Shadows of Anmer IC

[mucco]

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In fact, only Melchia is having the visions.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Melchia visibly winces as the child approaches. He holds a hand up to his temple for a moment, then seems to recover slightly. Beads of sweat can be seen on his brow, however.
"Zadsa... what's wrong? What's the matter?"

[zimmerwald1915]

"Melchia? What's the matter?" Otrino still doesn't know them all that well, but he knows that Melchia goes out of his way to be stoic. If something is making him gesture, or sweat, that something has to be big. Otrino turns to Selia for answers.

"Who is this Zadsa?"

[mucco]

"Father said he will beat me because I always run away! I don't want to be hit, it always hurts! Where is mommy? Why did mommy go? HELP!"

Melchia

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Another, stronger, pulse. Then suddenly you feel a lot better.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Melchia makes a dismissive wave at Otrino. "Nothing... I'll explain later... not in front of the child..."
He straightens a bit, and looks at Zadsa, his face once more blank.
"This, Otrino, is young Zadsa. He seems to have a knack for getting into trouble."
To the boy, he says, "Zadsa, we are not your parents, or guardians. What do you expect us to do?"

[mucco]

"I don't know! I didn't mean to go to you! It's you who always find me! I don't want to go to Father anymore! He'll hurt me real bad one of these times, I know!"

[PersonMan]

Selia considers what Zadsa is saying for a moment, turning to Melchia as Otrino asks the same question that is on her mind. As he answers, she turns her attention back to the other matter at hand.

It sounds like you've gotten yourself caught in a vicious cycle, if he beats you because you run away and you run because he beats you, Selia observes. I'm not precisely sure what the local laws are, although I'm unsure how much influence Zadsa's father has in the city...It might not matter if we pursue legal means if the man can simply buy his way past the guard or the court, if there even is one, she thinks for a moment before speaking again. Do you think you want to leave the city? If you go with us, you will need to walk all day for a while and it could be very dangerous. Although, perhaps it's a better idea to see if you can stay with the priest...


DM:

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Going to try Bardic Knowledge to see if I've heard any good legal dramas recently (looking for examples of how people went about with this in the past, considering just taking the kid to the nomads).

(1d20+1)[8]

[zimmerwald1915]

Otrino beckons to Selia so he can whisper to her. "Who is this priest? And why should Zasda go to him, or with us, and not to his mother? He wants her. Is she unavailable?"

[mucco]

*sniff* "Yes please! The priest is funny!" The half-elf kid seems a bit relieved now.

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Selia: Bardic Knowledge doesn't give you any interesting gossip.

Otrino: you can assume you know about the priest because you had two days to talk about it. The other question stands.

Everyone: I will leave in the evening and I'll be back the 20th. Please do not flee the thread as I'm visiting Berlin.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Melchia clenches his jaw. He actually seems to be growing irritated.
"Yes. Let us deliver young Zadsa to the Pelorite, and then perhaps we can do what we came here to do before moving on to our objective."

[PersonMan]

Selia, in an equally hushed tone, responds to the mage with He asked why she left, so presumably she's gone somewhere and not returned. Perhaps because of his father's violence.

[Overlord Rion]

Trying to subtly get the child off of him, Rubido sighs. "Well, let's get this over with. Traveling with a child isn't exactly the best idea in my book."

[mucco]

It doesn't take long to reach Galsaff once again. Zadsa keeps complaining about his father the whole time, and the priest doesn't seem too happy with the custody of the child either. He agrees, though.

Scouting the markets and the shops in town, you gather a lot of seeds including a few rare ones, and you also collect information about three peculiar plants which grow only in the Dark Wood, and yield very rare seeds. The first one is a special pinecone produced by a huge sequoia that is said to grow near lakes; the second is a magical moss that sprouts tiny glowing seeds; the third is a large bulb of a carnivore plant: these are usually found in groups and one bulb generates many, which means that it'll probably be necessary to uncover several of those plants before finding the bulb.

[Overlord Rion]

"So...which, if any, of the seeds are we going to head after?"

[zimmerwald1915]

"So...which, if any, of the seeds are we going to head after?"

"All of them, if possible," says Otrino, a little peeved that they hadn't spent more time with the priest. It felt like he was still being treated like a hireling, or like he could flip through the pages of the others' unwritten memoirs to learn what they took for granted. We want to be as sure as we can that we'll hear and understand the voice before approaching its glade, and unless I gravely misunderstand the situation, are are not under any time pressure."

"But speaking of plants, I do not feel prepared to contribute to our defense against the carnivores. While we are here, purchasing one or two scrolls would not go amiss."

[PersonMan]

Otrino's frustration is something Selia is keenly aware of, although at first she is unsure as to why. Once she is fairly confident of the root of his unhappiness, she finds an opportunity, perhaps as they leave Zadsa with the priest, to take him aside and quickly explain how they met the man. Before we went to the caravan we worked for a merchant here in Galsaff, Zadsa's father, to find him. We found tunnels blocked by illusions so that the priest could not see them and followed them to where they ended outside the city. We had a short skirmish with a small group of villagers against attacking raiders and then tracked the boy to the Dark Wood. We fought some undead and freed him from the well he had trapped himself in before returning to the tunnels. On the way back we met the priest in his room which the tunnel passed through. Without thinking much about it, Selia gestures during her explanation. The gestures become particularly quick during the more action-packed parts of her tale, throughout which she keeps a, by normal standards, rather charming smile on her face.

As the elf mentions scrolls, Selia's thoughts jump to magic, which leads her to... If we're going to be staying here to shop, I think we should get a healing wand. I'm sure that, with my talents, I could use its energy, Selia's tone shows self confidence, although it's clear that she's avoiding sounding arrogant. With that, I could keep us all uninjured while preserving my own, more limited, powers for other things, turning to Melchia, Selia considers him with a slightly unusual expression for a moment before speaking again, once again addressing the entire group. It's probably a good idea to get everything we might need in one go. Then we can spend as little time as possible finding out if they have enough money for these things in Galsaff, as well as less time trekking back and forth.


OOC:

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With both good Charisma and Wisdom (especially the +7 sense motive modifier), I think it'd make sense for Selia to be able to identify the cause of Otrino's annoyance and do something to alleviate it.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Melchia nods thoughtfully.
"Indeed. If we are to be adventuring together as a group in the foreseeable future, I am amenable to pooling our wealth and acquiring items of use to us all. I've heard of special lenses, that when certain divinations are cast through them, reveal magical properties of physical objects. Such a lens could be of use when we examine the grove of this strange disembodied voice, not to mention the identification of artifacts we may uncover on our travels."

[zimmerwald1915]

OOC @ Selia:

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Thank you. However you want to justify your insight is, of course, okay by me.

Otrino listens intently to Selia's tale, noting how she seems to relish and dwell on her friends' victories over their enemies. Her pointing finger and sweeping hand recall the swipes of a sword and shield, but she never once pantomimes. Instead, her gestures seem to physicalize her action of "telling", not the events she's describing. "Thank you," Otrino says as she comes to an end. "I understand a little better now. Two questions, it seems, remain. The first concerns the whereabouts of Zadsa's mother, but it does not seem that any one of us here can answer it. I will think about how best to frame the question to his father, this merchant, when we return from the Black Guardian's glade. It is more than delicate.

"The other question, of course, is how this boy was able to see through the illusions when your holy acquaintance could not. I'm not sure I could have done so; I gave up the study of illusions long ago." Otrino muses through all this with his forehead jutting forward and his eyes cast down to the ground. But when he reaches the end he looks up into Selia's face, cognizant of the troubled look of his own.

As the conversations shifts further into the gear they'll need for seed-gathering and to meet the Black Guardian, Otrino pulls out his drawstring wallet. He holds it out for Melchia to take. "Just those two things sound very expensive. I'll put what I have to the disposal of the group, but I'm afraid it won't amount to much. I've given you the three most precious things I had already, barring my spellbook. Are you sure the rest of you put together have enough coin to buy what we need?"

OOC:

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Do we want to skip to after the purchases have been made?

[Overlord Rion]

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I"m going to assume we did for this post. If not I'll edit as needed. After all the purchases, I should have...97 GP left I believe?

" However, in the meantime, let's try and get this chain shirt on." Donning his newly acquired chain shirt, Rubido smiles. As much as he liked his leather armor, he always meant it to be temporary.

"Now, you'll have to forgive me, but I wasn't quite listening to everyone before. Old habits, you know the drill.

[mucco]

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Overlord: assuming you sell your leather armor, it's 102 gp I believe.

Everyone: so, Dark Wood? Or are you going to stop by Zadsa's house first? Should I fast-forward you into the forest?

[mucco]

After spending some quality time in Galsaff looking for stuff and making purchases, you make for Hrynn House. The butler comes and lets you in, with a big smile. He is happy to see you again - they probably don't get many visits from respectable people. He politely tells you that Chastos is having dinner, and won't come until he's finished.

After a very boring half hour, Chastos enters the room you're waiting in. "Oh, my, my. I think I know you! Were you the ones who found my son? Of course, he's ran out again. I don't suppose you're having more dreams that encourage you to work some more for me?" he asks, looking at Melchia.

Melchia

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The house is indeed giving you a strange feeling, like Zadsa's screams for help but barely perceptible now.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Melchia does not smile. He nods to Hrynn as he approaches the party.
"My dreams have been much less interesting of late, or at least, less explicit in their suggested course of action. Young Zadsa, your son... he seems a gifted child. I am no expert, but I am nonetheless curious; have you ever noticed if he has a talent for the supernatural? Were there any minor episodes in his past, where strange things may have happened around him with no explanation?"

[mucco]

You catch the nobleman off guard. "W-Well, actually, I cannot deny that he seems to be unique in that regard." He clears his throat. "He's been able, in the past, to divine some of the fire rains a day or two in advance. I hide this fact from the villagers, else he'd be in trouble in case these disasters were caused by someone."

"I know you wouldn't harm him, so this might actually help you find him again, should you want to. I'll give you 50 platinum pieces each if you bring him to me again. And this time, he'll learn." Chastos seems to be really angry.

[PersonMan]

Selia keeps her expression neutral as the man answers Melchia's unexpected question, hiding her surprise. It was certainly odd for him to ask that out of the blue...she would have to ask him about that later.

While you may recognize the three of us, we've increased our number since working for you - this is Otrino, Selia turns slightly towards the elf as she introduces him. About Zadsa...do you know why he might have run off again? If he keeps doing so for one reason and nothing changes, there's little point in going out to bring him back again.

[Overlord Rion]

Rubido would remain silent during this session of question asking. Melchia's question likewise appeared to distract Selia for a moment. He'd let the more talkative of his group ask the questions for now.

[zimmerwald1915]

Otrino likewise remains silent, beyond a brief nod and gesture of greeting at Selia's introduction. His face wears a slightly judgmental expression. He wants to make Hrynn feel like the one who needs to make a good impression. When something needs saying that none of the others thinks to say, he'll talk. Til then, Melchia and Selia seem to have it covered.

[mucco]

As he hears the wizard's name, Chastos suddenly turns his head toward Otrino, looking at him for a second or two. His expression seems the one of someone who's trying to remember something. But the nobleman quickly recovers and readily answers the question. "Why, I know he always liked to wander around peasants. He never was one to stay at home, reading a good book. I fear he's taking it a bit too far, I presume it's simply a little game he enjoys, seeing how far he can go before he is thoroughly punished." Small pause, and a darker voice now. "I will gladly teach him that he has reached the limit now. Ah, I'll raise the compensation to sixty platinums. For all four of you."

Selia

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Selia gets a hunch the nobleman might not be telling the whole truth.

[PersonMan]

OOC:

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It's collection* Bluff time! I have +7 9. Diplomacy is +6 8, if relevant.

Alright, Domain Power time. +4 Cha for one minute.

Also: Soooo much mooooneyyyy. Too bad Selia has her mind set on this. Oh, well, here we go.

*This is such an obscure reference I will be seriously amazed if any of you know what I'm talking about.

Something about Selia changes - it isn't immediately clear what, but she seems more confident now, her posture and speech filled with all but inhumanly persuasive strength. I'm not sure if you're telling us the whole story - you see, not long ago we actually saw him and he mentioned his mother. While I'm not keen on poking my nose into family business, understanding exactly what happened is important - if he is, say, searching for his mother then knowing where she is and why he is doing so will allow us to find him, Selia's tone retains a slight friendliness, but it's clear that she's unhappy with Chastos' deception.

[mucco]

As Selia mentions Zadsa's mother, she can notice for a moment a glimpse of terror in the noble's eyes. But he conceals his feelings excellently pausing for a second, then he smiles calmly. "Heh. His mother. I quite certainly did not expect that - he never knew his mother. That is a story I cannot disclose to strangers, but it shouldn't be - he won't be able to find her."

Chastos sighs. "Well, I must admit that he might fear my leather belt. When he misbehaves, I have to hit him, or he'll never learn. This sort of thing is frowned upon by the peasants, sometimes. I don't like to say that, it brings bad reputation. But children need education nonetheless. Anyway, did you say you saw him? Excellent, so probably you know how to find him again! At the generous payment I'm offering, I dare expect a speedy... delivery, am I right?" The noble smiles in a friendly way for the first time, pleased of his joke.

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Sick rolls Selia got there... She saw through two Bluffs, successfully Bluffed herself, and even got the noble to say the truth!

[zimmerwald1915]

Otrino's face goes unnaturally rigid as Hrynn looks him over. He doesn't want to give anything about himself away to this man. Powerful elves and elf-friends were not known for having severed ties to Yalthien. This man could make Otrino's life difficult, if he so chose, wherever he could reasonably go. Still, his examination doesn't last too long, as Selia manages to grab his attention again. Prometeo squeezes tightly around Otrinto's forearm, his tongue's flicking wetting the wizard's knobby wrist every few seconds.

Hrynn's sense of entitlement and brazen invocation of class power grate on Otrino, and this time he doesn't mind showing his feelings in his face for a moment. Men like Hrynn made the war economy, which if you thought about it meant making war on all the men sent to fight, and on their ability to defend themselves against profiteering predations when they returned from the front. Selia doesn't say those words - her politics probably don't run that way - but it is clear that she finds something about Hrynn off as well. There's something about her, too, that lets her say so pretty much boldface, without fear of repercussions.

And it works! Well, Hrynn doesn't come out with a full confession of all his life's secrets, but he isn't calling his staff to throw them out, and indeed seems to be on the back foot. His speech is slipping. He has much to say of Zasda's concern for his mother, but none to say of his own. Clearly he had cared for or at least desired the woman once upon a time. Why not look for her himself if she was available somewhere on the mortal plane to be found?

"Unless it's something you cannot disclose to strangers, Mister Hrynn," says Otrino slowly, enunciating each word carefully so as to remove much of what was unique from his voice, "Would you mind sharing how long you have lived in Galsaff? I have not been here long myself, certainly not long enough to know the notable folk. Indeed was not with these fine people when they rescued your son for you. Though from what I hear it was quite an adventure.

"But I digress. I know time passes more slowly for you and Zasda - you for your years, him for his youth - than it might for me. But still, five or so years in this big house, with only the servants and your imposing example for company? It would be only natural for him to crave his mother, or at least the idea of her, would it not? Education or no, would not a father do all in his power to indulge such a desire? And would not an explanation of how the best detectives and clearest crystal spheres in Galsaff failed to find her go a long way towards quelling his rambunctious escapades?"