[Game Thread] Chapter 1: For Love or Money

[Insacrum]

Seeing the mess around the barn/home/forge Ollona pulls out her bow, and string it with an odd looking arrow, one with a blunt tip. She looks around the area and tries to figure out what happened. "I'm not as skilled as others I know, but I have some use in tracking." Ollona bends down to look at the ground, trying not to disturb any of the goods. Her knowledge of tracking was limited, but she would try her best. "If anyone else wants to venture a theory, please feel free to do so."

 

Dice Survival:

1d20+3

(14)+3

Total = 17

[darthcharon]

Nothing appears to be amiss outside, though Ollona does indeed find a set of tracks leading out of the blacksmith, heading northeast. Interesting though, they don't appear to be recent; within the last day yes, but not within the last few hours like you would have suspected.

Inside, you notice that the bed is still neatly folded. There is no sign of a struggle, other than perhaps a struggle with the wall, as it looks like whomever was here knocked down several weapons off the wall in his haste to grab one.

[DukeofTuring]

Marcus searches the ground for tracks and thinks.

 

Survival for Tracking

Dice Roll:

1d20+5

(10)+5

Total = 15

He then turns to Wil and points in the direction the tracks lead. "That wouldn't be the direction the bandits are in, would it?

[darthcharon]

Marcus finds nothing more that Ollona didn't already point out.

Wil nods weakly as Marcus asks him about the bandits. "Yeah, that's exactly where the bandits are supposed to be. You don't think he went after them... do you? And if so, why?"

[Quadra Wield]

This was...strange... Holly knew the old man was not telling their party something but she assumed it was just maybe that the girl was pregnant, but now the blacksmith might be involved? The blacksmith headed towards the bandits with a weapon, or weapons, and was obviously in a hurry. She didn't know what was going on, but following those tracks was probably their best bet.

"No clue why he went after them kid. Just as stumped as you are. Lets follow the tracks and see if we can find those bandits, and get this job done. Maybe find some answers about what is going on to."

Holly attempts to stealthily follow the tracks.

 

Dice Stealth:

d20+4

(2)+4

Total = 6

 

Dice Survival:

d20+6

(7)+6

Total = 13

[DukeofTuring]

Marcus shrugs. "I don't know either. Wil, grab any weapons you want and keep your head down. Lets just go after the bandits and kill two birds with one stone." Marcus begins to follow Holly at about 40 feet distance, making no attempt to be stealthy.

"Oh, and one other thing Wil. Our first goal is to get the lord's daughter back into his hands safely. We'll give the bandits what they're due eventually, but for now we're trying to get the daughter back with as little violence as possible. Try to put what happened aside for now."

[Glenn Coco]

So far Groz had been fine with letting the others take the lead. He had his axe drawn and did his own search before joining the priest just to make sure those humans and that elf didn't miss anything.

 

Dice Roll:

d20+5

(14)+5

Total = 19

Overhearing what the priest was telling the boy, Groz commented in a somewhat sarcastic manner "Aye, of course with as little violence as possible." giving the boy a wink.

[darthcharon]

The tracks are easy enough to follow, and in a little less than an hour they lead you to the nearby river, just a mile north of the town. A small raft can be seen on the other side of the river, presumably used by Ned. The river is fairly deep, wide, and strong; you doubt you'd be able to swim across safely.

"Yup," Wil sighs, "He's going after the bandits alright. Come on, lets go back to town, lets see if we cant get the ferryman to take us across." Wil starts to walk south back toward the town, following the river.

[DukeofTuring]

Marcus sighs. "Groz, remember, we gave our word that we would do our best to get the girl back. Get her to safety, THEN kill the bandits" he orders exasperatedly.

Once they arrive at the river, Marcus is similarly at a loss. "Unless someone is a better swimmer than I am and wants to risk it, yes, lets go to this ferry" Marcus agrees.

[Quadra Wield]

Holly follows the tracks, to a river of all things, to her surprise. She lifts her hand up to rub her temple, and in an annoyed tone says:

"A river on the way to the bandits? Would have been great if our "guide" told us to go rent a damn boat in town. Before we you know, left town."

Holly sighed, there was just delays in this job one after the other.

"Lets just go back to town then."

Holly starts heading back towards Mittleresdorf, sulking all the way.

[Glenn Coco]

Groz agreed with the lass, this was getting ridiculous.

"Aye, too much walking and not enough fighting. Back to town it is I guess." Groz said letting out a large sigh.

As much as he wanted to kill some bandits, he wasn't about to drown in a river. That would be quite an unworthy death to Groz.

[darthcharon]

After a short walk, you arrive at the docks. Consisting of two piers, plus a third that has clearly fallen into disrepair, it is staffed by a single old man whom appears to be fishing when you arrive.

"We need to cross the river again Hugo," Wil says.

"Didn't I just ferry you back here yesterday?" Hugo asks.

"We're going after the bandits," Wil says, sounding almost proud.

"That so?" Hugo muses, "your mama know?"

Will turns red. "Look, I got my two sliver, are you going to ferry me across or not?" Will hands him two silver coins.

"Aye, but I don't have your friend's money," he says with a smile

Wil turns to you and shrugs. After you have all paid, he ushers you onto his ferry, a small boat direction by a ten foot pole,and drops you on the other side. "when you're ready to come back, just shout. And have your next two silver ready." With that, he pushes the boat back into the water and returns to the docks.

"Well," Wil begins, "do you want me to show you where we got attacked last time, or are we going to try and follow Ned again?"

[DukeofTuring]

Marcus listens to the conversation in impatient, mildly irritated silence, then sighs and pays his two silver when asked to.

When Wil asks for a decision, however, he is quick to offer his opinion. "I think we should follow Ned's trail. He might become an ally of ours, and walking into an old ambush never seemed like the best way to go after the bandits." He looks to his companions for their opinions.

[Quadra Wield]

Holly hands her silver to the ferryman and cocks her head a bit to the side before she answer's Wil's question.

"Oh we should go to the location where you were ambushed? That is a great idea, the bandits probably figured that no fool would go down that path again and walk into their trap."

Holly says this sarcastically and then proceeds to say, with a bit of annoyance in her voice:

"I say we try follow Ned's tracks. The ambush site might be a trap, again."

Holly lowers her head in thought, then sighs and says:

"Ned might be leading us into a trap for all we know, though. I'll follow his tracks a bit ahead, and let you know if there is trouble."

[Insacrum]

Ollona followed the others to the ferryman, paying the required amount for herself. Luckily it seemed that Chompy’s passage would be free of charge. Though, Ollona paid for it with the shrill trill the creature felt necessary to screech into her ear while crossing. It seemed that Chompy disliked the passage over water, although this shouldn’t have been an issue with the amount the creature liked to swim in other slower waters.

Once on the other side of the river, she continued to keep her silence as the group decided amongst themselves where to go. Granted she wanted to follow Ned regardless, so the decision was merely a confirmation of the inklings that she had been feeling during the discussion.