"You have my word, we mean no harm." The elf looks to the gnome, silently imploring him to start talking.

"I speak to people in the language with which they are comfortable. The language they themselves use. That is true politeness. Not everyone knows or adheres to the formalities of elven court."

Zeb winked to show he did not really consider his friend as stodgy as all that, then followed the ranger into the halfling encampment. "Hold," he said, his hand floating up to rest on Ehrendil's shoulder. "Let them make themselves safe. Show them we mean no harm. Then they will make themselves vulnerable."



"As well you should be," Zeb reassured the similiarly-sized man from a safe distance. "My friend speaks the truth. Tell us what protection you require, and it shall be yours. We would be grateful to sit by your fire, but we do not require it. You would have our protection in either case."

"Great!" the halfling says, visibly relaxing. "Please, join us by the fire and enjoy whatever foodstuffs you may have brought with you. We do have some extra we can share but," he smiles apologetically, spreading his hands, "we are a merchant group, and we charge fair prices for our fare."

"The same is true for our wares," he continues, gesturing behind him to the carts loaded with carefully packed goods. "Please, ask after anything you may want, and it may be that we have it for you."

---

Wares that are available are any common item listed in the Player's Handbook, starting at 1.5 times the listed price. You're welcome to attempt haggling. It may be worth purchasing additional ammunitions and/or food if you're running low.


Also, feel free to interact with the halflings as you like!
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:16, Fri 02 Dec 2022.

Makari came forward and gave a small bow, then smiled. "Tis good to meet friendly folk. I am Makari."

He perked up at the mention of goods. "If you have food to sell, not part of your own needed provisions, than that might not be a bad idea." His face scrunched up a little in thought. "Do you have charcoal, incense and herbs? I need them in a bit quality as I use them for a spell sometimes." As if to punctuate what spell it was for, an owl swooped down and landed on his shoulder before letting out a who noise.

OOC: Looking to buy some rations (I'm ashamed to admit I haven't been keeping track so I'll stock up as if down to 1) and 'sets' of the 10 gp material components for Find Familiar if possible.

Ehrendil moves closer to the halflings once Makari has introduced himself.

"I am Ehrendil Vakalyn. A pleasure to meet you. I will be glad to examine your wares."

The ranger looks through the many items packed on the carts, and his eyes brighten when he sees bags full of small metal balls. "These might prove useful!"

He picks up five bags and hands over his coin to the halfling without any attempt to haggle.

---

5 bags of ball bearings, 1 gp each in PHB, so 1.5 gp here.

Morg introduces himself, and looks for carts with weapons and armor.

---

If there's a maul for sale, and he can sell Thurl's greatsword for at least 25gp, he'll buy 1 maul without haggling (15gp).

If there's splint armor for sale, and he can sell Thurl's impaled breastplate for at least 100gp and his chainmail for 27.5gp, he'll buy 1 splint without haggling (300gp).

(Depending on if those purchases are made, I'll post again about possibly buying a halberd or glaive, and some javelins.)

Clearly disinterested in the items in the market Gorm wanders off away from the main camp to look around in the wilderness area around it.  Picking out a comfortable and secluded spot she settles down to rest.

Zeb, showing little interest in commerce, was inclined to go with Gorm, if the bear would allow it...

"Indeed, friendly folk are always welcome," the halfling says, bowing to Makari. "My name is Dudo, and this is Hildte," Dudo continues, gesturing to a stoic looking woman who emerges from behind the wagon of goods. "If you've interest in her wares, please step up to discuss them."

Dudo sighs as more halflings approach, starting to gather around the central bonfire. "Friends are welcome indeed, as the tidings from beyond our ken are dire indeed. You don't happen to hail from the human town of Triboar, do you?"

---

For Makari, rations are 8sp/ea - how many do you want? Also, the wagon has 2 "sets" of Find Familiar components for 15 gp each - how many would you like?

Ehrendil can buy 5 bags of ball bearings for 7gp 5sp.

Morg can sell Thurl's greatsword for 50gp, so if you purchase a maul and splint armor you'd net a price of 265gp with the trade-in.

Not having enough gold for the splint armor, Morg tries to haggle down the price by offering Thurl's impaled breastplate and his mail, and the promise to sell the greatsword and buy a maul, pike, and javelins.

---

10:37, Today: Morg Danforge rolled 2 using 1d20 with rolls of 2.  Persuasion check to try to haggle down price of splint armor.

Assuming that fails, he'll keep his chain mail, sell the greatsword (+50gp) and buy without haggling for reduced prices a maul (-15gp), halberd (-30gp), and 6 javelins (-4.5 gp).
This message was last edited by the player at 08:44, Fri 02 Dec 2022.

Makari browsed a bit and found not only food but also the supplies for his familiar, in case things should happen in a generally unfavorable and southward direction.

OOC: 2 weeks of rations if they have them. And both 'sets' of find familiar materials please. so 35 gp, 6 sp (if 7-day weeks).

After splitting the party funds, Morg buys splint armor from the halflings, and the adjusts and tests it and the new weapons.

---

-300gp for splint, AC now 17.

The halfings cheerfully trade with the visitors, declining to haggle with Morg and disdaining to even take Thurl's damaged breastplate at any price. Morg starts to walk away with his new purchases, staggering under the weight.

Dudo moves away as the group continues their commerce, continuing a conversation about a rumored devestation that his the town of Triboar with another of the village residents. His words can be half heard from a few feet away. "Some sort of group of pilgrims... box with elemental symbols... devastating earthquake... not much left of the town."

---

If I did my math right Morg would spend a net of 299.5 gp on the new items, given the trade in of Thurl's sword.

Morg is now over his carrying capacity however, and will need to shed at least 3lb of gear - you can sell something back to the halflings if you like, for PHB list price.

Makari and Ehrendil remain under Encumbrance limits =)

Anything else you want to do before attempting a long rest & leveling up?

Ehrendil can't help but overhear Dudo's words about Triboar.

"My pardon, Dudo, did I hear you say that some kind of destruction occurred in Triboar? Can you share what you know?"

Makari paused in the midst of packing away his purchases as he tried to hear what was being said. He quickly finished up as Ehrendil walked over and made an inquiry. He was curious to know what had happened as well, so he walked over to join in the conversation once more was said.

Dudo looks up at Makari and Ehrendil as they approach, then recounts what little he knows.

"I heard tell from a merchant just earlier today, who dealt with a caravaner who saw the whole thing. A group of pilgrims, dressed all the same in hooded brown robes and some sort of gilded masks, what trudged their way into Triboar earlier this week. One of their lot carried a box, all decked out with what the caravaner called elemental symbols."

"The caravaner was camped outside town so she didn't see what happened next, but not a half hour later the ground started shaking something awful. The caravaner lost no less than three horses, two to broken legs, as the ground shifted and shook. She and her crew rescued a couple of horses and fled away from the town, just as the rumbling got even worse."

"Lucky they were able to get away as fast as they could, 'cause once the rumbling stopped they found not much left of their campsite, and even less left of Triboar. The place is a ruin now, if the tale is true."

Dudo shakes his head and shivers, as the first few chilling raindrops fall from the darkening sky. "Been thinking about that all day, what it would mean to lose our whole homestead here. Not that it's anything special mind, but it's all we got. If another one of the strange weather events comes this way..." He shakes his head again.

Halflings from around the camp busy themselves erecting bits of cloth tenting to protect themselves from the rain. "Well, I suppose we should get under cover before this gets worse," Dudo says, gesturing to one of the larger overhangings, that the halflings are struggling to hang higher than the rest for their guests. "Don't know much else, but have you all heard anything of the like?"

Morg tries to help with the higher tent, and says to Dudo and the party. "It seems cults of the 4 elements are fighting each other. This attack could have been from earth cultists from the Sacred Stone Monastery east of here on the river, or others pretending to be them."

Zeb's face fell at the mention of the lost horses and kept falling so that it was practically on the ground by the time news of Triboar's destruction was revealed. "Triboar... a ruin?" He looked to Ehrendil. "We should go, try to be of some assistance to those who have lost everything."

A smile passes over the elf's face. "You're a good person, Zeb...always looking to help...since the day I met you. But I wonder if we would be of more help by dealing with the earth cultists, and leave the rebuilding to the bureaucrats?

If they did this to Triboar, whose to say they won't try again elsewhere?"

Ehrendil glances at the trident strapped to Morg's overstuffed pack, "We now know that two of the cults have the power to cause mass devastation, which means the other two likely do as well.

They will all need to be stopped, in the same way Gar Shatterkeel was stopped."

There's no mistaking the ranger's grim tone, he means that cult leader's must be killed.

Dudo eyes widen at Morg's words. "Elemental cults? In the Sacred Stone Monastery? That would certainly explain some things," he says thoughtfully. "I wonder how much longer it'll be safe for us to stay here," he muses, concern evident from the lines on his brow. He absently helps one of the other halflings with another covering being erected for shelter from the rain.

---

Anything else to do before bedding down? Feel free to work on levelling up at this point, as you'll all start Day 12 at level 6.

"I have some masonry and smithing skills which could be helpful at Triboar now," Morg says, "but I also have a knack with using weapons - if we want to hurt the cults and maybe stop them from hurting more people."

As the rain begins to pick up Gorm abandons any pretense of 'joining' the others at the fires and wanders off into the forest to find some other style of place to rest for the night.

Before standing guard, Morg asks Zeb to spar with him for a while.

---

Does Zeb's subclass archetype allow him to get sneak attacks in more ways than most rogues (finesse or a ranged weapon, doesn't have disadv., either has adv. and/or target has an enemy within 5')?
May he use Tasha's "Steady aim" optional feature?

For the level-up, Morg can possibly learn the "Commander's strike" maneuver. This would allow Morg to forgo 1 attack, use his bonus action to spend 1 superiority die, and choose a friendly creature who can see or hear him - that creature can immediately use their REACTION to make 1 weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack's damage roll. Because this would happen during Morg's turn, Zeb could then get their sneak attack bonus again, possibly getting it twice in 1 round (on both his and Morg's turns).

Makari listened to what happened to the town, a deep frown on his face. He then drew in a deep breath and let out a sigh. He thought for a moment. "As much as I want to help Triboar, I think we are better off stopping the cults."

He looked at the others. "So we're continuing on the to the monastery?"

"If we can stop the cults, we will be helping Triboar, and Red Larch, and Goldenfields, and every other village or town in the area.

We learned that Shatterkeel had the power to create an elemental weapon, and now we know that the earth cultists do as well. We have to assume that all of them have such a weapon!"