"Carrying some things for now. They may serve purpose later, or mayhaps they can be traded away for supplies. " Trophonius offers a peak inside to Arry and Hurley as he rants.

As Trophonius displays the wares he managed to collect from inside the dome, the last of the townspeople are now regaining consciousness. The general confusion, questions, and grave concerns become even more vocalized as more of the townspeople wake to realize they have no idea where they are and why they are here.

Trophonius finds a stump, stands tall, and talks loud enough to be heard over the crowd. 'People, I personally know how disorienting this ordeal is. I too was abducted by these creatures. My new friends rescued me, and we all returned upon finding out more people had been taken. One of us is on a path to town and back to gather assistance so we can return all of you safely back, at least long enough to tend your wounds and get you food and supplies to get back to your own homes and towns.

Now these creatures are attracted to loud noises, and lights like torches or fires, so we need to keep quiet, and may be waiting in the darkness for  our caravan to arrive.'

The rescued townsfolk nervously abide by Trophonius' warnings, being in a strange place and not knowing how their current circumstance came to be, despite the explanations from their rescuers. They huddle as closely together as they can, remaining wary throughout the darkness of nightfall, banking on the hope that there will be more to come help them return to their home.

Later the following morning eight individuals arrive with hunting carts in tow; Esperon, Mardrough, and six able-bodied people from Groshdou. The townsfolk are all awake, some still a bit confused, some quite grumbly, some quietly awaiting the next course of action. When they see their fellow townsfolk arrive with carts, they become quite delighted to receive food and water which had been brought for them in the carts.

While everyone is enthusiastically wolfing down their food, Mardrough turns to Hurley and Esperon. "That wasn't here before," he says, pointing to the domed structure. "Did my bounty have something to do with its appearance? What wonders lay inside?"

Esperon had refrained from eating much until he arrived, so his stomach was grumbling when he finally got a chance to eat. He told Arryanna, Hurley and Trophonious that the mayor had been very helpful when he returned and she was looking forward to the return of all the survivors that they could find.

He was chewing on some meat jerky when Mardrough interrupted him. Gruffly, Esperon turned to Mardrough. "Now, that's interesting. Question for your question: when were you here before, hm? What did you do the last time you were here?"

"'s like I told you," Mardrough says while scratching at his now short beard, "there was a tree there where that dome is now, sittin' all by it's lonesome. Seemed odd to me that a tree would be standin' all by itself like that, all these other trees around it but not next to it. So's I climbed up that tree to see if there was something weird about it. Mardrough can smell when something weird is about. Sure enough, there was a piece of numenera up in the tree. So I grabbed it, shuffled down the tree, and made my way out of here. I couldn't tell through the trees when I looked back, but it looked like something was here. It must've been this," he says with a slap on the dome. "So what did your lot find in here? Interesting numenera?"

"We found interesting Numenera certainly. Unfortunately these devices were used in tandem with others at another location to orchestrate and carry out many abductions, myself and all these villagers included." Trophonius words come harshly, punctuated by ghostly blue glow in his eyes. <use scan esotery, 0 int cost after edge>

 He approaches Mardrough, and lowers his voice. "Now i don't  wish you any harm for your part, if any, but not everyone is forgiving as I. Watch yourself, they may conspire if they find out."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Sun 22 July 2018.

Mardrough looks at Trophonius warily, then goes about studying the dome a bit more.

As everyone is getting themselves squared away and are preparing to take to the road, Mardrough starts to get a bit restless.

"What of my numenera?" he says, pointing to the top of the building. "Is it up at the top of that building? Mardrough needs to have it back! We can't leave until I get my numenera!"

Esperon, turns to Hurley and Aryanna. "What did happen to the widget that he brought? I lost track."

"I don't recall seeing it once we gained entrance to the building," Arry said, turning to Hurley.

Hurley glares at Mardrough.

"I don't know where it is," he lies. "Shouldn't you just be thanking us for saving your grubby life? Leave the numenera alone." It seems plainly obvious that he knows exactly where it is, but he is annoyed by Mardrough's demands.

"You take it, and I will personally make sure you are stuck inside that dome."


14:41, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 1 using 1d20.  Bluff - Trained.

Esperon grins. "Take Hurley seriously, fella. He's not one to cross. You can tell by the company he keeps." He crosses his mighty arms and practically dares the man to mouth off at him.

At first Mardrough begins to feel intimidated by Hurley's posturing, but something- actually, everything in his manner tips him off to the fact that Hurley is lying. A couple of the saved villagers that are completely unfamiliar with Mardrough come to his defense, also seeing through Hurley's lie. (OOC: this is an intrusion resulting from the rolled 1 )

"Mardrough knows you know where it is! I need it back! You guys don't understand... I have an important buyer up in Rachar I've promised that piece to. If I don't pull through with it I don't know what he'll do to me! You can have whatever's in that dome there, all's I want is the piece I found in the tree."

"Come on guys," one of the Groshdou women says. "Why are you lying to him? I don't understand this hostility but I'm sure you can work something out. If he found it, isn't it rightfully his?"

Some of the other villagers take pity on Mardrough, who is clearly working that angle. The villagers are by no means displaying any aggression, but they do seem a bit more sympathetic toward Mardrough now, even if they are not taking his side altogether.

Esperon takes a step closer to Mardrough. "A buyer, eh? How much is he paying you?" he asks in a lower tone.

"People, this piece was the key to the dome, which housed the machine that abducted us.  For all we know this buyer wants to open another door to start this machine again somewhere else. I'm not willing to stand by and let that possibility become reality."

Arry doesn't say anything as she turns to fully face the villagers and stares at them with her silver eyes. She rests one hand on the pommel of her sword and makes sure her silver talons are very apparent. Her face is expressionless but it's obvious from the way she stands near Hurley that Mardrough gets no sympathy from her.

Esperon holds up his hand. "I want to hear an answer to his question. What is this person willing to pay you, Mardrough? And who is he, exactly?"

Mardrough starts to get a bit fidgety. "I don't know his name. All's I know is he was from Rachar. He said he heard I had this piece of numenera and he asked me about it. I told him how it felt like it was some sort of power source for something. He seemed very interested in it and told me he would pay up to 40 shins for it if it had the kind of power I said it had. Mardrough went back to Yrgan's to get it, but then..." he looks down demurely, "Mardrough got thirsty. That's when your lot came, then I got arrested after that."

Mardrough then licks his lips. "How about I split my payment with you? 65/35?"

Esperon steps up to Mardrough. "Here's a better plan. You lead us to the buyer and we don't pummel you into a broken heap on the ground. We want to find out what he wants with the numenera. If he's on the up-and-up, we split the money 70-30. You get the 70. If he's going to hurt people with it, we find another buyer who won't and pound the snot out of Rachar." He leans in close to Mardrough. "Don't mistake this for a discussion. This is the only scenario in which you get the item back. We make sure nobody else gets hurt because of it and you make money in the end. Ya follow?"

Spend Effort to persuade the man. With Persuasion skill training and Effort, DT1; easily succeed.

Also rolled my recoveries from the rests that occurred since the walk to & from town.

11:44, Today: Esperon rolled 19 using 1d20 with rolls of 19.  Intellect roll: DT3-1trained-1effort=DT1.
11:44, Today: Esperon rolled 2 using 1d6+1.  Hours recovery: Might.
11:43, Today: Esperon rolled 7 using 1d6+1.  Hour recovery: Speed.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Sat 28 July 2018.

Hureley's arms are crossed over his chest. His synth stone armblade is prominently featured, and his axe head sits solemnly over his shoulder.

He nods along until Esperon offer Mardrough the 70%. His eyes go wide and he does a double take. He is not going to disagree with Esperon in this moment however. He simply hovers close to Mardrough.

Mardrough's eyes widen at Esperon's improved offer. "70 percent for Mardrough? That'll do indeed!"
Once the avarice behind his initial reaction dissipates and the rest of Esperon's words dawn on him, he replies, "Wait, what do you care what he does with it? I gotta do right by this guy. If he knows we have it but don't sell it to him, I don't know that he'll be so good with that. I don't know about you and how tough you think your lot is, but I don't want to gain the wrath of the Cold Grasp..."

He immediately clamps his mouth shut. After a few moments he says, "Alright. 70 percent. And you keep Mardrough safe."

"Cold Grasp?" Arry asked quietly. "Please, do explain as I am most interested in hearing more."

Esperon grins broadly and nods in assent to Arry's question.

Mardrough gets a surprised look on his face. "You don't know of the Cold Grasp? One of the deadliest group of assassins in Iscobal, if not the entire Steadfast? This is not a group you trifle with..."

He then holds up his hands, palms forward. "Now Mardrough's not saying my buyer is part of that group. I'm just saying if he was part of Cold Grasp- which I'm not saying he is- he would not be one to cross, and I would not be one to take that chance. Nor should you. Let's say hypothetically that he was a member of the Cold Grasp, or even hired by them, if they know you are holding out on them they may find a way to get what they want anyway. Don't say Mardrough didn't warn you."

Esperon stepped forward, looming over Mardrough. "I'm a real literal kinda guy, Mardrough. I literally hate assassin's guilds. I literally don't sell them anything. And I literally enjoy pounding their associates into the ground. Maybe if they found your broken corpse on the ground next to the crushed numenera they'd leave us alone, eh? Or maybe just the crushed numenera. 'Oops, that was damaged in the fight with the nasty rasters it created.' I'm sure we could pull off that story."

He grabbed Mardrough on the shoulder, not gently. "No, I'd say you've got two choices. You stick with us and take your chances with our fortunes, where we can see you and keep you from ratting us out to any hypothetical agents of the Cold Grasp, or we put you out of our misery sooner than later. Unless you've got a third alternative for us that you know we'd like."