((ohhh fun! I do wonder where this story is going!

Okay cool I guess we should continue to investigate the clan further. let's see if we can raid more stuff! >:3 heheh ))

"No way," Balen can't help but laugh now, "You set it on fire? You're cold... I like that." He rubbed his hands together, glancing back at the commotion around the fire before looking back at the trio. "Aight okay. I dunno how much ya want revenge on 'em, J. So let's see if we can mess up their stuff further. I'm thinkin' we can hit up some of their other wagons. 'Liberate' some of their property. Then head off before they catch us. They're not gonna think somethin' is gonna come out of that fire if we don't up up the ante. So we gotta either search fast or scare 'em. Any thoughts?"

A mischievous grin crosses Cetar’s face ‘I like where this is all going, it sounds fun! Before we do anything though, I’d like to check the chests I’ve got, they might have something useful in them’ He then opens all three chests one at a time. 

The first is filled with small jade bits. The second is lined with velvet cushions with a decorated dagger laying on them. The dagger has a thick curved blade the is a perfect mirror, the hilt is a golden dragon head with rubies embedded in the eyes. The final chest contains incense and perfumes.

Cetar's eyes widen at seeing the jade bits, surely they must be worth more than his wizard school tuition threefold! He is then drawn to the dagger, which intrigues him deeply, though he doesn't care for the incense or perfume much at all. Remembering his manners he asks the party 'Guys, there's only 3 chests of treasure and 4 of us. I'm happy not to take anything and get my cut of what we steal later.' He picks up the dagger and says 'Balen, you're a rogue right? This weapon looks like it'd be perfect for you, and I'm sure you'd appreciate all these gems, wouldn't you Tildrash?'

Balen cracked a smile at Cetar's mischief. 'I could get used to this.' He originally had thought the druid was going to be the more law-abiding one, so seeing this side of him made him grin. He was tempted to just shake the box really roughly like a kid awaiting a gift, but opted not to. Good thing too, based on what was inside. His eyes were drawn to the dagger at first, then to the incense and perfumes. Those would make great stock for his traveling salesman gimmick. "Whoa..."

The changeling's eyes gleamed when he saw Cetar pick up the dagger. It was... intriguing. Though with the draconic shapes, he thought it might be suited more for Tildrash.  He scoffed a little bit, playfully, "I considered myself more of a merchant than anything... but yes, I am a rogue!" He clicked his tongue and finger pointed. "But I'm good with anything. I'd take it if no one wants it. Though I do have two daggers already... and a shortsword. And a shortbow." He took a moment to ponder for a second, "...I actually do have a lot of weapons. If not one wants, I'll take the perfume."   

Cetar catches the look on Balen's face in reaction to him being so invested in all the stolen valuables. 'Don't worry, I'd never steal from someone innocent, and since Clan Gorthrax is evil, it's okay to steal from them right?' As Balen continues to talk he marvels at his arsenal of weapons and says 'I've only got this good-for-nothing quarterstaff and a dagger that could barely cut through paper. Mum and Dad wouldn't even let me look at a sword, let alone hold one when I was younger, though I guess it's nice that they didn't want me to get hurt.' He then sits and contemplates for a little bit before blurting out 'I won't be needing any weapons soon though, cos I've been practicing my Wildshape! Take a look!' Scrunching up his face really, really hard as if he's trying to concentrate on something, Cetar begins to gain some feline qualities, like whiskers, slit pupils, fur, and he even shrinks by a few inches, but just as soon as his appearance changes, it instantly reverts as he sneezes and it all comes undone. 'Sorry, looks like I'll be needing a few more days of raiding camps until I've got it fully down, guess my body isn't quite used to having cat hair. Wait, what's up with you guys, what's so funny?!' he says, and glaring at everyone as they look at him with amused expressions, unaware of the fact that a pair of cute, tiny cat ears still sits nestled in his birdnest of a hairdo.

[I'm British, so I say Mum instead of Mom, and I guess that kinda leaked into Cetar as well. I'm now imagining that Flumehaven Wizarding Academy is like some posh English boarding school and that's where he picked that dialect of Common up from lmao]

Balen grinned and nodded slyly when he noticed that human druid, "Right.... Gotcha, gotcha." He shrugged, "I dunno if they are evil or not." He looked over ruefully at Tildrash, "But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Stealin' from the rich never hurt the poor-ish." His sentence trailed off a bit there. He hadn't known them that long to asses their living situation, but it certainly felt true to him. Living in a canoe did have its perks, but not so much.

"Daggers are always good!" He flipped around his a little for show. "Nah, but that quarterstaff got us through here enough. With you and your druid-y tricks- like the weather type thing." He actually didn't know how being a druid worked, so he assumed all of Cetar's power was from that staff. He chuckled, lightly nudging Cetar on the shoulder. "Maybe next time it can be an extra oar on the boat!"

'Wildshape?' Oh, Balen's smile widened even more. Anything have to deal with changing one's shape was one he loved. He eagerly awaited Cetar's full transformation, and was a bit disappointed that it fell a little flat. "What happened?" He didn't have time to finish the full sentence when Cetar sneezed, and he almost fell backwards because he was caught off guard. "You-" He stifled a giggle as he pointed. It took him all his mental energy not to just straight up transform to mimic him like a mirror. "You- you know." He couldn't quite hold it in as some laughs went through. He put his hands to his head and them swished them down. "You got.. um.. little ears on your head."

((YOU BRITISH. ahah nice. I'm an American Filipino-Colombian. but the way Cetar says 'mum' sounds so cute.))

Jaren watches the exchange between the changeling and the druid. "Umm, guys, about that fire..." and walks away, shaking his head and moving towards the now vacated wagon on the opposite side of camp. 

"Right. The fire." Balen mumbled. He completely forgot. He made another gesture to mimic the ears on Cetar's head one more time before he got up and started walking towards Jaren.

"Hey Jaren... you know I didn't quite catch what you were either. I mean Cetar's obviously a druid. I'm- he guessed it- a rogue. I'm not quite sure what Tildrash is. Maybe a monk or a figther, though I highly doubt monk. But you... I still can't figure out." He narrowed his eyes at the tiefling and then with his head gestured over to the fire. "What kind of spell was that?"

Cetar quickly brushes down his hair to get rid of the ears embarrassed, then turns to the smoke billowing out of the burning wagon on the horizon. 'You make a good point, Balen. I'm pretty sure Tildrash is a fighter with all those weapons he lugs about, but I can't put my finger on you Jaren. I'd guess you were a wizard but I've not seen a spellbook or arcane focus for that matter, so are you a sorcerer?' Cetar then sits and thinks to himself for a moment: 'I wouldn't be surprised if he's got some magic in his bloodline considering his noble background and, y'know being a tiefling with an aasimar twin sister. Though he did say his family made some sort of pact, so he could get his magic from a patron like a warlock, but then he also said his father gave him a sword that he uses so maybe he's a paladin or even a ranger? Maybe he's not a caster at all and those spells he uses are just a tiefling thing?' Trying to untangle Jaren's past and identity just makes Cetar's head spin, and so he just says 'Actually, never mind, I've got no idea at all! Oh and as for my druid powers, I actually channel that from my yew twig, my quarterstaff is just a regular stick of wood.' He says to Balen. He would explain how the leaves of the twig draw in nature spirits from the air and converts it into mana to manipulate the Weave with, just like a magical photosynthesis all natural things can do, but he decides that Balen probably isn't in the mood for a lecture.

Jaren almost laughs as Cetar suggests he could be a wizard. "The spell is just a trick that all tieflings can do. It's called Thaumaturgy, a wizard explained it to me once. I channel the powers of darkness and create a sign of supernatural power. No, no, I'm a fighter. Swords, bows, darts, scythe, I can use it all. Last time I was here, I thought I was good enough to best their leader. I was wrong. A WIZARD! ME! I barely remember how the one spell I do have works, let alone all the ones a wizard would keep in their book!" He trails off, trying to stifle his laughter. 

As the interrogation got thicker, Balen leaned in closer to Jaren in a playful way while they walked, putting one hand on his chin like some sort of detective and brought a hand up to his eye with an imaginary magnifying glass. He looked over to see that these questions went to Cetar's head when the druid had to go and sit to think it through. So he stopped in his tracks around the time Jaren laughed. 

"Really? Huh, that's honestly pretty cool. I didn't know tieflings could do that." The changeling looked at him with genuine surprise, "I wonder how tha- actually, no, you just said you didn't know. Still I wonder how that works. I don't know how my shapeshifting works either.... Just something I can do. Hm." He thought hard about that for a second, actually wondering if maybe he should test it out one day. Little did he remember, but he had one time (taking a piece of dried skin and squishing it. Pressure seemed to make it shift, but as to why? He never did find out).

He tapped his chin a little, "I could see ya as a wizard though. Just put a 'lil hat on that head and get a big ol' staff." He liked to joke a lot that wizards all looked like some old dude with a funny hat. It was mostly an authority thing. Anyone who would spend days holed up in a tower or who knows somewhere learning some spell or another sounded stuffy and a bore. Probably wanted to lecture him on 'don't do this. don't do that'. Definitely not someone Balen wanted to hang out with.

"I feel ya on the not knowing spells part. I tried to learn some trickster magic but..." He shrugged, "I can barely remember what I had for breakfast let alone a spell." His memory was too fuzzy on that regard to actually really remember if he did in fact try. He did steal a spellbook sometime ago, a book that now just sits in his bag and was one he didn't know what to do with nor how he got it. "Good on you Cetar for actually learning. Even in a boring school like that. Maybe once you get your Wildshape down you can turn into something cool for us." He gave him a thumbs up to cheer him up. "And you'l learn. I believe in you."

He started walking over to the nearest caravan, seeing if there was anything off about or what could be inside. 

((investigation: 5))

((also magical photosynthesizes is such a good way to describe that!))

Peeping through the window you can see that the interior is a dedicated sleeping space to the point of it not really being a home. The area is completely use by beds that stack up on each other like shelves several of them are occupied.

Cetar smiles at Jaren, appreciating the encouragement, then peeks through the window too to find all the beds. 'We probably should back away from this caravan' he says cautiously 'I don't want to wake the dragonborn already sleeping there, but there's also a chance that more might come back here and find us snooping about. What do you think though?'

[Thanks, glad you like the magical photosynthesis thing as I just complete made up it up on the spot lol. I was trying to think of a good explanation and I had a lecture on it recently so I guess it was sort of sitting in the back of my brain]

"...Yikes" Balen backed away from the caravan once he saw the sleeping Dragonborns, "Yeah I don't think I want to disturb them. Don't think we can loot them once they're still inside." He looked at Cetar than over to Jaren and Tildrash, "Unless this is Chief What's-His-Name's cabin. You think you wanna show him what's what?"

Then he gestured wildly with his arms, "Not like I'm suggesting murder or anything!!! But I don't know what you came here for, but I'm kinda guessing a little bit of revenge. He is wanted 'Dead or Alive.' Though revenge... might not be the smartest move when we're trying to stop the end of the world here. I'm not into that sort of thing- murder- but I've come close to it before. I dunno if you were the type. Up to you two, really." He then looked specifically wearily at Tildrash, "This was you're dad's old clan after all. Do you think we should at least try and stop them?"

((You're welcome! Hey well it worked!!! sometimes on the spot is the best answer. all my lectures are based on economics sadly. :/ though I had a cool class based on environmental studies and we had a field trip to a local power plant! been speed running a double major))

/_well um- i made a YouTube! Been busy with school and my channel so um, i apologize, and have a great day! I’m gonna insert myself again so hopefully it isn’t awkward or anything7

“… I think we should stop them. WITH INCENSE AND PERFUME ! I believe Dragonborn have a higher sense of smell, and I will go do that for yall since I have no sense of smell (I’m a skeleton tiefling bard/sorcerer) and yall do” Skelditrio says. 

/_im so sorry that I’m so late, banging my head against a wall rn7

Cetar is a bit stunned at the reappearance of their skeletal companion, did he really follow them all the way here? He admires the commitment and says to him 'That's a good idea, if we can overwhelm their senses they'll be more vulnerable.' He looks back in the direction of the now burnt down wagon and says 'It's a shame we didn't pick up any of that flour they had, we could have fashioned some sort of smoke bombs to obscure the caravan with them. Oh well.' He then turns to the party and says 'The thunderstorm is soon going to start closing in on the marshes. We need to find a way to get to some sort of shelter before it comes or we'll be in no fit state to fight the clan. I think Skeleditrio is onto something with the incense. Have you guys ever seen beekeepers? They use smoke and fill the hives of their bees with it to sedate them. I think if we use some of this incense or perfume stuff we can either make them leave the wagon due to the smoke, maybe make it look like it's on fire or something, or sedate them with the smelly perfumes and incense fumes. Many herbs actually have properties that help with sleep, so I reckon we might have a chance!'

((welcome back!!! good luck with your youtube channel!))

Likewise, Balen was surprised by the appearance of Skeleditrio. Was he in the grasses? How did he make it here? Was he on the boat and he didn't notice? This train of thought only brought more questions than answers. Either way, he agreed with Cetar. He was a bit sheepish from before for being so steadfast on suggesting murder. But it's not like he was advocating for it... but you know... it was just a mere suggestion. Plus with the amount of loot the dragonborns had, it was clear they liked weren't so unopposed to violence in that regard. 

"I like that thought. With the bees ya know. Wow you really such a druid." He laughed and then looked over at Skeleditrio, "Sure if you want to volunteer. Sounds good. Yeah with that rain on the way. I dunno if we have much time..."

"Here," He placed the perfumes and incense he took from the crates into Skeleditrio's hands- er, bones... bone hands, being extra careful it didn't just fall right out from between the bones. "We gotta light it somehow. Maybe we should put it into the bonfire. But the tricky thing is getting there. Unless, Jaren, you got another tinderbox we can borrow. Set another fire for us, pretty please~" He made his voice much for high pitched at the last part and blinked his eyes.

"Sorry, Tildrash. If this works, guess you gotta hold your nose." He looked over at the four of them again, "Are we ready?" It was both a battle cry and a legitimate question. He had no idea if this would work.

‘Here, I’ve got a tinderbox’ Cetar says as he gets it out of his backpack, fumbling around with it in the increasingly harsh weather and then placing it on top of the pile of perfume and incense Skeleditrio is carrying. All he can really think of saying is ‘Go get ‘em Champ’ as he passes the tinderbox over and pats Skeleditrio on the bony shoulder awkwardly, not quite sure how to approach doing so. He then sort of steps back and crouches down in the reeds in anticipation of the Dragonborn’s coming out due to the plan or at least to investigate who caused the ruckus. He nervously strokes Zumu as Skeleditrio approaches the caravan door: his confidence in the plan is definitely starting to wane. 

Skeleditrio runs into the carriage, a cloud of scents and gas streaming from his hands. Inside the Dragonborn’s cough and quickly try to flee plugging their nostrils to the best of their ability. Others noticing the commotion come to investigate. They all succumb to hacking fits. Those further away begin to smell the weight of perfume in the air, looking out of their wagons for the source.