"You are in no position to make requests!" Alakazam reaches under his jacket to procure a dagger.  The magician runs his thumb across the flat edge of the blade, supposing that his earlier deal with the bandit had no room for negotiation.

The bandit seems to have entered a fugue state. His soul is slowly leaving his body... The Knight cuts into this interrogation.

"Sir, I believe I'm in a position to answer your questions. There were indeed a great many more of them. The majority of the men departed for the nearby town of Phandalin. These lot here were supposed to sell me to a Zhentarim broker in Neverwinter." She answers simply.

Midnight nods briefly to her words. It seems to be agreeing with what she said. As a familiar, Midnight is able to understand all the languages of it's attached wizard.

(Sorry no formatting ATM)

Alakazam sighs as the bandit makes his mental escape, but is relieved when the knight answers his question.

"Perfect. Thank you, err..."  Alakazam pauses a moment, realizing he has yet to ask the Knight her name, "My apologies, I'm afraid in the midst of things I forgot my manners.  The name's Alakazam, ever a pleasure to meet you Miss...?"

"Alakzam, that is an interesting name. I'll share with you what you can call me, after all, you expedited my rescue. This has saved me at least a month of time." The Knight looks as stern as ever. She doesn't seem to care that you shape shifted several times in a row, something that should have quite frankly also freaked her out. Instead she holds out her hand for a shake, "You can call me Lys. Being upfront with you, that is not my true name, but I have doubts Alakazam is yours. I will not question your motives in helping me and killing these men, but I must ask you, are you intent on going to Phandalin and weeding these cretins out? If so, our goals are somewhat aligned."

Alakazam grabs Lys' hand and shakes it, "A pleasure to meet you, Lys."

At Lys' remark, Alakazam takes half a second to try and recall his real name.  He is not surprised when he fails to do so.  Though he lost a part of himself, what he gained and what he plans to do with his newfound gifts made it worth it.

"You are correct that Alakazam is not my real name.  You can consider it my stage name, and all the world is my stage.  As you say, I have plans to make way to Phandalin and dealing with this bunch permanently.  If our goals are aligned, then I think it'd make sense that we help each other out.  What say you?"

"I would say the pleasure is all mine then. Having your aid to dispose of these riffraff will be quite welcome." Lys nods at Alakazam. "Is this creature yours, perchance?" Lys points at Midnight.

Midnight is Alexandra's familiar, a conjurer who traveled with your circus. 

Arcana 12 to read:

 If Arcana is failed, read:

Arcana: 7

"Glad to have you on board," Alakazam says before kneeling down to face Midnight.

"She belonged to a member of the circus I worked at.  Hey there buddy.  What happened to your master?  I assume if you can cast your spells then she's still alive; we may still have the chance to save her."  Alakazam leans forward to scratch the cat underneath its chin.  Though he can't speak cat, Alakazam takes times to listen to Midnight's meows and woes.

Animal Handling (to discern anything Midnight may try to communicate): 7

Midnight does that thing cats do where they love your pets until suddenly they don't. She bites your finger very suddenly, though it doesn't really hurt much. It was more of a warning bite. She flies away from you and hovers between you and Lys, watching you with big dark eyes.

"Fascinating. It might be that we will have a third person to join our crusade."

(DM here asking: would you like to progress to a next scene? Perhaps long resting and then heading off to Phandalin?)

[My apologies for the lack of updates!  I've been swamped with work and school, and I took a me day yesterday to rest.  I thought I sent out a notification to all me campaigns the other day, but I missed yours (T - T). ]

"Yee-owch!  How spectacular..."  Alakazam reals his hand back to inspect the bite wound before waving it in the air to shake off the pain.  He then turns to Lys,  "Yes, a band of three against the world.  I suppose we can rest up a bit, then make way for Phandalin."

Alakazam will take some time to observe each of the bandits' features and appearance.  He'll also dig through their luggage and belongings for any information on the bandits' group.

Investigation Check: 10

(Hehe, no worries! I am still sick, so its nice to feel less pressure while under the weather!)

The main thing to note about these individuals is the red bandana they all have. They are wearing red bandanas in various styles, such as on the head, around the upper arm, on the neck, etc. But! They all have one tied to them somewhere. Your investigation of their belongings don't yield much information, but they do yield loot:

• 30 gold total. (Lys is not interested in that.)
• Leather armor and studded leather armor
• Scimitars, shortswords, and daggers (I'll let you decide how many of each you want, but nothing too goofy, I beg you!)
• A pair of 6-sided die

Finally, you do manage to find a letter:

The Spider needs more. Men, women, children -- kobold. It doesn't matter. Bring them all to Cragmaw or it'll be you I send.

                                                                                                                                              -- Glasstaff

Alakazam takes two bandanas, two scimitars, two daggers and the studded leather armor.  He also grabs the pair of dice and gives them a quick roll for fun.  "A 5 and a 6, interesting.  Hopefully my luck lasts long enough to see this through," he says to himself.  Alakazam reads the letter aloud for Midnight and Lys to hear before pocketing it as well.  In addition to this, Lys will keep the two scimitars she used in battle.

If Lys or Midnight have nothing of note to say about any of his findings, Alakazam recommends the party to (long) rest and then head out in the morning.

"Hmm. 'The Spider'? I'm not sure to whom this refers... but I suggest we keep it in mind," is Lys' only comment about these findings. She puts up no argument for a long rest and volunteers to keep watch. "Worry not... I don't need much sleep."

Midnight curls up as the both of you set around the fire these dead men had set up. Lys seems to be looking around the camp some more, her eyes seeming to try to find something specific. Her expression is stoic, but you get the feeling she seems a tiny bit upset. You can engage her if you'd like, or else take your long rest and begin anew in the morning.

(Reminds me: ding ding ding, you are level 2!)

Alakazam begins to prepare himself for bed.  If possible, he also uses prestidigitation to clean off any blood and dirt from his clothes and the loot he took from the bandits.  Alakazam offers this same service to Lys.

Noticing Lys' slight frustration, Alakazam inquires, "Something bothering you Lys?"

"I cannot find my sword... it's fairly large." A disappointed sigh escapes her lips. "I suppose I will settle for these toothpicks while I look for something with more weight to it." She cleans off the shortswords and sheaths them. She shakes her head at your offer of services. "Thank you, but I will be fine. I find calm in the small things. Cleaning my armor should provide me with some sense of clarity." She removes her chain shirt and works on cleaning it by hand. "Perhaps tomorrow, when we storm whatever stronghold these fools have... I will be reunited."

Though it may help little, Alakazam takes a cursory look around the campsite in search of a sword that fits Lys' description.  The magician walks around the backside of the cart with the cages and pauses a moment there, blocking himself from Lys' view.  His performer's instinct kicks in, and suddenly Alakazam tasks himself with trying to uplift the knight's mood.

Using his newly acquired eldritch invocation (misty visions), Alakazam casts Silent Image to create an illusion of a hefty longsword embedded into his chest.  "Oh, I think I found something.  Ah yes, this could be the sword you're looking for.  Let me bring it to- WoOooOoah, aaaaaagh!"  Alakazam says in a very poorly acted tone before stepping back into Lys' sight.  The magician hobbles over to Lys' a dramatic twirl here an obviously faked trip there.  He falls to the ground and crawls the last few feet to the knight before saying, "Is this your sword madam?  It seems you've misplaced it, blaaaargh."   The musician falls to the floor, faking death.  Without any intention of hiding it, Alakazam opens a single eye to watch the knight's reaction.

Perception Check (to search for Lys' sword): 16
Performance Check (for his little act): 9

The search for Lys' sword yields no fruit. It would appear that they took her weapon with them wherever they took the captives, such as your wizard friend. 

Lys sits, polishing her armor, with Midnight resting atop her head like a limp doll. The cat purrs as she scrubs blood off. She looks up suddenly, seeing your act. She stares unblinking for a moment as you land and crawl towards her. For almost a whole minute, it feels awkward. The air between you heavy. Maybe this wasn't so funny after all?

Then Lys chuckles, holding a hand to her mouth. She whispers, "Amusing." [Insight check rolled 5: Alakazam believes she is truly amused by this and in no way is this a pity laugh.] "Though... you are mistaken. It isn't a longsword... it is a bastard sword." She smiles.

A bead of sweat forms on Alakazam's head as he still laid on the floor.  He's had tough crowds before, but a one-on-one act held a different air about it.  When Lys finally laughed, Alakazam let out a huge mental sigh of relief.  The magician stood himself up and begin to pat the dirt off his clothes, "Ah I see, poor sword never even knew its father.  And now it rests alone and afraid, surrounded by bandits and miles from its owner.  We'll definitely have to save this poor soul from the clutches of evil.  And hopefully your master as well."  Alakazam adds the last line looking at Midnight.

If nothing else of importance happens, the magician finally decides to rest; finding himself a spot near the fire.  He says a goodnight to Lys and Midnight before drifting off to sleep.

[Just realized I forgot to have Alakazam dispel the illusionary longsword from his chest.  The visual of Alakazam patting himself on the back for his amazing show and then going to bed whilst forgetting to remove his prop is hilarious to me, so we'll leave it that way lol.]