Bounty of the Endless Sands

[Lot]

Eskon listens gravely to the discussion.

"Well, few men consider themselves villains. Even the vilest often think they are pursuing a greater good. Whether an orc tribe raiding to weed out its ranks to make it stronger or the adventuring party ridding the world of members of another raced deemed evil, so many atrocities occur for the perceived good."

Eskon looks to the hobgoblin, Vrina.

"I see you are getting a lot of attention and I don't expect you to remember all our names, but I am Eskon. I'm a Paladin of Hyrag. More to the point, I am the son of a wealthy merchant and, therefore, useless for any wilderness skills required. Luckily, we have Master Olvant for such matters. I say we defer to his expertise and continue on our way."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Well, at least I can trust that a Paladin would not see things in such a horrible way as the villains we are chasing," Vrina replies, somewhat relieved to hear there is a paladin around, "Yes, please Master Olvant. Are we going to just keep going down the road and ignore the trail of the orcs then, I guess?"

 

[B4cchus]

Findoram eyes the discussion with interest but doesn't interfere. He is curious how far Vrina wants to push the party in the direction she wants it to go: after the Orcs. going after a warband of marauding Orcs would be a fine goal, but doing so on the directions of a goblin does make it disputable. One should not always trust the hand that feeds, just because it feeds.

 

[Gurdjieff]

"We do not have the time to chase the orcs if we intend to locate our group of murderers and bring back the cure to Orussus before it's too late. I doubt these orcs will move around much, and we can always come back after this mission is complete, to deal with them properly."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"I agree, though I didn't want to stop you if you wanted to pursue, either. Onward then?"

(OOC: One more definite yay for continuing and ignoring the orcs and the trail of blood and we continue onward )

 

[B4cchus]

Findoram replies with a short "Yes, let's" with little emotion in his voice.

 

[BigB]

Rhys

As much as I would like to confront these Orcs, I agree we must continue on our path. If we sidetrack every time something new arises we will never finish anything. Perhaps marauding Orcs another day.

 

[Animus]

"...So please, I trust that before you do something to stave off boredom, please make sure you aren't slaying innocents and working for the forces of evil."

"You make assumptions that are wrong," he says, obviously hurt. "I apologized. I've seen the error of my ways. I'm sorry that you've had so many unpleasant experiences. But give me a chance, ok?"

"We have no time to follow the orcs. We need to continue on our quest."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"You make assumptions that are wrong," he says, obviously hurt. "I apologized. I've seen the error of my ways. I'm sorry that you've had so many unpleasant experiences. But give me a chance, ok?"

"We have no time to follow the orcs. We need to continue on our quest."

"I'm not assuming it...I'm just afraid, so I had to try to talk to alleviate my fear...I'm sorry. Everything my mother told me about humans was wrong, and I'm still coming to terms with that."

*The group continues on their way, following the road until they come to a mining town nestled by the mountains a few days later at evening. They can stop and rest here in a comfortable inn room, with a stable for their horses. After doing so, they head off again, eventually reaching a town at the end of the road on the edge of the desert. Most travelers to the desert would have to pass through here.*

 

[Rystil Arden]

(OOC: Oh, I forgot. I'm giving everyone 300 XP for the hobgoblins. You don't always have to kill everything to still come out of the encounter successfully. Sometimes Diplomacy is better. Also 50 XP for not going after the orcs (not that it was the only right choice, per se, but you would have gotten XP for the orcs if you did go after them, so I'm giving you a little for not doing it))