[LPF] Ryall's Estate

[Qik]

Quioan sat across from the commander, hands folded, and relayed what he could of the events thus far.

"Well, as strange as it may sound, our initial employer, Dane Ryall, and another fellow, a Mr. Rouge, if I remember correctly, both had purchased a house - the same house, in fact - from what seemed to be the same man, only to have it literally disappear on them. Our inspection of the former site of Mr. Ryall's house indicated that some sort of transmutation magic had been used in the vicinity - we assume that the house was somehow reconfigured to make it transportable. In our attempt to follow a trail left near the house's original foundation, we were waylaid by wildlife, first a quartet of hawks, then a boar, some wolves, and even a ferret made an appearance. The hawks, and, I believe, the wolves, both were outfitted with handler's items which bore the emblem of House Gabbiano. Here they are," Quioan finishes, pulling the evidence out of his pack and handing it over to the commander, waiting to hear his reaction.

 

[jkason]

The commander breathes a sigh of relief as he takes the items. He takes the barest glance at the jessies and weasel collar, nodding.

"That's Gabbiano's mark, all right," he confirms, handing them back and chuckling. "And here I thought you were going to get me in deep with someone important.

"Yeah, Gabbiano's noble. They even used to guard one of the Gates, but fact is they haven't had that or a proper House for a while now. Shipping business took a downturn recently, and then between the gambler in the family and all that nastiness when the girl he was with had him offed ... well, let's say they have the blood but not much of the backing.

"Umberto's got a set of apartments where he runs what's left of the family business. I can probably get you a morning appointment if ya want? Bit late to go pounding on doors, though, even if it is only Gabbiano."

 

[Systole]

"And there was being no man footprints even where there was man. Near campsite, no footprint except boar. Where ground rat come from, no foot print except rat. Near farmer wagon, no footprint except wolf. Is man who can walk with no step. A nature-talker, I am think."

Daylily frowns a bit, remembering. "Farmer-mans was say house-thief is being tall, with funny bow. Is Gabanyo tall, with funny bow, nature-talker?"

 

[jkason]

Daylily frowns a bit, remembering. "Farmer-mans was say house-thief is being tall, with funny bow. Is Gabanyo tall, with funny bow, nature-talker?"

The commander shakes his head. "Don't remember him being tall, no. And he's a city boy from all I know, just like most of his kin for the last few generations. You know nobles: never do anything dirty when you can hire someone ta do it for you."

 

[jbear]

The morning sounds like a good idea, commander. I will stay the night in the Dunnwright Inn if I am needed. I need to rest properly and get a good meal in my belly. The young man, the alchemist, I believe he mumbled something about leaving to find work that involved neither pork-monsters nor pushing corpses in wagons. The Dunnwright seems like a good place to recruit someone else if we consider this pursuit dangerous enough to warrant another person. Or perhaps commander you could assign us a guard?

Relic sets down his gruesome sacks of mangled pets.

These are two of the thief's pets, the hawk we mentioned and a weasle which seemed to have been trained to pilfer and steal small objects. The weasle attempted to steal the hawks from my rucksack while we were set upon by a pair of wolves during the night. It was a good thing the Master Scorchsong spotted the little blighter before it got away. My apologies for te disgusting nature of the evidence. I tried my best to preserve the bodies but I am but in amateur in the Art. I think I will leave them to you to decide whether they can be of use or not, as you seem a man of the most excellent judgment.


Relic stifles a yawn and stretches his back with a series of cracks.

If you would like, Master Scorchsong, I would study the Art a little with you tonight before the heaviness sets to deeply into my body and I can remain awake no longer. It is rare that two apprentice wizards have the chance to exchange knowledge, at least this is the first chance I have had in years. And I must say I am feeling my blood run anew with desire to master the Art once more. Think upon it at least.

He gives Quioan a friendly pat on the shoulder. He extends his hand towards the commander.

Until tomorrow then commander, and thank you.

OOC: I'd like to carry on. Do we need a 5th or are we okay with 4 JK? Quik, are you up for trying to learn one of each others spells? Systole, I'd be happy to accompany Daylily to deal with a tanner but I'm not trained in local Kn. What should we do about the treasure?

 

[Qik]

"Hmm..." said Quioan at the commander's comments on House Gabbiano. "Makes sense that a house on the downfall might turn to more nefarious activities to perpetuate themselves. An appointment with them would be much appreciated, commander."

"And that's a good point, Daylily - it takes a man of training, operating within his own terrain, to move without a trail like that."

As Relic rises to leave, Quioan joins him. "I think it would nice to compare some notes, old dog. You seem to specialize in magics that I have neglected in my studies thus far, but I'm sure you have a trick or two up your sleeves that I would be interested in having in my arsenal. Daylily, Kazanto, would you care to join us on our way back to the Dunn Wright?"

OOC: Personally, if jk thinks we need another character on our side, I'd prefer to have an NPC rather than waiting on someone (unless a replacement could be find quickly, and they wouldn't mind the brevity of the assignment). jbear, I would love to trade spells - if I could, copying your scroll of Summon Monster I would be great. jk, you have any idea how that works? I imagine we'd have to make an know arcana roll. Think that covers everything; nice to have this game on the move again, jk. Glad to have you back!

 

[jkason]

The commander can't manage to retain his stoicism in the face of the half-rotten animal corpses Relic produces.

"Augh! I thought that was just the naked elf I was smelling. About the only thing I could get from those things is a disease or two," the commander says, covering his nose with his hand. "What is it with you people and carrion? Just ... just dump those things somewhere outside on your way out.

"I'll arrange your meeting, and have a message sent to the Dunn Wright with directions and the time. So unless you have any more roadkill you feel like flinging at me, I think we're done?"

GM: Like I said before, I don't think you'll need a fifth; the adventure was designed using the rules for four, and you've been far more effective in those encounters than those rules would have lead me to believe, so I think you're reasonably prepared with four.

[sblock=copying spells]The relevant information from the SRD is at this link:

Adding Spells to a Wizard's Spellbook

I think the pared down essentials are:

* Spellbooks are unharmed, but copying spells from a scroll DESTROYS THE SCROLL
* Spellcraft check DC 20 + spell level to decipher, OR use Read Magic
* 1 hour of study
* Spellcraft DC 15 + spell level to understand (+2 bonus if it's your specialty school). No retry on this check.
* 1 hour per spell level to write to spellbook (Cantrips 30 minutes)
* 10 gp / spell to copy a 1st level spell to a book (Cantrips 5gp)

You'll have to go through these steps for each spell you want to transcribe.[/sblock]


[sblock=Hlaalen rewards][MENTION=6666944]maquise[/MENTION], for whenever you get back into things, here's the math for Hlaalen's rewards (you can skip to the bottom for the totals if you don't care about the math to get there):

Party totals:

Hawk encounter: 540 xp
Boar encounter: 600 xp
Night encounter: 1000 xp

Party total to-date: 2140

Hlaalen's portion of party xp (2140/5): 428 xp

Level 1 time xp / day: 7
days adventuring (May 10 - July 5 2011): 56

56 * 7: 392 time xp

Party gold: 1400 gp worth of gems / items

Hlaalen's split (1400 / 5): 280 gp

Time based gold (56 * 6): 336 gp

Hlaalen total reward

428 (encounter) + 392 (time) = 820 total XP

280 (encounter) + 336 (time) = 616 total GP[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

"Agreed, commander," said the elf, much more amenable now that they would be parting ways with the man. "Many thanks for your help."

* * *
On their way back to the Dunn Wright, Quioan began discussing the prospect of copying spells with Relic. "Well, old dog, upon second thought, I realize that I'm less than ideally prepared to conduct some proper research this evening - I didn't memorize read magic this morning, as our needs seemed elsewhere. I would still be up for some discussion, however, and might even have a go at learning a new spell in your arsenal, but from what I've seem of your magic, you seem to specialize in enchantments, which I'm afraid are anything but my forte."

* * *
Back at the Dunn Wright, Quioan and Relic begin to exchange notes. Although the elf is able to decipher the old man's magical script easily enough, he finds himself unable to wrap his head around it's full implications. After an hour or more of frustrated work, the elf turns to his colleague in apparent defeat. "Seems I won't be learning this spell this evening, friend. How are you coming along with your studies?"

OOC: Thanks for the info, jk. jbear, out off all the spells you know, I think I'd be most interested in identify. I'd love to learn summon monster I, but I wouldn't want to consume your scroll if I were successful. Maybe you can memorize it, and we can trade a few more spells in the Dunn Wright after we've completed our adventure. That way I can prep read magic in preparation. Anyway, I'll have a go at learning Identify. Spellcraft to read: 1d20+6=25 Spellcraft to understand: 1d20+6=9 That's a bugger. Also, out of curiousity, jk, do you know which experience track LPF uses?

 

[jkason]

Also, out of curiousity, jk, do you know which experience track LPF uses?[/ooc]

GM: LPF uses the fast track. PBP is slow enough, so the hope is that combining the time XP and the fast track will allow folks to level at a decent rate.

 

[jbear]

[sblock=Studying at the Dunnwright]
1 hour studying my Summon Monster I scroll Fail: Sorry Quik, can't get that into my book til I gain a level in spellcraft
1 hour trying to decipher Quioan's Colour Spray spell: Close but no cigar
1 hour studying Animate Rope: Success
1 hour copying spell into spellbook (10gp worth of ink used; scroll destroyed)
Exhausted after 4 hours of study with very limited success, Relic collapses in bed and sleeps heavily for 8 hours.
Do we actually need to go into the Dunnwright Inn, as in go and say we walked in the tavern thread?
edit: I realised I am just assuming the srolls I own have already been deciphered as they are mine. Do I need to make a second spellcraft check or is that okay?
[/sblock]