Despite not being able to literally read his mind since she wasn't the receiver of the telepathic message (assuming because Ann is nobody's mistress), Ann can take to seeing his expressions and tone to get an idea of their shared understanding of what was happening. "Right. Let us go, then." And, with no additional words, the knight turns around and begins going the path out of the house that she hoped Rowan would follow.

Quote from rustleinthewoods >>

Jormund

Quote from Naveyman>

As you bus the bar, and keep up with the other guardsmen's drinks, one of them will turn to you and say "Say, aren't you one of the crew that drove out the rats from the marketplace yesterday?"  I suppose we owe you some thanks, although we've had an awful slog through the sewers because of those red-cloaked rats you spooked ever since. Why couldn't you have found some nice tree faeries to stir up trouble with, eh?"

 

"Well met there Cooper! The sun dunne set in the Underdark... that'll keep ye warm, will'n it?"

To the questioner, "Ya, I had a tangle with them red-cloaked vermin... just came into town for some business and suddenly the market's a roilin' mob of rats. Bad ore in all those red-cloaks, to set that loose in the midst of shopping mothers with their bobbins... If they'da been fairies, then all that rat-transformation stuff'd be just a prank worn off by afternoon. If ye ask me, those vermin mean to infect as many as they can and rot be to the rest."

"So they've been leading you through the wash, have they? Is that where they're holed up?! I'd be more'n happy to go and lay a bit more hammer and fire down on 'em if only they'd sit still, and if there weren't so many of 'em. Catch any of em?"

"Being as you're after 'em, let me get you a round on me. I'll toast to ye lads of the same campaign! ... do ye gents work fer Sir Henry?" With that Jormund reaches into his pouch and throws a small stack of his own coins into the till and then starts distributing the beverages.

 The guardsmen raise their glasses to toast your generosity,  and the one who'd first address you continues.  "Many thanks, friend!  Names Royland,  and aye, we follow Sir Henry, and proud too! He's always treated us well and was never one to turn away from a fight.  He was slogging around down in those tunnels with us last night matter of fact! But no, we didn't happen to catch any of those sneaky red-cloaked blaggards. All we got were wet feet and soiled clothes for our trouble.  We did kill a few larger rats in the sewers under Applecart Lane on the Northside of the town, but other than that, a peep was nary to be heard. "  

Orders completed, for the time being at least, Bryn emerges from the kitchen, wiping his hand off with a towel, and joins Jormund behind the bar (assuming there’s room to so) just in time to catch Royland’s response to Jormund.

Jormund

"Ah, Bryn, well met! Royland here was just telling me that they've been after the red-cloaks through the sewers."

Toward the speaker of the crew Jormund nods and introduces himself formally, "I'm Jormund Edgebeveller of clan Battlehammer, servant of the Mail-maker who guards the world from such filth! Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Turning back to Bryn, Jormund asks, "What time wuz we s'posed to meet up with Sir Henry?"

“We were supposed to join him for breakfast but we couldn’t very well leave Jared high and dry while he went and got himself looked at by the Healers. If he’s the kind of man these agents are saying he is, he’ll understand our absence at breakfast.”

 Just then, Jared will walk back into the bar.  He looks refreshed and clean, obviously feeling much better.  "Never fear, the cook is here!  I was pleased to see that the tavern was still standing, but how many of my patrons have you poisoned in my absence?" 

After checking in on the state of the bar, Jared will give you both his warmest thanks for your help. He'll then say "Sorry for the delay, when I got to the temple there was a line running out the door of people, looking for healing.  I managed to talk my way ahead in the line, but I think I was the last one to get any healing.  The priests are exhausted already, and it's still morning. Somebody needs to cut off the problem at the source, or we'll have a serious plague on our hands!"

Quote from Burgen_Badluk >>

"Mortium, I think if this persists you may need more than bound wounds.  Possibly a stronger blessing from the priests.  I will try to stop by the temple to see if others have had these same symptoms, or perhaps Sir Henry can help."

Vedui, you were headed to the temple and I totally missed this post!  If you stop by the temple, you see the same thing as Jared: A queue, perhaps a dozen people long coming out the temple door, and with your perception you can see many of the guarding tender sores, and looking overall gaunt and unwell.  Do you go in with Mortium, or do you leave him to go find the others?

(Also, apologies for the almost month delay.  Next time you can bug me about it if I lose your thread!)

Quote from Pertuie >>

Despite not being able to literally read his mind since she wasn't the receiver of the telepathic message (assuming because Ann is nobody's mistress), Ann can take to seeing his expressions and tone to get an idea of their shared understanding of what was happening. "Right. Let us go, then." And, with no additional words, the knight turns around and begins going the path out of the house that she hoped Rowan would follow.

 So you two head to town to meet with Sir Henry, do you want to do anything before you arrive?

Vedui is anxious about making the meeting.  He will go to the Inn to check on the others, but if there is no time he will head straight to Sir Henry....

"Mortium, please wait here.  I will go to gather those I met yesterday and meet Sir Henry.  I will return back here to check on you time permitting, and check back at the mortuary afterwards.  Regardless I will check on the Mortuary today."

“There was only one poisoning, I managed to turn a steak into shoe leather and then some. Well if you are all set, and sure you don’t need further help, Jormund and I have a meeting with Sir Henry about cutting off the problem at the source.”

Quote from Zalmanni >>

“There was only one poisoning, I managed to turn a steak into shoe leather and then some. Well if you are all set, and sure you don’t need further help, Jormund and I have a meeting with Sir Henry about cutting off the problem at the source.”

 Looking at Jared with a gruff, dwarvish smile... "Yup. What he said. 'Mind these blokes take it easy on the Deepdraft. Cooper's been looking a bit pale since that last nip..."

Then he fetches his crossbow, pours a shot of the Undermountain Amber, throws it back, and mumbles, "Forgot to share the round with m'self," as he puts the bottle away.

To the room he says, "Gents! Keep the flank guarded while we smoke 'em out. The Mail must hold!" And then Jormund marches out after Bryn.

Quote from Naveyman >

 So you two head to town to meet with Sir Henry, do you want to do anything before you arrive?

(Ann is ready to go right this minute, but she also doesn't know about Quinry's plan with the horses, so I'll assume we at least do that with Rowan explaining everything. I just know Artymis might have been having even more problems with notifications.)

(Argh, yes, sorry. Rowan kind of just wants to get out of there, so she would grab Ann and go, and explain what had happened on the way.)

Hi All! Apologies, I got pulled away from this by a family vacation, and I wasn't expecting to be quite as busy as I was.  I'll be posting more regularly again.

So all of you manage to make your way one way or another to the home of Sir Henry, who lives just West of Amphail on a large estate owned by the Roaringhorn clan.  When you arrive, you are directed not to the main house, but a smaller villa, still well made and comfortable, but off to the side of the main courtyard.  As you enter, you are led into an antechamber encircled with depictions of horsemen performing great feats of horsemanship and valor, with the center of the arch displaying the Roaringhorn emblem. 

You are then brought into a sitting room outfitted in the style of a comfortable country gentleman, adorned with rich woods and tapestries. Sir Henry is seated as you enter, but rises in greeting.  He puts on a brave smile, but bags under the eyes and a slightly sluggish countenance indicate a lack of sleep.

"Welcome, brave friends! How does the morning find you?  I am afraid I have little in the way of good news, but only more work.  My men have been unable to find the brigands responsible for yesterday's excitement, although we did our fair share of slogging through sludge. We have reports of a concentration of rats in the northern portion of the sewers, but so far my men have been unable to find concrete evidence of these red cloaks. Do any of you have any skill in tracking?"

Vedui nods at his question and glances at Bryn before replying.  "We can track...at least the Sylvan Elves among us can"

Bryn nods in agreement with Vedui.

Ann walks in with a frown. It is, in fact, the expression she was showing during most of the travel there, but she wouldn't speak of her frustrations with Rowan, knowing the girl already got yelled at more than needed at home, and somehow, the knight thought the frowning was better than yelling.

As they meet with Henry and he speaks with the group, Ann doesn't calm down, she forces herself to look calmer, as this was not the place to show her anguishes. "My ears and my eyes do well at spotting things, but tracking is a job for a hunter, not a knight. I'm sure not all knights, but I personally didn't see the use for that sort of training."

Sir Henry will nod in approval at Bryn and Vedui, but notices the edge to Ann's comment and quips back. 

"Yes, fighting is my preference to tracking as well Dame Ann.  However, as we are discovering just now, we can't fight what we can't find, so sometimes tracking does have its uses.

If you all are willing to lend this town your services again, we would be truly in your debt.  We can offer 2 gold per day to each of you, as well as 25 gold for every red cloak captured or killed, and 100 gold if you finish the rat-man problem for good.  To that end, I've gathered a few supplies that may be of use to you all." 

And He'll lead you over to a small side door that leads to what appears to be an armory. Laid out on a table are 3 daggers, a short sword, and a quiver of arrows. All appear to be well used, but also covered with silver. Henry will say.  "It turns out that one of the early Roaringhorns was a renowned monster hunter, and after rummaging through my storehouse, I came across her weapons. it's all that I've got to spare at the moment, but it may help you deal with this problem.  Also," He paused, "I also found this among her supplies, but I don't know what to make of it. Perhaps it may be of use to you all?" And he'll set out a small scroll case that appears to hold two scrolls inside. Anybody that wants to examine them can make an arcana or investigation check.

"I can take a look at the scrolls," Rowan pipes up quietly. She takes a step forward, hesitates, glances over her shoulder at Ann, then looks away very quickly like she's decided she doesn't want to see and continues walking up to the table. Carefully unfurling each of the scrolls, she tries to make sense of them.

Arcana: 18

Bryn reaches for the arrows.