Third Adventure 03: Recovery and An Offer

Barely on his feet, Ashakel walked straight to the inn. His open skull certainly got the innkeeper's attention. As he walked past the bar, the troll threw a couple of coins on it. "Bed. Now." The last thing he remembered was collapsing on the bed. It was a dreamless sleep.

Spoiler:

Tab spent the night in silent vigil outside Kez's tent not even bothering to light a fire, the only attempt at cleaning the blood from him he made was to wash his hands clean so he could eat without tasting there Blood.

he wished there was something he could do but non of his training or the 6 months he had spent amongst people had showed him to deal with a grief stricken person

Spoiler:

Rory spent the evening tending to his wounds every so often, drinking his wine in near sober moderation. Until his wounds were noticeably healing, he abstained from venturing beyond slightly tipsy. When he was fully well, he drank till he was as dung-faced as leaving half a bottle of wine to spare would make him. He clumsily traced his ear along its roughly snipped edge and stomped his foot loudly. The words Kezrinthka spoke in the moment of her temporary loss of sanity rested upon his mind:

"All you are is a Blasted ELF! COMMON ELF WITH NO EARS!"

He mashed his fist onto the nightstand, growling through his teeth at the unpleasant sensation of his knuckles slamming against the hard wood, and the bleeding from the negligible skin tearing. Addled by his current state of mild delirium, he swore silently that should the opportunity come into his power, he would bring the trade of an eye for an eye to full circle.

He took to the comfort of the bed early, resolving to regain his calm and composure during the restful night.

Hanuel shrugged off the temptation of sleep, and trudged off to the Order. It was late, but they needed to know why the Order wanted to see them, and what they had been doing in those mines.

Kezrinthka (Xahn) wrote:*Gwydo hearing the screams which clearly belong to the Olthoi runs to the tent. Throwing the lycanthope a seething glance he throws the tent door back and grabs Kezrinthka's hands holding them still with one hand. With the other he wraps an arm around her and hugs her comforting. Kezrinthka literally collapses on the floor bawling in Gwydo's arms. After many hours of crying she finally falls asleep.*

Gwydo lets Kezrinthka cry herself to sleep, guardedly watching both her and the entry way. Once she falls asleep, Gwydo gently places her on her sleep pad but continues watching her and the entryway.
As dawn approaches, Gwydo has been awake all night watching over Kezrinthka and his eyes are burning and heavy but the night was uneventful.

Snarg is snoring, his head resting on the topmost window of the inn. As the first light of day peeks through the window, he suddenly snorts awake. Slowly wiping the drool away from his mouth, he clears his mouth with his tongue while scanning the area outside the window, pausing to lock gaze on the tent.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Order's wantin' us. Leavin' afta breakfast." Snarg explains to you.

Spoiler:

Despite the Order's summons the party, with good reason, decides to heck with that and turns in for the rest of the evening, getting some much needed rest.

The sun rises lazily over an already-busy town on February 1st.

Snarg was the one who woke them up. Zeiss would have liked to sleep a little more. But hey had to go meet the Order. He went to eat his breakfast and wrote in his journal, waiting for the others.

The Order outpost is not a long journey and it is still early morning when you arrive, despite the expensive breakfast. There is a different receptionist waiting for you, fortunately, a young Elf man who looks up politely. When you explain why you are there, he asks you to wait briefly there in the antechamber while he goes and summons someone, and he rushes off.

*Walks over to Rory.*

"Hey, man, uh... i went overboard back there at the mine. I mean, you did too, kicking Kez and all, and i wanted to stop you from doing any more damage, sure, but getting in your face like i did, after you'd been cut by Gwydo, was just... i dunno what i was thinking. Probably the broken leg getting to my head. I mean, i don't know what i would've done in your position - i like to think i wouldn't have attacked her when she was down, and i still would've tried to stop you from doing it - not gonna lie there, but the way it went down... it just wasn't me.


So yeah, i'm sorry about that."

"...I hope that meeting is worth our time."

Zeiss waited with his colleagues.

Rory raised his hands in a calming gesture after Higs' rambling. "I get it," he said. "I'm fine now."

Snarg waits, shifting side-to-side impatiently. Occasionally, he licks his arm wound, showing an absentminded stare.

After a few minutes of waiting the Elf comes back with a stately looking Moarsman, clad in elaborate gold and violet robes comes walking out, and gives a formal bow. He speaks with a low, gravely croak, indicating his age, but his tone is polite and easily understandable. "Greetings, adventurers. I am to understand you are the group that successfully slew our Golem. From what I hear, no Heart was procured, but that is a trifling thing. The act of taking the Golem down itself is no mere feat. Suffice it to say, I am quite impressed."
He begins pacing a bit in the antechamber. "My name is Crilfu of Blackwater. I am an Adjudicator of The Order of Summoners. I came to Al-Ferin somewhat recently, after our Golem troubles began, and realized the potential that might be found in a group of adventurers capable of defeating something of such magnitude. I admit," he adds with a bit of humor, "I did not expect so many of you."
"Nevertheless, I suppose my original idea remains sound. Put simply, I want to hire you... or rather, the Order does. We want your team on permanent retainer to take care of difficult situations where standard forces are either ill advised, wasteful, or excessively costly in terms of life and resources. You would be given a standard salary of course, and in addition to this any jobs you complete would come with a fund and reward to help before and after, respectively." He raises his heavy, scaled eyebrows at the group, wondering at their response.

Rory didn't have permission to speak freely, which was fine. He didn't need permission.

"If you'll excuse me for being blunt," he answered, voice raised, "but we nearly got our asses skewered. Once we got past the globs of water, we made damn sure they weren't following us. Then, the doors slammed shut behind us--you know you're own facility, I don't think I have to tell you which ones--and the bastard got the drop on us.

"We nearly died when that thing exploded. And what then? We walk into a room lined with office doors and a giant frelling jewel in the center that absorbs all manifestations of the elements. One of our idiot friends touched the damned thing and nearly killed us all over again.

"I'm not giving my say on anything," he concluded, "until you do some explaining."

"I take it the slaughtered adventurer party that we found splattered on the walls back there failed your test."

Snarg pauses a few seconds in the middle of licking his arm, and then withdraws his tongue, licking his lips several times. He then addresses Crilfu in a serious manner: "Eh, maybe ya wantin' to be showin' us some good will up front if ya wantin' to be gettin' us on ya roll? We gettin' screwed before on 'nother job so we ain't too keen to accept face value, no'fense."

"The Order's conduct in this matter has been very unprofessional and disrespectful so far. You never lied to us per se, but you weren't honest about the danger of your research nor were your people available in a timely manner to answer our questions.

We are professionals who put our lives on the line when no one else can do the job. We are not disposable weapons to be thrown into a meat grinder with no intel or support.

The fact you didn't particularly care about us until we handled your little golem problem speaks volumes to you and your company's complete lack of integrity.

I don't speak for everyone here but as far as I am concerned you can stuff your offer where the sun don't shine."

Kolson tips his hat to the others and turns to leave, presumably to head back to the inn.

"Kolson wait"

"What my friends have said is true but your offer is a tempting one but before we would even consider excepting your offer there would need to be some ground rule set in place, firstly that we are never sent into a mission for you blind, you see the blood I have on me this isn't my own it is from my team that nearly died because we went in blind.....that been said it is a big decision to make, would you mind if we talked it over and got back to you?"

Rory wrote:Rory didn't have permission to speak freely, which was fine. He didn't need permission.

"If you'll excuse me for being blunt," he answered, voice raised, "but we nearly got our asses skewered. Once we got past the globs of water, we made damn sure they weren't following us. Then, the doors slammed shut behind us--you know you're own facility, I don't think I have to tell you which ones--and the bastard got the drop on us.

"We nearly died when that thing exploded. And what then? We walk into a room lined with office doors and a giant frelling jewel in the center that absorbs all manifestations of the elements. One of our idiot friends touched the damned thing and nearly killed us all over again.

"I'm not giving my say on anything," he concluded, "until you do some explaining."

The Moarsman looked at the strange creature oddly. "Globs of water? Jewel? I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about. I am unfamiliar with the specifics of the Bill, only that it involved the pacification of a Feral Water Golem. I am, however, curious why you are so upset that you, an adventurer who makes his living by doing jobs that might get you killed, almost got killed."

Higaide wrote:"I take it the slaughtered adventurer party that we found splattered on the walls back there failed your test."

"I am afraid, good sir, that I do not know what test you are referring to, nor what adventurer party you are mentioning. As I tried to tell you, I only entered town recently, well after the Feral Golem problem sprang up. I was simply trying to make the best of the potential situation."

Snarg of Wildpaw wrote:Snarg pauses a few seconds in the middle of licking his arm, and then withdraws his tongue, licking his lips several times. He then addresses Crilfu in a serious manner: "Eh, maybe ya wantin' to be showin' us some good will up front if ya wantin' to be gettin' us on ya roll? We gettin' screwed before on 'nother job so we ain't too keen to accept face value, no'fense."

"The possibility of an advance on your first salary is, of course, something easily negotiable." The Moarsman says calmly.

Kolson Wezrae wrote:"The Order's conduct in this matter has been very unprofessional and disrespectful so far. You never lied to us per se, but you weren't honest about the danger of your research nor were your people available in a timely manner to answer our questions.

We are professionals who put our lives on the line when no one else can do the job. We are not disposable weapons to be thrown into a meat grinder with no intel or support.

The fact you didn't particularly care about us until we handled your little golem problem speaks volumes to you and your company's complete lack of integrity.

I don't speak for everyone here but as far as I am concerned you can stuff your offer where the sun don't shine."

Kolson tips his hat to the others and turns to leave, presumably to head back to the inn.

"Forgive me, good sir, but why would I in particular have reason to care about people I have never met prior to them accomplishing something that might lead towards a mutually beneficial arrangement?" He folds his hands. "I do not know how the Bill detailed things but I am certain it stated very clearly that it was a Water Golem that needed to be destroyed. If you, a group of adventurers who, I point out again, risk your lives on a daily basis as a job policy, were unaware of the risks involved in taking on a Water Golem, then perhaps you should not have attempted it?"

Tabran Cole wrote:"Kolson wait"

"What my friends have said is true but your offer is a tempting one but before we would even consider excepting your offer there would need to be some ground rule set in place, firstly that we are never sent into a mission for you blind, you see the blood I have on me this isn't my own it is from my team that nearly died because we went in blind.....that been said it is a big decision to make, would you mind if we talked it over and got back to you?"

"I... would have to specifically select missions where we already had intel for you to go in, but I admit that would limit your mission selection greatly as part of the point of having a team of competent individuals on retainer is to send them into dangerous situations where we know little. But I am willing to be reasonable."

"reasonable is fine IF we take your offer i would like all the information that you have on a mission before we start it."

Ashakel turned to the others, speaking in a quiet tone. "We should not sell ourselves this easily. There is an entire world out there. I say we work like we did so far, enjoying our freedom."

Rory paced and shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable. Why are we being addressed by someone unfamiliar with the situation to begin with."

He turns his back on the meeting and leans against a wall, making it clear that he would not speak with this out-of-town representative any further.

"Ooh, ehh ... it don't be lookin' like we're gonna be comin' up wit no accord wit' them bein' like this." Snarg jerks his thumb at the leaving party members. "Maybe ya be givin' us some time to be thinkin' 'bout it, yep?"