4 Neth 4709, (9:02:27)
General Store Backalley, Kassen, Nirmathas
It doesn’t take long before the mayor bursts out the back door of the store, his momentum causing him to slide a bit and almost toppling him. He’s clearly excited, and seeing you seems to magnify his enthusiasm even more.
[sblock=Mayor Uptal]
Mayor Jonark Uptal (NG male human aristocrat 3): Every 4 years the town of Kassen holds an election to decide the next mayor, a position that Uptal has held for over 11 years. With another election coming up in just a few months, Uptal wants to ensure that this year’s Quest for the Everflame happens without a problem. Mayor Uptal is a fair man when it comes to his office, settling land disputes and other quibbles among the townsfolk on a regular basis. When it comes to outsiders, he is a bit more cautious, siding with the locals unless faced with irrefutable evidence.[/sblock]
You all know the mayor well enough, some more so than others, and you’ve found that he is every bit the small town politician– beaming, opinionated, and boisterous bordering on pomposity. He is not the cleverest person around, but he is wise enough to seek and follow the counsel of those who are. He’s dismissive of most people that aren’t adult, male, humans. While he can be comfortable around women, children, and other races in the proper setting, and is more than capable of pandering to them, his view on them, especially small races such as halflings and gnomes, is a trivial, narrow-minded one. It is not that the mayor intends to be prejudiced, but like many simple, isolated, people, that is just the nature of things. Despite all of his flaws, Mayor Uptal is not evil or selfish. His alignment is neutral good, and he displays sympathy and compassion towards others more often than not.
He greets you each in turn, bending over to very briefly shake the hands of Gamble, Snaggle, and Lissa without quite looking you in the eye, and causing Nyra to emit a low feline growl. When he reaches Joseph, however, he lingers for quite some time with a warm, strong, two-handed grip, looking directly into the face of the human with an ever widening smile. Having welcomed you each (with a clear bias towards the non-demihuman), Uptal steps back to address you, motioning the two woodcutters behind him so he can draw himself up into his full campaigning mode.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome. Today is a big day, a big day indeed. You must all be very excited. I trust that you each were able to meet with your mentors? Anyways, I’m glad for the chance to speak with you before the ceremony today, as I’m a very busy man.” He puts out his bottom lip in deep frown as he nods his head, trying to give the impression of authority and deep importance, before returning to his campaign grin. “To make certain you are ready for the Quest of the Everflame, there are a few things I need to tell you.
“We want today’s ceremony to begin precisely at noon, and we have something special planned, so you’ll be sequestered in the town watch building until that time.” It’s at this point the mayor notices Joseph’s heavy backpack, which causes his voice to falter and his smile to dip a bit. “Also your mentors may have forgotten to mention that the town would like to supply you for the quest. For, uh, certain reasons, uh… actually Ekat Kassen himself left for the crypt supplied just so, and we want the ceremony to honor that.” He builds confidence towards the end of his sentence, firmly motioning one of the woodcutters forward, “Joseph, I trust you won’t mind if Ty here takes your pack over to your father’s until you return?”
While Ty glances warily at Joseph, looking for consent before making a move, the mayor continues in a deep, grave, and ceremonial voice, perhaps too much so, “Your quest will be a perilous one. More than once, a questor has died during the journey to recover the flame. Some of you may not return from this one.” He looks in particular at the kobold, before turning his gaze on each potential adventurer in turn, “Are you all absolutely certain you wish to participate?” He looks again to the kobold.
[sblock=DC 20 Sense Motive (Hunch)]Mayor Uptal is really overworking this. You get a sense that he sees you all as children, and this is a ghost story he is pressing pretty hard on you. He's looking for you to treat this event even more solemnly and seriously than it already is. The tone and demeanor he is giving off also tells you that it is not impossible that the mayor has something up his sleeve to give the quest more weight than it has had in years past. Finally, it is readily apparent that, though the Mayor is willing to tolerate the halfling and gnome, he is not pleased with the developments that led to Snaggle being included. He would not be unhappy if the kobold decided to drop out altogether.[/sblock]
[sblock=DC 10 Knowledge (Local)]You are pretty certain no one has ever been killed during a quest. Injured, maybe, and even that would be unusual.[/sblock]
[sblock=DC 12 Knowledge (Local), Trained Only]The mayor's speech sparks Gamble's memory. You remember that a group of townsfolk left Kassen a few days ago, heading south into the woods along the route you'll be taking later today. You thought nothing of it when you heard of it before, but between Jocyn and Holgast's conversation, what the two woodcutters were saying when you walked up, and the mayor's peculiar enthusiasm, Gamble is beginning to piece together what is happening.[/sblock]
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OOC:
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Note that the second knowledge check is trained only, so only Gamble may attempt it (through bardic knowledge). In cases like these, only one check is made anyways, and it is then compared to all of the DCs. In this case, if Gamble rolls 12 or higher, I’ll add the results for both of the DCs.
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