Endur's Return to TOEE part 2

[Endur]

Kerwyn manages to make it to the Temple of Elemental Evil without incident, although traveling by himself he is careful to avoid obvious sites where bandits might lurk. Kerwyn circles around Nulb to avoid encountering the ghost in the hostel or the strange barbarian.

When Kerwyn rides up to the Temple of Elemental Evil, he discovers three other horses tethered outside. Someone else is inside the temple right now. In the distance, he hears the voices of a couple of men talking.

 

[Thanee]

Lenya

With most of the others occupied or otherwise out of reach, Lenya picks up her well-filled pouch and puts it into her backpack, and then heads towards the merchant quarter of Verbobonc, looking for cloth and leather merchants and tailor shops to get a new dress or three made for her and afterwards maybe a jeweler to find some matching accessories.

 

[Dalamar]

Kerwyn tethers up his horse a short distance away so that it won't be heard, and then waves his widget at it.
Then he starts sneaking towards the voices, hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. If he can't get close enough while still saying hidden, he zaps himself too.

 

[Pyrex]

Funky pats Raner on the back.
"How about if you contribute 1000 gold now and give me a voucher for 1000 gold a month from now and I'll cover the other 4000 gold. Since I'll be investing more gold than you, I'll want a bigger split of the profits. How does splitting the profits 60-40 sound?"

"Hmm, that's almost workable. How about this. This is likely to be a long-term venture. Given that we're planning to use goblins and convicts as laborers it'll likely be three to five months until we've covered expenses and start seeing a profit. Also, while the mercenaries are going to be want to be paid in advance, paying them a month in advance at the start of each month should be more than enough to keep them happy.

So what I propose is that we each contribute 500gp to startup costs, and then another 500gp each month towards operational expenses.

Once we start selling the stone we'll use the proceeds to pay the operational expenses and split the profit. Seeing as we'll both be investing the same amount but ye'll be handling the adminstrative duties, I'll give ye 10% of the net profit as a salary, resulting in a 55%/45% split after expenses.

 

[Endur]

Funky shakes Raner's hand and says "Agreed."

Funky and Raner draw up an agreement, Funky shows Raner his 500 gp, Raner contributes his 500 gp, and Funky goes off to interview mercenaries and make arrangements for the convict laborers.


After hiding his horse, Kerwyn enters the temple. He turns invisible to sneak up on three cloaked intruders gathered around the throne. Two of the intruders are human warriors, the third is a bugbear, all wear half-plate armor.

Their shields are covered with canvas, but around their necks they wear symbols that remind Kerwyn of the warriors from the Dark Lord of the North, the Old One.

The first warrior says to the others.
"Now what? The hobgoblins have been destroyed. The Temple of Elemental Evil isn't rising here or in Nulb. Where do we look? The Moathouse?"

 

[Dalamar]

Hmm... Guess I'll have some fun with them. Kerwyn invoces the power of his bandana again.
"It is no use, we were beaten by a group of 'adventurers'", he says, imitating the voice of Festrath and dismissing the invisibility to show his magic-changed form of Festrath. "Not to mention the horrendous dragon guarding the place."

OoC: Bluff +6, Disguise +12 (plus the approriate situational modifiers for both)

 

[Endur]

The second armored warrior says,
"I'm Fisturn and he is Baugh. Our furry friend is Uvren. You say you are Master Festrath...
"What exactly are you master of? Are you the master of the new Temple of Elemental Evil?
"Who do you swear allegiance to? We serve High Priestess Halga of Iuz's Greater Boneheart.
"And what is this about a Dragon and a bunch of adventurers?"


Kerwyn avoids wincing when he walks, but he has saddle sores from spending so much time in the saddle over the last two days.

Lenya finds everything she was looking for in the Merchants Quarter of Verbobonc.

 

[Dalamar]

Kerwyn puffs out his chest in false pride as he starts recounting what he remembers of Festrath. "I am Master Festrath, a priest of the Dark Lord. I was sent to the moathouse near the town of Hommlet under Master Thaque, may his remains cause stomachache to the dragon, to look for Long-Lost Knowledge. Just when the remaining of us found a great Obelisk of great Evil, the vile adventurers ambushed us. I managed to escape while my lowly gnoll underlings and the remaining acolytes were slaughtered."
Kerwyn acts respect towards Thaque, hate towards the adventurers, and disgust at the gnolls during his explanation.

 

[Endur]

Fisturn replies to Kerwyn,
"Are you the last Master of the Temple of Elemental Evil? If so, perhaps you would be willing to accompany us to meet with High Priestess Halga. I'm sure she would be willing to provide you with additional troops to continue your excavations.
"If you are not the Master of the Temple of Elemental Evil, perhaps you could inform us where we might find the Master so that we could deliver High Priestess Halga's invitation?"

 

[Thanee]

Lenya finds everything she was looking for in the Merchants Quarter of Verbobonc.

Holding the Staff of Power in both hands, now able to unleash deathly fire and lightning upon her foes, Lenya whirls around to meet the enemy...

“Miss? How do you like it?”

A daring smile playing around her lips, the young Rhennee answers: “Oh yes, I will take it! The leather is surely the finest I have ever seen. But I don't think I need that walking stick here, thank you very much! And sorry for the broken vase, I will pay for it, of course.” The images in her mind slowly fade and she finds herself back in the merchant's room, where she was just testing the fit of her new clothes.

“It's alright, miss, I never liked it, anyways.”

Along with the expensive leather outfit, which is far more suitable for her adventurous journeys than her other dresses, Lenya bought two custom-fit wrist sheaths, enabling her to conceal her wands inside the long sleaves.

At a tailor shop, she also ordered a custom-tailored dress to replace her old one, which was beyond its time already and a comfortable linen outfit, suitable for traveling, both of a high quality.