JNAProductions
 OOC Thread 

 

It's been a week since you returned home. A week since you saw the Library's wreckage. A week since you were run out by those you thought of as friends and family.

You managed to stop at a small village, and heard what had happened. A force from Reyko, lead by someone who looked like Leif and with doppelgangers of the rest of you in tow, came and pillaged the whole place. They made off with dozens of manuscripts, burned even more, and left many injured or worse in their wake.

Currently, you are approaching the city of Ahzret. It's of moderate size, reasonably cosmopolitan, and sits on a river that goes from the northernmost tip of Rahno to the southernmost. As a result, it sees good trading, receiving much from the Hegemony and trading southwards to other cities of Golden and even into Reyko.
Darius Vibrtrar
Vintus was furious. Surrounded by a golden aura of flame as he conceived of who could have done this. Faces came to mind from the imperial court. Those who never left the court but had designs on the rest of the world. He had been joined with a contingent of non humans, to bring them to the glory of the Imperium. But now his name and theirs was tarnished.

"Mariko. Pepper. Lief. This injustice will not stand. I swear to you by the gods above, and the burning fury in my chest, we shall have our vengeance."
Lentrax
Moriko was silent for a long time after they discovered the destruction of the library. Since her grove had been defiled, its trees burnt to the ground.

Their flight had not been pleasant. Those she had once considered friends, faces twisted in rage, coming after her. They truly believed she was capable of this. That above all else hurt the kitsune to her core.

But now was not the time for grief. Now was the time to decide what to do next.

 Vengeance,  she says in response to Vintus. Vengeance can be useful, but often those who seek only vengeance should dig two graves. Better for us to create, than to simply destroy. But create what? That is the true task. 
Darius Vibrtrar
"Two graves? Bah! I'll be digging dozens of graves!"

Vintus pondered the kitsunes musings.

"Create, well create opportunities for ourselves!  If I could beseech the Golden Empress  may her glory reign over all , she could over turn this betrayal. But well need evidence,  not just our word will sway her attention."
Infernally Clay
      
  Leif Fýrisdotter 
   Eladrin Moon Druid 5 // Astral Monk 5 
 AC:  20  | HP:  43/43
 Spell Slots:   1st:  4/4  | 2nd:  3/3  | 3rd:  2/2
 Spells Prepared: 
1st - Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Healing Word, Thunderwave
2nd - Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth, Summon Beast
3rd - Call Lightning, Revivify, Tidal Wave

 Wildshape:  2/2
 Ki Points:  5/5
 Fey Step:  3/3
 Active Effects:  None
 Concentrating:  None
 Conditions:  None   
 
  

This wasn't the first time Leif had been rejected and attacked by those she thought she was safe amongst. It didn't hurt as much as last time, but it still hurt. To see the faces of the people you had come to care for and who had, in turn, come to care for you? Leif wasn't sure she could handle if it happened a third time, so she had been seriously considering slipping away from the others. Everyone turns on her in the end.

Shaking her head as if to dispel these dark thoughts, Leif listened to the others and their proclamations of seeking both vengeance and opportunity.

" We aren't getting anywhere until we figure out what our fraudulent foes sought to achieve, " Leif wonders aloud, " Once we've found a place to rest in Ahzret, we can try to find out who they were, what they wanted and why pretend to be us? "
Darius Vibrtrar
"Yes lief, good plan! Once we have gathered some intelligence, we can act on it. Violence without intelligence is just chaos."

Vintus flexes an arm in an approving display for lief, the firey aura around him calming down as he focuses on something other than vengeance.
Lentrax
 Yes,  Moriko agrees.  That will do quite well for now. Somewhere to rest and recover. Preferably with a decent selection of tea. 

Moriko ponders quietly to herself as they continue onward. But she has the foresight to make her tails vanish before they enter the city.
JNAProductions
The gates of Ahzret are nearly a mile from the edge of where the city has spilled out to. You pass by travelling merchants, pilgrims to the Temple of Commerce, beggars and laborers, citizens going about their business, and a few unusual animals in cages on your way in. While normally you'd feel comfortable staying at any inn, it's not a normal time, and as such, you spend some time searching for a place that's reputable enough to not get your coins stolen or backs stabbed, but not so reputable that you'd be turned in to authorities for any reason.

Eventually, you settle on the Staggered Lily, a couple hundred feet north of one of the smaller markets in Ahzret. You've gathered that it's run by a family of gnomes, more interested in coin than anything else. You enter, stooping your heads low to avoid bonking them on the top of the door, and ask for a room for a few days. A spot of haggling later, and you have keys to two rooms-one of the main reasons to choose the Lily, as there's a lot of inns without decent locks.

The patrons of the Staggered Lily are a combination of smaller folk and those more medium-sized. The younger members of the family that runs it are working as servers, hustling with plates of food and cups of drink. There's a central table that has a dozen people assembled around it, gambling with another gnome overseeing (and taking money for the house); two small groups at the corners, one of three humans, the other two halflings and a dwarf; and a few somewhat drunk people at the counter itself.
Lentrax
Moriko, having very little to leave in the rooms, settles into a seat at a table.

When an opportunity arises, she asks for a pot of tea and inquires as to whether there were any books she could borrow to read.
Infernally Clay
      
  Leif Fýrisdotter 
   Eladrin Moon Druid 5 // Astral Monk 5 
 AC:  20  | HP:  43/43
 Spell Slots:   1st:  4/4  | 2nd:  3/3  | 3rd:  2/2
 Spells Prepared: 
1st - Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Healing Word, Thunderwave
2nd - Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth, Summon Beast
3rd - Call Lightning, Revivify, Tidal Wave

 Wildshape:  2/2
 Ki Points:  5/5
 Fey Step:  3/3
 Active Effects:  None
 Concentrating:  None
 Conditions:  None   
 
  

Leif sat down with Moriko, watching the people in the room intently. After a few moments of silence she stands up suddenly and begins to walk towards the centre of the room.

" Grab me a herbal tea if you can, I won't be long, " Leif says to Moriko with a wink as she heads towards the gamblers and asks them, " What're you playing? Got any room for another? "

She knows they'll need money, but more than that they'll need gossip and Leif hopes to get both.
Darius Vibrtrar
Vintus decides to go on the investigative offensive and see if he can gather any information about what has been going on, he sits with the drunks at the bar and offers to buy drinks for anyone who wants to talk about current events.

"I'm a bit out of the loop, what's been going on, here in town, neighboring areas, Im buying drinks for anyone who shares."
Biffoniacus_Furiou
      
   Pepper Soursong   
  Goblin Fey Stalker Ranger 5 // Enchantress Wizard 5 
 AC:  20  | HP:  44/44
 Spell Slots:   1st:  8/8  | 2nd:  5/5  | 3rd:  2/2
 Spells Prepared: 
1st - Absorb Elements, Shield, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Detect Magic, Fog Cloud, Goodberry, Speak With Animals, Charm Person
2nd - Web, Tasha's Mind Whip, Locate Object, Suggestion, Silence, Pass Without Trace, Beast Sense, Misty Step
3rd - Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern

 Arcane Recovery:  1/1
 Active Effects:  None
 Concentrating:  None
 Conditions:  None
20 goodberries from yesterday   
 
  

Pepper sits with Moriko, still stewing over the latest betrayal. She'll eat or drink whatever's brought to her, too absorbed in her thoughts to care.   Why would this have happened? Who stands to gain from it? Why us?   Suddenly, she has an epiphany,  "Shapechangers can't mimic odors!"  she whispers to herself, but quickly dismisses it considering strong enough illusions could make up for that weakness of their impostors.   Who is to blame? Who are they working with? Where will they strike next? We need to find them.   She looks around at everyone present, suspicious of any oddities and keeping an eye out for any possible signs of their enemies, or especially any  dolls .

She leans over to Moriko, trying to whisper but it comes out even louder than normal,  "Were we just easy targets? How are we even going to find these dastards?!" 
Lentrax
 I don't know, dear one,  Moriko says as she starts fishing through the pouches of her robes, drawing out her pipe. Her black, claw-tipped fingers tap at the bowl to make sure it is empty before she starts filling it.

 I honestly don't know,  she goes on as she lights the pipe with a snap of her fingers.  My grove, while ancient, had no real power of its own besides that which any place gains with great age. And they ruined any such power by burning it to the ground. 

She draws on the pipe.  In fact, it gives us power. It gives us a clue. We were important enough that they felt they needed to discredit us. And I feel that the list of those who would need do so is short indeed. Any other, especially in the Empire who had more influence than we, would likely have just struck at our bodies, killed us, rather than attack our spirits. Our chi is still strong. And we will hone it to knife's edge to cut our foes lower than the stumps of my grove. 

Despite her fox-like features, her grin is wolfish.
JNAProductions
The gnome behind the bar nods at the tea request. "Give me a few minutes-gotta get some water boiling that hasn't been used for stew."

The people are intent on their game, but the gnome overseeing the gambling looks to Leif, and says "Three-troll ante, with a two gold minimum. Know how to play?"
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Feel free to decide if you know how to play. To gamble for this instance, you can do it in a few ways.

1) Straight luck. Roll a d20, hope.
2) Read the table-Wisdom (Insight) check.
3) Bluff the table-Charisma (Deception) check.
4) Cheat-Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check.

For all of them, here's how the DCs will shake out:

5 or less: Lose it all
6-10: Lose half your money invested
11-15: Break even
16-20: Double your money invested
21 or higher: Triple your money invested

If your result is 10 or less on Cheating, you get caught.
 


The folk at the bar are more than a little sauced already, making getting accurate information difficult. Luckily the drinks they want aren't too pricey.
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Gimme a Wisdom (Insight) check, please.

Also, why did you delete a roll?
 
Darius Vibrtrar
Vintus is willing to loosen lips, even from drunks.

 (1d20+5)[ 10 ]  Insight.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Sorry about that, was posting from my phone and I somehow posted a roll a whole nother post rather than the post I intended, So I edited all that junk out and reposted the intended post.
 
JNAProductions
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Oki-in the future, if you mistakenly roll something, just leave the roll intact, even if it doesn't make sense. Just note what happened.
 


Vintus gets a lot of information-the vast majority of it local gossip that's, at best, interesting. Not useful.

The main insight gleaned is more from a lack of talk than anything else, with the most of the Library's attack being mentioned as "There was some... Uh, crap, what was it? I think a monastery got burned, or something like that."
Infernally Clay
      
  Leif Fýrisdotter 
   Eladrin Moon Druid 5 // Astral Monk 5 
 AC:  20  | HP:  43/43
 Spell Slots:   1st:  4/4  | 2nd:  3/3  | 3rd:  2/2
 Spells Prepared: 
1st - Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Healing Word, Thunderwave
2nd - Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth, Summon Beast
3rd - Call Lightning, Revivify, Tidal Wave

 Wildshape:  2/2
 Ki Points:  5/5
 Fey Step:  3/3
 Active Effects:  None
 Concentrating:  None
 Conditions:  None   
 
  

While Leif didn't know the rules she is quick to pick them up, yet her greatest asset was not her ability to read the cards but read the people holding them. People, she knew.

 
 Spoiler 
Insight check:  (1d20+5)[ 16 ] 
 


" Any good news flowing into the city lately? " she asks, after a period of small talk.
JNAProductions
One of the others, a dragonborn who Leif just managed to get some cash from, curses. "Damn newcomer..."

The others laugh at him, and the gnome overseeing it says "Ahzret has been looking at some new trading avenues from the south. Normally, most of the routes come from the north and flow to the south with the river. But the Mechan merchants seem to think they can reverse that and make a killing."
Lentrax
 
 Originally Posted by JNAProductions 
 The gnome behind the bar nods at the tea request. "Give me a few minutes-gotta get some water boiling that hasn't been used for stew." 
 

 Thank you. Oh, and as you may see, I am something of a scholar. Is there anywhere in town I might be able to find some rare books? 
JNAProductions
"Hrm..." the gnome lets out as they start boiling water in a fresh kettle. "Books don't come cheap-not if they're worth more than the paper they're written on. Depends what you're looking for, I suppose. There's supposed to be some library not far from here-maybe a week, two weeks?" they continue. "Might be worth going there, whatever you need."
Lentrax
 But I am here now,  Moriko says, disheartened.

 Ah well, not to be, I suppose. 
Darius Vibrtrar
Vintus makes his way back to the table and speaks to Pepper and Mariko.

"I hate to say it, but we may have to travel to the scene of the crime to look for clues, even though that will be dangerously incriminating"
Lentrax
 Perhaps. Perhaps not. This is only one place. And there are other places to go. We just have to go there, instead of waiting here. 
Biffoniacus_Furiou
 "There's nothing for us to go back there for. What do the baddies have planned next? Where else will they strike, wearing  our faces ? We need to go after them, before this gets any worse!" 
Lentrax
 Ah,  Moriko says.  There is our first clue! 
 If we assume they are intent on hurting us specifically, they went for my home because it was specifically that. What do the three of you have to lose? What would hurt you the most, if not in flesh, but in spirit? 
Darius Vibrtrar
"If the Golden Empress  May she smile upon us  were to think less of me... think I had failed... or worse... turned on her..."

He puts a hand to his chest, feeling a tightening pain.

"If she thought that. I don't think I could go on"
Biffoniacus_Furiou
 "I don't see any reason why they would have targeted us, but this is  personal . We need to hunt them down! 
She takes a deep breath, and unclenches her fists.
 "Where do we start, though? ... What books would they have wanted from the library, was there anything important or rare or particularly old there?" 
Lentrax
 So far as I know, there was nothing truly special about the library itself. My grove, while special to me, held no true power except that which all things as ancient as it was do. 

Moriko takes another draw from her pipe.

 This is why I feel it is targeted at our spirits. Because doing so hurt no one but I. 