The Banished One IC

[Breitheamh]

The man hugs the boy close for a minute, then holds him out at arm's length and scolds him, "Don't scare me like that, yeah?! I can't letcha come out 'ere with me no more, not after what 'appened to Dirk. Now come on, yer mother's gonna 'ave my 'ead!"

Spoiler: If you approach them

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If you came close enough to see more clearly, you can see that the man has put one arm around Owen's shoulders, and the other is resting his steel crossbow on his own shoulder. Owen is also carrying a crossbow, though it is much smaller and clearly designed for a youth.

Also if you came close enough to see that, the man turns to you and places himself between you and his son, and his grip tightens somewhat on his crossbow. He glares at each of you in turn, lingering carefully over the three newcomers (Egan, Firan, Ynja), and says, "If you got business in town, strangers, I suggest ya make it quick. If ya don't, just keep movin'. I'll go my way, you go yers, yeah?"

Spoiler: If you ask about Dirk

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"I reckon it ain't none o' yer business to be askin' questions round 'ere, strangers."

[jscape2000]

G'ngadin adjusts his pack. He glances towards the group.

Bern, then?

[TheDragonmaster]

Arriving in a hustle to the scene, the paladin makes a sweeping gesture towards Ash and G'ngadin as she addresses the man and his son.

"Have these two... bothered you in any way?"

[Breitheamh]

The man raises an eyebrow at Ynja, trying to gauge her sincerity. " 'Parently not, and I can take care o' myself, thanks," he says, once again putting a protective arm around Owen's shoulders and turning back to Bern.

[TheDragonmaster]

"Wait, I am sorry for offending you!"

Awkwardly taking a few steps to follow the man while trying not to seem too eager or aggressive, Ynja makes a vague gesture, its meaning rather difficult to decipher.

"You mentioned... who is Dirk?"

[Breitheamh]

The man gives the curious paladin a dark look, and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, his son chimes in, " 'E's 'oo we're lookin' fer."

The man gives Owen a quick cuff on the ear.

Spoiler: DC 10 Sense Motive

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It is clear from his facial expression that the man does not want his son talking to you. Stranger danger and what not.

Spoiler: DC 15 Sense Motive

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What's a little trickier to discern is that it seems like he was hoping not to reveal that information at all.

"No, that's 'oo I'M lookin' fer. Yer goin' back 'ome where ya won't kill yer dear mother with worry," he says to his son, clearly frustrated. Then his demeanor changes rather suddenly, and he adds tenderly, "Don't you worry; I'm gettin' close to 'is trail," and smiles reassuringly.

Spoiler: DC 12 Sense Motive

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That was a lie. He is not getting close to picking up Dirk's trail. It wasn't malicious, though; he's just trying to reassure his son.

[jscape2000]

Spoiler: Sense Motive(s)

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Am I right it's two rolls?
(1d20+2)[11]
(1d20+2)[5]

Spoiler: OOC

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Not that it matters with rolls like that!

G'ngadin rubs Mikhail under the chin, and speaks to the wolf in common. If this man had the help of someone like you, he wouldn't be merely close, I think. You would have found this Dirk by now, and I would remove his toes one joint at a time until he revealed why he had tried to escape his prison and told us the location of any treasure he might have hidden.

[TheDragonmaster]

Something dark appears for but a moment in Ynja's expression as she witnesses the man slap his son, and she visibly struggles to restrain herself from doing anything about it, taking a stunted half step towards the pair.

"Hey, don't..."

Hearing the orc beginning to deliberate about torturing fugitives, however, she abruptly stops to look at him, clearly shocked.

Is this some kind of ruse, or does he not understand what is going on here? Or... am I the one that is mistaken?

Either way, not knowing where G'ngadin stands annoys the knight greatly, particularly as she still lacks confidence in her ability to read people.

[Sønderjye]

Noticing Ynja's reaction Firan, now masked, moves up to the side of G'ngadin and reaches up and put his hand on the orc's shoulder and in a calm but certain voice say: " Gentle, friend. This is not Ashtabar and there is no need for that here."

"Why are you looking for him?" he asks in the man, doing his best to appear friendly.

Spoiler: OOC

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Taking 10 in diplomacy to appear trustworthy and as a helpful person for 19.

[Breitheamh]

The man gives a G'ngadin a look of contempt while his son grows visibly more terrified of the half-orc as he speaks.

"Spirits' power, 'e's a lost child, not a fugitive!" the man says disgustedly, then adds "And we need to be gettin' back now, so fare ye well, or don't."

He then turns and begins walking purposefully back to his village.

[ArtichokeDip]

Having followed the boy from the field, Egan saw him meet his father. So, too, did he see the ensuing conversation between them and his companions.

When the boy and his father have turned to go, he at last approaches the group.

"Frightening these good folk doesn't seem to be doing us much good. We should just be on our way and travel to Bern as we intended. If fates decides for us to meet them again, then we will."

[Yabex]

Ash was a little disappointed at the lack of an exciting conclusion to her chase. She slung her crossbow back over her shoulder and moved closer to the group.

"I agree Egan. Maybe someone in town can help shed light on our situation."

[jscape2000]

Picking up that he might have said the wrong thing, G'ngadin grunts and spits thoughtfully into the dirt.

You're right Firan. It's definitely not Ashtabar. In the slave mines it was easy to tell which way to head and who to stick a sword into. He looks after the retreating man and his son.

You know I wouldn't have tortured anybody. I just figured I could goad him into talking a little more. The half-orc is not one for apologies. Eh. If he'd really wanted our help he could have demanded it like a chief, or begged for it like a priest.

G'ngadin gives a shrug, striving to appear nonchalant. Seems I overstepped by trying to intimidate that farmer. Maybe a little soldierly camaraderie will relax everyone.

He crosses to Egan and claps the man on the shoulder. You're right; frightening them did us no good. He didn't even thank me for not cutting him down where he stood. The way his hands shook, I could have fired an arrow up his nose before his finger got close to the trigger of that crossbow. Yes. That should help.

Before setting off, G'ngadin takes stock of the little clearing.

Spoiler: Nervous

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Am I sure that those two are what set Mikhail baying? The faked bird call seems like an overly elaborate way for a boy to signal his father. Something about this exchange has G'ngadin uneasy.

Spoiler: Rolls

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How is Mikhail behaving? Handle Animal (or is this more perception?)[roll0]
Check for tracks. Survival [roll1]

[Sønderjye]

"Fare well to you as well" Firan responds.

Looking at G'gnadin he suppresses a sigh. He had almost forgotten how difficult the big half-orc was at social conventions. "With any luck we won't need to put a sword into anyone" Firan says.

"I know" He says, also knowing that this is as much of an apology that he'll ever get out of G'ngadin: "And your strategy had also worked if this Dirk had wronged the farmer in a very serious way, alas that was not the case."

He looks at the wolf. "Do you think that Mikhail can track Dirk? With any luck he passed through here. I have a feeling it could be important to hear his version."

[jscape2000]

G'ngadin nods at Firan's suggestion. Perhaps. If it was Dirk that Mikhail spotted before then yes.

No one come any farther. Give me a few minutes to look around.

Spoiler: Tracking

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I rolled an 18 earlier on my track, but if everyone's ok with giving G'ngadin a little time (and Breitheamh's ok with it), I'd like to take 20.

34=20+12 (rank & synergy)+2 (support from Mikhail).

Survival support roll for Mikahil (1d20+1)[19]

[Breitheamh]

Ynja takes a few steps after the man and his son, holding out her hand and opening her mouth as if she hopes to further pursue their discourse, but he does not seem to be interested, and she figures that if they're all going to Bern, she may be able to find him again anyway. She stands as G'ngadin suggests without disturbing any possible trails and ponders her indecisiveness.

G'ngadin tries to get a read on Mikhail's attitude, suspecting that the wolf's instincts may sense something else at work here, but by all accounts, the faithful companion appears to be satisfied that he has completed his mission to lead G'ngadin to what he found in the first place.

Cautious, the half-orc puts his tracking skills to use, and is aided by Mikhail's keen nose, carefully and methodically trying to pick up a trail for Dirk. He quickly finds the obvious signs of Owen running away from the clearing, then back toward it, and the trail where Owen's father had torn through the grass in a frantic search for his son, which all seem to indicate that Owen was what had got Mikhail baying. He finds the less obvious, but still unsurprising, things as well, such as a few slight imperfections in the land that indicate old nests of burrowing animals or the existence of an ant colony nearby. However, despite his thorough and detailed search, he cannot find any indication that anyone other than Owen, his father, and himself and his new companions had been through here and left a trail.

[jscape2000]

Firan, whichever way this Dirk went, he didn't pass through here.

I see this spot where Owen first spotted Mikhail. G'ngadin crosses to stand at the point and faces the group.
He ran off that way. G'ngadin gestures over his shoulder into the field behind him. Through the next sequence he guides everyone's gaze across the appropriate spots.
We arrived here. And then Owen's father came charging in that way, then Owen came in. No one else has been into or out of this clearing recently.

I say we head to Bern. But I'll take point and keep an eye out for signs of anyone else.

Spoiler: Roll

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Survival (1d20+12)[20]

[ArtichokeDip]

Egan nods after hearing out G'ngadin. "Bern, then, may hold the answers we seek. If nothing else, learning who Owen and Dirk are from the villagers would be an asset, rather than dealing with them blind."

Looking up at the sky, he notes the progress of the sun across it. "We don't know if our charge is here or not either. We might be a while and finding a place to settle is best done during the day."

[Sønderjye]

"Thank you", Firan warmly responds to the orc.

He is ready to go to Bern.

[Breitheamh]

The five of you resume walking, figuring that Bern is the only logical course, especially if the vision led you all here for a reason. As you go about your travel, you notice the grass slowly becoming shorter, more tame. Eventually you come across cropland. Here is corn, here potatoes, here wheat, and the small blocks are separated by worn paths.

After a little more than an hour, you find yourselves on the outskirts of a village, rather oddly placed in the exact middle of nowhere. No roads lead to or from the cluster of dwellings and small buildings, and everything is quiet, despite it being only a little past mid morning. Several people go about their business, a smith, a carpenter, though from the look of it, most residents of the town are probably in the fields.

[TheDragonmaster]

Walking in silence alongside the others, Ynja goes over the exchange with the two villagers in her head again to determine if she missed some subtext, some social tell that the orc would have picked up on, but finds nothing but the growing feeling of obligation to find this runaway child somehow.

A simple misunderstanding then, as he said... which means this G'ngadin may not be as vicious as he appears to be, which means I may have misunderstood him as well.

A smirk creeps onto the paladin's lips as she looks to the watchful object of her musings.

Meaning well but turning people away by saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment? We may not be as different as I first imagined...

At either rate, she would need his help to find the runaway, she had no reason to doubt the orc was as good at finding people as he seemed. With that in mind, Ynja finally works up the confidence to ask for proper introductions as the group comes upon a field of crops. Turning the the others and adopting what she hopes seems like a friendly pose, the paladin slows to a stop as she speaks.

"I was confused earlier, and too, perhaps, intimidated by our situation, but I never really gave you a chance to introduce yourselves. While I have overheard your names and can see that you know each other, I do not know any of you yet. Where are you all from, and where did you meet?"

[jscape2000]

G'ngadin addresses Ynja. Ashlynn and I have explored several ruins together. During one such expedition, we met Firan. There was... trouble... with slavers in a salt mine called Ashtabar. The half-orc grins at Ash. Somewhere, there is a little elven girl who considers Ashlynn here the greatest warrior to have ever walked the earth.

He shrugs. My life is not so interesting. I was raised an orphan among the orcs of the Blood Moon tribe. I have made myself a warrior and a hunter, and I have seen much of the world. I would like to see more before the worms have my bones.

As the group reaches Bern, G'ngadin consciously hangs back, aware of his fopaux earlier. I'd best stay close to Mikhail. He keeps one hand on the wolf to keep the wild creature calm, and lets others speak to the townsfolk.

[Breitheamh]

The quietness of the little town slowly fades as a chorus of small sounds come into focus. There is the ring of a hammer on an anvil from the Smith, the unmistakable *WHACK* of hammering nails into wood from the carpenter. There is the lowing of cattle from a ranch to the north of the village, where you can see a man on horseback trying to wrangle a calf. A few people chat as they walk together, carrying large jars sloshing with water, and then they step out of the way to allow a flock of bleating sheep to pass through the center of the village on their way to greener pastures.

The sleepy little village seems to come alive before your very eyes within a few minutes.

Spoiler: OOC note

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You guys can still respond to Ynja and play as if you had not quite reached the village yet, I just wanted to have something for you guys to react to when the time comes.

[Sønderjye]

Where did he come from? Firan's smile is consealed behind the mask. He honestly didn't remember. Not that he could say that of course, that would be too conspicuous. Normal people knew where they came from. He dazes off for a moment just remembering life before answering: "Where I come from doesn't matter, I just hope that I can do some good in this life." A trace of sadness can found for those who listen carefully.

---

Reaching the village Firan straightens his back and looks around with a watchful gaze. "So.." he starts, still suspecious of the creature that brought them here, "Where do you suspect that we can find whatever you think we're supposed to do here?"

[Yabex]

Ashlynn was surprised at Ynja's change of demeanor. The previously cautious woman seemed genuine in her efforts to make up for the awkward introduction made earlier. This made the Half-Elf smile. G'ngadin was the first to respond to Ynja, and he made Ash roll her eyes dramatically when he mentioned the little girl from Ashtabar. He just HAD to bring that up....

Ash spoke as she stepped forward, making a one sided grin at G'ngadin. "We both know that was just a fluke. If it wasn't for your embellishment, I'm sure you would have been her hero." She pats her crossbow and looks to Ynja. "I missed most of my shots that day, but one lucky ricochet, a few hours, and a half dozen tankards of ale later, all the slaves were free and G'ngadin was regaling the children with the story of how we liberated them from the mines." Ash couldn't help but laugh for a moment as she recalled the situation.

Joking aside, Ash extended her hand toward Ynja, mimicking the gesture she had attempted earlier. "My name is Ashlynn Clock. I am a scholar with the University of Kinith and amateur explorer. G'ngadin already explained how we met, but I hadn't seen them in at least a month before we all ended up under that tree. It's nice to officially meet you Ynja!"

[ArtichokeDip]

Wait... Kinith, she said?

"I am Egan, a travelling scholar and not much more. I'm sorry to say that I don't have the wealth of experience and adventure that some of these others have, but I do have my uses."

Turning to Ashlynn, he continues, "And we may have talked about more esoteric matters in the past, Ashlynn. University of Kinith, you said? I may have used their library once or twice."

Studying the village around them now, something about it doesn't sit right with Egan. Why here and why now? Did something happen, or is it yet to come? Frowning, he talks softly to himself, "A crossroads to nowhere always has another reason to exist."

[jscape2000]

G'ngadin listens to the other introductions. This reassures them? He hears the whimper in Firan's voice, like Mikhail with a thorn in his paw that he refuses help removing.

He scans the village slowly. What am I missing? Find the thing that is out of place and you find the trail. That's what old Vrang said so often. What is the broken twig in this village? Where is the bent blade of grass?

Spoiler: Perception

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(1d20+10)[15]

[Breitheamh]

G'ngadin passes his keen eyes over the scene before him. Nothing seems particularly out of the ordinary, though that could just be that your cultural differences make it difficult to spot irregularities. However, there is someone looking at you it seems. Across the town, on the front porch of a large building, a man sits with a fiddle in his lap, watching you curiously while the rest of the town focuses on its business.

[jscape2000]

As surreptitiously as he can, G'ngadin elbows Firan in the ribs and nods to the fiddle player.

Spoiler: Any party member looking at G'ngadin

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He locks eyes with you, and raising his eyebrows, tries to guide your gaze over to the man on the porch.

[ArtichokeDip]

Spoiler: Perception Check

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The roll I forgot to add to my previous post, which I can't now add.

Perception Check - (1d20+13)[21]