Adventure: The Power of Knowledge (DM: Fragsie, Judge: TwoHeadsBarking)

[Fragsie]

Ceryx is drowned out by a sudden deafening cheer that rises from the crowd, young boys and girls are hoisted onto their parent's shoulders (to the dissatisfied grumbles of the people behind them), and the mass of people try to move forward into space that is already full.

The crowd's attention is focused on a smartly dressed older man that has stood up on the deck of the galleon, at this distance it is difficult to make out his appearance properly, except that he is wearing a black suit and top hat and stands with a cane. He raises his hand to calm the cheering public (belying that the cane is nothing but a fashion statement). Once the noise trails off to whispers, the man's voice carries clearly across the docks;
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"I am indeed glad to see you all, and the sight of my home warms my heart.

I will divulge the successes of my visit at the next meeting of the Politica, but for now I will say that I believe my entreaty was a success; relations between Daunton and her long-lost motherland are stronger than ever!

On that note I would like to introduce to you all the person that has brought us the wonderful gifts you see being unloaded from the Siren's Call."

A tall, slender woman stands beside the Ambassador, she is clothed in the most extravagant dress of green, black and purple silks, decorated with feathers, she wears a half-mask headdress that obscures part of her face and increases her height by a foot. Slightly behind and to her side stands a smartly dressed Deva who keeps his head bowed.
"Madame Ormous; an ambassador from the New Allarian League, and my new fiancée!"
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The crowd erupts into cheers and whoops of excitement as Madame Ormous curtseys to them before the couple walk down the gangplank. Once on dry land, the Ambassador and his new bride-to-be meet a small group of guards who help them to move through the public safely toward inner Daunton.

[sblock=Passive Perception 15]The Deva attendant quietly divorces himself from the guarded couple and heads in a different direction; toward your group.[/sblock]
[sblock=hostage]PMSL!![/sblock]

 

[Kalidrev]

Mikara sees the Deva head towards the group and thinks it better to blend into the crowd. Standing behind Skalisss, Mikara seems to evaporate from view. Placing her gaze on the deva, she commands his shadow to begin covering his body... just in case he decided he would start something.

[sblock=Stealth 'n' Such] Mikara, using her Shade Form power, blends into the crowd, becoming hidden from anyone with a passive perception of rolled perception check of less than 28.

As soon as the deva gets within 10 squares of Mikara, she will begin placing her Assassin's shroud on the deva. Because of her feat, Hidden Insight, the deva is NOT aware of the shrouds being placed on him. [/sblock]

 

[garyh]

[sblock=Note to Self]Don't screw with Mikara! [/sblock]

 

[mohalloran]

Seeing the deva head toward the group, Ceryx stands tall and steps towards to oncoming guard.

 

[Fragsie]

With the sudden block in his path, the deva looks up into Ceryx's eyes. A moment of strange recognition passed between the two immortals. Though Ceryx is quite sure that he has never met this deva before; perhaps there is something from a previous life that tells him 'this one is a friend'.

"Oh! Greetings brother," The deva says quietly as his white eyes scan the entire group except Mikara, a little taken aback by the presence of the skull lord; whose three grinning skulls assess the newcomer. "Am I heading in the correct direction to get to the Hanged Man? My Lady has instructed me to learn the way of adventurers here on the Isles, and I am told that is where I should go?"

 

[mohalloran]

"Of course, brother." Ceryx proclaims as he points in the direction of the Hanged Man. "If you just follow the streets in that direction, you're bound to find yourself to the tavern. And if I remember correctly, there is currently someone in the tavern who is looking for adventurers as we speak."

 

[Fragsie]

He bows quickly to you in thanks and continues on down the road that you had come from.

Around you, the crowd is much less tightly knit; instead of everyone trying to see in the same direction, the people now stand in groups talking and gossiping loudly; the main topic being the Ambassador's new fiancée but also you hear remarks about recent scandals in the ambassadors family that he must not of heard about yet. One old woman remarks that Lady Glasston; the Ambassador's mother, has been on a murderous crusade trying to get a load of adventurers hung for spreading rumours about her youngest grandson.

The skull lords looks forlornly at the disorganised mass of people; "It's going to take us forever to get to the other side of this lot!" remarks Ned.
"They remind me of cattle when they act like this, perhaps we should do something to herd them into the TURTLEDOME!?"

 

[Kalidrev]

Mikara appears next to the skull lord and whispers something devious into Ted's dead ears, still remaining out of view of everyone else.

[sblock=Ted]
"I have an idea. I'm sure that you are familiar with my innate drow abilities. The common folk may not be. If I were to cover you in dark-fire, you could scream at the crowd and chase them into the [/sblock]

"TURTLEDOME!" Mikara's eyes widden in surprise at the complete break in her stealth, having never spoken the magically imbued words before. Embarrassed, she slinks back into the crowd, disappearing from view once more.

[sblock=stealth] 28 again, lol. [/sblock]

 

[Tinwe]

so that's where she'd gone...

"Heh heh" He spares a small laugh at the expense of the flirty shadow. "Try to avoid talking about our employers when we get around to sneaking up on minotaurs, would you?"

 

[Fragsie]

All three skull's jaws chatter with laughter filling your ears with the most macabre sound. When the laughter finally subsides Ted addresses the shadows;

"That's not a bad idea baby! If you guys can drive this lot into the arena You'll probably be able to squeeze a bit more reward money out of the boss."
"We got a few potions we could throw your way too if you do a good enough job."

[sblock=OOC]To help pass some time to give our other two party members to be present I'm going to chuck in a little skill challenge for you guys here.
You can post in whatever order you like, feel free to arrange 'aid another' actions or discuss your tactics.
You each get one dice roll per segment.
Over three segments you need 5 successes for a partial victory, 7 or more for a total victory.[/sblock]

Skill Challenge S2: Crowd Corral (lvl 1) DC 18

The party must herd as much of the loitering public into the TURTLEDOME! as they can. The more new customers the party can provide the easier it will be to arrange a handsome reward from Mr. Pinch.

Segment 1: Grab Their Attention
Mental (though other skills can be used if well thought out)

At the moment the huge crowd of Dauntons public seem content to fill the dockside chatting and gossiping with one another. some are still watching the various exotic goods that are being carried from the Siren's Call to one of the warehouses. They are paying no attention to the party though; if you are going to get them into the TURTLEDOME! you are going to have to find a way to make yourselves noticed.