Peering over the edge, Jack wrinkles his nose and raises an eyebrow. "What in the Abyss is that? Some kinda' experiment gone wrong?"
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Sorry about that. I'm back now.
Jackson approaches, finally catching up with the rest. "Well, that was a waste o' time. There wasn' much back there, 'cept a trapdoor in the ceilin'. What've you fou-- What in the Nine Hells is that stench?! Smells like Urgathoa's undergarments!"
Jackson retreats back to the other room to retch. Mumbling some incantation, the stench is counteracted by the faint scent of spring flowers. Coming back into the room, Jackson mumbles another incantation, and the spilled contents of the collective party's partially-digested breakfast fade into nothingness.
I'm going to be out of town for a week. I should still have internet access, so I'll hopefully still be able to post, even if it's at a reduced rate, but I thought I'd give a heads-up.
Jack takes the lantern, oblivious to Aaron's bewilderment. "Thanks, it was damn near impossible t' see down here. I'll be right back, jus' gonna go get my pack." Taking the lantern, Jackson quickly navigates through the cave from where the others came from, heading back up to ground level to retrieve his pack. Returning, with a lamp of his own, he returns the one he borrowed from Aaron just in time to hear Rumble's report. "Alright, go on ahead. Take Amarandlon with you. Ax, Jar'Kel and I will check f'r secret doors or whatnot over here an' join you if we don' find anything."
It's not my intention to rules-lawyer, and if you feel that I'm taking too much of that responsibility on myself, I'll gladly stop doing so. Again, I apologize for my own mistake, and I'm willing to rectify it in any manner you deem necessary.
Jackson clicks his tongue against his cheek. "Tch, now that's just a darn shame. Waste of a perf'ctly good guide. Oh well," he says, shrugging. Turning back into the cave, he frowns. "Sure wish I'd thought t' bring a lamp." He starts a bit, almost falling down as Aaron addresses him. "Cayden's codpiece, y' startled me, kid! Y' can't be sneakin' up on old men like that!" Jackson takes a moment to catch his breath and his balance in the dark before responding. "I've studied Draconic extensively. When it comes t' books, if it's old, it's probably written in Draconic. The little critters didn' have much to say, mostly jus' orders t' attack us. One of 'em said somethin' about 'shiny good-good', so I expec' they were tryin' t' protect somethin', but with kobolds, y' never know. Scaly bastards attribute find value in th' mos' worthless stuff sometimes. Makes tradin' with 'em a total crapshoot. Hey, you got a torch or somethin' handy?"
Not taking his eyes off the kobold, Jackson rubs his thumb on his whip handle. "I don' rightly know, but it doesn' seem nat'ral. I think it may belong to one o' th' others."
Looking around at the mayhem, Jackson shrugs to himself. Arming himself with his whip, he casually saunters over to the entrance to watch the eagle engaged in mortal combat with the last kobold. He begins speaking to the kobold in Draconic again. Draconic:
"By now it matters not, but I will offer you a final chance to surrender."
Sorry for my recent inactivity; I've been sick. I'll hold my action for now, as it appears that combat is over.
Jackson sighs as the kobolds completely ignore him and attack his half-elf companion. "Alright, Ax, you win. Now jus' take a step back so's I can knock 'em down for ya." Draconic: "Take a seat!"
Impulsively, Jackson starts blurting things out. Draconic:
"What? No! We're not with them! We're...new to the area! Just moved in, meeting the locals, getting to know people. We have goods to trade!"
"Ax, get ready t' scuffle, but don't let 'em see you; I might still have 'em."
"Wait! Don't attack 'em! I speak Draconic!" Jackson drops the rest of the way down, landing on the precariously swaying bridge.
Jackson holds up his hands in a show of peace, and begins speaking in Draconic:
"Hold, friends, we mean no harm!" Seeing Ax swinging wildly, Jack whispers, "Ax, put down the sword! We might be able to talk our way through this."
Satisfied with the arrangements, Jackson follows Ax down the rope.
Jackson nods in agreement. "Sounds like a plan, Ax. You an' I'll slip in through whatever hole in th' wall might be down there by that bridge, while Aaron and Amarandlon scout through this trap door. We'll need some kind o' signal in case we meet each other. Somehow I doubt that there'll be anything speakin' Elven down there; how 'bout a codeword? Somethin' like..." he pauses for a second, before saying something in Elven. Something in Elven: "Apples and oranges."
I was just making a Monkey Island joke, but that's one way to take it XD It's interesting to see how people interpret Jackson; at this point, even I don't really know what I'm doing with him.
At Aaron's rebuke, Jackson opens his mouth to say something, but doesn't bother as the younger man turns his attention to other things. Turning back and staring into the gully, he slips into a reverie, absently rubbing a spot on his jawbone with his thumb. Amarandlon's query breaks him from his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, well, t' be honest, I can' really say what it is we're lookin' f'r specific'lly. Based on what th' barkeep said, there's rooms in th' wall o' th' gully, but," he says, craning his neck over the edge and peering down, "they mus' be hidden, if'n they're there at all. That bridge looks like it goes...somewhere. There's gotta be a cave, or somethin'..." Turning back to the others, Jackson sees the uncovered trapdoor. "Well would y'look 't that! Good job, men! That looks like our way in. Now, the barkeep didn' say much, except that some crazy folk used t' live there a long time ago, had a lab o' some kind. I don' really know what we're gonna find, but chances are, there's gonna be some kinda vicious inhabitants, goblins, or kobolds, or maybe some kind o'... evil lab experiments, like a three-headed monkey!"
Jackson, standing out at the open and staring at the sky and the quickly approaching thunderhead, is snapped beck to reality at Jar'Kel's warning.
Taking heed, he ducks into a foxhole, hoping to whatever gods might answer that the hole's inhabitants are either not at home, or willing to share. After the storm, Jackson crawls out, brushing himself off. "Now, that wasn' so bad!" Upon arrival at the gully, Jackson removes his hat, using it to shield his eyes. Stepping toward the ledge, he peers over the side, trying to find holes in the walls or some other way of getting inside a potentially hidden cave.
Not seeing much of interest, he steps back, surveying the rest of the area. In response to Aaron, he says, "Well Angus, you're right about that path. It's the most obvious way down. As f'r bein' suspicious, I don' know. It looks pretty tame, just sittin' there an' bein' all path-like. An' unless there's a secret way down, I don' much like th' idea o' spelunkin' our way down th' walls. Finished with his preliminary surveillance, he turns his attention back full to the others. "The trackers should take a better look 'round the place. Remember, we're lookin' for tracks, signs o' habitation, a potential alternate route down, and some kind o' cave entrance to get to these supposed rooms in th' wall. As for the rest of us, we should start settin' up camp. Even if th' gully's uninhabited, it'd be better for us t' camp up here. The high ground'll keep us from bein' caught unawares from above."
"My good friend Ax here'll be takin' over th' lead scoutin' duties, 's long as he finds it amenable. One las' thing to be clear of 'fore we head out. As this is a formal adventurin' expedition int' parts yonder and thither, we're bound to find ourselves trippin' over treasure o' some sort. T' that end, I took it upon m'self to write up s'me official Expeditionary Articles," he says, fumbling around in his pack. "They should be somewhere 'n here..." His voice trails off, as he gives up looking. "Bully. Nowhere t' be found. Well, all they really amount to," he says, standing back up, "is that we split all treasure found in equal shares, and that, as the primary goals o' this expedition are academic in nature, that I have first crack at any relevant historical artifacts. Said historical artifacts come out o' my share o' the treasure fairly, so there shouldn' be any hang-ups about that." He looks around to gauge the levels of agreement before continuing. "One las' thing," he adds on. His face momentarily shifts into an uncharacteristically threatening glare and his voice drops to barely above a razor-sharp whisper. Each word, barely audible, is distinctly over-enunciated, nearly concealing a very different accent. "Do not ever call me Jacques." As soon as it appeared, the face is gone, and Jack returns to normal. "Now, if we're all settled, people, lets move out! We're burnin' daylight!" With that, Jackson shoulders his pack and makes for the door.
AFAIK, the map we're working off of IC isn't actually divided up by hexes or grids. Making reference to things like that is an easy way for the meta-game to confuse your separation of IC-knowledge and OOC-knowledge. Just a friendly reminder.
"That'll be fine. Take it from th' north, skirt the edges o' th' forest an' make our approach headin' south." As he does so, Jackson draws a route with his finger. "Now, if we're all in agreement, let's get this expedition underway." Jackson waits to see if there are any objections before shouldering his pack.
Strangely, it appears that I don't actually have Survival. In fact, looking at my stats, it appears that I'm an untested academic. This...could be hilarious.
Jackson appears from upstairs, his pack strapped to his back. From his hip hangs a coiled whip, a dagger in a simple leather scabbard, and a crude morning star. His hat rests in the customary spot atop his head. He scans the room, taking note of who is and is not present. "We're missin' one. Angus, I think it was? The one with th' weird dog. He still in bed?" Not waiting for an answer, Jackson produces what looks like a thick sheaf of papers, but, when unfolded, reveals itself to be one very large, mostly blank, sheet of paper. Setting it on the table, he removes his pack with a quick uncinching. The map shows the town in the south, and nothing else, save for a small but distinct mark some way to the west. "Alright fellas, gath'r round. The general idea is that we'll be goin' here," he says, pointing at the mark. "The bartender has kindly informed me that there's some kinda gully with rooms built into th' side. Says s'me crazy folks lived there a while back. Now, even if we take our time and map everything along the way, explorin' the lay of the land as thor'ghly 's poss'ble, the whole trip should still only take three 'r four days. Now, I don' know about y'all, but I've got enough supplies f'r at least double that. If we're all in agreement, there's quite a bit more explorin' we could do even aft'r completin' our objective f'r this expedition. I may be leadin' this party, but evr'y man, woman, elf, half-elf, half-orc, fairy drag'n an' eldritch 'bomination that may be involv'd gets a say-so, 's far as I'm concern'd."
Will you be allowing Aid Another checks for the Survival checks required to map?
Because, as far as I know, we're not. It's my understanding, in-character, that the X is not where they went. In-character, it's my understanding that, according to the bartender, the X leads to a gully with rooms in the walls, where long ago some crazy people had a lab. I haven't read the other threads, and I've only read what I would know as a character. I'd suggest that others do the same; the meta-game can make or break a game like this, and I don't want to ruin it for myself. It's not my intention to lecture or chastise, merely a friendly suggestion.
Sean Connery is not what I was going for, but it's perhaps better, especially since he was Henry Jones, Sr. and I'm definitely going for a certain Indiana Jones flavor, with maybe a bit of Han Solo mixed in. I'll spoiler it so that it doesn't ruin the Sean Connery thing for you, but the voice I was going for is based on Spoiler: The Smuggler from the Ratchet & Clank Future series.
Satisfied with the turnout, Jack nods to himself and silently thanks whatever gods may be out there that they could finally get started. Walking over to the map on the wall, he announces, "Our good friend th' bartender has already provided us with enough information to get started. Gentlemen, our mission is to map and explore the wilds. I only remind you so that you may know that, no matter what, we always have a goal t' be workin' t'ward. It's my belief that a man must always have goals, plans, designs, plots, or whatev'r else keeps 'im goin'. That bein' said, our destination lies dead west, t' the X on this here map. Shouldn' be more than a few days o' travel in total. Take whatever's left o' th' day to get what y' need gath'rd. We leave at dawn."
Aaron, I just wanted to let you know that we will not be chasing the bounty. From your character's internal thoughts, it seemed that you thought we would be, so I wanted to clarify.
Sorry for the delay, I've had something of a busy weekend. I hope that post suffices :)
Jack strokes his stubbly beard, thinking things over as newcomers seem to pour in. "Well Ax," he says, clapping the half-elf on the shoulder, "looks like we're in bus'ness." Jack steps onto a chair and rests a leg on the table. "Alright newcomers, list'n up! Messers Ax, Amarandlon, an' Fox, which is t'say him, him, and him," he says, pointing at each of them in turn, and lastly at himself, "are recruiting for and adventurin' expedition. You may've heard there's a boun'y or somesuch to be had. If that's your interest, I suggest findin' some like-minded companions, an' y'best be quick 'bout it, 'cause there's two other groups after that same boun'y an' they've got at least a couple days' head start on y'all. If you find y'rself less inclined toward self-righteous vig'lante justice, we'll be happy t'take y'on. Myself and the aforementioned elves will be setting out soon on a journey to explore and map what lies beyond th' borders o' this miserable little frontier village, whose only concession to civilization is this fine establishment we find ourselves encamped in at the moment. So, anybody who's hungry f'r some adventure, step right up an' let y'rself be known."
Please. The good guys haven't even started yet. But then again, I doubt we'll find ourselves mired in the little rivalry the other two groups have going on.
Taking note of the activity by the bar, Jackson packs up his half-finished map and approaches. "So Ax, looks like you found us a third sword. I'm Jackson Fox, but y'can call me Jack."
Hah! Says you. Looks like we'll have one or two more in the next day, and then we can actually start! Hooray!
That's fine. In fact, it's a bit better that way, to consolidate everything. I do, in fact, have access to a scanner. I'll see what I can do.
Sounds good. I'll get right on that. Anybody have suggestions about what program I should make the map in? We could go for a uniform format, or everybody could do their own thing and make a lovely mess of the wiki, which might actually add to the flavor.
Now would be a good time to discuss how you plan on handling things like maps and such. Do you want me to make a digital map of the tavern on my own? Or will you be giving me a physical description that the map should adhere to?
"Well, I've no issue with him wantin' a share o' th' loot, but I don' wanna be respons'ble f'r gettin' the barkeep's kid killed. Townies aren't usually much good with this sor' thing; if they were, I wouldn' be here and there'd be no adventure worth havin'! No, I think we're better off waitin' f'r some talent. If we get too bored, we could always stay within close dist'nce o' th' town til' som'ne else shows up. I plan t' map th' whole region anyway, an' I've gotta be startin' somewhere aft'r all. In fact, I think I'll start w'th this here tavern!" Swinging his legs off the table, Jackson retrieves some supplies from his pack and sets to making a map of the tavern.
That's not strictly true. I'm an archaeologist bard, which is similar to the rogue only without sneak attack. However, the point remains. Come one, come all!
Jackson does a quick double-take. "Afternoon?!" He steps back outside, reappearing a short moment later. "Well, take me f'r a fool! Here I been all turned around, what with west bein' th' other way 'n all! 's a wonder I ever managed t' get here in th' first place! It'll sure be nice hav'n' a bon-a-fide track'r t' tell me which way's north, I tell ya." Jack unloads his pack and pulls up a chair at the nearest empty table. "So we're still' lookin' for a rough-n-tumble melee master to join our expedition, eh? I guess that's a day lost, then. If there's one thing I've learned, it's t' never go expeditionin' without a good sword backin' y' up." Jackson takes his hat off and sets it on the table, leaning back in the chair and propping his boots up on the table. "Yessir, sometimes it jus' comes down t' uncivilized swashbucklin' out there. Pissed off natives, pissed off clients, 'n pissed off women, they've all got one thing in common: Jack's tongue got him in trouble, an' it ain't gonna get 'im out."
The GM seems to be playing it pretty close to the original West Marches, based on his statements regarding the game. I trust him when he says we'd probably die. If we go without a third, we'd probably have to be running for our lives at least once during our trek, but sometimes that can be fun. One of my most memorable moments was with a character similar to the one I'm playing now. Boring gamer story here:
I snuck into a cave behind a waterfall, only to find a sleeping tyrannosaur and some coveted item or other. I tried to sneak past the dino to get it, and, of course, I rolled abysmally on my stealth. Cut to me running from a dino through a jungle while the wizard throws fire beads at it. However, the nature of the game is to get more people involved, and I can't imagine that we'd be the last two to want to play. If we left without more people, that's two less people who get to play (at least, immediately so), and I'd hate for that to happen. My vote is to wait for another.
Jack walks into the tavern, his hat on his head and a backpack loaded with supplies strapped to his back. "Mornin' Ax. 'd y'sleep in the crick or someth'n'? Y'r lokin' a bit...damp."
Ax, I'm spending the interim time getting my gear together and finalizing my character sheet. I'll post IC as soon as I get that done.
Jack nods. "Sounds like a plan. I'll need to get organized, maybe pick up a few supplies. We'll find Chuff, or maybe som'ne else'l show up. We should leave at dawn, make the most of th' day. Sound good t' you, Ax?"
I definitely plan on taking that tip. Just so we know, what would the directions be to that X, hexwise?
Jack sips his drink, listening intently to the bartender's advice. "Much obliged, friend. Many thanks," he says, flashing a grin and fishing out a handful of silver along with the copper for his drink. Turning back to the half-elf, he picks the conversation back up in the elven language. His accent is boorish, provincial, and he speaks it through his nose, but it's otherwise understandable. He struggles to find some words, working around the concepts when he must. Spoiler: Looking around again, he nods,continuing in common. "You're right, though. We could use s'mbody with a good sword-arm. Maybe we should find this Chuff fella' you ment'ned." "Well met, friend Ax. West is land unexplored. There is much treasure and history... dead from our knowing. Winemaster talks of place good for looking."
For what it's worth to anybody not in a group yet, I'm looking to do more exploration as opposed to going after the bounty. |