New Campaign: Athelos Darkening

[Bob the Hamster]

Beardthar relaxes, and lowers his quarterstaff.

if only every battle was that easy!

Beardthar takes the letter out from his pack and makes an attempt to open the envelope without destroying the wax seal too badly.

[Newbie Newtype]

Peanut tries to finish Tim Tim's sentence, "...Dwarven zombies?" Before watching him react to the Kobold with a sneeze of color, then exclaims sarcastically "Bless you!" He starts to look at the spazzing kobold child, "I think it's actually shorter than you!"

[BMR]

Beardthar

Dexterity (1d20 DEX)

• Beardthar: 3 + 0 + 1 = 4

You gingerly try to open the envelope, attempting to keep the wax seal intact. You fail miserably though, and the wax cracks into pieces. Looking at the envelop now, it's easy to see that it's been tampered with, even a cursory glance would show that the seal has been broken.

The contents of the envelop
Inside the envelop, you see a letter. You pull it out and read it:

Baron D,

The bearer of this letter is the paladin who has been on your trail for some time. He does not know that I have sent him to you, instead, he believes that you are an old aquaintance of mine who has knowledge about his quarry. In a sense, I told him no lies. Indeed, I could not, as well you know. I am sure that he shall be easy enough for you to deal with, especially since I gave him a false ring that was supposed to identify him as my agent. You may keep the ring, for I believe the poison on it will have no effect on one of your ilk.

To more pressing matters. Though this fool paladin believes he is taking with him a letter of recommendation from me, I see no reason why I should not also inform you of recent developments. For indeed, what better messenger than a paladin on a righteous quest? He will ensure that this letter is safe, and even should it prove to be otherwise, there is hardly enough here to incriminate either of us. The Purple is on the move again. He does not have the strength yet to reveal himself openly, but I believe he will soon. It is my belief that I will be one of his primary targets, as all such as I probably will be. I admit that I had hoped he would have tried something like this twenty, even ten years ago, when I would have fared better against him in single combat should it ever devolve into such. As it stands, even you, my friend, would be hard pressed to even survive a few minutes against him.

Still, we have what he does not, an army, agents in the shadows, and intelligence. He does not yet know that we've lost the White. Even if we had it, he was wily enough to prevent its destruction should it fall into hands other than his. Still, he could not afford the chance that we might find a way. If he were to know that it is no longer with us, he would launch an attack before we could even blink

But that is all I can say now. I advise that you kill this paladin, turn him if you wish, but he has come too close to uncovering our actions to allow him to live. I can always blame his death on any number of factors, it's hardly the first time we've had to deal with his order.

Until we next meet, B.

[Bob the Hamster]

With a sigh, Beardthar tosses aside the crumbly bits of the wax seal. he gives the letter a cursory glance, and then reads it aloud for all to hear, using the pompous nasally voice that he imagines the writer to speak in.

When he gets to the bit about the poison ring, he reads it louder than the rest, just in case Tim-Tim found a ring in the pouch and was thinking of trying it on.

[reveal above spoiler to all]

[BMR]

(OOC - Crikey, I didn't see Gizmog's post about how Spittle checked on the kobold child)

Spittle walks over to the child, and gives it a look-over. Aside from the drool coming out of its mouth, and the fact that it seems to be on some amazing trip, it doesn't seem to be injured.

Search (1d20 + Ranks + INT)

• Spittle: 7 + 0 + 1 = 8

A quick search of the kobold doesn't reveal any weapons or anything of note.



Listen (1d20 + Ranks + WIS)

• Akbar: 16 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 18 Success
  Beardthar: 4 + 0 + 3 + 2 = 9 Fail
  Peanut: 11 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 18 Success
  Spittle: 12 + 0 + 0 = 12 Fail
  Tim-Tim: 5 + 0 + 3 + 2 = 10 Fail

You can just hear the sound of footsteps, slowly walking away.

[Mogri]

Holy Saint Akbar al-Akbar listens to the letter with interest. "What... they're talking about me, aren't they? Although you know what's weird? I don't know how they would have expected me to deliver this letter to Baron D. I don't even know who he is! Do you think the D is for Dragon?"

[Bob the Hamster]

Are you sure this is about you, Brother Saint Akbar? Couldn't it be talking about the missing paladin that Lord Gideon and Seneschal Ileran sent us to search for? The one who might be our murder suspect?

Beardthar concentrates, trying to remember what Lord Gideon said about it.

I can't even remember the name of the Paladin we are supposed to be searching for, but I do remember that <a href="http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtop ... rt=103">he said something about you, Saint Akbar, being from the same order as him</a> was that accurate? Do you remember anything else about the paladin we are searching for?

[Spoonweaver]

My guess is either the paladin we're looking for found out more than the writer of this letter seems to have wanted him to. Meaning we're likely to be on a mission to clean up the lose ends of a sinister scheme. That or this letter has nothing to do with us.

[Mogri]

Naturally, none of this rings a bell to Holy Saint Akbar al-Akbar, who was thinking about ponies during the briefing. "Oh, yeah," he says, then shuts up, hoping not to look more foolish.

Could there really be a Baron Dragon? Maybe it's Baron Demon! Oh my gosh! Holy Saint Akbar al-Akbar gasps a little bit, then muffles it with a cough so that nobody notices.

[BMR]

Listen (1d20 + Ranks + WIS)

• Akbar: 4 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 6 Fail
  Beardthar: 13 + 0 + 3 = 16 Success
  Peanut: 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 10 Success
  Spittle: 4 + 0 + 0 = 4 Fail
  Tim-Tim: 5 + 0 + 3 + 2 = 10 Success

You hear to the west, the sound of stone grating on stone, like a wall or a door swinging open. Then, seconds later, you hear it close again.

[Bob the Hamster]

Did you hear that grating noise? ... somebody is sneaking up on us!

Beardthar clenches his fist... then relaxes...

...or somebody is sneaking AWAY from us!

[Spoonweaver]

Either way, I wouldn't say they're sneaking all that well.

Having no interest in the many skitterings of the kobolds around them, Tim-Tim continues to search the general area for the other satchel or pouch that he thought he heard someone mention or perhaps something else of value that everyone has missed till now.

[BMR]

Tim-Tim

You find the pouch that Beardthar mentioned earlier. It seems to be made of a dark brown velvet, it's of very fine make and hardly seems to be the sort of thing that someone would carry through a dungeon or a cave. Still, it seems to have seen some years of wear, so it's quite possible that, yes, someone does carry it around on adventures. It's relatively small, big enough to be a coin-purse, but the weight of it would suggest that it doesn't contain any money. Instead, it seems to contain some sort of powder or sand, judging by the feel of it.

[Spoonweaver]

Tim-Tim opens the pouch and studies the sand.

[Bob the Hamster]

Well... we might as well get back on our way. Spittle! Are you bringing that with you or leaving it here?