"Jacob beat us because we fought him on a ground of his choosing. We shall not make that mistake again."


Farden is speaking adamantly. He is clearly convinced that it is better to go after Jacob, with taking on the buyer being Plan B. He sits back and glares at the others in annoyance, then says, in a cruel mockery of Holly's tone " We fear no empire!"

He shakes his head in disbelief. "Does she even listen to herself? She'd take the risk of annoying an unknown power rather than deal with a clever thief, just because the thief got the better of us once. And then accuses us of lacking courage!"

He takes a drink of the ale offered by Israth, then scowls for a bit, then says, "You know what? Even if Jacob sells off the book before we get there, it still makes sense to go after him! Want me to explain why?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:47, Fri 08 July 2011.

Glumr takes a mug and thanks Israth. "Any brew shared among friends is a good brew in my opinion"

Farden says the even ground comment.

Glumr disagrees with him.  "I dont follow what you mean.  Jacob is the kind of person who is always on the ground of his choosing.  It's how he makes his living, by always having the advantage.  Maybe if we get him to Volge we could hold the advantage... I just dont think we can outsmart his network of trickery."

Farden then mocks Holly.

"As for the empire, they would simply see this as petty thievery.  All we need to do is make it known the book is being return to it's proper owners who it was illegitimately taken from.  The empire is purchasing stolen good and it was taken back.  They would be mad a Jacob for causing the situation, not the nameless group who took the item back.  I do not fear the empire.  But I'm not looking for trouble with them."

Then, as Farden finishes, Glumr is confused.  "What?  Why?  We need the book.  It belongs to the harpers and they should have it back so that they may share it's music with everyone.  More so it puts the coin in our pockets.   I dont see why we would want to go after him if he no longer has the book.  I dont understand."

Glumr waves aside concerns regarding the empire

Farden sighs and shakes his head at this display of naivety, but doesn't waste his breath on this any more.

Glumr asks the question

"You forget, Glumr, we need the book only because of the money. Well, Jacob will have money once he sells the book. I don't give a fuck whether the Harpers get their book back, only that we get the money to continue our mission."

Farden sits back and considers. "But, here is the thing Glumr - I am, in the end, willing to take on Flavius and Claudius and their backers if we have no choice. But you must remember, the buyers are based in Silvergate. Their home ground advantage will be equal to that of Jacob. I am not so confident of our chances against these people, that I am willing to ignore Jacob entirely. Especially since Jacob could easily warn them about us, wrecking what little chance we have."

"This is my point Glumr: We need to plan for every eventuality. That means we need to be prepared to take on Jacob or Claudius, or whoever that gives us an opening. Which means we need a careful plan, not this haphazard stumbling we've been doing.

Now, I have a plan, or the beginnings of one. Do you want to call Holly so she can be in on the discussion?"

Farden turns to look at Israth and Giselle:

"The first part of the plan relies heavily on the two of you. And, be sure, it will be dangerous. So, answer carefully - are you willing to risk your lives to serve the clan? I will not blame you if you back out."

OOC: Seriously guys, we need to sit down and hammer out a plan, not just rush off. Especially since I have a plan which I think improves our chances. It is, after all, only early evening, we have quite a few hours before we need to rest for the night.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Sat 09 July 2011.

"You do realize, Farden, that I myself am a member of the Harpers, yes? I advise you not do anything that would cause them to get upset, or you'll have something much worse then the Empire to deal with... Before we get into throwing around threats and whatnot, however, or the divulging of 'plans', tell me more about this book you spoke of before. Perhaps I've heard of it?" Israth interjects, hoping Glumr, who seems to be much less hot-headed and arrogant then Farden, would be able to answer his question.

Farden grins at Israth. "Ah, so you are willing to risk your life in this endeavor. Good, good. As for the book, it is called Eburacon's Songbook. Heard of it?"

OOC: If I am annoying Israth, I am roleplaying my 8 Cha right... damn it, does anyone here have a decent Int and a passable Cha?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:09, Sat 09 July 2011.

OOC: Israth was designed for CHR and INT.  Other than him CHR and INT are not this group's strong suits.

 OOC: Good, he'll need them to play his part of the plan :D

"Well, I've heard of Eburacon, but not his songbook. He was a very famous Harper, so him naming a book after himself isn't surprising." he nodded, thinking a bit more. "When you say 'Jacob', do you mean, Jacob, the Harper? Surely you can't be talking about the same man I met in Rancor Heights. He is a great man, a friend of mine whom I met in my time with the Harpers! He wouldn't steal one of their prized possessions... I sense foul play afoot. Who was it that told you of his treachery?" Israth asks the others.

Farden snorted amusement at this. "The leader of the Harper's Guild in Rancor Heights set us on him. Although your reaction is not surprising - the guy did manage to fool the entire guild.

And he certainly didn't act innocent when we ran into him. Had a goon squad, poisoned weapons, traps, the works.

Now, can we get back to planning our trip to Silvergate?"

Holly comes back into the lodge, and sits at the back letting the boys get on with what they were doing. She listened, and decided to keep quiet. Her only real tie to this little group was Glumr, and the two of them were like two sides of the same coin sometimes. Listening to Farden she could see him making a move for the leadership of the group, and Holly reckoned unless someone opposed him he'd do it. That someone wasn't going to be her though.

Hearing Farden's plan, she considered it for a moment, and decided that splitting the group didn't make sense. Perhaps if Mord was here she would feel happier. Shaking the next images out of her head, she concentrated on what was being discussed.

"I see what you are saying Farden.  You say you're doing it for the money, but are you sure you're not doing it out of pride?  It sounds like you dont want to have to say you were bested by Jacob.  I dont see what going after him will give us more than going after the book after it's left his possession."  Glumr takes a paper and some leaf out of his belt pouch and starts rolling a smoke between his fingers.

"I've given my pledge to help the harpers get their book back and I'm not going to let that go simply so we can dupe jacob.  I'll agree to whatever course of action you want as long as you promise that we're going to make sure we return the book."  Glumr puts the rolled leaf in his mouth and gives it a few test puffs without lighting it to make sure the roll is good.

"All right, makes no difference to me. I'm just saying, we need to have a plan to take on Jacob. After all, we really don't know how easy a mark his customers will be. Once we get more information, we can make a final decision as to our target.

Now, what of my idea to set Giselle and Israth to tailing Bittan. It's a long shot, but it might pay off."

"It's as good as any I guess.  My vote still lies with taking the book from the merchant, but if you think we can get it from Jacob and that is the best course, then I'll help you.  What do the rest of you say?"  Glumr asks the rest of the group.  "Which course do you think best?"

"Um, that's kinda my point - we don't know which is the best route. Giselle and Israth will be tailing Bittan to try and get info on Jacob's location. We will be gathering information on Flavius and Claudius, and Jacob as well if we can. And once we know how the land lies, we can decide."

OOC: Also, I just realized - Flavius and Claudius... will we be seeing Cinna and Casca as well? Will someone we meet in Silvergate be described as having "a lean and hungry look" ? :D

"We are making an assumption that Bitten will run back to Jacob. Perhaps, perhaps not. Taking on the merchant sounds better, but as I'm merely a woman, I don't expect the opportunity to vote, such is Triplefang tradition on going to war!" Holly says from her position behind the others.

Realising how petty her last comment sounds, she adds, "My apologise to your family Israth. I have had a long day and recently lost a friend."

"Lost as in she went home to Volge, not lost as dead."  Glumr pipes in.  "But we're not going to war, and we're not with the clan.  We are on the road and working together and sharing the dangers.  I say anyone part of our group has equal rights in deciding what we do next.  Man or Woman."

"Yes, I know Bittan might not run back to Jacob. Like I said, long shot. If it is clear Bittan is heading somewhere other than Silvergate, Israth and Giselle will break off and catch up with us.

I don't care who comes up with the ideas, as long as they are good ones. Now, does anyone have a plan other than what I have proposed? I know Holly thinks we should focus solely on the merchant. I think we need more information before making that decision, and this is my plan to get it."

"I am all for this as it will give us the most information to make a decision on our next move.  I see a problem with your plan my friend.  Israth and Giselle dont know Bittan.  More so they have not been on the road and Bittan could spot them if there are close enough to tail him.

Let me follow Bittan.  I can track behind him or easily hide if I'm close.  This is what I am good at.  Israth and Giselle should go with you to Silvergate.  Jacob does not know them and you could somehow leverage that to get close to him and the merchants.  At least more so than just us who Jacob has met."

Plus, Glumr's player will be out of communication for a while.  We could split him off from the group with minimal disruption to play.

"I have to agree. As good as I am with people, I am not so great at going unnoticed., and I would likely be more use trying to gather information about the person who will be buying the book from Jacob then tailing, and potentially getting caught, by Bittan." Israth agreed.

Farden ponders, then shrugs. "Very well, we'll do it that way. But we need to enter Silvergate in two different groups - me and Holly in one and Israth and Giselle the other. If Jacob is so smart he'll have someone watching the gates, looking for us. Me and Holly enter first and draw their attention, Israth and Giselle enter after, hopefully unnoticed."

OK, it sounds like we have a plan.  In the morning Glumr will shadow Bittan.  The rest of the party will make for Silvergate.  A couple of quick questions.  There some possible zigs and zags on the way there.

1) There's the straightest route, which will be a touch shorter, but will take you through woods near the end of the trip.  There's nothing scary or dangerous about the woods, they're just slower to travel through on horseback.

2) Crim to Volge to Silvergate.  This is a little out of your way, but is a very sensible route.  You can accompany Snow back to Volge, and you can sleep in Volge instead of camping that night in the wilderness.  Plus you'll be traveling on a road on the final day, which is always easier.  This is the standard way to get from Crim to Silvergate or vice-versa.  It's 3 days on horseback to Volge, then one or two days to Silvergate.  That last leg is 36 miles, which will wear your horses down but can be done.  If you split it up there's a nice Inn between Volge and Silver.

3) Stop at Glumr's Uncle's farm on the way to Volge.  This is out of the way and might add a day to your trip.  It's a nice comfortable safe place to stop, but might not be worth the extra time and distance.

Does Holly want to heal Glumr before he breaks off on his own?  He's still pretty seriously injured.  For that matter, so is Holly herself.  Want to heal yourself to?


Lets move the game forward to the next morning.  If there's more you'd like to discuss tonight you can use the In Character Side Conversations.  I encourage you to use that item to get Giselle and Israth caught up to speed on our heroes' adventures and future plans too.

Holly quickly suggests that they join Snow on her journey back to Volge, if only because that company would be good for her. Before Glumr leaves, Holly uses her spells to return him to full health, asking him to be careful and wary of being caught out on the road ahead.

[Holly uses one CLW to see what effect that has, and then will either use other CLW or two CMW's to get Glumr up to full strength.]

With the coming dawn, Holly welcomes Giselle to the group, after finding out she will be joining them. Glad to have another female with her, even a warrior type as Giselle is, Holly tries to get to know her.

The prospect of something to do away from home was both exciting and a little daunting to Giselle, it wasnt anything she would ever admit to Israth.  Triplefang cousins from afar to fight the good fight with.  Was there more to life than this?

She was pretty quiet, and let Israth do most of the talking for them.  If he was going, she was too, it was that simple.  Israth, bright person that he was, probably knew it would be no simple task to disuade his little sister from tagging along.

Giselle gathers her things and is ready the next morning to deal with whatever may come.

"We're ready to go then?", she says simply looking about and doing a mental head count.

Israth offers Glumr his potion of Cure Light Wounds, wanting to make sure the only new face he had something in common with to come back to them rather then be lost to the winds. "I suggest we stock up on whatever we can before we leave, mainly healing scrolls or potions, since I suspect this will be a dangerous mission." the young Harper suggests thoughtfully.