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Kriv

He saw little merit in lying to the man, and even less in correcting him. He let Zhu’s summation stand unchallenged, having little desire to prolong their stay.

DM

"So rooms for four of you? We can have two to a room. How many do you need? And how many horses are stabled?" Avgar Filroy asks. The cost was 5 gold pieces per person which includes dinner and two hot baths plus 1 gold for each horse that is stabled.

After he's answered he adds, "I will make sure to get things ready for you. While you wait, you can grab a table and have some dinner. Some of the other hunters are back now too. You'll see them inside."

With that, and no added comment about those that are missing, he turns away and gets to work ordering the help.

Zhu

She takes out the 6gp for her share and places them on the bar then looks for a table.

Kriv

The noble resolved the accountancy as was socially acceptable.

DM
There are many people present in the inn. Most are locals, woodsmen, merchants, couples and even a few families. There aren't many open tables but Zhu spots one and by some chance it's near a table around which there are a number of faces that are familiar; they were from one of the groups of hunters they had met previously but the group is smaller than earlier. There are fewer of them now.

Aubric

After the party finds a table, Aubric mentions to the others, "I'm going to buy a round for the hunters there... I think we should apologize for this morning's misunderstanding and see what we can find out about their day."

OOC: will be happy to buff anyone's persuasion rolls.

Sindar

He pays the assessed fee even though at one point in his life, that amount of gold might have fed him for months.

Walking to the table, he says, "Good idea," to Aubric.

He watches to see how things progress.

Kriv

The noble gestured deferment to Zhu, having taken point at the keep.

Zhu

She looks at the others and sighs. While she can be intimidating, oddly enough for a slight Eladrin female, and can likewise be persuasive when she puts her mind to it, it is not one of her favorite things. Glancing at Aubric she says, "I'll go talk to them", then pauses a moment if he wants to assist.

Aubric

Aubric puts a hand on Zhu's shoulder and mutters a quiet prayer to his deity.

He also arranges with the serving staff to deliver a round of beverages to the hunters.

OOC: Guidance cantrip. add 1d4 to ability check of your choice. Can be added after the check. Good for a minute but I can keep repeating it

OOC: I've been missing. My apologies, it's been crazy but I'm back.

DM

Zhu makes her way over to the table where the hunters are sitting. There are far fewer of them than there were in the morning when Arus approached them. There were nearly two dozen of them at breakfast. Now, there were just six. Their clothing, which Zindra had said was "too clean" in the morning, was far from clean now. They were stained with mud and blood. There were two large human men, one was bald and is arm was in a sling, the other had long black hair that was braided into several strands which hanged down his back. The brash, dark haired human female that spoke briefly with Arus now sat slouched in her seat with her hands resting in her lap. There was also two wood elves, a man and a woman. Both had green eyes and short brown hair. The last member of the group was female half elf.

They are all sitting there, with mugs of ale, picking at today's dinner which appears to be braised meat and roast potatoes. Zhu can tell that they're not in a great mood. ooc: passive insight used

Zhu

She pauses near the table and says, "My pardon, and especially pardon for my companion's comments yesterday. Might I buy you all another Ale?"

DM

The six of them raise their somewhat grim heads and look at each other and exchange glances before the human woman says, "Sure."

Zhu

She gestures to the bartender to bring another round and then continues, "As you can see my companion is no longer with us. Might I ask how things went with your hunt?"

(OOC - Looking at the group, and seeing the man with his arm in a sling, can she tell whether or not any of them seem to be healers?)

She glances at the injured man and adds, "One of my companions is a healer. If you are willing I can ask him to look at your arm?"

DM

The man in the sling looks back at Zhu and says, "Well, some of both our group are back from the hunt living. Those others from Warterdeep ain't come back." His mispronunciation of Waterdeep was said with some derision and it would seem that he thinks that the others who went with the party but separated earlier to head into the forest were now dead.

"Yer may as well join us. There be more seats at the table now. And yeah, iffn yer healer can do something about this, I be much appreciating." He kicks forward an open chair.

He raises his arm at the shoulder and gently pulls out the arm a bit to show Zhu the wound. The forearm is black and his fingers are not moving. "The arm kept me head on me shoulders."

Zhu

"A moment", she says, returning to the other table to speak to the group. "We've been invited to sit with them. One is injured and I mentioned you might take a look at his arm?" She adds to Aubric. She then turns to head back to the other group.

Aubric

Aubric is attentive to the conversation and hardly needs Zhu's invite to be on his way to attend to the man's injury. "Thank you for allowing us to do you a favor. Do you mind if I touch your shoulder while reciting my incantation?"

Assuming the man consents, he will cast Cure Wounds.

Aubric Cure Wounds
AquaDyne rolled 1d8+7 and got 14

DM

The man in the sling kicks over a seat to let Aubric sit while working his divine magic. The man pulls out his arm, which is quite mangled. The arm is black and bent where it shouldn't be bent. Aubric casts his spell and in a moment the bones snap into place, straighten out and the color starts to return. The man then squeezes his fist open and closed a couple of times and smiles. "Many thanks. I am Piel. This is Dhag," he says glancing over to the other large man. "That one, the one with the mouth is Yali. The two elves are Felrel and his sister Brawen. And the half-breed is Chima."

"Bring your friends over. Sit and regale us the talk of how your brethren died in combat!" the other man with the long braid of hair named Dhag said.

Yali raises her hand and swings it as she calls out loud enough for everyone in the mostly sedate taproom to hear, "Another pitcher of ale for our new friends here!"

Kriv

The Dragonborn graciously accepted the invitation and pulled up a chair, and as per their request, began a sorrowful but true tale of an ambush by a giant during a landslide, of a long-established and trusted travelling companion swept away to their doom. Kriv omitted the salient point that said companion was a horse, because in all other intents and purposes this particular truth was exactly what they asked for.

Aubric

So, competing rounds of ale. This won't end well. Or it might end very well. Aubric prefers the finer spirits but he's going to blend in tonight in the interest of gathering information.

"Damn giants," he mutters after Kriv finishes the story, loud enough for everyone to hear, intended as a prompt for spontaneous giant-adjacent information.

Kriv

Kriv was an excellent orator, there was menace in his threats and veracity to his promises. What he was considerably less comfortable with was misleading, even for the best of reasons, even when every word out of his mouth was entirely true. His heart wasn't in it, perhaps noticeably to those who had travelled with him, but possibly not to those unfamiliar with Dragonborn.

Kriv Deception through omission
AJ rolled 1d20 and got 14

(OOC - Well, you're telling them something they expect to hear so I wouldn't think the DC would be too high?)

ooc: I use individual passive insights as the DC so it's a different for everyone at the table. But the 14 is good enough.

DM
Everyone in the other group seems to buy Kriv's tale. Every word was true. It was the truth, while it may not have been the whole truth, it was nothing but the truth. They nod and shake their heads in response to the tales.

As he finishes, the female half elf, Chima says, "Quite a tale. We didn't encounter a zombie-giant but we did run into a few of them and were able to supply the lords 3 heads. So you only got yourselves one?"

Zhu

"It was the only one we ran into in these woods", she answers. "Fought some before we came here though." She takes a small sip of her wine. "So you fought three? Must be a tale in there?"