Game thread

Game Intro

It is early summer on Northern Pretaeus and the storms of spring are passing. With each new day the sun stays up longer and the days are getting warmer. The wide and open grass and croplands are in full bloom covered in greens, golden browns, purples, reds, and many other colors as plants burst from the earth. Large herds of cattle, goat, sheep, and other livestock roam their grazing lands feeding and birthing. Overhead a pristine blue sky is dotted with small fluffy white clouds that billow and float. Small flocks of birds can be seen returning to the lively land to feed and roost. The citizens of N.Pretaeus are out walking among the streets with smiles on their faces. It seems that the changing seasons has lifted the spirits of the people.

In each of your towns/cities you notice a string of fresh letters popping up in areas of high traffic, business, as well as taverns and inns. A single piece of parchment is pinned open. Elegant and flowing cursive writing can be seen on the inside of the 'roll' The letter is a plea from the noble family of House Hedrick. As you skim over it, it seems that the house is reaching out to sellswords and volunteers from the surrounding area for help. Your initial impression is that Lady Isabelle Hedrick has personally penned, signed, and sealed each letter. At the end of the letter she provides a single point of contact for those wishing to help her. A Lord Thomas Hedrick, her brother. Who is waiting in the farming community of Seive, the letter reads.

"Adventurers -

I am saddened that I must pen such a request for help. Especially from those who do not call my lands home. The people of my lands have been suffering for far too long while they bravely and somewhat silently have been defending their homes. We grow tired of the fighting, suffering, and dying. I fear that without help, and soon. My lands will become overrun, barren, and desolate. Leaving my people with a single choice of fleeing. So I sit here with a heavy heart, worried about those who have put their trust in me. House Hedrick needs champions who are willing to take up the fight on our behalf, and free my people from the hardships that have them so beaten down. Help my people reclaim their lands, homes, and towns and I will see to it that you are personally rewarded. Kindly.

- Lady Isabelle Hedrick

@Xadania - As you return to your room which is being provided in return for your services, you gather your things and attempt to leave quickly and quietly. But it does not go as you plan. Others have noticed your recent change, your feeling of being 'out-of-place' here in Titus. A small crowd waits for you outside of the tavern. All of them are either people you have healed, or children that have grown up and are now medics/healers of their own, or widows. They each take their turn and offer their thanks and wish you the best before leaving, some of the new healers give you hugs and thank you for the influence you had over them. One of them even claims that he is going to open a center of healing (hospital) in your name here. As a parting gift they have all pitched in, in finding and acquiring an old book about an order of clerics. They hand it to you, still in its nice wrapping paper and tied up. One of your friends and admirer's Sal steps forward "Xadania, we wish you the best and offer all our love to you! We know you must leave, but we also know that there are others out there who need you. Be safe Xadania, and return with lots of stories! She steps forward and gives you a big hug before pushing you out to arms length, releasing you and nodding one last time. (OOC: This will be your 'holy book' which will teach you about Sydoni and her clerics.)

@Hungry Hao - Your weaving and swaying is no doubt the side-effect of last nights celebration. As you walk down the streets you actually begin to notice your weaving is more of a 'timed' occurrence. You wonder about it for a moment longer and it dawns on you. You are no longer on a ship and the weaving is actually your natural response to the rocking motion. With your slightly empty pack in your hand you start to exit the city of Cey, with no fanfare or well-wishes you strike to the road. A few hours outside the city you reach a small caravan of traveling merchants who are on their route towards the city of Aldret. You talk to them briefly and they decide to hire you on as a guard, until your stopping point in the town of Seive. At night during your shift of watch you open your pack and oddly find yet another pack. This one is made of much better looking leather and the stitching and straps are in better condition. You open it up and its pitch black on the inside, still baffled by this pack you reach in and when you do you feel a cold sensation rise up your arm. As you continue to reach deeper in the sack, first your wrist disappears then your elbow and now its up to your shoulder. Your shipmates have given you a gift, one which they 'acquired' from a merchant ship. You pull out a small envelope that contains a letter from Captain Flint. "Test the call of the sea Hao, only then does a sailor know his true strength - Captain Flint" (OOC: You now have one bag of holding and an additional five gold at your disposal.)

@Luc Aldret is busier than normal as you make your way through the market streets. From flower girl to apple vendor to a sweet little girl you slip past countless people. As you move through the crowd you catch a small number of people who stop and recognize you, each stopping with a big smile and wave directed towards you over a mass of moving heads. It seems that even in a crowd you manage to attract the attention of others. You finally escape the crowd of people in the market area and walk openly in the middle of the street as you make your way out of town. As you approach the edge of town with the note in your hand, you turn and bid the town farewell. As you do a gentle gust of wind blows in your face pushing you out the last few steps and through the gate. You stare blankly back into the city as you think of the 'parting gesture'. A quick chill climbs up your spine and into your chest before it quickly fades, pulling your clothing tighter around you. You too step out onto the open road and off into the sunset as you make your way from one town to another. (The rose you bought doesn't wilt like it should. It stays fresh and is very pleasant to smell, it gives you a +2 on Cha based checks)

@Wenric the rain rolls off your cloak as you carry your belongings out of your shack and into the street. You leave your little shack with little concern for the town and its people, all except Tinnen. You leave a small bag of coins that you had been saving up to show your appreciation for all he has done to keep you alive and well. Your time on the road is rather quiet, especially at night. By your third night into traveling you are worn out and fall into a deep sleep. In your sleep you return to that moment in your life where you parents were taken from you. Above you stands the 'Golden Man', one hand rests on your shoulder while the other hovers over your waist. You feel a sudden warming sensation where his hand is. It grows in intensity until it becomes painful and you wake from your dream sitting up. The pain does not fade. You reach into a small pocket and pull out a small golden coin that is glowing red, exposed to the nights sky it cools and you can pick it up again. You pocket the coin and hold onto it as you drift back to sleep. (OOC: The purpose of the coin is not yet clear, but you definitely feel like you shouldn't lose it)

@Thurbrek As you say your goodbyes to your cousin Grom comes through the door with something pinned under his arms. Panting he leans over "Uh Mr...er Thurbrek, Dandre also wanted ya to have this." He hands you a large portion of cloth that covers a 10x8" square. "Dandre and myself have no doubt that you'll return home. With new brews and stories. Make us proud!" He nods to the cloth as you uncover the somewhat heavy object and uncover it you see a small tavern sign (which you can also choose to name or keep it as the Gassy Gnoll). The dark wood is smooth to the touch and polished. "We thought ya should have something from home to take with you. Dandre also said it'll help ya rest better" With one last smile and friendly nod your way he makes his way out the front door. You take in the Gassy Gnoll one last time and step out the same door and start your journey toward the town of Seive. (OOC: The small tavern sign helps those nearby achieve better rest. The time required for a long rest is reduced by 2 hrs. Making it 6hrs of rest instead of 8)

The journey to the small farming town of Seive varies for each of you. For some it takes a few days and for others its almost a week. As you approach the small farming community you notice a good amount of family farms that dot the countryside. Their fields are choking with plants in full bloom. A few open fields hold small herds of goats, sheep, cattle, or pigs and small throngs of kids wander openly in the town and its fields. Still hundreds of feet outside the center of town you begin to hear the clamor of small town life, even spotting other travelers who are gathering outside. People are either hard at work or visiting with one other. Many of the buildings look old, very worn, and weathered. Large strips of missing paint can be seen on most of the buildings, the exposed wood has lost the once bright luster and is now replaced with a dingy, faded grey color. Nearly the entire town looks like this way except for a single two story building with a coat of fresh paint. This building supports a new sign that reads "Rustic Son Inn and Tavern", the building itself is either new or recently refurbished. As you walk down the main street you notice on either side the many tight alleyways that line the road, leading off to the homes of Seive. You stop in the middle the road right in front of the only well you can see. Behind that well is another two story building, in a somewhat similar condition as the majority of the town. This building is in a slightly better condition with fancier amendments. Up the steps and on the porch is a large window set to the right of a large set of dark brown double doors. A wooden plaque rests at eye level to the left of the door, it reads "Mayor Dalton Surgeth"

@Xadania You knock as you push past the door and enter into the mayors home. From the kitchen you hear a woman's voice "Just a minute". You wait a few seconds as you hear metal utensils being set down and the loud crash of cooking pots. "Damn it! There goes his lunch!" You see a thin and 'small' young woman approach towards you. Her light brown hair is pulled back and tied up in a bun, most of her face is covered in brownish-red freckles. Wiping her hands on her already food stained apron she extends her hand. "Hey there, names Jules. If you are looking for Dalton he is up in his study, is there anything I can help you with?

@Hungry Hao As you sit at the bar a stout woman with red hair takes your order and shortly after serves you your food and drink. As she turns to go back into the kitchen you get a full view of her and realize she isn't the prettiest woman you've seen, but that's mostly due to a large birth mark that covers most of her right cheek (from her earlobe to corner of her mouth). The few patrons that are in the tavern have gone back to talking among their own again. From the bar you don't hear of anything of importance really, just farmers or ranchers talking about this years harvest or herd. Maril comes back to the counter and wipes it down in a few spots "Do ya need anythin' else dear?"

@Wenric As you close the door behind you and make your way to a table you see a heavy-set woman talking to a strange man sitting at the bar. A filthy man with a bald head and strange facial hair sits with his back to you, currently giving his order to a heavy-set woman with red hair and a large birthmark. You pull out a chair and sit down, as you do you look to your right where the bar is and raise your hand letting her know you are ready to be served. "Be right with ya!" she nods your direction and then turns, walking back into the kitchen.

@Luc As you set the stage for your performance with a pair of loud stomps and claps you see that some of the people in the streets look to you for a moment. You begin your performance and hit every note and timed movement without a hitch. Things are going great until you bow and look up. Those who are still watching give you an uneasy look and then clap slightly. Out of sympathy. Most of those who were watching have moved on about their day and are now ignoring you. You even hear one or two of them mutter something about 'strange travelers' or 'disturbing the peace'. You get the feeling that no one really appreciated your performance. But you dust yourself off anyways, knowing there is always next time!

@Thurbrek As you walk into town you notice a single man standing by the well who looks kind of frustrated. Not paying much attention to him you walk into the Rustic Son. Shutting the door behind you see a heavy set woman delivering a tray of food and drink. She looks to you "I'll be with you a in a sec! Sure are a lot of strangers coming in today" She points to numerous open tables to your left and a bar to the right "Any spot is fine"

@Hungry Hao "You'll want to talk to Dalton, he's the local mayor and can put you in contact with her" She slaps the counter twice with her hand and reaches under. You hear some bottles hitting one another before she pulls one out and fills your drink.

@Xadania "That's house Hedrick, and unfortunately no Lady Isabelle and her brother do not live here. Let me go speak with Dalton and I'll be back in a second." She squeezes by you and up the stairs to your right. Bounding quickly up the stairs Jules makes her way to Dalton's study. You here the two of them exchange words and Jules is on the move quickly after. "Miss Xadania, Dalton suggests that you gather all who are here for the 'letter' and bring them back. Once everyone is here he'll talk with you." Jules pauses halfway down and smiles at you. "Sorry for the inconvenience" She walks the rest of the way down the stairs and opens the door for you and nods one last time.

@Wenric The red-haired lady finishes pouring the drink for the man at the bar and then comes over to your table. "My names Maril, what can I get for ya?" Maril pauses with an eye brow raised, awaiting your order and name.

@Luc You enter the Rustic Son. The layout is fairly simple and common an open room plan to your left and the bar and kitchen area to your right. You see a bald man with strange facial hair sitting at the bar, a woman serving a Halfling at a table of his own, and a dwarf sitting near the hearth.

@Thurbrek You walk into the tavern and quickly find your place near the hearth. Maril the owner comes and takes your order, delivering your drink with little delay. With your drink in hand you swirl its contents around and around inside the mug. Deep in contemplation of your next brew. You hear two new figures enter the tavern, a Halfling who sits not far from you and is quickly served and a rather flamboyant man.

"The mayor is't?" Hao chugs down half the bottle, liquor spills out the side of his mouth and spatters the front of his filthy finery. He slams the bottle down, belches like an avalanche, "Well then. Guess I better git me manners on." He laughs at his own joke, much to loudly.

Hao stands up shakily from the bar and weaves his way to the door. If nobody interferes with him, he makes straight for the mayor's house. As he passes the flamboyant man in the doorway, he brushes unnecessarily close past him and gives him a broad, lascivious grin while doing so.

He took the bottle with him...

You all see a woman enter the tavern. As she closes the door behind her you see her muddy brown hair flow over her shoulders. The copper tone skin is quickly overwhelmed by a set of intense greenish-brown eyes. As she scans the room before stepping from the door her worn suit of scale male shifts with some noise, with her mace and shield stowed away she still manages to looks fairly capable.

As you are all introducing yourselves and talking to one another Maril goes from person to person, finally making her way to a group of give men. Sitting near the hearth opposite of where Thrubrek sat. At first they had turned their attention to you all, but now they are returning their attention back to their group and small talk.

To speed things up a little if you like, otherwise keep posting like you are.

You all have your celebratory drinks and head over to the Mayor's house. Xadania knocks twice as you all enter behind her. "Be with you in a moment!". A few heartbeats later you see a thin, five and a half foot tall teenage girl leave the kitchen and walk down the hallway towards you. She is carrying a tray of what looks like hot tea and several cups. "Oh good! You brought everyone, go ahead and gather in the dining room Dalton will be down in a moment." She leads you down the hallway and into a room on the left, near the kitchen. She motions for you all to enter with her head, once everyone is seated she puts down the tray. "Feel free to grab some tea while you wait. I'll make sure he knows your here." The girl disappears back into the hallway and you can hear footsteps going up to the second floor. Shortly after her footsteps are followed by another pair, these sound heavier than her usual light steps. A wooden knock follows the heavier of the two. Down the stairs and hallway they come. Jules steps into the room ahead of an old chubby man with a slight hobble and walking cane. A small pair of square glasses sit at the end of his nose. His thinning hair is spread chaotically across his head and shiny silver stubble blankets his face. Noticing Xadania in the room he takes an age marked hand and runs it across his scalp in attempt to 'smoothen' his hair. With the glasses still on his nose he tilts his head back and eyeballs you all one at a time, pausing on Xadania before smiling. He finally pushes his glasses up and lowers his head before greeting you. "Oh good! You mus be the nex group, I am Mayor Dalton Surgeth. Lady Hedrick has put me in charge of this lovely farmin' town and you are? He extends his hand to Luc first and then makes his way around the room.

@Luc & Thurbrek The mayor nods to each of you as you introduce your self. You can see the excitement in his movements and mood. Aye, we use some of it to brew. But it would be a shame to use it all for ale my friend! He smiles and turns towards the rest of the group.

@Xadania He gives you a strong handshake and shakes his head in approval. "This'll do fine miss" he moves to the head of the table and sits down. Dalton takes his glasses off and lays them on the table, he rubs his hands over his face. A serious heavy mood sets over his normal happy go lucky attitude. "I'm sorry to say we've been having trouble for some time now" He looks to each of you and lets out a sigh. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a note "I'm also afraid to say you're not the first group to come through here. Seems there is quite a bit going on round here and we need all the help we can get." He opens the note and starts reading "I've been told that a young boy has gone missing and that he hasn't been seen for a couple of days now. Laura his mother works at the general goods store, and his father Byron works at the flour mill. Maril also says a patron of hers hasn't returned to pay his tab. If you can do this we can discuss things further." He folds the note up and places it back into his pants, you can tell these issues are wearing on him.

Dalton pushes himself further back into his chair after Hao's display. "Of course you'll be paid, we don't expect charity out of strangers. You've seen our town, yes? We don't have the problems that plague the much larger cities of the world, like us our problems are smaller and humble in nature." He pushes his chair back and stands briskly, his tone changes to a more stern and serious nature "so will you help us or not?". You see him settle a little after his outburst, he comes around the back of the chair and pushes it back in under the table. "All we ask is that you start with finding the boy Logan, then look for the missing patron that Maril mention. He was a traveler much like yourself." He heads towards the doorway out of the room and stops slightly turning to face you. "There is also a chance Lord Hedrick will show up tomorrow. You may want to start sooner than later." He then hobbles out into the hallway and up the stairs to his study.

Everyone roll a perception check. Also just for note keeping for me its early afternoon.

Hao attempts to glare at Wenric, but it just won't hold. His lips twist into a smile and he appears to be holding back chuffs of laughter.

Dalton leaves the room and now it is just the five of you there.

@Wenric you notice Dalton rolls his eyes at the mention of Lord Hedrick.

I will work on scanning and uploading the town map sometime tonight.

After stepping outside and into the street you look around briefly, looking for the tell-tale sign of the mill. It takes you about a minute but you notice it off in the fields. You hang a left and go down the small country road towards the mill. It takes you about ten to fifteen minutes to walk to the mill from the mayors house, besides the small town everything else seems rather spread out. When you approach the mill an average height man with light brown hair to his shoulders comes running out wiping his hands on his dusty and dirty field pants. "Did Dalton send you? Are you here to help find my boy?" anticipation builds in his voice as he sees your group coming closer. "Logan was always an explorer, he'd wander the fields around the town. We told him to stay close but he never listened. He always had to know what was out there. We should have been more strict with him, its our fault." Byron starts to get choked up talking about his boy. He turns away for a few seconds as his emotions get the best of him, eventually calming he turns back to you all and wipes his green eyes clear. "Whatever you need, speak it and I will help all that I can."

@To the group at the mill: Byron nods and smiles, glad to see that Dalton and the rest of you are taking this serious. "I cannot thank you enough, please if you have any other questions let me or my wife know. He loved exploring the fields around town, there is a small gopher colony he loved pestering just a few minutes outside of the town." He points off in direction opposite of the mill (about NW of the town), "Please, find our boy. We miss him!". Byron shakes all of your hands with a hopeful smile before returning to his work. (OOC: Any other questions feel free to ask)

@The Tavern: As you enter again into the Rustic Son Maril looks up from the counter and smiles. "You again eh? What'll it be?". The place in for the most part empty besides a small group of middle aged farmers taking a lunch break. They all look to you as you enter and then return to their meals and drinks.

@Hao Maril returns the charming smile, "Ah yes the dwarf! He said he was a traveler much like yourself. Said somethin about searching for an old tomb nearby. Apparently there was another family of Dwarves that had decided to make there livin on the surface as well. He paid for the first few nights of his room but I haven't seen him since." She leans in towards you slightly "The damned dwarf owes me twenty gold, and I'd like to see it paid. He took off a few nights back, if you find him bring him back to me." Maril winks at you before she goes back to her business within the tavern.

"Sure thing sweety, ask any of the kids around here. They'll tell ya all about 'em. Hes barely four feet tall and has dirty blonde hair with freckles. You'll know its him if he has a scar that runs across the back of his hand.

@Hungry Hao as you ask around everyone gives you the same answer. "I don't know, must be something the dwarf had knowledge of."

You all begin tracking down the clues to the current problems that have settled upon Seive. After talking to the parents of Logan you uncover the last location he was seen, wandering the fields somewhere NW of the town. The missing Dwarf and the tomb that he was looking for however a little harder to uncover information about. The last time anyone saw him was the same night that Logan went missing, so about 2 nights ago.

This is difficult to do, as Hao is making a habit of standing just a little too close to Luc almost all the time...