Megadungeon D (IC) II

[Malimar]

Travelling from far and wide for their own varying reasons, Jeffery Gill (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1128584), Meera Thoonidae (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1138308), Julius Bloodstorm (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1110523), Xander Traal (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=358576), and Vassilia (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1107202) have found themselves in the great city of Endeesy. Endeesy can't compare in magnificence, wealth, or amenities to the other capitols of the world (although its population is greater by an order of magnitude than the others, its infrastructure is somewhat lacking). It offers only two things: first, almost anyone can find a way to fit in in this city of misfits; and second, even keeping the king's peace is almost beyond the military's ability, so non-violent offenses (and even some violent offenses) that might be crimes in other nations are overlooked here. So Endeesy, like its predecessor the aptly-named Disreputable City, has naturally become a hub for pirates, smugglers, and adventurers alike.

But Endeesy has even more to offer than even the Disreputable City did in its heyday, for the lands north of the city are peppered with unexplored caves and ruins both ancient and recent, filled with fruits ripe for the plucking by those adventurers brave enough to seek them out.

That's where this party comes in, finding themselves in the grand Adventurer's Guildhall. Barely more than an oversized tavern, really, the draw of the Adventurer's Guild for adventurers is that here one may encounter like-minded adventurers with whom to form a team, and then one may consult the corkboard by the door for a myriad of opportunities. (The draw for everyone else is, of course, that one may post a bounty on the bulletin board and eventually it will be done, if the reward is high enough.) The bartender is a friendly-looking be-muttonchop'd middle-aged half-elf, and other adventurers and hirelings are scattered at the bar and tables.

The contents of the corkboard can be found here (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Bounties).

Bounties may range from the unambiguously good to the rankly evil, offer rewards ranging from piddling to riches beyond your wildest dreams, and mount challenges ranging from child's play to downright unachievable. None of these factors necessarily correlates with any of the others.

Not every location visited necessarily contains anything of value, and things of value may not present themselves obviously. Not all creatures encountered will necessarily pose a challenge appropriate to your power, or even be hostile. Areas cleared of creatures will not necessarily remain cleared for long.

This is an organic world, with many options and correspondingly many risks. How you choose to respond is up to you.

(OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500166-Megadungeon-(OOC)-VI))

[Jeriah]

Meera

"Interesting. Very interesting," mumbles Meera as she peruses the cork board. Having lived in Endeesy for many years, this was the first time she'd ever been into the Adventurer's Guildhall. She'd had no reason to visit before now, but it seemed as good a place as any to begin her quest.

Having read over a few and found one or two that caught her eye and didn't seem too difficult, she started to look around for a suggestion of where to go or what to do now...

FIRST!

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Perhaps you already met Julius. He had approached you in the bar, offered to buy you a drink, and invited you to meet him here after learning somewhat of your talents and/or desires. Or perhaps you heard that the Grand Adventure's Guild had job offers on their board and took the initaitive. Regardless, as you walk in you see him at the board going through the bounties with an inquisitive look on his face. Tall for a mongrelfolk, clearly wearing a chain shirt underneath sea blue robes of a priest of Hafgufa. Hanging from his neck, a large silver holy symbol for his faith. At his feet is a somewhat larger than normal Elvish Hound (around 40 lbs) who looks around the room in excitement as your smell hits his nose for the first time.

Presently, however, the dog (Melikki) is growling at Meera, as if there is something about her that he doesn't like. Just a look from her and Melikki whines somewhat and moves to hide behind Julius's legs. Julius looks up at Meera for the first time with a strange look on his face as if experiencing an unsettling feeling before truly sizing her up. "I'm waiting on some friends to pick one of these bounties, you looking for work?"




My character would have been actively looking for adventurer's to earn a profit with so please feel free to combine backgrounds with me! I'd rather already have a small history than uh... "roleplay out" introductions for the first month. If you already know my Mongrelfolk you know him as very driven individual who is training (somewhat inefficiently) at arms. Depending on how long you've known him he is clearly growing at a rapid rate.

Also for the hell of it, [roll0] Decipher Script on the coded board posting. He's spent some time on it before play started.

*Got a butt load more of those coming for you Malimar

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Julius has been studying the coded message! His efforts have yielded an insight or two!

The last time I tried to give hints on this one, I completely goofed and my hints turned out to be all sorts of wrong and the guy would've been better off not rolling Decipher Script at all, so take anything I tell you with a grain of salt. That said, I'm trying not to lead you astray with this:

It's pretty clearly a relatively straightforward substitution cipher. The letter that looks sort of like a J rotated 180 degrees, the first letter in the message? Probably an "A" or an "I", letters that usually occur on their own. The letters that occur in pairs are probably things like "as" or "it" or "of" or "to" or "be" or "on", there's only so many combinations of two letters that make functional words.

If while decoding you come across a word that looks like it might be a day of the week you're familiar with, don't become confused by it (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Calendar). There are also several proper nouns, one of which may not be possible to decipher for sure because I think it contains one of two letters not used elsewhere in the message. But it's not too important to get the gist of the message.

[Thundercracker]

Xander Traal

His purse 25 gold lighter after just paying the adventuring guild dues, Xander wandered to the bounty corkboard and noticed Julius, with whom he'd shared a drink earlier. He walked up just as Julius finished speaking.

"Why yes, yes I am," he said to the others looking over the board, "any of these strike your fancy? Some of them look dangerous..."

Xander is a thin man, with wavy black hair and a seemingly everpresent shadow of stubble on his face. He wears simple brown leather armor, with a dagger on one hip and a crossbow on the other. His breeches are also brown, with black leather boots to cap the outfit. His equipment is new, without a scratch or mark on it. Either he recently lost everything and just replaced it, or he's completely inexperienced at the adventuring lifestyle.

[Jeriah]

Meera

Having never met either of these two before, Meera is slightly suspicious at first.

"I was looking at a few of these. Not sure which ones seem best, but I'm getting a few ideas..."


Meera is fairly average for a mongrelfolk, strong and tough, though she skews more towards a human appearance than many, tainted mainly by the slight purple cast to her skin and bulbous cranium, which she feels self conscious about and hides beneath her thick black hair and ornate headdresses. She dresses for travel and adventuring, wearing thick wool and leather clothing when not garbed in her protective armor.

[BaratheonFury]

Vassilia

Vassilia double checks the name on the sign before entering, she'd been expecting something a little more grand. Vassilia orders a drink before meeting Julius at the bounty-board "Friends of yours?" she asks motioning towards the other mongrelfolk and the thin fellow beside her.

Vassilia is slightly taller than average with a fair complexion, blue eyes, and longblonde hair tied into an elaborate braid.
Her armor is simple, lacking an decorations except a fair number of scratches. Her sword on the other is well crafted with Celestial runes running down the front and back of the blade and a once red scarf now faded from sun and sea is wrapped around the hilt.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"More like acquaintances," Xander replied, "I'm Xander."
(After the intro reply)
"Well met. Are you looking for work too?"

anyone planning to take a crack at that cypher?

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Business associates, friends, fellow guild mates - whatever you prefer. Glad to see you again Xander, Vassilia. I had hoped you would come" Jullius said (although he was looking at Vassilia's greatsword when he said it).

I came a little early and deciphered this one, he said, pointing at the coded message, then in a much quieter voice he spoke, sliding his finger word by word, "A sponsor who would prefer to remain anonymous has requested the return of a +1 frost dagger, as it bears enormous sentimental value… The dagger is currently in the personal armory of King Terek Rogan the second, who received it from his Father, Terek Rogan the first, Who took it from the body of the pirate Morgram crow, who had borrowed it from the wizard Xuick Ben who had stolen it after murdering its rightful owner Thought of Mirk Jalic Vayal…. Please retrieve the dagger from the King by persuasion, force, trickery, or any means necessary, and bring it to the inn of the blackguards shiv on the night of Freday while wearing a red hat… Reward shall be a plus one tome of clear thoughts.

"Well there is nothing stopping us from doubling up on these bounties. For example, we could get the frost dagger from the king by finding his bride." Julius pauses a second to read the bride's requirements again and starts laughing to himself. He looks up before getting serious again, "So keep your eyes and ears open for any news of metallic dragons even if we're on another bounty. My vote is on the easy money. Although for obvious reasons I'd enjoy doing the whaling dispute."


Not really sure on the "J" or the "X" so cloistered cleric lore to see if I got anything wrong or any appropriate knowledge check?
Lore: [roll0]
Knowledge (Local): [roll1]
Knowledge (Arcana): [roll2]

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"I don't know about the whaling dispute," Xander replied, "I can't breathe under water or speak Triton language... I was thinking the ogres might be a good one to try our hand at... wait, what's this, anarchic water for the mad Druid?"
isnt anarchic water just holy water blessed by a priest of a chaotic deity? Knowledge religion I guess?

Take 10 for 17

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Julius has mostly accurately (accurately enough) deciphered the message! (It's Quick Ben, one name used by the leader of the Defiance, one of the adventurers responsible for the Subsidence, whom he's heard of. He hasn't heard of the Thought of Mirk, though he suspects that's a rank in the church of Mirk, so he doesn't know if that name is spelled correctly.) Julius gains 200XP for this decipherment, and we're off to the races!


isnt anarchic water just holy water blessed by a priest of a chaotic deity?
That it is, and Xander knows this! Easy profit, probably, it's cheaper to come by than the reward the Mad Druid offers. No telling why the Mad Druid hasn't just gone out and bought some himself.

[Jopustopin]

Julius nods absentmindedly at Xander but his attention seems focused on the bounties.


Just asking for general information. You can roll for me as I'd be asking for a bunch of rolls here. Alternatively you can tell me that I don't know anything on the subject.

A Bride for the King - Who is the Dowager Queen? Is that the King's mother? What does Dowager mean?

Dragon Hunt - Are dragons common or rare? Do I know of any half-dragons in town or dragon descendend? How... did they survive the inundation.

Join the Adventurer's Guild - Would we only need to find one key for the group or all five?

Quarantine on Doublebridge - What's word on the street here? Lore, Local, Religion etc. Has my character heard anything such as how powerful the undead are or what caused it.

Slay Sewer Monsters - What do I know about the sewers under crown district? What do I know about these, "Monsters"? What are they?

Whaling Dispute - Tridents speak common and their diplomats would meet us on the surface? Or does my character think they would need to swim down to talk to them? My character would assume that me being a priest of Hafgufa would have them grant me an audience, correct? Do I think they are attacking them due to, say, them killing whales a MOST sacred animal?

Vigilante Justice - This one seems doable. Any information about Violet Shadow from a knowledge or lore check?

Supplies for Repair - Have I ever heard of dragonshards? Are they mined somewhere near here?

Contact the Mushroom People - This one seems really easy. Any applicable information that Julius would know?

What is Nerzohexoate?

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Julius knows things!

Dowager Queen qurSaan is the widow of the previous King and mother of the current King. That's basically what "dowager" means. She is known to have a lot of influence over her son, but as the teenaged King grows into an adult he is growing more and more independent.


Dragons are not common! The descendants of dragons are reasonably common, but Julius doesn't know of any specifically off the top of his head. Some dragons survived the Inundation by being aquatic, some survived by dwelling on elven mangals, some survived by travelling to other planes for the duration. A black one conquered Shell early in the Inundation and his child and grandchild ruled it with an iron claw for a couple centuries, until Exith Chippemunk the Valiant drove them out and restored human rule.


It's probably easier just to ask Tom the bartender about the rules for the Journeyman's Keys. He informs Julius that yes, any group that adventures together can submit a single key and all of them will be promoted.


He hasn't heard any specifics about Doublebridge!


He knows much of what traditionally dwells in sewers! Mostly, oozes. Sometimes funguses, sometimes otyughs. Generally anything that feeds on waste (and sewer workers). He heard the last party to venture down into the sewers got in over their heads and lost a guy to an ooze.


Whales are indeed sacred to Hafgufa, who is generally worshipped by tritons! Whales aren't sacred in such a way that it is an evil to hunt them, they're sacred in the sort of way that you can hunt them and eat them as long as you say the proper prayers and thank them properly. Quite probably the whalers aren't saying the proper prayers and thanking the whales properly, at least as far as the tritons are concerned.

The tritons would probably be willing to send a delegation to meet with priest of Hafgufa at the surface. Most tritons, especially diplomats, speak both Aquan and Common.


Julius has heard rumors and legends of the Violet Shadow, a dark stranger who leaves villains strung up in prominent places! Normally the government is pretty much fine with vigilanteism, but perhaps the Violet Shadow has been too public about it, or perhaps the Violet Shadow has killed and strung up somebody with too many friends in high places.


Julius has never heard of dragonshards! He's pretty sure htey're not mined near here. The only major mines he's aware of are the Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mine to the northwest and the town of Kaboom Mine (mostly copper and regular iron) to the southeast. There are a few other mines scattered about, like Tharock has one and Ironrock has one and there are a few in the Omorashi Empire, but mostly all the ore resources of the continent were pretty much depleted before the Inundation, by the dwarves who lived in the hills. The tritons probably dug some of the remaining ore up during the Inundation, too. Anyhow, all the local mines he's familiar with are for ores, not crystals or anything like that.


Julius suspects that the mushroom people in question may be myconids, who communicate by spores -- they're the only kind of sapient fungus he can think of. He doesn't know much beyond that, such as how they might have survived the Inundation.


He's heard of Nerzohexoate, but he's always heard it in Quasxthian contexts. "Ask your cleric" means "ask your cleric of Quasxthe". He doesn't know any details about it himself.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander pondered whether he'd heard anything about the ogres or knew where he could secure anarchic holy water.

ogres: local [roll0]
Water: local [roll1]
Edit:forgot about the quarantine: take 10 for 18 on dungeoneering or 17 on local.

Guys I have a bunch of knowledges, so if we need to make a check I'm more than happy to scour my character's memory. Just let me know since I'm not so great at realizing when I should be using knowledge checks.

[Jeriah]

Meera

"Maybe instead of thinking about this too hard, should I just pick one and go with it? Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."

Meera reaches towards the cork board, her fingers flitting nervously across the notices. Unable to make a decision, she closes her eyes and jabs one essentially at random. She takes a deep breath to steady her nerves before opening her eyes.

"Oliphaunt Snax. Okay. I can do that."

Meera turns to the others that have gathered around her with newfound confidence.

"I'm going to do this quest. Since you all seem to be looking for work anyway, I request your accompaniment."

She waves the Oliphaunt Snax flyer in the general direction of the others to emphasize her request.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Not even willing to barter on the guild fee...25 gold...what a ripoff...it's highway robbery..." mumbles a man to himself as he wanders up to the board.

Giving the board a quick scan, his left eyebrow raises slightly. "..Oliphaunt Snax...they really let people put anything on these boards... he mutters again, seemingly unaware of the mass of others in the room.


Shock crosses his face, but only briefly, as he sees someone snatch a flier off the board, as if he finally realizes he's not alone in the room.

"Of all of the fliers, what made you pick that one?" he inquires of the woman, half jokingly (because he realizes she grabbed the Oliphaunt Snax) and half serious (because he's having an extremely hard time deciding).


Jeffery is a man of middling height, though a little on the skinny side, as if he may have missed a meal or two here and there. He has brown eyes, and black, unruly hair. His eyes have dark circles under them, as if he hasn't slept well in a while, but his demeanor doesn't reflect this. His traveling clothes seem a bit worn, but clean nonetheless, and though he looks as if he hails from Shell, his accent seems to have a hint of Oramashi in it.

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Xander knows things, too!

He's heard all sorts of stories about the ogres! Plus, he's read books about ogres, too. He's gathered that the band between Saint Phil and Nopants is about seven ogres strong (plus or minus a couple), led by an ogre mage.

Anarchic water can almost certainly be acquired for a donation from the local temple to Inglip, and quite possibly for a donation from the local temple to Dalya. The local temple to the Burning Hate could have supplied it, but got asploded awhile back.

As for the monsters at Doublebridge: he's heard they're terrible creatures that feed on your life essence and make you into one of them once they've killed you! Which describes a lot of undead, but these are probably wights.

[Jopustopin]

Melikki starts growling again as if sensing his master's displeasure but quiets down with nothing more than a look from Julius.

"Ma'am, my gut says you have talent. I know you have gusto and I applaud your boldness. Sometimes it's better to just enter actions with boldness; hesitation can mean death. This is not one of those times. A moment's thought now will save you weeks of wasteful action. You are free to do as you wish as I don't know you, but my advice is this:

That elephant owes its existence to Hafgufa. We all do. For five hundred years Hafgufa, the Leviathan God, allowed us to reside in his domain. It was within his power to crush our parents and grandparents, our families, indeed our very race; he did not. Hafgufa did not take us in out of benevolence. I assure you.

He created all the seafolk. The Triton's, the Locathah, and the Merfolk. I like your drive and your moral flexibility; normally I'd have no qualms about taking a life if the payment is right. But immortal Hafgufa will remember the races who lived under his roof and then who spit in his face the moment their feet hit dry land. I'll not in any way feed one of his chosen people to an elephant.

If someone completes that bounty. I'll find them, tie them to a pyre, and float them out to meet Hafgufa with something to keep them warm."

Julius turns back to Vasillia and Xander. "It would be silly not to get the druid his anarchaic water. That's just a straight profit for the group. After that I think that the whaling dispute would be easy to resolve. We don't need to swim down there Xander and they speak common and I, of course, speak aquan. We will get some sea blue sailing clothes, nothing formal, just so they know we're speaking as worshippers of Hafgufa. The problem is almost certainly the whaling ships. Should be easy to solve; they are the ones who want to stop being attacked. Maybe all they need to do is present Hafgufa with a good old fashioned sacrifice before setting sail. I know of an elephant that Hafgufa would appreciate. Vasillia you're our tie breaker. I think Ogre's are too much risk but I haven't seen you fight. Have either of you heard anything about Doubleridge?"

"If either of you are interested in work (he says referring to Meera and Jeffery) we split our profits equitably when possible. When not possible, such as a rare item, I'll keep an accountant book to track your balance to the group. My plan is to be profitable enough so betrayal isn't in our best interest". Julius turns his attention to everyone and continues with a diplomatic smile (and his tusk make this look somewhat threatening), "But if you do betray me, don't leave me alive.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Wait...what? The Oliphaunt eats what exactly?" sputters Jeffery. The writing of that particular bounty was so horrendous that he honestly had not made it past 'Oliphaunt Snax' before chuckling and continuing on.

[BaratheonFury]

Check to see if Vasillia knows anything about what's at double-bridge[roll0]

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Vassilia has heard rumors about the creatures at Doublebridge eating people and turning more people into them, but that could be all sorts of undead.

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

"I agree, I feel we could handle an ogre but from the sound of it there is at least half a dozen, with a mage to back them up. So I vote we investigate the matter at Doublebridge, after we take care of the whaling dispute and get the druid his water of course"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

He shuddered at the thought of wraiths, after conveying what he suspected.

"Well, sounds like you know what you're talking about with the Tritons Julius, why don't we take that on?" Xander said, "I'm not in a rush to try to face an octet of ogres. Shall we drop off the anarchic water first though? It could pay for our robes and any other material we'd need."

He explained where he thought they could acquire the water.

[Jeriah]

Meera
Melikki starts growling again as if sensing his master's displeasure but quiets down with nothing more than a look from Julius.

"Ma'am, my gut says you have talent. I know you have gusto and I applaud your boldness. Sometimes it's better to just enter actions with boldness; hesitation can mean death. This is not one of those times. A moment's thought now will save you weeks of wasteful action. You are free to do as you wish as I don't know you, but my advice is this:

That elephant owes its existence to Hafgufa. We all do. For five hundred years Hafgufa, the Leviathan God, allowed us to reside in his domain. It was within his power to crush our parents and grandparents, our families, indeed our very race; he did not. Hafgufa did not take us in out of benevolence. I assure you.

He created all the seafolk. The Triton's, the Locathah, and the Merfolk. I like your drive and your moral flexibility; normally I'd have no qualms about taking a life if the payment is right. But immortal Hafgufa will remember the races who lived under his roof and then who spit in his face the moment their feet hit dry land. I'll not in any way feed one of his chosen people to an elephant.

If someone completes that bounty. I'll find them, tie them to a pyre, and float them out to meet Hafgufa with something to keep them warm."

Julius turns back to Vasillia and Xander. "It would be silly not to get the druid his anarchaic water. That's just a straight profit for the group. After that I think that the whaling dispute would be easy to resolve. We don't need to swim down there Xander and they speak common and I, of course, speak aquan. We will get some sea blue sailing clothes, nothing formal, just so they know we're speaking as worshippers of Hafgufa. The problem is almost certainly the whaling ships. Should be easy to solve; they are the ones who want to stop being attacked. Maybe all they need to do is present Hafgufa with a good old fashioned sacrifice before setting sail. I know of an elephant that Hafgufa would appreciate. Vasillia you're our tie breaker. I think Ogre's are too much risk but I haven't seen you fight. Have either of you heard anything about Doubleridge?"

"If either of you are interested in work (he says referring to Meera and Jeffery) we split our profits equitably when possible. When not possible, such as a rare item, I'll keep an accountant book to track your balance to the group. My plan is to be profitable enough so betrayal isn't in our best interest". Julius turns his attention to everyone and continues with a diplomatic smile (and his tusk make this look somewhat threatening), "But if you do betray me, don't leave me alive.Meera waves the flyer at Julius dismissively.

"You sound pretty devout, but if you were really so devout, then wouldn't you be pursuing this now? I mean, clearly, this isn't the first time this..."

She stumbles for a second and glances down the flyer again.

"... this Sir Bigglesworth has fed merfolk to his oliphaunt. I mean, obviously he's had experience doing it, or he wouldn't know that his pet likes them. Perhaps you should go ahead and introduce this Sir Bigglesworth to Hafgufa to keep anyone from completing the bounty. Much more efficient that way, and you can put your money where your mouth is."

She huffs once at the suggestion of Doublebridge and adds, "Undead are disgusting. There's nothing worthwhile in meddling with them. I say we avoid them at all costs, unless, that is, you're planning to join their ranks..."

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery smirks at the woman's (Meera's) comment. Though he's slightly irked that she ignored his inquiry completely, he's used to being ignored, so he shakes it off, as he always does. Personally he had never even thought about eating merfolk, and wondered if it was considered a delicacy here, or somewhere in the world, like an odd type of seafood...

Jeffery shakes his head slightly to try and clear his head of the thought. His musings always seem to go further than he's comfortable with. Once his head is clear, he addresses the man who's adamantly against feeding merfolk to oliphaunts (Julius) that is just really fun to type, and every time I type it I hear how Samwise says it in the LoTR movies.

"I'll tag along." he says glancing at the board again. "Might have better success on some of these if I'm not going it alone. The water one seems straightforward enough, though with the variety of oddities on the board, one that' straightforward gives me slight pause..."

[Jopustopin]

Julius furrows his brow somewhat at Meera's comments and looks momentarily mad. Then he breaks into a toothy grin, "You remind me of my little sister. Annoying and endearing. Introduce yourself already to the group. I'll be right back.

Withought waiting for her to speak, Julius walks over to Tom, "Where is the mad druid, Seye Ipivi located to complete the bounty?"

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Tom the bartender tells Julius, "The Mad Druid spends most of his time in a small park in the Butterfly Ward. Look for the bison, he's usually not far."

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery sighs, then holds his hand in front of his face and waves it at himself.



...nope...still visible.
...still...maybe I'm only visible to me...
...maybe it's a plot...
...a conspiracy against the bard...




Jeffery puts his hand down and looks himself over.



...I don't look like a bard...I don't think...
...so how would they know...
...they're not deaf...they talk to each other...
...maybe I'm mute...
...but I heard myself talk...
...I could be crazy...well maybe only slightly...
...still...I may be the most easily ignored bard in history...
...not a good trait in this profession...




Jeffery shakes his head, to clear his thoughts.



...well that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down...again...
...concentrate outwardly...not inwardly...
...then maybe someone will talk to you...

[Jopustopin]

Julius kept his ears open so as to catch the names of the two new comers but the sound of dead silence finally turned his head and watches Jefferey's odd hand motion. Since he was still leaned casually over the bar towards Tom he says under his breath (but where Tom can hear him), "What is he doing?"

Julius gives Tom a somewhat not-optimistic look and slides him a silver with a polite smile.

Walking back to the group with a much more confident face he says, "Alright mates don't be shy." he says putting his big ol hand on Jefferey's shoulder, "M'names Julius D.M. Bloodstorm humble servant of Hafgufa, the lady with the exceptional greatsword is Vasillia and, to my right, Xander Traal; arcane firepower." Julius has a polite smile and is obviously waiting to hear them say, out loud, with their words, their names.


After they say their names (and assuming that people are done role playing introductions) Julius is going to compliment Xander on catching the anarchic water bounty and ask him to lead the way (to whichever temple he wants to go to).

[Jeriah]

Meera

The Julius person was going to be trouble. Never trusted those who claimed to serve the gods. They were always up to something, or so her father always told her. She would have to watch him if he was going to tag along with her.

"Whatsyourname," Meera says as she turns to Jeffery while waving the flyer towards him, "I think this is not an unreasonable request. Don't you agree? Perfectly reasonable for an oliphaunt to eat merfolk. Quite delicious, so I hear. I say we do this, no matter what that religious nut says. You're with me. Right?

Wait... what is your name? You haven't introduced yourself..."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Please work it out, peacefully. I'm going to see if I can purchase some anarchic water," Xander said, "anyone wishing to come with me is welcome. We can take a longer more complicated job once we secure the funding from this simple task. I will return in short order."

Xander made a beeline for the nearest location he knew of where he could acquire the water.

for the location, and for any rumors he may have heard of why this might be a troublesome task: knowledge local take 10 for 17

[Jopustopin]

Xander

"Please work it out, peacefully. I'm going to see if I can purchase some anarchic water," Xander said, "anyone wishing to come with me is welcome. We can take a longer more complicated job once we secure the funding from this simple task. I will return in short order."

Xander made a beeline for the nearest location he knew of where he could acquire the water.

for the location, and for any rumors he may have heard of why this might be a troublesome task: knowledge local take 10 for 17


lol I'm trying to get out of here too. Like no one would introduce themselves. Is it just hard to say, Hi I'm X? Let's stop trying to taunt the religious nutjob and start adventurering!

In character: If Jeffery introduces himself to Julius, then Julius shakes his hand and with a "let's go" nod to Jeffery immediately leaves with Xander. If Jeffery starts talking to Meera who never introduced herself to the rest of them, Julius shrugs his shoulders and immediately leaves with Xander

[Jeriah]

To be fair, from my understanding of events, no one (other than perhaps Xander) has introduced themselves to her, and she would think it a bit inappropriate for a lady to approach a group of strangers and introduce herself first. She's also a bit paranoid of strangers. Add in the fact that the only one who really talked to her also threatened to kill her in the name of his god... Meera is not too inclined to just pop in and happily introduce herself and go along with whatever the nameless, violent cleric tells her to do.

I'm loving the role play and would keep it up for awhile, but if we just want to jump into a quest, I'd want to at least resolve this enough to feel okay with Meera tagging along.

[Thundercracker]

come with Xander, we can talk on the way. Also agree, threatening to kill someone or calling them a nut job is s probably not the best way to start a working relationship. We all need to party together so let's try to play nice. Going to try and offer a way forward here.

Xander

Pausing just for a moment at the door, Xander looked over his shoulder.

"Julius stop being so dramatic," he called with a smirk, "I know you're not really threatening to kill someone you just met."

"Ma'am, it's clear Julius is morally against the Merfolk job, and your unorthodox method of selection ideal tasks aside, there are plenty of others we can take our pick of, why don't we choose one of them?" he asked, "We can talk about it on the way."

He waved the others to follow him as he left.

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia


Vasillia follows Xander towards the door "Agreed, we can debate Oliphant diets and killing one another some other time, but that water isn't going to deliver itself,"

[Jeriah]

Meera

"I don't even know who any of you are. I'm confused. Why should I go anywhere with you and the person who just threatened my life?"

Meera stands with her arms crossed by the cork board, the Oliphaunt Snax flyer still in hand as she taps her foot in irritation.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery stares at the hand on his shoulder, dumbfounded.

"Someone talked to me!" Jeffery exclaims, then looks aghast as he realizes he didn't internalize that comment.

"Err...I mean...I'm not invisible..." he says stumbling through words, looking more and more petrified with every word that manages to tumble out of his mouth.

"Bah..." he says scowling at himself. Taking a deep breath, he finally manages to say, "I'm Jeffery, and I'm really glad there's no conspiracy." still looking a little disheveled.

All of this he says, while still staring at the hand on his shoulder.

Turning to Meera, he thinks on her question, and responds.

"I assumed that was some kind of joke, but if that's a real bounty, five shiny things doesn't seem like enough to go through the trouble of having to catch a merfolk, and then transport it. Not to mention if you're going to go through all that trouble, I'm sure you could find something more worthwhile to do with one than feed it to something..." he says, his thoughts seemingly drifting off somewhere.

Snapping back to reality.
"The water seems easy enough though, and after that, I wouldn't mind going to see about the undead infestation. Might be a nice...learning experience..." he says, getting lost in thought again.

[Jopustopin]

Julius kept his ears open so as to catch the names of the two new comers but the sound of dead silence finally turned his head and watches Jefferey's odd hand motion. Since he was still leaned casually over the bar towards Tom he says under his breath (but where Tom can hear him), "What is he doing?"

Julius gives Tom a somewhat not-optimistic look and slides him a silver with a polite smile.

Walking back to the group with a much more confident face he says, "Alright mates don't be shy." he says putting his big ol hand on Jefferey's shoulder, "M'names Julius D.M. Bloodstorm humble servant of Hafgufa, the lady with the exceptional greatsword is Vasillia and, to my right, Xander Traal; arcane firepower." Julius has a polite smile and is obviously waiting to hear them say, out loud, with their words, their names.


After they say their names (and assuming that people are done role playing introductions) Julius is going to compliment Xander on catching the anarchic water bounty and ask him to lead the way (to whichever temple he wants to go to).



Can everyone read what was spoken aloud post by post because I'm really not tracking what's going on and I think people are missing posts.

Julius shakes Jefferey's hand, "Aye, mate I see you."

Then he listens to Xander and starts to follow him out the door when Xander pauses at the door and tells him to stop being dramatic. Julius looks confused as if he doesn't know what he's talking about. After a second he looks back at Meera and then at Xander again.

"What? I didn't threaten her." Julius eyes looks up as if trying to remember what he said before looking back at Xander, "I said I'd kill anyone who I found out was using a mermaid to feed it to an elephant for some moron."

Julius turns to Meera, "My apologize lady if you took that as a personal threat; I assure you the threat was for everyone. What kind of self respecting cleric of Hafgufa would allow that sort of idiocy to go on?". Turning back to Xander, "Xander can we go now?"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery shrugs.

"Off to get some water it is, then." he says, as he begins to follow Julius out the door.


Malimar, please let me know if we pass by any cemeteries or the like while we walk.

[Malimar]

Adventurer's Guild

Tom the bartender submits for Meera's consideration, "I think you're outnumbered on this one, miss. Mostly just tritons in the nearby waters, anyway. Need to go south almost to the Omorashi border before you reach Merfolk territory. I encourage you to join these folks, it seems they've found a source of free profit. I'd have done it myself, but I'm retired, wouldn't be much good to take good jobs from the newbies."

The party seems to be heading out, whether or not Meera elects to join them.


The most likely source of anarchic water, according to everyone with any knowledge of the subject, is the Temple of Inglip and Arena Complex, home to the gropagas of Inglip, most chaotic god.

(There are, as it transpires, no cemeteries on the way, as the temple is close to the Adventurer's Guildhall in the Crown District; most of the city's cemeteries are in the outer districts, the biggest one in the Resentment Ward.)

On the front steps of the temple of Inglip, a red-robed priest is sermonizing to a small crowd of mongrelfolk about how generally great Inglip is!

[Thundercracker]

Xander

knowledge religion: take 10 for 17, to make sure I don't do anything insulting to the priests.

Xander entered the temple and looked for a priest. If he's unable to find one, he will return to the front of the temple.

"Praise Inglip, we wish to acquire his blessed anarchic water," he said to the priest.

[Jeriah]

Meera

"Oh. Ookaay. It sounded like a threat. I must have misunderstood."

With Jeffery going along, Meera decides to join. He's the only one so far that seems trustworthy to her so far, and if he's okay with it, then it can't be too bad. When the barkeep chimes in, she feels better about her decision.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

As they walk to the temple Julius makes small talk with Jeffery and Meera to try to get to know them better.

"I forget about my size sometimes; I guess I can come off as more threatening than I realize. I've grown two feet in the last year." Julius's face gets serious, "I mean that literally, a year ago I was four feet tall. My sermon, threatening to send someone out to sea tied to a pyre wouldn't be nearly as threatening from a much shorter and skinnier man. Would be pure bluster, I assure you sister. Also I forgot to introduce the most important member of our group, Melikki" The 40 lb ship hound barks once and pants as he trots alongside the group.
"I bought him barding, it's in my backpack." Julius grins ridiculously, "Flanking buddy. Someone might get pissed at him at their heels and take a swing at him."

As they get closer to the temple, Julius tells Xander anything he knows about the temple and it's customs.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery chats politely with Julius, and when he turns to talk with Meera, Jeffery pulls a deck of tarots cards from his backpack, shuffles them in his hands, and begins going through them, mumbling to himself.

"The Fist...hrmm...followed by...
Darkness...that's odd...
Aboleth...that can't be right...
The Blue Wanderer...
And the Stranger...of course...always ends in death...stupid cards...they never work right... he mutters, as he flips his cards.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

(On the way to the temple):
"So how'd you all end up in the adventuring line of work?" Xander asked, making small talk, "me, I uhh, I sort of washed out of Myth Selu'glaurach. Well, to be fair I never passed the entrance exams. I guess you could say I'm out to prove you don't have to be a wizard to be a successful magic-user."

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery glances at Xander, a slight smile on his face.
"Hey, worse things can happen. I got forcefully evicted from my previous occupation.
Do I look like I could raise an army of undead and terrorize a village? Pshhh...

If I could do that, I wouldn't be here with you guys going to get some water for a mad druid..." he says reflectively, shaking his head slightly at the idiocy of it all.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Oh? What was your previous occupation?" Xander asked.

"Hopefully we won't be collecting water for the druid for long," he replied, "it's just to get us some funds to buy robes so we can meet the Tritons."

[Jopustopin]

Julius hmmms and scratches his chin while looking at Jefferey, "So that's what happened to Doublebridge....."

[theterran]

Jeffery

"I was a performer! I went from village to village, bartering room and board for my performances." he says a bit wistfully, then his mood turns solemn and he's quiet for a moment. "I arrived at one village and they chased me away, saying I was bad luck. The next village met me a mile from their town, armed for war. Called me 'Necro Bard'. Blamed me for some undead plaguing some village somewhere, and told me to keep walking. So I did." he says, the last bit almost in a whisper.

At Julius' comment, Jeffery's mood picks back up, slightly.
"I honestly don't know, the villagers weren't very forthcoming with information as they chased me away. It sounds eerily similar, though. Close enough in fact that I'd like to investigate to see if there's any correlation...I don't like being blamed for crimes I didn't commit...don't necessarily like being blamed for crimes I did commit either though..." he says, ending with a smile on his face, and a look suggesting a joking manner.

[Malimar]

Temple of Inglip and Arena Complex

Xander shares some of his knowings (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Inglip) with the party -- much of that link is pretty common knowledge, known by anybody with at least 1 rank in Knowledge(religion) or who makes a DC10 knowledge(religion) check.

Xander knows that the gropagas, the priests of Inglip, are hard to insult! Even if you're all like "Inglip sucks!", they'll probably be like "I disagree, but I will take your opinion under advisement." They're very keen on everybody doing whatever, expressing their own potential however they want, letting free interchange of ideas produce the best idea. Of course, being various shades of Chaotic, it's entirely possible that some gropagas aren't as big on that particular doctrine as others, and might take offense at seemingly random things. But that's so unpredictable that there's hardly any way to take it into account.

The party proceeds past the sermonizing gropaga into the temple interior, a place of many decorated columns! When Xander says "Praise Inglip" to the first gropaga he sees within, the gropaga responds with "INGLIP BE PRAISED!" Several other nearby gropagas respond with "INGLIP BE PRAISED!" A wave of gropagas shouting "INGLIP BE PRAISED!" sweeps the temple. And then the gropagas return to their business, all but the one Xander addressed, who says, "Oh, sure, come with me!" He leads the party to an altar, from which he selects several flasks. "25 gold pieces each!" So the party gathers together 175gp to offer the gropaga for seven flasks of anarchic water!

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery looks perplexed as the gropaga shows his water and begins collecting funds.

Jeffery leans over and mutters to Julius, quietly "Do we really need seven vials for the druid? Maybe we should have gone and spoke with him first..."


How many of us are there? Just trying to work out the math in my mind :smallbiggrin:

Also, how much water do we actually need for this druid?

[Malimar]

Temple of Inglip and Arena Complex

The party is five members strong. (Six if you count the dog, but the dog probably doesn't have much cash on hand.)

The bounty specifies "seven vials of anarchic water", though the Mad Druid would almost certainly accept (and pay for) fewer.

If necessary, the party could buy one for 25gp, bring it to the Druid for 100gp, return to the Temple of Inglip to buy four more for 100gp, bring them to the Druid for 400gp, return to the Temple of Inglip for two more for 50gp, and bring them to the Druid for 200gp. But that's an obnoxious amount of travelling between the two places and would take most of the day.

The party could probably get a 175gp loan from the nearby Blue Dragon Bank, buy the seven vials of anarchic water with it at the Temple, deliver the anarchic water to the Druid for 700gp, and pay off the loan immediately. But that's a bit of a silly thing to do if they can scrape together the 175gp without taking out a loan.

[Jopustopin]

Julius pulls out a small leather book to document who used their personal gold to buy the flasks as the group will owe them their gold back.

"Seven vials is what he's requesting. The bounty will be for 700 gold pieces for a 525 gold piece profit. 105 gold pieces each." Julius says to Jeffery. For a mongrelfolk, Julius does seem smarter than the norm for his race.

Jeffery you see that he has in his book the names Julius, Xander, and Vasillia. He writes in your name "Jeffery" and hesitates for a second, glances at the girl who never said her name, before writing in a name in what looks like Elven.


I think it makes the math easier if one person just buys them all but I could see from an RP standpoint that would require trusting each other. I don't have the gold to buy even one right now.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Oh, I hadn't realized that he was asking for seven..." Jeffery says, somewhat embarrassed.

Digging through is pack, Jeffery sighs, realizing he doesn't have enough gold to get all the water.

"I don't supposed you'd be willing perhaps drop the price of that water a bit, would you?" Jeffery says to the gropaga.


Not sure if this will work, but I put ranks in it, might as well us it.
[roll0]



So is it assumed that we asked for 7 vials of water and that's what he's giving us, or did he just lead us straight to exactly 7 vials of water? I'm just trying to figure out if Jeffery should be suspicious...

Also any way for us to check to make sure this is actually the water we're after? It is a chaotic temple afterall :smallcool:

[Malimar]

Temple of Inglip and Arena Complex

The gropaga only offered seven when asked for seven, there are actually 16 anarchic waters for sale.

The anarchic waters are little flasks of roiling purplish orangey clear liquid, which matches any description of anarchic water any of the party has heard.

The gropaga considers Jeffery's attempt to negotiate the price down, and eventually offers, "Bulk discount, I'll knock the price down by a gold each." 168gp instead of 175gp.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Thank you very much for the bulk discount!" Jeffery says genuinely.

Jeffery looks in his backpack again, and begins frowning.

"Anyone else have some gold? I have enough for two." he says to the others, hoping they can pool their money and get this over in one trip. He also worries this bulk discount won't be valid if they don't get them all at once.


Hopefully someone has some money, would hate to have negotiated for naught. :smallamused:

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"I've got 160 gold," Xander said, "between the two of us we can afford seven vials easily."

He smiled.

"If you lend me ten gold, I'll front the rest. Then we can go deliver it. We'll split the profits between all of us after buying the robes and returning the fronted gold, sound good?"

[Jopustopin]

"The outfits should only be a gold piece each. You all don't need and shouldn't wear clerical robes." Julius grins, "We're not bluffing them, we just want to make sure they know we're honoring Hafgufa and that we're not with the whalers even though we'll be on their ship. Although getting all of you to wear his holy symbol wouldn't hurt. Especially the one with the honeyed tongue." Julius says that last part with a nod to Jeffery who just got them a discount.


I'm just looking for some sea blue colored or accented "Traveler's Outfit." You know, they should be obviously Team Hafgufa. That's what Julius had in mind.

[Jeriah]

Meera

"I've got enough gold to cover the full price if we need to do it that way. It's just money," shrugs Meera as she pulls her coin pouch from under her cloak.

She counts out 168gp and holds it out towards the gropaga.

[Malimar]

Temple of Inglip and Arena Complex

The party eventually decides how to divide the (temporary) cost of the seven vials of anarchic water, and then heads out to the Butterfly Ward!

On the way northwest, they pass, along with the usual market stalls and crowds of people: some disreputable-looking thugs (who sensibly don't bother them); a paladin of Numiel trying to look inconspicuous in a city that, while not actively hostile to him, isn't exactly friendly to him, either; an aristocrat surrounded by retainers; two lepers begging by the side of the road; and... a small cemetary! None of the burial plots look recently filled at a casual glance.

Eventually, the party makes it all the way to the park in the Butterfly Ward, where they find a bison, chillin', maxin' and/or relaxin', chewing some grass near a tree!

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/2700000/Bison-wild-animals-2785395-1024-768.jpg

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius walks up to the buffalo and starts snorting and grunting at it.


Use speak with animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/speakWithAnimals.htm) as a spell-like ability from animal domain.

I'm approaching slowly, and staying about 20 feet away.

"You Buffalo. Hello! Good grass today. Where is druid? Seye Ipivi?"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Spying the cemetery, Jeffery hesitates slightly, then without a word, veers toward it. Looking amongst the graves, he sees that none have been recently disturbed. Still, unsure of exactly where it happened, or where she's buried, he begins to sing, softly.


[roll0]





"If I was whole
I'd turn right now
I'd forget it and just walk away
Cause I've been told
That I'm dragging it out
But I've been dying just to see your face
And all I wanted was to say "goodbye"
Into the fortress and you're stuck behind
And in the silence now I realize
That after all I built the wall

We were one in the same
Running like moths to the flame
You'd hang on every word I'd say
But now they only ricochet
You were falling away
You left me with a bittersweet taste
But when I send my heart your way
It bounces off the walls you made
Ricochet"


After the last note vanishes into the breeze, Jeffery solemnly turns and follows after everyone else, silently.

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

A small child lurking near the graveyard claps for Jeffery's performance when it concludes. There aren't very many other people around to take notice.


In the park, the bison looks slightly taken aback by Julius addressing him in his own language, but responds in buffaloey kind, "Good morrow, new friend! The grass is certainly scrumptious here, it's true. This park is perfectly sized, we can make a slow circuit and by the time I have eaten my way around it, the grass where I started has become tall enough again to eat anew. Oh, you seek my druid? I do so enjoy when people seek my druid, they always make friends with me first because they never realize he's the tree. Oh, yes, he enjoys spending time as a tree." The bison goes over to the nearby tree and gently butts it with his head, and a branch reaches down to scritch the bison behind the ears, and then there's an elven face in the bark of the tree looking at the party, and then the tree completely transforms into a google-eyed green-haired elf.

http://i.imgur.com/wUJfoEy.jpg
(My apologies for my subpar Photoshop skills.)

The elf cackles, "You seek the Mad Druid Seye Ipivi? You've come to the right place!"

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius barks at Melikki waits for his response before addressing the druid.

"Mad Druid Seye Ipivi. We have come to collect the bounty for the anarchic water. 7 vials for 700 gold." Julius nods towards Meera who has the vials.



Don't pee on the druid when he turns back into a tree.

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

Melikki sheepishly puts his leg down when Melikki barks at him, and notices that the tree has transformed into a druid. "Sorry."

The Mad Druid cackles, "Most splendid!" and produces from a pocket of his robe seven crumpled 100-gp banknotes from the Blue Dragon Bank (accepted anywhere within Gus! good as coins!). He exchanges the banknotes for the flasks of anarchic water, which he stuffs in a different pocket.

Once the party has repaid Meera and distributed the change, it comes out to a profit of 532gp, or 106gp 4sp for each member. Easy profit!

Also each party member gains 70xp.

Then the Mad Druid gazes at the party while patting Melikki, "Is there anything else?"

[Jopustopin]

Julius smiles politely, there was always something stressful about this part. Sometimes the collection of a bounty didn't go so smoothly.
"Thank you good sir. Any reports of green dragons, or any dragons for that matter, nearby?"

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

The Mad Druid contemplates Julius's question, then shakes his head, "No greens that I've heard of! A little bird told me she saw a great golden one to the north of the city, but that's all."

[Jeriah]

Meera

After collecting her portion of the money, Meera stands idly by, wondering what to do next.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander counted his share and then turned to Julius.

"Let's take care of the robes next," he said, nudging him slightly.

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

Vasillia pockets her share of the druid's gold "We should probably check in with Whaling Guild too and see what our options are for negotiating with the Tritons."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius takes the bank notes and hands them to Meera. Then turning back to the Druid, Julius says, "When we get the rest of your list we'll be back."

Julius then gives a "let's go nod" to the group and leads them to the Blue Dragon Bank and cashed out the bank notes. Julius pulled out his ledger and jotted down some notes about the split to make sure Meera got refunded first. As the group split the coins Julius listens to Xander and Vasillia and voices his agreement.

"Let's talk to the Whaling guild, we don't even know when they are setting sail yet. Then, if I guess their problem correctly, we can buy the outfits." Julius says.



We needed to go to the bank first to split count out your share so I just assumed that's where we went.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

On the way, Xander tried to recall anything he'd heard about the Whaling guild and their recent issues with the tritons which wasn't included on the cork board notice, and relayed anything useful to the party.

knowledge local: [roll0]

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery just followings the crowd, somewhat amazed at how simple that was.

"One almost has to wonder why no one else took that before us. A bit of walking for a 500 gold profit..." Jeffery says, mostly to himself. He glances behind them to make sure nothing is following, as the ease of which they made this profit is simply...unsettling...

[Malimar]

Endeesy

It's possible that this bounty hadn't previously been completed through a combination of a.) people not being able to afford the anarchic waters in the first place and b.) people not realizing it was such easy profit.


Xander knows very little about the Whaling Guild other than what can be gathered from the listed bounty! Presumably they hunt whales, presumably from ships.

He does know that Steve's Haunt, the town from which the Whaling Guild operates, is a ways up the coast. Ships sail between Endeesy and Steve's Haunt fairly regularly, it'd only be a few GP to take a ship there, it'd take about a day of sailing. The route to Steve's Haunt can also be walked, but that would take longer and probably be more dangerous.


Everyone can buy outfits and accoutrements of devotees (but not clergy) of Hafgufa for 1gp each, they're not difficult to find.


Walking through the city to the bank and the clothing store and so on, the party passes through a variety of minor religious festivals celebrating the change of seasons from summer to autumn. Many dancing, much snacks, so festival.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Walking along, still somewhat paranoid about the easy profit, Jeffery enjoys seeing the festivities, and in a different time, would have been hard pressed not to join in on the fun, but that was a different time, a different Jeffery.

Thinking on to their next supposed task, Jeffery asks the obvious question.

"Does anyone even know how to speak Triton, or whatever their language is? I'm assuming that the only reason they're asking for help in this matter is because either they're all horrible at negotiations, or they have no one that can speak the language." Jeffery muses.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Every cleric of Hafgufa learns to speak Triton as their first language." Julius jokes with a big grin. "I don't know why ya'll think they don't know common either. The flier said the Tritons were unwilling to negotiate with the Whaler's Guild, so I doubt it's as simple as they don't speak a common language. But we won't know until we figure out what the situation is. Let's go find out when the next ship is leaving for Steve's Haunt and negotiate passage. If it's not tonight, I wouldn't mind celebrating our first successful bounty" Julius says and begins leading them to the docks.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Agreed," Xander said, following Julius.

On the way, he bought a street snack to munch on.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"No, you're probably right." Jeffery says, responding to Julius...

"The tritons are probably angry that the Whalers are killing their friends..." Jeffery says with a smirk on his face, half joking, but also wondering how much truth is in the words he just spoke...

[Malimar]

Endeesy

Xander gets some delicious fried dough at the festival! (The price for th festival food is a matter of like 1 copper, and thus not super-important to me that it be tracked.)


The party heads to the Black Docks where most of the long-distance shipping goes on; the Murderfish Docks are mostly fishing vessels and the Slime Docks are mostly ships heading up the River Easy) and seeks passage to Steve's Haunt!

They soon find a ship heading out that way soon, and they can book passage for 4gp each. (This must be paid for any mules or whatnot the party wants to bring along; stabling mules and whatnot in Endeesy is 5sp per day; the party will be gone at least 2 days, as travel by ship between Endeesy and Steve's Haunt takes about 24 hours.)

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander pays for passage and robes, and makes sure he's not late. He doesn't have any additional business in endeesy, so he takes the opportunity to chat with his new party mates.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"A reasonable price. Do you need my services in performing any religious services during our travels? Perhaps, the sacrifice?" Julius inquires in good faith nudging his holy symbol slightly.

Julius will suggest that whoever doesn't have anything to do get some food and ale at the festival.

[Malimar]

Endeesy

The captain is a bit enthusiastic about having a priest of Hafgufa aboard. He agrees that it would be most fortuitous for Julius to assist with the sacrifice! He was planning on sacrificing a chicken, which Hafgufa generally takes as a perfectly reasonable sacrifice for a voyage of this length. (The ship is going on past Steve's Haunt, it's just dropping the party off there; it would be a bit of an excessive sacrifice for just a one-day trip.)


The party grabs some grub at the festival, and then returns to the docks in time to catch the ship's departure after a couple hours!

Julius performs a perfectly adequate sacrifice of the chicken to Hafgufa, bleeding it out into the water and then tossing it overboard for the fishes while saying the proper words in the proper order!

And then... the ship sets sail, bound for Steve's Haunt!


On Board the Unity Panda

The ship encounters not very much of interest on its way to Steve's Haunt! The price of passage includes supper and breakfast in the galley, so no need to worry about that.

The party gets to know one another better on board ship as the day passes into night, then the night passes into day!

On the new day, the Blue Wanderer of Sadness Saquel (representing failure and rejection) is in the Hawk (representing nature of land and air) (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Zodiac) -- not entirely auspicious for the task ahead, but better than Saquel in the Leviathan would be.

After about 24 hours of travel, the party disembarks at Steve's Haunt, a small whaling town of about 4900 people!

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander stepped off the ship and glanced about.

"Well Juilius, I guess this is your show, do you want to head straight to the guild or look around a bit first?" he asked.

[Jeriah]

Meera

Meera refuses to purchase robes of a follower of Hafgufa. Having no faith in that particular deity herself, she has no desire to offend her own god or Hafgufa by masquerading as a follower. She does, however, accompany the others on the voyage.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius seemed to come to life on the voyage spending time gossiping with the sailors and singing praise to Hafgufa for the good weather and clear skies. While it was clear he noticed Meera's lack of Hafgufa outfits it didn't look like he cared that much.

When they arrived Julius blessed the ship again and thanked the Captain for his hospitality before departing.

"Look around.... That's a good idea Xander. It might be wise to find out what word on the street is on this situation before assuming that the Whaling Guild is going to tell us the truth. Why don't we see if we can find someone who knows the true story before hearing just one side and blindly swimming into a meeting with the Tritons."

Julius is going to look for a bar near the docks after hearing everyone's input.


Julius would have tried to gather information on the boat ride over about any issues between the whaling guild and Tritons [roll0]

In Steve's Haunt he'll assist someone's gather information check (preferably Jefferys) [roll1]

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery stays rather quiet on the voyage, seemingly lost in thought at some points, and others just listening to the others. Much like Meera, Jeffery doesn't buy a robe of Hafgufa, however, his reasoning is that he knows nothing about the deity and is afraid he would jeopardize the mission by pretending to be a priest. His feelings were validated when the crew had Julius sacrifice a chicken to Hafgufa.

Once at Steve's Haunt, Jeffery agrees with Julius. "Knowing what we're getting into before hand I definitely the smart move."

Once they find a bar, Jeffery starts asking around, attempting to find out exactly what's going on with the Whaling Guild and the Tritons.


[roll0]



So it's 5gp for the voyage, and 5sp a day for keeping my mule in Endeesy? And we're on day 2, so that's 6gp thus far for this voyage? Just trying to keep up with the book keeping

[Malimar]

Aboard the Unity Panda

On the boat ride to Steve's Haunt, Julius gathered information about the whalers and the tritons! None of these sailors are whalers, so they don't know all that much, but they know the tritons are usually friendly to ships passing through their territory, so something must have got them all riled up to make them persecute the whalers.


Steve's Haunt

In town, Jeffery and Julius spend a few hours canvassing the townsfolk. Around these parts, the Whaling Guild seems to be the dominant trade -- the local rocky, sandy soil isn't great for farming or sheepkeeping, though the local waters do have almost as many fishes as the waters further south where fishing is a major industry, such as in Winkle Village, so fishing is not a small industry here.

Everyone is talking about the dispute between the tritons and the Whaling Guild. Apparently the tritons have threatened to attack the town if the dispute isn't settled soon. Greg Tyrannosaur, the local Viscount, has petitioned the Crown to send the army or navy or marines to help, but the Crown apparently doesn't have any troops to spare. The local guards are out in force, but they seem poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, and woefully underprepared for an invasion.

Nobody, however, seems to know exactly what the tritons' beef with the Whaling Guild is.


So it's 5gp for the voyage, and 5sp a day for keeping my mule in Endeesy? And we're on day 2, so that's 6gp thus far for this voyage? Just trying to keep up with the book keepingYes.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

After talking to people for a bit, Julius turns to Jeffrey, "It seems suspicious that no one seems to know why the Tritons are about to declare war other than they have a dispute with the Whaler's guild..."

Julius lets his sentence hang there for a bit while looking down at his robes, he then picks up his holy symbol hanging around his neck and looks at it for several seconds.

"I wonder if Sir Biggleworth is even smart enough to know what real mermaid flesh looks like... Julius says suddenly to Jeffrey with a smile as he lets his holy symbol drop. "I'm going to go buy some local garb, then we'll go talk to the whalers. When we talk to them tell everyone should just wear their normal clothing for now. We'll introduce ourselves as professional mediators to the whalers." Julius continues and begins to look for a seamstress.

After finding some normal looking clothing, Julius will fold his clerical robes and holy symbol up carefully into his backpack and change into normal clothing. He has his chain shirt in his backpack as well with his spear across his back and a dagger at his hip. His sling is hanging on the side of his backpack.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Works for me," Xander said, folding the robes and putting them in his pack.

"Let's see what we can find out from the whaling guild," he added.

[Jeriah]

Meera

"I know women who are less obsessed with new clothes than you, Julius," states Meera flatly as she pinches the bridge of her nose to relieve a bit of stress.

Taking a breath, she looks up and says, "So, the plan is to gain their trust by lying to them? I can't foresee that going wrong at all..."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius looks at Meera incredulously as if trying not to laugh. Then he looks at the rest of the group before looking back at Meera.

"Worked for all my last girlfriends... Course' none of them was as smart as you, sister. Or as beautiful."
Julius's face dropped the smile and took a serious look at the rest of the group, "We are here as mediators and we're professionals. It's not a lie, we are what the bounty needs us to be to get paid. Today we're mediators. Yesterday we were a delivery service. Tomorrow we may be guards or assassins or soldiers. If whatever we are today isn't your strong point, find a way to be useful." Julius's gaze returns to Meera, "Even if being useful means staying out of sight while the mediators talk to the whalers.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt

The Whaling Guild is the largest building in town (larger even than the Viscount's mansion, which is relatively modest as mansions go), decorated inside and out with a variety of whale bones, a big ol' whale skull over the door, easy to find.

In non-Hafgufan garb, the party troops inside!

Within is a meeting area with a small bar in one corner, full of (mostly mongrelfolk, a few human) whalers. Fuller than it usually is, one gathers -- many whalers are nervous to go out on the seas with the tritons attacking whaling vessels. Some of the whalers go a little quiet when they notice the newcomers.

The party asks around for somebody who might be in a leader-like rôle for the Guild, and they're pointed to the Guildmaster, a grizzle-bearded old sea captain who's deep in discussion with several other captains.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

When no one responds to Julius he motions to start heading towards the Whaler's Guild.

Inside the Whaler's guild they are pointed to the Guildmaster. Julius approaches with the group and stands there within hearing distance, waiting for the guildmaster to turn his attention to the group. He isn't going to rudely interrupt, but while they are talking Julius will gladly listen to what they are discussing.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander approached the bar and ordered a drink. He looked around the room and pondered if anything in here would be immediately offensive to the Tritons.

not sure of the knowledge check here, take 10 for 17 or 18, depending...

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

Vasillia orders a drink with Xander and then mingles with the whalers to see if she can learn anything new about the situation with the tritons

[roll0]

[Jeriah]

Meera

Meera listens quietly to the conversations of the sea captains with the guildmaster.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt Whaling Guild

Xander and Vasillia head to the small bar and order drinks.

Xander surveys the room, and takes note of many whale bones and baleens used as decoration, probably with insufficient respect for the animals involved, which might bother a sufficiently devout triton.


Vasillia chats with some of the whalers. A particularly grizzled half-elf is musing about how his elven pappy -- apparently also a whaler, who whaled on a ship sailing out of the Disreputable City, during the Inundation, before the Subsidence -- would always go on about how much easier life was before the War for Hell (a war some 400 years ago between Tritons and Devils on the Hellish Plane of Water, which led to the exile of the Tritons to the Material Plane), how tritons are so much more belligerent than merfolk, and so on and so forth. As the happenings of four centuries ago is unlikely to be very relevant to the recent surge in violence, Vasillia moves on, only to discover that none of the other whalers know much of anything more relevant.

However, Vasillia does discover that many of the whalers are more or less devout Hafgufans, so if it is a religious conflict, it's mystifying to the whalers, who believe they're doing all the necessary rites and sacrifices correctly. Sectarianism!


Meera and Julius head to the Guildmaster's vicinity and listen to his discussion. He seems to be talking about how he keeps petitioning the Viscount for more soldiers, and the Viscount keeps petitioning the Crown, and nothing is getting done and the tritons are just getting more belligerent.

Eventually, the Guildmaster notices Meera and Julius waiting patiently for his attention, and he squints at them, then grunts, "Avast, newcomers. What's your deal?"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery, who had been silently following Julius since the bar, hears his opportunity to make a contribution (or potentially step in it, as the case may be). Moving to stand beside Julius, he speaks.

"Greetings, oh great captain of the sea, oh hunter of whales." he says, bowing slightly. "We have come concerning your need for mediation with the Tritons."

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt Whaling Guild

The Guildmaster continues to squint, then nods, "Ah, okay, good. Good, good. Maybe you can talk some sense into them before something bad happens."

And as just as he speaks, something bad happens! Yelling and screaming and the tooting of a warhorn from outside!

"Hold that thought." The Guildmaster, several of his companions, and probably the party go to the grimy windows and the door to look out upon the town, where mostly they see lots of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off, except headless chickens don't yell and scream like that.

A crossbow bolt takes a fleeing mongrelwoman merchant in the back, and she collapses!

By the time the party has gotten out the door to investigate, most of the fleeing civilians have either fallen or successfully fled. Guards may be on the way, but there's no telling how long they'll take to get here.

From the direction of the docks to the west: several tritons, with silvery skin and silver-blue scales and deep blue and blue-green hair, two of them riding on large lion-like sea monsters! The tritons wield tridents and heavy crossbows, the sea cats have nasty sharp teeth and claws.

eight of
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG246a.jpg
of whom two are riding
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG221.jpg

In combat in this game, you may all post in any order. I will resolve the round once everyone has posted (or 48 hours from this post -- anyone who hasn't posted will delay until the beginning of the next round), adjudicating actions in initiative order.

A reminder that the dice roll thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?393044-Megadungeon-Dice-Rolls) is open to you for e.g. rolling maneuvers granted, but you can also roll in this thread for any dice you need to roll.

In this case, initiative order will be: Xander, Vassilia, tritons #1-3, Julius, triton #4, Jeffery, the two tritons riding sea cats #7-8, Meera, tritons #5-6.



≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,Guild,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..+,,Hall,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #.*##+#╪#+##..#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈##+#╪##.............#MG,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈5...................|VX,,,,,
≈-----.........4..........#B,,,,,,
≈-----77..2........*......###+####
≈≈≈≈≈≈77..........................
≈≈≈≈≈≈........1..............*....
≈≈≈≈≈≈....88......................
≈≈≈≈≈≈..3.88......*......*........
≈-----...###+###╪####............*
≈-----...# #.............
≈≈≈≈≈≈..6# +..##+###╪##..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...+ #..# #..
≈-----...# #..+ +..
≈-----...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..

. = street
, = building interior
# = building
╪ = closed door
| = open door
+ = window
- = docks
≈ = ocean
* = bodies

G = Jeffery
M = Meera
B = Julius
X = Xander
V = Vassilia
1-6 = tritons
77, 88 = tritons riding sea cat

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Thoughts of diplomacy fled Xander's mind as he witnessed the woman shot in the back fall to the ground.

He reached for his crossbow, but then remembered the spirit, the offer he'd accepted. Corrupting power rose within him, and he stretched his arm out towards the nearest triton, unleashing a bolt of sickly purple magic towards it.

attack: [roll0] ranged touch vs triton 4
Damage: [roll1] on hit make D.C. 15 fort save or be sickened.

Knowledge (planes?) check tritons: [roll2]
Knowledge (planes?) check sea cat things: [roll3]
Looking for any tidbits of information which will aid us in driving them off.

He then pushed his way out the door and into the alley to the north.

move 4 west and 3 north.

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

"So much for negotiations" Vasillia tell Julius as she draws her greatsword and follows Xander into the alley

Vasillia moves 3 to the west and 2 to the north and readies an action to attack any tritons that get in range.
If Vasillia or any allies within 30 ft are attacked Vasillia will activate Protection Devotion to give everyone within the range +2 sacred bonus to AC.
[roll0] [roll1]

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Well isn't this a pretty pickle..." he says, vocalizing this thoughts.


Jeffery pulls out his shortbow and notches an arrow, surveying the situation as best he can.


Knowledge:Nature?
Knowledge:Arcana(just incase) [roll1]

Listend20+4

Perform (Sing) [roll2]


He then begins to sing a quick paced tune that makes everyone feel slightly uplifted, and more focused, even though the words are strangely not that comforting.


Crying out.
Now you can’t escape you are buried in doubt
And it pulls you down
Now you’re in too deep you may never get out
Such an awful place

Tear it down
It’s almost too late is the end coming now
As you scream out loud
You sever the peace til your truth has been found

Is there nothing left to follow?
Is there nothing left to steal?
Crying out for something more than I’ve been shown
Knowing none of this is real

Don’t close your eyes
Something beautiful is still alive
Don’t close your eyes
Never turn away and let it die

I cannot seem to find the answers
Every truth has slipped away
All that riddles me will never cease to be
Still I search this world in vain

Don’t close your eyes
Something beautiful is still alive
Don’t close your eyes
Never turn away and let it die

Cry out to save tomorrow
It’s not too late
Or your heavy heart will follow
You to the grave
This is not the end. This is not the end

Don’t close your eyes
Something beautiful is still alive
Don’t close your eyes
Never turn away and let it die

We can’t hesitate, hope is not too late
For the time has come, what have we become?
Nothing left to do but deny the truth


Move:Draw Bow.
Free: Notch Arrow.
Standard: Start Inspire Courage

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius runs to a place he can see outside staying behind the Guildmaster the entire time and views the carnage.

"The price on the bounty just went up an additional 200 platinum. You still want to hire us?" Julius says with a pissed off look on his face straight to the Guildmaster. "Otherwise we're out. Y'all let this situation get out of control."

While finishing the sentence Julius scans the room, hesitating briefly before responding to the threat outside.


How many people are left in the guildhall and what are they doing? Are they armed and armored? Is there anything of value lying around? Is there any open flames around?
Is the guildmaster preparing his people to fight? What race is the guild master? Does he have any weapons or armor on?

Any protocols for a wartime cease fire that Julius would know of? Such as a horn, or yelling cease fire in Aquan or waving a flag? Anything Hafgufan that comes to his mind either?

Free Action: speak
Delay to initiative count 1

[Jeriah]

Sorry, I was unexpectedly without internet the past few days.

Meera

Meera readies an action to manifest Mind Thrust if any hostiles get close enough to threaten her or the party.

[roll0] (Will DC13 negates)
*sigh*

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt Whaling Guild

Xander knows that tritons and sea cats are very slow and ungainly on land, and are generally not inclined to venture from the sea -- if they sustain any notable losses, they're likely to flee into the water.

Xander shoots a bolt of crackling energy at a triton, but misses over the dude's head! The tritons all turn their heads to scrutinize the party! Then Xander moves into the alley!


Vassilia moves out into the alley as well, preparing to defend the party or attack any tritons that come close!


Tritons #1 and #2 reload their crossbows! Triton #3, her crossbow already loaded... has no targets, and thus readies a shot for the next target who comes into view!


Julius peers out the door. The guildmaster winces, "We don't have that kind of money. But maybe the Viscount, or the Crown, can provide such a reward..."

There are let's say about a dozen people in the guildhall, some taking cover, some peering out the grimy windows; the rest escaped through a back door to the northeast. The place is lit with lit lanterns hanging from the walls and ceilings, which might qualify as an open flame; there's also a pleasantly crackling fireplace to the north, which definitely does.

The guildmaster is a mongrelman, and he does not appear equipped with any weapons or armor -- these are not fighters, they are whalers. A couple of whalers are grabbing decorative harpoons from the walls, but they're unlikely to last very long in a fight with the tritons and sea cats.

Yelling for a parlay in Aquan in the name of Hafgufa is likely to work, unless the tritons are really mad. Tritons are usually relatively peacable, and probably willing to pause a battle to talk.


Triton #4 reloads his crossbow.


Jeffery draws his bow, prepares to shoot, and begins to sing with perky melody and less-perky lyrics!


Tritons #7 and #8 urge their mounts eastward.


Meera readies a power for if any foes get within 25 feet!


Triton #5 readies a shot if he sees any clear targets!

Triton #6 moves north!



≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,Guild,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #X.+,,Hall,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #.*##+#╪#+##V.#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈##+#╪##.............#MG,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈5...77..............|,,,,,,,
≈-----....77...4..........#B,,,,,,
≈-----....2........*......###+####
≈≈≈≈≈≈............................
≈≈≈≈≈≈........1..............*....
≈≈≈≈≈≈........88..................
≈≈≈≈≈≈..3.....88..*......*........
≈-----..6###+###╪####............*
≈-----...# #.............
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# +..##+###╪##..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...+ #..# #..
≈-----...# #..+ +..
≈-----...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..

. = street
, = building interior
# = building
╪ = closed door
| = open door
+ = window
- = docks
≈ = ocean
* = bodies

G = Jeffery
M = Meera
B = Julius
X = Xander
V = Vassilia
1-6 = tritons
77, 88 = tritons riding sea cat

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander took a step to the east and raised his palms towards the square, preparing to attack any Tritons that advance into view.ready action .

suggest we parlay if anyone knows Aquan.

[Jeriah]

Meera

Not knowing aquan, Meera simply maintains her readied action for defense, hoping one of the others is better equipped to handle this for now.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

With an angry look he turns to the group and in common he says, "Alright they ain't paying us to fight."

Then he cups his hands across his mouth and let's out a sound that mostly sounds like waves crashing on a beach, "Cshhhhhhhh Cshhhhhhhhh, Cshhh"


"Cease Fire! In the name of Hafgufa we ask for a Parlay"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

At Julius' insistence, Xander dissipated the magic building up in him and waited to see whether talking would work.

cancel readied action and delay instead.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Scanning the immediate area out the door for threats, Jeffery continues singing, and readies an action to fire on anything that attacks us.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt Whaling Guild

Xander delays!


Vassilia delays!


Tritons #1-3 move a bit east!


Julius, in Aquan, yells for a parlay! Triton #1, who seems to be the leader, thinks for a moment, then yells for his followers to stand down temporarily.

The remaining tritons, and the party, all ready and/or delay.

The leader then calls out, "The people of this town have committed many grave offenses against Hafgufa. Would you interrupt their punishment?"



≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #..#,Guild,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #..# #X.+,,Hall,
≈≈≈≈≈≈# #.*##+#╪#+##V.#,,,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈##+#╪##.............#MG,,,,,
≈≈≈≈≈≈5...77..............|,,,,,,,
≈-----....77...4..........#B,,,,,,
≈-----......2......*......###+####
≈≈≈≈≈≈............................
≈≈≈≈≈≈..........1............*....
≈≈≈≈≈≈....3...88..................
≈≈≈≈≈≈........88..*......*........
≈-----..6###+###╪####............*
≈-----...# #.............
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# +..##+###╪##..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...+ #..# #..
≈-----...# #..+ +..
≈-----...# #..# #..
≈≈≈≈≈≈...# #..# #..

. = street
, = building interior
# = building
╪ = closed door
| = open door
+ = window
- = docks
≈ = ocean
* = bodies

G = Jeffery
M = Meera
B = Julius
X = Xander
V = Vassilia
1-6 = tritons
77, 88 = tritons riding sea cat

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Still looking pissed he turns to the captain, "Get those spears out. Need to see if they are really enchanted."

Continuing in Aquan,

"Great Titons, chosen of Hafgufa, this town wishes to pay penance for their sins. Pray allow us to mediate on their behalf?"

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

The guildmaster says to some remaining guildies, "Get the reward spears and harpoons out." They head behind the bar and return with five miscellaneous spears and harpoons, all of which gleam, some of which are studded with gems or plated with precious metals.


The triton leader ponders, then nods, "Hafgufa can be forgiving when penance is offered. We're listening."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

When the gleaming spears comes out he winks subtly at Meera while pulling out his holy symbol and donning it. "I really wish I had time to change clothes again" He says angrily before turning to Jeffrey, "They have granted us permission to talk. You ready to mediate?"

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

Vasillia nervously lowers her blade and joins Xander in waiting for the negations to proceed.

[Jeriah]

Meera

Whispering, "So... if someone could fill me in on what's going on... I mean, we are playing for time to setup a good counterattack. Right?"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Well, what do you think?" Xander whispered to Vasillia, "should we get into a better spot in case they start shooting again, see if any of those people can still be saved, or just wait here?"

He rubbed his hands together nervously. Going out into the courtyard could be extremely dangerous, but any of those people might still be alive, and could be saved with a charge from his belt. At the same time, if the shooting started again, he'd much rather be on the roof where he could peek over the top and hit any of the Tritons without exposing himself too much...

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

"let's check for survivors" Vasillia whispers to Xander

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Tell them I'm going to check on the wounded," Xander said.

"when the hell did i get so stupid..." he thought to himself.

He waited a moment, then put his hands up in a gesture of surrender and stepped out of the alley slowly, moving directly south towards the unconscious person he could see lying on the ground.

full defense and move south 8 squares

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery stops singing.
"We can attempt it, I'm not sure how much help I will be though, since I do not know the language. And, I'd just like to point out that we're still pretty much in the dark about this whole thing. I mean if the townspeople here did something such as slaughtering a village of Tritons, then where do we go from there? And that's rhetorical at this point, just something to keep in mind." says Jeffery addressing Julius.


..this is not going to end well... Jeffery thinks to himself.

Jeffery sighs.
"I guess there's no time like the present..." he says, putting the arrow back in the quiver, but keeping the bow out and ready incase he needs it, and gesturing to Julius to lead the way.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Julius tells the tritons that Xander is coming out to tend to the wounded, and the tritons... do not shoot him when he emerges! He approaches one of the unconscious people, checks for a pulse, and finds one! The person is not dead, just unconscious and bleeding!


Meanwhile, Jeffery and Julius move out to meet the triton leader in the middle of the square.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander knelt down by the dying villager and used the magic in his healing belt to stem the bleeding, then moved cautiously towards the nearest unconscious villager, while keeping an eye on the Tritons.

Xander hoped the second villager was also not quite dead.

1 charge: [roll0]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Jeffrey, Jeffrey... just use your honeyed tongue and follow your instincts. They do speak common, if they didn't want to mediate they wouldn't have let us come talk to them. Just follow my lead."

As the two walked out the door and out of earshot of the captain, Julius added with a whisper "And if things go south, well, perhaps the spears go missing in the assault."

With a grand gesture Julius hails the Tritons and beings speaking in aquatic to them.


Great Tritons, Chosen of Hafgufa, I am a faithful follower and Cleric of Hafgufa who remembers the years he allowed my people to live in his domain, knowing that he could crush us whenever he pleased. Forever will my people owe him.

Then continuing in common,"The Whalers of Steve's Haunt, have summoned us from Endeesy, to mediate this dispute. I stand here to hear the sins of my people and, allow me to introduce my companion, Jeffrey Gill. A mediator sought after by those who are serious about ending hostilities.

Julius waits to hear them introduce themselves. If handshaking is the norm, among the Tritons, he extends his hand in friendship.


When Jeffrey rolls diplomacy, I will assist him

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Xander has time to heal as many townsfolk as he has healing belt charges for (if he wants to use all three charges -- if not that's fine too), and then can work on binding the wounds of the others -- luckily, nobody's quite dead yet. The first one gasps and coughs and regains consciousness, and Xander helps him to his feet and he staggers off away from the scene. The tritons allow this to take place, shifting away from the fallen townsfolk to give Xander room to work. They're angry, not bloodthirsty.

The lead triton is apparently not feeling friendly enough to switch to Common, if indeed he knows it (which probably he does, tritons are generally pretty smart). Allowing Julius to translate if he so chooses, the triton leader introduces himself in Aquan, "I am called Mela~typpe, son of King Tusus~nosta the Crusader. I lead this war band." He taps his heart with a fist.

Julius alone is familiar with the politics of the tritons (and everything on this page (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Triton_Territory)), and knows that petty king Tusus~nosta ("petty king" is an apt description, but probably not a good idea to actually use it when talking to the son of a petty king, just "king" will do) is among the top ten most powerful triton rulers, but not top five. He rules a territory of several tens of thousand (maybe a couple hundreds of thousands -- there's no centralized government to take a formal census or anything) tritons.

Mela~typpe continues, "These surface-folk have hunted in my father's seas without our permission and without offering the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. Moreover, they slew and harvested the giant white narwhal Spear-of-Breath, who was a blessing from Hafgufa, and took her meat and bones and horn from our waters. And they have offered material aid to sahuagin raiders in our seas." (The government of Gus is officially allied with the sahuagin government, so whalers out of Gus might be obligated by law and treaty to offer a bribe to any sahuagin raiders they meet -- or it might just have been self-defense, because the sahuagin are as likely to prey on the whalers as on the tritons in the absence of a bribe from the former.)

[theterran]

Jeffery

Unable to understand the Triton, Jeffery concentrates on the Triton himself, attempting to look attentive, though it's hard to be interested when you haven't a clue what's going on.

...hopefully he'll see fit to translate...otherwise I'm just another target... he thinks to himself.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

When Mela~typpe is done speaking, Julius begins duitifully translating,

"We are in the presence of Mela~typpe, son of King Tusus~nosta the Crusader. He has charge of this war band.

The Tritons have accused the whalers of hunting in their seas without permission and without offering the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. They have slew and harvested a giant white narwhal that Hafgufa blessed them with, named, Spear-of-Breath. They took her meat. They took her bones and horn. And the whalers have offered aid to Sahuagin raiders while in the Tritons seas."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander helped another of the most wounded villagers, then looked around to see if anyone else was helping.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery turns to Julius,

"You know, these negotiations would go much smoother if we had the guildmaster out here as we are supposed to be the neutral third party. At present we have no way to know what type of restitution the guildmaster is willing to give...", Jeffery glances about, "...though under present circumstances, I would imagine he would be amenable to just about anything."

Jeffery turns his head back toward the guild hall and shouts.

"Someone see if they can find the guildmaster and bring him out here, negotiations would go much smoother if we could get perspectives from both sides."

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

All the injured townsfolk are stabilized and/or returned to consciousness! There were only a few, and nobody was killed. Success! Nobody dies! Yet!

Somebody fetches the guildmaster, who emerges bearing the five magical spears and harpoons. When informed of the tritons' objections, the Guildmaster responds indignantly to the last one, "If these guys kept their waters clean of the sahuagin, we wouldn't need to appease them with gifts so they don't attack us!"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Noticing that the guild master only takes issue with the last one, Jeffery presses him.
"So you're not denying the other accusations that have been levied against you?" he asks, accusingly.


Not sure if any of these help.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius narrows his eyes at the Captain, "Their waters?" Captain, you seem eager to remind them that it's their waters when we're talking about the sahuagin raiders. But what about when you sailed on them? Hunted on them? Did you ask their permission? You would really kill a giant narwhal from their seas and think nothing of it? If what Mela~typpe says is true, then you've insulted Hafgufa. In the days where our whole race lived on the seas, my father would sacrifice men like yourself, who would blaspheme against our lord. To allow one who doesn't fear the Leviathan onto a ship threatens the lives of all the men on it. Who is your second in command?"



You can roll anything for me as applicable (intimidate vs Captain), (assist on diplomacy for the Tritons), etc

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

The guildmaster quails under the accusations of Jeffery and Julius. He resists Julius's demand to speak instead to his second-in-command, but otherwise he does his best to coöperate: "Methinks Dorgus's crew did bring in a great big narwhal the other week. Methinks he kept the horn as a trophy, maybe if he gave it back to these fellows...?"

Mela~typpe nods, that this would be a good first step.

The guildmaster however, objects to the other accusations: "Most of me crews always make sure to make the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. I'm sure with this incident I can impress on them how vitally important this is going forward, if they be shirking. But we did get permission! From, um, whatsisface, they called him 'the Cruel'..."

Another whaler helpfully pipes up, "Kom~quosa the Cruel, it were."

The guildmaster nods, "Yeah, him! Gave him a great big bribe and everything."

Mela~typpe glowers. At this point, he switches to Common, because the whole translation deal is proving awkward, but it's not his first language and he isn't great at it, "Kom~quosa control territory north of my father territory. Permission fron Kom~quosa not permission from any other king."

The guildmaster splutters, "And just how were we supposed to know that? Be we expected to bribe every petty king in the seas?"

Mela~typpe nods as if this is reasonable, "Yes."

The guildmaster's eyes bug out a bit with the apparent unreasonableness of this demand.

[Jopustopin]

"A map of the various territories and which king rules them should suffice." Julius says then repeats it in Aquan.

"If you don't want to pay their tax for hunting on their lands, stay off the lands you didn't get permission to hunt on. You don't have to pay every king in the seas, that's ridiculous." Julius offers helpfully to the captain.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Having your people be aware of whose territory they're in, so you know who to bribe, would go a long way in limiting further hostilities, so that map would be extremely helpful." Jeffery says, agreeing with Julius' statements.

"These negotiations can take place as needed going forward, however what needs to be done now is a negotiation on ending the present hostilities before there is further bloodshed." says Jeffery.


[roll0](if applicable)

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Mela~typpe frowns, but sees the necessity of providing the whalers with an up-to-date map, if they are to stick to hunting only in correctly taxed seas. After a bit more negotiation, both he and the guildmaster eventually agree to the proposal that up-to-date maps and records be provided to the Guild (the map has a habit of changing every time any leader dies, and it can get complicated), and the Guild will make sure to pay any king whose seas they hunt.

Eventually, somebody fetches Captain Dorgus, who in turn (after some stern looks and words from the Guildmaster and Mela~typpe) fetches from his ship a great spiral narwhal horn, several feet long, and hands it over to Mela~typpe, who handles it with reverence.

Jeffery is right, though, the current situation is tense, all the tritons are still armed and angry, and the town guard are on the way.


Speaking of whom: A couple squads of town guardsmen charge in from the southeast, with swords and crossbows, ready to do battle! Their sergeant, a great big mongrelwoman with a great big greatsword, holds a hand out to indicate stopping, and surveys the scene!

She sees armed and mounted tritons! She sees blood pools and spatters on the ground! She is just observant enough that she sees there are no fatalities, thanks to Xander!

The sergeant narrows her eyes, "What's the story here, then?"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Mostly a case of miscommunication taken to extremes," Xander replied, "I think it's mostly resolved now, or at least we have a way to move forward in relative peace. Probably."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Hold, hold. I'll go speak with the guards." Julius says quickly to the Tritons in Aquan before turning to Jeffrey in common, "Let's finish this up - 'lll go and speak with the local militia and let them know they are not needed."

Julius will walk over to where Xander and the guards are speaking.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Eventually, Xander and Julius and Jeffery convince the sergeant that everything is fine now, all just a miscommunication. She narrows her eyes, but isn't exactly eager to get her guards into a fight with a bunch of tritons and sea cats, even on land, so she lets the whole thing go.

Mela~typpe's remaining irritation is assuaged when the guildmaster offers him an enchanted harpoon out of the reward that was going to go to the party. Mela~typpe promises to send detailed maps of the Tritons' seas, and the guildmaster promises to keep his whalers from hunting anywhere other than where they've offered offerings to the local rulers.

The tritons and their sea cats withdraw back into the ocean!

The guildmaster offers the remaining four spears/harpoons to the party, as promised! This reward consists of +1 longspear, a +1 spear, a +1 shortspear, and a +1 harpoon (harpoon is from Stormwrack p107).

Each member of the party also gains 930xp for resolving the dispute. By my calculations, everyone levels up to 2.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius makes an exaggerated show of counting before turning to Jeffery, "Was never good at math, does these add up to five to you?"


Who is gathered around Julius? Did we already lose someone in game, or are all five of us still there receiving four spears?

Who is officially in Party D right now and who did we lose?

Also - my character sheet is leveled up. Converted Knowledge Domain to Knowledge Devotion now that I meet the prerequisites.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Nope, not unless 5 means 4 in seafaring lingo." he says, shrugging.



I'm still here.
Also, I forget how we generate stats, what is the method for getting HP for the next level?

[Jopustopin]

Julius turns to the captain with a threatening look, "I'm sure the captain's arms just weren't strong enough to carry all five of them."


The big 16 is in the OOC.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points? 30 point buy. First level: max hit points. Subsequent levels: half the maximum size of your hit die, plus 1 (d4=3, d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7).

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander watched as the others jumped in on what he already noticed. It seemed there wasn't much else for him to say.

will level up the sheet when I get a chance.
Edit: Sheet updated, added see the unseen invocation, skill trick collector of stories, and 4 points into knowledges.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

The guildmaster protests that the tritons were still mad and the easiest way to make them un-mad was with a gift and if you want to get the fifth enchanted weapon you're welcome to go retrieve it from Mela~typpe.

Julius, Jeffery, and Xander are still there for sure. Vasillia may have become distracted by some other urgent task and wandered off or something. Meera is around.

BaratheonFury seems to have wandered off without word. Jeriah left a message that she's in the hospital until further notice but will want to rejoin if ever she can. Y'all can of course do whatever, but my suggestion is Julius, Jeffery, Xander, and Meera each get a reward thing. And you head back to Endeesy, and we lose Meera and Vassilia and recruit two people, bringing you up to five, and if Jeriah gets better and comes back then Meera will be welcome to rejoin as a sixth.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery looks over toward the Tritons, contemplating getting the rest of their payment, then shakes his head at the thought.

"Not worth the hassle..." he mutters to himself.

"So how do we divy up these four items?" Jeffery asks to the others.

"I myself would not be opposed to the longspear." he comments, in an off-handed way.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"I don't actually have a practical use for any of them, so I'll take whatever is left over," Xander replied, "most likely will end up selling or trading it."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The mongrelfolk listened to his allies carefully with a stoic poker face, all the while watching the guildmaster. Gripping one of the spears he grips the spear even tighter, as if he was getting ready to use it. His dog, begins emitting a very low and hostile growling as if sensing Julius's displeasure.

"It is worth the hassle. Right now we don't have a reputation. We've just begun working together. But I'll die before we get the reputation of allowing people to not pay us our bounty. We're not in a position to do anything about it here and now." Julius's face has completely lost any semblance of humor or a smile; his eyes bore into the guild master, "But at a later date, I will come and collect what is due to me and mine. We completed our end of the bounty Sir, and you will complete your end of the bounty. I don't mind at all the reputation I'll get after the world sees what happens when you don't pay up. A day will come when you feel safe and secure, the tritons far from your wearers and worries, and you'll find this spear shoved deeply into and through someone you care deeply for. Pinned to one of your ships. And each year, I'll return one of these spears to you in the same fashion until you finally finish this deal."

Unless the guildmaster has anything important to say, Julius immediately hands the longspear off to Jeffery and gives the Harpoon to Xander. Holding the other two he proceeds towards Meera and simply nods his head as if to indicate that she needs to follow him.

Unless someone stops Julius he's going to proceed immediately to the docks to arrange transport back to Endeesy.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery's left eyebrow raises slightly at the words of Julius, but he says nothing.

As they're walking back towards the docks, Jeffery moves close to Julius and mutters under his breath, "Remind me never to piss you off..."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Slight short changing aside, I think we can call that a success," Xander said cheerfully, "so, do we celebrate? Or is it on to the next job?"

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt

The guildmaster quails under Julius's wrath, but says nothing.

Arranging transport back to Endeesy!

The party soon finds a captain who is not only heading south within the day, but who has heard about how they prevented casualties and healed victims and negotiated with the tritons and so on, and he hails them as "Heroes! Haha, the heroes of Steve's Haunt will pay no money to me, free berths to Endeesy for all y'all!"

The party has like two hours to celebrate in Steve's Haunt!

Then most of a day aboard ship! The crew, on the captain's orders, plies them with the ship's best grog! (Not for nefarious purposes, everybody's pretty sure.)

And probably a nap on the ship's hammocks is called for!

In the sky, the blue Wanderer Saquel (representing sadness and failure) is in the Crucible (representing science and engineering)! Today is not to be a good day for technology.

The next morning, the ship unloads its passengers onto the Black Docks of Endeesy!

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius doesn't appear to be in a good mood while they are walking together, but the moment he begins interacting with the captain he's all smiles. At some point he's garbed up in his sea blue robes (which is beginning to look small on him) and proudly displaying his holy symbol of Hafgufa.

During his two hours he'll bask in the limelight of being the town's hero, taking up Xander's suggestion to celebrate. He makes sure to speak of the guildmaster highly (and trying to find out more about his personal life, such as family members). He spends good coin at the bar buying drinks for people who are praising him and his four companions (as he drinks, he more than once denounces to his group about the coward Vasillia who must have took off at the first sign of hostilities). While at the bar he makes sure that people know that he's a cleric of Hafgufa, that he's praising the guildmaster and naming his family members specifically (perhaps by name and age) and blessing them as well.

If he does find out about any children the guildmaster might have, Julius buys appropriate gifts for them and boards the ship to Endeesy. He blesses the voyage with an appropriate sacrifice and continues blessing the entire city of Steve's Haunt, praising Hafgufa for their alliance and promising good harvest for the whaler's guild - still speaking very highly of the guildmaster and his family.

While on the voyage over grog he'll befriend the captain and ask him a favor (for a small fee of course) when he returns to Steve's Haunt, to give the guildmaster these gifts. They are for his children (or anyone else who we determined was close to him - if nothing was found then the gift is for the guildmaster himself). A sealed note is attached to a ribbon to one of the gifts with a message for the captain: With Hafgufa's blessings you will have a profitable year. - Julius D.M. Bloodstorm

Perhaps 20 gold in total?

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander stretched as he stepped off the gangplank and back onto the docks of endeesey.

"Good honest work, that," he said, "with almost honest payment. Where do you think we should head next? Adventurer's guild to see what jobs are available?"

If no one objects, he starts meandering in that direction.

looking to move things forward.

[theterran]

Jeffery


"Hopefully the next job we'll get at least what was promised as payment..." Jeffery comments, walking along side Xander. Once off the docks, Jeffery stomps his foot briefly on the hard, compact ground. Smiling to himself, he continues on toward the guild with Xander, happy to have solid earth under his feet once again.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Meera is going to depart ways." Julius says suddenly as they walk towards the adventurer's guild. "Appears she isn't too keen on our diplomatic missions nor my genuine romantic gestures." He smiles his big toothy grin before continuing. "I'll just hold onto her spear until she returns. If there aren't any more easy bounties we will probably have to test our fighting prowess. Should pick up two replacements for our groups loss. Glad we found out Vassilia would turn tail and run the moment it looked like a fight was going to break out. We need some strong, able bodied, swordsman. Or spearman; the stronger one will use Meera's spear as a loaner. While I might look big, I'm growing too fast to be of any real good right now in a straight fight."

"I'll meet you at the adventure's guild. If I don't stop growing, I'm going to need a bigger spear. I need to stop at the tailor and get my clothes refitted." Julius quipped. In fact since you've known him, it seems like he's grown an entire foot. His clerical robes are now comically small on him and as you look up at him you realize - he's nearly seven feet tall.

Julius will do exactly as he says - he departs for a tailor in the Crown District to have his clothes resized and then proceed immediately to the Adventure's Guild.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Before The Trip Back

Julius, through drinks and cleverness, wheedles out of some guild members that the guildmaster is married (to a local baker), but has no children. So he buys an appropriate gift -- let's say a nice teapot -- for the guildmaster's husband, and sends it back to the Guildmaster with an ominously pleasant note.


Endeesy, Today

Julius goes to a tailor to get his clothes resized!

Then the party reconvenes in the Adventurer's Guild.

As always, there are many unlikely and unsavory adventurous sorts in the Guild's bar area.

The most promising possible recruits include a human(ish?) dude (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1322074) and a behorned lady, probably a tiefling (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1348540).

The corkboard laden with bounties (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Bounties) is as it always is.

[Jopustopin]

Julius is a huge, lumbering brute of a mongrelfolk with a surprisingly symmetrical face. He wears the typical sea blue robes of a cleric of Hafgufa, complete with a large silver holy symbol hanging from his neck, and you watch him duck under the door as he enters the bar. Strapped to his back are two well crafted spears. He peers around the bar with a toothy grin however his eyes seem to be all business. Then he spots the tiefling and for the briefest moment you think he'll respond the way most dumb brutish mongrelfolk men respond.

Instead his eyes follow your curves down to your greatsword and only then does he seem to stare longer than he should. His eyes return to yours and he nods briefly from across the room. Glancing around the rest of the bar he barely acknowledges anyone else in the room instead proceeding directly to the bounty board. Following him, a ship hound (also known as an Elvish Beagle) adorned in chain shirt barding.

"I say we finish the bounty before Meera does." Julius grins while pointing at Sir Bigglesworth's bounty. "What do you say Xander?"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander is a thin man, with wavy black hair and a seemingly everpresent shadow of stubble on his face. He wears simple brown leather armor, with a dagger on one hip and a crossbow on the other. His breeches are also brown, with black leather boots to cap the outfit. His equipment is new, without a scratch or mark on it. Either he recently lost everything and just replaced it, or he's completely inexperienced at the adventuring lifestyle.

Upon arriving, he inquires at the guild about rescue insurance, how much it costs and how much it's worth.

"I don't know," he replied to Julius, looking at the board, "I was thinking the ogres, the mines, or the mushroom people..."

board ate my last post. Also lost my lvl 2 updates on my sheet. Kinda a bad day for me in this game.

[King Tius]

The horned woman returns Julius's nod and saunters over to the job board, inserting herself into the conversation without so much as batting an eye. "I would not go into the mines if I were you. Best left to those of us who can see in the dark. Wouldn't want someone blowing out your torch."

She squares her shoulders to Julius. "I've yet to have the chance to kill something bigger than me." The words hang in the air for a moment as she looks up at him. "You're about as tall as an ogre, I believe. Perhaps I can be of assistance."

[Malimar]

Endeesy Adventurer's Guild

The be-muttonchop'd half-elven bartender offers advice as he takes orders, "There's another group that set off the other day to find the mushroom people. They could have been eaten or something, of course, but if not, you might just get there too late. And the mines have been emptied enough that they're really more fit for this rabble" -- he gestures the general lot of warriors and hirelings that comprise the bulk of the patrons here -- "...than for people with any skill or talent. The ogres, on the other hand, have been a problem for awhile, and might be fit targets... if you think you can take them."

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn
Observing from the side of the guild bar, Ranssyn begins to slowly make his way over to the group as he watches the horned women step up and try to stare down the Ogre sized Mongrelfolk, and hears the bartender give his advice. Ranssyn is a tall broad shouldered man with long shaggy shoulder length hair. His face would be considered handsome if it was not for a large scar that runs from the top of his right brow down over his eye and ends somewhere in the middle of his cheek. He has Heterochromia eyes with one eye’s iris bright emerald green while the other is a pale slate blue. Protruding from his forehead are large thick curling black Ram horns. His clothes are not completely filthy but they are far from being called clean. The only thing about him that seems to get any attention, care or maintenance is the Guisarme he carries in his hand and the unstrung bow strapped to his back. The Guisarme looks masterly crafted and meticulously taken care of as it gleams from a recent polishing and fresh coat of oil. Before he is appropriately close to the group for a conversation he starts to talk. His voice is much louder than necessarily needed for the level of ambient back ground noise.

"Well, I hate trying to break up two love birds before they are going tussle, but sounds like y’all might be having a real fight on your hands soon enough. Well, that is if you plan on listening to the Bar keep and heading out trying to convince some ogres to stop doing what ogres like to do..which is raiding, killing, and making half breeds. I aint much for guessing people’s thoughts, but I’m thinking you could use a properly skilled extra hand."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The mongrelfolk looked to answer the tiefling with his own witty remark when he's cut-off by the man yelling from across the bar.

Julius winces. Then looks between the girl and the man for a second sizing the pair up (and staring at both their horns) before looking back at the tiefling.

"You and your brother can join us if that's what you want to do. We just lost a girl carrying around a greatsword. Vasillia's her name; you hear of her? The moment it looked like a fight was breakin' out she turned tail and fled. I didn't have these spears then otherwise I'd put one through the back of her skull. I don't take kindly with those that supposed ta have my back, not havin' it when I need it."

He clears his throat before continuing, with a nod to the man farther away as if to say, "come closer", and begins speaking again, this time slightly quieter so those farther away can't hear, "Rules are simple, we're business associates, friends, bounty hunters teaming up for the greater profit - whatever you prefer. As long as you're useful we'll split the shares equally. We ain't fighting over profits here. Plenty for all. You thinking of turning on us, means I'm not doing my job right. I plan to make a name for myself. Run a rival mercenary guild to this dung heap. Can't be making a name for myself if we're stabbing each other in the back - this is a profitable ship I plan to run here. We picked our first bounty by what was the easiest job for the money. This second bounty, I think it be best if we try to get our names out there. Start working on a reputation."

He extends his hand, "Julius D.M. Bloodstorm. Humble servant of Hafgufa." He turns to his other two compatriots, "Xander - arcane firepower, and Jeffrey diplomat extraordinaire. Talked his way into four enchanted weapons up north along the coast with the tritons."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Pleasure," Xander said at the introductions.

"If the mines are mostly clear, then no reason to go there," he said, "but for the record, I can see in the dark."

"So, ogres?" he added.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

He turns to look at the newspaper clippings the "bounty" is written on, "I.. this isn't a bounty. Is the reward really the "thanks" of some people I don't know? That's the wrong type of reputation I aim to garner." Julius thinks for a second looking at the bounties again, "I think we should get good with the King of Gus. Start working on the things he wants done."

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn, now standing in normal conversation range of the group, gives a nod of greeting to each person as they are introduced. He then listens to the towering Mongrelfolk give his pitch of rules and expectations of any joining members. Ranssyn nods in agreement to Julius's speech and then starts to speak but without any noticeable change or reduction in the volume of his voice.

" Firsf off, me and this lady ain't kin. I know her about as well as I would a kobold's nutsack. which is to say not at all. "
He Briefly turns his attention away from addressing the group and quickly says to the Horned women "That don't mean I wouldn't mind the chance of getting to know you " he gives her a wink and flashes his bruteish smile before going back to addressing the entire group.


"Your terms seem fair and you're coming off as straight shooters, which I like. The name is Ranssyn Fane. Tracker, bountyhunter and over all badass. As for what work we should take, I agree with the big fella. I ain't no bleeding heart charity worker. If there is even a chance I'm shedding my sweat and blood, then I'm getting paid. Plain and simple. Plus last time I checked, innkeepers, weaponsmiths, and whores don't accept "town thank you" as currency. So if it's King Gus related work or not, it don't matter. If it pays well then I'm in. "

[King Tius]

Gudrun seems to notice Ranssyn's horns for the first time and her eyes widen slightly in surprise. She nods her head in greeting and spews out a harsh string of dark and strange syllables that none of you understand. When Ranssyn doesn't respond in kind, one of her eyebrows climbs halfway up her forehead.

"So not a Tiefling then? Where did you get those horns?"

She also gives Xander a respectful nod in response to his ability to see in the dark. She gives him another look over and nods again.

To Julius: "If you are looking to make a name for yourself, perhaps you shouldn't associate with children carrying weapons. I do not know this Vasillia, but I hope she finds her courage as she grows into womanhood. My name is Gudrun Fellhorn" she taps the horns on her forehead for emphasis. "I, too, wish to make a name for myself. Working for the King sounds like a quick way to do just that."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Excellent," Xander said, "sounds like we're in agreement then. We'll work on king gus. Julius? Lead on, and we can get to know each other on the way."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius points at the bounties as he talks about them, "He's got four bounties posted. His first bounty is to find him a bride. With some impossible requirements to go along with it. The reward however is the greatest. I think we'd have to visit other continents and perhaps even the other planes of the heavens to find such a woman. Not in our budget just yet."

"Second bounty gets us involved with the war. Risks and rewards pretty high seems to me. Could earn us our own ship, think that's what an official privateer gets."

"The next two are the ones I think we should focus on. I ain't seen none of us fight yet and like to see some of ya in action before I start trotting off a war zone. Got them undead takin' over Doublebridge. And the peasent revolt going on over on the north east side of the island."

Julius points at the map, "The road to the north east takes us through Doublebridge. We could scout it out, on the way there, see what sort of undead we up against. Also on the way to the north east, if we going by land, is the monastery on Perch Hill. Could stop there to get some information as well on these other two bounties. That's what I think we should do."

[theterran]

Jeffery

Walking into the guild hall, he can see that a decision seems to have been made, without him.
He sighs inwardly to himself.

"Julius, sorry I'm late, had to take care of my mule. What's the plan? We going to get some Oliphaunt Snax?" he says, still amazed someone would try to feed a mermaid to an Oliphaunt...

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius stopped what he was doing to look at the man calling himself Jeffrey. With a confused look Julius turns abruptly to the man he had introduced as Jeffrey moments ago. A much shorter, fatter mongrelfolk missing patches of hair on his head and in his beard and more than half his teeth from either age or disease. Julius grins a toothy grin before replying to Jeffrey.

"Jeffrey, my number two, we picked up some replacements here Ranssyn and Gudrun. I decided to let Meera find them oliphant snax. We're going to start working on these bounties that'll get us in good with royalty. Path to the northeast takes us through doubleridge. Plan to scout out what sorts of undead we dealing with. Might take care of them on the way home from the peasant revolt. I'll explain more on the way, we losing daylight. Need to stop and get me a good new pair of walkin' boots. If ya'll have anything to purchase before we move out, nows the time."

Julius will rendezvous at Eastside on the road east when he's done if we all split up. He is going to purchase a new very good pair of walkin' shoes, a map of Gus (like the one on the wall in the adventure's hall) and he'll stop in at a weaponsmith to see if they have that large sized greatspear (exotic weapon Complete Warrior) he probably told them he'd be wanting last month. He'll need to start practicin' with it.


Shoes - 1 gp
Map - 1 sp?
Large Greatspear - 50 gp

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn leans over to Gudrun after she inquires about where he got his horns and he gives an extremely poor attempt of trying to talk quietly to her

" Hey, I'm more than happy to grab a drink some night and discuss in great detail of how I got horny "
He says as he taps his horn and gives her a smirk like smile before continuing with " but right now it's business time, so that'll have to wait til after "

He leans back away from her and goes back to listening to the Julius's list of bounty options. As Julius starts explaining his plan of crossing Doublebridge and scouting the undead, Ranssyn's body language shifts from its normal confident swagger like posture to a much more stiff rigid stance and his face shows a bit of his discomfort. It only last a moment or two before he snaps out of his awkward uneasiness and back to his normal bold self as hears Julius Introduce "the replacements" which Ranssyn then gives Jeffrey a nod of greeting. After Julius asks the group about getting any gear they need, Ranssyn says


"I keep it simple and travel light. Just as long as I have ol'Melinda... " he says as he taps the shaft of his Guisarme. "...then I am ready to hit the trail, But if Julius needs some new KolboldKickers then we should get a move on. We meeting up someplace or just following him and he will pick them up on the way? "

[Malimar]

Endeesy

The party has decided to head to Doublebridge, and then to Reachham!


Julius's Shopping Trip

Julius first buys shoes, a new spear, and a map!

The shoes are easy to find, and a good pair actually costs only 3sp (as per Arms & Equipment Guide).

The greatspear... Ah, he checks several shops, and nobody has one on hand (an exotic weapon in a nonstandard size is hard to find, even in a city as big as Endeesy), but eventually he finds somebody who has the supplies on hand to quickly disassemble some other weapons and cobble together a Large greatspear for the listed price.

A map is definitely worth much more than the paper it's written on, it's the result of a highly skilled labor. Let's go with... ah, Pathfinder says 50gp, let's go with that. So it doesn't look like Julius can afford both the greatspear and the map.

Of course, Julius could just copy down the relevant rough details of the map on the corkboard for the cost of a sheet of parchment or paper (2-4sp) and a bit of ink and a bit of time.


Once That's Settled

The party crosses the bridge and gathers in stinky Eastside (where all the tanneries and slaughterhouses and other stinksome industries are) and heads east out of the city!

It's about a 15 mile walk to Doublebridge, so it takes awhile.

For the first while, the party sees nothing but farms and the occasional flock of sheep, and a couple horses and cows chilling in pastures.

They pass some farmers taking corn to market in Endeesy, and some merchants.

At the crossroads, the party heads north towards Doublebridge instead of east towards Riverford.

It's about five hours of leisurely walking all told, during which the party gets to know each other a bit better.


Doublebridge

Eventually, a couple hours after lunchtime, the party comes to the fork of the Bitey River where Doublebridge lies.

And they discover why whatever monstrosities dwell there haven't spread out into the countryside: the 400' stone bridge over the river into the village has been asploded, and the middle 200 feet of it is rubble in the river instead of bridge. Presumably the monstrosities cannot swim, or fear whatever in the water gives the Bitey River its name, or cannot cross running water.

So the party finds themselves on the south side of the river, whereas Doublebridge is on the north side of the river.

Ranssyn and Julius notice a humanoid-ish figure sitting bridge across the water, legs dangling off the broken end of the bridge. It waves across the river at the party.

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Not on the dangerous paths but along the common path roadways the group quickly learns that Ranssyn is a big fan of singing local folk songs. The only problem is he doesn’t have good pitch and can’t remember 70% of the words. Unfortunate for the group, he is more than willing to make the words up as he goes which quickly becomes almost intolerable. Luckily for him, he is able to read the group just before its breaking point, and stops before they kill or exile him from the group. Once they are within a few miles of the bridge his demeanor completely changes. His boisterous exchanges are quickly replaced by him silently searching the area diligently for any activity. As they approach closer, he scans the area until he catches the movement of the humanoid figure waving at them. With a touch of nervous engery he says
" Well call me a Half Orc Florist!! Anyone else see that bugger waving at us from the infected side!? " He squints and tries to get an idea of whatever is waving at them, and finally looks to Julius,who has seems to be leading the group so far . " So what you want to do boss?”

How far away was the humanoid on the opposite side of the bridge when we saw him and he started waving at the party? Are we on the bridge or is it before hand? Do I spot anything that would give me any information? SPOT Check for looking at the bridge character [roll0] character[roll0] [/SPOILER]

[Malimar]

Doublebridge

The rest of the party now notices the figure on the bridge, having had it pointed out to them.

The party is at the southern foot of the bridge when they spot the figure. The figure on the bridge waved right about when the party spotted it -- the party was a bit easier to spot than the figure, but not by that much.

Ranssyn squints at the figure. No details are immediately evident to his eyes.

Trying to Spot something you're looking for but didn't see before is a move action, so at a rate of two moves per round you could Take 20 by squinting real hard for 1 minute. The figure doesn't seem to be going anywhere yet, but who knows what could happen over the course of a minute?

The figure stops waving, makes a megaphone with its mouth, and yells across the water in a raspy yet recognizably feminine voice, "Got a boat or anything along those linesz?"

[King Tius]

Gudrun rolls her eyes at Ranssyn's "horny" comment and rolls them again even harder when he refers to his guisarme by name. She makes pleasant small talk on the walk, but seems to prefer letting others do the talking. She looks at Julius and asks, matter-of-factly "I don't suppose your kind are particularly adept at swimming, are you?"

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius strode ahead of the group setting a pretty brisk pace, quite brisk in fact. When Ranssyn's singing became intolerable, Julius walked even more briskly (when one probably thought that he had hit top briskness). Anyone who talked with Julius found that the only thing he had to talk about was how amazing these shoes were.

Soon enough they had arrived at the broken bridge, and when the humanoid figured had yelled, Julius yelled right back, in a pretty dumb sounding voice, "Naw, no boat. We was hopin to become wonna them undead types. Ya'll recruitin'?"

[Malimar]

Doublebridge

The figure ponders Julius's request. Then she calls back, "Szure, if you can get over to thisz szide, that can be szertainly arranged."

[theterran]

Jeffery

Moving up beside Julius, Jeffery speaks to him in quieted tones.

"Do you think it might be one of the undead we're looking for? I wasn't expecting a sentient undead..."

Upon hearing the things response, Jeffery makes an addendum to his comment.

"Nevermind, that response more or less makes clear my question..." He ponders for a moment before adding.
"I'm not sure we're equipped to handle an infestation of sentient undead, I was on the fence about mindless undead, but this may be a bit beyond our league..."

[King Tius]

Gudrun

Shielding her eyes from the sun, trying to get a better view of the figure. It's daytime, and most of the intelligent undead she knows of wouldn't just be casually baking in the afternoon rays. She tries to recall if this person could be a rare type of undead she might have heard of.

Knowledge (Religion): [roll0]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The mongrelfolk considers for a moment to what Jeffrey says before yelling back, "He's wonderin' if we gets ta pick on account of a preference we may have. Lady friend here wants to lose some weight, thinkin' of becommin a shadow on account they don't weigh much. Gots another here, likes the taste of flesh already, wants to become a ghoul or something ghastly himself. Myself, I have a lady friend keeps rebuttin' my advances. Want to get all sparkly vampire with the sexy eyes so I can stare her down real good."

Julius pauses a second as if thinking really hard again, "What type are you?"

Knowledge (Religion): [roll0] to try to figure it out.

[Malimar]

Doublebridge

The party squints and stares at the creature on the far side of the bridge. Between them, they eventually discover that she indeed looks a bit anorexic and skin-flaking-off-y, on account of having been dead for awhile. She doesn't appear to be armed or armored, dressed in the rotting clothes of a milkmaid peasant.

The figure frowns (not that this is easy to see from this distance) as it dawns on her that Julius is all sorts of lying. She doesn't respond.

Gudrun isn't sure what the thing is, but Julius is pretty sure she's a wight. He is familiar with her Undead traits and features (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#undeadType), and the fact that wights drain energy by punching their victims, feeding on their life force in the process. He doesn't happen to know offhand, but gathers from these-wights-took-over-and-infested-a-whole-village-quickly context, that they probably create spawn in some way, too (though he's not clear on whether the spawn created are under the control of their sires).

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius spits into the river and staring at the undead waiting for a response he speaks softly to the group, "I'm thinking it's a wight. Stronger and smarter than a zombie and their punches drain your life force away. Most folk, die in one touch from them. We're tougher stuff than that, so, two touches before we become undead. We'd need some protection from that before we go in there."

"Let's go spend the night at Riverford. See if the townsfolk know any more information." Julius says.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Without taking his eyes off of the wight, Jeffery half nods his head in agreement with Julius, completely lost in thought...

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Yeah, good idea," Xander said, visibly shaken.

"Wonder why they haven't crossed the river," he mused.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius seems to stop when Xander speaks. It's as if you could see the wheels spinning in his head. He turns around, looking at Xander, "Yeah I was mixing them up with Vampires I think. Nothing stops them from just walking across that river, right?"

He walks back to the edge of the river and shouts, "Hey why ain't nonnnya crossin' the river or buildin' boats yerselves?"

[King Tius]

Gundrun crosses her arms and frowns. "Don't give them any ideas" she mumbles before turning and following the group.

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn keeps his eyes locked on the undead lady all the while white knuckling the grip on Melinda. He gives a slight nod as Julius explains what he thinks it might be, and as usual doesn't seem to change or lower the volume of his voice

" I'm all for getting to Riverford and getting some distance from this boney broad. "
He squints and sees her withered mouth frown at Julius's lies. "she kinda reminds me of my ex wife. Except a little more warm and friendly. " he tries to crack a smile at his own joke in an attempt to cover his own nervous discomfort.

His eyes widen in disbelief as Julius asked the undead why don't they just crossed, and he says sarcastically as if talking to himself

" Great, let's have a conversation with the walking corpse that wants to eat our face. "

[Malimar]

Doublebridge

The wight milkmaid considers Julius. In response to his question, she... grows tired of this conversation, stands up, and wanders down the other side of the bridge and into the town.

If nothing more is to be done here, the party seems to be mostly agreed to head to Riverford. So they go back south on the road, then takes the road east to Riverford. They encounter nothing particularly dangerous on the way.


Despite the name, Riverford has a nice big bridge across the Bitey River. Maybe it was a ford initially, but they've definitely built a bridge since then. Of course, the bridge is on the far side of town, and can thus barely be seen, and especially can't be seen once the town is approached closely.

Riverford is a somewhat substantial town of about 6100 people. The guard on duty lets the party through the gate of the low stone wall around the town without much scrutiny.

When the party arrives here, it is early afternoon, ish.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

He seems to take insult at being ignored, muttering under his breath some curse words, and when she turns his back to him Julius pulls out his sling and fires a shot at her.

Sling [roll0] for [roll1] points of damage.

Then he whips around quickly and walks away slowly, as if he was trying to pull off that it wasn't him that did it, and began walking away.

In Riverford:

"Let's rest here for the night. Need to find out what's keeping the undead there and why they ain't spreading. We need to find out if any boats going up river to Ironwrack. Not that big of a deal if that ain't a thing. But it'd be nice to stop at the Perch Hill Monestary. Also need to find out about the revolt and where we could find Milla Hillthorn. Am I missing anything?" Julius scratches his chin for a second before remembering, "Oh I need a hat. Sun's been strong lately."

[Malimar]

Doublebridge, In The Past

Julius's stone of course goes completely short and plunks into the river.


Riverford, In The Present

The party comes to a haberdashery. Hats are on sale. Apparently 8gp for a broad-brimmed hat suitable for keeping the sun off one's face; rather more than I would have expected.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"8 gold pieces." Julius says incredulously. He growls a little bit at the merchent before deciding it's not really worth it and leaves taking the group towards an inn.

"We'll meet back here at nightfall. Let's split up and start seeing what we can find out about what we're looking for. I'll investigate the undead at doublebridge." Julius says.


Julius will first see if there is a book store or library or anything that he could use to look up information about wights. Then he'll use the gather information skill along with a "masterwork tool" for gather information. Gold counts as a masterwork tool, right? He'll spend six gold instead of a "few."

Gather Information: [roll0] and six gold pieces buying drinks etc. Any information on the wights/what happened at Doublebridge/why they don't migrate out etc. for [roll1] hours.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander will attempt to help Julius in his efforts.

[roll0]

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

While Julius inquires about a hat, Ranssyn stands near by with the rest of the group. He starts scanning the surrounding area of the town and watches all the passing towns peoples. Ranssyn could never understand the idea of people who preferred to live in the tight confined spaces and streets of a city or town while being forced to follow a boat load of nonsensical petty laws instead of living out in nature and being free. The only thing good about towns and cities are Taverns. Which besides having food, booze, and women are also sometimes the best places to get work or information. After hearing Julius and Xander saying they were going to investigate the undead at doublebridge. Ranssyn says.

" I will ask around and see what I can find about Milla Hillthorn or the revolt. "

Gather Information: [roll0]

[King Tius]

Gudrun

"I'll inquire about boats then." She turns and strides off towards the waterfront. Once there, she'll look for someone approximating a harbormaster. If nobody sticks out as "in charge" she'll start going boat to boat and asking about their destinations and if they're taking on passengers.

[Malimar]

Riverford

The party splits up for information-gathering purposes, arranging to reconvene in like 6 hours!

Sure, I'll say a handful of gold can count as a one-use Masterwork Tool for Gather Information, makes sense to me.


There is a book store in town, and for bribe of a silver piece, the owner lets Julius treat it like a library (i.e., reading books without purchasing anything) for an hour.

Doing some research, Julius finds a lot of supposition and few hard facts. He finds no details in any of the books of this library about why wights might not cross water.

Then Julius and Xander buy rounds for barfolk, and everyone turns out quite willing to wag their tongues about Doublebridge. Mostly it's rumours and hearsay and unreliableness, but the most interesting suppositions he gathers include:

"Oh, can't cross water, of course! Like vampires, they are!"
"Naw, they could go in boats, they just don't have boats. I bet they're just afear'd of the biteys in the river!"
"It done almost happened here just tha'other week! Pretty lady name o' Katya done come into town and et half a dozern folks! Priest lady burned the bodies afore they done turnt, said they'd take over the town 'n eat us all if'n we'd let 'em."


Ranssyn finds that the populace are much less willing to wag their tongues about Milla Hillthorn or the revolt. He discovers very little new other than a traveling merchant who says he was in Endov Lien like ten days ago and he heard she was rabble-rousing there at the time.


Gudrun finds nobody seems to be in charge of the boats, so she checks with the captains individually. This isn't much of a fishing town, and most of the cargo barges go downriver and not upriver, but she does find several fisher boats who might be willing to bring a party up to Ironrock for a gold or two.


The Hungry Witch Tavern

When the party reconvenes and the stories are told and compared:

Jeffery, Julius, and Gudrun suppose that the "biteys in the river" are probably some manner of hungry piranha. The Bitey River is not a good swimming river.

The "pretty lady name o' Katya" sounds to Gudrun suspiciously like a succubus (Gudrun knows Outsider and Demon traits and features, plus how succubi do energy drain through physical affection); she's pretty sure a succubus could indeed initiate a wightpocalypse like the one seen in Doublebridge, if the local clerics weren't sensible enough to burn the bodies.

[Jopustopin]

Julius, in a Bookstore

Julius seemed more at ease than a mongrelfolk of his size would suggest in the bookstore. When the owner is out of earshot you hear him mutter a couple of times about the organization of the place. "What's a book on bousillage doing over here?" he laughs to himself at that being ridiculous. Clearly a side of Julius that Xander would never have imagined. He never struck you as someone who reads let alone would be critiquing the organization of a book store.

At one point you catch him spending at least 15 minutes reading a book on canines. Julius and his dog Melikki several times appear to be sharing a joke. Julius is somehow not only communicating with his dog, but reading the book to him.

At one point he starts reading a book on disguises and you hear him talk to Melikki in common, "You think we could disguise ourselves as a wight, boy?"

When they are done reading the few books on the undead, Julius quips to a Xander, "It's a shame that most folk don't appreciate knowledge and that so much of it was lost for all time. My first loyalty will always be to Hafgufa, but, I envy the libraries of Mirk and the secret knowledge they must possess."



Julius, six hours later, The Hungry Witch Tavern

Julius buys dinner but is drinking water with his meal (having already been drinking earlier with Xander). After sharing their knowledge Julius, in typical Julius fashion, begins speaking quietly about what they should do.

"We're hittin' a lot of dead ends here. We don't have the tools to be fighting demons or n'dead. Might be we're spending a lot of time searching for these other bounties... I had a plan to pretend to want to join' the insurrectionist and then when we get close to her we turn on her but might be a long con to do that. A book I just read said that sometimes in order to go forward you must go backwards. I aint' one that's always going to be making right decisions all the time, but I try to be the one who makes the next decision right. Xander suggested originally that we clean out the mines. They had unexplored sections with ancient civilizations down there, that might be more treasure and tools that we could use later to get us our reputation. Aint' seen non'ya in a fight yet."

Julius pauses, clearly not happy with everything, "Let's put it to vote."

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

After 6 hours, 4 ales, 2 conversations that almost ended in a fist fight, and 0 information gained, Ranssyn frustrated and embittered meets the others in the Hungry Witch. After listening to Julius and seeing that his party members didn't do much better than he did, he voices his opinion

“Well this day has been about as successful as a barrel full of snakes trying to play kickball. No leads and we didn't make a single copper. My vote is for trying our luck with these mines. At least we know where they are. "

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Im still game for the mines. I can now see magical auras, so hopefully that will help us pick out valuables amongst the junk," he said.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"I'm fine with continuing to attempt to find this insurrection, however, if the others would rather attempt the mines..." he shrugs, in a very noncommittal way. "Hopefully if there are parts of the mine yet to be cleared, they weren't left that way for a reason..." he mutters to himself, but loud enough to be heard.

...at this rate, maybe we should just go join the wights... he thinks sarcastically, smirking.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Without waiting for the tiefling to even answer, since it's apparent that the majority has voted for the mines, Julius starts to lay out their plan of action.
"Aight. Let's go spelunking. Sleep here tonight, pass through Endeesy tomorrow on the way to the cold iron mines..." Julius trails off for a second before looking at Gundrun, "Ain't demons hurt by some special type of metal o somethin? That sound right to you? Or was it devils. Can't ever figure out the diff'rence tween the two."

Julius will retire to bed soon afterwards to get ready for the next day. In the morning he gets breakfast, practices some weapon play with his greatspear and is still terrible (he'll spar with anyone that's willing but they find Julius to be a terrible fighter but very eager to learn), trains some with Melikki, prays to Hafgufa and then begins their journey.

In Endeesy he purchases 7 days rations, a crowbar, a hooded lantern, 7 pints of oil, and a bedroll.

Then they make their way to the Cold Iron Mines to the north.

[King Tius]

Gudrun

Gudrun keeps her thoughts about the succubus to herself for now, if only because bringing it up might complicate matters further. She nods her agreement at investigating the mines, knowing her darkvision will serve her well. In response to Julius's question, she nods.

"You're thinking of cold iron. Good against chaotic types, like demons and fey. Not as useful against devils."

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Even though Ranssyn has a slight disdain for cities and towns, he still appreciates a good soft bed from time to time. Before the sun rose completely, Ranssyn awoke and slipped off to some secluded spot(if he couldn’t find a spot in the city then he would head outside the townwall) . He then creates the seal of Amon and performs his daily short rustic ritual and offers a pact with Amon’s vestige.

Binding Check 1d20+2 vs DC20

After making his pact, he heads back to meet the group. Even though he was feeling well rested he still felt slightly irritated from their failures yesterday, he decides a little melee practice would be just the trick to vent his frustrations, and sharpen up his skills. He takes Julius on his offer, but quickly discovers the towering mountain of a Mongrelman handles the spear like a novice. He gives a look of surprise and slight disappointment. At the tale end of their practice Ranssyn says

“I hope you aint the best warrior in this little group. If so you ought to be getting on a diet real soon because you are pretty low on the list. That list being the order of who’s corpse I think is the lightest and I could drag out of the mines if they go down……and if you’re the best among this lot, then I’m going to have a lot of draggin to do. "

[DrunkMongoose]

Not sure why but I couldn't get the roller to work on my first post.sorry about the back to back posting.
Binding check [roll0] vs DC 20

[Jopustopin]

Julius, sparring with Ranssyn

Ranssyn notes that Julius seems to be training on advanced maneuvers without really any of the fundamentals down. Occasionally Julius stops sparring and pulls out some ancient looking scrolls and starts reading them. That's usually when Julius attempts something truly stupid and gets knocked in the face with the flat end of a guisarme. Several times Julius would throw his greatspear at Ranssyn and then he would look like he's expecting it to bounce back or something. More flat ends of a guisarme to his face and ribs. For as cunning as Julius appears, he fights like an idiot except with less skill and talent.

In response to Ranssyn, Julius replies, "On the seas, clerics of Hafgufa didn't really need warriors to enforce his will. If someone was stupid enough to blaspheme against him, he quickly found himself tied to a rock and thrown overboard. Times have changed, land races are quickly forgetting Hafgufa's hospitality. My clergy are still training us as if we're on a ship and wearing armor is folly." Julius stops as if to size up Ranssyn before continuing, "Many think of him as just the god of oceans, meant to be just a god worshiped by merfolk, tritons, and other water breathers." Julius digs into his coin pouch and pulls out a gold piece, "He's the god of commerce and trade as well my friend. On land, Hafgufa needs warriors to enforce his will. He rewards those who devote themselves to him." Julius smiles his toothy smile, "He rewards them profitably."

Julius hands him the gold piece as payment for sparring with him.

[King Tius]

Gudrun

The tiefling woman watches the two men spar intently. Since she favors the greatsword, she finds these reach-oriented fighting styles interesting. After she gets a feel for the general techniques, she stands up and draws her greatsword.

"Your fighting styles favor separation from your opponents. Let's see how you handle getting up close and personal."

Gudrun will resist the urge to fuel her attacks with her spells, but if either man takes her up on her offer, she rushes them full-on and stays toe-to-toe when she can.

[Malimar]

Riverford

The party sleeps!


Purple Curuk (fear, endings, weakness) is in the Crucible (science, engineering)! A bad day for boffinry.


The party breaks fast, practices their combat for a bit (sparring against each other and/or watching the sparring, beginning to get a good sense of how everybody works), then sets out for Endeesy!


Gus

A couple miles into their journey west, the party is set upon by four mongrelwoman bandits who leap out of the high corn wielding bats (baseball/cricket, not fluttermouse) with nails pounded into them and barbed wire wrapped around them!

One of the bandits stands right in the party's path and declares Your GP or your HP "This is a robbery! We'll let you go if you hand over all your valuables!"; the other three bandits surround them.



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,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!
,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!.....
,,,,,!!!!!b.........
!!!!!!b.............
.........X..........
.......GFR........!!
...b...L....b.!!!!!,
..........!!!!!,,,,,
!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,,,,
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, = corn farm (difficult terrain)
. = road
! = low fence (difficult terrain to hop over)

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
b = mongrelwoman bandit

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery looks about, doing a quick count of the bandits.

"Are you certain that's the wisest course of action?" Jeffery says, addressing the bandits.
"I'm not ridiculing your line of work, merely questioning your ability to select...victims...as it were..." he says, again scanning the situation, while slowly reaching for his longspear.


[roll0]
[roll1] (Just looking to see if they're wearing any armor or have anything that might look valuable on them.)

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander stayed silent, but shifted his vision to detect magical auras, trying to determine how well the bandits are equipped and whether there are any unseen, using magical concealment.

detect magic (at will), Xander will also look around for invisible enemies

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn listens as the Mongrelwoman bandits demand that the group hand over all our valuables and as Jeffery begins trying to talk them out of the robbery. Ranssyn shouts out with a snarlish smirk
“No problem Ladies, you four can put your hands on my valuables anytime. " Ranssyn says as he motions to his loin cloth area, but then he adjusts the grip on his Guisarme preparing for their attacks.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius grins a huge toothy grin, he's been inseparable from his large greatspear despite it still being a little too big for him to wield, and him not being trained in it's use. He has been carrying it around whenever they travel. Strapped to his back in a way that's easy to grab (move action) are the two magical spears and a mundane spear. Five feet south of him walks his trusty hound, Melikki.

Julius quickly closed his eyes while the talking was going on activating his spell-like ability to speak with animals. Then he barks loudly, and, after Ranssyn's comments, one might think that Julius is mocking the lady folk.

"How many do you smell boy? Just four, or are there more?" Julius asks Melikki in Dog.

Regardless he levels his greatspear at the ready such that he threatens squares around him. He focuses inwardly on what he knows about


Knowledge Devotion: [roll0] for bonus to hit and damage vs humanoids.

[Malimar]

Gus

Xander activates detect magic, and looks around for awhile, and detects no magic other than the spears they got last mission.

Julius barks at Melikki (whom I keep forgetting about but is on the map now), and Melikki barks back, "Just four!" The dog wags her tail, happy to be helpful.

One of the mongrelwomen make a gagging noise at Ranssyn, but another's like "No, wait, is cute. Scar makes 'im look all dangerous." A third is all like, "Yeah, yeah, they're all cute, but we're here for cash, you can indulge your whoreness on your own time." (None of these ladies is particularly attractive. One of them is kind of gobliny, the leader is a bit orcy, the one who thinks Ranssyn is cute is kind of doggish, but they're all mongrelfolk, and mongrelfolk are not as a rule very attractive.)

Jeffery sees that the mongrelwoman bandits are wearing tattered clothing, virtually rags, mended often but never replaced. Crummy hide armor, bats that have been upgraded with enough nails and barbed wire to not count as improvised weapons anymore but which still aren't worth much of anything. They each have a coin pouch, but there's no telling how much the coin pouches contain.

The mongrelwomen listen to Jeffery, and observe the party gearing up and readying for a fight, and it gradually dawns on them that this isn't some feeble farmer's cart or merchant caravan, this is probably adventurers.

One of them's like "Uhhh, boss..."

The leader edges away from the party, and is like, "...You win this time." She gestures for her followers to vanish back into the corn to hit the next passersby instead.

Each party member gains 80XP. (That's full XP for overcoming the encounter. You still have the option of beating them up for their loot and/or to make the road safer for travellers, but doing so won't give you more XP.)



,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!
,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!.....
,,,,,!!!!!b.........
!!!!!!b.............
.........X..........
.......GFR........!!
..b....Lm...b.!!!!!,
..........!!!!!,,,,,
!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,,,,
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, = corn farm (difficult terrain)
. = road
! = low fence (difficult terrain to hop over)

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
m = Melikki the dog
b = mongrelwoman bandit

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Let them go. If they make enough trouble, maybe someone will pay us to come back and take care of them... Jeffery says with a smirk as he adjusts his things and begins moving down the road again as if nothing had happened.


Sorry if I just ruined combat for everyone...:smallconfused:

[King Tius]

Gudrun

"The next time something like that happens and we DO end up fighting...my people are used to summoning magical darkness and fighting inside of it to disorient our foes. Since two of us can see in the dark, we can use it to our advantage."

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Unless what we're fighting can as well, then that would put us at a distinct disadvantage..." he says over his shoulder as he walks on down the road.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

You hear him debating something with his dog and it looks like he talks Julius out of something. He spits in the direction of the leader and grins, "Ya'll need to come out swinging when you have the advantage. Corpses give over their money a lot easier than the living. But holy Hafgufa, ya'll dumb as troll dung to think you could rob us. I'm twice your size and were I not the gentlemen I'd knock your brains out. Now drop your coin purses and get out of here before I change my mind."

Julius gives his hound a hand signal and Meilekki begins growling and moving threateningly towards the leader.

[Malimar]

Gus

Julius is very intimidating, and it turns out the bandit women are very spineless.

Two of them throw their coin purses behind them as they hop the fence and flee into the corn!

The leader purses her lips, shakes her head, and flips the party a rude gesture as she retreats (quickly, but trying to maintain dignity) into the corn.

The kind of doggish looking one remains and counteroffers, pointing to Ranssyn, "I'll buy Mr. Scar-And-Horns here off you. How's 5 gold sound?"



,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,b,,,,,,,,,
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,,,,b,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,b,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!
,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!.....
,,,,,!!!!!..........
!!!!!!..............
.........X..........
.......GFR..b.....!!
.......Lm.....!!!!!,
..........!!!!!,,,,,
!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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, = corn field (difficult terrain)
. = road
! = low fence (difficult terrain to hop over)

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
m = Melikki the dog
b = mongrelwoman bandit

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn gives a slight look of surprise as the doggish looking Mongrelwoman bandits tries to buy him and then tells her

“5 gold?! For that price I wouldnt even unbutton my trousers to take a piss on ya. If you weren't so damn cheap, i'm sure we could have worked some kind of deal to at least bump uglies. Like my Pa always use to tell me
'Never judge a woman who got gold, cause sometimes If it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it might just be a really butt ugly swan.'
I mean surrrre, your face looks like a pile of Gnoll puke had an illegitimate child with a Worg's undercarriage, and that child fell down a staircase made from the wood of an ugly-stick tree, and hit every damn step....BUT that aint nothing some dark moonlight, a lot of ale, and a burlap sack couldn't take care of. But you had to go and try to be cheap. Pushing your limit. "

Ranssyn says with a grumbled shrug as he watches the other two Mongrelwoman head off into the corn field. He then says with a disgruntled mumble to himself, although his volume is much louder than someone typical talks to them-self (as usual)

"well, I thought one way or another I might make a little coin on this worthless trip."

Ransynn moves toward the mongrelwoman slightly angered and ready to cut her down if she comes with in his reach

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius seems to be about to send his hound to attack the leader when the conversation between Ranssyn distracts him. After she counteroffers Julius, the large mongrelman starts laughing at first, then at listening to Ranssyn's rant begins kneeling over hands on his hips guffawing loudly. When he see's Ranssyn start to approach the woman threatening it causes Julius to laugh even the more.

With tears in his eyes from laughter, Julius goes and picks up the two bags of coin that were dropped and start counting the coin.

[Malimar]

Gus

The remaining bandit protests, "I only have 5 gold." (Ranssyn's assessment of his own value and the insultingness of this offer is accurate -- he'd probably go for somewhere in the 100gp vicinity at a slave auction.) Then she gets offended by Ranssyn's (accurate) description of her face. Then she gets afraid for her life. She wisely elects at this point to flee into the corn (taking the Withdraw action if necessary).

But whether she does that or Ranssyn reaches her first depends on who wins initiative between the two of them!

The bandit winds up winning initiative, and takes off into the corn!


Meanwhile, Julius counts out 10gp (in miscellaneous denominations) between the two abandoned coin pouches.

[King Tius]

Gudrun

The tiefling woman shakes her head slowly as she rubs her forehead. She can't quite hide the look of disgust that creeps onto her face, though whether it is for the bandits or the group's reaction to them isn't immediately obvious. She mumbles something to herself in her strange dark tongue and exhales deeply, regaining her composure.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander watches the entire exchange with a look of disbelief.

“Did we just rob the bandits?” he asked.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius puts the coin in with his and tosses the empty bags down on the ground still laughing to himself. With a large slap to Xanders back, Julius says, "Karma right? Drinks on me after we're done in the mines."

With that he continues on.

[Malimar]

Gus

And so it is, unless anybody wants to pursue the bandits through the corn, that the party continues onwards!


A few miles down the road, they startle a nest of cat-sized snakes, who slither away into the corns.


And then it's smooth walking with no particularly interesting interruptions the whole rest of the way to Endeesy.


It's approximately lunch time when they arrive in Endeesy.

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn returns from giving slight pursuit and says

“that lady was luckier than leprechaun on a cloudy day."

Ranssyn Glances down To see the 2 Now empty sacks the Mongrelwoman Dropped and says

"how'd we do? "

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"10 gold pieces in our group drinking fund." Julius smiles. "Once we get to Endeesy, I'm gonna grab some spelunking gear; in and out. No clothes shopping for me this time. Let's try to get to the mines before nightfall."


In Endeesy he purchases 7 trail barsCS, a crowbar, a hooded lantern, 7 pints of oil, and a bedroll. Julius is expecting to spend: 16 gp, 8 sp on this.

He will also stop in the adventurer's guild and inquire about the Journeyman’s Keys. He just wants to know the location in relation to clearing out the mines (He shares that they are going to the mines with Tom the bartenderAssuming he's working). Julius isn't a member yet but he'll become a member once they finds a key he claims. He will tip him a gold piece for the information.

Then it's off to the mines!


OOC: I was looking up the rules for using a weapon that's not sized properly for you. Technically I can't even use the large greatspear by the rules as it's too big. Next level I'm gonna get both monkey grip and built heritage so I'm thinking I'm almost big enough but not quiet there yet. I've put a -4 size penalty in my stat block on using the greatspear but if you want to rule it's an "improvised weapon" or some other penalty, I don't mind. I think Julius will probably just throw it in the first round and pull out a size appropriate weapon in the 2nd anyway.

Who has the mule? It's carrying some of our belongings right?

Lastly, under Party D can you start a "Group Drinking Fund" and place 10 gp in it.

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

After hearing Julius explain that he put all the coin in a group drinking fund. Ranssyn gives a irritated grumble.

“Fine, but once we are all done we are splitting what's leftover of that pot, Fair and Square. "

Once back in town, Ranssyn heads to the Adventurer’s Guild bar. While there he walks up to the bar and slides over 5 gold to the bartender.
“Here, this should cover my membership fees for next month. Also I'll take a big mug of Ale, but that's on the big fella over there." he points toward Julius.

Ranssyn then spends the rest of the remaining time waiting for those shopping by sitting at a table, drinking an ale (or two) and gobbling down a quick meal. If the group is still not ready by then, then he fills the time with sharpening and polishing Melinda.

The 5gd is for next month fees, but what month are we currently in? Also I love that our group has a drinking fund. :biggrin:

[Malimar]

Endeesy Adventurer's Guild

Julius acquires the supplies he wants for the price he expects to pay!

Tom tells Julius, "The Journeyman's Keys are teleported to a random place each time they're delivered back here. Could be somewhere in the mines, could be anyplace elsewhere in the caves below Mount Dis. Even the Guildmasters don't know for sure."


The current date is the 21st of Harvests (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/Calendar), 20pd (http://highseas.wikia.com/wiki/History).

So I don't go completely mad, each party does not operate on a separate calendar. There is instead a single global calendar that advances by 1/4 of a day each time any of the four(ish) groups passes a night. So don't be confused if you pass a week and then ask for the date again and it's only advanced by 1 or 2. Some effects reckon by party (e.g. long-distance boat travel, resting a big chunk of ability damage), some use the global calendar (e.g. pregnancy, blessings that last a year and a day), some use whichever is fastest in real time (e.g. you put in an order for an artisan to craft you something that'll be done in a week while you go off and spend the week adventuring).

Whenever the global calendar passes into a new month, I have everybody who owes monthly Guild dues pay directly out of their current funds at that time, and IC they can have paid in advance or pay next time they get back to town or whatever makes sense. So you can refrain from subtracting that 5 from your sheet until that time.

The party fund spends 2 copper (because Guild discount) on Ranssyn's ale! Unless it's only for group drinking, or something. It's 2 pennies, it shouldn't be a big deal.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Before Julius tips the bartender he asks, "Are there any other caves or mines not on the map up there?"

[Malimar]

Endeesy Adventurer's Guild

In addition to the Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines south of Mount Dis and the Cave of Burning southeast and the Stank Cave northeast and the Dwarven Tombs west of Serpent Pass, Tom the bartender points out that "The head of the Don't Drink This River leads into a cave, and it might be possible to make your way from the ruins of the Disreputable City and Mat~sya at the peak down into the caves. I've heard rumours all the caves connect deep inside Mount Dis, in the ruins of an ancient Dwarven civilization. I've also heard the sewers under Endeesy connect to the cave system, but I'm pretty sure that bit of hearsay is a lie -- the sewers don't even connect to all of Endeesy, let alone ten-fifteen miles north."

[King Tius]

Gudrun

The tielfling woman has no shopping to do and doesn't want to start drinking before there might be fighting, so she just tags along. At the mention of the sewers, she wrinkles her nose. "Before we go crawling around in filth, let's exhaust the more traditional cave entrances first, yeah?"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

“Agreed, how about trying the head of the don’t drink me river?” Xander added.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Let's stick to the plan. Don't care much about the wooden coins the centipedes are worth. The Tiv-Beckett Cold-Iron Mines might have some cold-iron ore to make weapons from, there is the unexplored section, and of course the keys. If we don't find a key while we're clearing them out, we'll move to whatever's closest and explore there." Julius says. "Alright, let's go."

We proceed to the cold iron mines.

[Malimar]

Endeesy

Unless the party revolts, they set off northwest! That's the direction to go to the River Cave anyway if they change their mind.


Gus

The party leaves the city by the northwest gate and forges along the Home Road towards the Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines!

They pass mostly corn farms and sheep pastures. A flock of baygulls (like seagulls, but bays instead of seas) circles above. They pass a few merchant caravans headed the other way.

The party takes the northern turnoff to the mines when the crossroads comes up, and then they reach the mines!


Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines

The main thing to see is a big squat building. An older mongrelfolk sits on a rocking chair on a porch out front, puffing on a pipe. A hound gets up from beside him to wander over to Melikki and smell her, tail wagging.

The mine entrance can be seen out east and behind the main building, miners and minecarts going in and out periodically.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius scratches the dog under the chin then turns to the old man, "Afternoon. We're here on account of the proprietor posting a job to clean out the mines of the rest of the infestation. We're the exterminators. You point us in the direction of the proprietors?"

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Watches the two dogs exchange sniffs and shifts his gaze over to the old mongrelman with an unintentionally irritated look on his face Then says with out any proper salutation

“You the grounds Keeper older timer? Anyone come before us trying to clear this out? Would hate for our group's plan to be waste of time......again. " he shoots Julius a quick glance to make sure he heard his comment even though Ranssyn's normal speech is loud enough to almost penetrate a silence spell.

Not sure how long we spent traveling back to Endeesy and then at the adventure guild but let me know when ever a new dawn happens since that will give me another shot at the Amon DC 20 check.

Ransynn Is kind of always irritable and surly which is part of his character (since I figured he wouldnt pass the Amon check much) but the days he does pass I plan on playing like he had a "feel good" or "feel lucky" day..

[Malimar]

Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mine

Oh, yes, it's getting on into evening when the party reaches the mines.


The old mongrelman puffs on his pipe and answers, "They call me Wilf. My nephew's the proprietor, as you call him. But he's a pretty busy man, down in the mines supervisin' installation of a new lift at the moment. Anything you'd ask him, you can ask me."

And Ranssyn asks a question! "Oh, yes, loads of folks been coming to squash a few bugs here 'n' there. By now I reckon it's almost safe down there. Almost. There's still a thick nest of 'em under the cultist's compound, but they don't stray outta that nest so much no more."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius glares at Ranssyn but doesn't say anything other than, "Let's finish it then. Ya'll have a map to where they at? Or where the unexplored ruins are at?"

[King Tius]

Gudrun

The tiefling woman raises an eyebrow. "What kind of cultists?"

[Malimar]

Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mine

Wilf nods, "We do have a map!" They didn't used to, but apparently enough folks have gotten lost that they came up with a map of the place. He pulls out a rumpled folded three pieces of paper, which he offers to let the party look at but not to take. Maps be expensive, yo.

https://i.imgur.com/PFDXwgw.gif
The three levels are not perfectly stacked; each is further east than the previous. That's why the lifts don't appear to line up.

"There are three levels to the mines. Blue is the rails, red are the lifts. Follow the rails and the lifts, you're safe from getting lost. Follow the rails all the way to the northeast on the third level, that's where you'll find the ruins we broke into. The bright green on the third level is the nest, the highest concentration of bugs. Square in the middle of the second level is the cultist's compound."

To Gudrun's question, "Ah, yeah, the cultist was the source of the infestation in the first place. Some adventurers went in and dragged him out. Drow fellow, worshipped the Burning Hate. Public execution down in Endeesy."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The large mongrelfolk stares at the map for about twenty seconds and simply says, "Let's go look at em'."


The directions seem simple enough, and if the map is accurate he'll follow the rail taking the right fork first then the left fork on the 1st floor. He'll take the lift down to the third floor.

[King Tius]

Gudrun

Gudrun takes point in the marching order, since she has Darkvision, decent armor, and a big ol' sword. She suggests that someone else with Darkvision take up the rear guard position to keep an eye out for any bug ambushes.

[Malimar]

Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines

Around back, to the mine entrance! It's a perfectly standard mine entrance, exactly what you picture when you picture a mine entrance.

http://c1.vgtstatic.com/thumb/2/1/211468-v1-l/entrance-of-diana-mine.jpg
That, except the sign doesn't say "DIANA" and maybe there isn't a cinderblock nearby. The little sign to the right is, like, safety guidelines (always wear a helmet, keep a canary in a cage nearby when digging new tunnel, etc).

There's an iron gate at the entrance, and the gate used to be kept closed because of bugs, but nowadays it is left open because fewer bugs.

In! Through what appears to be an ore sorting room full of heaps of trash stone and old bloodstains nobody's bothered to clean up! Several friendly mongrelfolk miners wave to the party as they head northeast then southeast along the rails.

The light from the surface and carried by the miners soon gives out, so the party must light a light of their own.

The map proves more or less accurate, so Julius's plan works out.

About 300 feet in, they come to a lift! This lift is brand-new. The room with the lift is stained with soot and smoke, there's some discarded burned lift-bits off to one side. The old lift was broken and then burned down, and it's, like, today that the lift was at last replaced. There's a small crew of mongrelfolk miners here, too, but the proprietor has apparently recently gone elsewhere in the mines.

The party takes the new lift down two levels! Down one level the shaft has access to a completely burned and collapsed room. Down a second level the lift ends up in an area where the rails head east and there are additional tunnels north and south. There are bits of fur scattered mysteriously about here.

Julius takes the party up the north tunnel (which I just noticed he didn't actually say he was doing, so d'oh, but you hear hissing from this direction, so it's probably safe to say you check it out lest you get ambushed from behind by whatever's in here?), and then when it Ts off east and west... well, at that point the eastern tunnel is collapsed and impassable about 20 feet to the east, and the room immediately to the west is FULL OF CENTIPEDES!

Four centipedes the size of men hiss and gnash their toxignaths!

In this game, you post in any order you like, and then I adjudicate your actions in initiative order. You can make liberal use of "if X has happened by my turn, then I do Y, otherwise I do Z", and the Ready and Delay actions, and if being low in the order is too frustrating you can delay until the beginning of next round (you are at risk of automatically delaying until the beginning of the next round if you haven't posted within 48 hours).

Current initiative order is
Gudrun
Jeffery
a centipede
Julius
another centipede
Ranssyn
Xander
the last two centipedes


Between two 23s and a 28 for Knowledge against a DC of 11 from Jeffery, Julius, and Xander, the party knows pretty much everything there is to know about Medium Monstrous Centipedes. Which is... there's not all that much to know, their bite poison does Dex damage. But, as you know everything there is to know, you may consult the relevant statblock (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/monstrousCentipede.htm) at your leisure -- these appear to be perfectly standard Medium Monstrous Centipedes. (Subject to my usual stipulation that not all monsters in any given group necessarily have perfectly average HP.) (I won't always roll for your knowledge, but in general you're gonna be using the same roll for identification as for Knowledge Devotion, so when I do roll for it, your relevant rolls are in the dice thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22534697&postcount=1041). Never mind, on reviewing the feat, it appears to be a separate roll from the identification roll.)



#. ###%
#.###### ###..%
#..##c.###...##
##..#...##.###
##c..c..G.#
###...#L##
##.c#m#
####X## ####
###F.## #..#
#..R..#####.##
##.<<==========
#..<<..########
#.....##
###.###
#.#
##.#
#..#
#.##
#.
##

# = tunnel wall
% = collapsed tunnel (impassable)
. = tunnel floor
= = minecart rails
<< = lift up

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
m = Melikki the dog
c = Medium Monstrous Centipede

[King Tius]

Gudrun

Eager to get to smashing and relatively oblivious to proper party tactics, Gudrun moves right up next to the nearest centipede and takes a big swing with her greatsword. She's never fought centipedes before, so she holds off on putting too much mustard into the swing until she's sized up her opponents and the strength of their carapaces.

Greatsword Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Crit Confirm: [roll2]
Crit Damage: [roll3]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The mongrelfolk had been somewhat quiet the entire trip down and you could tell that he's pissed. His normal calculating demeanor had been tossed aside ever since Ranssyn's biting remarks. It has been a long day and perhaps it would have been best to rest first. But Julius pressed on and before he knew it he was squeezing his over-sized great spear into a narrow hallway cursing to himself.

When Julius first caught sound of the creature his greatspear clanged against the wall as he tried to bring it to bear, cursing loudly he reared back and let the spear loose, the butt hitting the back wall as he does. Ostensibly it successfully gets thrown and there is air parted by it. Then more curses as he points at it and tells Melikki to kill it.

Standard: Throw greatspear at closest one (he has cover in relation to me): [roll0]-4 size,-4 non-proficiency, -2 Ranged Increment, -1 Dex, +1 BAB,+1 Know. Devo for [roll1] points of damage.
Move: Handle Animal (Direct Melikki to attack the centipede) [roll2] vs DC 10.

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Ranssyn agrees to take the rear guard since Melinda has reach and he has darkvision. Plus after briefly sparring and training with Gudrun he found her skills impressive and possibly better than his owe(even though he wouldn't admit that to anyone or her)

Ranssyn uncharacteristically seems relatively quiet while they walk along the mines. Of course he still talks now and then but no offensive comments or rude ramblings just quiet brooding as he guards the rear. Finally once they see the bugs he grins and says

“Showtime Melinda!"

He watches as Gudrun quickly rushes in and Julius bangs and fumbles around his spear before throwing it.

Ranssyn adjust his grip and steps by those in front of him. Mumbling loudly to himself as he Passes by Julius
“....like a drunk baby trying to play with his momma's big girl broom..."
Once past the others He strikes whatever centipede is closest. He tries to assist Gudrun but if the centipedes get to one of the non Warriors first before hand then he hits one of those instead.


Melinda Attack:[roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Crit Confirm: [roll2]
Crit Damage: [roll3]

[Malimar]

Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines

Gudrun steps in to stab at a centipede with her sword, but it skitters out of the way!


Jeffery delays slightly!


Centipede #2 bites at Gudrun! It hits her (barely)! Gudrun takes 5 damage and she resists the poison!


Julius chucks his spear! Reminder that in this game, a draw from the critical fumble deck occurs not necessarily on a natural 1, but on a total roll of 0 or less. Solves the "higher-level characters fumble more" problem with most fumble houserules while still letting me get occasional use out of this critical fumble deck I bought awhile back. But the weapon richets off the wall and its butt bonks him in the head and Julius takes 4 damage! Rubbing his head, Julius then instructs Melikki to attack!

Melikki bounds in, barking and biting! But the centipede avoids her bite!


Centipede #3 scoots in and tries to bite Melikki! It very hits her! Melikki takes 1 damage and is poisoned for 3 dex damage!


Ranssyn scoots past the rest of the party into the area with the centipedes! He smites down centipede #2, and it dies!


Xander delays slightly!


Centipede #1 5' steps up and bites at Ranssyn! It hits him! Ranssyn takes 4 damage but resists the poison!

Centipede #4 charges Gudrun, but it fails to bite her!



#. ###%
#.###### ###..%
#..##.3###...##
##..#..m##.###
##...4GR..#
###..1#L##
##..#.#
####X## ####
###F.## #..#
#.....#####.##
##.<<==========
#..<<..########
#.....##
###.###
#.#
##.#
#..#
#.##
#.
##

# = tunnel wall
% = collapsed tunnel (impassable)
. = tunnel floor
= = minecart rails
<< = lift up
* = defeated foe

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
m = Melikki the dog
1, 3-4 = Medium Monstrous Centipede

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The large mongrelfolk looked pissed, PISSED when the greatspear returned and hit him unexpectedly in the face. Then suddenly he did a double look at the spear laying on the ground and his anger seemed to wash away and if you were close enough you could hear him say with a little bit of wonder and confusion, "I... did it?"

Still the yelping of his dog getting bit tore him from his spot and he readied himself to engage.

Move: Pull out spear +1 and move as close to engage as I can without provoking attack of opportunity.
Standard: Ready an action to double move into melee with a centipede. Trigger: A route that won't provoke an attack of opportunity and that will allow me to make a melee attack this round.

If I was able to move on my turn into melee than I attack with my standard action.

With the new map updated Julius will delay his turn down the initiative count (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22544306&postcount=1058) until he can pull out his spear while moving, and make a melee attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. If that doesn't happen this round he'll delay the whole round.



Julius
HP: 13/17
AC: 13

Melikki (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1368692)
male dog animal 1
TN small animal (dog)
Init +2; Senses Low-light vision, Scent; Listen +5, Spot +3
Languages Dog

AC 18 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 natural, +4 armor), touch 14, flat-footed 16
HP 9/10
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1

Speed 40 ft.
Melee Bite +2 (1d4+1/x2)
Base Attack +0; Grapple -3

Abilities Str 13, Dex 17 (14), Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Feats Light Armor Proficiency, TrackB
Tricks Track, Stay, Down, Attack, Guard, Heel
Skills Jump +8(+4 Racial, +4 movement, +1 str, -1 ACP), Listen +5, Spot +3, Survival +1, Survival (tracking) +5
Possessions mwk chain shirt

[Thundercracker]

Xander moves north to the intersection and aims an eldritch blast blast at the centipede fighting Gudrun.

attack: [roll]1d20+1[roll] touch, firing into melee.
Damage: [roll0]

That attack toll ended up being a 10.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22540295&postcount=938

[King Tius]

Gudrun

Miffed her first attack missed and reeling from the sting of the centipede bite, Gudrun attacks centipede #4.

Greatsword Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Crit Confirm: [roll2]
Crit Damage: [roll3]

If she's able to, she five foot steps to the south west.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"These things are kinda ugly..." Jeffery muses.

Hefting his longspear, Jeffery moves agilely to within range of the southernmost centipede (#4?) and jabs at it with the longspear.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[DrunkMongoose]

Ranssyn

Just after Ransynn uses Melinda's hook to rip a deadly gash between the tergite and head shield of the centipede's body he begins to say

“Good Girl! Now we just need for..." He cuts off his snarky intended jab of a comment with a loud curse through pained gritted teeth as centipede #1 latches it's Pinchers deep into his arm.
“Mother of a Snake swallower!...i.hope. that. tasted. good...It's your last meal. "

If #4 is dead then Ranssyn uses his horn Bash as a primary attack for Centipede#1. If #4 is still alive then he uses his horns as a secondary and attacks #4 with Melinda. If after attacks both end up dead then he moves north to put #3 within reach range but not close melee range. If #3 or #4 is still alive after attacks then he doesn't move.

[Malimar]

Tiv-Beckett Cold Iron Mines

Jeffery moves up and stabs at the centipede he can reach (#1), slightly around a corner, and it skitters out of the way!


Xander moves up until he can see the centipedes, pewpews, and misses!


Gudrun hacks at #4, missing it, then steps out of the way to give room to maneuver!


Julius re-enters initiative! He can't get in without provoking, but centipede #1 completely fails to hit with its AoO, so that's fine. Then he spears #4, and it perishes!


Julius delays until there is a good opening! Yes, it's fine to update your action as much as you want until the point that I adjudicate the round's actions, so long as you're not changing your action from something that hinges on a rolled die to something that doesn't.

Melikki bites at centipede #3! She completely bites it into two halves, then barks and wags her tail!


Ranssyn bonks the remaining centipede with its head, and it squelches and dies!


All the centipedes are defeated! Each party member gains 120 XP!

Most of a minute later, the secondary damage of poison happens! Gudrun and Melikki resist, Ranssyn takes 1 Dexterity damage!


The party checks a bit northwest, and discovers the passageway there ends in a solid wall of teensy-weensy Fine centipedes, squirming over one another horribly. It looks like the centipedes can be pushed through, and probably they're not big enough to do any serious damage with their poison, even collectively, but that would be gross and unpleasant. Or the wall of centipedes can probably be damaged, but not with weapons (think of it sort of like a swarm), so some creativity might be necessary.



####+
#..++# ###%
#.###### ###..%
#..##.*###...##
##..#..m##.###
##...*LRFX#
###.G*#.##
##..#.#
####.## ####
###..## #..#
#.....#####.##
##.<<==========
#..<<..########
#.....##
###.###
#.#
##.#
#..#
#.##
#.
##

# = tunnel wall
% = collapsed tunnel (impassable)
+ = wall of centipedes (passable with a Strength check, but gross)
. = tunnel floor
= = minecart rails
<< = lift up
* = defeated foe

F = Jeffery
L = Julius
X = Xander
G = Gudrun
R = Ranssyn
m = Melikki the dog