The town of Torch was never rich, but it managed to do well because wise man led it through hard and good times. The purple fire, called the torch always shot in the sky and it´s base even the hardest metals could be melt. All was fine ... till the fire went out.
Now the most experienced council-member is missing, a man who went to investigate the desaster. Now Torch is a city on the brink of disaster, because no revenue will flow, but the tax-men will want their full dues.
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Walking through torch Dinali starts to do her trade."
"Hear ya, hear ya. Our beloved councilmember Khonnir Baine has gone missing. He was last seeing entering the Black Hill Caverns. Interested Parties should come to the town hall. There is a reward of 4000 gold pieces for the safe return of Master Baine"
At the eternal candle she will try to find a few facts before heading off to bed.
Eriethiel hears the halfling shouting from the street outside the door. I certainly wouldn't mind the opportunity to investigate the caverns... She briefly looks to the woman behind the counter before turning away, hearing her old mentor's voice in her head. "Don't go chasing your wild geese, girl; if and when you do catch them, they're liable to give you quite the pecking!" She sighs quietly and shakes her head, then sets her mind back to the task in front of her, confirming the worth of the goods brought in the day before.
She feels Inkrit's eyes on her, hears her melodramatic sigh. "You've got too good a head on your shoulders to let it go to waste in here when there's something more important - to all of us - to do with it out there. I can handle the inventory; get yourself to town hall, see if you can't help find Master Baine." Excitement courses through her, lighting her green eyes and forcing a smile to her lips. She practically leaps to her feet, knocking over a tray full of small trinkets; as they noisily skitter across the stone floor, she looks to Inkrit, wincing. "Go on, Eriethiel; I'll clean this mess up."
Eriethiel quickly covers the short distance to the Copper Coin and rushes up the stairs to her room. One, two..."third door on the right..." she remembers Katina's voice the day she arrived. She fumbles briefly with the key before she's able to enter, then gathers her few belongings into her pack and, locking the door behind her, bounds down the stairs and out, heading east. She makes her way through the crowded Market Square and finally arrives, breathless, in the courtyard in front of Town Hall. After she smooths her clothes and pulls her hair back out of her face, she takes a deep breath and walks in.
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Most of Tavar's day is uneventful; hard at work he takes note of the town cryer barking about some reward or something about a missing persons. Still unfamiliar with most of the town he pays no mind as half of it gets cut off with all the noise in the stable from the recent influx of merchants and travellers. I owe Iven and his wife a great deal, letting me keep a living here, trackers and Rangers don't seem to make a decent living around here..., he says to himself.
As evening looms Tavar once again hears the cryer as she repeats her cry from earlier in the day. As soon as she mentions the possibility of entering the Black Hill Caverns his interest is immediately peeked. Exploring eh? Caverns! Well this sounds more of an adventure then just some old drunk lost around town... I'm pretty much done for the day, seems like a good idea to check this out. He thinks with a grin on his face.
"Ooooooh, I can't wait to check out this cavern!" ,with great excitement in his voice.
He gathers up his things, quickly, and luckily he was thinking of practicing some swordplay and marksmanship after his work shift thus his bow and long sword are readily in hand.
Running through the town trying not to bump into someone or trip he finally makes it to the town hall in break neck speed. As he approaches the door way he sees a beautiful fair skinned elf making her way inside. Obviously enamoured as he rarely pays attention to such things, something about her reminded him of Shalelu. Slightly blushing he decides to think nothing of it and immediately follows in behind her. Bravely, he taps her shoulder and begins to introduce himself.
"So, you here to find this Baine man as well?" He says bluntly, as mid sentence he realizes well why else would she be here? Ugh... Fool.
Eriethiel's sharp intake of breath echoes in the entry as she feels a tap on her shoulder. Discovering the intent behind the gesture, however, her shoulders visibly relax; she smiles briefly, then nods. "I was hoping to assist, yes. Are you organizing the search?"
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Taken by surprise at her sudden presumption that he is organizing the search, he quickly responds. "No, no, no not me my lady. I just got here, in fact, I'm quite a recent addition to Torch... I've been working at the stabl - Oh I mean, how rude of me, before I get ahead of myself, my name is Tavar Theissan." He proudly states with a slight confidence, yet it quickly vanishes as he realizes he probably smells like a barn. "I've uh, been working at the stables all day, sorry if I'm a little rugged, although I'm used to it. The caverns really drew me in, I uh -- Oh, what's your name?" Clearly Tavar is not very collected when talking to members of the opposite sex, yet he is very talkative as he is curious.
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Listening to the big human talk Dinali smiles Well let´s see if he knows how to handle his other sword better. before ordering another mug of ale. When hearing the caverns she jumps up and moves forward."Yes, yes the caverns. Sounds exciting. Well kind of, Khonnir was a mighty mage, but alas, I want to apply. Don´t look like that I am no kid, I am a halfling. Small but wuhee!"
Color rises to Eriethiel's cheeks, both in Tavar's response to her mere presence, and to her own foolishness. "Are you organizing the search?" Really... She is about to introduce herself when she hears the same halfling cryer from earlier. "Hopefully Master Baine is still an 'is', not a 'was'...and of course you're a halfling; who would be so foolish as to think you were a child?" She smirks, both at her clever wordplay and the cryer's defensiveness, then looks back to Tavar. "My name is Eriethiel Halynnmyr. It's nice to meet you."
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"I should probably bow, or is that silly? Not really sure what the custom is around here." Tavar awkwardly bows towards Eriethiel as she introduces herself and comes up back with a smile as the halfling enters the conversation thankfully interrupting the awkwardness.
"Your voice sounds familiar! Ah, you were the one yelling back there. Nice to meet ya! My name is Tavar, pleasure to meet ya." Not really noticing that he essentially introduced himself twice absent-mindedly. He can't help but glance at Eriethiel, she seems like she shares the same sense of exploration as him. "I think we will be great friends", he thinks to himself.
Hearing the announcement Ibarra frowns, drops whatever device with which he was tinkering, and walks briskly to the town hall.
Arriving, he adjusts his goggles. "You lot going to look for Master Baine? He's a friend of mine, so if you don't mind, or even if you do, I'll be tagging along."
[Dice=KnowLocal]1d20+6
Good idea!
You find out that Khonnir´s Team was not the first but the last to go into the caverns.*I always figured Black Hill was hollow. There’s probably some big ancient ruin under our very feet connected to
whatever machine makes the violet fire on the hilltop.
*All these weird headaches folks have been having lately? I bet they’re being caused by someone tampering with
Crowfeather Palace. I’ve been drinking only rainwater and I’ve not had a headache yet!
*A pair of dwarves got drunk at the Foundry a few nights ago and went up to Black Hill to drink some of the sludge up
there on a dare. One of them grew a lot stronger for a few minutes after drinking the stuff, but the other one nearly
died after the fluids burnt a hole in his gut!
I walk up to the bar and order a drink, spending days searching through scrap is hard work and finding the smallest pieces that you think you may need to make a power source is even harder. I look around the bar at the ever growing crowd.
"Did I hear someone sayin there was someone missin? I wouldn't mind taggin along to have a look see what is down in the cavern. Mightin' be some scrap down there that is worth bringin back out to the light of day."
I grab my drink and find a seat closer to everyone who is interested in searching for Master Baine. I use a greasy hand to smooth my beard and adjust the thick leather smock I have over my robes.
Names Derlan Stonefinder, Cleric of Torag, searcher of junk and hopefully fixer of a Sky Citadel. I can't add that to my name justin' yet but maybe after this little underground search I can.
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"Woah, those are some great looking eyewares... You're a friend of this Master Baine? Do you know anything about him or why he would have went into the caverns? I'm quite new in town, I don't believe we've met. Tavar Theissan of Sandpoint, and you are?" Realizing quickly that he might be prying too much he immediately interjects and says, "Not to pry too much of course, I know most people here keep to themselves but you seem like you know your way around these parts, I myself am eager to learn more about this land."
Ooooh, all these people are already so interesting! Unlike dull ol' Sandpoint. I can't wait to tell Shalelu about all my adventures!
Ibarra runs his hand over his bald head as he regards Tavar. "These are just goggles. Help keep the grit and metal shavings out of my eyes. I'm Ibarra, by the way. And yeah, Khonnir's my friend, a real decent sort. Not the sort you generally find her in Numeria."
The news about Khonnir's disappearance has soured Ibarra's mood and causes him to snap at people, earning him no favors (or information...).
Ibarra looks around. "So are we all the people that showed up to go looking for him?" He shakes his head. "I don't know why I expected better of Torch. He's been missing long enough, lets get going."
The tall, broad man stands near the others, listening to the banter. In a deep voice that doesn't hold much tenor, he clears his throat. "I heard ya'll were lookin' fer Baine I thought I'd help. If ya want me."
I look around not really socializing with many people in town other than the Bleached Gnome who runs the scrap yard, I don't ask to many questions but I do head over to the bounty board and look over the flyer.
Ibarra regards Mort. "We can use all the help we can get. Khonnir's done a lot for this town, the least we can do is find out what happened to him."
I eye up the large human, I need to bring him when I go to retake the Sky Citadel in Belkzen, he would give the Orcs a run for their money.
I think we should get this group a movin if we are going to find Master Baine, who knows what lurks down in Black Hill Caverns.
Mort nods slowly. "Alright... I, uh, I don't have much of a reason to stay. I'd like to help."
[dice=Diplomacy for gather information]1d20 + 4
Well... Ulreth’s got his fingers in pretty much everything bad in town already, so why not our latest troubles?
*The Technic League’s not pleased with the situation, and I hear the Black Sovereign himself is heading to town in a few
weeks to find out what’s been going on down here!
k.History: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
I had switched out planes for history
leaves these big round footprints in the ground.
Apparently there has been a rather large round footed something that has been stompin' around Tears farms as of late. It is causin' all kinds of havok. Mightin' have somethin' to do with our missing Master Baine.
Eriethiel has no more luck than either of the others about finding out more information. Failing that, she thinks of anything that might be of use in their search of the caverns below the city.
Seeing Tavar's hand in front of her, she smiles, "As much as I would like to go right to searching the caverns, I think we might want to see if we can gather any additional clues first."
Ibarra looks at Eriethiel. "If its clues you want, we could poke around his place. I might know a way inside."
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He pulls his hand away from Eriethiel sadly and thinks to himself: I guess they are both right, maybe I'm a bit too eager... Shalelu would say it's a bit foolish to rush headlong into things.
Tavar faces the group and shrugs his shoulders with his arms out.
"... You guys are right, maybe we should check out the farms? I could possibly track whatever has been stomping around out there. If we find it it could give us some sort of clue?"
[dice=Diplomacy (Gather Information)]1d20
[dice=Knowledge (Dungeoneering)]1d20+9
[dice=Knowledge (Geography)]1d20+10
[dice=Knowledge (Nature)]1d20+9
Mort sort of stands there while everyone talks, staring blankly into space. He seems uncomfortable and fidgets.
I offer my ale to Mort, seeing his fidgitting in this room that is full of people.
Have a drink Lad, we won't be leavin' likee any time soon.
Mort nods, looking somewhat taken aback that anyway would know him. "Hmm, think so." He digs into his pack, pulling out rope, a pot, a waterskin, until he pulls out a small wooden box and opens it to reveal sugar cookies. He offers them to Dinali.
My interest gets peaked at the sent of delicious cookies.
May I? mouth watering, eyes eager looking.
"Mmm-hmm." Mort offers the cookies to anyone who wants one.
"If you ladies are done with your tea party, maybe we could get something done? Baine was last seen in the Black Hill Caverns, so I say we go there and try to find him."
Ibarra make a knowledge local or geography to have an idea where the caverns are!
"In the morning. Don't want to poke around in the dark." Mort says in a mumble, clearly unconvinced by his own argument.
Anything anyone want to do before morning?
Dinali would point out that the first thing should be meeting the councilwoman.
I am in agreein' with the baker, first light would be best. Is there someone who is setting this all up or are we just takin' this as our own and hopin' for the best? I will be staying at the Junk yard if you need me, I will meet you all back here first light
Eriethiel nods, "Very well. I need to prepare for the excursion anyway, so let's meet back here at first light, then make our way to see the councilwoman, and from there to the caverns."
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Dinali looks at the others and speaks up. "Best is meet here at the second hour of the morning, we go to Dolga, she tells us what she knows, and then we go off. Maybe she will tell us more about the... reward. Walking in without knowledge seems foolhardy, even for me." And with a smile to Ibarra she bites again from the cookie.
Ibarra frowns at Dinali. "I can see there's no hurrying you. Fine. I'll meet you here in the morning." As he walks away he stops and turns around with a smirk, "Knowing what we're getting in to before we do it probably makes us more foolhardy." He continues on his way.
Mort looks somewhat taken aback that people listened to him. He nods and heads off home to sleep, ready to return the next morning.