GM Leinathan's Jade Regent (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

Go ahead and dot here if you like. I'm not quite ready to start, but will be very soon!

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Pharast 12, 4713: the Beginning

When Ameiko had returned from her short re-entry to adventuring with two objects of wondrous power: the warding box and the Amatatsu Seal, folks around town had simply congratulated her on a successful expedition. When the Seal gave her visions of a land far away, a noble legacy denied and a demonic usurper, folks had just chalked it off as cursed and told her to throw it in a vault or sell it or something.

But something about the visions awakened something in Ameiko. She wouldn't compromise, and she wouldn't give up on the idea that she was the only one who could save her people from a horrible fate. The normally irreverent woman showing so much concern about something she had very little evidence about concerned her friends, who rallied and came together to support her. After a lot of time talking, a plan was set forth: Ameiko would cross over the Crown of the World to see whether there was anything to these visions. If there wasn't, then it would be a grand adventure anyway. Shalelu and Koya, at least, had been itching to get going somewhere, anywhere, for years now. But if they were real... well, that was something to be addressed later.

Letters were sent, hiring boards consulted, and interviews conducted. The friends and family of Ameiko's innermost circle of friends was gathered, and Ameiko's friend Sandru began packing up his caravan.

That Irissa might not come was never under consideration. Shalelu was, after all, responsible for her.

Rae Keisinger, coming home from a successful job out in the city, would receive a letter invoking an apology and a big, big favor.

Kikiri Shadowscale just kind of...showed up one day. With neither the will nor the particular ability to dismiss him, Ameiko decided to let the funny kobold come along.

Koya's sister Clarabibulus always wanted to adventure, and to think about what kind of spices awaited in the far-off lands of Minkai... think of what kinds of fizzy drinks you could make!

And Calder was bored by Sandru's regular jobs, and his performance previously was enough to elicit remembrance and an invitation to come along. Someone muscular was usually helpful to have around.

Now, with Sandru's Varisian employees, the Dalmuvian brothers, packing up the last of the supplies onto Sandru's caravan, the group gathers together for one final drink in the Rusty Dragon before Ameiko gives it up. With the caravan population seated around a packed Rusty Dragon (most of Sandpoint's younger populace wanted to come and see Ameiko off), Sandru stands up. Youthfully handsome for thirty-three, Sandru's shiny clean teeth flash the room as he holds a mug up. He addresses the room, ale sloshing onto the ground from the mug in his hand while he gestures. "I'm honored and grateful that all of you have come out to wish us good-bye! I'll do my very best to keep your favorite tavern-owner safe, and if we see you again... well, we'll be a couple of years I think."

From in the crowd, somebody yells, "Safe journeys!", and in a roar the rest of the bar echoes him. Sandru laughs, sits down, and digs in to his drink.

Party time before the adventure! Go ahead and walk around and socialize, if y'all like. Once three indicate that they're done RPing and want to move on to drunkenly passing out and advancing to tomorrow, we will.

Calder not being a local, and having no connection to Ameiko kept to the edges of the gathering. He was experienced enough now not to drink heavily. Starting a journey with your head pounding and your guts churning never came up in the Bards sagas. He'd done it when he was a young fool and wasn't going to try it again.

He couldn't help but feel excited though. Finally a chance to see the lands his Nana had so lovingly described to him when he was only a small sprog hanging on her words with eyes wide.

'Shame we have to leave in the morning.' He thought, enjoying his drink. 'They broke out the good stuff for this!'

Calder will also try and have a word with Shalelu, she will obviously be the caravans main scout. He can give her advice on The lands of the Linnorms, and good communication between the scouts and the guards is always vital.

From the back of the crowd, a large, rock-like dragon's head poked up over the crowd, its bright amber eyes peering out from underneath flawless plates of emerald. On top of its head sat Kikiri, looking out over the spectacle with inquiring eyes, though the rest of his expression was hidden by the total face mask he wore over it.

As they watched, both started to speak in a strange, growling language, their reptilian features putting odd emphasis on certain syllables.

@Calder,

Shalelu is at the bar, drinking tea rather than ale. She faces away from the bar, balancing cross-legged on the tiny barstool. Her short sword lies across her knees, though it's in its sheath. Nobody appears daring enough to approach her for conversation, though you can tell many of the bar's patrons are looking at her or talking about her. She watches the crowd carefully, her black elven eyes difficult to read.

Calder introduces himself to Shalelu politely.

Explaining where he's from and his experiences in the colder regions of the north.

He's not trying to flatter or charm her, he wants to compare notes to ensure the caravan is as safe as possible.

He nurses his ale, not drinking heavily.

Once the music started, Irissa was quick to join the dancing. This being their last day at Sandpoint and such a major occasion, too, she did break our that 'special' red outfit, making sure to change just before the party. The implication was not missed, and quite a few young men surrounded her, hoping for an invitation later in the evening and occasionally exploding in cheers as her performance got particularly intense.

She stayed for a couple more turns, spending the time between dances drinking fruit wine, chattering with her acquaintances from the town and flirting, when one of the new arrivals caught her eyes. She'd only appeared in Sandpoint to join their expedition, but it seemed Ameiko and Rae - that's the name she heard the Dragon's owner use - were quite close some time back before Irissa's arrival.

Curious, the sorceress excused herself and headed over, swatting away with laughter a particularly daring hand as she made way out of the crowd.

Shalelu's eyes find Calder before he gets close enough to talk to her, and she introduces herself before he gets the chance - "Calder, right? You're one of the guards that Sandru hired. It'll be good to work together." When he pulls the conversation about keeping the caravan safe together, she smiles wryly. "You're at a party, you're not getting drunk, and you want to talk about strategy. What an odd human," she says.

Shalelu's eyes find Calder before he gets close enough to talk to her, and she introduces herself before he gets the chance - "Calder, right? You're one of the guards that Sandru hired. It'll be good to work together." When he pulls the conversation about keeping the caravan safe together, she smiles wryly. "You're at a party, you're not getting drunk, and you want to talk about strategy. What an odd human," she says.

Calder nods wryly. "Painful experience I'm afraid. I started a long journey with a hangover and a queasy stomach once, that was enough for me."

He looks at all the people having a good time. "Otherwise I'd be out there having a good time and making a fool of myself like any man."

Calder doesn't try to force the conversation, if Shalelu isn't interested in talking he just sits quietly. Otherwise he goes over how she would prefer to work with the caravan guards. To make sure they work together smoothly.

To townies who’ve been around for more than a few years, Clarabibulus is a familiar sight. Others--especially those who don’t know gnomes well--may sometimes get confused. As recently as a week ago, her hair was cobalt blue and her skin was slightly golden. This week, her skin is a light milky blue, her eyes are a green-copper verdigris, and her hair is a fiery yellow-orange. The constant that makes her identity obvious to locals (other than a dearth of gnomes in Sandpoint) is her stained and sticky apron--and the various vials at her belt--betraying her obsession with alchemy.

Clarabibulus sits on the edge of a bench, raising her mug of ale to the toast. She glances over at her sister Koya, and sees her surrounded by neighbors, expressing sympathy for her adoptive mother’s recent journey to the Boneyard. A few weeks ago Clara enjoyed that attention, but at this stage she’s starting to get bored by the same statement from the fortieth neighbor. Best steer away from there!

Suddenly the sound of draconic being spoken turns her head, and her eyes go wide as saucers. A DRAGON!? She scurries between a cluster of partiers and pops up in front of it.

”သင်တစ်ဦးနဂါးင်! သငျသညျဖြစ်ကြသည် ... သင်သူနဲ့လာရန်ဒီနေရာကိုရှိပါသလဲ ကမ္ဘာ့ကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့၏သရဖူကျော်?” She blinks twice, eyes still wide, ”တစ်ဦးကိုမှန်ကန်နဂါး။ ငါဆိုလို, ငါသည်ဘာသာစကားလေ့လာပေမယ့်ငါတကယ်ထင်ဘယ်တော့မှမ ...

"ဘာပဲဖြစ်ဖြစ် သူ တနေ့တစ်ဦးကိုမှန်ကန်နဂါးတွေ့ဆုံခဲ့သည်။ တကယ်တော့သူသည်ပင်လယ်ဖြတ်ပြီးတစ်ဦးနဂါး၏နောက်ကျောအပေါ်တက်လာပြီး။ သို့သော်လည်းငါသည်အစဉ်အဆက်ငါတကယ့်တဦးတည်းတွေ့ဆုံရန်င့်မစဉ်းစားခဲ့ပေ။”

As an afterthought, she looks up and says, ””ငါ၏အရပါ, သင်သည်သင်၏ဦးခေါင်းကိုအပေါ်တစ်ဦးမှင်ရှိသည်။ ဒါကကိုမျိုး၏ချစ်စရာပါပဲ။ သင်တို့၌အစဉ်ရှိတဦးတည်းစောင့်ရှောက်သလား? ဒါကြောင့်အစဉ်အမြဲအတူတူပင်တစ်လား?

As she talks the little gnome gets more and more animated, gesticulating wildly.

Rae was feeling more than slightly nostalgic. Being back in Sandpoint, seeing Ameiko again after so many years, it was getting to her more than she'd expected it would. When she had gotten the letter, she didn't even hesitate to come, and now she was wondering if perhaps she should have.

The party was going great, but she was having trouble enjoying it, with her mind on so many other things. There were a few instances that she had stepped outside to get some air, but that had - in a way - made it even worse, because familiar sights brought back memories as well.

Now, she was inside, curiously surveying the group that was intended to go on this expedition, and wondering if she was suited for it. The others seemed to be bonding quite well. She had imagined that she might have more time to reconnect with Ameiko, share some stories, some laughs, but it was understandable that the tavern-owner was busy. She was leaving behind her entire life, and had many friend and relationships. Rae felt a bitter twinge of jealousy, and brushed it away.

As the younger girl came closer after another bout of dancing, Rae smiled and raised her drink. "You have quite a talent. It's Irissa, right?"

As the younger girl came closer after another bout of dancing, Rae smiled and raised her drink. "You have quite a talent. It's Irissa, right?"

"Yup. Nice to meet you, Rae!" Irissa greeted her with a grin before blithely plopping down on the tabletop and studying woman for a moment.

"Are, you, perhaps, not a fan of parties? Those are supposed to help when something's eating you, but it doesn't seem to work."

Kikiri is still looking around the party, but Kolung turns his head to face the gnome as she speaks in his own language, catching the kobold offguard as he involuntarily swung around with him to face her. He tilted his head, fringes twitching as the imperial dragon smiled back at her, nodding.

The imperial dragon nodded up, bouncing the kobold on his head a bit, as Kikiri simply stared back at the excitable gnome girl. Finally, though, he managed to speak, looking down at Kolung.

Kikiri leaned over onto Kolung's face, reaching down to shake the gnome girl's hand.

"Yup. Nice to meet you, Rae!" Irissa greeted her with a grin before blithely plopping down on the tabletop and studying woman for a moment.

"Are, you, perhaps, not a fan of parties? Those are supposed to help when something's eating you, but it doesn't seem to work."

"I like parties well enough." She replies with a smile. Studying Irissa for a moment, weighing her words, she continues, as her smile fades. "It's just strange is all. I grew up here, and I haven't been back for a very long time. I can't decide if I wish we were spending a few more days in Sandpoint before leaving, or I'll be glad to be gone again." Another smile spreads across her face, this one slightly more embarrassed. "My apologies. That's probably not the best way for me to describe your home." She cocks a head. "But then, perhaps it isn't much of a home for you, either, if you're set to leave. What about this expedition is bringing you out into the world?"

"I like parties well enough." She replies with a smile. Studying Irissa for a moment, weighing her words, she continues, as her smile fades. "It's just strange is all. I grew up here, and I haven't been back for a very long time. I can't decide if I wish we were spending a few more days in Sandpoint before leaving, or I'll be glad to be gone again." Another smile spreads across her face, this one slightly more embarrassed. "My apologies. That's probably not the best way for me to describe your home." She cocks a head. "But then, perhaps it isn't much of a home for you, either, if you're set to leave. What about this expedition is bringing you out into the world?"

"No particular reason?" Irissa wondered. "I probably would've wandered away at some point like big sis sometimes does, because why stay at the same place all the time if you don't have to? This is just the best opportunity, because Shalelu and Ameiko are going, too."

She started swinging her legs, considering.

"I don't think we can set out any sooner, but we could look into delaying for a day or two if you'd like? Although not without making someone mad, I suspect," the sorceress offered, considering her options. "Not much point thinking about it otherwise. Want to go dancing with me? I think I can even dig up a really nice dancer's outfit for you! Or we could go bully Ameiko into doing that, it's been forever since she danced for an audience. Oooh, come to think of it, I know where she keeps some of her good stuff, too, surely it would be a shame to leave it behind. We can even rope the old geezer into it so that Mei scolds him instead."

It didn't look like she was going to stop inventing more things to try any time soon, paying no heed to the fact that they only had one evening before setting out come the morning.

Shalelu holds her tea up like a toast. "Hangovers," she says. For a few moments, she just looks into the crowd, her black eyes relatively expressionless. "Can't say I know what those are like," she finishes.

"Though if Sandru's tales are to be any indication, perhaps it is best you are keeping your drinking in check," she continues. "I always like having alert guards on duty. Speaking of, I'm mostly gonna be hunting for food to keep our caravan going longer. Make less stops when you can go longer."

On the other side of the bar, a leathery hand finds itself on top of Clarabibulus' head. Koya Mvashti, Varisian cleric and Clara's sister, smiles kindly down at the gnome. "Making a new friend, C?" she says, before looking down at Kikiri and Kolung. She extends a hand. "Koya Mvashti. You two are coming with us tomorrow, right? I don't remember... where did you want us to drop you off? And you have pay, right?"

Kikiri blinked at the older, taller woman approaching, looking down at her hand before smiling and shaking it enthusiastically... before Kolung bucked his head up to get the kobold off his face. The imperial dragon eyed the woman, but bowed respectfully.

"Nice to meet you, Lady Mvashti! I am Kikiri, last of the Shadowscales, and this is Kolung! And we are coming with you all! All the way! We will not stop until the rightful empress has reclaimed her throne! We will go to the ends of the world for her Ladyship!" He seemed excited about the prospect of a long journey.

"Are you her mom?" Kikiri asked, looking between Clara and Koya. She didn't look anything like a gnome either... then again, he and Kolung didn't look alike except for being dragons, but they were still brothers.

Calder nods politely to Shalelu and leaves her in peace.

Since he knows a little about Irrisa and Clarabibulus and not the other two he introduces himself first to Rae. Greetings. I am Calder Brandson. I'm coming on the journey as a guard. I've worked with Sandru before and know the Linnorms well. May I ask what you'll be doing on the caravan?"

Calder is being very polite here, getting to know his fellow travelers and what part they will play on the journey.

At Kikiri's questions, Clarabibulus's eyes go wide. She glances back and forth between the dragon and his caller.

She starts to answer in Draconic but switches to Taldan when she sees her sister walking up.

"...you're a gnome? But... where are your burning eyes? Your enormous fangs? The demonic claws and... you speak Draconic? I thought all gnomes only spoke the darkest languages of the Pit..."

"I suspect your tribe elders have never actually met a gnome, Kikiri. So what they told you of them probably should be taken with great quantities of salt."

"Hmmmm, Elders being that that misinformed? I don't know, that sounds implausible. Maybe they knew better but were pranking you? You know, trying to make you look like a fool the first time you met a real gnome? I've heard that Kobold jokes aren't often very funny, but that one's Not bad."

Then after a moment she gets a fairly serious look on her face.

"Oh wait, I just remembered, Kobolds age to death during childhood, don't you? Like, sometimes before you're even fifty. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Maybe I can help. I mean, I can try to brew an elixir to keep you alive into adulthood...but barring that I can at least try to enliven your brief existence with good pranks and jokes. I'll see what I can do.

"But anyway for now the best ones have a zesty, bubbly, uplifting quality...perfect for a hot, dry day. Or, ummm, to dull the pain of knowing you'll die of old age before your life has really even had time to begin. (Did that come out right?)"

Fearing that the conversation is unraveling, Clara is relieved to see her sister coming up. When asked if Koya's her mom she shakes her head. "Koya's my sister. We're practically twins, only she's a human and my birth parents were gnomes--that's how I got to be part of the illustrious Flingflopsparkfizz clan--did I already ask if you've heard of us? Anyway, she's a bit older than me...and being a human she suffers from rapid aging too, though not quite as acutely as you do, I think."

Turning to Koya, Clara adds, "I'm sure you've got many years left--just look how long mama lived--but just in case, I was just telling these two that I've just decided to see if I can invent an elixir that will slow or reverse your aging. Wouldn't that be great?"

Rae smiles at Irissa's mention of delaying their departure. "You're sweet, but no, I'll be ready come the morning. Anything here that meant something to me, I took with me the first time I left." Her smile falters slightly, but she recovers quickly. "Shalelu's your big sister, yeah? Hard to believe, that one. I remember seeing her around town a bit as a kid. Pretty no-nonsense, never seemed to care much for Ameiko and I. Young troublemakers and all." She finishes with another grin.

"My dancing days are long behind me," she laughs. "But I'll tell you what. You convince Ameiko to do so, and I'll get the violin out of my bag and accompany you. Won't be a soul in the place able to resist."

Koya smiles and lets Clara's words just wash over her. She's used to Clara's misunderstandings about rates of maturity, and so has little interest in trying to correct her for the fiftieth time. When asked about an elixir that could help reverse aging, she strokes her chin thoughtfully. "Well, hmm. I suppose a longer life could help me see a few more places before I go... but let's see how satisfied I get on my normal lifespan before we start pouring Fizzy Drinks of Immortality down my throat, hmm?"

Weaving through the crowd, Irissa reached Ameiko who was regailing a bunch of patrons with some funny tale. She listened for a minute, waiting for a lull in the story, before calling for a moment of attention.

"Mei, Mei, come dance with us for a bit! Please?" she asked, looking painfully earnest and hopeful, then turned to the listeners, trying to drum up support. "You haven't seen her dance, have you? She almost never does. It'll be a special event for a special occasion!"

Ameiko's legs swing and she puts a finger on her cheek, tilting her head. "Dancing? But who's gonna play the music, you?" She laughs, and several people in the crowd laugh along with her. A man standing by the table puts his hand on her shoulder good-naturedly, but she flicks it away without turning and jumps off of the table onto the ground.

"No, but seriously. I usually don't dance because I'm usually the one playing."

"Precisely! You have to try new things, or what kind of bard would you be otherwise?" Irissa agreed enthusiastically. "Don't worry about the music, even if no one else plays, I bet I can get Rae to, and I'll fetch my lute if necessary, as well. This is the last chance for many our adoring fans, truly it would be cruel to deny it to them."

She spoke with passion before leaning closer and adding in low voice playfully:

"I could go get that sealed bottle from the other day if you're feeling shy? It has indeed been quite a while, after all."

"You can make a fizzy drink of immortality!? Oh, that'd be sweet!" Kikiri exclaimed, perking up at the sound of an amazing elixir of life. "But, yeah, kobolds don't usually live very long... though old Jerrazyx is said to be over 100! ...of course, he also hobbles around claiming the frogs can talk to him..."

"...I talk to you, though." Kolung piped up from below.

"Yeah, but you're supposed to talk! You're a dragon! Frogs can't talk! ...can they?"

"...we'll see if you think that when we get to the Empires." The dragon smiled as if knowing something the kobold didn't. Kikiri tilted his head, but shrugged it off. "So... you're a gnome, but she's your sister and a human?"

"Adoption does happen, you know. Perhaps her parents left... or something else happened to them."

"Ooooohhhhh... you mean like a mining accident? Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, I don't know what that's like, I don't know who my parents are because our whole tribe takes care of the hatchlings, but I heard that bigger races put more importance on that, so... my apologies." Kikiri pressed his palms together and bowed respectfully.

Clara blinks. "Well, I can't make a fizzy drink of immortality yet...but now that I've had the idea I'll start working on notes for it, and maybe combing through great-great-great-great-grandpapa Umbilicus' notes for ideas.

"Why, they say that he once brewed a drink so fizzy and uplifting that it once brought Terrick Noor the elder back to the bloom of his youth. They also say while he was working on it he brewed a drink that brought Terrick's sister Grethel back to infancy...but some in my family claim that that's because Grethel shook it up too much before drinking it."

Barely pausing to breathe, she scribbles "TODO:Immortality Drink" in the margin of an already cluttered sheath of parchment and continues "Thank you for your condolence. My dear parents were gobbled up by a shriezyx, but that was over 50 years ago. They died before they could make significant progress on our family's Epic Quest, but I hope to be able to carry it forward to a fruitful and fruity conclusion. I believe a trip across Golarion--as Umbilicus himself did so long ago--may be the missing key."

As they talk, Clara notices Rae start to play violin, and sees Irissa and Ameiko get up to dance. "Come on, let's go watch. This'll be fun."

The frenetic little gnome motions for the dragon and kobold to follow and them sidles up next to Calder as a semicircle forms around the fiddler and the dancers.

Ameiko sighs and stands up, to the glee of many men surrounding her. "Fine, fine. No," she says, suddenly stern for a moment. "We do not need to drink to have fun." She waggles a finger at Irissa, her brow furrowed... but only for a moment, when she breaks out into a smile. "We drink because we like to!"

She looks over at Rae, hesitating for a moment before she yells over, "Play something fun!"

Rae grins back, and retrieves her violin from a bag that, by all means looks too small to have held such an item. "Just like old times." She mutters to herself. Marching up towards Ameiko and Irissa, she nods to anyone else around who has an instrument. "Follow my lead." Her fingers moving quickly, she begins to play a rather upbeat song, while Irissa and Ameiko dance along. Her own eyes only really leave Ameiko when she needs to look down the violin's neck for a particular fingering.

Irissa and Ameiko's advance onto the dance floor prompts most of the crowd into backing away, leaving only one drunk who's a little slow on the uptake. After somebody reaches forward and pulls him away, there's a convenient little circle in which the two women can dance freely. Two excitable teenagers, one a half-orc and the other a human, run to get their instruments. They come back within moments with a flute and a drum and set about playing alongside Rae.

The resultant musical party is epic and exciting, and ultimately wipes everyone of energy. The party is done just two hours after the music starts, with everyone staggering home or staying in the Dragon's rooms (free of charge, tonight only!) drenched in their own sweat.

Pharast 13, 4713

Sandru got up early after the party and, alongside the Dalmuvian brothers and the hired help has managed to mostly set up the cart by the time anybody else manages to get up and out. The caravan's five carts stand in a shiny line, most of the cargo loaded onto it. Sandru hails anyone who comes out with a friendly wave and the offer of a disgusting sludgy green drink that he claims will cure any hangover!

Koya is busy in her own personal cart, organizing and strapping down all of her things so that nothing falls about when the cart is rumbling up and down on the road.

Shalelu is nowhere to be seen, but if any of the other caravan members are asked they explain that she got up even earlier than Sandru did and hit the road on foot, trying to get an hour or two ahead of them so that she could meet up with them later with the day's catch.

Ameiko is still busy saying her farewells - another two dozen people have come out. Mostly the town's non-party-people. The Valdemar family, one of the town's founding noble families, for example.

The rest - those hired to help drive and run the caravan, Brandy, Sigurd, Dyami, Kelda and Eglin - they're just at their posts, waiting to get on the road.

Before the road gets goin', though, Sandru gathers everyone together for a final powwow. "I've got our plan," he says, pulling out a worn map of the Lost Coast. "The trip to Kalsgard's about 950 miles, which means it's going to take us about 30 days to get there. Hopefully, we can get there in a timely manner, get supplies for the trip over the Crown and get going from Kalsgard in 60 days, just in time for spring." He looks around at everyone, making eye contact with each person. "Everyone get it? We'll head from here to Galduria to start. Charming little creepy farming village, about three days' trip. It's about a week from there to Riddleport, and another few days from there to Crying Leaf, which is about as north as we're gonna get with regular resupplies. From there we'll get into the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, hit Jol as quick as we can, get out of troll territory and skirt around the Grungir Forest to get to Kalsgard. Clear enough?"

Calder nods, he went to bed early and drank lightly anyway.

He checks all his gear is ready, and his weapons are in reach in case of trouble. "Where do you want me?" He asks Sandru calmly, axe over his shoulder.

"I'm not late, I'm not late, I'm not late!!!" Irissa chanted as she rushed up the Salmon Street, red faced, disheveled and rather underdressed. She ducked past the group into the inn only to emerge not two minutes later with her pack, thankfully prepared in advance, finishing changing into her travelling gear on the move.

"Gods bless the cantrips," the girl puffed and nudged the closest person for a brief recap, before giving Sandru a winning smile. "Eager to go, old man!"

She was, too. Granted, colluding with Arika to convince a little over a dozen young men and women to leave early and continue the party at the Pixie's Kitten instead turned out to a be a great idea and loads of fun. However, now that it was over, she'd rather hit the road before the details of the night started to circulate. Given that it began with all her clothes getting left behind at the inn somehow and escalated from there, she suspected she'd land in some pretty hot water if she stayed.

Kikiri spent a great deal of the night on vigilant watch over Ameiko, not wanting to let anything happen to her on his guard while she enjoyed herself. Curling up in the tavern room downstairs near the fire, Kikiri had fallen asleep next to the warm crackling, while Kolung vanished, returning to his home in the Earthen Planes.

At first light, Kikiri's yellow eyes snapped open, before heading outside to do his morning meditations and regain his expended magics. Rolling out the massive scroll he carried on his back, Kikiri made a few hand signs as he consulted his manuscript. "Summoning Justu!"

With his brother back at his side, Kikiri helped get the caravan set up, keeping relatively close to Ameiko as she said he goodbyes. Taking his usual place atop Kolung's head, Kikiri watched intently, though his attention was pulled aside by the arrival of Irissa. The dragon nodded respectfully, while Kikiri saluted, leaning down to whisper to her. "(Kalsgard is 950 miles from here. About 30 days if all goes well. Should be able to cross the crown in 60 days in time for spring. Also something about a creepy farm village and skirts. I didn't catch that bit.)" When Sandru came by, Kikiri pressed his palms together and bowed his head politely. "My apologies. Lady Irissa was kind enough to collect something I left behind. She has been ready." When the caravan leader wasn't looking, he gave Irissa a toothy smile and nod.

He had her back.

Clara's ears perk up at Sandru’s offer. While not especially hung over, she excitedly gulps down the offered green sludge (mostly in the spirit of professional curiosity, though she was feeling a bit fur-tongued).

"Blurrgh!! Gak! Gak! Oh WOW, that's a kind of vile that I've never experienced before.

“Mind if I try a little more? I think it might be interesting with some fizzy salts in it."

When she finds Sandru to be too busy to really engage on matters alchemical, she starts to consult their maps, cross checking them against Umbilicus’ own far-more-obtuse geographical notes. Hmmmm, Great-great-great-grandpapa mentions Galduria in passing...and something about a griffin's droppings…and blue-cap mushrooms...and does that waterlogged corner really say “the ettin’s armpit”?

She looks up with a start as Irissa runs in, buttoning her blouse as she comes. Then she hears Kikiri explain,

"My apologies. Lady Irissa was kind enough to collect something I left behind. She has been ready." When the caravan leader wasn't looking, he gave Irissa a toothy smile and nod.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Clarabibulus is confused for a moment, remembering Irissa heading off to the Pixie's Kitten late last night, and then puts two and two together with a gasp.

"Ooh, you two ended up boinking last night?! Huh...I totally didn't see it at first, but then I guess I've never been a great judge. Good for you two! Starting the caravan off with a bang eh?", the chemical-stained gnome winks at the new couple. "Is this just a little fun to relieve the tension before a long journey, or maybe the start of something serious?"

Kikiri blinked back at Clara, before looking at Irissa, then back to the gnome. "...what's that mean? I've never heard that word before." Kikiri looked down at his dragon brother, asking what the word meant in draconic. Kolung grew an extremely ashamed look on his face, before peering up to explain it properly in the same tongue.

That's when Kikiri developed an extremely disgusted look on his face.

"WHAT!? NO! NO NO NO, EWWWWWW, that's just... NO!" The kobold stared in shock back at the gnome. "Why would you even- no! That's so gross! She doesn't even have scales, or a tail, or fringes and... NO!!!" Kikiri jittered a little, still clearly turned off at the prospect, as Kolung just shook his head in dismay.

"I mean, no disrespect, my apologies, but... you aren't... pretty. I mean, to a human, I am sure you are very lovely, but to me, you're like... you're lovely in the same way that I would consider a dire weasel lovely. Lovely fur, very well groomed, impressive physique, but... no. My apologies..."

Rae arrives early in the morning, despite the late night, though with the look of someone who is well-aware of the terrible decisions they made the night before. Still, though tired, her eyes show mostly excitement.

As Sandru points out their routes on the map, Rae is surprised to see how far away they were going. She'd made the decision to join without a second thought, and only now was it sinking in how long it would be until they were back.

It wasn't that she had anything that she was really going to miss, but after being in the same place for so long, she was worried about how it would appear when she returned. In the same way that Sandpoint had changed (yet staying largely the same) in the time that she had been gone.

When Irissa arrives, out of breath but radiant, Rae can't help but laugh, and gladly fills her in on the details. "We have quite the road ahead of us." She adds.

With a last few goodbyes and a last few barrels loaded onto carts, Sandru declares the expedition began. Everybody piles onto the carts, and their drivers lash the horses. The few who came out in the morning to see the group off wave and call goodbye, and the caravan rumbles out of town. Never to be seen again? That remains to be seen.

Pharast 17

Four days after its departure from Sandpoint, the caravan rumbles into Galduria. Galduria is a small lakeside town that boasts only one thing of any interest - the Twilight Academy. The Academy's imposing stone structures dominate the center of town, taller and wider even than the Town Hall. The rest of the buildings are medium-sized retail areas or small stone and wood cottages for the town's citizens. Guesstimating, it appears that at least 500 people live here, but definitely fewer than 1,000.

The caravan camps in a circle on the northern edge of town, building a warm fire in the center of the circle of caravans. Ameiko breaks out the samisen and plays it for a few hours, filling the caravan with a campy peacefulness. Over the course of the day, citizens of the town come to visit the caravan and talk to Sandru, but all leave disappointed - the caravan has brought no trade goods from Sandpoint.

Book-keeping: the caravan deducts 14 rations per day, for a total of 5.6 units of provisions deducted.

One man, an enterprising younger human, comes to visit the caravan much later than all of the other visits. He confers with Sandru for a moment before Sandru allows him into the circle to share his piece. "This man's god a sales pitch for us, he says."

As they travel, Clara sneaks in chances when she can to gather alchemical ingredients. The first few days, she has high hopes of truly rare finds that might help her crack the mystery of the Ultimate Fizzy Drink...but by the third day she starts to adjust her expectations. Still, she finds some birch bark and elderberries that are hard to find immediately around Sandpoint and uses them to experiment on new recipes.

Her gnomish curiosity piqued, Clara looks up from the portable alchemist's lab she's sitting in front of and cocks her head, listening.

Calder is taking a break from his circuit of the caravan, he leans back against a wagon and listens to the man's sale pitch with mild attention. Trading isn't his job, but it's good to know what's going on.

Sandru motions that the man step forward, and he moves into the firelight. He's somewhat sallow and pale-faced, and he wears leathers. "I got a business opportunity to share with y'all," he says, pulling out a little paper pouch. He tosses it at Sandru, who catches it, opens it, smells it, and passes it around the group.

"I grow substances of a less than productive sort here, in my barn," he says. "And I don't get a lot of opportunity to sell 'em anywhere but to the teenagers to attend the Twilight. So I figured y'all could... invest in me, so to speak, bring 'em somewhere, and double your investment. I promise, my goods'll sell well."

"It's 800gp for my four barrels, and I swear, if you sell 'em right and you sell 'em well you might just make triple."

So it's 4 cargo units of vague leafy drugs for 800gp.

While Clara was only mildly curious about a business deal, she's quite curious about a chymically active leaf.

She anxiously waits for her turn to poke, pinch, and smell it. Whew! That’s quite a scent, kind of like a mix between a skunk and some powerful B.O.

Then a lightbulb goes off for her and she exclaims, ”Maybe this is what Great-granddaddy Umbilicus called the Ettin’s Armpit?!”

K.Nature: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

EDIT: In case any of the K.Local or Nobility checks are DC 10 and therefore doable untrained

K.Local(untrained): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
K.Nobility(untrained): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Kikiri and Kolung hummed along as Ameiko played her instrument, the kobold bobbing his head back and forth while the dragon he laid on swished his tail in time to the song. But their rhythm is interrupted by the arrival of Sandru and this new fellow making a sales pitch, the duo watching him intently... though Kikiri seemed more interested than Kolung. Probably because he could understand the man.

Translating for his brother, Kikiri smiled down at Kolung, yapping a bit more.

Following their conversation, Kikiri sat up, waving his hand to get Sandru's attention. "I say we snag it while we can! It may not be exotic here, but I bet we'd find a lot of places where you can't get that stuff. Like... up north! It's cold up there, hard to grow plants, right? I bet they'd think it's cool... and I'm betting nobody in Minkai would have ever seen stuff like this before!" When the pouch passed to him, Kikiri sniffed at it, his keen senses taking in the scents and shaking it a bit, trying to see if perhaps he couldn't negotiate a slightly lower price for it... after all, don't want to spend too much on something, in case it turns out to be bogus!

Appraise: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
Kn. Local: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

The young human points right at Kikiri, exclaiming: "That little kobold's got the right idea! Just imagine the riches you could make off of this in places where it isn't so easy to just grow them in barns! I'm sure those grumpy Ulfen guys could use a little warmth garnered from their pipes, yes?"

As for its value... it does seem like four barrels of it could be worth upwards of a thousand gold to the right person. Obviously, being drugs, some markets won't be right for it.

Legality on the Lost Coast is a really simple affair, being city-by-city, since most of the land is wilderness... but he can't really remember whether any of the cities have specific laws against drugs. Riddleport certainly doesn't.

Knowledge (local) checks to learn about places must be directed at specific places.

Calder isn't interested. "Legal in some places? So are slaves. Do we catch a few to sell where it's legal?" Is his opinion on the matter.

Clara looks at Calder, confused. "But slavery is evil, right? Downright mean and wrong. Do you think these leaves are mean and wrong too?

"I can't detect evil but Koya can. I'm sure she will if you'd like."

The young man shrugs, displaying his hands quizzically. "So... is that a no? How's it that y'all make decisions?"

He grins. "Democratically?"

Sandru turns to the rest of the caravan, saying, "Koya, Ameiko, Shalelu...what do you guys think?"

Ameiko rolls her eyes, shrugs, and idly plays a single string on her samisen. "I... I don't know. As long as it's not harmful, I don't see why it's any different than any luxury."

Koya strokes her chin thoughtfully. "Ameiko has the right of it, though the folly of youth can definitely bring people to abuse it."

Shalelu impassively watches, and doesn't use any body language to convey the way that she might be feeling. "I know not the corruptions and rules among most human lands. I think in Sandpoint, usage of such things would be frowned upon but not banned. That is all I have to offer."

Calder looks at Clarabibulus. "There are other ways of enslaving someone than just with chains." He says firmly.

What is this stuff anyway?

I got a 19 on K.Nature upthread, trying to ID it. Not sure if that was enough to learn anything.

Yeah, it's hard to decide what to do. If it's something light then it's not a big problem, on the other hand if it's bad we could walk into trouble with both sides of the law. The legal side for carrying banned substances, the illegal side for being in competition with them, or just them wanting it without paying.

I mean, it's weed. Sorry, I thought "vague leafy drug that you smoke" was enough. And yes, this could get you into trouble, and if that's not worth the monetary gain, that's fine.