The Closed Eye (DM: Halford, Judge: garyh)

[covaithe]

[sblock=Palindrome]

First stop: The halfling's shop. Even if it's boarded up, Palindrome will break in, either by picking a lock or walking around back and blowing the door to smithereens with Force Orb (and so forth). Palindrome will steal the floating quill and vamoose. If he can't get to quill, he'll snag something(s) else. If there's any trouble, Palindrome runs away.

Relevant Skills Checks: Thievery (1d20+7=15)

Second stop: The fence.

Outside the fence, Palindrome takes off the necklace, so he'll be recognized.

Palindrome sells assorted junk in bag of holding...
2 morningstars
2 suits of hide armor
assorted cutlery
decorative tray of gravel and rocks
4 vases

If he has enough gold to purchase a potion of healing or two, he does so.

He then steps outside, puts on the necklace. Then, he re-enters the fence's shop. He tries to steal a couple of items, and runs away.

Relevant Skill Checks: Bluff (1d20+6=9) and Diplomacy (1d20+6=24) to haggle. Thievery (1d20+7=20) to shoplift.

If he even catches a whiff of a bugbear or other naughties, he aborts and runs away. He is keyed up and wary, ladies and gentlemen.

Palindrome reaches the Dusty Quill in late afternoon, not long before he expects Marco to close up. He walks in, notes Marco's puzzled look with a smirk, and smashes the glass case. A piercing alarm immediately sounds, and a flying shard of class cuts Palindrome's arm, spattering blood onto the case, the wall, and the carpet. (ooc: 3 damage.) He quickly grabs the floating quill with a mage hand and runs out.

Marco follows, hollering, "Stop thief! Stop him! You there! Did you see which way he went?" This last is addressed to you, despite the fact that you stand there, blood dripping from one hand and purloined quill in the other.

The visit to the fence goes somewhat better and somewhat worse. You don't injurre yourself further; however, despite your best charming demeanor, the fence refuses to offer you more than two hundred gold for the lot. Worse, he keeps his wares displayed behind locked cases reinforced with sturdy steel bars, and no opportunity for quick pilfering arises.

[/sblock]

 

[Dunamin]

There was a particular theme going on in the common room on the second floor of Doddoddod’s tower. Mirrors, namely, and lots of them. Woe had often figured they must be a constant reminder to the seasoned wizard of his blatantly “less than fit physique”, and probably wasn’t a place he frequented all that much. More a room for guests to linger, it would seem, and possibly where an occasional mirror-related ritual would be conducted.

The patron’s absence wasn’t the reason why Woe liked it, however. Rather, it was the way the room sated his self-absorbance; no matter where you looked, you could pretty much observe yourself from every angle. And Woe Chinua was currently very busy posing and flexing for himself in glorious narcissism.

“So tell me again,” he asks Neera, oblivious to the halfling’s look of disbelief. “What do you know about this snake lady who are backing the cult? Is she the one behind this veiling magic that covered up the goons we ran into? Is she a priestess or some such? Is she into cult worship because of a serious appetite for attention? Is she, in fact, fine, comely, or even ravishing?”

 

[KenHood]

YEEEEEEE-HAW!

All is now right with the world.

[sblock=Totally, totally worth it!]

Marco follows, hollering, "Stop thief! Stop him! You there! Did you see which way he went?" This last is addressed to you, despite the fact that you stand there, blood dripping from one hand and purloined quill in the other.

Hah! Kiss my hairy human butt!

A wizard with a human familiar, a halfling familiar, and now a floating quill! Unlimited power soon to come!

The visit to the fence goes somewhat better and somewhat worse. You don't injurre yourself further; however, despite your best charming demeanor, the fence refuses to offer you more than two hundred gold for the lot. Worse, he keeps his wares displayed behind locked cases reinforced with sturdy steel bars, and no opportunity for quick pilfering arises.

S'alright. We'll take as many healing potions as 200 gp will buy (4, I believe). If he doesn't have that many, I'll take what he has and give the rest of the gold to da boyz.

OOC: Palindrome may be a jerk, but he's not a stealing-from-his-buddies kind of jerk.[/sblock]

[sblock=Call an ambulance!]

“Is she a priestess or some such? Is she into cult worship because of a serious appetite for attention? Is she, in fact, fine, comely, or even ravishing?”

Now laughing so hard that I can't breathe.

Do we get XP equivalent to the kill if he seduces the snake lady?[/sblock]

 

[Atriden]

The door suddenly opens in the common room and in walks a young human male. He quickly glances a Woe with a smirk expression and closes the door behind him. Without explanation he walks to one of Doddoddod's peculiar armchairs ( nearest to the group ) and dumps himself comfortably in it.
" Oh, please do continue your conversation " say's the intruder. Noticing the sudden silence by his presence, he quickly presents a letter with Doddoddod's seal as he mumbles to himself: " This better be better than fetching pastry..."

***
Appearance and Gear:
Atreus is a 23 year old human, has slight pale caucasian skin, grey eyes and dark short spiky hair. He always wears a grey cloth tunic with a large hood. The tunic covers his upper body, arms and all the way down to his knees. He also wears a matching pair of pants. Underneath his tunic he usually wears a leather armor and since he always wants to be prepared for the unexpected, he almost never takes it off. He wears three belts around his waist, where he has his weapons and pouches attached to and each belt has its own purpose: First belt has 5 daggers attached to the right side, his second belt has a small pouch containing his sling and bullets on the left side. On his back he has a short sword attached to the last belt. He has also hidden one dagger in each boot.

 

[Dunamin]

Woe skims the letter with a bored expression on his face, quickly turníng from vague disinterest to mild irritation.
“Bah! A bloody babysitter. We’re perfectly capable of extricating ourselves from whatever trouble we inevitably get into. Well, usually, that is, but she was worth it.”

“Listen Scrawny, you’re already failing your job here. Dod’s apprentice isn’t home, he’s probably out mugging old ladies or burning down house gardens…” The warrior trails off in thought. Whoever he is, his name seems to escape me...

“Wait a minute…” Woe scratches his chin while taking a long sideways glance at Atreus, as if evaluating a peculiar gadget. His curiosity apparently unsated, he slowly circles around for a full inspection.

“You’ve worked here before, haven’t you? Hold on…” Realization dawns on Woe; from a tray on the nearby table he grabs one of those tiny croissants that Doddoddod have imported from Mykonos and holds it up to Atriden’s face. “Oh yeah, Pastry Boy!”

 

[nerdytenor]

Tander regards the newest arrival with some interest.

"Woe, given what has happened to us, I think we could use whatever help we can get."

Tander glances off into space with a sigh. "He certainly can't hurt at this point," Tander adds, with a faint whiff of grumpiness.

"Say, has anyone seen, um..." Tander pauses. How odd, he thinks. He tries to slowly speak Palindrome's name one syllable at a time, but that doesn't seem to work either. "That wizard. You know. That one. How remarkable - he has the power to flummox even when not immediately present. "

 

[Dunamin]

“Hmm… Guess you’re right, Tander. We could always use someone to fetch us snacks while we shakedown the cult, heh.”
Woe breaks into a laugh and pats Atreus on the back in a jovial manner.

“Alright, Scrawny, you can tag along if you don’t slow us down. Don’t get any ideas of shiny knights and valiant chivalry, though. The boys and I, we play rough and we don’t bother with lofty ideals, but we get the job done and we stick together.”

The warrior strolls over to one of the nearby cabinets and pulls out a bottle of Allarian vodka. He pours a drink, downs it, pours a few more and offers one to Atreus.

“Name’s Woe Chinua, arse-booter and damsel-dazzler extraordinaire. Merc of the Skyborn Company and unofficial titleholder as dual-champion for the longest burp in both the Hanged Man and Drowned Man inns.” Woe puffs with pride, recalling fond memories of the championship.

“That’s Tander, our divine guide and collective good conscience. The little lady is Tiptoes, she’s a witness in the case that’s helping us out. We're just missing... uh... another fellow.”

 

[KenHood]

Ooc...

[sblock=Awaiting Cue]

Hey, I don't know if I've got healing potions. Once the GM lets me know, I'll pop into the tower.

And...

Where's Adie?!

Did you guys lose my familiar?​

[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

[sblock=Palindrome]Palindrome successfully acquires four healing potions from the fence.[/sblock]

"I don't know what the snake lady looks like," says Neera, munching on something sweet and sticky-looking. "I spent a lot of time watching those guys, but I couldn't get inside like Clanks could. All he ever said about her was that she was dangerous. What's comely mean?"

 

[KenHood]

And away we go!

[Palindrome takes off the silver necklace--AND STICKS IT IN HIS UNDERWEAR (GOT IT, THIEF?)--before coming into the tower. He also stops by the garden shed and 'borrows' a 10-foot pole and shovel. Maybe not 'the' garden shed so much as 'a' garden shed. And maybe not 'borrows' so much as 'steals'.]​

From down the hallway, maniacal giggling drifts. A moment later, Palindrome walks by the doorway. His footsteps recede in the distance, stop, and rush back. He pokes his head through the door. "There you are!"

He holds out his left hand--oblivious to the terrible gash and coagulated blood upon it. Hovering above his palm is the magical quill. He pokes the feather. It quivers. "Look!" he gushes, "It floats!"

And he titters.

Really.

Like a giddy schoolgirl.

"Hmm," he sighs with a bliss perhaps unmatched in all the worlds of all the universes.

"Oh," he says as he fumbles in his jacket, withdrawing four potions. "I managed to get 200 gold for the swag and got these for you guys."

Without looking up from his quill, he hands the bottles to Woe.

He taps the feather again, watching it quiver. "You know who would love this? Adie. Adie would LOVE this. Hey, Adie, check out my floating quill!"

"Adie?"

Palindrome glances up from the feather. He scans the room and frowns. "Hey, where's Adie? Did you guys lose my familiar?"

Then, he notices Atreus. With a scowl, he shields the feather. "What the **** is the cookie mugger doing here?"