(Casual D&D) A Game of Trust

[Guilt Puppy]

Biddle takes the scarf, clearly humbled. "Having the room back is gift enough, I'd say, but if you'd like me to have your Knight's handkerchief, it's no place of mine to refuse. I promise to keep it in the spirit it was made, and wear it always honorably." He tosses it around his neck, a little jauntily, but he stands with a certain look of dignity as well.

At first he has some objection to taking your help with the mess, but once he realizes magic will be involved he finds it impossible to refuse -- after the first mage hand, he runs to call some neighbors in to get a look at the show.

One of them, you'll notice, happens to be carrying the chain shirt you requested. "I guess I dug it up too late... If it's still good to you, you can have it, 'cause I've no use for it. Was my granda's when he was a docksman down in Pelly Hill, but I don't think he ever used it, neither."

Once the mess is cleaned up, Biddle pulls Fendric aside, quietly.

"Now I hope it's no embarrassment to you, but I know it's not often that a holy man asks for a reward... I'm guessing from that you're a bit under-equipped, and for something big, too? I don't know how much we have that'll do folk your size much good, but I can talk to Ozzy, and I don't think he'd faint at opening the town coffers for your cause. So don't feel afraid to ask for anything, and if there's anyone here who thinks low of you for, I'll give 'em a talk and sort thing out." He reaches up and claps you on the shoulder with a fatherly sort of affection.

Meanwhile the room has become a cleaning party of sorts, with the new guests chipping in their parts to scrub out the bits of flesh and bone from the room, once their manners catch up with them. There's plenty of joking and complaining about the smell, but really, the burnt smell which now permeates is far less unpleasant than what the thing had when it was moving.

 

[dpdx]

[OOC: I'm guessing that Nurthk only took damage from the first and last blows, so the first Cure Moderate should have brought him back to full, or close to.]

Fendric, deeply humbled, reaches within himself to form the words, sometimes stumbling between thoughts:

"But we did what I hope anyone of character would do... The clerics always taught us that vanquishing evil is its own reward... If this creature had any wealth to it whatsoever instead of just burning up in your music room, I'd feel no guilt in taking that... I don't mean to come across as ascetic, Pelor forgive me, but I didn't expect a material reward... I've been looking for better armor than what I have on [OOC: that'd be studded leather], perhaps even something like your townspeople found for Niccolo, if you had such for my size sitting around anywhere, I'd gladly rid your closet of it. And I had asked for incense a while ago, so I could cast auguries... If you had a weaponsmith hereabouts, I should like to peruse his stock, but I'd gladly pay what I could for that... And we're running out of trail rations... But that's too much to ask for, please forgive me... As I mentioned, whatever you saw fit to do for us would be more than enough reward."

Fendric looks at Biddle with reverence, and then goes back to helping to clean the music room.

 

[Festy_Dog]

Nurthk chuckles.

Originally posted by dpdx
"You, sir, are indeed a warrior without peer. Pelor and St. Cuthbert Bless You to the Firmaments. Now let's get back to the rest of our troupe, and see if this fine town can't feed us a proper meal."

Fendric will help Nurthk to his feet after he has been healed.

[ooc: The first spell did the job fine. ]

Nurthk chuckles, glad for the assistance.

"Just happy do protect those who need it, but a meal certainly wouldn't go astray, smiting evil can make a man hungry," he says, quite jovial after the group's victory.

 

[Uriel]

Niccolo, thinking it Yule, with so many presents about, finds himself at a loss for proper Gift-Exchanges...Drat.

Once Biddle calls the others over to get a look at the show. Niccolo puts on a grin and uses his Gnome-Given Talents of sound and light <Ghost Sounds and Dancing Lights> to entertain them, little colored balls zipping about the room and a trumpet fanfare to accompany.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Once everything is cleaned up and the show is over, most of the halflings head off -- not a bad idea, considering the smell. Biddle tells you he'll be off to talk with Gilly -- he'll come and find you outside once supper is on.

Outside, the Heironeans have assumed a variety of positions over and around the river -- some hidden, some not so well. There's been no one suspicious on the river, and no one at all who's come up farther than the town -- according to the halflings, there is another settlement just upriver a bit, but a much smaller one and technically part of the same town. Then, it's nothing until the "Harvestfolk" -- what they call the cult of Wee Jas, it seems.

Fendric's incense is bought shortly. The young woman curtsies politely to you, then runs off giggling -- as far as you can tell, running off giggling is the local way of saying "goodbye."

Supper comes soon enough, and there is little to want in quality or quantity. Biddle introduces Gilly, and her sister, Ella. It seems they've grossly overestimated the appetites of bigger folk -- there's more here than even Nurthk's stomach could hold. Gilly offers to take some out to the river, "in case your friends have any room left by now."

As night begins to fill the sky, there is still no sign of Premule or his captors, but there are at least plenty of folk willing to share with you a nice place to rest, with amenities rarely seen in even the finest human dwellings.

(Again, feel free to backtrack if there's anything you want to address / go into more depth with during the day. Otherwise, what are your plans for the night? Watch order, et cetera?

 

[dpdx]

A busy little cleric

Fendric accepts the incense gratefully, but before he can thank the person who gave it to him, she skitters off, giggling. "Pelor Bless You, my dear!", he calls after the small woman.

Fendric enjoys his meal, which he shares with Shavah, and is full in short order.

After conferring with the Heironeans, Fendric goes off to a place where the incense won't bother anybody (and he can get a little privacy), and converts the last of his orisons to heal himself of any remaining damage from the snakebites. He then sets down with quill, vial, and parchment, burns a good amount of the incense (but not all) in offering to his Diety, and commits his remaining Cure Moderate spell to scroll.

[Scroll, of Cure Moderate Wounds (heals 2d8 +5, per a 5th-level cleric, which Fendric is when he casts Healing spells): 125 gp worth of material components, 6 hours to prepare, costing 10 XP.]

By nightfall, which it is when he is finished, Fendric stashes the last of his incense for the morning, when he can cast an augury, and returns to the river to enter trance. Fendric will take the last guard shift, if it's all right with the others.

 

[Festy_Dog]

Nurthk takes the middle shift, remaining quiet and thoughtful throughout the evening.

I wonder... maybe pausing the journey to sate my thirst for battle has lost us time in the pursuit of Premule. Hmm, if they'd passed this point the halflings would know, unless they passed during nightfall, but then... hmm...

 

[Uriel]

Niccolo will take whatever shift is needed, should he be required. He will also sit up a bit and polish his new Violin and his new male shirt.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

He will also sit up a bit and polish his new Violin and his new male shirt.

(BTW, in case it wasn't clear enough, that Violin is masterwork, and that chain shirt is non-gendered.

And dp, just for the record -- mainly my own, so I don't accidentally do it twice or something -- I've accounted for the scroll's XP -10 in the OOC thread.)

The night passes without event, for the most part... Daybreak arrives, and only Fendric and a few others are awake. Shavah is in the midst of relating a story which is perhaps too familiar -- of watching her childhood friends grow up so quickly, settling down with children of their own before she had even come of age -- when you catch sight of a boat coming upstream, sticking to the west side.

It looks too small to be carrying any prisoners, unless the prisoner is unguarded -- but when it docks, quite a ways downstream, you can see it being unloaded of something. It does appear to be halflings involved, and whatever is unloaded is smaller than them -- still, there's an aire of secrecy about it which is hard to ignore.

 

[Uriel]

(BTW, in case it wasn't clear enough, that Violin is masterwork, and that chain shirt is non-gendered.

OoC:Woohoo, now I have 2 master-worked elven violins!
Um,yeah, typo...Odd, in another thread I wrote femail....Ahem.