I was hoping that this weekend would provide me with some relative peace. It has, but only a little. let's see if I can push forward anyhow. First, I realize that I didn't lay all of the opportunities on the table yet. It might mean a few extra posts than planned for a few of you. That's quite OK.
DM The evening was becoming night and the libations were having an effect on the sobriety for many which thinned the crowd. But one person showed up late. He was a gaunt, white-bearded human. Upon entering, he sought out Bern. It was Reidoth, the druid of Thundertree. Word had spread quickly and the druid had been anxious to reconnect with the people that had chased away Venomfang. It was he who provided the party with directions to the Wave Echo Cave. This is the same druid that Davroar had tried to send a message to, but circumstances never had them ever meet. All those who had met Reidoth earlier, were aware, from conversations on the road, of Davroar's inability to meet up with him. As soon as Reidoth was made aware that the other druid was here, he beckoned the younger man over to join him and Bern.
Halia was eager to get some private time to talk to Jaliera woman to woman. So, in fact, Halia saw Reidoth arrive and said, "Look. The old druid showed up." She encouraged Davroar to go speak with the old tree-hugger.
Meanwhile, Ryssa and Sister Garaele discussed what her pin meant. Sister Garaele is a member of the Harpers, a scattered network of adventurers and spies who advocate equality and covertly oppose the abuse of power. The Harpers gather information throughout the land to thwart tyrants and any leader, government, or group that grows too strong. They aid the weak, the poor, and the oppressed. "If you believe in our cause I would ask you to join us and if you do, I have a mission for you.
"Then it is settled," Sildar said to Kriv and the two continued to talk. During that conversation Sildar explained the heirarchy and operational structure of the Lord's Alliance to him. At one point he said, "We need to report what happened here to the leadership of the Alliance. Can you do so Stingblade Kriv?". Kriv knew that he was bestowed a more senior faction rank with that remark.
He smiled when Reidoth approached. "Well met", he said as he offered a hand to the man. "Can I get you something to drink", he asked as he shook the hand of his old friend.
She tucked the hair behind her left ear, covering the scarred side of her face, not intentional, but instinctively as she was wont to do. She frowned for a long moment, but then nodded slowly.
"I will talk with with the leaders of your group, Sister," the cleric said slowly,
"If it is as you say, I will join and cooperate with the Harpers."
He looks over at the older druid when Halia mentions his arrival.
"He's here. He's here! I wasn't sure I'd meet him."
Davroar stands up, takes a deep breath and tries to steady his nerves. Turning to Jaliera he says, "I better say hello to him. Excuse me."
The amount of ale he has consumed has him at a bit of a disadvantage as he wanted to make a good impression. It has been over a year since leaving Talaan, his only teacher and friend after leaving his tribe to become a druid. Davroar does not know what to expect so he simply walks over to where Bern and Reidoth are standing and introduces himself to Reidoth, "Ah... Hello, I'm Davroar."
As he had upon receiving the prior rank, the Dragonborn noble acknowledged it in his stride, inclining his head at the promotion to the third tier in relatively short order. He was comfortable in a structured hierarchy, and confirmed the order with a simple,
Halia with Jaliera Now finally alone with the young rogue, Halia relaxes a bit and opens up. "We are associates, members of a larger group with broad interests. The mission, to come here, was indeed a test of your skills. You were not the only one on such a mission. The halfling Lingo and the tiefling Kalista were also sent here for similar reasons. They failed. You passed, which means that you survived. We are Zhentarim, your mentor and I that is, and now we would like for you to join us officially."
She goes on to explain how "the Zhentarim have had gained a bad reputation, mostly because their leaders came from the poorest segments of society, those who needed to learn to fend for themselves to survive. The goals of the Zhentarim include empowering those who have not had the same opportunities as someone born into wealth and nobility. We are stronger as a whole than as individuals. As an organization we compete fiercely with others groups to create financial opportunity for our members."
"We seek to become omnipresent and inescapable, more wealthy and powerful, and most importantly, untouchable. What do we do? When a merchant needs an escort for his caravan, when a noble needs bodyguards to protect her holdings, or when a city needs trained soldiers to defend its honor, the Zhentarim provides the best-trained fighting men and women money can buy. And yes, because we are so good, the cost of doing business with the Black Network can be high."
"We want to be the organization that people turn to when they need help. We try to make it necessary—and preferable, even—to deal with our members. Members must be the best—the cheapest, the fastest, and the most secure—at providing services and goods. And yes, to compete, we must work with the constraining legal systems that were created to keep people of our background in check. Of course, to succeed, we must sometimes skirt these legalities and do what we must."
"I hope that you decide to join us. As a member of the Zhentarim you gain a family...a very large family and you would be expected to rely on the Black Network for resources and security. You will, of course have autonomy to pursue your own interests and gain some measure of personal power or influence. That is, of course our ultimate goal, to empower and enrich members of our family. And yes, you've benefited from our group through your mentor. All the lessons that you've learned from him, the aid he has given you up until today, all those things that built up the respect that you have for your mentor, those are all benefits that you reaped from his being a member of our faction."
OOC: Kriv is ready to move on. AJ, you can finish up by summarizing what you are doing these next few months before you return to Phandelin. We'll start the next game with you receiving an invitation to return to Phandelin for the opening of the mine. That will be the same for all of you once we are done here. I'll have a few more post ready to go soon for the rest of you.
"That is interesting. Certainly much of what you say makes sense. I would like to more though. What would the organisation want from me?"
She likes the idea of being part of a bigger family. Too often in the past she has felt isolated and alone but she does not want to end up in an organisation like the Thieves Guild again. Having escaped it once, she is not going back.
Halia "At first, information. That's always needed. Knowledge of opportunity helps advance our cause. You've already provided much of it from the Wave Echo Cave. I would assume that you'll pass on what you shared here with your mentor, which will accomplish that. Add anything new that you hear that can benefit us when you see him. If you decide to join us, we may give you opportunities. The strength of any organization are strong people. Opportunities may come in the form of a job or, it could be something bigger. A few years back the Cult of Dragons tried to raise Tiamat to reign hell on this world. Zhetarim agents were instrumental in preventing that from happening. We don't always know where the opportunities come from but we're passionate about being there to seize them."
OOC: I should have also said earlier that Ryssa is ready to move on too. Exeter, like AJ, you should post something that describes your next few months of activities before you're invited back to Phandelin.
I should also add (for all of you) that you may participate or take advantage of downtime activities. Please refer to This Unearthed Arcana - Downtime document for ideas of what is and isn't possible. We should work out anything via PM.
She is liking the sound of this more and more. And as they travel back to her mentor, she will be able to talk it over with Davroar too which will help her to make up her mind.
"My mentor warned me that he will be expecting a full debrief on my return."
She grins. That was to be expected and she doesn't have a problem with it. And now maybe her information will be used well to stop future disasters, she likes the idea that she will be able to contribute.
"That's all very interesting Halia. I like the sound of your organisation. Maybe mine too in the near future."
"Terrific! Now for the important part...it's a secret organization. There are other, competing organizations and they don't like competing. You know how it is. They feel threatened by our rising success. Many did not like the fact that we were so instrumental in thwarting the Cult of the Dragons. So you need to be tight lipped about your role and about us. We like to refer to each other as "our good friends" or "known associates" or other similar phrases. We never go about flaunting the word Zhentarim. There is prejudice and jealousy because of our rapid growth both in power and prosperity. You spent many months with your mentor and never once did he speak of us like this, did he? That is another lesson he was teaching you."
"When you see him again, show him this."
She hands Jaliera a coin, presses it into her palm and closes Jaliera's fingers over it and says, "Remember this. The Zhentarim is your family. You watch out for it, and it watches out for you. You are the master of your own destiny. Never be less than what you deserve to be. Everything—and everyone—has a price." Those are the credos we live by.
Jaliera had never seen a gold coin like this. It had only one marking, that of a dragon or a wyvern.
OOC: OK, same thing with you Gypsy. You can finish up with a post about the next few months. You can also wait for me to be done with Davroar and Bern (soon)
The druid was not big on talk. Most of the time his conversations were with the animals of Thundertree and the outlying areas. Now, however, he wanted to talk to the strange animals called people. It is easy to tell that he is more comfortable in the wild with the animals and plants.
"Hello. I am Reidoth. We haven't met but I have been told all about you," he says to Davroar as he glances at Bern with a wink. "You, the both of you and your friends, did a splendid job of chasing away Venomfang! I am sorry that you lost friends doing it."
He lets out the barest of a sigh in remembering Kalista, just because he knew her longer.
"I don't want to loose anymore friends if I can help it, but life and death is the natural order of things I guess."
Not wanting to dwell any more on the death of his friends, he continues to say, "I am glad to finally meet up with you too, sir. I am going with Jaliera for the time being, but if you ever need me to do some small things outside the city I would be more than glad to do so. I'm kind of having a weak stomach about staying too long there."
His recent growth in his wild shapes has changed his world outlook completely, and the confines of any city might be chafing to do stuff outdoors.
It was easy for him to identify with Reidoth's discomfort talking to 'people'. He acknowledged the 'praise' with a nod.
Since Davroar was so eager to 'jump in', he was happy to let him. When Davroar finished, it was time to get to it. "Is there something we can help you with Sir?"
Sister Garaele had provided the cleric with motivation to contact the Harpers and to learn what she could from the organization but, first, she wanted to contact her mentor, the cleric, Athelor.
It was possible that Athelor had information concerning the Harpers or of the Order of the Gauntlet.
Ryssa smiled and shook her head slightly.
Athelor always seemed to have information that could be of help to her.
"Yes. It is the natural order and now they are nourishing the land. They are remembered by the things that grow from them."
While a city dweller might not understand, it was druid logic. Both Bern and Davroar had enough insight to know that it was a compliment about those that fell.
And after Bern asked the question, the old man paused to think. His eyes wandered for a moment as he contemplated and then he reacted to his own thoughts with one raised bushy brow and then nodded as if convincing himself after some sort of inner argument.
"The natural order must be respected but there are those that seek to upset it. And of course there are those who would defend it."
He stopped to calm himself down. The old man had said the last sentence with an unexpected fierceness.
"We are not alone."
He said that last sentence in a furtive tone, a whisper coupled with eyes that darted from left to right to make sure nobody else was listening.
He understands some secrecy given he was taught the Druid language, but with Bern present he thinks it must be something other than just the druids and their circles.
Lowering his voice he asks, "Not just druids then. This is bigger than just us?"
Reidoth After Dugan asks his question, the older druid strains as he shouts in a barely audible whisper "YES!"
He glances about, to make sure that nobody's listening and then pulls both Davroar and Bern aside.
"Yes" he says. "It is MUCH bigger. We are not alone. We, the defenders of nature, have gathered forces! We all do our best but alone, like the animal that gets separated from the herd we are weak."
The more that Reidoth 'explained' things the more confused he was getting, he thought with a sigh. They are a 'big' group ... but they are 'weak'? It didn't make sense to him. Hopefully Davroar had =some= idea what Reidoth was trying to say.
[[ Ummmm. I do. It was a "declaration" without an invitation. Who do you know in the Emerald Enclave? Who brought you in? Up front, I asked you to pick. Now I'm making it come to pass. ]]
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