Megadungeon D (IC) II

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius walks up to the buffalo and starts snorting and grunting at it.

Spoiler: DM

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Use speak with animal as a spell-like ability from animal domain.

I'm approaching slowly, and staying about 20 feet away.

"You Buffalo. Hello! Good grass today. Where is druid? Seye Ipivi?"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Spying the cemetery, Jeffery hesitates slightly, then without a word, veers toward it. Looking amongst the graves, he sees that none have been recently disturbed. Still, unsure of exactly where it happened, or where she's buried, he begins to sing, softly.

Spoiler: Perform(Sing)

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Perform - (d20+7)[20]

Spoiler: The Words Sung

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"If I was whole
I'd turn right now
I'd forget it and just walk away
Cause I've been told
That I'm dragging it out
But I've been dying just to see your face
And all I wanted was to say "goodbye"
Into the fortress and you're stuck behind
And in the silence now I realize
That after all I built the wall

We were one in the same
Running like moths to the flame
You'd hang on every word I'd say
But now they only ricochet
You were falling away
You left me with a bittersweet taste
But when I send my heart your way
It bounces off the walls you made
Ricochet"

After the last note vanishes into the breeze, Jeffery solemnly turns and follows after everyone else, silently.

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

A small child lurking near the graveyard claps for Jeffery's performance when it concludes. There aren't very many other people around to take notice.


In the park, the bison looks slightly taken aback by Julius addressing him in his own language, but responds in buffaloey kind,

Spoiler: Buffalo

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"Good morrow, new friend! The grass is certainly scrumptious here, it's true. This park is perfectly sized, we can make a slow circuit and by the time I have eaten my way around it, the grass where I started has become tall enough again to eat anew. Oh, you seek my druid? I do so enjoy when people seek my druid, they always make friends with me first because they never realize he's the tree. Oh, yes, he enjoys spending time as a tree."

The bison goes over to the nearby tree and gently butts it with his head, and a branch reaches down to scritch the bison behind the ears, and then there's an elven face in the bark of the tree looking at the party, and then the tree completely transforms into a google-eyed green-haired elf.


(My apologies for my subpar Photoshop skills.)

The elf cackles, "You seek the Mad Druid Seye Ipivi? You've come to the right place!"

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius barks at Melikki waits for his response before addressing the druid.

"Mad Druid Seye Ipivi. We have come to collect the bounty for the anarchic water. 7 vials for 700 gold." Julius nods towards Meera who has the vials.

Spoiler: Do you speak Dog?

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Don't pee on the druid when he turns back into a tree.

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

Melikki sheepishly puts his leg down when Melikki barks at him, and notices that the tree has transformed into a druid.

Spoiler: Dog

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"Sorry."

The Mad Druid cackles, "Most splendid!" and produces from a pocket of his robe seven crumpled 100-gp banknotes from the Blue Dragon Bank (accepted anywhere within Gus! good as coins!). He exchanges the banknotes for the flasks of anarchic water, which he stuffs in a different pocket.

Once the party has repaid Meera and distributed the change, it comes out to a profit of 532gp, or 106gp 4sp for each member. Easy profit!

Also each party member gains 70xp.

Then the Mad Druid gazes at the party while patting Melikki, "Is there anything else?"

[Jopustopin]

Julius smiles politely, there was always something stressful about this part. Sometimes the collection of a bounty didn't go so smoothly.
"Thank you good sir. Any reports of green dragons, or any dragons for that matter, nearby?"

[Malimar]

Butterfly Ward

The Mad Druid contemplates Julius's question, then shakes his head, "No greens that I've heard of! A little bird told me she saw a great golden one to the north of the city, but that's all."

[Jeriah]

Meera

After collecting her portion of the money, Meera stands idly by, wondering what to do next.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander counted his share and then turned to Julius.

"Let's take care of the robes next," he said, nudging him slightly.

[BaratheonFury]

Vasillia

Vasillia pockets her share of the druid's gold "We should probably check in with Whaling Guild too and see what our options are for negotiating with the Tritons."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius takes the bank notes and hands them to Meera. Then turning back to the Druid, Julius says, "When we get the rest of your list we'll be back."

Julius then gives a "let's go nod" to the group and leads them to the Blue Dragon Bank and cashed out the bank notes. Julius pulled out his ledger and jotted down some notes about the split to make sure Meera got refunded first. As the group split the coins Julius listens to Xander and Vasillia and voices his agreement.

"Let's talk to the Whaling guild, we don't even know when they are setting sail yet. Then, if I guess their problem correctly, we can buy the outfits." Julius says.

Spoiler: OOC

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We needed to go to the bank first to split count out your share so I just assumed that's where we went.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

On the way, Xander tried to recall anything he'd heard about the Whaling guild and their recent issues with the tritons which wasn't included on the cork board notice, and relayed anything useful to the party.

Spoiler

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knowledge local: (1d20+7)[8]

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery just followings the crowd, somewhat amazed at how simple that was.

"One almost has to wonder why no one else took that before us. A bit of walking for a 500 gold profit..." Jeffery says, mostly to himself. He glances behind them to make sure nothing is following, as the ease of which they made this profit is simply...unsettling...

[Malimar]

Endeesy

It's possible that this bounty hadn't previously been completed through a combination of a.) people not being able to afford the anarchic waters in the first place and b.) people not realizing it was such easy profit.


Xander knows very little about the Whaling Guild other than what can be gathered from the listed bounty! Presumably they hunt whales, presumably from ships.

He does know that Steve's Haunt, the town from which the Whaling Guild operates, is a ways up the coast. Ships sail between Endeesy and Steve's Haunt fairly regularly, it'd only be a few GP to take a ship there, it'd take about a day of sailing. The route to Steve's Haunt can also be walked, but that would take longer and probably be more dangerous.


Everyone can buy outfits and accoutrements of devotees (but not clergy) of Hafgufa for 1gp each, they're not difficult to find.


Walking through the city to the bank and the clothing store and so on, the party passes through a variety of minor religious festivals celebrating the change of seasons from summer to autumn. Many dancing, much snacks, so festival.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Walking along, still somewhat paranoid about the easy profit, Jeffery enjoys seeing the festivities, and in a different time, would have been hard pressed not to join in on the fun, but that was a different time, a different Jeffery.

Thinking on to their next supposed task, Jeffery asks the obvious question.

"Does anyone even know how to speak Triton, or whatever their language is? I'm assuming that the only reason they're asking for help in this matter is because either they're all horrible at negotiations, or they have no one that can speak the language." Jeffery muses.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Every cleric of Hafgufa learns to speak Triton as their first language." Julius jokes with a big grin. "I don't know why ya'll think they don't know common either. The flier said the Tritons were unwilling to negotiate with the Whaler's Guild, so I doubt it's as simple as they don't speak a common language. But we won't know until we figure out what the situation is. Let's go find out when the next ship is leaving for Steve's Haunt and negotiate passage. If it's not tonight, I wouldn't mind celebrating our first successful bounty" Julius says and begins leading them to the docks.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Agreed," Xander said, following Julius.

On the way, he bought a street snack to munch on.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"No, you're probably right." Jeffery says, responding to Julius...

"The tritons are probably angry that the Whalers are killing their friends..." Jeffery says with a smirk on his face, half joking, but also wondering how much truth is in the words he just spoke...

[Malimar]

Endeesy

Xander gets some delicious fried dough at the festival! (The price for th festival food is a matter of like 1 copper, and thus not super-important to me that it be tracked.)


The party heads to the Black Docks where most of the long-distance shipping goes on; the Murderfish Docks are mostly fishing vessels and the Slime Docks are mostly ships heading up the River Easy) and seeks passage to Steve's Haunt!

They soon find a ship heading out that way soon, and they can book passage for 4gp each. (This must be paid for any mules or whatnot the party wants to bring along; stabling mules and whatnot in Endeesy is 5sp per day; the party will be gone at least 2 days, as travel by ship between Endeesy and Steve's Haunt takes about 24 hours.)

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander pays for passage and robes, and makes sure he's not late. He doesn't have any additional business in endeesy, so he takes the opportunity to chat with his new party mates.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"A reasonable price. Do you need my services in performing any religious services during our travels? Perhaps, the sacrifice?" Julius inquires in good faith nudging his holy symbol slightly.

Julius will suggest that whoever doesn't have anything to do get some food and ale at the festival.

[Malimar]

Endeesy

The captain is a bit enthusiastic about having a priest of Hafgufa aboard. He agrees that it would be most fortuitous for Julius to assist with the sacrifice! He was planning on sacrificing a chicken, which Hafgufa generally takes as a perfectly reasonable sacrifice for a voyage of this length. (The ship is going on past Steve's Haunt, it's just dropping the party off there; it would be a bit of an excessive sacrifice for just a one-day trip.)


The party grabs some grub at the festival, and then returns to the docks in time to catch the ship's departure after a couple hours!

Julius performs a perfectly adequate sacrifice of the chicken to Hafgufa, bleeding it out into the water and then tossing it overboard for the fishes while saying the proper words in the proper order!

And then... the ship sets sail, bound for Steve's Haunt!


On Board the Unity Panda

The ship encounters not very much of interest on its way to Steve's Haunt! The price of passage includes supper and breakfast in the galley, so no need to worry about that.

The party gets to know one another better on board ship as the day passes into night, then the night passes into day!

On the new day, the Blue Wanderer of Sadness Saquel (representing failure and rejection) is in the Hawk (representing nature of land and air) -- not entirely auspicious for the task ahead, but better than Saquel in the Leviathan would be.

After about 24 hours of travel, the party disembarks at Steve's Haunt, a small whaling town of about 4900 people!

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander stepped off the ship and glanced about.

"Well Juilius, I guess this is your show, do you want to head straight to the guild or look around a bit first?" he asked.

[Jeriah]

Meera

Meera refuses to purchase robes of a follower of Hafgufa. Having no faith in that particular deity herself, she has no desire to offend her own god or Hafgufa by masquerading as a follower. She does, however, accompany the others on the voyage.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius seemed to come to life on the voyage spending time gossiping with the sailors and singing praise to Hafgufa for the good weather and clear skies. While it was clear he noticed Meera's lack of Hafgufa outfits it didn't look like he cared that much.

When they arrived Julius blessed the ship again and thanked the Captain for his hospitality before departing.

"Look around.... That's a good idea Xander. It might be wise to find out what word on the street is on this situation before assuming that the Whaling Guild is going to tell us the truth. Why don't we see if we can find someone who knows the true story before hearing just one side and blindly swimming into a meeting with the Tritons."

Julius is going to look for a bar near the docks after hearing everyone's input.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Julius would have tried to gather information on the boat ride over about any issues between the whaling guild and Tritons (1d20+1)[19]

In Steve's Haunt he'll assist someone's gather information check (preferably Jefferys) (1d20+1)[19]

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery stays rather quiet on the voyage, seemingly lost in thought at some points, and others just listening to the others. Much like Meera, Jeffery doesn't buy a robe of Hafgufa, however, his reasoning is that he knows nothing about the deity and is afraid he would jeopardize the mission by pretending to be a priest. His feelings were validated when the crew had Julius sacrifice a chicken to Hafgufa.

Once at Steve's Haunt, Jeffery agrees with Julius. "Knowing what we're getting into before hand I definitely the smart move."

Once they find a bar, Jeffery starts asking around, attempting to find out exactly what's going on with the Whaling Guild and the Tritons.

Spoiler: Gather Info

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(d20+7)[16]

Spoiler: OOC

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So it's 5gp for the voyage, and 5sp a day for keeping my mule in Endeesy? And we're on day 2, so that's 6gp thus far for this voyage? Just trying to keep up with the book keeping

[Malimar]

Aboard the Unity Panda

On the boat ride to Steve's Haunt, Julius gathered information about the whalers and the tritons! None of these sailors are whalers, so they don't know all that much, but they know the tritons are usually friendly to ships passing through their territory, so something must have got them all riled up to make them persecute the whalers.


Steve's Haunt

In town, Jeffery and Julius spend a few hours canvassing the townsfolk. Around these parts, the Whaling Guild seems to be the dominant trade -- the local rocky, sandy soil isn't great for farming or sheepkeeping, though the local waters do have almost as many fishes as the waters further south where fishing is a major industry, such as in Winkle Village, so fishing is not a small industry here.

Everyone is talking about the dispute between the tritons and the Whaling Guild. Apparently the tritons have threatened to attack the town if the dispute isn't settled soon. Greg Tyrannosaur, the local Viscount, has petitioned the Crown to send the army or navy or marines to help, but the Crown apparently doesn't have any troops to spare. The local guards are out in force, but they seem poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, and woefully underprepared for an invasion.

Nobody, however, seems to know exactly what the tritons' beef with the Whaling Guild is.

Spoiler: OOC

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So it's 5gp for the voyage, and 5sp a day for keeping my mule in Endeesy? And we're on day 2, so that's 6gp thus far for this voyage? Just trying to keep up with the book keeping

Yes.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

After talking to people for a bit, Julius turns to Jeffrey, "It seems suspicious that no one seems to know why the Tritons are about to declare war other than they have a dispute with the Whaler's guild..."

Julius lets his sentence hang there for a bit while looking down at his robes, he then picks up his holy symbol hanging around his neck and looks at it for several seconds.

"I wonder if Sir Biggleworth is even smart enough to know what real mermaid flesh looks like... Julius says suddenly to Jeffrey with a smile as he lets his holy symbol drop. "I'm going to go buy some local garb, then we'll go talk to the whalers. When we talk to them tell everyone should just wear their normal clothing for now. We'll introduce ourselves as professional mediators to the whalers." Julius continues and begins to look for a seamstress.

After finding some normal looking clothing, Julius will fold his clerical robes and holy symbol up carefully into his backpack and change into normal clothing. He has his chain shirt in his backpack as well with his spear across his back and a dagger at his hip. His sling is hanging on the side of his backpack.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Works for me," Xander said, folding the robes and putting them in his pack.

"Let's see what we can find out from the whaling guild," he added.

[Jeriah]

Meera

"I know women who are less obsessed with new clothes than you, Julius," states Meera flatly as she pinches the bridge of her nose to relieve a bit of stress.

Taking a breath, she looks up and says, "So, the plan is to gain their trust by lying to them? I can't foresee that going wrong at all..."