DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3X-Leaving Calling Horns

<Bern>

He was for pushing on. He wanted to catch the doppelganger as soon as possible. He offered his vote to press on.

Arus

"These Hunt Lords could be exacerbating the giant unrest even if they aren't the cause of it. Either way, undead mischief is afoot, I deem, so tackle them now or later but do not forget them, is my advice."

Since they're on a hill, Arus points to the south where a sliver of silver is visible through breaks in the trees.

"There lies the Dessarin River. It runs south about 600 miles, emptying into the sea at Waterdeep....

"It's time I reported back to the triton protectorates, so this is where I take my leave of you." he says earnestly.

"Once back I'll redirect my investigation to the giants' undersea kingdoms. I might be able to learn something that can aid you. If I do, I'll contact you by magic."

"It's been an honour and a pleasure adventuring with you all." Arus says with a smile.

[Arus and me are exiting shortly, peeps.]

Sindar

"If we are reducing our numbers, we are reducing our odds. For now I say we move on, with that in mind."

Davroar

As much as he hates to leave things here as is, it seems the bigger picture with the giants is the more pressing problem as he listens to the others. "Guess I'll vote to move on too."

Davroar will definitely keep this place in mind to come back to and investigate when they have more time.

Jaliera

She nods as Davroar votes to move on.

Zhu

She frowns. "I dislike leaving a village potentially in the control of undead monsters. It is against my code and sworn duty and leaves innocent villagers at risk. But I do not believe I am in position to deal with this on my own, so if none will choose to stay and aid me I will reluctantly move on."

Arus

He understands Zhu's reluctance and her doubts are founded. Arus respects her integrity and adherence to her values immensely. Still, their main quest looms large, gigantically so.

"Even together we can't assume to prevail against these Hunt Lords." he says to her, "And if we fail, any chance of us averting this giant trouble also fails."

Arus looks over the village. It's a humble, peaceful place from this vantage.

"Cold comfort for these villagers if they toil under evil oppressors, I know, but if war with giantkind ignites the destruction across the Savage Frontier will be far worse.

"Neither decision is right or wrong, we must do our best with what imperfect information we have."

"Davroar, Bern, are you leaving for the Lost Peaks now?"

<Bern>

He listened to the discussion, but didn't have anything to contribute. There were reas0ns why both were good choices. But neither seemed like the 'right' choice ... given the size of the group and all, he decided to listen ...

Davroar

He looks to Bern first, but when he does not respond immediately to Arus he says, "Yes, I think so. We still got plenty of daylight to go, and Arus, I'm going to miss your bravery and thanks for helping us out. Safe travels."

Davroar has never met a Triton before, but he is happy to have known Arus as a true friend beneath his somewhat haughty demeanor.

Looking in turn to each of his fellow travelers for the next part of their journey through the High Forest, if none of them object to his suggestion to leave right now Davroar adds, "So, we'll might up again at Olostin's Hold as agreed?"

Zhu

She sighs resignedly. Then glancing at Arus and Bern she asks, "I have been told that Rangers and Paladins have some ability to detect whether there are Undead in an area. Is that possible? I might be able to send word to the Spellguard and have a patrol come here to look into it after we leave. At least I could give them more information."

Pavel

Arus's sudden departure came as a shock. However, he knew little of the Triton having been traveling with the group for a short distance. He thought it wiser to keep silent. After all, the larger party had been together since Phandlin.

The other part of the discussion though he could have more of an opinion on.

"Our task is done here. You are right Davroar. We have plenty of daylight and another night at those prices no matter how good the beds, baths, and food are would be foolish. I think it best we keep moving to take care of our other business."

Arus

"The path we tread is perilous, Davroar," he says to the druid, "but facing danger with friends by your side is a rare privilege. So it is also I who must thank you all."

Arus nods in reply to Zhu, saying, "I have not detected any undead thus far... alas, my sensing is blocked by solid stone walls such as ensconce the Hunt Lords."

Jaliera

"I guess it is time to head out on our leg of the journey. Safe travels to everyone and hopefully we'll meet up before too long.. and that includes you Arus."

She raises a hand in farewell and turns to head out, calling Whisper to fly before them.

Sindar

"Travel well! I hope to meet you again someday. I will take you up on the tour of your kingdom that you promised while you were drunk at that fancy inn." He obviously is referring to some conversation at the inn they enjoyed many weeks ago now.

Zhu

She nods to Arus, as he indicates he can't tell if there are Undead in the Tower, unless he were to join her in an audience where the walls would not be an issue, and looks towards Bern, to see if he has tried to check.

In the meantime, with people beginning to move off in two different directions she pauses. The hurt, confusion, and disappointment is clear on her usually stoic face. She glances back to the tower several times, trying to decide whether to stay by herself and deal with the evil here, which is her charge, or abandon these poor people and follow the group.

She takes a step back to the tower then stops, looking back to see if anyone else is willing to help her.

Aubric

The cleric remains with Zhu, not eager to leave quite yet, but seeing the party splitting as a potential solution to the impasse.

"I may not have detection abilities that will assist you, but as a student of the Life Domain, believe I can be of assistance should a threat present itself," he tells Zhu quietly. "I'll remain here with you to investigate at least, and... I have a possible compromise for those who want to move onward. Recall my discussion of sending brief messages. I can relay our status if we find the threat beyond our abilities and need them to return. Or no status means we've failed and they'll need to address even bigger threats."

He ventures a smile. "Or I can report our inevitable success."

Pavel


He rarely speaks up because in the end he hadn't started with the group, but watching the elf and her obvious moral dilemma he felt the need.

"Hold, friends. Look We could push off now and make a few miles into the woods. But where would we be? Directly in the area where other parties had been hunting giants all day most likely. Not the best place to be spending the night. Albeit a lot cheaper. But still not the best place to be. However if we wait to morning we should be well clear of the known dangerous region and well rested by the time it would be time to camp."

He pauses briefly before continuing.

"I say we stay one more night then push out in the morning with the plan of some of us heading further east the rest heading to the north. In the meantime, we can help our companion at the very least for the rest of the day."

Kriv

He glanced over at Zhu, exhaled heatedly, and raised a claw to massage his temples.

“You’re really certain that interfering with the established order here is the best possible use of our time, with an actively hostile doppelgänger on the loose and acting against us, and giants mobilising into potentially the greatest threat for centuries? Let it not be said I am an unreasonable man. I ask for evidence that our intervention is necessary and incentive as to why we should divert from the matters to which we are already committed.”

Zhu

"Do you have any plan, or even idea what to do about the Giants? I do not. All we know is they are trying to rebuild some ancient weapon to use against the Dragons. Who knows how long that will take. Mostly what we're doing is gathering information. As to the Doppelganger, we have not gained any ground on him since we began, and I could argue that he is a sideshow as well. Annoying, yes, but mostly just distracting us from focusing on the Giants. In either case, this is a journey of months. One or two days will not likely harm us."

She pauses then turns to Aubric. Glancing back to Kriv she says to the Cleric, "There are Clerical spells that can guide us in this decision. Do you know the spell Augury?"

(OOC - I believe Aubric has Augury on his spell list, AND it can be cast as a Ritual so casting it wouldn't even use up a spell slot. We can punt the decision to the DM to tell us whether we are wasting our time dealing with the Hunt Lords or whether we will gain any sort of benefit from doing so. )

Aubric

"Indeed, I do know Augury," the cleric replies to Zhu. "However, we must be very precise in how we phrase our question - the divine insight only reveals 'weal' or 'woe' for actions taken in the next 30 minutes, and can be frustratingly cryptic. Too broad a question often results in a 'nothing' response. We should discuss a specific question... based on what I've heard from the others, I think it perhaps should be associated with overcoming evil, rather than any particular battle outcome?"

He glances around, then continues. "I also have other spells that may assist us with any sort of questioning session. You may have heard of Zone of Truth, for example. It can dissuade people from deliberately lying. And I can enhance the questioner's charisma if desired [OOC: Enhance Ability]. And... I can speak with the dead and ask them a few questions, assuming they speak our language. We'd need a corpse, not an undead... that hill giant was unfortunately not someone I could try that on. [OOC: Speak with Dead.]"

Zhu

She nods towards Aubric. "Do we need to define what 'weal' and 'woe' mean? In other words, were we to ask whether it would be to our weal or woe to confront the Hunt Lords, we might succeed in defeating them and help the townsfolk, maybe even gaining clues or magic, but we might be injured during that battle. So which would that count as, Weal in the larger sense or woe in the immediate sense?"

She pauses in thought at Aubric's other suggestions. "I suppose increasing my Charisma in a discussion with the Dwarf could help us gain entry?"

(OOC - Again, as always, up to the DM to be as cryptic or clear as he chooses. In the way I have always used it it is a way for the DM to help settle a disagreement in the party and move things along. ie: 'Enough arguing, move on' (Woe) or 'Yes, this would help you' (Weal).)

Kriv

"You are correct in that our missions are indeterminate and may take months, lest our enemies succeed unchallenged in the mean time. I would argue that when committed to multiple long term potentially resource intensive operations, it is unwise to add yet another to the mix.. We are obliged by duty and circumstance in our actions against the Doppelganger and the Giants. They have impugned us directly, else earned the ire and focus of our respective patrons.

That simply isn't the case here. We have not been wronged save perhaps by extortionate rates, and we have the option of never granting that place custom again. By what reason, what incentive, is action mandated here? You are literally asking to beseech the gods themselves in search of a reason, because there certainly isn't an evident mortal one.

You cannot say if this will be brief and self-contained, or just as long, convoluted and draining as the tasks to which we have a solemn duty to execute with focus and true commitment. I am not being unreasonable here. I am guided by duty, obligation, and by the acquisition of my services, or our collective services, for an agreed upon financial or equivalent value offer. I do not intend to shirk my duty, nor to bilk my obligations, and we are not subject to any party here giving us a well defined task for a well defined reward. What part of that is a problem?"

Zindra

"There are more than two choices for us, you all realize, don't you? It is clear that Bern, Davroar, and I have pressing matters that take us into the High Forest. Jaliera and Pavel were invited to come along and I suspect that Jaliera will come with us." She says the last as she glances at Davroar. It has been clear for several days that the two would willingly separate.

"Pavel, you truly have a choice. We welcome you to join us into the woods. You and your skills are valued."

"As for the rest of you," she continues, "It would seem to me that you have places to go, as was stated before. But you've all said that you needed to gather information. Jaliera seemed to be able to learn that this doppelganger had impersonated her. With little effort we heard that the hunters were going on a giant hunt. The locals seem stoic and try to keep to themselves. We haven't pressed anyone for any information yet we all seem to sense that something is not right here. Can we agree on that? So I think that you," she says looking at the other group, "Can move on to Olostin's Hold immediately, or you could choose to stay and do some more investigating."

OOC: Pavel indeed has a choice as to which group to join. His "hook" into the combined party was knowing Jaliera but he can either go with the Aquadyne's group into the High Forest chasing the doppelganger or with the group I'm DMing to Olostin's Hold.

From a DM's point of view it does not matter what you choose to do. This chapter of the adventure is very much an open sandbox. You've not done much here other than enjoy a good bath and a hearty meal while dropping off Arus's packages. But ask yourselves this, 'why would the authors of the adventure create a quest to deliver the harnesses here?

(OOC - Exactly Nep!)

Zhu

She looks at Kriv stoically. "It is my solemn, sworn duty to address issues in the towns and villages in this area. The other group is going to look into the Doppelganger so that issue is moot. I am honor bound to check into the oddities we've observed here. You are not. Yet I have traveled and fought with you for months in furtherance of your goals, I would hope that you would feel an honorable obligation to do likewise in support of mine."