Sorry folks, I had a little bit of a family emergency, I will be back onto this right away.
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Steinfaust and Nino With a set pace you three end up clearly the boxes away from a fine, if not dilapidated carriage within an hour as Urk provides the info he knows in between grunting and carrying boxes. (To save time and not take away from the rest of the group. I am gonna move this along and just give you an overall... Please feel free to ask questions that we will take as you guys asking during the conversation.) The other, silent group that signed the contract along with your party came here from what it sounds, minutes after leaving the bar. They started breaking things when one of Urk's helpers tried to get in the way and got beaten to a pulp by the female elf who sounds like the one who had signed the contract along side your group. After handling the helper, Urk got him out of there before more damage could happen to his young charge. Pulling the young man away, giving him some money and then he sent him to the bar to soothe his pains. (sounding like the guy who walked into the bar and one seen later by others, the young man who was drunk...) After disabling the carriages, the elf pulled out her contract and openly was asking (in her silent and threatening way) for her half of the money. Being an old sell sword, Urk knew when he should fight and when he should not. So he handed over the money. They as a party left shortly before you two arrived to see the damage. He felt that was best because the 12 year old helping hand was still in the building and while he did not care about some bruises, one of his charges being attacked was enough for one night. After they left, and his best guess is they went to the docks to ferry a boat to their destination. He quickly adds that no sane individual would take the ferry since you can only go half way, where he has horses set up at set points along the road and a carriage is more then likely faster in the long run... After the attack he came back here to free this hidden carriage he has not used for several years for reasons... (He will not go into it more) but it is the fastest carriage he knows on the road. He needs to call on an old military friend of his to get it road worthy but he wishes to thank you both for the help in the end and tries to offer 10 gold each. You have saved his honor and the money is a small amount compared to the legacy he can hand down to his helpers when it is there time to inherit the business... After all this, do you two wish to share that your part of the new group and possibly make him feel worse on such a night? He is clearly the person taking your entire party to your next destination tomorrow afternoon.
Steinfaust and Nino The man finishes moving a box before dusting off his hands and eyes you two. Then he sighs before saying. "Please forgive me you two, this old warhorse has his blood up due to my other 'charges' that left not only with their money but an example of their 'professional ability'. If you will forgive my temper, I would gladly take a hand in moving these boxes. I need to pull this carriage out of storage behind these boxes for my charges tomorrow. I am to leave by noon and depending on the damage of neglect, I could be pushing things. It is not beyond this old man to be able and gladly willing to pay you two for the help. I am very sorry you see my place of business like this, it has never been like this before..." The man turns to pick up a box, and then turns back and continues as he stretches out his hand. "Forgive my manners, I am Urk. The name my mother gave me, and yes, before you ask I am a bastard. Never stopped me from a hard days work, I always figured a name was just a name but if it bothers you two I felt you should know the truth up front. Gentlemen of your sort are sometimes bothered by that. Just tell me that you two are not with that last group? Those silent folks are nothing but bad news for any mercenary company out there." The man smiles a sad smile at you two, maybe realizing that he had said too much if you were actually lying about being a part of the previous group.
Steinfaust and Nino While moving past the horses and the young boy still cleaning up, his eyes are glued to you two as you move past into the back section of the building. It is very dark back there with only a small candle flicking and a man in his early 40's working with his back to you. You can hear him moaning and he is moving as if injured but working past the pain. He is moving a few of the boxes stored back there, uncovering something the size of a carriage. With the object being hidden in the shadows, it is hard to tell what it is to be exact. Before you two have a chance to introduce yourself, the man whips around brandishing a knife. His face has been bruised some, but the real damage looks to be old scars from years past. His thick, brown hair and beard have wisps of gray it in. His steely blue eyes are targeted on you two and he holds himself like a soldier. The man says to you two with a bruised rasp to his throat. "If your here with the other group, then I have something to show you now that I am ready for you people. If your not, then glad to make your acquaintance, as you can see, my carriages are out of service right now. My next charges arrive tomorrow, if you need something sooner then I can direct you to another company I trust to get you where you need. Now if you will excuse me?" You get the impression that the man was clearly military with how he can deliver something like that without making it a sentence till the end. Instead of waiting for an answer, he puts the dagger within hands reach of him in the shadows and goes back to moving boxes out of the way. The whole event of the situation leave you both stunned for a moment before you gain your wits. Clearly this man has everything in control, even though there was an obvious attack that had happened to his business. When he mentioned charges, you wonder if he was talking of your group or possibly the silent group on the far side of the bar earlier that night.
Steinfaust You find yourself wishing to have arrived earlier then you eventually did. After checking around the local area you had this gut feeling to head to the carriage house where your party would be leaving the next day. On your way there, a young man in his 20's walks past you in traveling clothes (those of a worker and not a noble or adventurer) covering his face and wiping away blood. The young man steps into a bar before you get a chance to talk to him, but something clearly feels off from where he was walking from. The young man had left a small business and to your shock and surprise, it is the carriage house that you were to meet at noon tomorrow. The place is in a shambles and looks like it had recently been tossed. A young boy about the age of 12 is clearing up some of the hay and the horses still look nervous. Two carriages sit in the stalls to the left hand side of the building and someone had clearly taken a moment or two to disable them given one has a broken axle. The other has several breaks across the side wall and possibly the floor boards. If you did not know better, given your experience... This could have easily been a war hammer that had been used. You hear a low moaning in the back of the building as someone is clearly moving or working back there. While the place has been recently attacked, nothing seems to have been stolen or even truly damaged except for your possible transportation tomorrow afternoon. All that is truly left is cleanup duty and it looks like those who are present are actively doing just that. You are torn, given the state of the building, those that could have done this could not be too far away. At the same time you could go into the building and help the business clean up, or wait till morning to see what the damage truly is... What would you like to do?
Patros You ask around and move through the crowd, you get various scattered groups of people who talk of the baron or the town. Not much is really learned past what you know, but you are told that not many have been out that way for a few weeks. It sounds like a normal situation but something feels off. There is an under current of fear... Nino You move around the bar and other places of interest but you finally find one person that stands out in the crowd. The man is in his early 20's, dressed as a common worker, most likely has done or does road work (as in long haul or people transport) by his clothing and the wear of it. His face is bruising, as it has most likely been a very short time, maybe around the time you were in the bar with your patron. Even in a few hours his face is looking terrible, someone who knew what they were doing did this to the man and he is clearly deep in his cups by the time you find him. He is slurring to himself and you pick this up from what he is saying... "I have no idea why they did that, it was a part of the contr... (slurs) had to just go and do it didn't they? (slurs) hired just like they were... We did nothing, no reason to do that to us... (slurs) Why would they want to go to that (slurs) and the bonfires... bet they are burning people... (slurs) it's the damned Fetchlings... They are infecting the good people... (slurs)" Then the poor man passes out, but just hearing the venom in his voice and fear puts a shiver down your spine.
Patros... Do you have any specific focus to your questions?
I try to make sure to give everyone time to post before pushing forward. So no worries, life happens and I am not alone in that comment. I do hope your house move goes well Ushi, if you were close I would offer a hand of help.
Steinfaust Ms. Anya is really not the one that is the interesting one. She is a noble who as a child and later in life helped the 'help' being the good person she was. Other nobles looked down on the family for that so it was said to be a rumor but the rumor is a tad too entrenched and clearly true. Her good heart led her to help those around her and was married off to a small noble in the far off kingdoms to hide the disgrace. Her husband on the other hand... He has had a rough time about ten years ago? The rumor mill says her husband lost both his brother as he disappeared from the area, and then a year later his father died of natural causes. It threw the barony almost in anarchy until the youngest son took control and everyone in the area prospered. He had to marry Anya because he had no other real prospects, if his father had been alive though, he would have had far more choices...
The contract appears to all of you to be simple enough, everything travel wise has been handled for your benefit. The travel is simple, down the block is your carriage company that has been prepaid to take you there. The company holds half your payment and will be leaving by tomorrow afternoon, most likely to give you all time to gather your things or anything you might want. Your accommodations are at your choice of a local pub or within the barony its self, and of course it is all paid for. It all seems to be overly simple, like someone without a royal background wrote it. As you all start filing out, you hear your patrons voice break as he says one final statement before you all head out. "Please... I am sorry, I am just so concerned about our Anya, please protect her and her son. They have done nothing but been nice to anyone they have ever met... Such a lovely girl..." (Sobbing) You all have till tomorrow afternoon, if there is anything important to do or tasks you need to complete now might be the time.
Your patron reaches behind himself and pulls out a leather envelope and shuffles through some of the papers contained within. Pulling two out of the stack, he slams one piece of paper on the bar and then slams one on one of the corresponding tables closest to the silent elf. "I am not gonna sit here and bicker on things that I have no idea of, we know that Miss Anya was happy with her new born son but concerned over her husbands new and recent actions. Paranoia being one of the things she commented on. If this interests you, feel free to sign your name below or leave your mark." The patron turns to the silent elf, and says. "I am sure you can understand what I am saying?" Instead of replying, the silent elf turns to her companions and signs to them with hand gestures before turning around, biting her thumb and placing a bleeding thumb print on the piece of paper before her before silently walking out the door with her companions. Your patron openly shudders, but none of you are clear if it is fear, disgust, but if one had to guess. Both... "I knew we should not have called in the Silent Order into this. Murderous bastards..." Turning back to you, he acts like he did not just say a thing about his recent guests and states. "It has taken me some time to get here to find you lot, if your interested then sign the paper and leave with it. The instructions for travel all paid for by us and anything else you might need will be outlined on the paper after you sign it. Well?"
The patron seems taken back by Laiashi's comment. He splutters a moment, spraying a small amount of saliva and looks down at his handkerchief to seem to need to draw strength from it. "My good man, I am here to make sure that young, miss Anya and her new born son is safe. The influential family of Tiboros of Nisroch require it and are willing to pay large amounts of good money to do so. What more do you need to know? They are in a small remote village, if you think there are bandits then I better call adventurers to handle it..." and he glares at you. "If you think I knew what was going on out there, I would have picked the correct group of people instead of adventurers who have a wide range of skills sets to handle a wide range of issues that they might run into." He seems highly flustered and rambles to himself... "I tried to tell them that this was a bad idea... Ruffians the lot of them."
Your patron shakes his head in disbelief as he sees Vine of the People's Resolve (or S) come out of the plant base. After the slight display he looks around, and grumpily asks the bartender to brighten the area even more with candles. "I have paid for this area, and I want it bright in here as I have asked, my room is barely bright enough for my tastes..." The patron looks to the two groups and huffs to himself, then walks towards the bar where the other player characters gather. At the sight of this, a female elf breaks away from the secondary group and silently pads over to the bar. The elf is dressed in basic clothing, very simple pants and top, all a tan or light brown. She shows no wear or tear but moves herself as if she is stalking prey. The patron waits till she arrives in to the small group, wipes his face one more time and places a sopping wet handkerchief on the bar and pulls out the one from his sleeve before continuing. "As you know, I am looking for help because my employer, the influential family of Tiboros of of Nisroch is worried over
We explained the situation that she is perfectly OK and doing wonderfully with her young son, but the family wants independent people checking up on her. After he son was born, roughly... 2 months ago? She has not been herself and she has felt that her husband has been growing paranoid and erratic. Something I can assure you that has not been happening but she would feel better with getting that from an outside source. With the family of Tiboros wanting outside people checking on her, I was sent here to find explorers of your caliber to check on her for her family..." The elf starts to walk away like she is not interested but stops when he continues and says. "The bounty for going will be 5,000 gold for the party that helps Anya feel better about what is going on so I and she can inform the family of the truth. If you are interested, please let me know and we can setup travel arrangements as it will take you a few weeks to get there by road. I would not recommend the river because it does not travel far enough to get to the barony."
No worries Vine of the People's Resolve, just try to catch up when you can. Life can have that issue at times. We are all here for a good time so please take the time you need.
As the party gets together at the bar and obvious small talk is going on as the bartender is handing out every single drink you all have asked for (something rare in this area so clearly a bar to remember, a nice hidden gem to come back to at a later time). A quieter group of adventurers come in, dressed in different traveling wear from all across the kingdoms of the world. Instead of heading towards the bar, the group moves towards the fire place in the far corner, as far from the bar as possible. The good cheer your group shares is like a warm spot in a room of cool water, a wonderful event that can be seen as a boon to the bartender when you look into his eyes. Before your two parties can mingle, your possible future employer walks down an out of the way staircase, padding at his face with a piece of cloth. Tucked away behind a wall, the employer steps out around it and you see the bartender cross his chest in religious warding of danger from ages past, rarely seen during these new, and prosperous times. In the better light of the bar, you can see the small future employer looking nice in a white silk shirt that hung limply on the man, dark purple leather traveling pants with some minor signs of wear and a handkerchief tucked within his left wrist, allowing the shirt most of the work holding it in. His collar shows clear signs of sweating but other then this small bit of wear and tear, the man might as have walked out of a minor house and into this bar. The man has small, rat like eyes, but a generous and normally happy face from the lines on his face. Tonight he just looks tired, almost like he is not sleeping and the signs of this can barely be seen behind a thin layer of powder. The gentleman clears his throat and waits for everyone to react to his arrival...
Nino - Upon entering the bar, since you headed there right away(?)... You find the well dressed gentleman has bought out the bar as he said, the bartender is wiping a glass looking happy and well paid. The bartender say. "What would you like to drink good sir? The tab is on your patron there." The bartender nods towards the gentleman who had gotten your attention in the square.
Patros - The merchant turns to you, he is a heavy set man who looks more bored then anything dealing with your question. He shrugs and says "The word on the street is he is a house hold leader (manager of a baron's estate). He has heard of it only in passing, it is a run down estate in a small, back water village off the beaten path. From what he has heard, it has been prospering for the last few years but that is just hearsay..." Looking to the left and right the merchant leans in closer and says. "The baron is the last of his line from what he hears. So if you get an in with the baron he would pay you handsomely. Backwaters tend to pay handsomely for home brew items, you know how those mud born are... Before your able to say more, a well dressed gentleman from one of the houses in town walks up and the merchant loses interest in you Patros, it looks to you like the man had been waiting on this man and decided to answer you out of the hope to make some coin.
Finding yourselves moving through the town square near dusk, torches are lit, people are massed around a small man in fancy and some would say formal clothes. One by one you are all drawn to him as he tries to explain that he needs help for his employers and are looking for good people to help the family out. After much discussing, and haggling by many of the onlookers. You all find yourselves as one of two groups still listening to the man after the rest of the crowd has dispersed with disinterest. The small man eventually gets to the point where he realizes that the two parties are the only ones interested, so he asks you all to disperse and meet him at the Oaken Hog later where he has bought out the bar for the night. During this break, is there anything that players wish to do or actively engage in before going to the local bar that is well known for their ale?
Everyone, since I am going to be taking over I will need 24 hour from this post to get caught up. If you have any questions and/or concerns please let me know and I will gladly get back to you as soon as physically possible. Our goal is a great game and while your current GM is handling the medical concerns I will do my best to keep in line with his GM'ing style.
Due to health reasons I will be taking care of the game for a week or two.
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