In reply to Temperance (msg # 17):

"P-p-p-pleasure is all mine, have not seen a cleric of a B-b-b-roken one in awhile", he smiles and nods his head. "I was t-t-t-old by my contact to expect 5 of you. It seems one of you is late. Pp-p-p-perhaps we can start and they shall join us later".


“Th-thank you for joining me! As some of you have already guessed m-my name is Khalid,” he stutters. “I wish to hire a group of f-formidable adventurers to aid in the rescue of my wife. She was carried off by gibberlings after our c-camp was overrun less than a tenday ago. It seemed like their horde was traveling towards the
Cloakwood—not far from here.”

"If you are unaware", Khalid explains, “Gibberlings are a t-type of vicious, feral humanoid. Nobody knows where they come from, but the creatures have plagued the Sword Coast for the last 10 years or so. They hibernate like bears over the winter, only to return the next year, stronger in the summer’s heat.”
He stops speaking for a moment, clutching his hand and spinning a beautifully crafted ring with some elven runes on it. He than continues.
“Gibberlings usually eat their victims, but for some reason, they’ve kept my Jaheira alive. Our wedding bands share a magical bond, you see. This will be a dangerous t-task—but I have gold! Will you help me?”

Rak-Norag listens to the half-elf's tale. He scowls at the mention of the magic in his ring, but he supposes it may be a figure of speech, that he means he feels in his heart that his bride is still alive.

"You pay, I will help find your woman," he replies. "These jibberwings will surrender her or fall. What say the rest of you?"

He raises one big hand to wave over a server and orders the pork and stout. "You all going to eat?" he asks the others. "Put fire in your belly for our hunt." He gulps down more ale, getting ready for his stout.

Temperance nods along to Khalid's story, her hands still working through the red cord even as she maintains unbroken eye contact with him. "Yes, I will help you," she replies after Rak-Norag pledges his aid. "Will you be coming with us?"

When Rak-Norag asks if she's going to eat, Temperance glances down at her hands. "After I finish praying, yes," she replies as she looks back up.

Rhen watches silently, unsure if feats of acrobatic skill like Brychan's is something commonplace among cityfolk. He claps politely with the rest of the bar, doing his best to imitate their response. While the gesture is tentative, it is also sincere.

When Khalid mentions the reason behind his summons, Rhen's ears perk up. He listens intently as Khalid lists out the details. Cloakwood. Gibberlings. A missing spouse. A magical ring. He nods in affirmation when Khalid asks if the group will help them.

"Yes," he states plainly. "I can help. The Daggerleafs teach each child how to track man and beast, and the forest is my home. I do not need gold, as your request would help me work toward completing own rites.

"I will, though," he adds, his voice betraying a sense of worry as though he has offended the Half-Elf, "if accepting gold is the custom for such actions."

As a young woman enters the inn, she frowns as she is asked to relinquish her weapons. She sets down her short sword, unbuckles her buckler, unsheathes her dagger, places a long bow with quiver by the man, lays two small hand axes next to them and finally sets down a large cast iron pan with a healthy dent in the side. She begins to count on her fingers as if mentally taking stock of everything she has on her. "I think that is everything that could reasonably be called a weapon. Is there anything in specific that this establishment has considered a weapon that I may have missed? I wouldn't want to run afoul of your policy should a metal spoon be considered contraband"

In reply to Ellerie (msg # 22):

"Everyone which may kill a man, madam. You should be alright, please carry on", the guard quickly looks over the fighter and motions her through. He may have rolled his eyes slightly during that short speech. "Next!", he yells through the door.

Brychan leaned forward to regard the menu, then responded to Rak-Norag: "Possibly the goose?" he said with an uncertain eyebrow raised.

He leaned back and listened to Rhen's hesitancy and recalled his first ventures into human lands. What a green stack of elf he'd been back then. "You'll be fresh from the trail, hey? Don't sweat it, kid, you're doing fine. And yeah," he grinned, "accepting gold is one of those things civilization has the forest beat with aces. [Private to Rhen Daggerleaf: What race are you? The name reads "halfling" to me, but none of your prose has said it explicitly.]

"Which," he said turning to Khalid, "is what our host has offered anyhow, and whose promise has brought us here. Not to put too much a point on it: it's hard to turn a man down when his missus went and got napped. But if I leave it to these three," he points at Temperance, "one would do it to ease suffering," and Rhen, "another for not wanting to be rude," and Rak-Norag, "and another to take his morning workout out on local fauna. Who's to say what our mystery fifth would do, but I suppose I need to ask the hard question: how much?"

In reply to Brychan Llywarch (msg # 24):

"50 gold pieces", Khalid said quietly, "each".

Rhen smiles gratefully at Brychan's words and advice.

"My thanks," he says to Brychan before answering Khalid.

"Agreed. Shall leave after eating?"

Rak-Norag nods at the mention of 50 pieces of gold. "This is a fair price," he says. "You will take us to where you last saw her?"

He slides the freshly arrived plate in front and begins to eat slowly, almost methodically, taking his time to thoroughly chew and taste the food. After a moment, he nods again, a look of satisfaction on his face. "This is good food," he declares before washing a swallow down with a slug of stout.

"That is a definition that is entirely unhelpful, but I will endeavor not to use any of the other gear I possess to inflict bodily harm upon another." Providing a smile to the soldier in seeming obliviousness with his frustration, she move on into the inn and towards those she was supposed to be meeting.

Her eyes quickly scan the crowd looking for any other adventurers or mercenaries or troubleshooters or heroes or champions, everyone had their own name for the profession that she had chosen to pursue. Spotting those by the fireplace, she walks on over.

Temperance nods at the mention of payment and finishes moving her hands, tucking the red cords back up her sleeves. She nods at the approach of one more person before she catches the attention of a server. "Could I please have the eggs, bread, and cider?" she asks.

Once her order is taken and paid for, she returns her attention to the group. "How likely are the gibberlings to harm your wife, Khalid? I mean, yes, all haste is always good but it's close to sunset and we may not get far if we leave after we eat," she says.

[OOC: GM stated in the OOC thread that it's around 6PM/1800hrs for context]

In reply to Temperance (msg # 29):

"I-i-i-i don't know. Knowing of gibberlings they should have killed both of us. It is urgent, b-b-but I understand the need for rest and d-d-day will be safer", he looks at the group, taking in one face at a time. "We can r-r-rest in this inn and go to the camp tomorrow, than?"

"Aye, that sounds like a plan," Rak-Norag says. "The room, like the food, is on you, then?" He continues to feast on the food and enjoy the stout, occasionally glancing about to assess the situation in the room. One never knows when a good barroom brawl might suddenly break out.

Rhen glances about the table, attempting to read the situation. After a moment, he shrugs and looks to Khalid.

"You are asking for our aid, and know these creatures better than us," the Wood Elf says. "I believe the decision on when we depart is yours to make. If daylight is a concern, I can track at night as well as in the day. The signs are there for those who know how to look for them."

In reply to Rhen Daggerleaf (msg # 32):

Klalid pays close attention to you speaking, taken a long moment and pulls at a wedding band,
"I-i-i-i ap-p-preciate your honesty, I would love to see my wife as soon as possible, but...gibberlings are dangerous creatures at night. I heard as much before and that is when we were attacked by them. I think we will have more success after resting".

"Stay here the night to 'rest up'?" Brychan gives Khalid a doubting look. "It's your wife, mate. And your gold. But... you think you're gonna get much sleep tonight? The answer to that question is the answer to whether we should stay the night here." He smiled, laughed, and slapped Rhen on the shoulder. "Besides... we introduce this one to a feather bed, he's like as not to actually fall asleep!" He conspiratorially leans in and stage-whispers, "Better make it straw with a helping of palmettos, and keep him sharp, ha!"

Brychan saw the armored woman at the edge of the conversation, listening in. "Good evening, lassie! You look as you've got a question on your lips; I suppose the answer to that question is either, 'Yes, that's Khalid right over there,' or, 'Yes, I am that Brychan Llwarch; always nice to meet a fan.' In either case, spare your feet a moment's burden and join us!"

Ellerie nods, "It would be the former. Sorry for being the last to arrive."

In reply to Brychan Llywarch (msg # 34):

"You s-s-speak truth, it happened tendays ago and it's b-b-been hard to sleep a wink", Khalid smiles at sorcerer. "Then we are setting after the m-m-m-meal. We should get there by the early morning. Hopefully the w-w-w-weather holds. Is that agreeable with the r-r-rest of you?"

Rak-Norag waves one large hand dismissively. "No matter," he says. "Clear sky and moonlight or dark rainy night, I have traveled in far worse."

Temperance nods to greet Ellerie when she joins the group, and does so again when Khalid asks if they could go tonight. "I shall endure. Once we have eaten, I'll go and get Brick ready for travel again - oh, thank you!" she says, interrupting herself as her meal arrives.

"Feather beds?" Rhen scoffs, "why would anyone collect feathers for a bed when a perfectly fine fur will save time and energy? Who and why would anyone collect them?"

Rak-Norag's comment about rain reminds Rhen of something.

"Foul weather...that is a good thing to consider. I had planned to make a tent during my travels, but have yet to do so. I believe I shall buy one and try my hand at tanning when more time is available... Forgive me, I shall return soon." The Wood Elf excuses himself and begins looking for someone who looks willing to exchange coin for goods...

OOC:

If doable, I'd like to purchase a tent for 2 GP. I forgot that the Explorer's Pack doesn't come with one.

In reply to Rhen Daggerleaf (msg # 39):

Surprisingly enough there what looks like a decently sized gift shop in the room just to the side of the inn. It has pins, writing utensils, mugs, and a section which proudly states, “All adventuring gear you ever need!”
The tent is 2 gold pieces and 20 silver. It comes with a gnome sized flag with a “Friendly Arms Inn” written across it and smiling face of the gnome you saw behind the counter on it.

"Good idea," Rak-Norag says. He too goes to acquire a tent for the road before they head out.

In reply to Rak-Norag (msg # 41):

You too acquire a tent. This one comes with a free shirt. Grey in color front has emblems of a Friendly Arms Inn, an armored arm and a hand sticking up in the air with a blue flag in it. Under in ornate text it says, “Friendly Arms Inn”. The back of the shirt reads, “I travelled to Friendly Arms Inn and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”.