Meredith let out a long slow breath and whispered under her breath, " Lets have a chat."
( Speak With Animals)
In Baboon- " You like it here or you wanna get out?"
In Lion- " You like it here or you wanna get out?"
“Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!,” scream the baboons. The lion’s response — lioness, that is — is more intricate, a crackling, breathy purr and turning of her great head. “Food good here. But noble station of lioness unable to hunt is in question. Baboons see me humiliated. Not good. Yes to get out. You can open gate?”
Meredith let out a long slow breath and whispered under her breath, " Lets have a chat."
( Speak With Animals)
In Baboon- " You like it here or you wanna get out?"
In Lion- " You like it here or you wanna get out?"
“Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!,” scream the baboons. The lion’s response — lioness, that is — is more intricate, a crackling, breathy purr and turning of her great head. “Food good here. But noble station of lioness unable to hunt is in question. Baboons see me humiliated. Not good. Yes to get out. You can open gate?”
Meredith turned towards the tieflings, " My friends are getting out. Bell, could you fetch the keys over there....Please."
In Lion- " My Queen, I will release you. I saw lions on the south road....are they your people? I will ask that the baboons are not harmed nor none of the humanoids....there is prey aplenty outside these walls."
In Baboon- " I will release you, but I am releasing the lioness as well, so I would make yourselves scarce as quickly as possible."
"Getting... out...?," the acrobat answers. The hula-hoop dancer says, "What???," and stands and puts their body between Bell and the keys. The banjo player, picking up his banjo, gestures with it as he speaks. An old man with a gruff voice. "Now, now, now... you three four younguns can just hang onto yer hats for just a minute and take a chill pillow. Yes a chill pillow, I sez! ," he repeats, his eyes rolling under red eyelashes. "These here are trained animals and the means of ours here livin's and ye can't allays find a circus job when ye look for one and without em we ain't got no act, and...," he takes a deep breath barely skipping a beat, "...and we three have mouths to feed. Even though we subject to being exoticized on a daily basis 'round here, well not every job is perfect and ya gots ta take what come yer way or yer a fool I sez. A burr in the hand is worth two in the push, they say, and though I spend but little time in the wilds, I've heard that sayin's true as hardened peel, like a tough ol' orange. Aye! So, please just stay back and head back home I bet youz all just had too much to drink and are three cheese to the window, like as not!"
As this is all going on, Bell has gone over to a bale of hay and grabbed a couple tufts. While listening to the conversation, she starts humming to herself as her hands go through the motions of twisting and shaping the hay. She barely looks down as it appears she has done this many many times in her young life.
More twisting and braiding and shaping... until she has a fair made straw doll shaped. Looking about the grounds she spies a splinter of wood and retrieves it to add to her handcrafted doll. All the while softly humming until it is finished. Where as she whispers words of arcane power into the 'ear' of the straw doll.
The dancer brandishes her hula hoop menacingly, keeping it between herself and Bell as Bell fashions the doll. “Witchcraft!,” the dancer whispers fearfully as Bell whispers into the doll’s ear. But relief washes over her face when nothing happens as a result. Nothing she can see of course, until the key ring floats in front of her widening eyes as the invisible servant hands it to Bell.
Bell accepts the keys while making a 'shushing' motion at the hula hoop woman. "Not a witch. Years of practice and study. Same as your skills you learned with your hoop. Now, I must assist my friend before preparing to leave your company."
Two applications of keys to locks later, and the animals are free. The tieflings, Meredith notes, have a ten-word vocabulary in the lion and baboon tongues. The animals are well-trained and have pleasant dispositions overall. The tieflings are not scared of the animals, and neither will the animals hurt the tieflings. At least, these three.
There are two exits to this room: a locked door leading to what you think is the little circus performance arena, and the unlocked door back the way you came…
Erudisia looks up from her book, hearing Meredith’s voice impersonating an ape then a lion. She taps her finger against her chin for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. But then returns to her book.
The baboons stop only long enough to exchange a look. “An open door!! Thanks and g’bye! G’bye! Byebyebyebyebyebyebye!!!!,” they squeal in baboonish as they scoot sideways down the access tunnel to the little arena.
“I am Emrys,” the lion tells Meredith in lionish. “You have earned my royal favor. If ever you meet my kind, tell them my name and they will have no choice but to allow passage through their hunting grounds.” Then with a crackling roar, she bids you farewell and trots after the baboons.
You follow the animals in turn, down a short tunnel that exits into the arena which sits at the bottom of a graded amphitheater. In the performance circle you see a number of large hoops big enough for a lion to jump through, and a few other circus implements and paraphernalia.
On the far side of the little arena, at the top level of the seating, a number of casino patrons who had thought to hide there until the rest of the casino calmed down, rise to their feet, clapping for the animals, but when the baboons leap the partition and rush toward the doors, the patrons leap out of the way, yelling in surprise. A security mirror hangs in the northwest corner, overlooking the seating area.
Outside, in the main casino area, beyond your line of sight, you hear a high-pitched voice yelling indistinct commands. The baboons are about to exit through the double doors, and Emrys the lion follows at a confident trot behind them.
" Follow the animals, try and mix with the crowd. If that doesn't work swim for it and if we get nabbed dump Dizzy in the river.", Meredith hurriedly said as they moved as one.
She then did her best to appear as a frazzled distraught and frantic guest.....
( Assuming Help on all rolls)
Deception- I am totes a normal guest- 21
Performance- Ohmygawd!!! Pearl Clutch!- 18
Persuasion- We are not the droids your looking for -18
The baboons, screeching with excitement, shuffle out of the arena and onto the casino floor where they are instantly greeted with shouts of alarm. The shouts transform into screams of terror when Emrys saunters out behind them, fueling a general stampede and commotion away from her. Meredith, Bell and Marliza, with Little One close behind, follow the animals in turn, to witness, in a word, pandemonium.
There is a line of security guards surrounding the security doors you entered through to get to the offices and vault, but the line is overrun by panicked men and women. Behind them is a small circle of casino cashiers, arms thrown up in exasperation as they speak and plea to a person at their center, while they themselves are surrounded by a larger circle of casino patrons with anger etched on their faces, shaking fists full of casino tokens at the cashiers. The cashiers hold them off while complaining to the gnome who stands surrounded by them, his movements brusque and furious and his voice, wound tight as a watchspring, wails and rages as the circles tighten around him.
The boat has left the quay, leaving it empty save for casino guests crowding to its edge, one of them having fallen into the stream though keeping hold of the dock’s edge.
The baboons make a quick circle and can find no exit. They stand atop the slot machines, screeching and pounding the air in frustration. Emrys shares their frustration and begins to roar in anger, and the casino patrons pale and scream piercingly when she nears.
Meredith succeeds on all counts, blending into the crowd, and pulling Bell and Marliza with her. Little One creeps to the edge of the terrace. “I… think I can climb away,” he says and looks to you for instructions.
Sighting down the cliff face at Little One’s side, you notice something that you hadn’t before. To the left of the downstairs restaurant’s lower terrace, a long V-shaped gangplank hangs against the escarpment, suspended by a web of ropes and pulleys accessed from the restaurant level. The ropes and pulleys seem to allow for the gangplank to be turned away from the edge of the cliff, on a sort of hinge, to allow for loading and unloading of goods to a little bay where the little waterfall hits the sea and where a ship could anchor below. There is no ship there presently, but… while to fall into the sea from this height would be fatal, to dive from the end of the long gangplank? No problem. One would only have to swim to shore and then walk along the narrow beach, southward, to Baldur’s Gate…
( Nah, we just leave without extra distraction....we've enough cantrips to fudge something.)
“Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!,” scream the baboons. The lion’s response — lioness, that is — is more intricate, a crackling, breathy purr and turning of her great head. “Food good here. But noble station of lioness unable to hunt is in question. Baboons see me humiliated. Not good. Yes to get out. You can open gate?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith turned towards the tieflings, " My friends are getting out. Bell, could you fetch the keys over there....Please."
In Lion- " My Queen, I will release you. I saw lions on the south road....are they your people? I will ask that the baboons are not harmed nor none of the humanoids....there is prey aplenty outside these walls."
In Baboon- " I will release you, but I am releasing the lioness as well, so I would make yourselves scarce as quickly as possible."
"Getting... out...?," the acrobat answers. The hula-hoop dancer says, "What???," and stands and puts their body between Bell and the keys. The banjo player, picking up his banjo, gestures with it as he speaks. An old man with a gruff voice. "Now, now, now... you three four younguns can just hang onto yer hats for just a minute and take a chill pillow. Yes a chill pillow, I sez! ," he repeats, his eyes rolling under red eyelashes. "These here are trained animals and the means of ours here livin's and ye can't allays find a circus job when ye look for one and without em we ain't got no act, and...," he takes a deep breath barely skipping a beat, "...and we three have mouths to feed. Even though we subject to being exoticized on a daily basis 'round here, well not every job is perfect and ya gots ta take what come yer way or yer a fool I sez. A burr in the hand is worth two in the push, they say, and though I spend but little time in the wilds, I've heard that sayin's true as hardened peel, like a tough ol' orange. Aye! So, please just stay back and head back home I bet youz all just had too much to drink and are three cheese to the window, like as not!"
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
The animals, meanwhile, all fall to an expectant silence, all eight eyes on Meredith.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith called on a cold wind to blow through the group ruffling their hair.
" Leave. Theres a lot of money on the tables left in the panic....you could always take that.", she said with a flat intonation.
(That sounds like... Persuasion check?)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
( It does. Sorry, had to go unblock a toilet.)
Persuasion ( Gonna assume Help from LO, M or B)- 16
As this is all going on, Bell has gone over to a bale of hay and grabbed a couple tufts. While listening to the conversation, she starts humming to herself as her hands go through the motions of twisting and shaping the hay. She barely looks down as it appears she has done this many many times in her young life.
More twisting and braiding and shaping... until she has a fair made straw doll shaped. Looking about the grounds she spies a splinter of wood and retrieves it to add to her handcrafted doll. All the while softly humming until it is finished. Where as she whispers words of arcane power into the 'ear' of the straw doll.
Unseen Servant
When the time is ripe, Bell will command her new helper to retrieve the keys so she does not have to go toe-to-toe with the performers.
The dancer brandishes her hula hoop menacingly, keeping it between herself and Bell as Bell fashions the doll. “Witchcraft!,” the dancer whispers fearfully as Bell whispers into the doll’s ear. But relief washes over her face when nothing happens as a result. Nothing she can see of course, until the key ring floats in front of her widening eyes as the invisible servant hands it to Bell.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell accepts the keys while making a 'shushing' motion at the hula hoop woman. "Not a witch. Years of practice and study. Same as your skills you learned with your hoop. Now, I must assist my friend before preparing to leave your company."
Persuasion Check: 18 {game log}
Meredith gave a crooked grin, " I'm a witch."
Two applications of keys to locks later, and the animals are free. The tieflings, Meredith notes, have a ten-word vocabulary in the lion and baboon tongues. The animals are well-trained and have pleasant dispositions overall. The tieflings are not scared of the animals, and neither will the animals hurt the tieflings. At least, these three.
There are two exits to this room: a locked door leading to what you think is the little circus performance arena, and the unlocked door back the way you came…
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith grabbed the keys and unlocked the performance door and opened it mentioning the buffet to the three baboons and its preponderance of fruits.
She came back to the lioness and, after asking permission, stroked her head.
Then in both Lion and Common said, " Lets get out of here." and ran out the door into the performance area.
Erudisia looks up from her book, hearing Meredith’s voice impersonating an ape then a lion. She taps her finger against her chin for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. But then returns to her book.
The baboons stop only long enough to exchange a look. “An open door!! Thanks and g’bye! G’bye! Byebyebyebyebyebyebye!!!!,” they squeal in baboonish as they scoot sideways down the access tunnel to the little arena.
“I am Emrys,” the lion tells Meredith in lionish. “You have earned my royal favor. If ever you meet my kind, tell them my name and they will have no choice but to allow passage through their hunting grounds.” Then with a crackling roar, she bids you farewell and trots after the baboons.
You follow the animals in turn, down a short tunnel that exits into the arena which sits at the bottom of a graded amphitheater. In the performance circle you see a number of large hoops big enough for a lion to jump through, and a few other circus implements and paraphernalia.
On the far side of the little arena, at the top level of the seating, a number of casino patrons who had thought to hide there until the rest of the casino calmed down, rise to their feet, clapping for the animals, but when the baboons leap the partition and rush toward the doors, the patrons leap out of the way, yelling in surprise. A security mirror hangs in the northwest corner, overlooking the seating area.
Outside, in the main casino area, beyond your line of sight, you hear a high-pitched voice yelling indistinct commands. The baboons are about to exit through the double doors, and Emrys the lion follows at a confident trot behind them.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
" Follow the animals, try and mix with the crowd. If that doesn't work swim for it and if we get nabbed dump Dizzy in the river.", Meredith hurriedly said as they moved as one.
She then did her best to appear as a frazzled distraught and frantic guest.....
( Assuming Help on all rolls)
Deception- I am totes a normal guest- 21
Performance- Ohmygawd!!! Pearl Clutch!- 18
Persuasion- We are not the droids your looking for -18
Stealth- Slip into the Crowd- 17
The baboons, screeching with excitement, shuffle out of the arena and onto the casino floor where they are instantly greeted with shouts of alarm. The shouts transform into screams of terror when Emrys saunters out behind them, fueling a general stampede and commotion away from her. Meredith, Bell and Marliza, with Little One close behind, follow the animals in turn, to witness, in a word, pandemonium.
There is a line of security guards surrounding the security doors you entered through to get to the offices and vault, but the line is overrun by panicked men and women. Behind them is a small circle of casino cashiers, arms thrown up in exasperation as they speak and plea to a person at their center, while they themselves are surrounded by a larger circle of casino patrons with anger etched on their faces, shaking fists full of casino tokens at the cashiers. The cashiers hold them off while complaining to the gnome who stands surrounded by them, his movements brusque and furious and his voice, wound tight as a watchspring, wails and rages as the circles tighten around him.
The boat has left the quay, leaving it empty save for casino guests crowding to its edge, one of them having fallen into the stream though keeping hold of the dock’s edge.
The baboons make a quick circle and can find no exit. They stand atop the slot machines, screeching and pounding the air in frustration. Emrys shares their frustration and begins to roar in anger, and the casino patrons pale and scream piercingly when she nears.
Meredith succeeds on all counts, blending into the crowd, and pulling Bell and Marliza with her. Little One creeps to the edge of the terrace. “I… think I can climb away,” he says and looks to you for instructions.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Sighting down the cliff face at Little One’s side, you notice something that you hadn’t before. To the left of the downstairs restaurant’s lower terrace, a long V-shaped gangplank hangs against the escarpment, suspended by a web of ropes and pulleys accessed from the restaurant level. The ropes and pulleys seem to allow for the gangplank to be turned away from the edge of the cliff, on a sort of hinge, to allow for loading and unloading of goods to a little bay where the little waterfall hits the sea and where a ship could anchor below. There is no ship there presently, but… while to fall into the sea from this height would be fatal, to dive from the end of the long gangplank? No problem. One would only have to swim to shore and then walk along the narrow beach, southward, to Baldur’s Gate…
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(Seems awfully tempting)