Valakyr winced as a snake bit the human fighter; he was out of curative magics, so he wouldn't be able to help him. The best thing he could do would be to finish this quickly.

Glancing at the woman that they'd saved, he handed her a handaxe- it was sharp, but simple enough to be used without a huge degree of skill- and turned his attention back to the battle, just as one of the snakes sunk its fangs into the elf.

"Keep your head down- you should be safe as long as you don't draw their attention!" He told the rescued sacrifice gently, before roaring and charging at one of the snakes. "Leave them alone, beasts!" With that, he swung his mace at the one that had bitten the elf, aiming to swat it out of the air with a well-placed strike.

Handing a hand-axe to the rescuee as a free-action, and then charging at the snake that bit Mialee before making a mace attack.

Buggers... One of the snakes had gotten to the warlock but good, yet she stood however warily. The cleric took the initiative in avenging the move. Gabatim wouldn't give the other snake its chance. The vaquero immediately loosed a bolt at the last snake.

Crossbow bolt at a flying snake. Also, calling on animal handling and survival.

Forest, Eveningstar Tomb

Seeing the snake bite Mialee brought Fyterion to run to her, speaking some holy words of healing.

Using Healing Word on Mialee

And so, the battle wound down, the heroes won the day, saved the would-be sacrificial victim and returned to collect their just reward.

They spent the next few days adventuring on their own, their skills getting stronger in the process. Then they eventually met again in the same tavern.

As they downed some cups of ale, Sir Yentl Mann burst in all his nobleman glory. This surprised everyone present, as he never did this.

"Ah, my friends, good to see you! I trust you are well?" he said, smiling broadly. "Are you feeling like working for me again? Because I have a task for you. Nothing major, don't worry. And I'll make it worth your while" he added, showing off a gold coin.

"Its quite simple: now that the local problems have been solved -thanks to you- I'm required to go back to Superbia, to attend matters of state. But while I have good guards to watch over me on the way... well, I also have enemies. Anyone who has any power has them, you know. So, I would like you to accompany me to the big city. What do you say?"

edited 10th Nov '17 3:33:25 PM by Sijo

The Tavern

Valakyr nearly spilled his ale when the nobleman burst into the tavern, raising an eyeridge at his sudden entrance. While the black dragonborn hadn’t been particularly friendly with the nobleman, he had been convinced by Gabatim to accept a reward.

There was no shame in taking pay for honest work, after all; he’d have happily done it for free, but he couldn’t deny the appeal of a handful of glittering gold.

“If my companions agree, then I would certainly be happy to lend my services in conjunction with theirs,” the cleric offered. “Although I would like to know why you need a team of heavily armed and armored adventurers along for the ride,” he pointed out. “Few nobles hire a cleric like me, a battle-hardened fighter, a powerful magic user, and a wielder of the Old Faith in addition to the garrison of guards they already keep by their side.”

He studied the nobleman's reaction, trying to gauge whether or not he was nervous. It wasn’t that he mistrusted Sir Yentl Mann per say, but people often left out important details when recruiting adventurers- either out of a desire to hide something, or because they simply didn’t realize that those details were rather important.

He’d rather not find out that Sir Yentl was hiding something out of some misplaced “good” intentions in the middle of battle or heated negotiations.

Insight check! Also, Valakyr is referring to Mialee and Fyterion with those last two descriptions.

edited 10th Nov '17 4:21:49 PM by Cwest5538

Check succeeds! as far as Valakyr can tell, Sir Mann is being honest.

"Well, I haven't been targeted personally- not yet" the nobleman added, his tone turning serious. "But these past few weeks, there have been attempts on the lives of several members of the nobility. No one's been killed *yet* but even for a place like Superbia, this is unusual. Nor is the identity of the assailants known. Some claim its hired mercenary assassins, but its just a rumor, and even if it were true, nobody knows who would hire them or why."

"All I know is, I'm not taking any chances. Until I arrive at my castle, I want the best guards around here. And those, my friends, are you" he added, smiling again.

"I promise, you will be amply rewarded once this mission is over."

"Come now, don't offend our generous employer by questioning his motives," Mialee said to the Dragonborn, offering the noble a warm smile as she set down her ale. Truth be told, things had been looking up since getting paid by the noble for that terrible cult business. She didn't have to use prestidigitation on her food and nearly as much anymore, for one.

"What greater motivation can there be than wishing to be safe? Especially when he has the means to go above and beyond hiring such common guardsmen and getting adventurers of our talents. Were you in his position, would you truly say you would not wish to spare no expense and hire the best guards available to you?"

Not to mention that not only would this job give them some more spending money, but they'd be in Superbia instead of this trash heap of a city.

Well, Valakyr had gone and asked the vaquero's would-be question. Gabatim had been half-drowning in ale when the others spoke up. If he didn't remember almost bing felled by rats and snakes then maybe none would ever mention the incident again. He started then to think of the goat and not-at-all coincidentally raise his mug again when he remembered he still ahd not answered.

"We would be happy to join your expedition as auxiliaries for your protection." Gabatim added, emphasizing that he would not consider himself the noble's servant by any stretch.

"What is the scope of this mission? Do you just want to make it to the city with your body and soul still together, or do you imagine trouble in the city itself as well? Also, are you in some sort of rush?" Yentl Mann had seemed to answer forthrightly to the cleric, but then why...

"Yes, your task would be to get me to my castle safely" the nobleman answered, getting back to a sober tone. "After that, you're free to do as you please. I assume you will use your payment of 10 Gold Pieces to enjoy the many opportunities and pleasures of Superbia."

"When do you wish to depart?" Mialee asked, mind already racing with visions of being able to take a proper bath, getting her clothes thoroughly cleaned, and then spending an afternoon at whatever library Superbia had, casually reading while holding a chilled drink in one hand. Maybe even rounding things out with a massage for the knots forming in her back from all this sleeping on the road.

"As soon as possible" the nobleman responded. "But also whenever you are ready, of course" he added diplomatically.

"I've settled most of my matters in town already, I will be ready to travel when needed," Mia said. And by that, she meant she was willing to get the nine hells out of this accursed place whenever it was convenient, especially if she could count of a payday of ten whole gold pieces just for escorting a rich human to a different city.

"I believe that my companion there," Valakyr said with a nod at Gabatim, "asked why you were in such a rush. You didn't quite answer his question." His tone was mild, and the dragonborn was trying to look as non-threatening as possible. While he wasn't as invested in being as polite as Mialee was, he didn't want to come across as angry or intimidating. "I would also like some clarification on if you have reason to believe you'll be attacked in the city, or whether you're merely taking precautions."

He took a sip of ale, and picked a loose black scale from his neck. "While I don't intend to come off as suspicious, details like this are important," he clarified. "Knowing what magic should prepare for a possible situation is often crucial to my work, just like it often is for a Druid."

The nobleman nodded. "Fair questions" he said. "My business is Superbia is just that, business. You'd be surprised how much a noble has to do: from dealing with merchants to support the economy to keeping diplomats happy. To be honest, I just want to go home and return to work now that we have made sure that Berg is safe."

"And no, as far as I know I have not been targeted. But as I said, I'm not taking any chances. If anything, not knowing why the nobles are being attacked worries me most; if I did, I would at least be able to guess who the next targets would be."

As all this happened Fyterion kneeled at a table besides them, currently having a - for a centaur anyway - modest meal while listening to the nobleman speak. As he did so he thought about if to accept this new quest or not, on one hand, he was a messenger by trade, not a guard, on the other hand it wouldn't be an absolute first for a messenger to travel with human cargo, so to speak. In the end he looked over to the rest "Hm, do you know who already got attacked? Maybe one of us can infer something about the attackers from that - it might be a small chance but one we should use."

Sir Man threw his arms wide. "There seems to be no pattern" he explained. "Everything from yeomen to dukes have been attacked. And some have not been hit at all. Even those on mutually opposing sides have been attacked. The only surprising thing is that no one has been killed yet, though some were badly wounded. It might be intentional, or just plain luck."

"Well, if there are no more questions..." Mann said; it was hard to tell if he meant it or if it was his way of saying, 'be done with it already'. "I'll go make my last preparations; I suggest you do the same, if you decide to come along. The caravan leaves this afternoon. You can meet us at the town's main gate."

"I'll be there!" Mialee said, visions of gold coins dancing in her head.

Having already confirmed his commitment, Gabatim simply waived Mann off and returned to watching the bar's performers. Everyone was a star with enough drink.

The vaquero was born and raised nomadic anyway. He could have left at that very instant.

Valakyr nodded. "I shall indeed come along, my friend. All together, I doubt that any assassin shall pose a threat to us!" He raised his ale in a toast, before draining the rest of it. "If you'll excuse me, I must go to pack. I doubt any of us were expecting this."

And with that, the dragonborn departed to his room to gather his belongings.

-That afternoon-

The caravan waited by the town's main gate. It was obviously large and well-guarded. Still, Sir Mann tried to make it look like just another rich merchant's caravan. If there *were* assassins on his trail, it was better not to show off his presence.

As the day got longer, he wondered if the adventurers would come. He certainly hoped so. His guards were good- for guards. But only adventurers can deal with the unexpected.

edited 17th Nov '17 3:07:56 PM by Sijo

Gabatim, rather nomadic in the first place, already had everything on hand. He'd restocked himself after returning from the forest and gathered a nice bundle of bread, one for the group (admittedly that was wishful thinking at the time) and one for Pedro.

Gabatim had promised the man that he would teach the herder the finer points of herding—with the warning that the vaquero had had his own misfortunes. Nothing compared to having roving cultists gobble them up, but still.

Soon enough, Gabatim appeared just a bit off from the caravan head, expertly ignoring Mann and awaiting the arrival of the others.

edited 18th Nov '17 9:36:11 AM by CenturyEye

Pedro had indeed kept his word and was back to work in his farm; the adventurer's words on his behalf to the major got him out of prison. He was also starting to make a living again, and he was very happy to see Gabatim (and get some more bread.)

. *********

The nobleman smiled as he saw the vaquero arrive, and was about to say something, but he could read from the man's body language that he was not in a talking mood. Thus he just allowed him to wait for his comrades to arrive.

edited 19th Nov '17 6:50:22 AM by Sijo

A hooded figure walked up to the caravan, face concealed in darkness. "I thought," Mialee's voice said from the hood. "That perhaps you could stand to have a decoy in your company, Lord Mann." Removing the hood a bit to reveal her face, it was not the pleasant and lovable face of everyone's favorite elf warlock, but rather the bearded, dark-haired, middle-aged (and sour) face of Sir Mann.

"Of course..." she added. "I suppose I would have to ride in the caravan instead of alongside it to truly have it work. It would also allow me to focus on detecting any sorcery we come upon."

She used Mask of Many faces to freely disguise herself as Mr. Man. She'll also be using Detect Magic the whole time.

Fyterion soon also showed up, not mistakeable through the small crowd. The druid had his Mantis companion on his shoulder as usual and had packed with what little he had on his horseback, with a small satchel haging idly besides him, in there were one or two letters he had promised to bring to the next city, nothing worldmoving.