Fantasy Campaign [Savage Worlds, Homebrew Setting]

[shaddy_24]

Wednesday August 25th

In the town of Carronil, on the Eastern border of The Empire on the Danev continent, dawn broke as usual. A largish town of about 2,000, Carronil had thus far been ignored by both sides of the growing rebellion. A small garrison of Imperial soldiers occupied the town, but there was barely 200 soldiers present, hardly enough to warrant attention from the rebels, and Carronil isn't in a position of strategic importance. Aside from a few minor nobles with almost no clout in the capital, no one of importance lived in, passed through, or even cared about Carronil.

It is currently 6:15 AM.

[terryt3o3]

I wake up; have breakfast (leftovers from the night before). I check that my backpack contains everything that i may need for the day, and everything that i would need should i have to leave town on short notice. I feed my pet before tying his lead on him and the other end to my belt and then set off for work.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin gets up out of bed in a flurry as an alarm goes off in the base. He scurries out of his top bunk equipping his sword, crossbow, and quiver after suiting up. He runs out into the ranks and stands at attention with his sword drawn at the main gate whispering to the troop next to him "I'm so tired of these drills." He stands at ready awaiting the orders of his commander, if he shows up.

[fatmancer]

I wake up early, but in no rush, and check that all my equipment is in the bag i packed the night before. After assuring myself that everything is in order, i make my way down to the inn's common room for breakfast, and to listen for any interesting news while waiting out the time before my rendezvous.

[listenheed]

Blinking, Mel shudders to shake the fatigue off of her, dislodging her blanket as well. She frowns at the light entering the first-floor window; she'd have to get out of here quickly if she were to succeed in not paying for her room. It was tough enough bullying the guy at the front desk into letting her delay the payment, but who knows if the same coward was going to be there now?

Grabbing her pack and ignoring her dissatisfied stomach, Mel slinks over to the window. Now was not the time for breakfast. It was time for quiet.

[TwasBrillig]

Hana wakes abruptly in a panic, but breathes when she sees that the sun has barely begun to colour the sky. She had been afraid she was late for class - but she shakes her head at herself. She had graduated from the Academy over a month ago; there would be no more class for her.

She sighs. Early morning lectures are one thing she won't miss. In their place are early morning chores. After kicking off her covers, Hana stands up, sways a bit as she finds her balance, and heads outside to water the plants. At this hour, she really doesn't care that she is still in her nightgown.

[Aston42]

A ray of morning light passed through the small excuse of a window in the tiny inn room. The woman who presently called herself Aquila, groaned as the light woke her up. As she turned over in the hard lumpy bed, she thought back to her comfortable bed at home far away, but quickly banished the thought - there was no going back now. At least here in this little known town on the other side of the Empire, she figured, she would be safe.

She donned the only set of clothes she had at the moment; a heavily worn set of gray-brown travel robes with almost no shape. Walking over to the washbasin, she winced at the reflection. Her face, while still pretty by most standards, was covered with streaks of dust and dirt; some put there by design, others acquired on the road to Carronil. Her once long black hair was cut short and dyed grey, giving her the appearance of being older than she actually was.

After washing her face, she took stock of her gear. There wasn't much, two small daggers, some rations, 20' of rope, an old backpack, and the remaining copper from the sale of her dress.

Hiding the daggers in her robe, she made her way down to the common room. It was time to get a feel for this town, and find some work.

[polymeraseii]

Azden awakes suddenly, the sun on his face is warm and uncomfortable. He wonders what time it is; taking a glance at his pocket watch he realizes it is much later than he would have liked it to be. He arises from the chair - while still slightly disoriented from his sleepiness - grabs his bag (containing some large blank parchment rolled up, a quill, some ink, and a few empty vials) and makes for the kitchen. He cooks a quick breakfast and after devouring it in a matter of seconds makes his way out the door to attend an urgent town meeting that was called just the night before. Locking the door, Azden quickly walks towards the meeting wondering what it could be about.

[shaddy_24]

Wednesday August 25th, 6:45 AM

Magog
The sight of a large dragonborn leading a duck through the streets doesn't draw as much attention as it used to. Now, the few civilians out starting their day barely glance at you as you pass them. It isn't long before you arrive at the smithy, where Bareth is waiting for you. "About time you arrived." The middle-aged half-ogre blacksmith shoves a plate of salted pork and bread with honey into your hands and turns back inside. "You'll have to handle most of the regular work today. Horseshoes, farm equipment and such. The garrison placed a big order, they want me working on a lot of their equipment. Something about someone important coming down in a few days. Special orders and such. You're gonna be busy covering for me while I handle it." He stomps back inside and leaves you to get down to work.

Rydgin
The soldier next to you glances down. It's Helvani, a tall elf who's in your scouting team. "I heard they're going to be calling more of them. Command's worried about looking good, apparently we've got an inspector coming by to check up on them." You don't have time for any more information then that, as several of the lieutenants begin marching up and down the lines, yelling at soldiers. You get one burly human, Lt. Brosko, yelling at you to stand up taller or he'll find you a book to stand on. After this, you spend a while running through weapon and marching drills, waiting for any sign of a reason for this.

Our Nameless Spy
You spend a little time waiting in the common room, watching the other early risers stumble in and order breakfast. Eventually, a young looking dwarf comes in and scans the room, settling on you. She walks over and takes a seat opposite you. "Order some breakfast, I'm starving. You get to pay." She tries to flag down one of the servers.

Mel
You slip out the window easily enough; the inn-keeper was presumably in the kitchen cooking breakfast, and won't know you're gone for a while. You attract a few stares as you exit, but no one out this time of day is being paid to care about what you're up to. It's easy enough for you to head out and get some distance from the building. Oddly enough, you're pretty sure you saw a dragonborn leading a duck across a street ahead of you, but they're gone long before you get there to take a second look.

Hana
Few people care enough to pay attention to you wandering around in your nightgown. You're mostly finished by the time a small human girl comes running up holding a letter. "Here," she calls, thrusting the paper in your direction. She also unsubtly holds out her other hand, palm up. It's not uncommon to send street urchins with letters to people, as long as it's not private information. They're usually paid up front, but expect a bit of a tip when they've delivered the message. An eighth-copper or two is usually sufficient.

Aquila
Wandering the early streets, you don't see a lot of people out yet. There are some merchants opening shops, fishmongers and such opening stalls, a few beggars trying to get good spots before it gets busy, and a few guards and soldiers marching on patrol, but it has yet to get truly busy. You get calls from people wanting to sell you food and trinkets, or asking for some money, for their family of course. Even with so few people out though, you get a feeling of slight tension. Stalls tend to clump together, guards can be seen outside of some of the shops, and soldiers tend to keep their hands suspiciously near their weapons. Everyone seems to know that something's wrong, but no one seems quite sure what.

Azden
You arrive in the meeting hall fairly early. The meeting isn't scheduled to start for about 45 minutes, but there's already something of a crowd. You catch sight of Daral, another member of your household. He's a bit more important to you, politically speaking. Owns a good chunk of the property in town. Fair guy, keeps the rent reasonable. He waves you over when he sees you come in. "We're in for a big one. There's a lot of people here who don't normally show up for routine meetings."

[listenheed]

"Huh." Mel lets out a confused puff of air. "Duck. And a... That's weird." Shaking her head, she re-aims herself to her task and moves up the street. She's to meet someone today, supposedly trustworthy, according to what she could get from the Sage. The dream he had shown her was vague (as usual), but it seemed that this person would be meeting her somewhere fairly distanced from the inn, luckily enough. The lack of detail, though, left her with no particular meeting space, so she stares half at the sky as she wanders off. Whoever that person is will likely find her, because if he or she has direct word with the Sage, than he or she probably knows more about the situation than Mel.

It has been a while since she had a direct word with the Sage herself. She misses that. But then again, she supposes, it's not always a good sign to see him in person. The Speakers, then, will do.

[fatmancer]

I quickly look her over for signs of concealed weaponry, trying to be discreet about it. After a couple of seconds of silence I say "Good morning, I don't believe we've met before. You also don't appear to be the man I am meeting with this morning, so I'm sure you can understand why I might first want to ask your name, and what business you have with me." I lean back slightly in my chair and move my hand closer towards my backpack in case I need to run. A small chance, maybe, but it never hurts to be prepared.

[polymeraseii]

Azden walks towards Daral and motions for him to get walking to our seats - and in the process looks around the room to see if any faces seem familiar or important.
He then says to Daral, "Why are there so many people and new faces present today, there must be something important on the agenda?"

Q: are azden and daral close/trust eachother completely?

[TwasBrillig]

Hana brandishes a fistful of her nightgown at the messenger. "Do you see any pockets in this thing?" Unfazed, the girl continues to hold out her hand. "Fine," Hana sighs. "Give me a minute." She plods back inside to change to her everyday wear, and picks up her staff along with a fistful of coins. "Sorry for the wait," she mumbles once back outside, making sure an extra eighth-copper finds its way to the girl's waiting palm. The human smiles and hands over the paper. Nodding her thanks, Hana turns her back on the girl and unfolds the note, wondering who would be contacting her.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin is learning quickly as they run weapon drills, but today he if off because of what Helvani said. (Why the sudden inspection?) he thinks to himself. Marching drills are the huge problem problem. His short and small reach keeps him from stepping in time and covering enough distance without being stepped on or walking at his own pace within the crowd. Helvani usually tries his best to hide Rydgin or step slightly out of sync to make his tiny struts less noticeable. After being called out of the ranks on such poor marching abilities, Lt. Brosko made Rydgin run the full obstacle course. Twice.

Now exhausted, Rydgin returns to the barracks to join the other troops. He drags his tired body on the top bunk and swings his head over the side looking down at the bottom bunk where Helvani rests below. "So, what were you saying about an inspector? whispering as to maybe not cause alarm to those troops that do not know.

[Aston42]

Aquila frowns as she observes the tension in the streets. Any work found will likely be made difficult with everyone on edge.

Resorting to one of her most used sources of information she looks for a beggar who looks especially observant. Someone watching the crowd; following it's movements.

Once she finds someone who seems suitable, she approaches him/her and gives an eighth-copper with a smile asking: "What's your name good sir/mama?" And as a statement; "You seem to be the type of person who knows what's going on in his/her city." She watches him and tries to judge from his response if he'll be friendly and capable of providing useful information, or just give useless information in hopes of reward.

[shaddy_24]

Mel
Wandering the streets for a while, you find yourself in a poorer area. Such a place is appropriate for a representative of the Sage; the poor are often either bearers of powerful Will, or in need of one who is. You may find the person you're looking for here.

Our Nameless Spy
"No points for picking up that I'm not a man. Also none for figuring out I'm not your mentor." She gives up on trying to flag a server down and simply grabs a mug off a passing tray. Ignoring the angry response, she takes a gulp of the drink and carries on. "He's not interested in walking all the way down here. He's not really interested in walking at all if he can avoid it. I'm Kasha. We're gonna be partners and co-workers. So get off on a good foot and buy your new co-worker breakfast."

Azdan
You're as close to Daral as you chose. I'm planning to set him up as an ally of yours, so his personality and plans are slightly mutable by you for the moment. He'll basically help you get on your feet and figure out what's going on and provide information to you.
You can pick out representatives of all three of bigger noble houses in the area and a number of the guilds. You can spot at least 4 army representatives in the crowd, which seems fairly high for a random meeting like this. Daral points out a few of them as you walk. "You normally get one or two representatives of most of the major groups, not this many. The smaller groups are also sending representatives, you can see someone who's supposed to represent the farmers and others outside the town." He points to a burly, almost lost looking human who's standing on his own.

Hana
The girl skips off happily when you give her the coins. Checking the letter, you find an invitation to meet with an old teacher who moved to the area a while ago.
Hello,
I was quite delighted when I heard you had passed your exams and graduated. It's been several years since I moved out here and I have missed the conversations we used to have. I would be very interested in hearing how you have progressed in your studies. Would you be available to stop by and visit your old professor?
Verian Tisharlen

Note: it's supposed to be blunt and overly formal. Just in case you were wondering

Rydgin
You don't catch sight of anyone unusual in the area as you complete the drills. No one who looks like an inspector at least. You can take some pride in the fact that out of all of the soldiers ordered to run the obstacle course right now, you had the best time.
It's quite some time before you manage to get back to the barracks. Helvani glances up at you when you bring up the inspector again. "I heard a couple of the L.T.'s talking about they've been told to whip everyone into shape as quickly as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they call us out again later today, they seemed really worried about this."

Aquila
The older half-ogre you approach looks you over carefully. Taking your coin, he slips it up his sleeve and slides over, gesturing for you to take a seat. "Settle down, stranger."

[fatmancer]

I sigh heavily attempting to seem mildly annoyed, but probably doing a poor job of it. I certainly don't mind people with a straightforwards attitude and I love witty banter, no matter how condescending it is. "And what is there to be said for demanding a free breakfast of someone you've just met?" I pause for a moment afterwords, and add "How about I buy your drink and a roll? Would that be enough?" Working with people like this, I get the feeling that this mentorship might not end up being as bad as I thought after all.

[polymeraseii]

Azden looks at the burly human representing the farmers and others from outside the town, he wonders to himself what could be happening. He turns to Daral and motions him to come and talk with the burly man. He asks the man what his name is and if he could use some help as he looks somewhat lost. He also asks if the man knows anything about what the big commotion is all about today.

[terryt3o3]

Magog arrives at work, and ties his duck to a stake in the corner. He then proceeds to organize the shop in preparation for bareth to start work. After this he begins to proceed with the daily smithing. When bareth decides to check up on his apprentice Magog can't help but asking how big this special order the army placed is, and when he should be finished, as he is having trouble trying to cover both of their regular work.

[shaddy_24]

Our Nameless Spy
Kasha snorts into her drink at your offer. "A roll? I ask for breakfast, and you offer me a single roll? Stop being so damn stingy! At least get me some eggs or something."

Azden
Daral looks somewhat amused as you motion for him to follow you. The farmer looks surprised when you come up to him, and takes the opening to begin speaking. "M'name's Grigan. I came inta town buncha times, tryin' to tell ya 'bout things we found. Got here 'gain yesterday, told ta come today. Look." He pulls out a heavy cloth sack and opens it up. Looking inside, you can see what looks like symbols roughly carved on wood. "We're diggin' 'em up everywhere."

Magog
Bareth lets you work on your own for a short time before coming over to check up on your work. At your question, he leans back and grabs a piece of salted pork to chew on. "Really big. They want me working on most of their stuff. Over a hundred swords, spears and pieces of armour. Getting it shined up and action ready."

[terryt3o3]

Magog’s eyes widen in apprehension, an order of this size is very unordinary. “That’s incredible; we don’t normally get orders of this size. If they’re getting their gear ready something must be in the wind.” Magog can’t help but worry about what this could mean for the comparatively calm town and his newfound way of life. He knows that his kind is not particularly welcomed by most of the empire. This is going to sit on his mind for the rest of the day.

[fatmancer]

Deciding its not really worth the trouble, i say "Alright i guess. But only a couple, and just this once. You rack my bill up too high though, and i swear to the dealer i'll not be the one paying the tab.". i sit back hoping that my offer is good enough, and wanting to get on to todays business

[Doogeedoo]

"But why? That's the thing, though. I am worried that something bigger might be happening than initially anticipated. But I tend to over think things, don't I? Rydgin feels his stomach as it growls and notices the time. Mess will be happening soon and boy can he not wait. After the intense drilling early this morning he could use a good meal to recharge him for the potential onslaught later in the day. He cannot just leave, though. The troops have not been ordered into the Mess Hall yet. Instead, Rydgin gets a head start on his cleaning and polishing of his leather and weapons since the inspectors may be coming.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
The half-orc grunts. "They're getting ready for something big. Don't go spreading word though. Not our job to question the clients, and I only get these because I don't share information. Finish your work and don't worry about it." He stretches again and returns to his own work.

Our Nameless Spy
"Done." Kasha grabs a server this time and gets her order brought to her. She piles her eggs onto a roll and grabs you as she walks out the door, barely leaving you enough time to drop a quarter copper to pay. She wolfs her breakfast down while escorting you through town. The streets are fairly empty, though starting to get busier.

Rydgin
Helvani rests on his bunk, staring at the bottom of yours. "I don't know. Whatever's going on, there's nothing we can do about it. Just work on your drills and try not to draw any attention to yourself."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin looks over his shoulder at Helvani, "Should this be kept hush-hush? Do any of the others know about this?" as sparks come off the sword as he sharpens it. Rydgin looks around the barrack at his fellow troops looking to see if anyone is eavesdropping.

[polymeraseii]

Azden eyes the stones and although he is slightly disgusted by the farmers appearance and smell asks,"May I take a closer look at a few of those stones Mr. Grigan?" He wonders if he or Daral has seen any of these symbols before or if they are familiar in any way.
Azden then looks around the room to see if it has filled up anymore and if there are anymore noticeable persons of interest. He is becoming more and more enthralled in the bizzareness of this meeting.

[TwasBrillig]

As happy as Hana is to hear from her favourite professor, something seems a little fishy. It can't hurt to make sure things start off going her way. She steps inside for some fresh paper and writes a reply:

Hello,
Thank you for the letter. It has been much too long. Let's meet in the Grinning Boar Inn at one o'clock today. I look forward to hearing how you have been.
Hana

She seals the paper and heads out to the street to flag down another messenger, gripping her staff a little more tightly than necessary.

[listenheed]

Mel should've known she'd be in the company of beggars. She already knew that it was often among the downtrodden where one could find those who had the strength to stand back up. Taking a quick look around, she felt the weight of these people's discomfort. Her eyes fell to one particular hobo, who seemed in need of a boost. She approached him; there was no use waiting around for someone when she could get something accomplished in the meantime.

"You," she addressed him. "Did you always see yourself as someone who begs?"

[shaddy_24]

Rygdin
Helvani considers your question carefully. "I'd be careful around some of the more loose-mouthed or jumpy. Wouldn't be good to have them panicking or spreading it too far." He shifts on his bed again. "Just keep an eye out. Try to look average, should help prevent any problems." He glances over as an ugly looking half-orc wanders into the room. "And keep quite around Riot there. Wouldn't do any good to let him know." Riot was he nickname for the burly half-orc. He was well known for getting himself sentenced to slavery for causing a vicious riot and killing over 20 people at random.

Azden
Grigan pulls a few out of the bag to show you. What looks like stone is actually petrified wood. The carvings are complicated and no two are exactly the same, and you can't identify any meaning from them. Looking around, you can also see that the room is getting pretty full. It looks like almost 50 people have already arrived, and there's still a few seats available.

Hana
It isn't long before you grab another street urchin to run your message, sending them on their way with an eighth-copper. You have some time to wait before the meeting to wander around town or get some work done.

Mel
The beggar looks blankly up at you. "What do you even mean?"

[polymeraseii]

After taking a quick look at the symbols Azden thanks Grigan for showing him and bids him farewell. Azden then looks at Daral and says "We should head back to our seats and wait for the meeting to start." On the way back to their seats Azden thinks to himself about the markings and their origins.
But he has to focus and stay alert, today he is supposed to be gathering information and looking for his next target. Throughout history Azden has read and seen too much pointless suffering all because of corrupted leaders. He has vowed to eliminate all that he can, and how convenient that so many important people are attending this meeting. Though Azden has always been extremely cautious and must be sure that he has the right target and method for dealing with the target. Daral should have some valuable information for him after the conference, the planning shall hopefully begin tonight.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin looks over his shoulder seeing Riot enter the room. He puts his armour on, hides a small blade in his belt, and puts the polish away. Standing up, Rydgin promptly walks away, attempts to hide his nervousness, and walks over to Shelby's bunk; a tall, brawny human who took Rydgin in as a friend when he first showed up. Shelby is with another human, a kobold, and an elf; Norman, Ka'iln, and Faldrin, respectively. Rydgin often hangs around Shelby whenever Riot is about because of the clear size difference and terrible history.

Rydgin was caught up in Riot's last rage while running close quarters combat drills. He was held up over Riot's head and about to be thrown or snapped in half. Rydgin does not really remember the details since he was so scared, but was rescued because a few Lieutenants and Officers came in time to tranquilize Riot.

"Hey Shelby. I was wondering if you've heard any news lately," nodding to the others as he approaches the group. Rydgin looks over his shoulder again to make sure Riot is keeping his distance, placing a hand on the sword handle.

[listenheed]

Mel almost grins; it plays on her face as a smirk. She lowers herself to the ground beside the beggar and crosses her legs.

"I mean, when you were a child, did you ever think, 'One day, I want to be on the street. I want to watch people better off pass me by, and I want to ask them for money.'? Was this your dream?" She holds her hand out to the world in front of them. "If it was, congratulations; I can't do anything for you, and I'm sorry for wasting your time."

She turns to him, making a half shrug and bringing her hands together. "If not, you probably have some thinking to do. And I might know someone who could help."

[fatmancer]

I follow behind her quietly, deciding to familiarize myself further with the layout of the town rather then to continue our previous idle banter. Specifically I make a mental note of places that I could use to hide should anything come up, signs of uninhabited buildings, and any roads or alleys that look like they would provide good escape routes for when I need to lose a tail. I'm going to be here for a while if everything goes well, and my current understanding of the town's layout is almost entirely from maps that I memorized before coming here.

[shaddy_24]

Azden
Daral grabs one of the carvings and holds onto it. "I'll see if I can get someone to look into this. Got some connections with some notable mages, might be able to find something." Grigan nods energetically, though he looks like he's completely lost.

Daral examines the carving closely as you return to your seats. "Any thoughts on these things? Old wood, can't tell what type. Weird carvings."

Rydgin
The big human glances over as you arrive, then grabs you and pulls you into the middle of the group. "Come on my friend, no need to worry! You are among friends and allies!" The others join in the group, Faldrin pulling out some dice and a few tokens. Being slaves, you don't have much to gamble with, but these tokens can get you some extra rations, a favour, or possibly even a luxury item if you're lucky. Helvani moves over as well when he catches sight of the dice. He can't resist a game.

Ka'iln looks at your weapon and snorts. "Need to keep training with that kukri. You should be holding one instead of that weapon." Shelby, meanwhile, leans in close to you and whispers as quietly as he can "I have heard no news lately. What have you heard?"

Mel
The drunken beggar stares at you. "Who do you know that can help a useless drunk like me?"

Our Nameless Spy
Kasha speaks very little as she leads you around, gesturing to a few buildings or locations that she deems important. Nothing is of immediate note, but you file away all the information for future reference. It isn't long before she stops in front of a simple bookshop. "Here's where you'll go to make your reports and meet with our mentor. Don't come by more often then you need to, no point in drawing attention to it." She pulls out a key and moves up to unlock the door. "Be ready for this."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin notices the dice being pulled out and watches them closely as he puts his hand in his pocket. He feels around and sighs as he used up his last token getting an extra ration a few days ago after one of the larger drilling days. Rydgin looks over at Faldrin and waves his hand, "Not right now."

"It was the closest thing i could find," addressing Ka'iln, "I'd rather have a weapon than nothing at all, right?" Rydgin then wraps his arm around Shelby's waist and walks him away to try and make the conversation as private as possible.

"Keep this on the down low, okay? Don't get others riled up." Rydgin takes a moment for a breath before beginning the explanation. "I have heard word that an inspector might be coming around to watch and grade our performance. I don't know whether they are taking the best for a special mission or whether they are getting rid of the worst. I think the best spot is to be right in the middle. Have you noticed the excess in drills and the demand for perfection lately?"

[fatmancer]

"Be ready for what?" I think to myself, somewhat wary of the out of place warning. I feel myself tense up slightly, and decide that there is no reason to be wary of the door opening at the very least. Being a bookshop there is no way the door would be trapped or anything like that... Right? I find myself unconsciously moving out of the direct path of the door, and feel a little silly.

[TwasBrillig]

Hana watches the messenger scurry off down the street as she taps her staff against the ground thoughtfully. She wonders if any of her friends in the city know her old teacher. It couldn't hurt to ask around. Besides, she thinks, I need to go shopping. I'm out of bread, and some new armour wouldn't be a bad idea either. She locks the door and heads off to her regular bakery, already eager for a fresh loaf of raisin bread.

[shaddy_24]

Rygdin
Shelby looks nervous when you mention an inspector. "I don't like that. I'll spread the word to the others, make sure everyone's aware."

Your conversation is interrupted when you hear a call, and you see Captain Pire (a heavily built dwarf) at the entrance to the room. Everyone snaps to attention, and the captain enters with the garrison's mage company. "At ease. Lunch will be served early in the barracks, then we will be meeting in the yard. Come equipped. Dismissed!" Everyone begins running about the room, gathering their equipment and getting ready for lunch.

Jeyban
"KASHA!" A voice bellows from inside the shop. "Get in here! I need you to get this ready!" The yelling is so loud that it echoes down the street. Kasha groans and responds "I'm coming!" She stomps into the shop, leaving the door open for you.

Hana
The streets are just starting to get busy as you head out to check out the shops. Street hawkers are everywhere, offering food and good luck trinkets, and beggars crowd the alleyways. You should be able to meet up with your friends without any issues.
Feel free to make up a few friends to meet up with. Give me a name, race and notable traits, I'll handle the rest.

Magog
It's bordering on 11 when you hear a commotion outside the shop. A crowd of soldiers enter, talking quickly with Bareth and gathering any equipment available. A few come over to where you are and begin collecting anything you're finished with.

Azden
The meeting starts up before you're ready to answer, with several speakers calling for your attention. Everyone settles into place. You are then treated to several hours worth of wasted time, as discussions about tax rates, military expenditure and civil maintenance are argued back and forth. Certainly nothing that should warrant an emergency meeting and this many important people. Lunch is called around 10:30, and Daral stands up, stretching his legs. "Let's go get something to eat. I feel like something big is going to be brought up after lunch."

[fatmancer]

I stand there for a moment, confused, and then decide nothing is going to change from just waiting here. I decide to enter the building, still somewhat wary due to Kasha's warning. "Well, no sense standing here all day" I whisper to myself, as I walk through the door.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin stands at attention upon the call of the captain's entrance. After the captain speaks and leaves, Rydgin gets bumped and nudged as people bustle around gathering their equipment. He looks at Shelby and pats his back "Don't tell anyone," as Rydgin scuttles to his bunk and trades his short sword with his kukri and equips the crossbow on his hip and quiver on his back. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out his token and stares at it contemplating whether or not he wants an extra ration today.

[listenheed]

Mel hadn't noticed the beggar's signs of drunkenness until she was able to sit this close. Now that the sting of alcohol and his slight slurring were a tad more obvious, she leans back just a touch.

"Actually, what I should have said was that I know of two who can help you," she says as she points a finger at him, "One of which is you. You've stayed alive, haven't you? You're still here, and clearly you've found ways to cope." She manages to hold back a cough, brought on by the stench of his alcohol-stung breath. "That may not be the best way of dealing with it, but it's something. Some small drive to keep you going.

"It's that drive that the Grey Sage can work with to help you," she continues, resting her elbows on her knees. "Now, you've probably heard a lot about gods, being in your position, and written off most of it. But the Sage is different; he believes in you as much as you believe in him. He's good for a nudge to get you headed in the right direction. He'll get to know you, see what kind of inner strength you have, and help you learn how to use it. But he won't tell you the answers outright, 'cause then you'll never learn." Mel shrugs. "It worked pretty well for me. Maybe it could for you."

In terms of the person who's supposed to meet her here, I left the dream deliberately vague so you could bring in whatever person you'd think would be appropriate. We hadn't discussed it too much, beyond the connection to the Sage, and I didn't really know how much power I'd have in terms of the specifics of this mentor. Mel's just trying to do some good while she's waiting, so feel free to bring someone in whenever, or we could discuss what this person's like some other time.

[shaddy_24]

Jayban
Entering the shop, you see that it looks pretty disused. Thick layers of dust cover the shelves, and some of the books look worn out and damaged. Following Kasha into a back room, you're forced to pause at the doorway as she squeezes through past piles of books. Stacks of books form a narrow passageway through the room, leading to what appears to be a desk completely buried in paper and books. You can only assume that there is a desk, as the refuse piles up on the floor around it over the head of the person sitting within the pile. Hunched over several open books at once is a grossly overweight dwarf with wild, tangled hair. He attempts to rise to his feet when Kasha approaches him, but gives up and instead hauls out a giant book bag. "Quickly, quickly. Get these delivered, and make sure the new runner gets his bag as well. We don't have a lot of time, and I need as many feet on the street as you can manage. Also, do make sure to feed poor Scurvy on your way out. I think I forgot again yesterday." He spares a glance at you for just a moment. "You. I've got a house set aside for you. It's well within your wage range, so make sure you keep your payments up. Ten copper a month, 16 meals included. A good bargain, and you should have lots of free time to get your work done. Kasha will fill you in on everything else, I need to get back to my maps." He turns away again as Kasha hauls a second bag over and dumps it in your arms.

Rygdin
Shelby has just enough time to nod to you before everyone gets lost in the shuffle. It's just your luck as you head towards the kitchen that you find yourself next to Riot. The giant half-ogre looks down at you and grins. "Hope we spar this afternoon. Got a tip. Hope to see you." He laughs as he bullies through the crowd to his position in line.

Mel
The drunk stares at you blankly. While the booze was probably slowing his thoughts, it looks like what you're saying has affected him to a powerful degree. You're distracted from him at this point though, as you feel a powerful presence wash over you. Looking around, you can easily pick out the source. They look like just another beggar, walking around bare-footed and in tattered clothing, but he is unmistakable to you. He moves down the street calmly, offering quiet words to some people and gestures of support to others. Any pedestrians unconsciously move out of his way as he heads in your direction. Without any doubts, he is a Speaker for the Grey Sage.

[Doogeedoo]

An inquisitive look flushes over Rydgin's face as he grabs his lunch tray watching Riot shove his way to the front of the line. (A tip...?), he thinks to himself. Rydgin shuffles forward in line. He gets opposite the servers and nods at the first two as they glop his serving onto his plate. Rydgin shuffles to the last server and smiles as the female half-ogre hands him his drink. "Hello, Nagreek. How are you this fine afternoon?"

[terryt3o3]

upon hearing footsteps Magog begins to shout " Bareth, are you fi..." his words falter as he realizes that the oncoming foot steps are armored, he quickly grabs his backpack, and moves towards the back door. He curses him self for leaving Corporal Quackers in the front room while he was in the back, Bareth can probably take care of him for a short while. the solders begin to collect the weapons which removes some of the anxiety that Magog had suddenly been feeling. Magog begins to stammer " not all of those are finished yet" but it's no use.

[fatmancer]

"16 coppers with meals included sounds like a great pric-" I only get that far into my sentence before Kasha drops an extremely heavy bag in my arms. My knees buckle from the shock of the sudden weight, and as I begin to follow Kasha out I find I can hardly stumble along behind her due to the weight of the bag. Maybe I need to start building some muscles, I think to myself. Just before exiting the room, I turn around and say "Thanks for finding me a place to stay!"

[shaddy_24]

Rygdin
The half-ogre woman looks back and forth quickly, then hands you an extra drink. "Take it. I may be heading out this afternoon, might not be back here. Good luck."

Magog
The soldiers ignore you entirely at first, until you speak up. One of the ones outside the main group seems to notice you for the first time. "Hey, we got a 'born here. You sure it's a good idea to let it know what we're up to?" Two other soldiers, place their hands cautiously on their weapons and begin edging towards you.

Jayban
Your new boss barely pauses to wave at you, mumbling something to himself. "We need to move the building 10 feet north, or else the alignment will be off..." Kasha rolls her eyes and drags you out into the main area again.

"Help me look for a mangy looking pigeon. It's too stupid to keep itself alive, and Gorash forgets to feed it all the time, but he'll be heartbroken if something happens to it." She leaves her bag by the door and begins wandering around the shop.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin takes the extra drink and sets it on his tray. "Wait, why won't you be around thi-", unfortunately, a military lunch line is no place for idle conversation as he is pushed aside and out of the line. Managing to keep balance and from being too jostled, everything remains on the tray. (Good luck? Is there something going on I don't know about? Is this about the inspector? Maybe she's just wishing me luck on my drills and spars today. She has never told me good luck before. I have to calm down a bit.)

Rydgin looks around the Mess Hall and sees his usual table. It looks as though he is the first one there as he scampers along and sits in his usual spot; the side facing the door on the very left side. With his spoon in hand, Rydgin stares at his tray and gets deep in thought. Things don't seem very normal today. Strange things have happened on the reserve before, but something itched Rydgin the wrong way.

[polymeraseii]

Azden agrees with Daral and they make their way to the lunch table and have themselves some cheap food supplied by the meeting. After they have their fill they head back to their seats for the rest of the meeting which they desperately hope to be more interesting then the first half. Azden asks Daral if he can look at the stone. After examining the stone for awhile he thought he could sense something odd about it but before he could think anymore of the matter the latter half of the meeting began..

[listenheed]

A grin breaks over Melindra's face. She gently nudges the drunk. "If what I've said means anything to you, I highly suggest speaking to someone like that," she says, pointing out the Speaker. " A Speaker for the Sage; they can help you out a lot more than I can. It's their job." She un-crosses her legs and pushes herself up, smiling down at the beggar. "I'm sorry for cutting this short, but do have to leave you now, so if you'll excuse me..." She lets her hand rest for a second on the beggar's shoulder before she moves forward to meet the Speaker.

[terryt3o3]

Magog notices the solders anxiety, and sees that this could go badly. In the empire he is always treated badly, as are most of his kind, normally it is just mistrust. This time though, he is worried. He stammers out " I'm the apprentice here, not all of the order is complete. I can stop all other work, and focus on your order, it should be finished in a few hours." He stands there nervously waiting to see what the solders will say.

[shaddy_24]

Rygdin
Your brooding is abruptly interrupted by the arrival of Partin, an unusually skinny and sneaky human. He was another member of your scouting squad, though he tended to jump very sporadically between groups outside of drills and duties. "Have you heard?" He grins and leans in conspiratorially. "They're cleaning house. Might be getting dangerous out here, need to get rid of the incompetents. Look on your best, any mess ups could get you shipped out. Or demoted." He giggles and pokes at his own wristband. "Though I'm not sure how much lower they could demote the group of us."

Azden
You find yourself drawn into the symbol on the chunk of wood. It's incredibly complex, and you can see what appear to be smaller symbols carved within the deeper lines of the main symbol. If they were done on purpose, this must have taken ages to do. Who would put that sort of time and effort into such a thing... Your thoughts and suppositions are interrupted by Daral shaking your shoulder slightly. "Something is up." He sounds somewhat nervous, and gestures towards the door as...
A finely dressed dwarf walks in. The floor immediately gives way for him, as you see even the high ranking military officers present scramble to give him room. No one speaks to him directly, and everyone is hurrying back to their seats. He reaches the center podium, immediately surrendered to him by the meeting chair. Before everyone in the room has even reached their seats again, he's started to speak. "For those of you who do not know, I am Imperial Legate Iovit. I have come at the behest of the Emperor himself to perform an inspection of this town, its defenses and military, and yourselves. The Emperor has reason to believe that an incursion force of rebels may cast their eye upon this town in the near future, and my duty is to ensure that Carronil is ready." There is a shocked silence through the room as everyone freezes where they stand.

Imperial Legate is one of the highest level ranks available in the entire Empire. Less than a hundred have been appointed in the nearly 400 years of the Empire, and they bypass all ranks in both the military and the Agency. They only person they are responsible to is the Emperor himself.

Melindra
The Speaker's face breaks out into a sad smile as you approach him. "Ah, a young Champion approaches. Walk with me for a time, we have much to discuss on why you have been called here." He takes your hand lightly for just a moment and directs you to walk alongside him. "Tell me first; what have you seen of Carronil?"

Magog
The soldiers initially seem to care little for what you're saying, until Berath elbows past them and turns to glare at them. "He's been checked. No ties outside the Empire, and he is not a threat. Take your equipment and stop threatening my apprentice." The soldiers hesitate for a moment, then the one who first spoke gestures for them to stand down. They relax their grip on their weapons and begin gathering up the equipment, even the stuff that isn't completed yet. Anything that's serviceable is taken. Berath notable deflates and exhales shakily as they leave.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin's heart skips a beat as Partin startles him. He shoves Partin back as a reflex, then takes a minute to regain his composure before taking a spoon of slop. Rydgin goes to wipe his mouth on his sleeve, but stops just as Partin says they are cleaning house and cleans up with the nappy instead. "I have heard, Partin. Apparently news has been travelling around. But no one seems really on edge or suspicious. People either do not seem to care or are really good actors here."

Rydgin raises his arm and clangs his slave brace against Partin's. A bit of a scout squad act to show unity and togetherness; symbol of hope that the braces may soon be off.

Squad mates all know to take what Partin says with a grain of salt. More like a mine's worth. But something struck Rydgin as sincere and trust in what Partin was saying. Maybe because of all the evidence that seemed to come forth. The excessive drills, the orders of cleanliness and perfection. The discipline for messing up. Helvani's heresay. Nagreek's 'Good luck'. "How many people are actually aware of this? Do you know why they are weeding? Where do the failures go?

[listenheed]

Melindra flinches at the touch of the Speaker's hand, but she does take it as she falls into step beside him. Her eyebrows pop up in an expression of uncertainty. "What have I seen? Not much yet, to be honest." She makes an open-palmed shrug. "A motel, some streets, a beggar or two... I haven't had anything to look for yet." Despite the warm-fuzzies she is experiencing, since the Sage apparently had enough confidence in her to send her a Speaker, she silently hopes the conversation would be less... talkative. He could give her instructions, and she could carry them out just fine. But his promise of "much to discuss" leaves her a bit uncomfortable. There are several reasons she's not a Speaker herself.

[fatmancer]

I follow Kashas instructions and start lookimg for the pidgeon with her, dropping my bag near the exit. With all the books piled up its a challenge even moving around the building and I find myself wondering how Kasha manages to cover at least twice as much ground as i do without so much as grazing a stack of books. In a matter of minutes, Kasha finds the bird and feeds it. I might not have contributed as much to the search, but at least I tried to help find it. I start making my way to the front of the bookshop to grab my bag since we have nothing left to do here at the moment.

[CrimsonWolf42]

A Cloaked Traveler
the sun shines down the alley into my eyes waking me from a deep sleep. I get up and make sure I have all of my gear on me, and all except the few copper pieces I made form my last time working accounted for. " hmm I didn't think that I spent all my money, 2, 3, 4... I also don't remember buying that much whiskey, guess that checks out." realizing that I'm broke I start to head to the market to try and refill my pockets. "I hope the market is busy today, I'm going to need the money"

[terryt3o3]

Magog stands waiting until the solders leave, he then proceeds to put down his backpack. He looks at Bareth, then says " thanks for helping me there, i always get a little nervous when dealing with the empire's solders..... if you don,t mind me asking, what did you mean when you said i had been checked out? is there something that you're not telling me, or that i should know?"

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Partin keeps his quiet smile as you ask your questions. "Oh, the purges haven't started yet. But they're going to." He looks around again, and leans in close. "They're gonna get rid of me. I'm too much of a threat, figuring things like this out before they happen. Keep this secret." Partin was always paranoid, but this was further than usual. He goes to stand up again, but Helvani shows up at this point, catching his arm.

"Where are you running off to, Partin? Settle down, we need to figure out how we're handling things as a squad."

Melindra
"Well, you have not been here long yet. There is much to discover about this town. The people have strong hearts, though it may not be immediately obvious to one who does not know where to look." He stares upwards at the sky as he walks. "Be sure you know where to look. You cannot always rely on others to look for you, and with what is coming, strong hearts and spirits will be necessary. Look for the Sage's influence in others, and ensure its maturation." He glances over at you. "For now, live among the beggars and outcasts. While you'll find crippling weaknesses in many of them, their strengths vastly outweigh them. There is also much to learn from them, both about this town, and the true power of the will." He continues to walk in silence for a while, waiting to see if you have anything to say.

Jayban
When Kasha said mangy, she really meant it. The pigeon has barely any feathers, and rather than cooing, sort of squawks. It also looks as dumb as she said it was, struggling to tell food from the ground around it. You have to help her almost force feed it to finish up.

Returning to where you left your bag, the two of you haul them outside and set off to start your deliveries.

The Cloaked Traveler
Direct sunlight is almost blinding as you leave the alleyway you were sleeping in. Your head and stomach both object violently to this abuse, and you have to struggle for a moment to keep standing. The feeling fades away quickly, and you can set off towards the choice areas. You catch sight of someone approaching you quickly from the side and spin to see Dieara sliding in close. Another pickpocket and scoundrel like yourself, she slips her arm over your shoulder and whispers into your ear. "Be careful around the main market. There's a lot more guards then normal, and a lot of farmers and country yokels. Lot of risk, for not a lot of money." She pecks you lightly on the cheek, then breaks off again. She gives you a moment to respond before heading off with a cheerful wave. "Bye love!"

Magog
Bareth sighs and begins cleaning up the shop. Equipment and supplies were scattered about the room, and your lunch was overturned by an over-enthusiastic soldier during their supply run. "Yeah. When you first started coming by and expressing your interest in working here, I got a letter from someone. Never figured out who, but it had a military seal on it, and was delivered by a soldier. Said they'd checked up on you, looked into your actions and recent past. Nothing suspicious, so I was free to employ or train you as I saw fit." He sighs again. "I was gonna hire you anyway, but that sort of got me nervous. By the way, good thing you didn't run there. You looked ready to bolt."

[listenheed]

Mel bites the inside of her lip; she had thought that her being here was for the betterment of the community, but she's starting to suspect that maybe this was for her own betterment. Apparently what she had been doing up until now wasn't enough, or wasn't right, if he wanted to change her.

As for what the speaker is asking her to do, to stay here for a while, rooted... She lets out a small sigh. If that's what he wants.

"Am I to beg alongside them as well?" she asks. "Or am I to help them help themselves? Should I play it by ear?"

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin wrinkles his nose and rolls his eyes at the types of conspiracies Partin can muster up like being plucked out for figuring out the news. If that were true, then plenty other soldiers would be gone and there wouldn't be much of a force.

As Helvani approaches, Rydgin shuffles over allowing more room for him to sit. Rydgin grasps Partin's other arm and pulls him down into the seat between them. "They aren't going to get rid of you, Partin. You are one of our best stealth units. We'd hate to see you go," Rydgin lying between his teeth. "We just have to look out for each other. Try to pair up with one another during spars. Lend hands during training and the obstacle courses," trying to provide some form of ease to keep Partin from wigging out and potentially making a scene. Rydgin just looks to Helvani for some help controlling and interrogating Partin.

[terryt3o3]

" ya, i was a little spooked there. Do they always check out dragonborns in the empire, or is this something special? i mean, does this sort of thing happen often around here? Magog says. he then proceeds to begin righting furniture that got knocked over during the raid, while waiting for an answer.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I think to myself "interesting, is something big happening"." Guess I'll have to check it out... after I hit the nearby eastern market on my way though, got to try and refill my pockets. try not to get into too much trouble Dieara." . After that I wave goodbye and start to head to the eastern market, hopeful that the events in the main market will make my job easier and more plentiful. then whispering to myself " I hope I don't miss anything to interesting."

[polymeraseii]

Azden stares blankly for a second while his mind processes what he just heard, he looks to his left to see Daral give an extremely uneasy look. He whispers to Daral, "I think wed better go get prepared after this." Azden looks around to see the reaction of some of the higher ups, then waits for the meeting to continue.

[shaddy_24]

Mel
The Speaker almost seems to read your mind."You won't be here long. Things are happening, and we will all have a big part to play. All of our roles will become apparent soon."

"Do whatever you must. No one is complete. We all have a journey to make and things to learn. I have just as much to learn as you." As you continue walking, you find that you've come out into a central market. Crowds of people visit carts and tents, the scent of cooked meat fills the air, and you can see a number of guards standing at attention at street corners. "The market is far busier today then it normally is, with farmers and hunters from outside the city here buying food and supplies. Wander the crowd for a time and see if you can uncover why."

Rydgin
Helvani waves to Faldrin, the last member of your squad aside from Corporal Harrin, but he was rarely present during free time and meals anyway. "Be ready for a rough afternoon. More people seem to be catching on to whatever's happening. I don't think whatever it is was planned. Anything as large as this seems to be should have been apparent a long time ago."

Magog
Bareth scavenges what he can from your lunches and takes a bite of bread. "I don't actually know. You're the first dragonborn around here recently, and the only one to stay for a long time. Most tend to wander off when they can't find a good fight around here."

The Cloaked Traveler
"Good idea, I'm sure it's a lot less busy there." Dieara heads off in the other direction. It looked like she was heading towards the poorer section of town. Not many marks out that way, though you could usually pick up some interesting information from the bums.

You spend a little time circling the eastern markets. Several of the regular merchants have set up extra tents, and the area is almost packed. Mostly locals it looks like, and very few guards outside the merchant's personal guards. Sticking to the edges of the area, you make some easy money off a couple marks and walk away a few Copper richer. Wandering over to the main market, you find it absolutely packed. As Dieara said, most of them look like they're from out of town, and a large number of guards are standing around on street corners. It looks like most of the guards on duty have been pulled out to here to deal with the unusual crowd.

Azden
Daral almost looks queesy. "For what reason would they send a Legate? What in all the infinite worlds brought him here? This isn't simply to do with a rebellion." The rest of the room meanwhile has erupted into shouting and chaos. Iovit's voice pierces through the clamor, and silence quickly falls so everyone can hear him again. "My first order of business will be to place myself in command. Reserve soldiers are to be brought into active duty, and I want all skilled craftsmen to be put to work immediately. I will see to the current standing of our military, and begin work on the defenses. Send criers about town, we want every able body helping in some way. After that, I will be meeting with representatives of each of the noble houses and discussing what they may offer in the coming times." Looking around, you see a lot of high ranking house members who look offended by what he is saying, but no one dares to challenge his word. He stares around the room for a long time, making eye contact with you at one point. When no one offers a comment, question or objection, he nods once. "Very well. Meeting adjourned. I will be in the barracks this afternoon if anyone has need to send me a message." And with that, he turns and walks out of the room, chased by several military advisers and officers.

[terryt3o3]

Magog stands there for a moment as the words sink in, that this is new, something must be about to happen If the empire is changeing routine to do something new. After a minute Magog just walks over to bareth and takes a bite out of the sandwich still in bareths hand.
" something must be coming, solders just grabbing everything, implementing background checks, this isn't right. We can't even prepare because we don't know what it it. We should probably get back to work." Magog stands and walks back over to the anvil " you know not all dragonborn just want to fight right?" he says as he picks up his hammer and begins to look for something to work on.

[polymeraseii]

They wait for a few people to leave before heading out themselves. Azden says to Daral, "I think we'd better get geared up and ready, something big must be going on if the Legate came all the way to tell us about a rebel attack... Let's head to the blacksmith and get ourselves fitted with some armour." On the way there they stop at the house to pick up their Family daggers and strap them in such a way that they are not readily visible but accessible. The daggers blade is a flat black that does not give off a glare and the sheath is padded so as to not make a sound when drawing the weapon, on the base of the blade is the family crest, a shield containing 3 quadrants. The upper left is of a dagger, the upper right is of an alchemy set, and the bottom is of a foxes silhouette. They arrive at the blacksmiths in no time at all and wait to speak with the smithy.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin nods to Helvani in agreement. "We all need to work together and keep our cool. If we think to much about what is going on and not our drills and training we will slip up and make mistakes. We need to keep an eye out for each other. Keep each other focused and confident."

Rydgin looks around the squad and eases his grip on Partin's arm. "We had all better get a big lunch. We need the energy for the big day today," as he lifts his arm up, hand in a fist, exposing his slave brace to his squad.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Bareth joins you in cleaning up the shop. "Hopefully we'll find something out soon. Something that's making the soldiers this jumpy can't be kept secret for long." A knock at the door interrupts you, and Bareth waves at you to continue while he goes to check on it. You briefly hear a couple voices, then Bareth returns with a heavy envelope filled with sheets of paper. He clears his throat, and says in a course voice. "Don't worry about work for the rest of the day. I'll clean up in here, we'll catch up on the other orders tomorrow. Head home and enjoy a day off." He puts the envelope down, takes a few sheets of paper and hurries into his living area. It's now around 11:15.

Azden
There are only two notable blacksmiths in Caronil, and one is the obvious choice. They're more expensive on average, but they fill all military and noble orders, and their work is of far higher quality. Odd for a half ogre. And so, that's where you find yourself. The very abrupt end to the meeting means you arrive only shortly after 11. (Your move on how you want to approach the smithy)

Rydgin
Helvani returns the gesture, though somewhat halfheartedly. Partin and Faldrin follow suit, and the rest of your lunch is taken up with brief conversation and heavy eating. It's about quarter after eleven when you're all called to attention and brought into the yard for drills again. This time, it's obvious that there's a few people there who aren't normally. The Captain is present, along with a richly dressed dwarf you haven't seen before. With him is a roughly dressed human, looks to be a farmer of some sort. He's carrying a big sack and an open sheet of paper, looks like a map. You're quickly ordered into attention before these strangers.

Jayban
You and Kasha spend the rest of the morning to early afternoon running around town with your deliveries. You quickly find out that your bag holds not just books, but also thick, sealed envelopes and wrapped loaves of bread. Most of the bread is delivered to various homeless or apparently low-income civilians, and some goes to the local church for the Spirit. Envelopes and books go to various small businesses, including a blacksmith and several shops. By around 2 in the afternoon, you're pretty sure you know the whole town back and forth from how many corners and edges you've visited. Kasha pulls the last packets out of her bag, another loaf of bread with what looks like some salted meat, and an envelope. "This is where we split for now. This should tide you over for a little while." She hands both packages to you. "Lunch and work. We're also right by your place, I can show you the way if you'd like."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin raises a brow to Helvani noting his facial expression and a slight change in his body temperature as we clink. Out on the fields, there is clearly a stressful vibe in the air. Some of the young ones are even trembling slightly. What is this guy about? noticing the high class dwarf. There's no doubt this guy is the inspector. A new face and all of high command is here? They have to be trying to make an impression. Rydgin stands at attention in the second row of his platoon and does his best to listen in on what the dwarf is talking about to command and the farmer.

[terryt3o3]

Magog, puts his hammer away, and then walks over to bareth's door, and pauses for a second. he then knocks lightly on the door and enters before waiting too long for an answer. as he walks into the living space he asks "whats the matter boss? that envelope seems to have distressed you." he stands in the doorway, and shuffles his feet waiting.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I look into the crowd making sure to notice where the guards are. Then I cautiously, and quietly move through the crowd and try to listen for key information as to why such a big gathering is occurring, as well as finding out some important-sounding names. after this I head to the poor district to try and figure out what is going on with Dieara.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
As everyone settles into position, the Captain calls for silence and the unknown dwarf steps forward. "My name is Imperial Legate Iovit. I have come to perform an inspection of this town's military and defenses at the behest of the Emperor himself. It has been determined that Carronil is at risk of being targeted by rebel forces in the near future. As such, you will be running through all of your drills over this afternoon, and I will be observing." The Captain begins issuing commands, and everyone moves into position for drills.

You get 5 XP, and you have to start rolling now. I need a Fighting, Shooting, Stealth, Agility and Vigor check.

Imperial Legate is one of the highest level ranks available in the entire Empire. Less than a hundred have been appointed in the nearly 400 years of the Empire, and they bypass all ranks in both the military and the Agency. They only person they are answerable to is the Emperor himself.

Magog
Bareth is digging through his desk as you enter. More papers are piled up around the room, and several pieces of equipment have been pulled out and set on the floor. It looks like the parts for heavy armour, more than one suit. Before he can answer you however, there's a knock at the front door. Bareth starts, then gestures at you to go answer.

Cloaked Traveler
From what you can pick up, it seems like a lot of the farmers have just arrived in town under suggestions from some Imperial Rangers. There's all sorts of rumours being spread, from invasion to government conspiracy. The most common thing you're hearing however is that everyone's hunting for somewhere to live, and basic supplies are getting expensive.

When you return to the poor quarters, it's easy to find Dieara. She waves at you as you approach her. "Good hunting?"

Rydgin and Azdan
Slight adjustment to the history of the Legates, there's been less than 20 of them over 400 years. I realized that less than 100 over 400 years still averaged around 1/4 years, so I decided to cut it down somewhat.

[terryt3o3]

Magog turns and exits Bareths living space, as he walks to he front door, he shouts " just a moment, I'm coming" he opens the front door.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I wave back to Dieara as I approach her and say" well I got a few coppers from the eastern market. As for figuring out what is going on not much, except that apparently living space and supplies are becoming scarce. How about you, what did you find out?"

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin runs his drills as requested by his superiors making sure to put his game-face on. Before each drill he thinks to himself Maybe if I do well in some and poorly in others, they will not get rid of me and will not send me anywhere. Like someone who has potential but is not fit. Maybe if I do poorly they might just let me go. Rydgin just does his best to blunder and hopes to make a not-so-good impression on the dwarf to not be chosen.


Fighting Roll(s)
[roll0]

Shooting Roll(s)
[roll1]

Stealth Roll(s)
[roll2]

Agility Roll(s)
[roll3]

Vigour Roll(s)
[roll4]

[Doogeedoo]

Wild Die
Fighting
[roll0]

Shooting
[roll1]

Stealth
[roll2]

Agility
[roll3]

Vigour
[roll4]

[polymeraseii]

Azden and Daral casually approach the blacksmiths and ask the large half ogre how much it would cost to make plate armour and how long it will take to make. Azden looks around to see that the streets seem fairly peaceful, While Daral speaks quietly to himself, "I wonder when they will tell everyone else?"

[shaddy_24]

The Cloaked Traveler
Dieara grabs you and pulls you over to an open patio outside a small bar. She orders a pair of drinks for you, sending the waiter on his way with a cute wave. "There's way too many for this to be small. On top of that, there's too many Rangers. Should only be about half a dozen with the local garrison, but from what I've heard there seems to be at least twice as many running around right now."

Azden and Magog
Magog opens the door to find a pair of finely dressed dwarves in front of him. Meanwhile, Azden and Daral find the door opens up to reveal a large dragonborn.
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, I'll jump in to adjudicate if need be.

Rydgin
The rest of your day is spent running through drill after drill. After basic weapon handling, you're set against wooden practice dummies, on the firing range, obstacle courses and endurance training. You put up a good show in weapons training, butchering your dummy hacking at its limbs with your kukri, and feathering your target well with your crossbow. You catch sight of a few other people you recognize during this time. Helvani and Faldrin manage to look spectacularly average throughout, while Partin does well in the fighting and shooting, including getting a bullseye, though he wipes out completely during the obstacle course. You spot Riot going to town on a training dummy, smashing it with his spear so hard he tears it right out of its base and throws it through the air. Throughout it all, Iovus walks about, observing and taking notes. He changes the drills occasionally, suddenly forcing everyone to run laps around the training yard, then stopping that to order weapon drills again. On even rarer occasion, he draws his sword and takes a swing at a soldier. Most of the time, he disarms or trips them up, leaving them sprawling on the ground. After Riot's little show, he walks up to the giant half-ogre and dares him to take a swing. After a few moments of confusion, Riot lowers his spear and lunges, only for Iovus to deflect it and spin inside the soldier's guard. Two quick slashes with his sword, and Riot is thrown to the ground, though he manages to keep his feet for the first trip attempt. Iovus nods his head and walks away again, sheathing his blade again.

By the end of the day, you're exhausted, doubled over and panting for breath. The rest of your squad is right there with you, struggling to keep their feet. Iovus looks over the field and nods his head. "Get some water. We'll continue in five minutes."

You take 1 level of fatigue for failing your vigour roll. -1 penalty on all rolls until that goes away.

[terryt3o3]

Magog stands there for a second, drawing him self up to his full height, before saying in the most professional voice he can muster at the moment Hello good sirs, how may the blacksmiths be of assistance to you this fin day? we do a good Armour polishing service if you have a fancy event to be going to." he continues to stand in the doorway, which he blocks completely.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin slumps over his knees in exhaustion as he looks around at Helvani, Partin, and Faldrin sweating up a storm. "This- this is insane. Who kn- knows what drill he will s-say next. It is so random. You guys seem to be nailing the drills, too. Rydgin takes a quick moment to down a sum of water. "Are you guys actually trying your best? Rydgin takes a few deep breaths to try and calm his body before round 2.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I think for a moment, more rangers? I lean towards Dieara and whisper "Do you think the guard are expecting an attack, or are the nobles just stirring everything up for their own amusement?" I await Dieara's response wondering if she knows more, or, the easiest way for me to learn more without getting myself killed.

[polymeraseii]

Azden looks up at the large dragon born and with a friendly smile says, "My name is Azden, I was hoping that you may be able to fill two orders of full plate armour for Daral and myself? Preferably as soon as possable."

[terryt3o3]

Magog steps back from the door, and motions for the dwarfs to come inside." come inside, we may go over what you would like. Am i refurbishing armour, or are you requesting new armour? if i'm making aromur, from scratch, i will need measurements.

[polymeraseii]

The two dwarfs head inside while informing the blacksmith that he will need to take measurements. Azden takes a quick look at the shop while the smithy shuts the door and is pleased with the look of the shop. As the smithy grabs his measuring tape Azden casually asks, "how has business been lately?"

[terryt3o3]

Magog ask Azden to remove some of his extra items to make the measurement taking quicker and more accurate. Darel, there is a chair in the corner if you would like while you wait." Magog continues to take measurements of Azden, and answers his question " it's been busy. now, depending on how much armour you would like, as in articulation and what-naught, it may take a while to make. depending on the circumstances this will take between a few weeks and a couple of months to make these full plates. i will have to talk to the head blacksmith to find a definite time frame." Magog moves around the room, jotting down measurements, and once under his breath mutters "boy he's short"

[polymeraseii]

Azden exhales and takes a breath, he thinks to himself "boy that oversized lizard has bad breath..". He also makes a mental note of Magog's rudeness but carries on as if he hadn't heard it and asks, "Is there no way I can get this armour within the next day or two? I only need the one standard full-plate for myself and Darral the same."

[terryt3o3]

Magog stands up, and says to the dwarf "if i am to make new armour it will take a while, i can look for another set of armour and then adjust it to your measurements, it would be ready much sooner. i would just need a set to fit to you, that may take a day to find, and then possibly a week to make the changes necessary to fit you. would you rather that sir?

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
You get a few minutes time during which you and your squad do your best to recover. Corporal Harrin stops by briefly during this time. "Keep focused, and get your breath back. He's not gonna give you long."

The Legate steps into the middle of the courtyard, calling everyone into attention again. "Pay close attention. If your name is called, remain in the courtyard after I've finished. The rest of you are dismissed and may go for supper." He then proceeds to list of almost a hundred names, going through squad after squad. Nagreek is named, along with Shelby and Riot. Then, one by one, everyone in your squad is called out. Helvani slumps in place slightly and groans quietly. When he finishes, more than half the garrison is dismissed, and the soldiers file out quietly. Iovus stands before those of you who are left, and looks you over. "We'll run a few more drills. Everyone put on your best face here; no under-performing." He makes solid eye contact with you and seems to do so with Helvani and Faldrin.

Another Fighting, Shooting and Agility check. Be sure to note the totals after your -1 penalty for fatigue.

The Cloaked Traveler
Dieara smiles at your question, and whispers back, "I'm not sure off hand. Why? You interested in running a sting operation to learn some more? I'm sure one of the nobles is having a party somewhere, we might be able to slip in and see what they have to say."

Azden and Magog
Your fitting is interrupted as a muscled half-orc pushes out of the office to the back carrying several heavy looking sacks. He pauses upon seeing the two dwarves. "Greetings good sirs. My name is Bareth, and I'm the owner of this smithy. I regret to say that I'm about to leave for the day, so I will be shutting down until tomorrow. Is there anything I can help you with before I leave?"

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin glances quickly over at Helavni and Faldrin after the three of them were eyed up. Huh. Those two must have been trying to look bad too. Must not of worked. This guy clearly knows we looked under potential. Under-performing? He wants a show? I'll give him a show. Rydgin wrinkles his nose and in a full exhalation, he puts on his game face and tries to go all out despite how tired he feels from the first run. Let's show this guy what I can do, then.


Fatigue at -1 has been taken into account

Fighting
[roll0]
Wild
[roll1]

Shooting
[roll2]
Wild
[roll3]

Agility
[roll4]
Wild
[roll5]

If the rolls are well, then Rydgin's drive pulls through. If they roll poorly, then he was way too cocky and it went to his head as he lost focus.

[shaddy_24]

Doogeedoo

OOC: actually, putting a -1 into separated rolls like that only subtracts from the total, not each individual roll. So each roll there is 1 less. Looks good anyway though, you pulled through with a 4 in each check.

[terryt3o3]

Magog puts down his tape measure and stands up to respond to his boss. " these two gentlemen" he motions to the two dwarfs, " came in requesting to be fitted for suits of armour, i was just taking measurements for the armour. They did say however that they would like it as soon as can be, withing the week if possible." he says, shifting awkwardly. " i said it might take a bit longer than that"

[polymeraseii]

Azden and Daral greet the master smith and respond, "We have decided to go with chain mail instead of plate due to time constraints. If you have any extra around that can just be adjusted or refurbished we would be fine to settle for that instead of waiting for a lengthy craft time."

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I think for a moment on what Dieara has just said. "Intriguing, I am curious to find out what is going on. Do you know of an event in particular that would be useful in finding this information, if so." I take a sip of my drink thinking about what this might lead to. "Then I'm in... As long as you promise that this won't end like that Dwarven nobles party, I still can't believe we made it out in one piece."

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Despite your mounting exhaustion, you push through your drills successfully. Your footwork and timing is precise, you swings accurate and strong, you crossbow shots hit the target properly, and you even manage to pull through the obstacle course without collapsing. The rest of your squad pulls through with you, except for Partrin during the final leg of the obstacle course, where he wipes out yet again. At the end of the course, Iovus stands awaiting each of you. Each person who passes is told one of two things; "Satisfactory," or "Dismissed." As you, Helvani, and Faldrin pass him, each of you is told "Satisfactory." Partrin, however, is dismissed. He slumps back to the barracks, looking somewhat dejected. Also among those accepted are Corporal Harrin, Riot, Nagreek, and Shelby, though just barely as he stumbles out of the obstacle course covered in sweat and struggling for breath. You notice that most of the free dwarven soldiers remain as well. Iovus looks over the remaining soldiers, nearly all of whom are struggling to stand at attention. "Very good, all of you. Please, take a seat and have something to eat and drink." At this, a number of humans and dwarves come out of the main building with skeins of wine and beer, and trays of food. They disperse through the crowd of soldiers. A small table and several chairs are drawn up for Iovus, the officers and the mage squadron to eat at.

Magog and Azden
Bareth listens to each of you before responding. "I will have to see what can be done. Most of our goods have been claimed by the military, though I'm sure that we can gather up something worthy of you. If nothing else, I believe that the military would be content to share some of their better gear with you, as befitting your stations. If you come by tomorrow, I will have more information for you on what can be done to satisfy your order." The half-ogre looks somewhat distracted as he glances at the door. "However, I must apologize. I have urgent business that must be taken care of, and I need to start on that. Please come back tomorrow at your convenience." He puts down his gear and politely leads the two nobles to the door.

Magog
As the door closes behind the two dwarves, Bareth exhales heavily and groans. "A Legate arrives, Gorash sends me a message, and a couple nobles waltz in looking for equipment when they should know there isn't going to be much..." He groans and straightens up again, then starts when he realizes you're still right next to him. "What are you still doing here, I told you to head home."

Get 5 XP and roll a common Knowledge check. Note on how to roll: xdy+z. x is the number of dice, y is the size of the die, z is any modifiers to it. If you want to roll several dice and see the separate results, roll like this: xdy. Use that to roll a few extra dice to account for any raises. If you take out the space, the result should look like this: [roll0]

Azden
As the half-ogre closes the door behind you, Daral looks at you with a wry expression. "The military beat us here and took everything they had. We may be somewhat out of luck for quick supplies, though he may be good enough to sneak us something. What do you think?"

Cloaked Traveler
Dieara pouts and leans back in her seat again. "You had fun that night. Anyway, only the nobles throw good parties. Everyone else is boring." She takes a sip of her own drink. "Give me an hour. I've got a few friends who should know about anything like this. We shouldn't have anything to worry about, we're not robbing the place this time. They won't notice a couple extra pretty girls hanging around. We just need to dress you up right."

[Doogeedoo]

Feel absolutely drained, Rydgin feels an immense feeling of satisfaction with himself and his comrades. Hearing the dismissal coming from behind him, he looks back and frowns for Partin. Rydgin doesn't let it get to him too much. After all, Partin might have the better fate here. None of them know the fate of passing the drills is. Rydgin walks to Shelby and does his best to help him stand as Iovus announces the food to be coming out. Unable to speak due to heavy breathing and light-headedness, Rydgin simply smiles out the corner of his mouth at his teammates and hunkers down as the food and drink arrives; stunned at the swiftness of the set up of the table and chairs. He looks around and realizes there is only one table for the officials, but Rydgin is not phased. He is too tired and hungry to care about it. After all, he is still a slave.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
A small smirk crosses my face " I never thought I'd hear the day when you would say that you did not want to 'rob the place' when going to a noble's party. As for the dressing up part, I'm assuming you have a place where I can keep most of my stuff, cause you know I have nowhere to keep my old ragged cloak and armor." I take another sip of my drink " and nothing too tight this time, I want to hide a few knives, as well as my lock-picks on my person while there. You never know what might happen." I start to think more and more about what I'm going into " It's been too long since we've done something like this."

[polymeraseii]

Azden responds to Daral, "I think he will be able to get us some gear. After all, we dont need much armour.. We have some other things we must do before the days over."
They head off to look for some ingredients that are required to make paralytic poison, deadly poison, and mind numbing poison.

[terryt3o3]

" i was about to leave, but then those two knocked at the door, and im not in a position to turn away two nobles am i? common [roll0]
wild [roll1]

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
As you slump down, Shelby literally collapses next to you, his legs giving out completely. He lays on his back, gasping for air. "Why... did I just do that?" He struggles to slow his breathing. It isn't long before you and the others near you are handed skeins full of what you find to be watered wine, lightened enough to make it easier on your stomach to drink. The food brought out is light as well, enough to satiate you without weighing heavily. You're given plenty of time to recover, while the officials sit at their table and enjoy a fine meal. Helvani and Faldrin are crowded near you, looking somewhat dejected.

Cloaked Traveler
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure I can find something nice for you to wear, and you're clothes will be well taken care of. Take care of the outfit, I'm sure my friends will want it back unless you decide to pay for it." Dieara stands up and kisses you lightly on the cheek again before heading off. "I'll be back soon. Enjoy a drink, I'm sure the poor waiter's dieing for some nice conversation."

Azden
Daral nods at your request. "have some supplies to pick up?"
I'll find some time to discuss with you in person how you can collect poisons and what you have available in your own workspace. Check the basic rulebook for the general idea on poisons, the ones already in there will be available.

Magog
The word Legate nags at your mind. You're sure you've heard it mentioned before. Something to do with the Emperor... Then it hits you. Legate was a major position. Legates were only appointed during times of crisis, and they were answerable only to the Emperor personally. They outranked all military and Inquisition personal. You're even pretty sure that there hasn't been very many of them, less than 20 since the dwarves came out of the mountains 400 years ago.
Bareth continues frowning at your response. "Fine, fine. I'll be locking up soon though, so make sure you don't forget anything. You won't be able to get back in. I'll have more supplies tomorrow, you can catch up then." He collects his bag and begins moving around the shop, taking notes on what you'll need.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin sips at his wine between deep breaths. It tastes great. Better than anything that he has had on the reserve; even if it is watered down and probably considered low quality wine to the high-class dwarven society. Rydgin nibbles at his food making his stomach grumble unhappily, but forcing the food to stay down for the betterment of his exhaustion. Rydgin looks to Shelby gesturing to his food and drink, "We did it because we had no choice, my friend," giving a hearty chuckle to Shelby's incapacitation. "Be proud. You did a fine job out there. Well, fine enough for them to think so," pointing over to the large dwarves scarf their food.

Rydgin sees Faldrin and Helvani approaching and cannot help but notice the lack of step in their stride; aside from utter exhaustion that is. "Are you two okay? Rydgin suddenly remembers what he was initially anticipating to do during the drills and realizes that Helvani and Faldrin probably did not want to pass the tests. Either that, or they seem utterly depressed that Partin did not make the cut. Assuming the former, Rydgin inquires, "You two did not want to pass the tests, did you? You guys are scared as to why a Legate has shown himself."

Upon thinking of Partin, Rydgin pockets a few small morsels to return to his dismissed comrade.

[terryt3o3]

Magog goes over to the corner to untie his duck, and as he does this says "Hello corporal quackers,hope those solders didn't bother you too much today." He unties his duck and stands up saying " wait, did you say there's a legate in town, do you have any idea what would cause that to happen? I don't know why one would even come to a small town like this. Magog stands there frozen by the sudden realization of what bareths words mean.

[fatmancer]

"Thanks for all the help, Kasha. If it isn't too much trouble for you I wouldn't mind you showing me the way there." I reply. I'm sure I could have made my way to my new lodgings by myself, given the amount that I've walked around town today, however it never hurts to have company for a walk. I put the packages Kasha handed me into my backpack, I'll open them when I have some time to sit down. As Kasha starts to walk, I follow along and start to nibble on the food i was given.

[polymeraseii]

Azden begins heading back to the house to see what's in "stock". On the walk back, Azden asks Daral if there was somewhere he needed to stop off at before they head back.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I think about Dieara's words for a moment right as she leaves and then call over the waiter for another drink. When he arrives I say " Seems like the sudden arrival of people to the city has benefited business here."

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Helvani settles down next to you and grabs some food off the tray. "I really didn't want to be selected for this sort of thing. You know that this can't be something good. We're going to be doing something really dangerous, and I really didn't want to be involved."

"It's important. He needs the best." Nagreek showed up out of nowhere, holding her own wineskin. She looks a lot less exhausted than you and the rest of your squad.

Magog
Bareth slumps down at your question. "I should have kept my mouth shut. You know what a Legate is?" He holds his eyes and sits down on a nearby stool. "I don't have anything to tell you about this. There is something big that's going to happen, it's why the military's been jumpy lately. Just be careful about it, everyone's on edge."

Jayban
Kasha leads you down a side street until she stops in front of a large tenement building. "Looks like this is the spot. Not the nicest place, but it should be alright." The building looks fairly run down, and from the setup of the windows it looks like there's a couple different people living here. Knocking on the door brings out a sullen looking half-ogre. "Name?" Giving him your name, he shuffles aside and lets you in, pointing you to a room. The door's actually really sturdy, with a good lock on it. Looks completely new. "Food's served every morning, then the pot's left on the stove. You can serve yourself all day, but when it's gone it's gone. No complaining. Rent's due first day of the month, your first month's already been payed for." The half-ogre hands you a key and shuffles off again.

Kasha waves and turns to leave. "You should be good from here. Check your bag." Unless you have anything else to say, she heads out.

Going into the room, you find that it's a one room apartment, with a bed and a table and chair crammed into opposite corners. Opening up your bag, you check your envelope and find a thick sheaf of paper wrapped in cords, and another sheet of paper with a single line of writing on it. "Start decoding"

Azden
Daral nods. I'd like to check with a couple friends and contacts. See if I can learn anything new about what's going on."

Cloaked Traveler
Looking around, you spot the waiter standing inside, peaking out the door in your direction. When you wave him over, he almost runs over to you. He looks to be about 15 and human, maybe a little ogre blood somewhere in there. He stands awkwardly next to your table. "Um, I'm not sure. We're kind of out of the way. There's been a few more people."

[fatmancer]

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way the place looks, although I don't know if that's due to my expectations for it after hearing its 'not the best place' more then once. Either way, it's somewhere decent to live. "Thanks a lot for the help today Kasha, I hope to see you around." I say as she walks off. I head to my room to open the package I had put in my bag earlier.

Upon opening the package, I frown a bit at the message until I realize that I already have the cipher for this code. Lucky me, I'm a bit out of practice at this stuff. I slowly work through the cipher, taking care not to make any mistakes in my translation.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin wipes his mouth on his sleeve and clears his throat as he swallows his portion of food. "I see your point, my friend. But I have wanted to out of these walls for a while now. I have been here for quite a while now and I made a promise I'd somehow get out. I realize that this may be the only- Ah! Rydgin jostles as Nagreek startles him. "That too., he says as he raises his hand in a half-assed wave just from tiredness. "Plus, after what we've been through today, I feel like we could do anything. Granted we get a full night of rest beforehand." Rydgin smiles accompanied with a soft chuckle at his own little joke.

[polymeraseii]

Azden nods to Daral and says, "I know someone in the imperial army that may be of some help, perhaps we should speak with him first?" They decide to head towards the contact before home as it is closer to do so.
As they continue walking down the cobblestone pathway Azden spots a peculiar looking person wearing a magnificent white cape with red embroidery, leaning against a wall next to a local bakery. Azden looks to Daral and asks, "does something seem odd about that person over by the bakery wall?"
Daral looks over to the wall, turns back to Azden, looking slightly concerned and responds, "I don't see anyone there, are you sure you're not just tired?"
Azden quickly looks back to the wall and sees the person has vanished. He finds this odd, but it has been a long day filled with some disheartening news and he shakes the thought out of his mind for the time being and responds, "I guess its just been a long day. Come on lets get to our contact."

[terryt3o3]

Magog pulls up a chair by Bareth, and sits down and sighs. " I've heard of them, really important, only answer to the chief himself." Magog begins to nervously fidget with his ducks lead " i'm worried you know. the army is grabbing weapons, the nobles are trying to get armour to protect them self apparently. It kinda makes me wish i had something other than a hammer to protect me and my mallard." He stands up and gathers his backpack. i guess there is nothing that can be done other than be careful, and hope all of this turns out to be nothing.

[shaddy_24]

Jayban
You settle in and shuffle though the papers. All the ones at the top of the stack are messages from other Agents, and you see that you've even been given a copy of the code they're using, with explicit instructions to destroy it as soon as you've memorized it. Working quickly, most of what you translate is of minor importance; promotions, Imperial troop movements, internal transfers, a few notes on nobles who may need closer watching. One page however, bares only a short message.
Tuesday August 24th
New Legate appointed. En rout to Carronil. Reasons presently unknown.

It takes you only a second to recognize the importance of this message.
Imperial Legate is one of the highest level ranks available in the entire Empire. Only 17 have been appointed in the nearly 400 years of the Empire, and they bypass all ranks in both the military and the Agency. They only person they are answerable to is the Emperor himself. They are only appointed in times of emergency by the Emperor.

On top of this, the missive was sent directly from the capital through Shindash, the plane that the Agency has effectively conquered. Travel through there is many times faster than overland. If the legate takes the fastest rout possible, they won't be here for a week or more.

You gain 5 XP, and you have to start rolling now. Welcome to the plot.

Rydgin
Helvani frowns at Nagreek. "I don't like having people's attention on me. Makes me uncomfortable." He glances over to where all of the officers are eating. "I've gotten 5 years through this by avoiding attention. Six more months and I've bought my freedom. Whatever's happening here, I don't want to be part of it."

Azden
Daral stands and looks concerned for a moment. "You know, I wasn't going to mention it until later, but it looks like you need something to take your mind off this stress. There's going to be a party of sorts tonight, with a good portion of the upper crust. Won't be too big, it was thrown together after the announcement there. Wine, women, and a bunch of other nervous nobility. I'm sure you can find yourself something to distract you from this stress. Or just learn something interesting, you never know." That's really the point of these sorts of parties. Try and learn anything you can about your rivals without revealing anything yourself. Daral was a master at it. "Even if you don't really want to, I'm planning on being there, and I'd like someone at my side I know I can trust. I don't know what will be on everyone's minds."

With that, you carry on your way. It won't be long until you reach the barracks.

Magog
Bareth looks pained as you speak. "It's not nothing. I can't say any more than that, but I can tell you... it's not nothing." He stands upright abruptly and grabs his pack again. "I need to go now. I have a lot that needs to get done on really short notice. Go home, or go party for a little while. But keep your eyes open. And you might want to upgrade your personal protection. I can help you set up a schedule and get you some supplies, it's about time I got you making armour and weapons for real. I'm gonna need all the help I can get anyway, with a couple gold bloods coming in for armour." Gold blood is a somewhat insulting nickname for nobility, or those who held their position with money rather than hard work. It's more common from the human and half-ogres than non-noble dwarves.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I order my drink and wait for Dieara to return with more news about the party.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin loses his motivation rather quickly and ponders to himself for a moment before leaning in to Helvani and whispering "What if we can get you dismissed. Maybe we can start a scene and convince the Legate that you are not up to snuff or that you will be a hindrance to his plans? If we start a scene maybe you can sneak away back into the barracks. I'm sure he doesn't have our names or even care who we are. Maybe if he just detests you he will not even want you. Although that could demote you to cannon fodder.". Rydgin puts his serving of food down not able to fit any more solid food and slowly downs the rest of his watered wine, raising his brow to Helvani.

[fatmancer]

I sit dumbfounded, staring at the short letter. A Legate coming to Carronil? This can't be good at all. Seems like I've drawn the short straw in terms of my first assignment's location, but at least things will be interesting from here on out. I wonder what could be going on that is so dire that a Legate was appointed, and why in Carronil?

Rolling Knowledge(Dwarven Empire - History) to find out the kinds of circumstances that Legates have generally appointed in, In an attempt to build a plausible circumstance for the appearance of a new Legate.
Primary:
5d6
Wild:
5d6


I destroy the copy of the cipher and all of the letters that I've read. The only important thing to note thus far was the impending arrival of the Imperial Legate. I continue to read through the rest of the papers I've been given while I mull over thoughts of the Legate in my head.

[terryt3o3]

Magog moves his duck off his lap and prepares to stand, as he stands he says " for protection, i have something in mind, something a little large, but i guess it will have to wait until after we get the armour for those two made." Magog collects his backpack and crosses to the door. "i'll see you in the morning, rovided whatever it is hasn't happened yet." he says as he opens the door and leaves. Magog begins to wander in search for something to do for the night, possibly a party or a busy pub.

[polymeraseii]

Azden smirks at Daral and nods to his response and thinks to himself, Its going to be a long night, but maybe Daral is right and this can be a good time. Azden decides he will go and be Darals 'wingman'. They continue towards the barracks.

[fatmancer]

Since my rolls didn't work last time, hope these ones do. This was for the History - Dwarven Empire Knowledge of course.
Primary:
[roll0]
Wild:
[roll1]

[shaddy_24]

The Cloaked Traveler
The kid runs and grabs your drink, and you catch him standing nearby regularly, peeking out at you from inside. He doesn't approach you again however. You don't have too long to wait before Dieara returns, grinning from ear to ear. "I found us a good party. Looks like some nobles threw something together very abruptly today, so something's got them shaking. Hopefully they'll be off their game. We should go and start getting ready early, don't want to be rushing for something like this. I've got a friend that can get you some nicer clothes and can hold onto your stuff." She waits for you to finish your drink, then leads you off.

Rygdin
Helvani takes a quick glance at the table. "As much as I don't want to be part of anything, I don't like the idea of starting trouble with him. He's in a position where no one's going to challenge him, and he knocked Riot to the ground with ease. He's also pretty sharp, I don't like our chances of tricking him."

Faldrin interrupts the conversation at this point. "We're in it at this point. No bailing out now."

Jayban
Out of the previous 17 Legates, 9 had been appointed during the conquest of old Owaru and the lands beyond. They were used to broaden the Emperor's reach, to help him spread the Empire over the land. This was the densest appointments of Legates through history, with 9 over just under 50 years.

Two had been appointed early in the war with the dragonborn, one right after the other. They'd been appointed to manage and lead the war to the North while the Emperor continued elsewhere. Both died under unusual circumstances, and the escalating troubles eventually resulted in the Emperor suspending the Easter expansion to commit more forces to the North. Most of the others have been appointed in much briefer capacities.

Another Legate was appointed shortly after that, about 310 years ago. They led a strike force into what would later be named Shindash, the plane presently controlled by the Agency. The plane was merging constantly with the material world, and demons of all sorts were breaking through. What exactly happened there has remained classified above your clearance ever since, but it wasn't long after that when Shindash was completely tamed.

One led the excursion into Elvan territory. Imperial Legate Gantin is one of the most famous, and probably the only name that most civilians would be able to remember off the top of their heads. He's also remembered for his incredible magical talent, being both one of the greatest mages through Imperial history, and having been Blessed by the Spirit.

One was appointed to put down an attempted coup by a group of nobles. The story behind that one led to a blood bath of nobility.

Another stopped a giant slave riot initiated by a minor god of freedom, and killed the god while at it.

One was appointed by Emperor Vitin, who attempted to go rogue from the Spirit. His Legate, and old friend and confident Urtain, was appointed to help him overthrow the Spirit, only for Urtain to reveal that he was loyal to the Spirit over his old friend and rallied parts of the army to protect the Empire from its own Emperor. Vitin disappeared during the fighting, and never surfaced again. That was about 115 years ago.

The last Legate appointed before now was about 22 years ago. Most of his actions remain secret, though you managed to sneak a little information on it. From what you can tell, he tracked down and killed a group of giants that had been hiding in another plane.

Looking over the rest of the pages, you find a stack of instructions. They detail when and where to bring the information you collect, as well as instructions to destroy all but the most important documents or ones you cannot decode. Very important information is to be brought to Kasha at once, and it gives you instructions on when and how to contact her.

Magog
Bareth nods and follows you out, locking the door behind him. He splits off to do his own tasks, leaving you to wander about for a while. It's still mid afternoon, so there isn't too much by way of parties starting yet.

Azden
It doesn't take you much longer to reach the barracks. A secretary of some sort greets you as you enter the building, and asks how he can help you.
If you intend to use your Connections Edge, now is the time to start rolling. You need a Streetwise check to get ahold of your contact.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin simply looks back to the group and shrugs. Having Helvani ruin the mood of their hard work and efforts, Rydgin eats and drinks the last portions he can fit in his tired stomach in silence only speaking up if he deems it necessary. Talk about awkward.

[terryt3o3]

Magog starts to wander aimlessly over to the park to take corporal Quakers for a walk.

[CrimsonWolf42]

The Cloaked Traveler
I quickly finish my drink then follow Dieara staying quiet for most of our walk to wherever we are going, assuming it is where I am dropping off my stuff and we are getting ready. Right before we arrive I ask " Do you know who is hosting the party or how many will be there?" hoping that the answer will sate the majority of my curiosity.

[fatmancer]

Of the last seventeen Legates, it seems that all but the one dedicated to stopping the coup d'etat have been appointed to lead an offensive campaign for the Empire. Judging from this, this Legate was probably appointed to strike at something particularly nasty around here. But why here? There aren't any strategic objectives which this town could be used as a staging point for, and I've heard no word that the empire seeks to make a move on any territories that could use Carronil as a base of operations. Even if the Legate was appointed to defend from something, I can see no reason that anyone would assault such a tactically unimportant location. Something seems off about this whole situation, and I'm not getting a good feeling about it.

I'll have to relay this news to Kasha as soon as possible. While it is extremely unlikely she hasn't heard about a Legate coming to Carronil, if I'm lucky I may be able to gather some additional clues as to the circumstances behind him.

I destroy all of the pages except for the letter about the new Legate, taking care not to leave any evidence behind.

If it is not too late, nor too troublesome, I set out to talk to Kasha about the Legate.
Otherwise I don't think I have a whole lot left to do for the evening, so I arrange my room and look for good places to hide things should the need for me to stash my belongings arise.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
You all sit in silence for quite a while, finishing off your meals and recovering your breath. No one else seems inclined to bring up further conversation, instead sitting quietly in their own thoughts. Eventually, you are all brought out of your contemplation by the Legate returning to his feet. "Now that you have all recovered somewhat, I believe it is time for me to explain why I have selected you."
He gestures to the man he brought along with him, the one in worn farmers clothing carrying the large sack. "This is Grigan. He has come as a representative for the farmers and hunters that live outside of Carronil. In the past couple of months, many of these have been found shallowly buried around the town." He holds up what looks to be a large chunk of old wood. Even from where you're situated, you can tell that some symbol has been carved into it. "I'm not comfortable with this. As such, I want it looked into. The skilled mages of your company squad have agreed to go out to some of the spots where these carvings have been found to examine the area for any signs of what these may be. As such, they will need a guard and a troop of scouts. I will accept any who wish to volunteer for this duty." He pauses to see who responds.

Magog
The park is fairly busy today, with a lot of people who look to be from out of town. You get a lot more stares from people who haven't seen you around before. You soon find yourself wandering into an area with fewer people around, only to find Jillal lying on the ground napping. She's the only other dragonborn in Carronil, and unlike you she hasn't bothered finding any sort of job. Rather, she hunts the lands around for bandits and Owaru forces, making money off of selling their equipment. You encounter her regularly when she sells metal to Bareth.

Cloaked Traveler
Dieara brings you to a good sized building. Inside, you find fine furniture, scented perfume in the air, and a good number of women, mostly human with a few dwarves, elves and half-ogres, all in rather revealing clothing. A rather plain looking dwarf walks up and looks you over. "She should dress up nicely. There's always a job open here if you're interested, you'd make good money." For now though, all that happens is she brings you into a back room, where a large bath has been set up for you.
OOC: I'll give you a moment to respond, partly because I don't want to march you through too much without your input.

Jayban
You find a nice stock of charcoal, tinder and what appears to be a jar of a really strong accelerant, likely for emergencies. The stove is also set up to be in easy reach from the desk. It's easy for you to light it up and start burning papers while still sitting in your chair. It also doesn't take you long to find a couple good hiding spots for anything else. Checking the time, you figure it's a good point to go check in with Kasha. Heading out, you find your way through town towards where you can meet up with Kasha.

[terryt3o3]

while walking through the park, Magog sees a lot of new people, and begins to feel uneasy when he notices that most of them had been staring. He spots his friend Jillal lying on the ground. " Hi Jillal, another night under the stars I see? or are you still seeing stars? how have you been? He steps in front of the sun casting her in shadow.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin looks at his company for a response before slowly raising his hand. "What kind of details do we get before we go? I know we're slaves, but we are not cannon fodder. Will we be facing any sort of resistance? And what exactly is it we are looking for? Terribly afraid of stepping out of line, Rydgin's voice trails off. If there is one person he does not want angry at him it is 'the' Legate.

[fatmancer]

Charcoal tinder and accelerant, eh? Well I guess it never hurts to be able to light fires in a hurry. The room is actually a pretty nice set up. The bed seems comfortable enough that I cant really complain, and the stoves position relative to the desk is extremely convenient. Most importantly, the few hiding spots I've found are good enough for anything I would feel comfortable with keeping around the room. I'll have to find somewhere else for more important goods in the future, but on the whole I think I'll get used to this place rather quickly.

I look at the time and notice that I still have enough time to report to Kasha tonight, so I decide to get it out of the way sooner rather then later. Plus I don't have anything better to do, and she has quite an interesting character. I head out in the direction of the meeting point, testing out what I learned of the town's layout this morning by trying to find shortcuts wherever I can on the way.

Smarts check to not get horribly lost! Good luck me!
[roll0] Primary
[roll1] Wild

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jillal opens her eyes as you lean over her. "Magog, I will stand up and punch you in the throat if you don't move out of the way. It's nice and warm here." She closes her eyes again and relaxes. "I've been better. Weird things going on around town. Seen more patrols from the local barracks and Owaru groups. Lotta soldiers around recently. Not as many bandits, unusual for this time of year. Haven't made as much money as usual for this time."

"What about you? Still slaving away over hot beds of coal for a few copper? Come join me on a few runs, you'll make good money for a few good fights."

Rydgin
Helvani looks horrified as you start talking, and everyone else nearby sort of cringes away. Iovus fixes you with a chilling glare, waiting for several seconds after you finish talking before responding. "You're not looking for anything. Your job will be to act as bodyguard and assistants to your company mages as THEY examine the area. Your job is to obay orders given to you by a superior officer. Is that understood?"
OOC:
Make a guts check against Intimidate of: [roll0]
Wild Die: [roll1]
4, counting his bonus for being higher ranked than you. Lucky you.

Jayban
You easily find your way through the streets. Good thing you were paying close attention earlier. As such, it's only a short time before you find yourself outside of where you can meet Kasha, another tenant house, better looking than yours. You're quickly directed up to her room.

[terryt3o3]

Magog straightens up, and moves out of her light. " i dont think i can afford to do runs at the moment. you were right about something happening though, the army started sending in a lot of weapons and armour. i think i will busy for the next few days making some weapons and armour. although it is probably for the best that i bumped into you, the blacksmith is looking for 2 sets of chain mail, dwarf size, i thought it might be worth mentioning to you. tomorrow if possible. Magog bends down again extending an arm to his friend "need a hand getting up?"

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya

I get into the bath and clean up as best as I can, then I dry off and put on my basic clothing waiting for the dwarf to get back with the clothing that I will be wearing for the nights festivities.

[Doogeedoo]

Guts Roll
[roll0]
Wild Die
[roll1]


OOC: 4. So do we reroll? Or am I unaffected or does it get to me anyway?


Rydgin's eyes widen as his posture straightens up as the dwarf pierces his eyes like daggers. (When do we leave?), Rydgin thinks, but dares not speak it.

[fatmancer]

I knock on Kasha's door and say "Hey Kasha! Its Jayban," while waiting for confirmation that I can enter. Once permission is given I step into the room, taking a quick peek back into the hallway to ensure that no one is standing outside the room before I close the door.
I drop my voice to a near whisper and say "You've probably heard of this, but due to it's nature I figured it would be better to make sure of it in person." while handing the message about the Legate to Kasha. After a couple seconds I add "Considering what Legates have been used for in the past, Carronil hardly seems the kind of place to send one." Pressing Kasha for any information would be out of line given my rank, so I'll wait for her reaction before trying to get any more hints about the situation.

[polymeraseii]

Azden looks at the secretary and says, "Hey, I'm here to speak with Lt. Arylassa.
The man begins to open his mouth to speak but before he can say anything, Azden continues, "It is important that I talk with her right away; just say that Azzy is here."
Azden and Darral have been close friends with Arylassa since they were children and have always had something of a crush on her.
StreetWise: [roll0]+2

[polymeraseii]

StreetWise Wild die: [roll0]+2

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jillal reaches up and takes your hand, then does her best to haul you down as she pulls herself upright.

Opposed Strength roll to keep your balance: [roll0]
[roll1]

Illya
The water is burning hot as you settle in, and the girls who took your clothing swoop in and begin scrubbing you roughly with strong soap. Your skin is raw and red by the time they let you get out. You're quickly dried with what looks like a silk towel, and Dieara comes out with a dress for you. It looks stunning. Bright red, nearly floor length, with a slit that goes halfway up one leg. Some cleavage, though not too much given your slim build. Doesn't have much of a back, and no arms. Dieara turns it to you though, and you can see that there's a pair of knife sheaths carefully built into it, one in the cleavage and one inside the leg slit. You won't be going into this unarmed.

They dress you up quickly, and then another girl comes in to do your hair and put on some makeup. Not much, just some powder to make your face paler. Dieara comes in with her own dress, shorter than yours, and with a lot more cleavage. She sits down to discuss last minute details with you.

"You probably won't be selected for anything. Pretty or not, no one at the party is going to take an elf anywhere with them. Most of them will be leery to be seen with me."

Of important note, Dieara is human.

Rydgin
Iovus continues to stare at you for several seconds, until he's satisfied that you have nothing more to say. "Now then. If everyone is done asking questions, we can continue onto the volunteers. Who volunteers?" As one, the dwarvan regulars step forward, holding their weapons at ready. Many of the slaves do so quickly as well, Nagreek and Riot among them. Shelby steps forward a second later. Faldrin joins at that, and Helvani hesitates several more seconds before stepping forward into the line.

Jayban
The door opens quickly, and Kasha reaches out to drag you into the room. Already lost and looking for guidance?" she asks with a smirk on her face, then she reads over your message.

The smirk fades, and she turns to you, suddenly very serious. "I didn't know this. This could be really bad. We need to talk to Gorash. He probably already knows, that's probably why we were running around all over today. We need to figure out if he's gonna tell us anything about it." She's already grabbing her cloak.

Azden
The clerk looks annoyed when you start talking, but straightens when he recognizes you as nobility. "Of course, right away." He quickly turns and heads further into the building, leaving you and Daral alone out front. "Azzy?" Daral looks disbelieving. "I didn't realize it was like that."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin trembles under Iovus' gaze, but stiffens his body upright to try and hide it. He is the last to step forward holding his buckler to his chest and the kukri at his side gripping it tightly. He looks at Iovus and nods showing his interest in the mission and as an implied apology for stepping out of line before. Rydgin awaits his following orders.

[polymeraseii]

Azden slowly turns his head to look at Daral. With a large smirk on his face he begins to speak, "Well if you wouldnt have waited so long maybe you couldve had a chance!" Azdens face being as serious as he can muster, Daral begins sinking slightly and looking upset.
"Hey no need to pout, I'm just messing with you. Its not like that at all, I guess you don't remember the nicknames she gave us back when we were children? No matter, I have no time to settle down so you don't need to look so depressed. You'll have your shot, just like old times" Azden trails off in a quiet chuckle as he lightly punches Daral in the shoulder.

Azden then proceeds to check out the clerks desk to see if he can notice something unusual or perhaps some useful information that the clerk may have carelessly left laying around.
Notice: [roll0]
Wild Die: [roll1]

[terryt3o3]

strength [roll0] wild [roll1]

[fatmancer]

"Not lost quite yet, I just missed your lovely sense of humor", I respond jokingly. I drop the jokes immediately upon seeing Kasha's expression, and reply with "I'm right behind you". I follow Kasha as she moves hastily out of the room, and we head towards Gorash's shop.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya

" So, am I'm just going to wonder the party and try to get some information from overhearing conversations, or do you have another idea? As I wonder if this is going to be a waste of time for me or not, while I sheath a couple knives on the hidden spots of my dress and get more accustom to this new attire.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Iovus scans over the crowd of soldiers. Finally nodding his head, he says "Good. That's all. Dismissed. Those of you selected will leave tomorrow. The rest will be assigned other jobs in the meantime."

He turns and walks away, leaving the Captain and Lieutenants to pick up again, sending you all back indoors. When you return to your quarters, you're surprised to see that everyone who was sent back inside before seems to have been moved out. There's no sign of Partrin or any of his equipment. Helvani stands over it for several minutes, looking frustrated.

Azden
"As I recall, I was known as 'Drawl' back then. Talked too slowly." Daral steps back a bit and looks for somewhere to sit down. "No, this is your meeting. I'm just here to keep an eye on you until we head off to the party."

Peeking at the desk, you don't see anything that looks to be of any importance. Only a few papers with nothing notable written on them.

It's only another minute or so before Arylassa comes out to meet with you. She's in her uniform and armour, and looks sweaty and worn out. Despite this, you can see her eyes light up when she catches sight of you. The clerk, notably, has no returned with her. "Azzy? You send the clerk to come and announce you and you chose to call yourself Azzy? By the Spirit that brought back old memories." She catches sight of Daral behind you. "Oh, Daral. It's been a while. How have you been doing?"

Despite his earlier unhappiness, Daral quickly musters up his old charm. "Why, I've been doing quite well. It appears you have been doing well yourself. You must have graduated from the military academy early to be a lieutenant by now."

Arylassa smiles briefly, but takes on a more professional tone as she responds. "Good to hear you're doing well. It's very busy around here right now though, so you'll have to forgive me if I cut our reunion short. We should try to catch up again another time. For now though," she turns back to you. "I should hear why 'Azzy' has come by to visit with me."

Magog
You manage to brace yourself as Jillal pulls herself up, keeping your feet even as she tries to swing you down to the ground. "Humph. Guess being a blacksmith isn't killing your reflexes. Keeping some of your warrior's edge." She stretches and looks around the park. "Chain armour, and quickly. Dwarf sized. Might actually be able to help you with that. Caught sight of the remains of a campsite, looked to be an Owaru patrol. This far out it's not gonna be one of their peasant groups, good chance you'll have a soldier or two with better armour. It'll be too big, but that can be fixed easily as long as your training hasn't gone to waste." She grins, showing off teeth that have been well filed and polished. "What do you say? Gonna go armour hunting with me tomorrow?"

Jayban
You and Kasha move quickly through the streets. They're getting really crowded, as you see groups of people that don't seem to have a place to live right now. Families cluster outside tenements, begging for any spare rooms with whatever they have. Kasha seems uncomfortable with this. "Too many people. Looks like they're from the surrounding countryside." She doesn't elaborate for now.

Illya
Dieara shrugs. "For now. Try to get a little alcohol or something into one of them. I'm sure you could find someone who'll take drinks from you, even if he won't take you. Try to sneak some information out of them. Keep an eye out for a pair or group of them sneaking off into a room together and try to listen at the door if possible. They're spooked, someone's going to talk about something."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin reaches into his pocket to pull out the small morsels of food he had saved for Partin, looking around the barracks. Feeling some of Helvani's frustration, Rydgin's hand forms a fist smooshing the food between his fingers. Only anger for a moment, but then sadness. Realizing that they probably had to send the ones that didn't make it away so that they could not know top secret plans. "Where do you think they've gone?" Rydgin asks to anyone willing to listen. Walking over to his bunk, he flops onto it after putting his weapons and armour away. All he wants now is sleep.

[terryt3o3]

Magog thinks for a moment, " i have to be at work just after day break, so unless its a small group at night... how many did you say there were?"

[fatmancer]

I nod back to Kasha as we continue to move, pondering the reason for so many country folk to head into town all at once. Could all these people crowded in the streets could have something to do with the Legate's presence? The thought seems a little farfetched, but it's the only hint of something out of the ordinary I've seen. I guess its possible that there could be something happening in the countryside that is big enough to warrant a Legate. I try and recall any rumors that I might have heard about anything out of the ordinary near the outskirts of Carronil.
Common Knowledge:
Smarts: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

Just having gotten into town really puts me at a disadvantage here, but at least I spent the day running around listening to people.

[CrimsonWolf42]

[B]Illya/B]
"So keep my eyes open and the drinks flowing. Sounds simple enough." I say with a small smile on my face hoping that the night goes as simple as that.

[polymeraseii]

Azden greets Arylassa with a large smile, " Hey its great to see you again! I thought it would be a nice break for you to remember some easier times, that and I always loved the nickname you gave Daral! Sorry for such short notice and thanks for seeing us. We just came from the meeting that was held today and received some odd news. We were hoping that you may be able to shed some light on why the legate is paying us a visit? Is there something big happening that we should be preparing for?

Persuasion [roll0]+2
Wild die [roll1]+2

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Helvani answers you from over Partrin's bed. "Hells if I know. And I can't decide if I'd rather be there with him." He throws his weapons down on the bed and storms out the door towards the latrine. Shelby, still incredibly red faced and sweating, pats you gently on the back. It's still enough to throw you off balance.

"Don't listen to him. Helvani's not happy, but he's not going to back down now. I've been on patrols with him, he'll have your back."

Magog
Jillal snorts at your response. "Work-work. Alright, I'll see if I can track them down tonight. Let's see..." She looks up, counting to herself. "Owaru usually has about three to four guys for patrols like this. Might be an extra one or two, couldn't quite tell from the campsite. I figure we just walk into their camp and hit anyone dumb enough to challenge us. Unless there's more of them or you've really lost your touch we should be alright."

"If you want to get this done, we'll need to head out before it starts getting dark. I'll need as much light as possible to track them down. Get your stuff and meet me back here." She sits down again and leans back.

Jayban
You recall hearing a few things while running around town earlier today, but none of them seemed important at the time. Mostly because they all seemed so ridiculous.

An Owaru army's already camped within a days walk of the town
Imperial rangers visiting people's houses, assaulting them and stealing their supplies
A violent, angry dragonborn that breaks into people's houses, killing them and feasting on their remains
Elves. Just elves
The ancient god Owaru himself has returned and destroyed the Spirit, dragging the capital down into chaos and leading an army of ogre-ghosts to destroy everything the Empire ever stood for
The Storm of Blades has been sighted
Giants


Nothing that really seemed reasonable, and it's all mixed in with the reasonable explanation; Imperial Rangers have been showing up at people's houses and giving warnings that it'll be very dangerous to be outside of town soon. Most of these people got the warnings yesterday and today, and have moved quickly to try and get somewhere that should hopefully be safer.

Either way, you soon arrive at Gorash's shop. Kasha unlocks the door and runs in, almost stepping on the mangy pigeon as it stumbles out in front of her. Throwing open the door to Gorash's office, she begins yelling. "Gorash! Are you in here? Did you know about-" she cuts herself off for a second. "Did you know someone was coming down to Carronil?"

Illya
Dieara smiles at your response and shakes her head a little. "Alright, now that you're all dressed up, I should go get ready. Go mingle with the other girls for a few minutes, see who you can make jealous. Be careful opening doors though, never know who'll you'll stumble across."

She heads out of the room, leaving you with the girls who helped dress you up.

Azden
Arylassa looks around quickly as you ask your question. "Careful! Even asking me about that could get us both in trouble. Good thing I didn't bring that clerk back with me. We should get somewhere more private for this, come back to my office." She gestures for you to follow her, and leads you quickly into the back area.

You don't see anyone else as you move through the hallways. "Everyone's out doing drills in the yard. You're lucky you caught me, I have a break right now." Reaching her office, she pushes you inside quickly and follows you. It's only now that you notice Daral didn't follow you.

"Alright, you need to make sure no one hears you got this from me. I shouldn't even be telling you this, but I trust you. You never liked the power games everyone else got into as we were growing up. Even Daral got caught up in them a bit." She hesitates, looking you over. "It's something big. We haven't gotten any information, but that's because there hasn't been any time. We got news yesterday that he was going to be appointed and coming out here, and then he arrived at around 11 last night. No warning, just exited from a portal right in the Captain's bedchambers. He's testing all the troops. Found some farmer with a bunch of stone carvings and is sending the mages out to check up on the areas they've been found. He's also going to be recruiting to begin setting up trenches and other defenses around Carronil."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin tips to the floor landing on bended knee planting his hand into the ground. He crawls forward and picks up Helvani's weapons. "I don't doubt he doesn't, Shelby," smiling as to not show any distress.
Rydgin opens his chest and pulls out his whetstone and polishing equipment and begins prepping all of Helvani's things hopefully to make a small morale boost to show someone cares.

Turning his head to Shelby, "What are you going to do with your last bit of time until tomorrow?" Rydgin reaches into his chest with Helvani's equipment in his lap and pulls out a novel that Shelby has been reading with him for the past week; Chasers' Catch. Rydgin pushes his whetstone across Helvani's weapon as the book sits on the bed.

[terryt3o3]

Magog laughs heartily " Go get my stuff! What kind of warrior would i be if i left my weapon and armour at home. I keep that right here." he says patting his backpack. " besides, it is work tomorrow that i need these for."

[polymeraseii]

Azden sits and looks around Arylassa's office while listening to her speak. Azden waits a second after Arylassa has finished and says, "I greatly appreciate you telling me this information. This all sounds very curious and it almost sounds like we are to be expecting an attack very soon.. If you need any help just let me know how I can be of assitance. I did meet one of the farmers that found those strange stones, there is something odd about them but I cant quite put my finger on it. hmm, well when things are less chaotic, we should get together again and catch up, it's been far too long. For now I should probably get going, the longer I stay the more suspicion I'll arouse. Is there a better way for us to get into contact in case something important comes up, perhaps a safer way for you?"

Azden wonders what the legate could be expecting, the rebels, an uprising of some sort, or perhaps.. something worse? Whatever it is, it doesnt look like many people really know what is happening, so he'll have to wait a little bit. Perhaps this may be a good time to head back home and start making something to help defend himself with. Hopefully they have some time before the party, which reminded Azden, where the hell did Daral go anywase?

[fatmancer]

After remembering the kinds of rumors that I've heard about the town today I chuckle softly under my breath. Ridiculous sounding then, ridiculous sounding now. Nothing seems to quite fit the situation properly, and most aren't even within the realm of plausibility. I quickly glance over at Kasha half expecting a funny look, but still hoping she didn't hear me laughing to myself. I guess the only way to find out whats going on here is to get confirmed details from above.

I decide to let Kasha start the conversation once we get to Gorash's. For now, it hardly seems appropriate for me to speak up. As soon as we enter the building Kasha darts for Gorash's room and I hear her start to yell; however she collects herself quickly. I stand aside quietly and continue to listen to how the conversation plays out.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Shelby looks at the book you placed onto the bed. "Alright. I think we've got time for a little bit." He quickly grabs the book and sits next to you. "You'll have to do my equipment though. Give me a minute." He flips through a couple pages to find where he'd previously been. He reads steadily and simply; no fancy voices or over the top performance. You have a bit of time to just sit there and listen to the story.

Magog
Jallil looks up at you again. "So I don't have time for a nap? Alright, we'll leave immediately then." She stands up again and checks her own pack. Pulling her shield over her shoulder and belting her sword to her waist, she gestures to you. "Come on. It'll be a little while to where I saw their trail. It wasn't long ago, so we should be able to catch them."

Azden
Arylassa thinks about it for a moment. "Probably not often during the day. I spend most of my days in the barracks. I usually have some free time in the evenings, though I'm always on call. It's probably going to get pretty busy here soon, so I'm not sure how often we'll be able to meet up." She nods when you say you have to leave though. "Yeah, we'll have to save a full catchup for another time. I should get back soon too, they might need me." She quickly escorts you to the door and back out to the front area, where Daral sits in an uncomfortable chair. She gives him a quick smile and a nod, then hurries back out, leaving the two of you alone.

Jayban
You hear Kasha move quickly through the stacks of books in the office as Gorash begins to respond.

"Oh, yes. A Legate, one Iovus. Good military record, long standing ally of the Emperor and possibly one of the most skilled mages alive right now. I believe he arrived last night, had a nice meeting with the nobles and has spent most of today at the barracks." You hear Kasha sputter for a moment as she tries to respond.

"He's here already? But he was only appointed yesterday, we didn't even get any warning!"

[terryt3o3]

Magog motions for her to lead the way, while adjusting his own pack, and attaching his war hammer to his hip." alright, after you then."

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin takes Shelby's weapons and armour pieces and places them in a pile next to Helvani's and his own. Rydgin smiles listening to the story getting lost in his own little world as he applies the polish to Helvani's weapon and armour.

Rydgin imagines being with Kizet and Jorum. Running from land to land in search of treasure racing other 'chasers' to be the first one to find it. Sneaking around, detecting clues, interrogating people, throwing the chasers off their tracks. Seemed like a dream. Travelling the world with gross admiration and intense danger. Dreaming of the freedom and how it smells.

Rydgin didn't mind that Shelby never put in voices. He would always put a voice to the characters in his own head. Kizet's intense deep voice for interrogating, and Jorum's light squeaky voice as the found clues and determined results.

Rydgin sharpens and polishes Shelby's equipment somewhat slowly as to make him read for longer, "Sorry, Shelby. Almost done. Keep going." These stories are really the only forms of solace Rydgin has anymore. Eventually, Rydgin slides the whetstone one last time and sheathes Shelby's weapon, handing it to him gently. "Thanks, mate. I really appreciate it," Rydgin says with a half-smile as he takes the book from Shelby's hands placing it into the trunk. Rydgin hikes his own armour into his lap to finish up his second coat of polish.

[fatmancer]

Gorash knew of the Legate, but didn't share this information with us when we met up today. This means we either didn't need to know of it, or it was highly classified information. Probably the former given the circumstances. This piques my curiosity a bit, as something seems a bit out of place, but restriction of information is fairly common among the agency so I don't mull over the thought for too long.

More worrisome is the fact that the Legate was appointed only yesterday, yet he has already arrived and started his preparations. Something big must be foreseen to happen in the very near future, but what? Considering that Gorash specifically pointed out that Iovus is one of the most skilled Magus alive, this could be a big hint to why he was the individual chosen to be Legate. This, in turn, should help me narrow down the nature of the coming event. I'll keep this in mind in case I need to elaborate on this point later.

While nothing of great importance has yet to be discussed, I'm already glad that I've gotten to hear to this conversation. At the very least I've learned a small bit about Iovus, and a plausible explanation for the nature of the coming event. For now it seems a bit odd that Gorash didn't tell us of the Legate considering the impact it should have on our work, but I'm not too worried about it at this point. Most importantly, I've been able to pick some small things which I can use to help deduce at least part the situation if Gorash decides it should be classified. I catch myself almost wandering off a bit too far with my thoughts, and focus back on the conversation before I miss any of it.

[polymeraseii]

Azden looks at Daral and nods to the door. They head out of the barracks and when they are a comfortable distance away Azden says, "She diddnt know much about what was happening, but whatever is happening is big. I think we may be under attack. We should probably head home and make some preparations before the party."

They make their way home in good time and head inside. Azden heads up to the lab in search for some paralytic poison and chloroform. Azden gets his nice clothing out and gets ready for the party. He conceals his dagger, and grabs 2 small steel vials for the poison and chlororform.

He asks Daral, "How much time do we have before we head out?"

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya

I go up to the nearest girl " Where are some of the other girls that are going to the party tonight." As I hope talking to some of them might give me some insight on tonight.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jallil leads you towards the edge of town in silence. It'll be up to you if you want to start a conversation.

Rydgin
Shelby grins as he tosses the book back to you. "Always stories of adventure and exploration. I'd prefer something quieter, you get tired of adventure real fast when you go on them." He gathers up his own equipment and wanders over to his bunk to settle down for a nap.

Around the time you finish polishing your own armour Helvani returns, looking somewhat calmer. He stands at his bed looking at the equipment you polished and left there for him. He packs it away without a word and settles down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling above him.

Jayban
Gorash still sounds pretty unconcerned as he responds. "Well, the situation's obviously pretty dire. We haven't had any Legates in a while, and this one seems to be in a bit of a rush. A bunch of the messages you two handed out this morning had to do with this."

Kasha sounds more frustrated than before. "Why didn't you mention any of this to us? Did you think that we didn't need to know any of it? It seems pretty relevant!"

"It just slipped my mind. You two were fine, you found out on your own anyway."

Azden
"We've got quite a bit of time yet. Party's kind of last minute, there won't be anything for a couple of hours while everyone gets stuff set up. You'll have some time to get work done or whatever you want to do."

Illya
The girl seems pretty young, maybe 14. She quickly directs you towards another group, all of whom are dressed up.

[terryt3o3]

Magog walked in silence for 20 minutes before deciding that he couldn't stand it any more. " so other than raiding patrols, what have you been up to?"

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin looks around the barracks and things are unusually quiet. Everyone must either be exhausted or just trying to get relaxed and prepared for tomorrow and the unknown that comes. Rydgin sees Helvani takes his equipment and just toss it into storage. It does not get to him, though. Rydgin knows Helvani is thankful for it. Well, appreciative even if only for the fact that he does not have to do it himself later. Figuring the time is about early evening, Rydgin figures it's time to get some shut eye in order to take the pain in the muscles and the shake in his bones away from the hard working day he had put behind him. Best not be disturbing anyone. Rydgin turns in his bunk trying to drift off as the setting sun keeps the barracks slightly bright through the windows. Eventually, he falls asleep anxiously waiting to go on an adventure; even if he is only taking orders and being a bodyguard.

[fatmancer]

I relax slightly after hearing how unconcerned he sounds about the situation. It's plausible enough that he simply forgot to tell us, and I guess it doesn't really matter at this point since we did find out in the end. The conversation seems to be going off topic though, so its probably about time that I say something. "Sorry to interject, but from what I've heard from your conversation, I'm assuming that you don't have much more information that you can share with us pertaining to the Legate. For now, is there anything in particular that we should know about?"

[listenheed]

(OOC: Okay, commencing Take 2 with my new character.)

Gahle was both excited and annoyed to see that her merchandise was dwindling. The eastern market was unusually packed, and she didn't even want to think about how crowded it was in the main one. She kept close tabs on her change purse, having one hand over the lip of the bag as much as possible, and realigned what was left of her trinkets with her free hand. Even if it seemed like the guards were plenty, she didn't quite trust them to worry about one young merchant's change.

Looking down at her sad arrangement of kitsch- pretty much the only kinds of things that didn't sell yet today- she knocked on the wood of her counter for luck. Hopefully that would encourage Baldwin, her brother, to return with a good haul of goods fairly soon. And if he was on schedule, he would be showing up any minute.

[polymeraseii]

Azden grabs a steel vile of chloroform and a another vial of dissolved diazepan and hides them in a hidden pocket of his vest. He takes one last look at himself in the mirror to make sure he is presentable then grabs his pocket square and waits for Daral in the main room.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I thank the girl and head to where she directed to. As I enter the area I look at the other girls preparing for the party, looking for anyone who stands out among them.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jallil looks at you as you suddenly break the silence. "Really nothing. Drinking? I don't do much. Why do you ask?" she responds cautiously.

Rydgin
You sleep for a bit. I'll catch up with you soon.

Jayban
Gorash looks at you almost surprised. "Right, you. No, nothing more right now that concerns you about Iovus, though I do have something for you." He reaches down under his desk and pulls out a large, flat bag. "There's a party with a bunch of the nobility going on tonight. Panic response to learning about Iovus coming down. I want you to go to the party. Listen in, see what you can pick up. You should blend in well with those clothes, and just make up some excuse if someone challenges you being there."

Gahle
As if on cue, you catch sight of your brother moving through the crowd, holding his backpack tightly in front of him. He hurries up to your stall and begins speaking quickly. "Pack up for now, we need to discuss this batch somewhere private. Why is it so crowded here?"

Azden
After collecting your equipment and getting dressed up, you meet with Daral. it's about 6:30 now, and the party doesn't start for another hour or so, so you've got a little more time to discuss what you'll be up to if you'd like.

Illya
Looking over the group heading to the party, you see that they're mostly dwarves, with a pair of human girls dressed up as well. You see a few of them look at you with exasperated expressions before putting on polite smiles and inviting you into the group.

[fatmancer]

I'm kind of impressed that my presence went unnoticed for so long, not that it really matters much. One thing I don't really like the idea of going to a fancy party for nobles; I typically like to keep to myself if possible. If it's work I guess I can't really complain though. "I'll see what I can find out then. Do I need an invitation to the party?" I wait a bit for the answer, and then decide to ask one last thing before I head out "If it comes down to needing an excuse, is there a good reason for a non-noble guest to be mingling at a party for nobles in Carronil? If not, I'll think something up, but it would be nice to have something plausible prepared."

[polymeraseii]

Daral sees Azden store the vials and gives him a confused look.

Azden responds, "I dont really have an agenda tonight, but just based on what been happening I thought it better to be safe than sorry. Tonight we are just going to your party and well talk with some people to see if we can find out any more information and maybe even have a good time. Unless of course, you have something better planned?"

[terryt3o3]

Magog continues walking and says "it just came to mind that i don't really know much about you, and i thought it was a shame. i would also like to know a little bit more about the person that i am about to trust at my side in battle. He gets two paces farther before turning to face her " i want to make sure I'm not trusting this plan to a violent drunk sociopath" he says jokingly. Magog proceeds to wink, before continuing to walk.

polymeraseii i thought we said we weren't going to read the spoilers.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
Not entirely surprised at their initial reaction I approach the group of girls and say " Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some information on what to expect tonight. I'm new to this and am not expecting a lot of action, but I'd like to know what to expect from the nobles that might be attending."

[shaddy_24]

Jayban
Gorash waves his hand at your worries. "The nobles of Carronil aren't a particularly observant lot. I can count on one hand those that would even notice that you didn't belong, and most of the few that would aren't the type to be worried about. If anyone asks, claim you're a representative of Sinsor, they've been attempting to get a presence here for a while, but their main house is so full of problems that everyone sent down leaves within a month. Anyone who hears that will dismiss you and not even notice if you don't show up again. Don't forget to get dressed before you head out, there should be a room behind the counter you can change in."

Azden
Daral shakes his head. "I don't have anything. Just pump a few people for information I can use, I feel like a few of these people are going to be trouble if anything happens. Might as well be prepared to deal with them." He glances at the pockets you stored your vials. "I really hope you don't need either of those."

Magog
Jallil is silent for a short time. "I suppose it is a little abrupt. We never really formed a real battle group." She flashes her fangs at you. "Glad you consider me close enough to form one. I personally figured that since we're the only dragonborn around, we should support one another. I guess it's possible that other dragonborn wouldn't really consider that."

Illya
A few of the dwarven women roll their eyes and turn towards each other, talking quickly in High Imperial.
Knowledge (High Imperial), TN 4
"Little tree-hopper, thinking she can just wander into a job like this. Parents are probably runaway slaves, and she's no better. Can't believe Haniria's letting an inexperienced little street slut like her come along, this is a high class job."

The two humans step in quickly, smiling at you and one introduces herself, "Hello. My name is Marrianna and this is Senna. Don't worry, you're just being sent out here on to get a feel for how things work. Look at it as following someone else on their job. You don't have to work, you just see how other people work. I don't know for sure who's going to be down, but there aren't many nobles around here with an elf fetish, and none of them are going to try anything while surrounded by their colleagues. Hells, Senna and I probably won't have much to do."

[terryt3o3]

Magog takes a moment to think before responding. " i do trust you to be able to handle yourself in battle, you are known for that. And yes, we should support each other. i was just commenting on how we know next to nothing about one another, and thought we could try to remedy that.

[listenheed]

Gahle isn't quite sure how to read Baldwin's expression, but she does begin to pack up, tossing whatever's left on the stands into the display boxes and pulling them shut. Good news or bad, he seemed serious. "I'm honestly not sure why it's so busy," she says, stacking the cases. She locks each box from the top down and tucks them under her arm. "Let's go."

[polymeraseii]

"Don't worry Daral, we'll try and have some fun tonight. It is the party you wanted to go to after all. Just try not to get as wasted as you did the last time we went to a party, I don't want to carry you home again. Azden trails his sentence off in a laugh.
"Come get me when you're ready to head out, I'm just going to grab a quick bite to eat from the kitchen."

[Doogeedoo]

ZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzz

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya

High imperial
[roll0]
wild die
[roll1]

I roll my eyes, shake my head and giggle at the dwarves.
I greet the two humans with a smile and say "Oh, okay so I'm just going to be a spectator watching how things are done, alright I think I can handle that, thank you for the help." I smile at the thought that I am to be expected to be in the sidelines, making my true intentions easier.

[fatmancer]

"That sounds like a good cover story then. How long do I have until the party starts, and what names in particular should I keep an ear out for?" After hearing Gorash's response I go to change my clothes in the other room, and get myself ready for the party.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jallil laughs and punches your shoulder lightly. "That wasn't what I was really getting at. You're loose enough with the Code that you're fine forming a battle group with me this quickly. I'm just as guilty though. I suppose it might come with living among these people for so long." She gestures widely towards the various humans, half-ogres, dwarves and elves that wander the streets around you. "We need to be careful, or the Code might just brush off entirely."

Gahle
Baldwin bounces impatiently as you pack up your merchandise, and starts walking quickly as soon as you finish. "I've figured out some of it. Everyone from out of town's moved in suddenly. The farms are empty. I've asked around to figure out why, there's a lot of strange rumours, but the common story is that Imperial Rangers are visiting people's houses and telling them to leave for their own safety." He stares at one of the guards suspiciously as you leave the marketplace. "We should wait until we're somewhere safer before we talk about this anymore."

Azden
Daral waves at you as you head into the kitchen. "As if I'm stupid enough to get drunk at a party like this. This isn't for fun, parties like this are my job. Can't get drunk on the job. A little tipsy though, usually makes everything easier. People talk more when they think you're too drunk to remember what they're saying."

Rydgin
ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*snort*... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzz

Illya
Senna speaks up. "You're with Dieara, right? She said you had to come along if Haniria wanted her to work. Talk to her or us if you have any questions and before agreeing to do anything. Well, probably us. Dieara always manages to keep busy, even on these kinds of jobs. Oh well, gives us more time to drink and fewer clients to have to deal with" She grins and nudges Marrianna with her elbow.

Jayban
"You should have plenty of time. You don't want to arrive too early anyway, wait until things are underway and people are already drinking. As for who to watch out for..." Gorash leans back and sticks his tongue out as he thinks. It's not a pretty sight. "Daral and Azden. Daral goes to these events specifically to gather information, and he brings Azden along to help him out. They're pretty much the only people who actually pay attention at parties like this. Other than that, avoid talking to the hired help. Most of the nobles rely on them to gather information at these parties and don't worry about it themselves. Especially avoid the escorts, and there's gonna be a pack of them." He shudders slightly at that.

OOC for everyone:
Of note: in all my posts from now on, different colours correspond to different languages.
Dim Gray: Draconic
Dark Slate Gray: Drakken
Dark Red: Trade Tongue
Blue: Low Imperial
Royal Blue: High Imperial
Elvish won't have a colour yet, I don't think any of you speak it.

[listenheed]

Gahle fell into step beside Baldwin, clutching her things. The more she heard about this, the more it seemed like a bad thing. "I thought I noticed quite a few new faces," she said, partly to herself. She headed for the house with him, otherwise keeping her mouth shut until the crowd thinned enough. "Did anything happen to you? Are you okay?" She kept her voice low.

[terryt3o3]

Magog sighs " seeing as you're the only other dragon born in town, you are the closest thing to a dragonborn blood brother in town." Magog looks around at the various assembled masses, " it is hard to keep up the code when you are the only one following it, but we must. it's what keeps us apart from the apes and the elves."

[fatmancer]

"Daral and Azden then, understood. I'll keep what you've said about the hired help and escorts in mind. Thanks for the heads up." Apparently Gorash really doesn't much like escorts, not that I blame him. Regardless, they don't aid my cause, so I'll heed Gorash's recommendation to steer clear of them. I change into the outfit I was provided, and realize that I don't have much in the way of things to do until the party starts. I spend my idle time recalling what I can of the House of Sinsor, and any information I've picked up about Daral and Azden. If I do end up meeting them tonight I'd rather be prepared for it up front. I need things to go smoothly if I hope to learn anything, after all.

Streetwise Roll for information regarding the House of Sinsor:
Primary: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

Streetwise Roll for information relevant to Daral and Azden:
Primary: [roll2]
Wild: [roll3]

Assuming Streetwise gets the +2 bonus for charisma.

[polymeraseii]

"Always a thinker aren't you Daral, don't worry you've got me as your wing man." As Azden gives Daral the best troll face he can muster. Daral shakes his head with a bit of a chuckle and finishes getting ready as Azden continues eating his meal waiting to head out to the party.

[shaddy_24]

Gahle
Baldwin nods at your question. "I'm fine. Not sure if I can say the same for everyone else out there. I found something... unusual, and I need your expertise. I don't know what it is, maybe you saw something like it in school." He refuses to say anything else about it until you reach the room you're both renting out.

Magog
Jallil laughs at your response. "I do enjoy that you separated elves from that. What are they then if not apes, some form of climbing monkey? I've heard of dwarves referring to them as 'tree-hoppers'." By this point, you're well outside the town and heading to the East.

Jayban
You find a well tailored suit in the bag Gorash handed you. Fits perfectly. Good material, probably worth more than a year's pay.

On the house of Sinsor: they're somewhat predominant in the center-south of the Empire, owning a fair amount of land in there. That's about it though. They have no close ties with the Empire, little power within the military and almost no presence in the Imperial City. It doesn't seem out of place for them to make moves in outlying areas simply to try and get something of note. They really are unremarkable.

Azden
You're just finishing your meal when Daral comes in ready to head out. You take a small carriage to the house of Karrianil Parial, the most senior representative of House Parial in Carronil. It is a very fancy mansion, sitting a short distance to the West of Carronil, about 10 minutes by carriage from the town proper. It already looks to be fairly busy by the time you arrive, as you're escorted in by a young looking human wearing a slaves armband. It looks like over half the noble population of Carronil is already here, probably about 50 in the main room, and who knows how many in the adjoining rooms. A large number of slaves rush around the room, carrying trays of food, alcohol, narcotics and other such treats.

OOC for everyone:
Dim Gray: Draconic
Dark Slate Gray: Drakken
Dark Red: Trade Tongue
Blue: Low Imperial
Royal Blue: High Imperial

[listenheed]

"Everyone else?" Gahle frowned at him. What happened with them? This was really not sitting well with her. They passed through the front area of the inn, and she pulled out her key once they reached the room. She readjusted the cases under her arm. "I'll see what I can figure out," she said as she unlocked the door. "Hopefully it's familiar, whatever it is."

[fatmancer]

As I put on the suit, I'm shocked at how well it fits me. Gorash didn't know anything about me or the party until today, and he was able to get something like this together on such short notice. I'm both relieved and impressed by this demonstration, as it shows just how capable he really is at his job. In any case I'd better be careful not to get it dirty; there is definitely no way for me to pay back the cost of this suit if it comes down to it. Plus, it could be a useful thing to have in the future. I'm relieved by the information I was able to recall about the Sinsor house, but somewhat nervous about not knowing a thing about Daral or Azden. I guess I'll just have to play that encounter by ear if it happens.

I spend the rest of the time until I need to leave relaxing, and then head off towards the party.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
" Alright, thanks for the advice. I'm glad to know that I have more than just Dieara for advice and such." I pause for a moment seeing if they want to tell me anything else."Well see you at the party." and with that I walk out and wait for the party to begin, making sure I have everything I could need, and can hide, with me.

[polymeraseii]

Azden flags down one of the scurrying slaves and grabs a drink for himself and Daral. He then asks Daral to help him look around the rooms to see if they can discern any people of interest (anyone hi profile or anyone who does not seem to fit in).
[roll0]

[polymeraseii]

wild die: [roll0] forgot to roll this

[terryt3o3]

Magog laughs " tree hoppers, that's a good one. id never compare elves to apes though, its insulting. those poor apes are much stronger, probably smarter too." He scoffs. "if you don't mind the non sequitur, where did you see the patrol camp?

[shaddy_24]

Gahle
Baldwin closes the door quickly when you're both in and tests the lock several times. Satisfied that it's as secure as it can get, he moves over to your table, clearing anything off of it quickly and setting his bag on it. Opening it slowly, he pulls out

a large stone tablet. It's about one and a half by two feet, and maybe two inches thick. He places it carefully down on the table, and you can see dozens of different symbols inscribed onto the surface. They're arranged very haphazardly, no obvious pattern, and you don't see any symbols repeated. Angling his bag so you can see inside, he shows you that he has 3 more tablets the same size. "I found them in a really old building. There had been a bunch of traps and other defenses set up, it looked like someone else had managed to push through them. I figured I'd follow as long as I could, hopefully whoever it was left something worthwhile behind. Then I found these, lying on top of a body. There was a big pedestal nearby with another one on it, I left it there. The body wasn't really old, maybe a few months. I don't know who it was."

Baldwin usually brings small gems or minor pieces of art, stuff you can sell in the market to people who like something shiny. Occasionally he uncovered something more valuable, either for historical reasons or something with a lot of precious materials. He'd never found anything like this before. You don't recognize the symbols at a glance, it will require time and possibly research to uncover their meanings.

Jayban
You arrive at the party late on purpose, making a short trip outside of town. Gorash has a small carriage prepared to take you down. When you arrive, a young human slave appears to lead you to the main area. There looks to be between 50 and 60 dwarves mingling in the main room, with a number of slaves running around providing food, drinks and other items for the party-goers. From the noise, it sounds like there's a fair number of people in nearby rooms as well.

Illya
Dieara returns shortly, having gotten dressed up. She definitely stands out from the others, in a stunning outfit and carefully made up. All of the other women swarm around her, telling her how good she looks and talking about how the evening will go. She gives you a small smile across the group, then joins the rest of them in final preparations for the party.

Your group leaves early for the party, to ensure you arrive before any of the guests. You're escorted into a large carriage and brought to a mansion about 10 minutes outside of the town proper, with its own walled in compound. Slaves run around performing final preparations, while the dwarf that greets you on your arrival looks you all over. He looks you over with a scowl on his face, but lets you pass by without comment. "It's the price for Dieara." Senna whispers to you after you've passed. "She very rarely does this work, but most nobles will pay a lot extra to have her escort a party."

Over the next few hours, a number of nobles arrive with their own parties. You're ignored for the most part, only having to respond to the occasional slave asking if you'd like some food or a drink. The other girls wander around the party, interacting with the party-goers and occasionally disappearing into a back room for a time. You're pretty much invisible however.

Azden
Daral takes his drink and sips it, nodding to you. "Take notes on who's drinking or drugging themselves up, or spending a lot of time with the escorts."

You spend a little time wandering the rooms, checking out the participants. Most are young, spoiled nobles who don't have a lot of responsibility or importance. It's sometimes worth it to pump them for information, but more often than not they're in Carronil because they don't have any major connections or skills. It's rarely worth the time. Karrianil himself isn't present at the moment, though he may make an appearance later in the evening. You do catch sight of Arylassa's uncle, a military adviser, though not an officer himself. He appears to be drinking quite heavily and talking to one of the slaves about his marriage. Always a bad idea, servants and slaves tend to be used to pick up information from these sorts of events. From the way the slave is constantly filling his drink, you suspect that's what's going on here.

A few other people stand out somewhat. There's a few young dwarves you don't recognize hanging around, usually trying to integrate themselves into a larger group. You hear from someone that Dieara, one of the most popular escorts among those that prefer humans, is working the party tonight. She doesn't work too often, so Karrianil probably had to pull in a couple favours to get her. From what you pick up, she also demanded to be allowed to bring a friend along, so there's a young elf woman who needs to be left alone to appease her.

Magog
Jallil looks up at the sky, then quickly heads out. It was a good distance out, so we'll have to move quickly now. I found it just yesterday though, so they may not have gone too far. It depends on if they're looking for something in the area or are just passing through." The next few hours are spent searching down the camp, then Jallil takes the lead following the trail out from there. She leads the way in silence, carefully examining the ground as she walks.

[terryt3o3]

Magog follows along.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I wander around the party asking people about "why do the nobles look so nervous and on edge?" as well I keep my eyes open for anyone who looks like their conversations may prove useful.

Streetwise
[roll0]
wild die streetwise
[roll1]
Notice
[roll2]
wild die notice
[roll3]

[fatmancer]

I search for a group that seems easy to get into a light conversation with; I don't want to start out with anything too heavy. For now I need to learn people's names, where they fit into the social dynamic, and who to talk to if I really want to learn anything. Anything about Daral or Azden would be welcome information as well, though I don't want to sound too eager for it. It wouldn't be good if they heard me asking around about them.

Upon thinking of them, I quickly scan the crowd for anyone matching their descriptions. For now at least, I'd prefer to avoid them. Better to get settled in to the party and learn the social dynamics between the nobility before getting to the difficult stuff.


Notice:
Primary
[roll0]
Wild
[roll1]

Streetwise:
Primary
[roll2]
Wild
[roll3]

[listenheed]

"On top of a b-?" Gahle unleashed a puff of breath, pressing her hands down on the table, her shoulders up by her ears. She looked up, shooting Baldwin a stern look from under her brow. "I'm glad you're okay, but I hope you were careful. Taking things from around a body..." She knew Baldwin's job was occasionally dangerous, but this seemed more... more real than jobs before. Knowing what had happened to the other guy, she was actually glad Baldwin had left one behind.

Releasing another sigh, she inspected the tablet.

"It's not like anything I've seen before," Gahle said, her hand hesitating above its surface for a few seconds before she touched it. She drew her fingers across its surface. "It's interesting, though. I'll look into it, do some research; maybe something's in my notes. Or I could try and get in contact with someone from school, if need be." Still looking over the original, she flicked a hand out to Baldwin's bag. "Take out the other ones; I want to see them side by side, to compare."

[shaddy_24]

Magog
Jallil continues to lead you on as the sun begins to set. The sky is a dark red when she gestures to you to slow down. "I think we're getting pretty close now. Trail's really fresh. We got lucky, it looks like they're after something in the area, so they aren't moving quickly." She loosens her sword in its sheath and readies her shield before moving on.

Illya
Most of the slaves avoid speaking with you too much, especially when you try to direct the conversation towards the reason for the party. You get lucky though when you notice one of the slaves constantly following you, trying to catch glimpses of your cleavage. All it takes is a little flirting and the young human tells you about what he's heard. "Someone important showed up today. I didn't catch who they were, but the master was talking about military inspections and the rebels. He's having a meeting with a bunch of other people in one of the rooms upstairs." He spends most of the conversation staring directly at your chest.

Jayban
Wandering the party for a short time, it quickly becomes apparent that most of the nobles here are young and fairly stupid. To them, this is nothing more than an excuse to go out, take some drugs, have sex with a prostitute (or, if they're really lucky, another young, stupid noble like themselves), and forget about the few responsibilities they may have. You hear some complaints about how no one understands them or their situation, and at least one request for some time in a back room. No one even questions who you are.

You spot someone who matches Azden's description wandering around the party, checking up on everyone. He looks you over for a moment before moving on. Of Daral, you see no sign.

Talking with a particularly drunk and high kid, you pick up some interesting information. He came down with his aunt, a fairly important and high ranked member of her house. She disappeared with Karrianil, the noble who owns this house, right after arriving, and he hasn't seen her since.

Gahle
Baldwin quickly pulls out the other three tablets, placing them beside the first one. Going over them, they have pretty much the same setup as the first, with different symbols. Your quick look over doesn't see any symbols repeated across any of the tablets, though there's so many symbols now it'll take a decent effort to cross reference each of them.

"I was going to leave them there, but they seemed too important. These were important enough for a lot of defenses and some special setup, and whoever this was didn't look like a random treasure hunter like me. He had a lot of good equipment, looked very high quality. He was after these for a specific reason, so we need to figure out why he was after them."

Rydgin
You're abruptly woken up when someone sits on your legs. Bolting upright, you're momentarily blinded by a torch held in someone's hand. Blinking away the spots, you manage to make out Partrin sitting there, holding a torch and what appears to be a small crossbow.

[Doogeedoo]

"Partin, what are you doing here?", Rydgin whispers holding his hands up to show no harm, looking eerily at the crossbow to see if it's loaded. "What is this all about? What will threatening me accomplish?"

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I ask the servant " Where exactly is this room"

Persuasion
[roll0]
wild Die
[roll1]

[fatmancer]

So all the important nobles are staying away from the main party to discuss whats going on. I should have figured that out sooner, I guess, but at least I got a good idea of what is happening here in the meantime. To start with I'll need to find out where this meeting is being held. I start by scoping out the areas to which guests have restricted access, mostly by searching for guarded hallways and rooms, and asking around slightly to fill in the rest of the details.

After satisfying myself that I know as much as I'll find about the places guests are supposed to stay clear of, I begin to narrow down the possibilities. I can hardly believe that the nobles would tarnish their pride too far to hide a meeting like this, so any areas dedicated to servants are out of the question. The room must also be somewhat out of the way, so that someone doesn't drunkenly stumble in or eavesdrop. To finish building my theory, I ask around to see if I can find out the direction in which the important nobles were taken. As a fake representative of Sinsor, I even have good enough reasons to look for them to form a cover story should anyone get suspicious.

Notice: Searching for off-limits rooms:
Primary: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

Streetwise: Filling out information about off-limits rooms:
Primary: [roll2]
Wild: [roll3]

Streetwise: Finding where high ranking nobles were taken upon arrival:
Primary: [roll4]
Wild: [roll5]

Smarts: Discounting areas that seem too suspicious/Compiling information:
Primary: [roll6]
Wild: [roll7]

[listenheed]

" All different... " Gahle mumbled, looking over all the tablets. She vaguely wondered what the one left behind looked like. From one of her cases, she pulled out her reference notes from school. "Like I said, I can't really recognize too much off the bat, but I'm going to give these a good look over," she said. She plunked herself down at the table. "This might take a while."



I'm going to dedicate some time to this.

Knowledge: Archaeology
To see if I know what any of the symbols are.

Primary (d8) [roll0]

Wild (d6) [roll1]

Knowledge: Archaeology
To see if the shape/style of the tablet indicates a certain time period or culture that I know of.

Primary (d8) [roll2]

Wild (d6) [roll3]

Notice
To see if I can discern a general pattern between the layouts (of the symbols, or other elements) of the three tablets.

Primary (d10) [roll4]

Wild (d6) [roll5]

[terryt3o3]

Magog picks up corporal quackers, makes sure his muzzle is on tight, makes him silent, and places him in his backpack. Magog then proceeds to ready his hammer.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Partrin blinks at you for a moment before turning his attention to the crossbow he's holding. "Oh, no no no." His voice slurs a bit, revealing he's at least a little drunk. "This isn't mine. Too small, see?" He angles it out to you, revealing it's about the size of a dagger, and unloaded. "This... is an assassin's weapon. Do you know who uses these weapons? Inquisition." He looks around. The room is almost empty besides you two, and no one else is awake. "Found it in a hiding spot in here. There's a spy among us." He drops the weapon on the bed next to you.

Illya
The slave breaks his gaze to look you in the face. "Um..." His face turns red as he struggles to say something. "I... I could take you back there. If you'd like. It's in the other building though, there's not as many people over there." He breaks eye contact, looking wildly around the room.

Jayban
You don't see any signs of blocked off areas; no obvious guards setup, staircases are open. Asking about a bit, you find out a lot of the upper rooms are open for guests to enter, as most of the private bedrooms are in another building. It's possible that that's where any meetings will be held, and this theory is backed up when you hear someone mention seeing a few people you're looking for walking in that direction. The party is extending over to there, but it's a smaller venue. With more private rooms, and less people wandering around, it seems like a good place for a meeting.

Gahle
You settle in for a long haul.

It takes a few hours, but you manage to examine all four tablets carefully and figure out some useful information. A number of the symbols seem to correspond to older methods of planar magic, used much more in the early years of the Empire. While you can't decipher the specific meaning of the symbols (unless you have knowledge (magic) or knowledge (planes)), you do recognize the patterns as early Imperial, maybe 350 to 400 years ago. The tablets themselves confuse that though. The markings on the stone where they were carved suggest the tablet is much older than that. Either the tablets were carved a millennium ago, or the tool marks have worn far faster than they should have. There is no sign of weather marking or other physical damage, so the wear seems to match up with nothing but age.

Trying to put together a pattern, you realize it looks like they form a sort of spiral when placed around the table, as if in front of a person on each edge. Placing out pieces of paper, you can eventually trace out where they should sit in relation with each other to make the spiral follow fairly smoothly. There is enough room in the center of the table to fit another tablet of the same size, with an equal distance between it and each of the other tablets.

Magog
You and Jallil move cautiously through the bushes for a while, as the sun continues to set. Eventually, it begins to get difficult to see. Jallil suddenly pauses, lifting up one foot. "What is this..." she mutters to herself, wiping her foot off on another patch of ground. "It's wet for some reason..."

OOC for everyone:
Dim Gray: Draconic
Dark Slate Gray: Drakken
Dark Red: Trade Tongue
Blue: Low Imperial
Royal Blue: High Imperial

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin takes the crossbow in his hands and wrinkles his brow looking at it as close as he can with the little light the torch provides. "Where did you find this? Who does it belong to?" Rydgin says tipping it looking for any strange marks. "And what am I supposed to do about this? Fully assuming you aren't dreaming these things up. And why did you come to me about this?" Rydgin rubs his eyes trying to force the sleep out of them, not very impressed to be woken up on the night of their first big mission for a Legate.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
"That would be lovely" Then following him, keeping my eyes open the entire way to, where I will hopefully find out what is going on.

[listenheed]

Gahle made notes on her progress, drawing out sketches of the perceived tablet arrangement and her historical observations. She drew a few of the symbols- not perfect drawings, just rough approximations so that if she were to show anyone from her classes, it'd give them an idea. Something about the timing didn't add up, and it annoyed her. As she finished up, she bit down on the edge of her thumbnail, frowning at the tablets: then, she stacked them and locked them up with the rest of her merchandise. She stowed her new notes in her pocket; she'll have to meet up with one of her tutors later.

[terryt3o3]

" wet? what on earth would be wet."

notice to spot what's "wet"
[roll0]

wild die [roll1]

[fatmancer]

Its rather lucky for me that the second building is being included as one of the party's venues. This way I can mingle in with the other guests somewhat inconspicuously while I try and find out what's going on. Thinking back on it, this might even be why I only saw Azden, and not Daral at the first venue. If this is the case, I'm going to have to be careful not to draw his attention to me if he wasn't invited to the meeting. Trying not to draw too much attention, I move on to the second venue. Without straying too far from the crowd, I gather information about the layout and distribution of the guests as preliminary research to finding the meeting. While I walk I keep an eye out for Daral or Azden in particular.
Notice:
Primary:[roll0]
Wild:[roll1]

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
"It was hidden under a loose stone along the wall. I noticed it earlier this afternoon when I was ordered to pack my stuff up. Slipped back in here while everyone was partying, pried it out. It's all that was in there, so I can't tell who it belongs to. There were a couple bunks nearby, but that doesn't prove anything." He glances around the room again. "You're one of the only people I can trust. Inquisition doesn't like kobolds. Dwarves and humans they'll use, half-ogres and elves maybe, but not kobolds. Narrows it down to you and a few others. Just giving you a heads up. Inquisition's here, which means they're watching over someone. Might be me, but who knows at this point. Be careful, whoever they are they'll sacrifice you without hesitation of they think it'll advance the Empire. With the Legate here, that'll probably come up soon."

Illya
The slave quickly leads you out of the building, following a path into a smaller house. A few people wander past you in one direction or the other, most of them drugged out to some degree. The main room here is smaller, with far fewer people around. Of note, the food and drinks here seem to be more lavish and 'high-class' than back in the main party, and there's no strong drugs immediately obvious. At the moment though, there's no one but a bunch of drunk young nobles here, complaining and drinking.

The slave with you points towards one of the doors. "There's guards here." Looking over to where he pointed, you indeed see several people standing around the doors. While they aren't armed or armoured, it's fairly obvious from their stance and their positioning that they don't intend to let anyone pass. "We'll need to find a way past them."

Gahle
The archaeology community around here is fairly large. Part of the reason you and Baldwin ended up out here was because there was a lot of available area to search. Oddly enough for a town of this size and position, there was also a fairly well stocked library, mostly catering to this community. You may be able to find some information there tomorrow.

Magog
Kneeling down, you quickly determine that the wet patch is not water, instead being partially dried blood. Jallil suddenly gasps, drawing her weapon out and crouching down into a battle position, alternating between glancing up and watching around you. Following her gaze, you can spot what appears to be a human arm snagged in the branches, directly above the blood spot.

Jayban
There's a short walk over to the other building. Aside from a few other nobles wandering one way or the other, the only thing of note en rout is a finely dressed elven woman being led in the same direction by a human slave.

Arriving at the other building, you can quickly determine that most of those present are just as intoxicated as in the main building, though you do notice there's a significantly reduced amount of intoxicating substances. Fine food and drinks seem to be more the spread here.

You quickly note the entrances to the rest of the building have several guards hanging around them trying to look inconspicuous. No obvious arms or armour, and no sign of Daral here either.

[terryt3o3]

Magog quickly readies his war hammer. " this is bad, what the hell happened." He starts to look around quickly.

notice looking to see what happened/ what did this
[roll0]
wild die [roll1]


"i dont like this"

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I take a quick look around to see if there is some way to either sneak past the guards or something that can be used as a distraction.

Notice
[roll0]
wild die
[roll1]

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin looks seriously puzzled, especially knowing how paranoid Partin can be and all the conspiracies he can come up with. "Thanks for the warnings, my friend. What am I supposed to do about it now?" Rydgin looks outside trying to guess the time with no inclinations as to how long he's been asleep. "I don't want to do anything that might get me in a lot of trouble, Partin. The last thing I want is a Legate after me. However, I am willing to try digging deeper into the matter. The problem is, I don't know what time were were to be heading out of here. If we were supposed to leave early in the morning and I'm not here, they would consider me AWOL and have my head."

Rydgin frowns slightly and automatically looks over in Shelby's direction. My dear friend, I sincerely hope it is not you he refers to.

[listenheed]

The work on the tablets had gone on so long that Gahle didn't feel like carrying on with it any more today. All the information was getting muddled in her mind, and besides, she wouldn't be able to get to the library until tomorrow. As she collapsed back down into her chair, her money-purse jingled merrily.

Looking down at it, she smirked. Well, it had been a really good day at the market. She could spare a few bucks for a game of cards or two. Maybe she could even grow her stash, with some luck. And who knows, maybe she'd run into one of her classmates or instructors at the bar that could help her with the temporally-confusing tablets...

Well, that was a long shot, but she didn't quite care. She wasn't an idiot, though; she locked up about half her coins in the cabinet with her merchandise and the tablets. Quickly checking the hall (to make sure Baldwin wasn't there to judge her) and reattaching her keys to her belt, she headed out to her occasional gambling spot.

[fatmancer]

Since I don't see Daral here, I'm going to assume for now that he was invited to the main meeting. If I'm unable to get any information on the meeting, I might be able to get some by talking to him.

For now I decide that my best odds of getting any information on the meeting is going to be by getting a guard or servant to take me to an adjacent room where I can listen in. I don't want to attract too much attention, and I'm not all that good at sneaking around places.

I talk to a few of the guards who have been posted to try and find out which ones may be willing to help me out in exchange for a small bribe. Once I find a likely candidate I attempt to persuade him to help me get to a suitable location, for as little compensation as possible.

Streetwise: Find a bribe-able guard
Primary: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

Persuade: Persuade him to help me, for minimal costliness
Primary: [roll2]
Wild: [roll3]

[shaddy_24]

Magog
You and Jallil quickly scan the area around you, but catch sight of nothing. After a few moments of silence, Jallil turns in the direction the trail goes. "Come on. We should finish this quickly and get out of here."

She carries on down the trail, weapon drawn and readied.

Illya
You see that a few slaves carrying plates of food and drink are allowed to pass by the guards at one point. The slave who brought you meanwhile nervously looks around the room and shifts his weight from foot to foot. 'I can't stay here very long, I could get in trouble. I can't spend too much time directing you around."

Rydgin
Partrin shakes his head. "Don't go looking for him unless you want to get yourself killed. Just be careful. The legate coming out here probably has something to do with the Inquisition, they'll probably have some plan."

Looking out one of the windows, you can tell that the sun is getting low, thought it's still up. It's getting late, probably just around 10 pm. Shelby's bunk is empty right now, along with much of the barracks.

Gahle
You slip out of your room easily enough, and head out into the streets. It's starting to get dark, so the bars will be filling up very soon. Your regular gambling spot is in the back area of a nearby tavern. They have a license to deal cards, and generally cater to the middle class. No slaves or homeless, and no nobles either. Makes for a more stable game.

Upon arrival, you're surprised to see a group of amateur archaeologists sitting together in the front room. They seem to be arguing about something, and a number of pages are scattered about the table in front of them.

Jayban
Carefully conversing around and with a few of the guards, you eventually pick out one you think may be most susceptible to bribery. He is, oddly enough, a dwarf, has the look of an experienced fighter to him. Looks uncomfortable in his clothes and has a splotchy complexion, likely from regular alcohol abuse. While he's argumentative at first, he very quickly begins listening when you offer the prospect of money. The negotiations seem to be going well for a moment, when suddenly you notice another dwarf matching Daral's description approaching the two of you. The guard stutters suddenly when he sees him.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin nods his head to heed the warning. "Well, do you know where everyone else is?" Rydgin rolls out of bed and takes a closer look around to see if there's any inclination as to where anyone went. After looking around the barracks, he looks out the windows for any signs of life other than Partrin and himself. "Am I forgetting something?"

[listenheed]

Brows furrowed in interested confusion, Gahle approached the table. She recognized a few of the archaeologists from her lessons. One across the table, Lana, always seemed to have an opinion; two seats over was Carver. He was normally quiet, but usually had a face that hinted at the thought beneath it. He wore that expression now.

There were a few others that she didn't know, but the brief snippet of conversation she'd caught led her to think that they were similarly qualified.

She stopped behind Carver, placing a hand on the back of his chair. Leaning forward to peer at the papers, she asked, "What's the debate?"

[terryt3o3]

Magog follows along, weapon ready.

[fatmancer]

Spotting the approach of the Dwarf who I assume to be Daral, I drop the conversation immediately. Without changing my volume I continue, "--It must have been something I ate, but I really don't know what." I chuckle lightly. "Anyways, I'd rather prefer to lie down somewhere quiet before my stomach gets any worse. Which room did you say was free again?"
Streetwise: Seamlessly switch conversations, making sure the guard catches my intent.
Primary:[roll0]
Wild:[roll1]

[polymeraseii]

Azden nods to Daral and takes a mental note on who has been drinking and who's been associating with escorts and slaves.

They head over to Arylassa's uncle and the slave.
While extending his hand, Azden says with a large smile on his face, "Leokul, It's been a long time, how have you been!?"

The slave begins looking rather nervous and slowly edges to leave the conversations. Darral sees this and excuses himself to find the slave and see what he knows.

Azden continues, "I hear you're an adviser for the military now, congratulations on the promotion."

It's pretty evident that this man has had one to many drinks, hopefully he is as friendly as Azden remembers him from childhood.

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I quickly but calmly look for and grab a tray before heading over to where the other slaves are entering.

As I approach the guards I try to look and walk as similar to the other slaves as possible without looking too out of place.
Streetwise to pass myself off as a slave
[roll0]
wild die for streetwise
[roll1]
Sleight of Hand to hide that I do not have a slave wrist band
[roll2]
wild die for sleight of hand
[roll3]

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Partrin looks around at the nearly empty barracks. "Oh. No one woke you? The Legate sent a present. Couple kegs of beer and lots of wine. We get the night off and get to sleep in tomorrow. I watched for a little while, doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. There's a bit of a quiet party going on with us slaves. Last celebration before he gets us all killed."

Gahle
Everyone at the table looks up at you suddenly as you speak up. You see a few of the ones you don't know frown up at you, while Carver shuffles aside to include you in the conversation. "A couple people here had military personal visit up on them earlier today. Searched through their stuff, took a few things. We're trying to figure out what exactly they were after, in case any of them come looking for us." Looking over, you see papers with symbols and descriptions scrawled all over them.

Magog
You cover only another 50 m before turning around a copse of trees and spotting the rest of the Owaru unit. It looks like 6 people, all armoured up and definitely dead. You don't even spot any drawn weapons, suggesting they were killed before they even realized there was any danger. Looking it over, most of the bodies seem mostly whole, not many missing body parts. A few crows pick at one of the bodies, but other than that, there's no movement or sound. Jallil seems fairly jumpy, snapping her head back and forth. "What now?"

Jayban
The guard starts stumbling over a reply when 'Daral' steps up next to you. "Ah, you're having some stomach troubles as well? Might be something going around." He smiles at the guard, clasping his hand and shaking it firmly. "I've got a room that I have permission to use for just these sorts of occasions. Would you like to accompany me for a bit? You can get off your feet and away from the party for a little while."

Azden
Leokul looks you over a few times before he seems to recall you. "Azden! My boy, it's been far too long. How did school go? What were you studying again... Oh well, that's not important. Have you seen Arylassa lately? She just got appointed Lieutenant out here, youngest to graduate out of her school in 50 years." He beams excitedly. "Always knew you all would do well. Brilliant, the lot of you."

He waves his hand at your congratulations. "Bah, it's nothing really big. I'm not even gonna get to do anything now, since..." he catches himself and looks around. "Well, you probably know, but our new guest has all the advisers sitting off to the side for now. I think he's got more experience than the rest of us."

Illya
It takes you a few minutes to find an abandoned tray with enough food on it to make your plan believable. As you head back over towards the back rooms, you see a couple nobles talking with each other and one of the guards right in front of the entrance. You can move up fairly close without drawing attention to yourself.

OOC for everyone:
Dim Gray: Draconic
Dark Slate Gray: Drakken
Dark Red: Trade Tongue
Blue: Low Imperial
Royal Blue: High Imperial

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin feels a little down seeing as no one had woken him for these kinds of festivities. He turns to Partrin and looks at the crossbow one more time. A brow is raised and head tilts to the side. "Think you can show me where you found this?" tossing it at Partrin for him to catch. "I doubt it, but maybe I can find something there. Some sort of clue as to what seems to be going on here."

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
I walk past the conversing nobles towards the back room trying not to make eye contact with either noble or the guard.

[fatmancer]

With no presentable reason to refuse his offer, I reply "That would be absolutely wonderful. Thank you for the offer, friend. I don't believe I've yet to catch your name this evening, would you mind my asking it?." I follow Daral towards the private room, and we continue to make light conversation on the way.

It is unfortunate that I didn't have more time to look around before this meeting, but at least I've had time to familiarize myself with the party and the it's attendees. That aside, while it might be risky to get into a private conversation with the dwarf, he seems like the kind of person who would know a lot about what is going on. If I want to gather any information on the situation, this might well be my best chance.

[listenheed]

Uh oh. That didn't sound good. Gahle couldn't decide whether it was lucky or not that she wasn't searched today: it was a good thing that the officials didn't know anything about what she had yet, but had they searched her today before Baldwin came back, she could have been under the radar now. And if they're still searching... But maybe she shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Trying to keep a straight face, Gahle looked over the symbols and gave them a quick scan to see if she recognized anything.


Roll: Notice (d10)
Do I recognize any of the symbols and/or sketches? Do they remind me of the tablets?
[roll0]

Roll: Streetwise (d8)
My attempt at a poker face.
[roll1]

[listenheed]

Wilds.

Notice: [roll0]
Streetwise: [roll1]

[terryt3o3]

Magog looks around, And turns to her. " we've come this far, let's just grab 2 sets of chain male and go, as quick as we can.". He proceeds to lead her into the clearing, weapons drawn.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Partrin juggles the crossbow a few times before getting a firm grip on it. "Yeah, yeah, no problem." He moves you over towards one of the walls. "Just down here." He pulls out a brick right near the ground. "There's a little opening behind it, just barely big enough for it. It was collapsed down before, I accidentally unfolded it and I don't know how it folds up again." The opening is obviously too small for the crossbow as is.

Illya
As you slip past them, one of the nobles and the guard pay no attention to you...
OOC
Wait to see the response from the other

Jayban
Right before you accept Daral's offer, a female elf in nice clothing and carrying a tray of food slips past you. The other to pay her no attention.

Gahle
You don't pick up any information from the symbols, but you didn't have time to look thoroughly. Carver frowns while looking up at you. Is everything alright?"

Magog
Jallil nods and moves quickly into the clearing with you. Hurrying up to the corpses, check them over for intact chain mail. Five of them have regular chain hauberks, but the last one's armour is far nicer. Lighter, finer chains. Looks like the same quality as some of Bareth's nicer pieces. Jallil scrambles to help you remove their armour and cuts several of their sheaths off with a knife to collect their swords, when she suddenly pauses and looks over them. "They're not all here!" She seems to count things up. "All the arms are accounted for!"

Looking around, you can confirm this. The total number of arms in the clearing is appropriate for the number of bodies. That arm you saw was extra.

[terryt3o3]

Having grabbed the nicer of the chain-mail, and two of the regular sets, Magog turns to jallil, " okay, we got what we came for, lets get out of here now." He shoves the mail in his backpack, and starts to leave with her.

[listenheed]

The words "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," slid off her tongue with ease, but Gahle had to come up with a good reason for her discomfort. "It's just... all these officials already made me nervous when I saw the crowds this morning." She self-consciously pulled her cloak tighter around herself- let these guys interpret that as they would. Being what she was, having more unpredictable people hanging around would make her nervous, realistically. It did.

"I mean, I came here to blow off some steam. And now to hear that they're actually going through stuff, taking things... It's unsettling." She sat down at the table and purposefully looked away from the symbols spread on the table- to avoid suspicion, it would probably be best to act more interested in the conversation than what's on the sheet. She'd get a better look at it later.

"What kinds of things have they been after so far?" she asked, meeting eyes with a few of the others.


Streetwise
(or Persuasion, if that seems more appropriate. They're both d8, anyway.)
Did they seem to buy her reasons for her discomfort?

Primary, d8: [roll0]
Wild, d6: [roll1]

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin gets down before Partrin takes out the brick and looks at the area with his thermal vision to see if anyone has been here as of recent based on unusual warmth on the bricks or surrounding area. "How long ago since you were here?" asking while looking around for footprints that aren't either of theirs. After all, it would be unusual for someone to be intentionally againt the wall. Placing his hand out, Rydgin gestures for the crossbow. "Should we put this back? Or should we keep it or put it somewhere else so the inqisitor knows they've been compromised? It may put them on edge and noticably uncomfortable." Rydgin fiddles with the crossbow trying to remember how to collapse it; he trains with a repeater.


Notice
[roll0]
Wild Die
[roll1]

Tracking
[roll2]
Wild Die
[roll3]

Common Knowledge to collapse crossbow(?) (May not be necessary)
[roll4]
Wild Die
[roll5]

[fatmancer]

I recognize the elf as the same one I had noticed of on my way over to this building; finely dressed, and being led here by a slave. Something doesn't quite add up here, so I'm pretty sure she's not a servant. No matter, it doesn't surprise me that there are others sneaking around trying to pick things up at this party. I make a mental note of her, since she could have a similar goal as I do in coming to this party, but other then that I have more important things to deal with for now so I pay her no heed.

[polymeraseii]

"So, our guest is taking control of everything? I suppose no one really knows what's happening but the guest himself. Azden grabs a shot for Leokul. It's been great catching up with you but I must be off and say hello to some of the other guests."
Azden leaves Leokul and looks for Daral
Notice: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]
and looks for some of the higherprofile escorts to talk to.
Notice: [roll2]
Wild: [roll3]

[CrimsonWolf42]

Illya
As I enter I quickly get out of sight of the nobles to make sure that I don't get caught. once I am out of sight, I take a look around to see where I can go and more importantly where most of the slaves are going.

[shaddy_24]

Magog
As you turn to leave the clearing, you hear the crack of a stick on the ground. A dwarf in heavy chain armour steps out from behind a tree to stand in front of you. His skin is unnaturally grey and paper thin, so much so that you're pretty sure you can see his skull through it. His eye sockets are empty except for a small, orange light glowing from their center. Opening his nearly lip-less mouth, he speaks in a wheezing, rattling voice.

High Imperial, TN 4
"What manner of creature are you?"

Gahle
Carver shook his head. "All sorts of things. Books, idols, a bunch of pieces of petrified wood with symbols carved on them. We think those pieces of wood are the important ones, we're trying to categorize all the symbols we can remember." He pulls a few of the sheets over towards you and pushes them in front of you. "We're pretty sure it's something to do with planar rituals, but we can't identify any of the symbols."

Rydgin
Your thermal vision doesn't help any. Tracking the scratches and disturbances in the dust, you don't think it's been opened in a while before Partrin. Whoever put this here hasn't been back in a while.

Fiddling with the crossbow doesn't reveal anything to you. It's much smaller than any you've seen before, and you can't figure out how the collapsing mechanism works. "If we're gonna put it somewhere, we should be careful. Can't let anything tie back to us, any Inquisitor would kill the two of us without hesitation to keep their secret."

Jayban
The elf disappears quickly as you head into the hallway. Daral leads you into a room not too far away, with several couches and a large bed set up. Everything is set up and quiet. "Now, I did not catch your name before. You're new in town, aren't you? My name is Daral."

Azden
Leokul raises his glass as you leave, going back to his drinking and grabbing a small cake off of a nearby tray. Looking around again, you realize you've lost track of Daral and the slave he'd set out after. Taking the next best option, you instead set about tracking down one of the escorts. They don't prove difficult to find, being the center of attention of several young dwarves. You come across a pair of them (two dwarves) sitting a short distance away from one such group clustered around another a young human woman. The two dwarves are looking into the group with frowns.

Illya
Breaking off from the nobles quickly, you find yourself in a series of hallways with doors. You're mostly alone, with any slaves you see hurrying off as soon as they spot you. Most seem rather afraid to let you get close.

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin simply shrugs and looks at Partrin. "I can't collapse it. It's not the same. So we can't put it back the way it was. Feels like we've opened a bad can of worms. What do you propose we do with it? I don't really want to frame any one else. They do not deserve it. What if we just go somewhere and bury it? Some place only we know. Either that, or we throw it out and hope no one finds it in the garbages. Rydgin scans the area for any persons or things to do. We cannot be caught with this and have it missing for a long time.

[listenheed]

Gahle accepted the papers, and again her feelings were double-edged. It seemed, at least to her, that she skirted suspicion; however, this "planar rituals" business had an uncomfortable air of familiarity, considering what she'd learned before about the tablets.

"I'll do what I can to help, in terms of categorization," she said, spreading out the papers. "Though, admittedly, I know next to nothing about the planes."

It's now or never.

Notice:
Do the symbols look like anything I've seen/remember from the tablets?

Primary:[roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

Knowledge: Archaeology
Time period/language of symbols.

Primary:[roll2]
Wild: [roll3]

Unskilled- Knowledge: Planes
In case I've picked anything up about the magical nature of the symbols.

Primary:[roll4]
Wild: [roll5]

[listenheed]

Common Knowledge

Primary: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

[terryt3o3]

Magog looks the dwarf over and then,
high imperial, unskilled (d4-2)
[roll0]
wild [roll1]

notice (body language etc) [roll2]
wild [roll3]

[fatmancer]

I decide that it will be better to give Daral my real name, rather then risk rousing any suspicion from him later on. If he gets suspicious of me at any point he'll likely assume I gave him a fake name anyways. Having sorted that out, I respond to him with "Nice to meet you Daral, my name is Jayban. I'm impressed that you noticed how I've just arrived in town; I actually only arrived yesterday, later on in the evening. Is there a trick to telling new arrivals apart, or is Carronil just a relatively tight-knit community?"

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
Partrin looks around the room as well. No one else seems to be awake though. "If we're going to do something, we should probably go now, while everyone is distracted. Hide it just outside." He moves over towards the door, cautiously looking out.

Gahle
You take a moment to look over the papers, examining the symbols they have written down. Examining them, they're definitely of a similar design to the ones on the tiles, though you're not sure if any are exactly the same. There were a lot of symbols after all. But you wouldn't be surprised, and they seem to be of approximately the same age as the symbols on the tiles. However, you catch sight of one symbol that jumps out at you...
Details will be included in a PM

Magog
The language means nothing to you, but you get the sense from its body language that the dwarf is more curious than hostile. Its weapon is drawn but isn't readied, and it's standing straight. Jallil steps up right beside you and readies her weapon. "Think we should charge it together?"

Jayban
"The community is very tightly knit. You've probably met over three quarters of the nobility at the party tonight, thought I doubt most of them will remember your name tomorrow morning." He walks over to a vanity in one corner and opens a drawer, rummaging through it. "So, what was your actual reason for trying to get back here? There's plenty of rooms you could have gone to in the main building if you weren't feeling well."

[fatmancer]

"I'm not certain I understand what you're implying by that" I respond cautiously. I pause for a very short moment, and then continue: "Regardless, by the time I'd started feeling substantially ill, I was already in this building. I simply felt it wasn't worth the walk back to the main building if I could find a room to rest in in this one."

Streetwise:
Primary: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

[listenheed]

Well, then. Gahle's eyebrows stitched together into a neat frown. She could, she supposed, guess at why the military powers-at-be would be interested in this kind of stuff... but the question was, why now? She suddenly felt shrunken, as the situations around her and around town grew to loom all the larger.

Gahle took out her own notes from her purse, but didn't unfold them. Instead, she traced out a few of the symbols from their notes on her own pages, being particularly careful with the symbol that piqued her interest. She had to get that one right.

She didn't want to compare notes until she knew what they had so far. "Did you guys find out anything in terms of time period?" she asked. "Does it seem like they're going for stuff from the same time, or does it seem random?" She intended on leaving fairly soon, lest they wonder too much about the questions she was asking. Plus, she wanted to check the tablets again...

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin walks over to the door with Partrin. "Hide it just outside the barracks? That's pretty high traffic, but if we must, we must. Peeking outside, Rydgin waits for Partrin's final words and thoughts before this risky plan gets under way. "I hope I can trust you Partrin. You had better not be framing me. he says with a very stern look on his face.

[polymeraseii]

Azden decides to go exploring and look for Daral, or something else of interest in this place. He slides out of the party and looks for an area that he would guess business to be done at.
not sure if I should be rolling anythign

[terryt3o3]

Magog puts his hand out, and lowers her weapon a bit. " it's not aggressive, more curious i believe. stay calm, we may be able to leave peacefully. sand still, look for a way around him. he says without looking away from the dwarf. looking at the dwarf he announces " Hello, I'm Magog, and this is Jallil." he says in trade, motioning to himself and his partner.

[shaddy_24]

Jayban
Daral glances at you with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure. Well, if you weren't coming back here looking for someone, it's your lucky day." You hear a click from the wall near the vanity. "Let's go," he says as he moves over to push open a hidden compartment, "I'm sure you're interested in listening in on a secret meeting."

Gahle
Carver leans over to point out symbols as he speaks to you. "There seems to be a pattern in the symbols on the stuff they took. Most of it seems to be early Imperial and information of some variety. They didn't go for tools or jewelery of any sort, just tablets, symbols and similar types of items."

Rydgin
Looking through the door, you see the edge of a party taking place in the mess hall. A few slaves wander around the area with cups of beer or food. It looks like you have a fairly clear opening towards the outside. "High traffic or not, we need to be done quickly. Anyone sees us wandering out too far into the grounds is gonna get suspicious. It's more likely to be found, but no one will be able to tie it back to us."

Azden
You can ask a couple people if they saw where Daral went, or for any other information on what's happening at the party tonight.
Roll Streetwise to try and track Daral down. If you want to collect any kind of information at the party, Streetwise is always a good start.

Magog
Jallil looks at you with wide eyes. "Stay calm? It's a damned undead dwarf, there's nothing good about this."

The dwarf meanwhile listens quietly as you speak. After you finish, it responds in very heavily accented Trade. "This tongue. Understand. What are you?"

[Doogeedoo]

Rydgin nods in agreement with Partrin. In a last minute idea, Rydgin grabs a small satchel from his belongings and puts into it Chasers' Catch. "Maybe we don't need to be too sneaky if we have this. If anyone asks what we are doing or where we are going, we are returning my book. Now we can act more normal, but still prevent drawing attention." Rydgin takes the crossbow and tries to shimmy it in seeing how it is smaller than your average crossbow and could fit behind a brick in a wall. Rydgin leaves the barracks and wanders towards the library trying to keep out of plain sight and looking for places next to buildings or areas or foliage to hide this damn thing. (Because this is something I wanted to deal with on one of the biggest nights of my life.)


Stealth
[roll0]
Wild
[roll1]

Notice (for very good hiding spots. Better than the mundane locations)
[roll2]
Wild
[roll3]

[listenheed]

The frightening details of what Baldwin had to go through in getting the tablets in conjunction with all this new information filled Gahle's stomach with a heavy lump of dread. So the others had started to notice a pattern...

She should go. She should really have left a few questions ago. Baldwin had grabbed those tablets thinking that they could sell them for a high price. Not on the normal market, or they would both be cast under suspicion. She could possibly sell them to some specialist, but that'd have a few too many eyes turned on her and her brother. Maybe they'd find out where he'd been.

Was he back at the inn? She hadn't seen him since she started going over the tablets.

"I should go." Gahle stood up, sliding her paper back in her purse. "I came here to play cards, and, well, since that's not happening..." She stepped around her chair and cast a glance around at Carver and the others. "Thanks for the info, though. I'll let you guys know if I see anything relevant come up." She moved to leave, now with a few reasons to head back to the inn.

[terryt3o3]

"i know its an undead dwarf, look for a damn way out. it's not aggressive yet, I'm hoping to keep it that way long enough for you to see a way out." standing there, Magog responds to the dwarf, "I'm a lowly dragonborn blacksmith, and she is my guide" he says hoping that this satisfies the dwarf.

[polymeraseii]

Azden walk around trying to get some information from people at the party for Darals whereabouts.

Streetwise: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]

[fatmancer]

I pause for a moment, shocked. "I have to admit, you're certainly right about that." I respond once i recover, and follow him. I'm certainly not going to get any other chances as good as this to find out what's going on. It looks like I'm a bit indebted to Daral now. Regardless, I'm relatively certain he wouldn't invite me to eavesdrop if there wasn't something in it for him, so I'm sure there will be opportunity enough return the favor back before too long.

[shaddy_24]

Rydgin
You're struck by how quiet it it outside. It looks like you're the only person outside at the moment. Slipping along the side of the barracks, you spot and remember a few places that may work to hide the crossbow. There's what appears to be a rabbit's warren dug just under the side of the building, the opening's just wide enough you could probably shove the crossbow down it. There's also an old tree right on the edge of the compound, it has a number of nests and holes in it where you could probably stash the weapon away. You also recall a loose spot in the wall of the building where the mortar around a number of bricks is loosening. It's possible you could find a way to hide it around there.

Gahle
"Going so soon?" Lana calls out as you turn to leave. "What, don't have anything to add? I'm sure you must have some idea." There was a bitter edge of sarcasm in her voice; Lana wasn't one to let an opportunity to try and make others look bad if she had something to gain from it.

Magog
Jallil mutters to herself and lowers her weapon a little, stepping back to let you take the lead.

The dwarf meanwhile continues to stare straight at you. It's really hard to read its expressions when it has no eyes or lips. All you really have to go on is the fact that it hasn't raised its weapon yet. "Imperial or Owaru?" It rasps.

Azden
You quickly pick up on where Daral's run off to; apparently he's wandered over to the other building on the estate, to the more private affair. He has a standing agreement with a couple of the guards. He has a private room he can use whenever he's feeling "ill" that will remain discrete from anyone asking. It's possible he's heading over to there to follow up on whatever the slave told him.

Jayban
Daral quickly ushers you into the passageway and pulls it closed behind you again. "Quiet from here on. If we're going to overhear what they're saying, they could overhear what we're saying." He gives you a moment to respond before turning and heading further into the building.

[fatmancer]

Having nothing to add, I nod back at him and then follow quietly behind.

[polymeraseii]

Azden heads over to the building that Daral is allegedly at. Hopefully Daral is okay. Azden thinks to himself "Why did he not come and get me? Oh well that is besides the point, I was getting a little bored of the party anywase."
As he leaves he attempts to stealthily approach the building and see what is happening on the outside.
Stealth: [roll0]
Wild: [roll1]