(OOC: To be clear, Xanrym is not going inside the Inn. He just wants to be close enough to see whether Khessa and the gnomes get into trouble. That way, he can help and hopefully buy time for the rest of The Company to arrive. Or if he can't help, he'll at least be able to report to the rest The Company about what happened to Khessa.)
Alright good to know. Xanrym and Khessa travel ahead of the group, leading Shuthi and her brothers to the Dripstone. When they get there Xanrym casts invisibility on Khessa and she follows the gnomes inside. As she enters the Inn, she sees Es Sarch sitting on his chair with his robe covered in eyes and he looks around to the gnomes and then straight at Khessa. As he does so he stands up and walks into one of the back rooms, waving her over to one of the private chambers. The gnomes looks around confused and follow the robed figure.
Khessa noticed that Es Sarch looked directly at her, as if he could see her very well... so she thinks the invitation includes her too and enters as well, smiling calmly at the host and giving him a silent 'thumb-up' to let him know that everything went well.
Khessa follows the gnomes into one of the backrooms of the Dripstone. As they walk in after Es Sarch, one of his servitors goes to close the door behind them, but he holds up a hand and allows Khessa to enter before the door is closed. "I assume there's been some development. Have you been successful? And who are these Svirfneblin?"
Khessa, while remaining invisible, first reassures the Svirfneblin: "One of my companions was able to make me invisible, so I was able to come with you myself for your greater safety... I didn't say anything because you already know how important secrecy is, my friends."
The blonde arcane warrior then responds to Es Sarch: "I come to you, Es Sarch, because these friends are in need—and you are one of my most trusted contacts. We can speak openly, because they too know that I am part of the Assassins' Guild." (being invisible to the gnomes but not to Es Sarch, she winks) "You must know that during my last assignment, I had to eliminate, believe it or not, Ellesarwa, the (in)famous drow matron. These poor innocents were her prisoners, waiting to be used as living playthings for her sadistic pastimes. They are witnesses — so the Assassins' Guild might want them dead for good measure; but they are my friends now I made clear to them the importance of their silence, especially for themselves. They need help returning home. I cannot provide this personally, because the less I am seen with them, the better. But you... you are precisely the person they need."
"I know I can count on you," the tall adventuress concludes, "considering how often we exchange favors. And if in exchange I have to do you a few little extra favors, I'd be happy to oblige. But help them get home safe and sound; that's important to me."
Es Sarch waits a moment, then responds. “You realise this will take some time… time I could be spending getting the final piece of your information together. Two days at least. I can think of one way of dealing with this loose end far more quickly, if you give me your permission.” This last sentence is delivered without emotion, and with legitimate inquiry.
Khessa's blue eyes fix on Es Sarch's with an intensity designed to dispel any misunderstanding: "They're friends. For their safety, a few days will be well spent."
"Perhaps," the blonde arcane warrior considers a possible alternative "you could first gather the other information, if that's more convenient for you, and house them hidden here in the meantime... I'd repay your trouble. That way you could think about Shuthi and the others while we act on the base on your new information. But otherwise, I'm fine with a few days' delay. They are innocents. And what's more, now they're friends. I want them to return home safe and sound."
Es Sarch shakes his head, "These gnomes have already been spotted in the Dripstone by everyone. It will take not only getting them well away from the city to protect any secrets we may have, but also quite a lot of work to convince any members of House Dusklorn that these aren't those rescued from their matrons sanctum during her assassination. You've caused quite an issue by rescuing these people." Es Sarch stands up to leave and make preperations.
If you don't want to continue on this train of conversation, Khessa can leave the Dripstone and meet up with the rest of the party to continue back to the Riddle.
Xanrym hides somewhere where he can watch the Dripstone Inn and the street back to the tannery. If the rest of The Company arrives before Khessa comes back out of the inn, he steps into the street to rejoin them and gather everyone in an alley where they're not just loitering in the street. He lets everyone know that invisible-Khessa went into the inn with the gnomes. Once she's able to get out of the inn, Xanrym is ready to lead the rest of the way to their townhouse in The Riddle.
Xanrym did not plan to join Khessa in the Dripstone Inn. He was worried that House Dusklorn might intercept the gnomes, but he didn't think that Es Sarch would be a problem.
Khessa just shrugs: "We almost died from murderous fungoid monsters spewing poison, carrying out missions for you... I didn't cause you any trouble on purpose - but I don't think you can complain too much either, considering everything we've managed to do for you so far" she shrugs. "I had no one else to help my gnome friends but you. And you had no one else able to do what you wanted but us. Whatever issues still remain, together we will face them - and solve them just like the previous ones."
The blonde arcane warrior smiles at Es Sarch: "You'll see, all in all, you won't have to regret having made agreements with us - just as we don't regret having made them with you, despite all the risks."
Having said this, the tall adventure is ready to leave the Inn, invisible as it had entered it, and to join, after a final encouraging pat on the back of the gnomes, the rest of the Company.
[[ OOC: Khessa will be interested in making sure that Es Sarch helps the gnomes instead of killing them. If she is convinced that she has reached such an agreement, no problem in resuming the journey towards the Riddle... It seems fair to me that we can all role-play, I have no intention of monopolizing the game - I continued the conversation with Es Sarch here until now only because, for Khessa, the safety of the former drow prisoners was very important. ]]
Es Sarch takes in your words and nods, Khessa get's the feeling he'll honor your request to get the Deep Gnomes out of Pedestal, you'll just have to wait a couple days.
Khessa makes her way out of the Dripstone and reconnects with the group. You can all head back to The Riddle, are you being sneaky at all or just walking straight in? Feel free to roll Stealth checks for those scouting if you decide to do so.
Coriana will support approaches to returning to the riddle that are on a scale from cautious to invisible. If she has a minute she will recover a pact magic slot, and be able to make herself and on other party member invisible. That would still leave two visible members, however.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards. DM - The Old Keep
Khessa makes her way out of the Dripstone and reconnects with the group. You can all head back to The Riddle, are you being sneaky at all or just walking straight in? Feel free to roll Stealth checks for those scouting if you decide to do so.
(OOC: Before the interlude with the Dripstone Inn, I already sketched out Xanrym's plan to get back to the townhouse, but I can repeat that here and re-roll.)
Xanrym will move maybe 120-ft ahead of the group, trying to avoid notice. The others may note that he takes a somewhat indirect route back to the townhouse once they leave the main street, Matron Row, going a couple of extra streets over and then going south almost to the city wall before finally circling back to the townhouse from the south. (Xanrym has proficiency with Cartographer's Tools and has been trying to make his own map of the important points of the city.) Along the way, he occasionally slips into an alleyway or the shadow at the corner of a building to look ahead and behind, checking whether anyone is following them or taking special notice of The Company.
Scouting ahead without being seen / noticed - Stealth: 29 (advantage from Cloak of Elvenkind) Looking out for anyone following them - Perception: 11
At this point, Khessa is still invisible. The others could probably follow as a group. Xanrym assumes that others in The Riddle are less likely to harass an armed group. But that's just about trying to get back to our hideout in The Riddle without running into trouble (e.g., wandering Plagelost, Inheritors looking for revenge for our attack on the South Gate, House Dusklorn agents looking for Irennaste's kidnappers, House Dusklorn agents already looking for Ellesarwa's killers).
Assuming that we make it there without incident, Xanrym would wait for the whole party to catch up to him when he gets to ~120 feet from the townhouse. Once the whole group is there, he says, "We should be careful about entering, right? We haven't been gone that long, but we don't know whether Irennaste is free and what he might do. And it's also possible that some other faction invaded the townhouse while we were gone and is waiting to ambush us."
Xanrym could try to sneak up to the townhouse to check whether there's anyone else inside. (Or maybe someone could send a familiar to the building to look through the windows and maybe peek inside?) It would be useful to know if there really is an ambush waiting for us.
But since Khessa (and maybe Coriana and someone else?) are invisible, Xanrym proposes that the invisible party members should enter first, ready for anyone. The rest of the party would just need to set up 20 - 30 ft away first so that we could all storm into the building in the first round. If there is someone waiting to ambush us inside, the attackers should have a hard time hitting the invisible party members, and our invisible fighters' would have advantage on their first attack.
Theldrin moves along with the rest of the party as they make their way back to the townhouse, using Stealth if needed to try not to draw attention. He's very curious as to what transpired in the Dripsone with Es Sarch and the gnomes, but decides to wait until a better time to ask Khessa.
Yes! Let's do this!
Avery will follow Hanrym's lead, and wait before heading in with the party
(OOC: To be clear, Xanrym is not going inside the Inn. He just wants to be close enough to see whether Khessa and the gnomes get into trouble. That way, he can help and hopefully buy time for the rest of The Company to arrive. Or if he can't help, he'll at least be able to report to the rest The Company about what happened to Khessa.)
Alright good to know. Xanrym and Khessa travel ahead of the group, leading Shuthi and her brothers to the Dripstone. When they get there Xanrym casts invisibility on Khessa and she follows the gnomes inside. As she enters the Inn, she sees Es Sarch sitting on his chair with his robe covered in eyes and he looks around to the gnomes and then straight at Khessa. As he does so he stands up and walks into one of the back rooms, waving her over to one of the private chambers. The gnomes looks around confused and follow the robed figure.
Does Khessa follow too?
Khessa noticed that Es Sarch looked directly at her, as if he could see her very well... so she thinks the invitation includes her too and enters as well, smiling calmly at the host and giving him a silent 'thumb-up' to let him know that everything went well.
Khessa follows the gnomes into one of the backrooms of the Dripstone. As they walk in after Es Sarch, one of his servitors goes to close the door behind them, but he holds up a hand and allows Khessa to enter before the door is closed. "I assume there's been some development. Have you been successful? And who are these Svirfneblin?"
Khessa, while remaining invisible, first reassures the Svirfneblin: "One of my companions was able to make me invisible, so I was able to come with you myself for your greater safety... I didn't say anything because you already know how important secrecy is, my friends."
The blonde arcane warrior then responds to Es Sarch: "I come to you, Es Sarch, because these friends are in need—and you are one of my most trusted contacts. We can speak openly, because they too know that I am part of the Assassins' Guild." (being invisible to the gnomes but not to Es Sarch, she winks) "You must know that during my last assignment, I had to eliminate, believe it or not, Ellesarwa, the (in)famous drow matron. These poor innocents were her prisoners, waiting to be used as living playthings for her sadistic pastimes. They are witnesses — so the Assassins' Guild might want them dead for good measure; but they are my friends now I made clear to them the importance of their silence, especially for themselves. They need help returning home. I cannot provide this personally, because the less I am seen with them, the better. But you... you are precisely the person they need."
"I know I can count on you," the tall adventuress concludes, "considering how often we exchange favors. And if in exchange I have to do you a few little extra favors, I'd be happy to oblige. But help them get home safe and sound; that's important to me."
Es Sarch waits a moment, then responds. “You realise this will take some time… time I could be spending getting the final piece of your information together. Two days at least. I can think of one way of dealing with this loose end far more quickly, if you give me your permission.” This last sentence is delivered without emotion, and with legitimate inquiry.
Avery will stay outside of the meeting room, watching the common room.
Khessa's blue eyes fix on Es Sarch's with an intensity designed to dispel any misunderstanding: "They're friends. For their safety, a few days will be well spent."
"Perhaps," the blonde arcane warrior considers a possible alternative "you could first gather the other information, if that's more convenient for you, and house them hidden here in the meantime... I'd repay your trouble. That way you could think about Shuthi and the others while we act on the base on your new information. But otherwise, I'm fine with a few days' delay. They are innocents. And what's more, now they're friends. I want them to return home safe and sound."
Es Sarch shakes his head, "These gnomes have already been spotted in the Dripstone by everyone. It will take not only getting them well away from the city to protect any secrets we may have, but also quite a lot of work to convince any members of House Dusklorn that these aren't those rescued from their matrons sanctum during her assassination. You've caused quite an issue by rescuing these people." Es Sarch stands up to leave and make preperations.
If you don't want to continue on this train of conversation, Khessa can leave the Dripstone and meet up with the rest of the party to continue back to the Riddle.
(OOC: FYI...)
Xanrym hides somewhere where he can watch the Dripstone Inn and the street back to the tannery. If the rest of The Company arrives before Khessa comes back out of the inn, he steps into the street to rejoin them and gather everyone in an alley where they're not just loitering in the street. He lets everyone know that invisible-Khessa went into the inn with the gnomes. Once she's able to get out of the inn, Xanrym is ready to lead the rest of the way to their townhouse in The Riddle.
Xanrym did not plan to join Khessa in the Dripstone Inn. He was worried that House Dusklorn might intercept the gnomes, but he didn't think that Es Sarch would be a problem.
Khessa just shrugs: "We almost died from murderous fungoid monsters spewing poison, carrying out missions for you... I didn't cause you any trouble on purpose - but I don't think you can complain too much either, considering everything we've managed to do for you so far" she shrugs. "I had no one else to help my gnome friends but you. And you had no one else able to do what you wanted but us. Whatever issues still remain, together we will face them - and solve them just like the previous ones."
The blonde arcane warrior smiles at Es Sarch: "You'll see, all in all, you won't have to regret having made agreements with us - just as we don't regret having made them with you, despite all the risks."
Having said this, the tall adventure is ready to leave the Inn, invisible as it had entered it, and to join, after a final encouraging pat on the back of the gnomes, the rest of the Company.
[[ OOC: Khessa will be interested in making sure that Es Sarch helps the gnomes instead of killing them. If she is convinced that she has reached such an agreement, no problem in resuming the journey towards the Riddle... It seems fair to me that we can all role-play, I have no intention of monopolizing the game - I continued the conversation with Es Sarch here until now only because, for Khessa, the safety of the former drow prisoners was very important. ]]
Es Sarch takes in your words and nods, Khessa get's the feeling he'll honor your request to get the Deep Gnomes out of Pedestal, you'll just have to wait a couple days.
Khessa makes her way out of the Dripstone and reconnects with the group. You can all head back to The Riddle, are you being sneaky at all or just walking straight in? Feel free to roll Stealth checks for those scouting if you decide to do so.
Coriana will support approaches to returning to the riddle that are on a scale from cautious to invisible. If she has a minute she will recover a pact magic slot, and be able to make herself and on other party member invisible. That would still leave two visible members, however.
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain
Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards.
DM - The Old Keep
(OOC: I would guess that Coriana had a minute while we were waiting for Khessa outside the Dripstone Inn.)
(OOC: Before the interlude with the Dripstone Inn, I already sketched out Xanrym's plan to get back to the townhouse, but I can repeat that here and re-roll.)
Xanrym will move maybe 120-ft ahead of the group, trying to avoid notice. The others may note that he takes a somewhat indirect route back to the townhouse once they leave the main street, Matron Row, going a couple of extra streets over and then going south almost to the city wall before finally circling back to the townhouse from the south. (Xanrym has proficiency with Cartographer's Tools and has been trying to make his own map of the important points of the city.) Along the way, he occasionally slips into an alleyway or the shadow at the corner of a building to look ahead and behind, checking whether anyone is following them or taking special notice of The Company.
Scouting ahead without being seen / noticed - Stealth: 29 (advantage from Cloak of Elvenkind)
Looking out for anyone following them - Perception: 11
At this point, Khessa is still invisible. The others could probably follow as a group. Xanrym assumes that others in The Riddle are less likely to harass an armed group. But that's just about trying to get back to our hideout in The Riddle without running into trouble (e.g., wandering Plagelost, Inheritors looking for revenge for our attack on the South Gate, House Dusklorn agents looking for Irennaste's kidnappers, House Dusklorn agents already looking for Ellesarwa's killers).
Assuming that we make it there without incident, Xanrym would wait for the whole party to catch up to him when he gets to ~120 feet from the townhouse. Once the whole group is there, he says, "We should be careful about entering, right? We haven't been gone that long, but we don't know whether Irennaste is free and what he might do. And it's also possible that some other faction invaded the townhouse while we were gone and is waiting to ambush us."
Xanrym could try to sneak up to the townhouse to check whether there's anyone else inside. (Or maybe someone could send a familiar to the building to look through the windows and maybe peek inside?) It would be useful to know if there really is an ambush waiting for us.
But since Khessa (and maybe Coriana and someone else?) are invisible, Xanrym proposes that the invisible party members should enter first, ready for anyone. The rest of the party would just need to set up 20 - 30 ft away first so that we could all storm into the building in the first round. If there is someone waiting to ambush us inside, the attackers should have a hard time hitting the invisible party members, and our invisible fighters' would have advantage on their first attack.
Theldrin moves along with the rest of the party as they make their way back to the townhouse, using Stealth if needed to try not to draw attention. He's very curious as to what transpired in the Dripsone with Es Sarch and the gnomes, but decides to wait until a better time to ask Khessa.
Stealth: 17
Khessa is perfectly willing to enter the building first, since she is both invisible and well-defended.