Castles And Creatures - The Main Thread

Dove

"I don't think we'll get it here," Bert said, "There was another place mentioned, right? Let's go there."

Going to try and wrap up this investigation a bit if you all don't mind with this post. Although you're certainly free to continue it if you want. I just figure I'd give you both options.

Lusty Wench

The slam to the forearm (which was really all he had time to do) knocked the swing a bit off balance but, due to the momentum involved, the mace still managed to hit Krelmer in the face. This, normally, would be quite bad but the knight's helmet ended up saving his life and he only suffered a large dent and a gash in the steelwork. Krelmer was, obviously, a bit disoriented after this and his stab to the bicep ended up going into the mace wielder's wrist instead. The man growled in pain and then raised the mace over his head and would prepare to slam it down on Krelmer's head again. It was around this time that Kylara would begin to approach and see this scene unfolding.

Dancing Dove

"Don't make us hurt you till you can't walk no more. Get lost!" the larger of the orcs growled, a bit more serious now that Ace appeared to persist in his efforts to see the "whores." The smaller one put his hand over his knife hilt.

Russet Reed

"Certainly haven't heard of any. Just appears to be that type of bird. Is that all?" Squidge asked Lyn, taking the coin eagerly and biting down on it to check its authenticity.

Raging Boar

The informant looked as though he wanted to say something else but then appeared to accept the drink.

"Oh yeah, now I remember!" he said with fake enthusiasm. "Before I left, the Bonesnappers said they was going to go uppity to the crick. Something about a mole or a badger or some animal like that. And that's all I remember, thief's honor." the man said. He sounded genuine.

"Joe" stared at Grittra for about a minute.

"What kind of place do you think this is?" he asked, before turning around to serve someone else.

Russet Reed Tavern

Well, that was a bust, thought Lyn. Looks like Squidge didn't really know much more than she did. "That's pretty much all I wanted to know."

"I've got to go meet a friend of mine soon. Don't want to keep them waiting." She hopped down from the bar stool, leaving the coin with the half-elf. "That should be enough to pay for my drink, yeah?" More than enough, even if you add the price of the information. "You can keep the change."

As Lyn crossed the door of the tavern, she stopped to wave to her friend. "Bye, Squidge!" After that, she traced another twisting route back to the main streets in the direction of the South Gate. Hopefully she would make it with some time to spare.

edited 16th Mar '14 9:30:17 PM by KylerThatch

Krelmer half jumped half fell back out the reach of the man, waiting for him to finish the blow while using that time to regain his bearings, he took out his helmet, blood trickling out of a gash the impact made as he lunged forward, throwing his helmet at the man before attempting to tackle him,

edited 16th Mar '14 10:07:30 PM by TroyandHawk

Thanking the dwarf woman Jaola headed towards the rendezvous point; the southern gate of the town.

Turns out my stool pigeon coughed something up, and about bloody time, too - I was running late. I gave him my best approximation of a grin. "That'll do, pal. Enjoy your drink, and may the god of gamblers not take a dump on your hand. Thanks for everything, Joe."

Gram got out of the booth and passed the bar, slapping a couple of silver pieces onto the countertop, and signalled to Grittra. "Here, kitty kitty. Let's go meet the others, and you can tell me about what you found when we get to the gate."

edited 17th Mar '14 6:00:13 AM by Pyrite

"Okay, especially since this place is blatantly prejudiced against carnivores." Grittra stuck her tongue out at the bartender as they left.

Kylara was quite irritated with what she saw on her arrival. One of the adventurers, a human, was apparently picking a fight with some other man. She was really starting to regret waiting for people like these. If it weren't for the need to get moving...

Without hesitation, she called on her druidic powers, reciting a quick prayer to the wilds. A smoky mist appeared in the air just above Kylara, taking the form of an eagle. It let out a loud screech, winging to perch on the edge of the roof right over the heads of the two combatants. Hopefully, that would get their attention...

It seemed the wild elf would have none of him. Actually, Charon wondered if the elf even knew he was there at all or if the elf ignoring him was deliberate. He had half the mind to learn her some manners, specifically on the etiquette of being addressed by your better, but decided against it. Til the completion of his task, the elf remained an asset. As Charon looked upon city gates from the outside, he could feel nothing but contempt for the goblins. That he could stand outside the city walls in relative safety, that the gate was not being attacked at this very moment serve to testify the goblins' short comings in their siege. It was foolish of him to expect anymore from such a pathetic breed. He'll show them how an attack should be. He will pile their dead so high that the survivors will suffocate from the stick of death. And maybe it will help motivate them to actually do something about this damnable city. The time of departure was arriving. The others will be here soon.

The Dancing Dove
"At an impasse, we seem to be, at an impasse, we three. Farewell, then I say, I bid you good day, and now I shall most definitely walk away," Ace said, jingling his jester's stick once, and then taking a few steps back.

"Well then, sir Bert, we shall have no lunch and dessert. You wish to abandon this lead, so to the south gate with speed." He started to head towards the south gate, since that was where the dwarf from earlier had mentioned.

Thurge had finally made his way to the city gate. He had no idea how, but he had done it. Now all that there was for him to do was wait. Damn.

Dae returned to the gate, putting a piece of paper in her pocket before looking around slowly. She was curious of where the others were, but she would wait patiently till the others show up.

She sat down on the soft earth, remaining still and entering a nice state of meditation. She felt the presence of a few near her, her head cocking to the side. She couldn't tell their race, but her awareness let her simply know where they were standing. Still, the others didn't show up yet, which meant that there could be some delay in the plan of getting the goblins.

Lusty Wench

"Gods above, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" the mace wielder screamed at the sight of the eagle before bolting as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Don't think you've won! I will find you and beat you to a bloody pulp!" the mace wielder screamed at Krelmer

Later...

The group, somehow or another, had ended up marching out of the town's Southern gates with little to no hassle. After passing through a lot of meadowy land with no incident (except for conversations between you guys if you want to flashback/handwave), they made their way to Dragon's Tooth Creek, which was quite large for a creek. The body of water contained numerous rocks for the party to rockhop if they so desired. It was shaped like a triangle, (hence the name of it) with the Western end of the creek being the narrow tip of the triangle and the Eastern end being the wider base of it.

The group was currently at the narrower end - which was closer to town. The creek was surrounded by forest on both sides. However, the Northern side (the part where the group is currently as they left through the Southern gate) only had a smattering of trees, as most of it was used for firewood and building materials. by woodcutters. However, the group could tell by looking that the other side of the creek was much more dense and contained winding, menacing branches that seemed to choke the very light out of the woods. Distant growls, mysterious rustling, and the hooting of owls could be heard in addition to the rushing water of the creek.

The group now had a few options as to how they wanted to go about doing things. They could search the Northern forest area that they were already in. Due to its open nature and the lack of hiding places, the goblins (or anyone else for that matter) probably wouldn't be found there. However, there was no harm in looking. They could also cross the stream (which would get, at the least, most of the party's pants wet and the shorter members would be soaked) to the Southern forest area - which looked the most promising to find goblins...or worse. Much worse. They could also head upstream to see what was up there (again, it would be very wet). If they headed this way, they would be heading in the direction of the Treefoot Bridge that the merchant woman had said some goblins were camping near. Or they could choose something completely different.

edited 24th Mar '14 6:15:48 PM by FantasyLiver

At the Rendezvous

Berturabo had not gotten to know his whole party, but he did know that there was a newcomer among this new group. A woman, elf or human. She gave him the vibe of a huntsman or a woodsman.

Or a ranger.

"Hullo," He greeted her cautiously.

"Another companion?" He asked behind his helm.

Grittra started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, trying to make up for her lack of height and waving her arms. "Ooh, Ooh! I have news! Now that we're all here can I tell what I found Mister Grumpy Dwarf?"

Krelmer looked a around at the crew, yes, the crazy guy didn't give much information, but these people were certainly a strange group of bedfellows. "All here for the ring?" He asked,

"Well, we ain't here to get into fights with random people in the street, buster." Gods, they were all nuts. "If we can find the Bonesnappers, we'll be one step closer to finding the ring. Problem is... they're all probably on the other side, and I'm guessing some folks - like halflings in full plate - are gonna sink faster than an iron boat in the creek."

Something wasn't right. Goblins ain't tall, even by the good old Dwarven yardstick, so if they'd crossed the river on the way in, they'd have been soaked. Should've left some sort of tracks in Barnabus's shop. Mud, water, whatever - I didn't see any at all. Which means that they must've figured out some other way of getting in...

"You were sayin', Grittra?"

edited 28th Mar '14 6:51:36 PM by Pyrite

"Tunnel. In the cellar. i came for you because you're a dwarf and smart about underground stuff." She paused for a moment, her brow wrinkling." Maybe the tunnel went under the water?"

Yes, it is the natural inclination of dwarves to dig, isn't it? To tunnel underground, digging for choice ore and 'ousting native goblins from their tunnel homes if they're in the way. Yes, that sounds about right.

By Belkor, Timath and Ilkarneth! The cat caught me flat-footed, not that I'd admit it to anyone. Or maybe I was too busy kicking myself for not listening to her. A tunnel made perfect sense, and if I'd known about it back then, we'd be checking Barnabus's shop again.

Too late for that. We were out in the woods now, and we didn't have time to backtrack. "Alright, that's one more thing to look out for - digging equipment, or anything that might suggest excavation works. You see anything like that, alert the others immediately. So, who's up for another round of questioning at Treefoot Bridge?"

edited 29th Mar '14 3:19:06 AM by Pyrite

Dragon's Tooth Creek

The goblins were around here somewhere, but she didn't know exactly where. What Lyn was worried about now was that these were smart goblins, or were at least led by someone who was. "We should be careful," she said. "Considering the way they stole the ring, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be clever enough to set up an ambush."

If the goblins camped along the north side of the creek, it would make this job a bit more straightforward. The problem was if they were on the south edge. The bridge was open and exposed, and a band of adventurers trying to cross it would be spotted in an instant. A shorter path across would be to traverse the creek here at the narrow end, but there was still no cover there, and if they were spotted while in the water, they would be sitting ducks for ranged attacks.

Lyn started looking around for a tree to climb. If she could get a better vantage point, she hoped to see signs of an encampment somewhere.

Dragon's Tooth Creek
Ace came up near the dwarf, speaking to without actually quite looking at him. With his hat and marotte jingling all the while, he spoke to Gram. "Did I hear right, you seek interrogation? Well I myself am quite skilled at conversation. When it comes to extracting the truth, no doubt you have skills worthy of a sleuth. But you will need the services of a lowly assistant, one who can keep your path straight through any event."

Gods, it was the rhyming half-dragon again. Wasn't there anybody sane around here? "Let's see what the others decide. But if we ever get to interrogation, do me a favour, Ace. Stick to prose."

Grittra looked at Ace and frowned. "'Assistant' and 'event'? Im' not sure that rhymes."

Thurge was again silently waiting in the background, as the others where discussing goblins, strategy, and possible interrogation. However, Thurge was far to focused on his surroundings to listen to any conversation. He did not want to be taken advantage of on his first true adventure.