Maggwyn raises an eyebrow while the human bolsters up the random townie.  She shrugs and sees Jasper get himself in a pickle a bit again.  She almost heads over to interject, but then decides against it, she can feel the motion starting within the crowd, the tension and need of, what did the human call them? motley mercs? that was a new one.  

"Yes, we need to get a move on. By the sounds of it, we have a timeline.  Let's get going, we can make introductions along the way." turning around, she calls out, "Jasper! Stop dawdling, we have a mission!"

Crannoc steps up and stands with the bronze warrior and the eye-rolling tiefling, one hand absently touching a necklace of strangely-interlocking dark green leaves around his throat.  His trailing seedling comes to rest on his shoulder.

"I am ready to do my part gathering these... Lonsvells... from their keep immediately by day, as a leaf must gather light while the sun provides it, Temuth willing."

To Aalsan Jasper replies "ah, a keen eye."  "Indeed, this fine gift was from my (love*)."     (*he uses the elven word for love)

To Kass Jasper replies playfully "but of course."  "I have pledged not to touch your tool yet you have not done the same for my hat!"

When Kass refers to Jasper as a cat-man he acts offended and replies "CAT? CAT!"  Just then Maggwyn calls to Jasper and scolds him a bit and he responds by hissing and getting his back up, some hair standing a bit straighter off of his body.  Seeing it was just Maggwyn he relaxes quickly, returning his gaze to Kass but then shrugging as if to concede the point that he clearly is indeed a cat.

"Yes, as my protege has said, no more dawdling..."  Jasper proudly strides off to rejoin Maggwyn and their other new companions.

Aalsan watched as Jasper stride off, not replying but making a mental note later to inquire more about his mentioned meleth. Maybe he knew other elven clans that..

...outcastoutcastoutcast..

He twitched slightly as the echo suddenly filled in his head, a flicker of sadness suddenly washing over him but thankfully hidden under his illusionary guise. It was good that they had just stumbled upon this posting and plea for help. Not only would it help replenish their traveling money but, for him at least, it would be a welcome distraction. Something new to focus on rather than the long treks and empty silences of approval from his galanodel.

"I agree," Aalsan replied back to Kass in reference to the gathering of Jasper and the other apparent mercenaries. "It will be a nice change, perhaps some adventure. More travelers to ask about your metals?" He offered, having continually referred to all the magical items that Kass had or was seeking as 'metals.' "And don't worry about your tools, I'll keep an eye out as always." 

"I care not for the apparel you wear upon your head, cat-man Jasper. You have my solemn vow I will never touch it," Kass states. She then looks to Aalsan. "Yes, I have received more than a few curious looks since we have arrived. I will be answering more questions soon, I wager. But no matter. We should stop... doodling as well, shava Aalsan, we have taken enough of a break. Let us get to work. And... my thanks, for keeping an eye out. Such a strange phrase..."

Many of the townspeople, satisfied with the set of mercenaries that have presented themselves, mingle their way off the streets and back to their lives. The best that they can do now is wait. The temporary leader remains in the town's center, and seems intent on doing so for the remainder of the day.

Unless there are any other preparations you would like to make, then you six begin the brief walk to Lonsvell Keep. It takes around fifteen minutes. Is there any discussion or other preparation that happens over the course of the walk?

     "I'm a direct approach kind," Miesha would state to the others. "But that doesn't mean I don't recognize the advantage of knowing what you're getting yourself into.  Any of you good at sneaking around and getting a situation report unnoticed?"

With a smirk towards Kass, Maggwyn and the rest Jasper replies to Miesha by asking "would you believe I can be quite good at not drawing attention?"

With a nod towards Maggwyn he adds "she is also adequate."

Maggwyn looks at Jasper with surprise, when has he ever paid her a compliment? Unless of course he was trying to coerce her into something she didn’t want to do.  But this actually seemed genuine.  Huh, he continues to surprise her.  

“The name is Maggwyn, yes, if it’s alright with the rest of you, Jasper and I can try and scout a bit ahead and report back.”

"Yes.." The dark haired, blue eyed elf offered up in response to the human soldier's (Miesha), whose name he hadn't caught yet, question. He had been walking along with the others but would only really converse with Kass, provided anyone else would specifically try to engage with him. As he spoke up, his attention shifted briefly to Jasper as he chimed in as well, then to the other woman he had apparently been traveling with. The self nomination of the party's scouts was apparently occurring. "I can, er.. what is the phrase. Run in the shadows? Hide?" A slight gesturing wave from him, as if pushing aside the frustration of the right term. "I can scout."

"My name is Kass'izesh'parun'daomir Vlarkoa, though many of the Vexcall folk find that difficult to say. So I will permit you all to call me Kass. I, too, am more of a frontline fighter. Though with some knowledge in advance, I can reconfigure my armor specs into infiltrator mode. However, since I am currently in guardian mode, I shall stay behind with the bronze-skinned woman and allow the stealth team to operate unimpeded by my... what's the term... 'clanky' armor."

"I am called Crannoc Greenthorn.  I too can be stealthy as a cat, though I sense not as stealthy as Jasper the cat-man, nor Maggwyn of the Rolling Eyes, nor Aalsan the slightly haunted Elf.  As we approach, I will stay behind with... Kass of the Clanky Armor and our strong bronze leader whose name I did not hear.  May Temuth grant you three the silence of a high mountain meadow at dawn as you scout our target."

(Crannoc does not mean any of the above titles in a mocking way.  He's just heard that city-folk like titles and nicknames and is attempting to be watchful, observant and polite.)

He also doesn't realize that it might be rude of him just when the three scouts are about to set out and he reaches out to Temuth to cast Guidance unasked on Maggwyn, touching her lightly on the shoulder and giving her an eye-roll to show his good intentions.

(Maggwyn adds a 1d4 to all skill checks for the next 1 minute while Crannoc is concentrating on Guidance, unless she mentally refuses the help - target must be a "willing creature.")

Maggwyn finds it odd as the one called Crannoc gives everyone a strange but somewhat accurate title.  Even hers amuses her a bit.  She tries to get a lay of the land and out of the blue the man touches her!  The nerve!  She turns around ready to clock him in the face and as she pulls back, the man actually rolls his eyes... she stops mid strike and busts out laughing.  She doubles over in it, happy they are far enough away from the keep that it wouldn't reach it. 

"Oh you, you're something else.  Alright, I'll take the right side of the keep, cat-boy and elf, you two figure out what you're going to do." and she starts off

Stealth 15  +  3

     “Perhaps a short pause to introduce ourselves and plan a  minute?” Mineshaft suggests, planting the butt end of her spear in the ground and resting against it.  I am Miesha Breen, soldier, warrior and on occasion mercenary.  I come from the south and am a veteran of many of the most glorious battles down there.  It wasn’t always pretty by my compatriots and I managed  better than our enemies, eh?  A tradition I think we should continue…”

     Miesha looks up towards their destination and surveys the area a moment.  “I think that would make our best gathering point,” she says pointing out whatever would seem to provide the most cover, be it a boulder, low wall or tree.  Kass, Crannoc and I will remain there, ready to move up if anyone calls for us.”

     “ You three…Maggwyn, Jasper and… Sorry, what was your name again?” Miesha asks and waits for the Elf to reply.  “Alright, nice to know you..,  I’m thinking one scouts left, one right and one right up the front as sneaky as they can?  But you’re the pros so I’ll leave that to you…  See what you can, safely, and come back and report.  Then we’ll sort out our next step.”

     “That sound good to you all?” She added on belatedly.  She couldn’t help it, she was used to taking charge and having those around her follow without question.  But these aren’t her fellow soldiers, she reminded herself.  These people aren’t necessarily looking to follow…  best to include them, make a consensus.    She looks around and makes eye contact with each in turn.  “We work together.  Rely on each other.  We’re still strangers but we are in this together so we watch each other’s back, yes?”

"Aalsan," he offers in way of introduction to everyone, taking note of the others names as well. Much to his silent astonishment, this was the largest amount of people he had met at one time in over.. what was it now? Too long. 

As the one called Maggwyn took off towards the right side of the keep, Aalsan glanced over at Jasper and tilted his head slightly in something of an odd pose that was seemingly a tic or gesture of consideration for him.

"I'll take the front, as I can adjust.." He pauses for a moment as he briefly causes his traveler's clothes to shift color into something darker, attempting to display his illusion. For his clothes at least. "..as necessary." With that and pending any disagreement, he headed off to the front, moving carefully and prepared to adjust his appearance as necessary if he was spotted. 

Stealth 13 (no advantage as his cloak of elvenkind's hood is down)

Aalsan and Maggwyn (with Jasper just little bit behind) sneak towards the keep. There is a twenty-foot-tall, outer wall surrounding the keep itself. The closest the whole group could have gotten without impacting the others stealth is about thirty feet away, by some brush. The two who have already rolled stealth checks can get as close as to the wall. Looking around, it appears that neither of you have been detected. That said, you also see nothing that would have seen you. What do you two do?

Maggwyn pauses as she gets to a point where she can see the end of the wall on the right side.  She tilts her head a bit trying to hear any sounds that are not part of the natural background.  She waits there a minute seeing if she notices anything or waiting to hear anything from her fellow scouts.  Jasper is always good at the catcalls to signal her if need be.

If she hears nothing, she will slowly unfurl her wings - trying to keep the process as quiet as possible.  Once they at their full wingspan, she will lift off, flying so that she can just barely get a look over the top of the wall and get a quick look around.  Then descend, hopefully before anyone notices.

Maggwyn - Given your earlier stealth check, no one sees your wings, though the most perceptive of your own group saw the tail end of your movement. As you peer above the wall, you see a garden on the opposite side and in it you see a single figure, mostly humanoid but above average in size. You also see that on the front side of the wall where Aalsan is approaching there is a robed humanoid figure that is also hiding. You see only ten feet to your right is another such figure, but this one is immersed in some consistent murmur, not even taking note of the beating of your wings.

With a sharp intake of breath, Aalsan manipulated his disguise self spell towards a more poor commoner human appearance; brown hair, tired brown eyes, those weird round ears, dirty clothes, and a battered cloak. He'd seen plenty of them in his travels, of all ages. Another thing he had noticed was how unremarkable they were to most, like fixtures of the land. They had nothing and only wanted something, so most ignored. Something that he had hope would service his purpose in getting closer for a better view.

Stepping out the brush, Aalsan was careful to move with the lazy, slow, hungry gaunt he had also sadly seen in so many villages. For a race that built cities and empires one would think they would be better with food acquisition and distribution but alas. 

..alas, they survived, unlike yours..

Pushing the voice away, Aalsan moved to closer to the wall in his guise, searching for some form of an opening and awaiting notice by someone.. someones. A count of any guards at the front would be beneficial no? And the other two might make use of the distraction, hopefully. It had been a few moons since he had done this sort of thing. Kass did not often go for the subtle approach. 

When Aalsan mentions also being stealthy Jasper looks to Maggwyn and comments "ah, a potential new recruit!"  The tabaxi also snickers when Maggwyn is given the name 'rolling eyes' and proceeds to refer to her in this manner several times in the coming hours.

Jasper mostly ignores his own duty regarding the introductions assuming that everyone clearly knows who he is by now.

The talkative tabaxi had fallen behind the other scouts while preparing his Detect Magic but then proceeds swiftly around the left side of the keep and wall, circling a bit around the back side before using his feline skills to scale up and peak over the wall, but not before removing his hat momentarily so as not to draw attention.

Stealth: 27