A Little Boredom

With the PCs back at The Limping Dog tavern they prepare for the night's sleeplessness, or so I thought as GM. No, the PCs, after having a chat with Xera about her overburdening father, all decide to go to bed and sleep off the eventful night. Can you believe this!

The PCs have foiled an assassination of the Mayor and been invited to the Mayor's house for a reception dinner at which they were the target of an assassination. Now they all go to bed thinking that it is all over? Unbelievable! Oh well, they are level 1 characters after all and so I should not expect anything more.

So the first few hours of sleep go by quietly until Asmodeus wakes up to some kind of sound. The room is pitch black for the most part, but he can see faint light under the door to the room. He lies there listening intently and believes he hears foot falls several feet away. Asmodeus decides to be sneaky and tries to quietly get out of bed. The player fails Asmodeus' Agility check and causes the bed to squeak. As he hears his mistake, Asmodeus decides to go and open the door to let some more light into the room. Here is my mistake as GM. I forgot Asmodeus was a Dyari (Dark Elf) who has low-light vision, in which case the room would have been almost as bright as day.

Surprise! A man is moving past the beds of Rikku and Cavell.

"Uh, what?, I am just trying to find my bed."

Asmodeus checks out the man and sees that he is indeed not wearing much at all except light, sleeping clothes. He must be telling the truth. Obviously he is another traveller staying in this common sleeping room (it can hold ten people). Asmodeus sees that another two beds are also occupied. The PCs were unaware that the three gentlemen came in that night and were now sharing their room.

Well, it is nothing to worry about, or so thinks Asmodeus who promptly returns to bed after closing the door. He stays awake for another hour and a half.

Lookout! The barrel is falling - Rikku is dreaming and as the barrel hits the ground, it makes a huge thud.

Rikku wakes with a start. Looking around the room he sees night light coming in through the window. As GM I ask Rikku's player to do a Memory check (roll D100 and get under his Memory temporary stat value). He passes and I advise him that Rikku remembers that the window was fully closed when he went to bed.

Now Asmodeus and Shashari wake up and also notice the window is open as night light is entering the room. These two both get out of bed and head over to the window.

Rikku hears movement at the foot of his bed and so he jumps out in the dark towards the sound attempting to grapple what ever it is that is there. OOPS! Rikku collides and brushes past the thing, the player impressively rolled an 8AG (8 hit points of damage and an A Grapple critical). Not bad! He lands on the floor with resounding thud. Kodos now wakes up from the noise.

"What was that?", thinks Shashari as she is hurt quite badly. No broken bones, but she is definitely sore. She saw nothing, but felt a lot.

Everyone awake hears a worrisome sound, the ringing of steel as a sword is drawn from its scabbard. Oh no!

Asmodeus, experienced in these matters now, calmly opens the door to the room to let in some light. There is Rikku and Shashari standing next to each other by the window. The others of the group are now waking up ("finally" thinks Cavell's player, but then Cavell always is a heavy sleeper) and the strangers are in their beds, also waking up to all the commotion, complaining.

There in the corner of the room is Xera, her rapier is drawn and being held defensively. "What is going on?" she says.

Shashari is thankful to Rikku who obviously protected her from what ever it was that attacked her. They look out the window and see nothing below on the streets in the dim night light. Hang on, I have low-light vision says Rikku's player. Well, says the forgetful GM, you see as if it is daylight and still nothing is on the streets.

Nobody knows what is going on and so, once again, unbelievably so, they all happily return to their beds, to be woken up by dawn, half an hour or so later.

Breakfast is comical with bread and water being provided. All but two PCs complain and so order a light meal at a generous cost of 2 tin pieces (normally it is 6tp). Xera, expecting more and complaining about the low quality of the establishment eats the bread and water and decides to wait until they get to the market located at The Great Circle to find something more substantial. A couple of PCs need to return in order to pick up an item they ordered the day before. While sitting around the table they plan their activities for the day. They decide to search for work.

While at the market, most PCs go out and mingle with the crowd in the hopes of overhearing some useful gossip that may lead to an adventure. Upon regrouping, the only gossip they find is that Lord Azkatar is searching for his missing daughter. Shashari is concerned they will be arrested for kidnapping and the rest of the group agree. Xera decides she will write a letter to her father and explain that she is going to travel and stay with friends for a few months. A post script was added that asked her father not to hurt the messenger.

Shashari accepts responsibility to deliver the letter as she flies over to the city stables outside the city walls in the hopes of finding out if any caravans are hiring. Arriving at the stables, Shashari learns of a caravan arriving today that will be leaving again in three days time. Having forgotten to deliver the letter, she does so now. After handing over the letter Shashari receives a tin piece for her efforts and then flies off to find her new companions.

"What! I don't believ...."

Shashari hears Xera father shouting as she heads back to The Great Circle.

Meanwhile, Rikku and Xera decide they will go off separately and investigate a known Alchemist's shop, The Compleat Alchemist (Rikku) and a herbalist store, Herbs and Tobaccos (Xera) in the hopes of getting some work finding ingredients. Xera finds out that the herbalist wants a rare green-purple flower (no name given) and will buy them from her for 1 gold piece each; she also spends time buying a bunch of useless herbs - LOL. Rikku is well treated initially by the alchemist when he asks about things that go bang, but after learning the cost of such items, Rikku says he is no longer interested in buying and so the alchemist turns on him and tells him to leave his store.

Just as Rikku walks off down the street he hears a man calling from behind and stops. The alchemist runs up to Rikku and, looking him up and down, asks if Rikku is an adventurer. Conversation ensues and Rikku discovers the alchemist wants Murlogi (goblin) hearts for his experiments. The alchemist offers to pay handsomely at 10 gold pieces for each heart and that the Murlogi can be found a couple of miles west of the city. Rikku agrees to the task.

Cavell, suffering from a little boredom while hanging around at the market, went and asked the local guard if there are any jobs needed to be done that the guard are either unwilling or undermanned to carry out. No luck there I am afraid. So Cavell decides to wander the city in the hopes of finding something to do. Kodos, who knows not what to do, ends up following behind the shiny knight who is riding a warhorse, wanting to use up the time before the beast has to be stabled in the city stables within the next 7 days (since one week is 10 days).

Shashari spots the shiny knight, Cavell, from above and comes in for a landing. I know what you are thinking, but no, she lands fine and also notices Rikku passing by. Not that Rikku noticed the knight on the only horse in the busy street! Calling out to Rikku, Shashari gains the rogue's attention. The group returns to The Limping Dog and Xera later walks in as the others are finishing their midday meal.

A short discussion takes place in which Rikku says that the murlogi are only a couple of miles west of the city and that they should go and investigate. Shashari is positive about this and so joins Rikku on the hunt. Cavell decides to stay at the tavern and guard Xera while she lays low avoiding her father. All other PCs stick around too.

Rikku walks out to the city stables and Shashari flies out west of the city to find the murlogi camps. She flies 1, 2, 3, eventually 7 miles west and finds nothing even when she uses her talent Eye of the Hawk. Three quarters of an hour later, Rikku eventually arrives at the edge of the forest and Shashari lands beside him. She tells him of her failure to find anything and decides to cast the spell Guess to find out if there is anything out there. Yes is her answer, but when she and Rikku expand their search to southwest they still end up finding nothing and run out of time as night falls.


Shashari flies back to the city and asks a guard if there be goblins out there. "Yes, about 20 miles", is the reply. She is not happy. Rikku said 2 miles, no wonder she found nothing.

Shashari and Rikku return to The Limping Dog tavern and meet up with their companions detailing their findings, or lack thereof. Cavell has been drinking for four hours or more while guarding Xera and he owes the GM about 2 copper pieces. I will collect that from him next session.



That's it. I have caught up with the most recent session and posts will now be fortnightly... Until next time.