(OOC: He doesn't know the reason why you have to head back south in such a hurry (to avoid more devil attacks). But he is a bureaucratic penny-pincher. The "loan" comment is that you shouldn't keep the horses, sell them to someone else, or ride them so hard that they collapse from exhaustion.)

Quote from Quasimodal >>

 

(Froskan's inventory now has a wand of the war mage.)

 (sweet)

"Thank you for your assistance," Froskan tells the gnome before they leave to retrieve the horses in question.

Your party heads back to the Portly Warthog. It is late afternoon, so it will be dusk by the time you finish packing your stuff.

As you walk in Gerdy (halfling, day manager) greets you in her normal voice, which is still twice as loud as anyone else. "You had a visitor, the shop owner named Ironfist. He said... (checks a note) ...that he found the special vendor, so he was able to get the item to pay off the rest of what he owed you." She then hands an arrow of strange metal to Trimyrai.

(Trim's inventory now contains a single unbreakable arrow.)

Trimyrai takes the arrow.

Trimyari: (to Gerdy) "Thank you for delivering the message and item." 

Trimyrai gives her a gold piece.

Reverie watches Trimyrai and then Froskan for a moment before smiles at the rest of her companions. "I'll pack my belongings before we leave. I shall see you all in a bit then."

"To Nunkreet then.  It certainlly seems as though fate is sending me there." Isk makes ready to travel, though he doesn't have much in the way of things to take with him.

(I’m back)

”Horse ride to Nunkreet then. Onwards!”

Quote from EmperorKarino >>

Trimyari: (to Gerdy) "Thank you for delivering the message and item." 

Trimyrai gives her a gold piece.

Gerdy drops the GP into a jar (to be split with the other employees), and hops onto the counter. She grabs the front of Trim's shirt. Caught off-guard he is pulled closer, and Gerdy gives him a big kiss on the lips. (She is about twice his age.) Despite Trim's strength, it takes him a few seconds of struggling to break the grapple... Gerdy hops back behind the counter, with a mischievous grin. "Thanks for the tip. Hoped you liked the return tip." Trim is too shaken to say anything, as your group climbs the stairs to your rooms.

You promptly pack your belongings, and head down the stairs. Too late, you realize that checking out quietly is impossible if Gerdy is manning the front desk! Fortunately, Handy (Axehandle the goliath, night manager) is now on duty. He is as soft-spoken as Gerdy is loud. He collects your keys, and says in his normal voice "hope you enjoyed your stay, safe travels."

You are able to find the stables while walking to the town's edge. Each of you is given a well-trained horse, and given a short instruction by the stable-hands on how to handle them. (You only need to roll Animal Handling for something unusual.) You get the horses up to a trot (fastest speed that can be sustained for hours without resting) and head south.

About a minute past the last town guard station, Isk's glaive gives a warning to everyone that danger is near. You look behind, and see figures running on the trail behind you, although they can't be see clearly in the dusk lighting. Then other figures jump out of the trees at your pursuers, and they start fighting. Isk's glaive stops giving warnings, and you continue traveling south without seeing anyone else on the trail.

Trimyrai: (to the party) "What was that? were they after us? or was that just a coincidence?" 

Perception: 18

(Trim, or anyone else, can make can a Perception roll to see what else they notice from the distance in the low lighting.)

Perception - 12

 (ohhh! High roll!...RIght?)

Quote from Elliethedream >>

Perception - 16  (ohhh! High roll!...RIght?)

A pair of hell hounds were sniffing the ground. Behind them were a pair of chain devils riding nightmares.You can't tell who was in the other group that attacked the fiends chasing you, but they seemed humanoid.

The hounds could have kept pace with your horses, and the nightmares fly faster. When an hour passes with no sign of the devils, they were either stopped or delayed enough to lose your trail.

 Froskan shivers at the thought of being chased by hellhounds and devils riding nightmares (I'm assuming reverie shares with the rest of us).  "I think Mercury was right.  We want to get to the watchful guild as fast as we can without killing the horses."

Your party makes it to the Watchful Guild compound by mid-morning of the 4th of Winter Firstmoon. You do see specks in the sky behind you, getting closer, but you are able to reach the compound before you can see what they are.

Bommie and a few others open the gate to greet you. They are concerned about the sweat and fatigue of your group & the horses.

(OOC #1: What do you want to want to say to Bommie?)

(OOC #2: After 3 days of training, your party will be 4th level. You can do that now. Everyone add 1800 XP, which is from the Diamonbrook Mansion, the Festival competitions, and general role-playing. You should have a total of 3800.)

(OOC #3: I'd like you to be 5th level before going into Nunkreet. So there will be at least 1 devil attack on the compound, and some kind of errand with Bommie. If you have any requests for the one-off adventure with Bommie (kind of creatures, locations, or rewards) please speak up.)

Trimyrai: (to everyone) "Greetings Bommie, sorry about the horses. We know that they are loaners, but we were in a bit of a hurry."

(OOC: who has the note? if its me, i hand it to Bommie.)

(OOC: i have no requests at this time.)

(I had the note)

Froskan approaches Bommie and hands over the note.  "We've had some....troubles, you might say...since we were here last.  An old mentor of mine that we ran into suggested returning here."

Bommie guides you inside, while others lead the horses to the stables. When handed the note, she is startled upon seeing the wax seal. She carefully breaks it open, and finds a small metallic object, like piece of a fish or reptile scale. She reads the note, growing more concerned the further she reads.

After a moment to think about the contents, she gives instructions to some of the other members nearby. "Tell all guards that the alert level has increased. The scouts too. I'll inform them of the danger shortly. We may have unwelcome visitors in the coming days, looking to do ill to our current guests.

"You look tired. Good! Head to the training hall, and your instructors will be there shortly. (smiling) Exercising while tired can be spiritually enlightening, and help you to push your limits. (waving the note) The instruction, and your stay here, will be free."

(The water genasi turns to Iskander) "The shadow elf is gone from your party, but I see you have a new member. I assume that you are the Iskander mentioned in the note? I am Bommie, and I help run this compound. If you follow the others, they trained here, before they took a trip to Greensville."

(OOC: You have 3 days of exercise, fighting, and technique instruction ahead of you. You can role-play questions to Bommie, or talk to each other, or describe your special training that will get you to 4th level... At the least, I figure Trimyrai will be playing with his new arrow, and Froskan with his wand.)

Trimyrai will chat up bommie if she has free time, he'll spin tales of the party's exploits and his performance in the competition in the festival, see if she learned any info about any slavers.

During the training, Trimyrai will test out the unbreakable arrow, and asking the instructor for difficult challenges for shooting, hitting targets from odd angles and anything the instructor can think of.

"Hello Bommie.  If you had a hand in training this group, then you deserve my thanks.  They helped me escape the clutches of some sea devils.  I would surely be dead if not for them." Isk says, and offers a short bow, "You can call me Isk.  I am curious, any idea who, or what, intervened on our behalf in the road back there?"

OoC - Isk will spend his training time drilling glaive forms, live sparring, and meditative communing with the shadowfell to learn new spells.

Jack smirks. “I don’t need fancy toys to win a fight! Come at me, training dummy!“ He trains by practicing insults on someone willing, training with his sword, and gathering songs from people!