Thot

Seeing how they were outnumbered, and how there was no imminent threat anymore to the caravan members, Makial made no fuss when the Prince surrendered himself to the armed cavalry. He had no attachment nor knowledge about him, and no special feelings either way. One thing he knew for sure though, was that the Prince certainly wasn't traveling alone. He tried to look at the area the lone man had come from, and walked over there to find someone from his retinue who may be able to shed some light on what had just happened.

I am assuming the offer to roll Cunning + Perception extends to all of us ? Also, I am assuming a standard difficulty of 8, so actually 7 for Makial thanks to the Awareness Perk. Please correct me if any of this is wrong, of course.

Berating himself for not noticing this troop of mercenaries, Makial slowly walked to the right of the knight, facing their opponents as close as he could without triggering them. He knew not what would happen - the small Pixie's distraction being too unlikely - but he knew that he could not let them kill the caravan for no reason. If he had wanted training, now he seemed about to get it.

Makial got both the Awareness Perk, and Danger Sense Perk. I don't mind being taken by surprise for the sake of the story, but I thought I would mention it anyway in case it becomes relevant at some point.

"Arm" Being behind with no door meant being a corpse very fast, in Armand's experience. Someone having already claimed the front place, he was about to call out to him when he remembered he didn't have the backing of the Razors anymore. They didn't know him, they didn't know of him, he didn't know them... the ganger piped down, grumbled and joined the two others on the backseats. "This car ? Can't make additional doors to it ?" he complained out loud, pretty sure of the answer he would get. Hopefully, they'll be at the Marina bar soon. The sooner, the safer.

1d20+16 EDIT : I will assume I properly syntaxed the second roll, and that I just rolled a one. We shall see if there's a repeat of one next rolls.

1 - Gaius's Ring Since you already got a +1 Ring of Protection, upgrading it to +2 will only cost 3,000 gp. I don't remember if Justiel got a +1 Ring too or not, but if he does, Luohn can upgrade both with your alloted share, if you would like. 2 - Notable NPC Nurah : agreed, but I think she's already been shaken when we managed to liberate Drezen. Add to that that we came back with an army of Frost Giants, and also slew Vorimeerak, she may soon rethink her paradigm, I think. Arles Jhestander : since he is currently something like the keeper of a former temple to Sarenrae, Luohn would probably help the man if needed. If the temple is still dedicated to the Dawnflower, and not reused for Iomedae, that is.

Big thumbs up, thank you very much ! I think Leriel was before my time (if I may say so), so I have to admit I wasn't aware of her. Now, back to crafting perhaps : hoverfrog already stated his interest, and obviously so am I. what do you think of further spending 6,000 gp (Paro) // 2,000 gp (bubbles), as per ? It would basically deplete our treasure, give or take a couple of hundred golds, but we would be fully equiped. Anything strikes your fancy, please ? According to the , perhaps a +2 for Gaius ? A of Aberian ? Or you would rather save your share of the treasure for a later upgrade ?

One of the thing Makial had learned firsthand thanks to the caravan was that not all goblins were uncivilized monsters ready to kill and rob at a moment's notice. It had come surprisingly naturally, after a couple of days. "None. Nor heard either. I don't know what to make of it... It is not what I had been expecting." he replied calmly while still keeping his eyes on the outside.

The Oracle was too deferential to scoff, so he instead remained stoic and listened to Lady Samaa's history with due respect. And that made him think before answering... "(Primordial) I grew in a village named Uruk. It is very isolated too. And there are only Trollkins, of course. Sometimes we see human traders, but they are rare. (/Primordial)" to be talking about it brought back memories of course. He had left months ago now, and he missed playing with the chilldren in the waves, or diving in the coral reef that protected the village, with its luxurious life. Or even father West the deep reef where he could meet the Nereid. But now he had a mission to complete, something much bigger than himself to contribute to. "(Primordial) And we are all very much seamen by trade, whether shipwrights, fishers, divers, or anything else. We of course hunt in the jungle, and we have a couple of farms, but far and large we favor the sea. Among all of us, I am the one favoring it the most. I have never felt more at my place than swimming in the ocean, surrounded on all sides by water, with endless horizons of it on all sides. And that made me stood out too. (/Primordial)" It had never actually hurt to be so different in his village, but Raalk had still felt it deeply. Even in his village, his bone-deep lust for the sea had pegged him as an odd one. "(Primordial) I have not traveled much, not at all, but from what I have seen...Anywhere there is a group, things turn out that someone is the odd one. You just gotta live with it, I guess. (/Primordial)" and he shrugged. "(Primordial) Or leave and find somewhere else where you belong more, perhaps.... (/Primordial)" he completed for the benefit. "(Primordial) I have something to do, as you know. But you can count on me during our travel. I will not let you down. (/Primordial)" and after that he set to place a couple of nets in the river to fish, and gather firewood to last the night. Thanks to his from his village, he really one needed a couple of hours of sleep, so he would watch over her rest as a faithful vigil, and make sure the fire would be properly tended to. OOC HP : 60 Effects : Actions this round: Free action : - Swift action : - Move action : - Standard action : - Already Cast : Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Slots 7 6 4 Cast 1 2

| Health 7 / 7 | Willpower 3 / 6 | Mana 5 / 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The talk was getting very interesting, and Pekaku eagerly wished he could have more to brought to bear beyond his beliefs. He knew very well that he really had nothing to back him so far, but he eagerly played along the thinking game with Baba Qiyamət. "(English) Now, I had never thought of it like that. Chaos on the fringes of the Abyss, caused by interaction between nothing and something... It is very intriguing, and interesting I must say. Do you know if that notion has been explored ? I understand also the idea that the Abyss - being nothingness - can perhaps never cease to be. But perhaps then it can be contained, right ? ? what if the rift that occured eons ago during the Fall was just that, the Abyss, or the proto-Abyss perhaps, gaining an edge it had never had before, and expanding in areas that had previously been filled with Something. In that case, we just need to regain the areas we lost to restore the previous status quo... (/English)" If such a theory happened to be true, what would they find in the areas regained on the Abyss ? Just a new ground, blank of any previous influence or meaning ? or would they recover what had been there in the past ? Like Atlantis... It was all merely a thought experiment, but it was not a direction in which Pekaku's thoughts had gone, and it was one more proof that he really needed to start studying the topic for real.

Having trained since birth in the Monastery of the Elements, Makial had at last been judged apt to leave and make his Masters, his Brothers and his Sisters proud. So far, he had only faced a couple of unplanned encounters with wolves, rabid vultures, goblins, and thugs that had proved educating indeed, but had also first proved him up to the task, so he was starting to feel a bit more confident. The young man had been slowly making his way toward the Capital, Yuvia, where he intended to test his mettle against the very best of the Empire if he could. He was too humble to expect a victory, but certainly exposure to so many influences would help him keep on growing in his arts. Or that was his hopes at this point, at least. Walking or trotting along the carts, he had noticed indeed how much safety the numbers had brought, because none of those previous threats had dared show up. He slightly worried that he would arrive at the capital undertrained, but on the other hand he would not be wounded either, so perhaps it was not so bad. And so he walked, keeping an eye out for any sign of danger but not really expecting any, a young man heading for the Capital.

"Arm" Armand couldn't be so sure about the Gasara guy, but apparently they had other things to do and other places to be, so he didn't press the point. Typical looking down upon the people by The Man... Anyway. The bar by the marina from the bleached blonde outlander sounded like the better option and he walked closer to the man, but apparently at least two others had other ideas... their loss. "Crime scene can't hurt, but I like the bar better... I'm Arm, by the way." he completed, and waited to know which option would get picked. Strategy and whatnot had never been his forte, for sure...

Lady Samaa made a very fair point about the day's events and their toll on her energy. Not everyone had the Trollkin's resilence, after all. And if she assessed they would be safe here, what did he know of the land to gainsay her, really ? So Raalk graciously went along with her preference. "(Primordial) If you say it is safe, then safe it is. We are barely starting our travel, so let's make sure we start rested, and set up a fire then. I'll go fetch wood, and after that fish a bit. We will probably in rougher spots later when we will have no choice, so we might as well make us a little bit comfortable while we can, since it is safe. (/Primordial)" of course, the Oracle also intended to keep his spear close by during the night, but that was just par for the course while in the wild. Looking at their steed, the Trollkin once again wished they could have such help back in his village. He missed the place, but he was too commited to his mission, he had made it his life goal to serve the Dragons "(Primordial) It wants to go home, of course. Who could blame it ? For some, the path is just a little bit longer. So we'll walk starting from tomorrow. May I ask something else ? How long have you been living in the Genasi village ? Does it really feel like your home ? Are you leaving with the intent of going back there for good eventually ? (/Primordial)" If they were to travel for weeks, perhaps months, they might as well get to know each other a little bit. And if she was too tired, there would be plenty of time later anyway. OOC HP : 60 Effects : Actions this round: Free action : - Swift action : - Move action : - Standard action : - Already Cast : Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Slots 7 6 4 Cast 1 2

1 - OK, so basically they did nothing special by shutting down the trackers in less than a day, so we can't infer the level of skill / preparedness of the thieves. Thanks. 2 - Also, in my opinion, if Manticore Corp wants expendable agents for this operation, it is because they suspect it's been stolen by a bigger, meaner Corp than them. Possibly even to recover information it would have managed to steal beforehand. I can't wait to see how we'll all get screwed over in this scenario :) 3 - Last, I suppose this now calls for Marina or chop-shops Contacts. Anyone got any of those, please ?