Gor looks at the mayor in a confused fashion "You are celebrating the end of winter? Is that a normal festival? We would like to continue our investigations here once we eat"
Lucky already has a mug of ale and some food in his hand. He also as marked a traveler nearly passed out drunk and picked his pocket, before walking up to the mayor.
You know how to throw a party! This is great! That grave was a bust BTW thanks for sloving us down... Cheers.
Lucky bumps mugs with the mayor and finishes his ale before grabbing another.
Zanoth decides to keep a step back and see if there are any additional, “unusual” onlookers, interlopers or villagers showing unwarranted attention on the group.
"Yah, my friends, Aaris' Eorl's suite is all yours, if you want it. Though, there are a couple other rooms available as Aaris had some other people check out this morning. So, if you'd like a bit more privacy, I'm sure he could accommodate." Bercha clanks mugs with Lucky and drains his own at a draught, following it up with a "Cheers to Winter's Feast!" It's only then that he starts to focus on what Lucky said before the toast. "A bust you say? You didn't find anything useful, nothing to point us in the right direction of Feorac's thieves? Disconcerting!"
Zanoth downs the ale, rips into the meat and shakes his head.. “No leads, no perps, no evidence…”.. (looking the Mayor in the eye).. “Maybe some shakedowns ?”
Mayor Bercha exhales a sputtering cough when the massive warrior Zanoth says, "shakedowns." "ach" *cough cough* "Shakedowns? Meaning you want to just start tossing people's homes to look for clues. I sincerely hope that won't be necessary. I'm inclined to believe if anybody here in town helped it was probably outsiders." Bercha swirls a finger around the top of his ale mug as he disappears in thought for a moment, then the group watches as some sort of recognition crosses his mind. "Dark! You know what. I didn't even think about it until just now, but it's awfully strange that those guests of Aaris checked out today! I mean, who leaves a town on the Vikaday of Winter's Feast?! That's the day any normal person would want to be in town to celebrate?! I wonder if he or his wife were able to get more information about who they were, or maybe where they were headed? Might want to start there?"
And start there they did, and glad of it. Aaris agreed that not only was it strange that they checked out on the Vikaday of Winter's Feast, but the hour and manner of their checkout as well. "They were in a hurry to get somewhere, weren't forthcoming with where, exactly, but they headed out of town by the northwest road before daybreak. They were lucky I was up working on food for today's festivities. The road they left by leads deeper into the mountains toward the westfork of the hunter's trail known as the Wandering Pass. There were four of them altogether, a woman and three men. The woman was a Highlander, of that I've no doubt, but the men? They seemed like Republic folk to me, or maybe Tradebayans, but certainly not Highlanders. She's tall, blond, and has deep blue eyes, she was wearing fur and leather, with a Highland axe and shield across her back. She's the one that signed the guest book, but there's not way to tell if it was her actual name or not. She signed it 'Nyssa Cragmoon.' Two of the men looked like brothers, both dark of hair and eyes, with aquiline noses. The last was short, with close cut, honey-brown hair and hazel eyes. I took 'em for hunters in town for the feast when they arrived, wasn't sure what to think when they left so early this morning. They left on foot. If you had some mounts you might be able to catch up to 'em. If'n you're looking to buy some horses for the road, Radill runs the local stables. Not sure how many riding horses he's got for sale at the moment. Might be you'll need to double up riders, but you'd still likely close distance on 'em even so."
“Mayor Bercha, we were paid to do a job, and I don’t remember any limits or specifics, except to return the stolen item, and whilst I don’t relish having to get more “primal”, I will do what is necessary. However, I am happy to see the “shakedown” of your mind worked… These four visitors seem like potential leads, and given what we ascertained from the crime scene, I even wonder if they are the same… maybe under some magic or illusion to hide their forms and activities.”
“Maybe Mills and I can go acquire horses for the group, between his knowledge of animals and my persuasive nature we can get sturdy steeds for a fair price, and the rest can check out the rooms these “guests” were occupying. Then meet up and get on the road to chase down these leads.”
Mills will walk away from the mayor with a smile before turning to Zanoth and the others.
"The thieves had inside help to get inna' town. Not some strangers what travel in and don't know nothin' 'bout the mass grave, the necklace or the fest-ivities. The mayor has got his head stuck up his... Never mind, point is: we need to go askin' some folks what actually know these people and aren't afraid of a bit o' finger pointin'. Maybe swing by the shops 'for travelin' supplies' and such. I will head for the stables. Make it look like we're doin' as told. E'rybody got that?"
Gor looks at the mayor and wonders aloud how the level of their incompetence has kept them as leader of this town and follows the others away from them.
<in low tones> I agree with Gor, incompetence.. if they wanted to steal their own toys, then why all the skeleton theatrics and subsequent costs.. no, these are simple, bumbling yokels.. The mayor is probably one of the few who can read, or his brother was on the Brute Squad.. But thats not to say some here were unwittingly helping, either by ignorance, lax lips or small financial incentive.
Regardless, the perpetrators have left and are ever getting further away. Let’s get these horses and be after them, else I fear we will lose them for good.
Gor listens and chimes in "I agree there is something missing. These 4 from the tavern do not resemble the 4 who raised the dead or stole the item. Are they working together? Are they tracking them down to steal the item in question. More answers lead to more questions. The whole town new of this trinket but the ones who stole it and the ones from the tavern are not from here. This means someone told them about it but who?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(OOC: Looks like we've got two diverging plans here, which would break the first rule in the adventurers' playbook: never split the party. :P This situation needs a jolt in the arm, and I think I know just how to get that done by sending everybody in the same direction so I'm going to be doing some forcing of things. Essentially I'm going to grab a hold of everybody's characters and move them around a bit. I'm hoping that when all is said and done you'll all see why. If not, feel free to PM me with discussion points.)
It was just before sunset when the group, wanting to know whether horses were a viable option for pursuit or not, went to the local livery and found the lanky, somewhat unkempt looking Radill that Aaris had mentioned. It was obvious that Radill was better with horses than he was with people, but Mills had dealt with many such during his years of training in the Republic's Order of the Wild. Mills pulled Radill aside for a moment to try to calm him, much the way he would try to calm a distressed beast. It worked, and a soothed Radill was much easier to talk to. And talk he did. Quite a bit actually. When Zanoth and Lucky mentioned their misgivings about Mayor Bercha's conduct during the whole affair, Radill nodded in agreement, and said the mayor was blind to the actual goings on in "his" town. "If'n ye ask me," Radill said, while he was putting blankets, bridles, and saddles on the four horses he felt he could reasonably part with, for a small fee of course, 200gp total for the four, and the promise that he'd purchase them back, less a usage tax, from the group if they came back in good condition, "I'd check the widows' circle. That mongrel Vivi has been acting very strangely lately, and she seemed almost giddy that two new women would be adopted into their circle. I've seen her meeting with all kinds of outsiders over the past months."
Mills understood immediately that "mongrel" meant a bi-racial person, usually someone whose ancestry was part white skinned and part black. In these parts that usually meant a Highlander and a Plainsperson married and had kids. "Mongrel" was an overtly racist term, but Mills saw his fair share of that in these extremely rural towns as well. There were certain things Mills liked about living in the wild, and the fact that animals were incapable of racism was absolutely one of them. Still, for the purposes of their investigation and the purposes of keeping expenses as low as possible, Mills just brushed it off for the moment.
17, 8, 7
As it was deep twilight by the time the horses were ready to go, the group thought it might be worthwhile to stop over to the house of the widows' circle and see what was what. It was Vivi who answered the door, and Mills' guess was right, she was definitely the child of at least one Plainsperson parent, her features were delicate, her complexion caramel brown, but her eyes were ice-blue. She was past middle age by a number of years, but still beautiful. She held the front door of the two story house that served as the home for all Hyssop Ridge's widows mostly closed as she addressed the group. "Well? What's it now then? Come to try and take advantage of some helpless women? You can take yer weapons and wands somewhere else, they'll find no warm place here!"
Mills holds up his hands. "That's not how we hear it. Plenty o' strangers moving through town, that ain't nothin' new. But the attack and the break in are a horse of a different color, and folks have seen plenty o' strangers minglin' about you, Ms Vivi. Best tell the tale, or I'll hear about it from the rest o' town and let them make their own assumptions."
“Mongrel”.. A term Zanoth had heard many times, however more often in his native Orc language, and often directed at him because of his own half-Orc and half-Elf heritage …. He had “put down” many a man who had used the slur against him and was disconcerted at the term used to describe another, but given their group was here on supposedly friendly terms, held his spear arm and used his anger to guide the negotiations with the uncouth stable hand to obtain a decent discount. But as to returning the animals, if Radill treated them the same way he treated humans, Zanoth preferred to keep the beasts.
Deciding to play the “good soldier” to Mill’s “bad soldier”, Zanoth waited until Mills has finished his first harsh opening words, hoping for the usual “surprised back-step” such a verbal attack would cause, at which he could then use his persuasive skills to try and extract some information.
“Vivi is it ? Sorry to intrude but as you can see, my friend here Mills is tired and on edge from a long couple of days chasing undead skeletons and shadows of those who have eluded us, and he quite rightly is at the end of his tether.. Our team has been hired by your towns mayor to get to the bottom of the recent attacks and theft, and we understand you may have knowledge of some recent newcomers”
Gor looks at the mayor in a confused fashion "You are celebrating the end of winter? Is that a normal festival? We would like to continue our investigations here once we eat"
(tem does the die let me cheat on like, a d6 roll? Or is it for in game dice games)
Drax stands in the back, and let's gor talk. Then, he adds, "and we also would like the suite again.... It was quite nice last we were here."
Hi.
Lucky already has a mug of ale and some food in his hand. He also as marked a traveler nearly passed out drunk and picked his pocket, before walking up to the mayor.
You know how to throw a party! This is great! That grave was a bust BTW thanks for sloving us down... Cheers.
Lucky bumps mugs with the mayor and finishes his ale before grabbing another.
Slight of hand: 15
(OOC: IN GAME. Unless you think you can attune to a magical die? O.o :P)
"Yah, my friends, Aaris' Eorl's suite is all yours, if you want it. Though, there are a couple other rooms available as Aaris had some other people check out this morning. So, if you'd like a bit more privacy, I'm sure he could accommodate." Bercha clanks mugs with Lucky and drains his own at a draught, following it up with a "Cheers to Winter's Feast!" It's only then that he starts to focus on what Lucky said before the toast. "A bust you say? You didn't find anything useful, nothing to point us in the right direction of Feorac's thieves? Disconcerting!"
11
11
(OOC: Lucky was able to swipe 14 silver pieces from the hapless drunk.)
Lucky hands the Mayor another ale. Talk to the elf he got the details.
Lucky gets more ale, 1 for Zanoth and himself as well as a shank of meat. He hands Zanoth an ale, some meat and 7 sliver.
So what you see friend, where shall we start?
Ooc:not sure how much all that cost removed 2 sliver
Mills looks around. "Yeah, there ain't much to go on here. Guess we best just move on."
Paladin - warforged - orange
Mayor Bercha exhales a sputtering cough when the massive warrior Zanoth says, "shakedowns." "ach" *cough cough* "Shakedowns? Meaning you want to just start tossing people's homes to look for clues. I sincerely hope that won't be necessary. I'm inclined to believe if anybody here in town helped it was probably outsiders." Bercha swirls a finger around the top of his ale mug as he disappears in thought for a moment, then the group watches as some sort of recognition crosses his mind. "Dark! You know what. I didn't even think about it until just now, but it's awfully strange that those guests of Aaris checked out today! I mean, who leaves a town on the Vikaday of Winter's Feast?! That's the day any normal person would want to be in town to celebrate?! I wonder if he or his wife were able to get more information about who they were, or maybe where they were headed? Might want to start there?"
And start there they did, and glad of it. Aaris agreed that not only was it strange that they checked out on the Vikaday of Winter's Feast, but the hour and manner of their checkout as well. "They were in a hurry to get somewhere, weren't forthcoming with where, exactly, but they headed out of town by the northwest road before daybreak. They were lucky I was up working on food for today's festivities. The road they left by leads deeper into the mountains toward the westfork of the hunter's trail known as the Wandering Pass. There were four of them altogether, a woman and three men. The woman was a Highlander, of that I've no doubt, but the men? They seemed like Republic folk to me, or maybe Tradebayans, but certainly not Highlanders. She's tall, blond, and has deep blue eyes, she was wearing fur and leather, with a Highland axe and shield across her back. She's the one that signed the guest book, but there's not way to tell if it was her actual name or not. She signed it 'Nyssa Cragmoon.' Two of the men looked like brothers, both dark of hair and eyes, with aquiline noses. The last was short, with close cut, honey-brown hair and hazel eyes. I took 'em for hunters in town for the feast when they arrived, wasn't sure what to think when they left so early this morning. They left on foot. If you had some mounts you might be able to catch up to 'em. If'n you're looking to buy some horses for the road, Radill runs the local stables. Not sure how many riding horses he's got for sale at the moment. Might be you'll need to double up riders, but you'd still likely close distance on 'em even so."
Mills will walk away from the mayor with a smile before turning to Zanoth and the others.
"The thieves had inside help to get inna' town. Not some strangers what travel in and don't know nothin' 'bout the mass grave, the necklace or the fest-ivities. The mayor has got his head stuck up his... Never mind, point is: we need to go askin' some folks what actually know these people and aren't afraid of a bit o' finger pointin'. Maybe swing by the shops 'for travelin' supplies' and such. I will head for the stables. Make it look like we're doin' as told. E'rybody got that?"
Paladin - warforged - orange
Gor looks at the mayor and wonders aloud how the level of their incompetence has kept them as leader of this town and follows the others away from them.
Feels like we are missing something.... this job is starting to feel like we are going to be under paid... well let's go I guess I call shotgun.
Gor listens and chimes in "I agree there is something missing. These 4 from the tavern do not resemble the 4 who raised the dead or stole the item. Are they working together? Are they tracking them down to steal the item in question. More answers lead to more questions. The whole town new of this trinket but the ones who stole it and the ones from the tavern are not from here. This means someone told them about it but who?"
(OOC: Looks like we've got two diverging plans here, which would break the first rule in the adventurers' playbook: never split the party. :P This situation needs a jolt in the arm, and I think I know just how to get that done by sending everybody in the same direction so I'm going to be doing some forcing of things. Essentially I'm going to grab a hold of everybody's characters and move them around a bit. I'm hoping that when all is said and done you'll all see why. If not, feel free to PM me with discussion points.)
It was just before sunset when the group, wanting to know whether horses were a viable option for pursuit or not, went to the local livery and found the lanky, somewhat unkempt looking Radill that Aaris had mentioned. It was obvious that Radill was better with horses than he was with people, but Mills had dealt with many such during his years of training in the Republic's Order of the Wild. Mills pulled Radill aside for a moment to try to calm him, much the way he would try to calm a distressed beast. It worked, and a soothed Radill was much easier to talk to. And talk he did. Quite a bit actually. When Zanoth and Lucky mentioned their misgivings about Mayor Bercha's conduct during the whole affair, Radill nodded in agreement, and said the mayor was blind to the actual goings on in "his" town. "If'n ye ask me," Radill said, while he was putting blankets, bridles, and saddles on the four horses he felt he could reasonably part with, for a small fee of course, 200gp total for the four, and the promise that he'd purchase them back, less a usage tax, from the group if they came back in good condition, "I'd check the widows' circle. That mongrel Vivi has been acting very strangely lately, and she seemed almost giddy that two new women would be adopted into their circle. I've seen her meeting with all kinds of outsiders over the past months."
Mills understood immediately that "mongrel" meant a bi-racial person, usually someone whose ancestry was part white skinned and part black. In these parts that usually meant a Highlander and a Plainsperson married and had kids. "Mongrel" was an overtly racist term, but Mills saw his fair share of that in these extremely rural towns as well. There were certain things Mills liked about living in the wild, and the fact that animals were incapable of racism was absolutely one of them. Still, for the purposes of their investigation and the purposes of keeping expenses as low as possible, Mills just brushed it off for the moment.
17, 8, 7
As it was deep twilight by the time the horses were ready to go, the group thought it might be worthwhile to stop over to the house of the widows' circle and see what was what. It was Vivi who answered the door, and Mills' guess was right, she was definitely the child of at least one Plainsperson parent, her features were delicate, her complexion caramel brown, but her eyes were ice-blue. She was past middle age by a number of years, but still beautiful. She held the front door of the two story house that served as the home for all Hyssop Ridge's widows mostly closed as she addressed the group. "Well? What's it now then? Come to try and take advantage of some helpless women? You can take yer weapons and wands somewhere else, they'll find no warm place here!"
Mills holds up his hands. "That's not how we hear it. Plenty o' strangers moving through town, that ain't nothin' new. But the attack and the break in are a horse of a different color, and folks have seen plenty o' strangers minglin' about you, Ms Vivi. Best tell the tale, or I'll hear about it from the rest o' town and let them make their own assumptions."
Paladin - warforged - orange
Persuasion 20