Adventures in Esyldien - Campaign Thread

As people return from their adventures in the city, they will find, in the main room of their suite, Witt asleep on the sofa in his underwear, head resting on the book he borrowed from Gus. 

Moira is 5’ 8” 160lbs wearing sturdy well made clothing and armor though none is especially fancy. She has bright red hair and pale skin along with brown eyes. A pair of daggers attached to each leg (4 total) and a pack on her back. 

After the quick discussion with 9 Sora looked back over the two mercenaries giving them a slight shrug, "Well sounds like everyone's tired for the night. Guess we'll chat tomorrow morning, if that's ok. Think the plan is to go shopping to prepare for the gala later tomorrow night, actually, so it's probably gonna be a busy day."

Khorzik hesitates when Kal's message arrives. He turns to Sora. "I assume you are the captain of your company. I suggest we convene in the morning in your meeting plan to jointly plan our offensive, and to eliminate any misunderstanding that may impact morale." Khorzik pays the innkeeper, and retires for the night.

(Document for innkeeper: Investigation: 23, History: 9)

It was later in the morning by the time Sora finally came down stairs, enjoying a nice full night's sleep and a quick shower before heading downstairs. Her first order of business is to speak with Gus, or another Inn employee if he's not available, and pay him for two more nights from her own funds. Better to make sure they have a nice place to sleep while they're still in the city.

Once that was taken care of she would order some breakfast while finding a seat at the table with Kal and Khor. "So I wasn't kidding about the gala. Either of you guys any good with royal parties? Or Royal conspiracies in general?"

Khorzik is still dressed in the same travel-worn and dusty clothes from the previous night. He woke at dawn and slowly breakfasted on hardtack and strong coffee while waiting on the meeting. He considers Sora's questions a moment before answering. "I will proceed assuming you do not intend to assault the gala. Going further with this assumption in mind, I am forced to conclude this is an intelligence gathering mission." He sips his cold coffee slowly. "I will not lie. I know little of the decorum necessary to interact with your royalty, nor am I able to adequately deceive others as to my nature and intentions. However, I am adept at investigation. Also, I do posses some magical talent which could prove useful in this endeavor. I am able to change my appearance for up to an hour at a time. I could potentially do this 4-7 times before my abilities would be taxed. I can also render myself or another invisible for up to an hour. I can do this up to three times, subtracting from the previous total the uses of disguise." Khorzik places the coffee down carefully. "Perhaps, if you judge these skills sufficient for our employ, I can pose as a bodyguard or foreign scholar under the patronage of yourself or one of your company."

"Well we should be getting invites from the ******* Duke, so we probably don't need to worry about getting in. Though I do have other infiltration plans once we get inside the party itself. Really it's those investigation skills that are gonna be super useful." Sora continues looking back and forth thoughtfully as she makes plans in her head, "You won't need to hide your appearance though they probably expect us to at least kinda dress up for the occasion. Making others invisible though, that's probably going to be super useful." Sora then looks around the Inn to see who, if anyone is listening in.

Kal had just completed his morning ritual of cleaning and maintaining his equipment when others began to come down to greet him. On of the other women from the group had come down around the same time as he but they had shared the parlor of the inn in perfect silence save the few clinks and scraps of Kal's ministrations.

He listened to Sora and Khor discuss plans quietly. Only speaking after Khorzik had put forward applicable skills at his disposal.  "My abilities lay mostly in combat. Though, southerners seem to have a hard time discerning my meaning." Kal looks a little embarrassed, "It is sometimes a simple thing to deceive those who do not know me."

He looks down at his traveling robes and gi. "This is the formal attire that I am used to, do you mean we should wear." He searches for proper phrasing for a moment, "Less practical garments?" It isn't a concept he is particularly happy about. His current clothes are designed to give him unrestricted movement as well as conceal his weaponry well. Khorzik already seemed to have his strategy for the situation working and Kal was sure it would include pre-placed weapon caches or other such planning so they wouldn't be caught unprepared. His worry was insignificant.

9 joins Sora and 2 newcomers, “I and Sora will not stay at the gala for a long time, and I think we can take one more person with us, but the majority needs to stay at the gala, or it would be far too suspicious. Also, may I ask of you previous jobs and why you came here in the first place?”, her voice sounds raspy and raw, similar to a voice of an ill person. 

Witt also sleeps late, having stayed up reading quite a bit.  He washes and dresses, and then comes down and tries to find Gus to return his book.  Thank you so much.  It was really interesting.  Lots about mining.  Where are the good book shops in the city?

After talking to Gus, he will wander over to Sora just about the same time that 9 comes in.  Good morning, he says politely to Sora.  How was your evening out?  Hi, he says to the newcomers.  I'm Witt.  Are you staying here too?

Khorzik's posture becomes very formal as the others start to arrive. "And you are "9", correct? Our previous experience includes various activities. We served as guards for a small estate. We serve on a ship for some time, guarding a precious cargo. We have acted as bounty hunters, mercenaries, and even as operators of a small cart providing alchemical solutions to everyday problems - The Aromatics and Fumes. Some of these overlapped. I regret to say that I have no letters of reference." Khorzik rises as the halfling enters and moves to shake his hand. "Greetings, Witt. I am Khorzik Fume. We are staying for a time, yes." Khorzik sits back down and resumes his upright posture. "As you seem purposefully obtuse about the details of your mission, I will assume a few of you plan to sneak away during the course of the event to covertly search for something." Khorzik watches them for a moment for any reaction. "I should warn you, I can only render one individual invisible at a time. Perhaps if you shared the details of your mission and the reason for such subterfuge I could make a better case for my own skills."

Hello Khorzik, says Witt, happily shaking his hand.  It's very nice to meet you.  As Khorzik sits down and speaks, Witt listen in increasing puzzlement.  Plan?  Sneak away?  Invisible?  He turns to 9.  Did you guys make a plan?  It sounds very exciting.  Am I in it?  Does it involve frogs?  Then he turns back to Khorzik.  A lot of our plans involve frogs.  Oh, you said you were on a ship.  I've never travelled by ship.  Is it true that sometimes you go so far onto the water that you can't see the land?  I can't imagine that, but I read about it once.   

"I am not sure about the involvement of any amphibian species, let alone frogs. As I said, this "plan" is merely conjecture on my part. And yes, the distance you can see depends on radius of the planet and height of the observer's eyes. It is typically about 3 miles when one of my height cannot see further. Thus, at a distance from the coast of greater than 3 miles, I cannot perceive it. You would be limited slightly more, as your height is less."

Moira

Waking up at a normal time Moira puts off getting up. Not wanting to deal with her slight headache or any embarrassment that awaits her below. As she enters the inns common area she avoids making direct eye intact with anyone but gives a greeting to the room. “Good morning. Hope everyone slept well. We have lots to do to ready for tonight. I’m going to go shopping for some clothing. Would anyone like to join me.” She makes for the front counter and asks about the list of shops Gus was going to provide. And a cup of coffee. Rusty is on her shoulder as she comes down but quickly bounds off to nuzzle those he knows and sniff curiously at the new folks. 

Sora greeted 9 and Witt with a smile as they joined them at the table, "Yup, we're making plans, but hopefully none of them will involve any more frogs." She only gives off a smirk she she sees Moira arrive avoiding eye contact with everyone but she doesn't say anything that might embarrass her further. She looks around the room once more before deciding, Ah **** it. Then, she leans forward a bit as she begins explaining the situation with the others, "So we've been hired out to try to find out he truth behind the Queen's death, hopefully including who killed her and why. But this is the sort of high class conspiracy bullshit where people care less about the truth and more about how they can use it to their advantage. Which is why we're going to try to find out what really happened our own way, no matter what the other nobles and royals would prefer. The person who hired us is also getting us into the gala tonight. Some of us will be staying there, talking with the snobs, while the others will make an appearance before leaving early to investigate elsewhere. Depending on where your skills lie you might be better suited in one group or the other." As she speaks she watches these new mercenaries carefully to try and figure out what they really think.

The cold steel of Cali that presses against Nemeia would normally cause her to rise out of bed but these blankets were so heavy. Rolling over only afforded Nemeia a moment's reprieve of the annoyance before it started again.  "Fine!," Nemeia groans. She rises to find the others have started their day and left the room already. They clearly thought she needed the rest and they weren't wrong. 

Still in a slight fog of the evening prior and wanting to retreat back under the covers, she pulls out her tools and begins getting things prepared for the day. She had a new friend to make today in the Merchant's sector.  She also knew she needed to be ready for the events at the gala. Hopefully the others were just eating breakfast and she could catch up to them soon. 

After some bit of time, she cleans herself up and ventures downstairs to find her companions. "Morning," she offers as she looks to fill her stomach with bread and fruit. 

 Kal nods politely to Witt, "I am Kal'duros, of the Kal'dorath. Pleased to meet you." He lets the conversation between Sora, Khorz, and Witt continue with no interruption. As Sora explains their operation in a little more detail, Kal raises an eyebrow as his interest is piqued. 

Leaning close, "I am not privy to much in the way of politics but my understand is the Queen's daughter is the primary suspect of her death. Is this not the case?" He is careful to keep his tone low even though the group is fairly secluded. High profile work like this tends to bring prying eyes and listening ears. Those eyes and ears are often unseen and magical in nature. 

(Not hiding his emotions)

Good morning, Moira, Witt responds.  I slept very well.  I'm glad you all got back safe and sound.  I've just been meeting Khorzik here, and, um, Kal is it?

He waits until Sora has detailed their plan for the day, and then chimes in. It does sound quite ambitious, doesn't it.  But it seems important work, and we do want to help out where we can.  He scratches Rusty behind one ear absently as he thinks.  Oh, hi Nemeia.  Is that everyone?  Who are we missing still?  And yes, I'd love to go shopping, even though I probably won't be attending the gala.  I do have a few things I'd like to buy.

Lynn-Marie sits with her back to the group, hood up. Initially it was just so she could keep warm, it had been a cold night and she was struggling to heat up in the morning, but as the loud folk from yesterday evening came down for breakfast one by one the hood provided a nice bit of cover to listen in to their conversation without them being aware.
She has to strain a bit to hear what they are saying when they huddle close together, but she still manages to catch just about every word, breath catching in her throat as their intentions enter her consciousness.

"So they are invited to the gala after all. And they are recruiting a Kal'dorath! And that distant traveller that accompanies him... They must be well-connected to be able to afford such a significant protection, especially if they are using him to aid in infiltrating the gala to question the new queen."
Without consideration she pushes back the hood. She was suddenly getting very warm at the thought of these implications, but then she freezes cold when she realizes now they would certainly recognize her sitting nearby.

She lets out a short, quick breath, forcibly composing herself, before rising to her feet gracefully. Taking her cup of tea in one hand and the saucer in the other, she simply makes straight for their table. Better face this head-on before they start getting strange ideas about her spying or anything. Not to mention, she might be of help to them and this Duke. Now that would make for a solid connection in the region!

"Ah, good morning. Might I have a word?" she says, her voice clear, obviously her roots come from a well-spoken family or perhaps a formal education.

Mechanics:

9 turns to meet the source of the voice, and upon recognizing the woman from the previous evening her expression does not change. “Yes?”

This one looking for work too? The Duke is going to spend a lot of money on this. If we manage to get anything with this crowd.

General Insight check: 9 + 2