block one I would like to spend at the Pharasma Shrine, getting in some quiet contemplation and prayer. Block two I would like to spend back at the tavern, in one of our two rooms, preparing for the evening and the next mornings trip. reviewing any maps or landmarks we have to commit them to memory, and committing some "Cayden Stories" and drinking songs to prepare for the evening. block three I will partake of dinner with my traveling companions, and of course be ready with an "Off the cuff" drinking songs or Cayden Story that I definitely didn't memorize an hour before, wink nudge, totally off the cuff.

Per my promise, I'll be heading back to the inn.  I plan on doing very little for the first block except idly drive Hetrik and co mad about talk of tea and "the old country" whenever they come into the common area to prepare things.

Second block I'll be greeting the "newcomers" and arranging my brewing kit for a tea ceremony, offering anyone who wants a traditional ceremony.  I would like to play coy about the old country as well and mention my siblings and I playing in curiously not quite human ways with double entendre euphemisms (like "pulling my tail" and "grabbed by the neck scruff"), as well as glossing over the noodle incident with "you had to be there, but it's best you weren't".  And eat, of course.

Third block, help a bit with clean up and extend the tea ceremony to the staff as well if they are interested.  Later, we'll discuss amongst the party what was learned today when the doors are locked and we can mill about the common room mostly alone.

• Hours 1-3:
   When the opportunity arises, she will hide her sword and Main Gauche in her bedding. She will have her knives hidden on her.
  07:20, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 21 using 1d20+7.  Stealth: Hide Item (Throwing Knives).
  Samara, not wanting to have any of us be caught alone, will accompany Saidou to the shrine, but will be respectful of his contemplation, and just keep a lookout till he is done.
   She will try to ensure that everyone has a 'buddy' after the display of hostility by the villagers.
   When Saidou is done at the shrine and back at the inn, she will check to see if anyone else went out alone, and if so, check up on them to make sure they are OK.
• Hours 3-4:
   Samara will not have any weapons or armor on her from this point on.
   Samara will perform dances and songs that evening, even if it is only for her companions and the Inn staff, encouraging others to participate as well.
   She will happily act as audience if someone else wants to take a turn performing.
   Given the events of this morning, she will eliminate the sword dance routine from her repertoire and replace it with juggling.
  07:21, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 13 using 1d20+5.  Performance: Dancing.
  07:21, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 15 using 1d20+5.  Performance: Singing.
  07:21, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 15 using 1d20+5.  Performance: Tale Telling
  07:21, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 20 using 1d20+7.  Acrobatics: Juggling.
  07:22, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 19 using 1d20+5.  Aid: Accompany another's performance.
• Hours 4-6:
   She will grab some food while someone else is performing.
   After guests leave, she will try to help clean up, explaining that her mother is an innkeeper back home, and she would be happy to help so they can all get to bed a bit earlier if they like.
  07:22, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 8 using 1d20+5.  Diplomacy: Change (Improve) Attitude.
  07:22, Today: Samara al-Khafif rolled 16 using 1d20+5.  Diplomacy: Gather Information (Haunted Ruins).

Hours 1-3: Haznut will go out with anyone who wants to head out alone, adhearing to Samara's buddy system plan. If no one else wants to go out, he will offer his ches to anyone who wants to store valuables or equipment for the day.

Hours 3-4: Haznut will chat with the smith he "bumped into" earlier, talking to him about how his business has been doing and general small talk.

Hours 4-6: Haznut will offer to help with any preperations before dinner, then eat with his compainions. After dinner, he'll help cleanup and take care of any small tasks that he'll be trusted with, even if it's as small as clearing tables or washing dishes.

Hours 1-3: Vostiun stays in his room and goes over the map we have trying to figure out, in general, where the ruins may be located and what features might be around them.

Hours 3-4: Vostiun heads downstairs and tries to make friendly small talk with the locals in attendance to improve their opinion of our group.

22:03, Today: Vostiun Hephaurio rolled 13 using 1d20+6 ((7)).

Hours 4-6 Vostiun eats dinner and enjoys the entertainment.

The party splits off as Samara and Saidou head back to the Pharasmin temple while the rest make their way to the inn.






Several hours pass and Saidou and Samara return. Both head upstairs passing Vostiun on his way down.




Saidou arrives back downstairs and sees that the town smith and a farmer have arrived and are sitting at the table furthest from the party, though they have been joined by Haznut. Shortly thereafter, a few more farmers arrive and follow the example of the first farmer, by sitting as far from the party as possible. They are quickly joined by the first farmer. Arbiter Rone arrives shortly thereafter and sits with Haznut and the smith.

Samara, decides that it is time to entertain and with her usual sense of subtlety, immediately leaps from her chair, gracefully landing between tables and begins singing while she dances. The locals, having been put on edge by her earlier actions, flinch in fright, the farmers scowl before returning to their drinks. The smith and priest watch with idle curiosity, but certainly more entertained than the others.

Dinner is brought in near the conclusion of Samara's routine with hesitant applause from the smith and priest, overly exuberant applause from Saidou and Pel and appropriate applause from the rest of the party. Dinner is a delicious stew of uncertain contents, several attempts are made by Saidou with accompanying percussions from Samara to start up some drinking songs. The first few attempts are relatively ignored and the farmers take the opportunity to exit the inn as rapidly as they can once finished with their dinner.

After they leave, the mood lightens a bit and Samara and Saidou entertain with tales, bar songs, and juggling. Pel is particularly taken by Samara and her juggling, while Saidou finds a bit of interest from the smith and Haznut in both drink and song. Conversation fills the inn for several hours and a general fun is had by all in attendance. Nothing more is learned about the ruins and it genuinely seems like the folks here just don't know anything about them.

The night ends with the party left alone in the common room, the doors and windows of the inn boarded up, the hearth stoked against the coming chill and the innkeep and family retired for the night.

After things were closing up, Saidou would bus any remaining objects and flatware off to a nearby table seeks out a cloth to clean a table that the crew had been sitting at. He would either clean any sticky residue from their table... or barring that, find a more clean spot nearby. "Samara, I have to say," as he wipes and prepares. "I was surprised that the farmers were so stiff. At least the smith and some of the others seemed entertained. Did you really make that much of an impression this afternoon?"

A scroll case is pulled from his pack, and presented to the group with a cheerful grin. "Vos, I was reviewing some maps of the area earlier, and based on what you and I spoke with the priest about there seems to be a likely general location that matches the details given by Arbiter Rone. There aren't any ruins marked on the maps here- What I have is old, and posesses precious few details. But it looks like about a day of travel north, our search area would be about... here." He points with his finger upon a carefully unrolled map, showing an area to the north, following a river. "This, if Rone's mention of a campsite that was used in past era for travelers is accurate, should be approximately where to start. Getting to the vicinity, maybe not so hard. Finding the ruin in the swamp, could take a few days."

Saidou would climb down off of the chair he was using as a step to extend his reach, leaving the map within view of the others. "Back before the Worldwound was sealed, Crusaders would pass north, toward he borderland of the Sarkorian Steppe. They, according to Rone, would follow the Lower Moutray river on their way up to the Worldwound and would often camp at a well travelled ruin during the dry season. There wasn't much rumor or crusader activity coming back south, just a few supply trips heading back thru here toward Lepistadt for things that the outer ward towns couldn't easily provide. But that camp ruin is one that would have been left largely unused for a while now... Cut trails would have grown back. I don't suspect it'll be easy to find."

Haznut looks over the map as Saidou is explaining his findings, trying to use his knowledge of survival to guess where along the path shown to him, following up the Lower Moutray river up to the Worldwound, would have been a good spot for a group of Crusaders to have setup camp.14:03, Today: Haznut Ingut rolled 24 using 1d20+5.  Survival: Guessing where along the path a camp could be set up.

"These people are messed up," Samara says softly, "They drew weapons and charged to attack us when I did a somersault. They must have some rather unruly neighbors, but it's strange they don't want to tell us about them."

Studying of maps and revising history continue.

"Hmmm, well I can't quite say where they might have set up from the map... Although... Assuming the layout of the land there hasn't changed too much, maybe when we get out that way I can figure it out a little better. Sorry, I just can't tell by looking at the map, at least, not without their notes with the map." He ponders for a moment before looking up. "Samara, don't mind the farmers one bit. They're old fashioned, and their trust is going to be hard to earn. My guess, you'd have to save them from some awful things to have them look at us in any better light."

Kon sips his tea as he gazes at the maps from the side, "If we're looking for someone's laboratory I wouldn't expect it to be near a crusader's path.  That's the sort of thing that would be off of most beaten paths if experimentation is going on.  Though, perhaps they were in league, or the crusade chose the path through there to deal with a heretic.  I'm more concerned with others setting up in the area for smuggling or taking on wayward merchant caravans."  He stretches across tapping at a place...

23:39, Today: Elde Kon rolled 17 using 1d20+7 ((10)) to attempt to gauge possible "ideal" bandit camp locations based on the old maps and the geographical features shown to maybe avoid on the way out.

"Here for example?  Let me think for a bit..."

Saidou shakes his head slightly to Kon, glancing back at the map. "After a few generations, even a mage's former home might not really draw attention beyond just being a ruin. By the time that the crusades happened last century, I don't think much offensive material would have been left to bother a Crusader's tender sensibilities, friend. "

He would watch Kon pass a keen eye to the map as Haznut had before him, and states "While the map can help us from getting lost, if we properly record our notes, I don't think it would help us plan for avoiding ambushes. For one, there hasn't been a lot of traffic through the crusader's path since the 5th crusade a few years back."

Discussions continue about history and old, vague maps.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:52, Tue 13 Dec 2022.

"Then we'll just have to play it by ear once we get out there," Vostiun says as he leans back in his chair.

"Crusaders, Wizards, whatever - they all need access to clean water. Maybe the Laboratory isn't on the beaten path - or not so beaten any more - but it would still be near a source of fresh water. Maybe the land has shifted since then, but maybe we can figure out where water once flowed and go from there?"

Kon shrugs and sips his tea again, "Yes.  Besides the crusades, there's not a lot to go by.  Maybe it's the angle, but is this a mountain or a valley?  Oh, it's a weird tree..."  He squints closer, "I think...  Guess we know why we're out here now."

Saidou claps his hand to the table for attention, his face in a scowl as he struggles against very visible frustration. "Shifting land, moving water access points, ambush spots unknown bandits might use, crusader offense at the original purpose of a ruin that has likely not been used for anything but dry refuge in the middle of a swamp for over a hunded years! You're... we're... just all focusing on the wrong things here, friends!

With an exasperated sigh, he leans back in his seat again and stares at the ceiling, his eyes closing for a moment to dig into his memories. "I'm sorry, but ... We are, in fact, focusing on the wrong things. Things this map can't tell us, won't tell us, could never have told us; If it could have, we would not be here today, sent by Runa. And this isn't the first time Runa's asked us to check out one spot or another to confirm a fact or detail that isn't properly recorded, bringing back the careful notes she needs. Because that's what we're here for... Notes."

"We just need to find and explore a ruin rumored to be north of Lepistadt, in the swamps along the border. Now, there's some information we got today - That crusaders used to pass north through here, heading toward the border, and there's a campsite they would hold at an old ruin about a day's north from here. Will it be the ruin that Runa spoke of? No clue. But we'll find it. And when we do find it, we'll determine if it belonged to Voran Earthmane. Because it quite well might just be an ordinary ruin. Wouldn't be the first or last time Samara and I were part of a trip to find something specific that eluded us, after all. But whether or not it belonged to Voran, we take lots of notes, bring back artifacts, and bring back proper sketches of the ruins marking where any artifacts were found. Because that's our pay - Not by unraveling the secret laboratory of some long dead sorcerer, or unearthing some crusader group's latrine pit while gleefully trying to authentically age the excrement to find out if it was once eaten by a supposed geniekin dead before our modern civilizations first formed. Our pay is the detailed ruin survey. And if we manage to find the Crusader campground, survey it, and it's not what we hoped... We can use that as our basepoint to search a bit of the swamps for more signs of ruins, or movement of water tables, or eradicating bandit ambush points before the non-existent merchant caravans that don't travel through here fall victim.

Okay?"

"Of course I haven't lost sight of our goal.  I just feel it's prudent to know what we might face along the way.  My journey over the Crown was...  Not altogether smooth.  I learned quite a bit about the kind of people out there, the desperate sort strong enough to raid even a fully armed caravan of merchants.  The only thing noteworthy about a place this far North for the protectors of this land is that it exists, and apples and grains come from here.  Merchants surely find it lucrative.  And bandits find them lucrative.  But with so little to work with," Kon sweeps his cup toward the maps gently, "it's hard to say it's more than likely we'll find someone out there, rather than where specifically.  It's best to be on guard, is all I'm saying."

Emptying the cup, he continues, "I agree our first stop should be the crusader's camp.  As far as ruins go, that's as good as any for us to start in.  Even though there haven't been any crusades going through in recent years, such a well known place wouldn't be a likely camp for bandits.  We can examine it, document it, bring back turds and trinkets a like, but I still feel this is not going to be our final destination in this search.  We should be prepared to be out there longer than just a couple of days there and back over a solid and level field of a few dozen miles, and expect to encounter trouble."  Looking down at the map with disdain, "And it would do us well to update the map of the area while we're there to fix up the odd mountain/valley/dead tree scribbles.  Otherwise how will the next lot, and there clearly will be another group if we find something confirming Voran's workshop, ever find the place?"

Samara envelops Saidou into a bearhug, spinning him around and setting him on a chair before releasing him, "You are so right, Sadie! Let's just do our best, and we can't fail!"
This message was undeleted by the player at 16:28, Wed 14 Dec 2022.

“Aye, and I agree we don’t need to dig up a long lost latrine made by crusaders, I was simply trying to guess where they may have setup camp. If they were anywhere near our ruins of interest, it might point us in the right direction.” Haznut stretches as he gets up, getting ready to head upstairs.

“We’re all adventures here, with different skill sets. Until we’re on the path, I’m not of much use. I’m muscle, and a bit of wits, you all know that’s about the extent of my abilities, but I trust you all will pick the right path to start down tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to keep us all on it, together. I’m going to turn in for the night, lots of marching tomorrow lads!”

"Well, I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! I'm not sure how I'm going to get to sleep tonight, i can't wait to get started!"
Samara bumps into Haznut playfully, "Ooh, muscles!" she giggles.
Samara will head to bed, unless something distracts her.

Saidou had squawked awkwardly when being lifted and spun around by Samara, and it would be noticeable how light the shorter fellow was by how easily he was to heft. When placed back on his seat, he seems disoriented for a moment, frowning as he tries to shake and clear his head.

"Hazzy, from what we were told, it's likely that the old ruin and the newer crusader campsite are the same location. Rone had mentioned to Vos and I offhand that there are several ruins within the day's travel of this town, but that only one he could think of was in the direction of the border - The one that the crusaders had used to camp."

Saidou rises from his seat, willingly this time, seeming a bit more stable, if not still a bit greengilled. "Right, the drink must have been getting to me... Dancing with my feet off the ground doesn't seem to have agreed with my stomach either, and I will be joining Haznut in retiring for the night. He glances at Haznut with a grim look as he makes his way to the stairs; If you could, please set your boots gently, don't toss them under the bed. I had that sore jaw for days last time."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:52, Wed 14 Dec 2022.

Kon sets to rinsing out his gear after a sadly solo tea experience while Samara the others bustle about.  Setting things away, he rises and follows the others to the stairs, "Our hosts have retired before us.  We'll certainly want to be up early as well if we have a full day of travel ahead of us.  Let's make sure we have our things in order before we settle down so we aren't feeling rushed in the morning and definitely miss something."

Vostiun waits for everyone to leave, finishes his drink, and heads upstairs.

"I like being the normal person in the group," he says to himself.