Muirryl considered.  "If the drums are nearby, then having you scout makes sense.  But if you go very far and still don't find them, just come back.  We need all of our strength for what's to come."

Muirryl considered and said a quiet prayer.

---

Again, Muirryl is praying in undercommon.  He has no idea that two of you understand him.
[Private to Malleus Murk; Turg Darkwalker: "Give guidance, Lord.  Do not let your justice be delayed by deception or deceit."]

Frustrated, the bard just sits down, looking like she is pounting. She glances at the rogue and blows a rasperry at him then falls to the ground with eyese closed and letting her hands dangle around.

Turg shoulders his pack and winks at Echo when she gives his the raspberries. Just to fuel the fire.  He then makes off towards the sound of the drums and smoke.  Staying to the deep shadows and darker places. He moves to scout the drums.

---

Expertise in Stealth and Advantage for Deep Gnome

14:03, Today: Turg Darkwalker rolled 13 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 5.  Expertise in Stealth. – 13

14:04, Today: Turg Darkwalker rolled 23 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 15.  Expertise in Stealth. – 23

"Oh he kissed me. I am so going to tell his wife he is a conniving lier and cheat. So much fun. Much fun." Really.

That's Echo. "Oh even better I can shift myself into hin. Sleep with her and then wham! I'll have him tell her! Right after! The plot thickens..what if he doesn't have a wife? Girlfriend maybw? Something else, hard to say. Guess I wll assume he's got a wife or girlfriend. Bet he's got kids. Nasty little...." The mouse sqeaks from her chest.

Course she plans this when Turg is gone. Doing it in front of him? Echo isn't stupid. Hard to tell if she will.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Tue 20 Feb.

With Turg slipping off, Malleus collects his own gear and packs efficiency. Once he has donned his leathers and checked both daggers for rust, he turned to Muirryl and opened his mouth. Then paused, perhaps distracted by the muttering mousekeeper, "We should move on, in Turg's direction. No point staying put"

Getting up, Echo shakes her head "Actually yes you are as bad as Jack. Let's run at the smoke. Brilliant." The halfling grabs her pack, gets all close to the paladin and sniffs. She steps back putting her hand to her nose to block something and waves the other hand around. A jump here, a jump there "Call me Rabbitfolk!" Yeah. Definatly insane. The mouse almost flies off but Echo catches it "So sorry! you okay?" Geezus.

Muirryl, not expecting Echo near him, lurches back for a moment.  "Okay.  Rabbitfolk is better than singer.  Let's move and you be ready to hop when you need to move to safety."

Muirryl moved into the brush towards where Turg was scouting, keeping Malleus and Echo in eye-line so he can come to either of them in the case of an emergency.

"Hop. Hop." Literally, Echo is hopping. It looks rather funny. And doesn't help when she shifts into a rabbitfolk. She shifts back and stops "The name is Echo. Can you say Echo? Not singer. Not rabbitfolk. Echo. Rabbitfolk is cool but no. No no. Didn't I say call me Rabbitfolk? Silly me." Another hop and she stops staring at something.

Muirryl paused.  Meaningful communication.  Something was off about Echo, and he'd known some damaged people in his time.  But this was meaningful.  "Echo.  Thank you for trusting me with your name.  I'm Muirryl.  The name means something about arguing in the old tongue.  But I don't speak much Duergan.  But you call me what you need to.  We have 4 people and a suicide mission.  And if it's not clear, I've got a pretty thin skill set." He held up his hammer, and inclined his head.  "Turg is out risking his neck to figure out what we're up against.  Malleus is preparing something wicked and terrible for our foes.  And you seem to do everything.  I won't tell you what to do.  I was never a captain of the guard, and I don't think that's my strength.  But whatever you can help with will probably be the different between life and death for us.  So if you have a better way to hop, let's hop to it."

"You think Echo is my actual name? You are sweet. And dumb." The halfling waits "Your name is Bob. Just Bob. If he doesn't get back well one less person to patch up. And get hit again and again and again...." She shrugs "Malleus? We can just lob him at the enemies and run away! Run away run away its the trogan Malleus!" Echo seems to not really care. Maybe she does. Hard to say.

Turg manages to make to down the road towards the drums mostly ignoring most of the forest sounds and hyper focused to the just the sound of the drums. He comes up to an area close to where there is a cave at the base of a cliff. Up above he can hear the sounds of the drums banging loudly and some chanting. He notices three men close to the area where he is but remains silent and watching them. He instantly notices that one of them is his former teammate Jack.

Meanwhile at the camp you notice that Turg has been gone a decent amount of time. Not too long but you know he should've been back by now. Something must be stopping him from returning.

What do you want to do?

Muirryl, Echo, and Malleus are following at a distance the same path Turg was supposed to take.  We're not moving very fast, so we don't overtake and end up ruining Turg's scouting work, but our path parallels his.

Oh son of a....

Where the heck is Turg? Course why does she care? At this rate everyone will just die. Bloody Count. Damn goblins. She mutters under her breath, trying to be as quiet as possible. Looking around, the halfling keeps looking for Turg or some sign of him.

Oh my I got nice shoes....
17:04, Today: Echo rolled 4 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 1.  Perception. – 4

17:01, Today: Echo rolled 15 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 12.  Stealth. – 15
This message was last edited by the player at 20:34, Mon 26 Feb.

Jack hasn't noticed anyone but Turg at this point and he isn't sure what he just saw. One of the mean goes further into the mountain cave while the other two seem to stay behind.

OOC: If at any point you call out to Jack then we are going to move into a new scene. Unless they try to capture Turg first.

Turg

Tries to make his way back up the road without being seen.  Trying to make his way back to the others to let them know Jack is around and that there is a Cave complex up the road.


11:24, Today: Turg Darkwalker rolled 26 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 18.  Stealth with Expertise and Advantage. – 26


12:03, Today: Turg Darkwalker rolled 26 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 18.  Stealth with Expertise and Advantage. – [roll=1708966995.0528.381128
This message was last edited by the player at 17:03, Mon 26 Feb.

As Turg sneaks off he is able to escape before he notices that both men must have seen him sneaking through the bushes. They are aware of your presence. He makes it back the group which is not far from the cave area but far enough that they should be out of the range of the other group.

Spotting Turg returning, Malleus beckons him over, “What word of the drummers?”

"You made me worry. Wait. No. Not worry. Idiot." The halfling crosses her arms as she comes out of hiding. Lovely. She grumbles and kicks a rock "Probably going to kill us. Told you so. We're just going to sit here and die. Just what the bloody Count wants. You think he cares? Nope. Nope. And nope. We already had to deal with that Jack running his damn mouth off and runnin'. Thats my job for cryin' out load. Least I didn't bail. That son of a....nevermind. Not going to curse because of him. Oh Echo will kill us. Really? How amn I going to do that? Everyone here can kill me easily. But no got to keep the healer safe. Yeah why not. I'm not a damn healer. I got skills! Skills I say! But no one cares. Not a damn person To heck with you." She pouts. Yes. Pouts and leans against a tree.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:41, Mon 26 Feb.

Turg


Jack is in a cave up ahead with others.  Looks like the drums are above the cave on the ridgeline.  I think they may have seen me but no one attacked so I came back to warn you. Not sure what to make of the cave.  Looks like some type of Storage area.

Muirryl frowned.  "So does this mean that Nym lives in the caves?  That's not what I pictured.  I had a tower in mind.  Or is his tower above the ridgeline, and the drums are some people he has working for them?"

Muirryl turned to the others.  "I don't know who is with Jack, but it doesn't seem safe to assume he is on our side.  Do we try to go around?  Climb up at a distance and scout up higher?  Or do I go out to try and negotiate a truce?"

"We can't let Jack use it! Just as bad as the Count! Jacks the enemy now. He abandoned us so screw him." The halfling throws her hand up as she moves towards Turg "Hey! I'm waiting! Hit it! No? Great. Just great." She looks at the paladin and rolls her eyes "You think Nyms in the cave? Doesn't the map point him out somewhere else? I say we take Jack out and let the others decide what to do-attack us and die. Or join us and then die. Seems like we're all going to hell anyways. Why not keep it going? Hey Count! Everyone died. Really? Nym was your friend the entire time? Why thank you by throwing us to the deaths. Brav0." Apparently, she's just a bit tired "Gonna haunt people when I'm dead. Boo! Boo!" She throws her hands up and leans against the tree.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Tue 27 Feb.

Although he tries to follow Echo's line of reasoning, Malleus ends up forcing a smile, "Perhaps we need a better understanding of the situation before we start killing everyone? If we can agree that, then its the cave or the ridge... and I would vote the cave"

OOC: Assuming you don't want to do anything we are going to continue the story in the next chapter. I will be combining both groups.

"I want to see whats in the cave." She doesn't seem to wait. Grumbling, the bard slips into the woods. She throws her hands up beforehand and its hard to tell where she is going. Well maybe.

13:41, Today: Echo rolled 21 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 18.  Perception. – 21

13:41, Today: Echo rolled 13 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 10.  Stealth. – 13

Muirryl moved out into the open, hammer in one hand, shield on the other arm, but his hammer is held mid-haft, not poised to strike.  He walks towards the others in the clearing.  "Looks like we ended up in the same place after all.  What is going on with the drumming?"