"A job well done doesn't happen until the job is in fact, done.  Though it is looking good from here beyond the trip home, but if these people could make the trip from town to the keep in more forced conditions, they can make it easily enough with us watching out for them."

May says, "I'm still taking point, guys. At least, until we make it to town. Then it'll be up to you all to take point so the town guard don't kill me on sight."

Raichel says, "I'll watch our backside then. And don't worry, May. You have all the freed prisoners as witnesses on your behalf."

Timothy says, "When we get to town, can we all high-five each other and celebrate, perhaps with drinks and a steak?"

Although the group is able to find their way back in the direction of Brindol readily enough, the going is slower given that the group now has half starved prisoners carrying a dead man among them.

"I can use two of my staffs to make carrying him a little easier," Mittens suggests at the first rest, "Turn the make-shift body bag into a make-shift stretcher.  It took us from dawn till afternoon to get here on the trip up at full speed.  Unless we're willing to piggyback some of the slower folk, it'll be long after nightfall before we get back.  Perhaps it would be best if we were to set up a watch and camp at the most defensible place we find along the way."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Wed 26 Oct 2011.

  Kyle nods in agreement.  "We will have to stop at least once at some point during the trip.  Might as well be sooner rather than later you all get some rest and half decent food.  After that I could Tenser Disk the body.  It would wear out and drop them, and I'd have to cast it again if we used it before that though."

  And now Kyle wont have to count pennies in regards to 'wasting' resources on ritual components.  So he can actually own and USE some at times.

After spending an uneventful night and another half day traveling the following day, the team finally makes it back!

Unless most of
the prisoners perished, the town is delighted with
the PCs’ success, and they throw a great feast in the
repaired Hall of Great Valor to honor them.

"Well I do believe the three siblings will be moving on," Mittens says, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you!"

She boards her small boat with her two sibs, purchased with her newly acquired wealth, and waves goodbye as she floats downstream.

---

Major Quest—Rescue
Rescuing the prisoners from Rivenroar amounts
to a major quest. The PCs don’t earn the quest
XP until the prisoners’ fate has been determined,
and those still living returned to Brindol.
Reward: 500 XP (and 200 gp if the prisoners
are returned).

  Fastest ditching of town he ever did see... Well, when not trying to flee retribution for something at least.  Kyle waves as the Shifters bail out (hopefully they will not need to literally, they just bought that boat) "Maybe I'll see you around again, maybe I wont.  You got what it takes to get the job done in the end, don't forget that."

  The artificer had some considerations to make.  The professional thing from average practical mercenary standpoint would be to take his money and go back to more average trade caravan guard duty (once he found a still living employer).

  The professional thing from a work integrity standpoint (vauge and selective to his tastes that may be) would be to return to the keep and finish the job.  Not just in retrieving the stolen museum pieces, but possibly digging up why the raid on own and what the deal with all the necromancy was.

  "Merielle and May are still around, so that's two down but not enough to work with."  Of course, Kyle isn't aware those two have vanished into thin air yet.  Or at lest will soon enough.

Meriele seems to have disappeared entirely as she is nowhere to be seen. But May is there with Kyle, waving at the shifters. "G'bye, Mitts... g'bye Tim... g'bye Rai... I'll miss you! But I'll make sure to see you again some day! Some way!" she means it too. She then looks up at Kyle. "My goodness, I'm exhausted. That was a long trip, a lot of food, and more gratitude than I expected to receive. I'mma get some sleep and hopefully, the morning won't bring any unpleasant surprises. But just in case it does... suppose we could sleep in close proximity?"

  "Yes, people can be quite open minded when you bring a stack of kidnapping victims home alive.  They're funny like that."  Well, unless you are bringing them back alive and asking for a ransom.

  He shrugs in regards to May's request.  "I got a place here since it's my hometown, so least I can do is give you a place to crash." despite the Wisdom Tertiary, it goes over his head just how close 'close proximity' suggests for the moment.

Not far from what 'remains' of the group an unusual pair of individuals are conversing, with the townsfolk giving them both a wide birth and more than a few strange stares.

“See I told you we wouldn't be welcomed here, after all I'm a Githyanki and your riding a freaking Displacer Beast. So which of us do you think they are going to try to chase off first simply because we are breathing?” speaks the tall and gaunt humanoid with almost skeletal features that has proclaimed itself to be a Githyanki. His clothing conceals much of his features with his hooded cloak drawn up, but the individual does nothing to truly conceal his appearance.

“Just because it happened once doesn't mean every village is going to try to chase people off without provocation. But odds are, they would go after you before me... after all more people fear a Displacer Beast than even know what a Githyanki is.” answers the gnome with short auburn hair and emerald eyes. The gnome is indeed riding a six-legged panther like creature with a pair of tentacles coming out of it's shoulders that many would recognize as a Displacer Beast, a normally ferocious and dangerous beast from the Feywild.

A young boy approaches the two strangers and stands in their way, arms folded, and a scowl that looks like the guy suspects the pair of murdering his family.

"HEY!" he shouts, "Kyle!  May!  Got some weird looking intruders here!"

---

DC 5 insight: The kid is probably angry because he thinks the strangers might be involved in hurting someone he cares a lot about.  DC 10: He's scared stiff, but putting on a brave front.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:04, Thu 03 Nov 2011.

Icarus's attention is drawn to the shouting, and he approaches.

May hurries to Thurann and spots the two entering town. "It's OK, hon..." The kobold then turns to face Gilant and Shale. She has her shield ready to protect her, but has NOT drawn a weapon. "Greetings! Welcome to Brindol! How can I help you?" And yes, she would do that even if gnolls, hobgoblins, etc were entering town.

An odd-looking kobold, to be sure. She has HAIR at all, she looks like an alligator more than a kobold. But what else COULD she be besides a kobold? A reptile with natural armor, a tail, 3' tall, and all that. Still, her existence is odd in general. Even if she is a kobold, that should tell Gilant and Shale both that this town is a WEE bit different than other towns.

  "I know what a Githyanki is, but I still find myself more worried in regards to displacer beasts.  They tend to be harder to hit if you find yourself in need to.  Though considering the situation, it seems unlikely that will come up."

  Kyle does a quick headcount, and asks the more recent arrivals... Minus the kid, "I don't suppose any of you would be interested in retrieving stolen museum pieces from an already half cleared out keep full of mostly Goblins tomorrow?  I've found myself short of help compared to the last trip."

A human lady with a classic Shaolin Monk style outfit (http://mypage.iu.edu/~zhanghua/shaolin2.jpg) walks over to the bunch and listens. She doesn't speak up, but doesn't mask her presence either. She is curious what the two newcomers will say.

Gilant doesn't seem concerned when the boy comes up calling attention to the duo as he looks to Shale and chuckles, “Told you this would occur.”

Shale shakes his head at Gilant as he says, “The kid is probably just doing as he was taught, alerting adults that there are strangers present. Can't say that he's learned any manners though..Are we intruding simply by walking on the street?”

Gilant and Shale's attention are both drawn to May when she introduces herself and greets the duo.

Shale blinks at seeing a Kobold with hair, and wonders if it is a wig, or if she has some fey blood somehow. “I am Shale, and,” as Shale gently pats the Trained Displacer Beast he is riding as he continues to speak, “this is Blinky.”
The Displacer Beast keeps its eye on the boy and licks his lips before yawning as the Displacer Beast is introduced.

Gilant introduces himself by saying, “I am Gilant,” as the Githyanki glances to Kyle upon hearing the comparison between a Githyanki and a Displacer Beast and continues, “Well maybe a foolish Githyanki whose brain has been eaten by a Mind Flayer, but a real Githyanki is harder to deal with than a Displacer Beast,” Gilant then turns to Blinky when the Displacer Beast hisses at him and Gilant adds, “Oh hush you freaky feline.”

Blinky snarls for a moment before Shale pats him and mutters, “Calm down he's just teasing,” as Shale tries to calm Blinky down before things get out of hand.

Gilant however responds to Kyle's question while Shale calms Blinky down, “Is there pay involved in clearing out the goblins?”

Shale glances to Gilant and says, “There is more to life than money...”

Gilant interrupts the gnome as he comments, “Of course, but money is often used to acquire such things. Having more money is usually a good thing. Besides your bored and messing with goblins can be fun.”

Shale starts grining, “I so enjoy having fun, Blinky wants to have fun too.” And as disturbing as it looks, the Displacer Beast seems to be grinning wide enough to displace his teeth.

Icarus doesn't like how easily provoked the displacer beast is, finds some cover, and silently draws his bow, ready to shoot the thing in the head if it gets violent.

That's a lot of lip-licking, growling, and scary teeth for an 8 year old to stare down.  Thurann begins to cry and hides behind May, kicking himself for being a frightened little child.

---

11:43, Today: Icarus rolled 23 using 1d20+10. stealth.
Player of course knows the beast won't attack unless commanded, but character doesn't.

  Kyle guesses the Pixie wasn't interested since they just left for all intents and purposes of his generic perception.  "It'll be fine kid, unless it starts growling while drooling on you, then yeah worry."

  "It tends to be easier to beg for your life to those that actually understand common though Gilant...  Wow this has gotten off track fast.  There is a reward for recovering the Museum pieces, there has been no official reward stated when it comes to the hostile sorts inside the keep.  You're a bit late for the rescue of hostages, so the apparent side perk of doing jobs for this town likely won't be quite as impressive as Kobold's being accepted as guardians of children.  But I'd figure you two have a lot more leeway there so long as you keep the morbid down."

  Kyle used 'give the crying kid some peppermint'.  Will it be super effective? Or cause even more crying? (He will be quite insulted if he gets counted as a Stranger, considering he's lived here longer than the kid has lived at all).

  "Clearing out the last... Third or so, of the keep is more of a courtesy to the town firebombed by them, as well as probably the only way to be able to examine the place properly.  Something doesn't sit right when the area's previous lords apparently had room wide necromantic seals, among other things."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Thu 03 Nov 2011.

May glances at Kyle and says, "But that's where you and I come in, Kyle. Karma balances things, so when a town has a necromantic place nearby, fate itself dives in and produces heroes to punch necromantic things in the face!" She illustrates her point further by punching her fist into her hand.

May then looks at Gilant and Shale. "Pleased to meetchya, Gilant, Shale, and Blinky! Yeah... like Kyle said, there's a reward for bringing back the museum pieces. Beyond that, no money."

Kyle earned 'not a stranger' status more from his saving the kid's life than from the boy seeing him around town every now and again.  Thurann accepts the peppermint and noms to have something else to think about than displacer beasts drooling on him.  His cries are effectively reduced to sniffles.

"What makes you think these two can be trusted?" he whispers to May and Kyle, "Remember the gnomes are in league with the enemy.  And the other one looks like a cross between a hobgoblin and a zombie."

Icarus remains hidden.

Shale arches at hearing about a necromantic place nearby and grumbles, “I hate necromancy... the undead have no sense of humor.” Shale's tone of voice then shifts to a playful one as he continues, “But on the other hand tricking them into smacking each other silly never grows old.”

Blinky lays down while glancing around and starts batting around a nearby rock with its tentacles.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:58, Fri 04 Nov 2011.

Gilant considers the situation and asks, “So other than handing over the stolen museum pieces, what becomes of the other stuff found in the place?” Gilant wonders if it may be possible to find something in the place that he might be able to use, something he can learn as he values knowledge far more than money, but unfortunately he often needs to spend money to get the knowledge he seeks.

Gilant remembers how his old cadre used to terrorize villages not unlike this one... and what happened to them due to their arrogance... Gilant also remembers how poorly his cadre treated him since he neither agreed with the xenophobic ways of the Githyanki nor did he believe in focusing on just being a swordmage as his Cadre wanted him to be. Gilant still feels that overspecialization breeds in weakness and he refuses to be weak.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:14, Fri 04 Nov 2011.

  Kyle thinks Karma is inefficient then, considering what had to happen before any results in innocent live's favor happened. "Aside from the property that belongs here, we have been taking the goods for ourselves yes.  I came out ahead in crossbow ammo for starters."  Thanks to the previously mentioned Gnomes.  "The usual tendency to cram enchanted gear inside tombs seemed to be in play."

  He's point out to the kid how many Human bandits he's had to put down, but driving up the murder aspects of life to a recently crying child just didn't seem productive.

  "As for the undead lacking humor, the only possible sign of it so far would be if those zombies were ignoring the ghouls commands on purpose, just to annoy them."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:54, Fri 04 Nov 2011.

May thinks back to her first time fighting with kyle and the shifter siblings. "The zombies didn't have a sense of humor, but I can't say our time in there didn't have its moments."

As Kyle speaks about looted armor, May then puffs up proudly and pounds on her chest with her not-shield hand. "See for yourself! This armor is magical!" she grinned, showing her many sharp teeth.

(OOC: Seriously. That Monster Intern and the Fail Gator are two things that have made this thread.)

The shaolin dressed human lady with light brown / amber skin and black wavy hair walks to the forming group and speaks up, "Excuse me... My name is Angel. If you like, perhaps I can be of assistance."

She gives a small smile and bows slightly.

Now that Blinky is laying down, Icarus figures it's safe to stop playing the sniper and join the group.  He floats up to the group and gives a bow.

"I have a magic bow," he says, "I can help out too."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:53, Tue 08 Nov 2011.