Insight's "The Isle of Dread" - Chapter One

[Insight]

"I'll be sure to stop by the store when you're open," Nafije said to Raef. "Something to read would be most welcome if we end up out to sea."

OOC: Diplomacy check is good! This counts towards the first success of the skill challenge!

The half-elf demures. "If you find yourself at sea, I'm sure that my fine selection of books would keep you company... if the brawny sailors do not!" The merchant chuckles to himself at that last remark. "Please make sure to stop by my shop later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I may have something special for you."

Raef watches Captain Rex stumble back to his seat. "Honestly, if that drunken lout wasn't my uncle, I'm not sure anyone around here would tolerate his bluster."

 

[Almightyfoon]

OOC: Excuse the continuity breaking while I catch up.

"It's an interesting story, well told. Do you think it's true?"

Barook hands the papers to the next member of the group, he crosses his arms. "Interestin' yeah. True? Maybe. I know once this rich bloke brought this thing from the suthern sea, called it a gor... ger... hell if I remember! But take the biggest damn half-giant you ever saw, cover it in fur, and hunch th' bastard over and you got one of these things. Saw it rip a man's arms off. Wanted my own crack at it, but the thing ended up dyin' on its own." Barook took a drink from his flagon. "Think maybe that it was a baby 'un? They might have bigger ones on that island."

The gnome made Nafije laugh, thus encouraging his antics. She was looking around at the other patrons, and began to mention them by name.

"There's a little book store just next door. The owner comes in here, Raef- there he is," she said without pointing. "And Captain Rex, he was a sailor, yes? Maybe he's heard this story before."

Nafije knew them both because the Hog's Breath was a familiar place to the party, and Nafije did not imbibe, so instead she socialized. "I'm going to speak to Raef. I've been in his shop before and seen rolls of parchment. Maybe he can put me in touch with a map trader." Nafije whistled to her macaw, Goldie, and the parrot hopped off onto the back of a chair. Through Goldie, Nafije would be able to hear what the party said even while she talked to Raef. She made no secret of this connection, and often used Goldie to communicate remotely with the party, and to take discrete suggestions.

"Aye, I've seen a few map collections in my time. People who collect 'em tend to have more money than brains. Perfect people fer people like us to associate with!" Barook said laughing.

"Oi, wait up Naf, I'll come with ya. Gettin' dry anyways." Barook said following the mage.

OOC: Feel free to make a Diplomacy check using the fancy EN World Die Roller. Maybe you can convince him to be more forthcoming...

"Aye, 'twas what I said, lass. The Isle of Dread. Thar be strange happenins in that place. I'd steer clear if'n I was you. No fair critter such as yerself oughta be within ten leagues of the place!"

He turns to the barkeep. "Me flagon's not gonna fill itself, ye daft son of a monkey!"

"This ones on me." Barook said laying some coins on the bar. "So capp'n, I'm hearin' you right when you say you went to th' island 30 years ago? Which way'd ya head? Find anythin' interestin?" Barook said leading the old drunk with a full flagon.

 

[renau1g]

Leaning back in his chair, Keharn does his best to listen to the captain's words to determine if the man is a drunk and making up stories or if he's drinking because those stories are real. Unfortunately, the man is deep in drink and the druid has a difficult time discerning truth from fiction.

OOC: Using Insight to hear if the Captain is speaking true (attempting to aid another on either Barook or Nafije, depending on who speaks to him about it) insight into the captains words (1d20+9=14) Nope, IIRC that now provides a -2 penalty to the next roll instead of a +2... hopefully I get all these crappy rolls out of the way now

 

[Insight]

"This ones on me." Barook said laying some coins on the bar. "So capp'n, I'm hearin' you right when you say you went to th' island 30 years ago? Which way'd ya head? Find anythin' interestin?" Barook said leading the old drunk with a full flagon.

"Good tidins to ya then, sir," Captain Rex replies. He sits at a table not far from the bar and invites Barook to join him. "Any man who'll pick up the tab is a fine man, indeed." Rex drinks from the flagon, taking a truly manly draw from the metal container. He wipes off his reddish beard. "Now, where was we? Oh, the Isle of Dread. I heard tell that the Lussiter made landfall on that accurs'd place. Made nice with the locals. I heard them be cannibals. Ya dinna wants to run 'foul o' those who're likely to eat their own kin!" Rex takes another stiff drink. "But the Dastard, no, we steered rightly clear o' the filthy place. Sailed 'round the behemoth once. Tryin' to stay ahead o' Thyatians. Pirates, I tell ye."

Captain Rex leans in. "Now, I can tell ye of a prison island thereabouts. Broke a man outta there, I did. Me old first mate, afore Nell." He sits back and looks into his flagon. "Ahh, Nell. Lost her in a bet, of course."

 

[Insight]

Leaning back in his chair, Keharn does his best to listen to the captain's words to determine if the man is a drunk and making up stories or if he's drinking because those stories are real. Unfortunately, the man is deep in drink and the druid has a difficult time discerning truth from fiction.

OOC: Using Insight to hear if the Captain is speaking true (attempting to aid another on either Barook or Nafije, depending on who speaks to him about it) insight into the captains words (1d20+9=14) Nope, IIRC that now provides a -2 penalty to the next roll instead of a +2... hopefully I get all these crappy rolls out of the way now

OOC: It's very hard to tell anything substantive about old Captain Rex. Maybe when he's sober. Good luck on figuring out when that is.

 

[Shayuri]

Candles near the front of the inn waver and dance merrily as the door opens and a young woman with red-brown hair comes in. She pauses just inside with an expression of mild distaste frozen on her lips as she waits for her eyes to adjust to the dim orange-tinted light inside the common room.

After a moment she catches the bartender's eyes, and he nods and jerks a thumb back towards the side room that Keharn and the others have gathered in. The woman pulls her forest-green hood back, revealing a single long braid and two delicately pointed ears.

Her almond-shaped, emerald eyes flick to cover the bombastic antics of Captain Rex, and the slinky sorceress plying a merchant with her ample charms; noting them as she passes but not commenting.

"I'm late," she says peremptorily as she enters the side room...as if it were something she was accusing the others of having caused, "I apologize."

 

[drothgery]

"Aye, I've seen a few map collections in my time. People who collect 'em tend to have more money than brains. Perfect people fer people like us to associate with!" Barook said laughing.

"Not really, at least not in my old business." Cassi said. Barook was a great guy to have around in a fight, but his business sense was a bit... lacking in her experience. "If someone bought an expensive item that did not do what he thought it did, even after it was explained to him that his preconceptions were incorrect, and then he suffered a mischance because of his incorrect preconceptions, then someone with more money than brains -- and also more skill with a blade than brains -- might think to take it out on the people who sold it to them. And that kind of thing can get messy."

A bit later, she mentioned something else...

"I suppose I'll want to try and make sense of whatever Nafije brings back from our friend at the bookstore, but I'm a bit concerned about the enchantment used on the scrolls we found. It seems a bit odd, and I don't think I've seen that used anywhere else before."

 

[JustKim]

"Your uncle is no trouble," Nafije said of Captain Rex. "His enthusiasm overflows the cup of modesty."

When the coffee was drank, Nafije said goodbye to Raef and rejoined those who still remained in the side room. She welcomed her macaw, Goldie, back to her arm with a pampering coo. She loved that bird.

"I may have a lead on the map," she said, "we will find out tomorrow." Nafije noticed Astra suddenly, and looked ashamed for it. Nafije had shared, at times, that she could not distinguish the color green. It was drab, she explained, very dark, and visually there was no difference between a healthy forest and a withering one. "Astra, I didn't see you come in. You look well. Has Cassi told you what we found?"

 

[Walking Dad]

...

"I'm late," she says peremptorily as she enters the side room...as if it were something she was accusing the others of having caused, "I apologize."

"No need to apologize. We barely started to discuss things. But Nafije is maybe better able to fill you in." Adam says with a swarm smile as he sees Astra.

 

[Insight]

"I suppose I'll want to try and make sense of whatever Nafije brings back from our friend at the bookstore, but I'm a bit concerned about the enchantment used on the scrolls we found. It seems a bit odd, and I don't think I've seen that used anywhere else before."

OOC: Cassi seems to this this bit of legerdemain is not magical in nature, but perhaps the old "invisible ink" trick.