Elhanna rush back over to Si’Juul “I just saw two of your friends. They were wearing the same kind of fire arms that you have.” She turn to look out the window to see if she sees them again. “Should we follow them or try to find and warn the others?”

"Are they just outside? If so, our options are limited, can't avoid them. I don't think they will shoot up a full city, but then, who knows what they are capable of anymore? Also, it seems they got this archbishop, some high powered religious person or other, in their pocket. Or he's got them in his. Either way, no way we win this diplomatically. If we leave now, we either hope they don't notice us or don't try anything if they do. And if they do, you run to the others. It's me they want, so I can wait for you to get out of sight then fly."

“I don’t think they saw me, so we’re probably safe right now. They were walking down the street talking.” 

"If I follow them, even just walking down the street I will stand out. You keep an eye on them from a distance while I go find the others."

Si'Juul made his way towards the temple Poinki said he'd visit, looking for him and Paren, wanting so much to just fly but he couldn't be sure of any other Brand members in town. So he kept to a quickened walk, hoping Elhanna is not spotted while he's gone.

”Okey! I’ll follow. How do you plan to find me afterwards?” 

"Between the three of us, it shouldn't be too hard. I could always go to the air if absolutely necessary. Plus, it's not as if you will be trying to hide from us. I shouldn't be gone long."

“okey” Elhanna leave the leather worker and go out and follow the two blackbrand. 

Stealth: 15 on the campaign roller (don’t think we can get it to display here though, got to manually check the log in the campaign ) 

Without full on running, Si'Juul will go look for Paren and Poinki at the temple as quickly as possible.

"We gotta move. Now. Elhanna located two and is tailing them. We have to catch up."

Once they start following, Si'Juul leads them back to the front of the leather worker's shop and starts walking down the street Elhanna went.

Paren nods and follows. "What's the plan with them? Are we just going to keep beating them up until they're all gone? I don't think the guards will take kindly to that."

"We're going to see what we can learn from them. What they let slip. If they insist on a fight, we try to get them out of town. If they attack us in the streets, that's on them. That's assuming they spot us. They are more likely to spot me, of course, so I'm not sure if I should hang back or fly up. If they do engage us in town that will mean one of two things: either they have friends in high places or they are more far gone than I thought."

Elhanna, it takes only a moment or so for you to catch up to the two men, staying about thirty yards back or so, and taking care to follow them slowly. As you get nearer, you start to overhear their conversation:

"...lucky bugger. I'd like gettin' paid that much to take care of an old geezer that's too far gone already. But no! We gotta "keep the order" an' "strike south". It's horseshit I say!" "No need ta get so angry Nor'. Yer good with that pistol of yours, an' soon you'll lead yer own squad back down south to show those arachnophiles whose boss" "Arachno-what?" "Sorry, those darkies that pray to Lolth, you know, the Queen spider." "Oh, right. No! To Hells no! I don' wanna get back down there if I can avoid it. Risk me life on a daily basis, fer a loaf of bread and a few copper a day? The crusader can have his bloody war if he wants, I ain't dyin' for now gnomes!"

You see them passing a group of Ilmater- acolytes, and the two men fall silent. You drop back a bit more to let the acolytes pass and drop out of hearing range. When you get back to tailing them, they've moved on to placing wagers on which of the tavern maids was the easiest. You suppress a shudder.

After another ten minutes of tailing them, the two men arrive in front of what looks like a storehouse. They walk around to the back, and after knocking on a door, are let in. It takes another ten minutes or so, before Si'Juul and the others find you. The two men haven't left the building yet.

"So, did they say anything you might think is useful for us? Did they spot you?"

Si'Juul gives Elhanna a brief look over for injuries, both mental and physical.

(Wasn't sure which was necessary)

Perception: 14

Medicine: 11

Elhanna seems perfectly healthy, though neither she nor you are sure whether the two men she trailed saw her or not.

“I don’t think they saw me. I hid as best I could.” She give him a warm smile, glad that he cares for her. “They did say something about serving Lolth and a crusade down south.” She convey what she heard. 

“Do we follow them?”

"Sounds like the Black Brand was hired for extra help against the Drow invasion. It makes sense. The Black Brand is a mercenary group, and mercenaries get hired on for jobs like that. And firearms are very powerful. So why wouldn't the powers that be seek their help?"

Si'Juul gives one last glance towards the building they saw the two men enter.

"Well, we're not going to go after them for doing perfectly legal things. At least, I'm not. You're all free to make your own choices. I'm not going to try to fight every single one of them, just the ones who try to kill me. If you all think we should look through that building, then we can try to take a peek. Or maybe not me, I am not adept at stealth."

Si'Juul closes his eyes and crosses his arms, looking in thought.

"I wonder if they scoured those mines to get the metals to properly arm themselves for the invasion."

He opens his eyes and looks to the group.

"Okay, so group decision, I guess. Do we check out this building or leave it alone? I would rather get out of town asap, but it seems my armor is going to take a week to make, so that's a minimum time for me. Other than that, I have no plans."

Si'Juul looks to the skies with a brief look of surprise for a moment before looking at everyone again to hear their opinions.

Paren shrugs. "Like I said, I have no plans. Though if you want I could try to sneak inside. I used to have skills like that, I don't think they're that far gone after 50 years."

"I suppose you could, if you think you can. Certainly is a strange place to meet up."

Si'Juul looks towards the building again.

"I would say all of you are better at sneaking around than me, so maybe I will look for other work while you look in there. It's probably going to be a long week while I wait for my armor."

Poinki will ask if there's a time he might get to listen to the archbishop preach, before going to find and rejoin his friends.

"Well, we could just take a peek. If this is a temporary hideout for them, there could be dozens of men in there. I have an idea. Poinki, Elhanna, keep a look out. Paren, let's go see what we can see."

If Paren follows, Si'Juul will carry him as he flies up onto the roof after stepping up closer to the building. Otherwise he will go alone, looking around the rooftop for a skylight or something.

Perception: 13

"What the? Whoo, I'm... I'm not sure I like this." Paren says as he's carried up into the sky. "I was thinking more of just finding a window to climb in." 

Perception: 18