Winding Roads

[Cogito]

As you poke the bag you hear the seductive sound of a lot of platinum pieces. The Kolyarut obviously payed for your breakfast, and a lot more...

[Jagg]

Jondar stands and heads outside with the others. Once outside he removes his backpack and stretches before cracking his knuckles with a sharp popping sound.

"So Justicar, tell us about these veterans. How many of them are there and what are their specialities?" he queries.

[Cogito]

"Only a few minutes more. Follow me," the kolyarut says, points roughly north and stalks off right into the wood.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Noting at Fasi's strange behavior, Blaze walks at the door, and starts to speed up to walk up front with the construct,
"I don't know how to say this, so here it goes." He takes a breath for a moment. "Thanks-for-breakfast."

[Jagg]

What's wrong with right here? Why do we need to walk into the woods? Jondar thinks to himself. "Getting any explanation out of this thing is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone."

"I'll meet you up there I need to stretch my wings and feel the breeze on my face." Jondar says and leaps into the air, he climbs until he's a hundred feet up and starts circling above the group like a massive eagle.

spot (d20+4)[11] [ooc] Is the way that the Kolyarut heading in the direction where I saw the campfire in the woods last night? If so I pay particularly close attention to this area of the woods[/ooc]

[Cogito]

The Kolyarut watches Jondar for a moment when Blaze comes walking up to him.

"You have been employed by me, and I have drawn you out here," the construct says, and marches onward.

Jondar can't pinpoint the fire's location anymore, but it should be at least roughly in that direction, where none of the streets which are now filled by merchants and other travellers comes even near.

As the rest of the group enters the large forrest of fir and pine trees you almost lose sight of them.

[Gearsmith]

Fasi raises an eyebrow philosophically at the clink from the bag - that much platinum could have bought the inn itself, most likely. Or maybe one and a half inns. Still, an employer wasteful with money is usually a good sign!

Fasi follows the Kolyut onward. At worst, if this bizarre job offer proves less than ideal --- and what is this "I've drawn you out" business? -- there's a good story to be had, and maybe a little extra platinum.

*(If Eldan is following, Fasi will fall in step with him to ask a few nosey questions.)

[Cogito]

After you have walked for about 15 minutes thorugh the forrest, the Kolyarut suddenly stops, pulls the carpet out of his bag and rolls it out as good as possible on the uneven ground. "I think we have walked long enough. Take a seat," it says and positions itself at the front of the carpet.

[Gearsmith]

Fasi eyes the carpet dubiously.

"A marvellous device. But are we likely to fall off the sides? My new, winged friend here would be fine, Fasi is sure, but flying is one thing Fasi does not do well."

"But beyond that... I for one am ready to be on our way to steal -- ahh, to reclaim the (sorrow!) missing tax funds. And to deal with any problems, such as armed soldier and such."

[Jagg]

Jondar lands nearby once the carpet comes out, his wings dissolving in the morning light. He rubs his head vigourously and grins with pleasure. "I love flying in the morning, it's so refreshing." he says, taking a seat at he very back of the carpet. He sits close to the edge, he has no fear of falling off of course, being able to fly. When Fasi makes his comments he leans forwards and says. "Don't worry too much, I can carry a fair bit of weight if I have to when I fly, so unless that bag of yours is filled with lead, I'll be able to carry you. Him I'm not so sure." he says pointing to the Kolyarut. "the Justicar might be too heavy for me to lift and fly at the same time." he says.

"So can we hear about these mysterious veterans yet? What are their names?"

[WhiteKnight777]

Eldan

Eldan followed along, once again quiet with his own thoughts. Something about this still seemed odd... an extraplanar being in pursuit of some petty thieves? Huh. There was always more than met the eye. He looked the carpet up and down. It seemed like a suitable enough mode of transport. Lacking any other method of flight, he stepped on it and sat down cross-legged, apparently quite relaxed.

[Cogito]

The Kolyarut ignores the comments on falling down as it directs the rather large carpet upwards about 60 feet into the air.
While you are speeding northwards, apparently right towards the mountain range far away, the Kolyarut begins his explanation:
"You want to know their names?", it asks with an artificial air of incredulity. "Their leader is called Lukar Tallandro, I did not memorize the names of the others, but if you want to know them," it draws another document from its bag and hands it to Jondar, "This is the bill of indictment."

The document repeats the charges against the deserters, who will, it seems, face a life-long prison sentence, as well as the names of all the 14 criminals:

Lukar Tallandro

Taran Askarda
Adrin Corus
Valtar Entarro
Syro Eskeliendro
Coref Hetrion
Mirrus Karavastar
Urdan Karavastar
Jeffin Lerendazi
Tokorin Neskus
Adrin Ovion
Pentar Sarhain
Jahanah Tallandro
Zoder Vanatar

"I know that the leader is an excellent melee combatant, as are 7 others. They also have 3 arcane casters and 2 divine casters. The other 2 did not seem to be fighting types at all, they should be the stealth specialists of the group. If the information I was given is correct. The only woman of the group is the leader's younger sister and I think we can finish a possible fight quickly if we can apprehend her first. under no circumstances are we to kill any of them. As they will probably know the surroundings they have now chosen better than we do, we will have to be extremely careful. But with the help of three arcanists on our side we can use our flying capability to the fullest extent." It stops talking for a moment before adding: "Questions?"

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OOC: Sorry I forgot to mention the carpet's size. It is 10x10 feet, which is more than enough room to place each of you far away from the edge.

[Jagg]

"We are not allowed to kill any of them? I approve of the concept and thoughts behind that but I have some reservations. I've been in a couple of battles before you know and one thing I do know is that in the midst of battle it's hard to know accurately how much force is required. When someone is coming at you with a dagger and the intention to gut you...well speaking for myself, I'll take them down easy if I can, but if outnumbered... well I won't pull any punches that's for sure." he says.

So what do they look like?


[ooc] Cog, not sure if you use reputations but would we have heard of some of these people? [ooc]

[Cogito]

"You can take them down as violently as you wish, jsut do not kill them," the Kolyarut says, adding, "they are all humans," as a response to your question.


A knowledge:nobility and royalty or a knowledge: history check against DC 15 (+5 bonus on check for those who have lived in Caer Aladon for at least a decade) reveals the following:

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Lukar Tallandro is a great hero of the Orc Wars and everybody of Caer Aladon knows that he is enjoying his retirement in the north of the nation, where he is now stationed.

[Jagg]

(d20+5)[10] [ooc] claiming status as a city of Gold resident - Okay I've not heard of these guys. [/ooc]

"You can take them down as violently as you wish, jsut do not kill them," the Kolyarut says, adding, "they are all humans," as a response to your question.

Jondar sighs, looking at the back of the Kolyarut in exasperation. "Getting useful information from you seems to be more difficult than it should be and explaining concepts also seems to be difficult. If I hit somebody generally that person stays hit. I've found in the past it's hard to tell how tough someone might be just from looking at them, especially if they are trying to hide it. But lets ignore that for now. What are the consequences if we should inadvertantly kill them should they resist arrest?

Oh and I appreciate that as a summoned construct you might not be aware of all the nuanced differences between human beings, but your answer lacks details. Look at the four of us," Jondar says indicating his companions, "and you will see that there are significant differences between us in terms of size, weight, skin coloring, hair coloring, eye coloring, and so on. It would help if we knew what these people looked like so we can at least arrest the right people."

[Cogito]

"As long as their leader stays alife, they will be no reprimations from the Aladon government, but death is not their sentence."
At Jondar's little discourse one human appearance the Kolyarut just looks at you blankly.
"I will tell you when we have found the right humans, but I doubt that there will be many others where they have hidden. Before you killl the leader, though, he wears an Aladon Full Plate with the full rank insignia. The rest," he adds after a moment's thought, "all wear Aladon breastplates like the one my disguise wore, except for the arcanists who wear robes with the same insignia as the breastplates."

[iamkoolerthanu]

Having nothing to add, Blaze just listens while thinking what kind of mees he got himself into. He smiles at the though, but it changes to a frown when they talk about no killing. It returns to the small smile when they talk about only not killing the leader, and trying to kill the rest.
I'll try not to kill anyone. Yeah, right. I'll have to try to lay off the leader though...

[Cogito]

You keep flying non-stop until dusk, the landscape below you barely changing except for the altitude.

"I need no sleep, and I am aware that you can go without sleep for much more than a day if necessary. I planned to keep flying for another 2 days before resting, but if you have something against that plan, we may rest now for about 6 hours."

[iamkoolerthanu]

"We could always rest on this carpet. One or two at a time, with the others watching to make sure they don't fall off, and catching us if we do." He looms over to Jondar while saying the last of his sentence. "I am used to harsh sleeping conditions, I should be fine."

[Gearsmith]

Fasi nods in agreement to Blaze's suggestion.

"If we're in a great hurry," he says, "then yes, the carpet might continue to move while we travel... though on this, Fasi defers to our justice-seeking comrade, since it is his carpet."

(Fasi will rest if they choose to sleep now; otherwise, he agrees with the general suggestion of the Kolayut about how to handle the long trip.)

[Cogito]

"We will keep flying until we reach our destination, then."

And so you do for four consecutive days you do nothing but sit on the carpet, the cold air washing over your faces. You are almost indifferent when you finally land, somewhere in the mountains that seemed so far only half a week ago.

"Rest now. We arrived two days prior to my calculations, so you may take your time. I will keep watch."

And sleep befalls you as soon as your ears touch the bunks of the stone hut that you didn't notice was there at all....

When you awake you feal ravenous, and sitting up you see that it is sometime around noon. It seems that the Kolyarut somehow summoned this cosy stone hut; the only thing that is missing is the smell of food.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Blaze wakes up a little too quickly, and gets a mild headache from sitting uo so fast.
"I hope there's food here somewhere, I need something to cure this headache." he mutters silently to himself, as he rushes to find the Kolyarut, rushing outside and maybe even making a meal of his own out of a wild animal if he can't find him.

[Cogito]

The Kolyarut stands right outside the hut, staring into empty space. When he sees you he just asks:
"Have you rested enough now?"

A small animal rushes back behind a rock when it hears the voice. You think it was some kind of goat.
Now that you take a real look at your surroundings you find yourself right at the foot of a cliff an looking down another into the forrest you flew over.

[iamkoolerthanu]

"Yeah, I guess. Where's the food around here?"

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Where is everyone?

[Cogito]

The Kolyarut hands Blaze a simple-looking spoon and a small earthen bowl.

"Imitate eating from it with the spoon."

You can see the tip of a horn protuding from behind the rock.

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I would like to know the same. If this goes on for another week, I'll discontinue the game.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Blaze looks down at the empty bowl and then looks back up. "Who do you think I am, some type of moron?" At that he takes the golden scepter out from his belt, and aims it at the rock this goat is hiding behind. He then silently walks around, staying withing 30 ft. of the rock, but getting a better angle at the goat. (Move Silently - (1d20+2)[6]) Then, he shoots out a ruby colored ray from the scepter towards the goat. (What would my +'s be for a ranged touch attack? My Dex is +2, and my BAB is +4. Whatever it is, add that to this roll=Accuracy - (1d20)[1]. And do I add my dexterity to this roll?=damage - (1d6)[6])

[Gearsmith]

Fasi simply watches in bemusement as Blaze stalkes the goat.

[Cogito]

The goat jumps and runs away as it notices Blaze sneaking up and it vanishes behind another rock which he hits with his scepter's spell.

Meanwhile the Kolyarut hands the bowl and the spoon to Fasi.
"Here."

[iamkoolerthanu]

(Is the goat dead, wounded, or hiding?)

If dead:

Blaze will walk up to the goat and bring it over to the group.
"Real food is heare now."

If wounded/hiding:

Blaze's eyes flash red for a moment at the though of missing. He will try to move silently again to attack it(Move Silently - (1d20+6)[14])and then attack it.(Accuracy - (1d20)[7] Damage - (1d6)[1])

[Jagg]

Jondar wakes up with a snort as Blazes spell hits the rock. "Wassat?" he mumbles before coming fully awake. He stands and stretches rubbing his left shoulder. "Feels like I slept on a rock." he mumbles as he walks out to join the others.

He yawns hugely, scratches various parts of his anatomy and stretches his left arm until his shoulder clicks.

"Sorry I slept in... where are we?"




[ooc] sorry guys got extremely busy - will try to pay closer attention from here on [/ooc]