RC Tyrot: Northward

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There are few trees or bushes, but just enough to hide in, although Melvin can't hide since he's in plain sight.

 

Melvin looked about the tree, there wasn't really enough here to trail them. Not enough to hide in either. The other party was closing in, so Melvin just shrugged.

Suddenly, he walked forward slightly, fell over and hit his head on a rock. Lying very still, Melvin slowly appeared to slip into unconciousness as the party behind came closer. Melvin angled his head slightly, and winked at Yrinnyn.

[Bluff]

 

The leader of the band stifles a snicker, while a few of the other men scratch their heads, not sure why the halfling intentionally fell on his head.

 

As Melvin falls down, Cugaer sighs.
Whispering to Tanari he says "That halfling's going to get himself killed!"

 

Yrinnyn touches his forehead with his fingers, as though worrying about Melvin (the men aren't really good citizens, although they don't seem to be planning anything particularly nasty, not that they aren't capable of it). 'One day you're going to kill yourself before you even notice.'

 

Crawling up into a sitting position, Melvin replied with a sly wink, "I know, but what can a halfling do, eh?".

Brushing dust off of his leathers, he coughed quietly. "Perhaps we should move, Yri?"

With that, he half-hobbled back up towards Tanari, Cugaer and Ratchett some way ahead.

 

"Sometimes more than giants can." Yrinnyn smiles. Soon, though, he resumes his usual face expression.

 

"Indeed" Tanari says to Cugaer, and turns to Melvin as he comes up to them.
"You ok there?" he asks concerned, looking at the partially muddy Melvin (I'd assume if it's raining).

 

"Hmph, I'm fine thanks, thought this mud isn't going to do anything but tarnish by striking looks." He wiped some of it away, then shook his hand to get rid of it.
"It seems that they're not exactly the kindest of people, but Yrinnyn thinks they're only walking this road, not nessecarily following us."

 

"Just like an average orc, or gnoll. You never know, but there are greater evils."

 

"So I suggest we beware... just incase." Notes Melvin, bringin his hand to rest on the hilt of his fine dagger.

 

The party decided to continue directly northward, straight north from the river they passed, trusting on their own sense of intuition to guide them. Without warning, the band of men following the party decided to leave, heading north.

As the party continued northward, the trees and bushes became less sparse, and the scenery continued into a light forest. The party stumbled onto a pair of worgs. Yrinnyn charged ahead, but couldn't reach them due to his bulky armor. The two worgs then circled him; the first one scored a confirmed critical, crushing the paladin's neck, and the second followed, bringing Yrinnyn down. Melvin and Cugaer fired missiles at the worgs, but to little effect. Tanari cast a Sleep spell on them, however, and one of the worgs went down, snoozing. The other worg attacked the party directly, but they dispatched it quickly.

Cugaer cast a Cure Moderate Wounds on Yrinnyn, pulling him a step back from death, and the paladin then laid hands upon himself.

Tanari raised his sword, deciding to kill the slumbering worg, but instead decided to leave it alive. Melvin protested, but the party left the worg unharrassed, and Cugaer healed the other worg's wounds, leaving it stabilized. A bad mistake, as it turned out, when the asleep worg woke up, and attacked the party. However, the party once again felled it, this time with lethal force. They noticed some worg paw-prints, but decided not to track them.

After the encounter with the worgs, the party continued, and met a fork in the rough dirt trail. Two crude signs pointed to across the roads, one reading, "Ulrot", and the other reading "Wittkopf". Melvin flipped a coin, and the party decided to head to Wittkopf, as they couldn't determine the exact direction.

Another bad choice, it seemed, as the party met up with another pair of worgs. Again, Tanari used his magic to subdue one of the worgs, forcing it into gales of uncontrollable laughter. The party then surrounded the worgs, and quickly took them down. Again, they noticed some worg paw-prints, but ignored them.

Darkness fell, and the party decided to push on a little bit, despite their tiredness. Luckily, they met upon Wittkopf, a small hamlet, marked by one prominent feature: a rather large and apparently wealthy house in the center of the town. The party went into the inn, and Cugaer had the stable-boy take care of his horse, paying him a gold piece. Yrinnyn asked the boy who was the lord of the town, and he replied that a mayor - or "mayoress" more or less ran it, not a lord.

Everyone receives 450 XP for defeating the worgs, and another 45 for okay roleplaying.

Everyone's hit points, IIRC:
-Tanari: 9/15 (and 1 subdual, due to forced march)
-Melvin: 14/14
-Yrinnyn: 20/28 (1 subdual)
-Ratchett: 18/18 (1 subudal)
-Cugaer: 31/31

(NPC Ratchett used up a potion of Cure Light Wounds and one bolt; NPC Tanari used up a Tasha's Hideous Laughter and two arrows.)

 

After politly greeting the inn keeper Cugaer asks about rooms for the night;

"We need five rooms if that is okay with you, good sir. Also breakfast and directions. We've been heading towards the city of Mersharr for days now, and we think we might have got slightly lost. Do you think you could point us in the right direction again?"

 

"Ah, yes, we don't got much of a rooms here, but ye kin help ye'self to a blanket an' a pillow an' a place by the hearth. Ten silvers, of course. Wouldja like some dinner fer you all too?

"Now, as fer directions... well, I've never been more than ten miles outside o' Wittkopf my whole life, I'm sorry. Now, mebbe y'can ask some others who kin point you in the right direction. I think I know a few 'uns who've done a bit o' travellin' in their days."

 

Cugaer thinks a while before continuing his questioning.
"You couldn't tell me a bit about this town then sir? About bit about it's history, local gods, and who it is ruled by? That would be greatly appreciated."

 

The innkeeper scratches his chin.

"Well... talk ain't cheap, an' I admit I gots ter keep my family's mouths fed, y'know. Maybe ye'd like ter buy a drink before chattin'?"

 

"Umm, I understand that. Here, let us make a deal then. I'll give you one gold coin for all the information I need. Sound fair?"

 

The innkeeper smiles broadly, taking the gold coin, and sliding across a drink.

"Great! Is there anything specific you ha-. Ah, yes. Let's see... uh, Dharmina lives a few houses away from here; she's the priestess of Mael, aye, an' there be a shrine to the goddess she runs too. But I guess that don't be of much concern to you, being the warrior y'make yerself out to be. There was a temple to that one god, er, I think Brenal, yes, Brenal, that's the one, a dozen or two years ago. 'Tis abandoned now, although Simmon technically owns it. Er, he's the son of the late priest of Brenal.

"Hmm... leaders. Well, there only be one real leader, an' that's Schama. Naow, she be the more or less leader o' this town. She used to be a bit o' an adventurer in her day, an' she made a bit o' money, an' settled down here, aye. She lives in the big house that ye've prob'ly seen."

 

Cugaer spends a while thinking about the information he has just got, before asking his next questions.

"Tell me about this Schama. Is she a good leader? Fair to the people? And why is the temple to Brenal abandoned? Oh, and where can I find this Simmon person?"

 

The innkeeper's voice suddenly turns a bit hushed.

"Schama? Eeh... I'd rather not say. I mean, she ain't no tyrant empress, 'course, but I'd rather not say. Some people, well, are afraid of her.

"Now about that temple of Brenal, well... they say it's haunted, by the spirit of the priest who used to live there, Simmon's granddad.

"I don't know where Simmon exactly lives, but I guess y'could ask someone here."