Maddok sees a white bearded man dressed in a green wizard's robe. Complete with hat. He waves at Maddok, and then moves behind the tree.
As he heard things moving around Slam strapped his shield on and drew his sword.
At seeing the man, Slam whispers "stay here" and moved towards where the man disappeared.
@Slam:
No one seems to be there. It's a most puzzling and befuddling cypher. What is an old man doing out late at night?
Bander looks toward Slam, "Anything? Should I wake the others?"
He just shakes his head no then returns to his post and says "damn wizards."
"What color robes? We don't need the balance of power tipping." He indicates with his head inside.
"Green."
"GREEN? Never heard of a green wizard."
One quarter of the sky. Nuitari is rising by now.
If you want to play it that way, that's fine, let us know and the first or second person to respond can decide whose watch it's on, roll randomly, whatever, but not telling us means we have to waste time asking you.
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Anyhow, I screwed up moon times, and I have since modified the chart.
First Quarter moons rise at noon, are high at sunset, and set late evening (near midnight).
Full Moons rise at sunset, are high around midnight, set at dawn.
Last Quarter moons rise at midnight, are high at dawn, set late morning (near noon).
New Moons rise at dawn, are high at noon, set at sunset.
Solinari (showing as the red circle on the white track) is just before at his last quarter; he would rise at about 11PM, which really is very late for an inn to be open. (Medieval situation, small towns like Solace 11:00 is really only for the very last people, best customers, day before the rest day, that sort of thing. Fantasy medieval, well, it may be later, but even Otik has to sleep. ;) )
Lunitari isn't as far advanced in waning; she would have risen around 9, 9:30. With permission, my observation of the rising moon would have been of the red moon, not the white.
Nuitari, however, is not a moon that anyone in the party can see. Being in its day past New, however, it set shortly after the sun did, and won't be above the horizon until after dawn.
Also, I'm not sure what 'one quarter of the sky' is meant to be; I'm a little confused. Do you mean 3 hours have passed, that the moon in question (which one it is doesn't matter TOO much, since they're fairly close together) has travelled from the horizon halfway to the zenith, i.e. has covered a quarter of the visible sky? Or do you mean that it's covered a quarter of the rotation, i.e. 6 hours have passed? I suspect you mean the former, but let us know.
Images:
10 PM (Lunitari Rising)
3 AM (Moons Halfway to Zenith)
6 AM (Moons at Zenith, Dawn nears)
Important: In all these images, the track is the actual color of the moon; the circle is selected for contrast, so you can actually see its location. Solinari is a red circle on the white track; Lunitari is a black circle on the red track; and Nuitari is a white circle on the black track.
"Might be a renegade," Peregrine says from around the door, blinking against tiredness out into the morning's darkness. "They get called 'grey robes' or 'brown robes', but it's not like they have to wear any particular color." Edging outside, she looks up and around, pulling her hood up against the rain and trying to figure out where the moons are -- or how long it's been. "Anyone know about what time it is?"
Well, since it is about bedtime for me, I'll let you know tomorrow morning.
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"Nighttime."
Do you mean 3 hours have passed, that the moon in question (which one it is doesn't matter TOO much, since they're fairly close together) has travelled from the horizon halfway to the zenith, i.e. has covered a quarter of the visible sky?
This.
Yes, it's the former.
Peregrine gives Slam a wry, tired smile at his joke, then looks up at the sky for several long moments, trying to get a sense of where the moons are, red and white; finally she speaks up and says, “I think it’s two or so hours past midnight. Maddok, Slam, you should get some sleep. Bander, do you want to stay up and take watch, or shall I?”
A sleepy Kali pokes her head out the door, roused by the commotion going on.
"'Zit time for m'watch already," she yawns. One hand rubs the sleep from her eyes as she looks at the others.
"I am fine." Slam said.
"I know ogres are tough, but even you have to sleep some time," Kali says softly, more awake now that she's up and moving some. "I won't let the staff you carry out of sight, I promise."
Bander shrugs. "Watch now or watch later. Doesn't matter. I am more worried about this green robed wizard. Or angry fishmonger perhaps."
Peregrine looks between Kali and Slam, then shrugs and turns her attention down towards Bander. "I suppose," she concedes. "Not a good idea to go stumbling around in the rain and dark, though."
"Stay here. It's either a trap or wizard playing pranks. Neither is good in the dark."
Peregrine's expression becomes one of mild bafflement. "I wasn't ... oh," she says, visage clearing up as she realizes (perhaps mistakenly) that Slam was talking to Bander. She gives the ogre a long, puzzled glance -- he has, after all, failed to address Kalisuel's concern, a concern she herself shares about him -- but then gives a one-shouldered shrug. "Goin' back to sleep. Wake me when it's my turn," she reiterates.
Re-entering the shack, she looks over at Thalasi, gives a shrug, and lays back down; should no threat materialize, she'll be asleep again in only a few minutes.
"Wait. Wizard? Why would a wizard be playing hide and seek in the middle of a rainy night," Kali asks as she pulls on her boots.
The night wears on.
However the strangely green robed wizard never makes another appearance.
The elf will rise for his watch and use the time to study his spellbook, wrapped in a white leather cover. He loves the feeling of rhe book and he looses himself in the memorization of his spells, hoping to add to his spellbook.
Kali finds sleep easily enough after her watch. The enigma of a green-robed wizard playing hide and seek would have to wait for another time.
"Wait. Wizard? Why would a wizard be playing hide and seek in the middle of a rainy night," Kali asks as she pulls on her boots.
Bander shrugs. "Perhaps he stumbled upon a fish monger's cottage in the night and found it besieged by an ogre and minotaur."
Bander wakes after the others start to stir the tends his things absently looking at some items as if he has never seen them before. He looks up, "I've some dried fish if anyone wants. Might go good to break up the jerky and trail mix rations."
The kender notices the elf and his meticulous manner of study. He looks over multiple times watching with a bit of wonder. He leans over and speaks what is supposed to be a whisper, "What's he about?"
He moves over to near Thalasi, "So." He bites into a bit of dried fish and chomps. "Whatcha doin'?"
Committing some of my spells to memory for rhr day he repliwa to the kender.
Bander smiles, "What's that one do?"
this one allows me to detect magical auras and this one allows me to read arcane writings ,he repliea.
Slam stands vigil throughout the night, never wavering. In the morning, he prays for guidance and that his goal is near.
After getting most of her time asleep, standing a stretch of watch-time with Slam (and giving him an odd look or three during it, wondering how he's staying awake so long), and getting another couple of hours' sleep, Peregrine wakes and gets to her own study, extracting her spellbook out of the bag inside her backpack.
Immediately after she finishes her study, though, she casts her first spell -- a washing gesture of her hands, across her face and down her front, along with the word "سریع بودن*" in Magius. The wrinkles and night-sweat ripples out of what she wore, but she then proceeds to change clothing anyhow -- switching out her dark red boots for dark green, her blue shirt for a clean white one, the dark blue hat for a light green one with a narrower brim. With the exception of her shirt and her mage's cloak/robe, she's now clad entirely in shades of green -- and even then, she's fingering a medium-green cloak, perhaps with the thought of concealing the red underneath it.
Alrighty.
I'm going to cast nap stack.
Alrighty.
For those that thought Bander has yet to try the patience of folk as some kender are prone to do fast see why the wee folk have such a reputation. As the kender moves back and forth between Thalasi and Peregrin asking questions about the next step, "What is this used for?" A moment later, "How does this work," And again, "Why that component, you said com-po-nent right.?"[b] Later [b]"Is that hard to find, it smells funny." He looks up anyone else who looks in his direction. "I'm learning magic."
At some point even gentle tempers are pushed whether stern or gentile he is shoed away or sent on an errand of little value. He emerges from the shack and keeps an eye out for danger, or fishmongers, or wizards . . .
Kali wakes and spends some time doing the same as Peri, cleaning herself with magic. It wasn't as if the others didn't know about that secret of hers now, so there was no point in hiding it. She stretches and pulls her boots on before putting on her breastplate and weapons belt. She felt guilty about it, but she asks Maddok if he could carry her pack again once she has everything neatly put away. She wonders if Peri could make her a pack that would carry all of her things and not feel so heavy, but decides that now isn't a good time.
Instead she looks for Slam.
"So, which way do we go," she asks him.
"I thought we were going to speak to these Que-Kiri that Thalasi suggested."
"Oh, I guess I missed that," Kali says, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Wait the Que-Kiri. I met them before. I saved one of them from an Og . . .large foe." He looks about a moment, "They gave me this. He holds up his Hoopak but points to the sharp-pointed end. It used to be one of their spears. It broke, well the wood part broke. They said it was magic. I had a smith put it on my Hoopak."
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As Bander’s bouncing back and forth between her and Thalasi intensifies, it’s clear that Peregrine’s patience is indeed being tried. After about fifteen minutes of erratic interruptions, however, she pauses in her studying and looks up at the present example of the ‘children of Krynn’. “Bander,” she states calmly but firmly, “for a mage to memorize their spells, utter and uninterrupted concentration is required — very much like what is required to learn the casting in the first place. If you actually want to learn, we can teach you, but it would take a lot of focus and discipline from you. In the meanwhile, what Thalasi and I need is to focus on what we’ve selected to memorize for the day, spells that may be the difference between life and death for us all, and your very natural curiousity about the process is, to be frank, making that impossible. Would you be willing to help Maddok and Na’shok with figuring out whatever we’ll need to do, which way to go, to get to the road?”. Not necessarily useless, but ...
... definitely not here.
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The human woman’s eyebrows lift as Slam attributes her suggestion to the elven male. On the tail of Kali’s embarrassed reply, she murmurs, “I believe I missed that as well.”
She doesn’t say any more, however — if they’re going to follow her idea, it doesn’t necessarily matter who gets the credit — and only listens with interest at Bander’s ramble about the Que-Kiri. “Hm. That ... may result in some difficulties, if they’ve recently had ogre trouble. Thalasi may have been more right than we’d wish.”
The winds shift from the west to the south. Bringing cooler air.
The elf says nothing.
"Well I mean if we can find they guys I met before they might vouch for me."
"Do you remember their names? Maybe their clan," Kali asks Bander as they finish getting ready to head out.
"Whispering-bear is the one who gave me the spear head. The other one was named Rivermoon or Goldwind. Something like that he was quiet."
"Well, that should help. To Que-kiri and what lies ahead," Kali says, happy to be off.
Before they leave the elf eill pit two steel pieces on a table.
After leaving the money, you all move out of the Tavern, headed for your next leg of the journey.
While on the road, you see some people on the road dressed as seekers. They seem like seekers, but they talk very strange. Roll perception checks to recognize them as seekers, or not.
Perception
"Careful, they are not as they appear. Scaly skin and golden eyes with Nerakanese accents. Something is amiss here," Kali quietly warns the others when she sees the incongruent features of the "seeker."