Pronounced gree-naut, this little coastal town is home to the best fortune-teller in the land. This is where your adventure starts, with you having, because of your recent bad luck, gone to the fortune-teller to find out what you can do to stop your unlucky streak. You have just stepped out of her home, her ominous words still ringing in your ears.

One of you holds something dear
But sadly, cursed this precious item is
Bad luck will plague you far and near
Until you are rid of that which condemns

The question remains. Do you continue on your treasure hunt? Or try to find and get rid of this item, so you can still get your hands on the treasure and become rich? The problem is, when you set out on your travels a week ago, you decided to travel light. You have already left behind everything except for supplies, and a few trinkets you hold dear. You know that your things are not the cursed ones, but the others of your party still believe there's a chance it's you. It is up to you to figure out which is the cursed item. Who in the party does the bad luck follow? Which of their prized possessions is the cursed one? How on earth will you persuade them you're right?

Standing at about just over five foor with pale flowing waves of blond hair and green-blue eyes, which she covers with her hands in her odd lack of understanding. "There is no logical and precise conclusion I can draw from this data. I need more information." she mutters to herself, as she stands there blinking and pondering the words of this... fortune teller.

Tora is thinking to herself as she instinctively ducks her head as she exits the Fortune Tellers. She was quickly doing the math. 1 cursed item divided by the number of people times number of items... Odds where that the item wasn't hers. Now if there was someway to get them to dump their stuff...

She of course excluded her things... She's had them for ages now, and nothings ever happened with them before. If only she could narrow down which one of them was cursed...

Tora glanced over at Pandora as she spoke. She had an... odd way of talking, but she hit the nail this time. Tora nods slightly. They needed more info.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Sun 05 Jan 2014.

Lan'elli had only idly listened while the fortuneteller had droned on about the items. Not because he was dismissive, like some of his companions, but because he was afraid. His life hadn't been easy, and the mere thought that one of the few mementos he had could be the cause of the issue was discomforting. As they exited the fortuneteller's, Lan'elli decided to redirect. It's all a load of bunk. A waste of gold, if you ask me, he mused. How much money have we got left? Can we hit the tavern and enjoy ourselves a little while we look for work?

"Curses are far too real..." A rusty scraping sound slowly echoed out as Zigor shook his helm side to side to Lan'elli, mimicking the motions of a 'no' gesture. "Of course a charlatan is at least a hundred times more typical, so we shall hope luck is on our side." The apparition said without sarcasm as he marched forward closer to the rest of the group. "Unless we're stopping to confirm our route of travel, I vote we keep moving forward until we find the treasure, the curse matter can sort itself out."

With a strange chortle, "I believe we should move forward. I personally could not joun in.. such endeavors like the action of drinking. It would not process." She frowns in discomfort at the thought.

Ayleth left most of her thoughts to herself, as usual - but she did bring up one thing at the mention of work. "We might need more funds soon, but I think we need to keep moving for now. Don't want to let the competition get the treasure, after all." The faintest bit of a rather evil looking grin appeared under the edges of her hood as she spoke.

The bad luck, that might be a problem. Of course, since it had only started when their little group got together, she was sure it wasn't any of her few treasures. Actually, one of them was good luck for her - her lucky dagger. Her right hand under her dark blue cloak moved to her left bicep, touching the hilt of the knife hidden there before crossing her arms - from an observer's point of view, they would barely be able to see she had done more than just cross them slowly. The gesture, however, was comforting in an odd sort of way, to know it was still there. Certainly not bad luck.

The echos of hollow steel boots against street rang out as Zigor walked away, not wanting to waste any more time on the matter quite yet. He really believe it would sort itself out, if whomever had the item was too foolish to let it go, perhaps one or two traveling companions would be carried off by a dragon or fall into a swamp, and hopefully that would be the end of it. All he he needed to do was "survive" and cut down whatever came at him, just like always.

"So," he called back "do we push forth from here on foot, or by sea?" He wondered for a moment how the coastal air of Grhinat smelled: Fishy? Salty? It probably didn't matter.

That's a good question, Lan'elli said to the animated armor. The whole situation had him on edge, and as long as they had a course of action, he would be happy. Who has the map? he asked, poking through his own bag to see if he still had it or if he'd given it to someone else...

Somewhere down the street, a crash, scuffle, and a few nondistinct shouts could be heard...

Tora smiles and replies to the others. "Sea would be quicker by far but overland would be safer with our bout unluck. All depends how good or bad you expect our luck to get. Myself, I'd vote overland as I think it relies less on luck. You can spend a LONG time on the water waiting for a wind or weather to change."

Hearing map, Tora pulls out her notebook. She might not have an actual map, but she's noted travel times. It should let her know how long any route would be on the map.

Hearing the noises, Tora safely tucks away her notebook before checking out the noise.

Zigor's hand instinctively went to the blade at his side, but the shield guige on his shoulder remained untouched. Was it a time to fight, or was it just a common clatter on the street? He walked down the path behind Tora, not breaking his previous pace as he continued down the road to hopefully their next destination, keeping alert for what may come.

Millie decides that she doesn't have the bad luck item because none of her items seem to make bad luck, or do they? She turns around at the noise.

Pandora decides not to focus to much on tje item of bad luch for now. She twitches slightly at the sudden noises and goes off toward it to investigate.

At the noise, Ayleth stiffens slightly before trying to pick out the disturbance - though she will stay near the back of the group if they try to investigate.

 From behind a blind corner came the source of the noise that the group had been hearing. A mighty crash was followed by a market cart that tumbled and came into view from around the corner. Bounding over it was the source of the noise a hooded figure shrouded in black, less than six foot in height and rather nimble in his sprint. The hooded figure was carrying a small chest under his left arm clearing his path forcefully with his right arm and shoulder. Running directly towards the group, the thief wasn't afraid to push over a man balancing a collection of mason jars on his head. The sound of the glass smashing on the ground was enhanced by the screams and yells of the angered villagers that the thief was disrupting and the entourage of village guards that were following after the thief.

  Behind the corner that the thief came from was a small band of guards rounded the corner in full sprint brandishing clubs and swords. "Get back here thief!" the leader yelled, another commotion erupted from behind the group of adventurers. Another group of guards surrounded the thief and the group. In full tilt run, the thief tripped over a small child while distracted by how many guards were surrounding him. The chest went airborne and a dazzle of light shot off of the silver coins that were thrown from the chest onto the group, anyone who wasn't too distracted by the recent hail of money would have seen the thief smash open a nearby vilager's door and hide inside. Leaving the guards running at full sprint at the group from both sides "Quick grab his accomplices!" cried a few of the men swinging club and sword haphazardly at the members of the group.

Oh gods, Lan'elli thought as the whole event unfolded. His first instinct was to run, but on a crowded street, with no clear escape route? Not going to happen, at least not without looking really, really bad. So another old instinct took over. Growing up in taverns and brothels and around thieves and all manner of the sketchy, Lan'elli knew the drill in a guard raid. Get low and cover your head. So diving nest to the wall, Lan'elli covered his head with his arms and hoped nobody kicked him too hard before he was arrested. On his way down, he scraped up a few of the spilled coins as well, as old thief's instincts never died...

Pandora stands still, frozen in shock. She way most definitely not a thief. Nor a thief's accomplice. She crosses her arms and stands her ground, with a cross looking frown.

She lets out a low growl as Tora'a eye's narrowed and dart around seeing she was surrounded. She would have tried to use diplomacy but the guards where already swinging without the slightest idea who they where dealing with. As if she'd be a petty thief.

She lets out a loud roar as her form grows and changes. She looks down at the guards and says "I know nothing of your thief but if you attack this traveler without cause I'll beat you to death with your own arms. I suggest you go look for the actual thief and stop accosting the innocent." She adds a snarl at the end for effect.

Zigor drew his blade and began attempting to parry away the blows of the guards. "You feather headed varlets! How dare you accuse me of such petty greed?! If thy desire is your wretched silver, take it. If thine desire is steel though, I shall gladly cut you down." The knight reached for his shield, trying to untangle it off his shoulder offhanded while struggling against the guards, though he was good swordsman, he couldn't safely do much but try not be overwhelmed without his shield.

Ayleth said not a word as she stepped into action. There was no way she was letting herself get caught by the guards, she knew they'd hang her if they figured out enough of who she was. They didn't like mercs. Probably even less than they liked thieves. So, she did the natural thing to her. Fight. It might be only daggers she had against the guards' swords, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to use them. When your face is only inches from your foe, the can't very well wield a long sword with any precision. Nor could they a club. Daggers, however, operated best in tight quarters. So she got up close and personal.

 The main group of the guards charged right through the group like a rampaging stampede of bulls. Barging through the house the thief went through. Smashing of belongings and bodies crashing into one another could be heard from outside the home, with a mix of yells the guards pursued the man that stole the money from the village. Lan'elli was the first to feel the wrath of the stressed guards, forced to chase the real thief through half of their town. One man went to kick the elf om the face only to be tripped up by his fellow man trying to do the same. The two men tripped over one another and tumbled head over heels onto and over Lan'elli's body. The next set of guards were too dense to hear Zigor's words and too hot headed to care, the first set of strikes were wild and with little control at all. The first man swung at Zigor's blade with his club like it was a baseball bat, the second swung down missing entirely. The man that missed Blaidd with his club lifted it up swinging upwards at Pandora's right side in a wild swing that wasn't meant to his her. With the momentum that he used to swing his club one handed he re-purposed his momentum and swung with his left fist for the woman's head like a wild animal. Tora was welcomed with an attacker from the front whom dove to tackle her, but the real danger was a man with a sword swinging with some skill from behind looking to skin her back. Ayleth was faced with a man that swung his sword for her head wildly before raising his foot to kick at her face with his boot.

Tora makes no move to avoid the blow to her back. She doubted that it was silver so the chance it'd deal any real damage. In fact, she found that having the wound they just caused instantly heal before there eyes was a stronger intimidator than her roar.

The one in front... She wondered what kind of idiots the guard was hiring these days. Grappling a creature with teeth and claws is a poor tactic.  That and increased size just made it beyond stupid. She's sorely tempted to just tear him apart, but holds herself back. That'd cause more trouble than it solved. It'd feel good though...

In the end, she tried to pull the guard off of her and toss him aside.

Sure enough, the guard behind Tora gasped in astonishment as the wound healed quite quickly indeed, and Tora tossed the other guard aside like a toy. He was obviously out of his depth, and he knew it. The other guards could tell they were as well. While the melee continued unabated in the alleyway, a group of guards smartly formed a careful ring around Tora, just to contain her.

The guard she'd flung aside moaned loudly on the pavement, obviously milking the mostly superficial wounds from Tora's claws and the impact with the pavement for all they were worth. He wanted everyone around to know he was hurt far worse than he was while the other guards feinted and prodded at Tora. Behind her, the skilled guard, murmured to another to go and find "The hunter. You know, that adventurer bloke with the house outta town. We've a true beastie here."

Louder, he yelled at Tora. "You've nearly murdered a man today. Don't matter now if you're a thief or not. We've got you dead to rights now, so if you'll come peacefully, we promise not to make you into a rug. You'll even make trial if you'll just come quietly. Can't make any promises if we go getting adventurers involved..."

Tora laughs out load at the man. "Hahahaha. Really? Dead to rights? While walking down the road a group of men showed up tring to beat me down with clubs, stabbed me with a sword and tried to wrestle me to the ground. Maybe you shouldn't attack innocent travelers if you're going to whine when they defend themselves. Why would I trust your trial to be fair when this is the way you treat people minding their own business."

She stares down the man and says "I'm leaving now and I'll make you a promise. Anyone that gets out of my way and lets me pass has nothing to fear from me. Now, anyone who continues to attack me without cause... Well, they might need a cleric."

With that she charges down the road, bowling anyone over that was holding their ground.

Zigor blocked the blow, carefully steadying his blade with both hands, then turned and unlatched his shield, now ready for an extended battle. It seemed the group was getting smaller by the second though, hopefully there wouldn't be too much trouble reuniting, unless of course it solved the curse problem. Zigor knew he couldn't give chase, not with his "body" weighing him down, so instead he kept fighting. With his blackened shield in front he got into a defensive stance. If there were any oncoming attacks he would try to block and bash, then quickly lash out with his sword. "Are you fools tired yet? You'll find this won't end until you're face down on the road, either begging or dying!"

 Millie takes out her bow and tries to shoot one of the guards in their arm not to kill him but so they can't attack her "friends". She says,  "We did not do anything to you and you come attack us just after a thief stole a few coins. You should attack the thief not just the first group of people you see walking down the road that the thief happens to run into!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Tue 29 July 2014.

Keeping some protection over his head, Lan'elli still lost his wind when the guards fell on him. Along with his wind, any fight he had fled as well. Ok... I... will come... quietly... he wheezed, relishing the idea of getting out of the alleyway. He'd been in cuffs more than once, and if you knew what you were doing, getting out was almost easier than getting in...

Tora successfully blasted through the soldiers standing in the road, managing to get away from the battered guards.  Millie grazed a man's hand with his shot before he got a chance to attack, he looked back in fear and ordered a retreat. The town guards weren't prepared to deal with a ranged attack. Zigor attempted to strike a retreating man, but suddenly a large rumbling sound could be heard. The ground shook for just a moment, causing the ghostly knight's helm to come lose. The apparition screamed in pain as its armor went to pieces and rolled down a nearby hilled alleyway with him inside. A guard who was cuffing Lan'elli also tripped, latching the elf's legs instead of his arms. It wouldn't be such an easy cuffing to shake off this time as it turned out. The elf was carried way by the retreating guards.

The battle was won, and the treasure still remained on the ground, but two comrades were lost in opposite directions, and the true thief in a third; a nearby household that seemed to be making quite a commotion at this point.

As Kerath walked with Tath, he turned his head towards her, "So we got the trail rations, a couple extra water skins, some extra rope..." He paused for a second and raised an eyebrow, "did they really say they were going to see a psychic or something?"

He then saw Tora go running past on a street perpendicular to their own in her were-tiger form and in quite a hurry, and heard some shouting and excitement coming from the direction from which she came. He sighed, "That can't be good! Let's find out what's going on." with those words he took off at a run to catch up with Tora, his hands naturally going to the grips of his swords.

Feliph had been feeling kind of perplexed since sticking her head into that tent at an inopportune moment. She hadn't meant to intrude, but the fortune-teller's words had made her awfully curious. She was stuck between not wanting to be rude and wanting to approach this group, and had wandered away with Hamilton for a little while to collect her thoughts. Judging from the makeup of the group, they didn't seem like they'd be hard to find later.

Finally, her curiosity about the band she'd seen - especially the more bestial ones - burned her up too much. She turned from her aimless wandering to try to follow the direction they'd taken, only to stumble on what seemed to be the tail end of a robbery they'd committed. "Oh my. What's going on here?" she asked with a hand to her mouth, her quiet voice addressed more to herself and Hamilton than anyone on the scene. For now, she just tried to remain at the periphery and try to figure out the answer for herself.

Tath shrugged, rummaging through her pack to make sure they had everything, a piece of jerky dangling between her teeth. "Shomething like that." She said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't overly impressed by the decision to see a parlour trick. It was part of why she had chosen to go supply-hunting. Stay away from the soothsayers, grab first-pick at some really nice equipment if it caught her eye. . .

The added bonus being a few extra gold pieces she'd 'liberated' from the townsfolk.

She didn't miss the rampaging were-tiger anyway. Idle smile became exasperated smirk, and she shouldered her pack. "What do you want to bet we're gonna hafta make tracks here, my four-legged friend?" She asked as she drew her rapier. "Such a nice town, too. C'mon, let's bail them out."

With that, she dashed forward, out into the street.

After having stayed back for much of the altercation and generally being a rather quiet one Pandora simply follows where the general mass of people seem to be heading. Today had thus far been the strangest day of her life.

In reply to Kerath Taliss (msg # 30):

Tora's loping stride quickly takes her away from the fight. Sensing someone keeping pace with her, she makes a quick turn and waits to pounce. Upon seeing Kerath is the one following she waves to get his attention but continues to watch the direction they came from.

Millie follows the general direction that everyone else is going.

The thief returned to the scene of the crime, exiting the house by where the fight took place. He quickly goes to work piling spilled silver into a newly stolen sack. He didn't seem to notice the group nearby.

The docks were downhill, east a few blocks from where the group ran to. The road out of town was north.

"Argh, my head!" The knight manages to catch his balance, but his helm continues rolling downhill towards the docks. The spirit desperately protects the gap over its 'neck' from the invading sun with it shield. "I can't see without my helm! Curses and fie to the fates!" The knight stumbles blindly in search of his head.

In time with the clanging of the rolling helmet comes a loud chiming that shakes the air throughout the town. The warning bells of a town emergency; all the guards would now be on alert in search of the unfortunate gang. It would be hard to escape if they didn't make a choice soon.

Kerath turned to Tora. "I take it that we've managed to get ourselves into some trouble. Was it the seer?" He looked around and heard all the commotion. "Hmmm, maybe I'll ask about specifics later. North will take us out of town quickly. Let's gather everyone up and go!" He suggested.

Tora looks over at Kerath. "Aye, the guard started a fight that I was tempted to finish." She looks around at the noise and replies. "Yeah, lets head north. Anyone that's smart will meet up there." She'll head out with Kerath and head north.

"Whoa!" Feliph exclaimed with no small amount of alarm when she saw the armored figure's helmet come off, figuring his head must be in there with it. But then she heard his voice come from within the armor itself. Her curiosity settled it for her - she wanted to know more about this strange band she'd happened on.

"Ham, get it!" she said, quickly pointing at the rolling helmet. This was a different instruction from "fetch" - it meant Hamilton was supposed to stop something getting away without hurting it, like an interesting animal. At once the enormous dog leaped into joyous motion, barking with excitement as he ran up to pounce on the helmet and keep it firmly in place. Feliph was quick to catch up to him, giving him a quick head pat and a "good boy" as she bent down to pick it up.

With that in hand and Hamilton at her heels, she quickly ran back the other way, to Zigor. "Here, I think you dropped this," she said, offering it to the oddly headless suit of armor.

Eve had been gathering food into her bag when chaos erupted up the street. She could see the guards and a couple of familiar people. She had skipped the fortune teller for lack of interest. These people had been superstitious and she had no place in believing that bad luck was haunting them, but by the sight above she figured it had to be one of them it was plaguing, she had been having a calm morning. She ran up a couple of side alleys avoiding the scene and ending up just north of the mess. Speed had been on her side. She could see Tora and Kerath already ahead of her. She did not wait a second before running after them. She did not speak, considering there wasn't much to be said.

Tath nodded at Kerath's decision, glancing about quickly. "Well, this isn't the first time we've had trouble with the guards," she quipped, drawing her rapier with a flourish, giving it a couple of playful thrusts into an imaginary guard. "Either way, we can't afford to lose anyone. You two go on ahead. I'll see about herding everyone North."

With that, the catfolk dashed back into the town, ready to defend herself if need be. It didn't take long for her to come across mister tall, black, and headless. A smirk formed on her face. "Hey there, ya piece of tin. Trouble you caused has us heading out of town. Let's get a move-on, ya?"

It was only then did she catch a glimpse of Feliph, though her only response was to grin wide and wink at the girl.

The knight blindly grasped ahead of himself in search of his head. "What trickery is this..? Sneak-cat, if this is another one of thine jests, I shall...! Oh, there it is." The armor took its head and completed itself with Feliph's assistance. Two red dots appeared behind the now filled visor "My gratitude mortal, I am indebted to you and your beast." Zigor moved his right arm onto his chest-plate and his shielded hand down, drawing his right leg back and bowing slightly in a very obsolete show of manners.

A voice yelled out from the street above. "Halt! Muzzle that dog, and drop your weapons, ye're all under arrest!"

"Come child, we retreat for now." The knight made a beckoning gesture at Feliph and retreated down an alleyway connecting to the north.

The way towards the exit seemed clear for now, of guards at least. Vilagers on the other hand gawked and muttered at the crew as they made their way towards the forestway. The angelic-man Sankt piped in though, "wait, Lan'elli is not with us. He must not have been able to escape the guards! We have to go back for him."

The mysterious rogue Ayleth shook her head. "Smaller groups will fare better. You and I will go help him. Everyone else, keep going, we'll try to catch up or we'll meet in one of the usual spots afterwards."

The pair left to double back on the elven man as the rest of the group continued on.

At the end of the road is a metal large gate standing at least twelve feet high occupying a wall of equal height. It was rather out of place in the small town, it seemed more like the wall of a fortress. Conspicuously, there was no such wall upon entering the town from the west or south, merely on this northern passage stretching form the eastern sea shore to a western river. The gate was open, two guards were on top of the wall to either side, but despite the bell, they looked out towards the northern forest vigilantly, not noticing the group within the city.

Kerath turned to Tora, looking up at the guards, "Just keep calm and walk naturally." He said quietly to her, "hopefully they have only heard the warning bells and haven't been given a good description of us. As it is I wasn't even at whatever scene you all created, so they won't be looking for me. Try and be small and hide next to me." He said with a little smile and wink.

Eve walked a few feet behind the other giving room should the guards decide to fire down on them. She was distant enough not to be with them yet kept vigilant as she followed. She kept shuffling through her bag as though she might have lost something and then found it. She would catch up to the group once beyond the wall. Eve was certain they knew she followed.

In reply to Kerath Taliss (msg # 46):

Tora nods and returns to her human shape, quietly moving close to Kerath as they move forward.

Feliph generally didn't have much to do with law enforcement. She tended to follow her own rules, but she was the sort of person to drift through towns only briefly, and without stepping on any toes. In truth, she didn't have much regard for the laws of man, beyond a willingness to leave a community she offended.

She was quite surprised to be caught up in the middle of all this, and for a moment she wondered if it would be better to stay and explain the situation. (Though she had no intention of muzzling Hamilton.) "You're welcome," she answered Zigor automatically despite her distraction as she thought.

But then Tath showed up, and Feliph couldn't help but stare at her a bit. She hadn't seen a fascinatingly feline sort of creature like her before. Then that very creature grinned and winked at her, and a blush quickly came to Feliph's cheeks. That made up her mind right there.

"Okay, coming," she murmured, quickly making her way down the alleyway along with the others. Hamilton quickly followed, though he was now sniffing the air dubiously for the scent of cat to go with the vaguely catlike sight he was picking up. He could handle cats, had even babysat for kittens one time, but they prompted a bit of... alertness in him.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:21, Sat 22 Nov 2014.

"HEY!" One of the tower guards called out fiercely as they passed beneath the gateway out to the forest path. "Be careful out there, travelers. There've been more sightings as of late." It didn't seem he was aware of the incident in town.

The path led into a thick forest, the last ruby rays of the setting sun peaked through the dancing elm branches that obscured the way forward. A plainly visible dirt trail was cut through ahead, but it lacked any recent tracks, and it was peppered with fresh grass sprouts, suggesting it wasn't often traveled anymore.

As soon as it seemed the guards weren't intending on attacking, Tath sheathed her blade with a flourish. Her hair stood up as she sensed the mastiff, though for now, the girl's animal companion was the least of her worries. Her tail swished back and forth as she walked with feline grace; Purposeful, with just the right amount of swagger, giving off the air of rugged adventurer and refined connoisseur in equal measure.

The Catfolk glanced around as she, Zigor, and Feliph came to the gates, before glancing around. "So, introductions in order, ya? You'll meet the rest of us sooner or later. Name's Tath." She flashes yet another playful, pointed grin at the girl. "The tin suit's name is Zigor. He's not so bad once you get past the 'he's completely hollow' part."

As they walked, she stretched her back and arms, though her gaze went right back to the newcomer once she was done. "I've got to ask, though. What's a cute girl like you doin', getting all tangled up in a band of ruffians like ourselves."

Then again, another good question might be 'why was Tath assuming she was going to be travelling with them.' Maybe she knew the adventuring type when she saw them. Maybe she'd caught a glimpse of her and her bull mastiff walking into the Seer's tent when she was making her way out. Or, maybe this wasn't the first time Tath had tried to drag along a pretty face to see the world.

Eve made her way through the gate, having passed Kerath somewhere along the way to ensure they knew she was with them still, even after all the trouble they started. She could see the tin man and the cat folk coming up the way and decided to wait and see if they could mend the group that was here and figure out what was happening with those missing. The elf was no where to be seen and a few others had gone missing.