to stay (Rarek), and only smiles. A slight hiss comes from deep in his throat, and if one listened carefully enough they may have sounded like words. As the noise completed his clothes, face, and stature melted into a hunched older man in poor travelling robes.

When Velvet spoke, his own voice came through, "He broke you lot out of prison. Don't assume things."

With that, he begins his walk towards the location on the map.

[Falconknight06]

Velvet
The trek to the meeting place is long and miserable, and you are forced to hide from a few patrols of guards on your way, but you make it to the spot for the meeting tomorrow. The meeting place seems to just be a pond about five miles outside of the town.

Everyone else
With the food downstairs, all who would like are able to scrape together a filling meal, a marked improvement over what you were served in the prison

[TheDivineWind]

Having finally reached his destination, Velvet looks for a spot hidden from the open road. After nearly a week surrounded by such mentally loud people, it was nice to finally get some peace and quiet.

He reaches into his pack and pulls out a trail ration from the a small box, then the empty mug. Bringing the mug up to his face, he whispers to it and it suddenly begins filling with a thin wine. Nothing too strong, but just enough to take the edge off of the headache he gets whenever he is stuck next to the same group of people for too long.

Leaning up against a tree, hidden by bushes, Velvet eats his food and closes his eyes, listening to the world around him and the distinct silence of mental activity in the area.

[blackjack217]

"Well early to bed, early to rise and all that." Say Aranthe after he has finished a satisfying, though somewhat bland, meal.

[Aldurin]

Travis grabs a little more food in case he becomes hungry later. "It's nice to not be eating prison food, I gotta be more careful to stay out of jail. Hopefully our odd-one-out doesn't have a stick up his ass if we find him alive tomorrow." He heads upstairs to rest and ponder plans, resources and other details important to him.

[TheDivineWind]

While Velvet waits, he gets himself psionically focused while meditating on his power.

Do I really need to roll? I'll just take 20 since I've got the time to kill.

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek eats his meal in silence barely paying any attention to what the other's are doing around him. He is still dumbfounded by what Smouth-tounge did earlier, the way he just changed form like that. Rarek doesn't know what to make of it.
Once he's done with his meal, instead of going up stairs with the others, he goes into the main room of the cabin. He faces the door, kneels down, clasps his hands together, closes his eyes and begins to pray.
He continues to pray for an hour or so before he lies down on the wood there are tries to get some rests for the day ahead of them tomorrow.

[ybot]

Sicarius eats his meal slowly enjoying every bite. He smiles as he thinks about were he was yesterday and where he is now. As he finishes his meal he travels up stair to help Travis with the plans.

[Falconknight06]

Everyone but Velvet
All of the former convicts awaken refreshed, even those not in a bed proper. It seems entering the portal gave a minor enchantment to allow for a fine night's sleep (or meditation as the case may be.) Those in the cabin get their equipment together and grab some food for the road, and set out towards the meeting place, their arrival time likely to coincide with the noon meeting time.

Velvet
You awake next to the pond, sleeping either five minutes, or all night, you're not sure. There seems to be a bit of subtle bit of magic here, relaxing you and helping heal your wounds. You notice a small group setting up a camp on the other side of the pond from you, with some obviously private mercenaries milling about. You're pretty sure this is the entourage of the group you're meeting with

[blackjack217]

Aranthe gets up from his comfortable if spartan bed, dons his armor and grabs some breakfast. "Everyone ready to head out?"

[ybot]

Sicarius gets up swallows a quick meal, grabs his things, and turns to the door. As he leaves he looks back and says lets go I'm not waiting all day for you guys.

[Aldurin]

Travis emerges from the basement with some more food in tow, "What? I gotta eat and that's going to be a long walk."

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet watches the group set up for awhile, observing any unique traits and keeping himself more or less out of site. He looks specifically for any leaders or someone organizing the effort.

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek dons his armor and makes sure his great sword is in it's proper place, I'm ready

[Falconknight06]

Velvet
The man in charge seems to carry himself as a mercenary leader of some sort, and he is likely working for the person who called for your group.

Everyone else
You make your way to the meeting place, seeing a small pond, with the man from last night meditating on one end, and a makeshift camp on the others. The guards at the camp acknowledge your approach, but do nothing to mark any aggression.

[blackjack217]

If we are to negotiate we should ensure we have all the advantages we can have."
when someone important shows up I will cast Mind-link, linking the PC's, should make negotiating easier.

[Dancing Shadows]

Rarek looks out at the camp, "And what do you propose we do to gain those?"

[blackjack217]

"I can forge a telepathic bond between us. It will allow us to consult in secrecy, even have two arguments about what to do simultaneously. One for their viewing pleasure and an actual one. Or we could use it to suppress all apparent discussion between us. I imagine us cooperating so smoothly after such a short time will impress our employer. The bond will only last 30 minutes and you can break it at any time you wish."

[Aldurin]

"If it gives us an edge, then sure."

[Dancing Shadows]

"I'm up for that aswell. I can imagine it would also be amazingly useful when waiting in ambushes."

[ybot]

As long as it doesn't hurt me, you can cast whatever you think will help us.

[blackjack217]

"Very well then"
spending 3 pp on mindlink, + surging for 1. enervation on a 1
[roll0]
Testing, testing can the lot of you here me?

[Aldurin]

This feels a bit uncanny, let's get the negotiations over with.

[blackjack217]

Good then. Lets get started.
Aranthe Walks up to the apparent leader of the other group and says: "I believe you had a job for us.

[Falconknight06]

The man you approach silently motions for your group to enter the tent, holding aside a tent flap to allow passage. Inside you find a sparsely furnished, almost military room with a man in a set of mithral chainmail looking over a map, and consulting a book at a few intervals. He acknowledges the groups entrance with a smile, Welcome adventurers. I am pleased you have chosen to take me up on my offer of a job. I assume that is why you have all decided to come see me today, am I correct?

[blackjack217]

"Assuming we can come to a mutually acceptable arrangement, yes."

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet walks into the tent and stands towards the back. When the man asks his question, he starts to speak, but thinks better of it when the other gentleman speaks.

[ybot]

Sicarius grunts I'm not one for elegant negotiations what do you want and how much do you pay?

[blackjack217]

"Yes the matter of compensation is important"
Aranthe then thinks to his allies I believe we should try to work together in these negotiations.
I would request whenever Falcon Knight starts making us roll diplomacy checks that everyone aid anothers on me. I have a +19 modifier before we start adding in aid another, and I believe that Divine wind has at least one power that can help me out.

[Falconknight06]

Well, aside from 25,000 gp per person upon completion of the task, you will have the chance to find riches far greater while searching for the item I'd like to hire you to find. The man says, leaning back against the table, facing the assembled group at the entrance to his tent.

[blackjack217]

"I see. While I appreciate the scale of the reward you are offering I'm afraid you're lack of description of the item or the dangers involved makes it rather difficult to properly calculate the risk-to-reward ratio. In addition, the lack of a monetary advance makes us wonder precisely what our severance pay would be. I hope you are willing to allay our concerns."
Basically, I'm asking for an advance and more money. Tell me when I need to roll. And I'll work out the modifiers.

[blackjack217]

Aranthe taps a crystal on his belt and resumes speaking "While I understand your need for secrecy you surely understand our concerns..."
Diplomacy checks
Aranthe: [roll0]
Add +2 to the result for each of the following checks that beats a DC of 10
Aid another:
Travis Almori: [roll1]
Velvet: [roll2]
Sicarius: [roll3]
Rarek: [roll4]

So 47 total

[Falconknight06]

Of course, of course. My problem is I need a group of adventurers to find a bit of property from some Dwarves who currently possess it. It is a small dagger that belonged to my grandfather and I'd like it returned. The problem is that the dwarven city holding it is hidden from most, and the dwarves believe the dagger to be some great evil artifact or some such nonsense the man says, obviously trying to keep from coming out an saying that he needs a group to steal an evil dagger for him from a hidden dwarven city. Now, of course I'd be willing to give a small advance to a group willing to perform this task, as well as a lead I happened to find, but I need to know they'll follow through on their promise

[blackjack217]

"What kind of insurance are you looking for?"

[Falconknight06]

Not necessarily insurance as much as assurance. My only requirement is that your group make use of a provided wagon. This wagon will allow me to keep track of your progress as well as communicate with you when needed. If you agree to use the wagon I provide, I'd also be willing to provide an advance on your payment of 2500 gp per person, but only if you use the wagon. If you refuse to use said wagon, then no advance will be given, but I will still provide the possible locations of the dagger the man's offer on the table, he sits back awaiting an answer, saying feel free to discuss this with your companions before you decide.

[blackjack217]

Assuming that is all it does, we can simply ditch it should that be required.

[Aldurin]

I could use that down payment for some much-needed resources, and it may be possible to override what the wagon does and repurpose it for our own benefit. If our employer plans any foul play then I doubt he'll do it until we get the dagger, so having the wagon initially shouldn't be a liability.

[ybot]

I would prefer money up front, but if we take his wagon we should leave it mostly empty and actually use a different wagon for our belongings.

[Dancing Shadows]

I think the wagon thing is a good idea, not only would we get money, we would also probably be informed on when new information concering the whereabouts of the dagger comes to light. But prehaps taking a look at this wagon first may be a good idea, if it's hugely conspicous then it may not be worth it

[blackjack217]

Any thoughts velvet?
While waiting for velvet to thin Aranthe says "What kind of wagon?"

[Falconknight06]

Just a wagon, with enough room for some supplies and equipment for a long journey. It could also be used as a cover for merchant activities if need be, though I'm sure noble adventurers such as yourself would not need to cover your activities from authorities. So, do we have a deal?

[TheDivineWind]

Velvet looks at the man coolly, reading his expression, considering his words and offer.

Trap. He wants the dagger, but he wants a scapegoat even more. His boss gets to walk away anonymously while we get the blame and assassin squads sent after us with only 2500gp to show for it, if the wagon isn't a trap itself. Pass on the wagon. It'll be easier to avoid trouble if he knows less about us.

[blackjack217]

He knew enough about us to break us out of prison.

[Dancing Shadows]

He might have just decided to break any prisoners out of that section, it might be just pure chance we were there at the same time. We might be complete unknowns to him, hence the 'wagon'

[Aldurin]

Like I said, we can ditch or modify the wagon early on if we need, and I'm sure he won't make any moves until we get close to our objective, so for the time being we should take the wagon and the money, possibly find an artificer to identify what it does.

[blackjack217]

I find it unlikely that he would rely on such, slapdash recruiting methods. It sounds...sloppy. And insane, given the effort he put into recruiting us. Frankly, by far the most likely time for him to betray us is once we have retrieved the dagger, during the exchange. That being the case, an extra 5000 gold in magical equipment for each of us would give us the edge.

[Falconknight06]

So, I'm a fairly busy man, and I'd like an answer before I go, so what is your plan.

[blackjack217]

I vote take the deal. Even if he plans to betray us, more gold is a good idea.

[Dancing Shadows]

Aye, you can count me in

[ybot]

Lets take the wagon. This guy is is stronger than us no matter what we do so we may as well take the extra money and hope he doesn't want to kill us.