Re: Adventure #6 - The Lion of Vilderoy

[Swifthand]

"While you do that, I will go see what is going on below."  Talmut will go investigate the basement activities.

[Malazek]

Elodie ... shrinks down to a foot shorter than her current height and weaves through the crowd, making her way to the front, directly in front of the bartender. Once she is in prime position, she will begin to grow...and grow, and grow, until she's several inches taller than the people around her. She then attempts to get the attention of the barkeep.

"Excuse me, miss...I'm interested in securing four private rooms, and some food and drink for my friends. Two pitches, four meat pies, and a generous plate of bread and cheese to start, please?" Elodie hands her three gold pieces.

When "Little Elodie" scurries across the floor, you hear a collective gasp from the crowd. Several patrons jump back, trying not to step on her. When she alter grows to enormous heights, you hear the following muttered among the motley mob of voices ...

"It's a Spriggan!"
"No, it's not!"
"Spriggans are much uglier!"
"You ever seen one?"
"It's a Spriggan, I tell ya!"
"No, it's a witch!"
"A druid, likely."
"Or a wizard!"
"One of them sorcerers from Sturmgard?"
"No, she looks Kelban."
"Ain't Spriggans from Kelbany?"

Finally, the dark-haired woman behind the bar takes Elodie's money and hands her a tray full of food and drink.

Talmut will go investigate the basement activities.

Talmut slips through the crowd to the stairs leading under the tavern. Squeezing past the ne'er-do-wells loitering on the stairs, he makes his way to the basement. Once there, he finds himself in a dimly-lit and smoke-filled cellar. Although the basement is less crowded than the main floor, there's still quite the gathering down here ... and most of the crowd is smoking. Talmut catches a whiff of something other than common pipe-weed.

At the far end of the basement, past most of the crowd, he sees a group of people standing in a circle. For a moment, he witnesses money changing hands ... but then, all of sudden, the trading ends and the crowd erupts into cheers. Talmut quickly surmises that a fight is happening of some sort.

Between him and the fight, pushed up against the right wall, there is a merchant stall (strange place for one, considering it's in a basement). The merchant working the stall seems to be selling an assortment of unusual herbal and alchemical substances.

To his left, there is a door with a much brighter light pouring from it. Peeking through the door way, he spots a large man giving a tattoo to another smaller man. The larger man is covered in tattoos, but the smaller man is getting his first one. There are also three other people standing at the back of the parlor, all of whom have fresh tattoos that are identical to the one being created right now. The four of them must belong to the same group or organization (or adventuring group).

[Glitz]

OOC: Does Elodie know what "Spriggans" are?

Knowledge (Nature): 35 (nat 20 + 15)

[Malazek]

OOC: Does Elodie know what "Spriggans" are?
Knowledge (Nature): 35 (nat 20 + 15)

Elodie knows what a Spriggan is. It's a type of fey creature that is normally very small but can grow to the size of a giant. Some of the myths claim they are ugly or disfigured, but some legends say they look similar to Dwarves.

[Glitz]

"Giant" Elodie swaggers back across the room with the food and drinks, 'accidentally' stomping on the toes of anyone who may have implied that she was an ugly Spriggan. "Who's thirsty?" she asks as she perches the goods on a table, offering a glass to Gumphrey. She returns to her normal size and looks around. "Where did Talmut go?"

[Alpha Omega]

Jeremiah will also give the stable hand three silver to watch over his mount.

Laughingly... "I expect him to be well fed and looked after upon my return."

Upon entering the Inn, as Elodie heads to the barkeep and Talmut to the basement, Jeremiah will thoroughly look over the patrons in the Inn for any familiar, or, unfriendly faces. He will also keep his coin purse tucked into the front of his trousers in hopes to alert him to thieves trying to steal from him. 

Perception +22

[Malazek]

Jeremiah will thoroughly look over the patrons in the Inn for any familiar, or, unfriendly faces. He will also keep his coin purse tucked into the front of his trousers in hopes to alert him to thieves trying to steal from him. 
- Perception +22

Studying the other faces, Jeremiah does not recognize anyone. A few of the other patrons seem unfriendly in general, but not particularly unfriendly toward you. He does notice a couple of rapscallions eye-balling Elodie's pouches, while her hands are full. One of them notices you watching them and taps the other. They decide to choose an easier mark.

"Who's thirsty?" she asks as she perches the goods on a table, offering a glass to Gumphrey. She returns to her normal size and looks around. "Where did Talmut go?"

"Thanks Elodie!" Gumphrey says. "Oh, he went downstairs, over there. Should I go check on him?"

[Alpha Omega]

Jeremiah will grab a drink.


"Next round is on me."

[Glitz]

"Should I go check on him?"

"Maybe after a few minutes...if he still isn't back...we can go look for him together."

"Next round is on me."

"Thanks, Jeremiah!" 

Elodie grabs a drink and downs it quickly, before starting on her dinner.

[Swifthand]

Talmut will rejoin the others and take a pull from his ale, nodding thanks at Elodie as he does so.

"Narcotics and bloodsport await below, if that is your pleasure.  It seems we have found a hive of wretched scum and villany, indeed."  Talmut frowns disapprovingly when describing the sights below.

"Oh, but there is a tatoo artist.  He even looked pretty good at his art."

[Malazek]

Gumphrey washes down a bite of his meat pie with a swig of ale. "Fighting and drugs? Hmm. That doesn't sound like a safe combination, but maybe I should go look around and see what's it all about?" He shoves another bite into his mouth as he stands, "I won't be long."

If nobody stops him, he heads to the stairs and disappears into the basement.

[Alpha Omega]

Jeremiah will finish his food then look to acquiring some company and a room for the night.

"Well, it's been a long ride. I'm going to get a room and some companionship for the night. If you need anything just let me know, otherwise I'll see you in the morning."

[Glitz]

Elodie follows Gumphrey. "I want a tattoo. Anyone else? We could match...'Band of Four' or something like that..."

[Malazek]

"Team tattoos?" Gumphrey says, as Elodie catches him at the top of the stairs (and as Jeremiah heads toward the rooms). "We could do that. Talmut? Jeremiah? Jeremiah! Come back! What about matching tattoos?"

[Alpha Omega]

"Maybe in the morning, I'm done for the night."

[Glitz]

"Well, maybe it's just us, Gumphrey. Or maybe Talmut will join us. We should each get something that's special to us!" Elodie charges down the stairs, looking for the tattoo artist.

[Malazek]

"Oh, right. What should we get? Like the flag of Umbrafall? Or maybe like four horsemen? What do you think?"

[Glitz]

"Well, since it's just the two of us, maybe we don't have to get matching ones. It might be kind of silly if only half of the Band of Four had 'Band of Four' tattoos, right? So...I think I might get a leaf. Or several leaves. Roots. Flowers. I don't know, something forest-y. You could get...an open lock? Your initials?" 

[Alpha Omega]

Jeremiah will pay for a room, companion and a bath. He will then head up to his room and smoke from his pipe while he contemplates the journey ahead of him. A little anxious to see the sort of companionship the Thirsty Haystack has to offer as well. He will ponder how much his life has changed and how he no longer spends as much of his time in the wild, wondering if he likes the lifestyle more or less then his life before the "Band of Four". When the woman arrives he will ask her for a favor...

"My dear, before we head to the bath, do you think you could grab me a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment?"

[Malazek]

"Well, since it's just the two of us, maybe we don't have to get matching ones. It might be kind of silly if only half of the Band of Four had 'Band of Four' tattoos, right? So...I think I might get a leaf. Or several leaves. Roots. Flowers. I don't know, something forest-y. You could get...an open lock? Your initials?" 

"I think I'll still get something to commemorate our success. Joining the Band of Four is the most lucrative decision I've ever made and I consider all of you friends. I even died and came back to life, so I guess you could say it's been life-changing. Maybe I'll get a tattoo of the Arx ... well, specifically of the ziggurat. It has four sides, just like there are four of us. It's also the place where I died, the place where we made all of our riches, the place where we fought giants and won ... Yeah, I think that's what I'll get."

Jeremiah will pay for a room, companion and a bath. He will then head up to his room and smoke from his pipe while he contemplates the journey ahead of him. A little anxious to see the sort of companionship the Thirsty Haystack has to offer as well. He will ponder how much his life has changed and how he no longer spends as much of his time in the wild, wondering if he likes the lifestyle more or less then his life before the "Band of Four". When the woman arrives he will ask her for a favor... "My dear, before we head to the bath, do you think you could grab me a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment?"

Jeremiah has no trouble procuring companionship for the evening. Although the Barman here isn't as helpful as Bavol at the Jolly Toad, he does point Jeremiah toward a specific table in the corner. At that table, Jeremiah finds half a dozen women of ill-repute (though he's sure one of them is a man is disguise). None of them are attractive as the women Jeremiah is used to, but they are also much less expensive (1 silver piece each).

The room is small and cramped, but adequate. The bed is old and lumpy, but still more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. When the bath water comes, its cold. The kitchen boy who brought it tells you they don't offer warm bath water, but he'll do it for an extra silver piece. When Jeremiah asks his companion to get him some writing supplies, she says "Sure, honey, it's your time. Whatever you need," with her palm held out, waiting for more money.

Once she has the extra money, she leaves for an hour and then returns with the requested supplies.

[Swifthand]

After wolfing down his meal, Talmut will join the others downstairs with his mug.  "The Arx?  A splendid idea, Shadow-Man!  Count me in!"

[Glitz]

Elodie cheers and claps Talmut on the shoulder. "Hooray! I knew you wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun, Talmut."

In response to the idea of getting a tattoo of the Arx, she says, "I think that is a wonderful idea for the two of you...but I don't think it's a symbol of my largest contribution to the Band of Four. I think that would be a wolf. Excuse me, sir...are you the artist? Do you think you can put a wolf on my thigh?" 

[Malazek]

Gumphrey interrupts. "Elodie, wait ... Now, that's Talmut's joining us, shouldn't we go ahead and get the team tattoos? (I'm sure Jeremiah will want one in the morning, now that the rest of us have got one). Team tattoos should have something in common. Maybe we could have him include the number 4 somewhere in each one? Like, the actual number. Mister, can you do that?"

The artist answers Elodie first, "A wolf? Ya, I can do a wolf. You want him running? Or just sitting there." Then, he acknowledges Gumphrey's question, "A four? Like the letter? Ya. I can do a four." Looking to Elodie, he asks "Do you want a four behind your wolf? Or in its eye, maybe? ... Or no four? No four?"

[Alpha Omega]

Jeremiah will pay the extra silver for hot bath water. When the woman returns, he will have her assist with his bath. At the end of the night, before he heads to bed, Jeremiah will compose another letter to his father and brother.

[Glitz]

"Yeah, a four. A four in the eye of a sitting wolf, okay? And not on my thigh. How about here, on my arm?" Elodie rolls up her sleeve and exposes her forearm.

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