[Non-PFS] [3PP Class Only] Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands (Inactive)

Game Master djpika

In Taldane: "I will let Vars, your captive, know that you have brought him to Swallowfeld. I would like to tell him he is safe, but no one has told ME that yet. I would also like to be able to ask him what you hope to know from him. I will offer him food & water once it is timely."

Apart from listening intently to Nathan's side of his conversation with the goblin and trying to piece together what is being said by the goblin now known as Vars... through the Half-Elf's calm responses to said goblin, Chigao injects to answer Nate's query with, "Bleja, in no uncertain terms, had advised us to bring Vars here to the town guards at a place called the Hold for questioning. None of our group present have ever met with any of the local guards before though- would that be a good idea at this point?".

The young Kunoichi Lass figured that if anybody present would know what the local town guards were like. it would most certainly be a local to Swallowfeld... someone like the gregarious Half-Elf conversing with Vars.

"Miss? I know that what you heard is certainly the procedure the town would adopt in almost any case ... it would simply be hard for me to stand by it. This goblin has already suffered enough from those you eliminated, and unfortunately my friend Reithic was not pleasant to him either. So handing him over to similarly bigoted guardsmen seems fairly cruel to me.

Nathan turns to look more directly at Chi ...

"If it were me, I would invoke our custom of Rescue & Capture. I would say that the goblin is "yours" - you both rescued and captured him, so until you say he is free to go about his business, or you remand him to other custody, you could protect his well-being until releasing him later when you leave town.

Should be Sense Motive, same as it's the "reactive skill" for Bluff's "pass a secret message" wordplay usage and pantomiming.

DM rel20 wrote:

I would take sense motive or linguistics in this case...

Thank you both, Storm Dragon and DM rel20; definitely will go with the Sense Motive skill since Chigao's untrained in Linguistics. ;)

Sense Motive to parse out Nathan and Vars' conversation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17.

"Miss? I know that what you heard is certainly the procedure the town would adopt in almost any case ... it would simply be hard for me to stand by it. This goblin has already suffered enough from those you eliminated, and unfortunately my friend Reithic was not pleasant to him either. So handing him over to similarly bigoted guardsmen seems fairly cruel to me.

Nathan turns to look more directly at Chi ...

"If it were me, I would invoke our custom of Rescue & Capture. I would say that the goblin is "yours" - you both rescued and captured him, so until you say he is free to go about his business, or you remand him to other custody, you could protect his well-being until releasing him later when you leave town.

Recalling Bleja's near-instinctive antipathy reaction to Vars, then tied up and unconscious at that, Chigao gives a bit of a grimace before answering Nathan's near-candid statements of suggestion with, "I... see."

As my Master would say, things never are so simple to work off of... most of the time.

Giving one more glance over to Vars before addressing the earnest Half-Elven Local, the Young Kunoichi inquires of Nathan, "Given that the Innkeepers would not likely be so welcoming of Vars, is there another establishment around here... besides the Hold... that you would suggest that would accept Vars as being under our custody?"

Camping out in town is not a good idea? If worse comes to worse, we could try to disguise Vars to sneak him around town- Chigao does have that disguise kit of hers. ;p

Enter ... the lasagna!!!




"You know my Aunt & Uncle have a small homestead not far from here, my aunt is frequently here in the kitchen helping Bleja. I think I could explain that Vars' well-being relied on hiding him in the storm cellar for a bit. Maybe after nightfall you & I could take him? I'm not sure they would be able to lodge all of you, but I'm sure you & I could watch over Vars until you are ready to leave town again."

As far as camping outside of town.. Woudln't be too hard to camp at an outskirts decently so.

"Well, we weren't the most subtle bringing the guests to the city. So regardless there will be some folks who are aware insofar as that goes. So keeping an eye is required. "

"No argument there, but we can also tell a gray-truth about things: the goblin escaped during the night etc etc. It's a sleepy town, if no one sees a loose goblin, it will pass quickly."

"I don't mind a campout", Xephkiel said enthusiastically. "It gives me a chance to get to know the new folk."
"By the way, my name is Xephkiel. You may not believe it, but I'm an astral deva, a classification of angel." The tall brunette's face sunk a little. "I miss my wings."

"I don't mind a campout", Xephkiel said enthusiastically. "It gives me a chance to get to know the new folk."

"By the way, my name is Xephkiel. You may not believe it, but I'm an astral deva, a classification of angel." The tall brunette's face sunk a little. "I miss my wings."

"I might too, wow, that's extraordinary. Somehow I do not think you misplaced them ... can you get them back?"

Grateful for the opportunity to place Vars somewhere other than the Hold, Chigao ponders upon what should be done about Reithic- not to mention, getting her own message to Master Naru over to Sergeant Harkness and then coming up with some sort of payment for Reithic's bathtime- while the helpful Young Half-Elf and Xef converse together about the Tall Astral Deva's lost wings.

Given Reithic's active dislike of Vars, we probably shouldn't mention anything about taking Vars to some nearby homestead... still, all thanks be given to our immensely helpful Translator here. I suppose I could pay the Innkeepers for Reithic's bath instead of bribing them with the silverware that Xephkiel's carrying; perhaps we could bribe the Half-Elf's Aunt and Uncle with that silverware instead. Would Vars even be willing for us to help 'supervise' him while he's being kept at this homestead and will the people there at the homestead even be safe with Vars staying in a storm-cellar like that? Some of us will definitely have to keep watch over Vars though- maybe we should rotate who would be watching over Vars then?

Politely waiting until the subject of Xephkiel's missing wings concludes, Chigao will then add in with, "If your Aunt and Uncle wouldn't mind keeping Vars over nearby their homestead, we'd be most grateful for their kind help- and yours as well, for that matter; I'm known as Chigao Waiyo, an apprentice trap-spotter and disabler serving under my Master", the Young Kunoichi mentions with a brief but polite bow over to Nathan, "and you would be?"

Xephkiel wrote:

"By the way, my name is Xephkiel. You may not believe it, but I'm an astral deva, a classification of angel." The tall brunette's face sunk a little. "I miss my wings."

"I might too, wow, that's extraordinary. Somehow I do not think you misplaced them ... can you get them back?"

Xephkiel leans forward a bit. "The thing is..I still have my wings. I can feel them. Flap them even. It's just they are in a..what's the word..no..out of sync with this dimension." The astral deva was making sure his words were correct. "Yes. Hopefully as I grow in power her on The Material Plane, I can pull my wings into sync with this dimension. I hope you understand."

Grateful for the opportunity to place Vars somewhere other than the Hold, Chigao ponders upon what should be done about Reithic- not to mention, getting her own message to Master Naru over to Sergeant Harkness and then coming up with some sort of payment for Reithic's bathtime- while the helpful Young Half-Elf and Xef converse together about the Tall Astral Deva's lost wings.

Politely waiting until the subject of Xephkiel's missing wings concludes, Chigao will then add in with, "If your Aunt and Uncle wouldn't mind keeping Vars over nearby their homestead, we'd be most grateful for their kind help- and yours as well, for that matter; I'm known as Chigao Waiyo, an apprentice trap-spotter and disabler serving under my Master", the Young Kunoichi mentions with a brief but polite bow over to Nathan, "and you would be?"

"milady Waiyo, please please excuse my manners: I am Nathan, Nathan Grey, whose aforementioned Aunt & Uncle would plan an entire lecture on how human I have acted. Please accept my apology. That said, I also think they are also the best, brightest, and most tolerant elves anywhere outside of Iadara. Not only do they both speak Goblin, but I think even Vars would behave for my aunt.

The young man reaches into his tunic and retrieves an extraordinary crystal, which begins to glow as he seems to communicate with it. As he walks to the door, it sprouts ectoplasmic legs and scurries off ...

"Aunt May also happens to be the only other person who can hear Psimon. I have for sure not figured THAT out yet ... but I have sent a message to them. We should have confirmation in less than an hour."

Nathan "Cable" Grey wrote:

Xephkiel wrote:

"By the way, my name is Xephkiel. You may not believe it, but I'm an astral deva, a classification of angel." The tall brunette's face sunk a little. "I miss my wings."

"I might too, wow, that's extraordinary. Somehow I do not think you misplaced them ... can you get them back?"

Xephkiel leans forward a bit. "The thing is..I still have my wings. I can feel them. Flap them even. It's just they are in a..what's the word..no..out of sync with this dimension." The astral deva was making sure his words were correct. "Yes. Hopefully as I grow in power her on The Material Plane, I can pull my wings into sync with this dimension. I hope you understand."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I completely understand! It's a lot like Psimon's legs! One minute, he's just sitting in my pocket, but when I ask him to walk, his 'legs' appear. It makes total sense to me. The psi-lore says that when he is more powerful, he will be able to fly. Maybe you can both fly together one day! Also, please call me Nate, everyone does; well, except my Aunt, when she wants to make sure I know she is cross ..."

Randall is happily showing down on the order of the day, only half-listening to the conversation. His chewing begins to slow and he sets down his fork to look at Xephkiel for a moment, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times...then shrugs and goes back to eating.

Guess if he isn't hurting anybody, can't hurt to let him have his little delusions.

Xephkiel wrote:

Nathan "Cable" Grey wrote:

Xephkiel wrote:

"By the way, my name is Xephkiel. You may not believe it, but I'm an astral deva, a classification of angel." The tall brunette's face sunk a little. "I miss my wings."

"I might too, wow, that's extraordinary. Somehow I do not think you misplaced them ... can you get them back?"

Xephkiel leans forward a bit. "The thing is..I still have my wings. I can feel them. Flap them even. It's just they are in a..what's the word..no..out of sync with this dimension." The astral deva was making sure his words were correct. "Yes. Hopefully as I grow in power her on The Material Plane, I can pull my wings into sync with this dimension. I hope you understand."

"I completely understand! It's a lot like Psimon's legs! One minute, he's just sitting in my pocket, but when I ask him to walk, his 'legs' appear. It makes total sense to me. The psi-lore says that when he is more powerful, he will be able to fly. Maybe you can both fly together one day! Also, please call me Nate, everyone does; well, except my Aunt, when she wants to make sure I know she is cross ..."

Having caught near the end of the conversation between the two, Chigao almost quickly envisions an internally incongruous picture of both Xef and 'Psimon' simultaneously sprouting tiny ethereal-colored wings and the both of them go immediately launching off into the skies with nary a care in the world. ;)

"milady Waiyo, please please excuse my manners: I am Nathan, Nathan Grey, whose aforementioned Aunt & Uncle would plan an entire lecture on how human I have acted. Please accept my apology. That said, I also think they are also the best, brightest, and most tolerant elves anywhere outside of Iadara. Not only do they both speak Goblin, but I think even Vars would behave for my aunt.

The young man reaches into his tunic and retrieves an extraordinary crystal, which begins to glow as he seems to communicate with it. As he walks to the door, it sprouts ectoplasmic legs and scurries off ...

"Aunt May also happens to be the only other person who can hear Psimon. I have for sure not figured THAT out yet ... but I have sent a message to them. We should have confirmation in less than an hour."

Chigao watches in wide-eyed, partially hand-covered but open-mouthed [this Kunoichi lass still has enough presence of mind to not look so impolite while still remaining absolutely gobsmacked!] amazement as Nathan's 'Psimon' crystal goes skittering off into the night upon thin ectoplasmic legs. If his Aunt is able to freely communicate with such a... creature [!?], perhaps my worries about their well-being while looking after Vars is somewhat unfounded...

Randall is happily showing down on the order of the day, only half-listening to the conversation. His chewing begins to slow and he sets down his fork to look at Xephkiel for a moment, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times...then shrugs and goes back to eating.

As Nate's Psicrystal moves out of the range of her eyesight, the Young Kunoichi Lass looks about her immediate area once more [done mostly through habitual training and drills from her master] and spies Sergeant Harkness quietly eating nearby while silently observing the gathered outside group. Thank goodness! This will save me the trouble of having to seek him out at the Inn...

Quickly steeling herself back into some kind of semblance of disciplined 'control' once more [also courtesy of Master Naru through extensive drills and training], Chigao inquires of Nathan, "That would be... most kind of your Aunt... and Uncle. I was wondering though, would Vars be agreeable to such an arrangement- and does he know why the goblins attacked the bandits in the keep?"

Thinking back to past events of the night before- some of it mentioned by Andru and Xef after the fact, Chigao mentally recounts of what she could recall of the conditions of the keep on that dreary morn, "The night we arrived to the keep, there was something going on there during the night... the following morning, the Keep itself had two goblin corpses strewn about inside the courtyard- I'm not quite sure about which particular goblin tribe that must've done the attack though...was it Vars' kin that made that attack during the night?"

Nathan goes back to Vars ...

"Vars, may I take you somewhere safer than this? May I take you to the hut that my family holds? It is very large, and I think my family can give you a place in our cellar to rest and eat and wait so that we can help you go somewhere else, would that be okay?

"I also wondered if you could tell me what happened at the little castle out there: did goblins attack bandits? Did bandits attack goblins? Something happened in the night, it seems like you were captured because of it. Or maybe it was other goblins? It is confusing for me, because I was here with my family."

The color seems to drain from Vars' face, dropping to a pallid green. He scampers back a little bit before bringing his arms out, hands open and starts to wave them openly,

"Safe? cellar ek safe! nie cellar, nie chains! vars ek locked ehn chains! vars trav, be sun, yah? vars vol trav... nie viet tam lock ou..."

Nathan tries to settle Vars down a little ...

"No no Vars, no chains, only hiding. My family are good people; I want you to hide with them, so that we can take you away from here SECRETLY. No more beatings, no more bad longshanks; we just need to sneakwalk away. Please Vars? Please let my sister-mother help you? No chains, only hiding ... and food, a lot of food."

If a roll is needed, lmk

Sense motive to see if Vars is feeling a bit distressed by cellars: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11. Not sure if it'll be enough to understand what Vars is getting at.

Unsure of where Vars ever got the notion of chains being mentioned- given Nathan's attempts to soothe the agitated Goblin, Chigao quietly asks Nate, "Should we tell Vars that if he could behave in a... more civilized manner, we won't have to keep him tied up anymore?"

If Vars were to get too hostile for us contain, perhaps I may yet still have need for the sap. Hopefully, it shouldn't come to that though.

If an assist will be needed: 1d20 ⇒ 1. Unable to assist. :(

Just as a note. I'm around. Zupon just doesn't have much to contribute to this situation. he's also finished in town unless something new occcurs. He's gotten his prep for the tower again

[dice=Sense motive to see if Vars is feeling a bit distressed by cellars]1d20+5. Not sure if it'll be enough to understand what Vars is getting at.

Unsure of where Vars ever got the notion of chains being mentioned- given Nathan's attempts to soothe the agitated Goblin, Chigao quietly asks Nate, "Should we tell Vars that if he could behave in a... more civilized manner, we won't have to keep him tied up anymore?"

If Vars were to get too hostile for us contain, perhaps I may yet still have need for the sap. Hopefully, it shouldn't come to that though.

[dice=If an assist will be needed]1d20. Unable to assist. :(

The young half-elf chuckles, "in truth, I think he will know that very very quickly from my Aunt May ... and she and my Uncle are QUITE capable of restraining & controlling him if needed. I really think it's the win here, for everyone."

Just as a note. I'm around. Zupon just doesn't have much to contribute to this situation. he's also finished in town unless something new occcurs. He's gotten his prep for the tower again

'if' Nathan is invited to accompany, he may need to pick up a couple things before everyone departs, but I could also say his family has certain things (which I will pay for) that he can simply bring with him

Vars' eyebrow arches up, "Nect? vars kat nect... el vars vie moet fremat?

Go ahead and make a diplomacy check...

@Chigao - despite the roll, Vars is pretty easy to read at the moment, and his body language suggests he does not like the idea of being locked up.

Vars' eyebrow arches up, "Nect? vars kat nect... el vars vie moet fremat?

** spoiler omitted **

Go ahead and make a diplomacy check...

@Chigao - despite the roll, Vars is pretty easy to read at the moment, and his body language suggests he does not like the idea of being locked up.

DIPLO: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17 Negotiation.

The young half-elf chuckles, "in truth, I think he will know that very very quickly from my Aunt May ... and she and my Uncle are QUITE capable of restraining & controlling him if needed. I really think it's the win here, for everyone."

Scholar Zupon wrote:

Just as a note. I'm around. Zupon just doesn't have much to contribute to this situation. he's also finished in town unless something new occcurs. He's gotten his prep for the tower again

'if' Nathan is invited to accompany, he may need to pick up a couple things before everyone departs, but I could also say his family has certain things (which I will pay for) that he can simply bring with him

No worries, Nathan, at the very least, someone who's got rapport with Vars is someone that the party should keep close to- especially since the party is now somewhat responsible for Vars if the main consensus would be to not send the goblin to the guards. ;)

And fear not, Sgt. Harkness, I'm sure we could all work out something to help get you onboard with the party- hopefully without getting into any trouble with your superiors. ;)

Maybe needed to assist with the diplomacy if required?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15.

Gradually giving space to Vars and Nathan to continue their negotiations while keeping to generally non-threatening and non-verbal cues, Chigao is more or less mollified by Nathan's confident reply in his Aunt and Uncle's ability to help keep things in line as far as Vars is concerned.

Taking this opportunity to give her message to the good Sergeant, the young Kunoichi will sidle closer to where Randall is eating at and say in a lowered whisper, "My apologies for not formally introducing myself earlier to you, Sergeant Harkness. I am known as Chigao Waiyo- currently serving under Master Naru Fisnaeth's tutelage back in Olfden. I trust that Reithic is enjoying his first opportunity to get cleaned up after his captivity by the Bandits of the Shadowed Keep? As far as what we learned from Vars, our Goblin prisoner, it seems that he may have been held captive by those same bandits for far longer than we had originally thought."

We mentioned checking the fort out for it. So Sgt Harkness could request to come with us rather easily. The group shouldn't be too paranoid about him as he's new in town and not part of the local guards. So having an excuse to check up on the potential guard-bandit collusion implcations (or at the very least a blind eye to the bandits) could warrent an excursion to the keep. Harkness asking to come due to being "off the books" investigation and unable to request backup. I'm fairly fine streamlining it so we can get back towards the tower so the group has a clearer goal than the short resupply. Goblin info is useful, once some is gleaned we ought to be able to head out the next morning.

Who was harkness with currently? In the Baths right? So i think everyone but Chigao, Zupon and Grey?

We mentioned checking the fort out for it. So Sgt Harkness could request to come with us rather easily. The group shouldn't be too paranoid about him as he's new in town and not part of the local guards. So having an excuse to check up on the potential guard-bandit collusion implcations (or at the very least a blind eye to the bandits) could warrent an excursion to the keep. Harkness asking to come due to being "off the books" investigation and unable to request backup. I'm fairly fine streamlining it so we can get back towards the tower so the group has a clearer goal than the short resupply. Goblin info is useful, once some is gleaned we ought to be able to head out the next morning.

Who was harkness with currently? In the Baths right? So i think everyone but Chigao, Zupon and Grey?

Sounds like a plan, Zupon. :)

Randall is happily showing down on the order of the day, only half-listening to the conversation. His chewing begins to slow and he sets down his fork to look at Xephkiel for a moment, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times...then shrugs and goes back to eating.

Guess if he isn't hurting anybody, can't hurt to let him have his little delusions.

While Randall did mention going up to bathe, but he eventually came down after he was done- possibly before or after Xef got Vars some tavern food to eat- and was sitting there observing the goings on with Xef's wing-conversation while dining on his own dinner. Not sure if either Andru or Xephkiel went up to bathe as well though but Reithic could still be there, for all we know. ;)

Come to think of it, Chigao will still need to go and settle things with Bleja; probably will let the innkeepers know that we got Nathan to help guide us in the case of Vars- just not to exactly where.

Just to expedite things a bit, Vars agrees to staying with Nathan's relatives. Not speaking goblin, Chigao can't assist in the diplomacy check, but it's not needed in this case.

Are folks close to ready to start heading back? It might be better to tie up the inclusion and heading back in the next wave of posts or so to get more involvement from the rest.

Zupon's finished his prep

Just to expedite things a bit, Vars agrees to staying with Nathan's relatives. Not speaking goblin, Chigao can't assist in the diplomacy check, but it's not needed in this case.

Are folks close to ready to start heading back? It might be better to tie up the inclusion and heading back in the next wave of posts or so to get more involvement from the rest.

I will gear up Nathan and he will be ready when you guys are.

Xephkiel sits down next to the half-elf. "You know? We could use a guy like you. We're going back to clear a bandit hangout. We already killed a giantess. Adventure awaits, friend. Will you join us?"
Make it official.

Xephkiel sits down next to the half-elf. "You know? We could use a guy like you. We're going back to clear a bandit hangout. We already killed a giantess. Adventure awaits, friend. Will you join us?"

Make it official.

"Wow. Thank you. That is so extraordinary, I am not entirely sure what to say. Maybe after we get Vars to my Aunt's house, would everyone like to come to dinner? We could still make it stealthy I am sure."

"Really though, thank you, it would be an honour."

Taking this opportunity to give her message to the good Sergeant, the young Kunoichi will sidle closer to where Randall is eating at and say in a lowered whisper, "My apologies for not formally introducing myself earlier to you, Sergeant Harkness. I am known as Chigao Waiyo- currently serving under Master Naru Fisnaeth's tutelage back in Olfden. I trust that Reithic is enjoying his first opportunity to get cleaned up after his captivity by the Bandits of the Shadowed Keep? As far as what we learned from Vars, our Goblin prisoner, it seems that he may have been held captive by those same bandits for far longer than we had originally thought."

Randall's eyes narrow a bit at this. Keeping his voice low, but not quite dropping to a whisper:

"How many other people have these bandits taken captive? It's a strange habit for their ilk, unless they were planning to ransom them or use them for slave labor...neither of which appears to be the case. Is there something else I should know about this situation that may need to be looked into?"

No prob with the expediting of things; will be happy to handwave the payment for Reithic's bath at -1 silver; guess we'll be camping out by Nathan's Aunt and Uncle's Homestead after veggie-meatloaf dinner instead of the Inn. :)

Randall's eyes narrow a bit at this. Keeping his voice low, but not quite dropping to a whisper:

"How many other people have these bandits taken captive? It's a strange habit for their ilk, unless they were planning to ransom them or use them for slave labor...neither of which appears to be the case. Is there something else I should know about this situation that may need to be looked into?"

Whispering back to Sergeant Harkness, Chigao answers with, "We've only seen just Reithic and Vars- and no others that we're aware of- being held captive by the bandits deep down in the basement area of the tower; there was a sturdy caged room down there to hold them both, along with some supply crates... that must be why Vars had such a bad reaction to very the mention of cellars. Admittedly, we've only explored just the guard tower at the Shadowed Keep. As to the possibility of ransom though..."

Turning to openly address Nathan, Chigao asks the Half-Elven Translator, "Nathan, you earlier mentioned Reithic as being a friend of yours; does he have any family here in town that you're aware of and was there any demand for his ransom from the Bandits that was ever made by them that you know of?" This might require input from DM rel20 for the answers to that...

Use of a Disguise Kit point on Vars to make him less obvious as a goblin, if needed: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14.

Also, we've got 557 copper pieces, 165 silver pieces, and 19 gold pieces in coins to split to the party plus some silverware cutlery and the hidden black gem; presuming that the cutlery gets used as a bribe to Nathan's Aunt and Uncle for lodgings and to watch over Vars, how much do we get for the gem if we were sell it instead of keeping it? ;)

Turning to openly address Nathan, Chigao asks the Half-Elven Translator, "Nathan, you earlier mentioned Reithic as being a friend of yours; does he have any family here in town that you're aware of and was there any demand for his ransom from the Bandits that was ever made by them that you know of?" This might require input from DM rel20 for the answers to that...

[dice=Use of a Disguise Kit point on Vars to make him less obvious as a goblin, if needed]1d20+4.

Also, we've got 557 copper pieces, 165 silver pieces, and 19 gold pieces in coins to split to the party plus some silverware cutlery and the hidden black gem; presuming that the cutlery gets used as a bribe to Nathan's Aunt and Uncle for lodgings and to watch over Vars, how much do we get for the gem if we were sell it...

Nate's family doesn't need to be bribed, they're pretty proper. Doesn't mean they wouldn't turn down a kindness offered to them, but they would probably turn it into an Elven Curved Blade laced with silver anyway.

After making that query about Reithic to Nathan, Chigao looks back to Sergeant Randall and adds, "We've only ventured just once into the Shadowed Keep so we may not have all the answers to any of those in terms of the Bandits or the Goblins that attacked them. We will be heading back there though," as the Young Kunoichi nods in acknowledgement to each of her fellow party members, including the newest of those members, Nate.

"If you wouldn't mind accompanying us back to the Shadowed Keep to find those answers, Sergeant Harkness, you'd be welcome to join us as well. If you do need to head back to Olfden though, then I'm sure some of us would be more than appreciative to have you bring word of us to those important to us over at Olfden."

Nate's family doesn't need to be bribed, they're pretty proper. Doesn't mean they wouldn't turn down a kindness offered to them, but they would probably turn it into an Elven Curved Blade laced with silver anyway.

Good to know about your family's likely reaction about the bribe offer, Nate; prolly might be a better thing to let everyone decide as a group if they'd wish to sell the silverware then as well- or if anyone wants to keep either the gem or silverware instead, they could make a request for that instead. I've personally no real inclinations to lean either way for those choices myself though, so Chigao would go with what the party ultimately decides to go with. ;)

PS. Any ideas on how much to divvy up the treasure- keeping it strictly to total party members or adding an extra "person" to the party to act as a general party fund thingy? I know that technically in character, we'd divvy up with Kurian and Braggi since they're semi-part of the group story-wise although they're more in the background at the moment; perhaps even 'grandfathering' their shares to Nate and Randall? It could even be explained in-character as being an extra allowance to Nate from his family/some leftover soldier's pay in Randall's case. ;)

Randall drums his fingers on the table and mulls it over.

"I don't like this. It sounds like something bigger."

"...Plus, technically I'm still on scouting duty. I don't have to report back if I have reasonable suspicion that lives are in danger and it needs my immediate attention. Which it very much seems like they are."

gonna play a bit lose with who is where and whens and reply~

Clasps his hands together"Well we certainly could use some help. It became rapidly hectic last time.

as for the loot. Zupon's fairly non committle about it. He doesn't have much in town to buy so he doesn't really need much of it right now. If we're not actually using it here, unless we think we'd need it in the dungeon area for a bribe or something its also potential to leave it behind and come for it in the future if needed. There isn't a lot we could buy in this town overall that we don't have I imagine? other than maybe more and more healing kits. Zupon goes through them rapidly and will probably go through them even more with more folks

PS. Any ideas on how much to divvy up the treasure- keeping it strictly to total party members or adding an extra "person" to the party to act as a general party fund thingy? I know that technically in character, we'd divvy up with Kurian and Braggi since they're semi-part of the group story-wise although they're more in the background at the moment; perhaps even 'grandfathering' their shares to Nate and Randall? It could even be explained in-character as being an extra allowance to Nate from his family/some leftover...

For me, I have always been a fan of the "joint account" model: adding that extra team cut just makes things easier. Like checking accounts in a relationship: yours, mine, ours. It's just cleaner.

Same; I've always been a fan of having a "party fund" that things like resurrections and other condition removal are removed from.

When I GM, I usually make an alias for it!

Turning to openly address Nathan, Chigao asks the Half-Elven Translator, "Nathan, you earlier mentioned Reithic as being a friend of yours; does he have any family here in town that you're aware of and was there any demand for his ransom from the Bandits that was ever made by them that you know of?" This might require input from DM rel20 for the answers to that...

I believe Nathan was using that loosely; Reithic is not from Swallowfeld.

For loot, I'll leave it up to the players. I can see a case being made for the originals keeping what was earned before the newly joined cast and from there making a communal pool. Let's move this to the discussion thread though, just to keep it out of game play...

If someone would like to create a google doc or spreadsheet or something for loot, I can always add a URL to it in the campaign section. I believe that's cleaner than creating an alias for it... but I may be biased, as I have enough toons to scrub through on the boards.

Sounds fine by me with moving all the treasure discussion to the discussion thread. :)

Once we get the okay to go Nate's family's place and found a safe place to stash Vars, should we go to the guards and see if we can claim the rewards for the She-Devil? It could be done the next day if we'd need to rest up though.

Seeing that the party has two more to join their numbers adding to the party, Chigao will head back inside the inn to help pay for Reithic's bath at the very least with the 1 sp. Will Reithic need a place to stay if he's not from the town?

Chigao wrote:

Turning to openly address Nathan, Chigao asks the Half-Elven Translator, "Nathan, you earlier mentioned Reithic as being a friend of yours; does he have any family here in town that you're aware of and was there any demand for his ransom from the Bandits that was ever made by them that you know of?" This might require input from DM rel20 for the answers to that...

I believe Nathan was using that loosely; Reithic is not from Swallowfeld.

Correct - like colleagues who are pretty close. The whole crystel and gem cutting thing is a pretty unique bond & skill set to share, so they have certainly worked closely together.

Same; I've always been a fan of having a "party fund" that things like resurrections and other condition removal are removed from.

When I GM, I usually make an alias for it!

DM rel20 wrote:

For loot, I'll leave it up to the players. I can see a case being made for the originals keeping what was earned before the newly joined cast and from there making a communal pool. Let's move this to the discussion thread though, just to keep it out of game play...

If someone would like to create a google doc or spreadsheet or something for loot, I can always add a URL to it in the campaign section. I believe that's cleaner than creating an alias for it... but I may be biased, as I have enough toons to scrub through on the boards.

Figured that since I bought it all up, it'll be fair that I'll handle it with an alt- which can be found here. ;)

PS. May eventually set up some sorta blog page for the whole party treasure stuff but the alt should make for a decent stop-gap of sorts. :)

DM rel20 wrote:

I believe Nathan was using that loosely; Reithic is not from Swallowfeld.

Correct - like colleagues who are pretty close. The whole crystel and gem cutting thing is a pretty unique bond & skill set to share, so they have certainly worked closely together.

Hmm, given that Reithic and Vars get along well with each other like the characters of Itchy and Scratchy from the Simpsons cartoon [minus the cartoon physics], we might have to still bribe the innkeepers to let him stay. ;p

Reithic won't need a place to stay. He plans to head out in the morning - he needs to get his business going again and address for the loss of wares.

Reithic won't need a place to stay. He plans to head out in the morning - he needs to get his business going again and address for the loss of wares.

Awesome, DM rel20, that'll be one less thing for the party to worry about. ;)

Unless there's misc. stuff for the group to wrap up, I'm going to assume the larger assembly heads back to the gate. This would be the following day... so day 4 after first arriving at the keep. On the road, about a mile out based on the party's recollection. What does the group want to do now?

"So, we'll head back to the keep... Fair chance they'll have refortified in someway. Although ideally far less forces. but we'll have to approach differently and more careful no? Zupon inquires of the group. So they can plan ahead. As things went awkwardly last time.

"So, we'll head back to the keep... Fair chance they'll have refortified in someway. Although ideally far less forces. but we'll have to approach differently and more careful no? Zupon inquires of the group. So they can plan ahead. As things went awkwardly last time.

Carefully looking about the surrounding foliage, Chigao replies to Zupon's inquiry with, "I've trained a bit under reconnaissance techniques under Master Fisnaeth but it would be somewhat slow-going as I'd have to return back and forth quietly to relay all my findings to everyone."

A Perception roll to get things started: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20. Make that a lucky perception roll to see if anything followed us or is amiss out in the open wilds. ;)

We're going to at least store stuff at Nathan's house, right? Like we aren't going to be toting the silverware around ...