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I am still here, though the stop and start nature of the game has meant that I've been forgetting about it more and more. And maybe I need to be more active in pushing things forward as a player if we're going to keep it going. I would prefer to either agree to post more often- at least once a week, maybe- or call it off. If Shadowborn doesn't have the time to run it anymore, that's completely understandable but I would prefer a little more movement or to call it done.
Auric nods, smiling politely.
Auric nods.
Auric nods, though in his mind he's still calculating how many rats or other pests had been through his room in the night... "It is a safe inn and the service is quite good.", he says. "Would you happen to have a suite of some kind for the four of us, Hansi? I'm happy to pay a little extra, especially if there's a private entrance or sitting area away from the common room- they don't want to be a bother, but some of my friends here prefer a quiet space, you know?"
Auric nods, "Yes, we can bring her the news. At this rate, we'll need to earn some coin or wait for Captain Wilde to arrive with our goods..."
"Do you know anything about these factions of mages? Are there recognizable power blocs among them? I for one want to be sure I'm not stepping on the wrong person's toes."
Auric looks out over the city, mouth hanging open slightly like a yokel. He shakes his head and gets back to business. "Yes, I'd be curious why he's infamous here."
Auric nods.
"Hansi asked me to courier the box to a rug merchant this morning, to cover the cost of my room." "Well, in the meantime, perhaps there's a temple or another place where we can learn more about the box. And we can find Captain Harenhal's widow and deliver the news of his passing- that's the Captain of the ship we found in the Tindal Sea that brought us over here."
"No.", he says, shaking his head. "I'm not the kind of man that wants to pass his problems off onto someone else." He pulls the box from his pack.
Auric calmly rests his thick forearms on the bar. "I'd say the place to start is to break the curse on the box so no one is stuck holding it anymore. Technically it's yours to do what you want with it, of course, but my understanding is you probably don't want it back."
"There were some here the other day and folks seemed pretty deferential. I don't know what's up with them, but keep an eye out and don't step on their toes is all I can say. Could be a guild or something or Fardusk's version of the secret police." When Hansi is back with the drinks and we've made a toast to our reunion, Auric fesses up to the innkeeper. "Wish I had some good news for you, Hansi, but your rug merchant wouldn't take the payment.", he says. "So I still got your fancy box here."
"Thanks, Hansi." "Where did you guys land in the city? I wound up here yesterday and Hansi put me up for the night." Auric leans in closer.
"Would your guide happen to have been a young girl with horns?"
Auric walks across the common room the end of the bar, a relieved smile on his face. He clasps the familiar dwarf and the woman with the owl on the shoulder.
Shadowborn and Jon: Auric looks around the Six, trying to find Hansi to deliver the news.
S + J: The paladin covers the bag in the flour sack he was holding it in.
"I can feel its evil- a strong presence. No wonder it's been passed around for so long. It'll be a task to take it out for good..." Auric puts it back into his backpack. "Want to head back to the inn?"
Shadowborn and Jon: Auric looks over the box, focusing all of his attention on it with his Baal granted sense.
Shadowborn and Jon: "Darn. Alright. Well, I should find my way back to the inn and see what Mancino has to say about all this. Remember that ship we teleported from? I think the dead sailor was a man named Captain Harenhal. His widow is in town, from what I've been told, so we should break the news that we found him in the Tindal Sea. And we can hopefully find the others." Auric throws back his tea and pays the tab. "You wanna come along or do you have your own plans?"
Shadowborn and Jon: "Let's step back into the tea tent, here..."
Auric finds a corner in the tea tent to have a seat with Jon, ordering an affordable morning drink. After the waiter has come and gone, he pulls out the box from Mancino. "Can you tell anything magical about it? He told me not to open the box as well, so let's just start with the outside."
Shadowborn and Jon: "I'm guessing you haven't seen the Kalaya or Stilgar or Magnus, then? Well, let's get someplace a little more private and I'll show you this cursed box."
Shadowborn and Jon: Auric shrugs.
"All I know is it's bad luck and apparently everyone in town knows enough not to take it. Not that I'd push it on someone else, of course. So we gotta see about getting the curse removed and just getting the darn box off the street." "So what happened out here, Pliska said you had to use your plant magic?"
Jon & Shadowborn: Auric takes the three ceramic chits from Pliska. "Alright, I'll give them back to him. See you around, kid."
Once she leaves and he's reunited with Jon, Auric breathes a sigh of relief. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Jon. How was your introduction to Fardusk? I wound up at the Six, but the innkeeper sent me out with a cursed box and now I'm stuck with it. I'm figuring his wife got you to warn the rug merchant?" He gives the druid the three ceramic chits.
"I got a curse now, even though I can't feel anything. Welcome to Fardusk, huh?"
Shadowborn: Auric nods. "Alright. Thanks for the help, kid. Where do you usually pick up work if I want to take you up on directions again?", he asks before heading for the tea tent.
Shadowborn: As much as Auric took an immediate dislike to the carpet salesman, he wasn't about to push a cursed box on him. He tosses the box back into the bag.
"With pleasure.", he says before stepping back out into the street. He turns to Pliska. "Did you see Jon around here?"
Shadowborn: "Well, I'll make the delivery first. I have to at least do that much before I try to get rid of the thing. After that... I need to find my companions before we worry about paying a priest."
Grateful at least to be out of the streets and the noise, Auric takes a glance around the rug tent before greeting the man.
He opens his pack and fishes out the box.
Shadowborn: Auric nods, listening closely.
"I'm not okay with passing it to someone else. If I'm stuck with it, it'll end with me if I have anything to say about it. Maybe I'll check out the Street of Gods once this errand's up." He leaves his relative poverty unspoken. "Hope the Captain is enjoying that starmilk...", he thinks.
Shadowborn: Auric sighs.
"Yeah, guess so. Temper's getting away from me, what with the cursed box and all." He listens as she talks about Jon's confusing behavior, lets out a dry chuckle. "I doubt he's playing you. Jon's... well, Jon values things a bit differently from you or me. He's a nature priest, so money... money's just a shiny object to him. You or I see some coin and we think about how we'd spend it- on food or a comfortable place to sleep or a new pair of boots. Jon already gets that stuff from the world, since he knows what to eat in a forest, he likes sleeping outside or in a stable, since it's near the animals." "He could probably find where he wants to go, but I imagine a city like this kinda gets on his nerves a little. Not many trees around, right? So if he throws you a lot of coin, it might just be that he doesn't even know what they're worth. Does that make sense?" "Seeing as how I'm stuck with this cursed box for the time being, is there a temple around? One that lifts curses?"
Shadowborn: Auric nods, trying not to grind his teeth. "Ah. So they're both messing with me. At least Jon's around, though. Thanks for the tip." He follows Pliska to the rug merchant's, trying to suss out his next play.
Fortunately, there are free condensed rules on the Pelgrane website if you're curious- located here. The rules are pretty straightforward- you never roll to find clues, but you can spend points for bonus info that makes your character look cool and give you extra hints about the investigation. Everything else is just a d6 roll versus a threshold (usually 4) and you spend points to add bonuses to the roll.
Hey everybody, I've been running a Trail of Cthulhu (similar to Call but with a rules system built for mystery games) campaign on the boards but we've had a high player turnover rate- completely unrelated to madness, in fact- and I would really like to get a couple more participants to jump in if possible or else I might just have to end the game right when it's starting to heat up. So if you're interested in tracking down the remnants of a Mythos sex cult in Los Angeles, 1937, the recruitment thread is here.
Shadowborn: Auric nods. Figures.
He pulls a tower from the back of his boot while pretending to itch his leg. "Yeah, I can deal. I'd rather spend the coin now than regret it later. What do you need?", he says, tossing her the silver coin. "And you got a name, besides 'tout'? I got a sense that you might have a repeat customer on your hands."
Shadowborn: Auric hands the tout two copper coins. "Lead on."
Once they're away from the tavern, he'll ask: "You know anything about a rug merchant named Ceryl?"
Shadowborn: Auric appraises the young woman.
"Yeah, is it that obvious? Can you show me to the wharf market? I got an appointment. How much would that cost me?" He takes a bite of the meat pie, holding out the basket to the tout for her to take one.
Shadowborn: Auric quiets his rising suspicion and takes the box from Hansi. "I'll make sure it gets there, Hansi. If you give me some directions to Ceryl's business, I'll drop it off within the hour." The burly half-elf buries the box in his pack, rolled into his winter blanket. He then belts his coin purse in an obvious spot. "Have any flour or grain you don't need? I'll make a little decoy for anyone that takes me for a rube. Can't be too careful with something like this." With the foodstuffs, he'll fill his coin purse along with some coppers to make it look full and appealing. Armed with directions, he'll head out to make the drop.
I just picked that game up again over the weekend. I keep wandering into other peoples' standoffs just walking around, so I named my rifle "mediator" as it's how I end up solving other peoples' problems. And similar to a lot of Bethesda games, there's a point early on where you are asked if you're sure about your character specs/face/etc. If you save before you leave the first area on your own after the intro, you can save a good hour or so whenever you start a new game by just starting there and remaking your character then.
Shadowborn: Auric nods. "Of course, I'm sure I'll be over that way- a market seems like a good place to look for my friends. Who needs the package? Is there anything sensitive about it, besides time and privacy?" He throws in the last question casually, trying to read Hansi for any stress or nervousness in his response.
Shadowborn: Auric nods gratefully. "I'll look for them there, thanks." He hesitates for a moment before adding,"You seem quite tired, Hansi- just the day to day of running the inn catching up to you or is there something troubling you? Not that it's my business, but if there's something I can do to help you out I'm glad to pitch in."
Shadowborn: Auric sleeps fitfully, not at ease with the situation and certainly not thrilled with the rodent situation. Beats being stuck at sea, at least.
In the morning, he rises early and washes up as he can before seeking out the master of the house. "Good morning, Hansi. I hope you slept well- thanks for the room. I'm eager to find my companions in the city- where would you recommend I look for other foreigners just getting their feet under them in Fardusk?"
Shadowborn: Auric takes the offered key.
"Thank you very much, Miss. I'll convey my gratitude to Master Mancino in the morning.", he says before leaving her a good tip and heading to the room he's been directed to. Old habits die hard, so he surreptitiously keeps an eye over his shoulder before heading into the room.
Shadowborn: Auric keeps his head down, avoiding garnering any additional attention, especially while the yellow robed figures are moving through the tavern. When the serving girl arrives, he asks for the house ale and something to eat while he acclimates to the place and awaits his companions.
Shadowborn: Auric remains seated, watching the yellow-cloaked figures pass.
Shadowborn: Auric seats himself and gets as comfortable as he can even though the idea that he just traveled across the sea in the blink of an eye and now someone is offering him a hot meal is completely crazy.
"The house ale would be great, Master Mancino. Thank you."
Shadowborn: Auric nods politely to Madame Mancino. "Pleased to meet you.", he says, following the innkeeper.
"Yes, hello Reef. Thanks for your help. I'm looking for a human woman with dark skin and an owl, a thin man with a wild beard and receding hair, a dwarven priest of Baal and an annoying gnome wearing robes."
Shadowborn: Auric nods, sighing before he explains himself."It's at this point that I'll come completely clean with you, Master Mancino- I wasn't actually on Captain Derendahl's crew. My companions and I were traveling with Captain Wilde across the Tindal Sea when the ship was damaged during a battle with an undead monstrosity. We took anchor on an island to do repairs and found Captain Derendahl's ship pierced by a great spire of rock. The Captain's corpse was in the cabin with the teleporting circle- my companion must have done something to disturb the thing which brought us here."
"I didn't know where I was initially, you see, so playing along with your assumptions seemed like the safest thing until I knew more. I hope you'll forgive me, but I do know for certain that the Captain won't be coming back and my companions are likely to be somewhere on the grounds here." He adds: "And Captain Wilde's crew did speak quite highly of your establishment."
Shadowborn: Auric gratefully follows after the innkeeper, a little bit guilty that he's letting him believe he served for the late Captain and that Captain Wilde is still out at sea, likely waiting for them.
"Stew and sausage sounds like just the thing, thank you. And I appreciate the discount, I expect to be staying here while we figure out our next move. What's been happening in Fardusk lately, if you don't mind my asking? There's precious little news out at sea..."
Shadowborn: Auric lets relief enter his voice. "Ah, Master Mancino- should I assume that this is the Six with Eight Tails, then? Yours is name spoken highly of, sir. It's one thing to say you'll appear in a place, it's quite another to actually get there in one piece, if you'll pardon my relief. I shall break the news to the Captain's wife in the morning." He bends to scoop up the coinage on the floor.
"Have you had other new arrivals? My friends are likely to have come through as well... but I'm not sure where they wound up..."
Shadowborn: Auric tries to look contrite.
"Oh, yes. Thanks, I'd appreciate the help. I have some unfortunate news about the Captain, in fact. Who is the best person to report this to? I got sent through but I'm not sure what the proper channels are for this..."
Shadowborn: Auric flattens himself a few feet away from the door, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Just gotta let them open the door, then we see how this plays out.
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