Above & Below

The following morning, Kurama wakes up groggily but eventually joins the others after getting his bearings and writing down some notes & observations within a few of his many journals.  During the morning, he'll meditate and stretch and offer anyone from the group to join him before rejoining the group fully in the afternoon recovered and ready for whatever is to come this evening.  

During the group meal, where he sticks to strictly drinking tea, Kurama will ask, "Please tell me of this Yeenoghu you've mentioned earlier.   I vaguely recognize the name but religion and ancient texts were not my area of study so I do not know much of him.  Is he the cause of all that's happened so far?"

After some tea your headache all but vanishes. You no longer need to reduce your next roll by 1d4. :)

Dog god, says Brask, his mouth stuffed full of food.  He shrugs and nods to Effort and Burik, suggesting they might be able to add more detail.

"Cultists," Effort adds helpfully, feeling a bit cross in the morning from being back in Gorta.  "They kidnap people of certain arcane talents, apparently to brainwash them into serving their gnoll demon prince.  We are all here, for one reason or another, to stop them.  It's been bad enough to have been noticed by the lay population, but now we've been made aware that they're searching for a few individuals very specifically.  Murmur, whom you met on the ship, was one of those individuals.  Promise is another.  There is Xandar, the high priest in Lovilra, whom was attacked while we were there.  And finally an individual named Yelhorn, in Redguard."

"Interesting... Perhaps this Gnoll God corrupted my home as well...  Hopefully we can learn some truths about the situation from your friend Promise."  Noting the specific names listed, "It is lucky that you all were there to help some of these individuals during your travels; do you know why they specifically are being targated?"

Nope, no idea, Brask replies.  It'll be some trash to do with their stupid dog god.  Still, maybe we should try to capture some of 'em this time.  Get some questioning done.  Those fools we took from the last gang were really low ranking, didn't know anything.  We had to let them go.  You know like, when you're fishing, you're not supposed to keep the little ones.

(I'm not sure we finally said what we did with the two prisoners from the slaver gang, but if it wasn't resolved, Brask would have untied them, tossed them into the river, and thrown rocks at them as they swam to shore.)

OOC: Going on a long weekend with the family and will be back on Monday night / Tuesday morning. We'll jump into your encounter with Effort's old gang then. Please feel free to continue to RP during the course of the day. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Also I don't think we ever resolved the prisoners...whoops! Brask accidentally kills a fish while throwing rocks at them, but it floats downriver before he can scoop it up.

You're the only one who's met three of these people on the list, Brask says to Effort.  What do they have in common? I'm drawing a blank.  Xander was a big religious guy, and Murmur didn't seem very religious.  What about Promise?

"It does seem odd for seemingly random people to be targeted.  Maybe their magical abilities are all related or drawn from the same source?"  Kurama adds.

(Enjoy your long weekend!)

"Promise... had secrets," Effort says reluctantly.  She crosses her arms and thinks.  "Murmur was a person of arcane power, and Xander one of divine power.  If I had to hazard a guess, Promise will also have some kind of arcane talent... and I believe that sort of power is what they are collecting.  Perhaps these individuals were especially good at what they did.  Xander was a high priest, after all," she muses.

She pulls out the dagger that she obtained from the cultists so long ago.  "Don't forget, we still don't know what this thing does.  Before meeting Murmur, I would have guessed it would have been used to sacrifice Xander's life.  Perhaps it's related to all this.  If we could find someone who could identify what it does, we might learn more about their goals."

Whenever you're ready to head to the barn...

That evening, you start to walk toward the edge of town, as Effort was instructed. It takes a solid hour, but the buildings start to become more and more sparse, and the full view of the western horizon becomes one of hills and agricultural fields. The sun slowly dips down lower and lower as you approach the farm that Akrus spoke about. You come to its edge, with a dilapidated wooden fence separating you from some overgrown fields. It mostly appears to be tall grasses and a few vines, but there are also massive flowers and strange-looking berries dotting the field. A few hundred yards away sits the barn. As it gets darker, a gentle flicker of light sneaks its way out of the windows.

"It appears we've reached our destination." Kurama definitely not Wakka announces.  "Should we approach or would that be unwise?" he continues as he looks to the others for guidance.  

„Approaching would be unwise,“ Effort says without hesitation.  She doesn‘t stop walking, however.  „I‘m going in regardless.“  She touches her forehead to bolster her courage with a bit of guidance, and makes her way unerringly towards the barn.

Cadmael, who is on her shoulder, is keeping watch for her for any danger as they approach: Perception 8

 Looking at the others,  Kurama shrugs and joins Effort walking towards the barn.

Brask grins a silent approval and follows.

Everyone, roll a perception check.

Perception: 6

What does Brask see?  2.  Not much.

When you're about thirty feet away from the barn, you hear a brief rustling in the leaves behind you. Before anyone can make a move, you're greeted by a voice. "Got a death wish?" You turn to find a handful of tieflings with swords and axes pointed in your direction. Up on the barn, more emerge with longbows trained in your direction. "Better keep those hands away from your weapons. State your business, quickly, before we get impatient."

Effort perception (late but oh whelp, LOL) 8

"There's no need for such aggression," Effort says blandly.  "Tell Euphoria that one of his old crew has returned to Gorta.  My name is Effort, and my loyalty to him has been proven with my lifeblood.  It took me a very long time to heal from that proof, but heal I have, and I've returned to pay due to our great leader as soon as I was able.  It took even longer to find this place... my my, but Euphoria is just as crafty as I've remembered.  It's no wonder that he still holds all the power in this town."   She makes eye contact with the one who addressed the party, and tilts her head at the others, particularly Brask's imposing figure.  "This time, I've brought some friends with me.  Strong ones.  Meeting them could be of mutual benefit to the both of us," she finishes smoothly.

It's not like you to speak like this, Cadmael says in her head.  Why do you flatter that man when you hate him?

Euphoria is a bastard, but he sure does love lip service  Hopefully this show of subservience will be enough to bring that smug bastard out, she answers, keeping her face passive.

Deception: 23 + Guidance: 3