If the meeting is over, Hezrog eventually finds his way back to Mr. J's and offers his help in tracking down the stranger.
You wanna go find this guy tomorrow, then? What if he hurts J's family before that? I think they should stick around. Until we find him.
We will find that in the morning
It seems we have two places to watch and 24 hours of responsibility. Here are my thoughts on a schedule. We have one team to watch the family when they are together and we split when they do. While they are split we maintain a message spell and have everyone on duty. When they are together we can afford to let two people sleep.
Also, what do we do with the description of the man with the bow and sword. Based on our meeting with the Mages, I fear that this man might actually be the Butcher. But I have no idea why he might be interested in this family. Should we question them about some past dealing with the drow? The only trigger I know about with this Butchr is his hatred of that race.
Then will it be impossible to convince the family to stay with Mr J throughout the day? That would solve our splitting problems. If I can catch a good look at this man, I may be able to track him down.
Yes, Hezrog, that would simplify things. I see no harm in at least asking them for this concession.
"Why are we not just leaving the guards on assignment to watch him stay watching him. The person whom maybe the Butcher, has been noticed by us and we can spot him again. Let him think things are still at status-quot and let him continue his planning. If we can follow him in his planning, we should be able to find the location of there he may try to make his attack."
"We should use all the tools available to us, not start excluding some of those tools."
I was under the impression that our assignment was to immediately relieve these guards and I had negotiated a delay while we came up to speed on events in town. But perhaps this recent revelation should supersede those orders. By all means run that plan by our superiors.
Raseb agrees to further retain the guards for another day to see what comes of it, and has a message sent to Mr Jumai discreetly to request his family stay together.
Around the time Mrs Jumai and the son would be leaving the shop, the man with the weapons again appears briefly on the streets, taking a quick glance towards the shop, then soon disappearing again.
Aerin will immediatly try to follow him
Message spell running on all party members Cindy will cast Mage Armor on herself and activate her hex adding natural armor to herself. She will stay with Mrs Jumai and the boy, keeping them close.
Hezrog makes sure to get a good look at the man. (Studied Target)
Should I stay here and guard, then? I probably can't keep up with him without being noticed in my armor.
There are numerous streets coming off the merchants road, and the man, on the south side of the road appears slightly closer to the Jumai's shop then he was the day before.
Aerin waits for him to turn around and head back the direction he came then starts to follow. He turns east, taking a back street heading in the direction of the Jumai's shop.
Issa will ask his friend Innulamane to follow from the air the man but he will not do it himself.
Hezrog stays behind for fear that his heavy armor would give them away if he followed.
via message For the moment i got him just tay 50 ft behind. Ill relay the information and direct you as we move so that all who are following may do so
ZZZZ
Issa, Hezrog. Please head back. This might just be an attemp to pull a big chunck of the security away from Mr J. Cormick and i will deal with that man
ZZZzzz
Unable to follow easily the man, Issa stayed back.
Aerin it's just you up there, and Innulamane overhead.
The man moves into a back street directly behind the shop, then leans casually against the wall. From her position, Aerin can see that he looks to be listening, trying to catch whatever might be going on inside the glass shop.
ZZZzzz
Aerin will maintain long range surveilance
He stays at the shop, listening, for several minutes. Finally, looking slightly perplexed he strolls off with Aerin still following from a distance. Fifteen minutes later he arrives near the Jumai home, after stopping briefly at a street vendor to obtain some food.
He sits with his back to a nearby building where he can watch the Jumai home and begins eating his food.
A little later the Jumai's leave their shop as a group, and make the journey towards their home.
As soon as Cindy gets a status update she mentions to those she can speak with a thought she had. You know, it might be possible that this fellow is actually doing the same thing we are - that is watching the Jumai's in expectation of finding the rogues. We might actually have an unintentional ally here. I mean in truth he has had plenty of opportunity to attack if that was his intent.
via message i am leaving all possibilities open. Right now my concern is to remain unnoticed by him so that we can learn more about this situation
The Jumai's soon arrive at their home. The man looks up only briefly, watching them go inside, then goes back to slowly eating his food for a few more minutes.
He then gets up and moves past the front of the house and stops by the corner of a building across the street from the home. Pulling forth a wand he quickly utters the command word, then walks away from the home.
Aerin still following, he circles back around and behind the home, then settles down in a dark alley overlooking the back of the house.
aerin will relay the information
via message i am intrigued for the moment. if nothing happen during the night i will try to approche him in order to see what happens
<<Do so carefully. There is some chance that this man is the one known as "The Butcher". I too am intrigued. There are at least two sides to every story and I would be interested in hearing his. >>
Settling in to watch the man the night draws on. As it approaches midnight the man gets up from his place of watch and begins heading south.
via message i am going to follow him for the moment. I'll be extra carefull cindy. I'll need one back up just in case she says as she follow from a long distance
Cindy will cast her mage armor spell and, after checking in with Cormick will leave the inn to position herself so that she can help if needed. She will stay well away from where Aerin watches the watcher and look for a rooftop where she can get close enough to come quickly if she is needed.
Aerin may need your skills at persuasion soon Cormick. I think she plans to confront our armed watcher. My hope is that we will talk and not fight, and you could prove instrumental in that regard. Meanwhile I'll move to support any other possible outcome. Cindy will cast her own message spell between herself and Cormick before leaving.
Cormick moves to a position out of view of the man, and waits if others need his assistance.
The man walks through the streets, following those more well lit by lanterns, until he arrives at a place Cindy is familiar with, The Crow. He heads inside without hesitation and can be seen sitting down at one of the tables through the large glass windows.
He orders a drink at sips at it slowly.
via message comick can you go inside an keep a distant eye on the person ? we sall stay outside and out of view
<<Time to make contact with the man.>> Cindy sends her recommendation.
via message No we still don't konw anything about him he could just lie and we wouldn't know. it is still time for only surveillance. First lets see if he has a name. where he sleeps, if there are any interesting papers in his room. If he reports to someone etc..
<<If this is who I think it is then we run the risk of loosing him permanently as he has the ability to hide from a lot of people who are spending a lot of resources to find him. >> Cindy warns through the link. <<I believe this is our best chance. >>
Cormick wanders into The Crow as if he belongs here, relying on his ring of mind shielding to protect him from any mental probes. His eyes casting about taking in any obvious dangers.
He approaches the bar, pulling out his flute, and asks the barkeep, "Any chance I could work for a couple of drinks, I tend to be pretty good with this instrument."
The Crow is one of the finer establishments in the city. Catering a bit more to those in the middle and upper classes - easily evident by the finer clothing the patrons wear.
The place lacks the noise of many taverns. Not that you could hear a whisper in there, the talk and chatter are a bit more civilized.
The man looks towards the door when Cormick enters, but immediately goes back to sipping at his drink.
The barkeep shrugs, "Your welcome to give it a shot, but if it isn't any good I'll ask you to leave." he says with a smile.
via message I understand no worries i am just overly cautious that is all, who do you thin he would be ?
Cormick picks a spot for his performance, staying within 30-45 feet of the man and positioned so he can see any exits from the room, in additional to the man.
"Well this should be a good spot to watch the crowds reaction to my music, I can see X ways for people to leave if they don't like it. This also looks like a nice place for people to come meet and discuss plans and events. Even that lone gentleman sipping his drink, looks like he is expecting someone." He whispers as if to himself as he prepares his flute.
Message - There are X number of exits in this place. Our man may be waiting for someone, he is just nursing his drink.
via message I understand no worries i am just overly cautious that is all, who do you thin he would be ?
<<Aerin, we believe him to be the one the mages are calling Radgar the Butcher. Thought to be a fallen Paladin and a cold blooded murderer. We know he hates drow and the thieves guild n power as he blames both for the violent death of his family. He possesses a set of magical rings he has used to teleport away when threatened. We also know that multiple powerful demons want him dead, which makes me wonder about the fallen part of his old profession. And even if he has fallen it does not mean he is evil. The mages tell us that he demanded they kill a drow prisoner named Zol, or something similar and began to murder guards in the city to try to force them do do this thing. I have not confirmed if that is true. >>
Sensing the patrons are not displeased with his first performance, Cormick tries a different approach to see if he can figure who the man is.
He tells an old tale of tragedy, of a young paladin and the love of his childhood. The tale goes on to explain how the two seemed fated for each other, but how fate would throw a series of challenges at the couple. Drow raiders had stolen up through the dark caverns and kidnapped many young maids, including our hero's love. The noble paladin vowed to find the victims and return them to their families on the surface.
After weeks of travel through the roots of the world, he found the drow enclave, but just as the drow were sacrificing the maids to their vile gods. He fought valiantly through the city, only to arrive too late to save his love or any of the others. In his anguish he called upon his god to help him meet justice on these murders, but his call was answered by another, a godling of vengeance and harsh retribution. The godling powered the hatred in the paladin's heart and mind, corrupting him and allowing him to kill all that remained within the enclave, the drow warriors, women, and children.
Our hero returned to the surface, but did not reveal the fate of the maids, leaving the families still to wonder about their daughters. The hero now lives a life alone, seeking a means to atone for both his deeds and his failures.
Cormick will keep an eye on the man, watching for his reactions to the tale.