Tests and Trials

[thinkslogically]

((for the sake of honestly, I think I described Ves's clothes early on... maybe in her character description. I'll see if I can find it ))

[Rodgeir]

((Edited my last post to ask for a persuasion roll, I trust you. I was picturing Ves in rough clothes but not mountain woman. Blood is harder to see on leather covered in poop than I was visualizing.))

[thinkslogically]

Persuasion: 1D20 = [9] = 9


Eh...

[Arch Lich Burns]

Joe's looking through Ruby's eyes, does he see Lurn leave?

[Rodgeir]

The woman narrows her eyes but the wind changes directions and her noise wrinkles.

"Stand there and don't move and I'll get some water."

She goes back into the barn where she says loudly, clearly for Ves' benefit,

"Don't ring the bell just yet. You stay in here and ring it if I shout."

Shortly after she returns with a bucket of water. If allowed she will throw it at Ves, keeping her distance, repeating the process until the worst is cleaned off.

Once done she will point towards the main road.

((Set the persuasion DC the same as I set her perception to account for the not actually seeing blood with the earlier DC. Not a perfect fix, but acceptable?))
---
((Yep, Lurn is on his way.))

[Arch Lich Burns]

Joe has Ruby wait on the wall for a while, letting him be himself for a while. He's a bit calmer and he occasionally greets people. "Hiiiii!" He sometimes looks at the guards near him. And dances slightly " Dance dance dance. Treat?" Joe stops looking through his eyes and gives Jaq a thumbs up.

[Rodgeir]

The guards ignore the bird now that it is leaving them alone but he does get some small treats thrown to/at him.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Ruby, being the gluton he is will get whatever treats he can get.

[thinkslogically]

((Sure ))

Ves pulls her coat closed and lets the woman rinse her off a bit without complaint.

"Thanks."

She'll flick a silver coin to the woman.

"For your trouble."

She'll leave as soon as she's told and head towards the main road, keeping in the sunshine as best she can to dry off a bit. No point antagonising unfriendly locals.

((What does Ves know/can see about the roads and surrounding area here? Like, are they heavily patrolled, busy with traffic etc? If she's trying to avoid attention, would it be better to join the crowd or keep off-road a bit? I'm assuming it's just fields around her for now and not like forests or anything if she can still see the town in the distance))

[Rodgeir]

The woman let's the coin lay where it falls never taking her eyes off Ves. The little boy sticks his head out if the barn as Ves leaves and yells,

"BYE LADY!"

And is shushed by his mother.

The summer sun and breeze dries her as she comes to the main road. The flat, green fields give her an unobstructed view in all directions. There is a fair amount of foot and wagon traffic going both north and south. She has been on the road many times and knows it is well patrolled, especially this close to Stenrek. Those going by don't give her more than a glance.

[thinkslogically]

Well, nothing for it but to blend in with the crowd I guess.

Ves heads north, keeping an eye out for guard patrols on the way and trying to keep a low profile.

Perception: 1D20+3 = [5]+3 = 8

[Rodgeir]

((Okay speeding up the line, NSF let me know if you want a rewind to do something.))

The three J's arrive at the front of the line a half hour after Lurn went through the gate. The guards stop them and order them off the horses. They give Joe only the briefest of inspections, which includes a hand being waved over her head.

The guard, seemingly in charge of this group, asks,

"Names, reason for leaving Stenrek and destination."

As the question is asked the guards' inspection of Jolly and Jaq becomes more intrusive. One of the guards brushes something across both Jaq and Jolly's cheeks that leaves a black mark before moving to the unoccupied draft horse and sliding her hand across it. The other guards just stand on alert watching.

Jolly rubs at his cheek and looks at the black on his hand before answering the questions deadpan,

"Jolly, got shit to do not here, honestly got no idea."

The guard looks over her shoulder at one of the soldiers who gives a shake of her head. The guard turns back and shifts her gaze to Joe and Jaq.

---

Seeing no patrols Ves turns north and starts following behind an empty wagon.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Joe keeps it brief, trying not to let her accent slip. She stares while the guards are putting grease on the others, confused as to why they are doing so. She ducks as the guards hand goes above her,more reactionary than anything. "Shaldia Cottonwood. Exploring."

[NotStickFigures]

Jaq lets Joe talk first and then answers, "Jaq'maerrin Nailo, my family here owns an antiquity shop and we're heading up north to get, hopefully, some more goods that we can sell."

He looks unhappily at the black mark on peoples faces and says, "This is new, what's the deal?"

[Rodgeir]

The head guard repeats her glance back at the soldier who again shakes her head. Turning back to Jaq she says, looking very tired now,

"After yesterday we need to be cautious. Have a lucrative journey Mer'Nailo." She gives Shaldia and Jolly a nod and waves you and your four horses, one saddled but without a rider, on through the gate into the the mid-afternoon sunshine. Lurn has half hour head start and you have no idea where Ves is but she presumable ahead somewhere.

Jolly rides out of the gates and after a few hundred yards turns on his saddle and looks back at town.

"Should have gotten that drink this is already killing my ass."

((Checked to see if she would notice/wonder about the horse without a rider but she crit failed that. ))

[NotStickFigures]

( I was ready with a lie for that question if it came up!)

Jaq will wait until they are a bit further from the city gates, certainly out of earshot of even yelling, before he says, "Ok, let's get the horses moving a little faster if we can, so that we can catch up to Lurn and find Ves. That was really a process, one I didn't expect. It's strange we all had to get separated so quickly."
He will try to move a little faster with his horse, having Lurn's follow with a rope lead. He will not push it to such an extent though that it becomes difficult to try to control the horses.

[Rodgeir]

((Lay it on me , also is anyone doing anything special or just moving north at whatever speed your horses/legs can carry you?))

[NotStickFigures]

(The lie...He is meeting another explorer and hoping that they find enough goods to bring back that they will need another horse, a big one, to carry all of the goods instead of just the mule he (the explorer) now has) Oh, and edited the entry two above.

[Rodgeir]

The further you get from town the more spread out traffic going away from town becomes and travel also becomes swifter. Jolly is clearly having a hard time with his horse but is managing so far. After about fifteen minutes of northward travel a blue figure comes into view and takes over the horse from Jaq and shortly after a familiar manure smeared wagon and driver can be seen and smelled rolling south.

[NotStickFigures]

When they catch up to Lurn, "I'm not sure how you ended up getting by the guards and all, but when you lifted your illusion I thought it was going to be trouble. Great job!"

When they get to the poo wagon, "All went well I take it?"

Second question? "How far up the road yet do we look for Ves?"

[Arch Lich Burns]

After a while (after about few more wagons were checked) Joe unsummons her bird and she looks at Jaq. "So they think n outsid'r cause tha mess? I think it was odd that tha people tha dinnae 'elp those in need were tha ones preventin' some ta leave."

[NotStickFigures]

Jaq shrugs in response to Joe's question. "I'm not sure exactly what they were looking for. Apparently not a firbolg, or they'd have found one. Maybe they are trying to round up the city's 'saviors' so that they don't get credit, or so that they are warned not to tell the true story about what happened and that it was the prefect's fault. I gotta admit. I'm not sure what the city rulers are doing any more."

[Rodgeir]

The old man looks at Jaq and slows his mules.

"What? Who?"

He looks over at Jolly and Lurn.

"Oh, her. About a mile an a half back."

He looks back to the road and moves on.

((He didn't meet Jaq or Joe, but Jolly and Lurn he knows.))

A short ride later you spot Ves' distinctive hair and then the rest of her. She seems a bit wary but doesn't notice you ride up. Lurn notices she has picked up a bit of a new odor.

[Dlover]

"I feel that they were indeed searching for us, but those unfamiliar with my race can find it difficult to tell us apart, as with any race. I simply convinced him that I was a different firbolg."

As they come up alongside Ves, Lurn gives a slight wave, "Smells like you had a rather unfortunate encounter. What happened?"

[thinkslogically]

Ves looks up at the firbolg with a look of surprise.

"Shit wagon spilled out on me as I was walking past."