Blobbin's Adventurer Camp

Mordan chuckles a little "Well, not exactly but I can at least point you to the "Haystack' as you say. The first priestesses were entombed here, in this complex. Somewhere deep below where we now stand. I can not tell you exactly where but we have discovered a secret way that leads to some very old tunnels. I believe that is the place to begin."

“I guess I’m having a tough time just trusting you completely and jumping into this little treasure hunt.  You certainly paid for the bandits that almost killed us, and paid for the deaths of some innocent people driving those shipment you had ambushed.”

Vail says with an accusatory tone, irritated by the constant changes to the story.

”How do we know you aren’t the one that caused the sinkholes to get us down here? What if this prophecy is just some twisted plot that brings out the ruination of this entire land? Look, I just don’t really know what I’m supposed to believe anymore.”

Walking around once again he says to Vail "Your lack of trust is founded. I will try to clear some things up and you can decide if I've earned your trust. We did create the sinkholes but I don't know anything about you being ambushed. We merely whispered a few words to our trading partners in Okcho and they did the rest. I'm sure your Tiefling friends can verify that there is no love for the elves or humans with many of their kind. The Elves have never treated them fairly in trades and the Humans still deny their heritage. They've been subjected to much persecution. It is why they built Okcho in the first place" He looks to Saada and Estes feeling confident they will agree with his words.

"I do have my own motivations. To be blunt. I don't want to uproot my people. We have found happiness and prosperity here. I know there are many top-worlders who think we are evil creatures, perhaps no better than the Drow themselves. But I'm sure you can understand that sometimes the enemy of your enemy can become your allies. In this case we are the enemy of your enemy. I am asking for your help because we cannot do this task. My people would be swayed be the power of the Death Queen Mother. Others of more.... Faith, shall we say, must be the ones to retrieve it"

He walks over to the carved scene of the great calamity spreading his hands "This is what awaits our world should the Drow return. This land would be devastated and brought into a darkness so deep even the elves wouldn't be able to turn the tide or survive here. None of us would survive!"

Estes nods in agreement at his assessment of the Tiefling people and moves in to look at the carving 

Saada walks over to Estes and stands next to him, continuing to look at the carving.

In Infernal she quietly says "Mordan mentioned that someone would betray us. When he said that, he staring at the gnome, quite intently I might add. We should keep a close eye on him."

Infernal-"we will"

Saada turned back towards Mordan. "Who stands to gain from the drow's return? The elves would clearly burn the earth before letting that come to pass, and I don't imagine the humans would be to happy with another elven power emerging. So who then?"

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh."  Tauriel nods along barely able to keep up with what the dwarf is saying. "Wait this story's real? Can you give us a tour of this Death Queen's cave or tunnels or whatever it was!? This sounds so cool. It's way better than the ones the villagers repeat back in the village all the time. Goblin's this, demon's there, blah blah blah."

Vail hesitates and looks at Mordan, deep in thought. He turns his head to look at the rest of the party, especially Estes and Saada. He personally holds no ill will towards the tiefling people’s but has no real loyalty to the lands here since he’s merely a transplant traveling through.

”Well...” he begins and stops again to find his words.

”I personally hold no ill will towards either tiefling or duergar, to each their own. But, theres really not much I’ve started and seen all the way through, but guess there’s no time like the present to start. Might there be other treasures of valuables in these tunnels? I would sure like to have enough money to eat three square meals a day.”

he tosses his hands up in a shrug.

”So I guess that’s an important question worth asking, who would want to bring the drow back? Is there an agent somewhere vying for the “end of days” or whetever. What if he’s here? How will you guarantee the safety of your book from insider threat.”

“What do you think Tordal, old friend? Will you pursue this “righteous” quest?”

To Saada "Well, aside from the Drow themselves, Lolth would establish a foothold in the realm again. With that much could happen. Perhaps the kuo-toa would come to the lake. They may be able to resist its caustic nature. The svirfneblin have been known to have a relationship with the Drow, you may know them as the deep gnomes. What I fear most would be that Lolth would open a portal to the Abyss. If that happened all manor of demon could come to this realm."

Chuckling again at Tauriel "It is real and yes, I can take you to the start of the tunnels. Perhaps you should all rest first and think on what I've said. I realize it is a lot to ask. If you decide to retrieve the pin we will outfit you with any gear and supplies you may need. I have a place you all may rest and as I said before you will not be harmed while here in my halls"

To Vail "I keep the book safe, by keeping it here. I'm the only one allowed in this room. You may have noticed that not even my advisor, nor my wife, accompanied us here. The entrance to this room is always guarded by 24 of my best warriors. You saw half of them reveal themselves on the way in. I believe the book is safe here but if you have suggestions on how to keep it more safe I will listen"

In light of helping the burning town, saving the children in the shop and gaining this new information you all feel more Experienced! Welcome to LVL 3 ! :)

You're welcome to ask any other questions of him or do anything here you'd like before resting and you'll level up on the long rest. Also, just so you know, you don't have to search for the pin. You could report back to Blobbin, you could find Fyr'ta and talk to the elves, you could help in the town up above, you could bring this information to the human city... Although personally I think searching for the pin will be the most interesting :)

(For Estes, Saada just messaged me about it. You can take average or roll your HP in thread for lvl. If you choose to roll you have to roll from now on)

( I had it on fixed)

Estes will rest, spend a little time checking out any subterranean flora and fauna(if any) and see what help the chief has to offer.

Saada, having learned that there is an entire duegrar colony living underneath Okcho, will ask about the duergar themselves; how long have they been down here, what's they're day-to-day, any regular contact with tieflings on the surface. She's trying to make sure the duergrar at the very least remain benevolently neutral about the city on the surface.

"Alright Mr. Dwarfy! As long as you keep telling me cool stories like these, I can help ya find this pin if it helps you write up an ending!" she then looks slightly dejected. "Although...the sun is kinda nice. Do you guys ever see it down here?"

Tauriel will go to take a long rest after he responds just in case I don't post fast enough.

In response to Saada he tells you that he was the one who first led his people here after the fall of the human city. That was over 300 years ago. They were here when Okcho was first built by the Tieflings about 80 years ago, but didn't reveal themselves to them until about 50 years ago. It took that long for the Tieflings to establish themselves and become desirable as trading partners.

To Tauriel "No, we don't get any sun down here but I do have something that will help you and your friend see better down here. They will be included in your supplies"

Tordal thanks Mordan for their unexpected hospitality and makes his way to the quarters for a long rest.

(I completed my level up with the average hp)

Ooc: DM what’s your policy on disarming strike for battle master? Reading on the forums, it seems like it’s really only useful if I can use an action to kick the weapon away.

(That sort of goes along with the my ruling about sheathing vs. dropping a weapon. I view it in a similar way. A disarmed attacker cant retrieve the weapon and use an attack action with that weapon in the same turn. They could however draw a new weapon if they have it, or use a bonus action if that's available after picking it up. As to kicking it out of the way... hmm. would that count as "using an object" which is an action so you would only be able to do it with an action surge, or could you do that in the same action. My feeling on it is that if you're standing and fighting someone and disarm them you could kick the weapon out of the way if you weren't going to move. So basically your movement would go into kicking the weapon out of the way. However if you move up to someone, attack and disarm you wouldn't have any movement left to kick it away. Does that seem reasonable and make sense? )

Ooc: makes total sense to me! Ok I’m going to go with that one then!