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Having been fortunate enough to avoid any damage from the encounter, Etude sheaths her rapier and examines the notes they'd found. "This hardly looks good," she says, unhappy.
She reads both notes aloud so the others are aware -
"For the sum of 50 gold crowns you and your mercenaries are to watch Rognvald Skagni's residence on the edge of town for two months. Ignore looters or petty thieves - instead watch for Pathfinders, and if you see them, kill them. Any in your crew who can prove to me they dealt the killing blow on those murderous demons earns a 100 gold crown bonus.
"It's signed by Hjort Fastaxe," she adds.
Etude then moves on to the second: "Do as Hjort instructed, but do one thing more for me: capture at least one Pathfinder, preferable an expedition leader. Bring him or her to me -- what the hell is this word? oh! -- separately, and I will reward you an additional 100 gold crowns.
"Looks like this one's signed by Runa White?"
Scanning the others to see their expressions lest they might have any thoughts, she asks, "Well, anyone heard of either of these two?"
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With all of the Thugs taken out of the picture, Minuro/Thundercloud will stash away his lucerne hammer. He'll still keep his buckler at the ready though- just in case anything else happens by. When the masked Wayang notices the blood-splattered Scuttlebutt just standing there with outstretched wand still in hand, Minuro/Thundercloud will say to the slightly shakened man, "Don't worry, there'll be still plenty more opportunities to zap your wand with!"
In response to both Etude's and Calephe's line of questioning for the party, Thundercloud will reply with a shrug, "I can listen to the unspoken words of the unseen shadows that be... well, only in every once in a while- on the occasions when I could be bothered to do so- but it's really nothing that would help with talking to any dead people though."
"As for the Hjort fellow and this Runa person... can't really say that I'd ever heard of either of them before too. I got me a suspicion that this Hjort is a really, really bad neighbor though; I mean, who would go and let people loot and burn down Skagni's place like that?". The excitable masked Wayang gestures all around at Skagni's ruined abode for added emphasis while he rants on about the situation. "Dreng mentioned that Skagni was writing about some old boring book about government- nobody goes around getting all offended about a stupid thing like that! Now if it was some dirty but juicy bawdy story that was written by Skagni instead, that I could understand... but even the most uptight, blue-haired of prudes wouldn't be all looting and burning houses down."
"As for this would-be kidnapper called Runa- I say we should go and snatch up that Expeditionary-Leader wanting freak instead. Let these Pathfinder-Snatchers see how they'd like getting their hineys all captured and tied up...maybe we should buy some more rope with all that gold..."
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Hskrota takes one of the looted potions and chugs it. "Here's to the fallen," he says and spits.
He ponders the letters with a claw against his temple. "I agree that we should pay this Runa a visit. If she wants to chat with a Pathfinder, that can be arranged. Perhaps we can pose as others seeking the bounty."
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As Trollheim is a large city you have a lot of ground to cover if you want to investigate the two unsavory characters mentione in the notes you just found.
Trollheim has high, secure walls and a sprawling, frozen network of small neighborhoods and districts, many of which contain their own defenses. Many of Trollheim’s market districts are unruly, smelly, industrious, and busy, while residential districts are generally neater, calmer, cleaner, and more secure from Irrisen invasion. It’s frowned upon to cause trouble in residential neighborhoods, and the wide streets therein are largely crime-free. Skagni’s burned out home is on the far western outskirts of on such outlying district.
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Chatting and making nice with the locals is certainly a viable option to glean information, but sometimes a better way to cast light where there is darkness is to read between the lines and let your urban surroundings tell the story. Catching snippets of gossip in the marketplace, reading scratched epitaphs on wooden bar tables, purveying community flyers, checking permit filings at the town hall; combine these deduced glimmers of clues with general studying of the local environs and the answers one seeks can sometimes be revealed. Scuttlebutt is very familiar with this particular arena of exploring. That is, after spending a few castings of Prestidigitation on himself so as not to look like a slaughterhouse employee.
But why oh why didn't I bring a warmer cloak??
[dice=Fort save]1d20+1]
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Etude snags one of the many potions for herself as well, nodding in approval as everyone grabs one. There was always a benefit to people having a bit of self-sustain, after all.
"Let's look around, shall we?" Etude suggests, before attempting to engage and ask some locals about the persons in question.
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"It's a shame that we couldn't take any prisoners. According to the letter, they should observe Skagni's home, not burn it down. I really would like to know what went wrong here."
Following the examples of her companions, she tries to get in contact with the locals to hopefully learn about Hjort or Reda implying that she might want to do a business with them if anyone asks, but without getting too specific about it. But soon the cold gets the young woman, who is used too much warmer climates.
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First 3 Hours: .
Last 3 Hours: .
Noting that his fellow Pathfinder Compatriots are feeling the ill effects of the cold weather in Trollheim (which he doesn't have to deal with, thanks to his daily castings of Endure Elements), Minuro/Thundercloud decides that when his next spell memorization time comes around, he'll prepare 2 castings of Endure Elements instead of one; He'll even mention as much to the rest of the party... all the better to assuage his own personal guilt about not suffering alongside with his fellow party members (or was it really his own "guilt" about taking surreptitious glances to see the effects of, ahem, cold weather on certain regions of the upper torso upon certain members of the party? Pharasma will be the only one who truly knows!).
"Wonder if this place has any Endure Elements scrolls for sale? With the gold we found on those hairy fake woodcutters, it'll be enough to get two of them at least."
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After a few hours of trying to find out anything further about Hjort or Runa, Minuto/Thundercloud will say aloud to his Pathfinder Compatriots, "Hey everyone, we probably should find ourselves a place to stay at; camping out in this kind of cold weather doesn't seem like a good option..."
What the Masked Wayang doesn't verbalize out-loud is his desperate hopes of the party finding some lodging that has only a co-ed bath-house/sauna... which is just as well that he didn't say such a thing aloud.
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Finding shelter in a big city like Trollheim is not really difficult, even for non Ulfens. In a matter of minutes Calephe is able to spot a tavern called "The Linnorm's Roar". You enter and are welocomed by a pleasant warmth, sharply contrasting with the biting cold from outside.
The propietor, a tall blonde middle aged woman with biceps the size of trunks, welcomes you and, recognizing how hungry and cold you are, she has a table prepared, serving you hot mutton stew for only a gold piece each and iforms you she still has a couple of empty rooms. You won't have much space for yourselves but it's probably much better than spending the night in the cold outside... This arrangement will cost you another gold piece each, though.
Given the busy day you had you feel pretty tired but maybe you have one last chance to recover part of the information you need...
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Hskrota's efforts to help his mates finding a suitably informed person pay off better than expected as he makes friends with a tall and skinny middle aged Ulfen woman named Arvida Bergthor. Arvida is drinking alone and after Hskrota buys her (yet another) drink she starts answering questions. Turns out she may know something of use for the pathfinders...
In the morning you raise early and prepare for another day of recovering information...
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Despite her best efforts, the chill of the day and her own clumsiness in speech seems to cause some difficult in garnering new information...
The next day, though, she gives it another try, hoping she'll do much better. "Good morning," she greets the others. She feels much refreshed now, but, well. Here's to seeing what the day has in store for them.
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Etude's skill with words improves noticeably in the moring and she's able to find someone else with information reguarding the Pathfinder's targets. Apparently someone named Runa White has been seen in themarkets, as an old, retired swordsmith by the name of Ludin relates after Etude compliments him for his "obvious skill" at the forrge...
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Thundercloud was hoping that Arvida would drink enough to "dance on the tables, clothing optional". Alas, it was not to be.
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*****
Thundercloud got stuck with Hskrota and Scuttlebutt, much to his chagrin- but it was all in the duty of being a good Pathfinder, so he went along with it. He also got to memorize 2 Endure Elements this day , one of which was for himself.
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During Yesterday's discovery about Hjort, Minuro/Thundercloud would say something to the effect of Hjort being a lousy fake Jarl if he lets his neighbors get looted and burnt down.
Upon learning more about Runa White from Etude after her talk with Ludin, Minuro/Thundercloud says, "So this Runa is from Cheliax? We should not only tie her up when we catch her... we should also give her a good spanking, too."; if he gets any funny looks from his fellow party members for that remark, Minuro/Thundercloud will sheepishly add, "...she's from Cheliax- prolly use to that sort of stuff anyways..."
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"I'll gladly take the endure elements, I hopped the boat up here too quickly to pack appropriately when I got this assignment. If we come across any spellmonger shops or shaman merchants, I've got some gold to buy some scrolls of that spell for us."
Scuttlebutt happily accepts Thundercloud's offer of magical climate protection.
As Scuttlebutt steps out of the inn with Hskrota and Thundercloud, he excitedly exclaims, "Sizzling sahuagins, it's a sausage fest!" The two Pathfinders look quizzically at the young man for his loud exclamation before noticing him motioning down the street to a set of vendor stalls with colorful banners noting a commemoration of locally produced smoked jerky and cased ground meat products. "C'mon, that's where we should start asking around!" The excited youth bounds off down the street, completely oblivious to Thundercloud's growing grimace.
finally, some decent rolls!
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Azadeh smiles when she hears the excited bards words when he leaves the inn with Hskrota and Thundercloud. The warmth of the inn and a comfortable bed has helped her overcome the freezing cold and she feels ready to take on what might come today.
"Guess he's right, I'd better watch out for an opportunity to get myself some of those potions. That's something you don't need too often in sun-blessed Qadira. Etude, I'll accompany you, we'd better stay together in case another group of Ulfen thugs might decide to try their axes on us."
Unluckily it doesn't take too long before the chills in her bones become unbearable. When her legs nearly give way, she gives up. "Need t..t..to go b...b..back."
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More preoccupied with her ally's health - and hopeful to learn what progress the others have made - Etude is quick to escort Azadeh back to The Linnorn's Roar for warmth and sustenance.
"Is that better?" she asks, a bit concerned over the hue the woman's skin has taken on.