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Thanks for letting us know rather than just disappearing! You did a great job for what we got, but if now's not the right time to run a PbP then it's not the right time. Hopefully you are finding the right things that are fun and aren't feeling like chores and taking care of yourself!
It's busy times for many now I know. If we're on break for a bit its not the end of the world at all. I'll be around to post when we're ready to go again, but make sure you're not giving the game more of your life than a game is worth. Sounds like you're doing that now, so this is a post to let you know the decision is supported!
Kromdor nods. "They're not used to this sort of thing. Wouldn't be shivering like that if they were, so they're doing something that they wouldn't normally. Trap seems more likely than anything else. Want me to go spring it and see what happens? If you lot stand aside where you can't be easily seen I can go be all orcy in their face to see what reaction that gets. I should be able to hold my own until you can get to me if it's something bad."
Kromdor listens to the others as they speculate for a bit before speaking up. "Seems to me that if they needed another kid to do something involving the prince, they could have grabbed someone much less conspicuous and left anyone who'd be following the prince's killing none the wiser. It's not like there aren't children of about that age in any town you'd happen to wander to. This one did apparently play with the prince once, so there's some chance that they're using him in particular, but that's not why I'd have done it. "It seems at least as likely to me that they're grabbing another kid in a way that pursuers, that'd be us, will be sure to notice so that that they can use the fact that we know they've got a potential hostage against us at some point down the road. At least that's why I'd grab a high profile target at this point over one that wouldn't be missed. Don't know anything about what they'd be using the head or the kids for, but I know a thing or two about setting traps for people who might be following me, and playing off expectations."
Kromdor gives the mayor a soft, hopefully reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Not to worry so much yer mayorship. We'll keep a sharp eye out for him while we're out, and some of these folks here are expert trackers. You've got plenty of others searching as well, so hopefully he'll be back home soon. On the off chance that we find his trail first, I wonder if there's something we could say or do that might help Julius be calm and know we were friends? Is there a song that you like to sing with him or a special greeting the two of you share that we could use so that he'd know we were there to help? Kids often don't trust strangers, and we're a pretty strange looking group at times."
After the elf has moved on, Kromdor leans over to Flarghin to ask, "Any specific reason to worry about the elf with the funny looking stick there? You seem to disapprove for of him for some reason. Was it him or the stick?"
Outside the mayor's house Kromdor watches the others try to negotiate with the guards, rubbing his chin and pulling the hood on his parka to cover his face just a bit more to stay warm. "So if you talkers think you can get more out of those guards, or past them to the mayor that's fine with me, but barring that I'm thinking that our path forward is to follow the tracks we've got. We're missing a set of them for the woman, but tracking her down in town with no lead strikes me as hard. We also know that we're more likely than before walking into a trap now, but maybe that also means there's something to find. I'll follow your lead as you've thought this out some since last night I'm sure, but my gut says that our answer isn't here in town, but rather out there in the cold somewhere."
Welcome back, and make sure to take as many breaks between posts as you need to stay good on your end. We love what your'e doing, but it's not worth your health to do it more often.
Thanks for the heads up for what's happening! No need to apologize at all. The game has been great fun so far, but it's clearly less important than taking care of yourself (just like it would be for any of the players.) Do what you need to do to be in a healthy place and we'll see you when we do!
Kromdor lets the others do the hunting for information, and instead mainly focuses on gathering supplies that might be of use. As he does so he chats with the shopkeepers that are willing to make small talk with an orc. Apparently most seem to think that he's just there because of some treasure or other and ask him if he's there for the bounty on the mayor's son. When he returns to the inn with the supplies stowed away he shares the information for the group. "Seems quite the coincidence to have two children go missing at the same time, don't you think?"
Actually, for that last post, I suppose I was describing cold weather gear in my entrance to the adventure. If it's allowed I'd add it to the character, make one of the saves straight up, and another with the +2 from someone with survival the rolls were good enough. I'm fine leaving it as is or retconning. I suspect that we're going to want to stop in town unless someone has a trick up their sleeve though, so it likely doesn't matter too much.
Kromdor welcomes the flask, but is careful not to drain it before passing it to the next adventurer. The trail has been tough and the orc is tired, but after the drink he shakes it off and looks to the others to check their condition. "Cold work, this. How's everyone holding up?"
When Kromdor makes his was back to the room he blinks in the brighter light of the princes bedchamber as he steps aside to let Scandy pass by. Looking about he spots Cassius looking down the open widow to the scene below and Rius making plans. "So how's Lavinia making out down there? Finding anything interesting? We've got a tunnel with some traps and scribbles back here. Dunno what to make of it, but I reckon you and Scandy here can sort things out in short order if you put your heads together."
Kromdor looks about at the various tunnels and nods. "So someone was clever enough to make sure the kid wouldn't get lost down here. Wonder how he had the traps marked and if he took any sprays to the face figuring them out. Or maybe he was just too light to set them off. Reckon he had help or he worked this system out all out on his own?" Peering down the tunnel marked 'no' Kromdor scratches his chin. "So what do you think, Scandy? Should we get the others here before we journey deeper into the secret veins of a royal palace or do you want to head in now. I don't recon there'd be any fresh trails, but it'd be good to see how often this path gets used. Seems we found a way in that doesn't set off an alarm, so it's got to be at least as good a guess as the window for how an assassin would get in. Looks like a bunch of rocks to me, but if you can suss it out any tracks that'd be fine. If not, that Lavinia'd probably be the one to take a look."
"Well now, they seem overly tetchy for what I'd expect from royal guards, but I suppose it's a stressful time, and at least we got some good information out of them." The orc doesn't seem too bothered by the departure or their anger. Despite their complaints, he had thanked them after all and guarding tends to be a grating, thankless job. After seeing Scandy open the passage, Kromdor does stick his head out of the window and wave to get get Lavinia's attention. In his most inconspicuous voice that will travel to the ground he shout-whispers "Found something of interest up here. Checking it out with Scandy, but let Flaghrin know there's a passage from the room." The orc then says the command word one more time to turn off the alarm. With that, Kromdor turns and follows Scandy through the illusion just in time to see her activate the trap. He moves forward to assist, but holds back as her shoulders simply slump a bit. "You OK there Scandy? Looks like they've got at least a little protection in this tunnel which speaks a bit better of their security measures. Mind if I take a quick look?" After waiting for Scandy to move out of the way, Kromdor looks carefully where she had been standing to see if he can locate the stone she stepped on to activate the trap.
Failing to see the stone, but knowing it's there somewhere, Kromdor pulls out his lucerne hammer, and uses it to systematically press down on all the stones in the general area where Scandy stepped. He does this from the greatest distance the polearm will allow, trying to active the trap again and judge both how far the mist reaches and how long it stays around (assuming it can be activated a second time so quickly.)
Kromdor, standing to the side of Scandy while she berates the guard, rolls his eyes in an exaggerated way, being sure the guard can see it. When she strides back to the room, the orc leans in conspiratorially to say "What she means of course is, thank you for that help. Sometimes those thinky types get confused about the etiquette of such things. You've been more helpful just now that anyone else so far in this investigation." With a wink and a nod, the orc turns to follow Scandy as she examines the fireplace. He's just about to warn her that the fire is not only hot, but also smokey when she finds the brick that triggers the rotation. With a shrug Kromodor follows Scandy through the passage.
So a couple things that I've notice, that Kromdor might or might not make anything of are the following:
Before following Flarghin Kromdor takes the time to check the fireplace, just to make sure it doesn't seem as though it could be another way in or out of the room.
As he leans over the fire to look up, misjudges where the top of the opening would be and nearly falls over into the fire, and due to his training, immediately takes a deep breath to stay calm and steady. After coughing and sputtering quite a bit due to the smoke inhalation the orc decides that same fire would probably have prevented anyone else from using that particular route. With a shrug, he turns to go, and, passing the guards, he gives a cheerful nod, coughs once more, and asks another question. "I wonder if I could trouble you for one more thing? How often did the young prince choose to go to bed early in your experience? That doesn't seem the sort of thing that I expect from most children, but I've not spent much time with princes."
Kromdor follows the group to the room and glances around from the doorway, seeing the surface details, but letting the trackers and thinkers do their work. Before entering the room, the orc leans over to one of the guards and asks as politely as he can, "How many people did this would you say?" Once inside the room, Kromodor watches the others work. His eyebrows raise some as Scandy gives her theory, but the court intrigues implied doesn't shock him too much. "Hmm, that might all fit, but it would sure be a pain to present. I don't suppose we know anything about the queen and her temperament, do we?"
Kromdor doesn't flinch as Lady Quiren casually calls his presence here into question; it's not a kind interaction, but it's nowhere near harsher than typical. The orc might not be picking up on the subtleties here, but he knows that's not his job. Like in combat, he's here to open opportunities for his allies to exploit. In this case, maybe save some time in the investigation and maybe open up some insight into the half-elf's behavior or motives. Though he listens to the conversation that follows with half an ear, he knows that there are others who will make better use of whatever they gleen from what is said than he ever could. Instead, a good portion his focus is on scanning the room for anything that might seem like an out of place danger.
Kromdor gazes around the chamber, not in awe, but with apparent curiosity, while the Stewart acknowledges and then addresses the group. After she's done and Rius and Scandalous have had their say the orc chimes in as well. "If I might trouble yer ladyship, Flarghin's brought in some experts here, and they're good at what they do. They'll sort things out for sure. But just to be clear and maybe save some time, because sometimes the experts don't ask the straightforward questions they might, is there anything you'd care to share with us that might help our investigation? You know the court here better than any of us might, and court intrigue is what it is. Is there anything obvious that we might not see because we're not approaching this from the inside?"
"Thanks there friend. A couple hours before we set out will do me good. And let me just say that I haven't made it this far by not being a bit, well, you might call it paranoid, but I'll call it cautious. When you start out with some people just barely not attacking you on sight based on your looks, you don't treat comfy rooms as a default safe place to sleep." Kromdor grins and shrugs, and clearly at this point accepts that this is the way the world is and can live with that.
While Flarghin goes to negotiate their lodgings for the rest of the night, Kromdor looks down at the writ of bounty. Blatantly making no attempt to read over any of it, he takes a quill and begins to pen his signature. Without look up he muses, "Plans huh? I figure I'll let you lot do what you're good at while I watch your backs. Don't know anything about palace intrigue, not much of a tracker and I can poke around for clues, but I know that the rest of you can do it better. On the other hand, I'm good at pinning down anyone who tries to jump us unexpectedly. Sound about right?" Having finished signing he looks up to see if anyone has more details they want to go into. Once Flarghin has finished his negotiations for the rooms, Kromdor squints in their direction and turns to the party once more. "So here's where I start watching our backs. I'm taking first watch for the night unless someone else wants it. There aren't many hours till to sleep and most of you should grab what you can so you're sharp when we get going. I know that we're in a 'civilized' inn, but if Flarghin's dragging us into royal intrigue for this we should assume that someone'll be coming for us soon to keep us off the trail. That is assuming they're not already. If someone's willing to let me grab a couple hours of shuteye before we head out I'd be much obliged, but for the most part we want you lot rested, yes?"
"Well, if someone wants to find us passage they're welcome to, but I've not found guards to be so happy to find an orc out asking where carriages will be heading so I'll be passing on that option myself. I'm happy to take the horses and wagon here; if Flarghin says it should be safe and fast enough that's good enough for me. And, hey, if he's wrong, then we get some fun along the way, right?"
Kromdor is in the middle of rolling his eyes at Scandy when Cassius walks up and seemingly apparates something on the tip of the orcs nose. His eyes start to cross trying to see exactly what it is, and as he turns his head sideways the spoon eventually bounces off his chin and clatters to the floor. With a guffaw of laughter Kromodor smiles once more. "Other skills as well it is. A clever pair of hands can do wonderful things. " Looking over to Scandy he gives a knowing wink, "Sometimes they're more important than a rock hard thighs, wouldn't you say? Mind you, if you're lucky you get both." Turning back to the slayer, the orc picks up the spoon and tosses it to him, watching another graceful catch as the spoon seems to disappear into thin air again. "Yes, I think you'll do nicely. It was Cassius, right?"
Kromdor listens to the proposal with some interest. It's the sort of job that Flarghin would certainly jump at, though with royalty being involved it'll end up being higher profile than any the orc has taken part of previously. "I can see how you'd be excited about this, friend. And I thank you for thinking of me when putting together the team." As the party sits down for dinner Kromdor does note the empty chair, but Maggie and Flarghin keep their own house, so the orc doesn't push for information here where it's not offered freely. Instead he focuses on the meal, digging in with gusto and none of the table manners that some of the others show. "If this is the standard fare you're serving here, you'll have to find some more jobs to come out of retirement for. This has been worth it for the food alone." When he can, the orc slips food to the young ones as they jostle for attention around the table, grinning a big grin and playing silly games with them as they let him. As the Maggie shuffles the kids off to bed the orc looks around at those still at the table, his deep set eyes taking in each of the companions in turn. "So I can see you've brought the talent this time; it's a good reason to if we're going to solve a regicide case. I've worked with Scandy and Rius before and I know what they can do. You say Lavia there's a tracker and clearly I'm here for my good looks," the orc pauses to smile, showing off a couple jagged broken teeth. "I assume that one there's good in a fight as well, or has he got some other skill set?" Kromdor waves in Cassius's direction in an offhand way. "You anticipating any trouble in the first part of the investigation, or just making sure that we've got bases covered in case something comes up?"
Kromdor chuckles as scandy scolds her. "I've learned that if an ally looks overwhelmed you should always do your best to even those odds. I looked in this kitchen and couldn't help but assist Maggie. Truly it's a heroic challenge she attempts daily unless I'm very much mistaken." Turning to the dwarven woman the orc offers a pile of chopped vegetables. "They might not be sliced to your standards, but I leave them to you to add at the right time. You have my appreciation for all you're doing for us tonight and I can only hope that Flarghin makes his appreciation known regularly. If not, he's more of a fool than I think he his." Moving into the den, the bobs his head mostly arrhythmicaly to Rius's tune. As it closes he smiles. "You forget that you talked me out of that time in the gallows over in Waterdeep. Those guards were dead set against me before I even opened my mouth, but your silver tongue carried the day. If anyone owes an ale it's me. It's good to see you here though. You haven't worked with her, but between you and Scandy we should be able to make rocks weep should we need to." As Lavinia enters Kromdor nods. The fact that he physically towers over both she and the gnome bard, as well as most everyone else in the room, seems inconsequential as Flarghin's invitees have now gathered. Their sizes might differ, but each has a presence which fills the room. "I think that we've all made it to hear you out Flarghin. Best spill the secret you've done such a poor job of hiding your eagerness to share."
Kromdor arrived at the house alone and on foot, which was typical for the mercenary. The layer of winter furs added to the orcs bulk, and did nothing to diminish his height, so he decided to remove several layers of of the protective gear before knocking at the door, just to make passage through the portal somewhat easier. When the hatch in the door opens and the eyes peer out, Kromdor gives a big toothy grin as greeting. "Flarghin sent me this here letter that he'd be needing my help shortly." When Maggie opens the door, the orc steps in quickly and shuts it behind him, his eyes taking in the contained chaos of the common room. Nodding as she gives directions, Kromdor sticks his head into the den briefly. "Just letting you know Kromdor's here, Flarghin, and let me know when I'm needed, but just now I'm going to see if I can lend a hand with the chaos by the cookfires." While the orc looks around for something helpful to do, he pauses to tickle the young goblins under their chins, chuckling when they start to gnaw on his dull green fingers with their sharp teeth. "Good spirits in this house. It's good to see that Flarghin's found the time to settle. Just hope this mission doesn't uproot too much."
A slight fleshing out of how Scandy knows Kromdor. the Plot: It was a couple years back that one of the remaining tribes of centaurs in the Cormanthor Forest contacted Flarghin for help in finding and returning one of their young. It speaks volumes of Flarghin and the respect the Centaurs had for him that they would reach out to a dwarf at all for this sort of help, let alone accept his hand picked party of a human and an orc. The child had been separated from the tribe when a group of poachers had employed an illusion to distract the adults and scatter the children in the woods, and although all but one of the young had been found and were accounted for, there was still one, Gwymoth, missing. Scandalous's first task was to help Flarghin track down Gwymoth before the poachers could find him. Apparently the innocent heart of a centaur was needed for some ritual or other, and time would be of the essence. Kromdor was there more to provide the muscle and help restrain anyone who might need restraining (up to and including Gwymoth, in case he failed to distinguish between the poachers and the rescue party.) One never expected the initial plan to go off without a hitch though, so both the human and the orc were prepared to improvise as needed. From Kromdor's perspective, it was a mission, and Scandalous was an unknown. The task seemed to be on the up and up, though this was a first time working for centaurs, and whoever this human Flarghin had brought with probably shouldn't be too much in the way. If the dwarf trusted her to help then Kromdor probably wouldn't need to spend too much effort keeping her out of trouble, but humans could be all sorts of unpredictable, so he'd keep his eye open. Things started off well enough, and the human did indeed prove to be quite useful in finding the hallucinatory terrain that Flarghin had been wise enough to know would be an issue. They did find Gwymoth's trail, and Flarghin was leading them in pursuit, with all signs pointing towards an exhausted young centaur moving slower than they were soon to be within their reach.
Right, here's what Kromdor would look like with the feat tax rules. Basically he skipped needing to use Power Attack or Combat Expertise as feats, can make non-lethal attacks with no chance of crits (instead of at -4, and skipped taking Bludgeoner,) and has all of the Improved Combat Maneuvers taken care of through just Unarmed Combatant (for grapple,) Deft Maneuvers and Powerful Maneuvers. If that seems too much I can rework him without the feat tax rules. Otherwise if there's anything that looks out of place, let me know! For connections, I'm happy to have worked with anyone who did jobs with Flarghin in the past who didn't show too much scorn at my being an orc. Kromdor is pretty happy to work with people who treat him with respect and remembers them for future encounters. Those that don't are forgettable, though he doesn't hold grudges against them. |
