No tavern. It looks like I won't be able to solve things here by providing eye candy for drunks. I'll have to try a different approach here. Carrhae sets off for the stables, but not before turning to Strife. "If you have the time to do so after this investigation, could you please stop by my room later today? I would still like to speak with you about the things that we weren't able to discuss in Red Larch."
Once at the stables, she will attempt to find out if a group of travelers from Mirabar either kept their horses here while they were on their journey or purchased some from this location. She also will try to glean any information from the stablemaster in regards to the state of the delegates when they arrived in town. Insight:6
Carrhae's powers of insight are gone when she's not using her boobs.
During their final night at The Swinging Sword Inn back in Red Larch:
Strife had enjoyed sharing a meal with the group before they set out for Beliard. There wasn't much discussion about the mission as they had already drawn the few inferences that could be made from the scanty clues available. Strife tried to set aside her concern about Barry. Were he to make some move against the group, she hoped she would be ready, but there was nothing solid as yet with which to justify her Tiefling paranoia.
Afterward, when Trini arrived at her room, Strife proposed playing an ancient bit of music that she had discovered transcribed within an old journal Strife picked up at a rummage sale. If the attribution were accurate, the composer was a figure of legendary talent back in the heyday of the once mighty Tiefling empire. "This is one of my favorite pieces, Trini. This is part of our cultural heritage and as such, it's precious to me. I know it's a bit cramped in this modest room, but if you feel moved to dance, I would be honored to see how its melody inspires the motions of a certain Tiefling artistic genius, namely you." Strife gathered up her flute and began to play softly so as not to disturb other guests.
Would Mercy accept her invitation and join them? She had offered no firm response at the time.
As they passed through the orchards outside of town, Mercy plucked an apple from a tree and slipped it into the pouch she kept on her hip. This time, she had a feeling she’d have more luck. She followed Carrhae to the stables and used the opportunity granted by the distracted stablemaster to strike up a casual conversation with a stableboy, slicing up her apple to feed slices to both the boy and the mare he was grooming. When the stablemaster finally noticed and yelled at the boy to shovel the stalls, she moved on to the next place that a street urchin might earn a meal. And so she spent her day, weaving stories of her childhood on the streets, only half-false, to earn the trust of the youths whose lives she understood perhaps better than they themselves. Sometimes she’d help with their tasks to make them like her enough to help in her search for information. Others, she’d keep watch while they swiped a bit of bread for lunch.
It was late in the afternoon when she made her way at last to the inn and sat by the center fire, waiting for the others to compare notes.
Mercy: As you were eating the apple with the stableboy, he felt comfortable enough with you to tell you that the delegation leaders planned to head south on the Dessarin Road. They intended to visit Summit Hall next, returning the body of a knight slain in the North.
Animal Handling 6: "The horses mouth is over here."
The last thing Zephyr did in regards to his conversation with Strife would be a playful roll of the eyes.
Once they made it to Beliard, Zephyr set aside his armor and kept his weapons again and told the others he would be going to the inn to see if perhaps any of the delegates had stayed there, and opened the offer if anyone remaining wanted to tag along with him to question the innkeeper. He had to, at least, try and make friends in this form or make it seem as if he was actually Barry.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
“Very well then,” Zephyr smiles down at Daewen. “Shall we?”
It might be a little difficult to get information in this form (as being in Carrhae’s form proved to be fruitful in the information gathering department) but it was worth a shot. Maybe Daewen, despite her inability to talk, could aid him? They would have to wait and see.
Once inside the inn Zephyr would waste no time walking up to the inkeeper and inquiring about the missing delegates.
Insight: 6
((Ooc: dunno if I’d get advantage on the roll or not but tell me if I do and I’ll roll again :P))
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
LOL An interesting position i'm in at the moment, one of the reasons why I love this game. How, as a DM, do I interpret your actions against the rolls to unveil the results of your intentions? Since you are together - let's say Zephyr did the speaking, and Daewen did the listening, shall we? In the inn, you talked to a maid who reveals that she observed a strange monk who wore a golden mask observing the Mirabarrans closely while they stayed at the inn. The monk left a few hours before the delegation set out and hasn’t been seen since.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Before:
Trini is more than glad to accept Strife's invitation to dance to an ancient song of their culture. Despite the fact that her infernal roots scared her, she wanted to know everything she could. Know yourself and you can overcome almost any obstacle her parents had explained to her, and even if she grew up with the wood elves, her infernal heritage was still a part of her. She'll lose herself to the moment letting the music take over as she often used to in the fields outside her home. Performance: 17
Now:
Watching the others go, Trini decides to check out the storage house. With many of valuables the delegation was transporting it's likely they might have stored some during their stay here. She'll engage the staff at the storehouse with stories of her travels, and ask about others that have been through here, also learning anything she can about the rumors going around town. Trini has learned to love gossip in her time away from home, and how it evolves and develops over time. Afterwords she'll join Barry and Daewen at the inn bouncing about to see what they may have learned. Insight: 5
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"All will become equal now" | "Cause we're going to shout it loud, even if our words seem meaningless. It's like we're carrying the weight of the world"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Earlier, in Red Larch:
After the final note faded away signaling the end of their flute/ dance collaboration, Strife said, "That was great, Trini! You painted this picture in my mind of a formal ball, a sea of couples dancing as they revolve through the ballroom, but in the very center, there's an open space where a lonely princess dances alone, her elegant motions weaving an arcane invocation to fashion an overlap, a magical juncture of two worlds. Into this shared space her consort appears from that other realm, and they dance together, so happy to share each other's company again, yet cognizant that when the song ends, they will once more be ripped apart from each other, left with only tragic haunting memories of their ephemeral love, and the certainty they will devote themselves to their next anniversary, their next dance, impatient for the moment when their worlds may once more briefly intersect."
Strife and Trini shared stories and songs they knew, sang ballads together, and even practiced a few Thaumaturgy techniques to enhance their performances with special effects. Finally, Strife admitted what was now obvious. Her emotion evident from the tears flowing freely down her cheeks, her head bowed in defeat, she announced glumly amid her sniffles, "She's not coming, Trini."
Wiping her tears away, she crawled over to her backpack, rummaged inside it to obtain her pipe and pouch. From the pouch, she extracted an appropriate measure of the absurdly expensive special herbs she had obtained from one of her Black Network contacts. She silently blessed Sune for her employee discount. Igniting her pipe with Prestidigitation, she consoled herself with a deep pull of the smoke. As the soothing and psychedelic effects began to take hold, she passed the pipe to her bardrade. "Sorry, I don't want you to think this was just about her. It's not. It's very much about all of us. In spite of my tears, this has been an amazing night, and I'm really really happy I've met you. Anyway, once you try this and realize I could have instead kept it all for myself, you will never doubt my love!" she teased, her mood brightening with a giggle.
Later, in Beliard:
Cattle, stockyards, caravans, and storage, thought Strife as she summarized Beliard's offerings and tried to formulate an approach. Wait, there's gotta be one! In fact, the very first stranger on the street was able to direct Strife to her destination. There on the edge of the commercial district stood a large well built lodge that served as the teamster union's guildhall. Though Strife had noticed some activity on an upper floor through the windows, she unexpectedly found the main door locked. A notice posted there listed the schedule, and indeed it didn't open until after work hours, though there was a bell hanging in front if you were calling on official business.
Well... crap. Guess I'm gonna busk it up, Strife thought. Joining the facts of the case with the scene Trini's dance had inspired, Strife began performing in front of the guildhall, improvising a tale of a Dwarf transporting magical tomes who then vanishes. Strife didn't name any names, but with the current gossip then circulating, she knew they would leap to the intended conclusions. In her story, the town the Dwarf had passed through begins to suffer, for his vengeful spirit haunts the books he never delivered, and each time somebody reads from one of them, the Dwarf can manifest his anger in this world. Cattle become sick, their brittle bones begin to snap, their appetite vanishes and they begin to whither away, their milk dries up, and their meat mysteriously spoils. The story ends with the town collapsing in ruin, everyone moving far away but never again finding the happiness they once knew, and all because those who knew how the Dwarf came to his unjust end couldn't find the courage to share that information, and so nobody was able to appease his spirit.
Strife expected the townspeople would sympathize with the Dwarf once they realized he was effectively acting as a teamster transporting goods. She hoped they would then succumb to their superstition and presume that the ordinary misfortune and accidents that now befell their cattle were instead the result of a pissed off Dwarf they owed a debt to. Strife partly unfolded her blanket on the ground to take up a collection while making it clear all proceeds would be awarded to anyone providing information that led to the Dwarf or his abductors.
Trini: Both you and Strife share many emotional and tender moments the night before with your performances, learning much about each other. You both role played that better than I could describe, so there's no need for me to elaborate on the situation. Well done, both of you =P While pleasant, talking to the townsfolk at the storage area didn't yield any useful information, but they didn't shoo you away when you shared stories of your travels.
Strife: While you were able to pull of a slightly above average performance, your modified story captivated your audience long enough to persuade them to stick around till the end of your tale. Sadly, the townsfolk had nothing much else to say after that.
So, I believe that's everyone's insight roll. Two out of three rumors isn't bad. This concludes our business in Beliard.
BELIARD: The Mirabar delegation was last seen in the town of Beliard. (COMPLETE!) SHALLOW GRAVES: Four new graves have appeared on a windswept hilltop in the Sumber Hills. (COMPLETE!) WOMFORD RATS: A dozen beautiful old books written in Dwarvish showed up in the cargo of a shady keelboat skipper in Womford.
Feeling slightly dejected over the fact that she's now twice failed to gather evidence during this mission, Carrhae will retire to her room to polish her weapons and armor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
Somewhat morose, Strife bought a couple roses from a girl she encountered en route back to The Watchful Night Inn. She took out her mirror and put them in her hair, careful not to stick herself on a thorn. There. Now I'm the cutest devil-girl on the block.
Back at the inn, she paused to knock on Carrhae's door, and had presumptively begun to walk away when Carrhae answered. "Oh! You're back too." Strife entered the room at her invitation, walked over to the bed, and unceremoniously flopped partway onto it, lying on her stomach, her legs hanging over the edge. She sighs. "I went over to the guildhall. I did this whole thing. There's the Dwarf, and cattle, and the town gets ruined, blah, blah, blah. They just applauded politely and left. Dumb****s. -Sorry, that was unkind. Maybe they don't know anything helpful. Or maybe I suck. Anyway, how did you fare at the stables? It must have been pungent, I imagine."
Strife idly kicked her legs and swished her tail as she listened to Carrhae describe similarly uninspiring results. Strife curled the tip of her tail around one of the roses in her hair. "Ow! Ouchy." She extended her newly punctured tail to offer a rose to the paladin, and in so doing pulled several ensnared wisps of her hair off to the side, making her look a bit disheveled. "Here. A consolation prize. Or punishment. You decide.
"So yeah, Sune. That's the other reason I dropped by. I love her to death. Obviously you do too. Now, let me preface this with a big fat disclaimer. I have not myself actually read the core holy works of your faith. My issue is a consequence of interactions I have had with those who purported to be zealous adherents. And though some wouldn't come right out and say it, more than a few did, which was to tell me a hideously deformed creature such as myself was either a blight and menace, or in the best case, a tragedy, for I could never hope to present a beautiful appearance pleasing to and worthy of Sune.
"In my experience, many if not most of her believers have a pretty narrow view of beauty and lack thereof, and it's centered around the ideal form of the goddess herself. Everybody wants Sune. So would I like to look like that? I want to tell you no, that I'm good with how I am, and proud of the features that denote me as a Tiefling. The truth is **** yeah, of course, I'm an attention whore, and having all eyes glued on me as an object of love and lust sounds like a dream. But I can't and I won't and to add insult to injury, I run across Sunites who make it very clear my look makes them ill, and that it's a catastrophic personal failing on my part.
"I think if you're honest, you will find a lot of your fellow devotees live by a simple principle: beauty equals good, all else is evil. When you apply that shortcut from the get go, whatever I might have to offer on the inside doesn't matter and will never come into play, because I look wrong. My first impression is my only impression. Ugh, I'm sorry, I should be a lot more tactful. I'm going to mess this up and insult you when really I have only praise for you. I don't want to make the same mistake and dismiss a whole group prejudicially. I hope I'm not a hypocrite, and I think you are wonderful, in my defense. There's many things you could do with your life besides go out and risk everything for the sake of others, yet here you are, trying to help people you have never even met.
"Well, there. I said it. Now you know my secret rage trigger! Maybe you can help me be a better person. But right now I guess we better go find the others and see if we can get back on track somehow."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seeing first Carrhae, then Strife, enter and go to one of the group’s rented rooms, Mercy stood and quietly followed them. Her tail flicked out to stop the door just shy of closed, and she paused to listen before making her presence known.
Stealth: 16
(More than it already was.)
Opening the door fully, the young rogue leaned against the doorframe. “Well, I’ve heard a lot of horseshit in my life, but I’ll admit that’s pretty high up there. Not only are you gorgeous, but most of the people I’ve known who met a more traditional form of beauty were a cruel lot.” Shrugging, she offered a brief apology for the interruption and closed the door with a flick of her tail. She listened for the snick of the latch. “Honestly, I wanted to thank you both for your good work so far.”
“Strife, you and Trini got some really good information back in Red Larch, and Carrhae...” The brooding Tiefling offered up a rare, mischievous smile. “I never would’ve been able to get anything from that stable boy if you hadn’t kept his master distracted earlier.”
Carrhae is pleasantly surprised to hear a knock on her door and warmly welcomes Strife into her room and tells her to make herself comfortable. She commiserates with her Tiefling companion as she talks about her fruitless endeavors in trying to gain information. "I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't find any information. But I doubt that your storytelling is at fault. You're far too good of a performer to fall short. At least you got applause! I just got "I don't know nothing about no delegation lady, now buy a horse or get out." from a smelly stablemaster. Perhaps I should've worn something revealing when I spoke to him. Carrhae gladly accepts the rose from Strife and places it into her hair. "Now we match! Almost. I'm still missing the horns." She then helps fix Strife's hair.
Carrhae listens to every word that Strife has to say about her treatment by Sunites and is heartbroken by it. "I know that it does not in any way make up for the mistreatment that you have suffered at the hands of my fellow adherents, but I apologize from the bottom of my heart for all of the ill words and dirty looks that have been sent towards you. I also hope that you take some consolation when I say that I believe that you are beautiful. And not just physically. You have such a talent with words, the poems and songs that you create are true art! I've also seen the way that you care for Trini and Mercy. I think that you're a better person than you might be giving yourself credit for. I think that your existence is pleasing to Sune and I believe that one day the rest of the world will see you the same way as I do.
I'm not insulted by you and I accept the praise you have for me, but there is one thing you're wrong about. There isn't anything else that I can do with my existence. As a Paladin of Sune, I value the beauty in this world. It is sacred to me. But I have learned, rather painfully, that there are malicious forces that would destroy the beauty that exists in this world. It is my purpose to combat these forces and make sure that they never succeed. And besides, if I wasn't here trying to help these strangers, as you say, I never would've met the five of you and I'd be all the worse off for it."
Carrhae then leaves with Strife to find the rest of their party. Carrhae notices Mercy's failed attempt at stealthing. " I suppose I should be angry with you for listening to our conversation, but I can't be when you're coming in with kind words." Carrhae smiles in response to Mercy's report of her investigation. "I'm glad that I was able to provide some unintentional assistance towards your efforts. I was beginning to think that my presence here was of no help to the rest of you."
The one good thing about being a man in a group the comprised mostly of women, would be getting a room to himself. To be fair, he wasn’t sure if the others had even decided to sleep in the same rooms to cut down on costs, but it didn’t matter to Zephyr all that much. What did matter was finally being able to walk around bare faced. Being in the same form for so long only tired him out so it felt good to stretch the muscles.
The one bad thing was that it was incredibly lonely, a feeling Zephyr knew all to much about. The changeling often lied to themselves about being content with loneliness, but after finally getting out into the world, to only go back to feeling that way only irritated them. As Barry, he felt a little left out. The girls often spoke to each other as he stood off to the sidelines, though he could understand why. To be honest, Daewen surprised Zephyr by accompanying him to the inn instead of heading out with Strife or even Mercy.
It was... Nice. Even if she couldn’t speak, she was incredibly insightful and managed to get a valuable piece of evidence for the team (having wrote it down for him to recite to the others). Perhaps he could learn her language down the line when he fessed up to this whole charade of being someone they were not.
But that was the basis for their race, wasn’t it? To be more than just an ugly, faceless being?
They frowned and glanced over to the mirror in the room then sighed heavily. “The night is still young,” They would comment to themselves, putting on a shirt and a pair of loose fitting pants. “I’ll just go out for a walk.”
Without second thought they shifted, forming themselves to look similar to the barmaid they had interviewed earlier, just with blonde hair and a flatter chest. A quick look over later, they peeked out down the hallway to make sure none of her team was around and slipped out of the room, making sure to lock the door with a satisfied ‘click’ then made her way out into the night.
((When morning comes they’re back as Barry and ready to go!))
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
Mercy learned that the delegation leaders planned to head south on the Dessarin Road to bury a dead knight in a place called Summit Hall. Zephyr and Daewen learned about a strange monk who was observing the delegation, then left and hasn't been seen since.
You guys can visit Summit Hall down south, or do the side quest:
WOMFORD RATS: A dozen beautiful old books written in Dwarvish showed up in the cargo of a shady keelboat skipper in Womford.
No tavern. It looks like I won't be able to solve things here by providing eye candy for drunks. I'll have to try a different approach here. Carrhae sets off for the stables, but not before turning to Strife. "If you have the time to do so after this investigation, could you please stop by my room later today? I would still like to speak with you about the things that we weren't able to discuss in Red Larch."
Once at the stables, she will attempt to find out if a group of travelers from Mirabar either kept their horses here while they were on their journey or purchased some from this location. She also will try to glean any information from the stablemaster in regards to the state of the delegates when they arrived in town. Insight:6
Carrhae's powers of insight are gone when she's not using her boobs.
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
Unfortunately, without the power of your chest to back you up, your personality and questioning was not enough to obtain reliable information.
During their final night at The Swinging Sword Inn back in Red Larch:
Strife had enjoyed sharing a meal with the group before they set out for Beliard. There wasn't much discussion about the mission as they had already drawn the few inferences that could be made from the scanty clues available. Strife tried to set aside her concern about Barry. Were he to make some move against the group, she hoped she would be ready, but there was nothing solid as yet with which to justify her Tiefling paranoia.
Afterward, when Trini arrived at her room, Strife proposed playing an ancient bit of music that she had discovered transcribed within an old journal Strife picked up at a rummage sale. If the attribution were accurate, the composer was a figure of legendary talent back in the heyday of the once mighty Tiefling empire. "This is one of my favorite pieces, Trini. This is part of our cultural heritage and as such, it's precious to me. I know it's a bit cramped in this modest room, but if you feel moved to dance, I would be honored to see how its melody inspires the motions of a certain Tiefling artistic genius, namely you." Strife gathered up her flute and began to play softly so as not to disturb other guests.
Would Mercy accept her invitation and join them? She had offered no firm response at the time.
As they passed through the orchards outside of town, Mercy plucked an apple from a tree and slipped it into the pouch she kept on her hip. This time, she had a feeling she’d have more luck. She followed Carrhae to the stables and used the opportunity granted by the distracted stablemaster to strike up a casual conversation with a stableboy, slicing up her apple to feed slices to both the boy and the mare he was grooming. When the stablemaster finally noticed and yelled at the boy to shovel the stalls, she moved on to the next place that a street urchin might earn a meal. And so she spent her day, weaving stories of her childhood on the streets, only half-false, to earn the trust of the youths whose lives she understood perhaps better than they themselves. Sometimes she’d help with their tasks to make them like her enough to help in her search for information. Others, she’d keep watch while they swiped a bit of bread for lunch.
It was late in the afternoon when she made her way at last to the inn and sat by the center fire, waiting for the others to compare notes.
Animal Handling: 6
Deception: 14
Insight: 17
Perception: 10
Persuasion: 6
Mercy: As you were eating the apple with the stableboy, he felt comfortable enough with you to tell you that the delegation leaders planned to head south on the Dessarin Road. They intended to visit Summit Hall next, returning the body of a knight slain in the North.
Animal Handling 6: "The horses mouth is over here."
The last thing Zephyr did in regards to his conversation with Strife would be a playful roll of the eyes.
Once they made it to Beliard, Zephyr set aside his armor and kept his weapons again and told the others he would be going to the inn to see if perhaps any of the delegates had stayed there, and opened the offer if anyone remaining wanted to tag along with him to question the innkeeper. He had to, at least, try and make friends in this form or make it seem as if he was actually Barry.
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
OOC: Sorry, don’t have time to come up with a fruitful post worthy of everyone else’s posts....
Daewen giddily accepts Barry’s offer to join him to talk with the innkeeper.
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
Two out of three Insight (or related) rolls left to make.
Daewen’s insight check: 18
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
“Very well then,” Zephyr smiles down at Daewen. “Shall we?”
It might be a little difficult to get information in this form (as being in Carrhae’s form proved to be fruitful in the information gathering department) but it was worth a shot. Maybe Daewen, despite her inability to talk, could aid him? They would have to wait and see.
Once inside the inn Zephyr would waste no time walking up to the inkeeper and inquiring about the missing delegates.
Insight: 6
((Ooc: dunno if I’d get advantage on the roll or not but tell me if I do and I’ll roll again :P))
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
LOL An interesting position i'm in at the moment, one of the reasons why I love this game. How, as a DM, do I interpret your actions against the rolls to unveil the results of your intentions? Since you are together - let's say Zephyr did the speaking, and Daewen did the listening, shall we? In the inn, you talked to a maid who reveals that she observed a strange monk who wore a golden mask observing the Mirabarrans closely while they stayed at the inn. The monk left a few hours before the delegation set out and hasn’t been seen since.
That's two out of three!
Before:
Trini is more than glad to accept Strife's invitation to dance to an ancient song of their culture. Despite the fact that her infernal roots scared her, she wanted to know everything she could. Know yourself and you can overcome almost any obstacle her parents had explained to her, and even if she grew up with the wood elves, her infernal heritage was still a part of her. She'll lose herself to the moment letting the music take over as she often used to in the fields outside her home.
Performance: 17
Now:
Watching the others go, Trini decides to check out the storage house. With many of valuables the delegation was transporting it's likely they might have stored some during their stay here. She'll engage the staff at the storehouse with stories of her travels, and ask about others that have been through here, also learning anything she can about the rumors going around town. Trini has learned to love gossip in her time away from home, and how it evolves and develops over time. Afterwords she'll join Barry and Daewen at the inn bouncing about to see what they may have learned.
Insight: 5
"All will become equal now" | "Cause we're going to shout it loud, even if our words seem meaningless. It's like we're carrying the weight of the world"
Earlier, in Red Larch:
After the final note faded away signaling the end of their flute/ dance collaboration, Strife said, "That was great, Trini! You painted this picture in my mind of a formal ball, a sea of couples dancing as they revolve through the ballroom, but in the very center, there's an open space where a lonely princess dances alone, her elegant motions weaving an arcane invocation to fashion an overlap, a magical juncture of two worlds. Into this shared space her consort appears from that other realm, and they dance together, so happy to share each other's company again, yet cognizant that when the song ends, they will once more be ripped apart from each other, left with only tragic haunting memories of their ephemeral love, and the certainty they will devote themselves to their next anniversary, their next dance, impatient for the moment when their worlds may once more briefly intersect."
Strife and Trini shared stories and songs they knew, sang ballads together, and even practiced a few Thaumaturgy techniques to enhance their performances with special effects. Finally, Strife admitted what was now obvious. Her emotion evident from the tears flowing freely down her cheeks, her head bowed in defeat, she announced glumly amid her sniffles, "She's not coming, Trini."
Wiping her tears away, she crawled over to her backpack, rummaged inside it to obtain her pipe and pouch. From the pouch, she extracted an appropriate measure of the absurdly expensive special herbs she had obtained from one of her Black Network contacts. She silently blessed Sune for her employee discount. Igniting her pipe with Prestidigitation, she consoled herself with a deep pull of the smoke. As the soothing and psychedelic effects began to take hold, she passed the pipe to her bardrade. "Sorry, I don't want you to think this was just about her. It's not. It's very much about all of us. In spite of my tears, this has been an amazing night, and I'm really really happy I've met you. Anyway, once you try this and realize I could have instead kept it all for myself, you will never doubt my love!" she teased, her mood brightening with a giggle.
Later, in Beliard:
Cattle, stockyards, caravans, and storage, thought Strife as she summarized Beliard's offerings and tried to formulate an approach. Wait, there's gotta be one! In fact, the very first stranger on the street was able to direct Strife to her destination. There on the edge of the commercial district stood a large well built lodge that served as the teamster union's guildhall. Though Strife had noticed some activity on an upper floor through the windows, she unexpectedly found the main door locked. A notice posted there listed the schedule, and indeed it didn't open until after work hours, though there was a bell hanging in front if you were calling on official business.
Well... crap. Guess I'm gonna busk it up, Strife thought. Joining the facts of the case with the scene Trini's dance had inspired, Strife began performing in front of the guildhall, improvising a tale of a Dwarf transporting magical tomes who then vanishes. Strife didn't name any names, but with the current gossip then circulating, she knew they would leap to the intended conclusions. In her story, the town the Dwarf had passed through begins to suffer, for his vengeful spirit haunts the books he never delivered, and each time somebody reads from one of them, the Dwarf can manifest his anger in this world. Cattle become sick, their brittle bones begin to snap, their appetite vanishes and they begin to whither away, their milk dries up, and their meat mysteriously spoils. The story ends with the town collapsing in ruin, everyone moving far away but never again finding the happiness they once knew, and all because those who knew how the Dwarf came to his unjust end couldn't find the courage to share that information, and so nobody was able to appease his spirit.
Strife expected the townspeople would sympathize with the Dwarf once they realized he was effectively acting as a teamster transporting goods. She hoped they would then succumb to their superstition and presume that the ordinary misfortune and accidents that now befell their cattle were instead the result of a pissed off Dwarf they owed a debt to. Strife partly unfolded her blanket on the ground to take up a collection while making it clear all proceeds would be awarded to anyone providing information that led to the Dwarf or his abductors.
Performance (+5): 21
Persuasion (+7): 24
Deception (+7): 26
Insight (+1): 10
Trini: Both you and Strife share many emotional and tender moments the night before with your performances, learning much about each other. You both role played that better than I could describe, so there's no need for me to elaborate on the situation. Well done, both of you =P While pleasant, talking to the townsfolk at the storage area didn't yield any useful information, but they didn't shoo you away when you shared stories of your travels.
Strife: While you were able to pull of a slightly above average performance, your modified story captivated your audience long enough to persuade them to stick around till the end of your tale. Sadly, the townsfolk had nothing much else to say after that.
So, I believe that's everyone's insight roll. Two out of three rumors isn't bad. This concludes our business in Beliard.
BELIARD: The Mirabar delegation was last seen in the town of Beliard. (COMPLETE!)
SHALLOW GRAVES: Four new graves have appeared on a windswept hilltop in the Sumber Hills. (COMPLETE!)
WOMFORD RATS: A dozen beautiful old books written in Dwarvish showed up in the cargo of a shady keelboat skipper in Womford.
Feeling slightly dejected over the fact that she's now twice failed to gather evidence during this mission, Carrhae will retire to her room to polish her weapons and armor.
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
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Somewhat morose, Strife bought a couple roses from a girl she encountered en route back to The Watchful Night Inn. She took out her mirror and put them in her hair, careful not to stick herself on a thorn. There. Now I'm the cutest devil-girl on the block.
Back at the inn, she paused to knock on Carrhae's door, and had presumptively begun to walk away when Carrhae answered. "Oh! You're back too." Strife entered the room at her invitation, walked over to the bed, and unceremoniously flopped partway onto it, lying on her stomach, her legs hanging over the edge. She sighs. "I went over to the guildhall. I did this whole thing. There's the Dwarf, and cattle, and the town gets ruined, blah, blah, blah. They just applauded politely and left. Dumb****s. -Sorry, that was unkind. Maybe they don't know anything helpful. Or maybe I suck. Anyway, how did you fare at the stables? It must have been pungent, I imagine."
Strife idly kicked her legs and swished her tail as she listened to Carrhae describe similarly uninspiring results. Strife curled the tip of her tail around one of the roses in her hair. "Ow! Ouchy." She extended her newly punctured tail to offer a rose to the paladin, and in so doing pulled several ensnared wisps of her hair off to the side, making her look a bit disheveled. "Here. A consolation prize. Or punishment. You decide.
"So yeah, Sune. That's the other reason I dropped by. I love her to death. Obviously you do too. Now, let me preface this with a big fat disclaimer. I have not myself actually read the core holy works of your faith. My issue is a consequence of interactions I have had with those who purported to be zealous adherents. And though some wouldn't come right out and say it, more than a few did, which was to tell me a hideously deformed creature such as myself was either a blight and menace, or in the best case, a tragedy, for I could never hope to present a beautiful appearance pleasing to and worthy of Sune.
"In my experience, many if not most of her believers have a pretty narrow view of beauty and lack thereof, and it's centered around the ideal form of the goddess herself. Everybody wants Sune. So would I like to look like that? I want to tell you no, that I'm good with how I am, and proud of the features that denote me as a Tiefling. The truth is **** yeah, of course, I'm an attention whore, and having all eyes glued on me as an object of love and lust sounds like a dream. But I can't and I won't and to add insult to injury, I run across Sunites who make it very clear my look makes them ill, and that it's a catastrophic personal failing on my part.
"I think if you're honest, you will find a lot of your fellow devotees live by a simple principle: beauty equals good, all else is evil. When you apply that shortcut from the get go, whatever I might have to offer on the inside doesn't matter and will never come into play, because I look wrong. My first impression is my only impression. Ugh, I'm sorry, I should be a lot more tactful. I'm going to mess this up and insult you when really I have only praise for you. I don't want to make the same mistake and dismiss a whole group prejudicially. I hope I'm not a hypocrite, and I think you are wonderful, in my defense. There's many things you could do with your life besides go out and risk everything for the sake of others, yet here you are, trying to help people you have never even met.
"Well, there. I said it. Now you know my secret rage trigger! Maybe you can help me be a better person. But right now I guess we better go find the others and see if we can get back on track somehow."
Seeing first Carrhae, then Strife, enter and go to one of the group’s rented rooms, Mercy stood and quietly followed them. Her tail flicked out to stop the door just shy of closed, and she paused to listen before making her presence known.
Stealth: 16
(More than it already was.)
Opening the door fully, the young rogue leaned against the doorframe. “Well, I’ve heard a lot of horseshit in my life, but I’ll admit that’s pretty high up there. Not only are you gorgeous, but most of the people I’ve known who met a more traditional form of beauty were a cruel lot.” Shrugging, she offered a brief apology for the interruption and closed the door with a flick of her tail. She listened for the snick of the latch. “Honestly, I wanted to thank you both for your good work so far.”
“Strife, you and Trini got some really good information back in Red Larch, and Carrhae...” The brooding Tiefling offered up a rare, mischievous smile. “I never would’ve been able to get anything from that stable boy if you hadn’t kept his master distracted earlier.”
Carrhae is pleasantly surprised to hear a knock on her door and warmly welcomes Strife into her room and tells her to make herself comfortable. She commiserates with her Tiefling companion as she talks about her fruitless endeavors in trying to gain information. "I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't find any information. But I doubt that your storytelling is at fault. You're far too good of a performer to fall short. At least you got applause! I just got "I don't know nothing about no delegation lady, now buy a horse or get out." from a smelly stablemaster. Perhaps I should've worn something revealing when I spoke to him. Carrhae gladly accepts the rose from Strife and places it into her hair. "Now we match! Almost. I'm still missing the horns." She then helps fix Strife's hair.
Carrhae listens to every word that Strife has to say about her treatment by Sunites and is heartbroken by it. "I know that it does not in any way make up for the mistreatment that you have suffered at the hands of my fellow adherents, but I apologize from the bottom of my heart for all of the ill words and dirty looks that have been sent towards you. I also hope that you take some consolation when I say that I believe that you are beautiful. And not just physically. You have such a talent with words, the poems and songs that you create are true art! I've also seen the way that you care for Trini and Mercy. I think that you're a better person than you might be giving yourself credit for. I think that your existence is pleasing to Sune and I believe that one day the rest of the world will see you the same way as I do.
I'm not insulted by you and I accept the praise you have for me, but there is one thing you're wrong about. There isn't anything else that I can do with my existence. As a Paladin of Sune, I value the beauty in this world. It is sacred to me. But I have learned, rather painfully, that there are malicious forces that would destroy the beauty that exists in this world. It is my purpose to combat these forces and make sure that they never succeed. And besides, if I wasn't here trying to help these strangers, as you say, I never would've met the five of you and I'd be all the worse off for it."
Carrhae then leaves with Strife to find the rest of their party.Carrhae notices Mercy's failed attempt at stealthing. " I suppose I should be angry with you for listening to our conversation, but I can't be when you're coming in with kind words." Carrhae smiles in response to Mercy's report of her investigation. "I'm glad that I was able to provide some unintentional assistance towards your efforts. I was beginning to think that my presence here was of no help to the rest of you."Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
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The one good thing about being a man in a group the comprised mostly of women, would be getting a room to himself. To be fair, he wasn’t sure if the others had even decided to sleep in the same rooms to cut down on costs, but it didn’t matter to Zephyr all that much. What did matter was finally being able to walk around bare faced. Being in the same form for so long only tired him out so it felt good to stretch the muscles.
The one bad thing was that it was incredibly lonely, a feeling Zephyr knew all to much about. The changeling often lied to themselves about being content with loneliness, but after finally getting out into the world, to only go back to feeling that way only irritated them. As Barry, he felt a little left out. The girls often spoke to each other as he stood off to the sidelines, though he could understand why. To be honest, Daewen surprised Zephyr by accompanying him to the inn instead of heading out with Strife or even Mercy.
It was... Nice. Even if she couldn’t speak, she was incredibly insightful and managed to get a valuable piece of evidence for the team (having wrote it down for him to recite to the others). Perhaps he could learn her language down the line when he fessed up to this whole charade of being someone they were not.
But that was the basis for their race, wasn’t it? To be more than just an ugly, faceless being?
They frowned and glanced over to the mirror in the room then sighed heavily. “The night is still young,” They would comment to themselves, putting on a shirt and a pair of loose fitting pants. “I’ll just go out for a walk.”
Without second thought they shifted, forming themselves to look similar to the barmaid they had interviewed earlier, just with blonde hair and a flatter chest. A quick look over later, they peeked out down the hallway to make sure none of her team was around and slipped out of the room, making sure to lock the door with a satisfied ‘click’ then made her way out into the night.
((When morning comes they’re back as Barry and ready to go!))
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
Mercy learned that the delegation leaders planned to head south on the Dessarin Road to bury a dead knight in a place called Summit Hall. Zephyr and Daewen learned about a strange monk who was observing the delegation, then left and hasn't been seen since.
You guys can visit Summit Hall down south, or do the side quest:
WOMFORD RATS: A dozen beautiful old books written in Dwarvish showed up in the cargo of a shady keelboat skipper in Womford.