IC VI Stormy Seas

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia pauses, clearly hesitant and reluctant. But finally she relents, and with a sigh embraces Mithril. She presses her face and lips into the crook of her neck and murmurs, "Be careful."

The rogue then follows her friends and allies into the gates, looking back over her shoulder as she walks inside.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt drums his fingers along the hilt of Daybreaker as they head towards the city, his last words testing his newfound self control as he stops himself from crying out something in response, speaking it to himself instead. "My priority...hm. Saving what can be saved."

He shakes his head, turning around. "We'd better find someplace nearby to camp. I'm...sorry."

[Athedia]

Mithril looked unsure as Kurt agreed to stay. "You can come back, I will keep an eye on them. You trust them enough to fight alongside us, why not for the time you can help plan?"

[Cavelcade]

Kurt blinks in surprise, shaking his head at that. "It's got nothing to do with trusting them. If they're going to be treated like this, then so am I. Otherwise it'd be like I was better than them."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia looks around and back at the entrance as she walks through the town. She's anxious to get back and their treatment towards unmarked people slightly discomforts her. She doesn't have much sympathy for the slavers, but what if she r Miriam were unmarked?

Natalia looks for places to get weapons and quickly restock, though she doesn't want to take too long and has the meeting first.

Spoiler

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natalia wants a masterwork longbow and two oils of magic weapon. Total cost is about 400 gp.

[Admiral]

Miriam decides to stay behind with Kurt and Mithril as well, worried about leaving them with the slavers.

Natalia marches into town with the samurai, Shiny alongside her. The village is small, just barely larger than Linwood, and it takes just a few minutes of marching to reach the center of it. The strip of land the two resides on is not even a hundred yards wide, though it is still wider than where they had placed the gate. But the town is more populated than it first appeared, because the majority of the inhabitants of the town are at waist level: Natalia notices a good number of gnomes and halflings, though humans and dwarfs wander around as well. She'd heard from the samurai that Bellville was town of passers-by, used mostly as safe haven for traders, adventurers and other nomads who were making their way across the plains.

They approach the saloon at the center, where they see a series of six carts lined up outside that are quite similar to the ones they'd escorted to Soshima. The mules are tied down rather tightly, perhaps to keep them wandering off the nearby cliffs. As she approaches, a gnome runs to greet them, one almost a full head shorter than Shiny. He stops in a cloud of dust in front of them and gives the travelers a bow.

"Greetings to Soshima," he says, his voice dripping with servitude. "I'm Mayor Willowberry, and we're so very pleased to be of service, especially if it means the safe travels for our, err, other guests." He looks back at the wagons with an odd frown before turning back around. "What kind of accomodations will your men require, Mr...."

"It's Captain Dresden," the dwarf samurai says, after which follows a somewhat prolonged negotiation for rooms for the samurai. The mayor keeps referring to the shortage of beds in such a small camp, but when the captain resolves to have his samurai sleep under the stars space seems to open up immediately. Some gold exchanges hands, and the mayor leads them back towards the saloon.

"They've been here almost four days, bless their souls. Rode back from the southern fields with a pack of Horde orcs on their tails," Willowberry says, his hand to his chin in grief. "So brave to help those poor dwarves, and for the Church to provide such necessary aid."

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More coming ASAP.

[Admiral]

The mayor leads Natalia, Shiny and the samurai to the door of the saloon, which he opens . "So back there are the folks you'll be escorting..."

Natalia has already lost some interest, thinking instead of where she can find a longbow. She is about to depart when Shiny nudges her arm urgently.

At two booths in the back of the saloon they can see the travelers responsible for the caravan: one is made up of a halfling, an elf, two dwarves, and a human dressed in familiar rags: monks who have taken the Vow, presumably the drivers of the caravan. At the adjacent table they see four humans. A darkly tanned man on the outside of the booth bears heavy armor, a greatsword and the insignia of the Firm. To his left is a man so thin he looks ready to disappear into the air; he toys restlessly with a dagger on the table, and the party can see the insignia of the Raknir Syndicate on his hand. Across the table is a beautiful woman with blonde hair and a red cloak, her right hand bearing the same insignia as those of Shiny and Natalia. Next to her sits a young man with deep blue eyes and black hair, with the mark of the Church on his hand, a mace at his side and a suit of armor that bears the sigil of St. Cuthbert.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia gasps, a sharp intake of breath. She can't take her eyes away from the man. Was that him, Calric Jr?

She looks back to Shiny, trying to calm her breathing. "Found him. Should tell?"

Edit: She takes a look at all of them, and sizes them up. But she can't stop thinking about Miriam.

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any way to gauge their strength?

[Cavelcade]

As they find a place near enough to camp, Kurt hops off his horse, muttering to himself - cursing in dwarvish it sounds like. Only when he's worked off some of his energy by vigorously currying his horse does his muttering trail off and does he rejoin the others. He looks the trio over cautiously as he sits down, weighing his words.

But he was never very good at that, and has to say it baldly: "Would you take a mark, if it meant...some extra safety, maybe?"

[Admiral]

Shiny puts his fingers to his lips for an instant, glancing around at the samurai. Then he strides forward with Natalia into the saloon, and gestures to the samurai that he'll take over the introduction.

"Good afternoon!" Shiny says brightly to the caravan. "I'm Shiny Sandsweeper, explorer and dwarf-trimmer. We were just in Soshima when we heard about your plight from the church, so it looks like we'll be joining you!" he gestures to the score of samurai that are now filing up the saloon. The patrons and staff seem somewhat accustomed to the sight of strange explorers and hardly look up even at the samurai invasion.

The man in plate armor grunts. "Aye, Church sent us a message yesterday letting us know. We're glad we could get some assistance: it's a lot hairier down there than we expected. I'm Alden, and this is Walker, Alyssa, and Milton," he says, pointing around the table one by one.

Spoiler

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info on the party you may have expected to meet is here

[Athedia]

Mithril rejoined the group once she had taken care of Honey. "Shouldn't we set up camp before question time? Hilton, how about you help me get some wood for a fire."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia blinks. Buh? Same description, but different names. She looks down at Shiny, then walks over and extends her hand, saying, "Natalia. Glad to help," while scrutinizing them. A few months ago shed write it off as coincidence. Now, she doesn't know for sure.

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sense motive: (d20+6)[26]

Aww he'll yeah!

[Admiral]

Natalia:

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The briefest of pauses before he speaks indicates the names he's given are likely false.

Shiny doesn't seem surprised at all when he hears the names. The samurai captain then introduces himself, and fills in the table about the number of samurai and the party that had come with him. "Now, what's the situation Ye' ran into down near Deldon? Alls we know is the orcs blocked ye off."

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continuing soon, gimme a minute

[Admiral]

Mithril rejoined the group once she had taken care of Honey. "Shouldn't we set up camp before question time? Hilton, how about you help me get some wood for a fire."

Hilton shrugs and looks over at Kurt. "Yeah... OK." He walks with her off the ridge. The nearest crop of trees is about a five minute walk along the plains, along the side of a nearby hill that bends out of the line of sight of the camp. It looks like it's been well cultivated to remain a source of lumber for the town.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Cautiously not giving away any expression, Natalia turns to Shiny. She knew it. But why would they use pseudonyms? What were they hiding, or hiding from? She asks Shiny, "Like town of all your size? Or too small for words?" while playfully pat-cuffing his head. And as she does so, she writes with her finger on his skull, Quiet. Fake names.

Edit:

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gping into the mountains. Could lose service at any time. Will be in cellphone range within a couple hours for sure.

[Admiral]

The leader relates his story with a crisp, sharp tone. "There was supposed to be a safe route in: a third path we could sneak the cart to and avoid the siege, two miles west of the other entrance. But they must have found it- they had around thirty orcs waiting near the entrance, who started charging once we came over the last hill. Real lucky we were scouting a couple of miles ahead before bringing the cart, or we never would have gotten away. The thirty gave chase, and we did our best to hold them off- but then the reinforcements started coming. Never seen a flood like that..."

"Luckily once we made it a few miles out, they tapered off... guess they didn't want to leave the caves unsieged. But enough followed us, shooting arrows at a distance and then charging every few miles, to make it a rough way back all the way to Bellville."

"I figured there's no way the four of us can fight our way in. But maybe with you we stand a chance, as long as we can fight through to the entrance before the rest arrive. We should set out at dawn: it's about five hours away from here, with the wagons."

Dresden nods. "The folks traveling with us have some tricks up their sleeves, too. I should go finish my squadron's arrangements: we'll meet up again after dinner to discuss our attack."

Shiny nods along with the conversation. Then, once Dresden has left earshot, he says casually, "You know, I met a man from Falcor who looked just like you, though he was a little shorter."

There is a surreal pause that seems to communicate multitudes. Then the skinny man with the Syndicate insignia leans forward and peers at Shiny. "And I met a gnome from there who looked just like you, though he was a lot taller."

Everyone in the group glances at Shiny and Natalia, then at each other. "Perhaps we should go outside- there's some people you should meet," says Shiny with a small smile.

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Those were the code phrases Asdyr gave to you to identify yourselves to the other Hulburg party.

Incidentally, try and write three words on someone's skull sometime, especially without being obvious, and see if they can understand it! Anyway, I don't think Shiny needs a lesson about fake names.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia shudders as he describes the sea of orcs chasing them. How could there possibly be so many? There's no way they can cut through them all; they'll need some sort of diversion--probably Shiny's diversion. The gunpowder in her bag feels heavier at the thought, though it's not enough, nowhere near enough...

"Shopping too," Natalia says. "Supplies for journey, against foes, into darkness. And...Flood?"

Natalia blinks, then realizes that this must be the codephrase they mentioned--she wasn't around to hear it, and forgot it as it was only mentioned once. She nods and adds, "And meet you. Group talk, group plan." Group we need to get to Miriam. And Mithril too.

The rogue spaces out and seems to be slightly more distant as they head back to the camp. She can go shopping later. Right now they need to talk to the other two girls. They need to tell Miriam and she's starting to worry about Mithril. Of course, that's only partially what she's thinking. The rest has to do with the orc siege.

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I read the newest OOTS in the middle of posting this, which is probably why it seems a bit scattered.

[Admiral]

After about five minutes, Kurt sees Hilton coming back around the hillside, carrying a small pile of lumber and frowning. As Hilton approaches the camp the dwarf notices that Mithril is not with him or behind him.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt looks up with a frown at that, looking around to see where she is. He had been cleaning and caring for his longbow, checking the tautness of the string, looking for any signs of growing weakness.

As Hilton comes closer though, he goes back to his work for the most part, glancing at him as he enters the camp. "Mithril's still gathering wood?"

[Admiral]

The leader grunts. "Yes, we've been in here all day. Why don't we step outside..." All four of them stand up and follow Shiny and Natalia out the door.

The party steps back out into the afternoon sun, a warm wind blowing through the canyons. Their new companions wait until they're out of earshot of any of the samurai before anyone speaks. The thin spy watches them especially closely.

The man they now know as Brander is the first to break the silence. "Twelve years in the Hulburg army, I never once met a gnome in their service." He looks down suspiciously at the two travelers- now that he's standing, they can see how immense he is- perhaps a foot taller than Natalia.

Shiny's expression is serious. "We aren't natives to Hulburg, but Asdyr trusted us with this mission because of what he knew we could accomplish. We're here to aid you in tracking down the source of the atttacks on Hulburg. Let's wait until we can catch up with our allies, then we'll tell you more."

"These allies..." asks the thin man, whom they now can identify as Lucius. His thin fingers toy with the dagger at his side. "Why must we head outside the city to find them?" He does nothing to hide the distrust in his voice.

"It's a long story," says Shiny. "But rest assured we're worth your trust. We're here in the south for the same reason as you: to learn more of the alliance of the orcs and giants, and to see if our enemy in Hulburg has influence here as well."

[Admiral]

As Hilton comes closer though, he goes back to his work for the most part, glancing at him as he enters the camp. "Mithril's still gathering wood?"

Hilton rolls his eyes, exasperated. "Lords know what that girl's up to," he responds cryptically. "Whatever it is, I'm not dealing with it." He dumps the firewood into the center of the camp, and Karn steps over to start setting up the fire.

[CoffeeIncluded]

"Long story, but not harmful. You safe, promise," Natalia says, snapping to attention. She swallows as she looks up at towering Brander and her eyes widen as she regards Ezra (for her beauty, and for her guildmark, and she's imagining herself and Mithril talking to Ezra, sharing the magic and knowledge they all know, but know differently), and Calric is...Oh, Calric, she needs to be there for Miriam, but she regards Lucius with curiosity. Something about him reminds her of herself--at least, physically. Does he sneak too, hide in shadows? Her hands run over the hilts of her blades as well (does he play with the dagger for something to do, or can he feel the colors as well?), and she can feel the colors shift and change as her fingers run over the differences in pattern and material.

"Why pseudonyms?" she asks.

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And now I have a thought in my head about a friendly competition with their rogue.

[Admiral]

Lucius blinks, and his eyes widen in response to Natalia's query. "Why pseudonyms?!? Don't tell me you've just been giving out your real names!" (Natalia hears a quick, quiet snort from Shiny.) "You think we were just handing out our names, so that anyone with connections worth a damn could find out who we are and where we're from?" Even as he's upset, his voice never wanders above a whisper. "Do ye go around singing the Hulburg national anthem too?"

The young cleric laughs, and speaks for the first time. His voice is young and full of merry amusement. "You'll have to forgive Lucius," he chuckles. "I wish I could say you'll get used to his paranoia, but I guess with all this pseudonym business I'm just out of lies for the day." He grins at the newcomers. "My name's Calric."

[CoffeeIncluded]

"But knew you...fake names," Natalia says. "Found you anyway. Need...better traps," she adds with a bit of a smile. There's no malice or anything in it. And maybe Lucius has a point. But it's good to finally go by her real name. She wants to hold on to that.

Her smile fades a bit as Calric introduces himself, though she offers her hand. But Miriam, they'll have to warn her in advance. Although, thankfully, from what Miriam told her about Calric his son doesn't seem to have inherited any of his less...savory traits.

"So if out of lies," she asks, "Then truths to share? Separate threads to join?"

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I wonder if Lucius thinks that Nutspeak is Natalia's way of keeping secrets, speaking in code. A strategy so she can speak openly, because no outsider would understand her anyway.

[Admiral]

Though Kurt waits for a few minutes, Mithril doesn't return from behind the hill.

[Cavelcade]

Hilton rolls his eyes, exasperated. "Lords know what that girl's up to," he responds cryptically. "Whatever it is, I'm not dealing with it." He dumps the firewood into the center of the camp, and Karn steps over to start setting up the fire.

Kurt looks up at where he just came from again with a frown. "Hm."

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(1d20)[8] Sense motive

I'm going to just assume that's not good enough to detect much of anything, even with any circumstance bonuses - but let me know if I'm wrong.

"I hope she's not too long. Did she mention anything about what it was?"

[Admiral]

Hilton grunts. "I'm thinking it's better ye ask her."

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It's not hard to tell he's annoyed with Mithril.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt chews his cheek for a moment, then nods. "If you say so..." He hops up then, walking slowly up towards where they were gathering wood.

[Athedia]

As Kurt walked down the path that Hilton had recently returned from he spotted Mithril. She was frozen on the group, a dagger lying to her side. As he neared he saw her gaze was focused on her hands.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia hastens back to the group, saying, "Maybe share threads when all together."

As she returns to outside the town she looks for her friends, to tell them who they found.