Close the door
Ambrus Valsin murumurs as the last person enters his office, and he studies those before him with a keen, if slightly jaded, eye.
Before we begin. Let me start by saying this mission is not for dissemination among other members of the Society
The Chamberlain of the Grand Lodge affixes everyone with a stern look in turn before continuing.
This mission is not an investigation, but a straightforward assignment, but that does not make it any less serious, and no less important
He paused just long enough for his words to settle before carrying on with the greater details.
I need you to book passage to the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and cross over into Irrisen. You’re to head north and rendezvous with another team who have captured some—
Again he paused this time gathering words it seems
-persons of interest- I need you totake charge of these captives and get them out of Irrisen safely and quietly. Once you’re clear of Irrisen, a larger extraction team will take custody of them and bring
them in for questioning. Of course, we will cover the expense of your travel in full, and provide maps to lead you to the meeting point in Irrisen.
Because of the nature of the mission and Irrisen itself, you’ll
be meeting the other team in the field, away from what passes for civilization up there. The team you’ll be getting the prisoners from will show you the best route out of Irrisen, and the castellan of Trollheim has agreed to grant you passage through his lands.
This time he paused a bit as if awaiting questions from the group.
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Evanora listens to Ambrus' description of the mission, including the dramatic pauses, with her eyes slightly squinted. The left one more than the right. After it is evident that his latest pause is to allow for questions, "Captives. This word infers that they are being held against their will and may be resistant. The description of the extraction gives the impression more of a rescue. Which is it? Or is it both? Who are these captives, and more interestingly, what did they do?"
Evanora looks around to the other Pathfinders. Smirking indulgently, as if they are all enjoying a drama together.
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Talion enters the room and takes stock of the other Society members working with him. Not too many familiar faces, but Evanora's here, so this mission isn't gonna be a total meet-and-greet.
"Can you give a description of these captives? Persons of interest doesn't give much of an idea about who we're getting out."
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Oh yes, entirely against their will
he said with a bit of a frown
The captives you are to bring out, are goblins. It's not what they did however that we want them for, but what they know. So as much as you might wish to throttle them before this is over, do remember they are needed alive
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After Zot fumbles into the office at the last minute, a strong smell of mint and cinnamon spices follows in his wake. "Oh dear, my sincerest sorrows fellow pathfinders. Emergency at a local kitchen!" the gnome attempted to explain. He regarded the others for the first time with a warm smile and outstretched arms.
After taking a small flourished bow, Zot would turn his attention to the Venture captain before turning to the others. He would nod, having heard the last bit about captives and the lot. "Alas, the Lands of the Linnorm Kings! They have amazing meads up there, and their food is known to keep the hair on one's chest. I've always wanted to go!" Zot seemed to glow with excitement towards the others, "Shall I prepare a sampling of their foods for the journey? I'm sure it will help us prepare for what may lie ahead. Perhaps I can pacify the captives with a hearty meal and make our journey as smooth as the finest elven wine? Even goblins can appreciate a good meal!"
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The half orc finally speaks, having allowed space for the others to share their thoughts. He stands, stretching to his fully height and places his left hand upon his war hammer. His voice is more melodious than you would expect from his warlike appearance, Thank you, of course our discretion can be counted upon, we can certainly carry this assignment to the frozen lands of the north- will we be provided any furs for protection, or should we purchase these things before departing? While the cold of the grave is comfort for the dead, I vastly prefer warmth upon my skin. he says the last, looking for a response from the others, as if he meant a joke.
As much as I wish you could just drape them over your saddles and make swiftly for the borders, that sadly won't be an option, neither will dogsleds. If you are not overly familiar with the...habits of Goblins. They will not tolerate horses or dogs
A look of frustrated annoyance crossed his face, not focused upon anyone here, but at the situation in general.
Cold weather gear will be wise. The weather should be above the freezing point, at least during the day, but will be well below when the sun is down. The goblins might be acclimatized but I don't expect you all to be
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Shirin looks at the others in the room with a warm smile.
"Goblins? I really have to admit ... I am absolutely intrigued by the mission!!!" she says with genuine interest.
She stands up and walks with slow steps and it is obvious that this gracile and beautiful woman knows her worth.
"Greetings to you all." she says to you all.
Her stylishly cut dark hair looks like it has been recently perfumed. She is wearing a chain shirt armor and fashionable clothing that still serves as functional adventure gear. She also carries a backpack.
“Shirin Asal is my name. And I have never been in the north! But my spirit guide, the astral dragon Aurax, might have some experience with cold weather.“ she says absentmindedly.
“So are there any other dangers we should know of?“
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Zot returns Shirin's greeting with a nod a smile before turning their attention to the Venture Captain with a bit of curiosity, "Other than warm clothing, is there any other supplies of interest that would should be mindful of?
As the words escaped the gnomes lips, he tried to reflect on just what kind of food he would need to bring along the journey that would help acclimate the group to the North...
Making an attempt to use Profession to flavor what exactly other than regular clothes to supply for the journey ahead!
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Evanora looks around at all of the new faces. We do not know most of these people. Can we trust them? Why has the venture captain not responded with the goblins' crimes or who is after them? So many unknowns.
Evanora continues to look over each of the Pathfinders as the discussion continues. Finally, she looks back to the venture captain. "Who, or what, can we expect to try and interfere with this mission? Who should we look out for?"
A golden little reptile (dinosaur?) rubs up against the side of Evanora's leg as she speaks. She absently reaches down to pat his head.
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Chalmer's joke seemingly falling flat, he listens intently to the questions posed by the other Pathfinders, What else can you tell us of these goblins? Do they have a tribe or leader that we need to know of? And are there any potential allies in the area we can recruit or seek should things go awry? the priest considers what he can think of and his recent experiences, I will need to purchase some supplies before we depart certainly.
knowledge geography
15
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25+
The Goblins are all that remains of a tribe, that had been working as spies and mercenaries. You need not worry about any leaders or other tribesmen from them. Which I suppose partially offsets the fact that you will be entirely on your own. From the point you break contact with the first party, and until you make contact with the second, I am afraid you can trust nobody, assuming you come into contact with anyone.
Fixing his eyes on the gnome ne nods.
Nothing more than you can carry. Your part of this task is going to be entirely on foot.So warm bedding, A means of making fire or heat, and probably you will want plenty of tea. You will be provided with rations for the prisoners. However you will need to keep an eye on it, and your own. Goblins think nothing of stealing from each other, they will treat your supplies the same, and they will eat constantly if they can.
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Evanora knows nothing of the area they will be traveling to. Instead, she turns her attention to the metal gizmo that Faustus is caring for. Her gaze shows neither appreciation or loathing. She merely seems to be taking note.
"Well then. If that's all the information we are to be given of these individuals and those who seek them harm, we should best be about gathering our gear. We will be given a map to our first rendezvous point?" After a lengthy pause, she quickly turns to the rest of the pathfinders, "Oh yes, I am Evanora Alaenree, and this is Snookums."She gestures to her compsognathus. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." Her sincerity is questionable.
Do kindly avoid killing them for whatever reason. We do want as many alive as we can so we can interrogate them separately and compare their responses to try and paint a better picture of the truth.
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Chalmers nods to the request, We shall endeavor to not send them to the Boneyard prematurely, should their actions require our violence we will attempt not to slay them. The half-orc seems very serious looking around the room, Is there anything else, or shall we attempt to find passage north? After we re-supply of course.
Chalmers thinks about what supplies they would need, definitely recognizing the needs for warm clothing and fire.
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"But plenty of cooking for all! Oh am I ever so excited, isn't every day one gets to try food so far north!" Zot reflects aloud, their mind racing as they attempted to recall anything they could of the land ahead of them...
"Though... we will want to be careful. This will be in disputed territory will it not? We'll want to be prepared." Zot would finish, nodding his head sagely.
We will make the arrangements for passage. That will take a day or two to finalize. Which should give you time to gather what resources you think you will need. Again however I will say, your task requires a certain level of haste, so plan accordingly.
If there are no more questions, He will hold the door and usher everyone out of his office to begin the task of finalizing your travel plans.
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Evanora makes a mental tally of the things that she will need to bring with her. She quickly realizes that this is going to be hard work. "No horses, he said. What about sled dogs? Is that different? We will need to carry food for the goblins too. We still don't know how many goblins. How much extra food will we need to carry. This is going to be quite laborious. I, for one, cannot carry any more than my personal items. How will we carry so much?" Her gaze lingers on Chalmers as she asks this last question. "Hello. What did you say your name was, good fellow?"
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"Oh yes, no dogs either. Wouldn't want to wet their dogslicer, now would we? Hire pack servants? Probably wouldn't find too many willing to make the trek. I guess we will just have to struggle in the beginning until our food supplies begin to dwindle." Evanora frowns at this last statement. She seems to be reasoning with herself, not directly addressing anyone in the group.
The journey from Absalom to Northwestern Irisen was long, often dull, and almost entirely without event. As thankfully was the trip out to the rendevous. When you arrive, the team of Ulfen are already in the process of breaking camp, and you are given the impression that they knew almost to the hour when you would arrive.
Stepping forward to meet you is a tall, blonde woman, who was quite obviously the team leader, a fact made clear when she addressed everyone in strongly accented, by clearly well practiced Common.
Sverrir Lightfoot. Good to see you, and enough of you too
With a look over her shoulder she made a gesture towards the half dozen goblins, that while they obviously where not going to do anything to help, did not appear to be actively hindering anything. Without even much in the way of rude comments, or crude jokes. If anything the goblins seemed disinterested, even bored.
Last of the Frostfur tribe. Used to taking orders, and they do not seem to much care who gives the orders. Mostly they aren't stupid either and know not to get into a fight with someone bigger and stronger. Well, not a fair fight anyway. I would introduce you, but when I asked their names, the first gave something of a foul answer, and the rest decided that was a great joke. Perhaps you will have better luck, or perhaps you won't even bother. I do not think it matters. I shall leave the matter of how you handle them up to you. We do have rations for you to supply them, and a better map then you are likely to have gotten of the region. More recent at least.
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Shirin’s eyes go wide when she sees the tall blonde woman and her grin shows that she is clearly infatuated.
”Oh you look delicious Sverrir, I want to wrap … “ Shirin is about to continue addressing the Ulfen leader when a flesh of bright light startles her and right next to the beautiful half-elf.
A rune of fine pure light that looks like a draconic head appears on Shirin’s forehead!
The light reveals a large portal which lets you look into a silvery-grey void!!
Out of this void steps a 6 ft large serpentine dragon with deep blue scales, large black horns and sharp ebony teeth!
Unlike other dragons, the serpentine dragon's body resembles that of a snake and has no wings! The dragon’s scales are very smooth and fine which might reveal that it really is quite young.
The serpentine dragon also bears a glowing draconic rune on its chest that is identical to the rune that appeared on Shirin’s forehead when the dragon appeared.
The dragon is wearing a fine bracelet around its tail that it almost shows off. The dragon looks directly at Shirin and starts speaking with a fast pace.
”Oh Shirin baby you won’t believe it! I was on this party in the Astral Plane, it was right at the center between the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere. There were sooo many cool people… I mean they were mostly dead people! You know … souls of dead mortals on their way to their final judgement before Pharasma so some were partying like there was no tomorrow!!“ the dragon says.
The dragon’s scales start to pale and she stares at Shirin with an admonishing look.
”Shirin!! I was created rom raw thought and the husks of Astral travelers whose silver cords broke!!! There is also a woman in me somewhere!!! Stop harassing people on the job!!!“ the blue dragon says with some authority.
The dragon shakes their head and turns to Sverrir Lightfoot with an apologetic look on its draconic face.
”Oh lady, I am unbelievably sorry for the behavior of my Protégé! May I introduce myself?“
The dragon looks around at the Ulfen warriors, the goblins and then at the other Pathfinders.
”I am Aurax, the great diplomat, the party dragon, child of the realm of pure thought and expanded consciousness! I am at your service!“
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Zot walked up to the rest of the group getting ready to start an investigation of the current affairs of food and rations when Aurax appeared. Blinking, Zot didn't know what to expect. He hard heard of strange things happening during adventures through the Society, but this one was very unexpected, yet here he was.
He would quickly glance back towards the goblins to see how they were reacting. Last thing they needed were a bunch of goblins running off in fear right at the beginning of their task.
Zot would glance back towards Aurax as if to say something, back at the goblins, then the Ulfen, and then back to the other Pathfinders as if to say something, but Zot admittedly was speechless.
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As Sverrir spoke, Talion was in the middle of mentally deciding whether he would call the captives 'Goblin Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6' or just 'You' when his comrades started speaking up.
"I know that she's attractive, but could you not try and flirt with our contact while we're on a mission?
And then Faustus shoots his gun in the air. Talion cocks his head at the Gunslinger, looking to see if he's just talking tough to get the Goblins in line or if he'd really shoot the people that they're assigned to escort.
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Evanora watches her group with mouth slightly agape. The childish behavior of Shirin, the appearance of the dragon-like creature, Faustus firing his mechanical hand banger into the air to intimidate the Goblins...it's...it's... Wonderful! Her face breaks into an unbalanced grin.
"Oh. I believe that we should behave very, very well. Don't you?"
Faustus approaches the goblins and then BLAM! he shot his gun to the ceiling in front of the captives.
“You must obey our order, or else you’ll be at the end of this barrell.” He said to the goblins
Would you like to add an intimidate roll to you're show, or leave it with just that? I should mention they are currently indifferent to you
Sverrir was taken aback a moment, not quite sure what to say. Having been entirely unprepared for the thought someone might flirt with her, way out here, under these circumstances. That was the first odd occurrence of the day. The second happened moments latter, when magic she didn't understand resulted in the appearance of, well, a dragon. It matched the description of a Linnorm, but not the attitude, and seemed a most cheerful sort of creature. And then came the third unusual moment of the day.
The Goblins eyes go wide with a nearly incomprehensible blend of delight and terror as the gun's report fills the air. And were caught slightly off guard at being spoken to in their own language. Looking back and forth between Faustus and Evanora nodding in agreement, before one peeks up over the heads of it's compatriots
do...you think he would do that again?
Aurax looks around and raises his draconic eyebrow.
“Hey guys, I feel a lot of tension here! Let’s be friends! I mean you guys have not even introduced yourself?!“
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Shirin looks at the serpentine astral dragon and sighs.
She points at the respective pathfinders and explains.
“This hottie is Evanora, and these other guys are Chalmers, Zot, Talion, and the real hot shot is Faustus with the gun!“
She then turns to the goblins.
“We just arrived and have to escort these goblins to a rendezvous point! And we are not allowed to kill any of them!“ she says with a grin.
Aurax lowers his draconic head to the Pathfinders.
“A pleasure to meet you all! Now lady Lightfoot do we need to know anything else before we start the journey?!“ he asks but then also tries to speak to the other ulfen to learn all that happened so far.
“Hello dear goblin friends!! What’s up with you guys?!! You look like you’ve had a stressful journey so far?!?“
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Chalmers watches the interactions with much the same reaction as Evanora, but finding the dragon very charming and fascinating. When the gun goes off he remembers what they are about, and growls at the goblins to stay in line. You little ones will be quiet and obedient, yes?
When Aurax addresses him he bows, Greetings, I am Chalmers, it is a pleasure to meet you also. turning to Shirin, he says, Apparently you have many diverse talents and friends! I am impressed with your connection to this being.
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Pointing to Faustus, and then Chalmers.
"this one with the boom stick says that if you are very very good, he will let you operate his boom stick after we are finished. If you are not very very good, you will be turned to a bloody pulp by him using his boom stick on you! This big orc here says that you must be quiet and listen to us or he will eat you. Starting with your toes. . Evanora smiles wickedly and looks from each of the goblins eyes down to their big feet.