Trouble at Mount Cerena IC

[OrigamiSamurai]

Blissfully unaware of what is happening around and behind him, Noftur begins belting out a song in hoarse, gravely voice to the tune of an old Dwarven drinking song:

'The Golden Stag, it reeks of stew,
And mugs of ale wait for you,
A fine free meal and finer company
So gather your wits and come with me,
To what they say is the best in town.
Turn at High Street then all the way down.
You'll never taste a better meal
Than their venison or salted veal.

Down at the inn - The Golden Stag,
Drink up! Drink up! Drink up, me lads!
Down at the inn - The Golden Stag,
Drink up! Drink up! Drink up!'

Looking unsatisfied at the end of his impromptu song, Noftur immediately says 'In honor of our great, grand quest to rid this underground fortress of the feather-headed, addle-brained idiots who care to stand in our way, join me in this one. You all know the words!'

Slapping his hand against his thigh in the measured rhythm of a marching song, Noftur rumbles into the Kalasti War March:

'Boom! go the wardrums,
Forward march the lines,
Boom! go the wardrums,
Creatures of all kinds!

Down! with the bird-men,
Bring them down to earth,
Down! with the bird-men,
Graves shall be their berths!

Up! with the spears now,
Run the bird-men through,
Up! with the spears now,
Let blood be shed anew!

Out! with the swords now,
Cleave the wings in twain,
Out! with the swords now,
Avenge the years of pain!

Twang! go the bow strings,
Let the arrows fly,
Twang! go the bow strings,
Pierce them in the sky!

Thud! go the bodies,
Hear them as they fall,
Thud! go the bodies,
Kill them as they crawl!

Rah! shout the victors,
Never slaves again,
Rah! shout the victors,
Bury now the slain.'

He whispers the last line, and absentmindedly continues to walk and beat his leg in time to the rhythm of the song.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos, understanding Daen's gesture, lets the matter drop. It wasn't worth tearing this freshly formed party apart, at least not yet. Besides, while Thanos could likely finish the dwarf with a few well-placed arrows, the hulking she-orc looked a sight tougher. He does not join in the song, however, instead opening up a dialogue with Daen.

"Thanks. I never caught your name," he says awkwardly, as the party rounds the corner and the Golden Stag comes into view. Hopefully, this would silence the scarred dwarf's gravely singing.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Content that the man heeded his advice, Daen's expression relaxes a bit, and he even lets out a slight smile.

"Daen Achea," he says with a tone as if he's been asked by a high ranking officer. Pausing a moment, he extends a gauntleted hand. "And you are Thanos, if I heard correctly?"

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos shakes hands with the armored man, continuing the convesation:

"Yep, that's correct. I guess you could say I'm handy with a bow," he said, downplaying his considerable prowess. "That's some sword you've got there. Family heirloom?"

Thanos flagged down the bartender for a pint of elven mead, which was brought to him. He takes a good drink of it and smiles, the warmth spreading to his extremities and soothing his bruised ego.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana collects two lagers at the bar, and takes one to Noftur as he finishes his song. This was different from the chants she had heard, but she recognizes the rhythms underneath. Gana waits patiently until the dwarf emerges from his reverie, and offers him one of the drinks.

Sorry. Haven't heard that one before. Are you old enough to have fought in the war?

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Noftur looks up and takes a lager with a smile. He tilts his hide to the side as he drinks to keep from spilling out of the open side of his mouth. After downing a quarter of it, he wipes his lip and beard with the back of his hand and says, 'You've got good taste, even if it is a little light.'

After a moment, he adds, 'No, my great-grandfather did though. I thought everyone knew the song, but then again you're not from around here, are you?'

[Cespenar]

Daen

Having ordered a pitcher of ale himself, Daen was sipping his drink with care when the question struck. He keeps silent for a short moment, swallows his mouthful and clears his throat.

"Well. Hmm. Something like that, I guess. It was my sire's sword."

He puts one hand onto the sword's ornate pommel and takes another sip from his ale.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos finished his mead and flagged down the barkeep for another. He loved the taste of alcohol in most all its forms, but particularly enjoyed the mead the elves brewed.

"Ah, I see," he said in response to Daen's answer. "Achea, that's an interesting name. Are you from around here?"

The bartender brought Thanos his drink, and Thanos took another large gulp, smiling.

(From OOC Thread: Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - (1d20+5)[17])

[Cespenar]

Daen

Being a rather slow drinker, Daen have barely drunk half of the pitcher when Thanos orders his second. He throws a glance at his drink and shrugs.

"It's my father's name, actually, and probably only Eyr knows where he's from. Heh."

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan would be offended at being called "prissy" were his epithet not followed by a string of other mildly-insulting nicknames for his new allies. A lesson learned, though -- he clearly needs to relax. Ironside isn't making any decisions on how the group is presenting themselves, and it won't be necessary to get along with this lot.

So when Noftur offers his hand, Nevan takes it with a smile.

"No trouble, friend," he says, "You can bleed all you want in the Stag, getting some food in front of me will shut me up a hell of a lot faster."

[hr]
Nevan proves to be true to his word. When he gets a venison pastie and a big mug in front of him ("Something local," he'd said with a wave of his hand when the bartender asked him what kind of beer he wanted), he settles down between Gana and Daen and spends the next five minutes in silence as he devours his food. His plate emptied, Nevan heads to the bar, returning not with another mug, but a large bowl of salad¹.

After a bite of salad and a draught from his mug, he leans across the table toward Adtasi, the only one of his five table-mates not now deep in conversation.

"So, young sir," he asks, refraining from calling the hooded man 'boy' -- by his standards, he is probably quite mature, Nevan reasons. "Where do you hail from, and what calls you to the taverns of our fair capitol?" he continues with a half smile.

[hr]1. Did they eat salad in this faux-time period?

[esorscher]

Thanos

Never a shy drinker, Thanos finishes the second mead quickly.

"Eyr?" he asks, not sure of what, or who, that was. His family had never held much truck with religion, preferring to look inwardly for answers instead of some phantom. While there may well be a higher power, Thanos's father had always taught him that any "gods" mortals attempt to understand could not be gods, true gods were beyond our ken.

He flagged the bartender down again, feeling the buzz from the latest drink hit him, sliding the empty glass across the table slightly, so that there was room for another. "This time, Thanos says to the barkeep, "you'd better bring a pitcher."

(From OOC Thread: Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - (1d20+5)[10])

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises an eyebrow at 'young sir', but quickly returns it to its usual position; not wanting to appear rude. He'd ordered a cider, he'd never really had the stomach for drinking, didn't like the taste either. His grip on his mug tightens slightly when asked about himself, but he smiles, turning to look at his questioner. Occasionally he pauses. Despite his other skills, he'd never been a very good liar, and was almost compulsively honest in conversation. He tried to stay as close to the truth as possible. "... Westwards. A small village... You probably wouldn't even find it on a map. I've come here seeking work. Coin is becoming harder to come by, and I need a chance to hone my skills and fill my coin-pouch."

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan chuckles at Adtasi's answer.

"Couldn't find it on a map, eh?" he says. "Well it just so happens, my young friend, that I have made a career out of putting tiny towns on the map. Quite literally -- I'm a cartographer, and I specialize in mapping little-travelled areas, hamlets and their hinterlands. It's a niche market, but it keeps the money coming in, and I get to travel, to boot. It fits me pretty well, really..." Nevan trails off as he realizes he's sliding into the little speech he gives whenever anyone asks him about his job. Which no on has.

"So, um, anyway," he continues, "I'll admit I haven't been too far westwards yet, but I promise you, if I don't know the name of your home town, and don't have it on a map, then when this is all done, we'll head over there and put it on one. So fire away. Where are you from?"

Knowledge-Geography - (1d20+4)[19]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi's heart skipped several beats. A Cartographer? A God's damned Cartographer?! Why did he say that? He took a sip of his drink to get some extra time to think, furiously trying to find something to say. Lying again was out. He didn't know anything about the towns west of here, and if he made something up then the curious bastard would most probably know. He placed his mug back on the table.

"While I appreciate the offer,", he remarked in a tone that was fairly clear that he did not. "and I'm flattered you have such an interest in my background; I'd rather not go into it... While I'm sure your intentions are naught but benign, in future you might want to try and stave off your curiosity around strangers, who might such sudden questions..." Adtasi's voice lowered to a tone that was slightly darker. It promised not only inexplicably violent things happening to you in the immediate future, but also similar unfortunate events happening to your family, friends, and maybe your household pets as well. Suspicious. Curiosity did kill the cat, after all."

Trying to shift the conversation, Adtasi leaned back pleasantly, seeming to forget about everything he had just said. "But enough about me. What do you think of this... job? I'm afraid I came to the signing on a little later than you, but the reward was enough to catch my attention."

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Distracted for a moment from his conversation with Gana, Noftur looks over toward "Shardface" and "Prissybow," chuckling to himself about the monikers he had thought up for them. The amusement suffers a quick death as he catches the look passing from Adtasi to Nevan.

Glancing back at Gana, when he turns back to find out what is going on, he wonders if he was just imagining the vicious look that he thought he had seen. He looks back into his drink with a quizzical look, shrugs, then downs what's left in the tankard with a swift toss and gets up to grab another.

Fortitude Save vs. Intoxication - (1d20+3)[9](+2 vs. poison)

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan is, to say the least, taken aback by Adtasi's response to his friendliness. His gut reaction is to laugh -- such a dramatic threat from one who appears so young seems incongruous to Nevan -- but he checks himself. The boy -- young man! -- may be serious. And/or older than he looks. So Nevan just stares at Adtasi for a long moment. Still grasping for something to say, he follows it with another long sip from his mug, though he stops drinking far before he lowers its brim from his lips.

"I don't think your style of chatting will make you many friends," Nevan says finally, glancing at the chatty pairs on either side of him and wishing he was talking to any one of the others, even Thanos. That man might be arrogant, but not as much as Adtasi, nor does he seem actually unkind, secretive, mean, cruel, violent or any other of a handful of unpleasant adjectives Nevan might apply to this young hooded man.

Or maybe Adtasi was just trying to be a lot harder than he actually looked. Much more likely. He doesn't drink, and he clearly just got kicked out of a bar... while sober...

Nevan stands up, grabbing his mug from the table on the pretense that he had emptied it. He won't make any judgments yet, he tells himself as he moves away to the bar. He'll treat the kid a hell of a lot differently if he's a fool than if he actually means all of that bluster.

Arriving at the bar, he decides on a bottle of wine rather than filling up the mug again. The beer wasn't anything special, and he can always re-cork a bottle. Despite his decision to not decide anything, Nevan looks over his shoulder at the table anyway, just to make sure Adtasi doesn't do anything to his plate of salad.

[Tormsskull]

HempRope's Know. Geo. check

Spoiler

Show

Roll Result = 19.

The land west of the capital city is mostly rolling farmlands, though only a portion of them are well-maintained. There is a large river, the River Swog, approximately 25 miles west of the city. The land not covered by farms is dotted with splotches of trees.

The Golden Stag inn remains a hopping place, several patrons come in and out. A few are even humming the tune that Noftur belted out earlier. All are seemingly enjoying a good time.

There are few coins exchanging hands inside the establishment, most likely due to the fact that nearly all of the patrons showed up at Councilor Ironside's call for adventurers.

As the night wanes on, patrons begin leaving slowly, leaving by the ones and twos. With only a dozen or so people remaining inside, and the lantern oil ready to be changed, a one-eyed hobgoblin enters through the main door, dressed in the livery of a town guard. His skin is grayish green and his thin hair is gathered together in a center pony-tail, the rest of his head is shaved.

The hobgoblin walks towards the group, his mouth twisting into a toothy smile.

"You guys signed up for Ironside's mission?"

He drops a meaty arm onto the table and places a piece of parchment in front of the others.

"This is from the councilor, it is a half-way decent map of the area you're headed to. I recommend that you take the train in the morning. Its the quickest way to north-central Rhedon."

The hobgoblin looks at the group, preparing to leave unless they have any questions for him.

OOC

Spoiler

Show

The train refers to a caravan that is drawn by massive lizards know as Storads. Storads were domesticated just after the war to end enslavement. The lizards are initially from far to the south-west of the continent.

The lizards are over 40 feet long, and weigh nearly 10 tons. They are very docile, and are difficult to startle. They are light brown in color, and eat small trees or other greenery.

It is up to you if your character's know about the Storads or not, they are definitely popular enough for most people to have heard of them, however, anyone who lived outside of the capital city most of their lives may not have.

[Rettu Skcollob]

"All my friends are dead." Adtasi feels a twinge of guilt, sighing as the man walks away. It seems his question was innocent after all. Still, it was better that way. The people that got close to him always seemed to either die or try to kill him / turn him in for the reward his father offered for his return.

His skills were prodigious for someone of his age, but it was still nigh impossible to get anyone to take him seriously without seeming, well, mean. He reaches underneath his robe, taking out the small locket his mother had given him shortly before his leaving. For a moment he fingers it, polishing the dulled metal with his thumb, before replacing it sadly. It was one of the few things he had taken from his family that he had kept. The piece of jewelry was not inherently valuable in any case. It had been passed down through his mothers side of the family for generations, and contained nothing but mundane metals and a picture of his family. If he had stayed, one day it would've contained a picture of his, after he'd wed.

No, but he couldn't waste time on somber recollections. There was a job to do. It was too bad that he'd had to push that man anway, but there was no sense in taking unnecessary risks. Bad things seemed to happen to those that got close to him. He remains silent as the Hobgoblin arrives, examining the map.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Nofter grimaces - a truly awful sight - at the mention of the train. 'Ah, it'll be the great stinking lizards then. You spend enough time riding on one of them and you'll wish you'd walked... upwind.' He winks with his good eye at the hobgoblin guard. 'I remember we had to put one down back in the Siege Engineer Corps. It had been mangled when the ballista it was towing snapped like a rat trap. That awful lizard was the only thing my ballista team ever got to shoot.'

As Noftur continues his story to anyone who will listen he makes large hand gestures to accentuate the actions he describes. 'We drew straws and were the unlucky ones who got to be the first to shoot. The artillery train driver said we had about an even chance of being trampled or smashed under its tail. If we were lucky it'd simply lay down and decide it wasn't worth it, and die. But we hit the damn thing right here!' slapping the base of his neck with his hand, 'and thud!' he says as he slams the table with his fist. 'And that is how I won this' he says, patting the elaborately decorated throwing axe at his hip.

'Storad steaks, Storad meat pies, Storad sausage, but the worst by far was Storad Surprise. Pray to the gods that none of them dies on the way.' He makes a face at the thought of the last dish.

[esorscher]

Thanos

As soon as the hobgoblin mentioned the train, Thanos began reminiscing. He'd been a young boy, and his father had taken him to see the Storads the way some parents take their children to the zoo. They were smelly, foul, and in every way offensive to the senses, but Thanos had admired their strength and size.

The dwarf's hand shook Thanos from his thoughts, as well as almost knocking over his mead. To remedy this situation, Thanos downed it, a broad smile growing on his face. Already he was filling the effects of the first two, but there were at least three more pints in the pitcher, and it had been ordered. Once the mead was on the table, there was no going back. He refilled his tankard, and turned to the dwarf, attempting to patch up the rift he felt growing between them before things got too far. Besides, it looked as if the shiftiest among them had the map, and though Thanos still wanted to know who Eyr was, it didn't look like Daen was interested in telling him. The fellow had begun staring intently at his mug, probably lost in thought.

"Noftur, you were in the Siege Engineer Corps? When?" Thanos says, mixing a tone of admiration and respect into the words. Thanos has no idea what they are, but they sound important, and he guesses that Noftur is proud of his time there.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Cespenar]

Daen

Distracted by the hobgoblin's sudden entrance, Daen forgets about Thanos' question and focuses on the scroll of map he hammered down on the table. After examining it a while, he casually declares, pointing the map.

"If there's someone who is good with maps, a huntsman, ranger, whatever, I think he should hold on to this."

He eyes the group members one by one, but his stare finally locks on the elf called Nevan, remembering the part of dialogue he overheard minutes ago.

[HempRope]

That check was actually supposed to be for when Thanos named a town, but thanks for the info. on the West!

Nevan

Storad train isn't Nevan's favorite way to travel. It's efficient, but not amazingly pleasant. And it'll probably be worse boarding with this group... hangovers don't lend themselves well to being bounced along a rutted road in a rickety wooden carriage.

[hr]
Nevan smiles when Daen speaks. All this about maps all at once!

"Well, that's a pretty good description of me. In that order," he says, looking at the others, half expecting someone to object to Daen's suggestion. "I'll be happy to look it over."

Sliding a hand across the table, Nevan takes the map by one corner and gives it a cursory once-over before furling it.

"Anyone opposed?" he asks as he picks up the scroll case sitting next to his chair. When he opens it, a thick roll of other papers is visible sticking out of the top. He quickly slides the new map in with them and closes it back up.

"I'll go over it more carefully beore I turn in, but it looks to be a good map," Nevan remarks.

[OOC]Anything you wanna tell me about it, Torms?[/OOC]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur


As he talks, Noftur glances down at the map of the region near the mine that uncovered the fortress before Nevan tucks it away.

A blank look crosses Noftur's face as he turns toward Thanos until it registers that he has just been asked to tell about his time with the Siege Engineering Corps. 'Well, it would've been about the time your voice began cracking for the first time and your nether regions burned for those of the female persuasion...' he says with a flat look on his face, enjoying the moment it takes to make clear that he is joking. He begins chuckling to himself and says, 'It was a few years ago. I couldn't stand guarding the mines without being allowed to work in them as a dig leader, and a fellow engineer knew that I had a knack for machinery. He asked the Captain if he could pick me up for ballista duty. I'd already learned as much about digging and mining as I could without actually working the big projects, and I thought it would be a nice break from guard duty. I figured it would be an adventure.' He lets out a great sigh as he says 'adventure.' Slowly continuing, he says, 'It wasn't all that I thought it would be. That Storad was the most exciting thing to happen the whole time we were stationed on the border. I was promoted to Ballista Commander. My team was the best out there in only two months of training or so. As it turns out, reloading one of those things is pretty much the same as one of these,' he says, tilting his head back toward the sturdy-looking crossbow on his back, 'except that this doesn't take four people to reload. They would have killed us if we had wasted the big ammunition, but we had our ways to keep amused. A few bets here and there, and studying what exactly is the best way to bring a structure down around the ears of someone who would rather it stayed standing. That sort of thing. They also had us do goodwill projects,' he says with a hint of hurt professional pride, 'to keep up the local spirits. A hundred bored soldiers armed to the teeth without any women around leads to things getting out of hand. Bridge building and canal digging will take the fight out of almost anyone.'

'Oh, and I almost forgot,' he adds, glancing up from the map, 'something our young friend here might be interested in.' He nods to Adtasi as he says 'The local blacksmith also happened to be a locksmith who paid a fair amount of coin for pick-proofing tests. I'm not bragging when I say he never made a lock I couldn't pick given enough time. Perhaps if we get the chance we could arrange a little friendly competition?'

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos finished another three beers while the dwarf was telling his story. The pitcher now empty, Thanos slid his tankard across the table so that it clinked satisfyingly against the pitcher.

"That's shummthin," Thanos mumbled, then, realizing how drunk he was, abruptly shut the mouth, taking deep breaths through his nostrils. Opening his eyes wide, he turns to Nevan, struggling to speak clearly.

"Have you been to many places?" he asks, carefully enunciating each word and stressing every syllable. His mouth feels strange on his face, but he shakes that thought from his mind and tries to focus on Nevan's answer.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Finally finishing the pitcher, Daen brings it and his glass over to the bar and hands them- mainly to open some space in the table. Returning back, and feeling only slightly tipsy, he listens half-curiously to the dwarf and his neverending stories.

[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan watches with some alarm as Thanos starts chugging beers, and just shakes his head at the human's question. Or, more accurately, at his drunkenness. The elf takes his first sip of wine before saying anything.

"Recently, yeah," he says. "I grew up sort of on the southwestern edge of the settled part of the continent. Pretty sedentary life back then. My parents were sharecroppers, so I grew up on a farm, hunting and making most of what we had ourselves.

"When we grew up we moved off the farm, mostly -- my brother and sister and I, that is. My sister, she's a few years older than me, still lives in town; she manages the stables there. My younger brother's in the town over, he's the smith there, and I don't live too far from home, when I'm home. I mean, when I'm at my home in Sheridan¹ I'm not too far from my parents' place. Liproge is the name of the place.

"Anyway, I'm not answering your question at all. I moved to Sheridan about a decade ago, and got into the cartography business... three years later, so seven years ago now, I guess. And, see, my... specialty is mapping little-traveled areas in great detail. First off, putting hamlets and tiny little towns on maps. That makes the maps attractive -- well, first to people from those tiny towns. But more importantly, from an economic perspective at any rate, when those maps place the towns accurately, and show the terrain around them, they're immensely popular with merchants and traders. When they include wilderness, they're getting popular with trappers. And we're working now to get the army interested -- one of the reasons I'm hoping to impress Ironside on our adventure."

Nevan pauses here to flash a smile and drink some more wine, as his throat is getting dry.

"But I still haven't told you where I've been, have I? I'm mostly been mapping the south so far. I know the southwestern wilds from growing up there, and I've swung quite a ways east now. Most of the way to that coast, but I'm not quite ready to take on doing another coastline -- it's no fun at all, and loads of work, let me tell you.

"Actually, I won't, you don't seem nearly so fascinated as when I started. Maybe it'd be better for an industry journal... At any rate, I was passing through the Capitol because I'm just beginning to map out some of the north country. It's a very different sort of land, I'm finding -- a whole new challenge! And we're also thinking of opening up a new store in the city here, so I was sort of taking a look at the competition in town. Doesn't seem too stiff so far. Mostly, though, I was exploring further north.

I need to find a good, reliable guide for the northwest, though -- I don't suppose any of you are from that region, are you?"

Nevan looks around expectantly, and takes another long sip of wine. His story seems to be, at last, finished.

[hr]1. A medium-sized town a few days travel south of the Capitol -- which is still unnamed despite my agitation for its christening, might I add [smalltongue]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtas's face reveals a slim smile at the Dwarf's suggestion. "I'd like that. Perhaps we could make a wager or two. I always look forward to a chance to test my skills."

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

'Great! It's settled then. We'll have a little contest of dexterity and ingenuity. Maybe Nevan and Thanos here could give us a demonstration of their archery, though I still trust Minnie here,' he says, indicating his crossbow, 'more than any dainty piece of flotsam such as they're carrying,' smiling. 'Maybe we could even get Daen and Gana to wrestle for us! It'd be a grand celebration of our victory over the dangers that supposedly wait for us. It's too bad we don't have time to arrange something tonight. I'd almost do it to pass up on having to inhale the lizard stink. Helga doesn't mind carrying me, but I don't know about all five of you. She thinks I'm fat enough as it is.'

He seems to contemplate the idea for a moment, then begins again, 'Speaking of food, where's mine? We'd best get something hearty to eat if we're going to be on the road tomorrow. I'll be damned if I'm going to be eating more trail rations than I have to.' He looks up to see about getting a heaping plate of anything that used to be alive.

[Cespenar]

Daen

"Uh..." Daen mumbles uneasily at the dwarf's "wrestling" idea, "I think I'll pass on that."

Throwing a glance at the orc woman, he carries on. "It's not like it would be a fair match..." Though his voice fades away at the end, his grinning expression can be seen by all.

[Toliudar]

Gana

The big orc woman has been content to eat and let the five men's conversations wash over her. She smiles, pleased that the tension seemed to be dispersing. The suggestion of a wrestling match broadens her smile.

"No indeed, Dael. You are a big strong man, and a trained warrior. A simple girl like me would be no match for you.

I have not travelled on these trains before. But at least they sound easier than walking."