Drow War Team 1

Game Master Tarlane

"As Mogwai said. When voting for a leader you cannot voce on yourself. I do think it's important tough, even if this subject have been decided." He addresses Mogwai: "No way you're not going there if we're heading back. If anyone finds your footprints there we are gonna be in a bad spot. You weren't with the rest in the tavern, so they already had a reason to doubt you. Common guys, let's leave the mill investigation for later, so Jim will not be sure it was us who did it. So, we're heading back to rest?"

"Hmmm. I wonder. Is it worth following the tracks a little way to confirm how the attacker came upon Jim's man? It would be useful to report whether this attacker came straight from the mines or was scouting the town. Either way, it seems not too far off our course."

"If we need a leader, I would vote for Brutus. I am not convinced of the need for a leader, though."

Brutus listens to all of the conversation and he finds himself surprised by the wisdom of the Drow. "Sir Drow, you have convinced me. I must admit, I didn't think about how it would look for Morton or for us when Davan and Jim come back here. If we head off now, we will certainly look guilty and force Morton to be lumped in with us. Neither of which do we want to do. This is a priority, but helping to quell any issues in town should be something we focus on as well. So I agree with you, though we need to find out who did this, it would be unwise not to wait. Turning to Drombar he says, "I would say that would apply for any extended scouting tonight as well."

Turning toward his other companions, he rebukes them somewhat, "I appreciate your desire to investigate and understand what we are dealing with, but as of now, Jim is a freeman, and entering his mill while he is not here, not only is dishonest, but it is a precedent that I would rather avoid setting. He is a free man, and unless otherwise ordered, or invited, I will not condone of breaking into a free man's property for a hunch." He smiles as he concedes, "Even if the hunch seems like a good one."

"Morton, should we wait here, or would you suggest meeting Davan and Jim back at the sheriff's station?"

Noting the time of night being still early, Vorik suggests "Perhaps once we have informed Davan of our findings, we can then follow this trail. Remember, while we might have some grand destiny in store for us, we are not the law here, despite our good intentions. Let's tell the Sheriff about our hypothesis regarding the body, and see what he wants us to do next. At the moment, its best to work with and within the law"

"That's fine for now, so long as we don't let the law constrain us in the pursuit of what is right."

Ack, I thought we had quieted down and was going to try and get things kickstarted and I realized you asked Morton a question and were probably waiting for me.

Morton considers the question Brutus asked, pursuing his lips a bit. "It may be best to fall back to meet up with the Sheriff. He isn't going anywhere..." He pauses a motions towards the body "And the less time we spend around it the less excuses Jim will have to claim that we doctored the body somehow."

"Let's get moving then. We speak with everyone and decide later our next step."

Do you mind jumping to the encounter with the sheriff, or would anyone have something to do before that?

Soon as everyone is in agreement I'll advance things, it does look like we are right about there.

As Brutus listens to Morton answer his question, he is once again struck by the wisdom of the young man. "Surely, Bronce is lucky to have one such as he. He is a useful fellow to be certain, with a good head on his shoulders and a strong arm at his side..." Brutus nods to Morton, and then looks around at his and says, "It seems we are in agreement then, lets head back to town and see if we can't track down Davan and Jim."

Morton leads the group back to the village proper, pausing by the front of the guard post to give a quick rap on the door and motioning at the inn through the window. Guiding you across the street and inside the tavern you all have a few moments of relative quiet before Davan arrives.

I am assuming that everyone waits around, but if you have any discussion or prep you want to do before he arrives feel free.

When the sheriff enters, he beckons Morton over and speaks to him quietly for a couple minutes before moving over to sit at the table with you, calling for the barmaid to bring him a drink and rubbing his chin tiredly.

"Alright, Morton says there isn't much to be found at the scene. Some sort of poison was used and the tracks say that Jim's man was followed. Morton and I are going to have to deal with the body and I'm going to see what I can come up with. That means I need to work out just what I'm going to do with you, though."

"Jim is full of accusations. Circumstantial yeah, but there is an awful lot of circumstance behind it. The mayor agrees with him and wants you detained so we can see if the towns trouble stops while you are out of the picture. Frankly, I think the worm is in Jim's pocket and he doesn't get to tell me what to do with the towns security. I'm not so sure about you myself, whether you are the cause or not trouble keeps following you, but the boy speaks pretty highly of you and he normally has good judgement. Good way to tweak the mayors nose too."

His hand lowers from his chin, drumming fingers on the tabletop. "If I leave you free to roam I am putting myself on the line. I'll trust the boys word, but you best not cause me any more trouble and I expect you to steer wide of Jim and his boys."

Aetherni seems somehow worried about Davan's words, enough for his mood to darken a little. "We have told you before Davan. The hard times are coming, and if we're related to it, it's just because we're trying to stop things from getting worst." He shakes his head and turns to the party. "So, what should we do? Rest quietly at our chambers for the night?"

"I think we should rest quietly for the night. In the morning, though, we should follow the tracks back to their source to see if we can confirm it came from the old mine and we should check out the stairs we found in the mine. Both pf those will keep us away from Jim, if we pick up the trail some distance from his Mill."
Drombar looks at Davan. "Will that do? Will you want Morton to accompany us again?"

Looking at the dwarf, the sheriff raises a brow slightly "We've had plenty of lean times, but seeking to stop it or not we've never had so much trouble all at once and I'd rightly prefer to just keep my hands clean of it."[b]

He then glances over at Morton. [b]"I'll be needing his help tonight. If the lad perhaps can keep you out of further mischief or his company might stop Jim from some sort of retaliation you're welcome to him. Otherwise folks round the village are proper nervous at the moment and having another man on the streets might calm them down some. He seems to fancy your company enough and I'm sure he pictures all sorts of adventures in store, but I'll tell you again that you'd best keep the lad safe."

Mogwai is quiet on the trip back to town, but throughout the Sheriff's speech to the group, he grows more and more agitated. Even in the face of spirits, poison, mysterious creatures, the humans are so blindly determined to be xenophobic. It seemed to Mogwai that their refusal to band together would surely be the end of them. He couldn't imagine how a hero like Starkweather John could have come from these people. Selfish. Foolhardy. Arrogant.

Suddenly remembering what his own people were like, Mogwai's ears drooped and he sat down quietly in contemplation, thinking that there must be a way to make them see. In the meantime, he had other obligations to consider. He still had a debt to pay to Talks-With-Fists, and if the humans weren't willing to listen, perhaps the Hobgoblins would.

Sensing his friend's trouble thoughts, the Drow walks over to Mogwai and kneels down next to him. "I believe you and are share the same concerns my little friend. Some in this town do not seem eager to let true justice prevail, despite being shown evidence that proves them wrong." He says very quietly.

"I will do all I can to honor your agreement with our new found allies, though it will likely prove difficult."

Mogwai smiles at Vorik, putting a hand on the Drow's shoulder. "Mogwai thank you. So quickly the humans forget." He shakes his head sadly. "And yet. Is not hobgoblin agreement that Mogwai is worried about. Something coming."

He pauses a second before continuing. "Discovery of sword long forgotten. Hobgoblin tribes splitting... Murders. Ghosts... maybe whole civilizations wall off underground. Mogwai know you agree, not common occurrences."

The Paladin can see the fear in Mogwai's eyes when he speaks again. "Mogwai feels cold in air. Something coming. Humans not be prepared."

Sitting in the tavern listening to Davan, Brutus finds himself tired. He hears the words that Davan says, but isn't quite sure how to respond to them. "Should I readily accept the circumstances that these simple folk find themselves in, dealing with more trouble packed into the span of a week than any other time before, or should I be outraged that after another act of kindness and service to this town, still the Mayor wants us detained." Sighing, he listens as his companions voice their own reactions.

As the conversation dies down, he looks at those still sitting there, and says, "Bed is probably wise, but a thought to sleep on... how much is too much? We have tried to warn these people for the better part of two days. We have helped them in their time of need, we have done what they couldn't do for themselves, and still they won't listen to us. I am not suggesting we give up yet, but I am suggesting we at least begin the conversation on how much time and effort we should spend here in Bronce before we find ourselves wasting time that maybe could be spent better elsewhere?" Looking around at the few citizens from the town still in the common room, Brutus shakes his head and whispers too himself, "How could I have been brought here just to have to abandon them... I wish I could help you all..."

"Well, as far as I can tell, we have nowhere else to go at the moment. As long as we are here, I will try to help people despite themselves. If another option comes up, then we should discuss our best course of action. The truth is, until they can see the danger, they will continue in this foolishness. I only hope that they will see the danger before it is too late. We Kayal have a saying: You can fetch for the humans, but you cannot make them pay."

Aetherni also looks tired, and the regular chit-chat doesn't really improve his mood. He spends some time looking at the sky and striking his beard, before adding to the others. "I agree with you that we are here to help, and perhaps we have not done enough yet. We are still as lost as them..." He looks to the drow and the sword at his back. "We came here looking for the sword, as it was said we could 'begin to understand, to remember'... but where is that knowledge, I wonder?! Do you feel any difference from carrying that now drow? Any lost information we should know? Maybe our next step?"

He doesn't wait for an answer, before proceeding. "The town is scared. We are scared. People fear what they do not know. They do not know us, and we do not know what's ahead of us. So we live in fear and frustration, hurrying to try to get back the lost time and knowledge. If we put ourselves in their position we will understand. A whole bunch of outsiders come to their town, put a church down and a dead citizen show up. Damn, even we should know better! Weren't we suspicious about Jim? Just because he was a bully? Anyway..." He shakes his head, organizing his thoughts. "Anyway, we had a talk with our 'enemies'. Why not talk with our friends? We're getting some suspicious from Mayor Goodchild and from Jim and his flock. I think tomorrow morning, when the dust settles, we should approach them both and have a nice talk, like the one we had with Talk-with-Fists. We will look them into the eyes and state what we're doing, trying to show them we came here to help, not to hurt." He looks up, hopeful. "Perhaps Brenik will be the mediator with Jim, since he won't easily listen to us... What do you think?"

Mogwai looks up, listening to Aetherni's words. He nods, slowly, feeling a degree of renewed vigor. "Yes." He replies. "Mogwai think is better to talk to them separate. Mayor has enough suspicion without others filling his head during talk."

He slinks back down, looking slightly defeated. "Even Sheriff not trust us. Hobgoblin tribe easy, only have one Chief to convince. Humans have several in charge. Not ideal. Only the boy trust us."

"That might be a good idea. It would mean breaking Davan's edict not to go near Jim."

"The only thing is, Jim strikes me as the kind of person that has difficulty admitting he's wrong. If we keep away from him, he may eventually realise we were right, but if we confront him he will react."'

"The mayor may see reason though. It could be worth approaching him."

Brutus smiles at his companions. "You are right of course, I am not leaving here until we have a place to go, I just fear that we will have a place to go and things will still be less than settled here. But as my Mother used to say, or atleast, I think that she used to say it, either way, 'Don't borrow trouble.' We must put away the worries and focus on what we can do. I agree with Drombar, that the mayor is a good idea, but I don't think Jim is a guy we can talk to, at least not yet."

Unexpected laughter erupts from Brutus as he listens to Mogwai talk. "The wisdom of a goblin. Yes Mogwai, we humans are a confusing bunch, with far too many people in charge. Speaking of which, weren't we talking about some kind of leader? Still want to make that official." Smiling at his companions he can't help but share a laugh at the contrast in circumstances.

"I think you have a vote already. You also have mine, so that's two. Side note, the leader will decide stuff that we're disagreeing upon, but not much else."

"So, common people, say what you have to say and let's go back to the tavern and get some rest. I've got the feeling that tomorrow will be a busy day..."

Looking around the Inn's common room, Brutus looks back at Aetherni and breaks into more laughter. Slapping his hand on the table he stands up and says, "Well, its official, the dwarf has drunk too much, if that is even possible, cause he doesn't know where we are. I wonder where he thinks we are that keeps giving him ale."

Finally, as the laughter slows, he looks at the other members of the group and says, "Outside of getting this short bearded tavern dweller to bed, we have a few other things we should look into correct? We need to get supplies to the tribe, we need to follow the murderer's trail, we need to investigate the mine, assuming those two aren't the same thing, and we need to talk to the mayor. It sounds like we have a busy day ahead of us."

He looks at each of his companions and can't help but laugh again as he glances at Aetherni who is definitely going to have a headache in the morning.

"I'z not drunk!"
You people are so mean... ^_^

Sorry Aetherni... I couldn't miss a chance to accuse a dwarf of being drunk, I mean seriously... how often does that happen? Outside of that, yes, I am a terrible, horrible human being, my sincerest apologies :)

I'm trying to decide if 'short bearded tavern dweller' was supposed to have a comma between short and bearded or if it was meant to be a dwarven insult.

Presuming that no one else has anything to bring to the table tonight, you all are able to return to your room and get some much needed sleep, for once not being woken with either no memory or by the sheriff.

Brutus seems to have laid out the possible options you have brought up pretty well. Sounds like talking to the mayor was the first on your list, so let me know if that is either incorrect or there is any special prep you wanted to do in advance.

Short, bearded tavern dweller... whoops. I don't know if its insulting to have a short beard in dwarven society, but I don't really wanna find out either lol.

Oh I took it as an insult! But I'll let it pass, this time, cause I know Brutus was drunk! So may we move on?

Aetherni gets up when the sun is still barely visible in the horizon, looking happy and cheerful. Makes you wonder if he really drank all that ale you saw yesterday. He greets whoever is awake, and specially Brenik, since they might need him today. He takes some bread and leave, heavy armored and all, to take a walk at town. "Be right back" is all he says.

He goes to the fallen church, and carefully manages to find a spot where he can kneel and pray. He spends quite a while there, in the same position.

Drombar tosses and turns, thinking over the days events and pondering the meaning before finally drifting off to sleep.

Still more accustomed to sleeping in a tribe with dozens of others, Mogwai refuses to sleep alone, following Drombar into his room, and curling up in a place on the floor. As he is dosing off, he hears Drombar having a hard time falling asleep, and hopes the man is able to do so soon. 'Tomorrow brings more worries.' He think.

"Well, if we don't have any answers, maybe getting some rest is the best thing for all of us." Brutus says as he stands up and grabs the dwarf by the arm, saying, "Come on friend, lets get you to bed. See you in the morning guys." Brutus takes the dwarf to his room and precedes to his own. He takes off his outer clothes, folds them neatly on the floor at the foot of the bed, and lays down, almost instantly falling to sleep.

Brutus awakens to the first rays of the sun coming through the window. He stands up and puts on the now fresh and clean pair of traveling clothes that Jinnie had cleaned and left at the foot of his bed in the place of the dirty ones from yesterday. He put on the pants but he left the shirt till after his morning routine. Heading out to the yard, to the same spot he found the previous morning, he begins his routine. First, some quite meditation, examining his thoughts and the events of the day, and then moves into his stretches. Moving from pose to pose, stretching every muscle and ligament and join in his body in the process. The slight sheen from the sweat worked up tells him it is time to stop and he breathes in deeply. He heads up to his room and puts on his clean shirt. He takes a moment to organize his pack, then heads downstairs to find the rest of his group.

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I was assuming we would try and plan out the day, but since a few of us headed to bed, we might as well settle that "in the morning," so to speak."

The dwarf goes back to the Inn, even happier than he was one hour ago. He looks... different. More confident, maybe. He looks around to see who's there, but only Brutus seems to be ready for some action. "Morning Brutus! The others are taking a while, hun? How did you sleep?" He sits down on a table and order some pancakes.

Sorry, this weekend was back to some family health problems that slowed me down. I think we can assume everyone gathering again in the morning, though sharing all your rituals does a lot to explain each other. Where are you heading first so I can get things moving? Seems like the mayor is the most put forward plan, but there were thoughts to follow the tracks too and I'm not sure what you wanted to do first. Also, are you planning on picking up Morton?

This people are weird. They are bursting posts, and suddenly it comes to a halt...

Aetherni thinks we should go to have a talk with the Mayor first, so we could spend more time away from the city, and yes, let's bring the kid with us.

At some point, we have to wait on Tarlane. Like right now. Hence, the coming to a halt. Unless you want to run the game yourself??

Vorik, I need a direction from you guys. I can only advance things when you have come to agreement on what you are doing. Particularly when there isn't an active NPC in the mix, I can only set a scene when a plan is established. I'm not sure at the moment if you are all heading to the mayor, to jim, to the mine, back to follow the tracks or something else. With how sandboxed the direction is, I really do need you all to be self-motivated in that regard. Its good having everyone toss in their ideas, but if there isn't a consensus we need to hash it out instead of going quiet. Otherwise I don't have a way to take things without deciding for you.

Brutus looks up from his breakfast of toast and jam and sees the dwarf enter the tavern. He nods a greeting as the dwarf sits down next to him. [b"]I haven't seen the others yet this morning; I am surprised to see you up already."[/b] He smiles and and pushes the breakfast toward the dwarf. "So where have you been this morning?"

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This is far from a waiting on Tarlane thing... we have three options on the table, not to mention a morning routine that can be posted about... there is a lot of things to post about, but someone actually has to post. I was trying to wait and let someone else post, but if no one is going to jump in, I guess Aetherni and I will have a pleasant breakfast conversation lol.

"Well, we've been on this new life for less than two days now, and there was an urging in me telling me to pray, to ask for guidance and such... I just did not knew to whom should I pray to, and so it took me a little longer to get a... grip on it. You know, several good gods, several other gods, several of the darkness, the stars... Anyway, you know a little about the gods, right?" He eats a piece of his pancake, then proceed. "So, the Lawmaker has spoken to me when I prayed to him. Aranu has offered me some guidance, and I took it willingly." Although this could probably mean something big, he keeps eating his pancake, as if it was kind of normal. "I'm just not sure if I could do this before this new life of us, but now I can do a little more than fight" - the dwarf bares his teeth, shinning with expectation. "Right now I'm doing a mental training about what should we say to the mayor... and thinking about it, it's weird to that the mayor of the town is so blind, isn't it? Do you think he's on Jim's paylist?"

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Yes, feel free to get down from the rooms whenever you want and join us.

After a bit of a lay-in, Drombar rises and dresses, coming down just in time to hear Aetherni's last comment.
"The thought had occurred to me, too; but we shan't know until we try. I am of the opinion that we must try. We Kayal say It is better to try and fail rhan never to have tried at all"

Drombar sits at the table with the others.

{b}"For what it's worth, I don't think he is in Jim's pay. I just don't think he's ever had to face a real crisis before and is too inflexible to consider new ideas. But we must be open to the possibility that we are wrong. I think we should visit him first and then head out to follow the tracks after."[/b]

Brutus can't help but enjoy the company of the affable dwarf who can speak of the gods as if he is talking about his friends, and while eating pancakes to boot. Smiling he says, "I can't say I know much about the gods, only that it seems as though they brought us here. Outside of that, I focus on what I can control, and I trust that they are doing the same for the things they are responsible for. At least, that is the best I've got right now." He then grabs the last piece of toast on his plate and sets to coating it in the flavorful jam.

As he takes a bite of his toast, he sees Drombar coming down the stairs. With a nod and a wave, he acknowledges his companion and calls him over, avoiding the always rude speaking with your mouth full moment. He turns back and listens to the Dwarf muse some more on their current situation.

"I think I agree with Drombar on this one, I would be surprised if Jim has anyone in his pocket at this point, because really, why would he need them? Its not like he has a widespread organization or anything going on. But of course, stranger things have happened I supposed." Pausing for a moment, he looks at the two at the table and he says, "In speaking about our plans for the day, let me ask you this, what kind of message are we sending this town by meeting with the mayor first? We absolutely need to sit down with this guy and explain what is going on, especially if we ever hope to get an alliance conceived between Bronce and the Talks with Fists' tribe, but one of their own is dead. Shouldn't we focus on that first? I am worried that by attending to our other errands and our other duties, we are placing the smallest priority on the loss of a man's life, which is probably the most important thing to understand for this town. If that is the case, what does that say about us?"

"It say we focus on big picture." Replies Mogwai, hopping down the tall stairs like a child. Upon reaching the bottom, he looks up at Brutus. "Do not misunderstand Mogwai. Mogwai think loss of life terrible thing. Mogwai think too that this man only first of many. Town can afford time to grieve, only because they not know what tomorrow bring. Many preparations must be made."

"Ha, finally Mogwai, good morning!" He prevents another piece of pancake from going in his mouth, holding a large piece spiked in his fork, but he doesn't have all the manners Brutus has, and he's still chewing something when he answers:
"That say we must worry about not going to prison," *chomp chomp* "before being able to help anyone." *chomp chomp* "We can't help the city if we have an arrest warrant upon us, so we better lose some minutes speaking to the mayor" *chomp chomp chomp* "to guarantee he won't be forced to do something stupid. Otherwise we may come back to town with answers, and find all the citizens armed with forks and hoes" - he waves his food fork around, imitating angry commoners - "and wanting our heads for some harsh behavior."

He stops to put the food on his mouth and since spent silent for a moment he adds:
"Whatever is out there have been for more than a whole night. Ten minutes won't make much of a difference... I am worried with the drow, where is he? Sleeping yet?"

"What's all this about Gods? have we had another message from the Gods?"

"Well, I've got the impression that I did knew a lot about divine things. I had a holy symbol with me, but as far as I remember I was no priest. But, I've been trying to dig deeper into the divine knowledge, and my efforts were rewarded!" He takes a holy symbol of Aranu from inside his shirt, with a leather cord securing it over his neck. He pronounces a single work in dwarven - "Luz!" - and suddenly the symbol radiates a strong light, enough to call the attention of whoever is at the tavern this morning. "I have some new powers, but that's all. Unfortunately the lost knowledge I was looking for haven't showed up, yet."

It seems Vorik doesn't want to come down from his quarters, may we go after him?

Long before the others woke, the paladin had made his way out into the pre-dawn darkness, that time when it is almost light out, but not quite. He had taken his new sword with him, and found an out of the way spot to sit and meditate. Much was on his mind, and he needed to focus, and clear away all the extra noise. He saw Aetherni leave, and Brutus perform the same exercises as the day before, but neither saw him. It was almost as if the shadows cloaked him, which they might have, considering his nature.

Finally, he gets up and makes his way to the tavern door, but pauses, listening. The others were discussing whom to speak to first, and it was no surprise that there was once more a debate. This was the most fractious group he had ever met, which was either say a lot, or very little, considering his lost memories. After some time, he strides in and makes his way over to the table where his new companions are enjoying their breakfast.

"It would seem that we are again having trouble deciding what to do first. While all are goals and tasks are important, we only have so much time. None, if we happen to get arrested. Brutus, if the murder is your priority, go and speak to Davan and Morton. We do not all need to always go together to do everything. The rest of us, if we so desire, can go and speak to the mayor. Is this agreeable?"

"Well, good morning to you too, sir! Want some pancakes? We thought you was still sleeping! Anyway, what do we need to sort out with the Sheriff? I guess it's good for him to know what we're doing, so that's good, I think. Sounds like a plan drow." He looks to the others. "Is everyone finished?"

Mogwai returns from the kitchen carrying an entire, dead chicken, which he promptly devours in front of the others. In between enormous bites and torn flesh, he speaks "Mogwai agree. Since Mogwai is likely blame for murder, should not be one to investigate it further. Will talk to mayor."

When the group begins to split up, Mogwai will talk to Brutus and whoever else goes with him. "Watch backs." He says simply. "One who murders was clever, crafty, quiet."

"No offense Mogwai, but the mayor does not seem to look kindly upon Goblins. If you go to speak to him he will likely accuse you of attacking him or call for a mob or something, and any chance we have would be lost. We need a human who is good at discussion, or someone who can pass as human." Drombar helps himself to a last pancake."and they shouldn't go alone. Jim is still on the prowl, as is this mysterious attacker, and alone there are no witnesses to gainsay the mayor if he accuses us falsely. I'd say we should all go, but that might be intimidating for the Mayor. Perhaps two to speak to him while the rest lurk nearby, out of sight."