Perception: 13

Perception: 11

(Awesome)

Perspicacious, you hear a psst! psst! Coming from the window just behind you. Looking back, you see something unlikely. A female hobgoblin, dressed simply but clean, is urgently gesturing to you from outside the window of the Inn. Her hand signals seems to say, "GO OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT"

Perception: 5

Perception (if it still matters) 10

(haha, Perspicacious got the DC 12 check)

**the rest of us were too busy enjoying the meal**

Nom nom nom Amaruve plays with his food.

(still need a plan, ya'll! The centipede dragon and the lab are the immediate concern. Making it to the next leap is the larger objective. What will you do?)

(Perspicacious is gonna go make out with a lady Hobgob on the bridge. Gordra wants to meet the Duke. Amaruve is gonna try and keep these people from getting killed.

I'm not sure what dusty wants, but turning this distopian land into a peaceful egalitarian utopia is probably beyond the scope of this leap. We'll want to push them in the right direction... But I'm not sure which direction that is.)

(We could start by gaining fame and power through entertainment combat sport. Then we bring people around to opposing slavery, and end the practice of allowing monstrous goblinoids to continue to exist... Wait that took a weird turn...)

"Uh... excuse me," says Perspicacious as she gets up from the table. Placing her napkin neatly on the plate, she walks outside the restaurant to meet the hobgoblin. "Yes, sorry, did you need me for something?"

While the bulk of the party deliberates, Perspicacious takes her leave to meet the hobgoblin.

(For the sake of moving things along, I'm going to assume that Perspicacious encourages conversation with small incidental nonverbals. For everyone else, it's just a little more roleplaying and then back into action!)

She greets Prespicacious with an enormous hug. Suddenly conscious of the humans surrounding them both, she leads "Rog" around a corner to a service ladder near the entrance to the Underway. Climbing up, they pass above the level of both the underslung and main pathways to the stone lattice roof of the bridge. Now alone, she steps away from Perspicacious and looks out over the river. "I was certain they had killed you. I was sure the priest would be the last to see you alive." She turns back to the tiefling/hobgoblin. "But you escaped. I don't understand how, or why you were in there with the human fighters, but you're alive." Inside Perspicacious' mind there is a building roar. The thoughts of the hobgoblin whose body she is inhabiting come bubbling to the surface, and it is with an effort that Perspicacious forces them back. The female hobgoblin (Thosn, Perspicacious realizes) steps suddenly close and says, "Did you escape through the tunnels? Did you see the gate?"

"Professor, you need to keep your familiar under wraps," Cordelia gestures to Amaruve. "Keep him from turning into a huge bear if you can. Odd that your familiar can shapeshift, but useful.

"In any case, we need to discern how we can get out of here. It's plausible we could 'leap' from here to another place. Question is: how? It's related to this reading on Dusty, but, it's hard to make heads or tails of it. It went up when we won-" Cordelia will consult Dusty and spy that Local Potentiality: 21.70% reading. "I don't think it liked it when we attacked that disgusting man. What a gross misuse of science..." She shakes her head in disdain.

"Yes, it is difficult to predict which actions will have a positive or negative effect on the Potentiality, or how that effects us directly.  Perhaps some tests are in order."  The professor sits up in his chair and looks around the room, what all do I see?

Perception: 12

You see well-dressed people enjoying good food and company. There's a festival atmosphere throughout this city (at least near the arena), and the Underway is no exception. The room slants gently upward toward the back of the inn (following the slope of the bridge), but the linen-covered tables and chairs rest on level platforms. There are open windows, paned with fine glass, lining the walls.

There's something else dancing at the edges of your perception. It's almost like a mosquito buzzing just outside the audible range. You realize that it's been tickling your senses for a while, now, but you've only just become aware of it. 

Perspicacious takes a moment to consider this situation she's in, partially regretting the instinct to get up and meet the hobgoblin woman. But she was here now, and maybe she could use it to her advantage. "Yeah, I saw the gate, but didn't have time to investigate. The Thundersteins helped me escape. They're good people, and we all needed to get out of that arena. Say, did you send me this note? You wouldn't happen to have a place we can lay low, do you? We may have pissed off someone called The Pretender..."

*ooh interesting, a magical feeling perhaps?  can i roll arcana: 9

"Does anyone else feel that?..."

Oh, one more thing: from your Westward-facing table you see the sun has just set (beautifully) into the waters of the bay. Softly glowing crystals have begun to brighten throughout the inn. One such crystal is suspended above your table, doing its best to keep the approaching darkness at bay...

(The moment the professor says that, every other member of the party (except for Perspicacious) begins to notice it)

"Yes, yes I do."

The tingling sensation creeps over Cordelia and causes her to shiver for a moment. (Arcana: 5) She thinks about the source of this distant buzzing as she watches the crystal brighten their table. Could it be that?