Makara IC

Ketha tries to figure out how the human could figure this stuff out...

(Arcana Roll: 4 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 8)

"Yes! We can.... what do fancy girls do? Have tea? Biscuits?" Char replies.

The drow looks at her as if she's insane.

"Awww don't be like that Zanthar!"

"Zanthaelis."

"But I guess you do have a point. Tea isn't really my cup of tea. We should bond over common interests. We could-"

"Not set people on fire."

Char gives Zanthaelis a pout. The Boar sighs. Eventually Char says to Steam, "Well I'm sure we could find something to set on fire nobody will miss."

Zanthaelis rolls his eyes and looks to Parveth, "Most of them have likely been redistributed by now yes. I believe we still have her instrument though." he says indicating Adelinde. "We have plenty of weapons and equipment and you don't need to worry about being sent out to fight monsters with... what's the phrase? 'Just the clothes off your backs'?"

Parveth
The wood elf just nods in understanding to the drow, before cutting her eyes at Steam and Char's probably-destructive budding friendship.

Steam
"What? No...we'll definitely not set people on fire..." She then almost immediately mouths, 'We'll totally set people on fire,' to Char.
After mouthing this, she finally catches Parveth's glare and shrinks back a bit, coughs nervously and says, "We'll uh...we'll set something up. Normal not-destructive tea probably." She waits until Parveth looks away, before looking at Char again with slightly spaced thumb and index finger and mouths, 'Little destructive.'

Char just grins.

Zanthaelis gives Parveth a look that says "Is this really happening?"

Parveth
The wood elf gives the drow a very tired look, and without regard for Steam hearing says, "There's nothing I can do to stop her, Zanthaelis." She pauses to think for a moment, before adding, "Actually, that is wholly untrue, I could stop her, but generally she has been more boon than bane."

Zanthaelis thinks about this for a moment and replies, "You should certainly hope so."

Ketha merely walks patiently as the group talks. She doesn't wish to fraternize with the people about to send her down to her probable death...

The group doesn't talk much after that. They walk for slightly under an hour through some area that have been cleared of rubble enough to be wide roads that you maybe could take a wagon down if you were prepared for a very bumpy ride. They come to a two story building that looks rather out of place and just strange in general. It seems to at one point have been some kind of building or large home which was then converted into some kind of temple to what one would assume would be Gruumsh due to the fact that the building has been covered in metal spikes and decorated with bones and there are dark brown stains in various places, mainly around the spikes and some of the bones hang off of them near the stains. Lower to the ground the bones have been removed clearly in some half-hearted manner of being decent but they didn't bother climbing up the spikes to get the others down. Smoke spills out from a spike that sits atop the center of the roof.

The Boar pulls open the heavy looking metal doors with ease and you see that the inside of the building totally clashes with the grim exterior. You see a lot of simple wood and skylights that let in light and give the place a warm feeling and it looks pretty clean.... aside from all the clutter of various equipment all over the place in relatively organized piles. In the center of the first floor there is a small fire pit with a burning fire, making the place a temperature you're all more used to. As the Boar goes in and walks up them, you see there are stairs going up on the left side of the very large room you're in that seems as if it takes up most of the first floor. To the left there is a single door closed door that likely leads to a room that takes up the rest of the space on this floor. Above you can see that there are intentional gaps in the floor so that the light can shine down, the smoke can go up through the chimney in the center of the ceiling, and that people can look up or down to see what is going on on the other floor.

Zanthaelis leads you into the room, stands by the fire, and says, "Allright. I will be the one you deal with for the most part. I'll give you your assignment in a moment. First I'll put together some packs for you. While I do that, please look around the room and take any weapons or armor you think you might need. There is no need to hold back, we have plenty. Because I am in a generous mood resulting from the fact that none of you tried anything stupid on our way here nor were you rude or annoying, I have decided that you may also look around for any single item in addition to weapons and your pack to take with you."

While he speaks, Char goes over to the door on the right and those of you close by might catch a glimpse inside and see that it looks like some kind of small arcane laboratory.

As Zanthaelis puts together your packs he tells you, "So your first task will be dealing with a bug problem we've been having. Over in one of the areas where we are doing a lot of farming we have gotten several reports of giant insects stealing the food and in some cases even the farmers. We'll have someone take you over there and you will watch out for any such creatures to show up. Rather than stop them from stealing a bit of food we need you to find out where they are coming from and find some way of ensuring they cease being a problem. Before you even think of trying to accomplish this task the lazy way, collapsing a tunnel or two will unlikely solve the issue as there are all sorts of unknown passages under our feet and even where they are not present many insects can burrow."

---

So yeah, make a Perception or Investigation check and I'll give yeah each a bonus item. And of course tell me any weapons and armor you wish to take.

11+3(investigation)=14

Adelinde goes and sorts through the equipment without a word, letting out a slightly pleased hum as she finds her lyre before remembering why it's here in the first place. She eventually settles on a saber and short-sword, strapping them to either side of her belt. A few moments more searching has her find a crossbow, and after testing the weight for a moment selecting three cases of bolts to go with it.

Perception Check: Natural 20 (or 20 (Roll) + 4 (Perception) = 24)

Ketha is content to look for and find her Greatsword (a large, bulky thing with a delicate red ribbon running around the handle) and Handaxe (which looks like a modified woodcutting axe, with a similar ribbon around the top), and happy with her plate armour as it is. She was proud of her tools before her capture, no need to change them now. Although that heater shield looks nice, she might take that. She also looks around for the extra item as she waits for the others to finish, while considering the task at hand. At least she's helping farmers to start off with. Something familiar, although the giant bugs are new and not to be taken lightly...

Perception:

Parveth
The wood elf quickly locates a longbow which would suit her needs, as well as the accompanying quiver. She gives a second quiver some thought, and concludes that taking it wouldn't hurt, especially if elsewise it would merely lay in here. A shorter, somewhat curved blade catches her eye, and after giving it a few experimental swings attaches the sheath to her armor. A standard shortsword and dagger lay not far away, and knowing those effective enough she finds space near the cutlass for the sword and slides the dagger into a slot on her armor. A net meets enough of her consideration to be carried along, and she begins contemplating a maul of some sort, before casting her eyes to check on her friend.

Steam
The genasi eagerly bounds around, testing this and that and swinging many weapons about with a somewhat frightening disregard of their intended use. A whip and dagger quickly find spots on her armor near the belt, and a quarterstaff finds its way into her hands as she uses it to poke some of the piles. She gives an excited little gasp on finding a thrice pointier stick (a trident), and carrying both sticks she goes to see what Char is doing in her little room.

Ketha has extraordinary luck and the weapons she found both turned out to be silvered, additionally she finds a metal box with smith's tools, some scrap metal, and a vial of acid. Parveth finds a wooden box which contains woodcarver's tools and two potions of healing. Steam finds a magnifying glass and Adelinde finds a vial of antitoxin.

They finish their search and collection of equipment a bit after Zanthaelis has finished preparing their equipment (he had the advantage of knowing what items he was taking and where they were to be found).

While looking over the packs to see what they had, the group notices a pair of men enter the building and go up the stairs. One is a dwarf and the other is a half-orc who looks to be the sort you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, or even a well lit one near a major thoroughfare. You're all a bit too absorbed in your task to really pay attention to their conversation, until you hear the Boar shout, "THERE IS NO RAPE IN KELFAS!" You turn your heads to look in time to see the Boar, standing near the top of the stairs, grab the half-orc by the throat and lift him off the ground with one hand and then throw him over the stairs and out the door where he slides for a bit then bounces a few times and rolls a bit farther. The dwarf rushes down the stairs and over to the half-orc, who tries to get up. The dwarf says something to him and the half-orc ceases trying and the dwarf drags him away as quick as he can.

Steam misses the last bits of this as she was opening the door the little laboratory and then turned to see what the yelling about... which resulted in Char accidentally running into her when she came out to see what the yelling was about.

---

Your packs all consist of the following items
Backpack
Belt pouch
Sack (3)
Coin pouch (2)
Bedroll
Tent
Soap
Waterskin (3) (full)
Flask (2) (full water)
Rations (10)
Torch (10)
Tinderbox
Hempen Rope (50 feet)
Grappling hook
Climber's kit
Whetstone
Chalk (5)
Traveler's clothes (2)
Mess kit
Miner's pick
Crowbar
Shovel
Basket
Thieves’ tools

Parveth
The wood elf makes eye contact with Zanthaelis and gives him a questioning look, cutting her eyes toward the stairs in an attempt to ask about the situation without actually using words.

Steam
"Hey, watch where you're- oh it's you!" The genasi's initially somewhat angry tone sharply changes to joy when she sees who she's been piled with. She waits to see if Char moves to stand again before getting up herself. "Whatcha dooooin'?"

Zanthaelis notices Parveth's look and explains, "It is one of the rules. I would surmise that the man was caught in an attempt, likely by the dwarf and brought here. This is because the punishment for the actual deed is determined by the victim or barring the possibility, their family."

Char gets up, as if nothing much had occurred. She hears what Zanthaelis is saying and says, "Oh." indicating that's an the explanation of events she needed. She then turns her attention to Steam and says, "Working on some things. Must get back to it. Good luck!" and pats Steam on the shoulder and heads back into the other room, closing the door behind her. A moment later she pops her head back out to say, "In case you arrive later and you aren't sure if I'm in here I would suggest knocking unless you don't particularly mind losing a hand." and before Steam can respond she closes the door again.

"Does this extend to other crimes?" inquires Ketha...

"That largely depends on the crime and the circumstance, though there are very few circumstances where we would have the victim determine the punishment rather than the Boar, myself, Char, or one of the officers." Zanthaelis replies.

Parveth
"Are we just expected to know what we will be thrown down stairs for then?"

Steam
Steam attempts to follow Char into her labratory.

Zanthaelis looks at Parveth as if he's saying "Really?" and instead says, "Considering that the society I was born in is much more different than the one you were to what we have here and I find the rules of what is and isn't a punishable offense fairly intuitive, I'm sure you'll do fine. But I suppose since you asked.... don't steal, don't kill people for no reason, don't kill any of our men for any reason, don't rape, don't try to escape, don't light fires that can spread to where we have people living, working, where we have supplies, or buildings we've made or fixed, don't kidnap people, don't upset Char, don't hide your findings from us, don't provoke our men into attacking you or otherwise attempt to get them killed or injured, and come back when you've finished a task we've assigned you to as soon as you are able. If break any of those rules or do something I didn't think to consider that we determine you should be punished for, the punishment will vary depending on the circumstances. Considering the choice you've made, you should not expect a great deal of leniency. Less so in fact than the slaves."

Steam finds the door is locked.

Seeing that nobody appears to have anything to say and Steam isn't continuing to try and open the door, Zanthaelis says, "Well that is about all I think you need to know except for a few facts. If you haven't already figured this out, the 'untamed' parts of Kelfas are filled with monsters, some even more dangerous than ones you might find out in the jungle. You should be prepared to run or hide from anything you aren't sure you can handle. Also this is a ruins and buildings and even the ground in places are not stable. And a few miles south of our current border between 'tamed' and 'untamed' Kalfas on the majority of the western half there lies a barrier made by a collapsed tower of immense size. If you know your history it was known as the Grand Spire, but what's important to know about it is that it is incredibly dangerous. We have spotted gargoyles, demons, and at least three iron golems patrolling the exterior of it and likely worse lies within. It is possible to go around it to the west, but it would be a lot easier to go east instead. Do you have any questions before you go?"

"Is this particular farm we're going to near this tower?" She asks levelly without even looking up from her pack after a moment of silence.

Zanthaelis looks surprised to see Andelinde speak. After a second he shakes his head no and says, "Not particularly, no. But we don't know where these insects are coming from."

She nods in response and doesn't say anything else.

Parveth & Steam
"Have you made progress toward mapping the ruins?"
Steam stares skeptically at the lock on the door for a couple of seconds, before simply moving to rejoin everyone else.

Zanthaelis replies, "No effort has really been made. Our goal is to make Kelfas into a city again and considering the state of most of it this means tearing a lot down. Also for the most part streets and the like are buried, destroyed, or have otherwise been rendered unrecognizable. We have made note of where certain of the large remaining structures are, but this was only done as part of our efforts to make sure we'd rooted out the orcs or drove small numbers of them into areas so deep in that they are likely dead or at least no real threat by now. There are large sections of Kelfas none of our men have gone to at all. None of the structures aside from the Great Spire are notable in any way that we're aware of, with the exception of a partially collapsed tower and some other tall buildings surrounding it in the east."

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf gives a dissatisfied 'hmm.'
Steam starts using the magnifying glass to more closely investigate her newfound trident.