2020.09.22: Game Night Pt.1
| Game Night! (Pt. 1) | |
|---|---|
| The gathering of geeks arrive for a game of D&D! | |
| IC Date | September 22nd, 2020 |
| Players | Katie Rufus Vivian Dalvin Adeline |
| Theme Song | The Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You |
Overgrown Victorian - Ground Floor
Hearing the doorbell ping, Katie bounds happily down the steps with an audible, thump, thump, thumthump, then scurries over to open the door. "Hi!", swinging the door open wide to allow everyone inside. "Wow, like, now my nerves are trembling..", she laughs, ".. I'll try my best! You want to go straight up or have a drink or like.. um.. I haven't really had guests here before.", she grins.
Adeline beams and immediately hugs Katie fondly. "It's so lovely to be here. Thanks for inviting us! I've been here a few times while you were --" she hesitates, "away, on your trip, and I stayed in the guest room for a couple of days. I really really love your house. I am so glad you both have it!" She is wearing her lab coat and leather jacket combination again, so probably come straight from work, and there is something a little odd about her. Insofar as gleeful Adeline can ever be 'subdued', that adjective slightly fits.
Being one of the first to arrive, Dalvin timidly steps up, sucking in a deep breath before pressing the doorbell. He has on his typical hoodie, worn over top of his tiyn frame, though the hoodie betrays the hints of something underneath that isn't normally attributed to his standard outfits. In one hand, he holds a rather large sack, almost the size of a basketball, that jingles with the distinctive sound of dice rolling against each other. When Katie opens the door, his cheeks flush softly into a light blush, and he smiles warmly at her as he steps inside. "Hey katie." He murmurs back at her, the evidence of bright blue warpaint coats his features, and ge follows in after Adeline.
What sort of guest for DnD wouldn't bring some offering to the host and DM? Up to the house comes Vivian, dragging what seems to be a two-wheeled luggage cart. Only it isn't luggage that's being hauled; it's beer. Three sixpacks, in fact, each a different type are strapped onto the luggage cart with bungie cord straps. A full range of beer types is offered: really cheap King's Brewery brand, Sam Addams, to some local microbrew ale. She doesn't appear to have brought any game supplies and she's just in her usual attire; no dressing up for the ex-army woman. "Yo!" Vivian says, raising a hand in greeting and grinning broadly to the others, "I wasn't sure what would be available, so I brought a bunch of stuff just in case." The blonde muscles the cart up the porch and to the front door, stepping inside and looking around the interior. "Nice place," she says to Katie, flashing another bright grin, "Where's the fridge so I can get these cold?"
Hopping forward to meet Adeline, Katie returns the hug tightly and even sneaks a little kiss onto her cheek, before stepping back with a warm smile. "Oh! Rick mentioned that, I almost forgot..", she chuckles, ".. my memory has been so bad since I came back from the.. um.. holiday.", she coughs, covering her mouth with a hand briefly.
Noticing the little Dalvin behind, smaller even than her, she hops over to him and gives a quick and friendly cuddle, then steps back again, "Oh wow! Like, /so/ cool! I love the warpaint, getting into character..", she smiles, giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze before her attention is pulled to Vivian and the festival size amount of beer that she's brought with her. "Oooh..", she smiles.
Not sure they're on the same level to be hugging, she touches the side of her arm instead, then motions up the stairs, "Oh, I have a fridge in the room. Like, total gamer geek set up.", she chuckles. "Let's go up!", she smiles. Reaching down to gather up one of the beer packs, she huffs a bit under the weight, but starts up the nearby stairs with them. "This way!", she chirps happily.
Adeline smiles lovingly at Katie as she leads the way, and as they follow, she grins at Dalvin “Fab look! Did you enjoy the rave?” Her expression is mischievous. And she brightens when she sees Vivian. “Vivian! Hi!” She’s clearly delighted that Vivian and an elegant sufficiency of beer are gonna be part of this experience. “What a great crowd,” she says, happily. “Let me help carry too,” and she does her bit to get the beers up into the gaming retreat of bliss.
Accepting the hug shyly, but with no less affection, Dalvin squeezes her a bit, and then smiles softly with the blush still worn on his cheeks as she shrugs a shoulder. "I um... Didn't really know how much... People would get into it." He admits shyly as he peeks over at Adeline, lifting one hand to give her a shy little wave, his blush growing as she mentions the rave, and he nods back at her. "Oh, um, thank you." He offers softly, his lips curling into a deeper smile. "Oh, yeah I did. I had a lot of fun. I might try to do it again some time, too."
With the arrivial of Vivian though, he peeks back at her, his eyes widening a little as though he made a pact with the devil by uttering those words, considering the amount of alcohol she seems to be bringing in. "Oh, uh. Hey." He murmurs softly, and then steps forward to try and also help with lugging the alcohol to its intended location.
Vivian smiles at the affectionate touch to the arm, nodding twice and arching her eyebrows as Katie, Dalvin and Adeline each take one of the packs off the cart. "Oh, hey, you didn't have to do that," she says, "I'm strong enough to wrestle this stuff up the stairs." As if to illustrate the point, Vivian grips two sides of the (now empty) cart and hefts it up off its wheels. But considering there's not much point in bringing the device upstairs, the blonde sets it down and begins to follow Katie up chatting away. "So I got King's if folk want to get buzzed quickly. The stuff's terrible but can't complain about the alcohol content. Addams if people want something mass produced but relatively good quality. And the artsy-fartsy microbrew thing is for people who want good beer, period." A pause. "I wasn't sure what kind of session we're having, thus the variety. I mean, things can get wild if you play while tipsy. " Vivian does a double-take at Adeline, her eyes widening in recognition. "Oh, snap! I know you! From Body Shots, right? Sorry, I was a bit preoccupied and it didn't register until just now. Damn, small world, huh?" She grins broadly at the lab-coated woman.
Overgrown Victorian - Attic
Leading everyone up the stairs, Katie then heads for an attic entrance, the stairs already down. No awkward stairs here, they pull down into a large set that can be easily traversed. Bringing her pack of beer up, she moves into the small kitchen area and slips them into the fridge, leaving the door open for the others. "So like, don't be weird or anything, this is as much your area as mine, so you don't need to ask if you can go pee or get a beer or pizza or something..", she chuckles.
And talking of pizza, there's a heavy pizza scent coming from the cooker. Inside the rest of the room, the table is set up in the same way as the photograph she sent, though now of course it's all visible to the eye. The scenery is nicely painted and there's a LOT of it, with trees and bushes, paths and small rivers. There's also a giant kitten knocking over trees. "Lucky! Not on the table!", she squeaks, laughing as she runs over to scoop up the little orange kitty and place him down on the floor. The kitten's legs wobble awkwardly, as if it just realised how to use them, and it stumbles across the attic floor before finding a place to sit.
"So this is Summerhold.. it's where our adventure will start.", she smiles, picking up the knocked over trees, replacing some of the nudged houses and miniatures. "Beer!", she suddenly decides, and heads back to the tiny kitchen to grab one for herself. "I haven't had alcohol in /so/ long..", she tells Vivian, ".. Rick used to drink too much..", a serious habit, perhaps, ".. so I don't drink when he's around. But he's been in New York for like three and a half weeks now!"
Miniature Style: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/9c/11/f99c1159f4a73e06301fe28fe9ce20d9.jpg Map Layout: https://www.mipui.net/app/index.html?mid=mj17fhshi1n
With Vivian taking the reigns by herself, handling the luggage of alcohol, Dalvin leans back a bit, his cheeks flushing some as he watches her manage that, with a bit of an impressed look for her. Still, he follows the rest of the party up the stairs, and into the attic where he finds a place to set down his large sack of dice, peeking between Vivian and Adeline at the mention of Body Shots, his cheeks flushing more while they speak.
As they arrive in the attic proper though, he does take a few seconds to look around, spying the large cat that Katie chases after, his lips curling with amusement. "Nice to meet you, Lucky." He murmurs softly, probably more to himself than anything else, though as Katie starts to mention not needing to ask for permission to do what he needs to, he nods back at her softly. "Um, noted." He murmurs softly. "You have a really nice place." He mentions, and then starts to make his way to where the beer is being hauled by the true barbarian of the party. Quietly, he approaches and reaches to sneak an Addams away for himself, apparently not troubled by it being a bit warm.
Inside the attic, the air feels different, a curious sensation. It's like the chaos of the world has subsided and become more relaxed and understood. It's not all crazy things happening at once, it's all as it should be. It's actually quite relaxing up here.
Adeline looks impressed when Vivian shows her strength by lifting that thing - "Impressive!" she says, grinning, and "Yeah, that was me at Body Shots, Memorable. Oh my god the dancing. So hot." Adeline's eyes go briefly glazed at whatever that memory is, and the she hauls her attention back to the present. "So you have played before?" She inquires if Dalvin and Vivian, as they all climb . "I am new to it." When she enters the attic she exclaims in delight. "But Katie, this is charming? Look it has everything anybody could need!" And as soon as she spied Lucky being supremely adorable, she is there, giggling, to offer the little orange darling a pat. Then she plods to the table miniatures. "Katie, these are amazing. And oh, how is New York going for Rick? With the - things. It must at be busy. Gosh these miniatures are so good rly painted." She is marvelling at some of the fantastical ones.
Just look at Vivian's eyes widen as she catches the scent of that pizza, the smile on her face growing even more broad. There is, however, a faint moue of confusion that speads on her features for just a moment before disappearing and the ex-army woman is all smiles again. "Mmn, smells good, Katie," she says, winking impishly as she moves over the fridge and loads it with the beer, "Not only the Breakfast Maven, I see." The blonde can't help but chuckle at the little kitten, moving over once finished loading the fridge to offer up a hand for smelling to the cat. "Heya, Lucky," she says in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Sorry for interrupting your home." Vivian turns towards the fridge again and grabs herself a beer as well -- perhaps surprisingly of the artsy-fartsy variety. Then again, she doesn't seem to care that it's a little warm as well. She does purse her lips with some concern as she peers at Katie. "Oh, I didn't know that about your beau," she says in an apologetic tone of voice, "For future reference, should I avoid bringing alcohol around once Rick returns?" That blush on Dalvin's features when talk of Body Shots was made isn't lost on the short-haired blonde, either, Vivian smiling wryly at the shy redhead and pointing a fingergun at him. "We should so take him out there," she says, "He'll either enjoy it or collapse from a loss of blood. Either way, a good night out." Chuckling to herself, Vivian takes a swig of her beer and nods at Adeline, "Oh, hell yes! That was -amazing-. Black Pearl is probably my favorite girl there. As to if I've played before, I have... but I'm not sure what edition we're using. I'm only familiar with second and fourth." She then glances expectantly at Katie for the answer.
"It should almost be done." Katie replies to Vivian, quickly bounding over to the cooker to pull the door open and peek inside, a wave of hot steam escaping. "Mmm, two more minutes.", she smiles, closing it up again and returning to the table. The obvious GM spot, complete with GM screen, notes and dice, is jumped into, kneeling on the chair rather than sitting on it, she's so excitable. "Oh, that's okay..", she tells Vivian, ".. he doesn't mind other people drinking, like, he's not a party killer.", she chuckles, "I don't feel right drinking when he can't is all.", the caring girlfriend, no doubt.
"I hope Rufus isn't /too/ much longer..", she mumbles to herself, checking the time, then looking back to those in front of her. "So, we have Dalvin playing a barbarian, Vivian as a cleric, and Adeline is playing a ranger!", she smiles, "Neat! Rufus is playing a wizard I think, with like necromancy and that sort of thing.", wrinkling her nose. "Does everyone have names and things? Like, we can start and let Rufus catch up when he gets here?".
Pop! The beer is popped open and Katie takes a long drink, a bit too much so it hits quickly, allowing it to calm her nerves. "I've never done this before, like, I've watched videos and that sort of thing, so like, if it's rubbish then tell me and we can get drunk and watch movies.", she laughs.
The blush grows while the girls talk about the strip club, but otherwise, Dalvin doesn't have much to say on that point. As Adeline turns to him though, his lips curl into a soft smile and he nods his head softly back at her. "Yeah, I'm relatively experienced." He informs her with a nod. "I played one campaign for... Eight months? And another for about three months, then I moved to Prospect." Beer in hand, he makes his way to where the table is, and opens his dice bag, which apparently... Is just filled with a ton more dice bags, all sorted out by size and color, as he withdraws just one bag for himself, and then looks around. "So um, does anyone need any dice?"
Though as Vivian fingers him... Err, finger guns him, his blush grows and he peeks back at her, granting her a soft smile. "Um. Maybe... It could be fun." He murmurs shyly, turning to pop open his beer and bring it to his lips for a gentle sip, then he peeks back at Katie. "Oh, yeah... I've been meaning to ask that, too. I'm only really familiar with fifth edition. And I made Maenn assuming we were playing fifth..." Then he smiles softly back at Katie, and he nods his head at her. "I'm sure we can help you get this all figured out."
Adeline giggles at Vivian's idea of tempting Dalvin to Body Shots, and her smile at Dalvin is affectionate and sympathetic. "I bet you'd enjoy the club," she says, encouragingly. "it's all so good? Vivian is so right." She drifts towards the plenitude of beers, and beams her thanks at Vivian as she selects a craft option, and then Adeline rummages in her navy beach bag. "I brought some snacks too," and she unearths about rice bags of kettle crisps and a mysterious packet which she unwraps, explaining, "Welsh toffee. I made it." A slightly wary glance at it. "it /might/ be okay." Not the most confident of assertions but hey! Life is about adventure! Who needs teeth! As Katie leads the way to the table, Adeline follows, and if she can wrangle a seat by Vivian, she will. A blithe grin, and she fishes out a notebook. "I have no idea what I am doing, " she confides to all her friends, "and I would love to borrow some dice, Dalvin. I rolled an incredibly hot ranger guy called Caerwyn, who wears leather and has pretentious of grandeur." She giggles and takes a sip of the beer.
Grunting, Vivian nods once to Katie once she illuminates the situation with Rick. "Okay, then," she says, "But feel free to say something if the temptation gets too much for the guy. I can proudly say I've only been actually full-on drunk once in my life -- tipsy a lot, but actual drunkness just once -- and it's not an experience I ever want to repeat. Lots of bad stuff happened." Vivian grins broadly and nods towards the minatures and DM screen, "You really went all out, Katie, I'm impressed. I, uh, didn't make a character or anything since I didn't know exactly what we'd be playing. Do you have pregens or should we make our characters now while Rufus is a way?" She ambles over to the table and settles into a seat, plonking her beer on the surface, "I'm thinking either an elf or a half-orc. If I go the latter, she will -not- have a tragic backstory. Her parents will be happily and consentually married." Another rumbling chuckle tumbles from the blonde as she regards Dalvin, the woman grinning lopsidedly and winking, "Oh, it'll definitely be fun. Stick with us, kid, and you'll have a blast!" Vivian grunts and nods in affirmation to Dalvin's statement about Katie's inexperience. "Everyone is new at everything once," she says, "You just need training and practice. Training is kinda hard with a game like this, but experience we can do. Don't worry, I'm sure none of us is going to try and rules-lawyer you or something. We'll help as much as we can." Oh, hey! Looks like you're in luck, Adeline! There just so happens to be a free seat right next to Vivian who grins broadly at the other woman as she takes a seat. "Awesome!" she enthuses as the snacks are brought out, "I should've picked up something, too, but I gambled on others bringing snacks. Looks like I won! And there's even -pizza-!" Just listen to the happy lilt in Vivian's voice. She's a woman who likes her snacks. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's enough of us around that sort-of know what they're doing to help," she says to Adeline with a wink, "And if not, we'll all fail together! Just like true companions." Plucking a piece of the homemade toffee for herself, Vivian grunts once to Dalvin, offering up a sheepish smile, "Yeah, I, uh... traveled light. No dice for me, either. Or character sheets. I need to hit up Guardian to get a selection of dice sometime soon." In goes the toffee to Vivian's mouth and she begins to chew on it. Or try to, anyway.
That little sit down conversation was long enough, Katie hops up and back to the small cooker, peeking inside and wrinkling her nose, "Nooo, a little too long..", pulling it out and sliding it onto a large plate she's prepared. A quick slish-slash with a pizza cutter and it's all ready to go. Over to the table it goes, placing it down on a spot free of miniatures, quickly grabbing a slice for herself before sitting back down in the GM chair.
"It's okay..", she says to both Adeline and Vivian, ".. I bought half the stock of Guardian Games.", she laughs, "Like, I don't think I'm even joking! In the drawer under the miniatures..", she points to one of the display cabinets, ".. are all the dice, and there are /so/ many miniatures. The character ones are all in the same cabinet.", she smiles, pointing to the display which must have one of everything on sale in Guardian Games. The geek has /really/ taken Katie by storm.
"You can make a character as we go, if you like?", she suggests to Vivian, "There shouldn't be combat for a little while and we can guess your perception.. like, a cleric has high wisdom, so like plus three, then plus three for proficiency.", she glances to Dalvin with a cute little smile, "It's fifth. Not fourth, that's like a video game.", she grins.
Hearing the doorbell, she quickly hops to her feet, "Rufus!", and flies down the stairs at breakneck speed, bringing Rufus back up with her, "Beers, pizza, snacks.. help yourself!", she grins. Back to her GM spot, she settles down.
And then she begins. "So, this is Summerhold..", motioning to the display of small buildings and miniatures of people walking the streets. ".. I've skipped you forward to level three to get to here, so.. before this, you all met back in the city of Holjan. It's like, huge, with magical guilds and thieves guilds and everything you can imagine for sale.", she smiles. "For whatever reason you decide, you were all there looking for work and were hired by a Dwarf, Ruzan Kegmaker, who needed to transport a large shipment of items up to Summerhold, but there were bandits and wolves and like, all kinds of trouble. So you all came together and kept the Dwarf safe through the travels."
"You're riding through the forest when it opens out and there's a small building to the side and a bridge across a river, leading straight into Summerhold. The main road leads you to the main square, with a large Inn, a Bakery, a Blacksmith, a General Store, and in the square there's a meeting area with lots of wooden tables and benches for sitting on. People are like, everywhere! Children are running around and laughing, adults are standing outside the Inn with drinks in hand, enjoying the summer sun. The Dwarf pulls his cart up to the front of the Inn and pulls out your payment for the journey, handing it over to each of you. He thanks you, like, 'I cannae have doon tha' without ye'.", attempting an accent which isn't too horrible. "So.. what are you all going to do from here?", she smiles, looking from one to the other.
Before anything can be added, Katie hops and motions over the table, "Summerhold is bigger than this, but like.. table..", she chuckles, "So this way and that way there are more homes and further out it's all farmland with like, sheep and cows over here..", in the area of the livestock farm, ".. and wheat fields over here..", to the south, and then west, ".. and more trees and bushes this way, like apples and strawberries, blackberries.. that sort of thing.", she smiles, plopping her bottom back into the seat.
THORIK DAWN BREAKER (Dwa Wiz 3) walks on his Dearborn Urgosh...er...Wizards Staff (Rufus: They don't have Wizards back home. it was the only thing long he could find!). "Aye." Mumbles Thorik. " Twas a good journey. I must be stopping by the ol' Wizards hut." Thorik pats his satchel containing his spellbook. "But maybe we reconvene at the local watering hole hmmmmm?"
"We can try some time." Dalvin offers shyly back towards Adeline and Vivian as they continue to invite him to Body Shots, his cheeks flushing softly. Which, he seems to remedy by another gentle sip of the beer in his hands, moving to claim the seat opposite of Adeline, which he arranges his dice into. "If anything, if I wouldn't try and tell you anything to be... Mean, or to argue... Just um, you know... Trying to help you understand the mechanics."
When Adeline admits to needing a set of dice though, he starts to dig into his sack for one, setting his beer aside. "Sure, no problem." He offers softly, peeking up at her. "Um, what color, and do you want regular, mini, or oversized dice? How many sets do you think you'll need?" He murmurs, starting to pull a few more smaller sacks out for himself, each one seeming to contain its own individual set of dice. Then he peeks over at Vivian with a gentle smile on his lips for her, the hint of the blush seeming to fade away. "Sure, same questions, size, color, and how many sets? I only have one of each color, for each size variation though... I do have a couple of color combo sets, too..."
When Rufus arrives, he smiles softly for him, and grants him a soft wave. Though when Katie settles in and starts narrating the plot for the group, he starts to pull off his massive hoodie, revealing a felt top that looks like a set of barbarian hide armor, with browns and green colors, plated with a set of cheap plastic, made to look like bands of metal armor attached to his outfit. He reaches over to steal a slice of pizza for himself as well. "Um..." He starts, and then clears his throat softly. "Maenn, with a sword and shield worn on his back is going to take the coin pouch offered to him by the Dwarf, without checking what's inside, wearing a stern and... Stoic expression. He'll tip his head back at the Dwarf and with a gutteral sort of voice..." He starts softly, shyly as he adjusts his voice to meet what might be expected of him, if he were about two feet taller, and one hundred pounds heavier, a deep voice escaping the tiny red head. "'Safe travels', he'll say to the Dwarf, and then turn to towards the the Thorik and grunt. 'The small one wants ale. A smart dwarf if I ever met one.'"
Adeline nods approvingly as Vivian expresses her determination not to fall into any problematic half-Orc stereotypes, "seriously, yeah, we gotta subvert that. Oh Dalvin you darling what an amazing array of dice. Do you have any in dark blue, navy?" She looks hopeful. "And what character have you got, Dalvin?" This redhead is intrigued. And what a lot of redheads there are gathered around this table: the lovely sweet redhead hostess, the shy redhead Dalvin, and the exuberant redhead toffee-perpetrator. "The pizza smells amazing, Katie," Adeline reaches for a slice enthusiastically. "mmmm wow!!" She is clearly gonna demolish a slice or five, "and this beer is delicious, Vivian," Adeline leans back in her chair and checks out the label on the bottle she holds, for future reference. She watches with mild fascination as Vivian stoically attempts some of her Welsh toffee, her expression suggesting a renewed respect for the way army veterans are clearly all about risk and peril. Then the game starts and Adeline listens with fascination. "Wow Katie, this is great!" She exclaims, and , "Uh, okay my hot leather-clad ranger is gonna walk towards the inn, with the intention of getting plastered to celebrate a dwarven quest well helped." She nods decisively.
The toffee sure lives up to its hard-to-chew reputation. Vivian grimaces slightly as her jaw bears down on the hard-yet-sticky treat, trying her best to soften the stuff up enough to chew and swallow. At least the taste itself is fine, if maybe a bit on the sweet side -- but it's a confection, what does one expect? "It's... not bad," Vivian eventually says to Adeline after several moments of chewing and finally getting the toffee broken up enough to swallow, "It tastes fine, just a -little- hard to snack on when playing a game that requires a lot of talking." She grins broadly and gives a thumbs up to the lab-coated woman, "Consider it a learning experience! I'll definitely try the next batch." Grinning, the blonde gives a thumbs-up to Adeline as she compliments the beer, "My pleasure. Glad you like it." And now there's pizza! Vivian's eyes glow with delight as the pie of deliciousness is delivered, the blonde immediately snagging a piece. She takes a bite and sighs in happiness. "It's great, Kate!" Vivian states after swallowing, large grin on her features, "Better than some big chain places, anyway. I like grease as much as the next girl, but some of those places seem to replace the cheese in their recipes with it." When Katie points out where the various gaming acutriments are available, the blonde grunts and rises, moving over to the indicated cabinet to retrieve dice and character sheets. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm already up," Vivian says to Dalvin with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Thanks, though." She gets enough for Adeline as well, just in case. By the time she's returning to her seat, Katie has retrieved Rufus and the blonde raises a hand in greeting to the newcomer, "Yo! Lots of beers to choose from. I got cheap crap all the way up to artsy-fartsy microbrews!" She raises her own beer of the latter type to illustrate before gulping down on the bottle. She also nods to Katie, "Sure, if you're okay with that, I can make a character in-situ." Grabbing one of the character sheets she brought over, the blonde begins to pour over it, rummaging in her pocket for her smartphone and tapping away at the device. Her eyes shift between the phone, the character sheet, and Katie's introduction, the blonde grunting softly at appropriate places. After the others speak up, Vivian considers. "I am Grunhilda von Schattenwerk," she declares in a (very poor) somewhat-germanic sounding accent, "As a Cleric of Mishakal, I thank the dwarf and give him the appropriate blessings. I think I'll head to the local church to donate some of my proceeds and see if the local abbot needs any assistance." She pauses and returns to her normal voice, canting her head at Katie, "Any particular deity the local Church is dedicated to? Prominent religious symbols, that sort of thing?"
Leaning forward to check her notes, Katie looks over the passive perception numbers she has, then looks up to Adeline with a cute little smile. "Your hot leather-clad ranger is walking toward the inn, everyone seems real happy, like the children are squealing and laughing, one of them almost bumps right into you as they rush past, 'Sorry mister!', a little girl calls up. But as the door comes closer, you notice there's someone looking upset. A woman is talking to what looks like a village guard, right alongside the door, their tone is quiet and the woman is nodding as she listens, but she has tears trickling down her cheeks. Noticing you in return, they take a few steps away to continue whatever they're talking about.".
Gathering up her slice of pizza, she takes a bite and munches quietly as she looks from one to the other, trying to hurry it up, but you just can't hurry good pizza. "The beers are in the fridge..", she tells Rufus, pointing out the fridge in the mini-kitchen. The air in here is very different to outside, the chaos of the world has been relaxed, like there's a pattern to everything and it all makes sense if you think about it. It's very comforting and relaxing, no stress here.
The pizza slice devoured, she turns her attention to Vivian, "So, that's the church..", she notes, leaning forward to point out the large building with a graveyard around it, "That's to..", quickly checking her notes, ".. Phina, the Goddess of the Sun. She's a very good Goddess, she offers protection, like /really/ hates undead, and lots of farmers worship her to ensure their crop sees enough sunlight.", she smiles.
"The church looks like that..", pointing out the model, ".. with lots of stained glass windows and a large symbol on the outside. The doors are wide open to allow the sunlight through, but the inside seems empty.", she shrugs. From Rufus to Dalvin, she gives a smile, "So you are both heading to the inn as well?"
Digging through his sack, Dalvin finds one of his dice bags and offers it over to Adeline with a soft smile on his lips. "I used to, with my rogue, in my last campaign, have two different sets of mini dice, one steel colored, one black, to match the pair of daggers he had. Then a third, larger black set, for when he was using sneak attack, which was... Often." He informs the others softly, his cheeks flushing more as she praises him, his lips curling into a gentle smile. "Oh, um... I'm playing Maenn, the barbarian who used to fight in the arena." Then he nods softly back at Vivian.
Leaning back into his seat, likely with Rufus sitting down next to him, he smiles back at the only other man in the room, and then turns his focus back onto the table, bringing his drink to his lips for another light sip, and then he takes a bite of the pizza. "Thank you for the beer, Vivian." He murmurs softly, when he has cleared his mouth, and then smiles at Katie. "And for... All of this." He murmurs, gesturing carefully with the beer in hand to the space around them.
"As the cleric starts mentioning heading towards the local church, Maenn is going to emit a soft groan and peek down at the coin pouch in his hands, then turn to follow after her a bit reluctantly." He informs the table softly, apparently with much of that timid reservation of his drifting away... Forgotten as he relaxes at the table, drinking and enjoying pizza, as well as company. While Katie devours her slice of pizza, he takes a bit longer to finish his own, taking his time and apparently, not a very big eater, it seems. Then he shakes his head lightly back at Kattie. "No, I think Maenn is just going to quietly follow after Grunhilda."
Rufus nods. "Yeah. After I do my restock of spell components and peruse to see if I can buy any spells for my spellbook. After that I head toward the inn."
Adeline beams as she demolishes more pizza. “Katie this is wonderful,” she murmurs, “And wow, what a cool idea for dice,” she exclaims to Dalvin. ”I see now why Rustin was selling them in all colours.” A warm grin at Rufus, “Our characters can wander to the inn together then.” She is leaning back, tilting her chair, now, holding her knee, relaxing next to Vivian, a craft beer in one hand. “So katie, my ranger chap goes to the crying woman and suavely asks why she weeps, sad lady, can he cushion her from the grief of this cruel world.”
An empty Church speaks to a lack of devotion," Vivian mulls with disapproval to Dalvin, back in her poor German-esque accent before snapping back to her regular voice, "What season are we in? Is it harvest time, so everyone would be in the fields? Regardless, I want to enter the Church and look for the local abbot or priest." She smiles brightly and winks to the red-headed barbarian-player. "No need to thank me for the booze. Glad you like it." Vivian returns her attention to the character sheet and her phone, pursing her lips as she fills out the sheet, occasionally glancing at Katie. She can't help but laugh at Adeline's suave character immediately macking on the crying lady, either, looking up and grinning at the lab-coated woman.
Looking from one to the other as she drinks some more beer, Katie's nervously shaking hand drops the bottle back onto the table and she takes in a deep breath, exhaling slowly to relax herself. "You both head into the church..", she says to Vivian and Davlin, ".. it has rows of pews and then a large stained glass window at the back, with a sun and beams of light stretching out in all directions.", she lowers her voice to add, "It's really pretty.", then continues. "Opening a door to the side, an old bald man pokes his head out to see who might be here and immediately smiles when he sees you both. 'Hello!' he calls out happily, and steps out into the open. He's wearing white vestments..", motioning to her chest, ".. with the same sun pattern on the front. 'What can I do for you?', he asks.".
Across to Rufus, she nods, "There are no like, mages guilds or anything here, but the General Store has a few things on offer. You can buy..", she rolls some dice, consults a chart, then adds, ".. Mage Armor and Chromatic Orb.", she nods, "That's all they have.".
And with a smile, she looks back to Adeline, while also including Rufus, "You finish at the store and find Ad..", she coughs, ".. find Caerwyn talking to a woman in her late twenties. She's pretty, blond, with lovely blue eyes.". Focused on Adeline, she finishes, "The woman tells you, her husband has been killed, there was an attack and he went to fight and.. he never came back.", she sighs. "The other cheerful people are starting to notice that someone is upset and there are murmurs, they're all starting to wonder what's happened."
The blush on his cheeks returns softly for Vivian, Dalvin nodding back at her, and then taking a gentle swig of the beer in his hands. Then he blushes and grins back at Adeline as she mentions trying to abate the woes of the crying woman, his attention sweeping back to Katie to see how she responds to the player interaction.
"'Maybe the Gods are allowing their faithful a night of rest.'" Dalvin answers in character, using that attempt of his at a gruff voice back to Vivian. "'Who are we to know the plans of the Gods.' And then when the old man appears, Maenn is going to turn to him, tip his head back at him in an up nod..." He explains, mimicing the gesture himself, with an added flurish of his hand to demonstrate. "And he's going to dig into his reward pouch and offer a few coins to the man. Let's say... Five gold pieces. 'Praise the sun... Or whatever.'"
Rufus uses the time Katie is covering the Church to go and grab himself a beer and a few slices of pizza. He comes back, sitting back down in time to get consulted about what he could get for his spellbook. He shoves a piece of piazza into his mouth as he brushes his hands and takes the rulebook to thumb through it. The standard Wizard player, covering rules bases so the GM doesn't have too. He checks Mage Armor, checks what the price would be, and consults his spellbook. Apparently he is taking it, as he crosses out some gold with a pencil and writes a new number while adding Mage Armor to his list of spells, he books the book back and pays attention to the description of the woman and Caerywn talking to the woman.
"AYE! CAERWYN!" Proclaims Thorik, unabashedly, as the dwarf meets up with the Ranger. Thorik looks to the woman. "Ma'am." Then back to his rangery- hot companion. "I suggest we be takin' this conversation indoors." He gestures to the passerbys with their oogling eyes and oogling stares. "Best get her comfortable and out of the limelight."
Rufus thumbs through his pages. "Katie, could I make a Knowledge Local to see if I have heard of any string of disappearances, like what the woman is talking about while Caeryn talks to her?"
Adeline giggles at Vivian’s characters’ disapproval of the peasants’ lack of devotion, and winks at Vivian when she grins at Adeline’s character’s choices. A nod and grin to Dalvin as his character points out we cannot know the ways of Gods -- fair point, Maenn barbarian chap. At her turn, Adeline suddenly sits straight upright, the chair returning all four feet to the ground, and declaims! This Caerwyn, he has flair, apparently. “Darling lady, let not the blue sky of your eyes be dimmed by tears of lamentation – let the sunlight of your hair shine and let the heart’s ease of vengeance ease your . . . er . . . heart.” A suppressed giggle, “Tell us more of this grievous attack, that our swords may claim in blood the price of your heart’s wounding.” Then Thorik, Caerwyn’s long=time pal and expert co-carouser, materialises. “BUDDY!” cries Caerwyn er, Adeline, reaching across the table to high five Rufus er Thorik. “I have missed your stalwart presence by my side as we jointly enter the lists of irresponsible revelry. Yeah, let’s get this bird somewhere private. And be all, er, supportive.” Another muffled chortle and then in more normal tones, “Katie’s this is awesome. You’re making a whole story, thanks so much for doing this hon, you’re amazing!”
"If the gods cannot communicate properly, then how are we to know how to tend the flock?" Vivian replies to Dalvin with that faux-German accent, "As the gods provide tests of faith to us, so should we provide tests of faith for -them-. Only those gods of an evil deposition would demand devotion for no recompense and provide no guidance." Vivian drops the accent briefly before addressing Adeline, "I look towards the bald man and smile disarmingly." Back to the accent, "Gutentag sirrah. I am Grunhilda von Schattenwerk, Cleric of Mishakal. My associates and I have recently completed a request and I wish to donate some of my proceeds and perhaps inquire as to any aid I might be able to provide. Are you the head priest or abbot of this Church?" A pause. "I must say that it seems strange that none of your congregation is in attendance." The somewhat serious philosophical and pragmatic nature of the Vivian-Dalvin side of the table is counterbalanced by the horndog shenanigans at the other side and Vivian can't help but snicker at the antics. "Watch out if she has a tail growing out of her butt," Vivian says to Adeline with a wink before taking a bite of her pizza. "That's an indication of a magic STD!"
Leaning back in her seat, Katie soaks in the interaction between the others, unable to hide her smile of appreciation. It's working! Whatever story she's made, it's working! Her beer is gathered up again, another long drink, already causing her normally pale, freckled cheeks to flush a light shade of red from the alcohol. But it's also calming her, so it's helping. "You are all /so/ good at this! Like, are you for reals telling me this is your first game?", she asks Adeline with a little grin, obviously impressed.
With a shake of her head, she sits up, back into the many characters she has to play as the GM. "A cleric of Mishakal!", Katie exclaims in a deeper voice than normal, playing the cleric, "'We don't see your kind very often. How very kind to make a donation, it'll go toward repairs of the church or donations to the villagers.', he tells you. He seems like a very nice man, he's old but he bears it well.", she smiles, "'We hold sermons in the mornings. The sun here..'. He points out the window with the sun and the beams of light. "'.. its in the perfect place for dawn worship. Most of the year, at least.'".
Looking over to Adeline and Rufus, she sits up a bit more and explains what's happening with them too, "The woman is very thankful, she's still upset, but she follows you into the inn. Inside it's mostly empty, but there is /so/ much space! Like, there are dozens of tables, a large fire place, but the fire isn't lit, it's a warm day, and a long bar where a woman is standing behind. She's got red hair..", she grins, glancing at those with red hair, which is most, ".. and appears half elven. She's very pretty, maybe.. thirty or fourty?", she nods.
"The woman notices you, but she doesn't say anything when she notices the woman you're with is upset, but she keeps watching. 'I'm sorry, I should go really. My son should hear the news.', she says.".
And then back to Dalvin and Vivian, "The old priest asks, 'Would you both like a blessing before you go?'."
Apparently, unlike the othernight, Dalvin is also taking his time with the beer too, only about a quarter of the way into the bottle he already has. With all of the attention between Rufus and Adeline though, he carefully picks up his large sack of dice, and sets it down by his feet. Otherwise, his attention is locked onto Katie and Vivian, mostly unabashed now while he dives into character with the others. Then he chuckles back at Adeline while she works for words, his lips curling into a light grin. "Are you sure he isn't a bard?" He offers with a teasing smile on his lips, and then a playful wink for her.
Then he peeks back at Vivian, clearing his throat to get back into character. - "'Mmm. I suppose. I would rather challenge a tavern full of drunkards, then challenge the Gods.' He will say to Grundi." He says, grinning at the name his he has his character give to Vivian's character. "'Sure. Best to get it while we're here.'"
Rufus is not a fan of beer, but pizza and beer is different. Even though he started later than others, his bottle is still mostly full as he takes notes listening to Katie's story.
While Caerwyn woos Mommy Dearest, Thorik approaches the bar with the Half-Elf Dwarf. "Well hello there." Thorik says, since APPARENTLY he's a horndog (Rufus: People really need to tell me these things before game). "Why's the place so empty? Should be mighty full I would reckon with someone like you at the helm."
"I'm gonna try to gossip and get some information from the bartender." Rufus says, consulting the Book of Armaments for something.
Adeline giggles at Vivian to her side, for indeed horndog shenanigans is, regrettably, indeed an apt description of Caerwyn’s concerns, apparently, and she admits smiling to Dalvin, “You’re probably right about bard. Character classes continue to be slightly cryptic to me.” A grin to him, she is so new to all this. Then it’s Caerwyn’s turn again, and Adeline tilts back in her chair again, takea another sip of the craft beer. A smile at Katie, and admission “Never played anything like this before, but I am so charmed, hon. You’re making it so much fun!” She lifts the beer to toast their beautiful and talented dungeon master. Now for Caerwyn! “Right!” leers the hot and entirely ethically problematic Ranger, “Dear lady of grief, let’s repair into this tavern with my wingma- . . . er. . . wingdwar … er . . . supportive friend, and you can tell us more.” Adeline adds in more normal tones, albeit laced with laughter, “Caerwyn gives an appreciative glance at the half-Elven redhead behind the bar too, but Thorik seems to have that one in sight, and Caerwyn then sits with the blonde by the fire, encourages her to open up.”
"Hey, you're the DM," Vivian says to Katie with a wink, "We can only do so much without a world and NPCs to bounce off of." She clears her throat and returns to the bad German accent, nodding with faux-seriousness to the priest's statement. "I see. Still, I find the lack of faith in this village... disturbing. No matter! Sirrah, you mentioned repairs to the Church. As it stands, I see little need. May I ask what repairs are required to this most holy place of worship." She looks over at Dalvin, and grunts once, "The gods are powerful, but they are not invulnerable. Surely a barbarian of such courage as yourself might welcome such a challenge, depending on context, ya?" She smiles thinly, "Regardless, it is not a challenge to question the faith of the gods any more than it is a challenge to question the price of a merchant's goods. Merely a... confirmation that things are what they seem." Vivian then looks at Katie and purses her lips, speaking in a normal tone, "Mm. I'm suspicious! Something doesn't feel right here. Can I make a religion check to see if anything specific is out of sorts here? Either with the church or the priest himself?" But she can't resist an aside to Adeline with an amused twitch of the lips, "Opening up in more ways than one, he no doubt hopes." Vivian lets out a bark of laughter, "I'd be so funny if her husband turns out to have just gotten lost in the woods or something and comes home to find his wife snuggled up in her bed to the one who comforted the poor 'widow'." She grins widely, "At least finding said husband would be easy. Just point and say, 'There he is, good ma'am! I have found your missing husband!'"
Lifting her beer again, Katie finds it empty, so quickly hops up and continues to listen while dropping the empty into a bin beneath the small kitchen counter. Another is pulled out of the fridge, then she returns to the GM chair, quickly taking a bite of her cooling pizza slice while the others explain what they're doing.
"Mmm.. so nice..", she mumbles around the mouthful, then looks back up, starting with Dalvin and Vivian. "The old man lifts his hands and moves them in a gentle pattern, like..", she tries to mimic a gentle pattern that looks priestly, then continues, ".. and you feel.. nothing. It all looks perfect and maybe you should feel something? But you don't.", she shrugs, then looks to Vivian and quickly nods her head, "YOu're /really/ getting an odd feeling about this place, like, this cleric doesn't even look right. Make a religion check aaand..", she nibbles her lower lip, ".. an insight check too.", a quick look back to Dalvin. "You too if you can.", she smiles.
And then it's over to Rufus and Adeline, the partners in crime. "'They're all out enjoying the sun.', the bartender tells you, 'They come in when they want a beer, then enjoy the sun and talk to everyone. This is a very nice village we've got here. Did you come with Ruzan? We were starting to get low on ale..'. She seems nice too, she's leaning forward with her arms on the bar, so you don't have to look so far up.", she chuckles, "Dwarves are so small.".
And then it's Adeline, "You take the woman to a nearby table and sit her down and she's like, so nervous, she's obviously never talked to outsiders before and after only now hearing her husband has died.. you know you have to be /really/ careful, so make a.. charisma roll, like, persuasion.", she nods, "Make a persuasion roll.", she smiles.
When Adeline addresses his tease, Dalvin blushes softly back at her, but smiles just the same as he arranges his phone onto the table, manipulating the device until a character sheet pops up, apparently already filled out. "That's okay... A sexy ranger can still be fun." He offers, a bit of a shy dip in his tone as he speaks. Though when Vivian teases Adeline about the missing husband situation, he blushes more, and chuckles softly, peeking down at his phone, and then back up at Vivian and then to Katie as he takes a deeper sip of his beer. It almost looks like he's picking up the pace a bit, with only a quarter of it's original content left in the bottle by now.
"Okay, I'm going to have Maenn roll for insight, since his intelligence is his dump stat." He offers as he fishes into his dice bag and rolls a d20, and then peeks up at Katie. "Oh, hey! Actually not bad... A fifteen." He tells her, his lips curling and then he turns back to Vivian. "'Challenging the Gods is all good and well...' He'll say kinda grumbly to Grundy. 'Haven't I done my good deed for the day? I sure this town has a brothel with ladies in need of more good deeds.'"
Adeline giggles to Vivian and leans her bottle of craft beer to clink with Vivian’s in toast to Caerwyn’s excesses. “Would serve the Ranger right if husband materialised when he is in flagrante delicto,” she admits. “I like your priest, she’s stern. That’s kinda hot.” Another grin. And then oh, Adeline has to roll dice for the first time! “Gosh, ok,” amused and perplexed, and she rummages in her jacket pocket, pulls out a scarp of paper. Admits, “I worked out a character sheet online. Let’s see. Right. Hmm. OK. This sheet says Persuasion +5! And Charisma says plus 3. What do I do now?” She looks eagerly towards Dalvin’s dice, and at Rufus too, hopeful he will show her.
Rufus doesn't roll. Instead he tells Katie "I am just going to continue chatting up the bartender, basically getting the gossip mill moving. Figured while they are in a big city like Summerhall, might as well get the juicy tidbits.
Watching the rolls on the table, Katie can't help but grin at the results, sitting more upright as she turns her gaze to Dalvin and Vivian. "Dal..", then quickly stops herself, "Maenn! This cleric isn't real, you can tell he's lying, like, he doesn't even know what he's doing. You remember seeing clerics performing blessings before and they at least needed a holy symbol! And like.. is that blood on his vestments? It is!", she gasps, shaking her head in disbelief, trying to push that same disbelief onto Dalvin in return. He's being cheated!
Back to Adeline and Rufus, she gives them both a smile, seeming amused at Adeline's roll. "The woman decides this /really/ isn't a good idea and excuses herself, I don't think Caerwyn would like grab her, so she stands up and rushes out of the Inn..", she pauses, turns her gaze to Rufus, ".. but! The woman behind the bar watches her leave and shakes her head, 'You won't get much out of her.', she calls over your head to Caerwyn, 'Not after the news she's had.'. The woman looks down at you again, Thorik, 'There's been some kind of attack at the watch tower, she's the third one to receive the bad news, and not the last either.'.", she sighs, adding feeling to the bartenders comments, "'It's sad news, everyone knows everyone here. That was Ryland, her husband. He used to come in here most nights when he wasn't working.'.".
Vivian can't help but grin at Adeline with a wink as the beers are clinked together. "I wasn't trying to make her so stern," she says, "It just sort of... happened. But I'm glad you like it." Clearing her throat, she rolls some dice and nodding several times. "Okay, succeed on the religions check," she says to Katie before turning to Dalvin and speaking in her character voice, though subdued and sotto voce. "Wait, mien kumpel. Something is wrong here. This 'most holy' place is anything but. I sense corruption most foul -- we should report to the others and prepare to return for further investigation. Perhaps at night, since this is supposedly a church of the day." The blonde looks back at Katie and clears her throat, smiling disarmingly, "Danke, good sirrah. May the light of Mishakal heal all your wounds."
Adeline giggles at her appalling toll, but grins at Dalvin, “Thanks for the dice, hon.” She reaches for another slice of Katie’s delicious pizza. “This is so good! Ok so Caerwyn looks resigned and philosophical about /epically/ striking out, and lounges up to the bar beside Thorik to lsten with interest to what barmaid is saying. Also he buys a drink for himself and his most excellent buddy necromancer Thorik. “Quick, buddy Thorik, let’s get the drinks in before the responsible members of the party appear” – a grin at Vivian.”
When Adeline has questions, Dalvin peeks towards her with his lips curling softly. "Oh, so if you are rolling persuasion, that already includes your charisma for you, plus your proficiency bonus, if you are proficient with the skill, which it sounds like you are." He informs her softly. "So just roll a d20..." He offers, picking up his own d20 to show her. "Roll it, and add +5 to it."
Though with the comment that Adeline makes towards Vivian about her stern cleric being hot, his cheeks flush softly. He reaches forward, scoops up his beer, and finishes it. Then he rises to his feet to dump the bottle in the nearest trash bin, and grabs another of the same kind for himself, returning to the table. Once he is settled back into the table, he pops open the beer and takes another light sip, setting it nearby as he turns back to peek at Vivian and Katie.
"Okay, so with squinty eyes..." He offers, squinting his eyes back at Katie, roleplaying his character. "He'll look over at Grundy and give her a bit of a knowing wink." Which he replicates, for Vivian with a very mocked gesture. "And as they walk away, he's going to peek back at Grundy with another groan. 'Does this mean I can't visit the brothel tonight?'" Rufus finishes his first slice of pizza and picks up his second slice, taking a bite. He chews, swallowing and writes a note to himself on his character sheet about the Watchtower.
Thorik nods to Caerywn. "Aye. I don't want to wait a half hour while the cleric has to pay her hommages." He takes his ale and slugs it down like a champ. He sets the ale down and wipes his beard (Rufus: A most epic beard at that) and listens to the bartender spin her tale. " "Watchtower eh?" He says to the bartender. "....hmmm..." He scratches his beard most epically. Thorik looks to Caerwyn. "We should probably check out the Watchtower. Sounds like something naughty is afoot."
"The cleric looks back at you as he's walking away..", Katie says to Vivian, ".. and is like, 'Huh? Oh, okay!'. Like, he is /so/ fake, you can see straight through it.", she chuckles. With a crack, she pops open her second beer and has a quick drink to stop the eruption spilling over the edges. Her slice of pizza is quickly finished and she focuses on the players at her table.
"No brothel's here, Maenn, this is a respectable village!", Katie chuckles, "The brothel's are back in the city.", she nods. Then to Vivian she explains, "The place is normal, like, this is what you'd expect to find from a church of Phina, but the cleric didn't seem right. It's like, he was pretending to be a cleric to make you go away.", she smiles.
Looking back to Adeline and Rufus, she leans forward, resting her forearms on the table, much like the bartender would be doing as she tells her tale, "'The guard always come in here first, most people come here if they're not working..', the woman tells you, '.. we always get the news first.'. The bartender looks around, watches a few of the children chase each other around a table then back out the door, and then she explains some more.".
"'The guard told me that goblins came out from beneath the watchtower and started attacking everyone. How do goblins even get in from underground?'", shaking her head as the bartender would, "'They sent in some guards to try and clean them out, but they didn't come back. They've stopped now, they're holding watch outside, but they're not sending anyone down.'.".
Looking over at Dalvin and Vivian, Katie tells them, "You hear the last of that as you catch up with your new friends.".
Adeline looks gratefully to Dalvin as he shares his expertise. “Thanks, hon,” she says affectionately. A grin to Rufus. “You’re right, Thorik, says Caerwyn, as he slugs back his beer with almost as much elan as his Dwarven pal. ‘Yeah let’s head off and find out what’s up with these goblin lads! Oh look, it’s our pals!’” And in her normal voice, Adeline giggles that, “Caerwyn grins at them, looking innocent and like in no way he’s been trying to get lucky with widows.”
"No," Vivian states flatly to Dalvin in that faux-German accent before pausing then adding, "Unless you want to run the chance of the prostitute being undead or a monster of some stripe. I hear that some have very sharp teeth..." a slow smile winds on her features, "... and not always in their -upper- mouths." Of course, the point is moot anyway as there aren't any brothels around. At least, not -officially-. Which is not to say that some people might be getting laid. Vivian smirks at Adeline, a rumbling chuckle thrumming from her chest. "Didn't mean to cockblock your character," she says with wink, "I'll make it up to him later." And then back to the accent. "'Goblins? Underground? Mein gott!' Grunhilda will hurry over to the party and explain the strange goings on to them as quietly as possible. 'I suspect these two events are not unrelated... perhaps an examination of the graveyard or the space beneath the church is warrented?'"
"Oh." Dalvin offers back to Katie with that soft blush forming on his cheeks, and then he nods his head back at her as his lips curl into a soft smile. Then he turns back to the rest of the group, more specifically back at Vivian. "We should probably do something about the temple first, then, if he's trying to get rid of us. That just makes me want to investigate it more." Then he laughs at Adeline softly, grinning back at her.
Shifting back in character, he clears his throat and groans back with 'displeasure' at Vivian-Grundy. "'Not exactly my flavor of women.'" He informs Vivian-Grundy, but as Vivian speaks to Adeline about making it up to her, his blush returns. "'Goblins and cultists, it seems.'" He gruffs back at the others at the table. "'I say we go back to the church. If someone doesn't want us there, then that's the best place to look.'"
Thork turns to greet Grunhilde and Meann, the Dwarf pursing his lips. "Watchtower." Rufus corrects Vivian, then slips back into Character. "But aye. Possible. Whatever be happening at the watchtower might be corrupting the church. The bartender with the glorious mountains said that the Goblins are coming from underground, there might be connections 'tween the two.".
"I say we check the Watchtower." Rufus breaks character to plan. "Apparently there are multiple disappearances and whatever is there is enough to keep the guards away cuz they don't there anymore." He says.
Leaning back into her seat, acting as if the bartender is leaning away from the bar, Katie speaks again to Rufus and Adeline, "You didn't hear it from me!", she says in the bartenders voice, "But good luck if you want to do something about it. Remember to come back and celebrate after you're finished, ask for me, I'm Rosie.. Rosafina, but everyone here calls me Rosie..", she chuckles, but it quickly stops. "Rosie looks at you..", glancing at Vivian, ".. and you..", then to Dalvin, ".. and asks, 'Is there something wrong with Yolanda?'", then adds, "'She was fine this morning.'. She seems to be talking about the cleric!".
Lifting her beer, Katie has another drink, her softly freckled cheeks now a rosy shade of red from the alcohol, though it doesn't seem to be affecting her mind at the moment. "Snacks!", she squeaks, leaning over to grab a pack of kettle crisps and pop it open, diving in for a few to crunch on. Once her mouthful is gone, she looks from one to the other and asks softly, "How long are you talking in the Inn?", a curious tilt of her head, a mischevious twinkle in her large blue eyes.
Adeline leans to klink bottles again with Vivian, marking solidarity in the hope that Caerwyn’s apparent improbable horndog tendencies may not be wholly thwarted this night. A giggle to Katie, “Caerwyn agrees we should hurl ourselves underground and scope out these goblin blighters.” A grin at Vivian and Dalvin as plans arte made.
"Oooh. Suspicious..." Dalvin murmurs with his lips curling back into a pleased smile for Katie as he takes another sip of the beer, clearing his throat. "'Yolanda, hm? Tell me about her, will ya?'" He offers back in character as he leans back into his seat some, blushing softly at Rufus' glorious mountains comment. "'They must have some mighty big shovels, then.' And he'll squint suspiciously at Thork."
When Katie mentions snacks though, he smiles softly and peeks back over at her, and then at Adeline. "Oh, um, did you bring salt and vinegar chips?" He asks softly, bringing the bottle back to his lips again, now about half way through his second beer. "Oh, I'd say we'd just... Pass along the information we've gathered and then..." He peeks back at Vivian, and Adeline. "Um, I'd think we should check out the church first?"
Vivian looks mildly confused at Rufus' correction, but shrugs and just polishes off her beer before snagging another slice of pizza. She then blinks at Katie and leans forward, brow furrowing dramatically. "'She'?" Vivian says in that terrible accent, "The priest we saw was a man and an older one. Unless Yolanda has had an exceptionally hard life, I think that was an impostor!" Vivian smiles thinly at Katie, still in her faux-accent, "Tell me, child... when was the last time services were held at the Church? And do you know of anyone meeting that description: older male, rather chubby, bald." She looks between Adeline, Rufus, and Dalvin before frowning in thought, returning to her normal voice, "Well, we already split the party once. I suppose we could do it again. Have one group investigate the watchtower, the other investigate the church? If they are related, we'll probably meet up soonish anyway. Who should go with what group? I think Grunhilda should go to the Church -- being a religious person, she has a vested interest and is more likely to find things subtly wrong -- but I don't know what the best party makeup is otherwise."
Adeline nods to Dalvin! “Good thinking! Yes, we should look at the Church too, Hmm – splitting the party could work, Vivian! “ A grin to Rufus. “Caerwyn is curious about the Watchtower. Though maybe we would need more of us to fight goblins, idk! And yeah, I got a range of kettle chips,” she beams, and she pops them on the table, tears them open wide so people can help themselves. “Sea salt and balsamic vinegar, two packs of those, a couple of aged cheddar and spring onion, and this interesting one with red pepper. “
"I think I saw some.." Katie replies to Dalvin's question, leaning forward to the mass of snacks and searching for what she spotted, but Adeline is on the task and finds them for him. Settling her bottom back into the seat, she crosses her legs, one on top of the other, as she looks over each of the players. "Maenn, they're talking of splitting people up, but you're a good fighter and know better, goblins can be /really/ nasty together, and you know they've already sent guards down and they never came back, so you don't even know what you're facing!", she smiles, "Your battle knowledge is like, no no..", she chuckles.
Looking to Vivian, Rufus and Adeline, she nods once or twice, switches to the bartender, Rosie, again, "'Yolanda has been our priestess for as long as I can remember! You didn't see her?', Rosie asks you. She looks like, /so/ worried now, her eyes are all wide and scared. 'We had a man like that come through this morning, he said he was leaving.', she tells you.", a shake of her head, "Whoever is in the church, it isn't the priestess!".
Rufus hmmms. "Eeeehhh. I wouldn't split the party though, especially if we don't know what we'll find. Be better to go at it at full strength." He says, perusing in thought. "I mean...I wanna check out the Watchtower? But apparently it's important to Grunhilde so, I'm good with going to the Church."
Though at the revelation that the priest at the Chuch is not the Priestess he smirks. "Well that solves that cunundrum then!" Rufus barks a laugh, taking some red pepper chips and dumping them near him to munch on. "I guess we're heading to the Church!"
"It's probably not a good idea to split the party when we know there might be a fight. We don't know if there is anyone other than just baldy at the church. He could have a whole cabal of cultists there." Dalvin suggests softly back at Vivian, and then he peeks back at Adeline and Rufus as he takes another sip of his beer. Then he smiles brightly back at Adeline as she mentions what kind of chips she has, and he reaches for the sea salt and balsamic vinegar ones, sneaking them away and popping the bag open to munch on them. With that, he nods back at Katie softly, in agreement. "Never split the party." He agrees in a soft smile, and then peeking back at the rest of them. "Cool, so we head to the church, find out the truth about baldy, and then maybe head to the watchtower next?"
Behind the GM screen, Katie rolls a dice. It could mean anything.. what does it mean? What's she rolling for? Why is she smiling like that?
Adeline nods enthusiastically, grabbing some red pepper crisps too. “These are nice, aren’t they Rufus? I think the sea salt ones are tasty too.” A beam at Dalvin. “Right! Caerwyn says let’s go and gaze searchingly at this priest blighter! And he downs his drink and winks at the barmaid before heading off to be quizzical in Churchly environs. He probably winks at the cleric, too.” A grin at Vivian.
With a little nibble of her lower lip, Katie rolls another dice behind the screen. What is she doing? Looking back up, she nods and looks from one to the other, catching up on their plans. "You step outside into the bright sunlight and notice a lot of people are standing up and looking in the direction of the church, talking worriedly between themselves.", she nods. "Um..", a quick dice roll, and a look at Dalvin, ".. you were first out, and see smoke coming from the church. The people nearby are asking each other what might be happening!"
