If a certain Thri-kreen ever met Bri'kus, they would probably discuss the merits of Double Ribs with the kobold. Why waste all that space in giant ribs, when you can put smaller ribs INSIDE them!

  "It's sad how many forget that a 'protection racket' works best if you live up to your end of it.  Not desirable either way, but stupidity makes a bad situation worse as usual." You know, like taxes not causing 15 robin hood clones unless you're doing a poor job of it.

  Bri'kus is probably more than okay with the three second rule, but a prestidigitation silently cast underneath the table ensures the bread roll is perfectly clean.  Ben's keeping his own roll to himself though.

  "Anything better than campfire food is a welcome change of pace, really."

OOC: Well for my particular example, I was thinking of how surprisingly useless "Falls asleep for six seconds then wake up" is compared to a proper sleep spell.  But you also know my history in being shut down from attempting bog standard stuff by unashamed min/maxers (who will often turn around and suggest I break the rules over my knee in a way that fits their world view).
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Mon 13 Aug 2018.

Bri'kus seemed quite surprised at the roll appearing under the table and equally surprised at the other falling onto the floor in front of him and then suddenly shedding all dirt from it.

Quietly - Huh.

He happily nommed the rolls down, paying no heed to their warmth
This message was lightly edited by the player at 06:39, Wed 15 Aug 2018.

If Darcy managed to get her own room and got some dinner, she'd like to head over to the Shrine of Luck, at the very least, to tell anyone there that there is a cleric willing to help them for a while, however, she gets the inkling that she's better off sticking with the team.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:54, Mon 27 Aug 2018.

Raichel looks to the dwarf. "Those cowards... hiding behind the defenseless." she has one of those terrifyingly furious expressions, her pupils narrowed to slits. She looks away. "...what my sister said. We won't endanger the innocent. But if someone snitches to the bandits, know that we will tear those bandits apart, we will leave them alive, and then we will interrogate them one by one to find out who the snitch is. And we will feed the snitch to the mercy of this town, knowing that snitch put everyone's lives in danger." she half-growls that last part.

Raichel takes a deep breath and gives Toblen an apologetic look. "I didn't mean to make you feel in a bind... I'll have an order of veggie soup like Meiou is, and I'll have an order of baked chicken like my sister. Thanks."

Raichel is a very active, athletic girl. And teenage to boot. So her appetite is larger than normal.

The girl looks back to the dwarf. "Thanks for the warning. We are taking your words and this situation very seriously." She wants so badly to assure the dwarf that she won't let the week pass before the bandits rue the day they took this town. But she doesn't want anyone thinking the group intends to cause unnecessary hostility.

The staff politely ignore the vanishing rolls, calling no attention to them.  Besides, there's the important topic of how to best handle the bandits to discuss.  Room keys are distributed to each of the heroes by Toblen; all except for the kobold no NPC has any idea is there.

The waitress takes notice that the holy woman among the heroes hasn't even ordered yet and asides to her, "Sister Garaele takes care of the Shrine of Tymora across the street.  If you like, we can have Pip go fetch her for you so you'd both have someone who shares the others' interests to talk to over dinner."

Toblen looks to be trying to hide his approval of Elsa's suggestion to Darcy but does not comment.

Pip is extremely encouraged by Raichel's anger and cheers.  "Yeah yea!  And then you can chop them up and feed them to the pigs!"

His comment earns him a stern look from his father who tells him to go help his mom in the kitchen.  Toblen clears his throat and apologizes to the heroes.

"Thank you for taking Lanar's warning seriously.  You needn't worry about anyone hearing about you arriving from present company.  But gossip is bound to spread, and sooner or later they'll overhear it.  So do please be careful."

"You're welcome," Lanar answers Raichel turning an annoyed look at Pip.

"Right?!" Mits agrees with Ben.

She tightens her lips during Raichel's angry outburst then reaches out to pull her sis in for an arm-around squeeze - one that's trying to communicate, "Hush up!" in as lovingly firm way an older sib's arm-around squeeze can.

"Bandits bad.  Yes.  We will be on guard and will run for our lives if need be, but will not do anything to provoke them to be tempted to do anything to bystanders.  My eager sis is just talking about the future, after the part where we leave town and use our connections to go get an army so no innocents need be harmed when the bandits are overwhelmed.  This will only work if nobody tells them about us.  Very important.

"Now that that's settled, may I request that young Pip be informed of just how important it is that he not talk with his friends about what punishments the heroes are going to do to bandits or snitches?  The intention was to give the impression that we weren't going to get involved at all and then secretly go get help, but the cat's out of the bag there.  And thank you for assuring us that we needn't worry about snitches here.  And about gossip.  But I expect the adults here to know already what will happen if they tell their friends about our plan.  So thank you for not gossiping."

Mittens is bluffing.  (Rolled a 15 bluff).  In truth, she doesn't expect any army to come to the aid of this town, she's just making up this fake "plan" to convince the frightened villagers that the heroes really are the best hope they have of being rid of the bandits without any risk to the townsfolk.  She's expecting them to panic and squeal to the bandits if they think that the heroes intend to face the entire bandit outfit with just the six of them.  (Including Sildar and not Bri'kus in that six.)

The rabbit was just in ahh at how the sisters were acting. if he didn't know them
personally he would think this was some comedy act he had read about. noticing the waitresses looks to Darcy he spoke up "Miss Darcy. What would you like to eat?"

Darcy looked over at whatever menus they have, and eventually, she replied:  "I'd just want a sandwich of whatever you have available, with a side salad and a tankard of a local brew, thanks." She gave the waiter a smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:46, Tue 18 Sept 2018.

Bri'kus places 3 gold on the table as Darcy orders (17 Slight of Hand) and tugs lightly at her robe,

Quietly -Bri'kus would like ale and meat, please.

He shifted a little, trying to keep hidden from the server as the party ordered.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:12, Fri 14 Sept 2018.

  Ben is worried about the immediate future of the child.  Their name is pip, what kind of parent names their child so without hoping they get kidnapped or eaten by wolves?-wait a minute. "Meiou, keep Pip away from your new pets."

  DOL DORN IS PLEASED WITH BRI'KUS'S RESPECT FOR THE BAR TAB... Yes we know it's the wrong pantheon, but tired in jokes know no such bounds.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:36, Sat 15 Sept 2018.

Raichel didn't look like she was kidding or part of a comedy skit until Mittens did the arm-around thing. So Raichel now has a blushing angry jigglypuff expression.

https://media.giphy.com/media/PuUujolKlIdXi/giphy.gif

She just goes quiet for the moment, grabs one of the rolls and stuffs it in her mouth. Once her order arrives, she begins scarfing it down.

Toblen and the patrons get "ooooh" looks on their faces when Mittens explains the plan.  He clears his throat and answers, "You're welcome.  And thank you for taking that upon yourselves."

The dwarf then warns, "Watch out if you take the Triboar Trail.  Orc raiders have been seen on the east end.  The town master has been looking for someone to run them off, but I haven't heard that anyone's succeeded."

Food is served and it is the expected level of home-cooked quality that comes from inns such as this.  The waitress looks visibly flustered that her suggestion was completely ignored.

"Well should you decide to see Sister Garaele, she may not be up for company anyways.  When she recently left town for a few days, she returned wounded and exhausted."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Mon 01 Oct 2018.

Sildar has been keeping quiet for the most part but chimes in just to say, "Thank you for the tips.  We will make haste with all due caution."

He's deliberately trying to imply that the group will be going that way so that if word gets out, bandit manpower will be wasted in setting an ambush in dangerous Orc territory.

Mittens leans over to whisper in Raichel's ear to compliment just how adorable she is, then explains the truth of her earlier "plan."

She then releases Rai with a wink in order to begin scarfing down dinner.  After a gulp of her drink she licks her lips and smiles exclaiming, "My compliments to the chef!  Much as I'd love to look into these great adventure hooks you guys have been dropping, as my friend says we'll be giving top priority to the safe and swift resolution of the bandit problem."

(( OOC: Sorry 'bout the delay.  So much RL! ))
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:11, Mon 01 Oct 2018.

Meiou has no idea whats going on between the sisters and isn't sure he's curious enough to ask.
luckily food arrived before his curiosity got the better of him as instead of scarfing it down like mitts he takes his time savoring the stew. he blushed abit he'd never had anything quite like this before. he was more used to stale bread ,cheese ,or veggies and sometimes if he was lucky jerky or left over scraps of meat noone wanted. he idly wondered as he ate if there was someway to take more of this hot stew with them for later.

Darcy looked down at the kobold and smiled at him.  Knowing that he'd prefer to hide from the others, she just ordered what Bri wanted and claimed that it's 'for a friend.'

Darcy sat back with her dinner while listening to what she heard, keeping one hand free to scribble notes on her little notebook.  Orcs in Tribor, this child with an unfortunate name, the missing Dwarves, the Bandits, a touch of incompetence in the village leadership, or something worse...

When Darcy heard about what happened to Sister Garaele she grew concerned.  "Does she need some assistance?  I'm always good in the healing arts."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Wed 10 Oct 2018.

  "Orc raiders you say? Seems the Red Cloaks are also too lazy to defend their turf from other bandits." But of course, the sudden increase in the odds of fighting werewolf nuns is probably of greater concern.

  "You should be able to offer aid to the local clergy without worrying half the town, Darcy."  Garaele must be the kind of cleric stuck with bandages rather than a healing touch... Or maybe they had simply been so wounded that they ran out of spell slots.  Probably the second one.

Raichel says, "I doubt it's laziness so much as cowardice. Orcs bite back and everyone knows it. If townsfolk bit back as hard as orcs, there wouldn't be a bandit problem to begin with." with some obvious sarcasm, she adds, "Alas, townsfolk aren't bloodthirsty beasts like orcs."

Raichel then looks at the others. "It would be nice if we could frame the bandits and get the orcs to attack them. But all that would do is have the town overrun with orcs and the bandits would flee while everyone else dies. These situations are always stacked against the innocent."

She manages to keep from saying "but that's why we're here" since the group doesn't want the town to think she and her group are going to do anything about it.

Toblen gives a nod to Mittens.  "Ahem.  I'll let my wife know you liked the meal."

He glances at Ben and tightens his lips, deciding not to correct the man about the name of the gang.

Elsa takes those plates the group is done with and answers Darcy, "I'm sure she would love a visit, then."

The villagers seem to agree with Raichel's guess that involving the Orcs would be a bad idea, but they don't comment out loud.

"Well let's get rested up so we'll be fresh for the morning's journey, then," Mits says with a satisfied smile on her face, patting her belly.

"We can let the army figure out how best to rescue the town once we've informed them."

To Darcy she smiles and says, "We're so lucky to have you with us to fix up our booboos.  Speaking of, I'd like for you to take a look at something for me once we've settled in, if you don't mind.  Let's all go get comfortable, shall we?"

The twinkle in her eye and wag in her tail gives away she has no intention of going to sleep any time soon.  Mits wants to discuss options with her friends privately.  Option 1: Take out the bandits tonight.  Option 2: See option 1.  She takes up her backpack and heads upstairs, beckoning for the others to join her.

Meiou just continued too eat deciding to voice his opinions on things later when they were in private. He wondered if he could ask them for the recipe to this stew it was so delicious to him.

*Bri'kus listened to the party's discussion as he ate his dinner. The few ales in him left him feeling satiated, but aware enough to know that the main thing that needed to be dealt with in the town before anything else was stopping the bandit occupation dead in it's tracks. He would have to wait to voice that opinion once somewhere more private though.*

*Happy to be full after an eventful day, Bri'kus quietly slipped his plate and empty mugs onto the table top (Sleight of Hand 21), along with any leftover coin for a tip, and ghosts up the stairs (Stealth 20) to meet up with his pack*

*He pulls the coat up and whispers to Darcy* Bri'kus think we either need to deal with bandits soon as possible, or spy on mayor to see if he involved.

  Look, getting the Redbrand's name right wouldn't play into the whole 'Oh, we don't care about the bandits. Honest' act.  It has nothing to do with his player's primary memory of them being 'I looted a nice cloak', that would be crazy.

  He follows along with the party to the next scene transition, and quietly comments to Bri'kus "I expect they are simply too cowardly to deal with them, and nothing more.  It could certainly help to confirm this, but if you get caught he may warn the bandits."  Though the Kobold does seem very good at making Ben wonder where the hell they went.

OOC: Note to self. Remember my find familiar ritual once we have a full on scene transition.

"I think you're right, my dear.  Why don't we do both?  I'll join the others in dealing with those bandits, maybe you could spy on the mayor, hmm?"  She even gives the kolbold those pretty fluttering eyes as she said that last part.

Raichel follows her sister up the stairs and into the room, expecting everyone else to follow also.

Once in the room, she comments, "Someone needs to make sure we don't have evesdroppers."

To emphasize this, she takes a quick peak out the window before closing it, and then presses her ear to the door.

the rabbit watched mittens as he entered the room "if your that worried i could try something. Its something i was taught during training after i got my weapon. It should alert me if someone i dont designate pops up"

he smiled softly to the cat girl he was sure with the way she had been showing off she wouldn't mind abit of magic and was certain Rai would love it given her interest in him.