The group had grown quite quickly in a short amount of time. Hidari was glad there was a cleric in the group now. A good healer was always welcome. He nodded to the newcomers in turn introducing himself as well.

He followed Ariana into the next warehouse and to the pentagram. He strode inside and took a breath ready to make the quick but distant journey. He felt a twinge of excitement that he usually felt before a battle or adventure. The instructions were fairly open ended but he felt confident that their path would unfold without too much effort.

He was thinking that they should have quickly discussed their backgrounds so the group could understand what each member was trained in when the blue light flashed and caught him by surprise.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Thu 12 July 2018.

Vatra taps the dark, leather pack with his elongated finger. "Hold on to your fur, Artie... we're going for a ride!"

He steps into the pentagram and stares at his feet for a moment. "Wait..... Hobgoblins have pic....."

And then he was gone.

After Ariana sends the others to their mission location, it's time for Archibald.

"Just making sure I understand this... you want to join Awi Shelessu on his mission, correct? And he does know you, right?"

"I only ask that because when you appear, he might attack you if he doesn't know you."

"Step onto the teleport circle if you still want to go."

Once he steps on the circle, she makes her arcane gesture and cants her magic words.

There is a burst of magical blue light and Archibald vanishes.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Sun 30 Dec 2018.

As Taika wandered through the streets of Diobel, she heard rumors and even tales about a place called JAGSS. A place for stouthearted adventurers and brave explorers, the 'society' supposedly paid people to go on expeditions for them.

While just about everyone knew where the JAGSS office was, finding it was a horse of a different color... a drab, gray-brown heavily weathered color.

It was only the benchmark of the Endless Keg alehouse across the street that allowed Taika to finally spot the equally weathered sign hanging off the corner of the one-story building. The door was on one end, and after knocking and then opening the door, Taika found herself at one side of small 20-foot wide and 10-foot deep office, split down the middle by a counter. The front left corner was an even smaller office, and an elderly white-haired man stepped out.

"Greetings!" he says rather enthusiastically. "Welcome to the Jade Archaeological, Geographical and Submarine Society. I am Zarek. How may I be of service?"

Peering up at the man was a tiny gnome female, with delicate features, mischievous green eyes, and hair the red of summer flame. Clad in well-crafted leathers, a pack slung over one slender shoulder, she looked the part of an amateur adventurer.

"Hi!" she exclaimed exuberantly. "I heard this is the place to sign up for adventures. I love adventures! They're always filled with new experiences and inspiration. So where do I sign?"

"Then you've come to the right place!" Zarek replies.

"We have a need for adventuring types and they, apparently, have need of our services."

"Would you care for some tea and crumpets?" he asks as he reaches under the counter and pulls out a silver tray with a tea service and a plate of crumpets on it.

"Our application only has two questions: do you like to travel and are you afraid of magic?"

Taika holds out one of her hands as the old man asks a series of questions.

"Yes, yes, and no." she replies, counting off on her fingers with a studious expression, before cracking into a broad smile. To illustrate her last answer, she wiggles her fingers and a spectral hand appears, delivering crumpets directly to her waiting mouth.

"Yes, I know it sounds silly, but Ariana assures me that it is necessary for her auguries, which she casts to determine the best expedition to send you on," Zarek replies.

"Ariana Jade is the 'J' in JAGSS. She created the company."

"Her intent is to recover and record historical knowledge and art that might otherwise be lost. She's not interested in loot, unless it pertains to the former category."

"Thus, any loot you find you can keep, although she would like to examine it in case it is otherwise significant, but you can still keep it."

"In addition, she pays you 1,000gp for participating in an expedition... whether you are successful or not."

As he talks, he pulls out another item from under the counter. This one is a small black velvet-covered rack with four long slots and a dozen plain silver rings tucked into the slots.

"The next step is to select a ring that fits you. These special JAGSS rings will automatically return you here if you are on the point of dying. They can also bring you back here whenever you wish, such as when the expedition is over."

"The ring you choose must be activated with a drop of your blood. Once so activated, it won't work for anyone else but you."

"Do you have any questions?"

The little gnome rolls her eyes a bit as Zarek does his introduction to the organization, before fixating her emerald eyes on him when he's finished.

"Nope!" she responds, sticking out a finger in preparation for any pricking that needs to be done.

Zarek selects a ring that he thinks will fit Taika, hands it to her, and then pulls out a pin and pricks the outstretched finger.

He then raises a section of the counter, and beckons her through.

"Just go through the door at the back here. Ariana will meet you on the other side."

When Taika opens the door, she finds it leads into a large warehouse. She's pretty sure there was no such structure on the outside... not even any other building that butted up against the JAGSS building.

Stepping through, she can see two more warehouses through the warehouse doors on either of the side walls.

Rows of tables fill the interior of the warehouse, many of which have piles of debris on them and people are carefully sorting through them.

A red-haired woman approaches Taika, but the most striking feature about her are her jade-green eyes.

"Hello," the woman says to Taika.

"I'm Ariana Jade. Welcome to JAGSS."

Sticking her pricked finger in her mouth, Taika looks around in wide-eyed wonder at the expansive space, filled with all kinds of objects both shiny and dull. She almost doesn't notice the woman until she's right in front of her, towering over the diminutive gnome.

"Oh! Hello! Quite the place you have here. Much bigger than it looked from the outside. And there's certainly a whole lot of...stuff." she remarks, taking her finger out of her mouth.

"I believe Zarek explained everything to you already," Ariana replies. "It doesn't always work that way if there are more than one person."

"The questions were pertinent because I use a teleport circle to send people to far away locations sometimes. The rings are useful, but they aren't an absolute. If you lose a ring, for example, you might not be able to come back easily."

"Depending on the expedition, I'll expect you back within a reasonable amount of time, though, and if you pass that time, I send someone to check on what's going on."

"I also use auguries to find a good fit for each adventurer. The one that seems to be best for you is the Dangerous Isles. Up until recently, these islands were unknown and unexplored. It's been a tough going; I've sent over a dozen adventurers out there that have come back after getting a bit of treasure. Not that I mind. There are still five agents out there that have stuck it out."

"If it doesn't sound like something you'd be interested in, you don't have to go."

"Anyway, if you still want to go, we offer some adventuring supplies. Over on those tables at the end are an assortment of gear. Feel free to help yourself. When you've geared up, meet me in the next room, in the corner to the right."

Taika nods along as she pokes through the assorted adventuring equipment, hefting a few bits with a frown as she shrugs her already-laden pack off her shoulders. She finally decides that she only has room for two potion vials, which she slips into her pack before slinging it back over her shoulders.

"Okay! Let's go!" she says, without a hint of trepidation.

"You'll teleport some place safe, close to one of the other members," Ariana explains as Taika enters the next warehouse, moves over to the corner with the magic circle enscribed onto the floor, and steps into it when Ariana gestures for her to do so.

"I've yet to figure out how to alert the others that you are coming. Perhaps the next generation of rings will do that. So, to keep them from attacking you, just hold up your hand with the ring on it. The gesture and the ring should reassure them, especially since so many others have come before you."

Ariana chants a few arcane words and phrases, and suddenly Taika is engulfed in a flash of blue light. When it clears, she realizes she is standing somewhere else.

~Another day, another adventure!~ Ariana thinks as she enters the warehouse.

Already waiting for her at the meeting tables in the corner are Deirdre, Krass, Kinnon Shininglight and a new face.

"Hello, everyone! Long time no see, Deirdre! Hope you've been having a good time."

To the new person, she adds: "I'm Ariana Jade. JAGSS is my adventuring company. You are most welcome."

"So, am I to understand that you four are interest in another adventure?"

"As it so happens, I've recently run across an inscription on one of the relics a team brought back. It speaks of something called 'The Eye of Malligar'. Frankly, though, it does not really tell me what this Eye is. However, a search through a couple of libraries has suggested that Malligar was a cyclops from the Old Days."

"Yes, it does seem strange that the inscription would refer to his real eye, but maybe it did. Maybe it had some mystical property, such as the eyes of a beholder."

"In any case, I think I've found where this Eye might be... or at least more information about it or about Malligar. I've found reports of the ruins of a temple on the Red Isle. No one is quite sure why it's called the Red Isle, but it's known to bloom a lot of red flowers in the spring and there are shoals of red coral around the isle. That makes it hard for a ship to get to it, but there are almost always a passage or two through the shoals for those who know where and how to look for them."

"Fortunately, I won't be sending you there via ship."

"So, is this something you might be interested in exploring?"

 A petite woman walks into the headquarters, her elven features not hidden, but clothes and hair suggest she has been trying her best to fit in human environments. It is obvious she has been here before, although she has not visited in a very long time.

 She seems young. Perhaps not by the number of seasons she has seen –elves mature slowly– but in her cheerfulness, naiveté and optimistim.

 "Ariana! Long time indeed... I have been busy, between research and pleasure. But now I am looking for a new mission!"

 As the head archaeologist and JAGSS owner clarifies what she had in mind, Deirdre smiles.
 "This sounds exciting! I am keen, and happy to not spend time on a ship."

 She turns to the tall half-orc in armour, and her smile broadens:
 "Krass! You're still about and kicking, what great news! Let's have a drink and you can catch me up on what you have been up to."

  ooc: hey! are you still the original player behind Krass? I've been on a 5-year hiatus, but I'm back :)

"Greetings, everyone," the stranger responds to Ariana's comments.

"I am Karena Karnaki. I've heard much about JAGSS from some of my friends. It sounds like a quite a deal."

"Naturally I wouldn't be here if I wasn't interested in participating on one of your missions. Hunting for a cyclops' eye is certainly a new twist for me!"

"Deirdre!" exclaims the OG Krass. "I hope this next venture is as unusual as that necromancer, what was his name, Chad?, Chas? Weird one, but really useful."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:07, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Deirdre shook hands with the swashbuckler, clearly intrigued by her attire.
“Nice to meet you!” she said with her broadest smile. “What is your expertise? Stabbing things, I would...” she interrupted herself mid sentence when Krass arrived

“You old branch, happy to see that you are still up and about. What have you been up to? How long has it been? I haven’t see anyone from that era, not in years I think. How is everybody?”

She seemed too excited to carry on talking to the young swashbuckler, but she kept glancing at her every now and then.

Krass says "pardon the familiarity, but after the last couple of groups I was with..." he trails off as he sweeps Dierdre up in a hug. He says "after the Sky Islands I had some aquatic adventures including some lost Isles and a colony of harpies, just to mention a few key points. Never thought I'd get emotional over seeing a friend again."

"Ah! Here's the last member of your little group," Jade announces as Kinnon walks in.

"If you've all got your rings and whatever equipment you want, I can teleport you whenever you are ready."

 Deirdre turned to Kinnon, she waved a flashed a friendly smile.
 "I don't think we've met. You can call me Deirdre," she called out. A very human-sounding name, for someone looking resolutely elvish.
 "A fellow arcane caster, I see!"

 She checked her ring, and patted her satchel, happy with the items she had added to h her collections.
 "I am good to go," she cheerfully said.

---

ooc: I've picked some items, added to my sheet.

Krass pats his own Healer's Satchel. "I've picked up some new skills as well."


OOC Is the feat Signature Skill available to take next level?

Yes, Signature Skill is available.

With everyone ready to go, Jade leads you into the next room, which is another warehouse. All but Karena have been there before. In the nearest corner on the right is the magic circle inscribed on the floor.

Once the four of you have stepped into the circle, Ariana makes a few magical gestures and chants some magical phrases. The teleport circle suddenly flares up with a blue light and when it clears, you are standing in a small meadow...

TO BE CONTINUED IN.... Eye of Malligar thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Tue 13 Oct 2020.