Ghae simply listens to the conversations. When heading to the shack is discussed, she pipes up:
If I know the way, I should be able to lead us to this place with few sidetracks. I cannot guaranty that we will not meet unfriendly people or creatures along the way, but I should be able to find the quickest path and help us avoid getting lost.
I do not mind sleeping under the stars if you all wish to head out. If not, we can leave early in the morning as it appears it will take several hours to get to this shack.
"The priest you mean?" - Raziel shakes his head - "Look, you can blame all this mess on that Renard character. What did you expect? How many times did you think you could barge into an inn, and simply demand stuff from the patrons? Why would you associate with someone like that?" - he absent mindedly twirls his dagger in one hand, pondering - "You gambled with your lives... Worst bet ever" - he stares at the monk.
@Ghae:
"What kind of terrain would you say we are looking at? Would it prove useful if we bought horses" - he looks around - "I am assuming there is somewhere to buy them around here - Pye seemed quite resourceful..." - then back to Ghae in expectation.
Raziel, the horse trader arrived just as the hanging was underway and, she is at the stables right now dealing with the stable hands. The horses don't look cheep however.
"Renard was a puppet. If he recruited more underlings or took information and valuables from those who refused to join him, it was all to the betterment of our cause. Symon had a purpose in the Mouth of Doom... one more important then the likes of you could ever comprehend!"
Raziel, the horse trader arrived just as the hanging was underway and, she is at the stables right now dealing with the stable hands. The horses don't look cheep however.
Depending on terrain, I guess horses can be useful or not to speed our journey... But Raziel knows nothing about that, so he is waiting for Ghae's feedback ;)
Guys, the plan is selling the loot, setting some aside for the 20gp/week storage, perhaps enough for 2 weeks, and we may have some cash to buy each of us a horse.
"I agree with you Hound, and I am ready to leave as soon as possible - we should get the others though, and confirm if they want to join us or not. And if they are also ready"
Metagame talking: Who expended any 'resources'? I know Ogrim did.
Eli Szardos wrote:
He decides that he's been sitting around long enough and makes to leave until Raziel steps in. "Is it settled then? Do we go rescue the damsel, explore the area, or - and this is my preferred option - perhaps rush headlong into our deaths?" The grin from before remains on Eli's face, but at the mention of the Mouth of Doom twists into something akin to maniacal, and, for a brief moment, the level of his obsession is revealed before he regains his bearing and smooths his face.
Assuming this happened around the time when Raziel went to look for the map? We can say he dropped by the inn to check with Tallie about the storing arrangements?
Raziel shakes his head in confirmation at Eli - "Well... It certainly looks like it - we are still trying to gather some additional information from that one that was about to be hanged - he really is not making the conversation easy though. We're just getting bits and pieces out of him"
DM Grimmy wrote:
The monk glowers at Raziel.
"Renard was a puppet. If he recruited more underlings or took information and valuables from those who refused to join him, it was all to the betterment of our cause. Symon had a purpose in the Mouth of Doom... one more important then the likes of you could ever comprehend!"
"Why don't you try us? I bet you also did not think we stood much of a chance against the puppet and yourselves - and you were clearly wrong" - Raziel presses on.
I already used Diplomacy to try and get this guy to talk, not sure if it is any use trying further - If so:
"Think what you will of the Cult of Hecate. Society would embrace us if they only knew what wickedness grows in the heart of Rappan Athuk!
Who will stop it? The goodly faiths have grown complacent.
Mitra? Vanitthu? These priesthoods are run by fine lawmakers, but nothing more. It was the champions of Thyr and Muir who put down evil in days of old, and now their services barely see enough alms collected to keep the temple grounds swept."
The Captain of the Guard looms nearby, impatient to take the Hecatite Monk away.
Is Raziel's heritage abyssal or infernal? Can you tell looking at him, if you know what to look for?
"Think what you will of the Cult of Hecate. Society would embrace us if they only knew what wickedness grows in the heart of Rappan Athuk!
Who will stop it? The goodly faiths have grown complacent.
Mitra? Vanitthu? These priesthoods are run by fine lawmakers, but nothing more. It was the champions of Thyr and Muir who put down evil in days of old, and now their services barely see enough alms collected to keep the temple grounds swept."
The Captain of the Guard looms nearby, impatient to take the Hecatite Monk away.
Is Raziel's heritage abyssal or infernal? Can you tell looking at him, if you know what to look for?
Well... Since Raziel is CG, I would say he most likely has an abyssal heritage, though we all know tiefling alignment varies a lot - the fiendish blood in him is clearly evident by the prehensile tail and scaled skin, though he would probably need a Knowledge (Planes) roll :D
Knowledge (Religion) about the followers of Hecate:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
"You are again jumping to conclusions, as Renard did back in there - I know some things about the Hecatite church yes, but you do not know what my opinion may be" - he then stares at the man more intently, his eyes glimmering, fully black orbs with no discernible iris or pupil, and he seems to speak seriously for the first time - "Not all are complacent, and not all of us need to be followers of the goodly faiths - as you call them - to make a difference"
Uh oh I think you know more about Hecate then I do!
Hecate:
Hecate, goddess of Evil Magic
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Law, Evil, Magic, Knowledge
Symbol: A half silver disk representing the setting full moon
Garb: Fashionable togas of the most expensive cut and material, generally in black.
Favored Weapons: None
Form of Worship and Holidays: Priests and Wizards who venerate Hecate do so beneath the full moon with sacrifices of blood and magical items as the moon sets.
Typical Worshippers: Wizards, Women, Assassins, Lawful evil hags, witches, and crones.
Hecate is the goddess of evil magic. She appears as a beautiful woman flanked by numerous hell hounds, her favored creature. The setting moon is her symbol. She requires sacrifices on the full moon. Her priests are normally accompanied by hell hounds sent by their goddess to guard her temples. Clerics of Hecate have a special rapport with the beasts, allowing a chance to control them as they would undead. Hecate is a jealous goddess, capricious and quick to anger. One of her greatest priestesses, Akbeth, is imprisoned in Rappan Athuk. Hecate resides in a floating castle in the Nine Hells.
"Not all are complacent, and not all of us need to be followers of the goodly faiths - as you call them - to make a difference"
The Monk meets Raziel's gaze.
"Indeed. I can not be certain from your appearance which faction of fiends corrupts your blood, and I know not how great an influence your heritage exerts on you.. but I know you live and breathe. Therefore it should concern you to know that the enemy within Rappan Athuk seeks to eclipse all life!"
If we're still collecting for the 20gold bribe Ridley has 9 gold she can kick in. Also, I expended two rounds of my Luck ability, which all in all isn't all that much of anything. I'm good to go chase after the girl. Would be nice to find a plan and stick with it though ;)
Ghae shakes her head at the monks comment:
You are sorely mistaken. Nature will always prevail. Good and evil. Laws and chaos. They are all but temporal. Even if this great evil you speak of were to storm through and destroy this town and all of us. In the end, nature will overcome. It might be mold and algae. Or vermin. Or vines and thorns. But plant by plant, animal by animal, tree by tree, nature always wins in the long run.
Uh oh I think you know more about Hecate then I do!
** spoiler omitted **
:D Well, in that case:
"And I may know more than you think" - Raziel resumes his smug smile at the monk - "I am surely not moved by your religious fervor, but the name Hecate is well known, even though other juicy tidbits may not, like the reason why her followers would be so interested in delving into Rappan Athuk" - he moves slightly away from the man, looking back when he hints at what lies in Rappan Athuk - "Since you seem intent on spoon feeding us the information you have instead of being upfront with those that saved your life, as much as we have been upfront with you, I guess we will leave it at that then - you pretend I don't know why you so desperately want to go there, and I'll pretend that you deserve to be released"
Ok guys, time for me to hit the sack. This guy's last sentence actually made me want to make more questions (one can never have too much intel)- but I'll leave that up to you guys for now though :D My suggestion on how to proceed is to sell the loot - it should net about 556.5 gold (I have already removed some stuff for the storage - its in another tab of the loot spreadsheet), minus the 40 gold for 2 weeks storage, comes down to a tad over 500 gold. It should be enough to get us horses and rations if necessary, and then we can move out. I suggest we release the monk only when we are ourselves leaving Zelkor's Ferry. See you guys later.
The monk spits as the guard captain starts dragging him away.
"Hug your trees then, while the abyss itself spills over into this world! I care not, for Symon is gone! The Mouth of Doom was a perfect tactical base from which to do what must be done! Symon was a scout! He had a vision you know! You will weep when you see what your heroics have achieved!"
"Good riddance. It seems like we're of a majority to head out tonight and see what we can do for the girl. Give him a couple of minutes head start so that he doesn't know we're leaving and head out. Despite what he says, I'd just as well assume that he'd go running to them if he knows we're going there now, and assume that following him would do no good. Worst case in either case, so things can only turn out better. Take the necessities, we'll return tomorrow evening at the earliest to rest and swap our current gear for whatever we think we'll need before finally exploring the area. Maybe we'll be able to just rest near the camp and start from there, but that's to be seen either way. Objections?"
Quick note: The location he indicated is about 24 miles away. 8 hours march for humans on open road, longer with unmounted halflings or if there's any other terrain. 6PM now, probably see the light of dawn by the time you arrive there. Won't be back for breakfast ;)
Next to the inn stands a stable, as you had been told. A fenced paddock beyond it holds four horses. The stable’s big double doors are open to the light and you can hear men’s voices from inside. When your eyes adjust to the shadow, you see two husky men, recognizable to Hound who had observed them from his room in the second floor of the Bristleback.
They introduce themselves as Igor and Vort. The woman who brought the horses has left, but the creatures she brought are obviously fine specimens. Unfortunately the asking price is startlingly high at 150 GP for light horses that have not been trained for combat.
There is also a pack mule for sale but it looks too old to even keep pace with the halfling, much less the rest of the group.
After a moment you notice little Ysbel feeding one of the horses an apple.
"Well met Igor, Vort - we are definitely interested in obtaining mounts but... I don't think we can meet the asking price of one hundred and fifty gold each? Did I understand that correctly? Also... we number seven - do you have any additional horses?" - he looks at the two men, and at Ysbel out of the corner of his eye, with a wink.
[dice=Bluff for the wink (just hinting that "he sees her there")]1d20+6[/dice]
"We have only these four that Fenice just brought in. The prices are due to scarcity and demand. Horses are hard to come by in these lands. Without Fenice we would not have these. She is a horse-whisperer."
Ysbel looks up excitedly.
"Ridley can ride my Dog, Iscar, if you promise to keep him safe!"
"Nah, the guard captain got them in the barracks, and Tallie holding one or two in the basement 'cause his cells are full. Says their daddies should pay a pretty penny!"
You guys can either negotiate with the guards and/or stablehands to use the captives horses, or just put Ridley on the dog and all move at movement rate 30 (3 mph, 24 miles per day's travel). There are four horses for sale and four horses from the Paiges and Renard.
"Thank you sweetheart!" Ridley says when Ysbel offers up her dog. "You are the most generous person I think I've ever met. I will take good care of your friend. Would you be so kind as to introduce us? I'm going to need to know his name and if he prefers ear scratches or tummy scratches."
Ridley will get acquainted with the dog while things with the horses get sorted out.
Ghae looks to the horseman:
We really could use them. Could we rent them for a day or two? After that, we can pay for them at ten percent extra. We could pay a few gold per horse per day.
Igor and Vort hear what Hound and Ghaelja have to say.
Igor's eyes light up.
"Extra! Sure that sounds great miss! Ten percent, is that enough for me to buy myself a horse to call my own?"
Vort pats Igor on the head.
"A lot of people go out there and don't come back. We just paid Fenice 75 gold per head for these four horses. We won't see her again for at least a month. Horses are our livelihood. If you want to give us half now and half later that is fine, but you will have to leave collateral, as your big friend suggested. No need to pay extra, we aren't greedy, just protecting our interests."
That's four horses available, each one for 75 GP now, 75 later (with collateral left).
Two succesful aid-another's, or one action point, or 200 GP bribe money will turn Ghaelja's 16 into a 20 and get you the other four horses, for free, from the guards.
There is 511 GP I believe in the party fund last I heard.
Eli, who has been content to let the others procure the horses until now, speaks up for the first time in the conversation. "A month? You underestimate us, my friend. We'll have the horses back within a week."
"Surely if you ask around, you will find that we deserve your trust - after all, we have just recently stopped the villains intent on making a ruckus at the Bristleback Inn, promptly returning them to justice. And our request to use the same villain's horses is only so that we can faster reach their hideout, where we believe a woman is being held against her will" - Raziel pipes in.
From astride one of their newly acquired horses, Raziel urges the others - "Let us move on then - time is surely of the essence" - as he dashes towards the gate.
LOL Ghaelja, I thought gnolls preferred dog biscuits? :D
Just under an hours ride from Zelkor's Ferry, in a southwesterly direction, you come to a ford where it is possible to pick your way accross this tributary and double back to the merchant trail that leads northwest to Whiterush along the river.
Further southwest the tributary narrows and a proper bridge can be seen.
The breeze carries a faint carrion stench to you from the bridge.
Perception DC 15:
The bodies of at least three humanoids lie near the bridge on this side of the tributary.
Perception DC 18:
The bodies belong to gnolls. A huge 4 foot crow is perched on the rail of the bridge.
"Does anyone else feel the smell? Something is dead around here" - Raziel comments, coming to a halt, staring at the bridge - "Wait a moment, let me check first" - he adds.
Dismounting, the tiefling casts a short arcane enchantment, and moves off stealthily towards the bridge, to scout it out.
Casting Message (lets say Raziel casts it on him and Hound if he allows, and explains how it works), then moving to scout the bridge area.
