Adventurers' Guild 2: operation Mongoose

[MK Kilmarnock]

With all the seperate paths taken by each and every individual resembling a demented web, Zan had spent much of the preceding night thinking about what everybody had discovered, and how strange it was for Shiela's father to go missing in the first place. He couldn't help but feel impersonal to the matter, having rarely even interacted with Shiela beyond battle and a couple of the magic meetings that Matthew had set up.

Spending his first few waking moments that day praying, Zan creakily stepped out of bed and put his robes on first, followed by the scythe. Checking to make sure all of its wrappings were in place, he then grabbed the staff which had been kept with him under the covers. Just before the group left for Flintby, Zan raised a finger questionable.

"Is anyb-body skilled, or knows such a person, that can modify w-weapons?"

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

If anyone wants to go over picking out some items in a little more detail you can handle them in the general Bridgeport thread. Otherwise everyone can assume they get whatever items they have down for the start of the second campaign, whether its from the trunk or bought around town with cash from the trunk.

In fact if you want to use that thread for generally messing around that's fine.

The Red Robin is on the edge of town to the North. A couple of people pass by, glancing at the group of adventurers, but not many. There's a front entrance for the former patrons of course (closed) and there 's a wooden trap door / unloading bay with access to the basement for casks. It is padlocked. Round the side there's a stables according to Fin. The windows are shuttered.

[Akyana]

Sandra had pushed herself to her limit. She was spending the next few days in her room resting to recover from her wounds and stressful practicing she was putting herself under. She didn't come out of the room much and that was only to eat and use the waste facilities.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Spoiler

Show

I'd figure I'd post something here, even though Zan's outfitting in the HQ thread isn't quite finished.

Adventuring with the group and going to new places... it seemed to take a new spin to Zan without having a rather large weapon strapped to his back and the staff, which he truly only had in his possession for a short time. Still, he had some comfort in knowing that he wouldn't have those voices in his head for a while...

Voices in my head... what a funny way to think about them. If I ever mention anything about this, there's a good chance the others will think I'm insane. There's another chance that I really am losing my mind, though I'm hoping that chance is worse. Either way, at least I haven't lost my grip completely. As far as comfort items go, I still have the flask, and I'll have my scythe back soon enough if Matthew is correct.

Still, Zan was beginning to feel an air of uselessness. This came just from being outside the Red Robin. He wasn't going to go in first, that was for somebody who could pick the lock. He'd probably bring up the rear considering his lack of his favorite melee tool. He reached his hand in and clutched his holy symbol momentarily; he still had his healing spells. Which reminded him....

He looked to the group around him, blinking. "Uh, w-where is Sandra?"

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

I forgot Sandra was still wounded!

Back at the Guild HQ Ana comes into the women's bunk room to get the sleepy head out of bed. Instead she looks surprised to see that Sandra is still badly wounded.

Ana:
Oh!

Ana quickly leaves the women's dorm. A few minutes later she re-appears with Father Eldon. He briefly makes sure that Sandra is not dying of her wounds and that the situation is not a crisis. The elderly halfling cleric thanks Ana and suggests she wait down stairs.

Father Eldon:
Sandra! How is it that you are still so wounded? Don't you know you could have approached me or perhaps one of your comrades on your team for healing? He prepares to cast healing spells on Sandra. Sensing some resistance he asks, What's wrong? Are you in a funk over something? Are you trying to leave a scar by letting the wound heal naturally?

[Akyana]

Sandra looks at Ana and then rolls her eyes. She sits up a little when the halfing walks in No I'm not trying to leave scars or anything. I was out practicing after my loss in practice and tired myself out. she didn't turn away his healing I'm not use to having a healer on call either. she sits there having had her wounds cleaned at least before she went to bed.

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

Sense Motive - (1d20+4)[8]

Father Eldon:
How is your search for Sheila's father coming on? You must be keen to leave Bridgeport and do some adventuring I expect.

[Akyana]

Sandra Shrugs I don't know. I haven't really been involved. Searching for someone or something has never really been my strong point. she sighs some Though I believe the others might not think highly of me from my lack of involvement in that aspect. I don't know what help I could be. she looks at the halfling My talents are better suited to war then anything else. Have you finished healing me? I should find them in case there is trouble

[Karaswanton]

Eodrick

Hm. Let's take a look inside, shall we?

Eodrick moves around to the front of the Red Robin, and opens the door.

[DavidByron]

Eodrick examines the front door which is locked. There's enough gap for a peep inside. The place looks as if it has been closed a little while which fits with what Eodrick has heard. Dolan sniffs around a bit but doesn't seem to pick up any interesting scent here. Turning to the next entrance, the trapdoor for unloading barrels, presumably leading to the basement Eodrick determines that it appears to be only padlocked from the outside and it would not be hard to gain entrance.

At that moment a man appears from round the back of the pub from the direction of the stables.

Man:
Hey! What are you.... we're closed. The inn is closed.

Dolan barks at the man in a way that Eodrick recognises; he has found a scent again.

Spoiler

Show

Sandra hasn't arrived yet so there's all team Mongoose minus her (Victor, Sheila, Amethyst) plus Fin the Bridgeport town guard: six of you. Probably best if Sandra just turns up whenever appropriate; she can find out more or less where the others are and Flintby isn't a big place to look for six strangers with a dog.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Zan poked his head around from behind Eodrick, taking in the sights of the place and, unfortunately, sharing the shock when the man yelled at them.

"Oh, uh, h-hello! Sorry to drop by l-like this!" He rubbed the back of his head, unsure of what to say at this point. The polearm which he carried currently was wrapped in a similar manner as his scythe usually was, most likely in an attempt to appear non-threatening.

"Look, um, w-we need some help. Could you aid us?"

[DavidByron]

Man:
No, ... well... what do you want? I am busy.
And I don't like dogs.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Zan stepped ahead of Eodrick, rubbing the back of his head. "Th-that's perfectly underst-standable! Everybody has their own w-work to do, you shouldn't be any different. B-but we're wondering if you've..." The short pause was solely to collect himself and conduct his words more carefully to reduce stuttering. "If you have s-seen somebody that we have been looking for. He isn't wanted or dangerous anything, but his disappearance needs l-looking into." He put a polite smile on his face, hands folded. "Any information you could give us c-could lead to compensation for any time we have cost you."

[Karaswanton]

Eodrick

Eodrick glares at Zan at the word compensation.


Good dog. Hold on a minute boy, the trail will keep for a few more minutes.


Dolan paces around Eodrick's feet and then sits. Eodrick scratches him behind the ears as he talks to the man.

Don't like dogs? Haven't you heard they're man's best friend? That goes for dwarves too, this dwarf at least.
But yes, we're looking for a missing person.

Eodrick provides a brief description.

We don't mean to bother you, certainly. Have you seen a man that fits the description? If you don't mind, we'll just have a look around.

Eodrick's tone seems to indicate they will have a look around even if the man minds. After talking with the man he follows Dolan's trail.

[DavidByron]

Dolan seems to be interested in the man himself. The man is looking quite nervous now.

Man, looking at Fin's uniform:
Is this official business? Is this guild business?

Fin:
The man we're looking for is called Shamus Tailor.

Man:
I better go and check with... I'll get the boss. He can explain everything to you.

The man turns and darts back around the corner into the stables area in back of the inn.

Spoiler

Show

Fin sense motive - (1d20+6)[8]

[MK Kilmarnock]

Zan, luckily for his nerves, did not see the glare since he was facing away from Eodrick.

"I'm u-usually the last to catch on, so I suppose everybody else has... figured out how suspicious this man is acting?"

Spoiler

Show

Sense Motive - (1d20+2)[14]

[Karaswanton]

Spoiler

Show

Sense Motive:
[roll0]

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

Sorry but Fin goofed it completely - and he has +6 on Sense Motive. Auuugh! generally i take ten for everyone who doesn't get round to rolling so I guess Zan's roll may be best. At any rate a 14 is good enough.

Zan senses the man is anxious but not about the dog.
Zan believes he was telling the truth about going to tell his boss.

[SithLackey]

Victor, standing behind Zan and Eodrick, speaks up for the first time in a while. "So we'll keep our eyes open. If his boss really knows as much as he says, we should be well on our way to finding Shamus."

[Thymin]

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

Sorry but Fin goofed it completely - and he has +6 on Sense Motive. Auuugh! generally i take ten for everyone who doesn't get round to rolling so I guess Dravick's roll may be best. At any rate a 14 is good enough.

Dravick senses the man is anxious but not about the dog.
Dravick believes he was telling the truth about going to tell his boss.

Umm...

Dravick's with team Otter...

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

Umm...

Dravick's with team Otter...

Damn! Zan's ignore-me field strikes again!
corrected.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Spoiler

Show

H-hey, I thought I turned that stupid field off! *tries to deactivate it, but.... eh, no dice*

Zan jumped in his skin slightly, turning his head to look at Victor with a nervous grin. Once he had settled enough, he began to answer him.

"Y-Yeah, let's hope... I'm pretty s-sure that the boss should know something and even if he doesn't.. w-well, we can place some trust in the man we just saw. D-Doesn't seem too bad. Gruff, y-yes. Not bad, though."

[Karaswanton]

Eodrick

I'd say he was rude even by dwarf standards.

Spoiler

Show

It's Seamus, Shamus. <_<

[DavidByron]

Spoiler

Show

Shamus Tailor PC sheet says Shamus. Not sure if that was consistent in the text.

Fin:
Sometimes people get all worked up at the sight of the guard even if they ain't done nothing wrong. 'Course those that do are usually pretty shady characters.

While you are waiting for the man to come back out, or something else to happen, Sandra turns up.

Spoiler

Show

Sandra turns up after travelling from the guild HQ and finding the rest of the party.

[Karaswanton]

Eodrick

I hope this boss comes soon...I want to see what Dolan found..
[/]SPOILER]
I just meant that the name is spelled "Seamus," not "Shamus" usually. That's all. [/SPOILER]

[Akyana]

Sandra leaves after she is given a clean bill of health by the cleric. She did seem eager to get out of there never being good at answering questions, more so about herself to someone she just met. She heads off running to find the rest of the group, hoping that if there was trouble she would get there in time. When she does find the group she doesn't approach right away, seeing the strange man they were talking to, and decides to keep her distance in case something happens. She doesn't watch them, but listens for the sounds of fighting to start as she leans against wall three buildings away (assuming that a store front is 10 feet)

[DavidByron]

Sandra manages to track down the trackers. Although not her area of expertise it turned out to be pretty simple. Ask a couple of local people if they had seen the odd group. From a small town herself she knew that outsiders would stick out. Even so Flintby was much bigger than Keopara.

As she watches the others the man they are talking to goes back around the side of the inn and Sandra overhears him say that he will get his boss. After another two or three minutes the man re-appears. This time there are two more men with him, one a little older; middle-aged, the other an old man, bald, fine clothes, serious expression. The first man walks close to the middle-aged guy almost as if supporting his weight, but not. The old guy has a commanding stride.

Fin and Sheila react as soon as they see the middle-aged man come round the corner.

Shiela:
Dad!

Spoiler

Show

I'll ask thanatos (Sheila) to post first if you can wait a little. I'll delete that last line of text and let thanatos write Sheila's reaction but I thought it best to let you know the general situation.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Spoiler

Show

Urgh, my poor head. Sorry, all. I've let NaNoWriMo take over my creative processing for a while and have just recently shelved the project. I have by no means given up, its just been shelved for a couple days while I re-orientate myself to the world.

Also - the "Shamus" spelling is my fault. Cause I was stuck for a name and pulled the phonetic out of my head at random.
And so, without further adieu:

Shilea
"Daddy!" the young redhead calls out, completely dropping the guard she had up. She rushed fowards towards her father and attempts to take him in her arms and give him a nice, hearty "I missed you" hug.
Shes letting her emotions completely overpower her logic at this point in time and is quite visibly crying a proverbial river.
"What happened, Daddy? Are you okay?"

Spoiler

Show

In other news, Emotionally fragile teenager is emotionally fragile.
Repetitive meme is repetitive. And very likely mis-spelled.

[Karaswanton]

Eodrick

Ah! So that's what you found, Dolan. Good boy
Eodrick gives Dolan a pat, and a biscuit.

[DavidByron]

Shamus Tailor:
"There, there. I'm alright Sheila, I'm fine. I've been working on a big job here. It's pretty hush hush but the pay is good. You weren't in town when it started or I'd have told you."

The old bald guy who looks in charge gestures at the man you first saw and in response he shrugs and walks away from Sheila and her dad who are hugging each other, and heads back the way he came round the corner of the pub. Mr Tailor looks to be uninjured and in good health.

Spoiler

Show

though as ever, you might want to roll some spot or other checks

Old boss guy:
"I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" your father miss Tailor. The work will soon be finished, I hope. I realise this may seem a little odd but all the people working on the project have to remain incommunicado for the duration. Most people just told their famillies they'd be absent for a couple of weeks. I didn't anticipate anyone tracking us down like this. You and your friends must be very talented."

"At any rate you can see your father is fine."

Shamus Tailor:
"Ah- yes. You know I have to get back to work really. They've got me working pretty hard to finish on time."

Shamus smiles at his daughter and holds her tight.