"Why you--" growled Locke under his breath as his hands clenched on their own. He forced himself to relax them, but it was taking some effort to not show these clowns what for. He looked around at his companions to follow their lead, but the dark look on his normally-calm face suggested he'd rather punish these magicians for their insults rather than walk away.

“I can’t see your trainee coming here of their free will. Who’d want to be instructed by three clowns who perpetually fall off their seats laughing about their own jokes. My guess is that he prefers to stay at that circus academy that you spoke of and takes real lessons. You don’t even wear your red noses. You’re on a break here but where’s the rest of your troupe?” Rizo asks as genuine as he can, trying to keep a straight face and not starting to chuckle about his own joke. “And you still haven’t told me your names, or do you clowns simply call each other Clayton as part of the act?”

Ruaccek had a bad feeling about these two from the get-go. 

Ruaccek Insight:  23

If insight roll indicates evil intentions Ruacceck

Bonus Action: Divine Favor

Action Attack the Mage: 30 Damage: 20 (Piercing damage) + 2 (Divine Favor Radiant Damage) = 22

"I've had it with all three of you.  Face our wrath. Ka-Kaw-Koo"

Ruaccek's Insight result:

The three magicians all begin to yell at Rizo simultaneously; he actually has a bit of difficulty making out exactly what each person is saying.

"Yeah, we haven't given our names yet, since you've not given your real name! Who are you really, you twit?"
"Clowns?! Who do you think you are? You look like you've already been put through the wringer, you sure you want to talk like that to us?!"
"We don't need the rest of our 'troupe' to shut you up, so you might want to watch your mouth there, 'Snout!'"

Ruaccek says, "Rizo, Locke, Gordon I think the Mage here is trying to pick a fight and really wants us to start it for some reason.  For the life of me I can't imagine why.  Do any of you three know why someone would do that?"

"I mean 3 against 4 and well....numbers really can be deceiving.  I'm just thinking we leave these individuals alone.  What say you?"

Quote from Cwreando >>

Ruaccek says, "Rizo, Locke, Gordon I think the Mage here is trying to pick a fight and really wants us to start it for some reason.  For the life of me I can't imagine why.  Do any of you three know why someone would do that?"

"I mean 3 against 4 and well....numbers really can be deceiving.  I'm just thinking we leave these individuals alone.  What say you?"

 

 

 "Perhaps they mean to rob us, but wish for a way to justify their actions if questioned. I'd prefer to leave them alive, at least, but I wish they not rob anyone else. I'm confident that the small ones are weak, but the one in the stupid hat might give us some trouble."

Locke raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Ruaccek, then he turned back to appraise the other adventurers, and his eyes narrowed. "Trying to pick a fight, eh? Makes sense, considering they seemed to just be throwing whatever nonsense they could at us to elicit a reaction. Hmph."

Quote from Dragon_Heir >>

 "Perhaps they mean to rob us, but wish for a way to justify their actions if questioned. I'd prefer to leave them alive, at least, but I wish they not rob anyone else. I'm confident that the small ones are weak, but the one in the stupid hat might give us some trouble."

The merchant turned towards his companions, putting the newcomers squarely behind his back as he grinned and shrugged. "If he's wanting us to make the first move, then as long as we don't, he doesn't really matter. I say we just leave, too."

“Right, no problem, keep your names for yourselves, Claytons,” Rizo teases. “There’s funny-hat-Clayton, fair-hair-Clayton and unremarkable-Clayton. Names, no worries, we’ll just go with these.” 

“I’m ready to go,” he tells his companions. “If they want to fight, though, we should watch our backs.” Turning around, “Give my regards to Clayton… you know … the other one.”

(( OOC @Gordon: Will you also walk away? ))

Quote from RodTheBard >>

(( OOC @Gordon: Will you also walk away? ))

 Yes. 

As the party begins to walk, the other adventurers look at each in shock. They don't follow, but their shouts of derision and name-calling do, until they finally fade in the distance.

(( End of Encounter ))

(( OOC: Will the party attempt to take a short rest before continuing on? ))

Rizo plucks a few berries as they march through the forest and distributes 2-3 Goodberry for each among the party, “You can feed one to any of us who goes down to get them up again, or eat one when you’re really hungry.”

After some more time, when they pass a nice spot, he asks, “We could rest a moment here, or do you think we should soldier on?”  

Locke took two of the goodberries and placed them into a pouch on his person. "I would be far more useful if I could take a rest," he said, "so that's my preference. But I'll go with the group vote."

Ruaccek flies down to the others, "I'm ok with a rest to help the group better prepare.  We should probably alway try to rest as we never know if we'll get one perhaps."

Ruaccek adds, "Thanks for the berries I will store these for a bit."

A short rest is a good idea. Perhaps a monster will happen upon us, but we have the same issue if we go on. 

(( OOC: Unless cyreon objects, I'm going to presume the party settles down for a short rest. I'll describe what happens in the hour shortly; feel free to make hit dice rolls, but don't add them to your HP (or reset your class features) just yet.... ))

Rizo is pro short rest, at the beginning of the rest he will use his channel divinity to recover a 2nd level spell slot.

The hour passes by uneventfully, with only the normal sounds of a busy forest to be heard. It is soon 11am, and it is actually a cool, bright, cheery morning in the forest... for now.

(( OOC: Please feel free to apply your hit dice and any class/race features that reset on a short rest now. Also, detail anything you want your character to do right after the rest but right before you set out again. @Cwreando, let me know about how high Ruaccek will be flying again (canopy is about 50 feet up at the moment.) ))

----------

(( Locke will spend one hit die to recover 7 HP, still taking advantage of the Aid spell for his increased HP cap. ))

Locke sat in a lotus position for the hour, drawing upon the environment to recharge his ki, while also refilling his magical energies through his patron. Once finished, he stood and cast a bit of magic to clean himself off, before turning to the rest of the group with a smile. "So, gentlemen, shall we?"

Gordon will spend a hit dice: 8