When the group arrives at the spot where Pettilaen found the first elven body (about 50' off the road), you see the dried blood and horse tracks, but the body and any of its remaining equipment are gone.
Continuing on, you find the site where the original cart failed, as identified by some random bits of broken cart along the roadside (though much of that is missing, too)... You see drag marks, wheel tracks, and small bits of debris from broken crates and goods, but neither the crates nor the goods remain.
You do, however, see about a half-dozen mounted soldiers wearing heraldic tabards and flying the standard of Elturgard (from which Regis and House Kennet hail) approaching, heading south toward Beregost. This is far too soon to be the Hellriders coming to retrieve Master Regis, and these folks look more like a diplomatic escort, but it's likely their travel toward Beregost has something to do with current events.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
Zina glanced down at her trousers, and the conspicuous stain. With a wave of her hand, she aimed a warning shot just to the left of the skipping gnome's back. Unfortunately for Pettilaen, her battle instincts kicked in at just the wrong time, and the ray of frost that was supposed to go right past him hit him squarely in the arm. (8 damage.) Not wanting to admit her mistake, however, she just turned her nose up in the air and pretended she meant to do the other gnome bodily harm. That'll teach him, she thought to herself.
The rest of the walk to the site went without trading spells between the two, which was a small miracle in and of itself. As she began to investigate the carnage, her eyes found the soldiers of Beregost. Not wanting to appear as if she had in fact peed her pants, she cast minor illusion on her tunic and hoped nobody noticed. She wouldn't dare ask Pettilaen for help.
The numbing cold causes Pettilaen's body to go into shock, as he seizes up and crashes hard onto the ground. His arm suffers from severe frostbite, as black, necrotic tissue covers the entire upper arm and parts of his shoulder. He screams in pain, shivering on the dirt road with cyanosis of his lips and extremities, as Gaia flies in from above, wrapping her wings around the wounded site in an effort to help him stay warm. (6/14 HP left)
"Z-z-z-z-z....Z-z-z-z-ina-a.... Why? I-i-i... it wa... was just a-a-a-a... jo-o-oke."
It takes Pettilaen sometime recover from the cold, as he rides in the back of the wagon for the rest of the journey. Patching himself up as best as he can, he warms up some cloths and water with prestidigitation to rewarm and unthaw the skin on the affected area. As the knights approach, Pettilaen can only muster the strength to give the faintest smile, the joyful spark and twinkle in his eye diminished as he wraps himself in his cloak.
Portia ignored the gnomes for most of the trip. It wasn't that hard to make sure the wind was blowing the scent away from her. She let Pettilaen thaw himself out while there was no sign of needing him healed just so he could think about ever doing that to a woman again - gnome or any race. Disgusting!
Nothing was left of the goods or the remains from the fight, but she didn't expect to have found it anyway. She was sure it was all gone before dawn. At this point she was ready to turn the wagon around to get it back to town safely and then they could come back out to beat on half-ogres. Enough stuff had been lost without losing another good beast of burden and wagon given to them on good faith.
She notes the half dozen riders coming their way along the road heading to Beregost. She smirks as she knows they hail from the city Regis does. She steps to the wagon to look at Pettilaen.
"If you feel like you have suffered enough, I'll heal you after you get rid of your joke. Don't ever do that joke again. We have important people related to Regis, but ones that probably have no idea possibly of what has happened, coming close and I want you two cleaned and healed up."
She crosses her arms as she waits for Pettilaen to remove the stink and stain from Zina before she fixes his frostiness.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"If you feel like you have suffered enough, I'll heal you after you get rid of your joke. Don't ever do that joke again. We have important people related to Regis, but ones that probably have no idea possibly of what has happened, coming close and I want you two cleaned and healed up." Pettilaen's voice goes cold, furious at Portia's judgement. "Are we forgetting the fact that she just farjiin blasted me with a ray of frost! My arm is going to need amputation unless something is done! And somehow I'm the bad guy for making it look like she peed her pants? By Selûne's grace you need to wake up and judge which action is worse. In my family, and in most of gnommish society, there is one rule to pranks: You -do not- cause physical harm. Not that you would understand our gnommish ways, Portia." Glaring at Zina, he adds, in Gnommish, "Not that you would understand them either."
Muttering a simple incantation, he ways his hand in a half circle, directed at Zina's pants. In an instant, they are clean and good as new. "See how simple that was? A quick fix: one I thought that bookworm knew how to cast." With the same motion, he cleans the charcoal mustache off of his face.
Portia heals him, but by grabbing his arm where he was hit and he feels the heat of the healing surge through his arm. It's over in a matter of a couple seconds. There is no evidence of either misdemeanor as she walks away from the belly aching and selfish gnome. There were more important things to deal with than childish antics and whose action was worse debates.
She nudges Bullden and points at the riders figuring he probably noticed them by now. "Do we want to hail them or not? They may not know most of the story about Regis Kennett, but they are envoys from that city. Definitely not the ones the temple talked of and I'm not even sure how they knew so fast who would be coming. I'm assuming they sent a fast moving courier with a message who may or may not have met these guys on the road and estimated the timing of the Hellriders."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Zina knew that she had gone too far, that she had reacted completely out of proportion. She wasn't a monster, although she was sure Pettilaen would say differently. "Not that you would understand them either," the rogue spat at her in their own language. It seemed silly, but the words almost hurt more in gnommish.
"Well, at least I didn't abandon my family!" she bit back the tears in her eyes. "I'm still looking for mine, but what happened to yours? Are they still making the best mead in Faerun, wondering where their son is?"
"See how simple that was?" Pettilaen taunted her as he cast the spell on her to clean up the mess he had made. "A quick fix: one I thought that bookworm knew how to cast."
"I spent time studying more important things, instead of learning spells that made me a glorified maid," she replied in gnommish. She didn't want the cleric to play mediator any more. "And I never asked you to fix it." An unspoken apology hung in the air between them, but Zina was far too proud to say it. She wanted to tell him that she had been aiming for a miss, that it had meant to be a warning. She wanted to say that she had never been good at knowing her own strength, that even back in school most everyone had known better than to include the annoying little illusionist. But she didn't say any of those things. Instead, she stuck her hand in her pocket and began to pet Mirage.
Pettilaen chose to ignore Zina. He felt too betrayed by her blasting him in the back to illicit a response. As if that impetuous she-gnome knows anything about me. At least -my- family loves me and -I- left on good terms with them. He sat in the wagon, eyes closed, as Gaia took off into the sky. At least up here, the troubles on the ground disappear. He got lost in the moment, thinking about his family and past decisions that brought him to where he was. The priest of Illmater had so much mercy in her heart, to forgive him. Why was it so hard for him to forgive others in return.
Mentally, he muttered a small prayer to Illmater. Illmater... It's been awhile since we last spoke. But I know you see all suffering or something, so you probably saw what happened. I know I need to forgive her... I guess that's why I'm speaking to you. Perhaps you can give me a little mercy, so I can pass it on? That'd make this muuuuuch easier. Talk to you later, I guess.Whether or not it was Illmater answering his prayer, or some subconscious mind trick from wanting to believe it occurred, Pettilaen felt some of the anger and frustration towards Zina fade away. Not all of it, but he at least saw her, way up above through Gaia's eyes, as a flawed and imperfect individual, much like himself, who wore a different set of scars brought about by whatever untold history she had.
OOC: Count Pettilaen out of any speaking with the knights when they arrive.
((Meta, Bullden not feeling up to IC posting, but gave his answer to hail or not to hail in our OOC coordination. Bring on the fun!))
Bullden believes that the envoys should be hailed. With the gnomes cleaned up and quiet for the moment, Portia gets the cart heading towards the road not all that far away with the help of Bullden. Though the dang donkey thinks he should be allowed to eat grass instead.
Once moving they were going to wind up on the road nearly when the envoys passed by whether they hailed or not. Portia hopes the gnomes stay quiet as she waves to the six horsemen with their all too important banners.
"Hail envoys of Elturgard."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"Oh, you know, just in-ves-ti-ga-ting,"Zina called back to the much longer humanoids sullenly, drawing out her words. "What business do you have? And can we see some sort of identification? I don't want any bloody imposters."
Seeing the precarious position Zina had put the party in, Pettilaen felt it was only proper to try and make amends for her foul words. He hops off of the wagon, fully healed. In Gnomish, he says to her, "You're not allowed to talk when we meet new people." Turning his attention, he half-heartedly smiles. What Zina did had hurt him, a lot. But he had to put it behind him to deal with the envoy. "You're far too early to be the envoy meant to escort Master Regis Kennet, son of Lord Captain Reynauld Kennet, a member of High Lord Dhelt of Elturgard's court, second in command of the Hellriders and paladins of Elturel, and Commander General of Elturel's militia." He smiles. "Some names and titles just stick with me! ... Ah! Where are my manners, master horse-riders. We are a small band of adventurers, who saved the boy from the clutches of a pirate named Baradwulf. He's a wanted man, participating in child slavery, kidnapping, and theft. But that is no matter, unless you have seen a gold-skinned genasi who looks downright nasty?"
"We have not seen such a man," he says. "And you are correct, we are not the Hellriders dispatched to retrieve Master Kennet. We are a contingent escorting Elturgard's diplomat in Baldur's Gate to Beregost as Beregost is within the Gate's dominion. Will you show us to where the boy is kept?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
Portia steps forward. "I can do that. He is healthy and safe at the Song of the Morning. I am Portia Starflower, an acolyte there." She looks at the others behind her. "We were just heading back to the city. It's not overly safe around here lately. It was only goblins until last night when half-ogre bands working together came into the area. Some are not too far away. Best not to travel outside the city at night if you can help it." She looks off towards the city. "It's just over two miles to the city gate."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"You're not allowed to talk when we meet new people," Pettilaen hissed at her in their native language.
"You're not the boss of me," Zina replied in gnommish, just barely able to resist the urge to stick out her tongue. It was alright when she admitted that she wasn't always the best with people, but it was quite another thing to have someone insult her like that.
"Wait, if you're not here for the boy, why do you need to see him?" The illusionist said warily, turning her attention toward the guards. "And like I said before, we... need... to... see... some... i-dent-i-fic-a-tion... to... make... sure... you... are... not... imposters."
The man does not acknowledge Zina's fresh comments, instead addressing Portia.
"The diplomat is to personally see to the care and treatment of Master Kennet as well as settle any matters of payment with the town and the church. He rides with the full authority of Elturgard, as is indicated by the heraldry of our retinue. Now, shall we away?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"Of course. Don't mind them. It's been a rather long couple of days and though we saved Regis, not much else was saved."
Portia starts getting the donkey moving again and on the road heading to Beregost. "Everyone get on, might as well go a little faster." The donkey is only plodding along until Portia gets up in the seat and uses the reigns. She is not much of a driver, but the donkey at leasts picks up its pace and seems happy it is heading home.
She looks over at the envoys from Elturgard. "Did you have any issues on the trip? Seems most of the activity is closer to Beregost and coming from the south that is disturbing. There might be some sleeping half-ogres over that way," she points southeast, "but I'm not going to check until I return this wagon that we unfortunately did not need."
"There is a golden genasi pirate named Baradwulf that you should be aware of. He broke his contract of protection by kidnapping Regis instead of getting him safely to his destination. One of Regis's envoys hired him during the trip. All we found was Regis and his dogs. There were some Flaming Fist hired to help, but the half-ogres got them while they tried to get to town faster. All the goods were lost in the process, so only good point is we got Regis to the temple and he is doing just fine now."
She knew the temple could sort things out better, but she watched their reactions. She also etched their faces into her memory. She did not ask names yet, but knew she would get them eventually. Right now she wanted a feel for these guys and at least none of them were a golden genasi.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Pettilaen happily hops into the wagon, finding a comfortable position to rest in, his body still taxed from the ray of frost blast. "I'll watch the skies with Gaia and let you know if I see anything of concern or worry." She swoops in low for one last dive as Pettilaen's mind melds with her's before Gaia soars off into the sky, flying around and scanning the area. Her eyes were keen, able to pick up on the most minute details from very far away. I must be getting this mind meld thing down!
The Elturgard spokesman says they've encountered no trouble. As he speaks, you begin to get the impression that he, himself, is the political diplomat, disguised as an escort.
Insight: Everything seems on the level with them. Their colors and heraldry are extensive, their clothing well fitted, and it seems like it would be difficult to fake their appearance.
Perception: You spot a tattoo on one of the escort's forearms (not the spokesman) implying he is, or was once, a member of the Flaming Fist. On the ride back, Gaia is able to piece together more of what happened. She sees the bodies of the remaining 2 elves in tall grasses to the east of the road, not far from the crude camp. Focusing more on the camp, it does not appear to be presently occupied.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
When the group arrives at the spot where Pettilaen found the first elven body (about 50' off the road), you see the dried blood and horse tracks, but the body and any of its remaining equipment are gone.
Continuing on, you find the site where the original cart failed, as identified by some random bits of broken cart along the roadside (though much of that is missing, too)... You see drag marks, wheel tracks, and small bits of debris from broken crates and goods, but neither the crates nor the goods remain.
You do, however, see about a half-dozen mounted soldiers wearing heraldic tabards and flying the standard of Elturgard (from which Regis and House Kennet hail) approaching, heading south toward Beregost. This is far too soon to be the Hellriders coming to retrieve Master Regis, and these folks look more like a diplomatic escort, but it's likely their travel toward Beregost has something to do with current events.
Zina glanced down at her trousers, and the conspicuous stain. With a wave of her hand, she aimed a warning shot just to the left of the skipping gnome's back. Unfortunately for Pettilaen, her battle instincts kicked in at just the wrong time, and the ray of frost that was supposed to go right past him hit him squarely in the arm. (8 damage.) Not wanting to admit her mistake, however, she just turned her nose up in the air and pretended she meant to do the other gnome bodily harm. That'll teach him, she thought to herself.
The rest of the walk to the site went without trading spells between the two, which was a small miracle in and of itself. As she began to investigate the carnage, her eyes found the soldiers of Beregost. Not wanting to appear as if she had in fact peed her pants, she cast minor illusion on her tunic and hoped nobody noticed. She wouldn't dare ask Pettilaen for help.
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
The numbing cold causes Pettilaen's body to go into shock, as he seizes up and crashes hard onto the ground. His arm suffers from severe frostbite, as black, necrotic tissue covers the entire upper arm and parts of his shoulder. He screams in pain, shivering on the dirt road with cyanosis of his lips and extremities, as Gaia flies in from above, wrapping her wings around the wounded site in an effort to help him stay warm. (6/14 HP left)
"Z-z-z-z-z....Z-z-z-z-ina-a.... Why? I-i-i... it wa... was just a-a-a-a... jo-o-oke."
It takes Pettilaen sometime recover from the cold, as he rides in the back of the wagon for the rest of the journey. Patching himself up as best as he can, he warms up some cloths and water with prestidigitation to rewarm and unthaw the skin on the affected area. As the knights approach, Pettilaen can only muster the strength to give the faintest smile, the joyful spark and twinkle in his eye diminished as he wraps himself in his cloak.
Portia ignored the gnomes for most of the trip. It wasn't that hard to make sure the wind was blowing the scent away from her. She let Pettilaen thaw himself out while there was no sign of needing him healed just so he could think about ever doing that to a woman again - gnome or any race. Disgusting!
Nothing was left of the goods or the remains from the fight, but she didn't expect to have found it anyway. She was sure it was all gone before dawn. At this point she was ready to turn the wagon around to get it back to town safely and then they could come back out to beat on half-ogres. Enough stuff had been lost without losing another good beast of burden and wagon given to them on good faith.
She notes the half dozen riders coming their way along the road heading to Beregost. She smirks as she knows they hail from the city Regis does. She steps to the wagon to look at Pettilaen.
"If you feel like you have suffered enough, I'll heal you after you get rid of your joke. Don't ever do that joke again. We have important people related to Regis, but ones that probably have no idea possibly of what has happened, coming close and I want you two cleaned and healed up."
She crosses her arms as she waits for Pettilaen to remove the stink and stain from Zina before she fixes his frostiness.
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"If you feel like you have suffered enough, I'll heal you after you get rid of your joke. Don't ever do that joke again. We have important people related to Regis, but ones that probably have no idea possibly of what has happened, coming close and I want you two cleaned and healed up." Pettilaen's voice goes cold, furious at Portia's judgement. "Are we forgetting the fact that she just farjiin blasted me with a ray of frost! My arm is going to need amputation unless something is done! And somehow I'm the bad guy for making it look like she peed her pants? By Selûne's grace you need to wake up and judge which action is worse. In my family, and in most of gnommish society, there is one rule to pranks: You -do not- cause physical harm. Not that you would understand our gnommish ways, Portia." Glaring at Zina, he adds, in Gnommish, "Not that you would understand them either."
Muttering a simple incantation, he ways his hand in a half circle, directed at Zina's pants. In an instant, they are clean and good as new. "See how simple that was? A quick fix: one I thought that bookworm knew how to cast." With the same motion, he cleans the charcoal mustache off of his face.
Portia heals him, but by grabbing his arm where he was hit and he feels the heat of the healing surge through his arm. It's over in a matter of a couple seconds. There is no evidence of either misdemeanor as she walks away from the belly aching and selfish gnome. There were more important things to deal with than childish antics and whose action was worse debates.
She nudges Bullden and points at the riders figuring he probably noticed them by now. "Do we want to hail them or not? They may not know most of the story about Regis Kennett, but they are envoys from that city. Definitely not the ones the temple talked of and I'm not even sure how they knew so fast who would be coming. I'm assuming they sent a fast moving courier with a message who may or may not have met these guys on the road and estimated the timing of the Hellriders."
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Zina knew that she had gone too far, that she had reacted completely out of proportion. She wasn't a monster, although she was sure Pettilaen would say differently. "Not that you would understand them either," the rogue spat at her in their own language. It seemed silly, but the words almost hurt more in gnommish.
"Well, at least I didn't abandon my family!" she bit back the tears in her eyes. "I'm still looking for mine, but what happened to yours? Are they still making the best mead in Faerun, wondering where their son is?"
"See how simple that was?" Pettilaen taunted her as he cast the spell on her to clean up the mess he had made. "A quick fix: one I thought that bookworm knew how to cast."
"I spent time studying more important things, instead of learning spells that made me a glorified maid," she replied in gnommish. She didn't want the cleric to play mediator any more. "And I never asked you to fix it." An unspoken apology hung in the air between them, but Zina was far too proud to say it. She wanted to tell him that she had been aiming for a miss, that it had meant to be a warning. She wanted to say that she had never been good at knowing her own strength, that even back in school most everyone had known better than to include the annoying little illusionist. But she didn't say any of those things. Instead, she stuck her hand in her pocket and began to pet Mirage.
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Pettilaen chose to ignore Zina. He felt too betrayed by her blasting him in the back to illicit a response. As if that impetuous she-gnome knows anything about me. At least -my- family loves me and -I- left on good terms with them. He sat in the wagon, eyes closed, as Gaia took off into the sky. At least up here, the troubles on the ground disappear. He got lost in the moment, thinking about his family and past decisions that brought him to where he was. The priest of Illmater had so much mercy in her heart, to forgive him. Why was it so hard for him to forgive others in return.
Mentally, he muttered a small prayer to Illmater. Illmater... It's been awhile since we last spoke. But I know you see all suffering or something, so you probably saw what happened. I know I need to forgive her... I guess that's why I'm speaking to you. Perhaps you can give me a little mercy, so I can pass it on? That'd make this muuuuuch easier. Talk to you later, I guess. Whether or not it was Illmater answering his prayer, or some subconscious mind trick from wanting to believe it occurred, Pettilaen felt some of the anger and frustration towards Zina fade away. Not all of it, but he at least saw her, way up above through Gaia's eyes, as a flawed and imperfect individual, much like himself, who wore a different set of scars brought about by whatever untold history she had.
OOC: Count Pettilaen out of any speaking with the knights when they arrive.
So, story-line wise, all we really need to know is if the group is hailing the mounted soldiers and, if so, who is doing it...
((Meta, Bullden not feeling up to IC posting, but gave his answer to hail or not to hail in our OOC coordination. Bring on the fun!))
Bullden believes that the envoys should be hailed. With the gnomes cleaned up and quiet for the moment, Portia gets the cart heading towards the road not all that far away with the help of Bullden. Though the dang donkey thinks he should be allowed to eat grass instead.
Once moving they were going to wind up on the road nearly when the envoys passed by whether they hailed or not. Portia hopes the gnomes stay quiet as she waves to the six horsemen with their all too important banners.
"Hail envoys of Elturgard."
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
The lead rider reins in his steed, lifting his hand to signal the column to stop. He takes a long look at the group and the empty cart.
"Hail strangers," he calls out. "What business have you?"
"Oh, you know, just in-ves-ti-ga-ting," Zina called back to the much longer humanoids sullenly, drawing out her words. "What business do you have? And can we see some sort of identification? I don't want any bloody imposters."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Seeing the precarious position Zina had put the party in, Pettilaen felt it was only proper to try and make amends for her foul words. He hops off of the wagon, fully healed. In Gnomish, he says to her, "You're not allowed to talk when we meet new people." Turning his attention, he half-heartedly smiles. What Zina did had hurt him, a lot. But he had to put it behind him to deal with the envoy. "You're far too early to be the envoy meant to escort Master Regis Kennet, son of Lord Captain Reynauld Kennet, a member of High Lord Dhelt of Elturgard's court, second in command of the Hellriders and paladins of Elturel, and Commander General of Elturel's militia." He smiles. "Some names and titles just stick with me! ... Ah! Where are my manners, master horse-riders. We are a small band of adventurers, who saved the boy from the clutches of a pirate named Baradwulf. He's a wanted man, participating in child slavery, kidnapping, and theft. But that is no matter, unless you have seen a gold-skinned genasi who looks downright nasty?"
"We have not seen such a man," he says. "And you are correct, we are not the Hellriders dispatched to retrieve Master Kennet. We are a contingent escorting Elturgard's diplomat in Baldur's Gate to Beregost as Beregost is within the Gate's dominion. Will you show us to where the boy is kept?"
Portia steps forward. "I can do that. He is healthy and safe at the Song of the Morning. I am Portia Starflower, an acolyte there." She looks at the others behind her. "We were just heading back to the city. It's not overly safe around here lately. It was only goblins until last night when half-ogre bands working together came into the area. Some are not too far away. Best not to travel outside the city at night if you can help it." She looks off towards the city. "It's just over two miles to the city gate."
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"You're not allowed to talk when we meet new people," Pettilaen hissed at her in their native language.
"You're not the boss of me," Zina replied in gnommish, just barely able to resist the urge to stick out her tongue. It was alright when she admitted that she wasn't always the best with people, but it was quite another thing to have someone insult her like that.
"Wait, if you're not here for the boy, why do you need to see him?" The illusionist said warily, turning her attention toward the guards. "And like I said before, we... need... to... see... some... i-dent-i-fic-a-tion... to... make... sure... you... are... not... imposters."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
The man does not acknowledge Zina's fresh comments, instead addressing Portia.
"The diplomat is to personally see to the care and treatment of Master Kennet as well as settle any matters of payment with the town and the church. He rides with the full authority of Elturgard, as is indicated by the heraldry of our retinue. Now, shall we away?"
"Of course. Don't mind them. It's been a rather long couple of days and though we saved Regis, not much else was saved."
Portia starts getting the donkey moving again and on the road heading to Beregost. "Everyone get on, might as well go a little faster." The donkey is only plodding along until Portia gets up in the seat and uses the reigns. She is not much of a driver, but the donkey at leasts picks up its pace and seems happy it is heading home.
She looks over at the envoys from Elturgard. "Did you have any issues on the trip? Seems most of the activity is closer to Beregost and coming from the south that is disturbing. There might be some sleeping half-ogres over that way," she points southeast, "but I'm not going to check until I return this wagon that we unfortunately did not need."
"There is a golden genasi pirate named Baradwulf that you should be aware of. He broke his contract of protection by kidnapping Regis instead of getting him safely to his destination. One of Regis's envoys hired him during the trip. All we found was Regis and his dogs. There were some Flaming Fist hired to help, but the half-ogres got them while they tried to get to town faster. All the goods were lost in the process, so only good point is we got Regis to the temple and he is doing just fine now."
She knew the temple could sort things out better, but she watched their reactions. She also etched their faces into her memory. She did not ask names yet, but knew she would get them eventually. Right now she wanted a feel for these guys and at least none of them were a golden genasi.
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Pettilaen happily hops into the wagon, finding a comfortable position to rest in, his body still taxed from the ray of frost blast. "I'll watch the skies with Gaia and let you know if I see anything of concern or worry." She swoops in low for one last dive as Pettilaen's mind melds with her's before Gaia soars off into the sky, flying around and scanning the area. Her eyes were keen, able to pick up on the most minute details from very far away. I must be getting this mind meld thing down!
OOC: Perception roll of 25.
The Elturgard spokesman says they've encountered no trouble. As he speaks, you begin to get the impression that he, himself, is the political diplomat, disguised as an escort.
Insight: Everything seems on the level with them. Their colors and heraldry are extensive, their clothing well fitted, and it seems like it would be difficult to fake their appearance.
Perception: You spot a tattoo on one of the escort's forearms (not the spokesman) implying he is, or was once, a member of the Flaming Fist. On the ride back, Gaia is able to piece together more of what happened. She sees the bodies of the remaining 2 elves in tall grasses to the east of the road, not far from the crude camp. Focusing more on the camp, it does not appear to be presently occupied.