So all negative comments to Bandits apply to them as well.
They hated what they did, but your adding salt to an open wound.
You get the feeling he's right in that your getting hot-headed and emotional.
Your starting to cheese him and Kressle off, even though they are calm on the outside.
And he's serious about not talking to you.
"I have offered neither of you any threat. If you would defend the actions of the men who murder and enslave my family, please, tell me why they were right to do so. I'm fascinated."
"Since I swore to Lady Alkaid I would not hurt people again, your making this very hard to Keep."
"If he wants to be an unforgiving jerk. Then let him wonder what we know, and let him try to get a night's rest."
Elaine asks "Why should we come to fighting each other here? Just seems like a pointless dispute."
"All I've asked of you is information. I am not going to apologize for wanting to recover my wife. If you are determined to obstruct me in my search, so be it." He sighs and looks to Kressle. "If my forgiveness is the price you require for aid, please tell me what you seek forgiveness for."
"Wanting to find your Wife is fine, but rubbing the salt in our wounds is not.
When you say Bandit "Scum" your calling us "Scum" and remind us of the s*** we did."
We'll now bring some to a boil and then let it cool for a few hours.
And the first batch is done.
"You say you were bandits?" Ardainn says. "You may decide to withhold information and allow my people to remain prisoners and slaves because your feelings got hurt. If you feel guilt or discomfort because of harm you caused in the past, it seems the best cure would be to help, rather than hinder me. Then I could applaud your change of heart, recognize you as friends and allies, and compensate you for the grievous harm my words have caused you."
"When you ask something from someone you ask politely, and not bad mouth or insult them as you ask."
"Are you bandits still? If not, then there was no insult."
Bridgitte keeps her mouth shut, she does not want to mess up Ardainn's chance of getting information from these scum. Also talking to them further would just make her angry and then you have to wash the bloodstains off. She can feel the rage building in her blood.
Clearly this is more of a bandit camp than a trading post if these scum are typical.
"We are re-formed bandits, but being a bandit is part of our past, and can not be removed.
The lake that you look for is either south of here, or west, by south-west of here."
"First Batch?" Halloran echoes, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
You mean we're making more than one? I thought there would only be enough for Lina, how many batches are we making?
"This batch is likely flawed, But I know how to test it without needing human or animal testing.
Hence why it's the first batch.
And I also know how to dispose of the bi-products and flawed batches to avoid future problems and contaminating the area with it."
Since everyone has moved to the stables Earwen takes her mug and goes out to see what all the fuss is about. "So what's happening out here?"
Halloran looks at the results of their first trial run, I didn't even think of flaws in the formula, or testing it first for that matter. he admits.
How many batches can we make with what we have here?
Turning back to Alkaid with obvious curiosity, he asks, And how exactly do you test it without using humans or animals? or safely dispose of it for that matter?
"The answer is the same for both, testing it with other specific compounds.
Certain Compounds will show the presence of what we seek, and others will break down the batch along with the bi-products into harmless compounds and materials.
Some of which can be reused for later batches.
I figure we have enough materials for about 12 to 15 batches."
Halloran raises his eyebrows in astonishment, 12 to 15!, that many? If you'd asked me before I would have guessed we can only make 1 or 2!
Halloran looks at the materials again, Do you think we'll need that many? are we just looking to create a safe batch for Lina? or are you thinking of creating extra samples? possibly for someone else?
"That number is due to this Love wine's strength and the fact we are recycling some of the compounds of the love wine.
I am are aiming for a safe batch for Lina and nothing more."
"It's something, I suppose," Ardainn says. "I give you suitable thanks for what help you have given, ex-bandit."
Earwen Enters the stables "Who's an ex-bandit?"
So back to it then, the same procedure as before? repeat as necessary? Halloran asks.
"Testing first to see which direction we should take with the next batch."
Eliane listens to the raindrops now as the others talk.
How do we do that? Halloran asks.
Looking over all they have done so far, Halloran shakes his head, I have to admit, I didn't expect it to be this complicated, though now that I think about it I'm not sure what I WAS expecting.
"I'll show you how it's done."
I would appreciate that, Halloran says.
Earwen walks over to her horse and scratches his head. Then she twirls around and asks the men in the room"How much of the area around hear have you explored?"
Elaine says "We explored down the river and some more but Halloran could provide better answer than I can."
"Me and some of the others know a bit here and there and have a rough idea of the lay of the land, and some of the dangers that exist."
"Good some of that knowledge should help. Happs What kind of dangers are we likely to be facing? I was told about the Stag King. Any information on him?"
"Don't know much about the Stag Lord, other than he's a drunk and a crack shot with his bow.
Some of the hazards would be owlbears, tazlwyrms, forgotten traps just to name a few."
"Do you know were they can be found. If we can go to where they sleep, we could surprise them."
"The Stag Lord lives in his little keep."
Coming out of the shed where they were conducting their alchemical procedures, Halloran looks around, then decides to go over to the stables to meet the newcomers.
Good afternoon, he says. I hope you are settling in alright, as you can see things are a bit crowded right now. he gestures to their surroundings.
Is there anything you need?
Earwen seems to brighten at the new arrival. "Yes, kind sir I was just asking, how much of the area have you explored so far? Have you uncovered anything interesting? And a thousand other questions. But, I'll let you answer the first two before I assault you with the rest."
Looking a bit reflective, Halloran says, How much of the area have we explored? And have we found anything interesting? Well the short answers to those questions are, quite a bit and yes indeed. For the long answers, I suggest you get comfortable, because this could take awhile.
Taking his own advice, Halloran pulls up a chair in the doorway of the stables, so he can look outside and yet be out of the rain, pulls out his pipe, packs it, lights it and puffs out a few clouds of smoke.
Turning back to the group he says, Well, I believe the first order of business is to make introductions, placing his left hand on his chest, while his right holds his pipe, he makes a seated bow. My name is Halloran Westover, and I've been here about 3 weeks, like the rest of you (I am assuming) I came in answer to the notice from the Swordlords to explore the "Stolen Lands". here he gestures outside with his pipe.
I believe you have already met Happs, Kressle, and Elaine Fisher, he indicates each person with his pipe. {b]We are currently taking shelter from the storm in the stables of Oleg's Trading Post, our hosts are Oleg (the owner) and his wife Svetlana, they have a store if you need to purchase any equipment, though I can't guarantee that they will have, whatever you are looking for in stock.[/b]
Some of the other more notable individuals here are a cleric named Alkaid, who is currently involved in an alchemical experiment, and Kesten Garess who's in charge of our guard complement, only 3 men, but still. The rest of the people around here are reformed bandits, who Alkaid has persuaded to follow a more productive lifestyle, she's very good at that.
Whom do I have the honor of meeting? with that he returns his pipe to his mouth, and looks at the newcomers inquisitively
"Erawen Elensar, is my name." she hold out her hand in a gesture of friendship. I'm a scout by trade. I'm here to help explore this region. It is nice too meet you all." She looks around "I hope to be an asset to the team. I've meet Svetlana and Elaine earlier."
"I'm Happs."
"I'm Kressle"
Speaking to Halloran "Where have you explored, and what have you found?"
A pleasure to meet you, Halloran says nodding to each of them in turn.
Well, as to where we have explored, Halloran says pulling out a map, we've covered this area here. indicating all the areas they have already explored, it is obvious that there remains a lot of territory unexplored.
Elaine says "The closet area is to the southeast but that is past where we encountered giant spiders"
"Well then we have a lot of work to do. As I an new here I shall defer to the judgement of the group as to how to proceed."
Alright, Halloran says, pointing out spots on the map, as you can see here we've mostly covered the North East section of the territory, which leaves us 3 different directions to explore in. Currently, we are here at Oleg's Trading Post, this is our main base of operations, the place we go to for a roof over our heads and to resupply.
Right next to us is Bokken's hut, he makes potions which he sells we currently have a deal with him, because our group brought him a fresh batch of fangberries which he needed to make his potions. He's not exactly social, but we've found him to be friendly enough, in other words he's one of the few beings we've met out here who hasn't attacked us on sight.
Placing his finger on the next point, Halloran says, Here, we have the Spider's nest, he pauses a moment as if reliving bad memories, then taking a deep breath he continues on, this is where our party encountered 2 giant spiders, they grabbed 2 of us, they were able to rescue one of them, but the other one a gnome named Buckwell Burrowholme, died before we could rescue them. It's been awhile since we've back there so something else could have moved in by now.
This is the "Radish Patch", Svetlana sent us out to get Moon Radishes so she could make a special stew for Oleg, and we ran into some Kobolds, fortunately we were able to come to an understanding and parted on good terms. I had hoped to enter into further dialogue with them possibly even establish some trading ventures, but we haven't seen them in awhile.
Right next to that, we have the "Fairy Nest" when we were passing through this area, we saw signs of fairies, but not the fairies themselves, if you ever have to pass through this area, I would advise you to be cautious.
This is the "Elk Temple", awhile back a priest of Erastil, named Jhod Kavken came to the post looking for an old temple dedicated to his god. We stumbled across it about a week ago, only to be attacked by a crazed bear, when we killed it turned into an old man. We buried him and sent word to Jhod, last I heard he'd moved out there.
The Thorn River camp, is where we met Kressle and the rest of her band of malcontents, we "convinced" them to relocate and take up new professions."
Which brings us to our last spot on the map, the Pig's Lair, apparently this is where a rather nasty boar named "Tuskgutter" makes his home. The last time we passed through this area he wasn't in residence, but we did find where he hangs his hat, so to speak. Upon returning to the post, we found that someone had actually put up a reward for him, and just before you got here some of us were discussing paying him another visit, you're welcome to come along if you like.
"Yes indeed." She seemed to fill to the brim with this thought. "I've never been on a boar hunt. But I have heard stories. It seems to be quite and adventure. Shall we go as soon as this storm passes?"