Asano withdraws the once-rusted locket from beneath his tunic. It's surface now shines, showing painstaking effort for those who saw it within the necromancer's lair. He steps forward, handing the locket to Savra and locking his gaze on hers. "I am truly sorry for my rash words below, my dear friend," he whispers, relinquishing the locket into her trust. "Please understand that I place my trust in your hands with this locket. I know that you do, and always will, choose the right path, Savra." He closes her hands around the locket before backing away from the knights, never showing his back to them.

Looking over his shoulder he calls out the rest of the party, "Please, my friends, entrust something of value to these knights, and we shall return for them after our task is complete. I am sure you can all see the wisdom of this choice."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Wed 06 Dec 2017.

Morg walks over to Jak, "The dwarf gods tend to be more straightforward, so I don't know much about these leaps of faith; but I trust your judgment. If you want to go out in a blaze of glory, I'll stand beside you. If you choose to accept their offer, then I'll surrender my unit's shield."

To Thurl he says, "I cannot promise yet to kill this Qahbo, but if we're let go, I will go investigate this monastery and its monks."

"I will not test the gods in any way, certainly not with a literal leap of faith. And I would sooner fight the Feathergale Knights in combat to the death than my new companions," she paused after saying this with a grim smile to Thurl.

"But Asano is the voice of reason here, and I respect his decision. I have nothing of material value to surrender, but this trinket," she pulled a small item from a pouch, it looked like a white formal glove.

"This has immense sentimental value to me. My mother died when I was very young. This is all I have to remember her by."

She offered the glove to Thurl as a compromise she wasn't happy with.

Wordlessly, Savra and the Lord Commander accept the offered valuables and look to Jak and Mayon expectantly.

Mayon thought for a moment. "I don't carry much in the way of valuable trinkets, I'm afraid." He apologized softly. "I suppose this is the closest I have." HE carefully removed his gloves with their crystal-embedded focus. He had other methods of spellcasting, but these were particularly special to him. "A gift from my stepmother, and useful at that. I'll be happy to return for them."


Gonna be swapping to my component pouch for a while, I guess...:P

Jak glared at Asano who was trying to stifle him. Why should they play this sick game? What did they care if these so-called Knights found them to be worthy? He didn't like their definition of worthy!

He took a deep breath. He didn't want to be the one who got his allies killed, however. And there were a lot of F***erknights around right then. He let out the breath in a sigh, glaring at Thurl and that weaselly robed instigator. After a long moment of silence, he carefully pulled the lute off his back, unwrapped it to take a look at it before giving it up. He swallowed and slowly handed it over, clearly reluctantly. "That had better stay safe and unmolested."

Morg hands over his concave shield to Savra, trying to read her face. "Can we get more precise directions to the monastery?"

---

19:12, Today: Morg Danforge rolled 9 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 8.  Insight check on Savra, trying to figure out if she's truly surprised by Thurl's test.

Zora watched jak with interest, her eyes echoing his thoughts.

"I want to be away from this place, once we've had a chance to gather our things from our rooms."

---

OOC: narrator: she did not want to be away from the place

By the way, is it intended that we don't have an open ooc thread?

Asano silently hated the natural looking, yet entirely forced, smile plastered on his face. An expression forged from years as a page within his father's allies homes, it reminded him of every disgusted glance shot his way, every kick, every 'accidentally' spilled wine cup splashed across his doublet. It was a necessary expression, however, as spirited pages often found themselves the victims of 'hunting accidents' away from watchful gazes. He certainly was thankful for those years now, though, as he made sure to be the last of their motley group of the tower's summit, that smile, odious as it may be, shielding them all from immediate violence. His last glance was for Savra, a flicker of worry in his eyes.

What have you gotten yourself into, my friend?

OOC:
Just herding the group down to our rooms and out of the spire without any further outbursts.

After the offerings from Jak and Mayon are accepted, Thurl looks pleased. "Best mind your responsibility here," he cautions to the group. "The Feathergale Society does not take betrayal lightly." He then beckons to Savra. "Escort them out of the Spire, Savra," he says dismissively. "Best take a few knights with you." He accedes to the group's request to stop by their rooms for the rest of their things, then turns to consult with one of the knights next to a vulture.

Savra leads the group back down the stairs to the Great Hall on the second floor, accompanied by another knight and five of the other Spire denizens. Still concerned, she talks quietly as they descend. "The monastery is somewhat near the River Dessarin, amongst the sandstone bluffs of the surrounding hills. Any travelers nearby should be able to point you to it; it's known as one of the Haunted Keeps of the Valley after all."

"The monks are said to be very reclusive," she continues, "so you may have difficulty gaining entrance." She pauses a moment, thinking. "They may have a secret signal known only to them, but I don't know what it is. If you can find out what it is you might be able to get them to trust you, enough to let you in anyway."

---

Savra and the others will wait outside in the Great Hall as you gather your belongings from the various rooms you stayed in. I'm assuming this is a way for you all to confer in character, which is totally fine with me & a smart move =). OOC thread is fine for this too.

Savra describes the location in enough detail that you could locate it on a map per the Dessarin Valley map in the Maps thread. You all feel like you can probably find it ok.


This message was last edited by the GM at 22:52, Thu 07 Dec 2017.

Once alone in their room, and confident they weren't being listened to, Zora repeated Hurl's words in a mocking imitation of his voice, "The Feathergale Society does not take betrayal lightly. They don't seem to mind doing the actual betrayal though."

"I didn't want to start a fight on the spire until I knew I wasn't the only one, but," she looks around and lowers her voice further. "We're not really considering leaving here without our stuff, are we?"

"I would prefer not to, but at the same time, they were far more prepared for a fight than I was in that moment." Mayon says bluntly, pinching his forehead as his familiar returns to visibility on his shoulder. Damn it, he couldn't believe they'd let themselves get stuck like this.

"They had numbers on their side," Asano mutters, watching the halls for any eavesdroppers. "Not to mention this is their spire, giving them that advantage, as well. We also have no idea of their capabilities, though Thurl seems to be a capable warrior. I know Savra has significant ability as well." Asano's voice trails off for a moment before he continues. "The quiet one is who worries me the most. Possibly the power behind the throne?" He cuts off abruptly as a knight looks in their direction.
"Anyway, I just wanted to get us out of that situation," he continues, and glances to Jakrynn. "I apologize for interrupting you up there. While we are of similar minds regarding this Society, a confrontation was the wrong move at this time. You have a powerful fire in your convictions, and I admire that. Let's get out of here alive, and we'll return to redress the situation. Agreed?"

"No... wait," she replied to Asano.

"You're right, it was the wrong time up there, when it was fifteen to five. They were far more prepared, but look at that, they've just given us time to prepare! We have them split up. We can move through the tower, when will it be a better time?" she continued, trying to make her case in a hushed whisper.

"If we leave now, how will we ever get past the drawbridge? Are we really planning to be these knights assassins for hire? If not, how do we come back here and get inside again? We're inside now, let's use that. I'm all for fighting smart, but I believe it is time to fight."

"I get the feeling that each of these knights are incredibly accomplished warriors," Asano replies. "Some of them may also have some ability with magic. Savra hinted as much last night, showing some measure of control over brief air bursts. Even in small groups, I don't think it would be wise to engage them at this time. As for the monk, I'd like to discuss that outside these walls. There's something very strange happening here, and I don't think we are yet prepared to engage this mystery. That said, if the rest of you truly wish to engage violently, I will not forsake my comrades."

"As will I of the rest of you wish to leave." she said grimly.

"We did enter their lands without invitation, fully armed. Non-dwarvish cultures tend to have very puzzling hospitality practices, but these people may just be crazy cultists." Morg whispers.

"I agree with Zora that getting back inside the spire later may be too difficult since they have air supremacy. If we use choke points and intimidation now, we could pick off many of them; but Asano, what would you do if Savra stood with the knights?"

"I think our only chance here would be to get Savra on our side, and have her bring any dissatisfied knights with her. Without that, we can't win against cultist morale, even if we focus on taking out Thurl."

---

How many Featherfolk were there in the great hall, and places leading up to it?

"Let us investigate this monk, first," Asano says, trying to get everyone moving again. "It may be that there is something to Thurl's request, but if not, we can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Savra speaks in low tones with the others beyond the door to the second floor quarters. "I should really be escorting you out now," she calls out after a minute or two.

Meanwhile, the hired assassins gather the remainder of their belongings from their assigned quarters from last night. The chamber contains two beds, a fireplace, a closet, two chests, and a small tapestry on the wall.

---

Per Asano's question in OOC, there's about 17 people or so that you've seen so far, about 7 knights and perhaps 10 others. You hadn't seen the one in blue robes before this morning.

Savra came downstairs and is waiting outside in the Great Hall with one other knight and five of the attendants. I've updated the map accordingly.

(squee! <rubbing hands together>, this is super fun =).

"We need to decide now!" she hissed at Savra's call. "Asano wants to leave, I want to stay and fight for our stuff and our dignity. either of us will abide by the will of the majority. what say the rest of ye? leave or fight?"

Morg checks the fireplace with a poker and looks the closet over for hidden compartments or levers. He whispers "I'd fight if Asano could bring Savra to our side, but I wouldn't ask him to fight against his friend."

---

09:24, Today: Morg Danforge rolled 16 using 1d20 with rolls of 16.  Investigate fireplace and closet for hidden compartments or levers.

"I agree with Morg. As much as I'd like to fight, I'd prefer not to take all of them at once and I'd certainly hate to harm Asano's friend." Mayon agrees thoughtfully. "And didn't these people say that some of them were from noble houses in Waterdeep? The repercussions for that, should they be true...if we do fight them, we should be careful not to kill."

Jak kept his face as if set in angry stone, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed. He let himself be lead away from the gathering and to gather the rest of his belongings, which he did. The others began debating, split about down the middle for investigating the monk or staying and fighting.

Finally he shook his head and spoke up. "They may be nobles, we don't know for sure or if they just said that. Regardless, they do not appear t'be good people or the heroic knights they make themselves out t'be. Not after they way they treated us, an' tryin' t'force us t'be their assassins - regardless of whether the monk is evil or not."

He let out a sigh. "I..." He glanced at Asano. "She's your friend an' if we attack she'd be in harm's way for sure. I don't like goin' off half-cocked when I'm not in-the-moment-angry like I was. Fightin' now may not be our best choice, s'much s'I wanna light 'em up right now....though I don't really know any way t'gain more information about 'em an' the spire.....and..."

He paused a long moment and then continued on. "I'll be honest with you. I didn't realize until that ceremony but...I was warned about these guys. A..contact o'mine sent me word a while back about vicious raiders mounted on hippogriffs, based in Dessarin Valley, that laid waste t'several small hamlets an' merchant caravans." He straightened his shoulders. "I think this is them. They need t'be stopped, either now or after we check in t'the monk an' get try t'get more information on these guys."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:19, Sun 10 Dec 2017.

Morg 's search of the fireplace turns up nothing - it doesn't seem to have been used in a very long time. There's nothing in the closet except for a pair of feathered cloaks like the ones worn by the Knights.

---

Morg doesn't find any hidden compartments or levers.

"Then I guess we need to see where Savra stands."

She stuck her head into the hall and called out, "Savra? Could we bother you to come in here for just a second?"

She turned to Asano with final words before Savra came in. "it's up to you now. if you can convince her to turn, if you even want to try then we fight. otherwise, just ask her to lead us out. we can come back for our dignity another day."