Roderic’s ghost had spooked Cathran awake and she seemed to have her hands up ready to cast a spell. Gavel who had been sitting in a corner jumped in front of her and two massive metal fists appeared out from under his cloak to bash the spirit should it come closer to his charge. It took a while for her to go back to sleep once Roderic departed, and Gavel stood on high alert the rest of the night beside her bed.

Cathran  kept quiet most of the trip there. Sometimes she could be heard whispering to Gavel, but it was nothing distracting. When they were greeted by the ferryman, she produced 8 coppers for herself and Gavel. The other two seemed to have a handle on things, so she remained quiet.

Red and blurry-eyes, Caydel trudges along with the others.  Before the 'visit', he had spent to much time in the inn; singing, drinking and asking questions.  Well, he asked questions until he had had too much to keep things straight.  He has been quiet, until now.

"I know this path is not liked by all, but I do feel this is the best things for us to do.  And..." <deep breath> "many things that seem disconnected tend to be connected when they happen together."

He tries to straighten up a little bit more, and tries to smile.  "Does anybody know a good traveling song?  Maybe that would raise the spirits of those that are still living."

Hallen grins and pockets the coins offered. She makes some modest protest about the group overpaying but the coins are already gone by the time she finished speaking.

"Aye I saw those guards of yours. Came by a few days ago and crossed same as the everyone else without a boat for themselves.  Said they were hunting after some goblins or some such. Why are you hunting for them? I guess it has been awhile. I though they must have come back across someplace else."

She is in a very friendly mood for the crossing as she helps everyone onto her raft. While she is old and has trouble moving on land she still has a strong upper body as she propels the raft hand over hand across the river. She refuses any attempts to help her thouhg.

"A woman's got to stay active. You paid for service so you'll get good service so sit yourself down and enjoy the ride!"

She is quite chatty and turns out to be a considerable source of gossip and news around Roderic's Cove. She asks a lot of questions and has a lot of comments about the massacre and the influx of gangs into Roderic's Cove. She talks about that nasty piece of work Mr. Retch:

"You lot watch out for him. You might have no trouble trouncing that fellow in a fair fight but he doesn't fight fair. He'll throw up all over you and escape while you're trying to clean the vomit from your eyes. Guards have tried to drive him off for years to no success."

If asked about the Order she huffs and rolls her eyes.

"Bunch of ink-stained good-fer-nothing scholars. Holed up in some fancy estate and leave the real work to the real folk of town but as long as they keep spending gold then I suppose they're not doing any harm."

OOC: Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to talk to her about. The whole crossing takes about ten minutes so there is plenty of time to chat.

"Do you remember how many guards you ferried across?  Maybe which way they headed after they left you?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:55, Fri 12 July 2019.

Amara seemed to consider what Hallen said as they floated by, comfortably lounging on the raft as the water went by. There was a lot she wanted to ask, especially about one person in particular.

"Tell us a bit more about Mr. Retch? I'm surprised no ones just killed him from the get go if he tends to throw up on people. That'd leave me with a chip on my shoulder."

Cathran thought about something. “Do you know if anyone knows about what the scholars might be trying to study in that manor or what subjects they are interested in? Surely they had to have mentioned it in passing at some point when getting food or going to the local library.”

RE: Guards

“It was four guards, a standard patrol. I recognized Tomin and Rebekah but the other two I didn’t get a good look at. Not too chatty besides Tomin. Mostly talked about how they didn’t want to be hunting goblins in the Churlwood.”

RE: Mr. Retch

“Oh sure everyone in town would appreciate a blade between his eyes but he is a tricky one. I think I heard someone say he had is fey so good luck trying to run him down. Fey do what the fey do. Best to just let them be then bring down some ancient curse. Mr Retch is awful but mostly just digs through the trash and throws rotten fruit at people. Annoying but not the end of the world either.”

RE: Scholars

Hallen just rolls her eyes.

“Oh they talk a lot. A lot of nonsense. They are all just bums who have found a fancy way of avoiding doing any real work.”

---

As they start approaching the other shore a lone woman steps out from the treeline and stands by the dock, flipping a coin as she waits for the ferry to cross. Hallen curses and lowere her voice.

“Roadkeepers. Just...just do what she asks. You don’t want trouble from that group. Just pay them and there won’t be any trouble.”

Looking at the woman on the shore, "Hallen, IF we don't pay, is the trouble for us or will you be dragged it it as well?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Mon 15 July 2019.

Hallen nervously shakes her head.

"Not for me, I'm paid up for the month. Just be careful. That one on the shore there is Lullaby Vancaskerkin. She's a pierce of work, you'd best not be giving her a reason to get angry."

The old woman continues to haul the party closer and closer to shore. Where they're at there isn't much other alternative. If they turned back around they'd be wide open to bow fire from the shore and if they dove into the swift running river they'd likely be swept away.

As the ferry gets closer to shore two smiling men come out from the treeline to join the tall lanky woman Hallen called "Lullaby".  When the ferry finally lands the woman steps forward with a grin and a cocky swagger. She gives Hallen a nod but the old woman just scowls back and gives a rude gesture before turning back to her ferry.

Lullaby turns to the party and grins again, beaming from ear to ear.

"Hail and well met, friends! Welcome to the scenic Churlwood. You'll surely notice that the path through the trees there has been freshly cut and that there are no trolls or ogres or other nasties waiting for you here on the shoreline. If only we could provide such services like clear navigation and safe travel for free but keeping you safe and sound in your journeys unfortunately is a costly venture. I'm sure, as noble and upright citizens, you'd be willing to make a fair donation for our services here?"

The two men on either side snicker at her words and step forward towards the group, arms out and open palms ready to receive their "donation".

Lullaby continues to smirk as she keeps talking>

"I think...ten gold each would go a long way to keeping the undergrowth cut back and the trails free of clutter, wouldn't you say?"

Behind the group Hallen lets out a gasp at the amount but then quickly busies herself to readying the ferry to cross back again, trying her best to avoid any attention from the Roadkeepers.

Caydel gets off the raft, and stands against his staff.  He placed himself on the road between the thieves and Hallen.  He then calmly looks at Amara.

Cathran disembarks and crosses her arms as the situation is explained to them. As the two men come near Cathran, Gavel slowly places himself between them and his master. A slight ticking sound starts to pick up from him, but the hand placed on his back by Cathran calmed him down and the ticking stopped. “Easy there big guy. Let’s see what are companions have to say about this.”She looks over at Amara for her thoughts on how to proceed.

"Hmmm. A pretty protection racket all things considered. But let's be honest, that's all it is. Otherwise there wouldn't be goblins ahead of us. Or are there? Hmm ten gold is pretty extreme for a protection racket after all."

Amara absently flicks her eyes left and right as she steps in front of the group lightly, taking in Lullaby with a playful smile. She doesn't seem bothered by it at all, actually tilting her head as her smile widens. Despite that, her hands are comfortably resting on the hilts of both her swords.

"And shooing our ride away so we can't just leave, it's either pay or swim. I'm impressed. But Lullaby was it? I'm a bit surprised at you. I figured the Roadkeepers knew better then to harass the guilds at this point. And these.... ahem, useful adventurers are helping me."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:40, Wed 17 July 2019.

Caydel just watches Amara as she walks forward.  He smiles at her last statement.

Lullaby's smile flickers a bit as she takes a second look at the party. She looks Amara over and then the others from Caydel to Cathran to Gavel.

"You don't look like you're part of the guild. Who exactly do you work for?"

Lullaby seems suspicious but she also hasn't ordered anyone to attack yet so Amara has at least bought a bit of time.

Kamea was about to object to the request for payment with the sharp end of her glaive when Amara spoke. She works with the guild? Kamea gripped her shaft of her weapon tightly. "Who do you work for?" She asked Lullaby. Kamea decided that she would have words with whomever these Roadkeepers worked for.

Lullaby just laughs.

"Why the Roadkeepers of course! Now, enough talking and more paying your tolls. Chop chop."

She cuts the conversation off and the two thugs approach.

OOC: The time for negotiations are at an end. Time to pay up or roll initiative. No surprise rounds on either side as everyone is being cautious.

Kamea pulled her glaive from the saddle. "This is your last chance to walk away..." She turned to face the three bandits. "Don't complain that I didn't warn you."


OOC:
rolled 18 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 16.  INIT

Gavel ripped his cloak off revealing its mechanical nature and the gears inside him starting winding at blinding speed. Steam escaped from the crevasses of its metal body. It’s clenches it’s massive fists and slams them together.

Cathran’s eyes glow purple with power. “Playtime is over. Stand aside willingly or you will be moved.”

15:27, Today: Cathran Synthiel rolled 6 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 5.  Gavel Initiative .
15:26, Today: Cathran Synthiel rolled 16 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 14.  Cathran Initiative .
15:25, Today: Cathran Synthiel rolled 21 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 11.  Intimidate.

"All of them, I'm a bit of a freelancer you see. Doing the jobs locals don't like doing."

Amara sighed at the fact that it seemed they had given up talking, ah well she had tried. Her companions would probably have had issue if she opened up by trying to slit someones throat.

18:21, Today: Amara rolled 21 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 16.  Initiative.

Surprised at how quickly things have turned, Caydel doesn't know what to do for a moment.


09:16, Today: Caydel Cailean rolled 4 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 2.  Caydel - Init Roll.

One of the thug goes for his blade triggering a flurry of activity and suddenly it seems like violence is inevitable.

Round 1


OOC: I'll get a map up tonight but until then:

Pox is standing right in front of Amara.

Gabe is standing right in front of Kamea

Lullaby is about 20' behind her thugs so not really chargeable or attackable unless you take an AoO from a thug or double move to go the long way around.

I'm assuming Cathran, Gavel and Caydel are all within 5-10' of the rest of the group

Amara was quick on the draw, and already prepared with her hands on both of her short swords. It shouldn't have been that surprising that she was the first one to engage in the actual fight, both her short swords almost leaping out of her sheaths with her smooth drawing.

She then proceeded to attempt to end Pox before they had a chance to resist, her right hand's sword going for his throat and her left hands sword attempting to open up his stomach.

"Wrong Choice."

Move: Draw two Short Swords (TWF)
Standard: Full Attack (MH Hits AC 21 for 9 Damage, OH Hits AC 18 for 5 Damage)
- On the off chance sneak attack procs (since not sure if flanked of ff'd), feel free to roll +1d6 damage per hit.

13:37, Today: Amara rolled 5 using 1d6+3 with rolls of 2.  OH Damage.
13:36, Today: Amara rolled 18 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 15.  Off Hand vs AC 15.
13:36, Today: Amara rolled 9 using 1d6+3 with rolls of 6.  MH Damage.
13:35, Today: Amara rolled 21 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 18.  Main Hand vs AC 15.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Wed 24 July 2019.

“Fine...”The words were icy and full of power. She traced a rune in the air that then flew to land on the back of Gavel.

Upon acceptance of Cathran’s spell, Gavel sprouted more gears and armor plating enlarged as he grew to twice his size. Screeching could be heard from within his core and steam spurted out in all directions. An ominous clicking sound could be heard as he clenched his hands together and slowly brought them above his head. The two massive fists then came slamming down on top of Pox like a battering ram.

Cathran casts Enlarge Person on Gavel.
Gavel grows to Large, has -2 AC total, gains +10 hp from increase in size as a construct. Size becomes Large. Gavel attacks Pox.

23:05, Today: Cathran Synthiel rolled 12 using 2d6+7 with rolls of 1,4.  Slam damage.
23:04, Today: Cathran Synthiel rolled 20 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 14.  Gavel slam on Pox.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:14, Thu 25 July 2019.

"You had your chance." Kamea side-stepped the bandit in front of her as she pulled the glaive short-handed. She used her off-hand to twist the blade closer to the bandit as sliced his chest.


Move: 5' step to L6. Shorten grip on Glaive (Bladed Brush)
Standard: ATK Gabe with Glaive
rolled 24,10 using 1d20+6,1d10+3 with rolls of 18,7.  ATK/DAM


This message was last edited by the player at 12:05, Sun 28 July 2019.