Slime Salad

As Hyne moves silently away from the wagon, the snore stops.

"Enough" whispers a voice. The man behind to move around quietly like he is searching the wagon. He does not seem to notice that Hyne is near.

From the direction of the tavern, Hyne can see Erato coming this way, swaying a little and whistling.

Stealth: 1D20+3+2 => (19 + 2 + 2) = 23
Perception: 1D20+3+2 => (14 + 3 + 2) = 19

Hyne's head turns when he hears 'enough'. He is now certain that something is about to happen. He decides to find cover to listen in further, and what will happen once Eroto comes near.

Hyne expertly hides himself away.

As the noise of Erato's whistling comes closer, the man stops searching the wagon, and starts fake-snoring again.

Erato seems drunk. He staggers right up to the wagon, and starts to sing a bawdy song that matches the tune he was singing before, but abruptly stops an instant later when he realizes that there is someone sleeping in his wagon

"Oh, Hoho who's that there?" slurs Erato.

"Uh... Its me!" says the man in a gruff voice "I was just sleeping"

"Greath minds think alike (hiccup!)" says Erato, "Buth who's me? I say Who's me? (hiccup)"

"Um..." says the man, voice faltering.

"Oh! You're...(hiccup!) I know who you are, don't tell me. You're whassisname's friend. The hunter-looking fellow. Hyne's friend!"

"Yes, that I am!" says the man, suddenly confident, and considerably less gruff. "My name is Jerrold, I am Hine's friend."

Hyne perceives that man is doing a poor job of trying to conceal his real voice.

"Well I wash wondering when (hiccup) you would show up! I was all ready to re-sell your seat."

At this point, Hyne could either come out of hiding and meet up with his 'friend', or return to the tavern like he noticed nothing.. He considers flipping a gold piece on the dilemma until he realizes that if something happens and he is asked about it, he would want to know.

He decides to come out and continue walking by, before presenting himself to the others, "Oh! There you are, Jerrod! I see you saw the seat I bought for you. Not sleeping at the tavern tonight?"

Jerrold's eyes bug out with terror when Hyne calls out to him.

The terror is quickly replaced with confusion which then slowly changes into something more complicated and unreadable.

Erato seems oblivious to all this. "Ah! (hiccup) Hello there Hyne!"

"I... was just taking a nap..." says Jerrold, clambering out of the wagon "...but now that you are here we can go chat"

"Go somewhere (hiccup) else, because I am going to nap now!" says Erato, making himself comfortable in the wagon.

Jerrold glances at Hyne's bulky pack.

Having a clear view of Jerrold's face now, Hyne can see that the false beard actually looks more convincing up close-- but knowing it is false, and mentally subtracting it suggests... Jerrold seems to be a 50 year old woman disguised as a man. She does indeed look like she is at least part Jenn.

"Looks like I bought you a seat, not a room." He comments, crossing his arms. Hyne's face along with his body language begins to look as if he's prepared for a harder discussion than a casual journey would call for. He waits for her to begin walking from the wagon and Eroto before following after.

DM wrote:I changed the previous post so that "Jerrold" does not actually see the box, just the bulky pack

Erato begins singing to himself inside the wagon, clunking and thumping around a bit.

The woman known as Jerrold moves away from the wagon until they are out of Erato's earshot. She moves in the direction of the main street, but does not go all the way out into the open. She looks around before speaking.

Her body language makes it seem like she is thinking about running.

"My name is Jerrold. I'm... Princess Arkwyn's chief spy." says the woman. "Are you the lieutenant of Duke Borgan who was sent to escort the wagon with green wheels?-- Yes, I know they aren't green. I don't know why the are red. They were supposed to be green."

"Lieutennant..?" He asks very questionably, before blurting out, "I was about to ask what the Duke wants with a complete stranger like me, instead of just using one of his own men to dry his laundry."

He doesn't offer insight on why he didn't ride in the wagon, or why it is red instead of green.

Jerrold suddenly seems very curious about Hyne's reaction to her question.

"It sounds like you don't trust the Duke any further than I do."

She nods towards Hyne's pack. "Do you actually have the 'laundry'? I heard the 'decoy laundry' was stolen by a Jenn raiding force."

"I stashed it back at the site of the attack," he lies, "I questioned one of the Jenns and found out the Umbarlee priest got tactical detail that would force them on the retreat, so I knew it would be safe there."

Deception: 1D20+1 => (11 + 1) = 12

Even if she doesn't buy the lie, he, at the very least, hopes she understands why he did.

"So why come here so early? The funeral isn't cancelled as far as I know, despite the attack."

"So its safe then? That is good..." Jerrold seems to be thinking over this new information.

"I am not sure what game Duke Borgan is playing. I saw him not long ago. He was supposed to remain behind in Gnur... and the confusion of the color of the wheels... and well... YOU! Its like... like... If he was openly defying the Princess, why would he follow her instructions at all... but he can't be so incompetent to be following them all--but incorrectly!"

"What was that bit you said about a Priest of Umbarlee?"

His brows furrow, "Then how do you know the crown just lost was a decoy?" He quickens his pace to step towards the front in light of her question about Umbarlee, "Tell me about Locklean. What's the Queen's affiliation with their lot?"

Insight on her truthfulness: 1D20+3 => (14 + 3) = 17

"Well, I know that using a decoy crown was the Princess's idea, and so I know..." Jerrold suddenly seems worried and uncertain "... unless that was a part that he did wrong... Are you certain that what you stashed was the real crown?"

"As for Lockean, The Princess is friends with High Priestess Tancred, they've been friends since childhood. I used to watch them play together back when she was young and allowed to have visitors. Tancred was just some noble's daughter then, before she became a cleric."

Hyne's insight suggest that Jerrold is speaking truthfully.

Hyne does his best to hide his disgust that the Queen is good friends with the same kind of people that killed his fellow troops and that he's supposed to support that, but at this point the Duke is starting to look like a serious problem.

"I don't know if it's the genuine article," he answers, "but it's a real possibility it might not be. It's safe to say that Duke Borgain might have just started a war with the Jenns. He's already been preparing counter attacks, which suggests he wants the crown back, unless he's so willing to play up the decoy narrative that he is willing to send men out to get killed."

"That is a frightening possibility."

Jerrold looks around again, as if she is worried about being watched.

"I'll be frank with you, Hyne. I was sent to find Duke Borgan's lieutenant and take the crown away from you and deliver it myself... but from what you have told me-- and I do trust you Hyne-- from what you have told me, then if it is still where you left it, and if it is the real crown, then the best you can do is deliver it. That at least, is what Princess Arkwyn wants."

"I'll stick to spying on Borgan and figure out if I can discover what he is planning for this counterattack."