Sparlock's Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Since he's looking for valuable supplies in the middle of a besieged castle, why don't you give me a Charisma[Investigation] check? 

OoC: Ooh, out of the box. I like it.

Charisma (Investigation): 5

OoC Edit: Oh wait, that should have been +4 not +3, because Darvin is Level 2 now and has the Jack of All Trades feature. So make that a 15.

Asking around, Darvin is told that the infirmary holds any medical supplies you might need, and to talk to Gertrude, the healing woman in there When trying to find a crossbow, he has a bit less luck, but after a little while, a helpful guard tells him that he saw a young herder practicing with a shortbow out in the courtyard. 

In the morning, Valji looks like he didn't sleep well. Even his gnomish features can't hide the haunted look and bags under his eyes. As he quietly chews his breakfast, his eyes are unfocused and he appears to be reliving some memory of particular grisly nature...

Your dreams are once again haunted by visions of destruction. In your dreams you see five robed figures in a circle wearing masks featuring the aspect of a dragon. Red, blue, green, red, black. As the figures begin chanting, the world fades to black. You don't remember much after that. The feeling of burning. Electricity coursing through your body. Images of entire towns suffocating under clouds of green poison gas. Crops frozen solid alongside the farmers tending them, together in death almost as if in a grim tribute to the life that was taken away from them.

(OOC. Anyone attempting to speak with the gnome while he is in this state will get a graphic recount of his dreams...)

Skiaceq’s eyes blink open as the sun arches over the horizon. From his perch on the highest point of the keep, the entire town is visible. He stretches his wings wide and gives them a good shake, releasing a cloud of soot and debris. A sickening sensation creeps through him as he becomes aware of the filth in his plumage. He must have been too exhausted to notice last night.

He swoops over the battlements and folds his wings, diving toward the south river, then brakes and levels his trajectory as he approaches the water’s surface. For a solid ten minutes, he flaps back and forth through the water until his plumage returns to a solid light-brown.

Once he’s comfortably clean, he climbs ashore and shakes his feathers until he’s light enough to fly again, and returns to his perch. There he spends an hour cleaning each feather with his beak. By the time he’s done, his plumage shines in the sunlight.

Finally, he relaxes. His muscles are sore from last night’s events, but a good flight around the keep will certainly rejuvenate.

Darvin heads to the courtyard first, relishing any chance he can get at a bit of fresh air. Sure enough, the young herder girl is there shooting arrows into some bales of hay that have been stacked in an arrangement that Darvin suspects is meant to resemble a dragon. He stands to the side for a minute, watching a couple of shots sail right into the "dragon's" nose, making it look a bit more like a walrus. He then catches the girl's eye and smiles warmly.

"Quite a shot you are!" he exclaims, approaching her. "You know, my friends and I are... " he pauses for a second trying to find a suitably exciting sounding word "...adventurers, on our way to take this fight to the enemy. If you keep this up, perhaps you might become an adventurer too in a few years. What's your name?"

"My name's Miri," she says, a bit uncomfortably. Who was this half-elf, and why was he talking to her of all people?

"Miri? Is that Chondathan? You know, I'm Chondathan myself. Well. On my father's side, anyway," he adds, running a finger along his ear. "I'm Darvin. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miri!" He then takes a more serious tone of voice. "You know, a group of kobolds managed to scurry off with my bow and arrows and so I'm looking for a replacement. Alas the shops in town aren't exactly accessible at the moment, but it looks like you've taken quite good care of yours. Any chance you might be willing to sell it to me? I can offer you, say..." he dumps some coins out of his pouch, "25 gold pieces? Say 26 if you've got some arrows to go with it? Last I checked that was about what a new shortbow sold for. And when we finally defeat that dragon cult, I'll be sure to tell everyone that I used Miri's bow to do it. What do you say?"

"I can't just sell you this bow... It's a family heirloom." Miri says, resignedly. Then, giving Darvin an appraising look, she continues,"But if we get out of this alive and you bring this back, my cousin Aarvene will be sure to hook your party up with some good deals at the shop. She's quite the bowyer, though not as good as grandpa. Works with the blacksmith and his husband..."

She pauses for a moment. "Come to think of it, I think she mentioned y'all... Didn't you help get her safely here?" Without waiting for you to respond, she continues, "Yeah! I knew it was you! I think this bow will be in good hands."

With that, Miri hands Darvin a beautiful shortbow of masterful craftsmanship, inlaid with silver designs. Its accompanied by a quiver and 18 arrows.

"Oh! I can't forget!" Miri runs to the dragon and plucks out the two arrows she had just shot into it. "You may need these as well!" she says, handing him the rest of the arrow bundle.

Darvin receives Miri's Shortbow, a quiver, and 20 arrows. Miri's Shortbow is a masterwork bow which gets +1 to attack and damage rolls, but is not considered magical.

 When Darvin heads into the infirmary, he finds Gertrude, the elderly lady who had helped patch up the party earlier, still hard at work. "What do you want, half-elf? You don't look injured. We're kind of busy here." As she's saying this, Gertrude is changing the bandages on the burned arm of a knight who had had too close of a call with a dragon's breath.

Before heading to the infirmary, Darvin goes through a pro forma routine of "A family heirloom? I couldn't possibly"s and the like before eagerly accepting the bow with his best show of false reluctance.

When Gertrude at the infirmary is done scolding him, he says, "Oh, of course. Horrible what's happening. Here, let me help you with that," as he walks over to hold one end of the new bandage still on the knight's arm while Gertrude wraps the other end around it. "And thank you, by the way, for tending to the wounds of my companions and I last night; we went on to have a couple more run-ins with some more of those awful lizards as well as, if you can believe this, a kobold sorcerer! and, well, I won't bore you with the details but, if we hadn't begun those encounters with a state of full health due to your skilled hands, who knows if I'd even be here to interrupt your important work! Double-edged sword, I suppose." Noticing a commoner with some slash wounds lying on the bed next to the knight, he says, "Sorry, poor choice of words."

He then spends a minute indulging in some gallows humor with the injured knight, navigating the conversational space right along the meridian that separates a shared moment of laughter in the face of death from the land of "going too far", before turning again to Gertrude.

"Look, I truly hate to ask, since I know how precious your supplies are, but my companions and I are about to venture outside the keep to take the fight to these cultists and, well, we could really use some medical provisions, you know, as a precaution. We've recovered some gold from some raiding parties; I will happily make a donation of, say, five pieces of gold to your infirmary if you could part with a healer's kit for myself and my cohort to bring with us?"

As Quarion starts helping out, Gertrude seems to calm down a little. "I can't possibly take your money," she says, surreptitiously pocketing Valji's gold as she goes to the supply closet. Taking an extra pouch she had lying around, she puts together bandages, balms, and a miscellaneous supplies into a improvised healer's kit. "Try not to get killed..," she says, passing the pouch to Quarion, "Or at the very least, don't burn down the keep this time."

Darvin thanks Gertrude for the supplies, saying, "We'll do our best. Can't promise anything, of course..."

Then, having obtained the items he was seeking, Darvin returns to the barracks to rendezvous with the rest of the party so they can continue with their adventure. Remembering Lissandra's remark about the tunnels, he mentions the guard's passing comment about the other basement entrance, suggesting that if the goal is to find whatever the cultists were looking for before they do, those other tunnels might be a place to start. Since Skiaceq has been the most focused on this goal, he will go along with whatever the monk suggests the party do.

Eventually, Valji regains most of his gnomish enthusiasm after finally shaking off the effects of his nightmare. He spends some time studying his spellbook, writing some new entries and jotting a few notes in a strange script. "Hmmm...yes, I think that was the phrase I was mis-pronouncing before. No wonder the spell would always fizzle out. I can't wait to try this out against one of those drakes!" he exclaims as his hand sparks and crackles with eldritch energy...

Valji wanders into the keep, looking for the rest of his party and eager to start the next leg of their adventure. He was filled with purpose and free of his haunting visions...for the moment.

Since it's been over 24 hours, we'll head on, and Lissandra can add any requests or commentary when JoJ88 gets back.

After a while, the group joins back up, Skiaceq glistening from tail to wing tip following his cleaning, Darvin still trying to hide his excitement over the bow he borrowed, and Valji and Lissandra having prepared their spells for the day. Soon enough, the group is approached by Edvard, who speaks to the group with some urgency. "Governor Nighthill requests your presense.".

Following Edvard back to Nighthill's perch on the parapet, you see the Governor pacing back and forth, stopping every couple of moments to look through his spyglass towards a point in the distance. After a couple moments of this, Edvard clears his throat loudly to get his attention. "Thank goodness you all are up. It seems most of the forces are packing up and leaving... they've taken what they can from the city, it would seem. But the remaining invaders seem to be converging on the Temple of Chauntea. Right now I don't have the spare troops to go investigate, but if you could find out what they're doing there, the city of Greenest would be in your debt."

"Well, this is the chance we were looking for - to strike back at the invaders! Is there a way we can get to them without being seen? I'd rather not let them know we're coming..." Valji says. He was eager to try out a new spell he had finally figured out...

As the group descends from the parapet, Skiaceq sidles alongside the gnome to settle some idle curiosity. "Valji, can I ask you something? I am looking for my father. Darvin is taking a job. Lissandra is investigating the Cult of the Dragon. But what are you hoping to gain from all this danger?" After a moment, he realizes how his question might be interpreted, and adds, "Not that I am ungrateful. Without your magic, we may not have survived. I am only wondering."

Darvin nods enthusiastically at Valji's question. "Yes, far better to retain the element of surprise if at all possible." As the governor speaks he is idly running a finger along the beautifully engraved silver inlays on Miri's bow.

"Here, let me show you," Governor Nighthill says, handing his spyglass to the half-elf first. "The temple is that large building to the southeast. They've been taking in people all night, and it seemed the raiders were ignoring them until a little while ago. They've been tried to torch the place, but thankfully, it's made of stone like most of the city."

Anyone who takes a look through the spyglass, go ahead and make a Wisdom(Perception) check.

Darvin takes the spyglass and peers through it facing the direction the governor is pointing.

Perception: 11

He will then offer the spyglass to anyone else who asks to look.

In answer to Skiaceq's question, Valji looks up at the bird-man, and his face transforms from the happy gnome to a person who has seen things no mortal should. "I have seen the visions. I have felt the pain. The voice is there, always talking about the end of the world. I have two choices - cower and wait, or stand and fight. My ma never let me sit back and wait, and she would tan my hide if I didn't do something to try and stop it. Honestly, I fear her more than any dragon cult..." Valji then looks away over the town and shudders.

"Ooh, let me see, let me see!" Valji says and takes the spyglass to look, happy for a diversion from his conversation. "It looks like we can go through the tunnels and approach the temple behind those trees. What do you guys think?"

Perception: 11

Haunted, hunted; a man trapped by fate. Skiaceq nods in acknowledgement, believing that, while the gnome’s troubles are mostly alien to Skiaceq, he better understands Valji. He is beginning to feel a sense of cameraderie for this happenstance group.

As the spyglass is passed around, Skiaceq chimes in, “You know I can provide, as you say, a bird’s eye view?”

He flaps suddenly and takes to the sky, climbing a bit beyond the altitude walkers could discern Aarakocra from ordinary birds. It takes him only a few minutes to pass over the temple. With hawkish vision, he surveys the scene while banking wide, then returns to the group to relay any new information he learns.

Perception: 10
Stealth: 22

Darvin looks through the glass and sees three robed figures and six kobolds at the front of the building and a cloud of smoke coming from the back. He passes the glass to Valji, who's able to further make out two figures and another six kobolds at the back, stacking up burning straw against the back door to smoke the inhabitants out. As Skiaceq circles, he sees another thirteen humanoid figures and two drakes circling around the building slowly and looking for entrances. If he had to guess, it would take them about 8 minutes to make a full circuit around the temple.

As Skiaceq is observing this, he hears a roar in the distance and looks and sees the red dragon that had been attacking the keep earlier. It was over a nearby field, harassing the abandoned herds of the townsfolk. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to see him as he flies back to the keep and shares what he's seen.