Mercer's Tavern (A Kwalmendi Campaign)

Hurrying over, Balthazar sits down quickly, clattering the table slightly. "We, or more precisely, most of you, have been had for fools. Your employers were thieves, if you hadn't already realized, and are planning to set you up to pay the price for their misdoings while they reap the profit. We've discovered this not a moment too soon - Mercer's offered to help return what is likely a stolen wagon and oxen. The Kardagen and Sanbeyonne guards here won't bother us... yet. Should we wish to move on, and brusquely, I've a contact in Springholde who requires the services of adventurers such as yourselves to retrieve certain items believed to be held by goblins in the area. Time is of the essence, however, as we will need to effect a rendezvous in the next few days. In short, you can put this sorry business behind you, and take on some honest business meanwhile. Mr. Lorgar, I realize that you were not among the hired guards for the stolen goods, thus you have no moral need to take on such risks to life and limb as may accompany this next step of the journey. However, it would greatly ease my conscience if you would accompany us as well - it is never a poor idea to incorporate the religiously attentive when probing into the wilds."

"Springholde sounds good enough to me. What items are missing? Speaking of items we have a couple for you to look at." says Quin also in a low voice. He nods to Lorgar to discreetly so the wagon contents.

"We secured the contents to be delivered to the authorities. would you know what they are?"

"I can look at them, though since they are most likely stolen to begin with, it might be best to try to fully understand the origin of these items before we return them, if they can be returned to their previous owners - wouldn't want anything to spontaneously combust from mishandling, after all. As for the next job, I'm not completely sure. I can promise more details on arrival, but for now I have only a letter with instructions on where and when to meet, as well as what opposition we might face - in this case, goblins. You all seem to be rather familiar with dealing with that sort. Let me ask Mercer if we can use somewhere more private while I examine the items you speak of, then we might look into what options we may have regarding their return, if any such options exist."

Mercer has a small, private dining area the five of you can use.

OOC I'm going to assume that you will cast identify on the items.

The statue holds no magical powers. History check: 18

Other than the statue is old (several hundred years), there is little he notes about the statue. But, he does note that the base of the statue has an elvish X and Y etched into it.

The green liquid is unfamiliar to Balthazar and also contains no magical abilities. Nor was magic used to create it.

"Of course I am coming along, especially if it is to purge more of those vile greenskin demons. I also have to get to Springholde, for I have a letter to deliver to a church there. Quite frankly, if we don't figure out what these things are by then, I would love to show them to the clergy there. They might happen to know something.

And we should inform them, and that contact of yours, about the goblins we faced earlier and their "king", along with the crown and disc. They probably have some interest in those critters.

Also, how much do you trust our patron here? Should we show him the items aswell? He seems to be rather enlightened and benign to our current plight."

Lorgars face takes a more worried expression before he continues: "But there is the problem of getting to Springholde.... we might end up getting into trouble at the border...."

"Springholde....as far as i remember it is quiet, but the issues at the border do make it troublesome. as to the items, show him, explain the situation, and ask who we should turn these over to."

"Sure go ahead and show him. It will only confirm or dispute my suspitions faster." Says Quin 

"I believe Mercer to be more than trustworthy, though I would not necessarily consider him to be an outright benefactor of ours. He works for himself, after all. Still, it would be wise to get his opinion on the items in question, since my studies have failed us. Perhaps as well he might have a suggestion on how to avoid unpleasantness at the border, as you mentioned, Lorgar - care to elaborate?"

"Why don't you let me have a look at that stuff you found in the wagon," Quiller says.  "Maybe I could discern something about them."

Investigation   14

Arcana   13

History   21

"And then, it's off to Springholde I guess, better than ending up in some stinking dungeon over a minor misunderstanding."

"Well, we need to cross a border with something we don't have any idea what it should be, other than it's probably worth smuggling. Chances are high we could end up being labeled as smugglers ourselves.

Armed travelers on foot are bound to raise an eyebrow or two from the border watch. We can't pass of as merchants or something.

Besides, they might have even tipped of the border guard to be on the lookout for us. There are all kinds of things that could get us into trouble at this point."

Quiller has no knowledge of the green liquid, but, the statue, he does recall a half-elf sculptor named Xandyr Yoreras. Xandyr lived in the Free Cities about 2-300 years ago, and was employed by various noble families to create sculptures of them.

Lorgar examines the statue before whispering before himself: "So we have an onyx statue of a horse, that was probably made by a half elf famous for making sculptures of nobles a few thousand years ago. Somehow I doubt that some random noble thought of his horse so highly...."

The clerit then takes the vile od green loquid and shakes it a little, attempting to discern how viscous it is.

"Should we learn nothing about the liquid I suggest that, after we leave the tavern, we open the vial. If it doesn't evaporate instantly we should discern it's scent, and see how it reacts to some sort of living tissue, like a leaf or something. It might be some sort of acid or poison. Even if we still won't have any idea what it is we should attempt to think up of some story of what it is. It might come in handy to be prepared if we get asked about it."

Lorgar then sighs, clearly not happy at the prospect of having to lie to a border guard. 

He composes himself again for a moment and straightens his scale armour before getting up from his seat. "Come now Balthazar, we are going to have another chat with Mercer about those items and the border. The rest of you please remain here, it would look strange if we all went."

16

Insight roll. Lorgar will keep an eye on Mercer and Balthazar during their conversation, attempting to discern the honesty of their words.

OOC - where are the Free Cities?

When Mercer is handed the two items, his eyes go wide at the sight of the green liquid. He opens the vial  and takes a wiff of the liquid, before wincing and quickly resealing the vial. “This, this is dangerous stuff. It is a very expensive and very addictive drug. There are nobles who have blown their entire fortune after becoming addicted to this stuff. Others have been killed by ingesting poorly brewed versions of this drug. The best thing to do is to destroy it. If you try to cross the border with it and the guards find it, they will arrest you and throw you in jail for a long time.”

He takes a longer look at the statue and says “I’m not much of an art dealer. It looks old, but, not ancient. I have no idea of its worth. I think there are two possibilities for this being found in the wagon. (1) It is not worth much money, and Beber and Rerdol didn’t want to be weighted down by it; (2) This statue and the vial were meant to be found by the guards when you crossed the border. If it was the latter, and that is what my guess would be, they planned on getting you arrested so you couldn’t come after them seeking revenge.”

“I can store the statue here until Vothralo comes through here, probably accompanied by you. She would know a lot more about an object like this, including its value.”

“If you cross the border without either of these items on you, I don’t see why you should have any reason to fear from crossing the border. I seriously doubt the theft of the wagon and oxen would have been reported to the Kardagen authorities. Its also doubtful that anyone from Gillesburg would be coming up here to retrieve those items. If you’re a peasant and some stranger steals your livestock, the local sheriff isn’t going to spend his time running after them. Now, if it is your neighbor who steals from you, you have options, but, not when someone takes them out of the county almost immediately.”

Near as Lorgar can tell, both men are being honest. They both are a little bit reserved in what they are saying, but, he doesn’t see any lying on the part of either man.

OOC The free cities are the Halveryn city-states, with Gillesburg, where the party started, being one of the free cities.

"how do we dispose of the drug safely?"

Relieved to see some honesty in the world for once, Lorgar relaxes somewhat and asks in a friendly tone: "Thank you for the information, and for offering to look after the statue. I believe the group would love to take you up on that offer. Just one more question about that liquid - does it burn?"

He also thinks to himself, without saying it out aloud "...and just who is Vothralo supposed to be? And why should he be coming back here with her? It seems like I should have a chat with Balthazar later about this. His "little errand" doesn't seem to be as harmless as I thought."

After what seems like days waiting for the other two to return, Quin turns to Lukas.

"Wanna play a game while we wait?" 

From a pocket he produces 5 bone dice with 6 sides each. Each side has a number of pips ranging from 1 to 6.  

"We simply roll the bones and the one with the best combination wins." Quin quickly explains the allowed combinations and rolls the dice. (Standard poker combinations apply)

4

2

3

3

2

"Looks like I got a pair. Your turn" Quin says as he slides the dice accross the table.

"fine."

3

4

3

2

1

 "seems my pair's higher than yours."

"AHA!! Even better my friend. You got the straight! Well played! Shall we play again? Who knows how long it will take for those two to come back and tell us what happened. But really regardless of what ol' Mercer says unless we just happen to bump into them on the trail Budeim and Tin are long gone. Our best shot at finding them now is Probably in Stormholde. But never mind! My roll!"

3

3

3

4

5

OCC: had to edit out some meta knowledge. Hopefully it won't affect my dice rolls.