"My offer still stands. Take it or leave it, but I doubt you will get a better offer and opportunity here in this city, perhaps in all of Basir, not even close.", Thelonius says with confidence.

"The bonus at the end of this mission is 150 GP."

"Tell me, how many "job" offers have you gotten so far?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Wed 26 Sept 2018.

Tarrano lets loose a low chuckle at Thelonius

" Given that I have arrived only this morning and have had enough time finish a bowl of porridge I would say that my odds of job opportunities seem to be pretty good. You ask me to venture where you lost soldiers, likely an entire legion, with the way you want to hire mercenaries to do the work.I offer again my aid for the 10% of the loot, a fair split of the enchanted items, the supplies need to travel to and from and this 150 GP bonus. It is a fair deal for my skills and my life."

In reply to Tarrano Grazlak (msg # 45):

"Tarrano, it looks like I have made a mistake. I have always thought of hobgoblins as a tough race. Maybe you are not cut out for this. Maybe I have overestimated you. You are a bit on the short side so I can understand. My apologies for wasting your time."

Thelonius sits down in his chair.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:45, Wed 26 Sept 2018.

In reply to Thelonius Xander (msg # 46):

Tarrano shrugs as Thelonius retakes his seat

"Apparently tougher and wiser than you humans. Good luck getting some saps to go along with you. May the be able to protect your back as well as I could have."


Tarrano finishes his drink and turns, moving towards the exit as he considers his options for the day.

"Too bad for you.", Thelonius whispers under his breath. Disappointed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:42, Thu 27 Sept 2018.

Esparam walks to the counter to retrieve his filled waterskin from Lilly, and puts it away in his backpack.
He walks towards Thelonius and Tarrano on his way to leave and, standing up next to Theloniuis's table, simply says: "I'll come on the same conditions as the hobgoblin."

"The girl did say 'Noble citizen'. And you said 'Imperial mission'", he continues, looking at Thelonius. "Surely Basir can spare some more resources to acquire fine adventurers like the Master Hobgoblin and I? he gestures to Tarrano and himself. Especially considering the risk, danger, and sensitivity of this mission, no?

Thelonius was not expecting the studious looking fellow to speak,

"I invite you both to look for opportunities elsewhere. Maybe then you will see how generous my offer is.", Thelonius says with resignation.

"I will be here again tomorrow in case either of you change your minds. Thank you for your time.", he as says politely.

Esparam smiles, and reply as politely.
"And I expect to be in town as well for a few days, should you not find proper individuals to conduct this secretive and strategic mission."

He then straps his backpack on his shoulder, gives them both a quick glance and nod as goodbye, and turns to the exit door.

Thelonius nods his farewell back to the studious man and lets both walk out without another word.

Tarrano gets to the door as he is about to head out shaking his head, the offer was good, better than he had in awhile and he suspected no lies from this human noble. Nodding to the other as he walked out the door he turned and looked at Thelonius and slowly made his way back to his table.

"I accept your terms." he sounds almost defeated as he extends his hand towards Thelonius.

Esparam watches the hobgoblin change his mind with benevolent curiosity. He smiles to himself, and leaves, saying over his shoulder to Thelonius "I'll be back tomorrow to see what your party looks like!"

Although Esparam's intuition tells him the soldier really can't meet his demands, he was not moved either by his speech. So he will take the day to think about it and do his chores.

Bathing, washing his clothes, and finding a place to sleep that is cheaper than the One Eyed Ogre is first on his to-do list. Esparam would then explore the city, taking notes of interesting places such as merchants, inns where one could hear some rumours, job boards, town criers, stables, and other places that could prove useful to know in the future. He also intends to feel out the general population's opinion on the Pekal-Tokis war, in order to figure out how discreet he should be.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:20, Fri 28 Sept 2018.

Thelonius stands, inwardly relieved that the haggling is over, he shakes Tarrano's hand.

"Lilly, bring another glass for my friend Tarrano here.", Thelonius looks over to Tarrano again and asks, "Who was the human that left? Did you know him?"

Tarrano shakes his head as he looks back over his shoulder at the other man walking away

"Another stranger like you. An air of importance but no military experience that I could tell. When do we depart?"

Thelonius is amused by Tarrano's 'air of importance' comment.

"We depart in 3 days time", he answers Tarrano's question...

He turns his head to Tarrano and says,"I will be here till the evening today. You are welcome to stick around if you prefer. I will provide you with room and board from here on out till the mission is over."

"Hopefully we'll have more good prospects soon", Thelonius says with confident hope.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:18, Fri 28 Sept 2018.

In reply to Thelonius Xander (msg # 57):

Tarrano nods his bald head at Thelonius

"I will keep you company and then seek out additional information tomorrow. Do you have any othet locals you want to seek out for fellow mercenaries?"

Tarrano remarks as he moves around, unslinging his pack to set it on the floor before him, and takes a seat at the table.

"At this moment there is no one local that I can call on to join us. We will be recruiting from here but if we don't get 4 more adventurers before our ship sails we will leave regardless.", Thelonius tells Tarrano.

Lilly goes to the party's (so far) table with a short stack of plates and sets plates and flatware up for Thelonius and Tarrano. She goes back into the kitchen and reemerges with a wooden serving plate stacked with sausage links and roasted vegetables. She places it in the middle of the table.

"Enjoy gentlemen", she says with a smile.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:43, Sun 30 Sept 2018.

Tarrano nods his head slightly at Lilly as he reaches out and grabs some of the sausage links and vegetables and moves them to his plate.

"Never been on a ship, not a real one. Couple small boats to go out for fishing when I was a lad. Mostly we hunted for food but on occasion we made our way to the coast and took a boat to gather some fish. If there were no fishermen already bringing the fish in for us."

Tarrano then bites into one of the sausage links, the juice dribbling down his chin. He wipes it away with his other hand.

Thelonius thanks Lilly with a smile.

While listening to Tarrano, he takes his fork and puts some links and veggies on his plate. He tops off his wine glass with the pitcher of house wine and pours one for Tarrano.

"Tell me Tarrano, what are you good at? What talents and skills do you bring to the mission?", Thelonius asks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:56, Tue 02 Oct 2018.

Tarrano smiles at Thelonius as he pours him a wine, his mouth full he waits until it's mostly empty before he begins to respond to Thelonius

"I was a scout mostly. Staying ahead of our warband to alert them of any potential troubles ahead and to observe the target once it was found.  If you see me coming then fortune favors you that day or I'm not your enemy. What of you? Seem to be the military sort, actually get your hands dirty?"

Thelonius chuckles good humoredly at the 'get your hands dirty' question,

"That's extremely useful for us. Very good.To answer your question, I am an Imperial Warrior stationed here in this city.", Thelonius states just before eating.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 20:48, Tue 02 Oct 2018.

In reply to Thelonius Xander (msg # 63):

Tarrano smiles and laughs with Thelonius

"Can never be to sure with the way humans hand out rank. So what kind of work have you done for your city here as one of her Imperial Warriors?"

Tarrano will barely finish the sentence before he stuffs more food in his mouth, particularly enjoying the sausage links, each bite washed away with a bit of wine.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:53, Tue 02 Oct 2018.

In reply to Tarrano Grazlak (msg # 64):

"Well, we are the Emperor's personal legion. When we're not enforcing for the empire they usually have us doing personal guard duty for important people and if we are not doing that we are the elite palace guard, among other things.", Thelonius says before another fork full of food.

"These sausage links never disappoint", he says relishing it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:00, Wed 03 Oct 2018.

In reply to Thelonius Xander (msg # 65):

"They aren't as good as back home, but nothing ever is. But these are good." Tarrano remarks with a mouth full of food and then he washes it down with the rest of his wine.


"You must be pretty good for them to trust you with such and important mission." Tarrano remarks as he leans back in his chair glancing about the room. Or just as expandable as the rest of us are to these human emperors'. He draws his dagger, it seems to have been well used during it's tenor at his side or at least someone else side, but he moves it deftly in his hand as he draws flips it around a sec and then moves it from one hand to the other checking it's balance before he begins to clean his nails.

"What's the furthest north you've been? Ever been as far north as Shadesh Bay? And then Brindonwoods that surround it's southern and western borders?"

In reply to Tarrano Grazlak (msg # 66):
Thelonius observes Tarrano playing with his dagger, and then at the horrible manners of cleaning his fingernails at table. The rumors he's heard about hobgoblins are turning out to be true.

"It is a great honor to be given this mission. I hope to prove worthy of it or return on my shield.", he says with conviction. After a brief pause, he continues.

"I have never left Basir." Thelonius says with bit of irony, he shrugs his shoulders,

"Never had to. My duties and training have always kept me here, until now.", he finishes with a swig of wine.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:45, Wed 03 Oct 2018.

Most of the morning comes and goes, with Thelonius, and Tarrano sharing stories and ask questions about each other. Little is really said about Esparam.

The honey mead and wine have a steady flow and after a few more with a heavy discount from Lilly Thelonius and Tarrano are now at the point before becoming too drunk to really function. BUT They stay longer and burn a few more hours at the table.

With the seal given to Thelonius he has the abilities to give logging here and cover the cost of keeping Tarrano and any others of the group he assembles happy enough. At least until its time to board a ship south. With the shipping lanes so heavy these days its not a worry to find a ship with room at a fair price. And the trip will be about 2 weeks at sea.

Who would think that the earlier tug of war between Tarrano and Thelonius would come to the start of a band of adventure. Then again who really knows why the gods have left us all here to begin with. Hopefully Thelonius can find his 5 or 6 willing adventures before the ship sails.