"I'll ah.. let yew get tuwit. No sense avin da stink o me reputation clingin ta ya, now is dere?" Kyle's mannerisms seem to have returned to "town mode"; he sports a giant, toothy grin and winks at Queslin "Right, Pointy?"
Unless they talk him out of it, Kyle finds his way back to one of his usual sleeping spots and tries to sleep off the damage and ability damage. After a night's rest, he will be at 4/10 hp and 12/14 Strength.
No your coming too. I can tend to you both easily enough. And I care not what the sheep in this town think of me...
"Keep callin' 'em sheep an dey won' think much of ya." Kyle grins "Dey don' take kindly to dose wut know demselves ta be better than. Das why I stopped lettin' on dat I was."his grin widens.
He shrugs and follows Ralafas, not wanting to argue with the man that will be putting him back together when he starts bleeding.
Chuckles. I don't think I'm better I just don't close my mind to anything I don't like. And seek to better myself. Each day I strive to be better than I was the day before in some way. This is why I chose to serve my Goddess. She offers power and stability and with that I can grow stronger....
"So, wha' cin Aye do ta he'p wit' t'e recov'ry?"
"So let's find a place to rest and sort what we found." Is there a decent place that Queslin can suggest?
Feral Dog is perfect.
Works we go there and I set up for care over night.
Take ten on it for a 17.... Everyone gets back twice normal healing. In the morning I will channel twice.
591 CY 3rd of Planting (low summer)
Daily Weather:
Sky: Cloudy
Temp: Cool, ~About 45 degrees
Prec:None
Time:Mid- Morning
Mid-morning is a quiet time at the Dog, most of the drunks have woke up and stumbled home after a long night of drinking, and the rest are busy working in the mines. Only the wait staff and a few diehards are present in the tap room as you take some breakfast and plan your next moves.
As you are eating a boy of 12 or so winters enters the Dog. He nervously approaches the table and says quietly, "Are you the ones looking for the cairn?"
Queslin looks at his companions and shrugs before saying, "Yes. Yes we are."
The boy smiles and looks around a bit looking as if he is part of a large conspiracy.
"My master, the great Allustan has a job proposal for you. Please present yourself at his home after you have finished with your morning meal."
Tessa's eyes flutter open, and she rises quickly in defense. She looks around, realizing that she's not in the Cairn any longer, dry, and (possibly most importantly) not dead. "What happened?", she questions, looking to Ralafas for answers. "Water monster, is it dead?"
* * *
After getting her answers, Tessa returns to her room, laying out her well-worn copy of The Wise Fool, and removing her shirt. She reads through the lines, meditating upon her failure in the Cairn. As she does, she pulls the flog from her pack, placing it above the book. She prays fervently for forgiveness, praying to the Cudgeler to remove the weakness in her mongrel flesh, to give her the strength to continue onwards and purify herself before His greatness. She takes the flog in hand, and begins her ritual of flagellation, never crying out, even as the welts begin to rise on her back. It was times like these that she remembered the words of the priests. Red, they said, is better than green.
* * *
At breakfast, Tessa raises an eyebrow as she listens to the boy, chewing on the bland gruel the Feral Dog provides as the morning repast. "Fine. Let him know we will be there." She narrows her eyes at the lad. "And no one else." She frowned as she swallowed, and it was only partially due to the utter neutrality of flavor from the gruel. "How did he learn?", she mutters to her group, as conspiratorially as she could muster.
"It's a small town. People blab. Maybe one those folk that quit halfway through the first day." Kyle says glumly, not even bothering to affect his usual town buffoon demeanor or fool's grin. "Means we'd better work on getting back there before 'The Four' figure out that the stirge nest is a complete waste of time. Guess we could see old man Allustan before we head back to the Cairn though, I hear he's loaded, might be worth a paycheck to listen to what he wants."
"Well we are an unusual group. Stop me if you've heard this one, two humans, an elf, a dwarf, and an orc walk into a bar..."
[Ooc] Yep.... [/Oo]
On the water monster
No it retreated and so did we. There was no point in us being slain...
Breakfast. I will seek more bolstering spells this day to help us.
[Ooc] Gonna change my mem list will have it up before midnight I think.
Tessa pushes her bowl of gruel away, finished with the flavorless breakfast. "Halfling walks under it," Tessa says simply to no one in particular. She then looks to Queslin, letting the meaning of her words sink in.
"Kyle's right" she says. "We should go. Soon."
"Bah. Ain't not'in' wort' t'e trubble so far. Ye wanna git back ta t'e work, Aye cin git back ta t'e work. Can't hur' ta hear t'is fella oot, t'ough."
Kyle blinks "First time anyone's accused me of that." he smiles mirthlessly, gathering his meager belongings and trudging to the door. "If we find anything, It'll be where no one has gone before. You saw the bodies, everywhere we've been has already been looted. I want to know what that water guardian was protecting." He steps out the door.
"You can find master Allustan's house by taking the north road out of the square taking a right on the next lane, he lives at the end of the road. His house is painted red and blue."
"Good Day to you sirs," and with that the boy bows and takes his leave.
Queslin gathers what little belongings he has and is ready to leave for Allustan's only a short time later.
You arrive at Allustan's house which by Diamond Lake standards is one of finest in town. A man of middling years with great black beard wearing rich red robes sits on an old stump outside his home, he hails you as you come forward.
"Hail, I see Thom has found you at the Feral Dog."
"He has," Tessa replies with her usual brusqueness. "We're here. What now?" She crosses her arms, her brow furrowed as she levels her gaze to the aging man.
"Ha, my aren't you a forward lass, goes with the heritage I suppose. But I admire getting straight to point of matter."[b]
Allustan pauses a moment and readjusts a on his stump a bit, [b]"I have a job for you in Greyhawk City of you are interested."
"Just a simple errand to the city and back, easy pay."
"Notin's ever easy, old man." Kyle smiles meanly, not pleased with all these assumptions people are making about Tessa. "Specially not money. How'd ya know bout us splorin the Cairn?"
"Oh I have informants in the town that keep aware of what is going on."
"I heard another band is in town known as 'The Four', are also delving in another cairn as we speak."
Tessa narrows her eyes at Allustan as he talks about her 'heritage'. Part of her detests the people that consider her "just another greenskin," but part of her has been taught to revile her birth father's race. "What of them?", she says tersely, leaning on the haft of her greataxe.
"Stop. He has given us no reason to be rude. Let's hear what he has to say without biased ears."
"Nor has he given reason fer us ta trudge ta Greyhawk 'n back. Yet. Aye'm not opposed ta t'e trip, bu' i' will le' t'e four get ahead o' us in searchin', if ye care."
"Ya never needed a reason ta be rude fore, Pointy, an sides, I see at least two reasons he's given us. But we came ta hear him out, so les do dat and I'll keep mah ears as biased as ya keep yers pointed." Kyle sneers at the elf.
I bet if he'd made a comment denigrating your race you wouldn't be so eager to be polite. Kyle thinks bitterly.
Tessa nods in agreement to Thalin and Kyle. "Not being rude," she says to Queslin. "Just short."
"Say your piece, mage," she says, returning her focus to Allustan.
Allustan looks back to Tessa, "No insult was met lass, just an observation that orcs and their kin tend to be very blunt and to the point. I have had many dealings with them in a past life."
"Ah yes now where was I, the errand to Greyhawk. I need a new set of keys that I had commissioned, picked up from a locksmith named Theldrat Meldrop, who runs a shop called Locks'R'Us. Interested? I'll pay 10 orbs to each of you that go for this very simple errand."
"Keys? Ye wan' us ta ge' yer keys? Wha' do t'ese keys open t'at ye need n armed escor' for t'em?"
"And ten gold each, even."
Tessa's eyes narrow at the banality of the mage's request. She kept quiet for the moment, waiting to see how the others would react, but her body language made it obvious that she wasn't especially thrilled to become this neckbeard's lackeys.
Narrows his eyes and wonders the same as the others.
"Sounds simple enough. I do have one question, though, why not just have it shipped? Why us?"
"A good question young elf, but I would like to see if we could work together in the future. I may have more important errands in the future."
"OK. I'm willing to do it."
We can do this.
"Well then excellent, Oh by the way you can find Locks'R'Us in the River district."
"Also if you wish, I will pay for a round trip coach ride if you do not wish to walk."
Tessa shrugs. "Don't care," she replies. "Kyle might, though. The Four are on his timetable." She looked to the rogue to see if he was willing to give up thee Whispering Cairn in favor of Allustan's errand.
Allustan after listening to your discussion of whether to leave the cairn be, until returning from Greyhawk.
"If you young ones are concerned about 'The Four' finding the cairn you are investigating, I can distract them towards another one. I have feeling they are up to no good anyway. They seem rather mercenary."
"As for the cairn it self, when you return, I would be interested in hearing what you found in there."
"Da Four are braggarts, but not widout skill. An they's come to our pisspot o a town ta make a name fer demselves. Course dat's probably cause dere too stupid ta come up wid a better name den Da Four. Ok, old man, we'll do dis. But if'n we return ta find dem ransackin our digs, we might come ta believe ya did all dis ta distract us fer dem. Dat's not a position I'd wanna be in." Kyle says after considering, giving a smile and a nod towards Tessa.
"Me neither," Tessa says, a toothy grin breaking across her face. It's the first time any of the group has seen her smile, and the expression is...well, unsettling is as good a word as any.
"Assuming everything is in order when we return, Queslin interjects, trying to calm the mood a little, "I will be happy to discuss our findings with you once we are done investigating the tomb."
The dwarf looks from one of his new companions to the next, then to the old human and back again.
"Dinnae t'ink Aye git whu' yer all goin' on aboo'. If Allustan 'ere is t'e kinda figure ye claim, t'en t'ere's nay reason fer him ta lie ta us aboo' t'is. Ta boo', whacha showed in t'e cairn is t'at T'e Fer would have ta be better t'an ye are ta make better progress wit'oot t'e clues 'n' tools ye brough' oot wit' us."
By coach.
You take the three day ride to Greyhawk City via the Able Carter Coaching Company. The ride is rather unventfull due to well patroled roads in the dominion of Greyhawk.
591 CY 6th of Planting (low summer)
Daily Weather:
Sky: CLear
Temp: Mild, ~About 50 degrees
Prec:None
Time:Early Morning
After being dropped of by the coach, you make your way to the River Quarter, where Locks'R'Us is located.
Greyhawk City is a metropolis like no other. There is something here for every traveler, merchant, and hero alike.
Adventure waits around every corner and danger lurks down every alley. Morning in the city of Greyhawk is much like all other times of the day hectic.
Today appears to be no exception. Although this part of the vast metropolis has not fully woken up, it appears that some of the lesser folk have.
Across the street, a pair of filthy thugs are looting the very shop you are to pick up the set of keys from.
They glance over in your direction as you move up the street.