Crimson Sands of Time

Oli doesn't resist getting dragged away by Randy, but does put his hood up to hide his ears to keep from being singled out by the guards of this city too quickly. While on the way to the Stone Wizard, Oli says to Randy, "Well, that was a bit more exciting than I thought it would be. By the way, you have somethin' on your forehead."

At the table, Oli accepts a cup of ale and silently watches what unfolds.

<ooc: I checked last night but the notifications didn't show any new posts so I didn't look. Now I know to look anyway.>

Triak will take each party members order, whether it's ale or wine, and hand them each a drink and offer them a chance to catch their breath.

"My name is Trisk. I am a wizard of sorts. Here, have a drink."

"I am Prim Handor, administrative assistant to Nurush Xamaroth, Seneschel of Eltabbar, He has instructed me to have you deliver this package to Lavas Gurza, the Commisioner of Drains and Cisterns in the city of Eltabbar.  You are to seek him out in the Daereth Market, at Peldanther's Gambling Club."

He eyes Tetrevess, noticing him picking up the packet. " I do not know the contents of the package, but I am quite sure it is none of my business, nor yours." he notes, pointedly. "The packet has been magically sealed and my employer will certainly be waware if it has been opened.  Now, for your service, I am prepared to compensate each of you 10 gold pieces, in full, in advance. But, be warned, taking the Seneschel's money without completing the task is tantamount to suicide.  Lastly, and I doubt this needs to be overtly stated, but a beaurocrat must be above all two things: punctual and thorough.  Discretion is a must.  should you run into any trouble with the authorities, you should not expect a rescue or aid of any sort."

With a practiced pollite smile, he concludes, "Any questions?"

“Oh sorry.. I thought this was for us.  (Tetrevess quickly stops trying to open the box, his face flushing red under his bushy brown beard). “Certainly..Umm.. no offense but.. two points.  on the plus side..we just recently killed a black dragon dracolich, so our usual..umm…fees if we had such, might be a wee bit higher than 10 gold.. - not to seem ungrateful or anything,  and we appreciate your trust-  but is there.. more, perhaps not monetarily- to come?  and on the minus side.. discretion, especially today, does not seem to be our strongest attribute.   Why us?”. 

Well met Trisk- thanks for the wine, and the rescue.  Im tetrevess, also a wizard, Order of Scribes.   you can call me T, or Tet, if you like.   We also have another wizard in a portable hole- he was petrified.  we wanted to find someone to help with that- one of the reasons we are in town.  Also- we are not huge fans of the undead here, in general- thought maybe we could help somehow. “

"Discretion is not the strongest attribute of a bull in a china shop, your discretion, or lack thereof, rivals that of the Terrasque." At this, he eyes Sam, in a knowing, rather than hostile manner. "It is not my place to question the duties that befall me, but like most things, I suspect it's to do with politics. I gather you may have a friend or two in high places.  As to the payment, it is a matter of bookkeeping.  Nothing will draw the wrong kind of attention to a public servant than receiving goods or services for free, except perhaps the over-compensation of contractors for certain mundane tasks.  Reasonably, anyone in this room headed by way of the market could take this packet for the proscribed fee.  My advice: take the package, keep to your task and avoid trouble with the authorities." he speaks softly as he imparts these words, before returning to full volume to proclaim: "Thay is a free country*, do as you please with regard to the offer.  I am here to present it, not to force your hand."

(*Note, this common refrain is often heard throughout Thay, sometimes spoken genuinely, at others, with great irony.  For, slavery has always run rampant through the land, and even as it fades, the undead hoards under the control of Szazz Tam along with all of his loyal-enough agents, lead to a very repressed society among all but the elite, thus there are two distinct Thays: one in which the stated freedom largely exists as described, and (for the majority of Thayans,) another Thay, where the very act of denying such a luxury is sufficient cause for an excess of scrutiny from the Probity Corps.)

Oli pretends to be absorbed by his drink and by the conversation at their table, but glances around the room (under the pretense of checking on Randy) looking for those watching or listening in on their conversation, and to get a feel for what type of people visit this place.

 Perception in log: 30

The rambling building itself is a warren of private dining rooms, secluded booths, and discreet tables.  The crowd is largely human, though there is a single hobgoblin at one table.  Folks keep their conversations hushed and their eyes do not wander aimlessly around the room.

The Stone Wizard is currently owned by Jago Xander, a reserved, slender, and swarthy Thayan who oversees the entire operation. He stands behind the bar, beside the bartender, leaning over some papers,  occasionally looking up to see how things are going. A dust mephit sits perched on his shoulder. Suddenly, he appears just beside Oli "Word of advice, friend." he says in a calm gravely voice,  "We got two rules in this establishment: One, no fighting; and two, mind your own business"  Pepe here, he's got terrible breath, folks know.  He's k8nd if a reminder, to help folks keep the second rule in mind and help me keep the first rule intact.

Ethan lets out a sigh of relief as he enters the tavern and dismisses his invisibility. Seeing his brother get a taste of his own medicine as the furious persona he once wore was also icing on the cake, since he usually was the one who was yelling at him to stop messing around and causing trouble. Also, kind of ironic that was one time he disliked chaos; He never saw Randy reject that kind of idea before. and he's wondering why. Oh well, at least this short would be sufficient to help recharge his spell slots.

He then sits at the counter alongside Tetrevess, Oli and the new guy when a bartender asks him for a drink. "Just water please. Whilst I can drink, I don't do so very often. But thanks." Ethan politely responds as he turns to the Shadar Kai that assisted them. He's not talkative like his younger brother, but that doesn't mean he avoids them altogether, though he does express concern when Randy noticeably shoves past a group of men to sit in a couch all by himself. "Thanks for saving our backs there, new guy. Uh- I mean, Trisk, if I overheard correctly, right?" He shakes his hand as a gesture of politeness. "I'm Ethan Wolftree, Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen. It's a pleasure to be teaming up with you." He points to his sullen brother on the far right. "Again apologies for his rude behaviour but that orange armoured guy there, that's my younger brother, Randy. I'm always the one on the lookout for his rash actions, so if he does anything wrong, I'll be the one taking responsibility for it."

Quote from Wile_E_Coyote >>

DM FAIL:

Ed Greenwood: "Prim does not know the contents of the package and should sternly and repeatedly warn against any attempts to open or otherwise investigate the packet's contents."

Me:  "I have something for you." He reaches into his pocket and removes a paper packet, setting it on the table. It is roughly 8 × 11 inches and 2 inches thick. It is comprised of some sort of waxy brown paper and bears the seal of Eltabbar."

Players: "I open the packet"

<DM.exe has crashed.>

Opening it is a choice, but it should be a conscious decision, unless you prefer to play it comically this way.

"I am Prim Handor, administrative assistant to Nurush Xamaroth, Seneschel of Eltabbar, He has instructed me to have you deliver this package to Lavas Gurza, the Commisioner of Drains and Cisterns in the city of Eltabbar.  You are to seek him out in the Daereth Market, at Peldanther's Gambling Club."

He eyes Tetrevess, noticing him picking up the packet. "Discretion is a must.  should you run into any trouble with the authorities, you should not expect a rescue or aid of any sort."

Ethan does notice the packet that has been handed to Tetrevess; He's extremely sceptical of its contents as he raises an eyebrow but doesn't dare to make any further comments. "Isn't that what we've been facing everyday?" Ethan chuckles lightly just to brighten the atmosphere a little. "But, in all seriousness though, Tetris is right. We're in need of allies if we have to cleanse the rest of the threats that are potentially lurking deep beneath the surface. Whilst we do have some respectable firepower, we all know that our alone won't be enough, so if there's any help you know that we can find, we'd be thankful if you can give us directions on where to go once we depart."

Quote from badfishingdad75 >>

Oli pretends to be absorbed by his drink and by the conversation at their table, but glances around the room (under the pretense of checking on Randy) looking for those watching or listening in on their conversation, and to get a feel for what type of people visit this place.

"You think he'd be able to stranglehold me with that weak-as physique of his?" Ethan whispers to Oli as he too glances at his futile attempts of fixing his teleportation machine. The last Randy tried to wrestle his brother to the ground which was like, two weeks before the two of them met the group, it didn't go well for him.

Oli replies to the man that came from behind the counter, "Thanks for the explanation and warning. I am not looking for trouble, nor was I trying to pry into anyone's business. But what if someone from here follows us out? Do you provide protection after we leave? I need to look out for the safety of our group and make sure I note when someone started following us. I don't put my life in anyone's hands but mine. I have seen what I need and won't be looking around again, other than to note the faces of those that enter after us in case they unwisely show their faces again where they shouldn't. I can wait outside if that doesn't suit you. Don't worry, it wouldn't be right outside the door. Again, I am not looking for trouble, but trying to minimize it."

<ooc: I assume Oli doesn't know his name, nor that he is the owner, but if he does I can edit the response to include his name. Right now Oli would guess he is the bouncer.>

<You could probably guess he's at least the manager if not owner if I described him better - he was probably working out next week's schedule o0r checking inventory flows or something.  He's a conjurer, not intended to look especially intimidating, just reasonably tough. True likely enough a backroom for such things.>

"You're from out of town, I gather.  Else, you'd see the folly of those words.  You're in Eltabbar, son. Even when nobody follows you, you're being watched - 'cept 'ere of course.  Some of it you'll see, Probies are out in broad daylight here, but too may eyes to spot them all.  I'm not trying to make you paranoid. It aint paranoia if you're right."

(He's kind of trying to let you know he suspects you are wanted criminals and .. he's right - you just murdered a bunch of police at a control point. Whether or not he knows that, is unclear.  You don't see any military presence and there aren't any undead about - which in most places wouldn't need to be said, but in Thay, its pretty common)

<If there's anything else, go for it now - this place is mostly here to get you that packet and send you on your way to the gambling hall.  It's easy to find, picture a Casino irl, now imagine you're from out of town and trying to find it.  Easy, right? There should be ample signage to attract visitors from a distance, so just head to the market and you won't miss it.  If you're asking, this is the gist of Prim's answer.>

<I think Sam is the only remaining PC who saw Sigil - but the impact of the place is still important for the trajectory of our story.  Reading through the recently released Planescape adventure, I found this line most interesting: "The last Great Modron March occurred ahead of schedule and experienced a heightened number of irregularities and losses for tenebrous reasons.">

Also, Samogri, there is now an official symbol for the Fraternity of Order, to which you belong. I really tried to find one before, but I just don't think one ever existed. Ta-da!

Trisk will pour himself a glass of wine and finish it rather quickly. Looking around quickly and then ducking down to hover his head a little above the table and casting Minor Illusion to make whispers that can be easily overheard and make enticing promises of the future. He does this to prevent their actual conversation being overheard by anyone nearby as they will hear more luring whispers and hopefully ignore us.

"We should make a plan quick or get a room somewhere where we can plan our next move. If no one identifies us they won't even be looking for us. But that could also just be wishful thinking."

Before the owner leaves, Oli replies, "You are right, this is my first time in Eltabbar. And from the guards' obvious distrust of my kind, I can say it has put me on my guard. I think you can understand why I am being overly couscous then. And thank you for the additional warning for what else to expect in this city. Makes me feel safer being in here than out there."

When he's gone and were all under the cover of the Minor Illusion spell Oli says, "Should I have not attacked after they cast a spell at us? Now that we're out of the heat of the moment, I can see we could have kept trying to just sneak in while still invisible, instead of attacking. And from what the manager or owner said, it seems likely what we did was seen and our descriptions noted."

<dozens of people saw you. Anyone who wasn't invisible the whole time would have been seen by several people.>

Quote from badfishingdad75 >>

When he's gone and were all under the cover of the Minor Illusion spell Oli says, "Should I have not attacked after they cast a spell at us? Now that we're out of the heat of the moment, I can see we could have kept trying to just sneak in while still invisible, instead of attacking. And from what the manager or owner said, it seems likely what we did was seen and our descriptions noted."

"The thing is even, if we didn't attack, those guards would have dispelled the invisibility I previously brought up anyway; The entire reason behind why I counterspelled was because I didn't want all of us to be exposed out of the blue. I had no intentions of even starting this fight, even though I was trying to get the entire line in a panic so that we can get by without a trace. And... they despise, you...? Why is that?" Ethan speaks up before he whips his head around. "This is just my idea but do you guys see any backdoors that we can possibly exit by? Right now this is the only thing I could think of as a possible escape plan before we take refuge somewhere else. Also, do you guys know if there was anyone out of us five who remained entirely unseen by the guards throughout the entire chaos? I was thinking that if so, they may not be recognised that easily and maybe they could act as an actual local or something."

Random perception if needed: 19

"If there's no backdoor we can try to sneak away through the front after things calm down a bit."

Trisk will wait until someone finishes their drink before pouring himself a second.

You're good to just walk out tbe door.  You don't need a spell to do everything in the world.  Just a basic mundane disguise, maybe.  

Also, it's a police checkpoint.  All you had to do was answer the questions they would ask and they'd let you through.  They'd be rude about it, but that's it.  Now they're dead. Openly marked secret police working directly for the undead totalitarian dictator of the evil nation whose capital you're entering.  A disguise woukd have been a good idea, but not strictly mandatory.  Now. Yeah I think so. 

Since you have an illusionist, I imagine even a mundane disguise could be pretty convining with some creativity.  Don't look at your cha4acter sheet like a menu, it's very limiting. Instead think of it as inspiration.  Spells only do what they say, so if you feel short on options, don't try to use a spell to accomplish what you want to do.

Also, there is literally a spell for this seeming which I don't think anyone has, but this is very much the kind of place where you might get say, a tattoo of seeming, for instance.

Oli replies to Ethan, "A guard took one look at me walking toward the check point from the city side, and with no other information, decided I was part of the group trying to sneak INTO the city and charged at me. If that does not show bias towards my kind, than what would?"

To the rest of the group he says, "But in any case, I can sneak out and buy some disguise kits and bring them back here to help everyone change their appearance while we wait for things to calm down outside. Or does anyone else have any ideas?"

<ooc: Ignore rolls in log as I decided to get group input before implementing that plan. If we do use that plan I will keep those rolls.>

 ...

 So you're plan is to sneak out to the market, your destinantion, to buy disguises to go to the maket.  I'm not trying to make things complicated. I'm just trying to breathe in some verisimilitude.  Just go to the place and deliver the thing.  The choice is open it or don't.  You know the recipient will know if you do, but do you think maybe it's a setup? It a real, genuine choice that either matters or doesn't. In any case, there really won't be any trouble outside that choice, just one of two consequential results.  I'd like to get to the next venue in-game by tomorrow, if possible- it's the gambling hall in the market.