Roan looks over at Vaga and says “We have clubs, sure, but if you want a loan, you’ll have to leave something of equal value behind as collateral. It’s not to say I don’t trust you, that’s just our policy.” He then turns his attention towards the entrance and mutters “It’s almost time.”
"Well, I might come back then.. later." Vaga replies. He liked carrying a stick or two with him since he found it easier to incapacitate aggressive opponents without killing them using wood. Even though his monastery training was short and ended abruptly, his fists had quickly became hard as steel and it was difficult to not land killing blows sometimes in the heat of battle.
"Next time I pass a tree or a chunk of wood, I'll just borrow a piece of wood from it and use it as a club." Vaga thought to himself.
Being a man of no worldly possessions, he was done with the S&A and sat down on his knees in a corner, waiting for the rest of the group to finish their browsing and bartering. He closed his eyes and focused on sounds and smells for a while while humming a few mantras to himself.
After a few moments of waiting, a young woman with shoulder-length blond hair bursts into the building. She was dressed in a suit a black leather armor and holding what looks like a note in her hand. “Roan, what do you want?” she asks. Roan smiles at her and says “Ah, and here is your guide, my friends! Miranda, these are the adventurers I had mentioned in my missive. They need a guide to help them find their way along the north road. I knew you would be happy to help, so I figured I would have you do it.” Miranda glares at him and asks “What did I say about volunteering me for jobs? I said ‘don’t do it’, if I remember correctly.” “I know,” Roan answered. “But this is important. It’s about the caravan.”
Miranda relaxes a little as she says “Oh, that. Well, whatever. You still need to stop doing that.” She looks around at the three of you in the building and asks “Well, is everyone here? Best to get this over with as quickly as possible.”
Vaga focuses his intensive stare at Miranda for a while, trying to assess her age, background, class. equipment and other noteworthy points of interest. He remains on his knees in the corner in silence (to everyone else's great delight) for now.
"Well, i thought i will have more time to examine the wares. But fine, let's not waste time." Kaled turns to Miranda: "I'm Kaled, the late comer is Fiora, the angry monk in the corner is Vaga and the ... gentleman with good taste of maces" -Kaled makes everyone to look at Guston, who just reach for a weapon- " is Guston. As i understand you are interested too in our search."
Kaled would like to purchase a short sword, some battle darts and a club for Vaga if he can afford that.
“Oof!” Miranda yelps as she is bowled over by a charging halfling. Upon hearing Kaled’s introduction, she staggers back up, rubbing her backside, and says “Uh, right, I’m Miranda.” She looks back at Fiora as she adds “I guess you’re in a hurry too. We shouldn’t waste more time than necessary. I’d like to get back before too long.”
“Hold on,” Roan interrupted. “This one wants to buy something first.” He walks around the building and finds the items that Kaled wants to buy and says “The sword is 10 gp, the darts are 10 for 1 gp, and a club will cost 1 gp. That’s a total of 12 gp for these items.”
Vaga stands up, faces Kaled and bows subtly as a recognition of the gift. He wait patiently.. (well, not really patiently, but at least he is still waiting, especially now that he has a club purchased for him) for the crew to finish their business so that they can finally get out on the road again.
"Uh... ahem... *cough*..." Guston's scratches his face with near-abandon, revealing his guilt all-too clearly. "How much for this... uh... lovely... mace...? Just wonderfully beautiful craftsmanship, indeed... hehe..."
He fumbles with his pouch and shows the gold coins to the blacksmith in a sort placating peace-offering. Then he holds up his battered wooden mace as evidence. "I just need a new weapon if we're to properly protect this lovely young lady from the threats on the road..." He clumsily tries to continue scratching his face with the mace, but only ends up hitting himself. "That is--OOF!-- if she needs it, which I doubt... she must be capable enough if she is to be our guide..."
Never much of a charmer with the ladies, even when he was the most powerful figure in his small town, he gives Miranda what he believes is a winning smile. The effect, of course, only turns his normally distasteful, sour expression into a gruesome visage.
...and the ... gentleman with good taste of maces" -Kaled makes everyone to look at Guston, who just reach for a weapon- " is Gaston.
"Perhaps the lovely young lady would inform us as to what potential risks we will be facing on the north road?" he says warmly. "It's always best to be prepared!" Puss drips from the newly opened wound caused by the rough impact of the mace.
Before Miranda has a chance to answer, Vaga says in a lecturing voice: "Sometimes you take the road. Sometimes the road takes you." He holds up a singe finger as a tutor teaching young children the danger of playing with fire.
“8 gp,” The blacksmith growls in a deep, low voice as he roughly gestures to Roan, who is looking on with obvious amusement. The party sees that he only has one eye. An eyepatch covers the empty left socket, and a trio of long, jagged scars streak down that side of his face. Roan walks over and takes the money from Guston.
Guston: Diplomacy check: 16-3=13 (failure)
Miranda is completely grossed out by Guston’s attempts to compliment her. “Uh,..” she groans as she looks back at Roan. “You’re covering this as well, right?” she asks him. Roan offers her a sheepish grin, and she rolls her eyes and says to the party “Just keep quiet and try not to startle anything. We won’t have any trouble if you stick to that plan, got it?” She then turns on her heels and walks out of the building.
Do i remember right that we had 30 gp each? I left 10 at the inn, that means i can afford the gear and can buy some supplies for the road too.
Kaled counts 14 gold to Roan. "Give me three set of darts please then. Thanks for the help, we'll see you later." To the others: "I get some supplies with our guide for the road. Let's meet before this building in a few minutes."
Do we left enough gold for hiring some mount? Also, how magic works here? Kaled has prepared a magic missile and a shield spell before, if that's possible.
Outside to Miranda: "Where can we fill up our supplies the faster?"
Vaga goes outside and sits down on the ground, as per his usual routine. He lays his hands gently on his knees and create a tension in his muscles he can unleash at a moments notice. He will wait here until Kaled and Miranda comes back. He's very eager to get going now and can't wait until they are finally leaving Callus and are on their way. His new club is tucked into the rope girdle he has around his waist.
Waddaya say guys, let's summarize Kaled's and Miranda's shopping and let's get going
"Hehe..." says Guston as he hands over 8gp for the mace. "Thanks for the lovely new mace... good friend..."
As Miranda retches and storms out, Guston looks at Fiora. "Was it something I said?" *scratch, scratch*
"Let's get going," Guston says as he exits with his brand new mace. "I'm feeling particularly ready! With my brand new mace, obtained in complete honor and honesty, Chauntea is sure to redeem me now! Maybe I'll even get a spell or two!"
Guston is ready for the next part of the adventure. He has general thieving gear with him, and a few general supplies hidden on his person, such as bandages and old clerical keepsakes and methods of healing.
I also have a question regarding the mechanics of the game. Do we need to worry about food and supplies, mounts and other such? I second @lolien 's question about magic. I realize I've added a little bit of a complication into the mix with my character being sort of a fallen cleric with unreliable spells, but I hope it doesn't make anything more complicated than it needs to be. I just want it to be fun, and I hope so far it is for everyone. I'm enjoying myself very much.
I’m glad you are liking it so far! I’d say you all have enough essential supplies already on you for at least a few more days. I’m making the assumption that you all came here prepared for a long adventure. It also helps keep things moving.
Also, for the sake of not needing a rulebook, I’ll say that the number of spells you can cast per day is equal to your spellcasting stat’s mod. So @lolien can cast 3 of his known spells per day, and @mashedtaters can cast 2.
@nimran I think the narrative is superb so far and I think we all managed to add some great flavor with our characters. Smart to add your own NPC into the mix with Miranda. I'd say, for me it's ok if you as a DM step in, do a summary and move us into the next chapter when you feel like it, example: "After you all were done with shopping, Miranda picked up a couple of horses and you were on you way.. after a day you reach yada yada and see yada yada, what do you do?". If we all are so polite and wait for all of us to interact over and over again in every single scene, then I believe the progress will be a bit too slow. But as said in the other thread, I am new to this so these are only suggestions from my part. Kudos again to @mashedtaters, every post about Guston makes me laugh our loud.
And so the party made their way through town, Miranda rented some horses from the stable, and you all exited the north gate and followed the narrow dirt path northward. For the first three days, the journey was uneventful. There were some wild beasts along the way that were easily avoided due to Miranda’s magic; she would cast Invisibility whenever something violent came close to the party, and you would all get by them without issue.
On the morning of the fourth day, Miranda stops and gestures for you to do the same. She points to the left of the road and says “There. That’s the caravan.” You look to where she’s pointing, and surely enough, there lies the caravan. Two destroyed wagons lie on their sides, and you can’t see anyone around them.
Guston takes a moment to scan the area before proceeding. He’s looking for signs of intelligent life and, though he’s not much of a tracker, is confident he should be able to find some clues as to what happened to the destroyed caravans.
If he can’t notice anything from this distance, he plans on dismounting and sneaking closer for a better inspection. He relays this to his companions, with the promise that he will tell them what he finds.
“This is as good a place as any to redeem myself,” he mutters. He’s not particularly afraid, as he figures whatever raided this caravan must have left days ago. Hopefully his over-confidence doesn’t get the better of him. He’s not much of a fighter, and intends on running like a coward for the halfling girl to protect him at the first sign of danger.
"We should explore the area first. Miranda could make us invisible, Guston and Vaga go right, me and Fiora left. We meet on the opposite side and return for Miranda if everything is all right and examine the wagons. But tell me if one have better plan."
Guston sees no signs of life. However, he does notice no less than seven sets of large, barefoot humanoid footprints heading farther west (left), along with five long skid marks on the ground. It looks as though things, or maybe people, were dragged along with whoever made the footprints.
Perhaps more disconcerting, however, are the deeper tracks that look like they were made by a large insect. These tracks are slightly fresher, and are heading in the same direction.
"Miranda, can you tell how recently this happened?" *A strange look comes over Fiora as she crouches downt to look at the tracks. She looks almost serious*
Guston relays the information back to his companions and says, “Well it looks like we found out what happened to the caravans! Destroyed by some giant creatures and a horrible giant insect of some sort. We’ve done all we can do,” scratch, scratch, scratch.
At a pointed look from Fiora, Guston’s shoulders slump. “...right... well, I guess we probably should look into it a bit deeper... it would only be the thing Chauntea would want, I suppose... who’d ever think that redemption would be so damning...
“I guess I’ll ‘go right’ with the naked dwarf and we can take a closer look... come along, Vaga, and let’s see what we can salvage... perhaps there may be some profit in this after all. We may even be able to find you a decent set of breeches, and maybe even a shirt! I know you like to show off those muscles of yours, but it may be cold where we’re going. I doubt whatever made those tracks would have any use for dwarven- and human-sized clothing.”
Miranda dismounts and studies the tracks. After a short while of looking, she says “Well, I’m no tracker, but I’d say about five or six days ago?” She sounds as though she is asking rather than answering. “However, these weird ones here look like they’ve been made no more than two days ago.” She points to the insectoid tracks. “I’m pretty sure about that. But again, I’m not really a tracker.” With that, she shrugs and looks out towards the direction the tracks lead.
Comments
"Aw, that's what I get for skipping dinner last night.*
*She dashes out of the inn, tossing quick thanks to the staff for the rooms and food*
"Next time I pass a tree or a chunk of wood, I'll just borrow a piece of wood from it and use it as a club." Vaga thought to himself.
Being a man of no worldly possessions, he was done with the S&A and sat down on his knees in a corner, waiting for the rest of the group to finish their browsing and bartering. He closed his eyes and focused on sounds and smells for a while while humming a few mantras to himself.
Miranda relaxes a little as she says “Oh, that. Well, whatever. You still need to stop doing that.” She looks around at the three of you in the building and asks “Well, is everyone here? Best to get this over with as quickly as possible.”
Vaga can’t tell much more about her, except that she looks young.
"Sorry I'm- WAUGH!"
Kaled turns to Miranda:
"I'm Kaled, the late comer is Fiora, the angry monk in the corner is Vaga and the ... gentleman with good taste of maces" -Kaled makes everyone to look at Guston, who just reach for a weapon- " is Guston. As i understand you are interested too in our search."
Kaled would like to purchase a short sword, some battle darts and a club for Vaga if he can afford that.
“Hold on,” Roan interrupted. “This one wants to buy something first.” He walks around the building and finds the items that Kaled wants to buy and says “The sword is 10 gp, the darts are 10 for 1 gp, and a club will cost 1 gp. That’s a total of 12 gp for these items.”
Vaga stands up, faces Kaled and bows subtly as a recognition of the gift. He wait patiently.. (well, not really patiently, but at least he is still waiting, especially now that he has a club purchased for him) for the crew to finish their business so that they can finally get out on the road again.
Vaga looks at Guston with amusement.
He fumbles with his pouch and shows the gold coins to the blacksmith in a sort placating peace-offering. Then he holds up his battered wooden mace as evidence. "I just need a new weapon if we're to properly protect this lovely young lady from the threats on the road..." He clumsily tries to continue scratching his face with the mace, but only ends up hitting himself. "That is--OOF!-- if she needs it, which I doubt... she must be capable enough if she is to be our guide..."
Never much of a charmer with the ladies, even when he was the most powerful figure in his small town, he gives Miranda what he believes is a winning smile. The effect, of course, only turns his normally distasteful, sour expression into a gruesome visage.
"Perhaps the lovely young lady would inform us as to what potential risks we will be facing on the north road?" he says warmly. "It's always best to be prepared!" Puss drips from the newly opened wound caused by the rough impact of the mace.
Miranda is completely grossed out by Guston’s attempts to compliment her. “Uh,..” she groans as she looks back at Roan. “You’re covering this as well, right?” she asks him. Roan offers her a sheepish grin, and she rolls her eyes and says to the party “Just keep quiet and try not to startle anything. We won’t have any trouble if you stick to that plan, got it?” She then turns on her heels and walks out of the building.
Kaled counts 14 gold to Roan. "Give me three set of darts please then. Thanks for the help, we'll see you later."
To the others: "I get some supplies with our guide for the road. Let's meet before this building in a few minutes."
Outside to Miranda: "Where can we fill up our supplies the faster?"
As Miranda retches and storms out, Guston looks at Fiora. "Was it something I said?" *scratch, scratch*
"Let's get going," Guston says as he exits with his brand new mace. "I'm feeling particularly ready! With my brand new mace, obtained in complete honor and honesty, Chauntea is sure to redeem me now! Maybe I'll even get a spell or two!"
I also have a question regarding the mechanics of the game. Do we need to worry about food and supplies, mounts and other such? I second @lolien 's question about magic. I realize I've added a little bit of a complication into the mix with my character being sort of a fallen cleric with unreliable spells, but I hope it doesn't make anything more complicated than it needs to be. I just want it to be fun, and I hope so far it is for everyone. I'm enjoying myself very much.
Also, for the sake of not needing a rulebook, I’ll say that the number of spells you can cast per day is equal to your spellcasting stat’s mod. So @lolien can cast 3 of his known spells per day, and @mashedtaters can cast 2.
As for mounts, they’d cost about 3 gp each.
On the morning of the fourth day, Miranda stops and gestures for you to do the same. She points to the left of the road and says “There. That’s the caravan.” You look to where she’s pointing, and surely enough, there lies the caravan. Two destroyed wagons lie on their sides, and you can’t see anyone around them.
What do you do?
*Fiora flashes a warm smile to demonstrate*
If he can’t notice anything from this distance, he plans on dismounting and sneaking closer for a better inspection. He relays this to his companions, with the promise that he will tell them what he finds.
“This is as good a place as any to redeem myself,” he mutters. He’s not particularly afraid, as he figures whatever raided this caravan must have left days ago. Hopefully his over-confidence doesn’t get the better of him. He’s not much of a fighter, and intends on running like a coward for the halfling girl to protect him at the first sign of danger.
Guston sees no signs of life. However, he does notice no less than seven sets of large, barefoot humanoid footprints heading farther west (left), along with five long skid marks on the ground. It looks as though things, or maybe people, were dragged along with whoever made the footprints.
Perhaps more disconcerting, however, are the deeper tracks that look like they were made by a large insect. These tracks are slightly fresher, and are heading in the same direction.
*A strange look comes over Fiora as she crouches downt to look at the tracks. She looks almost serious*
At a pointed look from Fiora, Guston’s shoulders slump. “...right... well, I guess we probably should look into it a bit deeper... it would only be the thing Chauntea would want, I suppose... who’d ever think that redemption would be so damning...
“I guess I’ll ‘go right’ with the naked dwarf and we can take a closer look... come along, Vaga, and let’s see what we can salvage... perhaps there may be some profit in this after all. We may even be able to find you a decent set of breeches, and maybe even a shirt! I know you like to show off those muscles of yours, but it may be cold where we’re going. I doubt whatever made those tracks would have any use for dwarven- and human-sized clothing.”