By now, his arrival in town is known widely, and many members of Haven look on in shock. Peasants staring at the audacity of a self-proclaimed high ranking member of the Red Tear, strolling through town as if he were welcomed here. Most didn't care about any reassurances given, that he was there to help. "Right," they thought. Sure he is.
But yet others reasoned, why else would they allow him here, after everything they have fought for? He must know something of value. Some good must come of this.
Via the main road, Aldinoch enters the inn. He goes to those he knows but is not afraid to speak in front of anyone.
"Can we cut past the typical greetings or do I need to be tortured again?" His voice is not particularly pleasant, his tone not particularly polite. His gaze suggests a kind of hatred, but his stance suggests resolve.
"We should prepare to travel. I suggest we start with Gateway. Their annual festival should give us cover to find and kill the rats. While you prepare, if you have questions, now would be a good time to ask them."
Aldinoch
Moderator: Admin
"You say that like you didn't enjoy it the first time."
The Av'yana tweaked a grin in Aldinoch's direction, her left hand completely unsubtly resting on the hilt of the short sword sheathed at her hip, her right holding a handful of earthworms dredged up by the relentless rains, which she slurped individually and with no pretense at decorum. Cirrus kept a neutral gaze on Aldinoch, only interrupted by the occasional flick of her skullfeathers to remove water from them, imagined or otherwise.
"Festivals are superfluously excellent for small groups to use as cover, but not with as big of a horde that we'll likely be bringing along. Depends on the crowd, but I expect we'll get noticed fairly quicklike."
Another earthworm writhed as it disappeared into her beak.
"What kind of shindig are we talking? Equinox, local heroic pendejo, panem et circenses, seems safe and fun but SURPRISE! the winner gets sacrificed to the big slimy monster? I'm in, but I likes my info."
The Av'yana tweaked a grin in Aldinoch's direction, her left hand completely unsubtly resting on the hilt of the short sword sheathed at her hip, her right holding a handful of earthworms dredged up by the relentless rains, which she slurped individually and with no pretense at decorum. Cirrus kept a neutral gaze on Aldinoch, only interrupted by the occasional flick of her skullfeathers to remove water from them, imagined or otherwise.
"Festivals are superfluously excellent for small groups to use as cover, but not with as big of a horde that we'll likely be bringing along. Depends on the crowd, but I expect we'll get noticed fairly quicklike."
Another earthworm writhed as it disappeared into her beak.
"What kind of shindig are we talking? Equinox, local heroic pendejo, panem et circenses, seems safe and fun but SURPRISE! the winner gets sacrificed to the big slimy monster? I'm in, but I likes my info."
You are what you dare.
RESEACRH
RESEACRH
"Yes, I didn't realize that a group this size might stick out wherever it went," he said without any attempt to hold back his sarcasm. "Thanks for correcting me. On the other hand, since the red tear are unlikely to be hanging around in town, yelling, 'Here We Are, Over here,' perhaps I simply meant that it seemed a good excuse for being there in the first place. The festival is a celebration between the 'civilized' and the people of the mountain, celebrating a peace treaty that stopped a very bloody war for both sides. That said, Gateway is a place with many strange and sometimes competing customs, so many of the people use the festival to...not be noticed. I figure we can do the same."
"Nothing quite like a voluntary torture to put suspoition at a middle." An old man says sitting in a thick wooden chair. His long hat jingles as he watches from the cold of his white mask. In his hand is a cup of scalding hot jasmine tea that smells faintly of berries.
"So many necromancers to destroy and so little time to do it in." He said.
Outside a dog barked. The old man's eyes were cold and dead under the mask.
"So many necromancers to destroy and so little time to do it in." He said.
Outside a dog barked. The old man's eyes were cold and dead under the mask.
"I would only teach them Necromancy as part of a balanced breakfast."
*Korrigan wanders over from behind the bar and takes a seat between Abaddon and Aldinoch.*
"For fuck's sake, get a room! If you're going to be talkin' torture and eyeing each other up like that, I'll have to separate you before we get some sort of creepy old spellcasting love-fest going on.
Aldinoch, yeah, we tortured you. Get over it. We both know torture is so low on your list of sins it would take year's worth of reading just to find it, so let's not pretend your cold, dead feelings are hurt over it.
Folks, I get it, we'd all like to kill Aldinoch here and he'd like to kill us, that's fine - but first we're going to stop the Red Tear's ritual and slaughter the shit out of them. After that we can all talk shit and murder each other like civilized people, but until then, let's not slit our own throats.
Tell me more about Gateway, Aldinoch. Who's in charge and how do you plan on finding the Red Tear cell there?
"For fuck's sake, get a room! If you're going to be talkin' torture and eyeing each other up like that, I'll have to separate you before we get some sort of creepy old spellcasting love-fest going on.
Aldinoch, yeah, we tortured you. Get over it. We both know torture is so low on your list of sins it would take year's worth of reading just to find it, so let's not pretend your cold, dead feelings are hurt over it.
Folks, I get it, we'd all like to kill Aldinoch here and he'd like to kill us, that's fine - but first we're going to stop the Red Tear's ritual and slaughter the shit out of them. After that we can all talk shit and murder each other like civilized people, but until then, let's not slit our own throats.
Tell me more about Gateway, Aldinoch. Who's in charge and how do you plan on finding the Red Tear cell there?
GM-Taki - Final Haven GM, Winter Haven GM, Editor of the Rulebook Project.
Aldinoch nods. "Ah, a pertinent question. And you're right, I could care less about the torture, I was just inquiring if we could, for expediency sake, cut to the chase, so to speak...The person in charge is named Melwin Barboda. Seems like something of a fool so, since he's the leader, there's probably more to the story than I know. A large portion of the population has a lot of respect for nature, specifically within the Crescent Mountains, like they think there's something there worth protecting. And so, and let me use language you're likely to understand...People like that are bound to notice a bunch of dark-clothed sons of bitches making hoogedy boogedy anywhere in the blasted area, so my guess is the Red Tear won't be hard to find. If the fine people of Haven is even half as good as their blasted reputation suggests, then my guess is we'll find the bastards and wipe them out and be back in Haven within a day, assuming nothing gets fucked up along the way...Any more questions?"
Cirrus throws a look at "nothing gets fucked up along the way", but says nothing. She chomps another earthworm before pulling her left hand up in a vague imitation of a child raising her hand at the Brandybrook Academy.
"You got a place in mind for us to crash? Or we just pick an inn that isn't going to get overwhelmed by twenty, thirty fine people all wanting to hang together?"
"You got a place in mind for us to crash? Or we just pick an inn that isn't going to get overwhelmed by twenty, thirty fine people all wanting to hang together?"
You are what you dare.
RESEACRH
RESEACRH
Marcus has been watching Aldinoch speak with the rest. Suddenly, he slaps the table, and smiles warmly.
"Well, hey. At the very least we'll get to be there for a local festival, so even if our "hunting" is a bit slim, it won't be a waste of effort."
The young knight looks to Aldinoch. It's plain he suffers from the same affliction as most in Haven- he is wary of the man, and likely trusts him about as far as can be thrown, but is nevertheless bound by Aldinoch's apparent and current usefulness.
So...you seem to know details about Gateway. I traveled quite far during my squiring, but like many here, I think, I never even knew the town still existed at all until just recently.
What can a group with a makeup like ours expect as a welcome upon arrival there, seeing as peace with the locals is obviously in our best interest? I guess I assume we are taking a gate there, but will it plunk us down in the middle of town proper, or will we have a walk ahead of us?"
"Well, hey. At the very least we'll get to be there for a local festival, so even if our "hunting" is a bit slim, it won't be a waste of effort."
The young knight looks to Aldinoch. It's plain he suffers from the same affliction as most in Haven- he is wary of the man, and likely trusts him about as far as can be thrown, but is nevertheless bound by Aldinoch's apparent and current usefulness.
So...you seem to know details about Gateway. I traveled quite far during my squiring, but like many here, I think, I never even knew the town still existed at all until just recently.
What can a group with a makeup like ours expect as a welcome upon arrival there, seeing as peace with the locals is obviously in our best interest? I guess I assume we are taking a gate there, but will it plunk us down in the middle of town proper, or will we have a walk ahead of us?"
-Evil always prevails when good people do nothing.
-All knight, every night.
-All knight, every night.
"I imagine you'd receive a similar welcome no matter where you went," Aldinoch says and then sighs. "Some with suspicion, others with fear, and others will be welcoming. I think they generally mean well but of course this group will upset their every day lives and they're the kind of people who like things to stay pretty much the same from day to day. So respect their laws, tread lightly on their lands, convince them you're there to rid them of the scum that will destroy their lands beyond all recognition, and I imagine everyone will get along just fine...The news of gateway's existence is indeed truly news to most everyone outside of gateway itself. It seems the entire town shifted dramatically from where it sat prior to the cataclysm, and unless you live there or are some silly scholar, there would have been little reason to look in that direction for any signs of life. But there they are and there we shall go, and if the place was chosen as a ritual site, you can bet there's an innate power to be found, my guess somewhere within those mountains. As for the gate, there's an active one near a mountain pass that will take us to the city's gate, so yeah, a bit of a walk but not too much trouble for such a strong, youthful group such as this."
Re: Aldinoch
Aldinoch returns, seeming disgruntled, though that's not much different than the way he usually presents.
"Suspin's next. The closest gate is near a tunnel that goes through the Chaos Mountains. It's dangerous as all hell, but it'll cut weeks off our trip. I assume you wouldn't want it any other way. So, as soon as you're ready...Yeah, I can answer all the usual questions if you have any. Let's try something different this time around though and ask at least semi-intelligent questions. Thanks."
"Suspin's next. The closest gate is near a tunnel that goes through the Chaos Mountains. It's dangerous as all hell, but it'll cut weeks off our trip. I assume you wouldn't want it any other way. So, as soon as you're ready...Yeah, I can answer all the usual questions if you have any. Let's try something different this time around though and ask at least semi-intelligent questions. Thanks."
Re: Aldinoch
"Well, we can skip when, where and why, probably how, so who are we trying to make nice with this time, and what would they want from some ragtag band of heroes? Figuratively speaking. Or actually, what exactly makes the Chaos Mountains earn its moniker? If they've got a copy of that elemental that went at us at Brandybrook two winters ago, you're going first."
You are what you dare.
RESEACRH
RESEACRH
Re: Aldinoch
"My concern is the tunnel itself. How can we trust the enterance to be there when we arrive? That its exit remains where you expect it to be? That the tunnel will be there at all or will not vanish while we are inside? Has the Range stabilized with the convergence of Magic? Regardless, perhaps a few extra weeks travel would be well worth avoiding that Range all together."