Falcon smirks. "What, now we're going from 'Falcon Gray: betrayer of all' to Falcon Gray: trusted advisor'? Burnsten won't do anything overt to betray you - he's too closely linked to Harrolayne and Harrolayne is much less liked at the moment than His Lordship. She doesn't have enough sway to act openly, so she manipulates and sows suspicion and dissent. The best way to keep Burnsten honest is to keep Brycen in favour and power. I know you seem to think that just because Brycen is a noble doesn't mean he's the best person to lead us, and that Harrolayne, being a merchant who built her own self up would be more 'meritous' and a better example for your meritocracy, you don't want to see this colony under her leadership - not if you want to be able to anything at all in terms of pure exploration or knowledge-hunting. Harrolayne is only concerned about making a profit and if ten people have to die, or a hundred, or even one, to help increase her personal profits, she won't lose a wink of sleep over it."
"What, now we're going from 'Falcon Gray: betrayer of all' to Falcon Gray: trusted advisor'?"
"Well, you have to admit, someone went thru a lot of trouble to arrange things to implicate you. Considering a certain council member's unrestrained laughter during the governor's hearing, it seemed that at least one person of the was well-pleased by it. I cannot say that I feel particularly generous towards that person at this instant."
"Do not mistake me, I am still upset you didn't enlighten me on the matter of the ore back at the Academy. That is something I should have known long before making arrangements to come here. However, that omission weighed against the active interference of our 'mutual friend' tends to draw the lines, wouldn't you agree?"
"Brycen has asked us to work together. I take no issue with that and that is what I expected when I considered how we might re-engineer our working relationship to everyone's benefit. At present, it may be convenient for us if our spymaster friend continues to believe that we are at each other's throats. That is my reason for asking if you have any thoughts on the matter."
"Burnsten won't do anything overt to betray you - he's too closely linked to Harrolayne and Harrolayne is much less liked at the moment than His Lordship. She doesn't have enough sway to act openly, so she manipulates and sows suspicion and dissent. The best way to keep Burnsten honest is to keep Brycen in favour and power."
"I wonder if we could use his over-enthusiasm and lack of tact to draw attention to Harrolayne so that she becomes more closely scrutinized by the others. Heaven knows, the last thing a person with secrets wants is to have them unearthed..."
"I know you seem to think that just because Brycen is a noble doesn't mean he's the best person to lead us, and that Harrolayne, being a merchant who built her own self up would be more 'meritous' and a better example for your meritocracy, you don't want to see this colony under her leadership - not if you want to be able to anything at all in terms of pure exploration or knowledge-hunting. Harrolayne is only concerned about making a profit and if ten people have to die, or a hundred, or even one, to help increase her personal profits, she won't lose a wink of sleep over it."
Alexis raises an eyebrow at Falcon's assessment on her opinion of Brycen. "The fact that Brycen is a nobleman is largely irrelevant to my opinion on his capabilities. Discriminating against nobles is no better than discriminating against anyone else. If someone is possessed of the requisite skills to fulfill and excel at a duty, that is all that matters. Like you said, given our present educational system, it will tend to be those of noble birth who are best-trained for such roles. However, that is not to say that we cannot improve upon that system and raise the bar for society's future generations."
"What I object to is the notion that people are inherently limited by the blood in their veins. If the child of a pauper and the child of a monarch were swapped at birth and raised according to the ways of their adopted families, I rather doubt that having the blood of a king in his veins would outweigh the benefits that the pauper's son received by being raised and educated as though they were a prince."
"In Harrolayne's case, she might make for a shrewd, if unethical, business manager, but attempting to apply the same methods to a societal leadership role would result in despotism. Having a high level of proven aptitude in one discipline does not necessarily mean that someone is automatically well-suited for other roles at a similar level. Better for someone to rise to the highest level at which they are capable than to achieve their highest level of incompetence. In Harrolayne's case, better that she be an advisor or spymaster to a ruler than a ruler herself. Unfortunately, a greedy and self-serving outlook can seldom be sated."
"At any rate, at least Brycen's experiences as an adventurer have taught him to value teamwork. Well... at least the results of teamwork anyway. Perhaps if he realizes that Harrolayne's interference threatens the results of which we are capable then he might prove sympathetic. After all, if Brycen was the perfect model of a someone interested in maintaining the status quo and cared what other nobles thought, he would never have been assigned this role."
"I think using Burnsten to expose Harrolayne would be a very worthy goal. Act disorganized, get some people who didn't weigh in outright the first time to not support your decision to quit Pathfinders. Imogene tried to sow chaos, make it look like a bountiful crop. Argue, bicker, I'm sure you get the idea."
"And while you're doing all this deception, take a two-day journey up river to look for navigable waters while scouting but avoiding any native settlements. Whatever you do, even if you do encounter some Skraelings, don't let them know where we are located."
With Burnsten still ashore meeting with Harrolayne, Alexis concludes her meeting with Falcon and begins to brief the team on both their stated mission and the one which shall officially remain unstated...
"Gentlemen, in the morning we shall begin a new surveying mission: a two-day trek upriver searching for navigable waterways. At this point, with the colony still vulnerable, we have been instructed to avoid any encounters with the Skraeling natives. Should contact transpire however, we must take care to avoid revealing the location of our landing site lest we endanger the lives of the colonists."
At this point, she lowers her voice and indicates you should all gather closer...
"Whether he had too much to drink, or whether he is simply a fool, or he takes us for fools, Burnsten revealed that he is feeding information to Harrolayne about us. Just as I started doing by feigning emotional involvement with Elorin, we need to start ensuring that what Burnsten relates regarding our strengths, weaknesses, cohesiveness, and tendencies is inaccurate. I say we put on a bit of a show, cause her to underestimate us and lose interest."
"So long as Burnsten makes no overt actions against us or attempts at sabotage, we shall use him to work this situation to our advantage. Mind you, if Burnsten takes actions that directly endanger himself or others, I see no reason for any of us to place ourselves at greater risk to save him. If he decides to melee a beargle while the rest of us fall back in seeming disarray, then that is on him."
"Any questions?"
I doubt if he would take such an action Alexis. He has told us what his role in this is. Maybe he is just trapped in a situation that he really does't care for and doesn't want to be the pawn in the middle? Why else would he tell us that Harrolayne has him watching us. We know we can kill him easily if it comes to it, but it would look very convenient that he was the one scout to die on our mission.
I would rather try to turn him to our side with trust and kindness. He can choose a side then, our side where he is regarded as a trusted and valued member of a team, or her side where he is just a political pawn. That is just my 2 coppers though.
"Hasing anybody told Bursten that Burnsten can notting play both sides? Notting to hurt to tell him direct, 'either in or out'.""
Turning to Elorin, she says, "The evening when this happened was just a few nights ago. It was after you had retired to your cabin on the night of our party. Burnsten was clearly drunk. Given his demeanor, I believe that he was attempting to intimidate us. In not so many words, he informed us that he keeps a 'diary' of everyone's skills, and 'keeping an eye on us' to inform Harrolayne of our activities, abilities, and capabilities. He was also quite clear in pointing out that Harrolayne would like to see me crippled. In the same breath he then tries to play both sides claiming he'll protect me and give us information. I'm sorry, but the only thing we can trust him to be is untrustworthy."
"I am not saying that we should help him over a cliff or anything like that. What I am saying is that if it came down to a choice between losing members of this team or losing him, it's no choice at all. Burnsten has proven himself to be a gloryhound with little respect for the caution displayed by others. A lack of foresight on his part does not constitute an emergency on our part. Is that more plain?"
"If you are willing, I would like it for you, Biter, to point out to Burnsten the necessity of picking a side and sticking with it. The fact that you just demonstrated it by choosing your friendship with Ravarath over the Pathfinder Society is more plain and transparent than the reasons that some of the rest of us have. In fact, given your straightforward bearing, I can think of no one better to speak with him about this. Would you do that for us, please?"
Alexis smiles at Pete's grasp of the situation, "Yes, and I suppose for our part, Elorin and I should put on the airs of a bickering couple. Perhaps, Elorin is jealous of Ravarath?" She laughs and shakes her head, "This should certainly prove interesting..."
** spoiler omitted **
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Alexis reaches into a pouch kept on her belt and removes a pair of brand new Wayfinders. "I had originally to make these commencement gifts for, at the time, fellow Pathfinders but we all know how that worked out. Since Ravarath will be spending the bulk of his time by me and I have repaired the Duke's, I think it makes the most sense to give them to our two chief scouts, Biter and Elorin. They can shed light whether you need it to see by or to send a signal, and they also function like standard orienteering compasses. Should we find any ioun stones, placing one in the internal compartment may empower it with additional abilities."
The point of this exploration is that you can't just float upriver, so you will be hiking. That being said, you can work on a bow along the way, making half progress each day (just like with magic item creation). Assuming an uneventful trip, two days up and two days back would net two days worth of progress.
The plan is to depart early the next morning. Somebody please give me a marching and a night-watch order.
.
.
.
.
- Front
- Biter & Elorin (AA on each others perception/survival checks)
- Tracant
- 90-ft following distance<br>(i.e. 2 move actions by advance force to retreat, 1 move action for rear force to advance)
- Abbas & Burnsten<br>(keep main healer closest to center & communications agent in front of the others to relay info from scouts)
- Alexis & Ravarath
- Gregor & Pete (AA on each other to detect sneak-abouts trailing us and to smooth over our trail as we move to make tracking us more difficult)
"Gregor is'ing to take first watch with Burnsten and Burnsten's snake-thing. Biter and Abbas hasing second shift. Grease-Mouth is'ing to share third with Long'Ears… Biter is'ing to know no canoodling is'ing to go down that way." his eyes pass between Alexis and Longears momentarily before continuing on. "Withing Friend Rath and Alexis taking last shift." He looks around to check everyone's response. "Questions? Complaints?"
Alexis pouts slightly, her gaze shifting between Rath and Elorin, "A... practical choice if nothing else."
Elorin stares Biter in the eyes seemingly annoyed, then walks off ahead of the group in the direction of the river without waiting for anyone else to say anything.
A little while later you hear some loud voices from ahead of you in the woods.
"NOTTING PRETENDING, AN'MAAR*! AND IF'ING LONG'EARS NOTTING TO SHUT HIS MOUTH, MAYBE LONG'EARS WON'T ATTRACT EVERY PREDATOR IN SHOUTING RANGE!!"
*an'Maar = @ss hat in goblin
Biter scouts about pissed for the remainder of the day.
Pete mutters something in Dwarvish
He then lags behind and breaks out his pipe, along with some smoking materials, soon the fragrant aromas of weed emanate from him.
Alexis rubs her temple with her fingertips and comments, "We may be able to give Tracant the day off. At this rate, we shall have no trouble at all hearing from our intrepid scouts..."
Biter will pull Burnsten aside after the first night on the trail - when everyone's prepping for the second day's exploration.
"Biter is'ing to have to say some things to Burnsten." He leads Burnsten away few feet while his eyes scan their surroundings for eavesdroppers. Once he's satisfied they're alone, he turns his red eyes on the summoner.
.
.
Geography Modifiers
Prof: Sailor Modifiers
Most of the river on this first day of hikoing is not able to support boats. Occasionally, you find a calm patch or pool, but the biggest is only 50 feet long before the shallow rapids begin again. You also find evidence in the banks that things get very rough in the spring, but no evidence that the river floods its banks.
With about an hour or marching left in the day, you hear the distant roar of a waterfall. Around a few more bends, you emerge from the trees at the base of a bluff 60 feet high. Water cascades down onto the rocks, sending off a mist of fine spray, and into a large, deep pool. Climbing the bluff shouldn't prove too difficult, as you can all take 10 to make it up. Plenty of roots to hang on to.
Elorin and Biter will continue to stay ahead of the group in stealth mode looking for various tracks and natural pitfalls.
Neither Biter nor Elorin notice anything unusual or hazardous around the waterfall, and feel it is safe to call the rear team up.
Do you wish to climb the bluff to continue following the river? You have about 45 minutes of marching time left (and plenty of daylight).
"Biter, Elorin, let's keep moving. The waterfall is beautiful, but against the roaring waters, we would be hard-pressed to hear anything approaching in the night. Well, assuming any of us could even fall asleep that is..."
"Biter is'ing to have to say some things to Burnsten." He leads Burnsten away few feet while his eyes scan their surroundings for eavesdroppers. Once he's satisfied they're alone, he turns his red eyes on the summoner.
"Glad to listen any time" as he trails behind Biter lead.
Biter
"I do understand your words and your concerns,Lady Harrolayne and me are just tools of each other and I'm loyal to those that deserve it, I say I would help you for it's in my best interest also, my thing with Harrolayne is a mere job I can quit and be rid of it" as he smiles to Biter "I come from the wastes of the north I know what your concern is and you will always get a straight answer from my Biter, shall we go back now or have u more questions or concerns for me"
Biter nods at Alexis's words, obviously happy to hear them, "Notting to mention that sleeping at watering holes is'ing to be like sleeping next to bait. Many predators." He shades his eyes wiht one green hand as he looks ahead into the evening light, "Biter is'ing thinking the Pack can'ning make some more good time tonight. Long'Ears and Biter i'sing to find a good camp spot for the night."
He wanders off, punching the resting Long'Ears on his way by, "Get up, Lazy Long'Ears! Having to find a camp spot before the sun is sleeping."
The scouting party scale the cliff easily. At the top, they see that the river is smooth and deep. A hundred feet upstream, the river opens out into a long narrow lake. While the others are climbing up, Elorin's keen eyes spot what looks like the bow of a narrow boat sticking out of some bushes on the opposite side of the 20-foot wide stream.
he whispers, Lets have the team stay at the top of the falls while we scout around the area of the boat to see if there are any occupants around. You are a little more stealthy than me, why don't you go back to the team and tell them to stay put and I will stay here and just keep an eye on the boat until you get back?
You are a little more stealthy than me, why don't you go back to the team and tell them to stay put and I will stay here and just keep an eye on the boat until you get back?[/b]
Sorry, I missed that Biter had made a check. He too would have seen the boat.
So, how are you getting to the boat? The river's only 20 feet wide here, but there's a strong current heading right over the waterfall if the DC 15 swim checks should fail. By the time you head closer to the lake, the river is 40 feet across, but much less dangerous currents.
Biter looks where Long'Ears is pointing, seeing the boat along the opposite shore, and nods at his suggestion to go pass the word. He quickly locates Tracant and has him pass the message, "Boat on far shore. Find shelter. Stay quiet. Scouts is'ing to do quick look."
He sneaks back over to where Long'Ears crouches next to a tree, "Biter is'ing to try the jump this short jump . Thinking Biter can make it. Long'Ears to shoot anything to attack Biter?" He says with a smile.
And just barely clears the water on the far side, tumbling into a crouch on the far side and trying to recover stealthily, casting red eyes around.
Elorin agrees and covers Biter with his bow.
From what Biter can tell, the boat has been there for quite some time, as it is partially filled with debris consistent with a spring flood. Four carved wooden paddles are lashed to the inside of the hull. The boat (a war canoe capable of transporting up to 12 warriors) looks like it had run aground and was tossed up into the bushes, rather than hidden deliberately. To support this conclusion, Biter finds no signs of human tracks of any kind. As best as he can tell, the canoe should still be seaworthy, although it might benefit from a mending spell or two. As Biter wrestles it out of the bushes and into the water to paddle it back across, it springs a few tiny leaks; not enough to sink it, but Biter's feet do get a little wet.
Biter slides the thin boat into the ground 30 feet upstream from where he left LongEars, hopping out as the boat grinds to a halt on the shore. He appears next to the hidden elf, "Was'ing to think the Pack could hide the thin boat. Either to take back to camp or for using to get up and down river if'ing to think it is safe. Notting to see any tracks or anything on other side. Boat was notting to look to get put there recently, either."
Biter slides the thin boat into the ground 30 feet upstream from where he left LongEars, hopping out as the boat grinds to a halt on the shore. He appears next to the hidden elf, "Was'ing to think the Pack could hide the thin boat. Either to take back to camp or for using to get up and down river if'ing to think it is safe. Notting to see any tracks or anything on other side. Boat was notting to look to get put there recently, either."
Alexis will spend a few minutes patching up the canoe with mending spells. She'll have Rath and Pete help her test the repairs and to check the canoe and oars for rot, etc.
Sailor Checks
As she works, Alexis says, "If we travel by river, we will be exposed, without cover, and easily spotted from the river banks. I am inclined to think we should portage and use it only when foot travel is impractical."
She looks up as she finishes and asks, "Do any of you have other notions?"
"Notting to think it smart to carry it while scouting or to ride in it." he says and nods to Alexis's words, "too exposed. Shoulding hide it near here and continue on foot. If'ing decide it is needed, can always come back to get it."
"Aye, goot agree wit' Biter, no need ta weigh ourselves down, least not yet."