November 12th in the year 670 by Kingdom reckoning
The Lady agrees to keep your wagon and hired men and provide Rethas any space he needs to study. Hamish complains a bit about being left behind but Alis is nowhere to be found. The Lady tells you with a smile that it appears he has taken a liking to a cotter's daughter and is working hard on her fathers house, in hopes of gaining favor as well as chances to flirt with her.
Dolgi easily finds the tracks you had crossed previously and leads the group as stated. He maintains that there were two riders, both heavily laden. You see that they rode at a gallop for perhaps a mile before slowing and turning again towards Bremel.You are glad you left the wagon, as the bandits took a path much better suited to horses than wagons. The trail leads lazily through thickets and across small creeks. It parallels the main road into Bremel but never joins up with the road. It is late afternoon before you follow the tracks to Bremel and lose them in the bustle of the town.
You are in Bremel, it is 5 in the evening and the shadows are already growing long. What do you want to do?
"I'll have a look in the tavern," Thorvald said, momentarily breaking his silent vigil and breaking off from the others to have a quick look around, and a much needed drink.
ReplyDeleteShade nods and allows Thorvald to get some distance in front of him before striding into the bar. With his patchwork cloak flipped about to show its brightly colored patches and a quick disguise self scroll cast, he appears to anyone able to see beneath the heavy cowl as a young straw haired youth with buck teeth and a cleft chin. His voice booms out proclamations to those gathered at the bar to watch and be astounded as he begins to fall into a series of tricks and sleight of hand, performing on of his many acts as a street magician. He recalls how his greatest tricks require a bit of moisture for his glib tongue and he asks for a drink or two in order to continue his act. (Shade will attempt to draw the attention of as many people in the bar as he can and allow Thorvald to act freely... And anyone else who chooses to follow the duo)
ReplyDeleteThor orders a mug of the cheapest brew and finds a seat near on of the corners. Sitting with his back to the wall, he scans the room looking to see if he notices anything that might give away the bandits they followed.
ReplyDelete((Perception check:
Delete((1d20 + Wis = 13 + 2 = 15
Dolgi nods at Thorvald and heads to the stables, perhaps to see if he can spot the horses who he's been following, by looking at the tracks into the stable.
ReplyDeleteThorvald and Shade: As you enter the tavern, you immediately notice that it is not as you left it. There are broken chairs everywhere. There is a stench of ale and blood in the air and the barmaids are serving clients sitting at what tables remain standing.
ReplyDeleteShade: the bartender shrugs and shakes his head when you offer a bet, but he doesn't stop you from doing your routine. The patrons clap and cheer politely and a few throw coins at you. (d20 silver pieces)
Dolgi: You definitely can not spot the tracks of the horses you were following either entering or leaving the stables.
Ghalen comes out of one of the store rooms and spots Thorvald. "Hey there Red, I hope you didn't get my old friend Draymun in too much trouble!"
ReplyDelete"More troubles for our foes than for ourselves, just as any self-respecting Dwarf would have it!"
DeleteDraymun joins the conversation and plops down on a seat next to Thorvald, reaching over to the cup and giving it a sniff. With a scrunch of a nose and a shake of his head he offers the mug toward Ghalen.
"Really, Ghalen? I'm offended! Where's the good stuff?!"
"I'm happy to say that it was Draymun who in fact led us into some interesting places," Thor answered greeting the Dwarf with a hearty handshake, "but he's as nimble as he is clever and he's managed to drag me back for a brew!" Lowering his voice, Thor continued. "But we're on the trail of some bandits that did a number on a farm not far from here. They follow a fiery haired woman, and from the look of this place, I'd guess they've been here. Is there anything you could tell us to help us track them down?"
ReplyDeleteShade gathers up the 15 silver he has made and calls over to the growing table, asking loudly if they would like to see some magic. He saunters over with a spring in his step before proclaiming, "Behold!" and lifts his arm to the roof where a cacophony of noise issues forth and a burst of bright sparks momentarily dazzles before the eyes. A second later a black Raven lands on the table, "And behold, Harken... I mean Shade the great." The raven caws surprising everyone not at the table. The marvelous bird flits up to his shoulder and lands lightly before asking, "Anyone for some games of chance?" Meanwhile Shade pulls forth a set of bone dice and begins to smile.
ReplyDeleteDolgi cannot see the horses' tracks in the dirt around the stable and realizing the group may not be in Bremel anymore, he heads over to the tavern to see how Thorvald fared. As he enters he hears Draymun ask the other dwarf where the good stuff is.
ReplyDeleteAngling over to the table, Dolgi yells to Draymun, "Make sure to save me some of the good stuff too, laddie!" He sits down, a sigh escaping as he settles into the chair, glad to be off his feet or the back of a cranky mule.
Rayna watches as the the group enters the tavern and decides to try another source of information. Seeing a group of women at the town well talking and laughing as they draw their last buckets of water for the next mornings chores she rides her mule over to the water trough and speaks to the group before dismounting her mule and letting it drink. She chats with them, telling them about the attack on the manor and asks whats been happening in town over the last few days.
ReplyDeleteThe Inn: Ghalen chuckles and winks and goes behind the bar for a moment, returning with four mugs of the finest brown ale you've tasted. He says "after last night, this is about all I've got left. I'll tell you what, it was quite the party!"
ReplyDeleteHe goes on to tell you a story of two young men who came into the tavern in the early evening and bought a whole pig and a cask of ale. They spent the whole night in revelry and included anyone who came in; buying drinks and food for everyone in the place. They paid a bard a years salary to write a song about them and had the whole bar singing it by the end of the evening.
"It was the biggest ruckus this place has seen in years, but we made enough gold to keep the place in business for a long time! I might even add on a brew room to experiment with small batches."
"Those two boys kept it up until they passed out on the floor. I figured it was the least I could do and covered them up. They just left a couple of hours ago, headed southeast."
The well:
The ladies all cluck and give each other knowing glances. One woman huffs and says "my husband didn't come home until this morning. And he smelled so strongly of beer, I made him take his clothes off outside!" They all nod agreement and being telling similar stories, all talking over one another.
Thor greedily guzzled the cheap ale he was drinking and readily accepted the finer brew from Ghalen as he listened intently to the dwarf's tale. When Ghalen had finished, he paused a moment to consider their options.
ReplyDelete"We could attempt to follow through the night," Thor suggested. "The journey would be fraught with peril but we would surely catch the hungover fools by morning. If we delay until dawn, we may still locate their tracks, but we likely won't be able to catch them before they rejoin that forest harpy. What do you think?" Thor asked the rest of his assembled company.
Shade overhears Thorvalds suggestion from his perch atop the bar. The gathered onlookers are quite entertained by his latest trick, involving a Raven coming out from his sleeve and squawking about the smell in there. It flits about as Shade tries to guess at a customers hidden card. Shade, having gotten the answer wrong twice turns to the bird and asks it what it thinks. The patrons get a chuckle from the failures of the entertainer... Up until the raven responds by claiming that he believes the card to be the one on his back. Stunned onlookers gather in close to try and ascertain how indeed the little bird managed to get the card from out of the deck that the patron is still holding. While they mutter and argue Shade takes a second to send a quick message by way of a sending spell... "I'm in."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDolgi nods to Thorvald, "Travel fast and light and we might catch them before too dark. Keep them alive, if possible, they may have knowledge we need. Plus, the share of the bounty will go well against paying of my debts and outfitting me further." With that said, he downs the good ale, smacks his lips and tells Ghalen, "If'n you make ale like this, perhaps I'll give up my adventuring life and apply to be the bouncer, if you keep me in ale and the like."
ReplyDeleteWith that said, he winks at his group as he heads out to check the horses and mules and find Rayna.
Thorvald rises from the table and thanking Ghalen, drops 10 gold pieces for the brews and the tip, and follows Dolgi out to his mount.
DeleteDraymun beams at Ghalen as Thor pays him generously. "Yanno, Gay... we really could use another fiesty Dwarf with us out there. What say you to one last adventure before you settle down with your brews?"
DeleteRayna talks some more with the women and laughs at the antics of their menfolk. Feeling that she's learned all that she can from them she fills her canteen and checks her packs then heads toward the tavern to find out what information the rest of the party has gathered. She meets Dolgi outside and they share stories.
ReplyDelete((I had a big post about what Kring did in the slums of Bremel while everyone else was doing their thing... Then I lost it. Long story short, Kring looked around for anything out of place, tried putting the moves on a female half orc he met, she smelled like flowers, he failed to make the right moves, then walked up to the tavern while rayna came from the other direction.... Big internal thought process about how he needs to get to know rayna, she isn't as jaded as the rest of the group and he likes that about her. Good times.))
ReplyDelete((So I guess we are moving out?))
ReplyDeleteI'm in favor of moving out.
DeleteWhere are you headed?
ReplyDeleteAfter the two guys that we followed to Bremel. We're going southeast to try and catch them.
DeleteYes, I concur.
DeleteShade, seeing the group beginning to depart, catches his sleeve on fire. Making it appear as another mistake in his act, he jumps down off the bar, grabs up a mug of ale from a passed out patron and runs out the door. Once outside Shade snaps his fingers and the flames extinguish. He then downs the mug and stops, raising a finger to his chin as he contemplates what he forgot. It is at that moment that the raven, Harken, flies out of the tavern and lands on his shoulder. Angry at being left behind it pecks his head sharply, and then caws and takes off into the air. Shade chuckles at the beast and then mounts the horse Darkness, and awaits the directions of the party members.
ReplyDeleteWatching the skilled magician exit the tavern in a seeming panick, only to recover and reveal the true mastery of his plan, Thorvald chuckled to himself.
Delete"Still a master of misdirection, I see," Thor yelled, waiting for him to down his drink before tossing him a a gold piece for his troubles. "You haven't lost your touch, my clever friend. And Harken," Thor continued as the bird pecked its displeasure at being momentarily forgotten, "You keep that up, you'll be stealing the show!" Removing a small piece of meat from his belt pouch, Thor tossed it high into the air and watched as the raven demonstrated its quick reflexes, snatching the meal without missing a wing-beat.
Seeing that everyone seems ready to press on, Rayna looks to Dolgi. "Do you think you can track anything in this light? I don't want to stumble into a trap. We must be cautious."
ReplyDelete"Your raven is amazing, Shade. Would he be able to find our quarry?
"I can track salmon upstream, I can track an eagle in a cloudy sky." Dolgi exclaims with a grin and a wink. "Or I can do my best and we'll depend on our senses and the raven to warn us of danger. We'll ride fast for the first bit, try to catch up, as we get closer, those of us with better sight in the dark, should keep the others from bumbling around too much. So the brigands went southeast, we'll head that way too."
Delete"He often does as he likes, I must admit." Shades cowled head dips as if he is slightly ashamed to admit the fact. "Hark, do you think you might find what we are looking for? They should reek of liquor and be barely able to stay ahorse..." Harken takes to wing, quickly circling back to grab a strip of dried meat from Shades upraised hand. He caws a loud "Hark, Hark!" Before setting off to the southeast, disappearing in the cloud cover and darker sky.
ReplyDelete"Lead on, Dolgi. We'll follow you," Rayna grins. With that the group urges their mounts into a ground eating trot that they can keep up for hours without tiring. ((Southeast, Sam.)
ReplyDeleteTwilight falls and then the moon rises (please tell me it's not a cloudy night and with a nice big moon in the sky, Sam ;-) )After riding for 15 minutes or thereabouts and heading generally southeast as the raven flies, Ray suggests the group halt and cast about for signs of the passage of the 2 riders.
ReplyDelete