"Well met Lesnalore," Quill responded trying the name on her tongue for size before joining her to follow Gairlik into the room. A brief stop to smile and think the inn keeper again delayed her slightly , however, and she found herself entering the room as Rand, the Bard, questioned them as to what they have learned.
Stepping into the room, she cautiously piped up. "I am afraid I haven't heard of learned much, although I did manage to secure our rooms. Rooms which will be free, at least for the night, thanks to the goodness of his heart, so I don't want any trouble brought to his door, if it can be helped". Her eyes widened at the variety of maps, she trailed a finger along their patterns, her voice holding something of an see as she spoke. "I 'm so glad to see these though, I had been afraid...well nevermind that. I can help with these if you like. I have something of a skill with maps , directions, surveying, and the like. I may not be useful for much else...but this, this I could do with pleasure."
"Tell me about this Eku & Shalida. They both seem honest enough, but a card only tells you so much." Damien asks Aazon after talking to the man for a while in a nearby room from where they spoke with Jobal. They had been discussing the various guides available, each came with their own introduction card even.
Thom turned his attention to the newcomer. "Ahh child Quill, welcome. Please have a seat. It is good to hear that you have a knowledge with maps. It will definitely be useful on our journey." Thom indicated a seat closest to the map, allowing Quill to have easy access to the map. "Before I continue with what I have learned, has anyone else anything they would like to add to what Jaydn has already told us?"
Aazon informs you both Eku and Shalida have been explores for sometimes but each differently. "Eku is very sensitive to nature she feels it needs to be cleansed of the evil within. She won't work with anyone she believes are not good people(Only works with Good-Aligned Characters). She charges the standard rate of 5GP a day, with 30 days of it being paid upfront. Shalida has always believed herself to be the best explorer all around. She has been exploring the forest since she was babe and probably does know more then most others. She is a good traveling companion as long as you can ignore her rude demeanor. Her fees are the same as Eku."
Damien goes quite for a moment, contemplating between the two women. Eventually, he locks eyes with Aazon again and says, "Salida seems to have a better use for my group and I." Recalling that the team already had a druid and ranger, it seemed nature would already be on their side. Remembering the names of the 2 inns given to Damien, he also recalls that one ought to be better suited for professional discussion. "Can you ask her to meet me to discuss terms of the arrangement at Kaya's House, that will be the inn I stay at."
Shaking hands to signal the end of the discussion, Damien departs from Jobal's villa and makes his way to the Thundering Lizard. Upon arriving, a quick check of the interior shows no one he knows to be there, he asks the inn keep about any of his party members, he in turn seemed to get upset when the description of Thom came up. So he decides to just head straight to Kaya's.
Entering Kaya's he notes that again, he spotted no one, but upon approaching the innkeeper for this location, he learns that his associates are indeed within the premise. Being led to the room they are apparently renting, Damien knocks twice before entering. Spotting everyone but the druid centered around a table with a splattered assortment of papers, Damien recognizes one to be a crude map of the city. Thanking the innkeep, he walks in, closing the door tightly behind him before taking a spot at the table.
As Damien entered the room Thom stood from where he was sitting. "With your arrival, I think that enough of us are here to begin to decide our next course of action."Leaning over the table Thom moved his hand over it as he did so images started rising as if popping out of the table itself.Minor IllusionIt is time I think, to reveal what I have learned, and believe to be one of the most important things heard tonight. Thom cleared his voice as he began to speak, his voice taking on a serious tone. Outside of the port, there is a mine called Wyrmheart. Long thought abandoned." A mine took shape on the table with undiscernable figures slowly making there way out."I say long thought, because now creatures have begun leaving Wyrmheart." One of the figures grew to be much larger than the others, its decaying flesh discernable at its now large size." Some of the reports." Thom touched a few papers on the table, a few appearing to look more like official reports than notes. " claim that these figures are zombies leaving in large numbers." Thom pointed at several of the circles on the map, each one indicating a temple of some sort. "Each temple, besides three, the temples Gond, Sune, and Souk..." The three temples Thom indicated were missing the circles the others had. "Have reported in an increase of the wounded and dying brought before them. Each person claiming the same thing. A voice filled the room coming from what seemed like every corner."Ras Nsi has returned and his armies come forth again..." Suddenly the port on the map seemed to pop out as the mine had done and buildings all over appeared to be in flame. "They come to take what Ras Nsi claimed as his own." Just as suddenly as the voice and images came, all but the mine disappeared.
"With so many accounts I think it leaves our party with but one choice..." Seven figures suddenly appeared as if riding towards the mine. " ...to enter the mines of Wyrmheart, and ensure this threat is taken out." As the seven figures ride into the mines the image of the mine begins to flatten into the table and disappear.
Damien watches the illusions fade out then speaks up, "Is that where the soulmonger is? if so," he walks over and points at the map of Chult, "Where is it?"
Taking a step back from the table, Damien crosses his arms, "While having that info may be good, we'd need more than just the word of a man we met less than 12 hours ago, some rumors relating to another crazy wizard, and a flashy show of magic to tell us that we must go there." Damien stares straight at Thom, his uncaring gaze locking unto the old man from across the room.
Thom studied the expression on the rogue. Of the entire party, Damien wasn't the one Thom picked to speak out. "The rumors do not mention the soulmonger, however, you can be sure that this necromancer..." He waved his hand over the map as if the mine still appeared for all to see. "Ras Nsi, or whoever claims to be him will have answers."
"As for the Wyrmheart's location." Thom made a dagger appear from up his sleeve. He rubbed his finger against the edge of the blade as if testing its sharpness. "I can find that out with a simple visit." Thom finished his voice slightly rougher than he would have liked it to sound. He hated killing women, but he needed the location of the mine.
"Instead of cutting into people that may not even have the answers, i already have a better solution." Damien's gaze stays on the bard for a cold second before moving to examine the rest of the group. With a quick brandishing of the card he had been given, he slides unto the table the card allowing others to see it.
"I have already procured a meeting with a native guide for the island. She'll be by here later to discuss terms." Damien crosses his arms and looks back to Thom. "We get insider information on the area, someone to help chart out the map and a ally. No messy work needed."
"Ya may have cleaned the shit off, but somethin' still stinks here, Slim," he says to Thom. After taking a sip of ale, remaining seated Gairlik wipes the foam off his lips. "Slick use of your magic tricks. You remind me of the fortune tellers and street magicians we had to run off that were trying to swindle folks out of their coin." He leans back in his chair and picks his mug up again."I'm just here trying to make a little coin and smash a few things when you need, but I don't like feelin' like I'm bein' lied to." The dwarf gulps down the rest of one mug. "Now why don't ya shoot us straight and tell us what's in this mine."
Lasnalore gave a dismissive hand motion before she thought back to the day's events. Rather small the rumor containing no reference of the necromancer or this Artius. "No, neither of those came up today, the only thing I picked up was something about the Queen Dragon's Playground, something buried beneath a dragon graveyard of sorts. Somewhere near Kai-Sabal, something the other. Otherwise nothing of interest." Stroking her chin as she thought something defiantly was up about this place. Such a large sum for a Guide, how long would they be out one could only guess at. Not boding well for the party an idea struck her. "We should get in contact with our employer again, anything she has on the previous groups should help us, what guides they used, how long before they were lost, if the guide returned but they did not so on and so forth. It would not be hard to talk to the guides and see if they have interacted with the ones we have replaced." Now that was a clever thought for once.
As Dariel feels that the spell is about to fade, he thanks the birds for their assistance, then watches as they fly away. After a short time, he leaves the park long enough to get something to eat, then heads back to the park, spending the rest of the evening soaking up nature and relaxing. He fully intends to sleep right there in the park unless he's kicked out.
Jadyn took all this in. *A necromancer is abhorrent... but lower priority than the Soulmonger...* "The mine is the best lead we have, and Damien's guide is the best way I've heard for getting to it. Unless I hear something better from the priest tomorrow, I say we go with that."
Thom glared at Gairlik. Street magicians? Fortune Tellers? How dare he be compared to their kind! "Everything I have shared to you I have heard with my own ears. The undead makes their way out of Wyrmheart mine. The dead pile up..." Thom placed his hand on a piece of paper that appeared to be a list of numbers. "...at the temples. With the whisper of Ras Nsi."
Thom took out his pipe and lit it before speaking again. "Can I guarantee this mine will lead us to the soulmonger? Thom shrugged as if it was of no importance. "I doubt it the, besides a connection with Ras Nsi, soulmonger has not been on the tongue of any of the rumors I gathered." Thom sat up after taking a puff on his pipe, turning his attention to Lasnalore.
"...I am afraid Silvan may be far from our best option. There is no guarantee that she isn't this soulmonger." Thom took another puff on his pipe the smell of tabac filling the room. "Until we can obtain more information, I think its best we leave her out of our doings." Thom glanced at Jadyn for a moment then went on."We do have one way to get some information..."
Thom grabbed a parchment from the table, seeming at random and tossed it to the center."This Artus Cimber seems to play an important role. It's not every day someone offers a reward fit to live like Kings just for information. No matter how reliable." Thom recited the words on the parchment he had tossed in front of the others. "All is going according to plan. They do not suspect what they can not see. Meet me in the old city. You know the rules. Bring no one, say nothing." Taking a closer look at the parchment revealed the initials A. C.
"With a simple, well-crafted rumor, we can set a trap and bring these men to us. After dealing with these men we can find out the importance of this Artus Cimber and perhaps find more information on our next task."
Jadyn shot the bard a skeptical look. "What makes you think Artus Cimber is connected to the Soulmonger? This could be anything. Could be a coup attempt, or a smuggling ring. I say we keep Artus in our back pocket and focus on the more likely connection."
Thom looked at the cleric a sound of annoyance in his voice. "I am in the business of information. I have spent my lifetime learning to pick truth out of rumors." Thom snatched the parchment from the middle of the table and placed it back on his pile.
"The information you are to obtain won't be available until tomorrow and I can get results before then." Thom slammed his hand on the table. Not as a sign of anger but rather frustration.
"If we put this rumor in our back pocket as you suggest then it will be of no use after tonight. He will be dead and something you heard out of pure luck will be wasted. Think with your mind..." Thom's eyes scanned the others in the room. "...not your hearts. This is something that can be acted on tonight."
Thom started twirling his mustache around his finger as he continued to talk a plan forming in his mind. "We don't have to all go. To many people and it would be to difficult to pull off. A group of three is all I ask. The others can remain and plan our next course of action while we spring the trap "
Jadyn sighed. "Not even here a day, and you're already distracted from our quest by the promise of coin. Is this what happened to all the previous adventuring parties, too?" She fidgeted with her holy symbol again. "Unless you have some reason to believe that this would further our quest, I have something better to do tonight: not get killed in some human affair."
Quill listened as the conversation swirled around here, tracing idle patterns on the map before her trying to put the bits of information presented together like so many bits of a puzzle. The problem was that were too many bits of information missing to make a complete picture.
Startling with a small jump out of her seat as Rand slammed a hand on the table, Quill hastily recovered herself before she fell completely fell off her seat. Hastily straightening herself out, she tentatively placed a hand on his sleeve, seeking to soothe the clearly agitated bard. Looking up at him, she spoke in gentle tones, "Sometimes Rand Althor, when one has more questions than answers it is best to sit still and listen." It stung a little repeating the advice she heard once to often but humans were rash beings prone to run head first into trouble, at least so her elders always told her.
"The Viper and the Raven's servant make valid points. A rumor, a few pieces of overheard information are little enough to go on. Yet tell me, for I do not understand...why so determined to chase this seemingly unconnected man when other leads might lead to clearer answers?" Peering at the map, she continued on in an almost an undertone, " It is strange that undeath stalks this land when so many others once dead whither away. It might be wise to learn more about that at least. "
"Well met Lesnalore," Quill responded trying the name on her tongue for size before joining her to follow Gairlik into the room. A brief stop to smile and think the inn keeper again delayed her slightly , however, and she found herself entering the room as Rand, the Bard, questioned them as to what they have learned.
Stepping into the room, she cautiously piped up. "I am afraid I haven't heard of learned much, although I did manage to secure our rooms. Rooms which will be free, at least for the night, thanks to the goodness of his heart, so I don't want any trouble brought to his door, if it can be helped". Her eyes widened at the variety of maps, she trailed a finger along their patterns, her voice holding something of an see as she spoke. "I 'm so glad to see these though, I had been afraid...well nevermind that. I can help with these if you like. I have something of a skill with maps , directions, surveying, and the like. I may not be useful for much else...but this, this I could do with pleasure."
"Tell me about this Eku & Shalida. They both seem honest enough, but a card only tells you so much." Damien asks Aazon after talking to the man for a while in a nearby room from where they spoke with Jobal. They had been discussing the various guides available, each came with their own introduction card even.
Thom turned his attention to the newcomer. "Ahh child Quill, welcome. Please have a seat. It is good to hear that you have a knowledge with maps. It will definitely be useful on our journey." Thom indicated a seat closest to the map, allowing Quill to have easy access to the map. "Before I continue with what I have learned, has anyone else anything they would like to add to what Jaydn has already told us?"
For: Damien
Aazon informs you both Eku and Shalida have been explores for sometimes but each differently. "Eku is very sensitive to nature she feels it needs to be cleansed of the evil within. She won't work with anyone she believes are not good people(Only works with Good-Aligned Characters). She charges the standard rate of 5GP a day, with 30 days of it being paid upfront. Shalida has always believed herself to be the best explorer all around. She has been exploring the forest since she was babe and probably does know more then most others. She is a good traveling companion as long as you can ignore her rude demeanor. Her fees are the same as Eku."
Damien goes quite for a moment, contemplating between the two women. Eventually, he locks eyes with Aazon again and says, "Salida seems to have a better use for my group and I." Recalling that the team already had a druid and ranger, it seemed nature would already be on their side. Remembering the names of the 2 inns given to Damien, he also recalls that one ought to be better suited for professional discussion. "Can you ask her to meet me to discuss terms of the arrangement at Kaya's House, that will be the inn I stay at."
Aazon nods in agreement to Damien. "I will send her to the Inn."
Shaking hands to signal the end of the discussion, Damien departs from Jobal's villa and makes his way to the Thundering Lizard. Upon arriving, a quick check of the interior shows no one he knows to be there, he asks the inn keep about any of his party members, he in turn seemed to get upset when the description of Thom came up. So he decides to just head straight to Kaya's.
Entering Kaya's he notes that again, he spotted no one, but upon approaching the innkeeper for this location, he learns that his associates are indeed within the premise. Being led to the room they are apparently renting, Damien knocks twice before entering. Spotting everyone but the druid centered around a table with a splattered assortment of papers, Damien recognizes one to be a crude map of the city. Thanking the innkeep, he walks in, closing the door tightly behind him before taking a spot at the table.
"May I ask what all this is about?"
As Damien entered the room Thom stood from where he was sitting. "With your arrival, I think that enough of us are here to begin to decide our next course of action." Leaning over the table Thom moved his hand over it as he did so images started rising as if popping out of the table itself.Minor Illusion It is time I think, to reveal what I have learned, and believe to be one of the most important things heard tonight. Thom cleared his voice as he began to speak, his voice taking on a serious tone. Outside of the port, there is a mine called Wyrmheart. Long thought abandoned." A mine took shape on the table with undiscernable figures slowly making there way out. "I say long thought, because now creatures have begun leaving Wyrmheart." One of the figures grew to be much larger than the others, its decaying flesh discernable at its now large size." Some of the reports." Thom touched a few papers on the table, a few appearing to look more like official reports than notes. " claim that these figures are zombies leaving in large numbers." Thom pointed at several of the circles on the map, each one indicating a temple of some sort. "Each temple, besides three, the temples Gond, Sune, and Souk..." The three temples Thom indicated were missing the circles the others had. "Have reported in an increase of the wounded and dying brought before them. Each person claiming the same thing. A voice filled the room coming from what seemed like every corner. "Ras Nsi has returned and his armies come forth again..." Suddenly the port on the map seemed to pop out as the mine had done and buildings all over appeared to be in flame. "They come to take what Ras Nsi claimed as his own." Just as suddenly as the voice and images came, all but the mine disappeared.
"With so many accounts I think it leaves our party with but one choice..." Seven figures suddenly appeared as if riding towards the mine. " ...to enter the mines of Wyrmheart, and ensure this threat is taken out." As the seven figures ride into the mines the image of the mine begins to flatten into the table and disappear.
Damien watches the illusions fade out then speaks up, "Is that where the soulmonger is? if so," he walks over and points at the map of Chult, "Where is it?"
Taking a step back from the table, Damien crosses his arms, "While having that info may be good, we'd need more than just the word of a man we met less than 12 hours ago, some rumors relating to another crazy wizard, and a flashy show of magic to tell us that we must go there." Damien stares straight at Thom, his uncaring gaze locking unto the old man from across the room.
Thom studied the expression on the rogue. Of the entire party, Damien wasn't the one Thom picked to speak out. "The rumors do not mention the soulmonger, however, you can be sure that this necromancer..." He waved his hand over the map as if the mine still appeared for all to see. "Ras Nsi, or whoever claims to be him will have answers."
"As for the Wyrmheart's location." Thom made a dagger appear from up his sleeve. He rubbed his finger against the edge of the blade as if testing its sharpness. "I can find that out with a simple visit." Thom finished his voice slightly rougher than he would have liked it to sound. He hated killing women, but he needed the location of the mine.
"Instead of cutting into people that may not even have the answers, i already have a better solution." Damien's gaze stays on the bard for a cold second before moving to examine the rest of the group. With a quick brandishing of the card he had been given, he slides unto the table the card allowing others to see it.
"I have already procured a meeting with a native guide for the island. She'll be by here later to discuss terms." Damien crosses his arms and looks back to Thom. "We get insider information on the area, someone to help chart out the map and a ally. No messy work needed."
"Ya may have cleaned the shit off, but somethin' still stinks here, Slim," he says to Thom. After taking a sip of ale, remaining seated Gairlik wipes the foam off his lips. "Slick use of your magic tricks. You remind me of the fortune tellers and street magicians we had to run off that were trying to swindle folks out of their coin." He leans back in his chair and picks his mug up again. "I'm just here trying to make a little coin and smash a few things when you need, but I don't like feelin' like I'm bein' lied to." The dwarf gulps down the rest of one mug. "Now why don't ya shoot us straight and tell us what's in this mine."
Lasnalore gave a dismissive hand motion before she thought back to the day's events. Rather small the rumor containing no reference of the necromancer or this Artius. "No, neither of those came up today, the only thing I picked up was something about the Queen Dragon's Playground, something buried beneath a dragon graveyard of sorts. Somewhere near Kai-Sabal, something the other. Otherwise nothing of interest." Stroking her chin as she thought something defiantly was up about this place. Such a large sum for a Guide, how long would they be out one could only guess at. Not boding well for the party an idea struck her. "We should get in contact with our employer again, anything she has on the previous groups should help us, what guides they used, how long before they were lost, if the guide returned but they did not so on and so forth. It would not be hard to talk to the guides and see if they have interacted with the ones we have replaced." Now that was a clever thought for once.
As Dariel feels that the spell is about to fade, he thanks the birds for their assistance, then watches as they fly away. After a short time, he leaves the park long enough to get something to eat, then heads back to the park, spending the rest of the evening soaking up nature and relaxing. He fully intends to sleep right there in the park unless he's kicked out.
Jadyn took all this in. *A necromancer is abhorrent... but lower priority than the Soulmonger...* "The mine is the best lead we have, and Damien's guide is the best way I've heard for getting to it. Unless I hear something better from the priest tomorrow, I say we go with that."
Thom glared at Gairlik. Street magicians? Fortune Tellers? How dare he be compared to their kind! "Everything I have shared to you I have heard with my own ears. The undead makes their way out of Wyrmheart mine. The dead pile up..." Thom placed his hand on a piece of paper that appeared to be a list of numbers. "...at the temples. With the whisper of Ras Nsi."
Thom took out his pipe and lit it before speaking again. "Can I guarantee this mine will lead us to the soulmonger? Thom shrugged as if it was of no importance. "I doubt it the, besides a connection with Ras Nsi, soulmonger has not been on the tongue of any of the rumors I gathered." Thom sat up after taking a puff on his pipe, turning his attention to Lasnalore.
"...I am afraid Silvan may be far from our best option. There is no guarantee that she isn't this soulmonger." Thom took another puff on his pipe the smell of tabac filling the room. "Until we can obtain more information, I think its best we leave her out of our doings." Thom glanced at Jadyn for a moment then went on. "We do have one way to get some information..."
Thom grabbed a parchment from the table, seeming at random and tossed it to the center. "This Artus Cimber seems to play an important role. It's not every day someone offers a reward fit to live like Kings just for information. No matter how reliable." Thom recited the words on the parchment he had tossed in front of the others. "All is going according to plan. They do not suspect what they can not see. Meet me in the old city. You know the rules. Bring no one, say nothing." Taking a closer look at the parchment revealed the initials A. C.
"With a simple, well-crafted rumor, we can set a trap and bring these men to us. After dealing with these men we can find out the importance of this Artus Cimber and perhaps find more information on our next task."
Jadyn shot the bard a skeptical look. "What makes you think Artus Cimber is connected to the Soulmonger? This could be anything. Could be a coup attempt, or a smuggling ring. I say we keep Artus in our back pocket and focus on the more likely connection."
OOC: Typing from phone so please bear with me
Thom looked at the cleric a sound of annoyance in his voice. "I am in the business of information. I have spent my lifetime learning to pick truth out of rumors." Thom snatched the parchment from the middle of the table and placed it back on his pile.
"The information you are to obtain won't be available until tomorrow and I can get results before then." Thom slammed his hand on the table. Not as a sign of anger but rather frustration.
"If we put this rumor in our back pocket as you suggest then it will be of no use after tonight. He will be dead and something you heard out of pure luck will be wasted. Think with your mind..." Thom's eyes scanned the others in the room. "...not your hearts. This is something that can be acted on tonight."
Thom started twirling his mustache around his finger as he continued to talk a plan forming in his mind. "We don't have to all go. To many people and it would be to difficult to pull off. A group of three is all I ask. The others can remain and plan our next course of action while we spring the trap "
Jadyn sighed. "Not even here a day, and you're already distracted from our quest by the promise of coin. Is this what happened to all the previous adventuring parties, too?" She fidgeted with her holy symbol again. "Unless you have some reason to believe that this would further our quest, I have something better to do tonight: not get killed in some human affair."
Quill listened as the conversation swirled around here, tracing idle patterns on the map before her trying to put the bits of information presented together like so many bits of a puzzle. The problem was that were too many bits of information missing to make a complete picture.
Startling with a small jump out of her seat as Rand slammed a hand on the table, Quill hastily recovered herself before she fell completely fell off her seat. Hastily straightening herself out, she tentatively placed a hand on his sleeve, seeking to soothe the clearly agitated bard. Looking up at him, she spoke in gentle tones, "Sometimes Rand Althor, when one has more questions than answers it is best to sit still and listen." It stung a little repeating the advice she heard once to often but humans were rash beings prone to run head first into trouble, at least so her elders always told her.
"The Viper and the Raven's servant make valid points. A rumor, a few pieces of overheard information are little enough to go on. Yet tell me, for I do not understand...why so determined to chase this seemingly unconnected man when other leads might lead to clearer answers?" Peering at the map, she continued on in an almost an undertone, " It is strange that undeath stalks this land when so many others once dead whither away. It might be wise to learn more about that at least. "