Seeing the spider drop, Pajet looses a lucky arrow at the giant arachnid.
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If the spider is alive I'd like to shoot it with an arrow! Is it time for initiative?
After putting out her torch and drawing her bow, just in case, Pajet enjoys the show. "That was far more flamable than I would have expected. Hopefully no one left anything we might have cared about too much in there. Oh, and I wonder if that chest had anything interesting in it."
"Well, I don't suppose there's too much danger of burning this whole place down. Sure, I could torch some spider webs." Pajet sets down her backpack and pulls out a torch as well as the flint and steel needed to light it. When it's going she'll move up to doorway and see how easily any nearby webs burn.
Glancing in the room, Pajet eyes the chest with interest. Chests often have interesting things in them. We should see about that one. "How much fire do you have in mind? I've got torches I could light."
"Let's head in and see what's to be found, shall we?" Pajet will move into area 3, taking a look for traps or ambushes as she moves in.
"Well that didn't feel like the result of bandits. I wonder if we got bad intelligence about this place? Let's take a closer look shall we?" Pajet will make sure everyone's recovered and then move towards the entrance of the mill, looking for any signs of habitation.
"Hang on there Augrok. We'll get you out shortly!"
As the frog's tongue goes limp and releases her Pajet smiles a thanks to Eÿliana before dropping her dagger and pulling out her bow. As she draws the bowstring back she sees Nex handily dispatch of his frog, so instead swivels to take aim at the one who has ensnared Arguok.
So I don't know what DM Barbarian Taco thinks about it, but one thing I like to do when I ready an attack is just roll it right away and put it in a spoiler. That means that the DM can use it as appropriate or ignore it if it never comes up, and we don't need to wait for a couple of people to notice things on forums. These forum based games take long enough to play anyhow, and speeding up the predictable rolls (readied attacks, obvious attacks of opportunity, etc ...) can be handy.
As the tongue wraps around her arm and drags her towards the frog's open maw, the twinkle in Pajet's eye hardens. She draws her dagger and attempts to thrust it into the sticky bond that's grappling her.
Pajet seems to almost sparkle with anticipation as she prepares for conflict.
Pajet nods, "It's foreboding, that's true. Shall we see we can sneak up on anyone who's home?" As the group's progress slows to a crawl Pajet scans the area for any signs of habitation.
Well OK then, we head on up to the old mill to see what we can see!
North it is then. Here we go!
Once they're clear of Enora, Pajet attempts to reassure Nex. "It's highly unlikely that we have to deal with both her getting a message to the bandits before we arrive without us noticing and the bandits not having heard of our approach through other channels. I'm not giving away any plans of ours that she'd have a chance to ruin before we get to them were that her goal." "I realize that not everyone is out to do good, but not everyone is out to do bad either. Better to make connections with the locals while we've got the chance to than to alienate them with suspicion. We'll sort out the bad ones in time."
For what it's worth, I'm not wedded to the Daring Seekers as a name. It was just the first thing that came to mind for Pajet. If anyone has something they like I'm happy to go with that.
"Enora it is. Well met! I'm Pajet, and my friends here and I are the Daring Seekers. We're just headed to the old mill to investigate some rumors of bandits we've heard there. I don't suppose you know anything in particular we should be aware of?" "Once we're done there we'd love to come by to talk about rations or potentially a sword arm. I can promise you that we don't have some silly notions about who should or shouldn't be taking up arms and making their way in life. Once we've got a better feel for the lay of the land we should certainly talk!"
Pajet eventually sees the woman walking down the lane towards the party, and drops her bow to one hand to wave a greeting. She flashes a smile and calls out in a friendly way, "Hail stranger! Looks like you've had a good day hunting. I wonder if we could trouble you to ask a question or two as we're new the the area and I'm guessing that you're fairly familiar with what goes on around here."
The party finds Augrok in the inn or nearby and as they head out along the old road they fill him in on the new information. When they're out of sight of the last of the building of Hommlet, Pajet draws her bow and begins to keep a careful lookout for any trouble.
Pajet nods. "That sounds like a plan to me. Oh, and I might have picked up a couple things on our way here. Nex and Ekaitz, you might make use of this scroll. It seems divine in nature and from what I can tell that's up your alley. There's also this amulet here which looks interesting. Near as I can tell it can protect the wearer for demonic possession and the like. Does anyone feel like they might be in immediate danger of such things?" The gnome passes the scroll over to whichever of Nex or Ekaitz acts to take it first and holds the amulet of life protection up for all to see. Should anyone express interest she'll hand it over without reservation. "Now then, where did that half-orc get to I wonder. Think he'll be excited to try to route some bandits?"
So I think we need to get some action going here to spark the game to life. Who wants to explore the tunnel below the village hall? I failed to get any sort of answer about whether we should or not, but it might be our nearest source of adventure! The winter holidays seem to give a pause to the PbPs that can be tough to bounce back from.
Pajet gives a serious nod to the two former adventurers. "We'll keep you informed of our progress. Thank you again for the information! If you need to reach us we'll be Welcome Wench when we're not out on our investigation. We hope to have news for you soon." The gnome waits to see if anyone else has last words before heading back to town and to the inn to see if she can find what's become of Augrok.
Pajet nods at the information and smiles. "Well then, we've got a much better idea of what we're about now. Thank you so much! Let's see if we can return the favor and get to the bottom of some of what's been happening. I do wonder if you'd like us to investigate that tunnel under the village hall for you though. It's not clear whether it's connected to anything else, but unless you want to deal with it on your own it seems like the sort of thing that someone should look into."
Pajet smiles, happy to explain again. "Good to meet you Captain Burne, and to get a formal introduction to you Rufus! As we were saying earlier, we've been summoned by the Viscount in Varabonc to help with something here in town. It's not quite clear whether that something is supposed to simply be the bandits or a greater threat, so we've been doing our best to sort that out. Here's the writ that we all received, in case you'd like to see what we know coming in." The gnome sticks out her letter to anyone who might be interested in taking a look, and then continues regardless of whether anyone chose to take it or not. "The letter indicates that it was the church of Iomedea and the village council who requested the help originally, so we thought we'd start by checking in with them, er, you I suppose. We went to the church first because churches are easy to find in towns even if you don't know who anyone is, though on the way there we happened to poke our heads into the village hall and find a hidden tunnel that seemed quite out of place which we thought you should know about. It seemed a surprising thing to find, and someone's gone out of their way to hide it, but we didn't think we should go through the tunnel without bringing it to someone's attention first. After all, maybe it's perfectly harmless and supposed to be there. "When we got to the church we did manage an audience with Canon Terjon, but it turns out that he didn't seem to know very much about what was happening outside the church building itself. He did point us in your direction though, so the time wasn't entirely wasted. Now we're here to offer what help we can, and figure out what it was that convinced the Viscount that help was needed in the first place. We've heard a bit about giants and bears and bandits and what not, but we're hoping that you've got a more concrete idea of what's going on."
Sounds good! I didn't want to default to correcting another character in the RP without checking here first.
"That's true! It looked pretty well hidden, as well. Didn't seem the sort of thing that would be used for up and up purposes, but we're new here, so you, or Rufus and Burne perhaps, might know better. It was actually under the Village House though, rather than the temple. You'll have to excuse us if we mix up locations until we've been here a while and get a better feel for what and where everything is."
Er, the tunnel's under the village hall. Unless Nex is trying to deceive (which I don't think he would be here.)
Pajet, noting the pause to answer from the others pipes up. "For now you can call us the 'Daring Seekers.' It's unlikely our reputation has reached Hommlet, but we're here to offer our help regardless!"
Pajet binds her longsword and dagger and follows along, peering at the construction going on around her with interest.
Paget nods and smiles. "And somehow you don't seem surprised. That likely speaks well of you. Canon Terjon seemed to have the church and it's concerns so squarely at the center of his attention that said attention seemed to have trouble peeking around them. Not to say that the church isn't important of course, but there are times when it's good to be more aware of the world around you as well." The gnome sticks out her hand way up in the air to shake. "The name's Pajet. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?" As the man either shakes her hand or not, she goes on "To make a long story short, we've been sent by Viscount Verbabonc to help the village council deal with some problems in the area and we're just trying to figure out what those problems are so that we know where to start. Canon Terjon spoke of Bandits, and although we could work on those we'd be most appreciative if someone could help with whatever else the Viscount thought was worth sending for outside help for."
Pajet stops on command and flashes a smile to the two armed men. "Greetings guardians! My name is Pajet and my companions and I are champions summoned by the Viscout Verbabonc to Hommlet in order to help put an end to the current bandit menace. We seek an audience with Burne or Rufus so that we might learn how we can best assist in the defense of your fine village." She shows the Hommlet crest and her copy of the letter, allowing the men to see them in as much detail as they like. "We've come directly from an audience with Canon Terjon who said that we might find one or both of the council members here. We're hoping that they might have more to share with us than the Canon did about the situation at hand."
"Agreed, I imagine he can take care of himself just fine, and he shouldn't be too hard to find if we need to look for him. He's not terrible inconspicuous." Pajet heads out of the Church and starts to make her way to the tower.
"Thank you Canon Terjon. You've been most helpful, and I can only hope that we'll be able to return that service as we investigate the bandits and any other threats to the town. We'll be sure to report back if we find anything of interest, and if you do hear anything from the charter house please send word to us at the local inn we passed on the way here, the Inn of the Welcome Wench I think it was? We should be staying there during this mission, though we'll send word if that changes."
Once the group is out of the room and no one seems to be watching Pajet rolls her eyes. "Well now, I think we'd better talk to someone a bit more in touch with the less holy goings on about here. Shall we head to the tower and see if we can't find either Burne or Rufus? We should also figure out where Augrok's gotten to. Hopefully something more interesting than what we've been at. Does anyone want to go looking for him while the rest of us find our way to the tower? We could meet at the inn when we're done."
The Canon's initial offering of information is underwhelming, but Pajet's smile never leaves her face, and she stays intent on his words, nodding as he speaks. "Was it Viscount Verbabonc that was worried about the temple then? Or one of the other members of the council here. We're certainly able to investigate the bandits, but since we're here already it'd be a shame if we didn't look into any other possible threats in the area. Was there anything else that you knew of that was worth summoning adventurers for?" After waiting for those answers, the gnome also asks where in town they might find Jaroo, Burne and Rufus should they need to contact a member of the council quickly.
Pajet smiles at Erina as she offers refreshments. "A cup of tea would be lovely and I think that the group would love a plate of bread if it's fresh. We thank you for your hospitality." Once they enter the room with Canon Terjon, Pajet smiles again. "We thank you for the audience, Canon. We look forward to learning how we can be of assistance to your fine community." She has a seat, encourages the others to do the same, and then enjoys the sights of the office while she waits for Erina to return and Canon Terjon to share his information.
After Farvil has taken his book and sits to read, Pajet takes the time to cast Detect Magic while looking at the shelves. After seeing the results, she edges over to Nex. She doesn't look around or draw attention to the conversation, and speaks in a low voice that most wouldn't be able hear unless they were particularly alert or trying to pay attention to the gnome. Using another, mundane book as a cover for anyone looking in the direction casually, she shows the more interesting items that she's found.
"So take a look at this and see what you think of it. Looks like scroll to me, but it's not arcane. You strike me as someone who might make more sense of it than I can at a glance. There's also this amulet that looks like it's probably magical. "They're not the sort of thing that I'd expect to be left out in bookshelves like this where just anyone could run across them. We could bring these to the attention of Canon Terjon when we talk to him, or we could make sure they're put to good use in a cause that Terjon would appreciate without needing to mention it to him. You seem the sort who might have opinions about these things, so I figured I'd ask for your instincts here."
Pajet will browse the books on the bookshelves while the party waits, looking for any interesting or unusual titles.
Pajet, hearing the discussion squeezes through the larger bodies to the front of the group. "You'll have to excuse my friends; they're not from around here and aren't familiar with the local customs. This is quite the chapel to Imoedae that you've got. The care that's gone into its construction is obvious and I'm sure that the upkeep must take some work. Of course we'd like to contribute to that, though, right now our funds aren't what they might be. Still, we can't pass through without offering something." Pajet continues on for a bit about how impressive the stained glass is and other things she thinks will be what Calmer will want to hear as she drops 1 gold and 15 silver in the box while making a bit of a show of having a mostly empty coin purse.
After the flattery and donation, she follows up with the request. "I do hope that you'll be willing to reconsider and help us with an audience to see Canon Terjon. We're on the business of the Viscount and I'm sure that the Canon would be eager to see us."
Pajet nods in agreement and then follows Nex back to the rest of the group as they reach the church, her tuneless whistling sounding perhaps a bit more cheerful than normal.
Pajet looks up at Nex as the two lift the cover to the hole. "So I think that this is something we should ask about at the church, wouldn't you say? Unless you think we should explore it right away, ... but we're not quite sure what we're looking for yet."
When the party stops in at the villiage hall, Pajet takes the time to pop inside and look at the table, curious to see if anything happens to be on it. "I won't be but a second, you can keep going and I'll catch up."
After a cursory glance, the gnome heads back to catch up with the rest of the group. She hustles and just makes it as they're starting to enter the church. Not drawing attention to herself in particular she follows the others in.
The gnome smiles as the quite half-elf speaks up with at least passing knowledge of the town. "Excellent! I thought someone in the group might know more about what's going on about here! If you know where the temple is you should be our guide around town. Hopefully you'll be able to help us find the best inn to stay at as well. I'd love to spend an evening over a couple ales hearing your thoughts on the whole matter here!" Pajet waves cheerfully at the housewife as they pass, noting the good health of their livestock, and waits for Eÿliana to direct the party towards the church or other useful locations.
"Sounds like a plan! Does anyone here happen to know their way around town? Or shall we head in and take a look around? Churches and Public Houses tend not to be hard to find, but we can save a bit of time if anyone knows the way already."
"Yes, I was trying to figure out why he was bringing up talking to the simple folks at all. Given that he was saying that we should listen to your suggestion and that mine was the only other, the reasonable conclusion was that he thought that I was suggesting it. Which was surprising given that I was saying we should try to find the village council."
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