Time passed as the small wagon train gently rolled along the road south from Blackwood Village to Thirdgate. There was no stop for discussion regarding the rapidly departed captain, Geekaar apparently content to keep his amusement to himself at the front and leave the group to their own thoughts. Occasionally there was traffic from the south, still the lone rider or two, or a wagon passing by. They did not seem to have the surprised look of people who had see na fey guard shift passed them on a magical horse, so it was very likely that Captain Harrasslesser had disappeared back in to the forests not long after leaving sight.

Many stayed to idly play on the top of the wagon for a while, but while he started making little sparks with his fourth eye to imitate Nym's whirling colour display from earlier, the efforts seem to be impeded and he pretended he hadn't been trying. The day was not brightening up too much, the sky clouding over hiding the sun for much of it. It felt cool, and the little beholder alternated between shivering and yawning. He remembered Ee-Ee, and made a big show of going to check up on the little rodent, though clearly he justed wanted to nap somewhere warm. He did make sure, in his best matronly voice, that Ryn promised to look after Nym and not let Nym spend too much longer up on the roof in case she fell or caught a cold.

Meanwhile, inside the wagon Farren had drifted off in to a heavy slumber, and never reacted no matter how hard a wagon wheel found a pothole or stone in the road. The little rodents around him seemed to have come to a consensus of keeping together for shared warmth, meaning the revenant must have been on the cold side. The rodents made occasional wuffled snoring noises, with Many's occasional light snoring and muttering always underscored by Farren's light rasp of breath.

It seemd, for once, or at least for the first time in over a week, the group had discovered how to have an uneventtful few hours to themselves.


Elsewhere...

A man sat on a chair. He had impressive bulk, even compared to Geekaar. And impressive facial hair, a greying red beard and exploding moustache that Geekaar would envy. Usually the equally greying but still impressive hair on the top of his head was hidden from view in a manner that would allow Geekaar not to be jealous of it, were Geekaar and the man ever destined to meet. Which, most likely, they were not. And this was well, for at the moment the chaotic whirls of his hair were not reigned in tightly in the confines of his dapper hat. There were allowed to bob as freely as his moustache and beard, and therefore all three intruded upon his attempts to eat his pipping hot soup with some modicum of dignity.

The Captain's impressive blue and yellow overcoat, drapped on the back of the chair, was one first victim to his imcreasingly desperate attempts to not feed soup to his folicles. His expensive white velvet trousers were rapidly becoming the second.

His famour, feather bedecked, fur lined hat was far away, hanging on a hook. It would never be put in such dangers by the man.

The Captain, therefore, required additional time to answer the loud banging upon the door. This man who was fighting with soup and lamenting his life while the grouop traveled elsewhwre was never destined to meet with Geekaar. However, fate had yet to roll its dice to decide if The Captain would cross paths with a group of interesting individuals, individuals who could answer the questions that vexed The Captain and made him lament so...


Lol, just a teaser to reassure Meri that The Captain is most certainly someone different, and almost certainly possibly maybe someone you may at some point perhaps who knows really meet some day, eventually, maybe. Or at least walk passed even if you don't realise it :p


Feel free to either summarise what you'd be doing during the dead time of the afternoon, or feel free to retcon speaking to each other while all the NPCs are being boring and being elsewhere for the moment :D

OOC: Hmm, curiousness :)


With the Captain's departure, Meri settled back onto the bed, pulling the trap kit from her backpack and sorting through the seemingly random bits and pieces within.
She looked up at the windows and doors, clearly thinking how best to secure them during the night...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Meri isn't really looking to set up anything lethal here.  Ideally something like tanglewires that'll temporarily immobilise an intruder, while ringing a bell or making some kind of loud noise to wake us up.]

"Oh, okay, goodbye, then!" says Nym cheerfully as the elven captain takes his leave. "Goodbye, Whisperer!"

She waves at the horse and stares in fascination as said horse then moves away with the odd sort of teleporting gait that looks so strange.

Nym stays atop the roof a while, Ryn bouncing softly around and peering over the edges or sitting still to watch the view. After a while, Nym crawls over to the back and leans her head over the edge, attempting to peer in upside-down through the door.

"Hey, Meri." she says. "Are you having fun in there?"

Feel free to speak for a while if you like, no annoying NPCs will get in your way for once :D
[Private to Meri:
Yeah, a tanglewire is fine, and Meri will have the time and opportunity to set it up without us needign to roll for it. The nightspider thread from Abigail/Abyss would be almost perfect for this - unless the moon perfectly goes through the window, it would be almost invisible. So feel free to decide how much of the 50gp you want to commit. That value of thread will then be dedicated to a trap, but until sprung, you can detatch the trap and reattach it elsewhere. Takle half the value of the thread to work out the DC of the trap to detect / escape. So committing all of it makes a DC25 trap, which is pretty impressive for your current level.

In terms of an alarm, I'm happy to say Meri could even have a minor magical effect for 'free' so either ghost sound or some odd magical aura goes off to let her know right away her trap is sprung.]

Meri glanced up from the box of random trap-making items.
"Oh, just finding ways to occupy myself, thanks" she replied with a hint of a smirk.  "How about you?  Seen anything interesting from up there?"

Pausing to grab a piece of string with knots tied in it at regular intervals, forming a kind of makeshift measuring tape, she moved over to the door and measured how wide it was before looking up at Nym.

"Well, I was talking to Dott." begins Nym. "He's nice. He likes horses. And then I was talking to the elf-captain person and his horse. She's called the Whisperer. Well, that's what her name means. She's nice too. And she's magic! She sort of floats instead of actually standing on the ground and when she moved it was all weird-looking, like she sort of jumped but she didn't and then she was somewhere else. And the nice elf said that he likes to go around the forest and make sure everyone is nice to each other and stuff. But he said some of the people are forgetting about how it used to be between humans and elves, or something. So I told him about us helping Celindara stop the Blight and all that, because humans are going to be better friends with the forest after that, aren't they? Or at least, the ones in Blackwood village are. Urgh, hang on, I'm a bit dizzy..."

She withdraws her head from the doorway, tilting it back so that it isn't upside-down any more, and takes several moments to try and stop feeling dizzy. Ryn watches her for a few moments, nose twitching, but then goes back to watching the view, her gaze generally frontward as though keeping watch for any activity coming from taht direction.

Now that the wagon is moving properly, if Nym wants to go back inside it will be an Athletics check to get back down from the roof.

OOC: Is there room for Meri to climb up onto the roof too?

Room for days :D

Also, it's just as much of an Athletics check to get on the roof as get off it. I mean, technically speaking failing the Athletics check would still allow you to succeed in getting down, so it's better if you look at it that way...

Also, remember Knack for Success before you roll!
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:18, Fri 06 Oct 2017.

Meri grinned slightly at that, then returned to her pack, stuffing everything back inside and pulling it onto her shoulders, tucking her staff through the straps.
She reached out to pick up Timur, but then hesitated as he looked up at her, the two of them apparently having some kind of silent conversation in their usual way.  (Or perhaps Meri was just hearing voices in her head!)

Eventually she nodded and left him sitting on the bed, although a hint of a sad look lingered on her face as she turned towards the door and leaned out, reaching up to try to climb onto the roof...


OOC: Athletics: 22 (15 + 3 + 4) - Used Knack for Success, but might not have needed it with that roll :)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Fri 06 Oct 2017.

Better to use it and not need it than wish you had :) Yeah, a comfortable moderate success, almost a hard success. Feel free to skillfully clamber up, with only the tiniest of stumbles to ruin your perfect ascent.

Meri scrambled awkwardly up onto the roof and sat down next to Nym, rubbing at her right knee where she banged it against the wall on the way up.
"They always used to think there was something odd about those Far Guards" she mused, peering towards the front wagon.  "I didn't recall anything said about their horses, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Maybe creatures of the Feywild.  Uncertain."

She looked back at Nym.
"Did he look as if he believed what you told him?"

Nym looks up in mild surprise as Meri comes to join her, then looks a little confused at the question.

"Umm...well...yes?" she says. "I mean, he was looking at me for a while when I was telling him about the Blackwood and all that. And then he seemed like he was a bit unhappy with...someone..."

She gestures vaguely toward the front of the caravan.

"And then he said he had to go. It was a bit like when I told that nice Mr Molsove about the Blackwood, back in Blackwood Village. And then he went away and came back all nice. So maybe this is like that. Maybe he'll come back with some nice friends or something, or maybe go and tell his friends that we're all nice and helpful, and stuff, so that if we meet them later they'll be nice to us back!"

She gives a little clap of her hands and smiles happily.

I'm trying to remember what Nym's done with her staff, since I don't remember describing her putting it on top of the roof with her but I don't think she'd have left it in the wagon. Oh, I think she put it into her cloack pocket actually, didn't she? It's just, every time she claps her hands I remember that she's normally holding her staff so needs to either put it somewhere first or risk clouting someone (usually herself ;)) in the face in the process :D.

"Maybe" replied Meri thoughtfully, looking in the direction she had indicated.  "Depends on whether or not the Phystal's family still have enough influence in the Fey lands to make trouble for us.  If they have any sway with the Far Guard, they could send him and maybe others after us.  Although I don't know who commands the Far Guard, or if anyone does for that matter."

She gave a resigned shrug.
"Just have to wait and see what happens."

"Well, he seemed nice." says Nym, gesturing off to the side of the wagon that the captain had previously been riding beside. "And Celindara stopped the yucky Blighty-stuff, and that was what made the Phystal all bad and stuff, right? So now it's gone, maybe everyone will be nice again."

Meri shrugged, apparently deciding not to press the point any further.
"I hope so" she replied.

She turned around to look back towards the front wagon.
"I wonder what Geekaar's intentions were here.  I doubt that Far Guard was really the 'old friend' he was pretending.  That whole show Geekaar put on when he arrived was just for our eyes, I could tell by the way the guard reacted to it.  He had some purpose in inviting him here, and clearly something he hoped we wouldn't suspect."

Sighing, she leaned back, watching the landscape pass by.
"Still, maybe I'm just over-thinking it.  This area has me a bit unsettled."
She glanced towards the place where the driver had been sitting before.
"I wonder if your new friend Dott has a map of this area..."

"Well, he didn't seem to like him very much..." says Nym on the subject of the captain's reaction to Geekaar. She then brightens at the suggestion about Dott.

"Ooh, I don't know. Maybe we can ask him! Or maybe he can draw one for us!"

She starts clambering across the roof of the wagon toward the front.

In case Meri wants to stop her, I won't have Nym calling out to Dott just yet...he's still sat on the front of this wagon/the back of the next one, isn't he? I can't remember if he moved after we stopped.

He's currently at the front of the two wagon train you are on, steering the horses. Geekaar left him in charge of that while Geekaar is now on the single wagon on its own at the front.

So you'll actually need to go hop across the join between the two wagons then scramble along the lump covered good wagon. He also might be a little distracted :)

But there is no harm in asking him - just roll decent Athletics or yell very loudly. Or maybe go wake up Many and ask him nicely to relay a message. Ryn could have done it, if Ryn was able to communicate with anyone else :p Or have Timur carry a written message with extra paper?

"Maybe later" replied Meri hurriedly, glancing at the precarious path towards the front wagon.  "I only wanted to see if I recognised any of the places a bit further on.  There's no hurry, I can ask him if he comes back this way."


OOC: Not that she's worried about Nym falling off and getting hurt or anything, who'd think that?!  It's just...  Just...  Just that they might have to stop the wagon and delay our journey!  Yep, that's it!  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 09:20, Tue 10 Oct 2017.

"Oh, okay then." says Nym with a shrug, turning and plonking herself back down beside Meri. "He looks a bit far away right now anyway. I suppose we could shout over at him, but that seems a bit rude. Probably better to wait. I don't suppose we have any easy way to just send a message. That would be useful! Maybe I can do something one day..."

She holds up a finger and starts tracing letters in the air (in multicolour, naturally), but the lines become very elongated since she's still moving witht eh wagon whilst drawing them. She giggles and gives up on the writing, instead just drawing random swirly patterns.

Ryn glances around and comes to sit by Nym, looking up at her.

Obviously just indicate when you are happy to move on, and I can move us on to the next point of interest / wagon stop :) You might want to discuss, inlight of what you've seen and heard, how much or little you want to reveal to Geekaar, Dott, Samel, etc going onwards.

"I meant to ask too, are you planning to spend the night inside the wagon or on top?" asked Meri.
"Just to let you know, I may rig some tangling traps on the door and windows.  From what Farren told me, I think someone may be following us from Blackwood."


OOC: Almost forgot to warn Nym that there may be some nasty little surprises hidden about the place tonight ;)

"Well, it depends how cold it is..." starts Nym, then gives Meri a somewhat confused look.

"Who's following us?" she asks, and sits up on the wagon, peering back the way they've come as though expecting to see someone strolling along behind them. "Maybe it's Celindara? Maybe she forgot something?"

She looks back at Meri.

"Why would you put traps? Do think it's a bad person? But I thought all the people at Blackwood were nice. If you put traps, doesn't that make you sort of a bad person if someone's only trying to come and say hello and they end up getting...well, trapped? Um. Oh, and why do you think someone's following us?"

Well clearly traps are only meant for bad people, so Nym should be fine :p

OOC: Sorry for the delay again, distracting things keep distracting me...


Meri's eyes narrowed slightly, then she shrugged and looked away in the direction they had come from.
"Well, I am a bad person, after all" she remarked.
"As for who might be following us, I doubt they're from Blackwood originally.  Whoever it was seemed to be a ranger, or maybe disguised as one.  Whoever it was, they apparently took an interest in Farren and his belongings last night, so he set one of his rat friends to follow him to check this stranger wasn't still trailing us.  Seems as though the ranger figured that out though, he killed the rat and sent its body, or at least part of its body, to Farren as a message of sorts."

Meri got up and edged back towards the rear of the wagon.
"Anyway.  Tanglewires don't usually hurt someone unless they struggle too much.  And I'm not likely to kill him unless he tries to kill me first.  I think it's more appropriate for Farren and his friends to decide his fate now."
She glanced back with a hint of a grin, although there was no real trace of humour in it.
"Even bad people can have a code of honour perhaps" she added, before quickly clambering down towards the door, clearly intending to return to the interior again.


OOC: Athletics roll to get back down off the roof (preferably the non-painful way!): 19 (12 + 3 + 4)
Will use Knack for Success again if I can (not sure how long encounter powers take to recharge outside of combat.  If it doesn't work, just knock that last +4 off) :)


[Private to The Altweaver: Seems we're done talking unless Nym decides to follow her.
She's getting the impression now that Nym's first instinct is to assume Meri is a bad person whenever she doesn't understand why she did something.  Since she's still feeling a little vulnerable from the incident with Celindara before, on top of her own guilt-trip from her earlier treatment of the Ball that sparked it off...  She's really not in a good place psychologically these days, so there's a few cracks in her armour.
Not that she'll show it though.  More likely to just retreat further into "Ice Queen" mode ;)]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:34, Fri 13 Oct 2017.

Meri will make it back down without any embarrassment, just a little jostle once. :)

Encounter powers require a Short Rest, which is basically a five minute sit-down or at least stand-around with no particular activity beyond sitting/talking/eating.

Nym looks confused at Meri's initial description of the ranger, then shocked at the mention of dead rats.

"What? He killed the poor ratty?" she asks, eyes wide. "But...then he is a bad person! And you're not." she adds, almost as an afterthought. "Bad people don't go round healing other people when they get hurt, just because they can. But this person doesn't sound very nice at all. Killing the poor rat? That's horrible! Are the other rats okay?"

She instinctively, and perhaps unconsciously, reaches out to Ryn, pulling the fluffy familiar closer to her. Ryn, for her part, nuzzles into Nym at the movement, but otherwise hasn't really stopped looking at her for th last minute or two.

OOC: Might have just nudged Nym's berserk button there.  Makes me almost afraid of what might happen if Ryn ever gets 'killed' in battle...  ;)


Meri clambered back down, almost falling at one point and looking a little calmer once she was back inside.
"Think I'm getting out of shape staying in the workshop so long" she muttered quietly to herself.

She remained there for a moment before leaning back out and replying to Nym's question.
"The others are ok, but I'd rather take some precautions in case he decides to pay us a visit during the night."
Returning to the bed, she dropped into it, putting her backpack and staff back beside her again.

Idly she lay back, staring up at the ceiling, then glancing over to Timur as if he'd said something to her.
"No, no I'm not going back" she replied, keeping her voice low.  "Not ever.  I told you that years ago, didn't I?  If we are still close by, then I'll just stick to the plan and avoid it like it's a plague spot!"

Hmm, I'm spotting a pattern here. Crass didn't harm any fuzzles nor tiny friends and was spared. Gobbat didn't harm any fuzzles nor tiny friends and was spared. Krunluc didn't do anything to any fuzzles nor tiny friends and was spared. The Phystal shot a bird and Timur and was obliterated in to mist by Nym. The Teachers made Many afraid so he hid in a backpack, and killed some big wolf fuzzles and so their final form was targetted by all of Nym's most powerful spells so they were basically two shotted in to oblivion withlout mercy.

I think the ranger is just dead. Dead man walking. Poor ranger rogue. He will be Rague sauce (if he's lucky).


Oh, and despie what Meri saw, and just to OOC reassure you, Farren didn manage to recover both his poor little fuzzle's head and body. Just saying... I'm not necessarily killing off poor little rat friend to be mean and make ranger seem evil and that's that. You are going to a town after all... a town with clerics and religious people of all persuasions... Who knows whatthey will do, if they don't think it's beneath them, of course. Maybe some judicious application of moral rage and some GPs might turn things around...

Aww, did Meri not want to answer Nym's question about whether the other fuzzles are okay?

And I hadn't even noticed that all the nice-to-furry-things people are the ones who've been obliterated the most thoroughly...that's pretty funny :D.

And I think if Ryn "dies", Nym will know that she's going to come back, since Ryn is basically a small chunk of Nym's magic given physical form, so is part of her - Nym would probably not be happy if someone "killed" Ryn, since she would know that any other creature would be properly dead under the same circumstances. But she would feel the chunk of magic return to her as it loses form, or whatever, so she can let Ryn recoalesce at the first opportunity (ie when they take a rest ;)).

OOC: She did.

Oh, whoops, I thought Meri had gone in and was talking to someone else. Didn't read it properly, sorry.

Nym follows Meri to the edge of the wagon but doesn't lower herself down, instead sitting and watching the half-elf momentarily disappear from sight before popping back out to answer the question.

"Okay, good. Yes. Right. No scary people allowed here. No. Mean and nasty people, no. Yuck."

Nym wrinkles her feline nose in distaste and sits peering in the direction of Blackwood as though expecting some shady-looking rat-murderer to pop into view. Ryn keeps looking up at her and eventually makes some weird sort of squeaky-grunty noises.

"Hmm?" inquires Nym vaguely, glancing downward. She then blinks, apparently having taken in whatever it was Ryn said to her. "I what?"

She looks a little confused, but also sort of excited and starts staring right back at her familiar.

[Private to GM: So a few posts back, when Nym (or someone) was saying about passing secret messages or something like that, I had the brainwave of "Duh, I can already do that, with my telepathy power thingy I took as part of that Feat!". So I set up the end of that post for Nym to shortly work that out, with a little hinting from Ryn. But then I forgot about it. And then remembered during the last post, I think. And now Nym can probably figure it out, or at least manage to succeed at it - since Ryn is made from her magic, after all, she should have some idea of what Nym is capable of, even if Nym herself isn't always sure ;).]

Should I leave you both to talk to your respective tiny friends for a few moments? :)

[Private to Nym: Yeah, that's cool that Ryn can spot the possibilities in Nym's magic and be the focus Nym doesn't have!]

Sure, I think Nym's about to hit onto something here >:).

After a few more moments of staring at Ryn, Nym's eyes suddenly go wide in an expression of a kind of happy surprise while Ryn stats bouncing up and down in similar excitement. Nym practically falls off the top of the wagon in her haste to clamber down and go inside. Ryn bounces around some more but stays atop the wagon.

Crit on Athletics roll to climb down if needed :D.

"Meri! Meri!" says Nym excitedly. "I did a thing! Look, look, I'll show you!"

She stares at Meri for several moments and suddenly Meri hears Nym's voice. But not out loud this time - Nym's feline mouth doesn't move. Instead, the voice is inside her head.

"Meri! Can you hear me? Look, I can talk like this! Isn't it super-amazing?"

Nym is staring at Meri waiting for a reaction.

Yeah, so Nym's got a telepathic power now. I just haven't had the chance for her to discover it till now. Or I've been forgetting about it. Or possibly both, sometimes at the same time ;).

I mean, you didn't need the athletics roll, getting down is the easy part. It's only required to make the downwards journey both voluntary and painless - both of which you succeed in :D

Can you do me a favour and figure out how you want to represent your voiceless messages as a different text somehow? It will make it easier later for me to quickly spot the different between what Nym says out loud and what she maybe says to Meri when she doens't want to be overheard. I'd suggest italics without the speech marks (maybe single quotes) or perhaps putting it in a pale colour, but I'll leave it for you to decide.

Meri looked wearily at Nym as she scrambled back down excited about something.
Her look changed to surprise at the voice speaking in her mind though.  She glanced towards Timur, who shrugged as if to say 'It wasn't me!'

"How did you do that?" she asked, looking a little uncertain of this new ability.


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: My first thought was, if that's a power with the Psychic keyword, I could potentially give Nym a nasty jolt from the amulet here ;)  hehe.]

Oh, yes. Good point. I'll probably use Italics and/or use those ~wiggly line thingys~ in place of speech marks. Just didn't think of it yesterday.

Nym gives a happy shrug.

"Well, I don't really know." she says. "Magic! I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I can do, I just haven't worked out I can do it yet..."

[Private to GM: Incidentally, Ryn is staying up top to keep lookout, so she should notice if anything obvious starts happening :). She'll keep bouncing from one end to the other, or sometime sit in place and look from one direction to another. Generally just trying to cover all avenues of approach, really, and then she'll come and let Nym know if she sees anything noteworthy enough (like someone approaching the caravan or Geekaar doing anything weird, for example).]

Many wakes up, and notices Nym is back. "Yay!" he says, then says 'yay' with a quieter voice notiicng Farren and the three rodents are still asleep. He seems to have picked up on the word 'magic' without understanding what is going on, and just looks with happy curiosity and the two friends.


[Private to Nym: Oddly, when Nym would have first tried to sent a message to Meri, therer would have been an odd resistance and she'd have felt a shiver.It went away quickly, and didn't feel as if it was caused directly by Meri's mind, but more like something magical attached to her.

As for Ryn, that's cool. It will be her passive perception, obviously. She can increase that score a little by jumping ahead to where Dott is on the other wagon so can can benefit from any reactions he or the horses have too. Plus it would be easier for her to try and spy on Geekaar. It would be a single athletics check to negotiate the jump between the two bound wagons. The good news is that if she falls, rather than forcing the whole wagon train to stop, she'll just reappear next to Nym when she gets too far out of range and can try again :p So the check would merely be for fun to see how long it took to get her there. Plus if you want to use up resources to make it easier and succeed, I won't stop you :p]

[Private to Meri:
Yeah, funny as that would have been, and almost appropriate as Nym's new power is an at-will, but it's maybe deliberately got the 'psionic' rather than 'psychic' keyword to make it not resember an attack. Still, maybe Nym might have felt something odd narratively. Meri would have felt the amulet stir and might want to interact with it to make sure it doesn't go off if she's psychically contacted again :D ]

"Curious" remarked Meri, apparently relaxing again.
Something seemed to occur to her though and she glanced down at the amulet she was wearing with a concerned look.
"Should be ok" she muttered to herself.

Glancing over at Many with a smile, she then looked back to Nym.
"So, can you read minds too?" she asked, her smile looking a little forced as she brought up the question.

Nym gives Meri a slightly confused look.

"Um. No?" she says, as though she isn't sure herself. "I mean, not so far. I hope. I mean, that would be rude, wouldn't it? Poking around in someone's head? But it's nice that I can just tell you stuff now. Then I can...um...tell you stuff. You know, if...erm...I need to...if, erm...if we're trying to be all sneaky and quiet about it. Or if we just don't want to wake people up."

She seems to realise what she's saying and glances over at the sleepnig Farren and rats with a somewhat guilty expression, then a slightly sheepish grin in Meri's direction.

[Private to GM: I want Ryn keeping watch out the back as well, though, in case this mysterious rat-killing ranger guy shows up. Should I actually make a Perception check for her, since she is actively keeping watch?]

"Just curious" replied Meri, with a fleeting look of what might have been relief in her eyes.

Leaning over to reach deep into her pack, she pulled out Davius' Granduncle's journal again, skimming quickly through the pages as if looking something up...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Out of curiosity, does the journal mention anything about Oldham/Old One/Ianter/etc.?]

Many buzzed over to Nym with an 'ooooooh' noise. "Me me me say some-ah-thing to meeeee!"
He then seemed to recall the mention of not waking people up, and put one eystalk close to his lips. "Shhhhhh," he said, nodding, then looking too innocently about the previous source of the noise.


[Private to Nym: Yeah, doens't hurt to roll Perception, it will carry for the afternoon if there's anything to see in the back.]

[Private to Meri: Give me a Perception check for quickly flicking through the journal just now, and even if nothing jumps out right now, Meri may still generally figure out something if she gets the chance to study it during down time in the afternoon. ]

Meri seemed intent on searching the pages of the journal for something, although a hint of a grin appeared at Many's excitement...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Perception: 33 (19 + 14) - Using up my good rolls again...]

Nym giggles and looks at Many, a brief expression of concentration on her face.

[Private to GM: Sending telepathically to Many - "Hello, Many! Look! I have a magic mind-voice!"

Also, Perception roll for Ryn's general keeping-an-eye-out...ooh not bad - 24 :).]

[Private to Nym:
Cool, Ryn may well spot something later if there is anything to spot. Ir at any time feel free to 'burn' that roll looking for something specific to do with the wagon or surroundings.]

Many suddenly looks around startled then giggles. "Ah heard it ah heard it!" he says excitedly and bombs aroudn the wagon a few times. He then turns back to Nym, and looks to his fourth eyestalk After a moment's hesitation - and for no good reason keeping his eyestalk away from the front of his face, he points it in Nym's general direction, screws up his face to concentrate really hard, and then says something apparently under his breath, because it is not audible.

After a moment he looks to Nym expectantly to see if she heard anything.

[Private to Meri:
That's an impressive roll. Anyway, so the journal makes it a little hard to find thingd at first, because the granduncle initially journeyed to the other elven lands around Yarneholme, and so lots of his initial encounters are with them. And his style of writing later notes and so on make it hard to spot when this set of journeys north stop, and actually he encounters different elves on his journey south to the coast.

It really only stands out because he starts describing two brothers and a sister, all 'stranger elves' who are some form of bounty hunters or militia hunting a killer. The recent encounter with the far guard captain flag these up as sounding a lot like more of them. That focuses attention on a small section where he seems to be trying to speak to some local elves - which seems odd in context unless they are new elves rather than the Yarnholme ones. Piecing it together he does seems to have make a small detour in to the elvish lands near Fivemaidens. His encounter with a few villages and with the far guard make him realise theyare perhaps less happy with casual explorers and humans roaming around, and so he turned back.

Oldham nor it's elvish derivation does not leap out. However, there is an elvish name that, given the way human and elvish names get corrupted, suddenly seems familiar. It might be a corrupted spelling of a name of another elvish village Meri had heard reference to, not too far away from her own village. She might have even passed through there when she finally fled. ]

Nym gives Many a sympathetic look.

"Aaw, sorry, Many." she says. "I didn't hear anything. But maybe if you practice, you'll be able to do it too. And then we can have proper secret conversations!"

She says "proper-secret" in a hushed voice, though it would still be clearly audible to those within the wagon. She giggles and sits back.

"Hmm, I wonder what else I can do..." she says looking at her hands as though expecting something else to happen.

Meri frowned slightly, reading over a few pages in the journal before closing it again and placing it aside, laying back and peering up at the ceiling of the wagon seemingly deep in thought...


OOC: Still here, but Meri isn't doing much for now :)

Nym starts looking around inside the wagon, looking at things and concentrating as though willing something to happen. She starts waving her hands around a bit too, flicking her fingers and apparently experimenting. Occasionally a tiny burst of flame or a spark might erupt from her fingertips, but she always stops it before it can grow any bigger or touch anything that might be flammable or otherwise damaged by such magic.

After a little while she sticks her head out of the door and looks at the view. She starts concentrating on that, too, and eventually seems to achieve something and her eyes go wide in surprise. She automatically sits back, stumbling back into the wagon, at which point she blinks and looks around.

"Oh, it's gone." she says to whomever might happen to be listening inside the wagon. "I mean...I was looking at...there was a tree. And I was looking at it and it looked kind of interesting. But then we sort of went past it so I tried to lean out and see it better, but then I was seeing it from closer! I mean, it was like I was closer to it except it was only my seeing-ness that was closer - the rest of me was still here, I could feel it. But then I moved backwards and it stopped."

She seems rather excited to have discovered yet another thing she can do, and gives an excited little clap of her hands.

[Private to GM: Just realised as I was looking through the last few posts that I had been for some reason thinking the word limit on Thought Projection was 25. But it isn't, it's 10. So I'll remember that for the future (my message to Meri was more than ten words long).
And I figure this is as good a time as any for Nym to discover her other Wild Talent abilities. I just need an excuse for her to find out she has Mental Tools as well, but that may not come up until she next sees Meri (or perhaps someone else) using tools to do something, or needing a tool to do something.]

Will update for Many in the morning or at some point!

[Private to Nym: The robe of objects i also a way in. Nym can play with that, produce objects, then I'm sure Meri can point out the robe isn't active yet because Nym hasn't actually worked out how to use it yet or something. ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:44, Tue 24 Oct 2017.

Think you missed a Private tag there ;).

[Private to GM: I thought of that, remembering it from earlier, but checked my inventory and it doesn't seem to be there so I must've not taken it - the dagger, belt, fire potion, and firebox are all in my list so presumably I didn't just forget about that one.]

I made it secret rather than private, so poor Meri will still not know what it says. Wahahahha.

[Private to Nym:
You took in in that you either refused all the items or you took them all. I can see since you weren't going to wear it then you might not have noted it, down at the time but Nym would have it if she has the belt. The details are on the magical item thread if you need them.]

Many wandered over to Meri to look over her shoulder at what she was reading, but despite bobbing around for a while didn't seem to say anything. When Nym came back in he then bobbed over to see what she was speaking about, though didn't remark upon it either.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:44, Tue 24 Oct 2017.

Ahh okay. Easy to miss, as a player ;).

[Private to GM: Okay, have added it to my sheet. Not sure why I didn't put it on there in the first place, thought I'd just taken the dagger and the belt. Oh well, it was weeks ago IRL so I can't remember now ;).]

Nym giggles as Many comes over.

"Hey, Many!" she says. "I have magic eyes now! Well, um, not quite like yours, but...um...magic!"

Many zips up to Nym's eyes, looking at each on with his big eye while his little eyes dark around left and right.

"...?" he says excitedly, clearly asking a question but with nothing coming out of his animated mouth.

OOC: ooo, so while Many is learning our abilities, we're also learning Beholder abilities? :)
Can't wait till Meri gains the ability to shoot death lasers from her eyes.  Will be a perfect match for that death glare she keeps giving people! ;)


"Magic eyes?" remarked Meri, looking back at Nym with a curious expression.

"Yes, what I just saw with the tree and everything." says Nym, grinning. "It was like I was closer except I wasn't. But then it stopped once I couldn't see it any more. The spot I was looking at, I mean. But I suppose I can see round corners now. Yay!"

Basically, the last Feat I took gave me some new minor magical abilities, and even though I've[ known about them since we levelled up, Nym is only just discovering them because I didn't think it'd make sense for her to instantly know about these new things she can suddenly do. More fun for her messing around and finding out what they are, as well :D.

"Magic eyes indeed" replied Meri thoughtfully.  "Anything else you can do?"


OOC: Aww, so no deadly eye lasers of death? :(
This message was last edited by the player at 11:16, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

Well, not so far. But, you know...Chaos Sorcerer...so I have no idea what kind of crazy shit I can get later on >:).

"Probably." says Nym happily, shrugging. "I'll have to try and find out. Yay, fun new things!"

She giggles and gives another little clap of her hands.

Many dances around happily, mouth opening and shutting as if he were yelling 'yay'. Though he doens't appear to actually say anything. He then shushes himself, silently, looking to Farren, even though he had not made a sound.

Yeah, chaos sorcerer powers plus pagagon powers = two chances for insanity :)

Nym gives Many a curious look.

"Hey, Many." she says. "Did you accidentally cast a not-saying-anything spell on yourself, or something? Or are you just being really quiet?"

Many looks confused, then looks around, then shrugs and says nothing even though his mouth moves in an uncertain 'nooooo...'. Perhaps realising he's not really getting a reaction, he moves closer and says something that might be 'can you jhear me?' then closer and repeats it, then closer, each time looking more concerned.

"CAHN YOO HEH-AH MEEEE NOAH!" bellows Many when he is almost to Nym's ear.


He then rushed across to Meri, again silent even though his mouth was clearly yelling something until he was right up to her ear too.

[Secret to Meri: "MEEEEEERRRREEEE!" he suddenly yells right beside the unsuspecting artificer. ]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Tue 31 Oct 2017.

"Aaagh!" exclaims Nym, putting a furry hand to her ear. "Ouch! Yes, I heard that one. Wow, that was weird."

She looks at Many.

"What happened?"

Meri had gone back to her own thoughts, looking back up at the ceiling of the wagon.
At Many's sudden shout though, she jumped slightly, looking towards him.


OOC: eep! (O.o)'

Oops, should have made it clear, only Nym heard that :D

Edit: Nevermind, I juts edited in an extra step for Meri so it still makes sense :D


Many looks confused, although at least relieved that he can communicate with the others if he needs to. He silently says something, then realises he can't be heard. "AH... ah mean ah don't know..." he says to both, rushing one way then the other, and yelling each time then modulating his voice to a normal spoken word.

The mystery of where the tiny beholder puts all that food is now second to the mystery of how someone so small can be so loud :D

He tries to look at the eyestalk he used last, and it in turn seems to drift away as if avoiding attention. Many starts spinning in place trying to chase his own eyestalk, that seems intent on leading away. Many finaally spins in the other direction, which doens;t work and shouldn't work. However, when he finally stops, dizzy, the eyestalk continues forwards in whiplash and ends up in Many's view.

"Ah-hah!" he says, and stick a tongue out as if to try and taste the air around without poking himself in his central eye.

The fact he can be heard again by both of the mages means the effect seems to have faded.


The fact there was a tiny area around Many where you could hear him means it wasn't just affecting him alone. Feel free to roll Arcana if you like or postulate what happened :)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Tue 31 Oct 2017.

OOC: Arcana: 23 (9 + 14).
Hmm, is there a spell called "Destroy Ears"? :)

Lol, the down side of Secret messages, when the person you're sending it to doesn't know they're the only one that saw it :D. That's why in my game I say to treat every message as though you're the only one who can see it, particularly with regards to knowledge and noticing stuff. Fortunately it hasn't really come up very much so far, that I can recall...

"Ohh, did you find a new magic for yourself?" asks Nym, after watching the little beholder with a somewhat bemused expression.

Arcana check...also 23!

There wasn't a Destroy Ears spell before, but there will be now :)

Many looks around partially nervously and partially confused at Nym's question. "Mah-ah-bee?" he says, not quite pronouncing the word correctly as he still has his tongue half sticking out. With a small 'schloop' sound he sucks it back in to his mouth, then smacks his lips as if trying to work out the 'taste' of the magic.

To the observing mages, it did seem as if Many had managed to silence a tiny area around himself, rather than affect himself. Sound could not escape fro mthe area, but anyone entering the area could here the sounds correctly. If Many could expand the area, it could be used to hide the sounds of a group of people. Of course, the effect disappeared when his eye came in contact with his central eye, perhaps showing that the anti-magic nature of his central eye was interfering with him being able to practising creating the spell anywhere except on himself - behind his own back, as it were.

[Private to Meri: Another thing though, was that this zone of silence was certainly not a beholder ability, and not really a noted spell for beholders to use in general. They were silent enough to move, and there was no reason to make their own victims quieter. This seemed to be further proof that the little beholder was beginning to develop powers independantly from his heritage, but even independantly from Nym and Meri aswell.]

Meri peered curiously at the tiny beholder, one hand still rubbing at the ear he had shouted into earlier.
"Curious" she murmured.  "That's not an ability that beholders usually possess, so it can't be from your innate memories.  And it's nothing I have either.  Maybe Nym can do that?"
She glanced towards Nym as if to check with her.

"If not, it seems you are capable of developing abilities independently of us, which is interesting.  It means your path really is your own to choose, and not one that our memories or your own force you to follow."
A smile crossed her face at that.
"Infinite possibilities perhaps" she added.

Nym giggles and gives a little clap of her hands.

"Yay!" she says. "You can do a thing! That's fun! Look, we're all finding new things we can do now! Hey, Meri, do you have a new thing? Well, I mean, you have lots of new things because you make things...um...because I suppose your magic works a bit different to ours. You can't just sort of...fwoosh."

She holds out a hand, palm outwards, as though pushing some kind of force outward from her (but fortunately doesn't actually cast anything).

"But that's okay. You get to make things instead. And put magic in them. Yay!"

She looks at Many.

"So now you can make things go all silent. Now we can be sneaky and not wake people up or something. Um. Hey, did you get that thing that you were going to wear so your eye didn't do things by accident?"

She looks toward Meri.

"Did you make the thing? I can't remember if you did. The eye thing. For Many's eye."

"Oooooh", said the little beholder at the comment on infinite possibilities, then started rushing around giggling while saying 'many many many many many'.

Farren stirred breifly but went back to sleep, and Many shushed himself (with his silent magic eye, by co-incidence) nodding at Nym's comments.

At the reminder of the protection Meri was going to make, Many looks back to Meri with wide eyes once more, and a slightly wobbling lip.

Meri gave a reassuring smile at Many's expression, reaching down into the backpack beside her and pulling out one of the scrunched up pieces of scrap parchment.
"I'm working on it" she replied, unfolding the parchment to reveal a rough sketch of a circular piece of what looked like glass, with arrows seemingly indicating light and other things travelling through it in both directions, with some scribbled alchemical notation in Meri's odd runic code, apparently describing some kind of complex formula.

"I don't have everything I need yet.  But we can probably get that in the places up ahead.  Thirdgate, Fivespears.  Larger towns and cities, they'll surely have places I can obtain materials."

"Ah-kay!" says Many, resigned to not being able to immediately practising all this inifinite magic yet. However, now that he seems to realise why he was being ignored before he bounces around in front of Nym with renewed vigour.

"Whah cahn you do? Whah cahn you do? More! More! More! More!" He nods and looks everywhere as if a hundred different things are sudden;y going to happen at once.

Nym giggles again.

"Well, I don't know." she says. "I'll have to keep messing around and practising. Hmm, I wonder if I can do this to two people at once..."

She concentrates briefly, looking between Meri and Many.

~Can both of you hear this?~ she asks telepathically.

[Private to GM: Thought Projection works on "one or more allies" within range (Close Burst 5) but presumably I can choose which ones, so am just picking Meri and Many for now. Don't want to wake up Mr Sleepy Rat-Chap or his friends :).]

Meri looked up from the parchment with a smirk.
"I can anyway" she replied.

She returned to studying the parchment then as if some thought had occurred to her, she looked up at Nym again, peering intently at her.
[Private to The Altweaver: "Can you hear this?" she thought, imagining the words being projected at Nym's mind...]


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Not too sure if Meri can do that too, so keeping her thoughts hidden for now :)]

Nym, who had been looking at Many for his reaction, looks back at Meri, returning the stare with curiosity and a quizzical tilt of the head.

"Um. Did I do another thing?" she asks.

Many was looking nervously, as if worried to answer until he knew the correct answer. When Meri indicated she heard it too, he seemed relieved and nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah, weeee bo-ath heard it! Yay!"

Many then noted Meri looking to Nym, and so also looked to Nym. After a moment, an eye looked to Meri, and out of the corner of his mouth Many said as quietly as he could, "Aah we wah-ting foh some-thing?"
[Private to Meri:
Yeah, as you might guess Nym can't hear what Meri's saying!]

Meri's gaze flickered briefly towards Many as he spoke.  Then she looked back at Nym and smirked, shaking her head.
"No, just checking something.  I think that mind communication only goes one way for now."


OOC: Yep, Meri was trying to see if Nym could 'hear' her trying to reply telepathically.  No luck :)

"Ohh." says Nym in understanding. "Well, maybe if you practice, you'll be able to do it too one day! Then we can talk in our heads! Yay!"

I'm sure a lengthy telepathic conversation with Nym, when actions such as turning away and covering your ears have no effect, won't cause anyone to go completely mental or anything >:).

Darn, you spoiled it, a chapter from now Nym finds a book of book with a weird squid like face on the cover, and a spell of true telepathy inside. And then I change the system from D&D to Call of Cthulhu. Roll San! :p

"Ahhhhh," says Many, nodding his understanding them looking to Nym expectantly for a while longer anyway. When Nym doens't immediately start growing five heads, he starts giggling and saying 'prah-c'is, praaaah-c'tis' and runs around one corner of the wagon. He seems to be trying to do the silence thing again, but is too excited in trying to look at the eye that is doing it, no matter how many times he seems to promise not to look. He briefly manages to surprise himself with it, but then as he's whooping over it, he accidentally dispels it again. He looks guiltily around, the begins to mouth as if he hadn't broken the spell. Though his little giggles as he mouths the words are very audible.


Nym, up to you if you want to go back to figuring out your magic or if you want to time jump a little here. Meri, if you are reading through the journal again, you have some subjects looked up alaready - feel free to ask for a little more info on one of them.

OOC: ooo, I really wanna play that! :D  Need to see if I can track down a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook or something :)
Also, if Nym does grow five heads, and they're differently coloured dragon heads, maybe I'll decide Meri has been hanging onto that symbol for far too long!


Meri had pulled out the journal again and was busy leafing through it, although she glanced up at Many, grinning slightly at his antics before returning to the book...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Hmm, the only thing I can remember looking up is whether the journal had any mention of Meri's old home.
Had one of those chaotic months where it feels like a whole year just passed by, dragging me along with it, and I forgot everything, hehe.]

Only if they're chromatic dragon heads, surely - if they're metallic then we just invented a new thing :D.

Anyway, yeah, I don't think Nym has much more of substance to say or do right now - she'll sit there flicking her fingers about and kind of staring at her hands as though trying to figure stuff out but I don't think she can work anything more out for the time being. Fortunately Ryn stayed on the roof to keep lookout so we'll have a heads up if anything happens :).

The rest of the afternoon passed reasonably quickly, with Many continue to caper happily and amuse himself, or trying to share.

[Private to Meri: Meri would find something odd in the journal that led to an irritating revelation. Reading more on the various passages on the elves, then comparing the oddities to some other places, something became clear. This was not the original version of the journal. There were some references ehere and there to water damage and other calamities. It became clear that some of the stapled in notes that seemed oddly timed were actually passed notes from the original journals, and sometimes the odd out of time notes in passages were because the granduncle had decided to make corrections while transcribing what he could of the old journals. This appeared to have happened twice, and made some of the haphazard nature of the journal more obvious. Unfortunately it did mean not only was it more jumbled, but some passages appeared to be written from memory or 'corrected' way after the fact, so may not be as reliable.

Still, it made the style make a little more sense, and the logic of the timing of the journal was beginning to be more obvious once the newer handwriting for older stories could be spotted.

OOC: So yeah, a little caveat about the usefulness of the journal going forwards, but also some progress on deciphering its clutter to find useful stuff :D]

[Private to Nym: Ryn would notice that the sky is darkening and it feels oppressively warmer. It feels as if it could rain at any moment, and will probably be quite the storm when it breaks. While weather like this would be possibe, it is most likely this would be because of the retreat of the Spirit of Winter. Now it is no longer regulating the weather, there may now be more severe weather as whatever magic departs and normality reasserts itself.

Whether this is the reason for it, the wagon begins to slow down again, after some shouts from the very front that sound like Geekaar. Nothing appears to be in the way, it seems ot be a decision of Geekaar's to slow the train. There is some movement from Dott, and for some reason he is forced to get off the wagon where he was, and rush back towards your wagon.

OOC: Sometimes a good perception roll just means you, as a player, can be certain that when I say youu see no reason for the train to slow, you aren't just missing the reason, there really is no external reason :D]

Almost imperceptibly at first, and then with many small shudders, the wagon begins to slow down. For some reason it is these motions, rather than the previous speech, that finally gets Farren awake.

He looks around. "How long was I asleep?" he asked, surprised. The reason for his surprise is that the light outside has slowly dulled more than would be normal for this time of day. [Secret to Blace: [Secret to Meri: The dimming light was not something Meri, with her more sensative eyes, had needed to worry about, and so had not noticed its subtle slow decline.]]

He yawns, stretches, slowly disgorges himself of his small rodent friends and gets them moving too, then looks around to the others to see what they are doing.

There you go, time shifted a little, and something's going on! [Private to Nym: [Private to Nym: Feel free to have Ryn come back ahead of Dott's slower movements if you like. The slower wagon means Ryn won't need to make any checks to get back inside.]]

As the wagon begins to slow, Ryn's head becomes visible, poking into view upside-down from the top of the doorway as she makes some odd chittery-squeaky-growly sort of noises. Nym looks up.

"Oh, is it?" she asks. "Well, hopefully we won't get too wet. Um. Did you want to stay out there a while longer or come in now?"

A few more weird noises emerge from Ryn.

"Alright then." says Nym with a little wave. "Come back in if it actually starts raining or something."

Ryn's head withdraws from view and Nym looks around at those within the wagon. She seems about to say something when Ryn's head reappears once more and makes a few more noises before retreating again.

"Oh, is he? Hmm, I wonder what's happening." says Nym, standing up and going to peer out of the doorway.

[Private to GM: Ryn will have told Nym which side of the wagon train Dott is running along, so she's looking out in the right direction to see him if he approaches the door of our wagon :).
Meanwhile Ryn will continue keeping a lookout for now, in case anything else starts happening or Geekaar starts doing stuff, or whatever. But if it starts raining, she'll head inside.]

Meri seemed too distracted by something in the journal to notice the wagon stopping.
She glanced up at Ryn's noises though before looking back at the book and turning a page, clearly deciding that whatever was happening, it didn't need her involvement...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: That said though, she is listening carefully now.  Can she hear anything unusual?
Perception: 24 (10 + 14)]

[Private to Meri:
Meri will hear grunts and muttering that does sound perhaps Dott-like, or at least not like anyone else including Geekaar, so will know or guess who Nym is speaking to.]

Dott comes in to view around the corner of the wagon, apparently hving tried to judge how to get close enough to slide in at the back of the wagon, as if worried the guard wagon might somehow speed up and hit him while he is distracted. He seems surprised Nymis already looking in his direction.

"Oh, hello," he says, then curses as the wagon moves slowly forwards and he is forced to keep brisk pace to speak with Nym. "Master Geekaar said that the weather might be turning, and it might get dark early when we'd be in a rough area without light. So he's going to find a nice place to stop and make camp now rather than later in the evening. He says we're making good time so we should be alright for Thirdgate tomorrow even if the weather is bad. I... I guess he's done these roads more than me, so..."

Dott left it at that, pausing for asecond when he shrugged as if he couldn't do two things at once, and then having to catch up again.

Meri didn't seem to react much to the situation beyond her eyes flicking up from the book's pages and towards the door, clearly listening to what was being said.


OOC: Everyone calling it an early night then? :)

Nym nods at Dott.

"Yes,it does look like there's going to be a big storm. I think the weather's going to be a bit weird around here for a while. Umm...did you want to come up here? It might be better than trying to keep chasing the wagon and maybe getting all tired. Unless you don't mind that? I think a bit of running and stuff is supposed to be good, so you don't get all lazy and umm, not used to it, and stuff. But umm, I don't suppose you want to make yourself too tired just now. And if it starts raining then you'll get all wet. Which might cool you down from running, but...maybe won't be fun because you'll be all soggy. Um. Did you want a hand?"

If Dott wants to hop on, Nym will give him a hand up :). I mean, at Str 13 she's probably stronger than he is (since he's presumably just an average guy so probably has a Str of ten or eleven) so shouldn't have any trouble ;).

Yup, Nym can surprise many poor average people by winning arm wrestling contests or moving heavy boxes all by herself when helping them move :p I know delivery peole picking up we'rd heavy / awkward stuff on their own always startles me!

Dott noddes thanks but did not take the offered hand. "We've only slowed down to let me come and tell you what's happening. I think he wants me to come back to tell him its ok to speed up again to get to somewhere sheltered. I... I'll see if he needs me though. Maybe I can come back?"

With that, he had to run to catch up to the start of the train where Geekaar was.


Unfortunately, it seemed the Dott hadn't been allowed to come back or hadn't built up the courage to ask, as before too long the wagon jolted to it's previous speed again.

Farren looked out the window, but seemed to see nothing much to speak of. "Hmm, I suppose that means we will have longer in the company of our great wagonmaster than we might have liked. I wish I had held off on sleeping now..."

He looked around. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, okay then." says Nym to Dott. "I'll see you later!"

She waves him goodbye as he disappears off back to the front of the wagon train, then glances up toward the top of the wagon as though to see what Ryn is doing. Though the familiar isn't currently visible from that angle, Nym grins to herself, concentrates for a moment whilst still staring at a spot just above her head, then grins and gives a little wave. Then she shakes her head.

"Oh, that's right, you can't see me..." she mutters to herself, and returns to the inside of the wagon.

At Farren's question, she looks over at him.

"I did a thing!" she says happily. "Well, I mean, I did two things!"
[Private to GM: ~This is the first thing...~ she tells him telepathically.]
"...and the second thing is...well, it's a bit harder to show you that because I'm the only one who can see it...but I can sort of...make myself see things from somewhere else. I mean...I can stare at a spot in the air and suddenly it's as though I'm looking from there, even though I haven't moved. It's very handy!"

"Nothing much" responded Meri, her attention still on the book, although oddly she had spent the past few minutes constantly turning back and forth between what seemed to be the same pair of pages, as if double-checking something that puzzled her.

"Many was showing us a new trick he learned" she added, looking up at the beholder with a smile.  "I'm surprised it didn't wake you up actually."


OOC: Hmm, she's stronger than Meri too.  Still, who needs Strength when you can set people on fire, douse them in acid, or just blast them out of their socks with lightning? ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

Dott did give a small way as he departed, but his hurry clearly showed his intimidation at Geekaar's orders.

Back inside, Farren's eyes widen when Nym clearly demonstrates the first thing. He then gives Nyma deeper look that slightly respebles the same look Meri gave Nym when Meri was trying to answer in return.

Many had been playing with Ee-Ee, perhaps showing off his trick. He noticed Farren's look, and then conspiratorially said, "..." despite his mouth moving quite happily.

Farren meanwhile looked impressed. "So you can but your eyes and voice where you want to put them? Interesting. Can you put your ears at a distance and hear things far away too? That would seem to be a logical extension." Farren then considers something. "Hmm, it appears whtever my mental powers are, psychic defenses aren#t one of them. Unless I have to actively block things from entering my mind?" Clearly he realises he has something to practise himself, now.
[Private to Nym:
Heh, I know you can't, but it does seem a logical thing, doens't it, given the first two powers!]

When Meri pointed out Many trick, Many giggled happily and nodded apologetically, evne though the laughter and apologies were completely silent.

Farren looked around. "Can Many throw his voice, too?" asked Farren at large. "Is Geekaar even now hearing strange laughter directly in his ear?"

Many looked confused, then turned around to look accusingly at his 'silencing' eyestalk, the one that was trying to be nonchelant behind Many's back. Of course, the moment he looked around to it quickly - the eye was too slow from trying to not look around - he suddenly because audible again. "Noah! Bahd eye! Stoppit eggscept when ah say!" Many then looked around again. "Ah cahn be quiiiiiy-YET!" he said happily and bounced round noisily.


Farren looked to Meri and Nym as if Many's antics were making him doubt it, despite the evidence of a few moments before.


Yup, Nym's strength probably comes from climbing up things and running after people to keep being friends at them, no matter when they run too. Whereas Meri's demeanour has probably ensured that other people do the running and climbing!

Feel free to continue your conversation, I just want to say what will happen a little later. React to this once you feel you're done.

Eventually, the wagon slowed down again. However, this time there were more bumps and jolts, and the wagon rocked oddly. It felt as if th wagon was turning, and then the wagon's floor was oddly off kilter. Eventually, the wagon stopped moving.
[Private to Nym:
Ryn will see that after a thick part of forest on one side was passed, there was a gentle uphill slope away from the road up to a sheltered semicircle of ground near the opening of the woods on a hillside. The wagon train has made for this, jolting off the road, and up. This area seems off the road enough to not be immediately visible, and sheltered enough from wind. Though not from rain for the moment. The weather hasn't changed yet, still humid as if it wants to rain, and dull, but no rain yet. ]

Nym looks thoughtful at Farren's query about being able to listen from a distance.

"Hmm, no..." she says, looking almost disappointed, but then brightens. "Not yet! But maybe I can get Ryn to go to places and she can listen and then come back and tell me. That's sort of like listening from a distance, isn't it. Except it's not really me listening. Except maybe it is...I mean, if Ryn is sort of...part of me? I think? Um. Oh, and Many can make himself quiet. Well, I think he just sort of...makes an aread of no-sound around him. Or something?"

She giggles at the little beholder.

"I've heard of a simple magical cantrip that can make sounds at a distance, though not all that far" remarked Meri quietly from behind the book she was reading.  "Though listening to sounds at a distance...  Might be possible to create something like that, although I've never really looked into the idea before.  Might be possible using that cantrip as a basis, but backwards."


OOC: Hmm, reversing the polarity of the earwax flow? :)  Eww!
This message was last edited by the player at 09:59, Thu 16 Nov 2017.

Many nods at his silence powers being mentioned. After giving Nym a little reassurring pat pat pat and saying ,"awww, wahn day you will throh-wah your ears!", he goes near Farren.

To Farren's bemusement, Many then turned his back on the revenant. Many's 'silence' eyestalk looked a little bashful and kept looking to Many for encouragement, but the little beholder was resolutely turned away from Farren, while nervously shaking and giggling at the same time. Finally the eyestalk made a little motion.

"...?" asked Farren, or at least his mouth moved and he face seemed to have a general questioning look to it.

Many turned around laughing, then looked to his own eyestalk as if to confirm something had actually happened, then giggled again and danced around. "ah did it ah did it ah.... ooh, ah feel a biht diiih-zeee." Many's capering ended with him snuggling against Nym's foot, as apparently the effort to make Farren quiet too a temporary toll on the little beholder. Still, he giggled and squirmed happily, grinning towards Nym and Meri and Ee-Ee and Farren to look for their reactions.

"Was something supposed to happen?" asked Farren, then as if to not hurt Many's feelings, went, "I mean, I'm sure it was really very good. Perhaps I should have paid more attention, but I'm sure it was good..."

Interesting thing to note about at least Many's silence effect, it's one way so the person can hear everything, an apparently it's easy to not realise you are under its effects...
[Private to Meri:
Also note that Many seems to be now automatically able to cancel his spell effects with his mani eye now. So sadly, unless he can sneakily cast spells behind his back it looks as if he'll always be cancelling his own spells before he can cast them. And most likely dispelling them shortly after if he gets too near the effect. Still, for the moment he shouldn't be in any danger, and he seems to have sort of accepted its only temporary for now, so that's ok.]

Looking to Meri, Farren then said, "Hmm, watch out when you reverse the effect, you don't end up allowing someone else to hear you rather than you hear someone else. Hmm, still, what do I know of magic. Sadly less than I know of psychic talents, and apparently I should know those."

Oh? Interesting...so it's like being put inside an invisible, sound-proof bubble rather than having your actual voice silenced. At least if it ever happens to Nym she'll still be able to communicate now, as long as someone's within range for her telepathy ;).

Nym reaches down and gives Many an encouraging pat, then looks over at Farren.

"Oh, yes. I couldn't hear you at all!" she says cheerfully. "Why? Could you still hear yourself?"

Meri placed the book aside again, watching Many's little demonstration on Farren with some amusement.
Picking up the piece of parchment she had been using to work on the Anti-Magic Blocker formula again, she tore off a blank strip from the top of it and used it to mark a page in the journal before returning it to her pack.

Then she went back to studying the diagram and formulae she had drawn on the parchment...

Indeed, that's why you could suddenly hear Many yelling at you when he went right up to your ear, even before the effect got cancelled. And why he didn't realise he was not being heard. So if you guys can learn the effect, or more likely when Many gets better at casting a larger version - which might take some time, he'e exhausted just doing one Farren shaped bubble - then it will be very handy for sneaky planning or hiding while still being able to communicate with each other.

"I... yes, yes I could..." said Farren confused.

"Dohn't woh-rry!" says Many encouragingly, "ah dihdn't know aye-ther!" He then starts speaking excitedly, but he's clearly lapsed in to underdark speech when speaking with Farren.

Farren waves a hand. "I believe you!" he finally says to Many, then looks to Nym. "That seems like a useful talent with Geekaar around. Who was out there? Was it him? What did he say about our brief slow down?"

"Oh, that was Dott." explains Nym. "He said the weather's gone all dark...which it has...so we're going to be finding a campy-place soon before it gets too dark and starts raining all over the place and such-like. Um. Well, the weather's going to be a bit strange here for a while. Because of the winter spirit thingy being gone now. So it's all sort of gone...fwooff..."

She makes a gesture with her hands inward, as though indicating an explosion of some kind.

"So the weather's all sort of...catching up now, I think. So it'll be weird for a while until it's finished doing that. And then it'll be the same as everywhere else, I suppose."

"Hmm, imbalance of arcane forces, didn't think of that" murmured Meri to herself, peering out of the window as she reached into her backpack for some writing supplies and began to add some lines to the complex alchemical formula she was working out on the parchment.


OOC: I really didn't think of that.  Maybe Meri just likes to blow stuff up and not really consider the consequences too much :)  (Might explain why her workshop was so untidy...)

Nym cocks her head slightly to one side.

"Well, it's not so much arcane as the opposite of arcane..." she says. "I mean, there was sort-of magic around here before, with the spirit doing stuff, but now he's gone there's all the normal weather, erm, getting back to...normal. So, it's a not-magic thing that's happening. Because it's just weather. Unless weather is made by magic. Is it? I always thought it just sort of...happened. Well, except when there's weather spirits and people doing magic to change the weather, and stuff. Um. So maybe all weather is just magic from where someone's done something magic to the weather somewhere else, so then it all changes around like it's doing here."

Seeming happy with her explanation, she gives a satisfied nod and looks around to see if anyone else is saying or doing anything interesting.

Frren gave an odd faraway look, as if finding a memory from the strange recesses of his mind. "A spirit of winter does pull the weather and seasons to them, so I apparently know. I can see that if they have been allowed a permanent place, then their departure would cause as much desruption as if an island suddenly disappeared from the ocean. In this case perhaps Natural magic resided here, creating a metaphorical hole in the landscape now it has left, and now nature itself is rushing in to fill the void?"

Farren went back to looking out the window. "Hmm, spendng more time with Geekaar. How... wonderful. Especially after the Captain departed. I'm not sure how much I Want to have to explain that to the merchant."

Meri was frowning slightly at her parchment, then shook her head and crossed out part of her formula, writing something else in instead.

"Why bother explaining anything to him at all?" she remarked.  "Personally, I'd rather avoid any contact with him as much as possible for the entire trip..."

"He does seem a bit weird." says Nym. "Well, we have lots of other people to talk to, so that's alright. I wonder what else will happen as we go!"

"Well see how easy that is when we're all in a camp together..." said Farren, wihtout apparent enthusiasm or belief.


Farren barely reacted to the slowing down and movement of the wagon as it clearly started moving towards its temporary camp site. He instead moved across to make sure his rodent friends were awake and in sorts.

Many meanwhile seemed to amuse himself with small songsabout being quiet, and trying to explain to Ee-Ee what all the bumping was about - even though the little beholder actually had no idea himself, and also seemed a little concerned about all the bumping too.


Eventually, the wagon came to a slow halt.

"Well, personally, I have better things to do than get involved in whatever games he wants to play" muttered Meri, still intent on whatever alchemical calculations she was working out on the parchment.

She glanced up briefly as the wagon halted, but didn't seem in a hurry to move anywhere...


OOC: Meri is a master of the ancient art of the Cold Shoulder! ;)

As the wagon comes to a halt, Ryn's head once appears upside-down within view at the top of the doorway. She makes a few weird noises at Nym, who nods.

"Oh, yes, I thought we might be." she replies, and looks around. "Shall we go out and have a look around? I mean, if it rains later then it'll probably be better to sit somewhere it isn't raining, which is probably not out there. So maybe we should explore now, just in case. Right?"

She is already edging toward the door whilst looking around to see if anyone is interested in seeing where they are.

Farren seems ameniable to leaving, already gathering his coat and his small rodent friends. Many is practically bouncing off the walls at the chance to see what's outside, only calming down enough to gather Ee-Ee and encourage the little rodent to hop on to his head.

"Oh, that sounded like some rodent speak," said Farren as Many made little chittering noises. Many looked around confused as if he hadn't meant to do anything like that, then had a big grin looking around to Nym and Meri. Many then carefully tried to speak to Ee-Ee again. Whether it worked or not, Ee-Ee did hop on to Many's head, and with some trepidation Many started floating ready to leave.


Let me know what you're keeping in the wagon and taking with you - and of course Meri whether you want to leave at all.


[Private to Nym: Ryn will see that the five wagons are circled aroudn each other now, and already being detached. Lots of people are bustling around, even the ten guards that were on the wagon behind you. Dott seems to be pulling the horses off to one side, away from the wagons and possible also away from the clear space where the camp will be set up later.]

Since Nym never knows how long she'll be staying in one place (and is probably too much in danger of forgetting her stuff otherwise), she will just keep everything on her. Mind you, most of her stuff is in her magic pockets so her backpack isn't gonna be that heavy :).

Nym giggles and gives a little clap of her hands at Many's apparent accidental addition of another new language to his slowly-growing repertoire. As the little beholder (with attached rat friend) comes to join her she steps outside - as she does so, Ryn neatly hopes down onto her shoulders from above the doorway.

The changeling stands there for a few moments, looking around at the wagons as they are being arranged in a circle, then wanders over to say hello to Dott, who is busy with the horses.

"Hello again!" she says cheerfully, with a little wave. "So, this is where we're staying tonight? Hopefully it won't rain too much. Maybe it won't rain at all, but...well, I mean, it will rain eventually. I just meant whether it might rain tonight. I suppose if it rains soon and then stops, there'll be longer for the ground to get dry again before we all need to move off and might get stuck if it's all still muddy and stuff. I mean, the wagons. With their wheels and all that. But hopefully it'll be alright and maybe I can help if something like that happens. How are your horsey-friends?"

Meri looked up and sighed, folding the parchment and placing it back inside her pack.
"I suppose I may as well check out the surroundings at least.  I want to see how easy it is for someone to sneak up on this place at night" she muttered.

She reached for her backpack, Timur quickly scurrying over and gripping onto the pack as she lifted it up onto her shoulders, then took up her staff and moved to follow the others...


OOC: So yeah, Meri is more interested in the surrounding scenery and how much cover it'll give a certain someone who might pay us a night time visit ;)

Can you roll me a perception or theivery check for that one Meri? Thievery using Int.
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:20, Sun 26 Nov 2017.

OOC: Checking Perception:  30 (16 + 14) :)

Over by Dott...

Dott gives Nym a slow look as she reels off her greeting. "Oh. Oh!" he says, and points to the wagons. "That's why thye are putting wood under the wheels!"

As he points to the wagons, it's now visible that some poeople are walking around, trying to jam thin sheets of wood under the wheels - perhaps to give some traction in the event of rain. Whether it would work or not isn't immediately obvious. It is likely that the wagon train had not encountered very heavy rain in this area before.

"The horses are... yes, they're fine. Mostly." He is currently feeding and reassurring his own two horses, while the other from the other wagons are standing closeby having already been tied and given a bale of hay to eat. However, the two horses Dott had said were Geekaar's were obviously different from the rest, in terms of look and temperament. They were larger, sleeker of coat - which seem pitch black - and skittish. Also skittish did not seem to be quite right, perhaps they were more restless to be moving once more.


Still by the wagons...

Meri could see that they had found some gentle slope surrounded by a thick area of forest. It seems to be a sheltered semicircle of ground not immediately obvious from the road, though surely at night any light from a fire would still be vaguely visible. The woods opened up again in the higher ground, for the moment the trees spaced widely enough that someone coming would not have an easy time of approaching. However, when it got dark, it seemed as if the moon would be inthe wrong place, and there would be enough shadows to make the woods a potential source of something coming form there. The wagons were placed centrally, the horses perhaps in a small shelter off to one side that couldn't be immediatlely reached, and it seemed to be the place where the ten guards were starting to settle that was most vulnerable from the forest. Though this area did seem to be most likely where the camp would be settled. Meanwhile, Geekaar's guards seemed to be hovering more at the edge of the wagons closer to the road. Who knew if they were going to stay stationed there once the camp was formed.

The area was also nicely sheltered from the wind, and even partially any rain that might fall, but that meant that a lot of sound was dampened by the woods and overhangs. And that sometimes some of the Blackwood guards' noises seemed to echo more than would be wanted.

Basically, not in the best spot for avoiding people, but perhaps as good as it gets. Maybe more positioned for shelter from the weather rather than worrying too much about anyone other than casual travellers who may well avoid the detour in the the unknown. Of course, Geeker has fourteen guard and his retainers (and you lot!) so maybe he isn't too worried about bandits and mythical bears :)

[Private to Meri: Also, as your perception check was so good, I'll give you this for free - you can hear Geekaar approaching. Or rather, you can hear Samel approaching, and she seems to have tried to say something before being silenced. So most likely Geekaar is coming to say 'hello'! If you want to avoid him, he's coming from the opposite side of the wagon from the horses and the ten guards. so you have the chance to avoid him by moving in that direction, for Nym or the central camp area.]

Nym eyes the horses, then looks back at Dott, while Ryn on her shoulder seems more interested in looking at everything else.

"What's the matter?" Nym asks the human. "Are they unhappy about something?"

Insight for reading the skittish horses...16.

Meri peered around at the surrounding landscape, a slight frown of concentration on her face.
Then she glanced back towards the opposite side of the wagon to the others.
"Our talkative host approaches" she muttered quietly.

Propping her staff across her shoulder, she moved closer to the central camp area.
On her back, Timur clambered up her pack and settled on her other shoulder, eyeing the direction she indicated earlier...

Hah, I wasn't sure if Meri was going to just leg it and not mention Geekaar's arrival, and leave Farren to be ambushed in her place :p

Running away from people...

Farren took note of Meri's comment, and with a small nod made haste to join her as the artificer went across to the main area.

One or two of Geekaar's retainers - there seemed to be about four in number  - seemed to be starting to prepare the camp, having secured their own wagons. The Blackwood guards seemed to be unsure of what to do. Some seemed to know their woodcraft, and had a similar air to Sergeant Porter, but had stopped preparing their own small areas unsure if the whole group was supposed to assemble as one. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the guard just seemed to be standing out of the way clearly not knowing how to aid in striking up the camp. They had probably not had to stay overnight outdoors since they were children.

A man in lush green leathers seemed to have a bit more senority than the other retainers, but all he did was to gesture for the Blackwood guards to make themselves useful on the perimeter, rather than ask for their aid.

Ok, so there's currently a group of two 'seasoned' guards who are looking to the woods probably for a similar reason Meri did, two more who until recently had been starting to strike out a small area of camp, four uncertain guards talking amongst themselves, and a final two on the edge of the area looking more miserable than vigilant. There's also the green dressed man and two more retainers bouncing backwards and forwards striking what seems as if it will be the main camp, getting items from one of the wagons such as canvases, bed rolls, what look like tents, and also cooking equipment.

You can approach any of these groups, ask for more infromation about them, talk to Farren, or just look to set up your own quiet corner. Or...


Meri then noticed Geekaar coming in to view from his own wagon. He was striding with purpose, however it wasn't towards the central camp nor to pursue Meri. Instead, he seemed to be making a beeline for the horses, and Nym, with a surprised Samel caught wrong footed and rushing to catch up.


Being run towards... also with horses!

Nym won't be able to tell too much more about the horses. They really don't seem skittish. Their restlessness could, perhaps, be more akin to noblemen forced to stand around in mxed company they do not want to be in. But that could just me an impression given by their better size and grooming. They don't seem to mind Dott's nervous attention, and tolerate it even as he is the one who seems skittish.

Dott finishes seeing to the two restless horses,and sidles across to Nym. "I don't think they like people. Or people who aren't... Him. Or other horses. Or me. They only seem to be happy when they are pulling the wagons with no one else about."

"NONSENSE!" comes a happy, booming voice - it being Geekaar, emerging from behind Nym in the direction of the wagons. "You have to understand, these are my own fair friends. Born of the Freelands, in the wild, open spaces. They have run for days under blue skies and rolling plains. Why shouldn't they be underwhelmed by this dull, claustrophoebic land." Geekaar then raised up a consiliatory set of hands, shaking them wildly. "Not that I think that, but I imagine they do. Ah, perhaps they long for the old days when I was less great in stature, only in ambition. Oh, I used to ride them between Freeholds with nothing more than a few sacks of paltry goods and a dream of riches. Not even a wagon for them to pull, no, just myself and them united in a burning desires to see it all as fast as possible!"

Geekaar laughed heartily, and put his hands affectionately upon the noses and sides of faces of the two horses in turn. For a brief moment, each of them seemed to calm down and accept the attention.

Timur kept watching Geekaar intently as Meri moved towards the central camp area, stopping at the edge of the area and eyeing the green-clad man a moment before looking around at the others.


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Hmm, since we're looking out for a ranger, and some of the guards know woodcraft, and one of them is dressed in green...  Did Meri get enough of a look at the ranger when she saw him in the shop before to recognise him on sight?  Just being paranoid ;)]

Nym looks around at Geekaar's sudden approach and giggles slightly at his descriptive spiel about the horses.

"Well, at least they seem happy enough." she says, and turns to Dott. "I'm sure you're very good at looking after them - maybe they're just a bit grumpy sometimes. Lots of people can be like that from time to time, after all."

She gives him an encouraging smile while Ryn, on her shoulders, is now staring unblinkingly at Geekaar.

[Private to GM: For now, assume that Ryn isn't taking her eyes of Geekaar until I say otherwise, or until he goes out of sight, whichever comes first ;).]

Over by the horses...

Geekaar gives absolutely no indication of discomfort at being observed by Ryn, even though his eyes do flicker over in her direction, seeing he knows he is being watched. [Private to Nym: So noted :)]

Dott is looking a little embarrased by Nym's praise, but perhaps discomforted by Geekaar's presence. Geekaar speaks up. "Oh, indeed, you are doing well with my horses. Trust me, if they did not like you, you might end up with not much of a head left, like my last farrier." There is a moment of uncofmortable silence, and then Geekaar bellows out loud at his 'joke'. "Ah, I jest, I jest. But please, you will make them much happier if you can feed them some small stems of my homeland. Look to the scout wagon where I was sitting. A small grey canvas bag. Now, if you would. And please be quick. I am sure our guest was enjoying your company."

Geekaar gives a small dismissive gesture, and Dott hurries off, giving a small nervous smile to Nym before leaving. Geekaar then turns back to Samel. "Speaking of guests, my dear Samel, we have others we missed. I think they headed over to the campsite. Please pass on my good wishes, and make sure they are being cared for. Now."

Again, Samel moves quickly to leave, this time it seems deliberately not looking to Nym.


Geekaar turns and smiles to Nym, even while giving equal attention to his horses. "So, before our erstwhile Captain left us earlier, did you have a chance to observe his own horse more closely? We were interrupted when we discussed the beast before."


If you wish to run away, obviously roll Acrobatics to tumble out of the way first to avoid a Question of Opportunity. :p


Over at the main camp...

Timur could see that Samel was beginning to come over to the main area, but apprarently with no emthusiastic haste in her movements.

Basically, you have time to wait for her, or move towards one of the other groups to avoid her.

[Private to Meri: The green dressed man's leather seems more wagoneer practical than forest practical, and indeed the green is a little too felt like and bright to be actually good in the woods. Also he's older and more rugged looking. Of the four guards who seem more experienced, two are women, and the two men (one looking to the forest, one attempting a camp) both seem to look so similar they must be twins, and their faces seem far rounder and beaten than the ranger's.

That said, Meri only spoke to the ranger briefly, so it would be a hard perception check to definitely decide if it's the same person even if you met him again. And worse yet if he's actively changed his appearance, even if the chance is something small like some facial hair of different hair style.

On the bright side, Farren has seen him close up and has less things to actively recall, so perhaps he might be one to check in with if you ever get paranoid about a new 'friend' :D.]

Nym watches in silence as Geekaar addresses first Dott, then Samel. Her feline ears twitch slightly as she watches them both leave, then Geekaar's question attracts her attention before she can become distracted by anything else that might be nearby. She grins at him.

"Oh, yes. His lovely nice horse." she says happily. "I think they're very good friends, maybe even more than you are with these ones!"

She gestures to the horses, then looks up toward the sky.

"Um. So, if you're all travelly and stuff, does that mean you can tell when it's going to rain? I don't think I've ever really paid much attention to how sort of...ominous the sky is getting before it rains because I'm normally busy looking at...well, other things. Everything. But if you travel all over the place, maybe you're used to it? How long before the clouds get all rumbly and suddenly everything is made soaking wet?"

Meri eyed the green clad figure a moment longer, then turned her attention to the groups of Blackwood guards.
Timur shuffled around on her shoulder slightly, tapping on the side of her head.
"I know" replied Meri in a low whisper.

She remained where she was, studying the people in the camp intently, while Timur's gaze was fixed unblinkingly on Samel as she approached...


OOC: Meri doesn't seem to be in a hurry to stay out of Samel's way anyhow.
Just studying the guards :)

[Private to The Altweaver: Getting the impression they don't seem too comfortable out here...]

Over with the horses...

Geekaar seems genuinely amused by the question, having not thought about it before. "Rains? Well, it is different from place to place. But usually a warmth one day followed by a gloominess another heralds rain, at some point. Serious rains, not the playfulness of summer showers. Hmm, but usually in this land I do not feel anything like warmth, nor rain. But it feels pleasant to my disposition, so I think the air is filling with water. As to when it will rain..."

Geekaar gestures to the distant woods and beyond. "When it gets slightly darker, you might see flashes. And if you listen very, very carefully, you might already hear little rumbles. I daresay the rumbles and flashes will be very out of sequence, but as they get closer together, the weather is getting closer. I imagine we might see rains soon. Maybe in a few minutes. Maybe in a few hours. Showers at first. The heavy rains will be tonight, overnight, I think. And winds. I daresay the likes of which this land has not seen in...well, that I do not know. But I think we both know the cause, do we not."

Geekaar gave a small smirk to Nym.


Over by the camp...

[Private to Meri: The six guards just hanging around do not seem comfortable regarding the whole situation with camping and guarding. Four of them seem quite young - three young men who look related, and one young woman who seems just confused and is speaking to a slightly older woman who she doens't seem to know well and a slightly older man who she seems to know better.

The four more experienced guards seem comfortable enough standing around and in the outside, they just seem out of sorts and uncertain regarding the company. Meri would now start to notice them all now looking to her as if trying to work out why she's looking at them. And perhaps also looking uneasily at Farren too, for perhaps obvious reasons.

Let me know if there's anything else in specific you're looking for with the guards :) ]

Samel hustled over to where Meri was somewhat, but then seemed to notice Timur staring at her and slowed down even more. She took the opportunity to smooth down her clothes, so it seemed as if she was more trying to centre herself and regain her composure.

Farren, who had been standing nearby but leaving Meri to her own devices, leaned over and whispered, "I see out erstwhile psychic is returning. Do you want me to keep her engaged? I do have questions for her."

Nym nods.

"Right - the weather!" she says happily. "I hope it doesn't rain too much. I mean, your wagons might get stuck if it gets all muddy, right? And then you won't be able to go anywhere. Unless you have magic wheels or something, I suppose..."

She turns to look back toward the wagon, as though eyeing up the wheels to see if they somehow now appear to be magical.

[Private to GM: I'm guessing you would like a Bluff roll for Nym's "misunderstanding" of his reference as to what causes the rain - pretty sure I previously asked if you wanted a Bluff roll any time Nym tries to verbally "shake him off" and you said yes so here we go...22 :).]

Meri shrugged, looking away from the guards, her luminescent gaze again sweeping the surrounding terrain.
"I don't mind her so much" she replied in a low voice.  "She's certainly better company than her master, though that's not saying much.  Makes me wonder why she works for him..."

[Private to Nym: If it's intentional, then yes, that's great. Sorry that in this instance it didn't quite hit the mark, but at least you had a chance :D]

Over by the horses...

Geekaar gave Nym a long look as she spoke, and then gave a theatrical sigh. "Ah, but while magical wheels would be most fantastical and welcome if I could have them, I would have to take them from my homeland to here, and leave them here on the wagons I rent when I left. No, I shall just endure the rain and hope more mundane means and honest backswill suffice when needed" He paused for a moment, then showed the real reason for his theatrical sigh. "I feel that you and your artificer friend seem afraid to speak to me too deeply, as if you think you might reveal something you should not. You are certainly more friendly than the others, but... I still feel you holding back. Perhaps I can reassure you that you have nothing to fear from me, by giving you my trust, while guessing the reason our friend the Captain left."

The merchant left his horses and gave Nym his full attention. "I can imagine it was one of three pieces of news our good Captain did not have. The first is the emergence of a tree of great import, from Melora Herself it is said. It heralds that the Blackwood forest is free of a ... blight... as it were, that few knew still was upon it. It is why the weather is so strange now, and once the fey of the neighbouring lands know, they may well start to think of moving back in." Geekaar steepled his thick fingers to his nose. "The second would be something more delicate. That one of the fey prices of one of the noble houses was behind certain...unpleasantness... recently occurring in the area. Scandalous enough, but now he is dead. Which might be unfortunate for one such as the Captain to know. One can never know where his loyalties truly lie." Geekaar shrugged as if the damage was either done or not done. He then deliberated a loment, and then proessed on. "The third would be that while the Necromancer of Neeberook and Vaskense indeed died months ago, none have found his most powerful records. And even if you hang and draw and quarter and quarter those quarters and then bury those parts of a dead necromancer in different lands... well, how can one truly rest until his powers and words are finally laid to rest too? It is said he has a sister, and she a lover, and the two of them may well possess this book - or know of its location."

Geekaar looked to Nym. "I know you know two of these things. You may not know of the third, in which case please, repeat it to no one. I am sure the authorities will find the Necromancer's kin if those two are not alerted, but once alerted, such rascals may do something hasty. Kill those who know their secret, for a start!"

Geekaar gave Nym his most ingraciating smile, and put his fingers to his lips when briefly looking to Many who had been hiding behind Nym's legs again. "You see, you can trust me for I can truat you. So, what did you tell our friend the captain?"


See, Farren had it wrong, and Geekaar was just a happy soul wanting to talk. Mostly because aparently he knows far more than he should anyway :p


Over at the main camp...

Farren shrugged. "I daresay you can ask her, then..." He took a small step back, apparently to stop being the centre of attention for both the guards and then Samel when she arrived.

The woman approached a little bit nervously, due to Timur, but came close not long afterwards. "Hello!" she said with what sounded a confident tone of voice, though it was obvious she was not looking at Timur looking at her. "My master sends his greetings to you both, and wanted me to ensure you would be settled in to the camp without any problems. Can he help you in any way? Can I?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Sat 02 Dec 2017.

[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Was that PM meant for me or Nym?  I don't understand it if it was meant for me...]


Meri aimed a rather puzzled look at Farren, then half-turned to look back over her shoulder at Samel.
As she did, Timur turned with her movement to look over at the guards Meri had been eyeing earlier.

"Do you happen to have a bell?  Or something that makes a similar noise?" asked Meri.


OOC: Well, she did ask if she could help :)  May as well put her to work finding trap components

[Private to Meri:
What PM! :p But yes, it was, maybe she was trying to Bluff Geekaar there...]

Well that's one way to play Samel tennis :D

Nym's head tilts to one side a little as Geekaar speaks of the incidents concerning the Blackwood, but then looks rather confused at the mention of a necromancer.

"Hmm? What necromancer?" she asks. "Don't they do magic with icky dead stuff? Yuck! Who's Nee-ber-uck and Vass-kenss? Are they bad people? If they're dead, does it matter? I mean, if the person who makes dead people get up and walk around is dead themselves, then there's no-one to make them get up and walk around again, right? And anyway, if someone did that, they wouldn't be proper-them, would they? Aren't woken-up dead people all stupid and stuff? Well, I mean, I met a ghosty-thing once, which is also a kind of dead-person-woken-up, but they're a bit different. I mean, it didn't seem to really want to talk very much, for starters..."

This time Nym isn't trying to deliberately change the subject, she just has no idea what Geekaar's going on about bringing up this new stuff...and hopefully that's right because I don't remember any of this stuff either ;). At least it's in-character for Nym to have forgotten if this is old news ;).

The necromancer has been very, very briefly name checked in passing. So nothing Nym as a character should know, and I wouldn#t expect you as a player to recall it either. Almost like other things are going on in the world and other evils got fought even before you started the game. Whether they impact you later... who knows!

Over by the horses...

"Yes, ghoulish figures, necromancers. Using the brainless bodies of the dead as their vassals, whether those bodies had living thinking owners before or not. And the only spirits they commune with are those they wrench from their rest and bind screaming, or the ones who would have been best to have been left trapped in whichever hell they were dwelling in. No, a blessing of the Overspirits that he was killed, to be sure. Neeberook and Vaskense were but the two places he was most commonly known to terrorise, but his evil stretched far wider. Oh yes. And those who deal in death most likely have ways of cheating their own death. And cheating it more effectively than by bieng the husks and spooks they used as servants, I am sure. The necromancer was clever, people think he acted alone rather than realising he had followers - including a loyal sister. So when his most powerful records go missing... well, let us say that people would be right to worry, but they usually worry so loudly and ineffectively that I believe such knowledge is best left unshared. Those who know best will be working upon it, I am sure. The rest of us would only get in their way by alarming people, or gossiping unduly."
[Private to Nym:
As a passive Insight thought - Farren looks like a Revenant, which is the Raven Queen's own servant to perhaps deal with something like this. Perhaps that's why Geekaar assumes you knew about it? Whether it has anything to do with Farren's mission or not is another matter, but perhaps that's why Geekaar might assume it was.]


Over at the camp...

Timur could see that Meri was now the centre of attention for the four more experienced guards, whereas the six less experienced guards were alternative speaking with each other and giving sideways glances and comments in her direction. The man in green appeared to have also spotted Meri engaging Samel, and while still getting on with his work and urging others to move, he also seemed to now be working out what was happening.

"Bells?" Samel seems completey surprised. "I... what size? There's the large camp bell to rouse everyone. And... well, I have some small bells on a dance costume I have." The second she seems to say simply as if for information, there is certainly a tone in her voice saying she doens't expect to give them up. "Perhaps Leyell left us with some of the goat bells by accident."

She paused for a moment, as if to compose herself. "Why?"

OOC: You mean we're not the only ones wandering around causing chaos and getting dragged into other peoples' troubles?  Outrageous!  hehe :)


Meri glanced briefly around, noticing the green clad man's interest and sidled closer to Samel, lowering her voice almost to a whisper.
[Private to The Altweaver: "I can't be certain, but there might be someone following us.  So I had planned to set tangling wires across the door and windows of the wagon, attached to a bell or something similar, to wake us if someone tried to enter during the night.  Myself and Farren should be able to deal with him then without troubling your master or the guard."]

Meanwhile, the glow in Timur's eyes winked out for a second as though he had blinked.  Then he slowly raised a hand and waved to the guards who were watching...

Yes, how dare there be other people in this whole massive world who do things that have a significant effect on stuff! We must do even bigger things so that people have only heard of us and not them instead! That's how it works, right? ;)
[Private to GM: Ooh yes, good point on the whole Revenant thing...yes, they do get brought back for a specific purpose, don't they? I'm currently playing one in a tabletop game run by my dad...Dark Pact Warlock, former Drow...my dad isn't the best of DMs though so it's been a bit frustrating so far :P.]

Nym looks a little disgusted at the descriptions of the various undead things that necromancers tend to create.

"Well, yes." she says. "So maybe we shouldn't talk about it any more. I mean, it all sounds very icky and horrible and stuff. Let's talk about nice, happy things instead!"

[Private to Nym: Aww, well maybe he's just rusty :D]

By the horses...

Geekaar nodded. "A hidieous busniess indeed. Please, I have heard all about the tree in dry, dusty talk. But you were there. And so enthusiastic in your reactions. Please, tell me more about it. How did it look? How did it smell? Were you frightened? I can barely imagine any of it."

Geekaar seems genuinely curious.


Over at the main camp...

Samel's eyes widen, and she leans closer, whispering too. [Private to Meri: "But there are many guards here. How could a person get passed them? Shouldn't you tell them?"] Samel then paused and considered something. [Private to Meri: "Why are we whispering? Do you suspect collusion with one of the guards from Blackwood? Who is this person?" ]


Sorry to both of you, clearly I was unwell or delerious when I wrote that thing about other characters in the world. Please, disregard it :D
This message was last edited by the player at 07:22, Tue 05 Dec 2017.

Meri glanced back in Nym's direction for a moment, then whispered something else.
[Private to The Altweaver: "I have no reason to suspect any of the guards.  Then again, I don't know any of them either.  Sometimes I prefer to handle things on my own when there are too many 'unknown factors' involved in a situation."
For some reason, her gaze flickered briefly towards Geekaar at the last part.

"And I'm sure someone with the right skills could get past the guards here.  This terrain lends itself nicely to concealment, at least for those who can use it well."]

On her shoulder, Timur turned around to watch the green clad man, giving him a wave too...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: By the way, can Meri hear Nym and Geekaar from where she is, or is she too far away?]
This message was last edited by the player at 23:28, Mon 04 Dec 2017.

Nym grins as she remembers the tree.

"Well, it was, umm...like being in a big tree." she says. "I mean, a really big tree. Think of the biggest, tallest tree you've ever been in...erm, if you've ever been in a tree, I mean. If you haven't, then erm...well, imagine what it might be like standing in a tree, then imagine that it's a really really big tree, and then imagine that it's a tree even bigger than that! It was like that."

By the horses...

"Ah, no, I have never been near enough a large tree to be inside one. My home is the plains, and my journies take me to civilisation where the only nature I get to immerse in is human nature. This little woods here is the closest I get to the Great Forests. Perhaps I could have spoken with the dryad woman and asked to dwell in her trees, but alas the elders of Blackwood kept her to themselves this trip, an who knows when I shall be here next! Did it smell mightily? Was it warm? Cold? I often imagine trees to be cold and dark."


In the camp...

The man in green looked to Timur and gave him a slow nod of greeting. However, eh then seemed to gesture to one of the other retainers and have a whispered discussion with them himself.

Samel's eyes widened, and her whispered words became more urgent. [Private to Meri: "If you know of a threat, you truly must speak with my master. The guards he has hired are simply folk, to deter bandits. They are no mtch for a determined foe. And the retainers he has kept are the ones suited to travel on these barren roads, not for fighting. My master's own guards are formidable, but only if they can be told of the dangers they face! What is the danger? What does this follower want of us?"] Samel's eyes then narrowed and she whispered something accuratory. [Private to Meri: "Or of you?"] Her eyes then flicked to Farren.

"Umm...well, it was umm...a tree. So I suppose it just kind of smelt...tree-like?" says Nym, tilting her feline head slightly and shrugging. "It was all, you know, branches and leaves and stuff. Just, it was really really tall. A giant super mega tree!"

She holds her arms up and out to give an impression of something of large size.

Meri's expression turned to more of a hard glare as she replied.
[Private to The Altweaver: "Exactly, so even if he IS following us, which I'm not completely sure of, he's not a threat to you or your master or your guards.  In fact, as he's just one man, he'd probably go to great lengths to avoid being seen at all, let alone attacking anyone."]

She sighed and shook her head dismissively.
"Fine.  Forget I said anything.  I can deal with my own problems, same as always!"
With that, she turned and began to make her way back to the wagon she had come from.


OOC: So yeah, unless Samel (or anyone else) stops her, Meri will return to the wagon and probably remain there all night unless something happens to draw her out.

[Private to The Altweaver: Would the Trap Kit have stuff for making a noise loud enough to wake us up?
Thinking tanglewires to trap anyone who walks into them, that also make a lot of noise as an alarm.
Failing that, I suppose Meri and Farren could take turns on watch all night.  Or maybe Timur can, since he probably doesn't need to sleep...]

Over by the campsite...

Samel seems surprised by Meri's anger, and gives an angry look herself, though she says nothing. Caught wrong footed by Meri's departure, it seems she turns to speak with Farren, keeping the equally surprised Farren from following Meri.


The journey to the wagon was uneventful, but the arrival at the wagon was slightly more harrowing. From out of nowhere, except the dull shadows from around the wagons, one of Geekaar's four guards drifts forwards with menace. For a second his eyes flash beneath his covered face, and it almost seems as if the eyes are catlike. The moment then passes, and the guard backs away to let Meri continue to Geekaar's wagon.


So you at least knwo the guar can beat your passive Perception, feel free to roll actual Perception if you want to actively check for any ofther guards around!

[Private to Meri: Yeah, you can probably magic up or scrounge up something like that. We'll leave the details until later in the night, once you have the time to figure out exactly what is going on and who is where :)]

Over by the horses...

Many takes a moment to expand his eyestalks too and float up to help emphasis the largeness of the tree Nym is describing.

Geekaar laughs good naturedly again. "Well now, I cannot see why a large tree would scare our good Captain so. Perhaps he just does not like tall things. Or perhaps your decription to him was just too good."

You haven't of course told Geekaar what you told the Captain, so either he knew anyway, or he's fishing to get you to answer.

Meri's hand tightened on her staff, then relaxed again as the guard drifted away again.
Removing the weapon from her shoulder, she propped it on the ground in front of her as she watched the guard for a moment, then turned back to the shadows, searching intently.

"Sneakier than elves, this lot" she muttered softly to Timur, continuing on towards the wagon with a slower, more cautious step.


OOC: Perception: 20 (6 + 14) - Meh, that's lower than the passive score, so unless one of them horribly botches their Stealth check, trips over a branch and noisily faceplants the ground right at Meri's feet...

Yeah, figured something like that ;).

Nym giggles.

"Maybe." she says. "Maybe he fell out of a tree a long time ago and now he's scared of going near more of them in case it happens again. Well, I'm pretty sure this was a nice tree. Or at least, not a horrible one. I mean, it didn't have big scary grabby branches that tried to erm...grab us...or anything."

Over by the wagon...

Despite feeling as if she was being watched, Meri could see no sign of anyone else around. However, she was not challenged as she carried onwards. The only person she saw were two retainers taking what looked like the first of some sets of large tents out of one of the other open wagons, from what was presumably at leats partially a supply wagon.


Up to you if you want to go ask after any trap making supplies from one of these two people, or carry on to Geekaar's wagon.




Over by the horses...

Geekaar laughed again. "I'm sure it was/ And who can say what worried him so. Still, it would be the least of his worries, and that is the important thing!" Geekaar looked around, and spotted Dott had returned. Althoug hthe manwas hovering nervously - perhaps because of both the horses and owners. He did seem to have broguht back a grey bag though.

"Ah, yes, the very feed bag!" Geekaar then gave a tutting noise and gestured emphatically to the man. "Come over, come over!"

Geekaar looked around and seemed to land on Samel across the way. He turned back to Nym. "I will leave you in Mr Dott's capable hands, then. Please, I hope you will join us all later for food once the camp is settled. I have a tradition of storytimes, though have no fear, I have enough stories if you do not wish to share any of your own!"

With that, Geekaar gave a small bow and strode away. Dott shuffled forwards nervously, and then looked nervously to the horses. He turned as if to call back Geekaar, but clearly thought better about it. Geekaar's horses, now Geekaar had left, returned to shuffling restlessly and staring at Nym and Dott in turn.

Time to feed the not at all scary horses of Geekaar :)

Nym's brightens at the mention of food.

"Food!" she says. "Yay! I like food. It's yummy."

She waves as Geekaar walks away and then looks at Dott, then between him and the horses, a little confused.

"Aww, don't they like you?" she asks him. "Don't worry. Maybe we can tell them you're nice. They must know that by now, I'm sure, but maybe they just like him better..."

She nods vaguely in the direction of the departing Geekaar, but then turns her attention to the horses.

"Hey there, horsies." she says, carefully reaching out. "It's okay. Dott here just wants to give you food. You like your food, right? Hey, Dott, maybe if you open the bag a bit they'll be able to smell it and let you feed them."

Can I roll some kind of make-friends-with-horses skill to get them to stay calm and be a bit more friendly with Dott? I'm not sure what skill that would be since I don't think it quite comes under Diplomacy...maybe Nature?

Nature seems a good fit to understand them. Though I would actually go with a penalised Diplomacy if you were going to spend the time 'persuading' the horses they want to eat, or figuring out what else they might like. But Nature is probably your better bet.

Meri peered around at the activity nearby then sighed and moved back towards the wagon she had previously been occupying, giving a momentary glance towards Geekaar's.
"This trip can't end soon enough" she muttered irritably in a low voice.


OOC: Was definitely tempted to go and poke around in Geekaar's wagon, hehe.
Still, Meri is smart enough not to risk antagonising the near-invisible guards lurking around :)  So heading back to the wagon she was in before.

Geekaar's 'wagon' is the impressive full covered one you've been in all this time, though he said he took all of his stuff out of it for you. The one I mentioned is just a supply wagon, though clearly he must have put his stuff elsewhere in one of the other wagons.

Or did he? Maybe he has secrt compartments in his own wagon to hide things, and just assumed you wouldn't look / find them. After all, you were a last minute addition... So feel free to go inside the wagon he's let you have, and in perfect privacy away from his guards try to look for anything like that :D

I was trying to basically do what other systems would call an Animal Handling roll, to make friends with the horses a bit so they like me and don't get arsey because Geekaar has buggered off ;). Nature roll, then...19.

OOC: Ahh ok, I thought you meant the wagon Geekaar had been riding in for this trip.  I'd assumed the one we were in was just normally kept for paying passengers and thus wouldn't have anything worth looking for in it.


Meri re-entered the wagon and closed the door, taking a moment to peer around the inside as if half-suspecting one of the sneaky guards had followed her inside and was keeping an eye on her.
As if not trusting her eyes, she made a few random swipes with her staff at any shadowy areas in the room before moving back towards the bed...


OOC: Easiest way to find something you can't see.  Just swing a big stick around and see if it smacks anything upside its sneaky head! ;)

Nah, the fact he allowed paying customers in to the wagon was actually hinted at later to be very weird. So he maybe has guests like the Captain, but otherwise you're staying in his personal wagon he usually travels in :) I just wanted to point out that while you'd think he might remove all his good stuff, and he must have removed most of his obvious personal possessions, the rest of the wagon train is actually not the easiest nor safest place to store really valuable stuff :)


Inside Geekaar's wagon...

Luckily Meri was only doing her strange acrobatics in front of Timur alone, because it seemed after a few swipes that there was absolutely no invisible staring guards in the wagon. Theire scary ability to sneak around appeared to be due to skill alone, no matter how augmented that might be of course.

[Private to Meri: Just to point out the roof is probably the least safe (in terms of rain and other weather alone) for stuff. So most likely if anything was hidden it would the the floor, or one of the beds. The nicest does seem to be the one at the back Farren was sitting at.]


By the horses...

The horses still seeemed a little more standoffish and kittery than other horses, and so it was still hard to act and predict their movements well enough to make friendly gestures. However, after a few false starts an approach to at least feed them seemed clear, and the horses reluctantly started to take a few offered stalks of grass.

Doot still seemed a little reluctant himself, but at least he was happier that the horses still acted like basic horses and he could feed them, even if he still wasn't sure they wouldn't just swipe at him at any moment. The horses fed in turn, with the other just looking balefully at Nym, Farren, and Many otherwise.

"Can... can you make it look like there are no trees?" Dot eventually asked Nym, seemingly nervous about both horses and asking Nym about her magic. "Maybe they'd be happier if they think there's more space and less...people and things... around." He then seemed t oconsider something else. "Can you make us invisible?"

Meri slumped down on the bed, taking off her backpack and placing it and her staff beside her.
On impulse, she turned to look over the bed Farren had been using, then glanced towards Timur and pointed silently to the window.

While he ambled over to a position where he could keep watch outside, Meri dropped to the floor, pulled the goggles down over her eyes, flicked down a couple of the magnifying lenses and began poking around the structure of the bed...


OOC: Well, you got me tempted now...  :)
Perception for sneaky treasure hunting: 19 (5 + 14) - Hmm, the gods of dice seem displeased with me lately...

"Hmm...no...and I think they'd be able to smell us anyway." says Nym, though her tone then turns thoughtful. "But...maybe I can help things smell a bit better for them anyway. Here, can I have a smell of that?"

She reaches out for one of the stalks that Dott is feeding to the horses and sniffs it closely herself. Then she hands the stalk back and waves her hands around a bit, causing the faintest of movements in the air close to the horses.

Attempting to use Prestidigitation to create a smell in the air around the horses - the scent of that grass they're being fed, since Geekaar said they were from his homeland. Basically I want to try and recreate the smell of wherever they're from so they don't feel so edgy about being in this weird place where it doesn't smell home-like for them at all ;). Don't know how they'll react when I stop doing it, but might as well see if it works on them for now.

Edit - Sorry, should probably provide a Bluff roll with that since I'm basically trying to fool them into thinking they're somewhere they're not...22.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Tue 12 Dec 2017.

Over by the horses...

@Nym: Ooh, very cool idea, I like it. You Bluff roll is just below a Hard DC success, but I'm happy to give you a +2 for the cool idea. And narratively speaking, I think it works that it's not that you fool the horses in to thinking they are elsewhere, but since it's the thought that counts it makes them happier :D

The horses seem to relax around Nym when she fills the air with the stronger scent of wildgrass and the plains it invokes. They still give Dott a little of a sideways look, but Nym appears to be allowed to come closer without them fussing, and in general their demeanour is less standoffish.

"They... they seems to like you, now!" said Dott surprised.

Many, who had been happily singing tiny little songs about foot to Ee-Ee ever since Nym mentionedfood earlier, sudden'y stopped what he was doing and bounced up to look at the show of magic. He sniffed the air oddly and then tried to lick Nym's hand, as if trying to work out both the smell and the cause of it. "Whah ihs it whah ihs it?" He then gives Nym a worried look. "You dihdn't make-ah friends with mah-jic, dihd you?"

Yay, you won some horsey friends after all! Oh, is Ryn looking around to see what Geekaar is doing, or is she looking around to what Nym is doing?


Over in the wagon...


The woodden bed and its solid surround looked depressingly normal, with all the seams and contours apparently perfectly well constructed. There did not seem to be any obvious hollows, latches, nor buttons. But that did not mean there were not  unobvious ones waiting to be pressed or pushed...

Ok, so a moderate success but not a Hard DC success. Luckily Thievery is a better skill to check than Perception. So I'll say the moderate success gives you a +2 bonus to a Thievery check (made using Int) if you'd now care to make one.

I think Ryn will have her head on a swivel watching Geekaar, if he's still visible to her from Nym's shoulders.

Nym smiles at the horse as they calm down.

"There we go. That's better, isn't it? Now you can enjoy your yummy food without being all nervous and stuff."

She giggles a litle at Many's antics and looks down at him.

"Well, Geekaar said these horsies were from some plains somewhere and that they wish they were back there, so I just made a smell like that grass they're eating, because he said it was from there. So they can remember the place they came from and maybe feel a bit like they're back there again, even though they aren't. And it seems to have worked a bit, so that's okay."

Meri peered at the wooden structure of the bed for a moment, then sat up and glanced towards the windows and door.  Thinking a moment, she reached into a pocket, fished out a couple of silver pieces and dropped them on the floor beneath her.

Returning to her search, she looked closer at every little joint and bump in the wood, seeking out anything that might be hidden there...


OOC: Thievery: 21 (9 + 10 + 2) - At least that roll was a little bit higher :)
Yep, she did have a reason for dropping those coins there...

In the wagon...

The bed seemed very solidly constructed - as in reinforced. Not unsurprising given the one who was going to use it mostly. The wood infront was patterns slats that had been immaculately placed so they were seamless. It in fact was not the style of the rest of the flooring, which did have the normal tiny seams and chamfering. It felt as if - had Meri wished to construct a hidden area - that a 'loose' button or slid would be incredible tight and flush. One may need to know the exact position to pull or push, and use enough force to risk damaging the bed if the wrong place was done.

This could all be paranoia, but thiefy instincts and artificer keenness hinted that Meri might have found a hiding spot, but it was annoyingly solid. Unsurprisingly if the man wished to truly hide something in plain sight where accidental bashing and knocks and constant use would occur.


So yeah. sorry, unless you have some retroactive resources you want to use to redo the roll, or somehting alternative and sneaky to doto investigate this area further, then the bed remains remakably solid and unyielding!

Also, I presume the coins are for an excuse to be looking around if anyone comes in?


Over by the horses...

"Oooooo," says Many, clearly relieved that Nym isn't trying to 'make friends'in a bad way. He then seems to realise thatmaybe his little rodent friend might like something similar, and so tries to 'speak' with Ee-Ee about home. However, Many is probably not that fluent in Rat yet, plus it id maybe quite a complex question to ask a small rat. Aside from some fuzzling sounds and some nose twitching, Many does not seem to elicit a response. Many looks across to try and see where Farren got to.

[Private to Nym: Ryn is able to see that the answer is 'speaking with Samel', and can also see that Geekaar has gone across to join in the conversation, much to Samel's discomfort and Farren's chagrin. Whatever Samel is speaking about, it seems to cause her more consternation to report it than Geekaar hearing it, as he simply shrugs and moves towards the wagons. This seems to surprise Farren, though he apparently then saying something to Samel that causes her to storm away angrily.

Up to you if you want to go across to Farren to see the camp and what the commotion was, or stay with Dott and the horses for now.]

Ryn, who has been watching Geekaar, tilts her head slightly to one side in a questioning manner, then turns around to make some weird noises in Nym's nearest ear.

"Hmm? Oh, maybe I should go and say something." says Nym, glancing around. But first she looks back at Dott. "Umm...I think maybe I should go and talk to Farren for a bit." she explains. "I think the horsies will be okay for now. But I can come back and make the nice smell for them if they start getting worried, now I know what it smells like. See you later, horsies!"

She gives a cheerful little wave to the horses and then to Dott, and then turns and starts making her way toward Farren.

Meri sighed and sat up again, frowning at the bed.
"Oh well" she muttered, scooping up the coins she had dropped and returning them to her pocket.

She returned to sitting on the bed, then looked towards Timur who was staring at her with his arms folded across his chest, looking remarkably stern for his small size.
"What?  I wasn't going to take anything anyway" retorted Meri to whatever he had apparently said to her.  "I was just curious!"

Reaching into her pack, she rummaged around, opening up her toolkit and extracting a ball of string with knots tied in it at regular intervals.
Using this, she began to measure the sizes of the door and windows in the wagon, muttering calculations under her breath as she went...


OOC: Yep, that was the idea :)  If one of the guards suddenly burst in and wanted to know why she was poking around down there, she'd just have gone: "I dropped some coins, ah, here they are!  Why?  What did you think I was doing?"  *innocent look*  :)

Over with Farren...

The horses gave Dott a look, and Dott tried to put on a brave face as he waved in return to the departing Nym.

Farren seemed surprised when Nym was walking over, and moved across to meet her after one final glare back to the retreating Samel. "So, I noticed our friend Geekaar made his way over to you. What did he ask you?"

Many seems to be waving to get Farren's attention, but because of Ee-Ee on Many's head, Many isn't being too vigourous in his motioned, and Farren does not notice.

[Private to Nym: Geekaar seemed to have disappeared amongst the wagons while searching for something in one of his open wagons, and so Ryn can't keep tabs on him just now. Feel free to roll a Perception check if Ryn would keep looking around in that area.]


Inside Geekaar's wagon...

[Private to Meri: I forgot to say, or at least make it clear, that the bed does look suspiciously like it does contain something, just Meri can't find the exact location and means of opening it. However, clearly Geekaar must be hiding something more than just coins or money, because that would be safer guarded by his own guards in a more secure wagon. Or placed in some heavy safe.  So just something to keep in mind :D]

Meri's muttering was eventually interrupted by a wrapping knock on the door. "Meri? As you in there?" called a booming voice - it was clearly Geekaar.


Hah, so were you measuring the windows to figure out if you can dive out of them easily? :p

Meri paused halfway through measuring the height of one of the windows and sighed inwardly with a rather irritated scowl.
"Great!" she muttered to herself, rolling up the ball of string and tossing it at the backpack.  It missed and bounced off of the wall, only for Timur to neatly bat it back towards the pack, landing it perfectly inside.

"For now" called out Meri in reply, her attention still on the window...


OOC: IS that window big enough to dive out of?  Just in case ;)

"Oh, he was asking about the big tree and stuff." replies Nym cheerfully. "And then I made friends with the horsies. But then I thought maybe I should come and talk to you because I haven't for a while and you were suddenly on your own and I thought maybe we could talk about...um...stuff?"

She shrugs and glances at Many.

"Or maybe Many wants to say something? Maybe ask how to learn ratty-talk?"

She grins at the beholder and looks back at the revenant.

[Private to GM: Sure, Ryn can look over that way...hmm, only 14 on Perception.]

At the wagon...

Yeah, I'm afraid the windows don't really allow people to escape out of them Meri's size. Which is understandable, as it means they don't let in people with ill intent very easily either :p

There is a pause, as clearly perhaps Geekaar is expecting to be let in, or see Meri at the door. After a moment longer, his voice calls out again. "I spoke to Samel, and she said you had a strange request that now seems less strange. I perhaps have something useful for you. And, I am sorry to say, I have an unfortunate request to make of you..."



Over by Farren...

At the mention of his name, and with Farren's attention pulled to Many briefly, the little beholder nodded enthusiastically. "How cahn ah ass-keh Ee-Ee abouwt smell-seh. What heh maht lih-keh." Many thought for a moment longer, then nodded to himself.

Farren looked surprised at the question, then shrugged and said a series of odd noises. Many dutifully started trying to replicate them over and over again directed to the little rodent on his head, despite the fact Farren had of course announced the question, and despite perhaps not knowing exactly what the answer might be. Many seemed happily occupied for the moment though, and so Farren turned back to Nym.

"The tree? Hmm. Unfortunaltely, Samel felt she needed to tell Geekaar about my little stalker from last night. He didn't seem too surprised or worried, and walked off towards the supply wagons for some reason. Between myself and Meri, Samel seems to be in a huff, so I doubt I'll be able to interrogate her about more psychic matters. Oh well." Farren looked worried. "Geekaar also said something odd to me. About my potential stalker being 'not unexpected, given my appearance and mission. I have no idea what he meant, and it scares me if he knows something about me I do not. But I am not sure I want to engage in a battle of wits with the man to see what he knows, and if he knows Blace. Not when I have barely any memory to fall back upon."

Farren shrugged. "So, yes, I seem to be free. What... did you want to speak about?"

[Private to Nym:
Yeah, Ryn has lost Geekaar completely so won't be aware where he is right now. And as far as Ryn is concerned, there wagons all seem unguarded right now :D]

"Oh, well, I just thought you might get bored over here by yourself." says Nym. "But umm...I suppose you like that sometimes, though, right? Being by yourself, I mean. Do you know if we're all sleeping in the wagon tonight? I was just wondering. Hmm, would we fit? Well, I suppose some of us are quite small...or can be small enough...so we wouldn't all take up too much space. I was just thinking...you know, in case it rains or something. It's not very fun getting wet. My fur would get all soggy."

She holds up an arm and looks at it, but then seems to remember something and shrugs.

"Oh, but I can be not-furry, I suppose. But I still don't want to be all soggy. I mean, I suppose I can stop myself getting wet, but that won't help anyone else, so that's not much good. And if we're in the wagon and anyone comes here in the night that you might not want to see, then we can help make them go away or something."

She grins innocently at Farren.

Can't recall if Farren has reason to be worried about the exact meaning of "making someone go away" when it's coming from Nym...well, I mean, for now she means it like it sounds, but later on if someone does show up, then things might be different. And the wagon might be on fire/exploded. But, well, you know...um...maybe no-one will show up? :D

Meri frowned slightly, still looking over the window, mentally visualising the best place to set wires around it that would catch anyone climbing through.

"Samel is still overreacting about that?" she called back.  "He's one man. One man with no intent against you or any of your people, as far as I know.  So it's my own problem, and I'll deal with it, like I usually deal with my own problems!"
She paused a moment, then added, "And don't worry, I'll be sure not to damage the wagon, or get bloodstains on anything!"

Geekaar's mention of a request drew her attention away from the window momentarily.
"You want me to craft you something?  I'm a little short on supplies at the moment, also I'm already working out a commission for a friend.  No charge either, I'm nice like that, whatever Nym has been telling you about me."


OOC: The friend being Many of course :)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:12, Sun 17 Dec 2017.

Heh, funny the question Nym just asked, given what Geekaar is about to say. Meri didn't seem to consider you three wouldn't get the wagon tonight...


Over at the wagon...

Geekaar did not immediately respond regarding the man. Instead, the door opened a crack, and one of Geekaar's large arms appeared. "I'm sorry, are you decent? Speaking through a door seems so impersonal." The arm appeared twisted, as if Geekaar was trying to wave something through the door while his back was turned. The hand attached to the arm has a small string of purple-hued bells on it, which he waved in the air with a lack of noise. "While commisioning you seems a very worthwhile endeavur, that perhaps should wait until Thirdgate. No, I come bearing something you might find useful, but regarding the wagon..."

There seemed to be regret and embarrassment in Geekaar's voice, and none of the usual cheer nor bravado. "I must humbly ask for my wagon back this night. This weather is far more humid and potentially harmful than I thought, given what I am usd to. A man of my reputation lives on his health and his voice, and I fear camping tonight under mere canvas and bedrolls may be the death of both! My personal tent for better climes is both more spacious and perhaps easier for you to, shall we say, find better placement and means of protecting the area. It is yours to use as you see fit. I feel a terrible host, but..."


Lol, so are you going to allow poor Geekaar in to his wagon so he can speak with you about not letting you in his wagon? :D Also, feel free to roll both Perception and, for no reason, Arcana, regarding the oddly silent bells he's waving around.


Over with Farren...

Farren shrugged regarding being on his own. "No idea. I don't think I've spent a moment alone in memory... though that is only a few days, of course. Perhaps whoever I was liked their solitude, or perhaps it was enforced. Having so little memories to look back on makes thoughts a little...lonely right now, though. In such a strange way. Rodent language is, in many ways, quite restricted, as I'm afraid your little friend is finding with his little friend."

Farren shook off the dour thoughts, and seemed to chuckle for some reason. "There seems to be enough space for three of us in the wagon, with our friends, as long as Geekaar doens't want to intrude. Perhaps we should...ask...him..."

Farren then looked across to the wagon where Geekaar had disappeared to, and glared when he did not se the man. He looked around,then disturbed his smaller and more devious rodent friend to also look across.

"I can't see Geekaar. Given his movements, I think perhaps Meri is about to have an unwelcome guest. Maybe we should go back to the wagon and make sure she is alright." He then paused for a moment. "Or more likely, make sure Geekaar is still alright."


Unless Nym has any objections, it seems Farren is keen to wander over and make sure Geekaar isn't haddling Meri, or more likely in mortal danger from Meri :p

And yeah, clearly him worrying about Meri's actions has made him completely miss the relevance of Nym's 'making someone go away' comments!

Meri glanced over to the doorway, her gaze settling on the purple bells.
Almost instinctively, she pulled down the goggles over her eyes, flicking down one of the smaller lenses which caused the faint luminous appearance of her eyes to look more iridescent and unfocused for a moment before she pulled them back up onto her forehead again.

Striding across, she peered through the gap.
"Far be it from me to keep someone out of his own place" she replied with a slight hint of a smirk.  "I can't speak for the others, but sleeping rough isn't something that bothers me."

She stepped back to the bed, picking up her backpack, which Timur swiftly gripped onto as she raised it, hauling himself back onto her shoulder.
Then she took up her staff.
"You can open the door by the way.  I doubt if there are many who'd call me 'decent', but I am clothed, if that's what you meant."


OOC: Hmm, curious.  Did he finally figure out that an Artificer is likely to eventually work out how to crack open his stash if she stays in there too long?  ;)
Perception: 30 (16 + 14)
Arcana: 25 (11 + 14)
Where were those kind of rolls earlier? :)

Also, just for a bit of morbid curiosity, trying an Insight check on Geekaar to see if she can tell what he's up to here: 14 (5 + 9) - And they fall down again! hehe.

Nym gives a bit of a giggle at Farren's last comment.

"Well, Meri will only be grumpy if he's interrupting her doing something important, I think." she says, then considers. "Hmm...so actually...that probably means she's going to be grumpy. Let's go and see!"

She half-skips toward the wagon, while Ryn bobs about on her shoulder, fluffy fur bouncing with Nym's movements.

Hey Nym, roll me a Perception check, would you? Roll one for Ryn too :)


Inside the wagon

Geekaar strode in still looking apologetic with every gesture, facial tick, and even his posture. "Ah, decency means so many things to so many people. Some races walk around with nothing you would consider clothes on most of their bodies, but heavens forfend if you see their bare feet! For some it would be the ears, for others it is the ritual prayer or a sacred gestures of replenishment. I once knew a shaman whose spirit guide was very personal to them, and their communion was emotionally raw. You never know what you will find when you invade the pricacy of another, oh no!"

And yes, your Insight roll is so poor you will have absolutely no idea whether Geekaar's casual mention of ears and invasions of privacy were just part of his speech or were pointed digs at Meri, let alone know what the man might be up to! :p

Geekaar laughed, and then gestured to the bells. "Ah. that is good then. These bells will work just as well on the tent. Infact better, for no one can disturb a tent in any of its places without vcausing the whole structure to wobble. Tie this between the roof and ground, and ...." Geekaar shook the bells vigourously, once more to a complete lack of sound. There was a sparkle in his eye as he looked to Meri for apparent comment.

[Private to Meri: At least you got good rolls for the PErception and Arcana! So, Meri will be able to clearly see inside the opening of the bells - they are like the rounded sleigh bells, or cat bell, with a clapper inside each ball. There is very clearly a clapper in each one, and they are very clearly stricking the outside of the bell. There should be some sound, but there is absolutely nothing - not the dullest of thuds. Nothing. And Meri can even pickup the subtle flap of Geekaar's robes and flick of fingers, so it's not that the area around the bells are silenced.

Meri will notice that there's an odd sensation when trying to concentrate on the sound of the bell, as if her mind is just slipping away from a sound that might have been audible. Yet somehow, she just can't say she's heard it.

The bells do feel magical, and do have anaura to them visible through the goggles. Some magical effect is happening to do with the sound the bells make. Most likely the bells allow Geekaar to hear them perfectly, but no one else. Which, as an early warning system, is perfect.]

Alrighty...for me, a rather meh 16. For Ryn, ugh, an even more meh 12 :P.

Meri's eyes followed the movement of the bells.
"So their sound can only be heard by the owner?" she asked, a spark of academic curiosity seemingly awoken in her.  "Interesting enchantment."

Inside the wagon...

Geekaar's twinkling eyes are matched by the smile on his face, and he gives what seems a more genuine laugh than his usual booming one. "Ah, you are good. Yes, indeed, these small baubles are quite magical. Set these up, say, on your horses, and if someone is unwise enough to steal them, they will be unaware that there is a constant ringing occuring. The bells have quite the distance for hearing them, too."

Geekaar looked to them, twirling then around his fingers. "You have to officially hand them over to someone, and have them accepted, for the enchantment to transfer." He then looked back, smiling oddly. "You see, while people like ourselves can see the opportunity in such a thing, it is in actual fact an item of curse. The bells can be heard clearly whenever they move. As you may imagine, anyone who must travel, or have their possessions in a place that can move, may find the small, constant sound would drive them mad. That was the condition of the poor wretch I helped. I was confident of Samel's ability to protect my mind. Although I did choose a day when she was absent, and that was not a pleasant day by the end."

Geekaar shrugged. "Oh, but we are in the best place for the evening - nothing moving, well, except a tent if your visitor appears. Though I do hope the area is sheltered enough for the wind to not be too much. And tomorrow I will happily accept it back. More importantly, if you are as skilled as has been hinted, then perhaps you will find a way to negate the more troublesome aspects of the curse. And then that will workout well for us both. Let us call it a trial run. For I know we are not friends, and so I would be sure to reward you handsomely for whatever commision I could ask of you. But perhaps a sample of your skills would be beneficail for me to make my desicion. For I always pay a deposit first, good artistry must be supported by more than faith."

Geekaar seems about to offer the bells again, when he spots something out of the window. "Oh, but what are those fools doing." He strides over, and thumps loudly on the glass with the back of his hand. "No! No! Let them pass..."


Outside the wagon...

The group happily move towards the wagon, Farren seemingly amused by Nym's happy steps. However, once the group get close to the wagon, he suddenly calls out in alarm. Seemingly out of nowhere, two of Geekaar's leather armoured guards emerge from the twilight, one from each side. Both have their hands on their blades, and move silently to block the group's passage towards the wagon. There seems to be an odd yellowish gleam from one of the hidden eyes of one guard, and an unnatural hiss from the other from underneath the other guard's mouth covering.

A rapping on the wagon's glass and Geekaar's yelling of "No! No! Let them pass..." causes the guards to step backwards and around, to allow the two to pass. Their hands stray away from their blade handles, but not too far.


Luckily missing the Perception roll just lets you get scared by scary guards rather than spotting anything about them or their methods. Not too bad a miss. Anyway, feel free to either examine / speak to the guards, or simply keep going and join Meri and find out what's been happening :D

At the approach of the guards, Nym instinctively steps back and raises her hands in the air.

"I wasn't doing anything!" she protests, before Geekaar orders the guards back. She then watches them closely as she carefully steps past, perhaps half-expecting them to suddenly lash out at her. Ryn, similarly, doesn't take her gleaming eyes from the guards.

Not sure if it would be Nature or Arcana to try and figure out wtf these things are (the guards), depending on their species. Hey, for all I know they're Aberrant so I need Dungeoneering :P. But I want to roll for both myself and Ryn since we're both trying to figure these creatures out as I kind of cautiously slink past...base roll for me is ugh...okay, I botched so never mind. Ryn's base roll is 13, so if she can use Nature that's a total of 23, or...oh actually my Arcana and Nature are both the same so it's 23 either way :D. I suppose they could be undead...well, if they are then that would be a 19 on Religion instead.

"Hinted?" remarked Meri, lifting her eyes from the bells.  "Has someone spoken of me before then?  I didn't think I was known at all in this area, save a few people from the town I settled near."

She shifted her gaze to the window as Geekaar called out to the guards, then looked back at the bells.
"Well, I'd certainly be willing to see what I can do with them" she added.


OOC: Definitely thinking those guards aren't human.  As Meri thinks, but hasn't said yet, most humans are too noisy and clumsy to hide that well ;)  hehe.

Inside the wagon...

"Ah, you see, as I was just telling Nym when I finally managed to speak to her properly... you all seem to be avoiding me as if you have such great secrets that I will pull from you if I get within an armwidth of you. But the truth of the world is that people speak. And I listen. And I do not compell anyone to speak who does not want to speak. I may not have spoken directly with your dryad friend, but she spoke to others. And well, no one ever pays attention to the little people. The servants and servers who fuss around such grand events, yet are given scant attention even if such events are directly affecting their lives. But I listen, when they want to speak. .."

Geekaar waved the thought away. "So yes, I have heard of your skills from the few who you have impressed, even if I was never able to directly speak with them myself. Just as I think I know your new purpose, or at least the purpose of your friend outside. And so perhaps the purpose of your unwelcome pursuer. If you wish to tell me, I will listen. And perhaps I have knowledge to share. But I will not trick you in to giving me anything you do not wish me to know."

He offered the bells. "I give these freely, if you take them freely," he said formally, as if it was part of a ritual. "And I give them without any expectation of any kind. You are my guest, even if a paying one. That means something where I am from."

If Meri does take the bells, mark them as 'Eversounding Bells (cursed)', and note that if Meri answers in the affirmative when taking them, she will start to hear their tinkling immediately.

Geekaar seems as if he is about to move to the door, but pauses for a moment. "Well, perhaps I can ask one thing of you. But it is not for me. Please, go a little easier on poor Samel. She does care about her job so. Unsurprisingly, of course. She has trained so hard to master the arts of protection of minds, and has found that in the world of merchants all people want to do is take, take take. All that wasleft for her, before I came along, would have been to have been employed by the school itself - for the school of mental arts is the school of the spy, and they have such secrets they wish to keep. But instead she found the one merchant that does not wish to take secrets, just keep the ones he gains honestly. Others are such fools, employing the trainees of spies, who can read a paymaster's mind as much as a customer's." Geekaar shook his head. "Just know that about me. I keep what I know to myself. I think you can respect that. Just I know better how to do it successfully. And so, please be kind to Samel. I believe those of us who might appreciate her talents are few and far between, and she is too kind a soul to stomach the only other life open to her as a spymaster's confidant..."

With that, Geekaar turned and opened the door.

Hah, I wonder how Meri will react to all of that. Let's see!


Outside of the wagon...

The heads of the two guards both snap quickly to follow Nym's hands, and their heads roll reluctantly down to her face as she protests her innocence. [Secret to Nym: It is hard to see their faces and bodies when the retreat in to the shadows of the wagon, but Ryn is better placed. Oddly, the exposed skin looks normal, as if they are simply normal if intinidating men. However, there is an odd, musty smell about them - something like age, and something like the smell of the plains Nym made earlier. Their movements are oddly fluid, as if they are drifting, and still one of the man's normal looking if darker eyes, every so often, seems to flash as if a yellow, cat like eyes. There and gone so quickly it could seem like imagination. Perhaps, given Geekaar speaks of spirits in the country he comes from, these men are possessed? Perhaps some nature spiritis such as were seen in the Blackwood. They do not feel like magic, but their stealth and action make then seem inhuman occasionally.]

Geekaar then opens the door, looking aroudn the edge of the wagon. "Please, come in, come in, I was just speaking with Meri, but it applies to you both aswell! Something I should have mentioned before when I realised how poor the weather would be tonight."

Geekaar beams, and gestures expansively.


And this will be very funny if Meri starts yelling at Geekaar or storming passed him, of course :D

Nym glances around at Farren, then edges her way toward the wagon, still eyeing the guards with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

"Um. Yes. Yes, right, of course!" she says, recovering somewhat from the previous sudden appearance of the guards. "I'm glad your guards didn't make me jump too much - last time that happened I think I accidentally nearly set something on fire. But it looks like it's okay this time, so that's good. Um. So...what was the thing you wanted to tell us about? Do you have a thing that stops the rain getting through?"

OOC: From the description, he sounds a little too 'bulky' to storm past.  Suppose I could always try launching him out the door with Thundering Armour, although that might annoy him somewhat...  Maybe Meri could just claim she was helping him get outside quicker :)


"Then I take them freely" she replied, reaching out to take the bells.
Timur shifted around on her shoulder to peer at them too with a curious look, though it was uncertain if he could now hear their sound too.

"I'll see what I can do.  Though the curse might also hold their source of power, perhaps there is a way to exert some control over it..."
She seemed to think the matter over for a few seconds, then glanced up as Nym's voice was heard outside.

"As for your other offer, I'll think about it.  Information is always useful, one way or another."


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Hmm, first thought is to attach some kind of object to the string the bells are on, enchanted with something similar to Many's silence aura that responds to a command word or something, thus silencing the bells when they're not needed...]

Indeed, Geekaar is definitely 'great' on one sense of the word :D And yes, knock the nice merchant over while his two harmless guards are within sword range. I mean... eyesight.

And hey, you two are back in the same space again! Yay!


[Private to Meri: Yeah, Timur will hear the bells too, familiars seem to have that sort of link with their masters.

As for trying to silence the bells like Many can do, that certainly has merit ... but how do you intend to create the silence effect? :) I'm open to suggestions, not saying you can't find a way, of course... Unless you mean you will create a magical item that has an opposite effect. That is doable, just costly. Many can certainly help you for mimicking the enchantment on the thing. Oncew you have a quiet moment to examine the item more thoroughly, we can go over options.]


Geekaar gave Meri a quick glance and wide smile at her comment, before turning her attention to Nym. "Why hello again! Iwas just saying to Meri, and apologising profusely, that I had not fully explained. I am afraid I will need the wagon for the night, my throat, you understand. And my general health. This terrible humidity and possible rain, no, I ammy voice andsunny disposition on the road, a simple illness is like death to me out here!" Geekaar pantomimed up the horror of a simple cold quite well.

"However, the tent I usuaully use in climes more suited to me is of the highest standard. I amsure it will keep the rain from you, and I am sure enough of the wind for one such as yourself with the power of fire! And, of course, more importantly the power of a furry body. PLease, rely on that rather than setting my expensive canvases on fire!"

Geekaar said it with good humour and a wink.

Yeah, that's all, he just wants you to sleep in a tent tonight. Nym had the funniest timing with her comment to Farren :D

"I am sure my retainers should have the camp ready soon, and you can judge for yourself. And then, the food! Oh yes, and the tales! Usually I have all my guests and retainers speak of tales of themselves. The good Captain is, sadly, usually good for such things. But perhaps in deference to yourselves and my Blackwood guards, it may be more comfortable for me to to take on the bulk of the tales on myself. Oh yes! I think I shall insist. The few older retainers here may roll their eyes at hearing my stories again, but then that is why I pay them! To let me have my way in this! Hah, so please, accept my apologies and my tent and my food and later my tales and worry not about bringing anything more than an open heart to be entertained!"

Geekaar had clapped his hands seemingly happy, and there was barely any break in his gestures to shoo away the two guards in to the shadows.

"Oh, you're not very well?" asks Nym with a sympathetic tone. "Maybe Meri can make you better - she's good at healing people. I didn't think you looked ill, but I'm not always very good at noticing that kind of thing. I mean, I don't remember being ill myself. But I know it happens to other people. And it happens to different races in different ways. I think humans get ill more often than elves do, though...and dwarves. And dragonborn. Actually, maybe...I did meet a dragonborn once who was all sneezy and he nearly set a house on fire. But he wasn't very nice - he was rather shouty. And then he tried to breathe ice on everyone but he just sort of coughed everywhere and it didn't really work."

She pauses a moment, as though trying to remember what it was she was talking about before she managed to distract herself.

"Anyway...is your wagon magic?" she asks, now all curiosity. "Does it keep the cold out better than a tent? Do you have a magic warm fire in there that will keep it warm without burning it down? I wonder if you can make wood that doesn't burn...then people could make houses out of it and not have to worry about using stone for their fireplaces. Except I suppose they'd end up cutting down more trees to make the houses, and turn them fireproof. So maybe that's not a good idea. Maybe they could make houses out of fire, but it's not hot enough to actually burn anyone. I suppose it might go out when it rained, though...unless they could be rainproof, perhaps. Rainproof fire?"

She trails off, apparently distracted again.

[Private to GM: Just to note - the bit about the dragonborn was just made up - it's not a reference to anything that's ever come up before :D. I just hadn't had a proper Nym ramble for a while and just kind of ended up going into one. And then another one :D.]

Meri had still been examining the bells, although she gave a rather wry look to Geekaar's back at his obvious antics, then looked to the others to see how they'd react to this.
Nym's response drew another amused look from her.


OOC: Dunno if Nym was following the bits where Geekaar was talking to Meri there.  But she might notice Meri is now holding small purple spherical bells on string (kind of in the style of sleigh bells, appropriately for the season!) :)


[Private to The Altweaver: Hmm, I dunno if Arcana can be used to analyse and 'reverse engineer' a spell effect?  Like if she got Many to cast the silence effect on her temporarily and examined how it worked, then tried to create something that would generate a similar effect on demand, thus silencing the noise the bells make until the owner doesn't want it to.
Not sure if that could be through activating and deactivating the silencing enchantment through a command word or thought or something.
Or maybe an object that can be attached to the string alongside the bells to silence them, and can then be removed again when the owner wants to be able to hear them.]
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Fri 22 Dec 2017.

I don't beleive Nym reads your sections when Meri and Nym are apart.

[Private to Meri: She can certainly either reverse - engineer Many's ability to enchant it on an item, or perhaps capture it in a temporary medium of her arcane components to create a temporary silence powder to use on the bells.

The more complex an item is, the more expensive it is though. Think about the one -  off command word of your Sun Globe. That meakes it a higher level item than perhaps a permenantly lit globe you had to manually remove / hide the light of. I'm guessing you only want to spend 360gp for a level 1 item on this, which would be the removable item.

Or, more likely, you want to create a temporary powder or other consumable for now for when you use it, and use that as a 'proof of concept' to try and scrounge money later from Geekaar for a more permanat solution when he has the bells back?]

Many seemed excited at the opportunity to hear more tales, and Farren looked bored. He shot a glance across to Meri, as if to make sure she was fine, and as if to work out what was so strange about the bells she had in her hand.


"Ah, both fire and ice?" Geekaar said, "Well that does sound an unusual dragonborn. The foul temper less so."

Yeah, you should write a song about that... :p *

Geekaar reassured Nym, "No, not ill yet. But one cannot be too csreful in these more western climes. My wagon is not magical by any means, but I have spent some considerable time having all the cracks and crevices filled in to avoid drafts in the draftier places. Not that this used to be one, of course. Tents are good for their canvas as it goes, but a cold field of grass is no match for a soft mattress, and wind has a way of getting under the gaps unless you've had a solid box to block it out. Though I am sure we can find enough bed rols and blankets to make such inconvenience minimal."

Geekaar gestured back to the camp. "Now, all these good ideas of revolutionary housing are interesting! Never let it be said that Geekaar the Great is not open to new ideas. Please, perhaps we can discuss such things over by a fire?"


Ok, and that's the last post of the year from me! Well, I'll be back next Saturday so maybe there'll be one or two more. Anyway, same drill as the last year or two - minimal internt availablility / posting ability, so while I can check in I won't be posting game posts. If you're happy to go with Geekaar, then I can move us on to a settledcamp wit hthe next game post. :)



*Game of Thrones is based on the novel series 'A Song of Fire and Ice', just in case that's not common knowledge
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Fri 22 Dec 2017.

OOC: Meri will trail along, though will seem kind of lost in thought unless someone talks to her.

I worked in a bookshop for eight years from 2007-2015 - I've heard of the ASoIaF series, don't worry ;).
Also, no, I wasn't reading the Meri-only bits. If my character's not there, I don't read IC stuff, otherwise I get confused and forget which stuff I know and which stuff she knows - if I keep both knowledges the same (where possible), it's much easier ;).

"Oh, the dragonborn wasn't trying to breathe fire." says Nym, giggling. "That would be silly, if he could do both - he'd get very confused and his insides would get all mixed up, I'm sure. He had a torch he was waving around, that was all."

She then considers Geekaar's mentions of how the wagon is so much better than a tent.

"Well, you could always move the mattress inside the tent..." she theorises. "And...hmm, I'm not sure about the gaps. Maybe put lots of blankets all over everything? Or get a big box and put it inside the tent, and put the mattress in that, and then sleep in it. Or maybe that's like sleeping in a wagon. Except it's inside a tent. And doesn't have any wheels..."

"Ah, well that makes more sense. Though a foul tempered dragonborn with a torch seems just as dangerous." Geekaar then considered the bed comments. "Please, forgive an old man his peculiarities," he said, despite him not even appearing to have approached middle age. "Though I believe no mattress is as good as having the bed off the ground and with several insulating pieces of wood between it and the cold, cold, ground. And I have spent many years insulating this wagon."

Geekaar looked around. "The more I speak of it, the more I feel guilty for you being in the tent, no matter how good. If any of you feel that you wish to sleep in the wagon with me, there are the spare bed areas and of course a floor. I promise I barely snore, and rarely ask questions. I will siply need to inform my guards of the arrangement and ensure their... enthusiastic protection is toned down."

Farren seemed less than taken with the offer himself, though kept quiet on the matter. He gave Meri a look as if trying to figure out what she was pondering, but left her to her own devices while within sight of Geekaar.


Anyway, so Geekaar is offering to share his wagon, up to you if you want to take him up on that later. Unless Nym wants to say anything else to Geekaar in the wagon, then I can move us on to the campsite.

OOC: Meri won't take him up on that offer.  In fact, it's probably a good thing she's kind of lost in thought right now and didn't fully catch that, or she might be rather enthusiastic (both vocally and physically!) in turning down said offer! ;)

Nym considers the offer.

"Hmm, well, maybe if there's room..." she says. "Maybe at least one of could fit in there. I can shrink myself a bit, but not too much. Otherwise I start feeling all sort of...squashed, and it's not very comfortable. I suppose if I tried making myself too small, I might all explode out everywhere or something. I don't think that would be very fun!"

She looks around at Meri.

"So, do you want to sleep in the wagon?" she asks. "I don't know if we'd both fit..."

I'm not sure how many people could fit in the wagon alongside Geekaar (if any of us decide we want to, that is - Nym's not sure right now), but considering that there are two familiars, one mini-beholder, and a were-rat among our number, I think that more people can probably fit in there than Geekaar might suspect ;). I suppose it depends on whether we feel we need to keep an eye on him or something.

I think you've got confused in a way your character wouldn't Nym - the wagon is large enough for a few people, because several people have been inside of it already (three in fact at one point) and your character has alasohad the chance to look through the door and window.

Anyway, we'll just go with typical Nym-like confusion about things. But for you as a player, the wagon is laid out with a bed across the very front of the wagon (usable as a seat), one seat along each side that couldbe used as places to rest, and a floor that is wide enough to have one or two people sleeping on it.

[Private to Meri: I also just realised that I said there were drawers amd chests in the wagon. These are all empty, so in my head I sort of removed them from my brain later. So can you retcon the wagon exploration in your head that Meri has looked inside the single drawer under the bed, and it's empty, there's a small chest of drawers under one chair that was empty, and two small chests (one under the other chair, one by the bed) that is also empty.

The drawer in the bed is oddly placed - it's nearest the bed above, and as I then said, the rest of the bed is oddly solid - this would include the internal slot for the drawer. This makes the bed odder, because it's reinforced but the drawer makes it weaker for someone sleeping on it - so the reinforcement seems less likely that it's because of Geekaar's greatness :D]

Geekaar gives Nym and odd look, looking back at the interior of the wagon as he leaves the wagon. He laughs oddly, as if taking Nym's comment as a joke on his girth, though clearly not taking it well beyond politeness. "Well, I suppose it is my own fault for calling myself 'The Great'. Ah, but my parents warned me about humility, and the Spirits have ways to restore the balance of nature should one forget."

Seems like Nym's determined to make sure Meri notices the offer. So commence explosions and more insulting your poor host :D

Meri peered at Nym, as if uncertain of what she meant at first, while on her shoulder, Timur waves a hand frantically as if (too late) trying to urge Nym not to say anything.

Meri glanced back at the wagon, her eyes widening for a moment.
"No.  No, definitely not!" she remarked, a little too forcefully.

"I wouldn't want to impose any further" she added, clearly in an attempt to make her refusal seem more diplomatic.
(If her slightly gritted teeth were any indication!)

Hmm, fair point. Though note that three people sitting down tend to take up less space than the same number of people lying down ;).

"Well, I mean, it's not that anyone wouldn't fit, necessarily," explains Nym, "it's more that we might get in each other's way if one of us was sleeping on the floor or something. I mean, someone might trip over that person if they had to get up in a hurry."

She gives Meri a curious look at the somewhat abrupt response to the suggestion of spending the night inside said wagon.

"What's the matter?" she asks. "Is there a scary thing in there?"

She leans around, peering toward the wagon as though trying to see inside it for whatever "scary thing" might be lurking there.

"Not exactly" muttered Meri quietly in response, while on her shoulder, Timur was frantically shaking his head and trying to make what seemed to be a "Shh" gesture at Nym.

"I just...  Don't think it would be proper, is all" she continued in a louder tone.  "Besides, I have something else to think about that wouldn't work in the wagon."


OOC: Nym - Pressing Meri's Berserk Button since 2015! ;)

"Ah, the bells, the bells, indeed," said Geekaar at large. "Well, that seems to be settled then. You shall my palacial tent to use as you see fit, and I shall have a night to myself in my small wagon to contemplate my poor decision making. I should have known weather that seemed so warm would only become colder the moment I let my guard down. My wagonmaster will be filled with 'I told you so's'. None shall escape his lips, but I will know, oh yes, I will know all the same."

With that, the man's rolling gait moved off towards the main camp. "Follow me, follow me, we shall ensure my honoured guests have their accompdation settled. Oh yes, oh yes!"


And unless there's any last thing you want to do, then it's off to the camp. Note the guards are still stealthing around somewhere :p

"Bells?" Nym looks somewhat puzzled, but then shrugs as Geekaar seems to have closed the matter of the sleeping arrangements. "Oh, yes, the tent will probably fit us better. Hopefully it won't rain too much. Hmm, maybe I should be a bit less furry..."

She starts staring at her hands, apparently considering how next to modify her appearance, as she vaguely wanders in the direction of everyone else. Ryn, still on her shoulder, seems content to simply look around and generally keep an eye out for now.

The guards were not seen again as Geekkaar made his way to the camp area, but their precence could definitely be imagined as the group left the wagons behind.

The camp has some small amount of movement, with Geekaar's four retainers and four of the more seasoned guards still doing things while the less experienced village guards were milling around. Geekaar nodded to the group and departed from them as they got closer. Geekaar immediately began barking orders to anyone within earshot, sending any of the guards who looked relxed out for arbitrary patrols or to gather seemingly unneeded firewood.

He spoke with those who appeared to be making up his large tent - which was indeed spacious. For a moment they stopped when it became clear Geekaar was no longer using it, but then Geekaar enthusiastically encounraged them to continue all the faster, gesturing vaguely in the group's direction. This earned a few confused looks in the group's direction.

Geekaar then moved over to the more experienced guards, and started gesturing to them too. Either Geekaar was indicating his mind had just exploded and caused severe wind, or he was indicating the guards to find large stags in the woods as quickly as possible for the evening's meal. Whether the woods held such game, the experienced guards did not apparently indicate, and merely headed off with as little haste as they could get away with. Geekaar was seemingly satisfied anyway, and then marched off to where Samel was loitering in the background.

Dott appeared when Geekaar moved away, coming close to Nym. "Hello," he said nervously, "the horses seemed to enjoy their food. They let me get quite close without swiping their tails in my direction." He seemed pleased with that.

Meanwhile, Farren took the opportunity to speak with Meri. "So, I guess by your quiet demeanour and our host's casual reference to bells earlier, that you have some ideas regarding keeping watch for our 'friend' tonight?"


Anyway, feel free to speak to the NPCs, or check out parts of the growing camp, or both :)

"Possibly" remarked Meri quietly, glancing towards Geekaar and then to the tent before looking back at Farren.

She held up the string with the small purple bells attached and shook it gently.  Although the bells were clearly ringing from the movement, there was no audible sound from them.
"He gave me these to use.  They seem to possess an interesting little enchantment that can be passed on with a small ritual phrase indicating willing transfer of ownership.  Only the one who owns them in this way, currently me, and through me Timur, can hear the sound they make.  Yet he also claimed it was something of a curse, since the one linked to the bells will hear them clearly at every slight movement, to the point where it becomes an infernal distraction even in day to day life."

She peered at the bells carefully, then looked back at Farren with a hint of a smirk.
"He seems to have gleaned some idea of my own particular talents from others, and thinks I may be able to work out a solution to that little problem.  Make of that what you will."

Her gaze flickered in Geekaar's direction again, as if ensuring he wasn't coming back yet.
"I think I can, perhaps with a little help from Many if he's willing.  And for tonight at least, if I attach these to a simple tangling wire or two, they should wake me if anyone tries to sneak into the tent.
Curiously enough, Geekaar seemed to have some idea of what our ranger friend wanted.  He seems to have ears everywhere, and I don't mean those sneaky guards of his.  I think it's not only my crafting skills he knows of, judging by his sudden desire to get us out of that wagon."

She grinned a little at the last part then examined the bells for a moment with a shrug.
"Still, if he's really interested in hiring my crafting skills, I'm not one to turn down a business arrangement.  If not, nothing gained, nothing lost."

Nym looks around, smiling, at Dott's approach and comments regarding the horses.

"Oh, that's good!" she says, clapping her hands together happily. "Maybe next time you go to feed them I can make you smell like their home, and eventually they'll think of that when they smell you, and then they'll like you!"

She looks with interest at the bells as Meri describes how they work, and frowns a little at the mention of them being audible to their owner no matter where they are.

"Um...but can't you just sort of...put them in something...I mean, like, wrap them up in a scarf or something, or tie a thing around the...um...the middle bit...the ding-y bit, so that they don't make a noise?"

Actually, were the bells "open" bells or were they more like jingle bells? I suppose if it's the latter then you won't be able to reach the clappers...so I suppose that would make Nym's suggestion a bit silly. But it's Nym, so...yeah ;).

OOC: Think they're more like the 'jingle bells' type.  Spherical things with internal 'ringy bits' (technical term!)


Meri glanced towards Nym at her suggestion.
"Maybe, though they're clearly magically enhanced in some way.  So I suspect they'd sound clearly to me now even if they were far away, though I don't know if the enchantment has a limited range.  Only way they remain silent is if they're kept still so they don't ring."

She peered into one of the bells then looked back at Nym.
"I think Many's newest trick might help actually.  If I can create some kind of conditional silencing enchantment on an object attached to the string, it might cancel out their sound.  Then the owner can either remove the object or use some means of temporarily cancelling the silence effect when they want to hear their sound again.  I'll need to work on that."


OOC: Meri in for another late night crafting session perhaps?  Not that she minds.  To borrow half a quote from the Sixth Doctor: "Rest is for the weary, sleep is for the dead."  ;)

Yeah, the bells are like jungle bells, and imagine that the tiniest movement can be perfectly heard by the owner even if they are still some currently unspecified distance away.

It was unclear if Dott found the prospect of the additional magic or the horses liking him more unbelieveable, but he lapsed into thoughful silence considering it while the rest of the group spoke.

Many appeared happy that he was being mentioned as useful, and danced around as much as Ee-Ee on his head would let him. "Yeh, yeah, ah can help! Ah can help!" he said happily and eagerly. He then siddled up to Nym. "How ah'm ah help-ing?"

Farren himself had seemed partially amused and partially intrigued by the bells and Meri's story about them, but his face blackened at the mention of Geekaar potentiallt knowing the ranger. "Most likely the man knows what the ranger wanted because he paid the ranger to snoop, then!" said the revenant gruffly, then grimaced as he looked across to where Geekaar was just still visible fussing around.

Funny enough Nym has some insight in to all of this, but will she remember to say? :D 

And yay! Late night crafting sessions are great for doing completely not evil things to your character's mntal state :p

Nym giggles at Many's question.

"Oh, well, Meri has magic bells now, that she can hear all the time if they ring, even if they're not close by, bu no-one else can hear them at all. So if they're, say, in Meri's pocket and she's walking along, she would hear them all the time and it would probably not be very fun to keep hearing them all the time. So she's thinking maybe she can use some of your silence magic on a thing to make the bells be quiet if she wants them to."

She then looks over at Farren as he mutters about the ranger and leans over to him.

"Oh, he's some kind of fey-person." she says in a low, conspiratorial voice. "His horsey had floaty hooves. I mean, he was floating above the ground a bit so that was why he looked like he was moving weird. She? I forgot. The captain-person did ell me her name. But I forgot it. Um. Anyway, he...the fey-captain-person...seemed very interested in all the Blackwood and stuff. He wanted people to be friends again rather than all separate. Or was that just me? I can't remember. I've talked a lot about horsies and getting wet and stuff since then. But he seemed nice. And the horsey did too."

In characer confusion is fun, but just to explain out of characer the ranger they are speaking about is the person who raided Farren's bag :)

Meri frowned slightly at the mention of the captain, clearly still somewhat wary of the man.  Though she kept silent for now, returning to studying the bells...


OOC: Who knows what sinister and potentially dangerous things have been happening to Meri's mental state actually?  (Oh, right, I do!) :D

Hmmm, when did Farren's bag get raided? I don't remember that being mentioned. Maybe I forgot...I thought the only ranger-type guy we met was the captain chap Nym was just talking about. Ohh, someone killed one of the fuzzles or something, didn't they? I really should start making notes...

The rogue / ranger was someone Meri noticed in passing in the herb shop she went to. The disturbance with Farren overnight was Farren discovering that ranger/rogue person was raiding his bag, and in turn that person discovered he was a rodent thingie :D The ranger escaped in to the night, Farren sent one of his little friends out to find the man, and yeah, poor little rat friend got killed for its troubles :(

[Private to Nym: And now you might see why Geekaar might suspect he knew what the ranger's purpose was, and what the ranger wanted with Farren. Geekaar might have assumed you lot had something to do with finding the book of the necromancer, and the ranger was looking for it. Whether that's actually true is another matter...]


Many nodded. "Yeah, yeah, ah cahn be qui-eht! I cahn make-eh things quiiiii-eht!" He dances around, knocking in to the bells[Secret to Meri:  and making then ring very loudly for Meri].


Farren looks concerned, confused, and then confident in the space of half a moment. "I believe we're talking about different mysterious men," said Farren finally. "The supposed ranger is the one that was snooping around last night in the inn. Though anything more you learned about the Captain might be helpful. He left in rather a hurry. I fear we may see him again in less thanideal circumstances."

Meri winced noticeably as Many collided with the bells, raising her hand to steady the string again.

"I'm not so sure if Geekaar is behind the Ranger" remarked Meri.  "Seems odd that he would give me a means of detecting any nocturnal visits by him if so.  If the Ranger is caught and interrogated, his involvement would be given away then, and that wouldn't go well for him, invisible guards or no.  He doesn't strike me as someone who would take a risk like that when he could easily have those guards hide close by and listen in on everything we say.  Probably is doing that actually, that's what I'd do in his place!"

She looked up at Farren again.
"I suspect he knows exactly what you are though, and if this Ranger is one of many who usually seek out your kind for their own reasons that might explain how he knows.  I get the feeling he's much smarter than he appears, maybe he could be a useful source of information actually."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:45, Sun 07 Jan 2018.

Nym looks around as though expecting the shadows to suddenly turn into people or some such.

"Ooh, yes, there are lots of strange sneaky people around here, aren't there?" she says, then adds telepathically to both Farren and Meri, ~Lucky we can be sneaky ourselves, then, right?~

She giggles and looks around, like a naughty child hoping they don't get caught out by an adult in the middle of doing something they shouldn't.

Farren seemed to concede the point. "If Geekaar wanted to throw us off of the scent he might pull a double bluff like that, but I suppose he would make more of a song and dance of him guarding us rather than leave you to your own devices. Unless he is planning on using those infernal guards to silently take the man out. To be honest, if that keeps the ranger away form us, all the better. If Geekaar is the actual cause, then we can concentrate on him fully without distration. And if the ranger does come after us, it proves Geekaar wasn't the reason, and we can concentrate on the ranger."

Farren lapsed in to silence. Many, meanwhile, seemed oblivious of the pain he'd just caused Meri, and was instead trying to immitate Nym, nodding his head vigourously thenscrewing his face up. He was clearly trying to also project his thoughts, without any apparent success. Nevertheless, he looked around nodding and smiling and looking hopeful.


Across the camp, Geekaar seemed to briefly turn to the group and made some form of gesture - it might have been a gesture to come across, it might have simply been a wave. The man did not stay still long, bustling around and micr-managing everything. He seemed to have turned his attention to the campfire, telling some poor guard how to make a fire while alo apparently telling a cook how to prepare the food. The cook seemed to take it in good grace when Geekaar was looking, but otherwise continued as thye had been going. The guard seemed ot take it less gracefully to Geekaar's oblivious face, but also seemed to need the help in getting a campfire going.

The group's tent, meanwhile, was apparently what Geekaar had been gesturing towards, as the large tent rose it's twin points high in the air. Two figures seemed to be moving around securing the bottom of the tent. It seemed like it could easily have the group standing inside, and easily sleep them all without problem.


Feel free to keep speaking away from the main body of the camp, or just go over to your tent and start to settle in before food.

"I think at some point I might try speaking with Geekaar after all, even if just to try fishing for how much he knows about all of us" remarked Meri thoughtfully.

She looked over at the tent with a slightly puzzled look.
"Didn't think they made them that size" she murmured to herself.


OOC: Getting the impression Geekaar's "tent" is more of a portable canvas house!

Yeah, like one of those big marquee things that people have parties in :D.

Nym looks with interest at the tent and seems about to go over to it, but she also notices the guard who appears to be having trouble with the campfire and wanders over to him instead.

"Hello!" she says cheerfully. Ryn, on her shoulder, makes some sort of growly-chittery noise that might be a greeting of her own. "Do you want some help with that? Lighting a fire? I mean, I can do it if you want. I can just do it with magic. I mean, if you want me to, that is. I can just leave you alone if you prefer. If you'd rather do it yourself."

She looks expectantly at the man to see his response.

However interested Nym may be in the tent (and she will check it out later), attempting to make friends and/or help people is likely to always be first priority for her and this guy looks like he's struggling so she's coming to him first ;).

Farren shrugged to Meri's comment. "Don't ask me, if will be the first one I've stayed in ... as far as I can recall, of course."

With that, he strode over to it, apparently both emboldened by Geekaar's departure and perhaps also enticed by a place to hide away inside. Unfortunately there was still at least one retainer still trying to seal the edges of the tent flaps to the ground, as if to minimise the potential draughts and critters during the night.

[Private to Meri: Obviously stopping them and allowing one area to still be loose might be an idea...]

The guard at the fire gave a gasp as he looked up to the greeting - not only because of Nym being there, but also perhaps because Many was also at her leg, happily waving and still balancing his little rodent friend.

The guard was older looking, his black hair thinning and greying, and with a pronounced stomach that stretched his leather armour. He seemed to be about to say something dismissive, but he found his knee lock as he tried to stand up to say it. Another younger guard still in their helmet moved across to help the older guard up. Two more guards also came closer - two younger women who looked similar in appearance without having a familial resemblance. It was the sort of similarity life long friends could adopt to each other.

"Are you the wizard? The one that saved us from the woods witch?" asked the young guard that had helped. The older guard cuffed his young helper soundly on his helmet, making a meaty ringing noise. The rotund guard then shook his hand painfully and sucked in breath through his teeth.

"Oh, fine, if yer have the skills, I'm not going to complain," he said gruffly, and perhaps at odds with what he may have said not a moment before. All the guards looked around to ensure Geekaar wasn't looking. However, they seemed to have a certain belligerent air regarding their paymaster rather than fear. All looked back to Nym with varying flavours of interest.

Feel free to make the fire with magic, but you can also roll Nature if want to figure out what the older guard was doing wrong in his non-magical efforts. Not using magic, for a start :p

OOC: I can imagine Nym being all: "Non-magical efforts???  Error, does not compute!"  hehe :)


Meri followed Farren, glancing over in Geekaar's direction for a moment, then looking back at the tent and the workers.
As if something had just occurred to her, she quickened her pace, calling out to the retainer working on the last tent flap.
"Hold it a moment!"
Drawing closer to the man, she lowered her voice before continuing.
"Can you leave one of those a little loose, make it look like it hasn't been fastened down properly and just came loose in the wind?"

She eyed the man a moment longer, then lowered her voice still further.
"Don't worry, I'll tell Geekaar I asked you to" she added with a wry grin.


OOC: Did he just call Celindara "the woods witch"?  Might end up getting himself lit on fire if Meri heard that! ;)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Tue 09 Jan 2018.

Lol yeah, I think Nym does know that some people don't use magic for stuff, she just doesn't really fully understand exactly how that works, given that she can do what they can do as an innate ability and usually with considerably less effort than they might need to use :D.

"Alright, then. Here you go." says Nym, and idkly flicks her fingers at the unlit campfire, causing it to burst into merry flame. Nym, however, is already distracted and now turns her attention to the guard who had asked her about the "woods witch".

"Oh, the Blight wasn't being caused by a witch." she says. "It was by some icky creature things that cane from a place. We helped Celindara stop it and she grew a really big tree. Well, no...she did a thing to the altar and then I think Melora grew a really big tree. Either way, there's a really big tree in the Blackwood now and people can be friends again with Celindara now that she's not afraid of bad things coming to get her and all that. Oh, and I'm not a wizard. A wizard is someone who...hmm...does...things. I mean, someone explaine it to me at some point. Wizards do magic but they don't just...sort of...do magic. They can use it, but they have to practice a lot and write it down in a book or something, and it looks all complicated. Because they have to wave their hands about or say special words a certain way to make magic work for them. I don't need to worry about any of that - I just have magic in me and it works whenever I want it to."

She holds up a hand, palm upward, and a small tree (rainbow-coloured, naturally) seems to sprout from it, growing taller and taller as leaves burst into growth on its branches, then flowers which explodes in a shower of petals and the whole tree dissolves into a multi-coloured mist which quickly dissipates.

"See?"

Oh yes, you asked for a Nature roll, didn't you...meh, 13 :P.

Over by the tent...

Actually the closest retainer is a woman, but I don't think I'd indicated that in any way! And yeah, poor young NPC in a parallel universe is destined to become no older!

The woman appearance was somewhere between Geekaar's and the humans of this area, perhaps showing she was born of both the south and east. Her clothing was not outlandish, but she had bright green eyes and her long black hair was tied in to a bun with what appeared to be a appropriated colourful headscarf used as a decorative tie.

She looked to the open tent flap suspiciously at Meri'd first comment, then actually pulled away at Meri's second quieter comment. Her bun had been loosening with her efforts, and she used its distraction to retie her hair as she looked to Meri. A polite smile crept across her widened mouth, not reflected in her narrowing eyes. "I can ask master Geekaar myself, do not trouble yourself. He said to attend to your every need as if his own."

She gestured to the tent as if to show the two companions they could enter the tent if they wished, while she staggered awkwardly to her feet and hurried off in the direction of Geekaar.

"Well, it's good to see you and Nym have such a way with Geekaar's friends and retainers," said Farren with some small amusement as he looked around. The tent flap was still quite loose, and so probably needed to be attended to. "I suppose we are free to make adjustments while our new friend goes off to have an interesting conversation. As if we would do anything unscrupulous."

Farren actually had the good grace to look around for one of Geekaar's spooky guards, but seemed reasonably sure there was no one around.

Feel free to decide if there's a side you want open, or just roll a Thievery roll using Intelligence. Also, while there is no one around, you could also set up any external traps right now if you like. :)


Over by the fire...

The older guard took a step back as the fire went 'whoosh', and grumbled a little at the ease of it. The flint was discarded with bad grace to the grass at his side. The younger guard took off his helmet and wiped his messy brown hair while looking wide eyed at both the fire and Nym. "All the stories are true?" the younger man asked, with a mix of awe and terror. He also had an increasingly slackening jaw, adorned with untidy tufts of hair that could barely be called a beard.

"I told everyone, I said all the rumours were true," said one of the two female guards. She had taken a step forwards, and was darting her face left, right and centre as she apparently addressed everyone all at once. She was slightly shorter than her friend, her hair was a slightly dirtier blond, her eyes had a lighter flecking of blue points in their brown, and she barely seemed to notice people despite speacking to them all. "I said my grandmother said her mother's mother and mother's mother's father always said there was a dark force in the woods, and the woods guardian was the only one keeping it back, and that the woods guardian was a dryad with a gigantic tree gifted from Melora herself, and I said that the gods still listened and were around, I said they weren't just southerner gods, and I told you that Tom dow nthe road said there werre wizards that weren't wizards that had befrended the wood's guardian, and that the forest was safer now. And Tom was the one that said that Blace had gone running off and been bismirched and he was right then too, and-"

"I'm Sarah," said the ifrst guard's friend, almost saying it as if not expecting it to be heard. "She's Jessa."

Even Jessa stopped speaking as Nym then produced the larger tree, as the four guards - even the rotund guard - seemed to be facinated by the display of magic.

"-yeah,a tree, like my mother said, the dryad has a magic tree, bet that's what they say has grown bog again..." carried on Jessa, breaking the silence.


Yeah, that 13 roll on Nature pretty mch backs up Nym's character regarding knowing other ways to produce fire other than magic :p

Nym giggles and nods at Jessa's explanations, though spares a grin and a little wave at Sarah when she introduces herself.

"Yes, see? That's what happened." she says, agreeing with Jessa's explanation of things. "Celindara is the hamm-da-dry-dad, and she's friends with all the trees. And there were wolves and big walking tree-thingys who came to help us too. But I think that was just because of the Blight, because we all needed to come together and help each other. I think if someone just went for a walk in the forest the wolves might try to eat them. If they were hungry, I mean. And if the walking person went into the places where they like to hunt things. The wolves, I mean. Hunting. Because that's what wolves do, isn't it? So I think even though the Blackwood is much nicer now and Celindara is nice, the wolves and all that might still try to eat people if they're not careful. But if you go and talk to Celindara, she'll be nice. You just have to make sure you don't try to hurt the forest at all. The trees, and all that. Because people don't like it when you hurt their friends. That's one reason why having friends is good - it means people are more likely to be nice to you...or at least not to be too horrible, if they don't like you. I don't really know why people don't like each other. Some of them just don't, I suppose. If everyone could be friends, lots of things would be much easier..."

Meri crouched down and peered into the tent through the loose flap, lifting it up slightly.
"Hard not to see that they're afraid of him, or perhaps of displeasing him.  That alone tells me more about him than whatever he's not saying" she remarked quietly.

She released the flap and stood up again.
"Leaving what appears to be a tempting accidentally created easy entrance here will mean I don't need to entrap the entire thing.  With the size of this tent, I could easily run out of wire doing that.  Assuming our sneaky friend does show up, I expect he'll be wary of getting caught by the guards, even if Geekaar's creepy ones are in on the game, I'm not so sure the guards from Blackwood are.  So hopefully he'll think luck is with him if he spots an easy way in here.  At least until he finds the nasty little surprise I plan on setting up inside..."


OOC: Not going with external traps.  Just trying to make it look like there's a part of the tent that wasn't properly fastened down, that got loosened by the wind and now looks like a tempting way to sneak in easily without having to waste time cutting through a wall and possibly being spotted by a guard (preferably on the side facing away from the campfire, so it's in shadow. That's the side I'd pick if it was me trying to creep in there).
That way Meri can concentrate her traps around the inside of that bit.
Planning on setting up tangling wires like the ones used back at the Stonebridge Inn battle that slow or immobilise anyone getting snagged in them, and also using a second wire to connect them to the bells, so that anyone disturbing them causes the bells to ring in Meri's head (hopefully loud enough to wake her up if she's asleep).
That's the plan anyway :)

Over by the fire...

"She's mentioning blight again, she said bl-" says the younger guard to the older guard.

"Hush, Gibb!" said the rotund guard without looking around, and cuffing Gibb wit hthe back of his hand. When the hand met with skin not metal the older guard had the good grace to look both shocked and apologetic, if only for a split second.

"My nan said the blight wasn't real, it was a meta..somethin..ical blight like not realy but standing in for something else, like us turning away from nature and it not growing as well, but that just seemed stupid because who would know nature better than a drayd - a hammer dryd no -less...." Jessa actually bowed a little to Nym, and if acknowledging and thanking Nym for a new fact. Sarah used the opportunity to give her friend a waterskin, which was gratefully received and drunk from, allowing a moment's silence.

"She gets dry throat a lot," said Sarah, indicating with a subtle inflection of her voice that perhaps Sarah herself was getting the equivalent of dry ear, with no equivalent easy cure.

Noting the moment of silence, the rotund guard decided to ask the question, as he looked to the burning wood of the fire. "What counts as harming the forest?" Then he looked around more. "And what counts as the Blackwood?"

Aww, Nym had a really uplifting message that the NPCs seem to have temporarily ignored :p


Over at the tent...

Trap plan is strong and so noted. And of course all this sneakiness and accepting of cursed itsems is completely dependant on being followed by someone who maybe doens't care about you all anymore :p Who knows!*

Farren nodded regarding the ideas for the traps, but seemed to be considering the comments on Geekaar. He looked around. "Despite that, the man still seems to have long term retainers and be able to attract local guards to work for him. Makes you wonder how he manages it, given the obvious unpleasantness hinted at his manner."

Farren didn't apparently have any further thoughts on his comment, mostly because the woman had returned. He put her hands together and gave a small bow, a large close mouthed smile, and kept her voice medium in tone between questioning and politeness.

"My master has indeed said to do whatever you need, especially in regards to... personalising... this tent." She then reached behind her, and pulled out some odd ball of twine. "He asked me to give you this, and help you as you needed."

She seemed briefly unsure, and then moved around the tent, gesturing for the two of them to join her. "Please, would you like to see inside... unless you need any further... arrangement.. of the outside?"

You can assume you had time to do what you wanted with the tent beore the woman came back, and also you can answer Farren before the woman appears too.


* Me, it's always me. It's the downside of being the DM.

Nym nods along with Jessa's words about the Blight.

"Oh yes, it was a really real thing, the Blight." she says. "It was like all this icky black stuff everywhere, that made everything go bad. But I managed to clean some of it up as we went, and then the bad things that were making it happen, when they left, then it all sort of went away as the big tree grew back out of the altar thingy that was where there used to be a temple in a lake a long time ago, except the lake had got all dried up and icky from the Blight. I don't suppose it will ever be a lake again now that it's full of really giant enormous tree roots, but at least that's better than being all black and icky."

She wrinkles her feline nose and sticks her tongue out a bit, but then turns to the larger guard who has asked about the Blackwood.

"Hmm...I don't really know where the edges of the Blackwood are." she says. "But I'm sure if you ask in the village they'll be able to tell you. I mean, some day whenever you happen to be back there. And I suppose that harming the forest means doing things like, you know, cutting down the trees or trying to burn them...or trying to do nasty things to anything that lives there, really, whether it's a tree or not. But I suppose things will always eat other things, so maybe that's alright? I'm not really sure. Maybe one day you'll go there and you can meet Celindara and then you can ask her and she can tell you. She's really nice. She likes to sing and the trees and things listen to her."

"Surprising what humans will put up with if they get paid enough, or perhaps have few other options" muttered Meri in response, before falling silent again as the woman returned.

Meri accepted the offered ball of twine, looking at it oddly before glancing back at the tent.
"Yes, I'll take a look inside now" she replied, looking over at Nym as if to check she wasn't setting anything on fire yet...


OOC: Will head inside then :)
Is there anything special about that twine?  Like is it hard to spot like that invisible thread I already have?

Over by the fire...

The rotund guard does not seem particularly happy with the answers to his questions, and looks around more nervously, especially to the fire. Gibb comes forwards and whispers to the older guard, "Mister Muppler, sir, I think the Blackwood is... black. I think it's just inside the black barked trees we passed earlier that's the problem."

Young Gibb had apparently not spoken quiet enough, as Jessa stopped drinking long enough to answer the boy. "Oh yes, the trees were a Pact, at least that's what people say the Elders said, I mean the First Elders, although that Pact was different from our Pact, and they said that they're darker coloured and they are a boundary between our land and the dryad land, and-"

Jessa's eyes go wide, and she pauses to look around to her friend then to Nym. "Oh! The Blight! That's not why they are black, is it, they weren't filled wiht blight, we they, we they, is that what it was, were they filled with black blight and then they cracked open and the blight got out, and you had to stop it, is that why people say the dryad is going around saying she's sorry and being friendly again, is that why we can't chop down the trees-?"

Jessa looks back to Sarah as if she might answer the last part of the question, but Sarah walks forwards and waves off her friend. She instead looks directly to Nym. "So what they said about you is true then?" she asks. "Is the village in danger? And what are you doing leaving th village?" [Secret to Nym: Sarah seems concerned and confused rather than angery or aggressive. ]


Over by the tent...

Farren's brow crinkles, clearly not quite convinced. "It feels like there's something else at play with his retainers, and I'd feel happier knowing what it is."

Note that OOC Geekaar said that was exactly what happened with Samel, she didn't have many other options. So who knows if Farren is right, or not. He's an NPC, after all!

[Private to Meri: The twine just looks like thick course twine. Obviously a Thievery roll might be best to figure out if there is any cool properties to it.]

The woman gives a nod and neutral smile and opens the flap. Inside the tent is spacious if sparce. Most of the furniture seems to be cushions, and sumptuous bed rolls that have been shaped to be supportive armrests. The tent is not so large that it wouldn't be a squeeze to have five people sleeping in a pentagonal shape around the tent, but with the bed rolls tidied it seems ot give a decent space for people to sit and potentially have food or other items in front of themselves with ease. There is a hole in the very centre of the floor canvas and an odd covered up area in the roof that might speak of a way to have a personal campfire going inside. However, this area is bare for the moment. There are two lamps, currently unlit, having off of the low dips of the tent roof. Once the light fails, they are happily low enough to catch someone at face height.

"My master is not usually so friendly to strangers, yet so willing to be kept at arms length," she says, moving from area to area straightening cushions, adjusting tiny chests, and tightening rolls. "The few times he has shared his tent with guests, he is usually happy to sequester himself in here with them, and eat and drink well in to the small hours no matter how early we stop. To have this tent to yourself is a rare privelidge. I would even say unique."

She turns back around and looks to the two companions in turn. "Is there anything you will need in addition to what is here?"

If there's anything unclear, or you want to examine anything, let me know.

Nym looks a little confused at Jessa's outburst.

"Um, well, the Blight made the trees all dead and stuff. I don't think them looking a bit black was the problem. But it's all gone now."

She looks at Sarah.

"It's all definitely gone. You can go back to the village at some point - there's a hill you can stand on and apparently you can see the big tree from there. I don't think a really big tree like that could grow if there was still Blight there - I suppose it was Melora's way of saying she was happy it was all gone."

She gives a smile and a nod and a little clap of her hands.

"Nothing for me, thanks" replied Meri, her attention seemingly distracted on looking around at the inside of the tent, particularly the entrance and the area she had left loosened earlier.

Seemingly satisfied, she turned her attention to examining the ball of twine, pulling the goggles down over her eyes and flicking down two of the small lenses, making her eyes look oddly magnified.
She drew out a short length of the twine and peered closely at it through the lenses.


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Thievery: 27 (17 + 10) - Looks like the dice are being nice to me again (for now) :)]

By the fire...

The guards looked a little bit relieved at the reference to the village being safe. A couple of other guards had siddled across, apparently drawn by Nym holding court and speaking about recent events.

"A tree, see, I said a tree..." Jessa started, when suddenly a new voice echoed around. It was a booming female voice, and seemed to brook no disagreement. It was tinted with an accent like Geekaar's, but otherwise was the polar opposite of his voice. This one seemed to say unfriendly words but managed a friendly feel to it.

"Make way, make way! If you're not going to patrol like you were yelled at to then you can go grab some wood for the fire now it's been lit, unless you think campfires just get bigger from love and sunshine and farts and the smell of week old boots."

The woman had a heavy apron on, in rough leather, and was heavy set. She seemed to be advancing in years, with greying curly hair. However, she was manhandling a huge cauldron pan herself filled with roots and vegetables, pushing others out of the way.

"Good fire," she nodded approvingly, then looked suspiciously at Mister Muppler. "Go tell Master Geekaar that his lessons rubbed off." She said it with a laugh, then gave a sterner look that his dismissal wasn't a joke. The rotund guard left, while Young Gibb stood around uncertainly. Sarah had alreayd disappeared, along with the new guards, but Jessa was also looking around as if uncertain what was going on.


New NPC. New NPC cook. New NPC cook with FOOOOOOOD! Not cooked yet, but then maybe if Nym is impatient...


In the tent...

"We have simple needs, privacy for one," said Farren blandly, apparently not caring that he provoked the briefest of angry flushes from the woman.

The silence was then broken by Samel coming in to the tent, then being confused. "I... where is Master Geekaar?" she said. With Samel and the other woman standing near each other, a vague similarity could be seen between the two. Perhaps relations, of half relations more likely.

"Master Geekaar was harrying the camp as a whole, he said to meet him back at the campfire. I imagine he's likely to be there sooner rather than later. Didn't I just see you with him yourself?"

Samel shook off her confusion. "Oh, he wanted one of his gems, I lost track." Samel looked to see why the group were standing in Geekaar's tent. It seemed that she hadn't quite forgotten her previous confrontation with Meri, but was internally trying ot move passed it.

[Private to Meri: As for the twine, it looks quite coarse and terrible. It seemed to be frayed and falling apart, and almost like a joke. It's only when handling it with a sneakier eye for a few moments that its potential use becomes apparent. The twine does indeed detach strands on to clothing, though it is reasonably strong for all that. It appears only the rough outer layer is so weak, and it is quite fibrous and very tricky to remove afterwards. It might not be the most subtle of wire, but if it catches on someone's clothing, chances are if they don't notice it there will be tell-tale threads left on their clothing or boots for a few days to indicate they touched the twine. So good for marking culprits of break ins, etc :)]

At the woman's comments to Muppler that imply she thinks he got the fire going, Nym sort of fidgets.

"Oh, um...that was...errm..." she attempts, but then shrugs and gives the woman a bright smile. "Hello! I'm Nym, short for Nymmanommawaffaflam. I haven't met you yet. Hello! Who are you? What food are you making? Do you want any help? I can umm...well, I mean...I can heat things up. Or cool them down. Or make them taste different. Um. I mean, I don't know much about the...choppy-uppy bit, or um...mashing things, or um...you know, all the other things that people like to do to food before they eat it. But I can definitely do the eating part - that bit's easy!"

She grins while on her shoulder Ryn makes a sort of chattering noise that could either be laughter or some kind of comment or noise of agreement.

"Hmm, interesting trick to this stuff" murmured Meri to herself, still studying the twine.
She rolled it up again and held it up to her shoulder for Timur to take then moved towards the loose part of the tent, glancing back briefly at Samel, her emotions impossible to tell behind the goggles still covering her eyes.

"He seemed interested in swapping the wagon for this tent.  Can't imagine why" she replied, before turning her attention back to the tent wall.


OOC: Sarcasm, only one of Meri's weapons of choice ;)


[Private to The Altweaver: Not sure it'll be so useful for this particular situation, although might be handy if he gets snagged in it but is really quick at breaking loose and escaping, then we'd know him if we saw him again...]

Over by the campfire...

The woman gives a too knowing look to Nym regarding the fire, as if she is perfectly well aware who it was that lit the campfire rather than the unfortunate Mister Muppler.  "My name's Maggrath Windchaser, tonight I will be the cook, and eating is the only thing easier than cooking. The important thing you must never forget is to compliment the chef." She says it with deadly earnestness, despiute the fact she must clearly be joking.

She then looks to the pot that she eventually balances on the small fire. "Well, for the moment it's vegetable stew. Stew is good enough for a wagon like this. No real chopping or mashing needed anymore, everything will break apart. Would be nice to have some meat, but we'll see if we even get any wood let alone anything of substance." She looks to Nym. "So, you're a mage or some such? Do you have any herbs? Mages always have herbs and other strange things for spells that taste better used for food than magic. Bets left to the spiritis, magic. I wish I had found any decent spices on this journey, the Master of Wagons kept all the good things with him when we separated."


Over in the tent...
[Private to Meri:
Might be useful back up, just in case the intruder isn't the person you think. Not that there will be an intruder, of course. But if there was, or is in future, might useful to finger the unknown person later :)]

I'm sure Meri has many weapons, like irony and satire and laconic put-downs :)

Samel and the other woman swapped looks at Meri's comment, but did not have time to react further when the tent flap was disturbed again - this time the entrance being filled iwht a familiar figure.

"Aha! My favourite people all in one place, how delightful!" Geekaar said happily. "I think the camp is finally settling, and now we have this magnificent tent all organised, I think we can thinkabout the thought of settling down for tales and toasts and food. Most importantly the food!"

He looked around to each uncomfortable occupant in turn. "You have the gem I asked for? Good. Oh, the ball of string, you passed it along, yes? Good. Hmm, have we not offered our guests anything they need?"

Geekaar then looked around in concern at the relative lack of addition to the tent, and looked to Meri and Farren in turn with a questioning look.

"Hmm, herbs? No, sorry." says Nym. "I mean, I think I'm a mage...I'm not really sure of the difference in all the names people seem to use for people who can use magic. Well, I mean, someone said that wizards are the ones who spend all the time rading magic in books and have to remember loads of stuff in order to do magic. Is a mage like that? And Meri is an artificer, which means she makes things. And fixes them. And she can fix people too, if they're hurt, which is nice. But I just kind of...make pretty lights and stuff."

She holds up a hand and wiggles her fingers a bit, causing a swirl of colour to whirl around them for a moment before fading.

"I don't really need to use things to make stuff taste different." she goes on. "I mean, if I want something to taste different, I can just...make it taste different. But I'll only do that if I don't like how it already tastes - I've met plenty of people who make really nice yummy food. Like the food we had in Blackwood Village, that was yummy. And back at the inn...place...thingy...back at Stonebridge. I made a new friend there called Crass. He was quite scared to begin with but then Jorri gave him a job as his new chef because the old one left to live in the other town, or something, and then he made some really yummy food. Was it Jorri, was that his name...hmm, I think so. The one who owned the inn. I mean, he didn't make the food - that was Crass. And now I get to try your food and I'm sure it will be very yummy!"

"I don't need anything else" remarked Meri almost casually, looking back from examining the tent wall.
She pulled the goggles back up onto her forehead and looked around at Geekaar.

"Nym will likely be happy enough as long as there's food" she added.


OOC: I suppose all that inner magicalness needs to be fuelled somehow :)

In the tent...

Geekaar gave a quizzical look regarding not requiring anything more, ooking across at the still sumtuous furnishings and clearly finding them oddly lacking. Farren gave Geekaar a similar non-commital nothing of being content, but seemed happy to try and avoid the merchant's attention.

Geekaar clapped his hands finally. "Well, splendid then. Unless my guests need some more time to divest themselves of any possessions, then that seems that. Shall we dine?"


He gestured towards the tent flap, clearly eager to at least pull his retainers out with him.


Up to you if you want to follow him, or revel in some peace and quiet for a few moments longer :) If you decide to follow him, feel free to interrupt . interact with Nym or anyone else over there.


At the campfire...

Maggrath looks at Nym's fingers as she creates all the colours. "Seems like magic to me. Someone can bandy words all they like, if they catch on fire then the fire's not going to care what it's called. Words aren't important. Except when they compliemnt the cook. Remember that."

If the woman is disappointed in the lack of herbs, she soon recovers from it listening to Nym. "Well, I wouldn't know about the better food in Blackwood Village. Some of us don't get to stay at the fancy inns and eat at the fancy eateries on the road. Not that I mind. Just more excuse to eat our own food. Don't recall the name of the innkeeper in Stonebridge, but we've been there once or twice when we've travelled all the way to the dwarves at Dwarton. Don't recall the man being nice. Bit of a snooty snoot, if that's the phrase you use here. Wanted us to stay in the stables, except our master, and he had bad stables. There was a nice woman who ran the local armoury and smithery nearby, she allowed a few of us to stay on her floor. Nice and warm it was, when it was a cold time of year."

Nym might realise that Maggrath is speaking about New Stonebridge, and probably the innkeeper that she's referencing would be the 'Old Blowhard' Tym hated so much. That would make the woman running the blacksmith Linette, Tym's ex apprentice who you didn't manage to meet. So you can always educate her on the better places she's missed on the road :D

At the comment on her food being potentially 'yummy', Maggrath nods solemnly. "Nothing like meeting someone who listens." She proceeds to take out what looks like a very richly coloured carrot, and offers it to Nym for the compliment - uncooked, for the moment.

There's a tiny little 'ooooh' noise form somewhere around Nym's foot, which shows that Many has clearly seen the offered food. Magrath however looks to Ryn, as if thinking Ryn made the sound.

Yes, I did think she was probably talking about the "other" Stonebridge when pretty much nothing in her description matched up to what we've seen, given that we know Jorri has been there for ages so it couldn't have been a woman running his place if he's always been there ;).

Nym stares at Maggrath with a confused expression for several moments but then seems to realise something.

"Oh! No, that was the other Stonebridge." she explains. "There was an old one and a new one - lots of people went to the new one, apparently, but some people were left where the old one used to be, like Jorri in his inn, hmm, what was it called...I think the Copper Penny? Maybe? I'm not sure. And there was a smithy nearby with his friends there, a human called...um...Tym...I think. And a minotaur called Holder. He made little butterflies that came to life and flew around before they turned back all solid again. That was nice. He was the same kind of magic-makey-person that Meri is, using magic to...er, make stuff. And fix it. Anyway, there had been someone else around there before we arrived, umm...a friend of Tym's, I think? But she had gone to New Stonebridge and Tym wasn't very happy about it because he felt like everyone was leaving. But then Crass showed up and he lives there now. Well, he did when we left - hopefully he hasn't gone anywhere since then. But umm...yes...so...if you're ever over there again, go to the Old Stonebridge. That's where those nice people are. I mean, there's probably some nice people in the new one, too, but we didn't go there, so I didn't get to meet any of them. But maybe we'll go back there some day. It would be nice to say hello to everyone again..."

At the sight of the carrot, Nym grins.

"Ooh, thanks!" she says, taking it and having a bite. She glances down at Many's reaction and giggles.

I wrote that whole long speech about Stonebridge and then realised I hadn't yet read the bottom part of your post about the carrot, then didn't want to delete any of what I wrote before, so I'll leave it as it is :D. I don't know if Nym will have tried raw carrot but I know it's a thing that's okay to eat so I suppose she'll be able to deal with it ;).

Meri looked back at the part of the tent she had been examining before, then to the others as if waiting to see if they were going to accept Geekaar's invitation or not...


OOC: Not that she's just looking to see if it's socially-acceptable to stay in the tent by checking to see what everyone else is doing...
(Also not that I've ever actually done that in real life or anything!)  (¬.¬)'

At the campfire...


Nym waffling on and ignoring stuff until the last minute is completely in character (in carrot-er). :p

"A Copper Penny? Like the money? Ah, I see. That might explain something one of the guards said. I thought he was calling me a beggar, or some such, and telling me I should earn a copper penny. I took it as an insult, and he did not have very good food from them on. Oh no." Maggrath did not look particularly contrite about that. "Well, I shall look out for this other village another time. If we are allowed to roam. I was warned there was not much more than ruins by ... well, by more 'snooty' people, now I think upon it. I think I shall definitely look out for this Copper Penny next time. Someone called Crass might be a welcome change from. If I understand common words correctly."

Maggrath absentmindedly gives Nym another carrot, though Many's giggling gets her to look towards Nym's feet. "You seem to have another friend," she remarks, trying to see what Many is. Many, shyly, hides as best he can behind Nym's robe at ankle level.

[Secret to Nym: The carrot itself will taste very good, and still be crunchy as it hasn't been stewed yet. Still, it shows that she is using the freshest and best ingredients for whatever she will be eating. Of course, feel free to flavour the carrot - especially the boring same tasting second one - how you wish :)
]
A guard - one of the ones on the periphery previously, not one of the ones Nym had spoken with directly - appears with a handful of less than ideal looking branches and twigs. Maggrath simply directs the guard to place them around the base of the campfire, then readjusts the pot to sit better on the growing stack.

In the distance, Geekaar and two of his retainers - Samel and another slightly older woman with her hair tighed by a colourful scarf - emerge from the large tent. A moment later, Farren too emerges to follow.


In the tent...

Geekaar and his staff move out without further word. Farren, for his part, looks uncomfortable but seems to be already resigned to following. He looks back when at the tent doorway as if to speak to Meri, then realises she has not immediately followed. He looks a little put out - perhaps at simply not thinking of it as an option - but decides to continue on his way outside, now he has put himself in view of the camp.

You is free to stay inside the tent, of course, but then who knows what Nym could get up to without Meri's influence. Up to you as a player! The option of interacting with the campfire group next post, or staying and setting up whatever you want without being disturbed in the tent is yours. Or since you created a second exit away from the camp, you are free to in fact leave the tent sneakily if you wih to do a third sneaky thing. That would require a Stealth roll, but is also doable :)

Nym nods along with the suggestion that Maggrath intends to visit the Copper Penny on a future visit to the Stonebridge area, then giggles and looks down as the woman notices Many.

"Oh, that's Many." she says. "He's our friend. It's okay, Many - Maggrath is nice. She has yummy carrots, see?"

She breaks the tip off the new carrot and holds it down in his direction, meanwhile continuing to munch on the rest with her other hand.

Nym is holding the carrot-tip in a loose grip, so Many can levitate it to himself if he wants to :).

Meri sighed and glanced sideways at Timur on her shoulder.
"Well, I suppose mingling around a campfire is what normal people do, right?" she muttered.

Taking the ball of twine from Timur, she dropped it into her backpack, adjusting its weight on her shoulders, and then picked up the bells holding them tightly to try to minimise any movement and noise, then followed Farren out of the tent.


OOC: Yep, Meri is heading out to join the party.  (Even though she'd probably have preferred going a few more rounds with the big tentacled Blight monster than actually mingling with people...)  ;)

Maggrath seems surprised by the appearance of the little beholder as Many decides to poke his head around to see the carrots and the woman. He gives a small wave of an eyestalk to Maggrath and a small 'hello', and she gives an uncertain wave back. As with many people, she seems to accept the beholder's unusual appearance owing to the magical reputation of Nym. Many then distracts himself by gulping down the carrot top, burping, saying "Excuse me," then "Thank you".

Then, after a moment longer, he says "It wahs ver-reh nice!" and looks up expectantly. When Maggrath doesn't seem to reward his comppliments, he pouts for a moment, then positions Ee-Ee better on his head. "Ee-Ee thinks iht look-ed niceh too!"

After a moment of surprised reaction at the rodent balanced on Ee-Ee's head, Maggrath perhaps gets the hint, and gets a small piece of unidentified vegetable and tried to feed it to the little rodent. The rodent struggles to naw on it for a moment, and it drops to the ground. Many dips down to the ground to let his little rat friend off to go worry on the food some more, and for the moment loses interest in the bemused cook.


Meanwhile, Geekaar comes closer, nodding to Maggrat then looking around the clearing. "Gather round! Gte what you were asked to get and gather around! There's nothing better than the scent of food while telling tales, and nothing better than tales to get to know one another at the start of a journey!"

This said despite the fact the journey was, most likely for many of them, already half done. Still, Geekaar seemed happily oblivious to that fact.

An older man in green that Meri had seen earlier, who seemed to be in charge of the retainers, had taken it upon himself to corral a couple of guards and take some plain but large cushions from one of the supply wagons. These were placed on the ground to provide a decent seat, spaced apart so that, after perhaps another trip, there would be a ring of cushions for the twenty or so people.

Farren, without much caring for anyone around, seemed to notice that there was already a wide area without cushions near Geekaar. Assuming this would be where Geekaar's seating would manifest, Farren went and sat on one of the cushions on the other side of the fire.

Nym looks around at the people as they start gathering, then back to Maggrath.

"Oh, I should let you get on with making your food!" she says. "I'm sure it will be very yummy! I'm going to go and sit down now."

She gives a little wave, then reaches up to scratch Ryn behind an ear (the familiar leans into it and her eyes half-close as she makes a little chattering noise), before turning and skipping over toward Farren, plonking herself down beside him.

"Hello, Farren!" she says cheerfully. "Did you look inside the tent? What's it like? I was going to have a look but then I ended up lighting a fire and talking about food."

OOC: Always wondered why everyone wasn't all: "EEEEK!  Beholder!!!"
Though considering what Meri would do to anyone who attacked him, it's definitely a good thing.  We leave enough carnage behind us as it is :)


Meri emerged from the tent behind Farren, looking out at the camp site.
She didn't immediately move to the circle of cushions, instead watching the green-clad man for a moment before looking out around the surroundings, her eyes narrowed in concentration...


OOC: Rolling Perception here, actively trying to spot where the weird stealthy guards are this time, also hoping to get an idea of how many of them there are: 29 (15 + 14).
No reason, just curious ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:23, Tue 23 Jan 2018.

Farren greeted Nym with a nod as she skipped over. "Large," he said. "Spacious." He said again after a moment's thought. "Still too small if Geekaar decides to come find us later for more speaking." He then shrugged. "Still, it seems very pleasant, and despite his worries more than adequate to weather whatever storm is brewing. I swear I can see flashes of lighting in the distance."

Farren looks across to the food pot. "It already smells appetising, and the water is barely warm yet." He looked to Nym and gave the ghost of a smile. "One of the benefits of a heightened sense of smell, I suppose. I do hope any keen hearing isn't adversely affected by listening to our host..."


Meri couldn't not spot the guards immediately, and then realised the reason...

Meri, as you rolled such a good Perception check, I'll let the check roll over on to giving you a few little odds and ends during the rest of the post instead :)

Despite Meri not taking her place immediately, Geekaar appeared otherwise to be satisfied that everyone had gathered around. His five retainers - including Samel - had gathered on the cushions near him spread left and right. One of them - Maggrath the cook - would occasionally rise out of her seat to go prod or stir the huge pot.

However, far more noticeable was that, from seemingly nowhere, his four guards now appeared close to him too. Geekaar's retainers looked generally uncomofrtable as two of the guards stood looking just behind the cushion Geekaar had chosen, while the other two had taken up position a few yards further back, looking to the woods.

The four more seasoned guards were still out in the woods gathering meat, it seemed, and so only the six less outdoors inclined guards were left. By their uncertain postures and looks, it seemed that these guards had not journeyed with Geekaar before.  The four younger guards - Sarah, Jessa, Young Gibb and another young male who seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Sarh and Gibb - were seated on the left as Farren and Nym were positioned. On the right, there was plenty of space for the missing guards, and Mister Muppler and an older woman were sitting down perfectly in the middle between Nym and Geekaar. Mister Muppler, perhaps, had biased himself slightly closer to Nym than Geekaar.


Geekaar stood tall, and looked around, nodding his head. "Good, good." He seemed to address mostly the new guards, though occasionally would throw a look to Nym, Farren, or Meri.  "Usually I would wait for all the camp to be seated, but your four friends are getting the all important venison for this fine stew. And besides, they have travelled with me before, whereas you all have not. Let us take this time for proper introductions."

The retainers seemed to both know what was coming, but be uncomfortable being spotlighted. Geekaar appeared happily oblivious, pointing to each in turn. [Private to Meri: Meri would spot that the retainers occasionally look to each other, and then for some reason glance to the guards with some measure of sympathy or embarrassment or... some other emotion as Geekaar speaks.]

"As, so first we have myself. My name is Gerearchero Akarambaar, though Geekaar is so much easier for the westeners and northern folks to pronounce, and has a pleasing meaning in the languages of the Freeholds. I myself was born to the Starlit House of the West - I was always so near these lands, and knew from my first memory that the bright rays of the stars shone on us all, and that the magnitude of stars in the sky hinted as an equally large number of stories out beyond the Great Gate. My feet and heart are always roaming the plains, but my mind and soul journey a different way."

Geekaar almost misted up, and then shook himself free of his revelry to look left then right. "So, closest to me is Maggrathee Filmassal, of the Windy Crags. Her family are merchants of no small measure, and I cut my teeth on their wagon trains. She does me the honour of being my quartermistress, and at the moment your able cook. Ah, now if Captain Harrasslesser had stayed with us, the food he could have prepared, and the tales he could have told - if he was in the mood. Sadly, in terms of tales you must settle for myself. And we have lost some hours journeying to give this meal its due to time to cook. But aside from the being subject to the mundane matters of time that the good Captain can shrug aside, you will be in fine hands with Maggrath here."

Maggrath gave a distracted nod, and busied herself with stirring the pot again. She at least glanced acrss to Nym and gave a small wink.

"The man who has been so forthright in ordering you around has been my master of wagons in times past, but is now my master of coin. I did not think I needed a master of coin, but he has consistently badgered me over my own money for so long - and been right too many times -
 that what is one to do. He is Sirrecco Fowerassd of the Great Reaches, but we all should simply call him 'sir'."

Sirrecco - the older man in the rich green outfit - gave a thin lipped smile with an attempt at good grace, but appeared just as uncomfortable being named. It was also apparent that he had already introduced himself to the guards, and so Geekaar was most likely just taking the opportunity to rib his treasurer.

"Samemerel you must already know, for she is my spokewoman, though she has only been so for a few years now. Of the powerful Courtaram Seek family. Scouts and vanguards of the highest order, her father himself gave me my first opportunity when I struck out alone. Hah, he thinks I do a favour to take her under my wing, but not one bit of it. She is skilled in the Eleventh house of the Mind, and that is no small measure."

Samel took the backhand compliment with nervous grace, while the woman with the scarf in her hair - who showed a resemblance to Samel when they were seated together - scowled a little.

Geekaar seemed to miss it, and pointed to her next. "And this is dear Samel's... hmm, second aunt? I always forget this part - but nevertheless, this is Darasee. She has been my... is liason the correct word in the common tonuge? Well, if Samel has become my spokesperson, Darasee has always been the one to smooth out the way for those words even when I was far more humble in means yet far less humble in speech. I worry each wagon that this will be the time she is away leading her own, but the Great Spirits always bless my timing. Ah, to have two people to smooth out the words I say and also interpret what the other person really heard is a blessing for someone as ... outspoken... as myself. I can only apologise if my forthrightness offends any of you, and pray you instead listen to these two as if they spoke for me."

[Private to Meri: Meri will notice Sirrecco bristling a little at this. Meri might also recall, thanks to good Perception, that Geekaar mentioned a while ago that he'd left current master of wagons conducting business in Thirdgate. So is that some sort of sleight or upstaging of his 'master of coin'?]

Geekaar then looked last to poor Dott, who seemed to wilt as Geekaar's full attention came upon him. "And finally, Dotthra. Ah, it seems only a year ago he was first with me on these wagons, but it must be three or four. Was just another hand, but was so forthright in his concern for the horses of the wagon. Asked to travel the longer roads away from the comfortable cities to keep tending to them. Such faithful service, I have been happy to take him on as my farrier, and let him expand his skills and experience."

Dott was one of the only ones of the retainers to actually look to the rest of the group and nod a small, nervous hello. He too at least gave a small nod and smile to Nym in passing.



Geekaar then clapped his hands. "Ah, and so I have made the introduction for my group. At leats, the ones who are here. If you all will stay on from Thirdgate to Fivespears, there shall be many more to keep track of. Still, it is only fair to express who you are to my group. Those who travel together should know each other, after all."

Geekaar looked around, his eyes settling on the older, rotund guard Muppler. Muppler looked around, but seemed to understand he was being asked to introduce the guards. He took in a breath-

"So, you are Elias Muppler," said Geekaar happily, looking aroudn the whole group as he introduced the guard. Elias, for his part, was startled that Geekar even knew his name. His shock grew when Geekaar then turned his attention back to the guard. "So, I believe the friendly term is 'doorkeeper'? You are a senior guard, but one they want to keep employed rather than retire. You keep the records of watches and comings and goings, and log important incidents. You know the rest of these fine men and woman, one assumes. No need for introductions to you." Geekaar gave a small laugh.

Elias simply nodded. He seemed to recover, and perhaps took Geekaar's comment regarding Elias's knowledge of Blackwood's guards as a strange endoursement to make the introductions.

However, Geekaar happily moved on the moment Elias was about to speak. "And you," he said to older woman near Elias, "You are Desmine Archer. Your family has dealt with pottery for generations, but you have been a guard for many years. Assigner of watches for a fair few now. Ah, but now that you are going to retire, it must be good to finally be the one to give yourself the holiday to come join us, rather than juggle the workloads of those who have travelled with me in the past. I am sure we are all pleased you have finally managed to join us for once!"

Desmine seemed mortified to have been so thoroughly recognised, and looked to Elias angrily. The man merely shook his head, as if realising he had just been outed as the most likely one to give information on the others.

Geekaar continued without pause or note, looking to the other side. "Ah, and so here we have a group of family and friends. It is so good to be able to already have that bond there for travel on the road. So, I believe, yes, so you are Sarah, yes, the family resemblance there, which would make you the friend, Jessa. Ah yes, Jessa Ironforge. Ah, the family name your grandfather took when he took over the smithing in the village, but your true family name is Deepwater, and they have been respected elders right to the forming of your Pacts."

Jessa, for once, was speechless.

"And Sarah, the one who saw the bear, yes, I know your family well. Yet you joined the guards rather than go in to the family business, and so your brothers followed." Geekaar has said the bear part like such a casual rib that it could have been an inside joke. However, Jessa immediately turned with wide eyes - still speechless - to look accusingly at her friend.

Geekaar happily continued. "And Stark, your brother. Ah, quite the garment maker, balancing commerce and duties to the community. For the moment the maintainer of uniforms and such, but I do hope you will show me some of your wares, if you decide to branch out and go batck to the family endeavours. And Young Gibb, young yes and new to the guards, but of course you are Young Gibb because Gibbert Truenorth is also your father, the famed maker of finery. I have a brace of cloth and more than a few items of his in my wagon, and they will fetch quite the price in the Great Market, I assure you. Ah, a shame, my own modest robe her made for me is with the main wagons."

Geekaar patted down his robe then shrugged. It seemed that all of the younger guards had not realised the link Geekaar had to their family, nor that their anonymity was quite so easy to remove.

Geekaar gave them all an odd, warm smile, despite all their discomfort. "And now we are not strangers. Oh, but I forget..."

He then looked across the campfire towards Nym, Meri, and Farren. "It is very unusual for me to take on paying passengers, but there are exceptions to be made. Everything you have heard about them is true. From the north they came, and made friends with the witch of the woods herself. Except she is no such thing, she is a dryad - excuse me, hamadryad - that had been protecting the land from a grizzly legacy. A few foul people - including a bard named Blace - have tried to turn you against your Forest Guardian. But these brave adventurers have managed to achieve a peace one more, defeated an evil plan, and I do believe your guardian and the elders speak in friendly terms. Indeed, the the forest will be a more welcoming place to you all."

This seemed to illicit the expected reaction from the assembled guards, somewhere between awe, fear, surprise, and reluctant believe all in equal measures.

"The everychanging mage in the robes is Nymididn'treallycatchherfullname, whose friendliness is the true constant, along with her small magical friends Ryn and Meronym. And Meri of the single name, whose skill in magical artifice I never heard of before this week, and yet I feel it merely a greatly kept secret I am glad to have been able to uncover. Her own small homunculus Timur, I beelieve, is proof of her talents. They are, as Samel herself can attest, true friends of the hamadryad Celndara. They possess the keys to Blackwood. And so whether it is because they are my honoured guests, or because they friends of the Blackwood village, I will assume each of you will treat any request or need of theirs as if it was one of my own."

Geekaar gave a small bow.

"Oh, and of course, there is Farren Wyde."

Geekaar paused for a second, and then turned to Maggrath and started discussing very quietly something to do with the food. The sudden pause in Geekaar's speaking, combined with the simplicity in introducing Farren, was startling.

Farren had braced for the attention, but was clearly unnerved by the unexpected brevity of it. It too was not lost on the guards, who seemed to be torn between giving Farren unfriendly looks due to him escaping Geekaar's all knowing words, and giving him quizzical looks as if now forgetting their own pain a moment ago to figure out who the mysterious Farren was.

[Private to Meri: And Meri will note that while Geekaar appears focused on Maggrath, he does dart a glance at the guards, and for a split second does have a small smile as if noting exactly the effect he's had on them in relation to Farren.

]


Anyway, long post is now posted. See why I needed some extra time to double check things! I just had to make sure I hadn't contradicted anything, which I had in one tiny regard that I'll mention later on.

Meri didn't seem to react much to Geekaar's speech, although she glanced around at each person as they were named, her expression unreadable.

"Actually I can't claim credit for Timur" she remarked in response, moving towards the circle of cushions and sitting on the one next to Farren.
She leaned her staff against her shoulder, one finger tapping lightly on one of the small crystals set into it, in time with whatever rhythm her thoughts apparently followed, causing a small spark to flare up inside it with each touch.

Her eyes looked over Geekaar's own stealthy guards as if keeping track of their positions now that she had found them, or perhaps considering asking if they had names and origins too...


OOC: Out of curiosity, can I tell what exactly they are, if they're not actually human?  Not sure if that would be Nature or Arcana, or possibly Dungeoneering if they're really weird aberrant horrors pretending to be humanoid...

It would be a Nature roll, though you are welcome to try Dungeoneering or Arcane to see if you've seen something similar. But any time you have seen skin or features, apart from brief odd impressions, they've been human. Just they are quiet in speech and movement.

Also, I really did mean to have Geekaar introduce them [Private to Meri: and have your perception pick up on something regarding it ]so I'll do that in the next post.

[Private to Meri: Also thye mistake I noticed when reviewing was to do with where I ultimately put the various characters. I hadn't assigned which of the ten were experienced with outdoors and Geekaar, and which were new, so I sort of slipped up and sectioned them one way with you and another with Nym. So the easier fix is that when Meri saw three related young men, one was actually just a woman and it was clearly harder to tell from that distance :p]

At each introduction, Nym happily smiles and waves at the person being introduced (smiling a little more widely and waving a little more fervently at Dott and Maggrath thanks to their slight displays of attention for her) and otherwise seems to listen with interest as Geekaar works his way through almost the entire gathering. She looks momentarily confused as his use of Many's real name, apparently having forgotten that that's what it was, then seems to stifle a giggle as he mentions Ryn. She cocks her head in curiosity as he provides Farren's "introduction" but doesn't comment and instead glances around at Meri's comment, leaning forward to ask the half-elf a question.

"But didn't you make him?" she asks. "I thought you did. Maybe I forgot."

Heh, so it seems like Geekaar's little group has set themselves up as a big competing gang in the "has a long name but you can basically ignore it in favour of the short version" area that has previously been so dominated by Nym ;).
Anyway, as I was reading Geekaar's intros I decided I would want to make an Insight check to see if I could tell where his info was coming from - if he was just remembering stuff he'd previously been told/worked out, or is actually doing something weird to get the info from somewhere as he needs it (or has someone/something nearby that is passing it to him, I don't know). And then he introduced Farren and now I really want to do an Insight check to see...I mean, he might just have a really good memory and be really good at picking up every little thing people say (which is entirely plausible, to be fair), but...you know, maybe he has something else. Anyway, Insight check...25 :).

Obviously awaiting Meri to comment on Nym's question and also roll one or more knowledge checks, but I can post my missing Geekaar post about his guards. And also maaaaaybe secretly let Nym know the result of her rolls. Way back when you first met Geekaar he hinted that an easteners' naming might be in competition with Nym's own. Either that or he decided to try and one up Nym at the time, and so isn't about to stop now :D

Funnily, both of you are now asking questions that the other already has a lot of Insight on.

The guards were still muttering and speaking amongst themselves. Sarah was deflecting many questions about bears, most from Jessa whose torrent or speech provided background noise that the rest of the disucssions seemed to try and hide behind. Muppler was getting a few dirty looks, still as if he had told Geekaar everything.

"I didn't think he even knew my first name, his coin master barely acknowledged that when I gave it," came one hispered comment.

Still, Farren still got the bulk of the long looks.

Geekaar seemed to realise something, and briefly broke from his discussion with Maggrath. "Oh, my guards, I forgot to name them. They have been with me such a long time, and do such a good job of guarding me without getting in the way I sometimes forget they are even there. Such poor reward for such loyal service through the years. They are Gorass, Hulmeere, Slythe, and Tulloop." He absentmindedly pointed in their general direction while still looking ot the group. "See, not so imposing when you know they have names. Though in respect to their service and my protection, their family ties should remain unsaid. You never know how blackmail and coertion can manifest. Forgive my precautions. For that reason, they will also not eat with the rest of us."

That earned a black look from Maggrath, raising even the slightest possiblity of her food being ruined through poisoning to reach Geekaar. His whispered words to her seemed as much to apologies as to continue their previous conversation.

[Private to Meri: Meri will note that Geekaar said this almost towards her, as if he noted her interest. Meri would also note, more importantly, that Geekaar hadn't actually looked around to confirm that he was pointing to each guard, evne though he hadn't ever looked at them when they appeared. And it wasn't askif the four always took up set positions. Whle they clearly easily set in to well worn patterns, this seemed to be the movements of well practised guards knowing where they shuld go if they were closest to one position of the other. So Geekaar, most likely, had just given arbitrary names to the guards. Unless he had some other means of knowing which was which that didn't rely upon sight...

Meri would also spot that Samel has been shooting Farren some sympathetic looks.]


[Private to Nym: He does seem to be reeling off information as if it is something he already knew. It's sort of what he did to you before, but the fact he didn't know for sure about what you said to the Captain, nor if you knew about the Necromancer, shows he is not infalliable. And the fact that he's only named things about you and your exploits to do with your time in Blackwood village shows his information must come from there. Which is reasonable. Just he's apparently very good at getting such information.

Indeed, he's even said that he has dealt with one of the guards' families directly, clearly knows people in the village, and would most likely have spoke to Commander Molsove about the guards he employed if he had a mind to. So really, he's just managed to use the od social situation to do something not that impressive. And Nym might recall what Samel said before about Geekaar caring what people think of him - he's basically ensured that six more people will add tales of him 'knowing too much' in to the general rumour mill of Blackwood. That's probably an invaluable effect if he likes to deal in information as much as goods. Or likes to have people worry he knows more than he should about deals, to make sure they don't trick him.

The Farren thing is a little odd, if he's admitting he doens't know anything about Farren. And clearly he didn't, because Nym would easily spot that he was fishing for info about Farren when he was reassurring Nym he knew all about Meri and Nym.

Still, he didn't actually say he didn't know anything, he just was mysterious about it. So he's kept his reputation in tact, they may well just assume he knows thing about Farren but daren't / won't tell. So it is more likely he wants to both direct all the curiosity and anomosity at Farren rather than have anyone try to pry too much about him, and also he's maybe using it as a way to make Farren feel uncomfortable and perhaps shake more information loose. The three of you have made it super clear you don't want ot be trapped in to speaking with Geekaar, but this seems an evil way of doubling down on that - Farren may well not want to have to deal with any of the guards or retainers now, and so perhaps he'll be forced to speak with Geekaar directly on any camp matters. Those seem the likely reasons for such an odd peformance, anyway :)]

"I made his outer body, based on the design of a Warforged, but not the internal parts.  I thought I told that story already."
Meri shrugged at that, and looked back at Geekaar as he named the guards.
She continued to study the guards for a moment, then her gaze drifted away as she took off her backpack with Timur clinging to it, placing it beside her and letting him step down onto the ground where he sat between Meri and Farren, peering around at the various people around them.

Meanwhile, Meri was searching through the items in her pack, apparently no longer interested in the guards...


OOC: Nature: 24 (17 + 7) check on the guards.
Will also try Arcana: 32 (18 + 14) - Out of curiosity and slight suspicion ;)
Using up all my good rolls again!

If I remember right, Meri did tell Timur's "backstory" earlier.  She's just assuming Nym got distracted by something shiny at the time ;)

Sorry for the delay, meant to reply earlier, but I ended up spending the day on a wasted trip into Edinburgh (which is almost literally coast-to-coast for me, since I live right on the west coast!)  And none of the trains I was on had usable wifi (surprise, surprise!)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:43, Sat 27 Jan 2018.

Ahh, if Meri did already explain about Timur, I'm afraid I've forgotten it. But since this is Nym, at least it's reasonable that she might have forgotten it as well, I suppose ;).

"Did you?" asks Nym, blinking. "Oh, sorry. Maybe I forgot. But um...at least you made some of him, right? So...that means you sort of did make him. I mean, saying so's not quite wrong, is it?"

[Private to GM: Telepathic message to Farren - "<giggle> We found something he doesn't know! This is fun!"]

"Possibly, though the body isn't particularly complex" replied Meri, her gaze still peering into her backpack.
She had stopped rummaging around, perhaps not finding whatever she had been looking for.
"But to accept praise where it isn't justified is to lower your own standards" she added, reaching back into the pack and recovering one of the discarded pieces of parchment she had tossed in there before, opening it out to a blank part and starting to scribble some formula on it...


OOC: Another little pearl of wisdom her master dished out during his more contemplative Yoda-esque moments (in between his more common sarcastic git moments).
Though actually this particular one is from Sherlock Holmes :)

Also looked back, and Timur backstory bit is on Chapter 4, Thread 1.  Message #80.


[Private to The Altweaver: Backpack rummaging indicates me searching through my inventory and failing to find anything to use for the "bell silencing" enchantment...
Is it possible to craft something using natural objects like stones and stuff from the forest?]
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Sun 28 Jan 2018.

That's cool Meri. I heard the Glasgow / Edinburgh trains had been knocked by weather a week or so ago, so good thing you weren't trying to do the trip then!

For some reason Farren looked around to Nym. He doesn't seem to happy, which is perhaps understandable, though why he decides to share that with Nym is a greater mystery.

[Private to Nym:
Lol, for some reason this might not immediately be a comfort to Farren :D But just know it is a good point, so he should see it is something to leverage later, once the staring stops!]

[Private to Meri: Ok, so Arcana wise, Meri gets nothing - but in a good way. These people do not look like, even subtly, constructs of any kind. And she can't detct the telltale little odours of potion use, nor feel any magical auras or sparks or anything from either the guards or Geekaar. Therefore, the guards definitely do not have any magical amulets, rings, augments, etc to account for their less than natural feeling stealth and the occasional flash of weirdness. And also, Meri can be sure Geekaar doens't have any magical links to have told where hois guards are or whichis which. So that really speaks to Geekaar either hiding the real names of his guards because he is that paranoid about them being known, which is possible but unlikely, or slightly more likely it's because who they are or who they used to be is not important n a human way :)

Nature wise, Geekaar has mentioned a spirit culture for his people. So while these guard people seem like normal people form wise, there is just something off about them. If it's not magical, then it would have to be religious or perhaps nature magic. And given Samel's talk about gods, or the lack of them being revered, would seem to speak more about this effect possibly being some form of spirit augmentation or possession. That and the feel or the hints of animals too, if arcana magic is ruled out. Of course, given the fact Geekaar just ignored their individual identity, and the fact he seems to have come up with some odd reason for them not eating with the group, then it might speak to some form of more permanent possession perhaps.

So there you go, mystery solved, nothing scary to worry about, just some completely unknown form of insubstansial creature walking around in willingly or unwillingly donated human bodies now acting as skin suits :p As for as you can tell with those rolls. I mean, 27 is relly good, so if it doens't actually get you the correct info you need, then they must be really powerful so ... let's just assume this information is good so you can sleep at nights :D


In terms of making the silence enchantment, depends what method you were going for. If you are constucting a magical item to null the effects, then something more valuable is better (in terms of gp cost mechanically, and narratively I'd say the magic conducts better in a good base item.)

I mean, you are an artificer / alchemist, so taking base items and doing cool stuff with them is your stock in trade. And mechanically as long as you spend the required gp for the magic it's fine. So you could just take a nice looking rock if you wanted. Similarly to making a consumeable powder, I suppose you could just use rocks and dirt and enchant them. However, in all cases you will need to spend the gp equivalent of a level 1 magical item (320gp) or a level 1 consumable item (20gp per eight hours you want the effect).

There might be an option for fueling it coming up...]


Well that seemed like an oddly short DM post. No secret messages to anyone going on here!

At the moment everyone is quite distracted, or at least seemingly distracted. You might need to be sublte and even roll Bluff / Stealth to talk to Farren as he is still the focus for many looks, and who knows how much Geekaar sees, but in general you are free to speak.

Once you're happy to move on, we can move on :)

Meri paused in scribbling the formula and glanced around at the ground beside the cushion she was sitting on.
Reaching down, she picked up a small stone and peered at it, then showed it to Timur who stared at it a moment then shook his head.
Meri shrugged and tossed the stone aside, looking around as if searching for more, then returned to the formula, mumbling something under her breath...


OOC: Apparently they're affected by track maintenance now too.  (Which probably translates as fallen leaves on the line or something).  I remember the warning about it showing up on the electronic boards they have at the stations.
Edinburgh isn't somewhere I go often, since the fare is a bit steep and it takes hours each way, not to mention the wifi on the trains is usually messed up so my laptop can't get online.  And on this occasion I was sent there on the wrong date, so, yeah.  Wasted journey, taking up a whole day when I could have been dealing with the other 1001 things I have to do, and leaving me out of pocket.  Next time someone wants me to go there, they can go play in traffic...
Hope there's a fight soon, I got some frustration I need to offload onto something! ;)


[Private to The Altweaver: Hmm, wondering if I should have tried Dungeoneering on the guards now...  Is it too late to try that? :)

I don't think I have anything worth 320gp, at least nothing in her own inventory that Meri would be too willing to part with.  Then again, it's not as if impressing Geekaar with her work is a really high priority for her anyway.  ;)

One possibility that's definitely on her mind though - Would Disenchanting break the curse on the bells, just in case Geekaar refused to take it back?
She doesn't think he would do that, but she's not one to lightly accept cursed items from someone she doesn't fully trust without trying to find a backup plan ;)]

In response to Meri, Nym just shrugs.

"Well, you've made loads of other things as well." she says. "And fixed things, too. And some of those things were people. So, you know, it's probably good to say some nice things about it. Otherwise you might think that no-one likes any of the things you do, when they're actually really good."

Nym looks around at Farren's unhappy expression and giggles a little.

"Ahh, don't worry, Farren." she says. "I'm sure we'll have some food soon. Then we can be happy! Well, I mean, I'm already happy. I suppose I'll be more happy. Hmm, I hope it's ready soon. I haven't eaten since...well, okay, Maggrath gave me a carrot a little while ago...but before that, I haven't eaten since...um...since...the last time I ate. Which was...before."

She peers longingly toward Maggrath's cooking pot, as though hoping that by staring at it she can make the food cook faster.

Okay so technically that's true - she can make food cook faster by staring at it. But it just might get a bit burnt and/or otherwise not taste nearly as good as it would when prepared by someone who actually knows how to cook ;).

Yeah, getting hit by terrible travel and then terrible scheduling isn't great :( Be careful what you wish for in terms of fights though.... remember, the chapter should have ended by now, so clearly I was planning on it ending dramatically one way or another :p


And Nym, totally feel free to offer to heat up the water quicker. As Geekaar hinted, the Captain had ways of speeding up the cooking, obviously as it stands you will have hours to wait for water to boil, stwe to stew, nice venison to be preped and cooked. Anything to speed things up might make people happier :)

[Private to Meri: Feel free to roll Dungeoneering too, though at this juncture Dungeoneering / Religion would mostly be ruling out the guards being any form of undead, or undead like beings.

You and Nym especially went and bargained for many shiny magical items in the village. I know, as your available treasure for the rest of the level is now at zero becua of that :p Or just go for the conumeable option, being sure to demostrate it to Geekaar afterwards, Why not have his pockets fund your experimenting in to more permanent means of doing something too it.

And yeah, you can totally disenchant. It's a low level curse item, clearly designed to aggrevate someone who would not be able to either readily use the effect positively, or simply destroy the thing. You can always try to combine the effects, disenchanting the curse alone while leaving the effect able to be controlled. That might be tricky and need some skill rolls, of course.
]

"I prefer fixing items to fixing people" murmured Meri quietly, still preoccupied with whatever she was working out on the parchment.
She paused to work out a few calculations on her fingers, then wrote a few more lines before showing the formula to Timur who nodded and pointed towards Geekaar.
Meri shot a rather sour look at Timur in response, but nodded apparently in reply, stuffing the parchment into a pocket for now...


OOC: Don't mind Meri, just doing what she does :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Tue 30 Jan 2018.

"Well, I mean...a damaged thing is still a damaged thing, isn't it?" says Nym offhandedly. "If it's a window, or..or a sword, or someone's arm, or something. You can still fix all of it, right? Hmm, I wonder if I can help with that..."

This last comment is evidently not really aimed at anyone, Nym having become somewhat distracted as she watches Maggrath with the cooking. As she starts to stand, Ryn plops to the ground and starts wandering about the place, sniffing here and there and apparently exploring around people's feet whilst taking care not to get accidentally stepped on.

Nym, meanwhile, returns to Maggrath.

"Hey, um, is there anything I can do to make it cook faster?" she asks. "I mean, that might make it taste less nice, might it, if I make the fire burn more or something?"

Meri didn't respond to Nym's comment with more than a mumbled grunt.
She had gone back to looking around the camp, Timur following her gaze, both of them taking in every detail...

Geekaar disengaged when Nym came closer, apparently having done trying to micromanage the cooking. It seeked Maggrath had a small selection of spices that Geekaar had been debaing with her over. She rolled her eyes a little before fully concentrating on Nym's words.

"Well later, yes, the slow releasing of the flavour is the thing. You do want to sear the meat or have the vegetables go to mush. Temperature is very important. But for right now? Making this cauldron heat up faster to let cooking begin, that would be very welcome. And if you can control the temperature of the cauldron later, that would be good too. Captain Harrasslesser did those sort of tricks, I think."

So yeah, if Nym wants to use prestidigitation to warm the water, that would be cool. It won't be an instantaneous effect, since the catrip can only affect 1 pound of anything at a time. But you can certainly slowly help the water heat up, or warm the cauldron itself. And later on cool the area to help too.

[Private to Nym: Ryn will find the people around are generally either distracted or idly friednly to her. Dott will be a little cautious but put out his hand. Mister Mupler's boots seems to smell as if he stood in something organically unpleaant at some ppint recently. Jessa will actually start speaking in general about Ryn's appearance, going on about how unusual it is and trying to work out exactly what species she is. Sarah and her brother have very imaculately constructed boots, that look far better than everyone else's well worn boots. ]


Geekaar clapped his hands, to draw people's attention again. He reached in to some pocket of his robe, and drew a small purple gem - about the shape of an egg if not more than half the size, and equally as smooth.

"I promised you some tales, so let me start with the first. But don't worry, don't worry..." he flapped his other hand as if to ward off imaginary complaints, "... this tale is short and to a point. The point being a game to lighten the mood and entertain ourselves while we await our evening's meal. A game where one of you can winthis gem!"

That at least got the group's attetnion. Even Farren raised an eyebrow, as if trying to work out what the trick was. Many was drifting about, between seeing what Meri was doing, and seeing what Nym was doing, but paused to look at the gem and make a small little noise of excitement.

Geekaar smiled, and looked to the gem. "Ah, so I came upon this little thing...or rather three just like it ... as the eyes of the statue of the Many-eyed goodess, in a temple in your city of Fiveknights. What a fine statue it was, hands raised to the heavens and if counting the stars, eyes flying around her head, some of marble, some of coloured stone, some of coloured glass, but three coloured gems of clear worth. I was taken aback by the beauty of the workmanship, the subject, but certainly by the gems most of all. I had been tasked to complete a trade to that temple, in my younger days. When I got there, the monks were plain and simply folks, and aside from the opulence of their statue, their temple and those monks seems more focused on study and ritual than extravegance. Unfortunately, it seemed that the deal had been a few mouths removed, and the monks said that they could not pay what I had been told they would pay. Oh, what was a young man, looking to make a reputation, to do?" He looked to the heavens himself, but carried on without asking anyone their thoughts. "The monks, however, were not uncaring, and offered me one of the eyes of their statue for my efforts and the goods I had obtained on  their behalf."

Geekaar looked to the gem in his hand greedily. "Can you imagine? What was a young man to do? What could one do except...refuse!" Geekaar looked to the group, grinning. "I refused. Oh yes. I told them I could not think to defile such a statue with my averice. No, I told them that instead, I would accept a simple boon. If they could, when I was in the city, offer me shelter and simple food, that would be enough. That a friendly place to rest without worry was of far more value to me. Haha, how magnanamous of me!"

Geekaar again had a twinkle in his eye as he looked around. "But of course, it was a test. They could pay, this little thing in my hand and the three on their statue were not the limit of their wealth. But the real value was knowing what sort of man I was, to know if they could do business with me in the future." Geekaar paused a moment in contemplation. "The test was not my nobility, understand. It was my knowledge. It is that which the many-eyed goddess of your cities values, I believe. I knew the temple had been formed on that location, at quite the out of the way area, because it led to a small mine of these gems. They were testing whether I knew enough of them to know not to settle for the single gem. And yet be wise enough to not simply try for the single gain. I showed I knew when to seize the day, and yet when to exercise retraint. And for that, I recevied many more of these gems, and the friendship of oe of my favourite places when I travel here."

Geekaar looked again at the gem for a moment, and then to the group. "And for you, if you listen to my words, you may well earn this gem for yourself. A modest gem in a modest body, but I daresay even a cautious eveluation of its worth would put it at doubling a person'a wages on this trip."

Geekaar looked to the group to see if he had their attention, and he saw that he did. He also seemed to notice the occasional look going ot the forest, as if some of the guards were realising they were, somehow, getting one over on their more experienced kin who were not back from the hunt yet.

Geekaar started moving the gem from one hand to the other. "The game is quite simple. You see, the left hand, in my culture, is seen as connected to the heart. It is the hand of desire, the hand that seizes the day!" He gripped the gem inhis meaty left hand for a moment, gesturing proudly. He then flipped the gem to his right hand. "The right hand though, that is the hand of caution. It is a prejudice in my culture, the right hand being connected to soul and mind. Ah, as if right handed people were somehow wiser and more learned. Oh, but still, that is the thought. The right hand pulls back, is logical and cautious. Shows restraint when needed." He pulled the gem back to his chest, cradling it. "And so, I shall take the gem, and place it hidden in one of my two hands, like so." He rolled his hands together, then pulled them apart both clenched. "Do you need to guess which hand the gem is in? Hah, no, that is too simple. Indeed, where I have placed the gem - where the opportunity lies, if you will - is almost always immaterial, and rarely comes in to play. Juts like now. No, for those of you that wise to play..."

Geekaar gestured to the group with one closed hand, indicating in general motions their own persons, "Please, go ahead and find something of your own that is valuable, or at least unique. Usually the game is played where everyone wagers something of their own. However, in this game, only my gem will be offered. The item you all find is only as a token. It is best if it can fit hidden in a hand, but at the very least holdable in one hand." Geekaar looked around to see who might wish to participate, and to see if they understood. The guards seemed hesitant. Geekaar carried on regardless.

"So, each round, the choice is simple. Will you seize the day, or be cautious? Do you indicate this choice by hiding your own item in your left, or your right hand? Obviously, for bigger items, hide your hands behind youe back, one high and one low." Geekaar nodded. "And then, as one, we reveal our hands. The group votes, my hand is usually ignored. Some will vote seize, and some will vote for caution. And only those who are in the majority.... lose." Geekaar pronounced that last part with a slow smile. "Those who were the least in number continue to the next round, where we all hide our items again. In the case of a tie, my item will count. So you must always bet against me... well, if you think I everything else is equal, of course."

Geekaar laughed. "And so now you see the lesson. Do you seize the day when everyone else would be cautious? That way is victory. But if all rush for their opportunity, a wise man ... or woman ... waits for their chance. You may think this is a game of luck, but I can assure you, it is a child's game that even the most hardened merchant still loves to play in my country. You must play the group as a whole, know the way the group's mind is working, knowing the layers and layers of guessing and second guessing. And oh, how much more fun it gets when the number dwindle to a pair of contenders, who must guess each other's mind."

Geekar looked around. "So, are the rules simple enough? Who wishes to play? Do not be shy!" The guards still seemed shy.

"Fine," said Farren, with a look to Geekaar that was inscrutable. "I'll play." Samel seemed shocked, perhaps given the hint of the revenant's osionic abilities.Geekaar just grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

That illicited looks, but seemed to stir the guards to also nod. Geekaar even gestured to Dott, indicating that the farrier should join in. He did not insist on the rest of his retainers.

"Ah, and my other guests, happiest Nym, wisest Meri. Would you also enter?"

Nym is happy to assist Maggrath with the cooking, and holds out her furry hands toward the base of the pot in order to send a stream of further warmth. She looks over at Geekaar as he starts to talk again, and gives the purple gemstone a somewhat curious glance. Her expression grows somewhat more confused at the slightly longwinded explanation of the rules of Geekaar's game, but seems unwilling to remove her hands from her current task in order to really react much for the moment. Instead, she seems more curious to see how everyone else will react, and doesn't immediatly volunteer herself when asked.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to say in my last post - Ryn is not only exploring people's feet (though she is certainly doing some of that), but she is also seeing if she can pick up any interesting titbits of knowledge or anything from people's conversations. Might as well give a Perception check for her, actually...25.

Meanwhile, some checks for Nym. Firstly, Perception - did Geekaar really hide that gem in one of his hands or did he sleight-of-hand it into his pocket or something? Woo, crit on that one :D.
Also, Insight - is Geekaar telling the truth in his story about the monks and his passing of their test and all that, or is it an embellished version or even an outright lie? Ugh, lol, botched it.
Okay, so, next...some kind of check to identify the gem, what kind it is and whether it might be magical. Would that be Nature or Arcana or something? Fuuuuuck, botched that one too! So I suppose it doesn't matter what skill I used :P.
And I suppose let's have a...Religion(?) check to see if Nym has ever heard anything about this temple with its monks and its many-eyed goddess...bleh, 9.

Meri glanced around as Geekaar began to speak, Timur following her gaze again.
Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the gem, although she seemed more mildly curious than actively interested in acquiring the stone.
Her eyes followed the movements of it carefully though, as if finding something new to focus on that was more intriguing than the people around them.

Beside her, Timur shuffled closer and nudged her, looking up and meeting her gaze as she turned to look at him.
"Hmm, good point" she murmured, a hint of a sardonic grin appearing briefly on her face before she looked back up at Geekaar.
Without looking she dug her right hand into her backpack, going down considerably deeper than should be possible within the confines of the pack, feeling around as if searching for some item by touch alone, then retreating again, holding something hidden in her closed hand.
Moving this behind her back, she shuffled it rapidly from hand to hand for a moment before returning both hands, now both closed, in front of her again, all while meeting Geekaar's eyes with a hint of a smirk.


OOC: Amusing fact, Meri is right-handed, relying on soul and mind for her craft.  Perhaps she doesn't truly desire anything? ;)


[Private to The Altweaver: Okies, trying a Perception check on Geekaar first of all, like Nym, Meri is watchful for any sleight of hand stuff:  30 (16 + 14), Woo! :)

Also Insight, but the truth of the story doesn't matter much to her, she's trying to discern if Geekaar has any particular motive for posing this little game, like if it helps him learn something about the players, or if it's just a game he likes to play (and probably win a lot of stuff at!)  18 (9 + 9)

Also Arcana to try and detect if there's anything magical about the gem, also whether it would make a suitable focus for the bell silencing enchantment (since I'm guessing that's what you meant before).  31 (17 + 14) - Might be peaking there!

Timur suggested that idea to Meri, and she kind of liked the thought of winning it from Geekaar, then giving it back in a way, since that has a certain poetry with the story he told (and it's possible he might be testing others in the same way too!)

Curious too, is there a skill check or anything to throw off someone else like Farren or Samel trying to read her mind to see which hand she's holding the item in?
The amulet would probably give them a nasty headache, though that's a daily so would only work once.
Thinking of having her just focusing her entire attention on a patch of ground, or an insect or something.  Or maybe focus on the campfire and think of that "living fire" thing, try and send any psychic peepers the sensation of The Itch ;)  hehe.

If it matters what item she chose, it was the tarnished Silver Stag Figurine.  The only thing she's carrying right now that's really valuable to her seems to be the symbol of Celindara's friendship.  Make of that what you will ;)]
This message was last edited by the player at 00:05, Thu 01 Feb 2018.

Well Nym, it seems those rolls were working pretty well in line with your character - not recalling much but curious about everything happening right now! Don't forget to put the values, not just botch / crit, since skills don't have auto success / fail. So there is always a chance that a good skill still gets a moderate success on a poor roll, or your good roll is going up against a DC above your level.

Maggrath seems happy that Nym has offered to help, and hums a tiny tune under her breath as she pokes and prods various vegetables, and spends some time selecting leaves and powders from her pouches at various intervals.

[Private to Nym: In terms of Ryn, she would hear two basic threads of converation before Geekaar interrupted. The first was Sarah being quizzed about the bear. Jessa's speaking generally let Sara hide, but from some pointed questions she ignored, and some speculations from her brothers, it makes it sound as if this was roughly the area Sarah was in when she claimed to have seen the bear. She seems to be more and more nervous about it and perhaps the guards not yet returned as people remind her of it.

The other conversation is Elias Mupler and Desmine. The latter still seems to think Elias was the one to give so much information regarding her. However, they do seem to be comparing notes about other guards who have worked with Geekaar previously, and realising that some did seem to have unexpected wealth, and also they tended to be a little skittish about Geekaar himself. Both can now perhaps see the reason for those reactions - the man might be generous with his money, but makes it hard to feel comfortable around him.


As for Nym's observations, se would be reasonably confident that, in this instance, Geekaar has put the gem in his right hand, and hasn't done anything odd with it nor his other hand.

Geekaar's manner just makes his stories sound so overblown and false, but it's hard to be sure if they are or not, or have any seed of truth. The many-eyed god doens't ring a bell at all, but it is possible that he's simply being flowery in his language about some normal god, rather than speaking about some otherwise unknown god. The gem doens't seem magical, just pretty :) But who knows for sure...

Nym might suspect that Meri pays more attention to this sort of things, and might know more about magical objects and so on. A pity the telepathy can't work two ways, really!]


Geekaar gave a small nod of the head to Meri, a twinkle in his eye. He did look to Farren and Meri most, though he did look across to the rest of the group to see their reactions.

[Private to Meri: Meri will be able to tell with certainty that Geekaar hasn't done anything too trick, and that the stone seems to have settled in his right hand. Apaprently, he's playing this one cautiously :) Although what his choices indicate, to do with the tactics of this game, who knows...

He seems delighted regarding the game, so there is probably a small part of it is just liking to play it - or rather see it played. It's actually hard to tell if he has an ulterior motive, given he demonstrated such a thorough knowledge of the group though! Perhaps it's just more data points for when he properly plays the game in a group? Hard to tell with Geekaar, sadly! A moderate success isn't quite good enough to know more.

The gem is definitely not magical, but Meri would recognise it. It seems to be a very pure mineral that has many names (feel free to come up with the ones Meri would know it by herself) but is a very good conductor for magical energy. It is also very possible that a diluted or branched version of this gem is what Meri uses in her crystals. Once more, I'll leave you to figure that one out, but now you can see why I thought I'd let you throw in some names if you like.

So yes, it would absoluately be a good focus for anything magical Meri is doing. And learning exactly who and where these monks are might not be a bad idea either... though Fiveknights is the furthest town in 'the wheel'.

It would be Bluff to try and hide her thoughts or confuse them - so feel free to roll that now if you're worried. Farren seems more concentrating on Geekaar for the moment, and has obviously made his choice too. There might be some subtle prickled from the pendant to indicate someone was trying ot read her mind - that would be Insight or Perception to spot them, if they exist, of course :)]



It seemed that the all the guards had decided to participate, some more slowly and reluctantly than others. They all looked around at each other, some like Meri digging items out of the their packs and concealing the hand there, others taking something form their pockets and swapping them around behind their backs.

Dott seemed uncertain what to do, and Geekaar encouraged the young man to simply play with a stone of the ground. Dott then recalled something, and shyly pulled out a small handful of the grass he had fed Geekaar's horses with earlier. He hid the stalk behind his back, and seemed to hold his hands at different positions at his back.

Geekaar smiled. "So, that's one... three...five... nine... nine of you playing? Not including myself, of course." He then looked to Nym to see if she was joining in our not.


There's two ways I can conduct this. We can play it straight, and aside from of course using skills to help you decide, you play the game and let luck and skills guide you.

The second way is to run this as a skill challenge, so you can be a little more certain that good uses of skills and successes with them will let you move through the various stages to the end. But the skill challenge will require you to both act in concert somehow, perhaps Nym passing messages with her mind and Meri giving hints with Bluff.

I'll let you both decide!

Nym looks with interest at the gathering of people now holding things in their hands, but then looks back at Maggrath and her cauldron.

"Ahh, um, err...oh, no, sorry." she says to Geekaar in an apologetic tone. "I'm already helping Maggrath with her nice yummy food. But maybe we can play again some other time. I don't know if it would be fair for me to play right now anyway - I mean, if I saw which hand you put the pretty gem thing in, then that's sort of cheating if I make a guess, isn't it? Because it wouldn't really be a guess..."

[Private to GM: Yeah, maybe at some point I'll manage to get two-way telepathy. One of my possible familiars can do that, but it's not one that's come up yet. Still, hat Nym can do telepathy at all is just a bonus, really - it's not really something that would be naturally within the skillset of a purely elemental being, but she seems to be picking up stuff from around her, or something. But I'm sure it would be possible, if in the presence of people who don't know she can speak telpathically, to send a message to someone and have them respond vocally in such a way that it just sounds like they're randomly talking rather than taking part in a conversation ;). I wonder what she'll sound like in combat if she ever decides to talk telepathically with anyone, especially once she starts "waking up"...hmm, I shall have to bear it in mind...]

Not sure if I was too confusing, so I'll OOC make the game clear. Geekaar will do so too, but he's more flowery and trying to trip you up to leave it up to him :p

So the game is to either vote 'seize the gem' or 'wait for the gem'. You aren't guessing what hand he has it in. Geekaar's 'vote' doens't count to start with. The votes are tallied up. Everyone who voted for the majority option loses. Everyone who votes for the minority option goes through to a new round of guessing. If the vote is tied, then Geekaar's choice matters - so in that case his guess shows who loses.

Now you might see why he likes the game and I offered it as a skill challenge? Everyone can really outthink themselves in terms of what everyone else might vote. And actually, the more information made public, the 'better' as Geekaar will now demonstrate.


Geekaar grins. "Ah, but the game is not to guess where the gem is. The game is to guess what everyone else will guess, and to be in the minority. What I have chosen only matters if the numbers are even, and if half of the people guess one way and half the other. At the moment it is an odd number, so this doens't matter..."

With that, Geekaar shows - with a flourish - that the gem was in his right hand.

"Of course, if you join in the game, then the numbers are even. If the vote splits equally, then everyone who is cautious, who votes with their right hand, will lose right away."

He looks to the group. "Feel free to remake your choices, everyone. Unti lthe vote is public, everything can be in flux.And if Nym wishes to join, you can choose again."

Geekaar looks back to Nym with a wink. "You see. If you join, people would be foolish to vote with their right hand, wouldn't they? Now they know if all else is equal, and the vote is split, they will lose. So best to seize the day, seize it!" And then Geekaar laughs. "And so, clearly, if no one would vote for caution now, then caution will win you the game, no matter that I hold the gem in my hand. And yet, if that is what everone would do... no, best to go with seizing the day!"

Geekaar laughs again, seemingly genuinely enjoying the back and forth. "Ah, this game can be so cut-throat, when merchants get together to content with one another and win each other's valuables. Ah, so much nicer to have the same fun, but the only person to lose is me! A willing trade to allow you all to experience the turbulence of a merchant's life!"

"Still, this is the first game of the night. Please, if cooking entertains you more, please, think nothing of it. More chance for the rest to win!"

So there you go, if Nym still wants to play she can, otherwise it's also fine. Meri, you can pause to see if others are shuffling their hands, or if Meri will stick with her guess.

Ah yeah, I think it was a combination of getting confused and forgetting exactly what Geekaar had said because I didn't go back and re-read the post again where he explained the rules when I made that post yesterday :D.

Nym listens to Geekaar's clarification of the rules but still looks a little confused.

"Oh." she says eventually. "Um. I mean, that's probably fun. But it sounds like there's lots of complicated thinking involved and people trying to think things about each other that might not be true. Um. I think I'll stay here and help Maggrath with making the food taste as yummy as possible..."

Yeah, I'm afraid I think this is a little beyond the level of Nym's attention span - she's fine with reading people normally as a sort of instinctive thing, but when she suddenly has to do it for a game and there's a whole load of people at once and no really clear reason for doing it (this doesn't quite class as "fun" for her, since everyone else seems kind of confused and she isn't sure what the end result will be beyond Geekaar talking some more), she will choose to stick with the thing that definitely will have good results, as far as she is concerned. Because we all know she likes food :D. But she can still watch and stuff. Maybe she'll decide it looks fun after a while, I don't know.

Meri glanced quickly around the others in the group, moving her hands subtly behind her back as she did as if to make another quick shuffle of her chosen item from hand-to-hand before bringing them back out in front of her again.


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Hmm, trying an Insight check.  Would I need to roll a separate check for everyone, as well as one for trying to detect any psychic jiggery-pokery going on too?  25 (16 + 9) - Not a bad start anyway :)

She had the item in her left hand before, but just sneakily moved it to her right.
Rolling Bluff to hide that: 6 (4 + 2) - Meh, knew my lucky rolls couldn't last.]

Geekaar actually laughed at Nym's comment. "Oh indeed, oh indeed, it gets so complicated when merchants and thieves and and adventurers all get together of an evening to swindle each other with honest games. But I am sure this will be far more civilised and enjoyable, even to those just looking on."

Geekaar moved his gaze around the group. "So, nine players it is! You can change all of your guesses as you wish, right up until I finally call time. And I will take the opportunity to do the same, I think... even though it matters not, of course. It is just the principle of the thing. It feels wrong not to, even as the host rather than the player!"

Geekaar took a moment to roll his hands together, apparently to swap where the gem was. Or perhaps fake swapping the gem was. [Private to Nym: He does seemed to have moved it to his left hand, if Nym would be paying attention. ][Private to Meri: He has moved it to his other hand.]

The group - in cluding Dott - looked around nervously at one another, except for Farren, who simply spent his time looking to Geekaar. The other retainers were simply looking on, if not busy with their own tasks like Maggrath. Many had apparently been trying to manipulate something and ask to be included, but with a sad 'oh well' had apparently realised there were many impediments to his participation, and settled on watching.

"So, when everyone feels ready-"

Farren already lifted a hand - his left. It was hard to disguise the little form of his sneaky rodent friend inside his cupped hand.

Geekaar laughed. "And I presume you know I haven't called time on the first round yet? That people are free to make changes to their hand, if you are seizing the day?"

Farren simply nodded.

Geekaar laughed again and looked around, then looked to Nym. "Ah, you see? This is fun! So much more fun when I too, get to be merely the spectator of it with no true stake in the game! Who says great generosity is not its own reward!"


So, Meri, seems like it's just you here. Farren is chosing to reveal ahead of time he's going for the left hand. Up to you if you change your own vote, of course, of stay with it.


[Private to Meri: Welp, I guess anyone that has a mind to know where Meri put that item will figure it out. Stupid stags with little feet and antlers :p

One Insight roll for the group will be fine just now, I'll let you decide in future if you want to split the rolls or do one roll in future rounds when the group whittles down. I'll also let it include not feeling any sort of psychic 'prickles'.

Farren seems focused on Geekaar anyway, and didn't seem to check if Meri was playing, barely looking to Nym when she refused. Samel does seem to be looking around at everyone as if trying to figure them out too, but this also includes Geekaar. So it could well be she is simply interested in the psychology of the game. She happens to looks across to Meri when Meri looks at her, and with embarrassment makes a point ot not look across again, it seems.

Of the others, Dott and Young Gibb seem very confused and guileless, and are simply shuffling aroudn their hands a lot without seemingly any confidence. Muppler seems resigned as if assuming he won't win, and goes through the motions. Des beside him seems far more eager, almost desperate, and is looking around as if trying to work
everyone out. Geekaar's earlier revelation and Farren's new one seem to concern her greatly, as she seems to be struggling to figure out the rules.

Jessa across the way appears to be a little too open of a book, trying to talk through the options to both Stark and Sarah, each of whom completely ignore her except for small 'shush' noises, and also look more shrewd. The brother and sister keep giving each other sidelong looks, though whether they see each other as competition or are trying to subtly join forces is hard to tell. It seems by their facial expressions that even if they are pretending to help each other, there is some form of tension that probably speaks to competition, so they may also try to undermine each other.

Let me know if you need anything else. Jessa is currently seeming to have talked herself in to assuming that everyone must be going for the left hand, so is most likely going right herself.  ]

Nym watches for a few more moments, giving another somewhat confused look when Geekaar pronounces the event as "fun", but then turns back to Maggrath.

"Um...so...how is the food going?" she asks.

I think Nym just doesn't really "get" Geekaar - she was already not entirely sure about him, but since he doesn't seem like he's going to do anything hostile or whatever, she will just focus on something that seems more immediately interesting - like when the food is going to be ready so she can stuff her face. Because that is fun :D.

Meri glanced briefly towards Nym, then her gaze darted briefly to everyone else before looking back at Geekaar, seemingly content to wait until he called this one...


OOC: No magic or food, or magic food, or manipulating food with magic, involved = No fun for poor Nym ;) hehe

Maggrath nods distractedly. "Seems fine, the water is heating up very nicely. Don't make it too hot now, plenty of time to go yet, and the vegetables could fall apart before the meat gets here."

Maggrath then shows Nym the various spices. [Secret to Nym: Three seems to be two types of leaves, one smells sharply of mint and the other smells bitter. There are three powders, one brown and sweet, one more reddish brown and earthy, and a yellower one that would sting Nym's nose.]

The rest of the group finally seems to settle down, some less nervous than others. Geekaar seems to understand the mood of the group. "Well now, I think I shall call it there. So, can everyone reveal their vote now? WE all know our friend Farren's impulsive answer, and Meri is far too honest so I can see her guess of 'caution' from here. What does everyone else think?"

Heh, that bad Bluff roll actually lets me move the game on quickly :)

Slowly the guards open their hands, except for Dott who takes his right hand out from behind his back to show the straw stalk.

Jessa also seems to have show the right hand, as has Desmine. Sarah, Stark, Muppler, and Young Gibb appear to have chosen left.

"Ah, well that seems to be...one, two...ah yes, well that's an interesting split. I wonder who thought things through logically, who overthought things, who went on instinct or luck, and who went with the flow?" Geekaar seemed to have a tone of voice as if he knew the answer to that, while behind him Samel seemed surprised at some of the results.


There were various comments of surpise, disappointing, and confusion as the guards and Dott realised the result. Geekaar carried on. "So, five can feel the relief of not needing to compete, and four need to step up their . Oh, and four.... what I choose will have some weight now, it seems. So, we have four cautious people... waiting to beat the rush, make sure the opportunity is solid. But does one excercise more caution, when presented with an opportunity? How long does one wait? When does slow and steady became dithering and cowardice?"

Geekaar rolled his hands around and around and around, and then placed both hands behind his hand. One raised up higher, the other went lower. "And now, the second round begins. Meri, Desmine, Dott, and Jessa. Please, in your own time, choose. I promise not to change my mind."


Here we go again :D

Meri smirked slightly, although it was difficult to tell if it was a reaction to Geekaar's comment of her being 'honest' or to the idea of her showing caution.
She opened her right hand to show the slightly tarnished form of the silver stag figurine Celindara gave her.

Quickly though she closed her fingers around it again, shifting both hands behind her back where they remained, apparently moving the item tentatively from hand-to-hand as she glanced around at the others still in the game...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Bleh, rolled a 1 for Insight-checking everyone still in the game.  Will use Knack for Success to bump that up to: 14 (1 + 9 + 4).  Can Inspiration stack with Knack for Success too?  Tempted to use that as well.
Then again I might save it to bump up the Bluff check instead since that's a much lower skill...]

Nym seems to be keeping a vague half of an eye on the game whilst paying more attention to Maggrath. She moves her hands away a little at the caution not to make the water too hot, and looks with curiosity at the spices the cook is showing her.

"Ooh, that brown one smells nice." she says. "All sort of sweet."

She wrinkles her feline nose at the yellow one, however, and appears to be holding back a sneeze.

"What are they?" she asks. "I mean, what are their names? These smelly things. They make the food taste better, right?"