The man brushed off Valik's attempt to appease him.  "Curropting our youths!" he swore.  "Call the guardsh!"

He turned to look back at the door, as if to see if the guards had magically appeared in the doorway, over-balanced, and fell against Valik's chest.  He shoved at Valik with both hands, saying "Unhand me!  Don't you know who I am?  I'm the High Theo-"

His words were cut off as his heel stepped on the back of his robe.  His balance gone, he stumbled backwards and fell -- directly into the fireplace!  The alcohol-soaked robes caught ablaze instantly, turning the man into a living torch!

Aelina had been listening to the old man's stories, some of them reminding her of her studies and travels, but he seemed to have details she had never heard before. When Goldmoon panicked about her staff, after hearing the bard account of their encounter on the road, and seeing Valik get stopped on the way there by the drunk seeker, she sensed an opportunity. Raising, she moved towards the old man, putting herself between him and the hostile seekers table. "Now we wouldn't want to put this kind story teller to the question, wouldn't we? He simply tells a folk's tale to curious children, an activity as old as when the first elves learned to speak. But since it offends some in the audience, I propose to keep those tales for another... more appropriate time. Who would like to hear the song of the farstrider, that wished he could walk to the moons? " She winked to the old man, mouthing "later" only for him to see, and with a bardic flourish, got her lute in her hand, plucking a simple tempo on the instrument. "Or would you prefer that I sing the ballad of Isabella, the forever scorned maiden? You decide!", she said, calling the title of a popular drinking song.

Just then, the drunken Seeker started to be physical with Valik, only ending up falling in the fireplace and catching fire! Strumming a quick rhythm for her spell, the bard casted a spell to extinguish the flames on the man's robes.

Cast prestidigitation to extinguish small fires

Today: Secret Roll: Aelina rolled 23 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 20.  arcana.

This message was last edited by the player at 10:13, Thu 30 Mar 2023.

Confused, then shocked, then horrified, Valik went to grab the man by the legs to pull him out. Avoiding the flames himself was difficult, and the man's understandable flailing about was not helping matters.

00:33, Today: Valik rolled 7 using 1d20+3.  Athletics.

Aelina's nimble fingers strummed through the quick scale of notes -- the very first one she had ever learned in the Tower -- the one initiates like herself learned to put out small candles.  This was no small candle, but the principle was the same.  She put more of herself -- her Gift -- into the cantrip, and watched in satisfaction as the flames on the seeker's robes guttered out, even as Valik bent down to pull him out of the fireplace.

Valik tried to grab the seeker's legs but the man was thrashing about in panic, and one of his feet caught the goliath full in the face, breaking his nose.

OOC: Take 1 point of bludgeoning damage.

Despite the pain, Valik pulled the man out of the fireplace as the flames on his robes guttered out.  His hair was burned off, and the skin around his hands and face were a deep angry red, but he would survive.

As he was pulled free, the seeker, scrambled away from Valik and to his feet, wheezing "Guards!  Call the guards!  Arrest them!  Assaulting a High Theocrat!"  He reached for Goldmoon's staff.  "I'll take this as evidence!"

"No!  It is mine!  You cannot have it!" Goldmoon cried, and whacked him on the head rather ineffectually with the staff.

There was a flash of brilliant blue light, forcing everyone to close their eyes for a moment.  When the light faded, the seeker stood whole, unburned -- new pink skin covered areas which had been burned moments before.

"Look!  The blue crystal staff!" someone said from the watching crowd.

"It's here?!  It can't be here!  They said they'd arrest anyone caught harbouring it!"

The High Theocrat looked like he wanted to grab for the staff, but took another look at Valik's imposing form, and a glanced at Aelina, now obviously a magic user, and turned and ran.  "Guards!  Guards!" he called in a stronger voice as he started shoving his way through the crowd.

Tika appeared near the bar.  "You'd better go," she warned.  "It won't take him long to get reinforcements."

Valik pulled his hand down from his face, nose burning with pain and feeling as stopped up as if it were the heart of allergy season while dealing with a cold. A burning rage he had locked away long ago flared up inside him, and Valik fought the urge to pin the zealous bastard to the wall with metal spikes. Valik of Today and Valik of Old warred for control of his actions as his blood ran hot - right out from his nose and down his chin.

When the bastard called for guards, Old Valik gained an edge. When he reached for Goldmoon's staff, Valik of Old won out and he prepared to kill the man right there in the middle of the common room. The whip wouldn't do, a crossbow wasn't ideal in these crowded quarters, but Valik was fairly certain he could ram at least seven bolts through each of the fat muckdweller's eye sockets if he did them one at a time, and he reached for the bolt case at his belt.

Valik flinched back from the flash of blue light, and the sight of the man before him being healed brought Valik fully back into the present. Two years of wandering the world in search of any sign of miracles, divine magics, or true healing; and they returned empty handed only to stumble onto it right here where they had started the journey.

His voice muffled from the broken nose, Valik motioned for Goldmoon to come to him, "We need to go." He looked to his friends and added, "All the Seekers are selfish and corrupt. We'll get no justice here; we must leave." He glanced back at Goldmoon to be certain she was following, then pushed his own way toward the door to make a path for all the others.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:47, Fri 31 Mar 2023.

"Not that way!" Tika called out.  "Through the kitchen!"  She pointed to the closed door at the end of the bar.

Several customers of the Inn grumbled.  "And anyone who tells the guards will get no more service from me!" she said loudly.  The grumblings ceased.

"Go!" she said quietly, "before they get brave.  There's a bounty on that staff!"

Tika certainly knew more about the current situation and the Seekers' activities, than Valik himself did, so he took her advice and changed direction to head out through the kitchen.

The bard was pretty pleased with herself when she manage to extinguish the flames threatening the clumsy seeker, that took Valik's attempt to help as an attack, bloodying he goliath's nose with his uncoordinated drunken movements. He then started to call for guards and she frowned "How  typical, you help them and not a single thanks... Men..." She was about to pluck another dissonant chord, the trigger to make the man smell like a hog carcass left in the sun when the miraculous event with the staff occurred... all hell broke loose...

In a flurry of screams, exclamations and crowd shoving, the newcomer elf grabbed her staff and Tika directed her group of friends to the back of the inn, when she was still astonished to have seen what she had spent a year looking for, magical healing. It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening, before picking her things and following Goldmoon... there was no way in the nine hells that she was letting that woman and her staff out of her sight before she got answers!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Fri 31 Mar 2023.

Ayrron was on his feet the whole time, but for the first time in a while, the Kender was silent at the sight of the staff and what had happened.  Everyone knew he relished in mischief and chaos, but this was even beyond his scope.

Ayrron jumped down, grabbing what food he could and stuffing it in his pack, he went quickly to the others. "Gotta go....gotta go." He muttered, more serious than anyone had seen him. He placed a hand on goldmoon, his eyes soft and sincere. "We have to go - now.  Come."

He made his way through the kitchen, his hands snagging a loaf of bread and some meat on the way. "'Scuse me....coming through....ooohh, the boar smells great."

Vailin watched as events overtook him quickly.  The drunk Seeker falling into the fire, the ruckus with Valik.  The screaming for guards, and finally, the staff.  The staff that was being sought by the Seekers everywhere.

Shaking off his reverie he tried to decide what to do.  Support the Seeker or follow his friends.  In the end, he chose both in a way.  The staff needed to be returned to the Seekers.  Holding it would only get Goldmoon and those around her into more trouble.

His decision made, the young warrior rushed after the others.

As the five of you barreled through the kitchen door, you saw Otik standing to one side, clearly trying to stay out of the way.  Valik was first through the door, nearly pulling Goldmoon along behind him in a firm grip.  Goldmoon clutched her staff in shock and wonder.  The staff was already returning to its non-descript wooden appearance.

Aelina followed, sensing a story in the making.  Her mind already buzzing with questions, and she felt the familiar urge to know the truth.

Vailin was three steps behind, wrestling with the ramifications of their choices.  His instinct was to follow the law, but these were his friends -- and they'd done nothing wrong.  Surely this was a misunderstanding that could be sorted out once cooler heads prevailed.

Last was Ayrron, who'd stopped to stuff his pack just a little bit more with food.  The white flatbread served as a barrier and handle both for the sausages, which could fit in around the sides and sit on top of his pack -- just barely.  A couple more fit into the rolls of his bedroll, but then he had to move to catch up.

OOC: Ayrron manages to squeeze in one more ration into his pack, bringing the total to 11.

The kitchen was large, but most accounts -- there was room for two to work comfortably, three at the most.  A few kegs stood stacked in one corner, and a long wooden table dominated the centre of the room, with vegetables and raw meats in various staged of preparation.  Two pots boiled on the stove, and two pans sizzled -- one with bacon, the other with more of Otik's fried potatoes.

"Go!" he said, pointing to the back.

At the back of the room, a circular hole was cut into the floor, leading down into the darkened night of the Solace ground.  A circular wooden cover for the hole was stowed behind the stack of kegs, and a rope hung from a pulley mounted in the ceiling above the hole.

OOC: No roll here needed; you'd all be familiar with such a hole and its function.  This is how Otik gets supplies up into the kitchen, and how waste is disposed off.

Valik faced Goldmoon as he prepared to go down, "I'll go down first, do as I do. If you can't stow the staff and lower yourself safely, you can drop it down to me. I will not let it fall into anyone else's hands."

Valik moved to lower himself down, pausing as he did a double take on Vailin's expression. "This lone woman needs help, and protection. The Seekers have no rightful authority here, and I know tyranny when I see it. Hers is the side I've chosen."

He had hoped for an opportunity to discuss everyone's findings from their journeys, but circumstances had robbed of that for the time being. The immediate future was going to prove interesting, and likely difficult.

With a great number of things now on his mind that he'd not anticipated, Valik made his way down.

"You don't just pick 'sides' like this is a game of football" growled Vailin.  "There is right and wrong.  So far all I see is someone evading the law, wether you recognise its authority or not. . ."

"But out of respect for our friendship, and my trust in your judgement, I will give Goldmoon a chance to explain herself, when things are settled."

Vailin stopped talking, knowing they all needed to hurry.  He waited for the others to drop through the hole before coming up the rear.



Athletics: 14
This message was last edited by the player at 08:30, Sun 02 Apr 2023.

The bard nimbly stowed her lute when the men discussed of the situation with Goldmoon, noting with interest how the staff changed apparence. Looking at the door, she also removed her telltale red cloak and stuffed it in her bag, knowing how it could get caught in the rope and how changing one small thing could throw off a pursuit looking for visual clues. "I don't know how I feel about the seekers making the law out here, or if they should. But what I do know is that there is a mystery here, and if the seekers get their greedy hands on Goldmoon and her staff, they will bury them so deep that we'll never know the truth. And that, my friends, must be the ultimate equalizer. Good and evil, chaos and law, they will always twist the narrative for their ends. Truth should be the goal here. And we won't find it standing around."

She placed herself to go down the rope after the intriguing lass.

Today: Secret Roll: Aelina rolled 17 using 1d20-1 with rolls of 18.  athletic .
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Sun 02 Apr 2023.

Ayrron, his back on his back followed last, and caught the discussion. His look was one of impatience and frustration. "Seekers or not, people seek power to gain an upper hand over others. Warlords, kings, wizards - does it matter?"

He straightened his pack and nodded at Valik. "I for don't know why they seek this thing, but i do know this woman needed help, and if it's her charge to look after this staff, then it's hers. The seekers....the law tries to take it, thats as good as stealing." He looked at Vailin. "Laws of men often lie in people of power. trust tour instinct Vailin, and if not, trust US!"

He looked at Aelina. "Law, chaos. Good, evil.....it's all perspective. But truth - that is worth fighting for." He nodded at the woman. "Now....maybe we can find a quiet place to ask Goldmoon here what's led to this before, oh i don't know an army of seekers come to hang us up like smoked fish!"

He then made his way down the street.

Vailin wasn't interested in being lectured on law by the kender whose very nature embraced chaos.  Besides they were in a hurry and he was not letting the sorcerer act as rearguard.

Without waiting for Arryon to finish the young fighter grabbed the rope, pushed it into the kender's grip and shoved him out into the hole.

Ayrron was unprepared as Vailing put the rope in his hands and shoved him over the hole.  With a cry, the kender fell several feet, the course rope shredding the skin on his hands until he could stop himself.

OOC: Ayrron takes 3 points of physical damage.

Grabbing the rope himself, Vailin followed, descending the rope swiftly.  At the bottom, the noise of the Inn above them was muted, allowing the five of them to hear booted steps and the clanking of metal armour running on the walkways above.

Tika's red-capped head appears in the opening above them.  "Don't go home," she urged.  "That's the first place they'll check!"

Vailin slid down the rope as quickly as he could in his armour.  When they hit the bottom he waited for the instigators of this foolish crusade to decide where they were going.

"If they don't find us in our homes, they'll keep looking in others." Valik thought for a moment, "Seekers are after the staff here, and they call Haven their home, which lies to the south. When Ayrron and I met Goldmoon, she was being attacked by hobgoblins patrolling the northern roads, who were also after the staff."

"Which leaves us going west, toward Crystalmir Lake and the Sentinel Peaks. The woods offer some protection, the mountains even more. Or, we could go east, toward the land of the Plainsmen," he looked at Goldmoon, feeling as though he knew her answer to east.

Aelina had landed lightly, surprising herself with her display down the rope. Moving out of the way for Ayrron and Vailin, she listened to Valik explanation of their options, nodding. "Let us not forget that seekers put barrages on the roads, we'll need to avoid those. You the the woodsman Valik, lead the way!"

"I..."  Goldmoon didn't seem to know how to respond.  "My people are many days' journey from here.  I... cannot go back there.  Not yet.  I must figure out what this means."  She brandished the staff.

"But I do not know these woods.  I do not know which way to go from here."

His suspicions confirmed, Valik began to lead the group west, "I know the way."

Knowing the guards would be called soon, Valik lead the group to the west at the pace of a purposeful walk. They needed to move too quickly to be quiet, but slow enough to not draw attention to themselves. Once they got a ways into the woods, they could throw some caution aside in favor of speed.

It wasn't long before the hue and cry went up for the direction in which they'd come.  Multiple sets of voices could be heard -- from above them in the trees at first, then to the south, and to the north.  Most disturbingly, the voices from the north sounded suspiciously like goblin-kin, and they were closing in fast.

Valik continued to move, but hearing goblinoid voices had certainly gotten his attention. Men were allying with goblins and their kin? And Seekers, no less? This was becoming less and less the welcome home he had expected, by the second.

Hearing their descriptions shared, Valik picked up the pace to get out of easy sight, then changed to moving more stealthily. They needed to get out of easy sight, then he would whip the horse and put some distance between them and the town.

23:19, Today: Valik rolled 22 using 1d20+6.  Stealth.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Sun 16 Apr 2023.

Vailin continued to serve as rearguard, ensuring nobody fell behind and trying to listen for pursuit.  Unlike Valik, he did not try to remain quiet.  His armour tended to negate any attemps at being subtle.