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I don't get why these people have all decided the cultists are in the Cadaverwood at this point. Mercenaries talking about chasing them from Magnimar and Cathran and I talking about Cadaverwood at about the same time, yes, but the two conversations never really crossed topics, did they? As Cathran vocalizes the same general confusion, Larry is uncertain whether he should feel better that somebody else remembers the conversations the way he does, or worse that it is one of the two who really did drink too much. "I could be convinced to visit Perdition's Point and maybe get a look at some of this purple wood. I could be convinced to help find evil cultists that are abducting children, too, if anybody has a clue where to look. Neither of those are going to happen tonight, though. I should try to get a room if there are any still available. Thank you, all, for the company." Larry gathers his thing sand heads for the bar, looking to see if there are still any rooms available . . ..
"Purple wood?" An amused look plays across the man's face. "Nope, don't think I've ever heard of purple wood. Name's Larry, bythe way. Thank you for the ales." He scans the slowly emptying room, considering whether he can afford to really drink, or if he should get a bed, a full mug sitting on the table in front of him while he's working his way through the previous one, still.
Larry watches the conversation flow, managing not to let his jaw hang slack as the assumptions and presumptions grow. "Maybe I missed something somewhere along the way, but all we know is that a large force arrived looking for people responsible for causing trouble in and around Magnimar. Worrying about them having settled in anywhere local here is just hoping for trouble. I would rather hope they ran somewhere else, wouldn't you, really?"
Larry interrupts. "Not much. They had a picture of somebody hiding behind too much clothing. Said they were looking for cultists causing trouble around Magnimar. A picture with no face. They're not going to have an easy time finding anything. They certainly didn't have any information to help us know if we stumble across the people they want."
Larry sighs before he answers Riley's offer. "I do appreciate the offer of another drink, even a stiff one, but there are too many people in here. The odds that something will walk off if I drink like that are just too high. Looks like more weak ale and drinking slowly for the night. That's a shame, really." He looks at the group slowly filling the set of tables. "We make an interesting group bunch, don't you think? Not enough women in it for my taste." He shrugs as he says the last, with a VERY human gleam in his eye.
Watching the dwarf carom through the room like a ball in children's game, Larry initially suspects the worse. As he gets closer, Larry picks his drink up off the table and leans back in his chair. As the dwarf lands, without actually hitting Larry's table, Larry tries to relax, but keeps his thoughts on the newcomer. This kind of a crowd, the pick-pockets should be out. Is this guy one of them? An accomplice? Really that bad off? And now another? "Hmmmm . . .." The man takes some time and arranges his gear so that it is closer to him and easier to watch. "Larry. That's Cathran. That's Riley. I think I got those names right, didn't I?" pointing to himself and then the others in their little conversation pit.
As Cathran talks about Ustalav, Larry just sits patiently. As she discusses her plans, he grins. "It is good to have a destination, a goal in mind. But you talk about Ustalav having dark locations while claiming that 'Cadaverwood' is properly named? Are you trying to use the boogie man of Ustalav to convince you that your own backyard is actually nicer than you describe it as being?"
Larry looks at the serving wench with a little surprise in his eyes, but hands her a silver when she asks him for money, without saying a word. As Emilian lies so, so badly, Larry just grins. Better to make sure we know you don't want to tell us than to pretend something else . . .. "Cathran, was it? I am Larry, from Ulstalav, but I think you probably guessed that part already." Not reaching across the tables, over the other men, he simply lifts his mug in her direction.
Larry looks the angry young man in the eyes as he goes off, and waits for him to wind down before offering with a chuckle and grin. "So, it IS an Ulstavian tale about evil people who abuse children!"
Larry grunts. "Not my local authorities. You know as well as I do that this soldier doesn't know why this caricature is wanted. I'm sure he can spout the official accusations meant to garner our assistance, and there may even be some truth behind them. Those familiar with Ustalvian tales know that a great many people die before creatures such as that pictured are actually dealt with, and that the tales teach us to ignore that they could be anything other than evil things from beyond. Or are you suggesting that they aren't just tales?"
"Glad to meet you, Emilian." He offers to shake your hand. "This place seems huge for this town, doesn't it? I wonder how many other taverns this town has in it? Quite a bit of money must flow through here. Means there's gotta be work available for the likes of us." Larry will continue to talk about such low-stress topics as long as the others wish to talk. When the soldiers get up and start talking to the rest of the patrons, in an obvious coverage pattern, the Varisian frowns. "What do these want, then?" They answer his question by showing him the picture and asking if he's seen that person. "I've been in town about an hour. I haven't seen anybody here that's not working in this tavern, yet." THEN he looks at the sketch. "Looks like an Ustlavian children's story character, doesn't it? The Grim Collector of Children Who Don't Do Their Chores or somesuch, right?"
"I know not'ink!" I was just saying in another thread that I have built up a bad habit. I keep each game I'm in open in a browser tab, with that window on the Discussion tab of the game. When I check on my games, I refresh each browser tab and double-check the gameplay tab for indications of new posts. I seem to miss more Discussion tab posts than I thought I was . . .. As for his dialysis-dependent wife being ill . . .. He did say something about that. We lost my father-in-law when he became too sick for the dialysis team to be able to "plug him in" to the equipment. His body simply wasn't strong enough to support the transfer of fluids outside of itself. His sick was pretty bad, but if he hadn't been dialysis dependent, it wouldn't have been lethal. Honestly, I hope the story is NOT relevant.
Drop bow.
Shifting to try to improve his angle of attack, Larry sends another arrow towards the goblin so recently scratched with a bolt. --- Move to G9
Shuddering, Larry drops the second spear and moves to get a better line of fire, pulling the bow the group had him take earlier, and setting up a shot to try to clear a retreat route for Erky. --- Free action: Drop spear
"Nope. That's about it. Gotta pull back." Larry tries to advertise his move so that his companions can consider it before they keep charging deeper into the now obvious trap . . .. He throws the spear he's holding into the mass of ranged combatants obscured in the darkness which surrounds the group before moving to the side for cover, and a chance at some healing. ---
Pulling his spear from the fallen hobgoblin, Larry gives chase, grumbling as he moves. "Don't know how long I can keep doing this . . .." He manages to put the spear through another goblin, but Larry looks around like he''s trying to find something he doesn't see . . .. --- Move to O15
Larry lowers the spear in his hands and charges forward, focusing on skewering the bugbear in reach. He finds the bugbear an easy enough target, with his spear-tip slicing across the creatures gut, leaving a clean cut which slowly spreads open . . .. As the creature falls, Larry looks to his left, makes an ugly face, and, well, roars at the goblins. ---
"Ung. Ahh. AHHH! Ohhh. Thank you. Whose idea was this again? This SUCKS!" Glancing at the field in front of him, Larry's shoulders droop, even as he starts moving forward again. "This is SO gonna hurt . . .." As he presents the biggest target he has yet, Larry puts his spear through a miniature, evil version of Scorchbark once again, slowly working through the fear Scorchbark gave him about such creatures. --- Move: to Q15.
Watching Tae move up, Larry sighs. Seeing her step up to a crowd of the creatures, and in a clear shot of the archers, he cringes. "Now who's taking risks?" He scurries through the tunnel, acutely aware of how big a target he's giving the archers, and drops another of these little creatures. ---
I know it is hard to believe right now, but things will get better. Celebrate his life.
Larry moves into the spot Tae just vacated. "Pardon me" as he passes her. Following up with a quick jab with his spear, he surprises himself as he scatters pieces of the creature around the immediate area. ---
Larry now has two reasons to use the side corridor for cover: the annoying archers and the unseen animated wood thingies. He moves forward into J17, actually wanting J16, but something else is already there . . ..
Wife and household goods both showed up. The bathroom, bedroom, part of the living room and some of the kitchen are in order. Enough that we can live day-to-day while she goes through the rest of what she brought and gets it all put away. I hope she can make it all fit. I'm really not certain she can. Still have boxes scattered in the dining room, living room and kitchen, and the second bedroom is about 50% full of boxes, too. She's spent the last seven months getting rid of stuff, too.
"Are you sure? I don't see any of them?"
As a head's up: I moved 1,000 miles 7 months ago. Thursday night my wife finally arrives. The movers MIGHT arrive on Friday. My internet connection changes from one apartment to another on Saturday. So, the odds are REALLY good that the last meaningful connection with me for this weekend will be on Wednesday.
Larry just inches forward, unwilling to leave the protection of the side passage, yet.
"I say we use these side passages for some cover and see if they won't come back out after us."
"Gonna get yourself killed like that!" Larry tries to scuttle ahead, hoping to help Grommund survive his foolishness, but finds he's just not able to keep up. Going around cost him too much time. --- Double move to (I think) N9 or O9 (based on whether the travel goes through difficult terrain or not).
Shaking his head even as he moves, Larry risks being a target and walks around behind the tree, going ot the opposite wall and starting ot slide towards the enemy. -- Double move around the back. I think he can get to I10. Yes, it includes some diagonal movement.
"Ow! Dang it! Bunch of 'em!"
"So, do we think they are all back there, or are some of them hiding behind the other door, waiting for us to go past?"
Start moving cautiously down the hall, waiting for spears or stones to start flying towards us.
Larry will move down to F18, then, and peek around the corner . . ..
"Are we doing this right now, or not?"
"Probably not the brightest idea in the word, but . . .." Larry moves down the hallway as far as he can get. I'm thinking that's like E18.
"This is NOT going as planned!" Nobody's really sure who Larry might be talking to. Larry included, as he manages to miss stabbing this goblin yet again. ---
"Now, you don't think that was a good idea, do you?" Larry attempts, again, to stab the little goblin trying to end him. And, again, he allows the little fellow another chance at that particular goal.
Since Zarrick dropped the only goblin within easy reach, Larry moves to the next one in line, stepping up to G8 before taking his blood-slick spear attempting to pierce the goblin standing in F9.
Well, I would say don't worry about us, and TRY not to worry too much over your mother-in-law. Things that are outside of your control are not things you should allow to dominate your life the way that concern and worry over a relative can. This silly little game will be here when you can spare the time.
Readying one of his spears, Larry moves up towards the closer two goblins before trying to impale the one closer to the middle of the line. Larry times the strike perfectly, managing to shove the tip of the spear past the goblin's clavicle and through the center of the rib cage (and chest), having it come out the creatures abdomen and stick into the floor. --- Ready weapon while moving
"Okay, so the skeletons are another dead end. Which way sho . . .." Larry puts his hands over his face. "Did I really just say that?"
Larry steps into I8, swinging his shovel again, but the skeleton is already collapsing as he does.
A frown crosses his face, as Larry picks the shovel back up and puts it on his shoulder, looking to make another big swing at this amazingly agile skeleton. This time the flat of the spade catches the skeleton on an elbow and runs up, through the rib cage and out across the far shoulder. As his expression turns into a smile, he tries to circle around behind the group to move towards the other standing skeleton.
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