"Alright, I'll catch you tomorrow maybe!" Smokey tells Gnoll as the goblin leaves, making his way over towards the tavern they spotted on the way in. (See previous post for description)

The goliath turns his attention to the warforged, his face still in that stoic look. "There's no smithy in this town, but we get frequent deliveries from Rokkaal, the next town over. The forge would be too near sea level to risk being destroyed in these parts, especially when it's monsoon season, so we just have trade to bring what metal tools we need from there." He glances Ace up and down. "Though I will be honest, we've only seen a couple of your folk come through here before. If you're needing... parts?... you might be best travelling to the smiths themselves to get things custom made."

Trumnn's eyes flare dangerously as his back stiffens and he raises to his full height, easily dwarfing almost the entire table. His trunk swishes back and forth angrily almost knocking drinks from the table 

First of all Wizard, I am well aware of the connotation of the of your particular verbiage. Do not patronize me!" he say vehemently.

Still with a hint of anger in his voice he continues. "Who are we to question the gods? When my Lady speaks to me I listen." His voice softens as he begins to recall the dream that came to him the night before he joined the refugees. "I was determined to stay and help as many souls as I could, to be there for those who fight while other were brought to safety. Then she came to my sleep, the power of Her presence was frightening. She came to me and spoke, "My ever faithful servant, a task I have for you. The scourge upon your land will destroy everything, and your world as you know it will end, it has been foreseen. There is an artifact of great power, lost in the lands across the sea. You must go, find allies and discover this thing. Be wary, other search for it as well. Find your mother, she will be able to guide you."  Trumann forgets about the perceived slight by Tvon'ii as he is lost in hie reverence. 

"When I awoke, I know there was only one thing to do, get on the first available ship, and get here. Mother and I had been separated during the war, as I was in the camps tending to the wounded, she will be on this continent and I will find her, on my own if I must." he locks eyes with the elf. "My faith is all the substantiation required."

Trumann stands and walks out of the building and starts walking up the hill towards the shrines, looking for a shrine the to the Raven Queen. 

The elven wizard winces visibly as Trumann marches out of the tavern. He looks around at any onlookers, "Sorry, he's a very passionate fellow. I'm sure all that gloom and doom is grossly exaggerated." 

Tvon'ii leans in to the table to talk a little more quietly with those remaining, "That could have gone better. What about you guys? Is faith alone enough to go wandering around foreign soil?"

Tahia hums thoughtfully before offering "Faith is all that drives some people -- whether that be good or bad is a mite harder to say. Conquest can be done in the name of gods, but I've seen and experienced miracles myself that leave me no doubt that whatever god it is that saved me did so for a reason. And part of that reason involves wanting me to come here."

Korvek shrugs, "I ain't one for faith, I put more trust in one's worth in battle and gold. But we all can't go back till those green bastards are dealt with so I'd say it's a good opportunity to try and gather info about them, especially how to kill them. See if the locals or other refugees know about them." He drinks for a bit and looks to the Goliath, "Hey, is there like a capital or some central city on this island? How long would it take to get there?"

Gnoll walks in just in time to see Mord leave, he aproaches the rest of the group and sits down next to them: „ Where is Mord going? Where is Trumn? Oh and i found Smokey.“

The hulking loxodon leaves the tavern, striding on the soft ground out and towards the hills pointed out by Stonejaw. It takes a few minutes of navigating streets to find a path that leads up towards said hills, but he finds the path. Mord catches up while riding the artifice companion. Ahead of them appears to be an old worn stone path, leading up and out of sight into a dark hilly environment. There are also some watch towers that have torchlight lit upon them on the outskirts of town, some tanned skinned elves keeping a lookout, most likely to ensure nothing sneaks into the town and causes trouble.

"The capital?" The goliath looks over from mixing some mixed berry drink for a pair of human women. "You have to go further in land to reach Carbul. Need to bring a guide, if I were you, the volcanic paths are pretty dangerous."

"Sometimes faith finds you. Ask me a year ago, and I wouldn't be so receptive, either," Tahia agrees. "Myself, I'd like to know where they're coming from, how they got here. If it's a regular means of travel or control, that fire, I can't think of a way to get ahead of them."

Trumann continues to forward as Mord approaches and matches pace. I believe, and that has to be enough. The Raven Queen doesn't ask me to garner more followers, Her disciples come forward willingly. I fear my temper sometimes get the best of me. Perhaps it is my own insecurities bubbling through. I prefer the gentle laying of souls to rest, or helping those who She has yet to call, remain in their mortal coil. Trumann's shoulders stoop and his ears begin to cover his face again. "I am much better suited to the temples, and the quiet, yet vital miracles She grants me there. To be trusted with something of this scale is way beyond my abilities" As he approaches the shrines, he straightens up again, and searches for one to the Raven Queen. 

Investigation  (still exhausted)  8

"But she has requested this of me, so I will find this "artifact", and it starts with Mother.  As for what it is?" Trumann shakes is head despondently, I wish I could tell you more... The gods work in mysterious ways my friend, in my studies I have seen that usually small bits of info are passed on to different vessels for a couple of reasons, The divine presence is powerful, and our mortal forms can only take so much, less our souls be rend by their sheer power, so contact must be brief, or perhaps it is so that if the messenger was to be captured only part of the information could be gleaned. I hear some armies message that way... He scratches his head in thought...   

Sorry, I ramble when I'm upset, Thank you Mord, I appreciate your friendship. Mostly I just talk to the dead." Trumann chuckles to himself, "Sorry, grave humor...but also true. " Trumann glances down at Mord's mount, "That is a fascinating thing, or beast, or,.. pardon my ignorance, does it have a name? And what can it do? I saw things similar during my time in the tents. 

Taking a long sip of his beverage, Tvon'ii leans back in his chair, "They come from magic obviously. The scale of which must be amplified by something. I've been trying to work it out for weeks. Where the device must be. If we use The Battle of the Green Hills as the foci and the outer reaches of Daverro as the boarder then we can get a picture of the area of influence." he sighs heavily, "But that still leaves hundreds of miles of territory to search."

"There's, umm, also the nature of it." The wizard shifts a little before talking, hoping to avoid an outburst from other members of the group, "You all know the reports about Queen Leenea Touben, the green scorching marks. It has to be connected right?" He does his best to add some reverence to the Queen's name without sounding like he is being sarcastic. Though his typical tone often thwarts these attempts.

"It does seem to be, but the more curious question then is who or what could've casted this kind of magic. Especially as they've waited after inciting a war, either to gather more for their army or to weaken both sides enough to over take them. The battle was enough to do both goals..." Korvek pauses for a moment, "...a more ominous question would be what their goal is."

 Tahia rolls her eyes. "Well, yes, magic, obviously. But is it the fallen being immediately corrupted and used for some untoward end, or is it a horde being summoned from elsewhere? Is preventing undeath enough?" She says this quietly, not wanting to draw undue attention to the conversation. She nods at Korvek. "Motive is still unknown -- there's too many unknowns overall," she says with a huff. "Did anyone hear of anything that seemed to be effective during the rout?"

As Mord and Trumann head off towards where they were told the shrines are, they hear a call come from one of the watch towers. "Hey! You two! It's dangerous out there at night!" A man's voice passes to them. "You should probably wait until morning before straying too far!"

In the bar the party finds themselves a couple of drinks in, Stonejaw happy to answer any questions they have. After a few more moments without the gnome and loxodon, there is some notes of some louder drunkards. "Freaking immigrantsh, can't keep their own own land sorted sho come to mesh up ours." There is some mumbles of agreement. "Neksht thin' we'll have glowy green monshters tryin' to break all our ship."

"Excuse me a moment." Stonejaw says to the party, standing up to his tall height and walks calmly over towards the table that these comments are coming from.

Trumann sighs heavily, "You are probably right my friend. Plus it will be nice to sleep on a bed that isn't constantly swaying." Trumann waves his hand up at the guard who shouted the warning and turns around heading back towards their home 

Tvon'ii shakes his head sullenly at the Halfling, "Nothing solidly effective. They washed over much of my order like waves across the sand. We were..." The elf trails off, his emotions a little more at the forefront given the time to emerge, "We will be stronger...But I think I'll get back to the house now. Enjoy the drinks as long as my coins last." 

He moves to stand and retrieve his sword-belt before heading back out into the evening.

Stonejaw returns after a moment, the folks at the table begrudgingly leaving the tavern. "My apologies," He tells the group. "We don't particularly care for that talk in here. There's a round on me." He offers another round of drinks for the group if they choose to stay for an additional drink, but understands if they want to leave already, providing any weapons that were stored in the lockbox back.

(Think we're ready to skip to the following morning)

Returning home, the group finds that the house has been worked on a little. The living room has had its furniture moved around, making it look a little more spacious. It appears that the trio the group are staying with have secluded themselves to their room for the night, but a note has been left on a worktop. Checking it, the note seems to have a stock of all the food in the larder, and suggested meals that can be made over the space of a tenday.

The first night is a little unsettled. Those who get a bed can feel it is quite different from the ones on the ship, and the ones they recall from back home. Occasionally through the night, there are birdcalls that call out, perhaps some sort of indigenous owls. However, the night continues on, with the starry night sky visible from the open windows.

The following morning the group hears the sound of sizzling and hissing. Headed downstairs, it appears that the silver haired elf, Alana, is working in the kitchen, the other two sat in the living room. The half-elf seems to be attempting to write or draw something on some parchment, but his hands are very shaky. Tristal, the other elf, addresses the group. "One of the guard captains left a note with us this morning." She tells the group. "They're looking for capable folk from the refugees to help with different odds and ends in town. You were all resting, so I told the captain I'd pass on her message. It'd be appreciated if you could make your way to the meeting hall this morning."

"Hmm, this would be a good way to see if any other refugees know about those undead, also pay back the village for their hospitality." Korvek straps on his gear as he scarfs down a loaf of bread. "And we should ask if most of the ships are offloading refugees here or if they're spread out on the edges of the island."