"Oh, excellent though this will take time to prepare. For now, we will have the grouse hunted by Serge" says Malfa and she quickly cooks up the 2 birds with some of the items gathered by Ixsas. Grouse soup is made for lunch and then the caravan gets going again.
Malfa spends that time slowly removing the quills off of the porcupine.
When the caravan stops for the night Malfa cooks up part of the porcupine while smoking the rest of it. She hopes the mushrooms and berries will mask some of the gaminess of the porcupine. She then serves dinner. Unfortunately, the gaminess is strong in this meat but that is all there is for dinner.
"I have to admit, I'm more than a little relieved,"Serge says to the others before beginning his evening patrol. "I feel responsible for the food situation, given my insistence that we provide supplies to those refugees. I'm happy to finally be able to contribute something to the soup pot."
"So... just one more day, then, and we should be at this caravan stop, right?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Zeds snorts a bit. "Those refugees would likely have stripped everything from the caravan if not for us. And if not them, then those demon birds. I'm glad to help rectify the situation but I don't think we're to blame for the shortage to begin with..."
Serge laughs. "As I understand it, we're currently under employ to guard and protect against exactly that sort of thing. So, I imagine Faelsin might, in fact, see us as to blame if the caravan ends up stripped and starving."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Krackle looks to Zeds and snorts "Actually, if not for us, the members of this caravan would have been dead even before the birds and the bandits. I am pretty sure the fire ghosts would have made short work of them all. Plus there was that necromancer I bribed to leave." He adds with a smile. "Thing might not be going smoothly but they could be lots worse. I spent most nights with an empty stomach growing up and managed to survive. A day or two with a growling belly won't kill them." He says with a nod to zeds and serge.
"See? Krackle gets it," Zeds says to Serge. "Yes, we were hired to guard and there's been some setbacks... But if he hadn't hired us it would be worse. That's the point."
"Did we ever find out just what kind of stop this stop is? Is it a town or a wide spot in the road? A place to resupply or just a spot to camp?"
Ixsas says almost reflexively: "The Fires of suffering becomes the Light of understanding: nothing is achieved but through difficulty and personal pain." Still, he seems confused about why Krackle often went hungry if there wasn't a famine, and he asks several questions about what Krackle had "done." In his experience, he explains that hunger was used as a punishment for acolytes who disobeyed or who shirked their duties or even just annoyed the priests. He doesn't seem to understand that outside of a temple, it's possible to go hungry simply because of a lack of money and a lack of work to earn money.
"Did we ever find out just what kind of stop this stop is? Is it a town or a wide spot in the road? A place to resupply or just a spot to camp?"
Ixsas says, "Faelsin said that we're stopping at Carnath House. Something he said made me think that it's a sort of inn where caravans can rest their teams and perhaps resupply."
(Hopefully, @Weathervision can clarify. Since we hope to catch up to the cultists at the rest stop, the party has certainly asked Faelsin for details about Carnath House itself and whether it's just a building at the side of the Trade Way or just one building in a larger town.)
In response to Ixsas, Serge adds, "That makes sense. A lot of the towns along these trade routes started that way. A fortified lodge and stable built near a freshwater spring or other helpful feature, that over time more inns, homes and farms eventually gathered, finally coalescing into a proper settlement."
Serge, too, is curious about Krackle. There was a... Colony? Commune? ... of kobolds that dwelt out beyond the midden heaps near his family's lands. They kept to themselves, as far as Serge had ever noticed, but they never looked scrawny or ill-fed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Ixsas also asks, "Zeds, are you any closer to finding out who enchanted Toren? Or did you just plan to follow him while we're at Carnath House? The enchantment on Toren is broken -- Kossuth be praised! -- but his freedom from that enchantment seemed to scare him, too. It seems that Toren is still beholden to someone for his and Bay's freedom from the Dragon Cult. I wonder whether his master plans to rendezvous with him at this Carnath House." He doesn't look directly at Zeds while asking this question, just staring into one of the campfires as though he could read Toren's future there.
((DM? Zeds has slowly been trying to build up trust with Toren and his brother in order to try to learn info without pushing or forcing the issue. Has he had any success as of yet?))
Zeds has become closer to Bay though Toren is somewhat reclusive where during the day Toren does his job but tosses and turns during the night. I'd say you can roll a persuasion check with advantage if you wish to as him something.
Zeds would be enquiring of Bay about if he believes the breaking of the enchantment has really brought freedom to him and his brother or if he thinks they are still beholden to the beliefs they were brought up in. "I'm sure such things like scars and worries. No doubt that is normal... I'm just worried that there is more to Toren's behavior than the past. If there is still some lingering ties or such I'd be happy to help you both. Or just talk, if that is what you prefer..."
Krackle would look towards Ixsas before looking at the ground. "Well... I uhh... grew up in Baldur's Gate... Well... Under it actually." He would say quietly as he kicked a small rock on the ground with his clawed foot. "I was born in the sewers of Baldur's gate and was raised by other scavengers like me... other kobolds and a few goblins. At night we would head up to the surface and hunt for scraps of food or anything valuable that may have been thrown away..." He then looked down towards his rather tattered and filthy robes... casually casting mending on them as though trying to distract himself from the conversation he was having. "These... these clothes.... This orb... none of this is mine... I had nothing up until the night I left Baldur's Gate. Believe it or not... there isn't much work out there for an uneducated kobold that smells like filth." He then takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh. "I spent a lot of time hungry because I didn't have any coin to afford food... and there wasn't always enough food to be found scavenging. I found these clothes... all this... stuff... on a dead gnome in an ally outside of a library. I know I shouldn't have taken the stuff but I needed it more than he did. I quickly took everything he had but was discovered by the guards. I knew what it looked like... so I ran away." Krackle says as his eyes fall down towards his feet. "Since meeting up with Zeds... I actually started making some coin. I have a house now... and plenty of coin for food" he whispers as he points towards his carriage. "And I have creatures that depend on me... and I'm going to make sure that they are taken care of..." he says as he looks towards Krackle Jr and then towards the bag hanging around his chest before giving it a small hug.
"You could use some of that coin to buy better clothes... And a bath," Zeds teases with a smile. "And don't forget that we need taking care of too, eh?"
"What is that you've got in the bag?" Serge asks, not certain he wants to know but driven by too much curiosity to stifle the question. "I see you carrying it constantly. My mind ventures guesses but I'm sure they are probably wrong."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
I found these clothes... all this... stuff... on a dead gnome in an ally outside of a library. I know I shouldn't have taken the stuff but I needed it more than he did. I quickly took everything he had but was discovered by the guards. I knew what it looked like... so I ran away." Krackle says as his eyes fall down towards his feet. "Since meeting up with Zeds... I actually started making some coin. I have a house now... and plenty of coin for food" he whispers as he points towards his carriage. "And I have creatures that depend on me... and I'm going to make sure that they are taken care of..." he says as he looks towards Krackle Jr and then towards the bag hanging around his chest before giving it a small hug.
The talk of dead bodies and poverty reminds Ixsas of an old parable warning against undue veneration of the body after death. He jumps into the tale without explaining how it relates to what Krackle was saying. Ixsas says, "They tell of an old prophet in my city. He was wise and gifted with The Sight, but it brought him little material wealth. He lived in a hovel in the poorest part of the city, and as he neared death, his followers thought of raising money to pay for his burial and perhaps even to build a shrine to house his relics. They asked him about how he wished to be buried. He said: 'Just throw my body outside the city walls so that the wild beasts can feast on my body.' Horrified, his followers asked whether he minded that his body would be ripped apart by animals. He said: 'Not at all, as long as you give me with a stick to chase the creatures away!' Confused, his followers asked how he could use the stick since his body would lack a spirit or awareness, and he replied: 'If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?'"
Finally, Ixsas squeezes Krackle's arm reassuringly and says, "Once the Flame of Life left this world and returned to the gods, the gnome was just a body. An empty shell that was ready for the final fires of cremation. I don't know the laws of Waterdeep, but you broke no moral law by taking the possessions from his body. And it seems that you have put those things to good use since then! Your care for others speaks well of your character!"
((OOC: Transplanting a story of Diogenes to Faerun. 🙂))
Bay is rather in the dark in regard to the deal struck by Toren. While Toren is slow to respond he does so "I struck a deal with an entity beyond this mortal realm that I would give up half my life if my brother and I could escape our family. I thought I would just die at a younger age, but the half of my life taken was my life as I sleep. I am taken to some strange city where I must dance to this entity's whims. It is tiring but if I am awakened too early, I have but a short time to go back to rectify my transgression. It calls itself Nyatharel"
Bay is deeply troubled "I know our family was fanatics and our paths were dictated for us, but escaping is not worth your sleeping self. What you have you done"
Toren looks pointedly to Bay "I done what I had to do as you know we either became fanatics too are we would have been sacrificed to some drake or dragon"
"We must break this deal you have." say Bay rather angrily
"How, if I try to break it then Nyatharel's wrath will fall upon you as it knows how much I care about you" says Toren also getting pretty heated
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(Yes, it rushed into melee.)
Zeds dodges out the way and is able land another arrow killing the big porcupine.
"Meat is back on the menu," Zeds says, dubious of just how tasty porcupine is but it is better than nothing...
"Oh, excellent though this will take time to prepare. For now, we will have the grouse hunted by Serge" says Malfa and she quickly cooks up the 2 birds with some of the items gathered by Ixsas. Grouse soup is made for lunch and then the caravan gets going again.
Malfa spends that time slowly removing the quills off of the porcupine.
When the caravan stops for the night Malfa cooks up part of the porcupine while smoking the rest of it. She hopes the mushrooms and berries will mask some of the gaminess of the porcupine. She then serves dinner. Unfortunately, the gaminess is strong in this meat but that is all there is for dinner.
The party can chat again if they wish or head straight to bed
"I have to admit, I'm more than a little relieved," Serge says to the others before beginning his evening patrol. "I feel responsible for the food situation, given my insistence that we provide supplies to those refugees. I'm happy to finally be able to contribute something to the soup pot."
"So... just one more day, then, and we should be at this caravan stop, right?"
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Zeds snorts a bit. "Those refugees would likely have stripped everything from the caravan if not for us. And if not them, then those demon birds. I'm glad to help rectify the situation but I don't think we're to blame for the shortage to begin with..."
Serge laughs. "As I understand it, we're currently under employ to guard and protect against exactly that sort of thing. So, I imagine Faelsin might, in fact, see us as to blame if the caravan ends up stripped and starving."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Krackle looks to Zeds and snorts "Actually, if not for us, the members of this caravan would have been dead even before the birds and the bandits. I am pretty sure the fire ghosts would have made short work of them all. Plus there was that necromancer I bribed to leave." He adds with a smile. "Thing might not be going smoothly but they could be lots worse. I spent most nights with an empty stomach growing up and managed to survive. A day or two with a growling belly won't kill them." He says with a nod to zeds and serge.
"See? Krackle gets it," Zeds says to Serge. "Yes, we were hired to guard and there's been some setbacks... But if he hadn't hired us it would be worse. That's the point."
"Did we ever find out just what kind of stop this stop is? Is it a town or a wide spot in the road? A place to resupply or just a spot to camp?"
Ixsas says almost reflexively: "The Fires of suffering becomes the Light of understanding: nothing is achieved but through difficulty and personal pain." Still, he seems confused about why Krackle often went hungry if there wasn't a famine, and he asks several questions about what Krackle had "done." In his experience, he explains that hunger was used as a punishment for acolytes who disobeyed or who shirked their duties or even just annoyed the priests. He doesn't seem to understand that outside of a temple, it's possible to go hungry simply because of a lack of money and a lack of work to earn money.
Ixsas says, "Faelsin said that we're stopping at Carnath House. Something he said made me think that it's a sort of inn where caravans can rest their teams and perhaps resupply."
(Hopefully, @Weathervision can clarify. Since we hope to catch up to the cultists at the rest stop, the party has certainly asked Faelsin for details about Carnath House itself and whether it's just a building at the side of the Trade Way or just one building in a larger town.)
In response to Ixsas, Serge adds, "That makes sense. A lot of the towns along these trade routes started that way. A fortified lodge and stable built near a freshwater spring or other helpful feature, that over time more inns, homes and farms eventually gathered, finally coalescing into a proper settlement."
Serge, too, is curious about Krackle. There was a... Colony? Commune? ... of kobolds that dwelt out beyond the midden heaps near his family's lands. They kept to themselves, as far as Serge had ever noticed, but they never looked scrawny or ill-fed.
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Ixsas also asks, "Zeds, are you any closer to finding out who enchanted Toren? Or did you just plan to follow him while we're at Carnath House? The enchantment on Toren is broken -- Kossuth be praised! -- but his freedom from that enchantment seemed to scare him, too. It seems that Toren is still beholden to someone for his and Bay's freedom from the Dragon Cult. I wonder whether his master plans to rendezvous with him at this Carnath House." He doesn't look directly at Zeds while asking this question, just staring into one of the campfires as though he could read Toren's future there.
((DM? Zeds has slowly been trying to build up trust with Toren and his brother in order to try to learn info without pushing or forcing the issue. Has he had any success as of yet?))
Zeds has become closer to Bay though Toren is somewhat reclusive where during the day Toren does his job but tosses and turns during the night. I'd say you can roll a persuasion check with advantage if you wish to as him something.
((19 or 14 + 8 for Persuasion: 27))
Zeds would be enquiring of Bay about if he believes the breaking of the enchantment has really brought freedom to him and his brother or if he thinks they are still beholden to the beliefs they were brought up in. "I'm sure such things like scars and worries. No doubt that is normal... I'm just worried that there is more to Toren's behavior than the past. If there is still some lingering ties or such I'd be happy to help you both. Or just talk, if that is what you prefer..."
Krackle would look towards Ixsas before looking at the ground. "Well... I uhh... grew up in Baldur's Gate... Well... Under it actually." He would say quietly as he kicked a small rock on the ground with his clawed foot. "I was born in the sewers of Baldur's gate and was raised by other scavengers like me... other kobolds and a few goblins. At night we would head up to the surface and hunt for scraps of food or anything valuable that may have been thrown away..." He then looked down towards his rather tattered and filthy robes... casually casting mending on them as though trying to distract himself from the conversation he was having. "These... these clothes.... This orb... none of this is mine... I had nothing up until the night I left Baldur's Gate. Believe it or not... there isn't much work out there for an uneducated kobold that smells like filth." He then takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh. "I spent a lot of time hungry because I didn't have any coin to afford food... and there wasn't always enough food to be found scavenging. I found these clothes... all this... stuff... on a dead gnome in an ally outside of a library. I know I shouldn't have taken the stuff but I needed it more than he did. I quickly took everything he had but was discovered by the guards. I knew what it looked like... so I ran away." Krackle says as his eyes fall down towards his feet. "Since meeting up with Zeds... I actually started making some coin. I have a house now... and plenty of coin for food" he whispers as he points towards his carriage. "And I have creatures that depend on me... and I'm going to make sure that they are taken care of..." he says as he looks towards Krackle Jr and then towards the bag hanging around his chest before giving it a small hug.
"You could use some of that coin to buy better clothes... And a bath," Zeds teases with a smile. "And don't forget that we need taking care of too, eh?"
"What is that you've got in the bag?" Serge asks, not certain he wants to know but driven by too much curiosity to stifle the question. "I see you carrying it constantly. My mind ventures guesses but I'm sure they are probably wrong."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
The talk of dead bodies and poverty reminds Ixsas of an old parable warning against undue veneration of the body after death. He jumps into the tale without explaining how it relates to what Krackle was saying. Ixsas says, "They tell of an old prophet in my city. He was wise and gifted with The Sight, but it brought him little material wealth. He lived in a hovel in the poorest part of the city, and as he neared death, his followers thought of raising money to pay for his burial and perhaps even to build a shrine to house his relics. They asked him about how he wished to be buried. He said:
'Just throw my body outside the city walls so that the wild beasts can feast on my body.'
Horrified, his followers asked whether he minded that his body would be ripped apart by animals. He said:
'Not at all, as long as you give me with a stick to chase the creatures away!'
Confused, his followers asked how he could use the stick since his body would lack a spirit or awareness, and he replied:
'If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?'"
Finally, Ixsas squeezes Krackle's arm reassuringly and says, "Once the Flame of Life left this world and returned to the gods, the gnome was just a body. An empty shell that was ready for the final fires of cremation. I don't know the laws of Waterdeep, but you broke no moral law by taking the possessions from his body. And it seems that you have put those things to good use since then! Your care for others speaks well of your character!"
((OOC: Transplanting a story of Diogenes to Faerun. 🙂))
(Great roll Zeds)
Bay is rather in the dark in regard to the deal struck by Toren. While Toren is slow to respond he does so "I struck a deal with an entity beyond this mortal realm that I would give up half my life if my brother and I could escape our family. I thought I would just die at a younger age, but the half of my life taken was my life as I sleep. I am taken to some strange city where I must dance to this entity's whims. It is tiring but if I am awakened too early, I have but a short time to go back to rectify my transgression. It calls itself Nyatharel"
Bay is deeply troubled "I know our family was fanatics and our paths were dictated for us, but escaping is not worth your sleeping self. What you have you done"
Toren looks pointedly to Bay "I done what I had to do as you know we either became fanatics too are we would have been sacrificed to some drake or dragon"
"We must break this deal you have." say Bay rather angrily
"How, if I try to break it then Nyatharel's wrath will fall upon you as it knows how much I care about you" says Toren also getting pretty heated