Is'Merith - Campaign Thread

[Sezarious]

Our party gathers the next afternoon on the other side of the docks, a much smaller merchant ship than the one they have been staying in sits, ready to be boarded. Daedarai leads his companions on board with a bow and the quick flick of his hands. Again it appears he is making small talk, but before everyone knows it, they walk away into a storage shed and climb each into fairly comfortably sized crates. 5 minutes later, they're loaded on board. An hour passes and you are each carried out and a little ways onto land.

A quick two taps on Daedarai's box tells him he should wait 10 minutes more and then reveal himself. When he does so, he finds himself standing under a light hessian canopy amongst the other crates in a dugout in the sand. As others climb out, they find everyone is accounted for. There is also an additional crate, which when opened, reveals a scruffy looking male half-elf. "Hello friends! I am ready to receive my instructions! I must extend my thanks to the guild for smuggling my family out of the under city, what with the red death and all", he beams at everyone with a smile, awaiting a reply.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Alejandro gives the half elf a sharp look.

"Red death in the Undercity?", he asks.

He feels stricken. This sounds bad. His first thought is for Nora, the human who took him in and cared for him when he first came to the city. She has been complaining of a mysterious sickness for some time: is it this Red Death? It doesn't sound good. He makes a mental note to check in on her once this job is done.

"A noble sacrifice it is that you're making for your family."

He is keen to get started, and spends a minute or so checking the surroundings and swinging his newly silvered quarter staff, first one handed then two handed, stretching his muscles after being so still for an hour.

 

[Matthan]

The half-elf’s cheer unnerved Daedarai. He had assumed the replacement would be aware of what the job entailed. Any sane person who understood the job wouldn’t come out of that crate cheerful. There would be some measure of trepidation for the drastic turn their life was about to take. That is, unless they were insane. Daedarai squinted and pinched the bridge of his nose as he realized that his best case scenario required a person to be insane. This development needed to be accounted for.

If the replacement had been deceived to get to this point, it would make the rest of the job harder but not impossible by itself. A reluctant replacement could be knocked unconscious and left behind if necessary, but there were greater concerns than just the half-elf. Daedarai remembered the look of disgust that Mina had flashed when discussing the boundaries of the work yesterday in the tavern. He had not fully discovered her boundaries, but felt that dumping an innocent and ignorant man into a prison would not go over well with her. This job could go south quickly. He needed to get a handle on what this half-elf knew and smooth out any complications.

“Come here, my friend,” he said beckoning to the half-elf while walking slightly away from the group. Lowering his voice after the half-elf came to stand by him, he continued, “The guild is pleased that we have been able to help protect your family. You have shown great love by seizing this opportunity to save your family. They will raise a glass in your honor every time they are together for the rest of their lives. It is the rarest of men who will truly put others before themselves, but you are that man and I am awed to be in your presence. You are the hero of your family, my friend. Make no mistake, the guild takes care of its own and fulfills its promises. Your family will be safe and cared for through your efforts, but your job is not yet done.”

“There is a person in the mines whose talents could save countless families just like yours. His skills will help the guild better fulfill its goals so that we can help more people just like you. Your work here today will do more than just help your family. Your efforts will play a part in changing Is’Merith herself to a place where children can grow up with the possibility of truly changing their station. Your legacy will be found in the thousands of happier tomorrows that you have purchased for the suffering people of our city. I need to know you understand your role though. What have you been told about your job?”

[SBLOCK=OOC] My intention is to try and have this conversation away from the group in case my suspicions are correct. If he is ignorant, my goal is to convince him to go through with the plan without Mina overhearing. If he understands what he has signed up for and is just happy, I’ll be surprised but maneuver him back towards the group to move on. [/SBLOCK]

 

[Sezarious]

The half-elf Nodded periodically at Daedarai's speech, "Yes, Yes", I understand. You know I'm from Peer'at right? You know the wages for the people there are 50% less than anywhere else in the undercity? It would take me just over 150 years to scrape up enough money to get my family out of there and that's assuming we're not robbed at some point in that time, oh and this is Peer'At we're talking about. Instead, the guild has secured outer ring accommodation for my wife and two children, along with honest work for her and apprenticeships for my kids. And all I have to do, is the exact same labour that I would have been doing before, but for 12 years rather than 150. Then the guild is going to set ME up with an apprenticeship in the outer ring. My loyalty to the guild, and my families loyalty will be to the guild forever." He takes a big breath, crossing his arms, he goes back to smiling, almost as if to say "who's crazy now buddy?"

 

[Matthan]

Daedarai's grin grew wider and wider as the man spoke. There wasn't going to be a problem after all. “I am thrilled to hear that, friend. Forgive my caution. I wanted to know that you were prepared for the task ahead. You have my respect, sir.” He begins to walk back towards the others as he continues, “My partners and I will be escorting you to the mines. It is our goal to get in and out without any trouble, but your safety is paramount regardless. Follow with us as quietly as you can. Stay near the back and be alert.”

“If it is agreeable with everyone, here is my proposal. Isaac has been here before and should lead us through the mines. Alejandro and myself can follow closely behind to help spot any problems. Shen and Mina can protect our guest and make sure there are no problems coming from behind us. Is that satisfactory?”

 

[Macv12]

When the box finally comes to a stop, Shen can only lay curled forward, face planted on the ground, half in grateful supplication and half in the unique of misery of your stomach feeling like it's going to shoot up your throat and commandeer the boat itself if it doesn't cut out the infernal rocking. She gets just precious minutes of reprieve before the signal to get out. She manages the strength to carry crack the box open, eventually, plastering on a smile like she does this every day; an upset tummy wasn't the kind of thing that would make her companions think "cool thief" or "elven hero."

"Agh, *ahem*...so, how was everyone's trip?" She turns to Mina especially, a slight genuine smirk surfacing. "This what you were expecting from guild work?"

After gathering enough energy from the fresh air, Shen clambers out of the crate. Well, "fresh" is relative. The air is sharp, extremely dry, and it's unusually quiet. By the time she feels steady on her feet again, Daedarai and...some new guy...had time for a tea party.

"Roger, boss. One elf at the head, one at the tail. Good thinkin'."

She scoops a sturdy, weathered rope up from the bottom of the box as well; she had been untangling it until she was...incapacitated. She undoes the half-finished knot and starts tying it into a lasso. "Anyone's got a rope, I can make you one a' these. Might help keep the pests from scurryin' off if they try and give us trouble.

"Oh," she says without looking up from her work, "what's this red death anyways?"

[sblock="OOC"]I have no idea how you want to handle a lasso mechanically, but I'm fine with whatever you go with. By the way, I didn't think to ask, but would I know anything useful about these goblins? If I can imitate a predator they're scared of, if something mundane is poisonous to their physiology, how to recognize if they're burrowed nearby, etc.[/sblock]

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

[sblock] Since Alejandro hadn't had any luck with selling his javelins, seemingly, he has brought a couple along with him. They may prove useful for poking the sand and hopefully spearing a sand goblin on the head. So he has two javelins, his four daggers, his silvered quarter staff and the Testiculator[/sblock]

 

[Sezarious]

[sblock="OOC"]I have no idea how you want to handle a lasso mechanically, but I'm fine with whatever you go with. By the way, I didn't think to ask, but would I know anything useful about these goblins? If I can imitate a predator they're scared of, if something mundane is poisonous to their physiology, how to recognize if they're burrowed nearby, etc.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC - Shen]
- Treat a lasso as an improvised weapon, 15ft range - make an attack roll and if successful, the opponent can not move anywhere beyond the reach of the rope unless they succeed on an opposed strength (athletics) roll, wherein they can move half their speed away from you, dragging you with it. Accordingly, you can drag them with an opposed roll too. They can escape it by either breaking the rope with a strength check, do enough slashing damage to the rope to bypass its hp and hardness, or by using an escape artist roll, opposed by your strength (athletics) roll.
-As for sand goblins, [sblock]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...of-Is-Merith&p=6756653&viewfull=1#post6756653[/sblock], Shen has no idea. She had never encountered sand goblins. As far as she is aware, any creatures that may be likely to eat the goblins may lurk deeper under the surface and even then, that's only a rumor from the miners. Wish I could give you more, let's see if Al's animals were able to deliver...[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC - Alejandro]
-Before Al left, he was greeted by one of Lord Snurfleback's royal guard (apparently). Most of the animals didn't know a lot about the goblins, but there were one or two with a great sense of smell that seemed to think that there was a smell about them that just didn't sit right[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC - Mina]
-Mina's knowledge of sand goblins wasn't great as it mostly focused on history relevant to nobility. She had heard once however, from a noble merchant, that he had once seen an Is'merith guardsman in full-plate dragged beneath the sand, failing to re-surface. His plate and weapon re-surfaced later after a wind storm, the bones scraped and splintered from the bite marks.[/sblock]

[sblock=Everyone] Just to make sure, No-one here is proficient in either knowledge (Nature) or knowledge (Arcane), right? I just want to make sure i didn't miss something. In my campaigns, i try to encourage the purchase of knowledge skills.[/sblock]

 

[Macv12]

[sblock] Since Alejandro hadn't had any luck with selling his javelins, seemingly, he has brought a couple along with him. They may prove useful for poking the sand and hopefully spearing a sand goblin on the head. So he has two javelins, his four daggers, his silvered quarter staff and the Testiculator[/sblock]

[sblock]If Shen hears anything about trying to sell javelins, she'll buy them from you. And she has only a cursory idea of how valuable coins are. Meant to say that earlier but kept forgetting.[/sblock]

 

[Matthan]

Daedarai stopped in his tracks. He had been so unnerved by the half-elf's cheer that he hadn't paid attention to exactly what he said. His partners had more keenly picked up the crucial detail. Turning to the replacement, he spoke, “Wait, that's a good question. What is the red death?”