Lost Lab of Kwalish

(Well done and welcome!).  A new day is starting.. and a new group is meeting.

Quote from Tesservett >>

((Should we stop by his office and get a badge for the newcomers?)

The newcomers are welcome to try and get something from Moghaddam, but they'll have to make a group (among whichever PCs actually visit the architect) deception or persuasion check  depending in what they tell him, simply stating what they set out to do or failing one of those checks would result in confrontation.  I assumed they were being sneaky but they could try this.  The other players, not the PCs should know that they are here to get Nolzur, the their Thesselar sent to steal back his book of golems.  If they should also manage to appropriate the book, so much the better 

<Welcome to all the new players.  It looks like we'll have you starting somewhere outside the Tomb of Horrors (Still under construction> and following g in the earlier group.  Any story elements you need to motivate your character to venture into the tomb of horrors are currently backstory, so reference them at will.  For now, get in that tomb and raise some hell.  If you could all meet up before anyone decides to combat, I'm assuming you'll all be working together, so that would make the combat easier.>

Gravity finds a quite place among the plantation of the site during the early hours of the day so that she can spend some personal time. She squats beside a bush and spills the contents of her pouch on the ground. Shiny pieces of gold coins along with some other valuable items remain scattered around the bush when she attempts to dig through the pile.

"Where is it? Where? Where did I see it?"- she murmurs under her breath. A pair of amulets engraved with Tourmaline will catch her attention, she picks them up and examines these items...fidgeting with the identical pair of items while suffering from the excruciating disturbance resulted from brief confusion. She randomly picks up one of the amulets, and throws the other one away which should land somewhere near her Warlock companion. "Useless amulet and it's stupid replication". (Dark Shard Amulet)

Then she moves towards the small group of adventurers while holding up a small platinum ring and asks gingerly,

"One of you should wear this ring, it's important. And...eh...should we scout the area to find a shortcut or escape route?"

Quote from Wile_E_Coyote >>

<realizing that the newest players have no sense of place, I will reintroduce the scenes geography, time of day for movement remains at your discretion, relevant mostly to the dwarf camp and possibly role play otherwise, but mechanically mostly the dwarves.>

In the remote hills [somewhere removed from the city if Greyhawk, but no more than 2 days joirney] a barren tundra rises to reveal a monument to undeath being hewn from the stone of these desolate lands.

Construction of the Tomb of Horrors is well underway, focused on three tunnels being dug into the north end of a flat-topped hill covered in ugly weeds, thorns, and briars. An active workers’ camp occupies the north end of the hill, above the tunnels.

A number of tents along the north side of the hill house the tomb’s workers, their food storage, equipment depots, latrines, and so forth. These workers include two dozen dwarves split into two gangs. 

<I'd like someone to state that they intend to enter one of these openings.  The second group hasn't seen this map, the first group has.  Second group has to bypass the dwarves camped outside (north of map) and figure out which cave to start spelunking. First group knows where the architects office is, saw where Umber hulk emerged and knows there's one hole other than the two so noted.>

<I have a bunch of magic items in queue but you won't need them here with 7 PCs, and the first 4 are in non-hostile territory.   If I haven't stated it publicly yet, or to reiterate if I have, this is a faction mode, where the two groups are working (for now) for opposing factions, but since you're all mercenaries* anyhow, the real overarching quest, based on assembling the treasure, is the goal for everyone, which could/should unite the group>.

Performance 16

Gravity will attempt to blend in the crowd of workers by helping them out with some of the mundane tasks, when her [Tooltip Not Found] companion 'Spark' will follow her around like a faithful assistant holding a hammer with his beak.

She seems uncertain about selecting the possible route to invade the place. At first, she will agree with her teammates on the proposal of taking the first entry, then she declares that the middle route should be the right one but finally decides to enter the northeast passage.

Testreves sees the group of obvious adventurers approaching, and goes up to them:   A young man with brown hair and a beard, clad in scholar’s robes approaches you.  He walks with a staff.   He smiles somewhat apologetically, and looks around the camp at the other workers around.   “You must be new adventurers here.   I’m Tetrevess.   You better come with us,  I don’t see your badges.  Some of the people here care about such things.   We can head to the office and see if we can get you full access?” 

Gravity drops her crowbar and stares at the young man with gaping mouth which is possibly not the wisest thing to do at this situation, while attempting to determine if he's a (honey)trap.

Wisdom: (Perception)

Kilis follow Testreves as she is curious about the newcomers. She stays a few yards behind him as to not disturb the social interaction. But her big light blue eyes flicker from the different adventures.

”Fascinating “ she mumbles to herself as she holds back the urge to take out pen and paper to document everything.

(Feels weird to 'rule' on this one, but for what it's worth I think Tetrevess is sincere.  Again, talking to Moghaddam is possible, but will require some kind of check based on what you say.  So, what'll it be: east, west or center? Covert, Overt, shock and awe, door to door salespeople? This is literally just entering the dungeon)

Ana picked up the amulet and looked it over curiously. It didn't seem particularly useful but she nodded thanks at her companion and put it in her pack. When the man in robes approached, she studied him through her eyelashes, eyes half closed. He seemed intelligent. She'd have to watch herself carefully and ensure all her actions were consistent with her cover story. If someone was going to trip her up on an inconsistency it would be him, or someone like him. On the other hand, as long as she was careful... Smart men were often easiest to manipulate since they usually didn't get much attention from beautiful women - and she knew she was - and bookworms often had severe lack of common sense. The question was whether he was worth the trouble. He seemed to carry himself as one with considerable power and experience, though that might be a bluff. She reserved judgement. 

She spent a moment crafting a specific kind of smile for him - shy and bashful - and made her eyes widen as though interested and a little intimidated. When it was ready, she put the whole expression on like the mask it was. Her tone was a little breathless as she addressed him. "Thank you so much for looking out for us. I'm Ana. Nice to meet you!"

The scholarly man blushes a little.   It’s clear he is not used to talking to anyone- especially beautiful women.   “Hello.  I’m not going to ask why all you came here, I’m sure you each have your reasons.  But this is not a safe place for outsiders.  Now- if one of you is a good talker, or can tell a good tale, we could try to talk to Moghaddam,  and get you a badge or we can Take our chances and  just go into the tunnels.    I am looking for allies, we can divide the spoils evenly.  What shall it be?” 

Gravity watches her Warlock companion to swallow the bait, then she flashes a big yet professional smile and continues to speak:

"Madame Ana, the 'dark shard amulet' is an item that many people will find fantastic but unobtainable. That will cost you eight hundred and fifty gold pieces, but for you, the price can be reduced to the amount of six hundred gold pieces. Exclusively! You don't have to pay now."

Then she picks up the crowbar and replies to the young man:

"Thess..ttt..Tetrevess, nice to meet you. Please call me, 'Creep'. And are you talking about these batches?"- she makes gestures to indicate the feather around the neck of his female cleric companion, and adds proudly:

"Haa! Give me some time and I can craft something better than that."

She stares at her steel sidekick which is currently in the form of a mechanical Axe Beak which might be the smaller version of the actual bird with a bunch of ornate feathers attached to his wings.

A man approaches waving his hands, hailing Gravity and Ana, his height is balanced by his broad shoulders and solid looking torso. He wears a garish orange bandana around his head, with neck length black hair creeping out from beneath it, a few loose strands tucked behind his ears. His face is bearded, bushy but well-trimmed, which covers a tanned leathery skin, pock-marked and scarred. His attire is mismatched, a white linen shirt, open at the neck peaks out from under his armour, which in turn is covered by a long coat, made of thin dark blue material, with decorative buttonwork and tassles, the shoulders squared with additional padding, but the armpits left hollow to improve the range of movement. There is an orange sash around his waist, a shade darker than the one adorning his brow, looped into brown leather breeches tucked into mid-calf boots that show plenty of wear. Peeking over his shoulder is a greatsword, the hilt more functional than decorative.

"I thought you'd tried to leave me behind for a moment there. Who's this fella then an' what can he do for us?" His brash tone one that Gravity and Ana have become used to but might strike stangers as rude and unwelcoming. He nods at the introduction and gets quickly caught up on the few moments he has missed.

"Captain L'Chuck, Tetrevess has been explaining to us the significance of these feather batches and has suggested that we should talk to a 'Moghaddam'"- Gravity sums up the ongoing conversation to make it digestible for her rugged and jagged accomplice while adjusting her irregularly cropped strings of orange hair and flashing him a boyish grin. 

"It's like hailing the snake before sabotaging his den, what do you say?"

The last sentence is uttered in such a way that it's only intelligible to the finely built man and 'Ana', but her goofy expression might not be able to completely suppress the slight hint of conspiracy talks.

Quote from InkedBee >>

... At first, she will agree with her teammates on the proposal of taking the first entry, then she declares that the middle route should be the right one but finally decides to enter the northeast passage.

 So, can I go with this, then? Or does anyone object to just walking in right now?

(I’m ok with whatever the group wants to do) 

(Fine with the middle route if we'd rather go in than try speaking to Moghaddam - I guess Ana has the best chance of convincing him of anything)

A brooding and stand-offish Half-Elf greets the newcomers. His appearance is unremarkable and his visage belies a look of concern and loss.

”Hullo. You may call me Barril. For full disclosure, I had been recruited by Moghaddam to retrieve some items at Thessalar’s place. But that party died, except for myself, in abject failure. I joined this group, where we managed a better outcome and escaped with our lives. I owe no further loyalty to Moghaddam for sending me to die, though I still wear his token. Battle is not my strength but I do have other … talents. I am slow with names and I hope we survive long enough for me to remember yours. Now, let’s go shake things up a bit.”

Barril will defer to the will of the group as to their destination, but will volunteer to scout ahead, if requested.

After going through an unusually lengthy conversation with 'Spark', Gravity will confess that her previous decision to take the northeast passage has been a reckless decision, so the party must greet the one and only 'Moghaddem' first. Thus, she will request Tetrevess to introduce her to the male by saying:

"The pace of the construction of the site is painstakingly slow. If I get the chance to contribute here somehow, the workers might benefit from my expertise."