Xanros Duskwalker's page

"We are here to help you out of this mess. These are my companions Rasmus, Guudwyn, and you have met Boeler" Xanros points to each in turn. "I will let Guudwyn or Rasmus talk to you since both of them are better at this than I."

Xanros turns to the group "I will take a look around." Xanros silently stalks around the shop interior

Spot check 14 + 8 = 22
Listen check 17 + 8 = 25
Move Silently 6 + 8 = 14
Hide 20 + 8 = 28

Xanros looks up at the ceiling one last time 'Well who ever is up there is either gone or ready to cut one of us in half if we climb up there. Later tonight maybe.'

Xanros follow Rasmus out of the room and down stairs to the inns common room. "We will have to cautious because there is a good chance that someone might be waiting for us to return."

After looking around for a way up to the top floor Xanros returned to the room.

"Hey Boeler, how would you feel if we hoisted you up there to take a look?" Guudwyn looks above referencing the illusory ceiling.

Xanros looks to Guudwyn and Rasmus "First off if one of us goes up there can either of you two heal us if we get our head caved in half way up?"

....... the guards or would it be prudent to meet with the wagon maker first?"

Xanros looks at Guudwyn "Either we will find nothing up stairs or our spy is up there in which case you will hear us I hope. We will be back and then I think we should head over to the wagon maker. Boeler I think you have had enough fun for today so if you want to stay and rest while we are up stairs that would be good."

Xanros starts out the door "Wells Rasmus lets see what we can find."

Xanros watches the gnome sit down and quickly fall asleep. "Wells I guess he is staying here. If no one have any objections I will head up stairs and checkout whats above us."

Xanros starts out the door and then turns around. "I know this will probably make you two nervous but does anyone know how to pick a lock we might need to get into a room up there?"

Xanros looks at Gimble "I know you are magical energy is used up until you rest but I agree with Guudwyn we need to talk to the wagon maker before he disappears."
What time is it anyway? My impression is it's after dinner and close to dark, is that about right?

As Guudwyn steps down from the table Xanros gathers everyone together "Perhaps we should find a new room to stay in. We completed our task by talking to the merchant down stairs so lets find another place we can talk where we don't have to worry about someone eavesdropping so easily."

In a whisper he adds "But on the way out I think we should try to see what is upstairs above us, we might catch our spy in the act and I am sure they would be a wealth of information."

Xanros waits until most of Boeler's wounds are healed and then he looks at the rest of his companions. "Come close so I can keep my voice down" Xanros points at the ceiling. "Wells our reconnaissance mission wasn't as simple as we thought. We went to see the wagon maker and when we arrived there...... I'm sure everyone has kept up with the action.

"....so we stashed the body and headed back here." Xanros takes out the potion and hands it to Gimble, "Maybe you can figure out what this does." and drops the coin purse on the table. "I also got these." he says as he pulls out the chain mail shirt and short sword.

"Boeler do you still have the ring and arm band?" While Boeler fishes in his pouch for the ring and armband Xanros continues. "On top of everything that has happened, I still seem to have a meeting an hour before dawn tomorrow in front of the weapons shop." Xanros fills the rest in on the letter he received.

"It seems we are in the middle of it now"

Once they close the door to the side room and wipe up some of the blood on the floor Xanros looks at the shop owner "I am afraid that we might have gotten you into some trouble so yes we will have to come back of you expect us to help you. Come my little friend lets head back to the inn and get you fixed up."

Xanros opens the front door to the shop and peers through the rain looking for any threats.
Spot check 4 + 8 = 12

Xanros leads the way back to the inn keeping to the shadows, luckly the rain seems to have driven most of the people indoors and he hopes that they make it there unnoticed.
Unless something happens on the way Xanos will just return straight to there room avoiding any attetion if at all possible.

Xanros quickly grabs the coin purse and potion and stuffs them into his belt pouch.
Looking at Boeler he says "I would say you should take the potion if I new it would heal you and not turn you into a toad or something. Help me grab the ring and arm band they could help us track down who this is."

Xanros grabs the mans short sword and sheath and stuffs it into his belt and quickly pulls off the mans chain shirt. As he stands up Xanros looks at the shop owner and points towards the body "Who is this and what was he doing here? It would probably be best if you helped us dispose of the body or at least hide until we can come back with help."

Xanros take a quick look around the shop and them walks up to the man he just killed.
Spot check 14 + 8 = 22
Listen check 1 + 8 = 9
He squats down and looks the man over and searches through his cloths.
Search check 3 + 8 = 11
While he searches the man for any clues on who he might be he looks to Boeler and says "You don't look so good we had better head back to the inn pretty quickly." Looking back to the shop owner Xanros wonders what this whole thing was all about.

How long would it take for Boeler to go get the other and return?

Xanros raises his bow and fires at the man as he darts toward the exit.
Attack 15 + 4 = 19
Damage (if I hit) 6 + 4 = 10

As the arrow flies towards the fleeing man Xanros charges after him hoping to get at least one more shot at him.
The move action should allow for the skirmish bonus for this round if I understand the rules

Xanros puts a hand on the walk to his right, valts over landing in a crouch on the other side. He looks toward the door and moves up so he can see the man through the door.
Jump check 20 + 3 = 23

x = Xanros path X = ending position
WWWWWWWW
WOOSO4OO
WCCCADOX
WROBO4Ox
WROOxxxO
WWWDWW

Actually that helped a lot thanks, can I climb or jump over the four foot walk on the right side? From there I could cut off any escape.
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WWWWWW
WOOSO4
WCCCAD
WROBX4 <--
WROXX4
WWWDWW

Xanros charges though the door as the man attacks Boeler, raising his bow he take aim just over Boeler's head and lets the arrow fly.
Attack 13 +4 -4(into melee) = 13
damage (but I doubt I hit) 4 + 2 = 6

If I still have a move action I will stay out of reach and move to flank the man.

When Boeler charges through the door and confronts the man they saw earlier Xanros drew his bow and grabs an arrow. As the man is distracted by Boeler he notches his arrow and prepares to charge in if Boeler or the shop own are attacked.

As Xanros walks up to the building he can hear the confrontation in the shop, glancing at Boeler he can see by the concerned look on his face that he also heard the voices. As the side door slams shut Xanros darts to the open front door and quickly peers through the door.
Hide check 19 + 8 = 27
Spot check 5 + 8 = 13
If I can draw my bow along with all the above in the surprise round I will do that also

Can I see side door around the building if I ran to the edge or is there a fence or anything in the way? If I can I will do that.

Xanros nods as the halfling looks towards their destination, "Lets head down to the shop and see what there and if anyone is lurking about, I don't think the thief would return to the shop but you never know."

Lightning craches through the sky and the dark wall of rain starts to creap down the mountain side towards the town. The few people walking in the street quicken their pace as the first drops of rain start to fall.

Xanros start walking down the street unconsciously moving from shadow to shadow. Glancing at the halfling walking beside him Xanros wonders what he would be like in combat. Just by the way he walks Xanros can tell that his body has been shaped into a weapon in it's self.

The only other halfling Xanros has met was one that accompanied his squad during some of their more dangerous missions to foreign cities. Malick was his name and he would only come on missions where Xanros's usual squad did reconnaissance work while Malick assassinated leaders or nobles. Xanros didn't really care for that halfling, he was very skilled in stealth but Xanros never trusted him. Boeler seems like a person he could trust and he should compliment Xanros's skills nicely.

Xanros slows as the wagon shop comes into view, by know the rain has started in full and he pulls his hood up a little more to stay dry.

Spot check 15 + 8 = 23
Listen check 8 + 8 = 16
I don't know if there is a penalty for the rain and thunder for these check so here they the base rolls.

Xanros takes the scroll from the boy and reads it, a little disturbed that someone in town knows his name and what he looks like. After reading it over again and committing it to memory he roles it up and walks to the fireplace. As Xanros throws the note in the fire he sees Boeler's questioning look, "Later".

After he watches the note burn into ash Xanros wanders out into the street with the halfling right behind and looks up and down the street. As the scream pierces the air and faids Xanros wonders how anyone could compare this country to his former homeland, crazed barbarians here.

Looking down at the halfling he says, "Wells do you want to head out into the storm? The shadows will give us more cover and anyone else out in the storm is probably worth looking into, only us and some one up to no good would be out in the storm."

Xanros follows the small halfling out the door and starts down the stairs, "I think we should do a quick check of the parameter around the building and see if we recognize anyone and then head over to the wagon maker, what do you think?"

As they enter the common area of the inn Xanros takes a quick look around and heads to the exit.
Spot check 8 + 8 = 16

"I would be willing to head out there now and do some reconnaissance." Xanros takes a piece of bread and cheese and quickly eats it down, all the years in the military trained Xanros that eating was necessary but is not something to waste time on.

Xanros take several pieces of fruit and stuffs them in his belt pouch and look over to Boeler, "What says you, lets do some scouting and we might see our mysterious boy again."

Xanros looks at the drawing on the table, a mix of emotions swirl through him. 'Some lost relic from Dreskana, what else could their be where this was found?'
Strange feelings about his loyalties to his former squadron and hences Dreskana rise also, 'What could this mean for the rulers of Dreskana.... what do I care.' but deep down Xanros knows that he likes Dreskana more than he can admit to even himself. He did spend almost all of his life training to defend that country and spent several year doing just that.

People say that Dreskana is far to harsh with it marshal law and that the country is no better than Ildonia the country that destroyed his family but Xanros can not except that. Xanros has seen some pretty evil people in Dreskana but those people can be found anywhere right? Dreskana does what it needs to ensure that their country survives and prospers and with the military running the show it is one of the few countries with out a lot of strife and war in it's borders.

Xanros pulls himself out of his internal battle and focuses on the present situation once more.
"I would agree that the wagon maker would be a good start, but when Rasmus first appeared I noticed that there was something under the wagon but I could not make out what it was. I would think that if some one just cut a hole in the bottom of the wagon some one should have noticed but you never now it might have been that easy."

Xanros watches Guudwyn skillfully interacte with the merchant, 'Glad I met him on the outside of town I have no patience with this sort of thing.' he thinks to him self. Xanros settles back and lets the more charming priest handle the negotiations, 'I will have plenty to do in the coming days might as well relax while I can.'

After the merchant leaves Xanros stands, "I agree with Boeler, excellent Guudwyn you executed that perfectly."

Xanros looks up at the ceiling quickly and wonders what or who might have watched that whole exchange but with Guudwyn's excellent idea about writing the description down that should have limited what some one could learn up there.

Do we all share a language other than common? I also speak celestial & halfling.

Guudwyn then gives his companions a turn.

Xanros shakes his head and writes down Elven, Goblin and Dwarven

Xanros reads Ramus's note, 'That explains some things, those holes must be used to hear the conversations they are spying on'.

Xanros takes another piece of paper and writes They can hear us too and shows it to everyone as discreetly as possible.

After the boy leaves with the note to the merchant Xanros settles in a seat against the wall and listens to the conversation.
"I don't really care what we get paid as long as it's something but I have no bases for this type of thing, I am just used to serving a country without pay. I am fine with what ever you decide."

As the companions walk up the stairs towards their room the look on most of their faces was kind of puzzling. 'Why do they seem to like this place so much? I agree it is fancy but what a waste of money to build and stay here.'

Xanros looks around and remembers his day spent in the military. Everything is built for functionality and purpose nothing like this, he is used to bare walls and simple cots in his old barracks. He hated being in those barracks, but not because they were plain and undecorated, he hated them for the same reason he disliked any enclosed space.

Nothing compares to the open freedom of taking the watch in the open night sky or finding a soft patch of ground to make you bed, indoors your options are limited, your senses constrained, not so in the forest. Xanros looks out one of the windows and wonders what Brom is doing right now, probably scolding some poor kid for not seeing the smallest detail. That thought brings a small smile to his face, 'Hate to admit it but I kind of miss that harsh military life, a lot simpler that is.'

Xanros snaps back from his reminiscing and the boy leaves and Guudwyn starts writing his letter.

Keep silent. Do not eat the food. Look for spies. Gimble, if you are able to search for magic, please do so.

'Excellent he is preparing for the worst, my kind of man. He doesn't seem like he has had any military training but some one in his life must have.'

Xanros nods at Guudwyn and starts searching the room for peep holes or secret doors.
Search check 13 + 8 = 21

"I follow no god, I believe that depending on a deity is a sign of weakness and should never get very far in my adventures if I have to rely on some God."

Xanros watches the exchange between Rasmus and Boeler, 'The little halfling definitely show some heart and I can relate with his religious beliefs. While stalking through the brush on a flanking maneuver while on patrol I never wanted to be relying on some god I couldn't see or hear.'

Xanros walks over to the wall and positions himself so he can keep an eye on the door to their back.

While keeping watch Xanros falls into his own thoughts, 'I know some people say they can feel and hear their gods and I have been on the healing end of their power, but these people are built differently or something. I will leave the Theology to others and depend on my skills to keep me alive.'

"Also, unless there is objection, should I speak for our party?"

Xanros smiles bitterly, "I would say Rasmus and I should avoid social contact as much as we can. I am out of my element here, so I am fine with you doing the talking."

Keeping his voice low Xanros leans toward Rasmus, "They might have left the safe house already, we have committed ourselves to this lead for now we can go look at the safe house later. Like Guudwyn said lets find out what he MIGHT have taken first." Not wanting to draw attention to his elvish heritage Xanros waits patiently for someone else to ask about the merchant.

Intrigued, Guudwyn asks, "Who would have a safe house here? And Why?"

Xanros slows his pace to walk next to Guudwyn, keeping his voice low he answers him, "My guess is that either the 'family' is part of the theft and there for maybe part of a thieves guild or they are part of Cold Steel, the local resistance I hear. As I followed them it seemed that they didn't seem to know where exactly they were going, mostly following the boy, which tells me that they are not thieves, at least locally."

Xanros listens to what Rasmus and Guudwyn have to say, looking at the crowd he notices that they do stand out a bit.
"I agree with Rasmus lets get off the street and find that merchant. After we hear what he has to say I would like to go check out Braden's Boudiour to see who owns or runs it since I think that is the safe house front."

As Rasmus starts walking away Xanros looks at the rest of his companions and starts to follow Rasmus to the Sequester.

Inspecting the door visually you notice a tripwire on the outside edge about 6 inches above the ground seemingly connected to something inside. You also notice the door, while appearing dilapidated, is not and is in fact a sturdy wooden door with an above average lock. You can hear muffled sounds from inside, but...

Xanros backs away from with the door with the feeling of someone watching still heavy in his mind. Xanros take one last look to make sure the location is fixed in his memory and turns back down the ally.

Quietly walking back towards the square Xanros is quickly lost in thought on what he just saw. 'That must be some sort of safe house for a pretty organized group. Cold Steel maybe? Well I now know where to look, time to see what everyone else learned.'

As Xanros rounds the last corner he sees his new companions grouped together, 'They seem to have not upset the guards to much, thats good'. When he gets to the group he quickly tells them what he saw and his thoughts on it being a safe house.
For details read all the posts above if you haven't already

"Has anyone else found anything useful while I was gone? I know the merchant was willing to pay to get his stuff back but I couldn't hear where he went to."

You may attempt to accost them before they enter if you wish. If not, you will not be able to move near the building until after they are in as this is a relatively open alley and they would surely spot you.

Xanros takes a quick look at his surroundings as the group enters the building.

Spot check 8 + 8 = 16 if needed

Waiting about a minute watching for guards or look outs Xanros silently slips through the shadow to the door.
Move Silently check 4 + 8 = 12
Hide check 17 + 8 = 25

'Is this a safe house?' Xanros wonders as he looks closely at the door and surrounding areas, taking great care on where he steps and touching nothing. 'The last thing I want to do is set off a trap tip them off.'
Search check 6 + 8 = 14

They will not be in a crowd now most likely--do you continue to follow? If so, make another hide/move silently check. If not, please let me know your next actions.

For DM:

Xanros silently moves to follow the family.unless you want to do otherwise--I did reread the section on tailing in the CAd. Do you want to keep more than 60' or less (different checks, but also different opportunity to act and observe)?

I will stick with a 60 foot distance for now. I plan to tail the boy and hopefully the guards won't bother with the others.

'Damn the guard suspects something!! Hopefully Guudwyn can get Gimble attention and wander off before the guard figures it out, I need to follow that boy.'
A frown crosses Xanros's smooth elvish face as he tries to decide what to do. 'The boy is more important I can't talk to Gimble or Guudwyn without drawing more attention anyway.'

Xanros pulls his cloak a little lower on his head and waits for the boy and his parents to get some distance before he starts to tail them.

Hide check 13 + 8 = 21
I was going to use the rules in the complete adventurer(pg. 102) to tail the family unless things go bad for Gimble and Guudwyn.

Xanros watches Gimble and Guudwyn walk out in to the square trying to blend into the crowd around the angry merchant. Interesting seems someone robbed the merchant, must have been that movement I saw earlier, that explains some of the mystery on how they robbed him. Xanros picks out the two extra guards pretty quickly, well I can't warn Gimble and Guudwyn with out drawing attention so they are on their own.

Xanros walks over to Rasmus and Boeler, "There are two guards out in the crowd". Xanros points them out As discreetly as possible
Xanros scans the crowd and notices something else. "Our 'family' might be here again I am going to check it out, if it is them I will follow them unless I am need here"

Xanros staying in the shadows stalks over towards the 'family' to get a better look.
Can I see the rune on the back to the boys hand? If I can't is it because it is not there or I just can see his hand.

"My little friend, prepare your fists, for my Lord tells us that we are in for a fight."

From the shadows Xanros is standing in he hears Rasmus's warning to Boeler. Xanros draws an arrow and moves to better cover the his companions walking out to check the open square.

Move Silently check 17 + 8 = 25
Hide check 2 + 8 = 10
If spot and listen are relevant here they are.
Spot check 20 + 6 = 26
Listen check 10 + 6 = 16

"Does anyone have anything that they need to do before we head out?" asks Xanros as he finishes his cheese and meat.

What time is it? If it is late we could wait until tomarrow so Gimble has his spells back.

Xanros nod as he listens to his companions tell their tales and when they finish he adds "As some of you know I grew up in a Dreskana military academy. For several years I just cleaned in the school but when I was old enough I trained and join the Dreskana Daggers, a squadron specializing in reconnaissance. For the last ten years I have been serving in the Dreskana Army as a scout and was released from active duty just last month."

Xanros look at his drink and subconsciously puts his hand to his chest and then continues, "I headed up here to deal with some things in my distant path and ended up here."

Maybe we could go back to the place where you arrived. I could summon my divine energy to see if I can detect a magical presence" Guudwyn looks at his companions for...

"Going back to where Rasmus first appeared would be a good start. I don't think we should involve the Pelor followers yet, like you said they could help us but right now we really don't need help. We just have a strange mystery but on real enemy yet."

Xanros looks a the group and his gaze stops on Gimble "If we do find out that the enemy we face is more powerful than we can handle I say we put our feelings aside and take what ever help we can."

"What now? Do we leave town, look for a cult of Pelor (said with a sneer), or try to take down the Baron and his son?"

Xanros smiles at Gimble's obvious dislike for religion, he nows how he feels. What did the gods ever do for him, his parents are still dead and whole countries are killing and torturing people. Although he has to admit that healing prayers are kind of nice in pinch.

Xanros clears these thoughts while a small shake of his head, "Before we decide to assasinate the towns leader maybe we should try to find out if anyone is even looking for Rasmus. He might have not even been in that temple, he could have been half way across the country before he appeared here."
Xan leans back in his chair and scans the room out of habit for any danger and then leans in again. "I am sure the commotion in the square this morning will blow over unless it was part of a bigger scheme, in which case we should be able to find out whats going on"

Xanros throws his backpack over one shoulder and walks out of the room. From the top of the stairs he can see his companions took a table in the back next the the wall, good out of the way.

Xanros walks down the stairs and heads over to their table, nods to Rasmus and take a seat facing Rasmus with his back to the wall. Xanros look quickly around the room developing a plan in case thing go bad.

Is the front door the only main entrance? Is there any windows?
Spot check if it applies 5 + 6 = 11

Xanros catches the smell of Ramus's tea in the air, "Not much for the strong stuff? I try to avoid it if I can, dulls the senses but a little mead never hurts." As the serving wench walks over he says "Could I have some mead for me and my friend here." As the girl leaves to get it Xanros adds to Rasmus "Don't worry it isn't that strong and you should like it."

Xanros weaves in and out of the crowd, his nerves are shot and soon his head starts to hurt from trying to watch all the potential hazards in the busy square. Should of taken the back allies to get my gear Xan thinks, but could not have done it with everyone with out being seen.

We will be out of the crowd soon, Xanros's eyes going from the guards to some merchants and finally the women he saw earlier. Wonder what her deal is? Xanros takes another quick look to see if he notices anything and then continues on.
Spot check 16 + 6 = 22
I am look specifically for any markings or symbols like what the boy had on his hand or the Pelor symbol the farmer had.

After greeting you, he asks, "Will you be needing that room for another night gentlemen? Or possibly a couple more?" In a somewhat quieter voice he continues, "I heard from one of the messengers that there was a disturbance up the street a bit. Any of you know what's going on out there?" He grunts and continues, almost answering his own question, but still clearly looking for information from you, "Hmph....

"I am not sure if I will need my room or if we need more for right now, we probably could use a table and some drinks" Xanros tells the dwarf. "As far as the commotion in the street there seemed to be a lot of panic but I didn't get a very good look." Xanros turns to the group, "I will check on my stuff and meet you down here in a minute." he turns and heads up the stairs to his room.

Following Xanros I try to blend into the crowd, attempting to act like just another citizen.

Do I need to make some kind of check?

I was wondering the same thing. Is there a 'look casual" check ;)

Xanros takes stock of all his gear and looks over his new companions one more time. They all look ready and determined, what ever is out there we should do just fine.

"Ready? Lets go. Give me about a fifteen foot head start and lets try not to look like a big group moving as one. Spread out a little but keep each other in sight. Guards get a little jumpy when they see a group of five new faces marching through town"

Xanros starts walking out of the ally always alert for guards or the strange boy they saw earlier.

It is possible also, to return here later and pick up the cart tracks. Xandros, would you be available for that task?"

Then Guudwyn eyes his companions, "Any other ideas or needs or shall we proceed?"

Xanros squats down and examines the cart tracks and the farmers tracks. "Yes I should be able to follow these pretty easily, unless he hit the main road it will be a little harder not to mention a little suspicious. I think we should go get my gear and maybe we can discern how much danger we are in so we don't endanger the farmer if we don't need to. What do you think?"

Xanros looks up from his landing and smiles slightly from the shock on some of their faces.

"What have you been able to discern from your lofty perch?"

"It seems that there has been a look out up there for some time, you can see quite a ways. I suspect that we just scared off the current look out, the good news is I think who ever was up there is working agains the city guard. The whole setup seems a bit more covert then what the guards would do." Xanros looks up and down the ally and back to the group "Are we still going to the Axe and Anvil?"

If I were to jump down and use tumble it is only 15 feet to the ground right? If so I shouldn't receive any damage and I will look really cool doing it.