Arc 1 - Beast of a Thousand Knives (Completed)

[Kowsauni]

As the group gets closer to the center of town, more people can be seen bustling about, doing their daily business. The group continues to get curious looks from the locals but no one stops what they are doing to bother them. Within a few minutes the group is in front of The Fat Fox, its sign gently swaying in the wind.

Though it's one of the bigger buildings in town, the inn itself is not very large. The lower level contains a tavern and kitchen while the second floor looks to hold about a dozen rooms or so. Once inside, the adventurers would see the place was almost empty, no doubt it being due to how early it still is. Besides the staff, there is a group of four halfling sailors sitting around a table playing some sort of card game. There also is what looks to be an off duty guard sitting in a chair in the back corner. He is reading a book.  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would scan the room, as he would make his way through the door. He wore his holy symbol openly, so hopefully those partially educated in religious matters would recognize him as a servant of the gods.

Revenge would approach the nearest person who looked like staff, and simply ask: "Whom would I speak to, to inquire about lodging?"  

[Kowsauni]

Revenge approaches a rather bored looking halfling man sweeping the floor in one corner of the room. He seems surprised to suddenly be approached by a tiefling in gleaming plate mail. He glances up at Revenge and then at the rest of his odd assortment of companions. "Uh, go talk to Emberlyn behind the counter over there. She can set you up with some rooms for the evening."

The halfling motions over to the bar and behind it Revenge can see a young, chipper looking halfling girl cleaning a glass. She has long wavy orange hair with pale freckly skin. In fact, Revenge now realizes all the workers in the Inn are halflings.  

[PupSage]

Kuori entered the inn. She had a few difficulties on the way in. First she tried to duck and enter, but was still to tall. Then she squatted a bit and tried, but her bow caught on the door. A low growl could be heard escaping her lips. She reached back and unclasped the holster on her bow, shoved it through the door frame and squatted low, duck-walking her way into the inn. As she tried to stand again she instantly regretted entering. As if she wasn't feeling freakish already, the people in the inn were shortfolk. "Eh, I might be better off elsewere Revenge. Something tells me the beds might not be long enough and I don't want to shell out the coin for 3 extra beds just to get a good nights rest." All the more reason to solve this quicker. She sat down at a table. "So obviously this thing hunts at night. My idea is that we corral all of the big livestock in one location, maybe near one of the previous attacks, and we each take a corner of the corral and wait. Sleep during the day and stand watch at night. How well do you guys see in the dark?"  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

Gloom cracked a smile at the giantess's question as he pulled out a chair and flipped it around, sitting in it backwards with his arms propped up on the back of the chair. "Love, I AM the darkness. Of course I can see in the dark. Put me near the woods and I'll flay the thing before you can pop off a shot at it."  

[Onlin3 Gam3r]

Thava smiled a toothy smile at Kuori's door troubles and followed her inside. Her plan was a solid one. "Lets see if we can get any information from Redford that we may not already know. And I require at least a torch to see, so fire will be a necessity."  

[Rain Yupa]

((Oh gods they're all halfling rogues they're going to slit our throats in our sleep game over man game over aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-))

"... really, Kuori? You're still copper-pinching at this point in your career?" Revenge would say flatly, looking over his shoulder at the Goliath. "It's good to start coming up with ideas, but let's wait until we speak with Redford before we commit to any. We don't know what resources we'll have at our disposal." A pause. "And well enough. We should also discuss our experiences with the welcoming party. Actually... Mr... Gloom, was it? Your own experiences might be interesting to hear about."

But rather than waiting, he instead would go towards the innkeeper, Emberlyn. The others had heard his intentions, he did not want them to appear as if they were naught but hooligans. Legitimate intention goes far, when public appearance is involved.

"Miss Emberlyn?" Revenge would ask as his heavily-plated footfalls approached the counter. "Good day. My..." Revenge hesitated, thinking carefully. "... associates and I are here on business. Is it possible to reserve rooms during our stay?"  

[Kowsauni]

((Hehe, you've met Emberlyn before as a player in one of your campaigns, Rain))

As Revenge approaches the bar, the orange haired halfling girl looks up at him with her large blue eyes and smiles. She does not seem to be alarmed by his or anyone else's appearance. For a moment Revenge could swear he was staring at a child, but her standing behind the bar cleaning a mug would prove otherwise. “Sure. We only have a few guests at the moment so it shouldn't be any problem at all. I'm afraid we don't have a bed big enough for your taller companion there, but we do have a cot that should work. Regular rooms are a gold a night. Do you each require separate rooms or..." Emberlyn trails off, leaving the sentence open for Revenge to complete.  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

"Just Gloom." He perched against a wall, balancing on one leg with the other planted to the wall. "This tiny, sheltered, village, is afraid of outsiders, which is hilarious because they're outsiders themselves. 200 years ago the towns founder fell in love with a dryad that according to the locals looks like a kid. Creepy. She struck a deal to protect him, and thus his people and the other trees in the forest got pissed off and left. Now something is feeding on their livestock, in the last 2 weeks there has been a horse and two cows from 3 different farms. The only evidence on the scene has supposedly been a mess of scratches and punctures that show up where the animal was. The people are calling it the Beast of 1000 Knives and saying that it lives in the forest. I think that its the trees coming back for revenge on the little tree girl."  

[Onlin3 Gam3r]

Thava spoke up, "I wonder if there is a linear progression to these killings. I would like it very much if we could visit each of these farms."  

[Rain Yupa]

"Gods yes, separate rooms," Revenge would blurt out, practically sighing with the relief at the option. "I..."

The plated paladin's armor would clink as he looked over his shoulder at the explanation Gloom gave to the others. He looked back to Emberlyn for a moment, then to Gloom. "I..."

He turned to Emberlyn, bowing his head slightly. "Yes, we're here for this thousand knife business. ... excuse me, for one minute."

He would walk a few steps back to the others, addressing the run-down Gloom had just given them. "The first half of the story, I get. Servants of Sehanine are trained to be accepting about these sorts of things. But the second half just doesn't add up. I don't know if this dryad is that Poa person, but if it's 'the trees', then either the gatekeeper is a traitor, or simply powerless. Either is a frightening prospect. But that aside, why would the trees seek vengeance on livestock? I had assumed it was the work of goblins or something else impish, given the description we had been given."

"Gods, we need some answers," he would mutter to himself.

Revenge would reach down into his coin purse, placing a gold coin onto the counter in front of Emberlyn. "Here's at least my down payment for the first night. Though whatever might be plaguing your town seems to be rather irregular in its visits, and if permitted to stop it, I can't predict how long our stay will be. I hope that's alright." A moment's pause. "I will leave the others to set up their own arrangements for staying."

They were still getting acquainted, after all, and he hated to be any more accountable for their behavior than necessary.

(Money, 14gp -> 13gp)  

[Kowsauni]

Emberlyn Rowntree

Kuori, Thava and Revenge through their passive perception would all notice out of the corner of their eyes that the off duty guard in the corner of the room look up at Gloom as he talked about Lupa. He smirks a little and goes back reading his book.

Emberlyn patiently waited for Revenge to finish talking to his party members before smiling on his return. "Oh, it will be no problem at all, sir. We're glad to have your business. It will be a nice change of pace really. Usually, all we have are these drunken sailors from Rumney. "

Emberlyn looks at the four halflings playing cards at the table and they jovially shoot back at her. "Aw Emby, that's so cruel, so cruel! You know we're the reason this place stays afloat. You're forgetting your roots; what would your parents think? "

"Well, they're upstairs if you want to ask them!" Emberlyn retorts and then playfully sticks her tongue out at them. She turns her attention back to Revenge. "If you are here for that whole mess you should go talk to Mr. Redford. He's the current elected leader of Lupa and the one who put the bounty out. His office is right across from here in the town hall."  

[Rain Yupa]

"Thank you for your understanding, ma'am. I think it's safe to promise that we'll visit Mister Redford in short order. Frankly, I'm simply keen on the opportunity to get out of this armor. I don't know how the Fighters make it look so easy," he would say, looking down at himself.

Waiting for the key, he would turn and hear what everyone else would have to say before he excused himself.  

[PupSage]

Kuori held little interest in the events leading up to the hunt now that the information was on the table. She would probably be sleeping outside tonight, a bed of grass sounded better than a cot. She stood up what little she could and began to head outside. The trip to Redford was imminent and she needed head room.  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

"Put another night on my tab I guess." Gloom popped up spun the chair around and slid it under the table. "Hi ho, hi ho, to City Hall we go. And a halfling here and a halfling there, Oh no, don't trip on smallfolk!" Gloom singsonged behind Kuori as she walked out.