Ambulating Artifacts [IC]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Well, here's the IC thread. First thing tomorrow, I'll make the first post. Or maybe later today. Whichever time allows.


Alright. Well, I'm making the first post now. You and your party have all banded together, and met up at the human city of Dappled Fields. The Elf has just met up with you, and has just recently told you why you were summoned, and told you that the King of the Elves wishes an audience with you.

You are standing outside the city, which is surrounded by a wooden paliside with a few bored looking sentries atop platforms. The gates stand open before you, and the hustle and bustle of a city can be clearly seen, heard, and unfortunately, as you are at the gate that opens into the poor center, smelt. The Poor center is a square center surrounded by shoddily constructed and unplanned-looking wooden houses. A fountain stands in the centre, but it is not flowing and filled with grime, probably through many years of the more hygeine conscious peasants bathing. In front of the fountain is what looks like a badly constructed wooden stall. There is some writing on the top, but it is too hard to read from this distance. Next to you, you see another group of what obviously are adventurers. One is a male human, dressed in the garb of a monk, one is a female Elf, wearing an extremely revealing robe, there is another female Elf, but this one is in the heavy armour and robe of a Cleric, and one is an extremely feminine looking Halfling. All of them are bristling with weapons in the manner that adventurers usually are and as is typical among adventurers, carrying it off rather strikingly.

((Your move. You can interact with the other party of adventurers, investigate the strange stall, just talk, or ignore the city, and head straight on out to the Elven city of T'nik, with appropriate directions from the Elf of course.))

[Grrth]

((DM Question: Do I know where I'm going, or do I need to ask for directions?))

Kit

The previous day ...

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The elf in heavy armor tromped up to the gate, weary to his bones. While normally elves are graceful in all they do, this one seems to be having a harder time than most. He is young, even younger than elves normally look, and his thick, black hair is plastered to his skull, his helmet banging against his thigh with every step. The symbol for the moon is carved upon his shield, and dangles again from a cord around his neck. He stares up at the city gates, with wonder in his eyes, and a smile creeping over his face.

He is here! Dappled Fields! Here he will be meeting the others of the summons. Excitement lifts his step and he almost bounces as he passes beneath the gate. As he does so, he suddenly feels small. This huge city is a city of giants! Everywhere he looks, buildings and people are much larger than he's used to, and for an elf he's tall! His mouth drops open in amazement and he spins around in a small circle to stare in wonder.

"'Ey there! Wotcher doing!" shouts a man from his cart.

The elf jumps back to avoid the horse's hooves, as startled by the crowds as the size of the city itself. There are humans, of course, this is their city, but he's never seen so many in one place before. And gnomes, he knows what gnomes are, there are even some at home, in Elven lands. The other, smaller creatures he doesn't understand at first, they look like elven children, with their jewel-like eyes and pointed ears, but then he know: they're halflings! Mayhap cousins of the taller elves, he runs up to the first one he sees.

"Greetings, cousin!" he says, grinning broadly. His name runs off his tongue like music: "I'm Ke'Kitathas El'Tulari, greetings!"

The halfling sniffs, "Damn foreigners!" and turns abruptly away.

The brief disappointment of that encounter is pushed aside just as surely and inexorably as the crowd presses upon the elf, carrying him down market streets, past shops and inns and alehouses, food stalls and stables, and places of worship. There's so many! Every god in the pantheon must have a church on this street! There's even a small shrine to Corellon Larethian and he manages to worm his way through the crowd and say a few prayers of thanks.

"Pray, Lord," he beseeches, "give me a sign that I might recognize they I have been set forth to seek."

He sets off once more and before long is hopeless and totally lost. All the buildings look the same, one after the other, until he suddenly realizes he's turned a corner and there are no more crowds. Here only the grim visages of once-great houses remain, their inhabitants as shabby and unkempt as the buildings, their faces and clothes streaked with grime and dust, stinking of the desperation caused by the day-to-day scrapings of a society that no longer cares. The elf realizes he's being stared at by non-friendly eyes, he clutches his holy symbol and hastily backtracks. His armor and weapons may have made him a tougher target than normal and so far repelled any attackers, but he was in no hurry to go deeper in that warren.

He turns around hastily and almost runs over a street urchin. His little face is almost indistinguishable beneath the dirt and grime and his clothes are almost the same color as his skin. He is bare of feet and staring up at the elf with the largest, most pitiful eyes he's ever seen.

"Pardin me, gov'ner," pipes the boy, holding out his hand, "Have you a mite to spare?"

The elf stares at him in some confusion for a moment. He doesn't want to shake that hand, and it doesn't really look like that's what's being offered, so what does the child want?

"Um, yes?"

The boy grins expectantly. That smile fades as the elf keeps staring. Impatience wars with amusement until the boy can no longer hold it in.

The elf rocks back on his heels as the child laughs at him, full, body-shaking laughter that is so big it doesn't seem possible to have come from this small child.

"Are ye lost?" asks the boy, noting with interest the shiny new gear, newly christened with travel stains.

The elf nods in relief. "Yes. Can you help me? I'm looking for someone."

"Who?"

He recits from memory: "Cristobal Hawk, Tamly Loarmack, Erunak Keftian, and Skjaldbakka."

"Skjaldbakka!" exclaims the boy. "I know who he is!"

"You do?"

"Sure! His father owns the alchemy shop on Temple Street."

"Will you take me there?"

"It'll cost you."

"Cost?" The elf stares at him quizzically for a minute, and then his face lights up. "Oh! You want me to pay you!" He fumbles in his pouch and pulls out a silver coin. "Here."

The boy shakes his head quickly, looking around, and presses the coin back in the elf's hand. "What, you mad or somethin'?" he demands. "You canna be flashin' that stuff 'round here! And who's gonna believe I earn that fair and square?" He looks up at the elf's puzzled face and sighs. Just his luck to get an idiot to scam and he couldn't scam them! "Jus' give me a copper."

"Oh. Very well." The elf hands him a different coin, watching with interest as it magically seems to vanish. "My name is Ke'Kitathas El'Tulari. What's yours?"

"Eh?" says the boy. "What was that?"

The elf sighs. "Just call me Kit."

The boy brightens. "I'm Jack. Come on, Temple Street is this way."

With Jack at his side, Kit is soon standing in front of a large alchemy store, nestled right between two temples. He must have passed it before, but he doesn't remember seeing it. "Thank you!" he tells the boy, but Jack is already gone. Kit walks inside. The interior of the shop is as proportionate to humans as the rest of the city and again Kit feels very much like a child again, with everything so large and out of his reach. He goes to the counter, to speak to the gnome sitting upon a stool and peering at small gems beneath some kind of a device fastened to his eyes.

"Excuse me," he says, "but do you know where I might find Skjaldbakka?"

"Found him," grunts the gnome.

"Oh! Oh," Kit repeats himself, fumbling with his bags. "Then this is for you." He sets a roll of parchment, sealed with wax and the imprint of the Royal Elven house.

The gnome sets down his gems and lifts his eyepiece to stare at the letter, and then to look over the elf who was still staring back at him curiously. He did not appear to be the usual sort of messenger.

"If you're coming," says the elf, "I'll meet you by the city gates tomorrow morning."

When the gnome continues to look at him, Kit backs up uncertainly and takes his leave. Still trying to figure out what he did wrong, he's taken completely by surprise when four little street urchins surround him as soon as he steps outside onto the street. Jack is there, however, and manages to contain the crowd.

"We know where your other friends are!" says Jack proudly.

Kit is dazed by this sudden turn of events. He hands three more copper pieces to Jack, one for each of his remaining letters. "Take me."

With Jack's help, soon all of the letters are delivered. One to the Wizard Guild for a human named Cristobal, one to a small inn, to the halfling bard there named Tamly (Kit almost doesn't want to leave, he wants to stay and listen to the music), and two are found towards the entrance of the city, at the job boards and the shops and stalls nearby.

Mission complete, Jack takes him back to Temple Street, back to the shrine of Correlon so that Kit doesn't get further lost in the sudden dark of evening. He thanks the child profusely and hands him another copper before going inside and giving his thanks to his deity. The lone caretaker of the shrine takes pity on the elf and lets him sleep there on the floor, and when morning comes, Kit's the first one to the city gates, standing by the noxious fountain and wondering if he has time to go on one of those "Site Seeing Toors" being advertised nearby.

Today:

Kit looks over at the most conspicuous and ill-assorted group as he's ever seen. And yet, two are elves and curiosity is practically flowing out his ears. Should he go talk to them? They're adventurers, right? Real adventurers! They probably have lots of great stories to tell! And one's a cleric, too!

He starts in that direction several times, but then, just as quickly retreats, looking up at the sky as the sun starts to rise and inch slowly over the horizon. He needed to wait and see if any of the invites would be accepted. Of course, he wasn't sure if he knew how to make it back to T'nik from here and he so needed an excuse to go talk to those two, beautiful female elves over there! What to do, what to do?

[Glawackus]

((Here goes nothing, I guess.))

Erunak

Yesterday

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Erunak cracked a knuckle absent-mindedly, looking up at the gates of Dappled Fields, and sighed. He rested his hand for a moment on the end of his mace, running his hand over the grip, shrugged, and moved into the city.

He looked around, spotting "Turkey" Hasch and his outfit. They were good mercenaries, he thought, even if Turkey was known for having light fingers when it came to visiting the employer's command post. He was taken aback for a moment to see Yeirt with them, and then got ahold of himself and nodded. Yeirt, he thought...Cuthbert's cudgel, he thought, haven't seen him since the war. He looks old...and he was the youngest of us, too.

He moved past them, and turned down Brass Street towards the inn. He picked his way over two intoxicated dwarves in the doorway, horizontal and still trying to roar their way through another of their drinking songs. The innkeeper glanced over at him as he entered.
"Rooms?"
"Take number four upstairs if you want it," the man commented, more concentrated on the glass he was attempting to dry with his dirty apron. "It'll be two pieces a night."
"I won't be staying long," Erunak replied, the floor creaking under his boots.

The night passed without event, and Erunak arose in the morning, pulling his armor back on as he did every day. He walked back out through the inn's front room, almost tripping over one of the drunkards sprawled on the floor. He made his way over to Temple Street, and stopped in at Cuthbert's temple there. He said a brief prayer, and left as the priest arose to greet him.

Erunak decided to go see what the job boards were like--he'd received the summons, of course, but he liked to know what else was going on. Not very interesting, except for some unlucky noble who had some kind of creature running amok in his manor.
A hand tugged at his cape. One hand going towards his mace without even thinking, he turned.
A street urchin whose smell stood out even above the...aromas...of the city held out a letter. "For you, Mister," he said, "from that weird elf."
Erunak glanced up in time to see a vaguely elven form in armor moving away through the crowd. He looked back down at the boy, who was still watchign the elf.
"He looked at me like I was some kinda boot-shiner when I asked him for a mite," the boy commented.
"Thanks," Erunak muttered, snapping open the seal and reading through the contents. He sighed, knowing that the gate the elf was talking about was on the other side of the market, which would be full of people by now. "Can't ever meet somewhere convenient," he grumbled under his breath, jamming the letter into a pocket.

Today:

Erunak picks his way through the crowd, gently but firmly pushing aside a merchant jibbering in some language about the chicken in his hands and spots two elves, one of which appears to be the armored one who sent the note, and one of which appears to be...well, barely clothed, for one thing.

He starts moving towards them, ignoring the tall elf who seems to be waiting for someone else and looking around at the scenery. Freaking tourists, he thinks.

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Insert nifty idea noise here))

((Well, if you have any questions, please colour them red, so I can see them easily))

((Also, great! I see I chose well with my players so far. You seem to be extremely good at thinking up a storyline. Also, if you are going down a street or something else that you don't know the name too, then don't worry. Make up a name, and unless it's written into the plot then I'll accept it. Also, the Poor centre has an exit to the north that leads to the government centre [Government Building and Upper Class Housing], an exit to the west that leads to the residential centre [Middle Class Housing], and an exit to the west that leads to the merchant centre [Merchants, and the only good Inn in Town, The Flying Horse]. There are a few merchant shops selling essentials to the poor-folk that would be useless to you in the poor centre and also one Inn for poor travellers that Erunak [Glawackus] came out of. Also, if you don't mention your name within a post, put [Character Name] in whatever colour you use to make your speech stand out at the top. Kit's blue, and Erunak is Olive (I think). First one to shotgun their colours gets to use them.))

[Calamity]

Tamly

Yesterday

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Tamly stood before the gates which towered over him. "Humans build everything so tall, even when they walk under gates like this they look small" Mumbling mainly because he was reminding himself of the first time he came to Dapple Fields, it was the first human town he'd ever been to, and he was overwhelmed by the size of it all. He was used to the size now he had travelled around human lands. Thankfully, he knew his way around this time, and didn't spend 5 hours trying to find the Inn.

"Say, you look familiar, yet you're not a regular here, where do I know you from?" The Innkeeper said as he watched Tamly enter.
"You have a good memory, I was in here 5 years ago"
"That long? I can't imagine why I would remember you from 5 years ago."
"Would it have something to do with a certain artifact?" Tamly whispered. A cold face appeared on the innkeeper.
"Glad to see you've gone to whispering that rather than shouting it out loud and scaring away the customers, Tamly."
"Listen, I'm sorry but I'm not not here to talk, I have to leave in the morning, how much are rooms again?"
"Never mind about the money, I don't have a bard tonight as he's ill, the customers are complaining about the lack of atmosphere.
"So you want me to play?"
"Yes, if you will, then you can stay the night."

So Tamly got his mandolin ready and performed for the rest of the customers in order to earn his room for the night. During his performance he thought he spotted a human fighter, Tamly wanted to go over to him but he was still only near the beginning of his performance. As the performance was drawing to a close, an elf in scale mail entered the inn, carrying a letter. The elf seemed to be in a hurry at first, and gave the innkeeper the letter. The elf then turned back to the door, but started walking slowly towards it, watching the stage. When Tamly finished his tune, the elf was gone.

"Letter for you, Tamly." The innkeeper walked over to Tamly, handing him the letter.
"From the elf?"
"Yeah, by the sounds of things, it's important."
"Hmm, must've been Kit."
"You know him?"
"Uhh, not exactly. Oh, by the way, did you see where that human fighter went?"
"He went upstairs, I wouldn't recommend disturbing him though, he's probably asleep"
"Never mind, did you get his name?"
"No, sorry, he didn't say much. Not everyone's as talkative as you, you know."
Tamly snickered a little. "Okay, well, which room am I in?"
"Room 2, here are the keys."

Tamly headed up to his room. Sat on the bed, he opened the letter, which told him to meet up at the city gates tommorrow morning.

Today

Tamly heads back towards the gate, slightly lost due to the crowd. Dodging human feet, he manages to get to the gate. He sees two groups at the gate, one consists of the human and the elf Tamly saw at the Inn. Knowing who gave the innkeeper the letter made it easier for Tamly to decide which group to head towards, however he almost started walking towards the other group when he spotted the female halfling there. Regaining control of himself, he greeted Kit and the fighter with a jolly smile.
"Greetings, Kit, and you must be Erunak. I'm Tamly."

[Glawackus]

((Darn elves, you all look alike to me! ))

Erunak

Erunak hears his name and looks over his shoulder. A halfling with a mandolin slung over his shoulder is looking at him expectantly, and he realizes that he's got the wrong party.

"Oh. Right."

He moves away from the other group and looks around. Might as well make some kind of introduction.

"Erunak Keftian. Just another grunt."

[rovinpiper]

Cristobal feels a momentary surge of superiority as Eruniak describes himself as "...just another grunt." This fades quickly to be replaced by a feeling of shaky numbness that has pervaded his existence for the past two weeks. Since being cast out of his father's house he has felt a sort of vulnerability he never imagined before.

Thinking through the situation logically he should strike up a conversation with these people. He needs friends to protect him in the absence of his wealth and position. The trouble is, he isn't any good at these situations. He's always kept contact with creatures that he hasn't summoned to a minimum. It's a way of life that he now regrets. Paralyzed by social awkwardness, Cristobal nervously fidgets with his equipment and says nothing.

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Well, we're just waiting for Skjald, then you can discuss what to do. Also, if you have room, it might be a good idea to put the following in a spoiler box in your signature: HP, AC [Normal, Touch and Flat], Init Mod, Attributes, your Saves and Spot/Listen mod's. Also, [For Casters] if you haven't already, then a post in the OOC thread with your Spells memorized/remaining Spells per day on it would be good. Of course, if these are already on your char' sheet or similar thing, then that's fine. ))

((Sorry to be a bore, but it saves a lot of time. ))

(Also, great! almost everyone has made their first post, and everyone has obviously spent time on them to show their characters personalities as soon as possible.))

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Hmm. I have heard tell on the grapevine, that players like to be rewarded for going beyond the call of duty. Thus; I have decided to reward people. Create an extremely good backstory, or a nifty new object, class, item or some other thing that I can use in the game and thus;

-And inspiration struck the Player, and verily, for days and nights he laboured, and he brought his creation to the DM, and the DM said unto the Player; Thou hast done work in my name well, now take your reward, and use it wisely.
And the DM granted upon the Player many experience points, and the Player did grin, and the people did laugh, and feast upon the fruits, and trees, and breakfast cereals, and orangutans, and vargouilles, and-

-Extract from; the holy biblee [bib-leey] Experience, verse 14, lines 3-8

You get the picture. Now, the reward can only be claimed once per level, and will vary according to submission quality. I like this, because it means that the DM can use new material to improve their game, and PC's get delicious experience points.))

[Grrth]

"Greetings, Kit, and you must be Erunak. I'm Tamly."

Kit bowed as much as possible (which wasn't much) in his bulky armor.

"Well, actually," he started to say, but then stopped. "Uh, yes, I'm Kit, it's a pleasure to meet you, Master Tamly. And you, Master Keftian. I am pleased to see you have accepted the High King's invitation."

He stepped a short distance away, recognizing the other human male. He was decidedly pleased to actually be taller than someone (and a someone who was more than three feet tall!) "I give you greetings, Master Hawk."

Looking over the group, Kit nodded slightly. This was turning out better than he'd expected! Almost all the invites had been accepted. He was a little disappointed, because now he surely had no time for a tour, but on the plus side, that female elven cleric had glanced his way a couple times!

"We shall wait a short while longer," said Kit to the others, "and then we must be on our way. Time is of the essence." Or at least, that's what they kept telling me!

There was one more that might be coming, that gnome from Temple Street. Kit glanced sideways at the halfling. A real halfling! Coming with them, and a bard, too! This was going to be so exciting!

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Ah, you posted just as I was editing the above post Grrth. Well, make sure to read it, as I think I only got it in a second ago. Also, still waiting for Skjald. ))

[Skjaldbakka]

{{Sorry guys, I had family stuff come up. I'll have something up here in a few. I'm putting it up in pieces at the moment.}}

Skjaldbakka

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HP: 9/9
AC: [N:13 T:11 F:13]
Init: +0
S:10 D:10 C:17 I:18 W:8 CH:10
Fort:+3 Refl:+2 Will:-1
Spot:-1 Listen:+5

Character Image:

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Yesterday:

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A gnome is sitting at his favorite bar, drinking his favorite brandy, ruminating on his latest take. His reverie is disturbed as his keen ears pick up his name being uttered by someone on the streets. He slips a gold piece onto the bar, and slips out without a sound. He sees a well-armed elf speaking with one of the orphans from the league. Skjaldbakka catches his eye, and the urchin nods ever-so sublty. I am glad I'm paid up with the Orphan League, he'll show him the long way around, and give me time to get home first.

The Gnome waits for the elf and Kit to be out of sight, and then takes the short way home. "Quick dad, I need your help! I need you to pretend to be me for a moment, while I hide next to the door. There's a heavily armed elf has been looking for me, and I don't know why. Kit's taking him the long way 'round, so we have a few minutes to prepare."

Skjald lurked in the shadows as the elf walked in, handed the letter to his father, and then walked out.

"OK, what's in the letter?" He says as he slips out of the shadows once more. He lets out a low whistle when he sees the seal of the Royal Elven House on the letter. "Well I guess I have to go, don't I? Otherwise I'll always wonder what this is about."

"Don't worry, I'll keep safe."

Today:

A gnome walks up to the group gathered by the gate, and nods at the people gathered there. "This is an interesting situation, isn't it? Bunch of adventurers, a halfling, and a gnome standing around here, wondering who all these strange people are, and what they are going to be doing a week from now. Introductions, maybe? You can call me Skjald."

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Ah good, everone's here. Now, you should all decide on a course of action. Also, you've run out of time to decide whether or not you interact with the other group, thus;))

After Skjald' makes his introductions, you see a well dressed courtier with the symbol of the Royal house of King Evane [Human King], come and and talk briefly with the adjacent group, before leading them away. As they leave, Kit is sure that he sees the Elf Mage woman turn and wink at him.

[Grrth]

Kit:

Did she just ... wink at me?

Kit stared after for a moment, dry of mouth and blushing. He had to shake off the urge to run over there right away and introduce himself. Oh, oh, and the cleric was leaving, too, they were all leaving! Oh, bother!

Half-embarrassed, half-irritated, Kit turned back to the gnome who'd just introduced himself. He frowned.

"You are not the gnome I delivered my letter to." His hand went to his sword hilt. "Explain!"

He scowled at the gnome. He'd missed his opportunity to talk to those females, and now this gnome wanted to play games! Did they really have time for this?

"Hey!" he interrupted before the gnome could speak, curiosity overcoming suspicion, "How did you know I was looking for Skaldbakka, anyway?"

[Calamity]

Tamly

Tamly looks disenheartened at the other group leaving, but seeing the human king (at least, that's who he assumed the regal-looking man was) brought a little excitement.

Tamly then turns his attention to Kit and Skjald. Taken aback at Kit's sudden hostility, Tamly looks puzzled.

What is going on here?

[rovinpiper]

Nine Hells! They're going to fight! What do I do?! What do I do?!

Cristobal was not expecting this and hasn't been in this sort of situation before. He takes a few steps to put Eruniak between himself and the impending showdown.

Think fast! You could "grease" them both to stop the fight. That would make them both angry. No good.

You could stay out of it. That might be the safest. No. Most cautious, not safest. Starvation is just as deadly as that sword Kit carries. You need a job.

Help Kit. He's the one offering a job. If he dies who knows when another job offer will come along.

Cristobal's Actions

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Cristobal's actions:

Ready Summon Monster I to be cast as soon as Tamly or Kit attack one another.

Direct the summoned creature to attack Tamly.

Stats

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Cristobal's Stats:

HP:5/5
AC:11 Touch: 11 Flat-Footed: 10
Initiative Mod.: +1
Saves: Ref: +1 Fort: +1 Will: 0
Spot/Listen: -2

Spells: 0th lvl. Save DC: For Conjuration: 13 (10+2 int+1 specialization)
For other schools: 12 (10+2 int)

Acid Splash
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Light
Mage Hand

Spells: 1st lvl. Save DC: For Conjuration: 14 (10+1 level+2 int+1 spec.)
For other schools: 13 (10+1 level+2 int)

Mage Armor
Grease
Summon Monster I

[Glawackus]

Erunak

Did she just wink at the elf?

Erunak gapes for a moment and then realizes something's going on. "Wait--"
He notices the conjurer moving out of view and muttering under his breath. Cursed magic users, he thinks, always on a hair-trigger.

Erunak's actions

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Wait and see what the conjurer does. If he attacks anyone, take him down and figure out just what is going on.

[Calamity]

Tamly

Oh no, everyone seems to have got very tense. What to do?

Tamly's actions

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Step away from Kit and Skajd. Be ready to support the party should anyone attack.

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Now now, we can't have everyone killing each other all of a sudden.))

A small crowd has gathered by now, always eager to see some free entertainment. As Tamly steps away, you hear a cry.

Hey! Er... Stop in the name of the law?

A nervous looking young human man, dressed in shiny looking mail with the symbol of a sword across a shield, steps out of the crowd. Following him, a dwarf wearing much older, rustier looking mail with an identical symbol also steps out. The Dwarf rolls his eyes at the boy.

Oh, very commanding boy.

He speaks in a sarcastic imitation of the boy.

Oh, please stop in the name of the law!

Sighing, the Dwarf turns to the group.

Now now, if you want to duel, take it outside the city limits. we'll have no fighting in the poor centre, or I'll have to shoot you in the face.

The Dwarf says this easily, as if this is an everyday occurence for him.

[Glawackus]

((Oh, you guys...))

Erunak

"Thank you, sir," Erunak says, nodding to the dwarf officer and giving a little smile to the greenhorn watchman.

He looks around at the party members. "Alright, lads. The artifact is the mission, here, not to blow each other to kingdom come. What's going on here?"

[Grrth]

Kit:


"Going on?" Kit echoed, turning around. "Ooh, a dwarf! Hi!" He recoiled from the bearded fellow's glare. "Um ... greetings, officer?"

If elves could blush, this one did as one of his new companions leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Um, we're not, um, dueling, officer!" He lifted both hands in the air, feeling a little foolish, but not wanting to get in trouble. "See? No weapons?"

Oh, could this really have gotten off to a worse start? Kit groaned. And scowled at the gnome, who had the temerity to laugh. Suddenly, something clicked.

"You played some kind of joke on me, didn't you?" he asked the gnome. Now that he'd had a chance to look, he noted the familial resemblence. As this gnome appeared to be younger than the other, what, was the other one, father, uncle, cousin maybe?

"If you're, erm, Skald, then who was the guy I gave the letter to?" He tried not to appear as worried as he felt. He'd never been entrusted with anything this important before, if he'd messed it up ...!


((Okay, this just got really out of hand, such was not my intention, Kit was only trying to look tough. I apologize, I'll try to be more clear in the future.))

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Oh, no worries, just like real life, PC's don't always say the right thing.))

The Dwarf sighed, and the human looked more relaxed.

Hmph. Alright.

He gestured towards the conjurer.

You might want to keep a leash on your Mage there. Last I heard, wizards know how to fight with more than just weapons. We've got enough troubles already with the sewers and the goblins and all without people killing each other on the streets.

The novice watchman furrowed his brows and looked at the Dwarf.

I still don't know why they don't just post one of us there.

You don't know how things work here yet boy. We'll just wait for someone to answer the notice pinned up on the watchhouse.

With that, the two leave, and walk into a building with a tarnished bronze plaque that says; 'watch'.

[rovinpiper]

What? I haven't done anything, Sir!

Cristobal says to the dwarf as he does his best to feign innocence.
(Bluff -2)

Anyway, if we are all friends again, we had better get this job started. I believe you will be leading the way Master Kit.

Spoiler

Show

Cristobal's Stats:

HP:5/5
AC:11 Touch: 11 Flat-Footed: 10
Initiative Mod.: +1
Saves: Ref: +1 Fort: +1 Will: 0
Spot/Listen: -2

Spells: 0th lvl. Save DC: For Conjuration: 13 (10+2 int+1 specialization)
For other schools: 12 (10+2 int)

Acid Splash
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Light
Mage Hand

Spells: 1st lvl. Save DC: For Conjuration: 14 (10+1 level+2 int+1 spec.)
For other schools: 13 (10+1 level+2 int)

Mage Armor
Grease
Summon Monster I

[Glawackus]

Erunak

"Indeed. Lead on, friend."

Cuthbert preserve us all.

[Skjaldbakka]

"No harm intended. You did come wandering about looking for me, clad so in that neighborhood. I took what precautions I thought necessary. The gentleman you handed the letter to was my father, so no harm done."

The gnome pauses for a moment, and then continues in a more cheerful tone.

"Rest assured that if you had meant to do more than deliver a letter to my home, I would still be safe. They say that us gnome's out lucky, but I prefer to make my own luck with proper preperations and plans. Just the kind of luck you tall folk will be needing on this adventure."

He turns and winks at the halfling.

"Isn't that right cousin?"

[Grrth]

((I'm assuming I know where I'm going, then...))

Kit:

Kit watched the two officers leave, and then shook his head. He felt torn and rather guilty for not immediately offering to help them with their problem, but he was, after all, on a mission. There was no time for what were probably just big rats ...

Kit shook hands with the gnome. "Well, erm, Skald, then I give you greetings." He turned and bowed slightly to the whole group. "My name is Ke'Kitathas El'Tulari, but you may call me Kit. I am a cleric of Lord Corellon Larethian, and I shall be your guide to the elven city of T'nik."

His eyes flicked over each one in turn. The gnome did not appear to be a wizard, although his family was evidently in the business. Still, Skald's trickery might just come in handy; he was obviously an intelligent fellow, now that Kit thought about it, he realized that he probably could have been a lot less threatening in his approach. In fact, Kit was rather surprised he hadn't had more trouble.

Then there was the obvious wizard, Master Hawk. As the dwarf had cautioned, this one would warrant a close eye. Master Keftian seemed to be a straight-forward fellow, probably a good one to have around in a fight, and then of course there was Master Tamly, the halfling bard. He certainly seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

Yes, they would do nicely. The only one Kit still had reservations about was himself. He was the only one who didn't seem to have any prior experiences to recommend him for this mission. But, with these folks now at hand, he didn't feel quite so much like a glorified messenger boy anymore.

Kit adjusted his pack upon his back. "Well, shall we get going, then? I can explain what else I know as we go, though I warn you it's not much."

He didn't wait, but headed out of the city, trusting that the others would follow.

[Glawackus]

((I follow. Do I really need to say anything else? ))

[Rettu Skcollob]

((Alright, I'm going to take that as the will of the party to head off to the Elven city. It's going to take one and a half days walk, so during that time feel free to roleplay what you're doing, perhaps have a little chat between PC's, that sort of thing.))

After leaving the gates of the city behind, you progress quickly along the road. The scenery becomes more natural, with less de-forestation and agriculture as you get closer to the Elven City. A few travellers coming from the Elven city pass you, but they seem in rather a hurry and don't stop to speak with you.

((Well, nothing has happened on your journey... so far...))

[rovinpiper]

Cristobal mumbles his consent to Kit's plan to head toward T'nik, and shuffles into line behind Kit. He spends most of the journey lost in thought, staring at the ground in front of his feet. He finds himself in an endless loop of contemplation with three main points:

1. His situation is bad.
2. He needs to reinvent himself in order to survive.
3. His current course of action is his best option.

After he has convinced himself of these facts for the fifth time or so, he begins to wonder why he can't get his mind off of these things.

When we get to T'nik things will be different. Then I will have some more details to concentrate on. I can start to think about constructive things then.

[Glawackus]

Erunak

Erunak, no stranger to long marches, doesn't quite mind the journey. A thought suddenly occurs to him. "...Kit. How'd the higher-ups end up tapping you for this job anyhow?"