Madness, Blood and Thunder in Ravens Bluff IC

[candycorn]

Undisclosed location, Meeting with Mirielle

Spying Mirielle at the meeting point, Alaister approaches, moving generally with the flow of people. Upon passing Mirielle, he stoops over, then stands back up, approaching Mirielle.

"Excuse me, Miss... I believe you...dropped this?" The 'commoner' hands Mirielle the note she left Alaister. As he does so, a small bemused smile plays at the corner of his mouth, and... was that a wink? It's hard to be sure...

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There, that's about as loud as I can scream "hey, this is me" without being obvious to others...

[TheFallenOne]

Mirielle

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only members and associates are allowed to make copies

I assume it would take 4 days to add +2 Wisdom to my reliquary holy symbol?

yes

Aya

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Most trading ships travelling up and down the Dragon Reach stop both in the Bluff and Calaunt.

There are two ships, owned by the same person, that exclusively trade in the Dragon Reach(i.e. Ravens Bluff, Tantras Calaunt, Harrowdale, Scardale) because the captain had too much trouble with pirates in the bigger seas. His primary ship, the Fang, is expected to arrive in two days

[Frog Dragon]

The Sanctuary

Returning to the sanctuary, Jorran finds the note. Black Sorrow? How needlessly melodramatic. Nevertheless, it was his only clue, and it was unlikely that the attacker sent the message only to taunt him. He'd be there.

The next day

After waking up, Jorran goes to the Golden Palace to buy an oversized blue shirt. Then he decides to go to Mirielle's apartment. Reading the note, he writes his own message at the bottom.

Mystery nutcase left note. Wants to meet at night. Would like backup in case of trap. Meet at sundown?

- Jorran

After that, Jorran goes to the temple of Mystra to try and find Aya.

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Assuming he does not find Aya. He comes back later after putting the oversized shirt over his armor. He'll explain the situation to Aya and then go to Mirielle's apartment.

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle's Apartment

Mirielle returns to her apartment for lunch and spots Jorran's note. In case he returns before sundown, she adds another note at the bottom.

Of course. Come back here to meet me.
-Mirielle

Undisclosed location

Mirielle blinks at the commoner. Alaister. She sighs.

"I'm guessing you would be my Oghmite friend. Are you ready to start?" she asks, pulling out her holy symbol.

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Do you want to IC this or just skip ahead since we already answered the questions?

[candycorn]

Undisclosed location

After verifying each other's stories, Alaister comments, "Is there anything else you wanted?"

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yeah, we can skip the honesty test. Questions are already done anyway.

[Jeff the Green]

Undisclosed location

Mirielle hesitates momentarily. "Jorran, my friend that didn't make it to the meeting the other night, was attacked and robbed. His attacker wants to meet and Jorran would like backup. If you could come, or maybe offer some advice, I'd appreciate it."

[candycorn]

Alaister looks more than a bit surprised, though he doesn't let on that it's the pronunciation of Jorran's name, rather than the misfortune that befell him, that did so. "I'd be happy to come along, though, to give advice, I'll need a bit more information. Did your friend see his attacker? If so, what did the assailant look like? How did he overpower or fool your friend? Were any items stolen that would be noticeable, or distinctive? Did the attacker demonstrate any special talents or traits that would make him or her stand out?" Alaister pauses for a moment, considering the impact that such things could have, then continues, in a more measured tone. "I apologise for so many questions, and I understand if you don't wish to share these things... However, if I am able to identify the attacker, I may gain some understanding on where the attacker lives, or spends their time. If I know of any special items, I can perhaps locate them when they attempt to sell, trade, or otherwise dispose of the item."

[Jeff the Green]

Undisclosed location

Mirielle smiles. "The questions are fine. I don't think I can answer all of them, though; we only spoke briefly last night. I think he got a good look at the attacker, though I didn't ask him for a description. I was focused too much on locating Jorran's sword, a big thing made in Neverwinter, jewel in the pommel. Other than that nothing distinctive was stolen.

"The man just attacked Jorran. He was fairly beat up when I saw him. I'd not normally expect someone could best Jorran in combat, but it happened."

Mirielle pauses for a moment, weighing how much to trust her new ally. "Jorran should be coming by my apartment this evening around sunset. You could come and ask him yourself, if you'd like."

[candycorn]

Without hesitating, Alaister replies with a bit of a sheepish grin, "I don't suppose we could locate Jorran sooner? The only thing I've been working on for the last day or so is trying to set a trap for our mutual enemy. I think I know a target he'll want to deal with fairly soon, and I've been trying to scout the area for signs of Mr. C's presence. While I'm sure I'm making progress, asking too many questions about it too quickly could spook him. Having enough information about this to make inquiries would give me something else to pursue, to allay any suspicions."

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle looks doubtful. "We might be able to find him," she says, "but I'm not sure how to go about it. I suppose he might have gone to the temple of Mystra to speak with Aya, but that's a bit of a long shot."

[candycorn]

Alaister mentally files away the Temple of Mystra as a place Aya can be met at, which affirms his notion that she worships Mystra, before giving a mischievous grin, and replying, "A bit of a long shot, eh? I can see why; sword-swinging hunters aren't so common at temples of magic... Pity, that would make the prayers so much more intriguing!" With that, and a slight bow, Alaister begins hustling off towards the temple of Mystra.... Then turns around, and jogs back. "One more thing... Where did you want to meet tonight precisely? I'm not exactly familiar with where you're staying."

[Jeff the Green]

"Ah, yes." Mirielle reaches into her bag for a pen and paper before remembering that she left them at home. "It's the apartment building at ADDRESS REDACTED, number XX. I'll be there shortly before sundown for my evening prayers, and then we'll leave sometime after that."

As Alaister disappears into the crowd, Mirielle heads off to finish her other errands.

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Yeah, let's set an address for my apartment. This is getting awkward.

[candycorn]

The Temple of Mystra

Alaister hustles to the Temple of Mystra, looking for an injured man matching Jorran's description.

[Sallera]

Mirielle's Apartment

Once Jorran finds her, Aya reluctantly agrees to following along. The whole setup seemed a little too neat, but she couldn't spot the thread that would unravel it. Perhaps one of the others would have better luck... or perhaps they'd just have to play along and get it over with. Selling information on the greycloaks to get the payment they'd freely offered wasn't a deal she wanted to make, however, even if she weren't trying to avoid getting further involved with them.

"Alaister," she says as everyone gathers, "check my thoughts on that note, if you've read it. I feel like I'm missing something. Wandering around for several hours... he doesn't want to help us narrow down his potential meeting spot to set a trap ahead of time, that seems clear enough. The shirt... either he's not night-sighted, or he's planning on using a proxy, which would fit with his choice of appellation - that sounds more like an organization than an individual. Get in a fight with someone and their face tends to leave an impression, after all. Combine that with the fact that he was thorough enough to hide his trail with a spell after the mugging, and he looks pretty careful - he, or whomever he sends, won't likely have the items. I don't see any easy way to turn this around on him without mind magic."

[Frog Dragon]

Mirielle's Apartment

"He looked pretty human to me. No surprise he's not nightsighted. The stranger thing is what he kept asking. You wouldn't think that the identity of our associates is any big secret, much less something worth starting a street fight over. Whoever he is, he doesn't seem to know how the city works at all." Jorran says.

[candycorn]

Mirielle's Apartment

Alaister frowns as he looks at the note, and when he speaks, it's almost as if he's talking to the air... "A proxy... Hm. Indeed, I'd be surprised if he didn't, given these instructions. This plan isn't intended to identify Jorran; if it was, there are far simpler ways. This plan is intended to identify anyone following Jorran. Black Sorrow just needs to have a few men sitting around the district, watching for a man in a blue shirt, and looking to see anyone following after. It's fiendishly hard to hide from anyone watching for that, no matter how well you disguise yourself or sneak. The length of time involved also makes it difficult to use magic to obscure yourself.

The way I see it, this fellow is planning one of two things. Either he wants to get Jorran alone, in which case he'll watch for tails, and set up an ambush to snatch Jorran and get him out of sight in a moment's time... or he wishes to deal with the people guarding Jorran, and then force answers out of him. Were I planning this, I'd do both; hire thugs to distract the tail, and ambush the target during the confusion."

Alaister looks up from the note, meeting Aya's gaze. "Is there any particular reason to go to this meeting? This is a pretty dangerous setup, the kind someone would use if he didn't want any witnesses afterwards. A sword and a sack don't seem worth a life, unless there's something I'm missing."

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Knowledge(local): (1d20+12)[15] (Black Sorrow)

[Frog Dragon]

Mirielle's Apartment

"He bothered to send this note. He isn't just going to quit." Jorran says. "If we go, we can expect than ambush. That's better than not expecting it. Also, the contents of that bag are worth quite a bit."

[candycorn]

Alaister shrugs. "I've been expecting an ambush for about 6 months now. I just try not to make it a habit to walk into them, that's all. If you say the bag's worth it, then I'll take your word for it, though. On to the plan for this.

If they're trying to seperate you from us, it would make sense to keep everyone close to you. Then again, that may spook them. The upside, it would keep you safer. Could perhaps keep a couple farther back, but take precautions that would let the 2nd group catch up quickly."

[Jeff the Green]

"I can be Jorran's close guard," Mirielle suggests. "I can't do much if I'm not close to my enemies, and in any case I can take a hit better than either of you, Aya and Alaister." She smiles wryly. "Plus it's easy for a librarian to look innocuous. I'll bring a book and read it while we walk."

[Sallera]

"Well, if he's as single-minded as Miri says, I guess we've got to either give him what he wants or remove him. If he's working for the Red Wizards, he might not be missed, but unless we can be sure he's unwitnessed, the latter seems overly troublesome. We'll have to find out what exactly he's after, I suppose; I'll prepare a bit of travel magic. Miri, if you've got anything you can use to keep him from escaping if we happen to get a good position..."

Aya glances sidelong at Alaister. "You any good at climbing buildings? I find it's quite convenient for avoiding distractions."

[candycorn]

Mirielle's Apartment

Alaister replies, "It also means that this isn't a personal score, just a contract. That relieves me, to be honest; I'd rather not deal with an emotionally imbalanced murderer. That said, we have to operate on the assumption that he intends to kill Jorran after he finds out what he needs. That means that we need to delay him finding out as long as possible.

Mirielle's data also suggests that either Thay is acting against the Greycloaks, or that someone with influence wants to make it seem so.

As for climbing? Well, I can get up, if needed, provided I have a moment to get a bit of equipment. The real problem for me is in the jumping from building to building... I imagine I could jump about 15 feet reliably, but more than that is risky. Still, depending on how narrow the alleyways are, I think I could manage it."

@DM:

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Are any places open this late? I was interested in getting climber's gloves (MW climbing tool), and ideally a MW jumping tool as well, some form of footwear with kinda springy soles.

[TheFallenOne]

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you could still get masterwork tools at Wyrmhoard. Easy enough for physical skills like the ones you want, and the item takes a body slot

[candycorn]

@DM:

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Then I shall do that, prior to going to meeting area. MW climbing gloves, mw jumping boots, silk rope, and a grappling hook.

For future reference... If we get a MW skill tool enchanted (say, MW climbing gloves into gloves of strength +2), will they retain the circumstance bonus to their relevant skill?

[TheFallenOne]

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I'm afraid not. Can't think of a good logical reason, but if it worked like that everyone would be a moron for ever using and making magical items worth thousands of gold without investing a mere 50 extra GP to get +2 on a skill.

[candycorn]

Alaister ducks out quickly to pick up his supplies, after agreeing to a meet up spot.

[TheFallenOne]

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so... who's waiting on who or what right now?

[Frog Dragon]

Meet-up Spot

"If that's everything, then lets go." Jorran says after the preparations are done "But we'll have to be ready." He sniffs the air tentatively. "If the Black Sorrow is here, he probably isn't alone. And if he sent someone else... we should still be wary."

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I guess that's it. Jorran is fine with Mirielle being the obvious guard and Aya and Alaister being the hidden backup. He'll also be using Hunter's Sense.

[candycorn]

Alaister takes up his position with Aya, keeping an eye out for anyone who pays attention to the man in the colored shirt.

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Still disguised, fyi

[TheFallenOne]

Bitterstone, night

The monk tests your patience, and it takes about two hours before he shows. By now the city's nightlife is well into activity, and while the main streets are nowhere near as frequented as by day, there are many citizens, sailors and visitors around, many of them drunk, soon to be drunk and likely more than one off to some illicit business. Bitterstone is easier to navigate at night than Silverscales, neither lacking lights nor cobbled streets, and the looks you get here do make you feel less like an unwelcome intruder.

Black Sorrow is lightly leaning against the wall a few feet into a side passage, wearing a familiar muddied coat. The hilt of a much more familiar sword can be seen over his shoulder. "Know what I want. Talk. Stall and this is over."

Aya, Alaister

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you can't notice anything yet, depending on Jorran's and Mirielle's reaction you may soon though

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle stands a few feet behind Jorran, still apparently engrossed in her book. Throughout the night, she has ignored her mundane senses—not that they're of much use to begin with—in favor of more supernatural ones. As Black Sorrow speaks Mirielle directs her attention toward him, searching for the telltale greasy black sensation that would identify him as evil.

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Mirielle's got her cassock over her armor and is "reading" her Tome of Mnemonics. She's been keeping detect evil up the entire night and now is concentrating on Black Sorrow.