(IC) A Hard Time in Harrowdale

[Myth and Legend]

Abrielle lowered her bow and fiddle, and turned over her shoulder with a smirk on her face. "Really then master Wizard, care to educate me on the matter?"

[Arkhandus]

Tarven and Merrick head for the guard barracks, reporting in and getting some rest while you all head for the House of Mystra. Eckhart's father Rickard has run ahead to ask for the priests' aid, and now you are approaching the temple.

A few folks smile and clap politely as Abrielle passes by, playing a fine tune on her fiddle.

ooc

I will move things along and dole out rewards shortly, after you've had a bit more time to finish RPing your current conversation. So probably during the weekend, perhaps Monday or Tuesday.

[Scott DeWar]

Originally Posted by Voda Vosa

The calishite had followed the others quietly. Trailing behind the sun elf, he comments shyly. "You say that because you don't know why we humans are so prosperous."

Originally Posted by Myth and Legend

Abrielle lowered her bow and fiddle, and turned over her shoulder with a smirk on her face. "Really then master Wizard, care to educate me on the matter?"

Evenar hears the two talking and can only *SIGH* at their interaction. 'it is truely a wonder any of us survived this ordeal together' thinks the young fighter.

[Voda Vosa]

"I thought a smart elven woman as yourself could have guessed why, although if you insist: The secret of human kin, is that we breed anywhere we go" the wizard says, raising both his eyebrows. "I will not dare to educate you more deeply in those matters. At least not in the middle of the street." the calishite continues, trying to hide a smile.

[Myth and Legend]

Abrielle grinned and answered with a lively voice. "Of course i knew what you meant, but i wanted to make you say it. I was sure this shyness wouldn't last forever." The girl smiled and continued playing her fiddle.

[Scott DeWar]

Evenar blushes.

[Myth and Legend]

Abrielle was having fun with the human boys, which was perhaps the only thing she really wanted out of her life right now. "You know Evenar when i first came to to mainland Faerun I used to work at a drinking hole as a bar wench, before I could prove my skills as an entertainer. I can make a shamrock in your ale's foam. I'm sure Jilbert won't mind if i step behind the counter for a round or two."

Abby talked as she switched the tune to a popular human song that she had learned in Amn. The words were so dirty the Elf dared not sing them in the streets, but most people that had frequented an inn or pub would recognize it.

[Voda Vosa]

"That's an ... interesting tune you are, conveniently, not singing. Pleasure houses along the Lands of intrigue usually perform the same melody. Perhaps you have journey more than you said, or more than one can tell looking at you, my lady." The mage says, as he walks with his waking stick.

[Rhun]

Fayne follows along quietly. All he really wanted at this point was a bath and some sleep. While he had managed to avoid being wounded, he was covered in the dried blood of his enemies, and was quite exhausted from the day's trials.

[Arkhandus]

At the House of Mystra, you find Rickard Chandler dragging a priest out (albeit somewhat politely), and they barely leave the temple before almost running into you. The candlemaker points at the unconscious boy and says "That's my son! Help him, please!"

The same priest you saw earlier in the day approaches and examines the boy's injuries, then utters a brief prayer to Mystra and lays a hand on the teenager's forehead. Magical light flickers around his hand and into the lad, making many bruises fade and cuts scab over.

The youth stirs, and awakens as Evanar sets him down. "W-what?! Where am.....what happened to the dog-men?! Are they gone? Father!" Eckhart rushes over to his father and hugs him, then the older man tells him a bit about what happened. They talk for a few minutes, about the gnoll attack, the loss of their horse and cart, what they'll do now, and so on. The Mystran priest heads back into the temple for now.

Finally, Rickard tells you "Thank you so much for rescuing Eckhart! I wish I could repay your kindness, but I lost everything to the gnolls..... I don't want to be any more of a burden to you, so I'll try to get help from the guards to retrieve what was left behind in my cart. I'll try to convince that boss-lady to reward you for your efforts, as soon as she gets back. Thank you again, and good luck!" He shakes your hands vigorously and then, after Eckhart thanks you all, heads over to the guard barracks.

It takes several days for the Constable and her men to return to Harrowdale Town, and you have some downtime until then. For now, the man in charge at the Gaol and the Barracks gives you each 20 silver pieces, saying that he can't afford to give you much of a reward until the Constable returns and approves it.

ooc

Let me know what your characters will be doing for the next 6 days of downtime before Constable Dawnhorn returns to speak with you and dispense any bounty for the gnolls.

[Myth and Legend]

Abrielle smiled, put the coins away in her purse and messed around some with her wavy red hair. "Well then. I intend to play mu music in the "Golden pare", and maybe even pour some drinks for anyone who wishes to join me. A bit of good fun, before we set off on another adventure, eh?"

[Scott DeWar]

"I'll be back shortley. " says evenar.

He returns to the temple to find out where the father went to, and when he tracks him down, he pulls him to the side (politely) and gives him 10 gp from his own pocket.

"this is a load. someday whenyou have gotten on your feet you can pay me back. Don't tell my uncle, He thinks I am reckless with my money as it is." he then departs with a wave of his hand, returning to the golden pair.

If Uncle Niles is in the Inn still ,he will sit at his uncle's table and listen to the music of the red harieed elf. During the wait peroid he will eat lite and drink lite,

[Rhun]

Fayne will attend Abrielle's performance at the Golden Pare that night. He'll spend the rest of his time in town exploring the place, getting the layout of the town and surrounding area. He'll use the reward to book himself a room at a cheap inn, and pay for what meals and such as it will cover.

[Arkhandus]

Rickard thanks Evandar profusely, speaking platitudes to the young warrior for a few minutes until Evandar finally departs with the others.

Shortly afterward, Evandar finds his Uncle Niles still in town, and speaks with him briefly. Niles pats him on the back and tells him "That's a good lad. Just don't let too many folks take advantage of ya while yer on yer own, or it'll get ya into trouble, alright?"

Fayne and Evandar spend their initial reward slowly, getting rooms at cheap inns for the next 5 days. This costs each of them 10 silver, sleeping in their bedrolls on the common room's floor, near the hearth. They spend 5 silver each on meals of cheap soup, potatoes, and hard bread. They spend the last 5 silver of their initial reward on mugs of cheap, flat beer.

Abrielle plays some tunes at the Golden Pare on each of those five days, and earns enough coin in tips to pay for a small private room each night, as the owner of the place appreciates her entertaining and drawing in some extra customers.

Finally, after five days of idly passing the time in Harrowdale Town, in which there's not much to see since it's still kind of rustic, you receive word that Ellarian Dawnhorn, the Constable, has returned. She arrives late in the afternoon, accompanied by a handful of wounded and weary guardsmen on horseback, not as many as she had brought with her when leaving almost a week ago.

When you head over to the Gaol, she is just finishing a short debriefing with Cristoph, the man she left in charge these past several days. He heads over to the Barracks with the five returning guardsmen.

Ellarian nods at you and says "I see you're back as well. Deputy Cristoph told me you had come by a few days ago, asking for payment. Well, he's confirmed that the chandler's son is back, and is going to see if he and a few of the men can retrieve some of the chandler's goods from the Velarswood so the man might be able to try getting back to business. So what did you find?"

After you explain where you found the gnolls and describe your battle with them, she looks each of you over for a moment. Then Ellarian responds "I suppose I can furnish the bounty I had considered when we last spoke. Maybe when my men return with a report of the scene where you fought the gnolls, I might be willing to offer a bit more coin, if you come by in another week. For now, I'll pay you 28 gold coins apiece. Spend it wisely." She gestures for you to wait in her office, and she heads over to the Barracks, returning with small bags of coin, handing each of you one of the bags.

Then, Ellarian, seeing Abde'ragman's pensive face, addresses him, a soft tone to her voice this time. "Regrettably, Calishite, we didn't find any survivors from your caravan. We did eventually catch up to the bandits, and they were a strange bunch, but after we cornered them they set the wagons and their few prisoners on fire. We were unable to extinguish the flames in time to save the prisoners or your trade goods, and they were lost. We cut down most of the culprits despite their distraction and attempt to escape, but one or two did manage to escape during the battle. At that point, our horses were too weary to continue the chase, and we had to return. Several of my men and a few of my horses were lost in the attack as well. They were no ordinary bandits, but professional killers of some sort."

She adds "You should, at least, be able to get by on the reward money from the slain gnolls, until you return home or find other opportunities to earn coin. There may be some opportunities in Harrowdale Town yet, but I am weary, and must catch up on my work here before I rest. Maybe I'll have some helpful information tomorrow."

By this point, Niles has finished his business in Harrowdale Town and set out with his small caravan for his next destination, laden with different trade goods.

OOC

I still need to know what kind of accomodations and meals Abde'ragman is paying for over the 5-night wait. Also, Abrielle still needs to pay for her meals each day, though the 20 silver reward from earlier will cover it if she likes (3 days of good meals, 1 day of common meals, and 1 day of poor meals would use up 19 of that silver). Standard PHB/SRD prices apply for Harrowdale Town's typical inns and taverns, though the one or two nicer inns or taverns in town are a little more expensive.

Let me know here or in the OOC thread if there's anything else your characters intend to purchase with their new reward, and let me know what accomodations and meals they'll get for the next day in town.

XP will be posted in the OOC thread at some other point on Friday, since it's late now and I'm going to sleep. I'll move things along here after the weekend or after everyone has posted again.

[Voda Vosa]

Used to his comfortable home, the calishite didn't think much about accommodations, and rented a private room, consumed good meals, but stayed away from alcohol most of the time. He listened to the elf music every night, with empty minded face, as he plays with his spellbook.
After a few days, when the calishite heard news about Ellarian, his apparently lethargy disappeared and rushed to her meeting.
After hearing the initial words, Abde'Ragman thought that she didn't even found the bandits. But his doubts were dissipated after her second speech.
He nodded sadly "I... I understand. Perhaps you are right, there's no point travelling back to Calisham. Besides father will not be pleased. I thank you for your efforts my lady, and I'm sorry for your lost comrades. I wish I could spare some of these coins with you."

[Rhun]

While the thought of moving on was tempting, Fayne hoped that Ellarion might have some more information on the morrow. His skills lay mostly in dealing death...perhaps the Calishite might pay to help hunt down the killers that had taken his caravan.

Fayne simply wanders the town that night, having a cheap and tasteless meal, and sleeping in a cheap inn, saving as much of his coin as possible.

[Scott DeWar]

Evenar is saddened by the loss of lives of the caimshite and the town guard. He spends the money on the same cheap accomidations as the last 5 days, saving as much as possible to wait for the next week. He spends his days' idle time practicing his sword work and the nights listening to the people during the music from the elvin bard.

He waits to hear more news of the killers movements to perhaps help find the root of the trouble. this must not happen again.

[Myth and Legend]

Abrielle was happy to return to civilization, and quickly rose her spirits up as she resumed playing at the inn. She ate well, although not abundantly as she had to keep her slender figure in tact. The Elf had fun (which was ultimately her main goal in life), and was somewhat surprised that the men she adventured with would jump in a fray for her, but would be shy to talk to her after she finished her performance night after night.

When Elaria Dawnhorn returned, Abby set off to meet her with the others and was dismayed to hear the grim news. Hired assassins meant someone had an agenda and perhaps there was more to Abde'Ragman than met the eye.

Since she was too poor to afford new healing potions, Abby instead replaced the arrows she had fired during the last adventure, and shopped around for a new dress and boots, looking for clothes of higher than average quality.

At some point, the Elf decided to ask around, talk to some of the soldiers from Elaria's group and see what she could find out

Spoiler:

Tell me how much must i deduct from my total gold? The price for the dress and boots included. Gather Information: 5+8=13 for Abby on Elaria's group. Abby will probably try some Gather Information or Diplomacy on Elaria herself to find out more when she gets a chance.

[Arkhandus]

Abde'ragman, Evanar, Abrielle, and Fayne each decide to stick around for the next week, purchasing accomodations for their wait in the hopes of more reward money. Abrielle continues to receive use of a free room thanks to her musical performances, though she spends more than the others on her meals and does some shopping. The Calishite also spends more on food and lodging, simply used to such accomodations.

Abrielle spends a bit of coin on loosening the tongues of some guardsmen and guardswomen, but doesn't learn much. There's nothing very interesting going on in town at the moment when she talks to them, and many were out of town for the past week with Ellarian on the hunt for the Calishite's assailants. She does hear about some shady figures being spotted entering the ruins of Halvan's Keep reecently, though, and nobody in the Town Guard has seen them leave yet, nor do they know what those people are up to.

Finally, after well over a week in town since your little adventure, you return to the Constable's Gaol and meet with Ellarian Dawnhorn again. She looks much the same as before, but less weary. She greets you only with a nod and gestures for you to sit down; there are only a few chairs in the Gaolhouse's office, but at least there are only four of you. Ellarian remains seated, and addresses you after a moment's thought.

"I see you decided to wait around. Typical of your sort, always looking to squeeze more money out of everyone and everything...." She sighs, then adds "Well, I said I might be willing to pay you a bit more, and you're here, so I suppose it's my own fault. Here." The Constable withdraws a few coins from her belt pouch and tosses them on the table for you. 3 gold coins each.

She smirks when some of you show a bit of annoyance at the relatively small sum. "Disappointed? Too bad. While I appreciate your brief service earlier, your kind always expect more pay than guardsmen, and I've lightened my coffers enough for you already. This is the difference between adventurers and guards; we work for the people, you work for gold." There is obvious disdain in her voice when she mentions adventurers.

After just a short pause, she adds in a slightly more business-like tone "You will at least be glad to hear that there IS something else you can do for gold around here, besides hawking wares or working like a Harran. Garret, a local merchant, has recently run into a minor problem, and he's ignored my suggestion that he just reseal his cellar. He recently expanded his storage cellar to accomodate more trade goods, and while his men were digging they apparently dug through a thin wall into some natural cave. Garret first thought to make use of it for extra storage space, but found it was infested with vermin, some of unusual size. Now he wants someone to deal with that problem, and I've already made it clear to him that the Guard won't bother, since he could just seal the wall again to fix the problem. I'm going to order a detail of men to seal the hole in a few days if Garret doesn't take care of it himself, to prevent the pests from spreading. But, if you want to clear out the cave for him, that won't be necessary. Garret pays fairly well, but he has no mercenaries on-hand."

For reference, it is now close to noon on the 9th of Eleint, the Fading.

OOC

I think I may've forgotten to deal with XP and treasure-selling earlier, so I'll check on that in the OOC thread and post there when done.

Evanar and Fayne each spend 21 silver pieces (i.e. 2 gold and 1 silver) on accomodations. Abde'ragman spends 16 gold pieces and 1 silver piece on accomodations. Abrielle spends a total of 9 gold and 6 silver pieces (2 gold and 1 silver on meals, 2 gold on gathering information, 5 silver on good boots, and 5 gold on a nice dress but not especially good fabric or decorations; fine dresses cost 20 gold and exquisite dresses cost 75 gold in the Arms & Equipment Guide, but those are generally noble/royal sorts of high-quality apparel. If Abrielle wants such a dress, she can find a 'fine dress' in Harrowdale Town for 20 gold instead of the nice one for 5 gold, but that's the best available here.).

[Arkhandus]

Selua, the peculiar but beautiful wood elven priestess, tells the group on the night following Ellarian's first payment "I believe Sehanine is calling me elsewhere. I will follow Her guidance as always..... Good luck, everyone, and farewell." The quiet elf bows slightly in respect and then departs that night, leaving Harrowdale Town. This happens about a week before your new meeting with Ellarian.

Storn Horn, the dwarven battlerager, departs with Niles' caravan as soon as he gets his 28 gold from Ellarian. He first tells Evanar "Sorry friend, but Niles still needs meh protec'shun on the road fer now. See ya later."

OOC: Kept thinking I had already taken care of this.