The cultists have been offloading their stuff into the warehouse strong room. They're not talking about much, but working hard. When they're done, they move their wagons to the side of the yard along with those belonging to the merchants, and they disappear to the rooms they have taken.
Nub, you and Soar head up the stairs to the first floor above the warehouse, and enter the kitchen. The large rooms appears to be a kitchen, dining room and informal common room (there being no tavern as such in the Roadhouse). People - mostly travellers and labourers who were in the convoy with you, but clearly also some who were already in the Roadhouse awaiting the trip to Waterdeep, are sitting at the tables, eating and drinking. There's a grumpy human working in the kitchen and moving around serving food and drink as well, grumbling to himself all the while. He looks at you as you enter, his eyes lingering on Nub's tortle frame, and he gives a grunt and points you to an unoccupied table.
(I assume Jalt and Nate are joining them? Or are you doing something else? Soar, if you are sure you want to grab a room first, we can do that. Any particular room?)
[Is the first floor/level 2 accessed by stairs that are inside the warehouse? Also, are there guards stationed in the warehouse, or with a clear view of the inside of warehouse?]
All the stairs are outside leading up from the yard; you don't see any internal stairs.
There's a guard stationed outside in the yard north of the strong room; you can see the pile of crates and barrels on the map in the yard - that's where the heavy and low value goods are stored, that are of little risk of theft. The same guard also keeps an eye on the warehouse door, and once the offloading of goods is finished, that door is closed, though not locked as far as you can see. You're not aware of any guards inside the warehouse.
I think any room that has a view of the courtyard would be good.
Soar walks up to the cook, with an easy smile.
”Here’s the man with the toughest job in the roadhouse! My name is Soar, this is Nub. We are just passing through, admittedly, but he knows his way around a kitchen. Haven’t eaten so well in a while. He’s a little bashful but wanted to know if you could use a hand? Maybe give it a try and extend if it works out for both of you.”
You take a room on the first floor, overlooking the courtyard.
Not so tough, mutters Pete, though he doesn't seem unhappy to have someone to talk to. Hmmm. Tortle, is it? Met one before. Decent cook. You want paying, lad?
Nub nods his head and pulls out the pot of dough he had proving and any leftovers he has from the meal he made the night before - a pesto made from bitter leaves which is made milder when crushed with tree nuts and is quite good with the now day old leftover sourdough, but was even better as a marinade with the small game he caught.
Pete tastes the pesto, thinks for a moment, and nods. A bit fancy, but good enough. You work, and you and your friends - four of you right? - eat for free. That works for you?
Nub looks at the others to see if that is a good deal - he has been taken advantage of a number of times because he tends to be very trusting, so he doesn't want to accept (or reject) the proposition without getting their opinion or input.
He would cook for anyone in the dining room that wanted to eat anyway for free in other circumstances, though logically he understands that doesn't mean him than doing this for free when it is making someone else money doesn't have greater value (and he would likely be able to feed his new party even if not in this kitchen anyway).
Soar nods, thinking (and explaining later) that as long as the hours aren’t too long, free food seems fair for the time given, and hiding in plain sight where everyone has to be, directly over a room the cultists are very invested in, could be very useful. And given Nub’s skill in the kitchen he would likely have enough time left over to spend on the mission, keeping tabs on the stolen goods and the cultists from a good vantage point.
Are the cultists’ rooms near our rooms? Or far? She’d take some time to search the room and walls for any peepholes, esp if the rooms abut the cultists’. Otherwise, once the cargo is unloaded, she would take a look at what the other people from the convoy are doing to work and relax, esp the guards. That would inform what she wanted to spend her time doing.
She’s interested in watching the cultists, asking Nate about snooping on their goods, asking Jalt about walking around the roadhouse and then potentially divinely skipping stones into the mere. She’d also want to check in regularly with Nub when he was working in the kitchen under the guise of looking for kitchen scraps/free samples (but mainly to make sure he was okay and not nervous and didn’t need help given she basically volunteered him for this job).
Seeing Soar nod, Nub readily agrees "That sounds good, where should I set up?"
Nub spends the time whilst he is cooking (and I assume serving giving the size of the place) trying to listen in on conversations, trying to see if there is a pattern to when the cultists come and dine (if they dine there) and trying to figure out if there are any parts of the kitchen which could provide useful information about the locked storage room below (cracks in the floor etc).
He also offers to do the final clean up at the end of the night.
You all eat in the kitchen/common room; Nub does a little cooking, but a lot of dish washing and serving, as he's still earning Pete's trust this first night. The food is basic, edible, occasionally tasteful, but mostly just ordinary fare that you would expect to find in a labourer's camp. You stay there long into the night, as do a great many of the travellers, merchants and others who are staying in the Roadhouse, including those who are actually sleeping in the campsite outside. About four of the cultists come into the common room and mix with the rest of the people there, though they avoid your table like the plague. They seem to be a little more chatty and willing to integrate than they've ever been before; none of these were in the caravan from Baldur's Gate. However, you also see a few cultists grabbing and paying for plates of food that they take back to their rooms for the rest of their group.
Nub, you spend a pleasant evening working with Pete, who everyone calls Gristle Pete. He's actually a pretty nice guy, though he does maintain a constant low-voiced grumbling through the whole evening, complaining about the guests, the pay, the quality of the food ingredients he's able to get, the mess in the kitchen, the fact that he can never get any sleep from all the noises downstairs at night, Bog Luck and his special diet, bossy guards, and so on and so on.
Not long before midnight, you are all thrown out as Pete demands that he get some time to sleep before breakfast the next day. Nub, you stay on for another half an hour before Pete beds down, washing and tidying. Make a Perception check.
The cultists' rooms are not anywhere near your rooms. You can stand on the balcony/landing and observe the comings and goings of people in the yard and entering the rooms, though you will be very obvious doing so.
Jalt, you do a quick round at midnight, and see the guard in the yard near the warehouse, one at the gate which remains open, and two who patrol around the Roadhouse, taking in the campsite where some folks are sleeping. They are the night shift, and they seem to switch around dawn. You can speak to them if you wish. You would guess that the Roadhouse has around fifteen guards permanently stationed; these are not the hired temporary guards that accompanied the convoy, they seem more professional and from their accents you guess may be from Neverwinter.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Nate would not have went with Soar/Nub when they first went up to the kitchen. He would've just went to the room and relaxed a bit. The others seemed to be taking care of things, and thought that he'd wait in the room until Nub returns to see if there might be any opportunities for something small to creep through the floor. Nate would've ate with everyone, likely not talking much and keeping an eye on the cultists although very preoccupied with the fact that he might have to turn into a spider again before they leave this place.
With Soar's suggestion, Nate, after everyone went to bed, would've wildshaped into a spider from their room and went on the balcony to observe the comings and goings of people in the yard and entering the rooms.
Nub, it's gone midnight. You and Pete have finished cleaning, and you can tell he's pleased with having a helper. The kitchens are in much better condition than usual, with less work to be done in the morning. He lays out his bedding on the floor and shoos you towards the door. As he goes back, he starts muttering again about the noises from below, and... this time you hear it too. Not quite sure what. Scraping. Movement. Was that a hiss? It's all really unclear, and Pete's grumbling doesn't help you hear it.
You leave the kitchen, and return to your room where the others are asleep.
You all complete a long rest, and wake in the morning, feeling refreshed. The room was simple but scrupulously clean, and the beds fairly comfortable.
Nate, you notice... nothing. Soar hanging around on the balcony for a while before she heads to bet. Jalt patrolling a little, interacting with the guards before retiring for the night too. Nub coming late from the kitchen after midnight, heading into the room. Nothing else. No-one goes into or out of the warehouse, at least not while you are on guard. The cultists, after leaving the kitchen after dinner, do not leave their rooms.
I assume you also go to bed in time to get a long rest?
Great. You all wake around the same time as morning comes. The kitchen is still open, though many labourers have already finished their morning meal and are headed out to work, but merchants and others slept a little longer and are heading in about now.
In the morning Nub tells his friends "Late last night, I heard weird noises coming from the warehouse - there was definitely movement, a scraping sort of movement sound specifically - and I'm 83% sure that I heard a hiss."
[DM question, can I try to figure out what kind of creature made the hiss - even if it just what size creature?]
Nub also explains that he has a spell which may help avoid detection for an hour or at least provide them with a safe space if they get in over their heads, but that it is not very subtle when cast. He pulls out the shorter of his two ropes (which is about 8 ft), and demonstrates, casting Rope Trick and explaining "It is hard to not be noticed when casting when there are people around, but if we cast it when people are looking elsewhere and after we are in and pull the rope up, it is much harder to see us for the next hour. There are problems - we can only see out in one direction, we fall out of the invisible space after an hour, and there is the fore-mentioned lack of subtlety when casting it, but in the right circumstances it could have some usefulness?"
He is clutching at straws/ropes to find ways that his magic can be more useful in these circumstances.
The cultists have been offloading their stuff into the warehouse strong room. They're not talking about much, but working hard. When they're done, they move their wagons to the side of the yard along with those belonging to the merchants, and they disappear to the rooms they have taken.
Nub, you and Soar head up the stairs to the first floor above the warehouse, and enter the kitchen. The large rooms appears to be a kitchen, dining room and informal common room (there being no tavern as such in the Roadhouse). People - mostly travellers and labourers who were in the convoy with you, but clearly also some who were already in the Roadhouse awaiting the trip to Waterdeep, are sitting at the tables, eating and drinking. There's a grumpy human working in the kitchen and moving around serving food and drink as well, grumbling to himself all the while. He looks at you as you enter, his eyes lingering on Nub's tortle frame, and he gives a grunt and points you to an unoccupied table.
(I assume Jalt and Nate are joining them? Or are you doing something else? Soar, if you are sure you want to grab a room first, we can do that. Any particular room?)
[Is the first floor/level 2 accessed by stairs that are inside the warehouse? Also, are there guards stationed in the warehouse, or with a clear view of the inside of warehouse?]
All the stairs are outside leading up from the yard; you don't see any internal stairs.
There's a guard stationed outside in the yard north of the strong room; you can see the pile of crates and barrels on the map in the yard - that's where the heavy and low value goods are stored, that are of little risk of theft. The same guard also keeps an eye on the warehouse door, and once the offloading of goods is finished, that door is closed, though not locked as far as you can see. You're not aware of any guards inside the warehouse.
I think any room that has a view of the courtyard would be good.
Soar walks up to the cook, with an easy smile.
”Here’s the man with the toughest job in the roadhouse! My name is Soar, this is Nub. We are just passing through, admittedly, but he knows his way around a kitchen. Haven’t eaten so well in a while. He’s a little bashful but wanted to know if you could use a hand? Maybe give it a try and extend if it works out for both of you.”
Soar is definitely a connector :)
You take a room on the first floor, overlooking the courtyard.
Not so tough, mutters Pete, though he doesn't seem unhappy to have someone to talk to. Hmmm. Tortle, is it? Met one before. Decent cook. You want paying, lad?
Nub nods his head and pulls out the pot of dough he had proving and any leftovers he has from the meal he made the night before - a pesto made from bitter leaves which is made milder when crushed with tree nuts and is quite good with the now day old leftover sourdough, but was even better as a marinade with the small game he caught.
Pete tastes the pesto, thinks for a moment, and nods. A bit fancy, but good enough. You work, and you and your friends - four of you right? - eat for free. That works for you?
Nub looks at the others to see if that is a good deal - he has been taken advantage of a number of times because he tends to be very trusting, so he doesn't want to accept (or reject) the proposition without getting their opinion or input.
He would cook for anyone in the dining room that wanted to eat anyway for free in other circumstances, though logically he understands that doesn't mean him than doing this for free when it is making someone else money doesn't have greater value (and he would likely be able to feed his new party even if not in this kitchen anyway).
Soar nods, thinking (and explaining later) that as long as the hours aren’t too long, free food seems fair for the time given, and hiding in plain sight where everyone has to be, directly over a room the cultists are very invested in, could be very useful. And given Nub’s skill in the kitchen he would likely have enough time left over to spend on the mission, keeping tabs on the stolen goods and the cultists from a good vantage point.
Are the cultists’ rooms near our rooms? Or far? She’d take some time to search the room and walls for any peepholes, esp if the rooms abut the cultists’. Otherwise, once the cargo is unloaded, she would take a look at what the other people from the convoy are doing to work and relax, esp the guards. That would inform what she wanted to spend her time doing.
She’s interested in watching the cultists, asking Nate about snooping on their goods, asking Jalt about walking around the roadhouse and then potentially divinely skipping stones into the mere. She’d also want to check in regularly with Nub when he was working in the kitchen under the guise of looking for kitchen scraps/free samples (but mainly to make sure he was okay and not nervous and didn’t need help given she basically volunteered him for this job).
Seeing Soar nod, Nub readily agrees "That sounds good, where should I set up?"
Nub spends the time whilst he is cooking (and I assume serving giving the size of the place) trying to listen in on conversations, trying to see if there is a pattern to when the cultists come and dine (if they dine there) and trying to figure out if there are any parts of the kitchen which could provide useful information about the locked storage room below (cracks in the floor etc).
He also offers to do the final clean up at the end of the night.
Jalt would definitely be down for making rounds through the roadhouse with Soar. Acting all guard like.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
You all eat in the kitchen/common room; Nub does a little cooking, but a lot of dish washing and serving, as he's still earning Pete's trust this first night. The food is basic, edible, occasionally tasteful, but mostly just ordinary fare that you would expect to find in a labourer's camp. You stay there long into the night, as do a great many of the travellers, merchants and others who are staying in the Roadhouse, including those who are actually sleeping in the campsite outside. About four of the cultists come into the common room and mix with the rest of the people there, though they avoid your table like the plague. They seem to be a little more chatty and willing to integrate than they've ever been before; none of these were in the caravan from Baldur's Gate. However, you also see a few cultists grabbing and paying for plates of food that they take back to their rooms for the rest of their group.
Nub, you spend a pleasant evening working with Pete, who everyone calls Gristle Pete. He's actually a pretty nice guy, though he does maintain a constant low-voiced grumbling through the whole evening, complaining about the guests, the pay, the quality of the food ingredients he's able to get, the mess in the kitchen, the fact that he can never get any sleep from all the noises downstairs at night, Bog Luck and his special diet, bossy guards, and so on and so on.
Not long before midnight, you are all thrown out as Pete demands that he get some time to sleep before breakfast the next day. Nub, you stay on for another half an hour before Pete beds down, washing and tidying. Make a Perception check.
The cultists' rooms are not anywhere near your rooms. You can stand on the balcony/landing and observe the comings and goings of people in the yard and entering the rooms, though you will be very obvious doing so.
Jalt, you do a quick round at midnight, and see the guard in the yard near the warehouse, one at the gate which remains open, and two who patrol around the Roadhouse, taking in the campsite where some folks are sleeping. They are the night shift, and they seem to switch around dawn. You can speak to them if you wish. You would guess that the Roadhouse has around fifteen guards permanently stationed; these are not the hired temporary guards that accompanied the convoy, they seem more professional and from their accents you guess may be from Neverwinter.
Nub perception: 18
Nate would not have went with Soar/Nub when they first went up to the kitchen. He would've just went to the room and relaxed a bit. The others seemed to be taking care of things, and thought that he'd wait in the room until Nub returns to see if there might be any opportunities for something small to creep through the floor. Nate would've ate with everyone, likely not talking much and keeping an eye on the cultists although very preoccupied with the fact that he might have to turn into a spider again before they leave this place.
With Soar's suggestion, Nate, after everyone went to bed, would've wildshaped into a spider from their room and went on the balcony to observe the comings and goings of people in the yard and entering the rooms.
26 Perception
Nub, it's gone midnight. You and Pete have finished cleaning, and you can tell he's pleased with having a helper. The kitchens are in much better condition than usual, with less work to be done in the morning. He lays out his bedding on the floor and shoos you towards the door. As he goes back, he starts muttering again about the noises from below, and... this time you hear it too. Not quite sure what. Scraping. Movement. Was that a hiss? It's all really unclear, and Pete's grumbling doesn't help you hear it.
You leave the kitchen, and return to your room where the others are asleep.
You all complete a long rest, and wake in the morning, feeling refreshed. The room was simple but scrupulously clean, and the beds fairly comfortable.
What would you like to do with the day?
Nate, you notice... nothing. Soar hanging around on the balcony for a while before she heads to bet. Jalt patrolling a little, interacting with the guards before retiring for the night too. Nub coming late from the kitchen after midnight, heading into the room. Nothing else. No-one goes into or out of the warehouse, at least not while you are on guard. The cultists, after leaving the kitchen after dinner, do not leave their rooms.
I assume you also go to bed in time to get a long rest?
Yep, Nate would creep back into the room, into the bed, change back to human form, and close his eyes.
Great. You all wake around the same time as morning comes. The kitchen is still open, though many labourers have already finished their morning meal and are headed out to work, but merchants and others slept a little longer and are heading in about now.
In the morning Nub tells his friends "Late last night, I heard weird noises coming from the warehouse - there was definitely movement, a scraping sort of movement sound specifically - and I'm 83% sure that I heard a hiss."
[DM question, can I try to figure out what kind of creature made the hiss - even if it just what size creature?]
Nub also explains that he has a spell which may help avoid detection for an hour or at least provide them with a safe space if they get in over their heads, but that it is not very subtle when cast. He pulls out the shorter of his two ropes (which is about 8 ft), and demonstrates, casting Rope Trick and explaining "It is hard to not be noticed when casting when there are people around, but if we cast it when people are looking elsewhere and after we are in and pull the rope up, it is much harder to see us for the next hour. There are problems - we can only see out in one direction, we fall out of the invisible space after an hour, and there is the fore-mentioned lack of subtlety when casting it, but in the right circumstances it could have some usefulness?"
He is clutching at straws/ropes to find ways that his magic can be more useful in these circumstances.