Call of the Forgotten Realms

Game Master Charles Evans 25

please brudder let us go to a room dere is a little girl who need to be made well, we can talk dere, (nim stands up and beckons his brother to follow)

Everyone:
"I will wait to observe for a few minutes before joining you."
Ashan Casually clances around some of the room."What room you in?"
"Someone has it in for you guys, and I would like to find out who."
Ashan will go to get a drink and settle in a place to watch the room.
After about 5-6 minutes he will join the brothers.

As calmly as he can Seebo finishes his meal. Quietly speaking to Nim,
"Nim settle down please, we don't want to draw extra attention to ourselves. Others may be watching us."
Turning to Ashan, "See if anyone follows, be careful and good luck"
sorry for the delay, I went to post but my ISP went down statewide for the whole of yesterday

This meal is a sort of 'big occasion' one, tonight being Year's End, with different courses being brought in at regular intervals; sorry if I didn't make that clear enough. Unless you make a specific request to the staff to 'hurry up' for you, or you skip some courses, it's going to take a while.
Nim has wolfed down his soup, finished his roll, and is waiting impatiently for Seebo to catch up with him when a human man with a red beard, balding head, and in a chain shirt with a tabard of the Company of the Sable Bow (which Seebo isn't currently familiar with) over that enters the dining room. He looks around hopelessly at the sea of gnome, dwarf, and halflings seated at tables, then makes his way over to the still standing Ashan. He bends down to address Ashan, in a lowered tone.
Ashan:

In this case Seebo will try to calm Nim and continue talking about things that won't give anything away if they are over heard

Ashan will quietly reply so only the people at his table can hear.
"I know Mr Murnig quite well. In fact we all know him quite well."
Indicating that he should join us briefly, Ashan continues.
"Please join us briefly, and we will then take you to him."
Ashan is trying to get a feel for the character of this stranger before introducing him to the brothers.

ok we wait for a while, but we must go to girl soon

Once the Stranger (dress as a member of Sable Bow) settles.
"Your name please? and Why are you looking for my friend Nim?"
"There has been too many odd happenings for me to disclose his location without know some back ground. Especially after the attack last night."
Ashan will attempt to lead the conversation so that Nim does not speak out of place yet. Ashan is hoping both brothers get what he is attempting to do, else at least Seebo, if not Nim.

The man proves difficult for Ashan to divert from his errand with small talk.
"If you'll pardon me, sir, but I have been asked to deliver the message to the named party only. A gnome with something of a wild look about him, and of the name of Bronx, needed the message conveyed, and was most insistent that it was to be for his comrade's ears only." He pauses before adding: "He said he was staying here, and that his comrade was unlikely to have left the premises since he last saw him."

"If he was travelling with the brothers, I trust their judgement enough to introduce you to Seebo and Nim."
Ashan will now introduce the Sable Mow man to the Brothers.
Leaning closer to the mercenary, for his ears alone, "Nim is an adopted brother. So don't stare, it offends him."

At Ashan's introduction Seebo inclines his head to the man from the Sable Bow

who you den? (to the sable bow man)

"Uhh, I, he... that is to say the gnome, Bronx, said something about Mr. Murnig being a gnome..."
He manages with some effort to recover himself. "A gnome hunter, by the name of Bronx madcap, arrived at the garrison a short while ago to report a break-in at a guest's room here, and his suspicions as to the identity of the one responsible."

Seebo seeing the confusion on the face of the human quickly interjects,"The room my brother," indicating Nim
"and I share was indeed trashed. To the best of my knowledge nothing was stolen."
"If this Bronx Madcap, knows who did it then that will surely be of help to you, wouldn't it?"
"You should be able to make an arrest quickly and findout why they did it."

"Bronx seemed to have a pretty good idea of who it was - gave us a description of a halfling fellow who had claimed to be called 'Jaego' - and Bronx left town a short while back with a patrol to look for this halfling, since Bronx seemed to figure that Jaego had left town. The snow should make him fairly easy to track him if he has tried to skip town, too... 'should' I say. Bronx also thought there might be evidence that this Jaego was linked to whatever madness went down at the Redstar mining offices this noon, and maybe events at a woodsman's cabin a short way from town."

Ashan will come forward with some information here.
Speaking quietly so as to not be overheard by other patrons.
"I also have seen the handy work of this "Jaego" in the past."
"If he did not get what he was looking for, he may still be in the town."
"Knowing what he is looking for would be helpful."
"He has a rather good disguise ability, hence his still walking about free. He gets paid by people to aquire things by other than legal means."
"While cleaning up the Murnig's room, I began to suspect this person."
Short pause for emphasis.
"This place is a long way from his preferred area of operation, so he must be getting paid a lot, or he is very afraid of his employer."
"I cannot say how many other names he goes by, or even if I have seen other of his disguises, at this time."
Ashan will indicate this is all he currently knows, with a nod to Seebo and Nim.

i have another room brudder,maybe what he want is in dere,we found a girl and a box, come let me show you (nim tugs on seebo)

Seeing the concern on Nim's face and hearing it in his voice, Seebo says to Nim, "We will go as soon as we can without bring to much attention to ourselves. Remember what Mama said about manners at the dining table."
Turning to Ashan, "give us a couple of minutes before you follow that way you can keep an eye out for extras."
Then turning to the sable bow man, "it might be better if you wait and go with Ashan here."
"Now, Nim can you wait just a little bit longer, remember we need to look like we are just here for the fun and the food and the celebrations"

ok we wait a few more minutes

With a nod to Seebo, and a look at the Sable Bow man Ashan will indicate that they will follow in a few minutes after they leave.
"Quietly now, what is the number of this other room Nim?"

A.K.A. Ashan Ackanya

How many of us are left posting here?
If there is only the three of us do we need any other players?

At present I assume there to be only three of you (players), since Pres Man has apparently stopped posting here although has remained active on the Paizo boards. I don't think I've seen a post from here since Christmas, when the pressure of real life may have been getting to me somewhat and affecting my posts.
Edit:
I am currently thinking on the new players, or possible other options; I have it in mind that any fights must be scaled back accordingly.

Staff begin to clear the soup course dishes from the tables, whilst others start to bring out plates of roast pork and vegetables and accompanying boats of rich gravy.

"Anyhow, he wanted you to know where he was, and what he was about...", the man trails off. "There was something about a mage called 'Davkul' as well, but he said it wasn't so important."

sorry ashan i not know der number i not able to read, but you can follow me to der room (nim leads the way)

im happy with just three of us, one more would be good though

"Nim!" Said quietly but with firmness in his voice.
Then gentler, "Eat some roast, you need your strength."
Said to Seebo, "It must be important, I'll watch where you go right after this course, were going to draw attention with the Sable Bow man here anyway."
Ashan continues his meal.

The man from the company of the Sable Bow is happy to leave unless you have any questions for him; he was asked by Bronx to update you on his status.
Ashan:

If Davkul is still posting off chance.
"Do you know where Davkul is now?"
If Bronx is still posting, off chance as well.
"Do you know how long Bronx is likely to be out?"
Other information enquired about.
"What did you find out about this mornings poisoning death?"
"I understand Seebo was helping the investigation."
Ashan will direct the conversation in a manner to get as much information as possible, as he is aware of Seebo's current lack of memory, and does not wish to tip the Sable Bow man off to his condition.

Seebo sits quietly eating allowing Ashan to direct the conversation.
quietly "Nim, I have things to tell you as well, please eat diiner and we''l get to all of this"

If Davkul is still posting off chance.

"Do you know where Davkul is now?"
If Bronx is still posting, off chance as well.
"Do you know how long Bronx is likely to be out?"
Other information enquired about.
"What did you find out about this mornings poisoning death?"
"I understand Seebo was helping the investigation."
Ashan will direct the conversation in a manner to get as much information as possible, as he is aware of Seebo's current lack of memory, and does not wish to tip the Sable Bow man off to his condition.

"I don't know where this 'Davkul' that Bronx mentioned is, no. Mr. Murnig's friend, Bronx, was just heading out with a tracking party to try to run Jaego down. Bronx reckoned Jaego had skipped town, and it depends how long they're out looking for him I guess as to how long Bronx is going to be out. Lieutenant Merruth Orcbane is handling the case of the poisoning this morning. I don't know much about it other than that the mine-owners are pretty angry about it. Seems the fellow was staying here at their expense. Maybe he was a merchant they requested specially visit town to talk private business with them." He shrugs. "We've been ordered not to poke our noses into the circumstances if we weren't part of Orcbane's group that investigated the scene of the murder this morning."

Ashan will also try for some information about the incident at the mine offices themselves.

After the end of the conversation with the Sable Bow man, Ashan will thank him for his time, and suggest he advise where we can contact him if we need to.
After the Man has gone.
"Seebo, you were aparently helping in this investigation, for all the good that is at the moment."
"I hope Jaego has left town, I prefer not to be looking over my shoulder, but I suggest we proceed carefully anyway."
"I believe we should be able to take the next course of the meal back to your room. I will come with you initially, and wait outside near the room to see if anyone looks down the corridor or tries to follow us.
Ashan will then proceed with his meal casually scanning the room in case someone is paying more attention to the group than would be considered normal.

"I don't know much about what went on at the Redstar offices this noon. There's a story that a pair of gnomes went berserk and killed everyone else there because they were all planning to assassinate the merchant, Greyfrost, and his escort; then there's another story that a cabal of half a dozen halfling friends of Jaego were amongst the assassins, along with a gibbering mouther. You end up not knowing what to believe. Probably fey pranks involved somewhere."
That's all he has/knows/guesses on that subject. The usual rumour and speculation are busily at work amongst those not in the know (and everyone's a little busy over at the garrison at present for those involved in particular investigations to stop and get the stories straight with everyone else...).

"Thankyou for your time and the information, please give our thanks to your commander for releasing you, to bring it to us. May you have a good celebration and a relatively quiet evening."
Signalling one of the serving girls over seebo asks," Could we please have the next course so we can take it to our room?"

The man from the Company of the Sable Bow leaves the room.
A short while later, Seebo manages to catch the attention of one of the serving maids.
"The next course, sir? That would be the cheese course, with the special death-cheese lottery. Then there's the Year's End pudding course, then an apple for every diner, then the mulled wine."

Death-cheese, made from catoblepas milk, is a speciality cheese, very highly regarded and expensive. At year's end Mrs. Prestwick has a lottery whereby one table of diners get a piece along with their regular cheeses for the year's end meal.

Listening intently to the maid Seebo replies, "thankyou very much, for that. That sounds both delightful and exciting. we must stay for that."
Waiting for the maid to leave Seebo leans in towards the other two and says, " I think it best if we stay for the cheese course and then leave. It would be considered both strange and inappropriate not to be here for the cheese draw, and we certainly don't want to upset Mrs Prestwick."
"How does that sound to the both of you?"

Ashan nods his agreement and continues with enjoying the meal, while still observing the room.

i fink we should go now brudder, but you know best

Whilst the meat and vegetables course proceeds, some of the other guests begin to get slightly more jolly as drink starts to take effect.
A gnome on the other side of the room slips a maid a couple of coppers and directs her to supply 'those dem fine heroes' Seebo and Nim each with 'a tankard of Luiren's finest' with his compliments.

Seebo accepts the tankard, raising it it thanks to it purchaser although he doesn't know what he did to deserve it. He sits it down carefully in front of him, planning to make a show of drinking it without actually doing so.
" Nim be careful how much you drink, remember we don't want to get into trouble and we need our wits about us."

it not me who get into trouble all der time, it you!

Seebo accepts the tankard, raising it it thanks to it purchaser although he doesn't know what he did to deserve it. He sits it down carefully in front of him, planning to make a show of drinking it without actually doing so.

" Nim be careful how much you drink, remember we don't want to get into trouble and we need our wits about us."

When Seebo raises his tankard, it raises a cheer from that table, and they raise their tankards back, in humorous salute.

Seebo goes back to his meal, eating methodically, concentrating more on what's going on around him than on what he's eating. Time seems to dragging, when all he really wants is to get back to his room and find out what's going on.

At last the staff start to clear the tables of the plates and dishes from the meat and vegetables course, and bring in a bucket full of numbered ivory plaques for the cheese course.

Basically the table that has a diner who draws the plaque with the lowest number on it wins. Would you like to pick a champion to roll a percentile chance on Invisible Castle to see if you win, or would you like me to roll a percentile?
(The lower the roll, the better here.)

Not concerned who rolls.

Let Ravi do it, some fun for NIM

nim picks

36!

Well I assumed there were 24 other participating tables/groups, and did check, just in case... *24 d100 rolls*
Tension builds around the room as accompanied by a couple of maids bearing a piece of death-cheese on a platter, Mrs. Prestwick arrives, and people begin to announce the numbers which they drew from the bucket.
Nim needs to get his brother to tell him what number to announce, but it is soon apparent that there are at least two tables with better numbers.
Once Nim has given the number this would be a perfect opportunity to slip out, at the risk of seeming slightly sore losers (as one group of sulky halflings has already done so).
Or you could wait for the presentation, and all the other cheese to start circulating...

let us go now

"Yes I believe now would be a good time to go. I need to see your room number so that I can see if anyone is watching."
Ashan will follow the brothers to the room.
He will then proceed to a point where he can observe if anyone follows before joining them in the room.