Fear and Loathing in the Greenbelt (IC Thread III)

[stack]

Once his letters are dispatched, Johan rejoins Roquan, presumably getting the update. "Sounds like we cannot waste any time in investigating the tower then."

[Lost Demiurge]

Father Wisely shrugs, and follows Maple into town, leaving his fishing rod where it is. "Someone else will find it and use it, after all. That's what I did."
-----

Loris thumps Alistar on the shoulder, hard. "Remember that, huh? Also remember forests ain't there forever, and patience only goes so far. See ya around, fuzzy."
-----

Johan writes his letters, and sends them off.

-----

The women stand still, and stare at Brin. After awhile a group starts gathering, looking on silently.

The tall woman finally breaks the quiet. "I am very, very certain that the QUEEN TO BE of this FAIR AND JUST land did not just threaten my sisters with punishment because they giggled over a private joke at the wrong time."

"I am certain that we misunderstood that, and everything is FINE, yes? We can go on our way? Go farm with Farmer Kinsley here, yes?"

SENSE MOTIVE DC 18

Spoiler

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The tall woman is angry at you, and furious at her sisters. Her sisters are terrified, but not of YOU. They are terrified of the tall woman.

Roqoan
Curska grunts. "All right. That floating pleasure house owes us a favor, we can probably cash it in. As far as other business... Well there's some, but if you let it drag you in you'll be here weeks. Wedding, laws, land disputes, complaints, merchant contracts..."

She shrugs. "I'll handle things until you get back."

This is about the point that Father Wisely and Maple show up.

[stack]

Johan chimes in after Curska finishes. "Then let us prepare to depart immediately, unless there are matters the others must attend to presently."

Spoiler

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not waiting on the scroll, touch AC is too high on them

[Morbis Meh]

Brin laughs "First of all I am not 'The Queen to Be' the commonwealth is not a monarchy so either you are ill informed or slow in the head; also may I suggest you settle down, anger will not help you here and it is also making your companions very nervous. Secondly I do not make threats, I make assurances so quit avoiding the question this is the last time I make this request. I am not basing this decision off of the stupidity of your 'sisters' but off of suspicion due to their thinly veiled comment. Now clarify, I do not have any further time to waste, we are currently preparing for a wedding which will soon be followed by a possible war to deal with. I have no patience left for those who would seek to enter under false pretenses. If you have nothing to hide then this should not be a problem for any of you and if this Farmer Kinsley is truly expecting you I will escort you there personally and see to it that you have whatever aid you require to settle in and begin your operations."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan, having just told Johan everything about the lights, repeats everything he just said to Maple and Father Wisely.
And he expects to have to do the same once the others show up.
"Using the pleasure house to try and fight a war against an ancient curse haunting this land and possibly several will-o-wisps.....
Dear gods, if they ever tell stories about us it's going to be hilarious.

Perhaps we should use the boat to first go where we killed the giant turtle and search for clues there. If we don't find anything we immediatly travel towards the Island and start our investigation."

[stack]

"I suspect she meant one of the smaller craft the possess, not the...main facilities. Stopping by where we fought the turtle is a good thought."

[Lost Demiurge]

BRIN

The tall woman's lips go flat.

"You're giving us a hard time because two of my sisters giggled. I don't know why they laughed, and I don't care. If laughing at you is illegal here you probably have to jail people daily, you egotistical git."

"We were gonna stick around for the wedding, but since you've decided to go be a raging ***** to us for no reason, I don't think we will. We're outta here. You can go die in a fire."

She turns to the farmer. "Come on, Mister Kinsley. Let's go get that harvest in, then we're gone out of this twerp's hair."

SENSE MOTIVE DC 20

Spoiler

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The crowd is murmuring. They're kind of embarrassed about this whole confrontation. One of the bards that was invited in for the wedding seems to be taking notes.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar smiles a bit as she starts to leave. "I think you and I need to have a bit of a heart-to-heart later on." And then more quietly, to himself. "But first, more work."



Soon after, he joins up with the rest of the group. "Loris is feeling fine, and hasn't noticed anything peculiar. Any progress on this end?"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin sighs, letting the fire comment slide. "My apologies, please stay for the wedding, I have had a really bad couple of days lately. Between being nearly eaten by a massive talking lizard, impaled by a rusty porticullis, and crushed by a statue chunk set loose by an evil fae I have been a little on edge. Not to mention being embarrassed because your husband to be dropped his trousers to urinate on some gits possessions because he wanted to be an ass. It was very poor manners on my part to act so rudely towards you and your sisters, so I ask you for your forgiveness." The dwarf gets on her knees to attempt some level of sincerety while pulling off her mask for the first time in a long time. "It is hardly becoming of a person in my position to act this way please, come to the hold as my personal guests. As you can see I was almost killed in a fire at a young age... my parents suffered that fate but I was left to bear the scars." Brins face crumples with sorrow, thick grisled scars marring her almost bald head.

[Lost Demiurge]

The tall woman looks confused. "Uh. er. Ah, you are forgiven. Go forth and sin better next time." She smiles, and makes a little gesture.

"But uh, you have fun. Really, we need to be going anyway. Come out to Mister Kinsley's farm and see us sometime, once harvest is over! We'll have a wedding gift for you. Bye!"

SENSE MOTIVE DC 22

Spoiler

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Yeah, she doesn't like you at all.

They leave, hastily.

Before long, you find your way to the others...

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan tells what he knows to Brin (and Fermor if he shows up).
"We've arranged for a boat, so we should leave to where we killed the turtle as soon as possible."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin looks at Roqoan "Fine, just don't urinate all over it, by the way there were no signs of any suspicious activity in the immediate city surroundings. Just some miserable old hag helping a farmer, oh and a Bard... he should prove to be an interesting addition to the wedding."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"This might be an odd question, but how much money do we have left?"

[stack]

"Our last few expeditions have left us with little additional income, I fear. The country is feeding its own growth, but I am loathe to siphon off any for our own use, even if legitimate, for fear of slowing that growth. There was the matter of the bounty on the worg leader, that should be in by now. We took little financial gain from the turtle beast, the scythe tree, or the fey."

[SamBurke]

Fermor shrugs. "Who be in charge o' that sorta thing? I dunno, meself... bu' we probably shuh know." He stands, and waits, silently repeating the words of his prayers, again. Just to be sure.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Bounties or other mail usually arrivés here adressed to us, Curska takes care of most of that.
If you're talking about bookkeeping, Johan is our treasurer and he does most of that.

Let's just leave it at 'low on cash', we have more urgent matters to attend to. We should head out to the boat and start searching for that druid."
If nobody objects, Roqoan will walk towards the boat.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"I only ask because don't we need a new crab-turtle? And the woman said it was from another place, maybe like that rainbow scaled thing back with the owl guy?
It the guy said something about a payment for services... I think that's correct..."

[stack]

"Perhaps summoning a new guardian would work, but I hope that we can find a more permanent solution. Hopefully investigating the tower will allow us to but the problems that cursed the werewolves to rest and settle the spirit the turtle was containing. I think we would be well served if the magic that protects this land was made to perform its job properly. The turtle was merely a stop-gap, in my eyes."

[Lost Demiurge]

The rulers find their way down to the pleasure boat, to find a rented barge being prepared for them. "Some people like to go out on the lake, rather than use our rooms," explain the bouncers. "We put in a few days of food just in case."

It's a sturdy little barge with a frolicking nymph on the prow, and various swan-shaped decorations. There's a frilly pink sun cover, with a number of attached curtains that can be tied to turn the middling-sized boat's deck into a series of rooms.

"Just get her back in one piece. Unless... Do you need someone to pilot her?" Asks the head Bouncer.

[stack]

Johan stiffles a laugh as he looks over their transport. "Well, they will never expect an attack from this, will they? Ah, to travel in style and dignity!"

After he shakes his head a moment, he replies, "Indeed, a pilot would be helpful. I don't believe any of us are sailors."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin's spirits sank even further when she saw what she was forced to sail in Nect time I see my sensai I will punch him out for making me leave the dojo... I hate this place, this country, its people; I risk my life and sanity on a daily basis only to be ridiculed and scorned by the ungrateful masses.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"It's strange, but that boat is quite fitting. That nymph is a nice symbol for the fae in the Commonwealth.
And i know that swans are supposedly extremely aggressive when they're defending their nests, so that kinda suits this situation.

A pilot would be quite helpfull, yes. I'd probably sail this thing into the first rock we see."
Roqoan steps on board of the boat.

[Lost Demiurge]

The head bouncer calls up to the main boat, and a slim half-elf eventually descends. Quite attractive, though it's hard to tell what gender he or she is. The Half-elf's clothes are elegant robes.

"Hi. I'm Tam. Let's get you to wherever you need to go."

Father Wisely boards after the rest of you, taking solemn care to place a fishing line off the back of the boat, while Tam claps his/her hands.

"Allright, we'll need some sturdy rowers. You, and you, and you and you... Good." Alistar and Fermor and Brin and Maple are assigned spots.

Tam proceeds to play a drum, in between steering with the tiller. It's a sunny day, and the only rough patch is navigating the narrow neck between the Tuskwater and the Candlemere. The draft is a little low for the shallows, but with some poles, you manage to get through.

It does take the rest of the day, though, before you arrive at the island in the center of the Candlemere. The ruined stone tower, carved to look like the trunk of a great tree, stretches to the sky a good six stories. There is no top to it, and jagged edges mark where pieces have broken off over the years.

The entire island is covered with black thornbushes that look almost sinister.

And a faint glow, greenish blue, is visible from the yawning, dark doorway of the tower.

A few battered hulks of rowboats lie shattered on the beach of the island.

[stack]

Spoiler

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We were going to go to the place we fought the turtle, but if there isn't anything there worth our time then I'm fine jumping to the island.

Signal will be dancing lights in a pre-discussed pattern

Johan begins looking for enchantment before even making shore. "Let us disembark, then pull a ways back. We will give a signal when we need to be picked up. Hopefully it won't be in a hurry."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar feels more and more uneasy the closer they get to the island. And by the time they can clearly see the entrance to the tower, he's thuroughly creeped out.

"I don't like this." He shifts uncomfortably. "Listen, I don't know how this place will affect me, or if it even will at all. But if something happen, take me down as hard as you need to, okay?"

[Lost Demiurge]

(A stop by the place where you fought the turtle turns up nothing evident. There may be something down in the lake somewhere, but you feel it would take time to search. And a lot of swimming.)

[Morbis Meh]

Brin mutters to herself, not only does she have to tolerate riding in said horrid boat she now has to row for it. After what seemed like forever, Brin gazed at the creepy island and wishes they could just bomb it from afar instead of setting foot on the bloody thing. She gets off of the boat and immediately readies her bow, a sinking feeling begins rising in her stomach like some how this won't end well...

Spoiler: Perception

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(1d20+14)[20] just taking a better look at the island...

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Rowing along with the group as they get to the island,

"I don't quite understand why I was put on row duty. Are other Halflings know for their physical prowess and ability to perform laborious tasks?"

Once they get to the disembarking portion,

"Onearm Johan, do you know how many Wisps can be found in a group on average?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Seems like a great place, once we get rid of the monolith. And those thornbushes. Properly manned this tower will give us control over all trade and travel over the lake. Perhaps a few ballistae or catapults on top of that tower.

But that's something for the future, let's first try to do something about the problems here."
Roqoan carefully gets out of the boat, making sure he doesn't get tangled in any of the vines.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Spoiler

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Knowledge - Nature:(1d20+10)[26]
Perception:(1d20+16)[24]
Survival:(1d20+11)[25]

Alistar cautiously follows the others out of the boat, doing his best to analyze their surroundings as he does.