[LPF] Distant Relations

[deisenhut]

Yoshiki Akita (Human Monk 3)

As Drev offers his services, Yoshiki initially has some reservations. "My friend, I do not wish to injure you." But after several assurances from the wooden man that he won't hurt him, "Then I accept your offer, but I will still pull my blows by not putting my full momentum into my attacks to make sure." He gives Elenka's guardian a bow before dropping back into a fighting stance. He waits until Drev seems ready before advancing...

Later, over their meal, Yoshiki brings up the topic of their mission and speaks in Sylvan. "When we get to Martna, we'll need a common story of while we are all together in the town. We are a group of four newcomers all traveling together. What brings us to Martna? What is our relation to one another? Why are we traveling together? I think we may be able to use the fact that the four of all speak this less than common language as some reason for us to be together. Any ideas?"

[sblock=Ministats]Initiative: +4
AC: 17 Touch 17 Flatfooted 12
HP: 22/22
CMB: +7 CMD: 19 Fort: +3 Reflex: +7 Will: +5 (+2 vs. Enchantment)
Defensive Abilities: Evasion, Deflect Arrows
Speed: 40 ft

Conditions in Effect: None
Elemental Fist: 3/3 remaining
Ki Pool: 0/0 remaining
[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

Quioan sets down his fork, chewing over his eel thoughtfully. "That's a good point, Yoshiki; we certainly do make for an odd group, and I'm sure we'll attract attention." Thinking it over for a moment, he says, "Perhaps we're pilgrims of some sort. This Owbej is known as 'The Living God' and Sylvan is the language of nature and the fey, and therefore, ostensibly of life. Perhaps we're simply friends, bound together by our devotion to life in all its forms, who have come to learn more of the one known as The Living God?" The elf shrugs. "I must admit to having something of a lack in the realm of the deceptive arts, but I would imagine the best approach would be to keep our story simple."

 

[toasterferret]

Anna nods her head slightly. "Yes the simplest stories are often the best. Less to get tripped up in. We should say that we met on the road not long before arriving, that way if we should be questioned separately our stories will not conflict.."

She finishes her meal and dabs the corners of her mouth with a napkin, before folding it and putting it on her lap.

"Captain, how long until we are due to arrive?"

 

[jkason]

[sblock=logisitics]To clarify:

* Yoshiki and Anna will carry no weapons at all during the journey.

* Quioan will only have his ranged weapon on him regularly. I'm going to assume he keeps his component pouch, as well, since he's preparing spells.

* We have 3 people asking for first or last watch (such is the nature of an arcane-heavy party, I suppose. ). Sounds like the shifts are in thirds rather than quarters, then? I'd assume that'd be Elenka and Drev for one, Yosh on his own, and Quioan and Anna on another. Renlow and Nevil are available, as well (it is their ship, after all), though you don't know how skilled they may or may not be. Nevil, after all, did run screaming from a fish. [/sblock]

GM: I'm going to take a slight liberty with time here, and put Anna's question earlier for reasons which I think will be obvious. Hope no one minds.

The eel, though a bit stringy, is surprisingly flavorful after Captain Renlow has finished cooking it. Nevil sets anchor against the shore and everyone moves below for their meal. The cabin is quite warm from the stove, though not too uncomfortably so. The mixture of spices and natural oils in the cooked eel make for a thick aroma. The captain has offered a modest ale for those who wish to have it with their meal; other than that, it's only water to drink for the evening.

There is no proper table at which one can eat in the cabin. The captain sits on the trunk at the end of his cot, using it to set his plate and mug of ale upon when he's not actively eating or drinking. Nevil seems to prefer the floor to his cot, and his hands to any utensils; there are soon sticky streaks running along the half-elf's forearms from where the sauce the captain prepared has dripped, though he licks those off whenever he pauses long enough to notice. Renlow simply shakes his head at the sight.

At Anna's question, Renlow gulps back a bite of food, then answers, "Wish I could say it's a quick trip, but like to be close to a month, even pushing it best I can, I'm afraid. We'll have to make a few stops along the way to re-supply, but Parsons made it clear you need to get there soon as I can manage it, so won't be any shore leave longer than a re-supply takes."

As Yoshiki initiates a conversation in Sylvan, the dwarf's brow furrows a bit. He glances around the room as he finishes off his plate. He slugs back the last of his ale and stands.

"I'll just leave you folk to your discussing," he says. "Nevil can take your plates when you're done. I'm going to see about making sure everything's battened down for the night."

With that, the captain takes his leave. After licking his plate clean, Nevil begins offering to take the plate and mug of anyone else who is finished. He'll unashamedly lick those clean as well and stack them near his bed; it's unclear if that's his idea of 'washing dishes' or not.

GM: GlassEye, don't let me forget Elenka's asking about Renlow and Nevil during the upcoming 'travel montage.' I didn't want to put it here to avoid getting time too mucked up.

 

[Qik]

[sblock=Logistics]Watch in 1/3s sounds good. And yes, Quioan will keep his bow/arrows and spell pouch on his person at all times. Also his armored kilt, too, in case that wasn't obvious.[/sblock]

"Hmm," the elf muses at the captain's estimation of their journey, "that'll be quite a trip." To himself, he wonders how he'll pass the time, but he's not otherwise worried about the length of the journey. As the captain leaves, Quioan apologizes for inadvertantly excluding him from the conversation, and thanks him for the meal.

"I agree, Anna - might as well say we met in Venza, since it simplifies things. Perhaps we need decide on where we heard of this cult? Perhaps from merchants traveling to Venza from elsewhere on the Ouhm?"

 

[GlassEye]

Elenka quite enjoys the eel and Drevezh'korol abstains from eating claiming he has no need of it on this plane.

"The closer we stay to the truth the more truthful our lie will sound. Pilgrims sounds like a good cover. Perhaps we would have time to ask about Owbej and local gods when we stop to resupply from time to time."



[sblock=MiniStats][size=+1]Elenka[/size] Human Summoner 3
Initiative: +2 Perception: +5

AC: 15 (12 touch; 13 flat-footed)
HP: 23 Current: 23
CMB: +3 CMD: 15 Fort: +1 Ref: +3 Will: +5

In Hand:
Spells:
1st level: 4/4 remaining.
Special: Summon Monster 2 6/6

[size=+1]Drevezh'Korol[/size] Eidolon
Initiative: +1 Perception: +0; Darkvision 60 ft.

AC: 15 (11 touch; 14 flat-footed)
HP: 29 Current: 29
CMB: +7 CMD: 18 Fort: +4 Ref: +2 Will: +3

In Hand:
Conditions: [/sblock]

 

[Qik]

"The closer we stay to the truth the more truthful our lie will sound. Pilgrims sounds like a good cover. Perhaps we would have time to ask about Owbej and local gods when we stop to resupply from time to time."

Quioan nods in agreement, smiling slightly. "Exactly."

"And yes, the trip up the river should give us ample opportunity to gather information on this cult, even if our supply stops will be brief."

[sblock=OOC]Not sure how far you'll be time jumping ahead, jk, but I'm going to roll Know (Local) and Know (Religion) checks to simulate Quioan's assimilation of information on the cult as the group travels. Also, I've been meaning to ask - we're traveling downriver, right? Still haven't internalized the EnWorld geography very well.[/sblock]

 

[GlassEye]

[sblock=Geography pt. 3?]No, upriver.

I'm going to preface the following by saying it would probably be a lot easier to be extremely vague about travel times. Say we travel for a long time and not really worry about anything else since I don't believe it matters much for the actual adventure.

However... if you really want to calculate it out as closely as possible the map I posted HERE will help. I took the approved map that Mowgli posted moved the scale bar from the bottom of the map to the top, cropped it down to the relevant area and tried to zoom in a bit for better clarity.

My calculation is that it is roughly 1,000 miles from the mouth of the river at Venza to the headwaters near the 'Tal Hallow' map label. Upriver. Then about 75 miles across mountainous/hilly terrain to the tributary of the Ouhm. Downriver 600 miles to where the tributary meets the Ouhm. And then however far it is to Martna.

A barge moves 5 miles per day. A keelboat moves 10. With no navigational hazards it would take three to six months to travel the length of the first river. Then there would be the overland journey and the trip down the tributary to Martna.

A second route would be to sail to the mouth of the Ouhm and then up river to Martna. It's roughly 1,600 miles from Venza to the mouth of the Ouhm by way of the sea but one could sail traveling at 48+ miles per day or a little over a month to the city that sits at the mouth of the Ouhm and then however long to get upriver to Martna.

An option that would decrease travel time and still keep the continuity of what we've done so far is to say that we travel a month up the river (or however long) on the Downpour then disembark to travel to one of the ancient gates that can be found on the continent. Place the destination gate nearer to Martna and we've cut off x amount of time.

Yes, that map is massive.[/sblock]

 

[deisenhut]

Yoshiki Akita (Human Monk 3)

"So, we're a group of pilgrims traveling from Venza who learned about this new religion along and way and are interested in learning more. That is probably as good of a premise as any. And entirely truthful, except the pilgrim part." Yoshiki says as he finishes off his eel, oblivious to the vast distance that they are seemingly traveling in short order.

[sblock=Ministats]Initiative: +4
AC: 17 Touch 17 Flatfooted 12
HP: 22/22
CMB: +7 CMD: 19 Fort: +3 Reflex: +7 Will: +5 (+2 vs. Enchantment)
Defensive Abilities: Evasion, Deflect Arrows
Speed: 40 ft

Conditions in Effect: None
Elemental Fist: 3/3 remaining
Ki Pool: 0/0 remaining
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

GM: Gathering information is now part of the Diplomacy skill so far as I can tell, so you'll need a different check for that one, but I can drop a few hints based on Quioan's personal knowledge (i.e., those rolls)

[sblock=Quioan]Religion: Quioan has never even heard of Owbej, a fact that he finds troubling, since he has a fairly extensive knowledge of religions in the area, and he ought to at least have a passing familiarity with the name. Perhaps it's a new name for an old god, but there's definitely something 'off' about it.

Local: Quioan's knowledge of the way human religions spread also has him puzzling this one out. Parsons mentioned a temple, but most religions would have begun spreading some level of influence before they raised the capital for a full-fledged temple. Where did the worshippers of a newly-'discovered' god find the funds?[/sblock]