"Thieves we are not, only Scholars, and I am glad to hear we do not appear to be that which we should be loathe to resemble." Erudisia'seyebrows furrow and she takes a deep breath.
"However, I am a noble born lady of Moonshae, Daughter of the House of Odewright, and a follower of the Seldrine Pantheon, and these three my companions.
"By what right do you depute to consider yourself a peer of my realm, and by what domain does Tyr and this bi-bunal seek to catechize me, in so informal a deportment, who has no charge, no duty, no obligation, no dispensation, no formulation and -- importantly -- no representation, by which to answer: in this most humble and ill-suited of locales a topic for which I am ab extra, on such important topics with clear representations a posteriori. For is it not such, here, in civilised lands also that it be said 'actus legis nemini facit injurium' . Or should I be led to believe that a magistrate in this place may administer law to his community in absence of the honest and just sight and witness of his community? If resemblance be your measure to interrogate, then is resemblance to the appearance of law sufficient for your purposes?
"You who give not your name, but supply only an insufficient charter for your charge."
(Good enough to divert from Erudisia but not good enough to cover the entire party.)
The gnome immediately responds, for he seems to thrive on argumentation.
“My name is unimportant, but in the name of my office, whose name has already been named, I speak it now. Namely, Fizz. The charter is sufficient for though it may indeed be insufficient in the Moonshae Lands –,” “-- wherever they are,” the paladin interrupts, coyly flashing perfect white teeth again at Erudisia, but the gnome seems used to being interrupted and loses not a beat as he picks up from the paladin, “The Moonshae Lands, I say, however, to wit, the charter here in five and a half meadows –,” “--and, three ponds,” the paladin adds, “--yes,” the gnome continues, "and the three ponds, is quite sufficient.
“However,” the gnome now interrupts himself, heading off the paladin from doing so, “seeing that the lady’s outfitting is beyond reproach, I dare say, so is her character. Therefore, she may choose not to partake in these proceedings.” While picking lint off of his immaculate robe he returns his focus to the group.
“For the others, however, a single question will do, if answered truthfully. Ahem,” the gnome now turns to address the entire group. Athra penchur in pez gerchuron,” he says, drawing a circle in the air which encompasses the four companions. (OOC this is a casting of the spell zone of truth. Please make a CHA save vs. DC 14 or you can’t speak a deliberate lie while affected by the enchantment.)
“Answer the question ‘no,’ and you are free to go. If you’ve done no ill, you’ve nothing to fear. Now." His voice pipes with as much gravity as could possibly originate from the mouth of a chipmunk, "Have you engaged in thievery or murder while travelling on the Coast Way lands, between the Beregost and the Friendly Arm Inn?”
Erudisia glowers at the magistrate and his too-smiling Paladin, but remains silent. Seething. She has no doubt regarding her companions’ answers and were the question less easily answered she would not allow this to continue. As scholars, a simple no and they will be off, as the three will give now: Meredith and Bell and … Little One. Ohno, she thinks, perhaps a moment too late.
“No.”
“Is that not too broad?” she interjects, perhaps too hastily. “My companions were children once, and thievery is an act of impulse. I insist you specify your period of inquiry. As adult scholars, my companions are beyond reproach, and who can say no they did not take a parent’s broach when they could barely walk. Your question would receive a yes from any humanoid in any realm, with no reference to an age of responsibility, and so cannot be of any worth or use.”
”To whom do you report, magistrate, and in what law do you consider yourself educated, as I must consider myself duty bound to raise my concerns in your slap dash practice to they whose law you pretend to competently practice. I have never met a magistrate absent of codex or charter of legislation who would presume to render novel judgements without reference to the circle of law and appeal, ET CETERA, which they serve. It is—“ and she pauses here, “preposterous.”
And what she says is truthful. She will need to inform the authority to which he deputises, for she has seen her father deal with similar inept and incorrect administrators of his law, and knows what must be done. An incompetent judge is a greater danger than many they may render judgement to.
(Hopefully her first and last full Karen, but alas, needs must).
Erudisia must have noticed Little One, who, compelled by the spell -- which compounds his natural tendency to over-share -- was mouthing “Ye…,” and moving his hand toward his Headband of Intellect just as Erudisia began her second line of defense. Or perhaps the obvious course he was about to take launched Erudisia on her way. (Yet, the magistrate already seems to have made up his mind about Erudisia, and further attempts to Intimidate him without some important change in the dynamic will not change the prior die roll.)
The magistrate is immune to Erudisia’s threats, answering only that prior to the voluntary inception of the bi-bunal of justice comprised of himself and the paladin, there was only chaos and lawlessness on the road, the local villagers having no other recourse. The gnome’s bored expression seems to indicate that he has heard many an excuse, defense, and outright lie in answer to his inquiries of travelers on the road. The paladin interjects many a “good point!,” or “that could well be,” or “I beg to disagree” although never speaking his own mind fully except to continue to eye Erudisia as she argues her point. His mount continues to drool as it pants, seemingly very content.
In the meantime, Little One plainly appears to be waiting his turn to simply confess the truth of his past.
(We will say that Erudisia continues to hold the magistrate’s attention long enough for the group to concoct a plan to keep the ogre from admitting his crimes, or otherwise change the situation’s dynamic.)
(I have Charm Person [Wis save 13] but I think it’s a bad option. With a paladin at his side, as a possible Cleric, with a somatic component, it will probably just make things worse for us. Same as getting Little One to just step outside the Zone of Truth.
I also don’t think Little One would lie anyway.
I also don’t think, annoyed as she is at the crass and brash inquisition, that Erudisia would attack a magistrate in this circumstance.
Possibly, we could get a question in first — or philosophically bamboozle Little One. ‘I think therefore I am’, if Little One’s answer were to regard before he had his headband of intellect then it was a different I with different thoughts. He is a different consciousness and I presume one that hasn’t committed those crimes. Would we consider him issue of the him without the band, or a reincarnation? In either case can we consider him to hold criminal responsibility on behalf of his unreasonable forbear?
Would, if the above is accepted, Little One’s true answer be No? How would we get him to think this way without the Paladin and Magistrate hearing his No, not agreeing with our premise and taking him anyway?
Erudisia could offer to counsel him? Possible charm person Little One? Charm Person works on humanoids and not giants? We tell Little One he’s a humanoid now and that the spell affects him, and … it convinces him? I’ve talked myself into it if nothing else. Also I have nothing else, haha)
(Oh also, they’re on wolves actually. While they’re both very focused on Erudisia, perhaps one of the others could use Prestidigitation to create a smell of meat from the direction of the prevailing wind?)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Meredith was a little puzzled by Erudisias attitude and it took her a while to catch on until her eyes fell on Little One......Ah!
" Sorry, just a query. As my companion said is your enquiry about a particular period of time? Perhaps in the last few months? Or are my companions to possibly confess to taking an extra plum from a food cart as a child or callow youth?"
" I was easily able to answer as I have never been here before and any conceivable wanton slaughter or thievery I engaged in would have been committed hundreds of miles from here.....also, and perhaps more philosophical.", she bit her lip knowing she was about to possibly insult a friend.....for their own good.....but still......
" If there were......for instance.....a bear...that roamed this area for many years and on occasion as bears do defended its territory from interlopers and someone was sadly killed....would you proclaim the animal, which after all was incapable of higher reasoning and only following its instincts, guilty?"
" And if.....some years later a......druid were to use a Rite to Awaken higher reasoning and sapience in said bear would you hold the new individual within that bear responsible for the actions of the animal it once was?"
( Not sure if there's actual persuasion in there but what the hell:- Persuasion 5 +
Erudisia turns to Meredith as she picks up the thread, nodding enthusiastically. “And killed is the key word; this is not at all a purely semantic consideration. Does a wolf steal a carcass from the jackal, in the legal sense? Does a jackal murder a sheep, or only kill?”
”Little One, as a learn-ed scholar on the nature of consciousness, I must ask you first, to aid my understanding of the magistrate’s inquiry of us … what is the nature of consciousness, and the difference between sentience and sapience? Can one without sapience be said to commit a crime, if they have not responsibility? Please, give us a full and truthful estimation of an answer, referring to such sources as you can recall off-hand.
”We must be truthful, and so we must fully understand what the nature of truth is in such complex circumstances and so broad and nuanced a question, Little One. Please, grant us the privilege of your full consideration and knowledge before you arrive at a conclusion.”
(Zone of truth lasts 10 minutes, so we might have this in the bag, if Erudisia and Meredith have already run down the clock a little bit. Though, Little One might say yes without it…)
(Aha! Extending the argument beyond the spell duration is the goal. Brilliant!)
The magistrate was unwilling to entertain further philosophical argumentation from Erudisia. Nobles and their sense of entitlement, he might have thought, are not worth the effort. But when Meredith presented supporting arguments to Erudisia’s thesis, the little sliding window opening onto the gnome’s little world of bureaucratic judgment cracked, and he could not maintain his composure. What was it about the bard that poked and prodded and egged him on? Not the words exactly, he’d heard it all before. He’d heard the words, yes, but not from someone so… young. Yes, the youth was part of what triggered him, but even more so, what pierced his bubble, pushed his buttons, got his goat and vexed and irked his sense of correctness and supercilious, nostril-flared narcissism? The pixie cut. Anything but a pixie cut. That was the final straw.
And so, the magistrate picked up the argument, with, “and do you expect that one who murders a helpless victim and the next day converts to Lothander and repents of all his evil acts should therefore be forgiven under the law? Should there be no recourse?,” and it only goes downhill for him after that.
The argumentation and philosophizing continues, until Little One loudly blurts out, “Yes!,” but he continues as if it were all one thought, answering Erudisia’s question, “Yes… I have study the meaning of sentience and consciousness and also awareness and knowledge and they boundaries, but gray area is all around and can not find answer. But when you says bear which was natural and then give intellect, it remind me of story I read…”
He tells the tale, and everyone continues the discussion on the road as the sun dips from its place high in the sky and the minutes tick by. Sly whisperings finally get through to the ogre, and he accepts that he must try to hide the truth.
“Enough!,” the gnome finally interrupts. “For the final time, I am required to ascertain your guilt or lack thereof.” He seems to have forgotten that Bell has not ventured an answer, his focus only on Little One. “Have you or have you not engaged in thievery or murder while travelling on the Coast Way lands, between the Beregost and the Friendly Arm Inn???”
Little One thinks about it for a moment, and then answers, tentatively. “No?”
“It is duly noted! Fare well and be safe as you travel these lands!” The gnome shakes his table once again, the legs retreat into it, and he packs it into his bag and shouts, “Treat!,” and his mount leaps up, and trots past you down the road.
“He didn’t even notice,” the paladin says after a moment, pulling off his helmet and shaking out his beautiful golden shoulder-length tresses, “that his spell had already ended by the time the ogre here spoke.”
Little One smiles with a slightly superior air, eyebrows raised. Oh well.
The paladin replaces his helmet and smiles one last time, bowing ever so slightly to Erudisia. “Mi’Lady.” His slobbering mount barks once, a jolly sound that bounces down the road, before the big canine bounds away after the gnome.
Merediths eyes go wider than they have ever been and she snatches her finger back over her own lips looking aghast........her finger now against her own lips but moments ago it had been pressed against Bells........Bells soft.....full....she could almost feel like they...NO! Stupid....Stupid......Stupid! What were you thinking?!......
She immediately span 180 degrees and looked down the road into the distance...
" I.......I.....mean. Oh.Dear."
" Um........what strange people you meet on the road, hey? Well.......that's wasted enough time then....."
" Look At The Time! Best we were off."
" What do you think Erudisia? Good stiff hike.......can't be too long to the next inn......can it?"
Meredith wasn't quite sure what colour her face was but it was currently facing away from everyone else.....and she was determined to keep it that way until it stopped feeling so incredibly warm.....oh, dear....now I'm perspiring....I'm a sweaty anxious lump.....just the ticket....exactly what I need to be right now......
She raised her finger to her lips once more, then bit her knuckle forcefully as she internally screamed.....for a moment she fancied she tasted strawberries, perhaps from her fingers brief dalliance with Bells lips.....no.....that's blood you utter berk......you've just bitten your own finger so hard you made it bleed......you are frankly the most useless person in the entire world.....
Erudisia smiles and nods happily at Little One, before turning in her seat to watch the frustrating paladin and his charge head down the road. What a frustrating man. Infuriating. With infuriatingly thick, long hair. Aggravating man, she thinks, as she watches him for a little longer. She nods after a moment to Meredith’s half-heard question.
With a sigh, she turns back to her companions. Ready to travel a little further before their first day is done.
The next thirty hours pass without further excitement as the companions move north along the Coast Way. You find a little grassy meadow to camp under the stars, and the next morning, continue your journey.
It is now the evening of your second day of travel, and you've made good time, for you see ahead of you, close around a sharp turn in the rolling hills, the hamlet of Friendly Arm. In its center, crowded around by individual huts and cabins, stands the crenelated keep which, passersby on the road have told you, holds and protects the Friendly Arm Inn. The drawbridge is down, and as you arrive, another party from the north precedes you over the bridge and to the stables. Traveling merchants from Baldur’s Gate tired from their journey by the sound of it, and ready to sample the ale. Within the walls, you find the inn – a three-story affair with dark-stained wood braces on a white plaster exterior; a very low-roofed temple painted yellow; a handful of wood-sided homes; and a stable, with an accompanying horse pond in the courtyard.
A tall githyanki juggler, sour-faced at first but then grinning broadly, picks himself up from the flagstones when the merchants enter, and starts his juggling routine. You hear music from inside the Inn, and voices raised in song, and smell lamb and herbs roasting in the kitchen, even over the farm-odors of the courtyard stable.
" Yes?", said Meredith uncertainly not sure she had followed the speech correctly but feeling she should say something.
"Thieves we are not, only Scholars, and I am glad to hear we do not appear to be that which we should be loathe to resemble." Erudisia's eyebrows furrow and she takes a deep breath.
"However, I am a noble born lady of Moonshae, Daughter of the House of Odewright, and a follower of the Seldrine Pantheon, and these three my companions.
"By what right do you depute to consider yourself a peer of my realm, and by what domain does Tyr and this bi-bunal seek to catechize me, in so informal a deportment, who has no charge, no duty, no obligation, no dispensation, no formulation and -- importantly -- no representation, by which to answer: in this most humble and ill-suited of locales a topic for which I am ab extra, on such important topics with clear representations a posteriori. For is it not such, here, in civilised lands also that it be said 'actus legis nemini facit injurium' . Or should I be led to believe that a magistrate in this place may administer law to his community in absence of the honest and just sight and witness of his community? If resemblance be your measure to interrogate, then is resemblance to the appearance of law sufficient for your purposes?
"You who give not your name, but supply only an insufficient charter for your charge."
Meredith looks at Bell to see if she is getting any of this.....
(Erudisia, amazing! Please roll Intimidate with advantage.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Intimidate with advantage: 7 and 11.
(Good enough to divert from Erudisia but not good enough to cover the entire party.)
The gnome immediately responds, for he seems to thrive on argumentation.
“My name is unimportant, but in the name of my office, whose name has already been named, I speak it now. Namely, Fizz. The charter is sufficient for though it may indeed be insufficient in the Moonshae Lands –,” “-- wherever they are,” the paladin interrupts, coyly flashing perfect white teeth again at Erudisia, but the gnome seems used to being interrupted and loses not a beat as he picks up from the paladin, “The Moonshae Lands, I say, however, to wit, the charter here in five and a half meadows –,” “--and, three ponds,” the paladin adds, “--yes,” the gnome continues, "and the three ponds, is quite sufficient.
“However,” the gnome now interrupts himself, heading off the paladin from doing so, “seeing that the lady’s outfitting is beyond reproach, I dare say, so is her character. Therefore, she may choose not to partake in these proceedings.” While picking lint off of his immaculate robe he returns his focus to the group.
“For the others, however, a single question will do, if answered truthfully. Ahem,” the gnome now turns to address the entire group. Athra penchur in pez gerchuron,” he says, drawing a circle in the air which encompasses the four companions. (OOC this is a casting of the spell zone of truth. Please make a CHA save vs. DC 14 or you can’t speak a deliberate lie while affected by the enchantment.)
“Answer the question ‘no,’ and you are free to go. If you’ve done no ill, you’ve nothing to fear. Now." His voice pipes with as much gravity as could possibly originate from the mouth of a chipmunk, "Have you engaged in thievery or murder while travelling on the Coast Way lands, between the Beregost and the Friendly Arm Inn?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith smiles with relief, " No, of course not. Who would do such a thing?"
( Meredith chooses not to resist the spell.)
{game log} CHR Save: 19 -1 = 18 for Bell
CHA Save: 11.
Erudisia glowers at the magistrate and his too-smiling Paladin, but remains silent. Seething. She has no doubt regarding her companions’ answers and were the question less easily answered she would not allow this to continue. As scholars, a simple no and they will be off, as the three will give now: Meredith and Bell and … Little One. Oh no, she thinks, perhaps a moment too late.
“No.”
“Is that not too broad?” she interjects, perhaps too hastily. “My companions were children once, and thievery is an act of impulse. I insist you specify your period of inquiry. As adult scholars, my companions are beyond reproach, and who can say no they did not take a parent’s broach when they could barely walk. Your question would receive a yes from any humanoid in any realm, with no reference to an age of responsibility, and so cannot be of any worth or use.”
”To whom do you report, magistrate, and in what law do you consider yourself educated, as I must consider myself duty bound to raise my concerns in your slap dash practice to they whose law you pretend to competently practice. I have never met a magistrate absent of codex or charter of legislation who would presume to render novel judgements without reference to the circle of law and appeal, ET CETERA, which they serve. It is—“ and she pauses here, “preposterous.”
And what she says is truthful. She will need to inform the authority to which he deputises, for she has seen her father deal with similar inept and incorrect administrators of his law, and knows what must be done. An incompetent judge is a greater danger than many they may render judgement to.
(Hopefully her first and last full Karen, but alas, needs must).
Erudisia must have noticed Little One, who, compelled by the spell -- which compounds his natural tendency to over-share -- was mouthing “Ye…,” and moving his hand toward his Headband of Intellect just as Erudisia began her second line of defense. Or perhaps the obvious course he was about to take launched Erudisia on her way. (Yet, the magistrate already seems to have made up his mind about Erudisia, and further attempts to Intimidate him without some important change in the dynamic will not change the prior die roll.)
The magistrate is immune to Erudisia’s threats, answering only that prior to the voluntary inception of the bi-bunal of justice comprised of himself and the paladin, there was only chaos and lawlessness on the road, the local villagers having no other recourse. The gnome’s bored expression seems to indicate that he has heard many an excuse, defense, and outright lie in answer to his inquiries of travelers on the road. The paladin interjects many a “good point!,” or “that could well be,” or “I beg to disagree” although never speaking his own mind fully except to continue to eye Erudisia as she argues her point. His mount continues to drool as it pants, seemingly very content.
In the meantime, Little One plainly appears to be waiting his turn to simply confess the truth of his past.
(We will say that Erudisia continues to hold the magistrate’s attention long enough for the group to concoct a plan to keep the ogre from admitting his crimes, or otherwise change the situation’s dynamic.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(I have Charm Person [Wis save 13] but I think it’s a bad option. With a paladin at his side, as a possible Cleric, with a somatic component, it will probably just make things worse for us. Same as getting Little One to just step outside the Zone of Truth.
I also don’t think Little One would lie anyway.
I also don’t think, annoyed as she is at the crass and brash inquisition, that Erudisia would attack a magistrate in this circumstance.
Possibly, we could get a question in first — or philosophically bamboozle Little One. ‘I think therefore I am’, if Little One’s answer were to regard before he had his headband of intellect then it was a different I with different thoughts. He is a different consciousness and I presume one that hasn’t committed those crimes. Would we consider him issue of the him without the band, or a reincarnation? In either case can we consider him to hold criminal responsibility on behalf of his unreasonable forbear?
Would, if the above is accepted, Little One’s true answer be No? How would we get him to think this way without the Paladin and Magistrate hearing his No, not agreeing with our premise and taking him anyway?
Erudisia could offer to counsel him? Possible charm person Little One? Charm Person works on humanoids and not giants? We tell Little One he’s a humanoid now and that the spell affects him, and … it convinces him? I’ve talked myself into it if nothing else. Also I have nothing else, haha)
(Oh also, they’re on wolves actually. While they’re both very focused on Erudisia, perhaps one of the others could use Prestidigitation to create a smell of meat from the direction of the prevailing wind?)
Meredith was a little puzzled by Erudisias attitude and it took her a while to catch on until her eyes fell on Little One......Ah!
" Sorry, just a query. As my companion said is your enquiry about a particular period of time? Perhaps in the last few months? Or are my companions to possibly confess to taking an extra plum from a food cart as a child or callow youth?"
" I was easily able to answer as I have never been here before and any conceivable wanton slaughter or thievery I engaged in would have been committed hundreds of miles from here.....also, and perhaps more philosophical.", she bit her lip knowing she was about to possibly insult a friend.....for their own good.....but still......
" If there were......for instance.....a bear...that roamed this area for many years and on occasion as bears do defended its territory from interlopers and someone was sadly killed....would you proclaim the animal, which after all was incapable of higher reasoning and only following its instincts, guilty?"
" And if.....some years later a......druid were to use a Rite to Awaken higher reasoning and sapience in said bear would you hold the new individual within that bear responsible for the actions of the animal it once was?"
( Not sure if there's actual persuasion in there but what the hell:- Persuasion 5 +
Erudisia turns to Meredith as she picks up the thread, nodding enthusiastically. “And killed is the key word; this is not at all a purely semantic consideration. Does a wolf steal a carcass from the jackal, in the legal sense? Does a jackal murder a sheep, or only kill?”
”Little One, as a learn-ed scholar on the nature of consciousness, I must ask you first, to aid my understanding of the magistrate’s inquiry of us … what is the nature of consciousness, and the difference between sentience and sapience? Can one without sapience be said to commit a crime, if they have not responsibility? Please, give us a full and truthful estimation of an answer, referring to such sources as you can recall off-hand.
”We must be truthful, and so we must fully understand what the nature of truth is in such complex circumstances and so broad and nuanced a question, Little One. Please, grant us the privilege of your full consideration and knowledge before you arrive at a conclusion.”
(Zone of truth lasts 10 minutes, so we might have this in the bag, if Erudisia and Meredith have already run down the clock a little bit. Though, Little One might say yes without it…)
(Aha! Extending the argument beyond the spell duration is the goal. Brilliant!)
The magistrate was unwilling to entertain further philosophical argumentation from Erudisia. Nobles and their sense of entitlement, he might have thought, are not worth the effort. But when Meredith presented supporting arguments to Erudisia’s thesis, the little sliding window opening onto the gnome’s little world of bureaucratic judgment cracked, and he could not maintain his composure. What was it about the bard that poked and prodded and egged him on? Not the words exactly, he’d heard it all before. He’d heard the words, yes, but not from someone so… young. Yes, the youth was part of what triggered him, but even more so, what pierced his bubble, pushed his buttons, got his goat and vexed and irked his sense of correctness and supercilious, nostril-flared narcissism? The pixie cut. Anything but a pixie cut. That was the final straw.
And so, the magistrate picked up the argument, with, “and do you expect that one who murders a helpless victim and the next day converts to Lothander and repents of all his evil acts should therefore be forgiven under the law? Should there be no recourse?,” and it only goes downhill for him after that.
The argumentation and philosophizing continues, until Little One loudly blurts out, “Yes!,” but he continues as if it were all one thought, answering Erudisia’s question, “Yes… I have study the meaning of sentience and consciousness and also awareness and knowledge and they boundaries, but gray area is all around and can not find answer. But when you says bear which was natural and then give intellect, it remind me of story I read…”
He tells the tale, and everyone continues the discussion on the road as the sun dips from its place high in the sky and the minutes tick by. Sly whisperings finally get through to the ogre, and he accepts that he must try to hide the truth.
“Enough!,” the gnome finally interrupts. “For the final time, I am required to ascertain your guilt or lack thereof.” He seems to have forgotten that Bell has not ventured an answer, his focus only on Little One. “Have you or have you not engaged in thievery or murder while travelling on the Coast Way lands, between the Beregost and the Friendly Arm Inn???”
Little One thinks about it for a moment, and then answers, tentatively. “No?”
“It is duly noted! Fare well and be safe as you travel these lands!” The gnome shakes his table once again, the legs retreat into it, and he packs it into his bag and shouts, “Treat!,” and his mount leaps up, and trots past you down the road.
“He didn’t even notice,” the paladin says after a moment, pulling off his helmet and shaking out his beautiful golden shoulder-length tresses, “that his spell had already ended by the time the ogre here spoke.”
Little One smiles with a slightly superior air, eyebrows raised. Oh well.
The paladin replaces his helmet and smiles one last time, bowing ever so slightly to Erudisia. “Mi’Lady.” His slobbering mount barks once, a jolly sound that bounces down the road, before the big canine bounds away after the gnome.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell raises an objecting finger as the paladin and gnome start riding away but, is silenced by Meredith's finger over her lips. "Shush, Bell."
Merediths eyes go wider than they have ever been and she snatches her finger back over her own lips looking aghast........her finger now against her own lips but moments ago it had been pressed against Bells........Bells soft.....full....she could almost feel like they...NO! Stupid....Stupid......Stupid! What were you thinking?!......
She immediately span 180 degrees and looked down the road into the distance...
" I.......I.....mean. Oh.Dear."
" Um........what strange people you meet on the road, hey? Well.......that's wasted enough time then....."
" Look At The Time! Best we were off."
" What do you think Erudisia? Good stiff hike.......can't be too long to the next inn......can it?"
Meredith wasn't quite sure what colour her face was but it was currently facing away from everyone else.....and she was determined to keep it that way until it stopped feeling so incredibly warm.....oh, dear....now I'm perspiring....I'm a sweaty anxious lump.....just the ticket....exactly what I need to be right now......
She raised her finger to her lips once more, then bit her knuckle forcefully as she internally screamed.....for a moment she fancied she tasted strawberries, perhaps from her fingers brief dalliance with Bells lips.....no.....that's blood you utter berk......you've just bitten your own finger so hard you made it bleed......you are frankly the most useless person in the entire world.....
" Right........ok........ow.......Shall we?"
Erudisia smiles and nods happily at Little One, before turning in her seat to watch the frustrating paladin and his charge head down the road. What a frustrating man. Infuriating. With infuriatingly thick, long hair. Aggravating man, she thinks, as she watches him for a little longer. She nods after a moment to Meredith’s half-heard question.
With a sigh, she turns back to her companions. Ready to travel a little further before their first day is done.
(The Filibuster Four).
The next thirty hours pass without further excitement as the companions move north along the Coast Way. You find a little grassy meadow to camp under the stars, and the next morning, continue your journey.
It is now the evening of your second day of travel, and you've made good time, for you see ahead of you, close around a sharp turn in the rolling hills, the hamlet of Friendly Arm. In its center, crowded around by individual huts and cabins, stands the crenelated keep which, passersby on the road have told you, holds and protects the Friendly Arm Inn. The drawbridge is down, and as you arrive, another party from the north precedes you over the bridge and to the stables. Traveling merchants from Baldur’s Gate tired from their journey by the sound of it, and ready to sample the ale. Within the walls, you find the inn – a three-story affair with dark-stained wood braces on a white plaster exterior; a very low-roofed temple painted yellow; a handful of wood-sided homes; and a stable, with an accompanying horse pond in the courtyard.
A tall githyanki juggler, sour-faced at first but then grinning broadly, picks himself up from the flagstones when the merchants enter, and starts his juggling routine. You hear music from inside the Inn, and voices raised in song, and smell lamb and herbs roasting in the kitchen, even over the farm-odors of the courtyard stable.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer