Seeing you, she smiles brightly and says "Ya, that guy's been in here before. I don't like him very much; I saw him beating up a girl outside once. It's my dream to be an actress, so I get practice in when I can."
"Well played then, Miss." He raises his cup in a salute to her skill.
Not missing the implication that Kurat beats girls, he watches to see if anyone goes after him.
As the ruckus dies down, the guards, and the table with the people having a mind conversation all notice that all the drinks have ended up at the table with the two "dwarves", who appear to not have noticed their arrival. One of the guards approached the two and says "if you wanted a drink that bad, you coulda just asked."
Gidgey frowns a bit, the apparent reaction of his prank seems to be underwhelming
I had no idea you were so gentle with thieves around here.
The "dwarf" looks up at the guard and says "I don't know what you're...how did those get there?" "Great question. I got a better one: Is my armor fixed? No? then why the hell you sitting in here drinking our drinks. Get to work! Both of you!"
With that, the dwarves get up and exit the inn room. Shortly thereafter, the guards do the same, heading outside. The third table concludes it's mental conversation and then heads upstairs together, leaving the disguised members of your group the only ones in the room.
So as you are standing in the courtyard trying to decide what to do from here, you see the two "dwarves" leave the inn building and head for the gate.
Chak-Chak watches the room empty, and the quiet ones head up the stairs. He watches them, not bothering to be discreet about it. After they leave, Chak-Chak eats his dinner in peace.
Still furious and not understanding the scene that transpired within the inn, Kurat stands in the courtyard, trying to somehow went his anger. After he notices "the dwarves" he decides to try and follow them, having nothing better to do. However, Kurat was aware of the sentries stationed above, so for the moment he just notices the general direction in which the dwarves went, and goes towards a different direction. After some time, when he is certain that the outpost guards can not spot him anymore, the hobgoblin makes a detour, trying to return towards the general direction where the dwarves went and to find their tracks so he could follow them.
Kurat, you notice that the "dwarves" are headed in the direction that the Captain and Meera are. As a matter of fact, they seem to be making a beeline for their location.
After finishing his meal Drax pays his bill and heads back to camp. He wants to report to the Captain what he heard.
as each of you finishes up your meals and make your way back to camp, you see the two "dwarves" waiting for your group. With a movement of the goggles on their foreheads, they return to the form of the captain and Meera. "So, how did everyone do?"
Drax steps forward to report. I sat next to the table with the three individuals who seemed to be leading the caravan parked at the way station. I couldn't hear the full conversation but they indicated they are headed to the convocation and thought that what ever they were delivering could avert a war. I can't imagine what they could have in those wagons that could stop what is coming but I suggest we find out before that caravan moves past our reach.
The Captain and Meera exchange knowing glances and then the captain says simply "Well done Drax. What did the rest of you learn?"
Eats his meal, finishes up, and pays his bill, and heads back to camp.
"Umm. I learned one of the waitresses is an aspiring actress. This may be exploited to gain eyes and ears in the tavern. Also learned that the trapper Kurat made himself look like has a bad reputation, that maybe something that can be exploited later as well."
"Good observations Chak-Chak. you never know what is going to be useful" remarked the captain.
Gidgey leaves after he sees other people leaving and heads back to camp.
"The town is very easy to sneak into. I just went invisible and climbed over the walls and no one noticed me. Gidgey added
"It's not really a town Gidgey, just a small outpost, wuth not a strong guard at that" - Kurat starts with addressing goblin, before he is to report to the captain. With his head down, his eyes staring somewhere in the general direction of captain's boots, he replies dryly: "I've learned that humans are as crazy as ever, and we there's a reason Convocation should not mix with them."
Finishing in a low voice, Kurat gathers enough courage to look the captain straight in the eyes, ready to accept his punishment. He was aware that he had no solid facts or leads to report back, and that would mean that he had failed in his mission.
Reading Kurat's body language, Captain Greel chuckles and says "You did just fine son. You were put in a difficult situation, you didn't lose your head and start attacking people, and you stayed in character the whole time. It could have gone much worse; like, for example, starting a bar brawl in the only tavern city in an army camp." He is clearly joking with you when he mentions the tavern brawl. "All of you, good work. No one died, and most everyone ate."
at this, he pulls a small tube, like what you would get an ointment in, from his pack and tosses it to Kurat. you notice that instead of a cap, there is just a flap on one end. opening it, you see several small berries. "eat one of those, then toss that back."
The Captain will then add "And I wouldn't worry about the caravan. We have ninjas in place to make sure they never reach Caravan."
The captain grabs a stick and begins drawing a rough map in the dirt, before giving his briefing "So, does anyone need any more practice speaking common, or do you all feel confident enough in your abilities? If you don't, we'll definitely get practice as we move. As of right now, you should all get used to looking like member races of Aeon, the most common of which"[/b] using his hat, he will change into each race as he lists it off "are Human, Blue, Golaith, Ophiduan, Elan, Maenad, dromite, and xeph."
Finishing his quick map, he says "We are here. the city of Aeon is here, and our target, the Maenad Islands, are here. Here is what you need to know about Maenads: they're strong, tough, and practice a unique form of mind magic called wilder. So we will need to be perfect before we go in."
Destroying his map, he will say "I want a working plan for infiltrating or assaulting a two-story warehouse in a docks district by the end of the day. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it needs to take into account mind magic and super soldiers. Talk it out, ask questions, just remember that we do not speak Sylvan anymore, until we get back to Caravan. Then we can watch project Leviathan in action. It's not going to be something you want to miss."
Gidgey attempts to speak in common to the Captain
"What brue persone?"
Chuckling, Greel says "that's a blue. They're one of the 2nd class citizen races of Aeon."
"Kind of looks like a goblin...hmm..." Gidgey mumbled
a plan to assault a building? Sure first of how many doors and window on the ground floor? how many window on each remaining floor? are they covering all angle of approach? can we use nearby buildings to get on the roof? is it day or night? how much time do we have before the local guards react?
"I don't have all the details on the building, but I hope to have more the closer we get to the isles. For now, let's assume a 3 door arrangement: double doors on the front, a loading bay door on the side, and a small personnel door in the back. Also, I'd assume that there are little to no windows on the first floor, and few on the 2nd floor, as that's a fairly common engineering style for warehouses. Let's also assume that you might be able to jump from one building to another, but it would probably be a long jump, to say the least. As far as time of day goes, that's up to you guys. I'd recommend planning for both. I have no clue about guard response time, but maybe you can find that out as well when we hit town."
Right, the obvious plan would rather be be at night so for the moment lets assume that: Plan 1 would be rooftop. once on top of building Gadget makes Greith invisible. Greith is lowered to a window and opens it for us. We get inside single file with grith invisible opening doors while still invisible and scouting each room and corridors for us. We aim for the sentries and neutralize them. Then we go for the sleeping person. Standart battle line is front line: Me, Drax, Reith and kurat. Chuck will use his bow to disrupt any spellcasting along with Gadget.
Plan B Look for the door that has no guard on the window overlooking it we break in and assume the same formation and plan as in A
Plan C assume all window are covered and all door are watched and we are conserving Gadget's spell. We divide in two teams: Team one: Greith, Gadget and Kurat will take the personnel door using stealth, Team 2 will take the loading bay and will break that door open using armed force. Basic plan is team 2 is the Anvil and team one the stealth dagger. We assault the inside and the guard, they sneak in killing anyone they encounter. We move inside the building and eventually meet up.
All sound plans. Before selecting one I suggest we take some time to look around when we arrive to see what we can learn of the town guard and anyone guarding the warehouse.
of course Drak all plans needs to be adjusted to the situation we find. In fact i might need to reword the teams also. he turns toward the tengu I know what the others can do but i don't know anything about your skills and abilities, would you mind telling ?
Tt this, he pulls a small tube, like what you would get an ointment in, from his pack and tosses it to Kurat. you notice that instead of a cap, there is just a flap on one end. opening it, you see several small berries. "eat one of those, then toss that back."
Quizzical look at his face, Kurat looks at the tube, smells the berries inside it and then proceeds to swallow one, as instructed. "Do I wanna know what these are for, or...?" - he asks the captain while tossing the tube back.
Later on, turning to Urgos, Kurat adds: "An impressive plan and thinking indeed brother. I like it. Just few more things, if you allow - how do we take care of that pesky mind-magic? Also, if the warehouse is made of wood, than it's not really the same thing if we're infiltrating or assaulting. Assault would allow us to burn the place and smoke them out maybe? And finally - depending on the ground where it is made, maybe we can burrow from bellow? there are beasts and magics capable of such things, not sure if it is usable here?"
Greel chuckles at Kurat's question and says "It's a magical item that creates goodberries. Since you didn't get the chance to eat, I figured that you could use a meal."
"Don't forget to take into account the reason that you're attacking the warehouse. Tarouk, the child of The Skyreaver, is in there; so setting fire to the building might not be the best idea."
of course Drak all plans needs to be adjusted to the situation we find. In fact i might need to reword the teams also. he turns toward the tengu I know what the others can do but i don't know anything about your skills and abilities, would you mind telling ?
"Not at all. I am a shaman. I speak with spirits and they lend me thier power. I can heal or harm by way of spell and curses..."
"Fire might be a good idea, would definitely burn a wooden warehouse and its not like it hurts people anyways." Gidgey comments, his eye gleaming and a little smile appears on his face.
Don't know much about shaman, what spell can you cast? and No Gadget we are not setting up the warehouse to be burned. It will be located in a town/city and we do want to avoid a search and pursue party after our snatch and grab job.
"If Skyreaver's child is in the house than burning it is not really an option, no" - hobgoblin scratches his chin, his gaze wandering lost in thought - "But these hat's that you gave us! Maybe we could appear as guards and use that to our advantage, surprise them in a way?"
No it would only serve to alert the people inside. The hat of disguise will be use for us to appear different once before the operation and an different disguise as we flee the scene. The element of surprise is included in all three plan Kurat
Don't know much about shaman, what spell can you cast? and No Gadget we are not setting up the warehouse to be burned. It will be located in a town/city and we do want to avoid a search and pursue party after our snatch and grab job.
"Umm. I commune with the spirits and gain them daily. How much do you know about spells? I can cast things that will aid us, things that will hamper the enemy. I really don;t know how to get more specific than that unless you have something in mind...?"
I know a things or two about spells. You they are divine in origin i take it?
"Yes, if only to differentiate them from arcane spells. They don't come from a god or gods, but the spells share many of the same characteristics of divine granted spells."
Understood. any specific spells that are usable by other that you can cast? like invisibility for an example?
"No, I cannot make anyone invisible, but I can make them more agile, stronger, more hearty, smarter, wiser, or more outgoing. I can bless and curse, I can harm and heal, to name a few."
Got it. Lets go and investigate that warehouse. he says with a grin.
The trip to Aeon takes over a month, and as you walk steadily west you see the land begin to change, going from the (mostly) woodlands of the Convocation controlled areas to lightly wooded areas, to plains, to farmlands, as you get within a weeks travel from the city. You have a brief stop before you leave the woods entirely where Greel explains that you should each choose an appearance and create a backstory for it, and that you should create a 2nd appearance that is a "throwaway" disguise. As you think back on your trip, the captain's words ring in your mind: [b]"When we leave these woods, we should be a group of people who belong, as best we can. I can't stress this enough: DO NOT BREAK YOUR COVER! you will probably be tortured and killed in the worst possible way, after having your brain raped by their telepaths. So don't get caught!"[b]
Chak-Chak will use the same persona he had at the inn, and will choose a plain looking human disguise for the throw away. He'll practice both everyday so he can get it right at a moment's notice.
"Sir, are we gonna appear to know each other this time or should we still be strangers?" Gidgey asked. Gidgey started training his charismatic halfing and shy human child act, he wasn't quite sure which one he preferred to use yet.
Urgosh will take on the look he had at the tavern: that of a elderly human.
As his "main" disguise Kurat will keep the personality of Ragrat, but not his looks. The encounter back at the inn told him that Ragrat and his past could still be recognized by a random passerby, so he changes his appearance significantly. He decides on a different hair color (black), a broader and somewhat better kempt beard (but not to fancy), full mustache and almost all teeth, unlike Ragrat. Finally seeing himself in the mirror, he decides that with additional small adjustment in terms of height and width of shoulders he will look like a completely different person. "Hi, I am Tarok" - he introduces himself to his companions, repeating the sentence over and over again, to familiarize himself both with his new name as well as his (and their) new look.
For his throwaway disguise, Kurat decides on a face of the first enemy he ever killed in a gladiatorial fight - a short, stocky human with alcohol in his breath. He was barely known to anyone, but just in case Kurat decides to alter his appearance just slightly, and to choose another name. "And 'tis'ere is Petrien" - he flaunts with his bad accent.
"Now, for the important part - why would a group of humies travel together in the wild - hunters, merchants, gold diggers, what? Which story is most believable? I could pass as hunter, or as caravan/merchant guard or guide maybe, what about the rest of you?"