Arc 1 - Beast of a Thousand Knives (Completed)

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Upon hearing from the guard at the town hall that the mayor might be at the front gate, Hakka edged back away from the others to slip away unnoticed. (stealth 30) She quickly makes her way towards the front gate, a feeling of unease rising in her chest. There wouldn't be any normal reason for the mayor to hang out at the town gate, would there? As she approached, the girl ducked behind some nearby cover to hide while she got an idea of what was going on. (stealth 16)  

[Kowsauni]

Poa the Dryad, Leader of the Soldiers

((Revenge recalls Aria is a massive kingdom to the west that is ruled by a council of wizard kings. The government is authoritarian and militant. The kingdom is known for its advanced magic and wields tremendous influence in all the surrounding kingdoms. They are not a people to be trifled with.))

For being a tiefling in platemail, Revenge manages to move rather unnoticed through the main street as he heads to the font gate. Once there, people don't seem to pay much attention to him.

The guard shrinks a little at Kuori's outburst, but stands his ground. People do get out of the goliath's way as she makes for the front gate, giving startled glances at the monster head in her grasp.

Hakka moves unnoticed under the rapidly darkening sky as she heads for the front gate. Once there the box she chose to hide behind did not provide her as much cover as she would of liked but people did not seem to be interested in her.

Once the party gets to the front gate they have to press themselves through a crowd of townsfolk to see what is going on. There, past the front gate stands a group of about 20 solders in blue and silver uniforms. Many are heavy armed while others appear to be spellcasters. In front of them, standing defiantly in their way, is the pint-sized dryad wizard Poa. She is arguing with the group's leader. Some distance behind her stands the Mayor with five of the town guard. The following conversation is heard.

"...You claim to be no threat to my people, yet you come with an entire contingent of soldiers to force your way! You must understand why I find your words suspect."

The man looks coldly at the fiery dryad. "My dear lady. This is a matter of national security to our kingdom. We would much prefer your town's blessing, but we will conduct our investigation regardless. I can come back with more soldiers if necessary. We know your own personal power, but do you really think you can repel our army?"

"I don't know--but I've repelled one before." Poa grins menacingly as her eyes glow with a pale green fire. The wind around her begins to stir, waving her cape around and rustling the willows behind her.

Without blinking an eye the man retorts coldly. "But at what cost to your men? Do you really want to risk their lives over a simple investigation?"

The mans words seemed to reach Poa, for the green fire went out in her eyes. Seeing his advantage, the man pressed on.

"I've already explained what we are looking for. Let us look for the fugitives and then we will be out of your hair. If you continue to resist we will assume you must be harboring them and I will come back with a force so powerful that even you, the mighty Poa, won't be able to stop them."

Poa glares angrily at the man but finally relents. "You may take your soldiers to the Inn for tonight, but that is all. We will discuss the arrangements for you to do your investigation in the morning."

Poa moves to the side and the soldiers begin to move through the gate. However, she speaks up oncee more as they walk past. "Oh, commander, know this. The forest has ears and eyes everywhere. A dryad never sleeps."

The crowd of townsfolk disperse to let the soldiers through. One of the soldiers, a lizard folk, stops to sniff the air. He looks in Hakka's direction where his eyes finally hone in on her, but he quickly moves on to catch up with the rest of his men.

Once the soldiers move into the town a couple of the guards at the front gate break off to follow them. Poa moves over to Mr. Redford and talks to him in a hushed voice.  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

17+11=28 Bluff
19+10=29 Thievery

Gloom walked up to one of the soldiers walking with the leader, "You say that you are looking for fugitives? I may know whom you speak of," he took a shot in the dark, "Women?" It was a fifty fifty shot, and he had an idea of whom it was that they were looking for. If it caught their fancy he would say, "I will tell you everything I know about them, but first I need to see some proof of who you are. Do you have paperwork? A wise bard once said that a story was only as good as the paper its written on," he left out the latter half of 'unless you have the wit to make it more.' "So let me see the paper to go with the story and I will comply."

((The thievery check will feed off of the next post, as the conversation continues he will try to pocket the paperwork while distracting them with the conversation.))  

[Kowsauni]

The soldier stops and turns to Gloom. He looks the shade up and down. "Hmm, you do look the type to broker in such information." The soldier produces a document from from a pocket on his uniform and holds it up for Gloom to read. It identifies him as a soldier of the Aria Kingdom. He then quickly returns it to his pocket and continues on. "I would ask for some verification on your part but I doubt you have any. We cannot talk here without risking the ire of that damn dryad but meet us at the inn when you can. The captain would be very interested in hearing what you have say. There will be a sizable reward in it for yourself as well, if your information proves useful."

The soldier turns away from gloom to join the rest of his companions but as he does so Gloom manages to palm the contents of the soldier's pocket. As the Soldiers walks away, completely oblivious to what just happened, Gloom finds himself in possession of the soldiers identification papers as well as two other folded documents.  

[PupSage]

Kuori would stand back during these exchanges, but as they began to approach the inn, she would duck in, literally, and say "trouble heading this way." Then she would make her way to a corner and squat on a chair.  

[Rain Yupa]

What a peculiar turn of events. The paladin wanted desperately to go to the inn when no one else wanted to, yet everyone else ended up at the inn and he was left standing out by the front gate.

The crowd would disperse some, as well as the guards, and the soldiers would disperse. The numbers thinned, yet Revenge remained, just... kind of watching Poa and the mayor, Redford.

He wouldn't try to listen in, that would be rude, so he wouldn't approach, but he wanted it to be evident that he was there for that spectacle to the both of them. Let them make the first move, see how they broach the topic, if they did at all.  

[Kowsauni]

As the soldiers from the Aria kingdom enter the The Fat Fox, most of the locals clear out, leaving the inn mostly empty. However, Emberlyn seems more then happy to do business with them and cheerfully chats with them as she sells them their rooms. Kuori would notice she was charging them twice the rate she had charged Revenge. Most the soldiers go up to their rooms but about seven of them, including their leader, stay and sit a table. They order some drinks and talk idly among themselves. They obviously notice Kouri sitting in a corner with her monstrous trophy, but unlike the townsfolk the soldiers don't seem fazed by it. Two members of the town guard come into the inn as well and sit at a table across the room from the soldiers. They make it plain to everyone that they are watching them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr Redford, Poa and the remaining town guards talk among themselves until the dryad notices Revenge lingering nearby. She would briefly stop the conversation and turn to him. "Can we help you paladin? You seem like you wish to speak to us about something. Have you made progress in your investigation?"  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge's tail would lash back and forth twice, before he would address Poa.

"The monster has been slain. The Beast of a Thousand Knives is dead," he would respond, to the second question first.

"Is... is everything okay?" he would simply ask, addressing the first question with one of his own. He would frown slightly, out of concern.  

[Kowsauni]

Poa the Dryad

The mentioning of the Beast of a Thousand Knives being slain would catch the attention of both Mr. Redford and the three guards. However, Poa would continue to do the talking. She would let out a sigh. "Nothing we can't handle ourselves. When you are but a small township surrounded by mighty kingdoms, people get it in their minds they can walk all over us. They will soon be gone, for the ones they seek do not reside in this town. I just do not like letting them get their way. Now, what you say is of much more interest. You claim you have solved the mystery of the dispersing cattle, please explain. I would also like to see what proof you have that this menace is over."  

[Rain Yupa]

He would stare into Poa's eyes for a few moments. "My word is not enough?" But he would not give her a chance to respond. "No matter. Kuori, that Goliath woman I was traveling with, is parading around the thing's head. Her idea, not mine, for what it's worth. We found the remains of the wayward bull, then two girls living in the woods helped us track it to its nest."

He would turn to the mayor. "Mister Redford, sir, I suspect she would have gone to the town hall to present the trophy to you. If you're here, and she's not, where would she have gone? Would she have left it at the doorstep? Or could she have gone towards your homestead? By Sehanine, I hope not."  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakkahad watched the soldiers pass, relatively unchallenged, but it had taken a great deal of her willpower to not strike out at the lizard thing that sniffed her out. Once they were gone, however, she watched the tin can man approach the mayor and some green witch girl. After letting them get talking, Hakka strolled up to them and butted into the conversation. "I don't think you have to worry about the big lady going to the mayor's house," she said, "The guard at the town hall wouldn't tell her where it was." She put her hands behind her head, affecting a very relaxed posture and rocking back and forth on her heels. "Anyways, Mister Mayor, The thing's dead for sure."  

[Kowsauni]

Poa the Dryad, Mr. Redford

((Just in case you forgot, Hakka met Poa already. She was the one who let Hakka into town and directed you to the Mayor.))

"Good." The Mayor would grunt as he crosses his arms. "No adventurer has any business going to my home. When the door to my office is shut, it means I am done for the day. I'm already going to be late for the missus' supper because of this mess. Have your group show up to my office in the morning and I will parcel out your reward. The town will be glad to hear some good news after this intrusion."

Despite Hakka's words, Poa still remained unconvinced. "I have no doubt that you felled some foul beast in the forest--the fresh scratches in your armor prove it--but how do you know you got the right one? Did you cut open its stomach to confirm its contents or catch it red handed in the act? You said there were two girls in the forest that guided you, but that doesn't make any sense; the forest wouldn't accept their presence... Poa looks deep in thought for a moment before she suddenly opens her eyes to some sort of realization. "Did these girls have blond hair, one with red eyes, one with blue?"  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

Gloom walked into the bar and approached the table with the guards. He lowered his voice and said, "Do you have a description of the fugitives. I just encountered two suspicious women and one of your men said that I should come to you."  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge looked disapprovingly upon Poa. "I thought the forest had eyes and ears everywhere, and a dryad does not sleep. I take it that was a bluff then? Otherwise, you would have already known."

A smirk.

"The remains of the bull were a skeleton completely stripped of flesh. Would you be able to recognize digested bull meat from the meat of any other creature? The creature slain was large enough to drag a bull, powerful enough to butcher a bull, dangerous enough to consume a bull uncontested, and the tracks from the ranch match those of the beast that the girls led us to. Even if it was a different creature, it was the one that got the Hopkins' bull, which is the only tracks we had to go on."

Then, finally, "And yes, that describes them. You've seen them before?"  

[Kowsauni]

Nathaniel

The soldiers would all turn to look at Gloom as he approaches the table but otherwise seem quite calm. The leader of the group would smile at the Shade's words. "Yes, Fredric did mention being approached one such as yourself. I am Captain Nathaniel of the Aria Elite Guard. The fugitives we seek are indeed two women, sisters in fact. Both look to be in their late teens to early twenties with tan skin and blond hair, thin yet athletic builds. They both are fluent in Giant. The older sister's name is Olozuza and she has red eyes. The younger's name is Lelena and she has blue eyes. Does this in any way describe the two women you met?"

((Gloom may roll a history check to see what he knows about the Aria Kingdom))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poa the Dryad, Mr. Redford

Poa would smile at Revenge's witty response and reply back. "I have no power in Tapana Woods. You need to think of the term "forest" in a more... liberal sense. And one with sufficient experience in the natural world would be able to identify the remains of a creature, whether it was inside another animal or not--but I understand that might not have been a skill taught in your training."

When Revenge confirms Poa's description of the girls, her eyes narrow. "No, I have not met them before, but they match the description of those being sought by those Aria thugs. I do not trust those soldiers as far as I can throw them--actually quite less than that. I would not share the information you know with them if I were you. No good can come from dealing with those bullies. But if those girls are freely living in the forest, then there's something else going on here as well."

Poa would suddenly turn to one of the guards. "Captain Zaric, make sure our uninvited guests behave themselves while in town. I might be gone for a while. I must try to commune with my sisters, and as you know, that is never an easy task."

A gust of wind would swirl around the group and Poa would suddenly vanish in a flash of green light, leaving everyone else a little dumbfounded. Mr. Redford would turn to Revenge and Hakka and speak to them. "Uh, so... Yes, bring me the head of the beast tomorrow and I will pay you adventurers for a job well done. It's time for me to head home. This has been quite a night."