OOC: The previous days....

The man in red, a few inches taller than Merric's six feet, bears a commanding presence as he strongly shakes the elf's hand, despite the fact that he has said as many words to dispel the crowd as you have heard in the tenday since he joined the caravan.

“I’m Merric, Thanks for the help back there, it’s hard enough when a crowd gets riled up for blood.  It’s a shame what happened though"

"Azbara Jos," the man introduces himself. His eyes lock onto Merric's, unwavering as he responds. "The intelligent should never suffer fools," he says, "And stopping days away from our destination is foolish."

"You joined the caravan back in Daggerford?"

"I did," is all Azbara says in response. When his eyes leave Merric's, the rest of him follows suit as he turns away without so much as a pleasantry in farewell.

When the wagons begin to disperse and the party reconnects, Jamna Gleamsilver is soon to follow, adding on to Merric's question of Akira. "If not, we need to get moving. Gonna be easier to avoid letting 'em know we're following if you've got something up your sleeve though," she says.

Carlon saunters up shortly after the question. Looking at him now, one would never know he was buried in the ground and left for dead just two tendays ago. The haggard, malnourished man you found has been replaced by a somewhat dashing man with kempt black hair swept to one side, though his gruff voice and overall aloofness has stuck around. "What's our plan?" he asks. "They didn't come to the market yard."

"Who are you?" Carlon and Jamna ask each other in unison. "Carlon Amoffel. I'm with them," Carlon says. "Jamna Gleamsilver. I'm with them," Jamna replies. They look at the party together. "Does she...know about the, uh...investigation?" Carlon asks. Jamna just looks to the party with a smirk.

Rogram begins to answer Jamna when Carlon speaks. The half-dwarf is just as surprised to see him as the gnome. He narrows his eyes, at first not recognizing the man. Then, as he does, Rogram's face opens. He points, "You're that guy we found in the road." He nods appreciably. "You clean up well."

Moving on as if everything is in order, Rogram leans in. "As I said before, I can make a couple of us invisible if that would help. And then I could make myself look like someone else." He looks around, silently counting. "That would leave three to be stealthy on their own."

Akira thinks of spells that would help follow from a distance (to see if she would know about the divination spell Locate Object which is not currently in her spellbook).

Arcana: 12 

OOC: Akira certainly knows of the spell, even if she can't cast it.

"You're that guy we found in the road." He nods appreciably. "You clean up well."

"Thanks. And I hope you don't mind if I tag along. I have a vested interest in getting some payback on the ones that put me there," Carlon says.

Jamna looks around as options are discussed. "I don't see why that wouldn't work. We'd only need a few of us to learn where they're headed anyway. Whatever we do, we'd better get started quickly, though. Easy enough to lose track of three wagons in a city this big," she says.

Rogram's smile abruptly turns into a frown, then a look of suspicion clouds his countenance. "Wait," he says, eyeing Carlon. "How do we know we can trust you?"

When Uragum vouches for his fellow Harper, Rogram immediately brightens again. "OK, so who wants to be invisible?" He rubs his palms together, ready to cast some magic.

After turning invisible whichever two individuals the group chooses, the half-dwarf looks around. "As for me, what do you think about me turning into a Red Wizard?"

OOC: Shout out to Uragum from our other PbP campaign!

Carlon offers up his tattoo to vouch for his presence, displaying the Harper's symbol inked on his arm, which earns a smack on the wrist from Jamna, who says, "Put that away, fool."

"As for me, what do you think about me turning into a Red Wizard?

"No!" Jamna exclaims. "You might blend in well with the Cult, assuming they wouldn't blanch at the notion of a second Red Wizard, but in a city like this you'd do nothing but draw attention to yourself. What better way to blend in than painting yourself a literal red and acting like a necromancer?"

At the notion of invisibility, Jamna looks around. "I can hide well enough in the shadows. Let one of your noisier friends take the help," she says.

Rogram reduces in size as Jamna rejects his idea. Grumbling, he replies sourly, "Well, what would you suggest then, Ms. Smartypants?"

“I was hoping your familiar could help track the wagons from a distance, Akira.  If you are willing and it makes sense in a city such as this.”  Merric looks around at their small group, which seems to be growing by leaps and bounds lately, sighs and pulls up the hood of his cloak. “I am pretty good in the shadows myself, and I know a few tricks that can help our group move undetected for a while, when we choose to use it.”

OOC: Merric can cast Pass without Trace if the group follows the wagons.

Akira agree. She calls her familiar forward to review the request.

"Well, what would you suggest then, Ms. Smartypants?"

Jamna shrugs. "I liked your idea about invisibility well enough. I'm just saying a red robed necromancer from thousands of miles away isn't the most inconspicuous of disguises. When you want to hide yourself from view, you want to go with plain, not with unique," she says.

OOC: I'll just need to know the party's plan here in order to resolve anything. Essentially, who is going invisible, how is Rogram disguising himself, a general idea of how the party is intending to following the other wagons, and how Akira is using her familiar.

Rogram looks at the group. "How about I turn Karib and Akira invisible. I turn into ... some regular-looking human or something. The rest of you can sneak on your own." He huffs. "They're getting away, so the time for talking's done." He quickly casts invisibility on Karib and Akira and then disguise self on himself. In the end, he looks like a non-descript human woman — kind of frumpy and matronly. "Now, let's move," he says, his deep voice sounding odd coming from the feminine form.

Karib watches with no small surprise and both Carlon and Jamna claim an association with "them". He does little more than turn from one to the other and back again, unsure what to say or do. The "investigation" would seem to be common knowledge. That made sense to him since the cult clearly knew about it. And his sense of Carlon, at least, was that he was an ally. He ponders the alleged fish bones in his purse and resolves to investigate further before he is drawn from his reverie by Rogram's words.

"Me?" he says in confusion. Even as a child he was the one that was sent out to distract others, not to sneak by them

But the gits from Gond has conditions. If he knew where the cult went, it might help him see more.

He also draws comfort from Jamna's words and Akira's agreement. "Aye. Find the place, let me glimpse it for myself later, and perhaps we might find out more."

Akira will instruct her familiar to track them based on the Rogram’a appearance and to keep a lookout for any folks seeming to head toward us with hostility. 

The three wagons assumed to belong to the Cult of the Dragon have gained some distance on you while you say your farewells to the merchants and travelers of the caravan and discuss your plan of action. However, you find it quite easy to catch up using the eyes of Akira's familiar from above, and remain undetected with the Rogram's invisibility and the additional assistance of Merric's spell; under its effect, Merric, Jamna, Carlon and Rogram himself seem to have an aura that encourages the passersby to simply look past them. In a city the size of Waterdeep, there is plenty to draw the populace's attention away.

The wagons continue north through the Trades Ward, into the North Ward, and even further into the Field Ward near the city's northernmost gate. There, your suspicions of the wagons, guards, and travelers associated with the cult are confirmed - everyone you have assumed to be associated with the cult has gathered in the same spot by nightfall, including Azbara Jos, the Red Wizard. By that point, Rogram's and Merric's spells have worn off, leaving you visible once more, though with the daylight waning and the cult wagons no longer moving, you do not find it difficult to remain hidden.

"You got any more of that up your sleeves?" Carlon asks. Jamna nods, "Yes, confronting them here would be a bad idea. We need to find out what they're doing with that treasure."

"Sure!" Rogram replies enthusiastically, excited that he's being helpful instead of causing more problems. "And more!" He describes the effects of prestidigitation, command, silent image, and slow. "I can do a few more, but I don't think those would be helpful in this situation."

Jamna nods along. "That's all very useful stuff, but I think your invisibility is the best tool we have. We need to keep a hawk's eye on them. Where are they going from here? Surely their end goal isn't to dump all their treasure in the middle of Northgate," she says.

"Should we split up, then?" Carlon asks. "We can cover more ground with our investigation and we'll stand out less individually than together in a crowd."

Rogram takes a moment to survey the ward, noting its poorer conditions, compared to the rest of the city. In some ways it reminded him of home. The occasional sounds of a hammer striking steel upon an anvil caught his ear as they had trailed the cult's wagons. All of this served to grow a sense of homesickness within him.

Finally returning to the task at hand, Rogram says, "My magic is limited, as you know. If we're to do anything tonight, we should probably wait until dark." He pauses. "I ... could try to talk to the cult woman again. She hinted that if I stayed away from her, she might be willing to talk once we arrived in Waterdeep." He looks at the others, trying to interpret their expressions. "Surely they're not planning to leave tomorrow. They'll want to join another caravan."

OOC: Nothing for me to advance yet, awaiting more input to Rogram's suggestions.

Akira eyes Rogram with affirmation. “I can send out my familiar to keep tabs on the movement of the wagons and any goings on.”

“Most of my spells tend to be more combat-focused. I am curious about the magics of the red robes but have not much to offer in terms of advice for how to approach them.”

Karib, now hooded and with his hat nowhere in sight finally speaks up. "Now I've seen the place, I can look inside maybe...Gond willing."

He stares at the building for a time, trying to note where people come and go. He tries to separate those who seem like they operate a genuine business from those who seem...more on alert and more organised.

After a time,  he turns to Akira, "If you have any sens of what is guarded and what is not, that might help me. They all seem well-organized. They never left the wagons unguarded, I doubt that they will now."

"I wonder if it's all owned by the cult, or if there are other tenants as well." His eyes return to the building, trying to assess if there is anyone other than the cult in residence.