"Ameiko said she'd pay us up front. I just need to make a quick stop at The Feathered Serpent for another wand. I figure we could use one to magic up some armor for me and Ben," he says, trying to smooth out a wrinkle on the scroll - he did not exactly have the proper means of transporting it, after all. "Other than that, I'm all set."
"Nicea is nothing less than thorough but I'm sure she would have done more than just push us out of bed. I'm guessing on a possible drag into the dining room." Damieka chuckled.
However nice it would have been to be able to spend time in bed it didn't make it any less necessary that they got going to Thistletop as soon as they possibly could. Damieka got up with Davben and started to get into her leather garb when he had already gotten ready and went out to greet the others.
Once she is done dressing in her leather armor she grabs her pack. She heard Davben ask the others about tents and even though it could be easier to have one large tent she could not help but feel unsure of herself as she'd never had any relationship more than a day or two. The single tent concept made her wonder whether this meant anything different then bit her lip to stop from thinking so negatively.
To get herself back on track she dunked her face in the bowl in the room using cold water from the pitcher. She waited until the cold made her feel sensible then washed her face off with a towel and went out to the others.
"Morning." She said cheerily as she gathered a brush from her pack and sat beside Davben, touching his shoulder gently before working on her mess of hair, "All I need to get is arrows and lots of them. If they have a really good longbow though and I have enough I may get one."
"Date...well I was thinking more of apples for supplies." the dancer says in response to Davbens statement.
"I was just thinking of buying some smelling salts, in case I'm knocked silly and healing stuff. That we see Samara's friend and she use her charm to get a discount." Zara obviously thinks alot of the treasure hunters charm, but knows they need some healing supplies. 'Although is that showing a lot of cheek, asking to pay less.' she blushes softly.
"I'm not sure how long it'll take us to get to Thistletop." there's a strong hint of nervousness at the thought of hiking across the hillsides. "But I think a trio of 2 person tents could give us the desired flexibility. Or one big one." She gently picks at her food, toying with it rather than eating it.
AMEIKO strikes the breakfast gong indicating that the morning meal is ready. A large buffet style breakfast awaits everybody in the meal room.
There is a lot of bustling about outside as a small team prepares a cart full of crates marked with the Foxglove Coat of Arms and other supplies. Behind that a fancy riding carriage with a team of beautiful horses pulls up. The driver steps down from the coach and enters the doorway.
DRIVER: "LORD FOXGLOVE! YOUR TRANSPORTATION AWAITS!"
Aldern Foxglove exits from his room and walds down the shallow flight of stairs to the lobby.
He then boards the carriage and addresses the driver:
ALDERN FOXGLOVE: "Driver, to Magnimar! You may take it easy along the way. We are more than a day ahead of schedule."
The dancer rises from her seat as Aldern descends the stair, a surprised look on her face. 'I thought he left last night, after my rebuke?' she resolves her face into a haughty visage. With a small strut of her shapely legs, the tattooed dancer shows that she is proud but not-unhappy with the noble.
She returns a small gesture to the departing noble, familiar and friendly. After he has left she sits down; "Oh, I thought he left before? Maybe I should have got some money from him, to help in our and the towns endeavours?" she shrugs her toned shoulders, the soft inked lines drawing the eye.
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Davben nods at the discussion of shopping all things mentioned seemed like good things to have. Seeing Silva trying to straighten out his scroll he takes out a map case from a belt pouch, and offers it to him "You can use this for your scrolls if you want I just have a few sheets of blank paper in it."
Considering the option of 2 person tents "Smaller tents do give more options, and if somehow we get separated both groups would likely still have a tent. That means we would need to carry along three tents instead of one, I think it might be best if we're burdened with as little as we can get away with. If we don't intend to split up I think one tent is best." The monk says taking in mind only practicality and not privacy. "That is of course if we expect to need one at all"
While everyone's gathered he takes advantage to tell them all of what he and Damieka had learned from Tsuto "Tsuto gave us some interesting information about Thistletop." He proceeds to share the information given by Tsuto with everyone.
"Well, if it's a few miles away, probably not. Now if anyone needs to borrow a bit extra money, I think I'll have a hundred or 2 spare." Zara says quietly trying to think.
"Nah, it's alright," Silva says to the monk when offered a case, having given up on smoothing out the paper. They are magical regardless. "We'll be rid of them soon anyway."
"I don't think we'll need any tents. We'll be back by supper!"
"I would not say we will be back by supper as we are more than likely to travel underground." Damieka says between bites, "So I would say that we may wish to have more ability for magic lights and another lantern or torches."
The woman sits back and wipes her lips from her meal, "We should bring warm night gear and cold rations."
Listening to what the loving pair found from Tsuto; Zara then adds; "Bruzanthus, he's one of the goblins that was mentioned in the book. And he's..." Zara blushes; "Well this adultery could cause some dispute in the tribes...."
The dancers eyes are distracted by Damieka's soft glow, the laid-back body language of the half-elf clearly speaks to Zara. She looks to Samara if she has seen any change. "Good thinking, Damieka."
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"My charm?" says Samara, raising her eyebrow slightly and turning the questioning look towards Zara. "Aliver's wares will be good, an apothecary is always a useful friend. I have some things I need to discuss with him. That is a thing I must do."
She then nods to the idea of dispute in the tribes, commenting softly, "It is as I have said. We must teach the goblins to hate each other. This is an opportunity."
"Anyone speak goblin?" Zara asks knowing how essential communication is to any subversion. "Would we want to look to any of the other tribes? The Licktoads? To persuade them that the Thistletop goblins are being led by a cuckold & a human lady."
Face lighting up, Zara adds; "That's brilliant we can add subversion rather than straight assault. Although it can be tricky, unless we understand the mind of the psycho's."
"So do we just do some shopping, then travel to Thistletop. Do we try to find the other tribes, and show them how weak their unity is?" she wonders.
"So with selling all the items we found, barring the sword going to Damieka, silver dagger to Samara and buying a wand of mage armour. That gives us..." Zara does some calculations, her fingers tapping on the table in rhythm. "5621.75, with Silva's charm." She puts a hand on the sorcerers biceps.
"Which is 5621.75, so that's 937 each. Shopping then do we have any other preparations?" Zara wonders, feeling that they have to get moving or else the might stagnate. The fear of the future may end up too strong.
"I only need like 400gp of healing lotions, so if people want to borrow any cash to round it up to a 1000gp?" Zara offers, with a glint in her eye. "I'm sure we can work out the details."
"No thanks, Zara," Silva answers with a smile. The sorcerer wasn't physically strong by any stretch of the imagination, but he did put in enough effort to remain lean and fit. Mostly. "I'll probably just save up my share for a unicorn or something. I guess I'd better carry the money around in platinum pieces." He then turns to address their apparent plan of attack, frowning.
"Goblins are stupid - you said so yourself, Samara. Too stupid to reason with, and maybe even too stupid to trick. I honestly don't see this ending without us killing the lot of them."
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Davben nods at the talk of subversion "Yes I thought we could use that information to at least get the two chiefs squabbling with each other again, it would make things easier for us, and be a step to restoring the balance. We should pay heed to the secret door mentioned as well, it could be a way to get in past heavier resistance we might find in a direct assault."
The monk nods agreeing with Zara's calculations in divvying up the money from what they've found, it sounded right. He furrows his brow somewhat when the cleric explains what she's intending to buy thinking he may have misheard her, but no she did say lotions, not potions. It seemed to him that someone could get an awful lot of lotion for that kind of GP. The glint in her eye seemed suspicious too, just what was she planning?
"I do not believe I will be spending much of mine, I don't use weapons and armour, and I don't have enough for something magical, I will likely only get a few small things for the journey."
He sighs softly at Silva's words, the man never had a plan to offer, but always tried to shoot down any plan someone came up with. "They're not mindless constructs Silva, how can they be too stupid to trick? If we can cause confusion, maybe even start some infighting with them it'll be that much easier for us." He looks towards the man "If you want to charge in without a plan be my guest, but I prefer a chance of survival, I'm not going to follow you."
"Well, it's only a few miles away. Time enough to do some recon and assault or subvert as necessary." Zara adds.
"You heard Shalelu - these tribes have been fighting among themselves forever before now. That was your so-called 'balance.' And someone was powerful enough to disrupt all that. Do you really think that a white lie is going to make that fall apart?" he asks irritatedly, "We have a list of goblin badasses that Nualia apparently has in her pocket - we should be taking out the leadership. Because no matter what, even if you do convince the small fry that they're being betrayed, they'll have to take it up with them."
Damieka stands and puts a hand down on the table, "Let's stop the fighting with each other right now. Davben is right that we can confuse the opposition but Silva is right that it would work best on the top green dung heaps. Zara said it best though. We need to get our items, recon and assault or subvert as we see necessary."
The ranger looks to Nicea, "Nicea, I believe we should head out now in teams of three to obtain what we need and meet up at the road leading out towards Thistletop in about an hour. We will need whatever weapons and weapon supplies for personal and group use. Travel food should be bought for at least a week just in case. Bring sleeping bags or blankets, knives, rope and fire instruments. Chalk helps as well. What do you think, Nicea?"
Zara looks across to Damieka and thinks that it needs just a little more sternness.
"Now you boys don't argue!" she chides them in her most matronly tone. "Or else you are in from a spanking."
With a smile to the ranger; "Good idea, Damieka."
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"Sounds good, Damieka. You seem on top of things this morning - good! All I need is my pack, some potions, and a small tent. I suggest we get our own, now that we have money. It's the only privacy we'll get. Frankly, I didn't think we'd be gone overnight. The more stuff you have, the more you have to haul, remember." Nicea trots off to her room for her pack, then stops by the group. "Who else needs potions? You're with me. Lotions, you're with Zara."
There was more the seething sorcerer wanted to say to the monk, but some twinge of common decency reminds him that this is not the time nor place. He settles for glowering at him, ready to snap at whatever comeback he threw at him. When he hears Damieka's reasoning however, he instead settles down, a tired sigh escaping from his lips. It seemed as though everything was finally getting to him.
"Yeah, you're both right," Silva says to Damieka and Zara, passing up a chance to take the latter up on her threat. He rubs the back of his head as he does so, struggling to not be contrary. He sighs yet again before looking to the monk. "Look, I'm sorry Ben. It's just that... I... well..."
He had a reason, sure. And he was pretty sure that it was not even an excuse! Pretty sure, at least. Hearing Nicea's plan however, he quickly opts out of going for the manly heart to heart.
"I'll just go get the magic stick thing."
Seeing how much it costs Silva to apologise, her heart goes out to the tattooed gent. Soft-hearted Zara goes over and gives him a big hug; "That's not so hard, is it?" she asks warmly.
"You'll be alright then?" Zara asks letting the personable young man go, hoping that there's no ill-will. Looking around the group; "So are we going for 1 man or 2 man tents, if any at all?"
Against the table is all the young dancers posessions ready for the journey out into the woods.
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Davben shakes his head at the scolding "I am not trying to fight with anyone, I just do not understand why he must bring down every plan we have, no matter how logical it is."
Looking towards Silva at his apology "I apologize as well, I meant no offense. I only seek the reasons why you don't agree with our plans, there's a lot at stake, if you have information we do not that could change how we proceed now would be a good time to share."
Turning his gaze towards Zara "Do not treat me as a child. When I see need to argue I will."
As Nicea starts to leave he thinks of whether he needs potions or lotions, he can't fathom what he'd do with lotions "I suppose I will go with Nicea, I don't think I have any use for lotions, though what I really need would be at the general store."
The monk considers Zara's question of what size of tent and shrugs his shoulders "Sharing tents I think would be more a personal choice, I do not mind sharing with anyone who would like to spare the cost, or the burden, tents can be relatively heavy. Also once I purchase a backpack, I can carry some extra items for anyone that needs to ease their burden, within reason of course."
Zara huffs slightly at Davben's comment; "I was only trying to help us get along." she adds quietly.
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Nicea watches the interaction, then butts in. "Folks can speak their mind, as far as I'm concerned, as long as we work together well when it counts. We should have a plan, but frankly we don't know much about Thistletop right now. So we go in, look around, and get a feel for the situation. We can plan a couple of things and use the one that works out once we get there, but won't know until then. Best thing to do now is prepare. I'm planning to get a couple of healing potions, so Zara doesn't have to do everything. Then maybe some things to throw at the greenies - liquid fire, acid, stuff like that. I've got chalk and most of the things Dameika suggested. Anything else you can think of? I don't give a rip about tents, quite frankly. I want to stay alive."
"I was gonna get some Harpy's musk, alchemists fire. Stuff like that." Zara adds hastilly, trying show the leader that she was useful.
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"I might be able to make some alchemist's fire, but I'm not sure we have the time for that..." says Samara softly. "Or the lab space... unless Aliver lets me borrow any space, er... Nevermind." She shakes her head. "I'll see how much I have left to spend once done there. I still have one potion from the goblins..."
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"We've got enough that I can get a better class of weapon, too!" Nicea says with some pleasure, "Silva, if you can ask Ameiko to sell these, I'm off to the armourer for new!" She hands off her scythe and hammer.
Total: 329.2 - 320.5 = 8.7 gp
Nicea puts her new potions in the bandolier and admires her weapons before sadly examining her purse. "It goes so fast!" she laments to anyone within earshot before heading off to the town end of the road to Thistletop to meet up with the rest of the party.
Zara nods to the others and leaves for Alivers' shop. The young Varisian has some idea's of what she'll need, in future she doesn't want to feel so helpless in her healing skills. Thus she heads of to the shop, packed with nick-nacks and bottles. A strange smell hangs in the air that she cannot quite identify but it sticks at the back of her throat.
After talking to Samara's friend, in a light and genial tone - trying to make a good impression with him. Then Zara makes some purchases quickly, before rushing off and leaving the private elf to get her special ingredients.
Rushing over to Nicea near the North Gate, Zara is all bundled up in furs and skins. With a dark cloak across her back and sturdy boots upon her feet. "Hello, finished my shopping." she gasps; having rushed to do everything in time.
Damieka smiles when Nicea compliments he then she feels badly when Davben speaks.
"It was beginning to become heated." Damieka says quietly as she wonders if she had thought wrongly about what was going on. It certainly seemed like Silva had taken some offense and that Davben didn't realize it. Maybe she was the one who was too socially inept to know what was going on? She could only wonder as she sighed, "I thought I was helping."
"A... I'll get a double tent ... let's get going." The ranger walks out with Nicea and looks around to see if she could find a +2 composite longbow and see how much it costs. She also buys arrows, 3 sets of 20 - 3gp/9lbs and a medium tent 15gp/30lbs.
Zara hefts the hammer that's presented to her. "That's a nice weight, finely balanced and quite shiny." she says with a hint of awe, hoping that Nicea would compliment her in return.
Suddenly serious as she hands the hammer back, Zara says quietly: "If I fall you can use these smelling salts. I might regain conciousness long enough to heal you. Of course if I'm dead...." she leaves the words hanging there, trailing off upon the biting sea-breeze.
"Well actually, rub this lotion upon my corpse it'll preserve it for a few days. Maybe get a priest to resurrect me?" her tone is lighter as she looks out to the rolling waves.
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"So you really did get lotion?" Nicea grins, "And it's not the type of lotion I thought you were going to get. Heck, if you fall, I got a couple of potions we can pour down your gullet. Just don't choke. And it's best for all of us if you don't die, you know. If you go, we probably will too. After all, how many times did you save my sorry ass in the caverns, huh?" She claps Zara on the back but does make a note of the proper lotion.
More seriously, she murmurs, "I understand, and if anything happens to you, we'll do our damndest to get you back, Zara. I don't leave a comrade if it can be helped."
Zara blushes furiously at the compliment, and is half thrown forward at the slap on the back. Gently rubbing her back, Zara responds optimistically; "Well looks like we'll have some good weather for the walk."
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Davben looks towards Damieka and shakes his head "You did not do any harm. I had no intention of offending anyone." He never does, but that rarely stops him.
When Damieka mentions she'll get a double tent he looks about the group, and considers some of their party members that are more known for their skills than strength, they might have difficulty lugging around a heavy tent of their own. "I'll get a four person tent, I can handle the extra weight without a problem. Anyone willing to share with me is welcome, but you'll have to carry your own bedroll. With Damieka's tent we should at least have shelter for everyone."
The monk heads out to do his shopping, going with Damieka and Nicea. Once finished he joins up with the others sporting his new backpack, undoubtedly filled with necessities for the journey.
backpack 2gp
Silk rope(50ft) 10gp
torches(2) 0.02gp
Tent(large) 30gp
Bedroll 0.1gp
Acid flask(3) 30gp
alchemist's fire(2) 40gp
potion CLW(2) 100gp
oil magic weapon 50GP
937-262.12 = 674.88
Damieka scratches the back of a hand as Davben says that he is getting a four man tent but says nothing. This is a "business trip" per se and she had to accept that even if all her paranoia about men said differently. The ranger would have an uphill battle with her feelings but she figured that keeping to herself about it would be best. She did not want her issues to become trouble. She takes a big breath and continues on.
3 sets of 20 - 3gp/9lbs
medium tent 15gp/30lbs
2 bags of caltrops 2gp 4lb
As they go to meet the others she seems tired and a bit unsure but as soon as she thinks it is about time to get going she walks in front of the others finding a good trail to follow.
Silva's shopping trip is comparatively short compared to those of the others. The brooding sorcerer makes a quick stop by Bottled Solutions to grab some healing potions, before returning to The Feathered Serpent. Using the portion of gold the group agreed to pool together, he procures a wand of mage armor there. To lighten his load, he has his hefty remainder of gold converted into platinum pieces.
2 potions of cure light wounds - 100 gp
wand of mage armor - 750 gp (party pool)
He takes his sweet time getting to the rendezvous point, holding his point of staying as far away from the general store as possible. He shows up with his hands in his pockets, whistling a tune.
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Samara purchases many items alongside Zara, but waits for the cleric to leave before asking for poisons, speaking in hushed tones. She purses her lips at the prices, but as it's black market material, she's not in a great position to haggle with her friend. "Thank you, Aliver. I am sorry about bringing someone. She is wanting to build a friendship with me. That is a thing that she is doing... and she wanted to meet you. She does not know about our, ah, trade agreement..."
2x potion of cure light wounds (100gp)
1x Masterwork rapier (300gp + 20gp)
1x Masterwork studded leather armour (150gp + 25gp)
20 arrows (6gp)
1x bloodroot poison (100gp)
1x giant wasp poison (210gp)
911gp
Sell rapier and leather armour ((20gp + 10gp) x 0.6) = 18gp
Total spend: 893gp
943.4 - 893 = 50.4gp
Beaming as the final member of the group approaches.
"Oh, you got some leathers just like mine.... well it's a different cut and hue. But it really suits you." Zara says exuberantly. Then starts off on the track along the coast towards Thistletop. Brushing her pale hair out of azure eyes, she knows this is the best part of the day.
Then with the others beside her, they set off....
Damieka was careful looking out for other tracks and making sure they were not heading into traps. She was focused and not paying much attention to anyone unless they said her name. Finally she stopped, putting up a hand for the others to stop when they were close enough to see Thistletop itself.
Her eyes shifted to check the area out and listened for the signs of wildlife.