The Bonds of Hope (Inactive)

Game Master DireMerc

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Viktor flashes through various ideas before coming up with a new one. "In my experience, the people that know the most about someone, are his enemies rather than his friends...it might be worth finding a few. If he took it up with a rival gang then I'm sure he has come to the attention of a few people by now.

"And enemies are much more willing to part with information than friends." Flare nods. "I like that one better, so far. Any other ideas?"

"Perhaps we could capture a member of the Bloodhands, they might know something."

"I'd rather buy the information than kidnap someone, personally. A lot less expensive in the long run, I would think. Good ideas, though. Any preferences, so far? Any other ideas?"

"Any kind of information is going to cost, if we take a friend of member from them I doubt we'll even have enough to buy them so an enemy is our best option i think."

Flare turned her attention to the gambler, "Any idea where we'd find some annoyed pirates that don't care for the blood hands?"

Fairly easy just contact any of the 3 largest pirates groups in town

I'm not sure if we know who those groups are, but it seems like the best scenario for us to move forward. Lets go target some of the largest pirate groups to move against the blood hands.

Works for me. ^^

Once they'd gotten all of the information they needed, Cynthia nodded a bit, then started heading off towards the docks. Along the way, she kept a keen lookout for any signs that might indicate the presence of one of the groups they were there to find.

Perception (Searching for pirate/territory insignia): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

"So we head to pirates?" Riven didn't really like the idea but she didn't have anything better.

Flare shrugged. "We don't have much else. It's more roundabout, but I just don't want to give the jerks the satisfaction of us coming to them after they tried to bully us into joining. And the Enemy of my enemy will help me be an enemy to their enemy... at the very least."

Flare falls in line with the others that seem to know more about the area than her. Each person was good at their own thing, after all.

You ask around and learn that Gaston Cromarcky the overlord, Varnal Knocmar "split face" the master of beggars, Boss croat the master of smugglers and the leader of the hushmen and even Elias Tammerhawk (in a limited fashion) are banding together to launch an attack on the Bloodhands who have landed about 2 miles south of Riddleport and set up a base there. Three ships are being loaded up with men and mercenaries at the docks and soon they will go south to attack the bloodhand position from the sea.

"Lets head to the docks then, its possible we could get in touch with interested parties there."

"Or, we can return to the devil we know." Flare suggests.

I'm sorry, but it's slipped my mind: What all do we know about the blood hands as a group? What are they doing that's making everyone upset, that sort of stuff. I'm sure it was covered at some point, but I... for some reason... don't remember the situation.

"Pirates are sadly our best hope for information so we should try to move quickly, to the dock?"

You head to the dock and see the three large warships being prepared there is a large group of people here lined up to speak to a man at a table who is giving each man a sac of coins and sending them on board a vessel.

"...Don't people usually get paid after they get back from a trip?" Cynthia observed. Well, it wasn't her problem if someone wanted to do things another way. Still, they could probably talk to one of the people in line... or get in line themselves and ask the man passing out the coins. This looked like some kind of recruitment drive...?

Well let's get in line then! We've just been asking questions and walking around, let's get something done!"

"We need to be careful they may not even take us because of our age and even if they do it's going to be dangerous, we should have one person speak for us to make it easier."

Saying that you notice the person who just reached the front of the line seems even younger than you. A lad who is maybe fourteen years old.

The man at the table looks at him and laughs "Really kid you want to go tangle with the bloodhands? You don't even have a sword! And no weapons aren't provided unless you pay for them."

"I got knives! Lots of em and I can hit a man in the eye from 30 feet away!" says the boy drawing a pair of knives in a quick well practiced movement.

"That so? You ever kill a man boy?"

"Well...No...But I could if I wanted too!"

"Well whatever not my problem if you die. Here is 25 gold as your upfront payment there is food and booze and gear for sale on the ship. You get on and you stay on till the operation begins. Assuming you survive this mission you will receive additional rewards based on your performance. You are a mercenary and accepting this contract does not make you a member or affiliate of any of the represented pirates groups got that?"

"Hum yes I got it" stammers the youth before making his way towards the ship

"So who is going to be our spokesmen?"

"I... vote Cynthia. I'm not really comfortable jumping through the hoops that would require." Flare says, shaking her head. "I think she'd be better at representing us to that sort of person."

Alternatively, if Cynthia doesn't want to do it, I'll step up. I might not have the skill points (for the Charisma) but I can BS as good as anyone!

Anything in particular you'd like to tell/ask them?

You're playing the wise character who knows everything. Surely she has some ideas of what to do here. ;p

Yeah, but because of that, I want to be sure and get everyone's input instead of doing things by myself. ^^ It's a cooperative game, after all.

Honestly... Flare would just tell him 'We want to talk to your boss.' He'd laugh, and tell us to step out of line. She'd get frustrated and pouty. :P The more subtle approach would be to just sign on... but the path we've taken leaves pretty much -only- that, unless we manage to make a major name for ourselves. And making a name for ourselves is going to require slaughtering a lot of bloodhands. Something Flare finds distasteful at best; she's had enough of killing -men- with the accidental kill.

Riven doesn't have anything i think we just need to ask about the bloodhands

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23 Feel free to Aid Another me here.

"Hi." Cynthia said as their group got up to the front of the line. "Spare me the giggles about puny-looking girls wanting to join up, because I don't. The Bloodhands recently hired someone named Malcolm - thinks he's hotter stuff than he is, but they went to a lot of effort to get him. We have our own problems with him - if you can tell us where we can find him, we'll be taking him out of the picture for you... which can only be a good thing for what you're planning."

Edited for the right number. XD; Somehow missed that she DID have Diplomacy.

Your diplomacy bonus is actually 5 higher. :p And Flare can't fail to aid diplomacy. So another +2. Total of 25 so far. :)

Flare stands behind Cynthia being a not-puny-looking girl. She shines her Fauchard as she carefully doesn't pay attention to the pair in front of her.

Diplo Aid: 1d20 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 2 - 1 = 19

"Enemy of my enemy."

The man at the table just makes a "hmprh" sounds and says "Whatever we will be dropping you by rowboat on a beach near were the bloodhands are based your group will charge their front while our main force climbs down the cliff to attack them from the sides and behind. So long as you kill bloodhands while your chasing down this Malcolm were satisfied. You get 25 gold as your upfront payment there is food and booze and gear for sale on the ship. You get on and you stay on till the operation begins tonight. Assuming you survive this mission you will receive additional rewards based on your performance. You are a mercenary and accepting this contract does not make you a member or affiliate of any of the represented pirates groups got that?"

Riven looked at the man confused."Sorry did you not hear the first thing we said? We don't want to join we want information."

"Unless he's trying to imply that Malcolm's with them at their base - in which case we'd probably have to help them in order to get inside." Cynthia mused, frowning slightly. The man's repetition of certain words despite her clear objection to that was a bit odd, though... foolishness? Lack of care for the details? Worst-case scenario, mental domination? Hmm...

"Or his only job is to sit here passing out money, and he doesn't care about why we sign on, only that we do." Flare suggests. "And... he also kind of has said to everyone we've heard him talk to that we aren't joining. Very specifically." she frowns as she leans against a nearby support.

He frowns as if confused by your statements "Either take your coins and get on the boat or get lost."

Flare nodded. "Figures."

"So, are we signing on to go to war, or are we going to ask someone else... or what? I'm kind of clueless here, sadly. Well, not clueless. I know for certain that I'm not getting paid to kill people in my immediate future."

Looks pretty railroaded for us to get onto the boat.

"Relax Flare, its not signing up to go to war, this is just a minor squabble we don't care about. Look on it as a free ride that we get paid for"

"What about the other source? We could just find a leader and talk to him so we don't get tied up in a fight thats not ours."

This may be railroaded to join but i think he added more paths if im wrong correct me but id like to check around if we have time

He mentioned approaching the leaders of the various factions

Flare continued to lean on the column, being somewhat sullen. "We may just be running from our destiny, to be honest."

"Well I think it sounds like fun, fight a few bloodhands, get paid, find marcus, fulfill are destiny, etc. etc."

There are other options this is just the quickest most direct path

Cynthia quietly looked at Tormod. "Is fighting alongside pirates, to promote their goals, what you trained for?" she asked.

Tormod looks at Cynthia the joy quickly disappearing from his face. "You know that's not what I meant Cynth. I want to find Marcus and figure out whats going on as quickly as possible and this seems like the way to do it. I'm Just trying to lighten the mood."

"It seems like a way to get caught up in a lot of fighting thats not ours, I vote we go find captains. We want information not war."

"I second that. And also think going with the devil we know is better. I still want to know how the Bloodhands found out about us when the only person with any right to know of who we are is apparently their enemy..." She says, still outside the line. "And limiting our contact with the powers that be, here, will likely keep our hands a little less dirty. So I vote Tammerhawk."

"As do I. Tormod and Victor say ship and Cynthia is for Tammer? Am I mistaken or should go find Tammer."

"I just think we should act in a way that befits those from our home." Cynthia said with a small smile. "Tammerhawk does seem like the better choice, though."

"Getting ourselfs killed won't help anyone, Tammerhawk it is."

OK I am back online. It is late at night currently so I wont be making a new post just a heads up that my internet is back up so I will be returning full time starting tomorrow.

I'd like it if everyone could make any post just so I see your all still around.