Benedetto turns to Garton and says, firmly enough to be overheard below, "Cap'n, we killed all them sahuagin and drove off that kraken. Is there any other service we might provide for y'all?"
The boatmen look askance at Benedetto, though not especially impressed at his implied threat.
"If you don't pay the fee we'll take you in and through you in jail! You can balk the Stormlords!" yells the leader, and the others vaguely wave their weapons.
The boatmen look askance at Benedetto, though not especially impressed at his implied threat.
"If you don't pay the fee we'll take you in and through you in jail! You can balk the Stormlords!" yells the leader, and the others vaguely wave their weapons.
Colvare hefts his pack, and stepping off the boat, speaks his first words since the battle. "Just try."
With that, and Elenore taking flight from his shoulder, he pushes past the men.
"Come now, my friends." Andrei says, his face open and smiling. "Is this any way to greet new friends?" He pauses for a moment, before continuing. "We managed to get this ship here through the hardships of the Sahuagin and other sundry sea-faring beasts, meaning that she arrives with a full load of cargo."
Andrei is well aware that such rough people are most likely disinterested in feats of valor, but that the concept of new supplies could be welcome news.
The leader looks a bit disconcerted at Colvare's menacing mien, and the beady gaze of his raven familiar. He nods towards Andrei, while still looking at the sorcerer.
"You're lucky you got your friend here to calm you down, or things might've turn nasty. Just make sure you've got your money together when you hit shore. Come on, lads!"
The boat and its cargo of riff-raff row away.
Garton murmurs while avoiding looking at the adventurers, "I'll put you ashore in our boat. Good luck to you." He turns and walks away. A few minutes later, the party has made landfall in Stormreach.
OK - what are you doing? Any plans?
"First things first. We need t' keep our bein' here as quiet as we can. Soon as Tamas ir'Jorel realizes we're fool enough to follow all the way to Xendrik, that's when we ought t' start runnin' fer our lives.
"That's going to be a mite harder with all them sailors talkin' t' one 'nother. We might be able to convince 'em that some seriously powerful men will rip the Morgata to splinters looking for clues about us if they find out we was on board. Which is likely true.
"Second, we need to find ir Krone. if she runs true t' form, she'll spend some time hirin' disposable guardsmen, like she did with us. I can check in at House Thrask. (An' probably update my papers, so's the description matches my new skin color.)
"Sound reasonable?
Colvare stands braced against the gunwle, a small smile appearing as he watches the men leave. He nods almost imperceptibly, and Lenore flaps off to follow the men a ways, and make sure they don't come back.
"First things first. We need t' keep our bein' here as quiet as we can. Soon as Tamas ir'Jorel realizes we're fool enough to follow all the way to Xendrik, that's when we ought t' start runnin' fer our lives."That's going to be a mite harder with all them sailors talkin' t' one 'nother. We might be able to convince 'em that some seriously powerful men will rip the Morgata to splinters looking for clues about us if they find out we was on board. Which is likely true.
"Second, we need to find ir Krone. if she runs true t' form, she'll spend some time hirin' disposable guardsmen, like she did with us. I can check in at House Thrask. (An' probably update my papers, so's the description matches my new skin color.)
"Sound reasonable?
"I doubt we will get these sailors to stay quiet past their second strong drink, no matter what we do. One of us is marked, and that will be well known soon enough. The rest of your plan sounds good to me though, I think while you do that, I will put a quiet word out for our missing friend. Mirra, care to join me?"
Seeing no objection, Benedetto toddles off to see if House Thrask has a presence in Stormreach.
While I wander about, what are my impressions of the city, as compared to Sharn, or to the smaller cities back home?
The rest of your plan sounds good to me though, I think while you do that, I will put a quiet word out for our missing friend. Mirra, care to join me?"
Being glad to be back on land Mirra nods, "Now that I am on land I am up for anything. Lead the way."
Being glad to be back on land Mirra nods, "Now that I am on land I am up for anything. Lead the way."The rest of your plan sounds good to me though, I think while you do that, I will put a quiet word out for our missing friend. Mirra, care to join me?"
Colvare leads Mirra (hopefully Shagraat) and anyone else who cares to follow, off in a slightly different direction to Benedetto, hoping to find a similar level of establishment to the ones Alideber frequented in Sharn....
Mirra follow Colvare and starts to discreetly asking around for anyone that looks like Alideber. Also asking for the best place to go to find people to hire for an expedition.
Stormreach is quite clearly a large settlement, though after the vastness of Sharn it seems appreciably smaller. But it what it has in common with Sharn is the multifarious nature of its inhabitants. Breland merchants, Aundarian wizards, blond Karrns, swarthy half-orcs from the Shadow Marches, dwarven mercenaries from the Mror Holds, elves from Aerenal, even brutish-looking hill giant watchmen – all can be seen rubbing shoulders on the quaysides. Many look pretty of dubious character – Stormreach is infamous as a pirate and criminal haven
And the place stinks. The water flowing into the bay is a rather unpleasant brown shade, and a broad stream of effluent can be seen being pumped into the river from an ancient-looking cyclopean building that might date back to the Giant Age. From the shore, the land slopes up sharply, crammed with odd-looking buildings that merge giant-sized ruins with more modern and normal-sized dwellings.
History: 18; Geography: 10; Religion: 4.
"C'mon, Urthona. Let's see what kind'a trouble we can get ourselves into."
The city is split into a number of districts. Mirra and Colvare hang around the Harbour area, close to the docks, to try and pick up Alidaber’s trail. After a bit of asking around Benedetto and Urthona head off to Cross, a part of the city which connects to several others, to find the Tharashk enclave.
The adventurers are directed by a friendly half-orc labourer, pleased to help out a fellow Shadow Marcher, to the factory foreman, another half-orc with a friendly grin and hands that could probably crush walnuts with ease. He in turn directs them to the enclave chief’s office. While they don’t get to meet him, one of his assistants points them towards the office of one of the few inquisitives associated with the House in Stormreach.
A flinty-eyed human with extravagant, orcish-style dreadlocks, woven with fetishes and hanging loosely about her shoulders. She coolly assesses the adventurers before her and says, “I should point out that I’m very expensive.”
K:Hist; K:Geog k:Religion (1d20=1, 1d20=12, 1d20=15)
As they leave the Stinking Tavern, Colvare remarks, "It's interesting that she may have headed towards the Thrane district, I guess we head there now. Is there anywhere we can leave a message for the others, so they know where we have gone? Finding somewhere to eat and sleep may be good too...."
Harbor group
Aubrey
The adventurers are directed by a friendly half-orc labourer, pleased to help out a fellow Shadow Marcher, to the factory foreman, another half-orc with a friendly grin and hands that could probably crush walnuts with ease. He in turn directs them to the enclave chief’s office. While they don’t get to meet him, one of his assistants points them towards the office of one of the few inquisitives associated with the House in Stormreach.
A flinty-eyed human with extravagant, orcish-style dreadlocks, woven with fetishes and hanging loosely about her shoulders. She coolly assesses the adventurers before her and says, “I should point out that I’m very expensive.”
She's direct and probably competent. Benedetto decides he like this woman. He smiles broadly and offers his hand.
"The name's Benedetto. This here's Urthona. We come lately from Sharn, and, as it seems to be turnin' out, we are cheap as dishwater.
"Mostly, I stopped by here to register with the House an' let folks know I'm open fer business as a bodyguard.
"But you should surely know that we are also pursuin' a woman who hired us in Sharn and skipped out on us without payin'."
Harbor group** spoiler omitted **
"On your other matter, my time is precious. If you can't afford to hire me, I'm not planning on giving you pointers for free - it's my job, and that's what I get paid for."
Aubrey, Urthona
"Much obliged for the pointers' ma'am.
"And I apologize for the confusion. I wasn't tryin' to wheedle any tips out o' you, or nuthin'. I was lettin' you know, in case ir Krone tries to offer you work."
Benedetto turns, as if to go, then stops and looks back. "Should we, though, find ourselves lookin' for your services an' expertise, by what name should we ask?"
Benedetto smiles back. "The same woman, yes. If we can't help one 'nother, what good are we? If you hear of ir'Krone hiring, we'd sure appreciate you lettin' us know. I'll be checkin' in at the desk downstairs every day or so.
"Good fortune befall you, Verash."
Now, to secure lodging.
Rayne spends his time wandering along with Benedetto and Urthona, intermittantly disappearing behind an alleyway here and there for a moment only to re-emerge a second later. At one point, she emerges with some alterations to her form, adopting a decidedly feminine shape (though still retaining the common traits to allow her companions to identify her). She's paid special attention to accentuating her curves, giving her a buxom and decidedly seductive edge, all contained within her snug leather armor.
"I figure with all the horny n'er-do-wells around here, maybe I can coerce a few useful bits of information from the locals this way. If nothing else, it'll be fun for a laugh," she winks at Benedetto before following him into the Tharashk enclave.
Mirra, Colvare spoiler
Shagraat does his best to be unobtrusive security for Colvare and Mirra. He drinks to blend in, but actually consumes as little as possible to remain clear-headed.
Gather Information (probably just listening to the conversations around me - roll to Aid Another). .
The party reconvene at the agreed spot and share what they have discovered to date.
Benedetto has paid for three days at a fairly high-class inn. (Nothing extravagant, but real beds, real food and drink, and real entertainment after a long cruise.)
"We didn't look to find out much, an' we wasn't disappointed. Our patroness is known in these parts, but so far we ain't met anybody what's seen her, recent-like. And a woman goes by 'Verash' is a sword fer hire who don't come cheap. She told us that a bunch o' times."
For Mirra's group
Mirra walks through the Thrane neighborhood looking at all the buildings. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised she would be holed up in this part of the city. Hopefully no one else it looking for her because this isn't real imaginative of a hiding place." she says as she starts to look for a place to ask a few more questions.
Gather Info 16+12= 28
Mirra and her group discover that the main place in town for Thranes with intrigue on their mind is the Candlelight, a restaurant in the Embers district of Oldgate. It is likely that Alidaber might go there to pick up rumours and meet contacts.
Rayne never paid too much attention to the Blood of Vol at the best of times, didn't really know Jolan that well anyway, and had other more immediate routes to arcane power than musty tomes and dead flesh. However, here he is, shuffling about his business in his usual grubby-looking brown robe, his whispy brown beard and sparse hair unkempt as ever, his skin pale and blotchy despite the tropical sun. He looks at her, but simply doesn't recognise her in her current form, and he scurries off on his own business.
Rayne makes a note of the man and smirks, choosing to hold onto the information for the time being.
When the group gathers together, Rayne finds it difficult to go "out of character" and spends much of her time unconsciously flaunting her physique and being especially flirtatious with the locals. However, she does manage to get a word in edgewise to the members of her party.
"I saw an old acquaintence of mine down in the Harbor District. A Karnnathi necromancer currently on the lamb for getting 'into' his studies a bit too deeply if you catch my drift. He's pretty well established with the Blood of Vol... or... well... he was. It's been years since I've run across him. Hard telling what he's up to now, but whatever it is, it can't be good. There is, of course, the wildly off-chance that he's somehow related to what's going on or, at the very least, may have heard something relevant."
Rayne shrugs. "That's all I've got."
"Nope, we haven't. How would you propose doin' that?"
"Well I could start asking around and see if I can track him down."
"Alidaber's going to follow Varen, too. Might as well try t'get him first'n'meet her on th'way."
"I didn't mean to take the wind out of our sails with the question. We have a lead on Alidaber and I think Urthona's correct that either trail might lead to both. I think we should just bear in mind that we have another person we can look for if Alidaber's trail goes cold."
"Is there a place of higher learning, or a library or something here in Stormreach? The long trip by sea has clouded my memory. Wasn't the implication that Varen was involved in artifact trade from here? Maybe an investigation into the local black market would turn up something on him?"
Benedetto pays attention and nods encouragingly during this discussion, but he doesn't believe he has much to add. "I could check around the local folks who rent themselves out as bodyguards; ask after Varen there."
Well, my vote is to keep pursuing Alidaber in Oldgate first. We can start dabbling with criminals when legitimate sources run dry. Alidaber may have better ideas on how to find Varen than we will come up with ourselves.
"I'm figg'rin' we're all balled up. We ain't privy t' how much of a head-start Varen or ir'Krone have on us, nor what they were doing after they arrived, nor whether they've left yet. If we're too above board about nosin' around, I'm afeared we'll likely have that Tamas ir'Jorel's goons payin' us a visit, likely with lethal ordnance.
"At which point, Raine, I reckon your necromancer friend might take a professional interest in us.
"By all the little gods' balls, folk --pardon, Andrei, no offense intended-- we don't even know what Varen looks like. He could be trailin' us even now."