AMiH Side Quest: Zeke Frost

[inexorabletruth]

This is the IC thread for any split quest adventures Zeke Frost will have throughout the game. I will link to this thread in a PM in instances where your journey side tracks from the main group, which I find is better than saying "nope" and forcing you to stay with the group, and less awkward than spoilering your particular events in with the main thread.

For the purposes of thread maintenance please keep any OOC content in spoilers.

As far as pacing is concerned, side quests yield to the pace of the main thread. If night falls on the main thread, while you're in the middle of something that happens in the middle of the day, things will fast forward to nightfall. Also, if the party starts to leave town or go on a quest, I will ask you to go ahead and wrap things up and rejoin the group, so that you don't miss out on the action. If the group leaves town, I will fast forward the events in this thread so that you don't get left behind. It's an imperfect system, but so far I haven't found a better one.

[inexorabletruth]

The main hall of the barracks is drab and simple, designed more for practicality than anything else.

Guards hustle in and out of the main hall on various errands, or to squeeze in a quick snack before they have to report somewhere. Four guards sit at a table nearby filling out paperwork together. There are cabinets and drawers crammed with files, and the whole place smells like sweat.

The guard sitting at the welcome desk next to the bounty board clears his throat aggressively to get your attention.

https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/32738-1-1278146018.jpg

[kjelfalconer]

Zeke ignored the guard as his eyes traced over the available bounties. Most of them involved too much mage helping for his tastes, but there was one he could get behind.
"I'll handle this Yukio." he said matter of factly, finally acknowledging the guard. "I’ll need profiles of his usual targets, records of the times and locations of his sightings, and topographical maps of the areas he's believed to be hiding in."


I think I'd count dealing with a guard as a relevant use of Profession Soldier, but if you disagree just deduct one from the total for either diplomacy or intimidate.

[roll0]

[inexorabletruth]

Highwyn Bounties:
100 GP per ECL alive; no reward if dead.
Any wizard attending or teaching at The Tichines during the uprising, who escaped capture is wanted to be taken in for trial.

100 GP per ECL alive; half reward if dead.
Any arcane caster caught committing heinous acts with magic. Must be able to prove acts were heinous and magical to receive bounty.

400 GP dead or alive.
Yukio. Male Human Wizard. 5'4, 92 lbs. Last seen in Highwyn proper. Very dangerous. Wanted for multiple accounts of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, torture, aggravated assault, and cannibalism.

The guard nods and heads over to a filing cabinet and sifts through rows of books. He pulls out a relatively new book with the name Yukio, Wizard, Male, Human scribed in thick black ink. He flips through some pages, sighing heavily as he does.

"It says here he targets his victims in the night. And drags them off... destination unknown. Different testimonies provide different locations. But the most common statements are that he takes them into the Otobo Jungle. The earliest victims were bards, alchemists, druids, clerics. Then his victims became more random. Pretty much anyone he could find at night."

He puts the book down. "He's become sort of a bogeyman in town. They try to stay away from the parts of town near the jungle's edge when the sun sets. As far as maps... you're on your own. If you're lucky and your coin purse is full enough, you might be able to talk a tracker from the Hunter's Guild to guide you through the woods, but honestly, that jungle was never normal. Now that there might be crazy homicidal wizards eating people in it, no one has the guts to stay in there long enough to write or update a map. And a lot of our geographical records were burned in the fires."

He looks at you for a moment. "But if you do head in there, remember. Yukio isn't the only one who may have fled into the jungle. When we thwarted their assault, many of the wizards of the Thicines ran off into the Otobo. I'd rather march blindfolded into a lion's den with a raw steak around my neck than head past that treeline by myself."


I'll assume Diplomacy. Profession checks can be used to receive weekly stipends, and is a nice way to keep small amounts of GP trickling in each week.

Also, did you mean to take the Yukio bounty? You said Braxio... are you calling the guard Braxio?

[kjelfalconer]

Zeke furrowed his brow. In truth, he'd much rather do this by himself, but he really couldn't be bothered arguing the point right now, and there was a definite use he could put someone else to.
"Has anyone else shown interest in the Yukio bounty then? Ideally a healer of some description." More than likely Yukio had deteriorated to the point where his original targets and reasoning had been lost, but on the off chance he still had some scrap of reason, they'd make a better bait than most.


Braxio was the result of me posting at nearly 1 in the morning.

[inexorabletruth]

"Aye," the guard says a little reluctantly, "a party of three went into the jungle a week ago, after buying a huge supply of wizard hunting supplies, thunderstones, anti-magic manacles, aboleth mucus, eggshell grenades, moonfire salve, and some other stuff I'd never even heard of. They went in armed for a war. That was about a week ago. The first few times, they went hunting during the day. They kept coming back frustrated and empty handed. Then, one dusk about four days ago, they went into the jungle and never returned. My guess is, they finally found Yukio."

The guard remembers something and pulls out another file. "Here's an image of the guy, by the way. He used to be one of the teachers at the Tichines, so we actually have full color paintings of him. It's rare that we have much more than a physical description and a name on a bounty."

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/81/9b/8c/819b8c6b21bd4afbe5f0ead2e068bb20--character-ideas-character-inspiration.jpg

[kjelfalconer]

Zeke resists the urge to ask how and why the town even had aboleth mucus in stock in the first place. Still, useful as the picture was, he'd hoped for someone less dead to be hunting him. The last thing he wanted to do was trawl around town asking random strangers if they fancied hunting an insane wizard. And, honestly, if they did, they probably would have already tried.

Which meant the only person who came to mind was- ugh. Damn it. He was going to have to ask that sanctimonious druid, wasn't he? Though if he had to listen to one more speech about turning the tide of the war, well, accidents will happen.
"Thank you for the help. I... have someone he mind," he managed, trying to keep the grimace off his face. This wizard was going to be owed some serious payback for this.

[inexorabletruth]

The guard nods. "Ok, well, good luck then. Don't forget to check out the adepts coven on your way. They sell a fair supply of alchemical and divine items that might help keep you alive in the jungle."

If you are heading out to find Gabriel Tosscobble, the you will find him by simply leaving the barracks, as the rest of the group has not yet left the steps of the courthouse, which is right next to the barracks. Unless you have more to add, this portion of your side quest is closed and you may now post in the main thread.