"Ah, yes. Zee Duck du Champris. No such person, I'm afraid. A rich uncle would have been a boon, but the insinuation of a rich uncle was almost as good. I found out about a smuggling operation down at the docks of Waterdeep. I paid off a stevedore to put fake crests on a few boxes and then showed up as Maxie to inspect his great-uncles goods. The dockmaster bribed me to look the other way. Simple, lucrative, and no one got hurt. Maxie paid my rent for the better part of two years, up until adventuring was thrust upon me."
"He's even got identification papers and other bona fides."
"Off and on. A few days a month at most. One day to do the actual job and then a few other days here and there just to keep up appearances. The accent and the mustache do most of the actual work."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
During the 20-minute gap, Tarja casts speak with animals and calls out to any rats hiding in the wagon.
Come out, little guys! If you stay there, you're gonna wind up in a dark forest with lots of big spiders!
Wouldn't want to accidentally kidnap any of 'em. They're much more at home here in the city than in the forest.
She looks around the supplies to look for anything unusual, maybe that would hint at where the Rockseekers think the forge is or anything else about the journey they've got planned. Perception: 18
When the second halfling arrives, she does a double-take before assuming that the newly-arrived one is a brother of the first one. This time, she addresses him.
We're with Gundren Rockseeker, he went on ahead. Ethan's with us. Thanks for delivering the second half of the supplies.
Farnin drops the letter into a small bag, pulls the strings tight and tosses the sack to Ethan. "They told me to give you this sack of junk, well, not quite in those words, I suppose. What is all that stuff, anyhow?"
When Ethan opens the bag he finds some of the crafting supplies he had mentioned to Gundren during the previous evening, or at least a close enough proximity of materials to be quite useful. The envelop waits inside as well, and seems to have something beyond paper weighing it down. Once opened it is revealed to be a small star ruby. The gem is undersized and has flaws, and is embedded in a thin setting of silver. Ethan recognizes it as one of Gundren's many accessories that he had taken notice of the evening before. There is a note inside that reads "Mr. Etan, an advance on your payment. Couldn't find anything better on such short notice. I hope it helps with your magical tinkering. Perhaps you can owe me a second favor in Phandalin, eh? Keep it between us, even ol' Gundren isn't made of proper rubies for everyone, not quite yet at least! Your friend, -G."
To Tarja Farnin replies "Delivering? Ah, Miss, we got a long, bumpy road ahead still." He seems to think for a second. "Well, they told me Mr. Rockseeker was in charge here." He looks you all over for a minute before making a decision. "But ok, if he went on ahead there's no coin to be made just sittin' here, is there?! We're already gettin' a late start. Someone wanna go get my brother's head out of a tankard so we can go?"
Half a dozen rats emerge from the wagon to greet Tarja. "No spider, bad. Big snake here. Down below. Bad. Where go? Food go?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zeke watches the exchange between the halfling and Ethan carefully and sees Ethan's response to the letter. He watches as Ethan quickly slips the envelope and it's contents securely into his gauntlet, nodding his head in approval.
Zeke then steps over to the second wagon and inspects it as well - checking it over and examining the load. When he gets to the seating area, he begins expertly rearranging the load to create light cover and firing ports for any passengers. Nothing too obvious, but enough to give any passengers a bit of an advantage if the need arises.
Investigation again - looking for anything unusual in the load: 5
'It would seem several of you could fit comfortably and securely here on this second wagon. I will gladly cover our back trail as we travel. Tarja, may I suggest that you might be best suited to take point? Elra, perhaps your winged friend could help keep an eye out as we move as well?'
How big snake? Big enough to eat rats? Eat cats? To eat people?
There's a nice hayloft just around the corner, if you don't want to go down! Y'all take care of yourselves, y'hear!
She tosses them a bit of her travel rations and casts guidance on the boldest-looking one. A snake small enough to go after rats probably isn't anything for people to worry about, but it's worth asking. If it's big enough to worry about, maybe guards need to be alerted.
(Aloud, in common:) They're scared of a big snake. Circle of life 'n all. Still, safer for them here in the city than out on the road with us. The wilds ain't no place for city rats.
Addressing Zeke - I'll keep a lookout. Once we're out of the city, though, it'll be nice to have some real earth underfoot, I'll walk alongside and not ride.
Fortunately the worse thing Zeke finds in the second wagon are small bite marks on the barrels and a few tiny droppings, both clearly from the rats.
The most interesting thing Tarja observes are the various markings and symbols on the supplies, but nothing of any particular interest.
"BIG snake." All of the rats shake their heads yes regarding big enough to eat rats. Half of the rats shake yes for cats, while half say no. The apparent leader of the bunch shakes no on humans, while the rest just look confused.
'Tarja I figured you'd want your feet on the ground as we traveled' says Zeke with a slight smile at the dwarf. Then, turning more serious, 'A snake huh? Sounds like trouble. I knew there'd be trouble....'
Elra rushes across the Dolphin Bridge and into the impressive House of Knowledge. She causes a bit of commotion with her urgent entrance, but swiftly enough the Loremaster is summoned. The elder silver dragonborn emerges in robes and wearing his spectacles, ink quill in hand per usual. In his all too familiar raspy voice he asks, concerned "what is it child?"
Finnan puts down his relatively large tankard revealing a healthy amount of foam on his beard and replies to Arvel. "Excellent! Last call means one more and one for the rode where I come from! I didn't think we'd have time..."
"Well, first things first, I met a real life artificer. He's got this pocket watch that can do the effects of Prestidigitation. He's also got a gauntlet that he's done something to it so it can hold all of his stuff. I don't even know how he does it and it's so cool. Then there was this half elf who spent the first part of the day I had met him pretending to be something else for some reason. But anyways, so I had this dream right? It was so strange... and then the next day I was in this bar and these two guys were talking about Phandalin," Elra takes this moment to take a breath before continuing. "And when I approached them they offered to meet up later that night so we could talk about a job they were offering to adventurers. Then we had a meeting, then we had a secret meeting at 2am this morning and then the Gundren, the dwarf who invited me said he and his brothers had found the location of the Forge of Spells. So I'm going with them to document their findings."
"Did you say 'can' or 'can't'.... ah well, win, win I say. Let's have another, barkeep!"
We can roll off if you like. Pick your poison, Constitution roll? Athletics? Performance, perhaps, if this is a special talent, perfected through practice? ;)
--------------------------------
Atlavast's expression changes almost as fast as Elra can talk. Amusement regarding the artificer and the gauntlet is replaced by moderate concern regarding the false persona of the half-elf and clandestine late night meetings. His expression reveals great interest in the dream, however, but it is mention of the Forge that finally catches him off guard. Recovering from the bit of surprise the Loremaster says calmly "so it is research then?" " In Phandalin? I am inclined to inquire about the dream, but it seems He intended it for you as I received no such dream, so I shall refrain. I knew this day would come, my child. The ink has been dry on that parchment for some time now, but I suspect you hold a fresh quill with regard to what the pages hold from here."
"But you said if I 'can't'.... ah well, win, win I say. Let's have another, barkeep!"
We can roll off if you like. Pick your poison, Constitution roll? Athletics? Performance, perhaps, if this is a special talent, perfected through practice? ;)
Fae was tucked in beside Zeke, trying to be a shadow in his presence. Hopefully not a nuisance to him. She had pulled out her black leather bound journal and quill to jot down some notes to try to keep track of everything that was going on around her: all the new faces and personalities; little bits and pieces of a mysterious adventure; a cryptic dream...
She’d look up from her last note just in time to catch the rest of what was going on. A part of her wanted to go pat Ethan on the back after he read his letter. Another part of her was touched by Tarja’s consideration for the band of rats. Heck, she wishes she chased after Elra to join her at the House of Knowledge. She watched Arvel take lead to get the driver. Zeke’s doing his checks. Instead, I hide. Fae would frown at her own inner turmoil.
Alright. That’s enough pity partying Fae. She snaps her book shut and tucks it away with her quill. She’d head over to where Tarja and Zeke are by the wagon, “Any particular place you’d prefer me to be?”
Arvel takes his tankard in hand and says "Go!". While the halfling starts gulping immediately, Arvel only takes a few sips.
The halfling is a prodigious drinker, but even he can't finish an entire human-sized tankard in one go. About two-thirds finished, Finnan pauses and gasps for breath.
That's when Arvel calmly reaches over and pours out his tankard into the halfling's. A few quick gulps of his own and Arvel slams an empty tankard down and points the halfling to the door smiling.
Finnan yells,"You cheated!"
Arvel smiles, "Did I? I never said anything about finishing a drink. Only that the first to reach the bottom won. You could have poured yours out on the floor and won. Time to go."
The two walk to the door laughing, Finnan managing to finish the tankard on the way.
Ethan, still in a melancholy frame of mind, gets into the second wagon, situating himself where he can hopefully do a little tinkering on their journey.
Ethan opens his gauntlet and extracts the bag of materials. Removing the envelope and its contents, he places them back in the gauntlet.
Ethan then begins to assess and catalog each and every item placing them into the gauntlet, until the bag is empty.
He flattens the bag, folding it up and returns it to the gauntlet, before closing it again.
Ethan then sits back and contemplates what he has and how he plans to use it, waiting for the caravan to be on its way.
Arvel chuckles.
"Ah, yes. Zee Duck du Champris. No such person, I'm afraid. A rich uncle would have been a boon, but the insinuation of a rich uncle was almost as good. I found out about a smuggling operation down at the docks of Waterdeep. I paid off a stevedore to put fake crests on a few boxes and then showed up as Maxie to inspect his great-uncles goods. The dockmaster bribed me to look the other way. Simple, lucrative, and no one got hurt. Maxie paid my rent for the better part of two years, up until adventuring was thrust upon me."
"He's even got identification papers and other bona fides."
DCI: 3319125026
At Arvel's elaboration, Ethan remarks,
"Wow you played the part of Maxie for 2 whole years, that incredible!?"
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
"Off and on. A few days a month at most. One day to do the actual job and then a few other days here and there just to keep up appearances. The accent and the mustache do most of the actual work."
DCI: 3319125026
During the 20-minute gap, Tarja casts speak with animals and calls out to any rats hiding in the wagon.
Come out, little guys! If you stay there, you're gonna wind up in a dark forest with lots of big spiders!
Wouldn't want to accidentally kidnap any of 'em. They're much more at home here in the city than in the forest.
She looks around the supplies to look for anything unusual, maybe that would hint at where the Rockseekers think the forge is or anything else about the journey they've got planned. Perception: 18
When the second halfling arrives, she does a double-take before assuming that the newly-arrived one is a brother of the first one. This time, she addresses him.
We're with Gundren Rockseeker, he went on ahead. Ethan's with us. Thanks for delivering the second half of the supplies.
Farnin drops the letter into a small bag, pulls the strings tight and tosses the sack to Ethan. "They told me to give you this sack of junk, well, not quite in those words, I suppose. What is all that stuff, anyhow?"
When Ethan opens the bag he finds some of the crafting supplies he had mentioned to Gundren during the previous evening, or at least a close enough proximity of materials to be quite useful. The envelop waits inside as well, and seems to have something beyond paper weighing it down. Once opened it is revealed to be a small star ruby. The gem is undersized and has flaws, and is embedded in a thin setting of silver. Ethan recognizes it as one of Gundren's many accessories that he had taken notice of the evening before. There is a note inside that reads "Mr. Etan, an advance on your payment. Couldn't find anything better on such short notice. I hope it helps with your magical tinkering. Perhaps you can owe me a second favor in Phandalin, eh? Keep it between us, even ol' Gundren isn't made of proper rubies for everyone, not quite yet at least! Your friend, -G."
To Tarja Farnin replies "Delivering? Ah, Miss, we got a long, bumpy road ahead still." He seems to think for a second. "Well, they told me Mr. Rockseeker was in charge here." He looks you all over for a minute before making a decision. "But ok, if he went on ahead there's no coin to be made just sittin' here, is there?! We're already gettin' a late start. Someone wanna go get my brother's head out of a tankard so we can go?"
Half a dozen rats emerge from the wagon to greet Tarja. "No spider, bad. Big snake here. Down below. Bad. Where go? Food go?"
Ethan's opens the bag and his eyes go wide with excitement.
"Oh this is wonderful, look at all this! I can finish off...uh, 1, 2...maybe 5 different designs and other equipment with this!"
Ethan notices the envelope, opens it, finding the ruby and the letter. Ethan keeps the ruby out of sight as he reads the letter.
Ethan seems almost dumbfounded. Anyone close enough and paying attention enough, might notice Ethan's eyes tearing up.
"You know, I think this is the nicest anyone has been to me since i set foot on the boat heading to Waterdeep."
"I really like Gundren, he is a stand up guy and good friend."
Ethan puts the letter and the ruby back into the bag and then open his gauntlets storage area and deposits the whole bag inside.
Ethan seems overcome with emotion and not at all talkative or attentive to anything else going on.
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Zeke watches the exchange between the halfling and Ethan carefully and sees Ethan's response to the letter. He watches as Ethan quickly slips the envelope and it's contents securely into his gauntlet, nodding his head in approval.
Zeke then steps over to the second wagon and inspects it as well - checking it over and examining the load. When he gets to the seating area, he begins expertly rearranging the load to create light cover and firing ports for any passengers. Nothing too obvious, but enough to give any passengers a bit of an advantage if the need arises.
Investigation again - looking for anything unusual in the load: 5
'It would seem several of you could fit comfortably and securely here on this second wagon. I will gladly cover our back trail as we travel. Tarja, may I suggest that you might be best suited to take point? Elra, perhaps your winged friend could help keep an eye out as we move as well?'
To the rats (whispering):
How big snake? Big enough to eat rats? Eat cats? To eat people?
There's a nice hayloft just around the corner, if you don't want to go down! Y'all take care of yourselves, y'hear!
She tosses them a bit of her travel rations and casts guidance on the boldest-looking one. A snake small enough to go after rats probably isn't anything for people to worry about, but it's worth asking. If it's big enough to worry about, maybe guards need to be alerted.
(Aloud, in common:) They're scared of a big snake. Circle of life 'n all. Still, safer for them here in the city than out on the road with us. The wilds ain't no place for city rats.
Addressing Zeke - I'll keep a lookout. Once we're out of the city, though, it'll be nice to have some real earth underfoot, I'll walk alongside and not ride.
Fortunately the worse thing Zeke finds in the second wagon are small bite marks on the barrels and a few tiny droppings, both clearly from the rats.
The most interesting thing Tarja observes are the various markings and symbols on the supplies, but nothing of any particular interest.
"BIG snake." All of the rats shake their heads yes regarding big enough to eat rats. Half of the rats shake yes for cats, while half say no. The apparent leader of the bunch shakes no on humans, while the rest just look confused.
'Tarja I figured you'd want your feet on the ground as we traveled' says Zeke with a slight smile at the dwarf. Then, turning more serious, 'A snake huh? Sounds like trouble. I knew there'd be trouble....'
Arvel slides out of the driver's bench and saunters back into the tavern.
Finding Finnan at the bar, Arvel slips onto the stool next to him.
"Last call I'm afraid, Mr. Tallfellow. Your brother is here and it's best we were off."
DCI: 3319125026
Elra rushes across the Dolphin Bridge and into the impressive House of Knowledge. She causes a bit of commotion with her urgent entrance, but swiftly enough the Loremaster is summoned. The elder silver dragonborn emerges in robes and wearing his spectacles, ink quill in hand per usual. In his all too familiar raspy voice he asks, concerned "what is it child?"
Finnan puts down his relatively large tankard revealing a healthy amount of foam on his beard and replies to Arvel. "Excellent! Last call means one more and one for the rode where I come from! I didn't think we'd have time..."
"Make you a bet then. One more for each of us..."
He signals the bartender.
"...and if you can reach the bottom of yours before I reach the bottom of mine, you can have one more 'for the road' as you say.
But if I reach the bottom of mine first, that's the end and we leave. Do we have a deal?"
DCI: 3319125026
"Well, first things first, I met a real life artificer. He's got this pocket watch that can do the effects of Prestidigitation. He's also got a gauntlet that he's done something to it so it can hold all of his stuff. I don't even know how he does it and it's so cool. Then there was this half elf who spent the first part of the day I had met him pretending to be something else for some reason. But anyways, so I had this dream right? It was so strange... and then the next day I was in this bar and these two guys were talking about Phandalin," Elra takes this moment to take a breath before continuing. "And when I approached them they offered to meet up later that night so we could talk about a job they were offering to adventurers. Then we had a meeting, then we had a secret meeting at 2am this morning and then the Gundren, the dwarf who invited me said he and his brothers had found the location of the Forge of Spells. So I'm going with them to document their findings."
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
"Did you say 'can' or 'can't'.... ah well, win, win I say. Let's have another, barkeep!"
We can roll off if you like. Pick your poison, Constitution roll? Athletics? Performance, perhaps, if this is a special talent, perfected through practice? ;)
--------------------------------
Atlavast's expression changes almost as fast as Elra can talk. Amusement regarding the artificer and the gauntlet is replaced by moderate concern regarding the false persona of the half-elf and clandestine late night meetings. His expression reveals great interest in the dream, however, but it is mention of the Forge that finally catches him off guard. Recovering from the bit of surprise the Loremaster says calmly "so it is research then?" " In Phandalin? I am inclined to inquire about the dream, but it seems He intended it for you as I received no such dream, so I shall refrain. I knew this day would come, my child. The ink has been dry on that parchment for some time now, but I suspect you hold a fresh quill with regard to what the pages hold from here."
(OOC: That was a typo I've corrected.)
DCI: 3319125026
Fae was tucked in beside Zeke, trying to be a shadow in his presence. Hopefully not a nuisance to him. She had pulled out her black leather bound journal and quill to jot down some notes to try to keep track of everything that was going on around her: all the new faces and personalities; little bits and pieces of a mysterious adventure; a cryptic dream...
She’d look up from her last note just in time to catch the rest of what was going on. A part of her wanted to go pat Ethan on the back after he read his letter. Another part of her was touched by Tarja’s consideration for the band of rats. Heck, she wishes she chased after Elra to join her at the House of Knowledge. She watched Arvel take lead to get the driver. Zeke’s doing his checks. Instead, I hide. Fae would frown at her own inner turmoil.
Alright. That’s enough pity partying Fae. She snaps her book shut and tucks it away with her quill. She’d head over to where Tarja and Zeke are by the wagon, “Any particular place you’d prefer me to be?”
just an unstable unicorn.
Arvel takes his tankard in hand and says "Go!". While the halfling starts gulping immediately, Arvel only takes a few sips.
The halfling is a prodigious drinker, but even he can't finish an entire human-sized tankard in one go. About two-thirds finished, Finnan pauses and gasps for breath.
That's when Arvel calmly reaches over and pours out his tankard into the halfling's. A few quick gulps of his own and Arvel slams an empty tankard down and points the halfling to the door smiling.
Finnan yells,"You cheated!"
Arvel smiles, "Did I? I never said anything about finishing a drink. Only that the first to reach the bottom won. You could have poured yours out on the floor and won. Time to go."
The two walk to the door laughing, Finnan managing to finish the tankard on the way.
DCI: 3319125026
Ethan, still in a melancholy frame of mind, gets into the second wagon, situating himself where he can hopefully do a little tinkering on their journey.
Ethan opens his gauntlet and extracts the bag of materials. Removing the envelope and its contents, he places them back in the gauntlet.
Ethan then begins to assess and catalog each and every item placing them into the gauntlet, until the bag is empty.
He flattens the bag, folding it up and returns it to the gauntlet, before closing it again.
Ethan then sits back and contemplates what he has and how he plans to use it, waiting for the caravan to be on its way.
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss