Southern Comfort IC

[Marlowe]

Ingva Soulflayer turns around, breathes out smoke, and answers. "I fail to see why. I have known monsters, young Orc, and I don't think you are one. Maintain this level of behaviour and I don't think Ashdown will care."

[stanleyindraven]

"And if they do, just give them a 'I will eat you' look and they should leave you alone," Horbin adds.

[Morbis Meh]

Korgoth looks to the massive orc with an appraising eye, he was big and would more than likely be useful down the road. He offers a grin "No worries Grath, your in company with one of the finest smooth talkers in the land, stick with me and your bed will never be cold again!"

[Marlowe]

Ingva Soulflayer takes the pipe out of her mouth. She looks at Korgoth, looks at Grath, looks at Korgoth again. Then she apparently decides whatever she was going to say would be much too easy and chomps down on scrimshaw.

[u-b]

Gregor McAlister

Gregor sits back on the grass (not unlike as if struck) and tries his best to keep a poker face as Ingva is collecting her fallen down jaw.

"I guess I'll start with Ashdown military. It should be good to know their ways and get their training, at the very least. While I am not a big fan of duty and discipline, having proper support and reliable guys around is a great deal."

"Boys, girls... who's going north with me?"

[stanleyindraven]

"Seems like a good start to me," Horbin will say. "Name's Horbin, this is Glenda," he continues as he readjusts the sword on his shoulder.

[Morbis Meh]

Korgoth shrugs "I'm fine with it, it's better than east or west but careful those imperials have stiff necks I hear." He lifts his hammer and rests it on his shoulder then proceeds to walk back to collect the remainder of his property.

[Marlowe]

"Well, young people. It's good to see you are thinking about this". Breath, blue smoke. "Unless there's any further questions, from the young ladies perhaps? If not, I had best be on my way. Town to run. Patrols to arrange. People to shout at. We are expecting traders soon."

[u-b]

Gregor McAlister

"Gregor McAlister." - pointing at the dogs, starting with big one, which is fully equipped with a halfling-sized saddle, bags and leather barding - "Abyss, Barry and Cherry." - dogs lazily wave the tails - "Hey, Horbin, they seem to like you!"

[Corsair420]

I walk up and give the dogs a pat on the head. "I've always loved animals... I think this will be a fun adventure. By the way, it's a pleasure to meet you all."

[RaggedAngel]

There is a rustling of bushes, and a slight halfling in hunting leathers bursts out of one side of the clearing, with leaves in her hair and bloodshot eyes. She seemed to have dressed herself rather haphazardly, and a variety of weapons were precariously attached to her hips, back, and bandolier. "Wait wait wait! Can anyone tell me what's going on? I woke up in a barn, sore absolutely everywhere, smelling of animals, and you're all gone. I managed to follow the bellowing noises here, and now here I am." She speaks quickly, and it seems that she may still be a bit tipsy; not unusual, of course, considering both her size and the extremely late hour at which she stopped drinking.

The halfling takes a moment to gather her thoughts, during which she notices the shaman. "Oh, right. Hi there. My name's Delphi, Delphi Fallios, master tracker and ranger and mercenary." She grins broadly, and it looks good on her. "Well, I'm still working on the "master" part of it. So, where are you all going? I came late to the party, so you can fill me in on the details later."

[Linguz]

"Somewhere north. I'll explain later. I'm Dardiana, by the way."' She shook her head at Ingva's question. "I have no questions. Thank you and good luck with everything." She turned back towards Delphi and let out a sigh. "I'm glad you're coming. There were too many men, not enough females before."

[Marlowe]

"Well, then." Ingva steps forward with a jingle of mismatched mithral mail against bronze dastana, notched spaulders, and black iron gorget. She shifts the scrimshaw pipe to her flaming hand and passes a scroll to, after a moment of looking around the party, Gregor.

"Here is a blank piece of parchment. Which is astrally linked to a scroll in my quarters," she says. "It shall at some point become a world map, when I've had time to scribe one. I was never quick or clever at that sort of thing. But I've been around. I shall be able to alter it as things go on and if I should need to send you a message, it shall serve as that as well."

"Go with bravery and wisdom. Remember you carry our name wherever you go. Even if it is unimaginative. And try not to get into a fight with an teenage Administrate Tourist in a dark basement. The gods speed you well, and all that."

She turns, and walks off torwards the town square, giving Nerull an old-fashioned look as she goes.

[Marlowe]

((And she's lying about it being blank. She's just not happy with it.))

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((it shall be replaced with a more detailed one as they get drawn.))

[mattie_p]

"Girls, boys, Grath welcomes. Grath is not sure what happened, but all go north soon? North sounds nice, no prejudice there. Is danger north? Grath takes care of danger." Grath doesn't look in Korgoth's direction.

[Marlowe]

You depart the town by the north gate, Freya on your left hand, Hel upon your right. To the north the mountains known as the Godspine rise in an almost sheer wall of granite, cut with a vicious cleft through which flows the Whitewater. It is called Starlight's Razor. For some reason.

The river is almost at a trickle, broad and swift, but very shallow now that the snowmelt of spring has subsided. Much of the water has receded from the bed, leaving the river flowing in winding, cross-connecting braids. The bed and banks are made of white, metamorphic stone worn smooth by the floods of autumn and spring. Your feet make loud crunching sounds as you proceed.

As you enter the Razor, the walls tower up to a frightening height, blocking out the morning sun. The sound of boots on stone echo before and behind you. In the blue strip of sky above you between the granite cliffs, hawks are circling.

((Some knowledge checks, boys and girls, any knowledge you like. Sort out your party order. Delphi, if you haven't upgraded your gear to the 300gp given starter gold, do it now and we'll say you did it last night before getting hammered. Also, the little red X on Ingva's map is the position of Whitewater Rip))

[stanleyindraven]

Horbin will move to take up next to whomever is in lead.

[mattie_p]

Grath adjusts the heavy pack on his back and walks near the end of the party. He has his sword sheathed, but his bow is in his hand, arrow notched but not drawn back. He looks a little nervous, his eyes and head dart too and fro as he tries to watch everywhere and everyone at once, it seems.

[u-b]

Gregor McAlister

Gregor is riding on Abyss, carrying his lance rested on a stirrup and wishing there would be better ways of carrying a lance. Delphi is invited to ride with him, allegedly to speed up party movement. With generally relaxed attitude Gregor enjoys the ride, the company, and the nature, doing his job of moving in front ranks and being aware of surroundings in some consistent manner.

Smaller dogs are generally moving ahead, to the sides or wherever thei decide is more interesting. Since the dogs consider the canyon itself rather uninteresting and seldom delay to investigate the things like they do in forests etc, most of the way they are like 30..120 feet ahead.

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Barry: scent 30* feet, spot (1d20+5)[9], listen (1d20+5)[24]
Cherry: scent 30* feet, spot (1d20+5)[6], listen (1d20+5)[11]
Abyss: scent 30* feet, spot (1d20+5)[9], listen (1d20+5)[22]
Gregor: spot 10+5 = 15, listen 10+3 = 13
Gragor: survival 10+5 = 15 OR (1d20+5)[24] vs DC 15 to avoid natural hazards

*exact distance varies

[Morbis Meh]

Korgoth takes the lead bellowing out a loud drinking song and his donkey even accompanies him at times during the chorus. He prefers walking, it basically forces him to stay sober/sobers him up if he decides to dip into the mead early. The others seemed shaky/sullen so Korgoth thought he would cheer up the group with song it was unfortunate that no one else sang along, though they were from different tribes... He stares at the scenery dully, not overly caring about his surroundings, people interested him because inanimate objects didn't do much of interest.

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Screw knowledge I am a Favored soul!
random spot (1d20+3)[21]
listen (1d20+3)[9]
knowledge arcane I guess no ranks but it is a class skill (1d20+1)[11]

[RaggedAngel]

Delphi gladly accepts the offer to ride atop the bulky riding dog, and she seems excited to have the chance, scratching the powerful animal's ears with great enthusiasm. She keeps her scout's eyes and ears perked up and attentive, but otherwise she enjoys the chance to get off of her feet. She occasionally mutters off-color jokes to Gregor in Halfling, occasionally poking lighthearted fun at the ranger and his beasts.

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Spot: (1d20+5)[12]
Listen: (1d20+7)[17]

Don't worry, I fixed my gear two nights ago. I had just mistakenly not saved it after my final edits; the only change is making her armor masterwork and giving her a bottle of alchemist's fire.

[Marlowe]

Korgoth:

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These cliffs have a smooth, half-melted look.

[stanleyindraven]

"Anyone know any songs that can be sung quietly in case someone comes along to take our heads," Horbin will ask with a smile.

[mattie_p]

Grath shakes his head and simply says, "No."

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Knowlege: trained only, 0 ranks, but I guess I'll check nature if you want (1d20+1)[3]
Survival (maybe similar to know:nature?, avoid natural hazards, predict weather, etc) (1d20+3)[8]
Spot: (1d20-1)[17]
Listen: (1d20+1)[5]

[Marlowe]

Grath

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These are really tall cliffs!

[u-b]

Gregor McAlister

Big dog initially attempts to play the same "I am demonstratively ignoring such a familiarity" attitude as it did with Marn Ortul, but soon gives up and is visibly enjoying the scratching. Well, who would not?

[stanleyindraven]

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Knowledge: Dungeoneering (1d20+2)[9]
Knowledge: Local(1d20+2)[8]

Knowledge: Geography(1d20+2)[3]

Knowledge: Monster Lore(1d20+2)[5]

Knowledge: Arcana(1d20+2)[5]

Knowledge: Psionics(1d20+2)[18]

[Corsair420]

Knowledge storm!!!

Knowledge(Arcana): (1d20+12)[26]
Knowledge(Architecture): (1d20+8)[13]
Knowledge(The Planes): (1d20+8)[19]

And I will stick near the back of the group, I don't trust humanoids very well yet after the way I was treated growing up, and it probably will never go away. Other then that I'm just going to look around and enjoy the scenery

Spot:(1d20+1)[2]
Listen:(1d20+1)[8]

[Marlowe]

Horbin:

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You can state with impeccable confidence that you are travelling with a group of humanoids, and you think you're on some world of the material plane. You wouldn't bet money on that last one however.

Marn Ortul:

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It looks to you like somebody shoved an epic-level evocation through this mountain range and then didn't bother taking names afterwards. Fortunately, it looks like that happened a long time ago.

Now you think about it, the land around Whitewater Rip did have a reclaimed lakebed feel to it.

Everyone:
Shortly after noon, Gregor's dogs start barking up ahead, and a flight of ravens (and hawks) take off into the sky in a flutter of unnecessary Gothic imagery. There's a brown hump on the riverbed, like a dead large animal, from which the kites flew.

[u-b]

Gregor McAlister

Gregor let Delphi walk for a while and rode forward, ready to charge any sort of large predator or whatever might pose a danger to his dogs with the intent to eventually examine whatever is there and ride a bit past it.