“I’m sorry this is inconvenience your plans. I know how much it meant to all of you to fly on those birds. But at least not all in the army seem to be opposed us joining in this fight.” He look st both of the men in front of him. “I searched around the camp for information about Rollo and found some interesting things out. I will tell all of you as soon as Ozymandias get back.” 

While Rosri is waiting for Zyman to get back he take out his playing cards. “Any one up for game of Gambit of Ord?” 

ooc: i dont know how much in fame time we have but this can be a fun way of spending the RL time :) 

"I'm in," says Edeleth, cheering up a little. "How about you Roscoe? What shall we bet with? I am fresh out of coins at the moment."

Edeleth has never been any good at Gambit of Ord, but it is one of Master Talos's favorite card games.  (Possibly because Edeleth has never been any good at it.)

”I’m a little light as well so we could just play for fun” he sounds a little disappointed “..or we could play for dares? The loser has to do one thing the winner say?” He looks mischievously on his companions and grin.    

"Hmmmm," says Edeleth. Playing for dares sounds risky, especially against a rogue who was no doubt quite adept at deception and sleight of hand. "We could gamble with dwarves.  We have two hundred of them.  That's a hundred each, or if Roscoe joins us, we can subtract Rollo and Commander Shatterstone and have 66 apiece."

He has a feeling it's going to be dares, though.

“Can’t we do both though? First to lose their dwarfs do the dare.” Rosri couldn’t wait to make Edeleth do something fun and stupid. 

"All right," said Edeleth. "But if you lose, remember...this was YOUR idea." He gives Rosri an evil smile.

Quote from Astalda >>

"All right," said Edeleth. "But if you lose, remember...this was YOUR idea." He gives Rosri an evil smile.

 Ooc: haha 😂 btw do i roll with proficiency bonus since im proficient with playing cards? 😈 

“You’re on!” And he deals the cards. 

 Ooc: dont go looking at my roll now 😉

(OOC: Not sure: +2 seems overkill when rolling a 1d8-1d4.  I would say add the proficiency to your deception and sleight of hand rolls.  Edeleth is doomed, isn;t he? Ha ha!  Sadly, I am just leaving for a RL D&D session, won;t be back for several hours.)

Edeleth draws a card.

OOC:Yeah it seems overkill. Can we say i can reroll 1/2 on d8 and 1s on d6? I think he is yeah :,) have fun! I just Played with a group of new players yesterday.

”I bet 6 dwarfs.”  Rosri smiles at him but gives nothing away. 

(OOC: Okay, that sounds....reasonable. XD   The rules I found don't say how using sleight of hand and deception actually work. I'm guessing that with sleight of hand, you'd have to beat the other player's perception roll?  Deception seems more complicated, for example if someone had the maximum number on their rolls, how could you possibly trick them into folding an obviously winning hand?)

Edeleth remembers a book he read once.  The hero had been tricked into playing a gambling tournament with a professional.  He had bet everything on the first hand, knowing that he had no chance of beating the skilled player in the long term, but had a much better chance of relying on the luck of the draw for one hand.

Edeleth considers matching the bet and raising it by 94 dwarves.

.................nah.

"I see your six dwarves and raise you three," Edeleth says.

Hundar Shatterstone interrupts the Game. 

"Granit Clan Soldiers, Marching Formations!"

Every Dwarf in the 2nd Company falls in rank at once.

"We depart at once! It's a three day travel to Pinekeep. Everyone stay alert, Air recon is reporting a lot of Ennemy activity on the way...Gaston!"

The Roguish Dwarf that Rosri was talking to earlier steps forth.

"Sir yes Sir!"

"You and Rollo will take the...Civilian mercenaries through the Canyons, searching for any ambush and eliminating them if possible. If we can use the Canyons, then we might be able to make it to Pinekeep sooner...now...FOR MORADIN, AND THE GRANIT CLAN. LETS GO SHOW THESE BASTARDS WHOSE LANDS THESE ARE!!"

The Men let out a fierce battlecry, and the Second Company departs the City of the Three Peaks, lead by Hungar Shattersone. A crowd of people is cheering them on, waving banners, throwing flowers as they march through the Giant Granit double doors of the City.

Corporal Gaston, smiling, walks up to Rosri, Edeleth, Roscoe, Zyman and Grunda. His poor appearence clearly distingues him as another Outcast in the Army.

"So, the Canyons, ey? 'Could be worse....Hope ya' folks like rocky corridors of Death. If we keep low profile and take the climb up, we should be able to get a nice panoramic view of them, and not be sitting ducks in the middle of the Canyons, like these sorry suckers (motions towards the rest of the army). Anyways, we stick to each other, and we should be alright. Believe it or not, I am excellent Company...right Rollo?"

Rollo just stares blankly at everyone, silent....

Gaston shakes his head...

"Poor bastard, ya' don't even try anymore, do ya' ? Don't mind him, he's a bit odd...(exchanges a glance with Rosri). Ya' folks ready? We better get going if we wanna get ahead of the troups. We have some extra Riding Rams you could use to help hauling that wagon of yours. Remember, In and Out...we scout out the Canyons. Take out any small Ennemy groups as silently as possible, but keep away from any major force. Observe, sabotage and report...that's my job. Any questions?"

Edeleth hands his card back to Rosri, quickly peeking to see what his next draw would have been, out of curiosity. ( 4)  He suspects that in the long run he has had a lucky escape. Though he doubts it will be a permanent one: his friend will probably challenge him again the next time they had time to kill.

"Any idea how long it should be before we encounter resistance?" Edeleth asks.  "I was hoping to attempt to meditate as we travel, and prepare a healing spell that might possibly help your friend."

He gratefully accepts the offer of additional beasts to pull the wagon and quickly hitches them up.

When Shatterstone start to speak Rosri repacks the cards. “Luck seem to be in your favor Edeleth. Looks like we wont be finishing our game anytime soon.” Rosri return the evil smile to Edeleth.

After hearing the orders Rosri feels even worse about making his team follow the army instead of going with the air forces. But when he sees Gaston and realize it is the same soldier he spoke to earlier he brightens a little, he had like the man. And now they’d be able to keep an eye on Rollo as well. 

“We’ll be counting on your expertise Corporal Gaston. Take good care of us.”  

Once everyone has gathered by the wagon, Rosri tell everyone what he found out from speaking with Gaston earlier. 

Roscoe watches as the groups of soldiers follow the commands of their superiors. It felt odd to him that people would choose to limit their lives to such a routine but it probably helped to keep some of them alive when the fighting actually broke out. Roscoe moves to find his companions playing cards and makes sure that he has everything ready. "Yous all set for this?," he asks the others gathered here. 

"We's aren't the best at sneaking, but will do our best," Roscoe says to the Corporal hoping that his noisy self won't cause any issues on the mission. 

Rosri greet Roscoe when he comes back from where ever he had gone off to. He is actually not to sad about the task that was given them. This was the kind of missions he had been trained for after all. And he think that at least Edeleth will do pretty good himself since he can transform in to animals and sneak around. Yeah we’re ready Roscoe, and if you need help with your sneaking skills maybe I can give you a few pointers I wish.” 

He looks over at Zyman who should be getting back soon aswell. “So, how did it go doc?” he asks in case they came up with an alias for him while he was away.

Roscoe grins at Rosri and does a slight shuffle so that his halfling companion can hear the sound of metal one metal when he moves. "Metal helps against weapons but it sure is bad for being quiet. We's could leave this in the wagon if we's are trying to be sneaky. Yous think that's a good idea?"

Four sheep and two mules hitched to the wagon seemed like overkill, but Gaston had indicated they would be starting out going uphill, and there was a lot of 'up' in these hills. As he loaded the rams' provisions and saddles aboard the wagon, Edeleth could see Sarta and Mellon flicking their ears and looking peeved.  He supposed they did not care for the company, but they would get used to it, and probably be happy not to pull the full load themselves. The sheep might also be considered expendable, in case of emergency.

Edeleth made a point of not becoming personally attached to the battle sheep.

He also supposed he had to give up the idea of meditating in the wagon today. He doubted any of them was adept enough to make driving the wagon over the described terrain easy, and if someone was going to accidentally drive his new vehicle off the edge of a cliff, it would be Edeleth himself. (It was still better than following the dwarf flock. And there would probably be a nice view.) Rollo would have to wait until tomorrow. He didn't even know if he would be able to dispel whatever had taken his mind over. In any case, he doubted Rosri would have to be particularly stealthy to go through his things. Rollo seemed to have little more initiative than a sack of potatoes.

"In a pinch, I could cast Barkskin on you, Roscoe," Edeleth offered. "That would give you some protection for about an hour, as long as my concentration isn't interrupted."

And so, the group departs the City of the Three Peaks once more, into a wild and unforgiving World...

The weather doesn't seem too bad. A slight wind tickling your cheeks, and still blankets of snow on the ground and Mountaintops. The sky seems rather clear, dotted with white clouds, and the Eagle Riders of the 15th Squadron, flying out to keep eyes above. With them, you see Peshley, Laeivis, Saerrira, Cade and Uther (Team1)...

Edeleth can't help feeling a pang of regret as he watches the eagle riders flying away. At least they are all finally out of the city and back in the real world. The view is indeed inspiring, but he needs to give most of his attention to keeping an eye on the road, the beasts, and the two dwarves leading the way.  There is no knowing what ravines and crevasses that layer of snow might be concealing, and if Gaston and Rollo disappear down a bottomless drop, he does not intend to drive the wagon after them.