** Part I: Fire and Ash **

[Nocturno]

"Quiet!" Delilah will carefully draw her bow and knock an arrow.

Whispering "Listen for footsteps."

[spike]

You hear nothing.

Sounds of many revelers and festivities transpiring fills the usual sounds that bogs make like frogs ribbits or giant dragonflies fluttering amok.

Narn: 'Oh drat, I nearly forgot I'm supposed to receive the carnival entertainers down below. Hopefully that blasted lift can manage their weight, otherwise it will take the entire day just to get them to the village square. Do not be rude and come terribly late, you can use the bath house adjacent to your hut to bathe and make yourselves presentable, if you have a care for such things. The evening meal will be in two hours and then the fun starts. See you there, and good luck. I know you adventurers do not work on your good looks so I will see what monetary reward I can muster up to make it worth your while for your investigative efforts'

[spike]

(prior to while Delilah was attempting to meditate/dream and was disrupted)

Delilah: as you meditated you drifted into a deep dream. You were in an unfamiliar forest, with trees both ancient and young of all types possible. The sky was dark and the constellations told you that it was mid-summer.

After trouncing about for what felt like a long time you came upon an encampment of drow elves, most of them were female and fighters, by the look of their raiment, though one male was in their midst and appeared to be a magic-user. They were in a heated discussion about something, and at their feet were five dead men clad in black armor, with tiny darts in their necks.

The first female drow elf was saying something: 'Well, I went into the human lands. It seems these black clad fools are everywhere, they're part of a mighty empire. The black kingdoms, and their lord sent them to curry our allegiance. He'll send more men, this feudal lord they serve'

female drow elf #2: "there shant be any such allegiance, we do not know who this power is, and they'll send more men, more formidable and capable than these. It's only a matter of time. We either fight, or we do the unthinkable.'

female drow elf #3: 'no, we cannot and will not. Our fair skinend cousins barely tolerate us being here and only by a strange stroke of fortune and misfortune are we tolerated with the level of comfort that we now presently enjoy.'

Male drow mage: 'I knew this was a hasty error in judgement. Being guides for would be adventurer's wanting an escort through some ancient ruins, that menial task was beneath us. If another human comes along seeking an apprenticeship I may wind up turning him or her into a...what do you call it? Ah yes a newt. We need to find a new home so these black cloaks cannot find us, somewhere safer and underground preferebly'

Female drow elf #4: "Not underground, not anymore. We need to adjust and adapt to our new world, even if it requires great sacrifice. We will continue this work even if it is tiresome and far beneath us, and we have established a good bond with the men of Longhallow. We will grow that bond and make allies of them, ere long. I believe the leader was...interested.'

Female drow elf #5 'Ah, sister, you would spread your legs for a human? You're terrible! Besides, they're...too big for our kind..'

The dream fades...

[Chris1234]

{OOC1: Amazing how quickly this forum moves on - something like 25 posts while I've slept and then been to work! Ok, I did post in the middle of the night but I put it in the OOC folder, doh. I put it down to being half asleep. @Spike - can the following be retrospectively worked in?}

The Dwarf said 'if any of you others have any weapons or items that bear inspection bring them up here.

Brandishing her quarterstaff* Karlene asks, "Well, can you do anything to improve this?"
She adds, "And if we help you on this task with the giant bees, would you have anything to repel the bees or salves to mitigate their stings?"

{OOC2: Catching up on the more recent posts:}

Narn made a wordless gesture for one of his folk to go bring something, and a few minutes later the young lad brought two bowls full of milk for the black and white furred dire wolf cubs. The bog man petted them and whistled appreciatively 'Not everyday you find such in the bogs, they must have come from the Direwood. These blasted poachers keep coming looking for their furs. My friend Trunks has killed a great deal of them to dissuade them from their stupidity, apparently even the threat of death is not sufficient to curb the blinding greed of easy coin it would seem!'

"I think they're amazing and was thinking of trying to rear them. Their mother was killed in a hunting trap," replies Karlene.
{OOC3: Were the arrows in the wolves' mother the markedly the same as arrows that we've seen wielded by these bog-dwellers?}

On hearing the details of the murdered bog-dweller, Karlene searches her mental vaults for any detail on 'Masked Blades' or similar acts of 'death by trident'. {OOC4: Might be relevant: Intelligence Gathering (18), Obscure Knowledge (16), Photographic Memory (18)}

She goes and bathes and then re-dresses, making her hair as presentable as possible (for an adventurer anyway) so as to be ready for the social event. In the bath she recalls the little she knpows about bog-dwellers and their customs, appropriate forms of address for the leader and so forth. {Etiquette(11)}

[spike]

Sylver says to Karlene 'Most of the giant bee's will not attack, they're mostly workers. The warrior drones will attack if they perceive you as a threat to the queen, but that's only if they see any sort of hostile action on your parts. That said, if you have an elf or a ranger in your midst they may not attack alltogether. The druid walks in their presence without any sort of pause, and he told me as much was true if you make no disruptive disturbance for the colony. As for cures for bee stings, I'm sure a bit of actual honey would suffice on such a wound.

John examined the quarterstaff briefly, then disappeared and twirled the weapon around briefly, muttering to himself then drawing something in a sketchbook.

He returns better part of an hour then hands you the staff back. He grins then presses a button in the center of the staff, near the hand grip. Out of the top of the staff shoots forth a dart-sized bolt with a thin chord, a second button looses another bolt at the tail end of the staff. He depresses the top button a second time and the top bolt/chord is severed and detached, presses it again and a new bolt came flying out and thudded into the ceiling into the roof. He presses the same button and the chord began retracting pulling him up toward the ceiling.

'This is all I can do for now, it'll have to suffice. Sorry it's not my best works, this was one of my first apprentice projects during my apprenticeship. No charge, after all we're both working for the same House now. Don't tell Idrys though, he looks like a rich bastard. Do not ask me where to purchase these tiny bolts though, I'm not much for making ammunition!'

[Chris1234]

"Thanks Sylver. I'll ask my companions. But looks like we might have some other urgent work to help the community with first," she replies with a frown, thinking about the murdered villager.

"That is unbelievable! You're completely amazing. Unfortunately my religious beliefs don't allow me to use the pointy bits on people. But it would be great for getting fast elevation. And undead are fair game. How long are the lines? And how many darts are in each end?" Karlene responds enthusiastically to John, clapping her hands. She pauses, adding, "If you need a service from me, no, not _that sort_, then just ask and i will try to help."

[spike]

"Thanks Sylver. I'll ask my companions. But looks like we might have some other urgent work to help the community with first," she replies with a frown, thinking about the murdered villager.

"That is unbelievable! You're completely amazing. Unfortunately my religious beliefs don't allow me to use the pointy bits on people. But it would be great for getting fast elevation. And undead are fair game. How long are the lines? And how many darts are in each end?" Karlene responds enthusiastically to John, clapping her hands. She pauses, adding, "If you need a service from me, no, not _that sort_, then just ask and i will try to help."

John: each spool is 25' ft, study stuff. Made from troll hair, I believe. Look' he cut one of the chords and it began eerily growing longer until it stopped at the original length, 'though treated with some alchemiac resin. So I'm merely theeorizing if you were to breach the weight allowance, say holding the weight of several others the strands would regenerate and snap together albeit slowly as they were torn up. I know only the drow employing such artiface' he thought for a moment, 'ten, on each side. I could only fit ten spools and bolts in each shaft of the staff. If I have more time and such I could find replacement tips for this weapon, to replenish the ammunition and climbing chords. The bolts are shot forth with a bit of swamp gas that pressurizes in a small empty chamber in a 'cell' within the handle compartment. The button causes the gas to pressurize and 'burp' out the dart. It's every bit as complicated as it sounds, a bit beyond your ken, no offense''


obscure knowledge: 20 failed Karlene doesn't know anything regarding the masked blades from books or texts she's read.
photographic memory: (8) succeeded you recollect reading a report on subversive underground societies wrote by one of your masters in the order and recall a mention of the masked blades.

In previous years, the monkhood Lords of Dis (Lords of Discipline) were commanded by the late king to destroy the Black Rose Commando Assassins in Lor for having committed regicide against his command. There were some of the later guild who escaped into the hills, consumed with lust for vengeance. They took over leadership of loosely organized bandit gangs from the bandit kingdoms that operated in the eastern regions of Nyr, orchestrating and masterminding audacious but stealthy kidnappings, assassinations, and blackmailing random people. It's rumored that the masked ones are not even fully aware of one anothers identities, or perhaps the identities of those higher up in their gang. To date none have successfully located their secret base, or even gotten close to its discovery. Bountyhunters, other assassins, elves, the Watchers, druids, adventuring parties, mercs, swordsmen, knifemen, thieves, spies, wizards, clerics have all tried and failed miserably. It is suspected by a spymaster for a certain house that the ranks of the secret gang are from different towns and villages, and employ magic, cunning, tactics, and other arts of subterfuge to purge all traces of their operations, even killing eachother or taking their own lives if required.

[Nocturno]

Delilah will reflect on the dream as it comes back to her as they inspect the body.

Thinking- That is something I will bring up when we are back at the hut with the group.

[spike]

Idrys and Delilah: when you leave the hut with the corpse, you both see a group of young children scaling down vines and swinging across toward the center grandfather tree where lies the village square, ten children in all. However you see one lone child darting off through the trees skillfully as an acrobat might. Idrys's keen eyes can see that this 'child' has bare feet that are crowned by furry hair. You also see that the child is clad with a pair of daggers, though they might be swords in a childs possession.

[TristenC]

[lol. i go to sleep for 4 hours and there are 12 new posts... now i know how Nocturno and Chris feel... Maybe we should discuss pace... ]

[Before Narn gets insulted and leaves]
No offense meant, friend. She already has a target on her. I can disguise myself fairly well, perhaps I could pose as your cousin. I could even mimic her voice...

[When the 'child' takes off]
Snarling, Idrys rushes off after the halfling-esque creature into the night, calling Sister! Halfling! and keeping a wary eye for ambush. [Parkour, trying to catch up and subdue him]


[OOC: what's with the rich bastard comment? Because he offered to pay the guy? He doesn't carry anything that expensive except maybe his weapons, and he shouldn't be able to count my coin without going through my things... not to mention i have it all split up.]

[Chris1234]

Assuming Karlane hears Iddrys, she grabs her staff and runs out to see what goes on... {GM call here I guess, have Alertness(17) and movement 15" if that helps.}

======

(Then hopefully catch the Hobbit time.)

[spike]

ooc: noted regarding pace, okay so mon, wed, fri sound good? Sorry just getting situated it's been awhile since I dmed online.
Regarding the rich bastard comment, Dwarves are insanely OC about money and wealth, so when you didn't blanch or try to renig with 5 gold coins he assumed you must be loaded

Karlene doesn't hear anything, there's too much noise from the festival and going on's below.

Idrys: (v. parkour: succeeded) the dhampir leaped forth and latched onto a vine, swung to a distant branch and began leaping and sprinting across a many branches and vines. He follows the halfling to a small clearing between two bogs.. He appears to be sitting on a wooden log, and starts playing a low melody on a flute.

[Nocturno]

Delilah watches but does not follow. (Is she carrying the dead fellow?)

[spike]

No the dead fellow is being embalmed by two bog-men.

From your vantage point you see a huge lift being pulled up to the village square surrounding the grandfather tree, and on it are a group of colorfully clad acrobats, actors, thespians, jugglers, harlequins, the sort, and with them are a various caged wild beasts and creatures you've only heard of in tales and stories: a young adult blue dragon, an owlbear, a displacer beast, a human? in a cage, a full grown adult sized dire boar, and a ginormous Roc.

[TristenC]

Idrys tries to drop on him from above by surprise with the intent to knock him out/capture him. He'll try for a 'knockout', clubbing him in the back of the head as he lands on him. Then tie him up (with the new troll-twine if available).

[OOC: right... dwarves ]