Session 5: The Plan Report

General Summary

As the party awakens, in various state of hangover, they would find a blissful morning upon them. Each party member stirs from their slumber an hour after dawn, and the smell of baked goods wafts throughout the Bittern Inn. The party wakes up and makes their way to the main floor. The main room of the Bittern Inn is fairly quiet, unlike the night before there is no music to be heard, but instead the quiet tinkling of plates and cutlery with quiet conversation. The hostess from the night before looks to be asleep behind the bar, while a hobgoblin in an apron hands out food to the individual patrons. It looks like salmon filets with a light fluffy omelet topped with roe is todays special. Naomi with bags under her eyes she tiptoes over to the hobgoblin, "Psst..." Eleanor gasps, "That's so fancy!!" and waves energetically at the hobgoblin, "Can I get some too??" "Pardon me -" Naomi says, geting cut off by Eleanor Eleanor notices Naomi, "Oops, sorry Nao." The hobgoblin points to a table for the party to sit at, and goes to grab them all food, while Naomi panicks slightly. "W-wait!" she calls after the hobgoblin, who stops and turns to Naomi. "C-can I have some sweets?" she says. The Hobgoblin pauses for a moment before nodding, and making his way back to the kitchen. "Thank you!" Naomi calls after the hobgoblin before sitting down at the table he motioned at, Ayame giggling at the exchange and sitting down herself. Eleanor gasps a little, "I didn't even consider the option.." Naomi is blushing a ton as she sits down "T-the sweets here remind me of my mom's confectioneries...So I wanted to have them at least once more." "You mom makes sweets?" says Ayame. "Your mom is a baker AND paladin??" says Eleanor. "Well one of them does..." Naomi mumbles. "Yeah! She owned a bakery that was -- Wait! No, different mom." "T-Thats allowed??" Eleanor says to Ayame. "Uh. I have multiple Moms." "THATS Allowed?!" Eleanor gasps yet again. "Don't ask how cause im not too sure myself..." Naomi says bashfully. "U-Uhm I guess so!" says Ayame. Eleanor's eyes are practically sparkling as she looks at Naomi, excited at this new discovery. "I always ask if I was adopted but apparently I'm my mothers blood child??? Don't question it because I'm unsure as well." Eleanor arcs her hand across the air, while whispering loudly, "Magic." Naomi stares at Eleanor in slight disbelief, to which Eleanor pouts back, "Magic seems to be able to do a lot though!" "I-I dont want to think about how I was conceived too thoroughly." Naomi says, her blush reaching record levels. Ayame nods to Eleanor, "It does! and I uhm" looks a little nervous "I uhm was actually...I've heard of a wizards college far off that one day I dream to join" "Oh! I uhm..." says Naomi while the hobgoblin returns with two plates of the special, and a plate of assorted fresh cookies and a creme-brule. "Well I suppose I could help you find such a place, that sounds like they'd have TONS of books there to read!~" Naomi says before politely digging into her meal. The party digs in, not talking until the meal is practically finished before Naomi wipes off her mouth with a napkin. "So. I believe we should go check out the jobs listings today." "Of course, we should wait for our Kobold friend to wake up. It would be rude to leave them here. Either way, as lame as this is going to sound, we should complete at least one job to cover any further Inn costs." Eleanor hums, "I haven't heard anyone mention jobs like that since the city.. uhm" she looks across the group, "We should check how much its gonna cost to get off the island too" Naomi tilts her head "I thought there was like, uhm...A job board? Didn't someone tell us that last night?" Naomi, realizing she made a mistake, smacks her cheeks to wake herself up. "I think Nao here can't handle her drink very well" Eleanor says with a smirk. "A-aah, sorry I was still half asleep." Naomi bashfully admits. "Uhm...Yeah I don't know how much it costs" Ayame says while Eleanor pats Naomi's head gently. Naomi pouts. "W-Why are you treating me like a baby! I was just a lil sleepy is all! Gosh." she says blushing furiously. "W-well, regardless... We'll have to figure out how much it costs to get out of here, as well as find something that pays well, in case the cost is too high." The hobgoblin comes back over to the party, holding out a hand, and a single finger. It seems he is looking for payment. Eleanor tilts her head, "How much we owe ya?" He continues to hold up a single finger. "Oh." Eleanor says before handing him a single gold coin. The hobgoblin nods, taking the coin and going back to the kitchen. The hostess from the night before lets out an outrageously loud snore that wakes herself up, her hair is frazzled, and the burn scar on the side of her face is now clearly visible, covering everything to the left of her nose and mouth, but she rubs the sleep out of her eyes. Eleanor gets up and heads over to the counter in front of the hostess, energetically greeting her, "Morning!!" Ayame blinks "Huh..so uhm...is that the plan? try to get off the island?" "Well...I mean this certainly wasn't my first stop, no offense Ayame. I know it's like, your home..." Naomi says, giving a polite wave to the hostess from their table. Ayame shrugs "No offense taken, I truly love it here...but my intent is to leave aswell." The hostess yawns. "Are you checking out today?" She says scratching her head. Eleanor nods, "Very likely will be, I was wondering if you had any info on boats to the mainland the west though first" The hostess nods. "There is one boat that leaves to the mainland once a year, in between gentle waters, and is the only one fast enough to get to the mainland as a result. Symphonia. I would check out the docks to find its owner." she says before pouring herself a drink, hair of the dog style, and downing it quickly before Eleanor. Naomi shudders at how quickly she can see the hostess drinking from her table. "A-anyways Ayame, how are you this fine morning?" Eleanor hums, "Once a year eh?.. " she looks the hostess up and down as she downs a drink, nodding to herself a couple times, "hot." she then coughs a bit and straightens up, "Well thankya for the info hun." The hostess nods, sniffling and moving towards the kitchen. "Allright than. Just throw your keys behind the bar and... im going to sleep." "Oh I'm great! slept amazingly" says Ayame. Eleanor heads back to the table, muttering to herself, "Symp..fonia.. symfonia, symphonia" and as she arrives at the table with the group again she goes, "Symphonia!" she says sitting down. "That's good! I slept --" Naomi eeps! As Eleanor cuts the cleric off from her conversation. "Symphonia?" Eleanor looks to Naomi, "Symphonia's the ship we gotta check out to get the mainland. Leaves once a year so we best get goin soon" Ayame nods in response, standing up, her meal finished, Naomi shoveling the last of her crem-brule down before standing up as well. Eleanor thinks to herself for a moment. "Hn... Problem. No Idea where specifically the boat or owner is. Was just told the docks." Naomi tilts her head. "I thought we were ON the docks?" "Oh we are? Good! We can just head outside and look for a big ol' boat called the Symphonia then and hope the owner is there." "It shouldn't be too hard to find out about a boat that can only leave ONCE a year." says Naomi. The party makes their way out of the tavern and onto the docks, after only a few minutes, they find the ship they were looking for. The Symphonia, a sailing ship, currently configured into a private fishing vessel. This one is docked, and there is no-one on board. There is however a woman, looking panicked standing in front of the boat, pacing back and forth. Ayame blinks and waves at the woman "Hello?" "Wow this really WASN'T hard to find! Lucky us~" says Naomi. The woman sees the party and approaches them. "Please! Are you adventurers?" she says looking worried. Ayame nods. "Uhm...I-I suppose! Kinda fledgling ones though...we where looking for passage" "Oh thank the gods! Its my friend Joe, he owns the ship, and decided to get a licence out of the city for some treasure he head about in a cave not far outside of town. He rented a horse two days ago and he still isn't back yet. Im really worried something might have happened to him, but I can't leave the city, and the city wants me to put up a bounty for a rescue and I can't forward that kind of money. The guards can't even do anything because its outside of the city." "Hmmm..." says Naomi, thinking for a moment before puffing out her chest proudly, faking an air of competence. "Well... This is perfect for you miss..." "Well we're actually looking for a ride to the mainland whenever you guys leave, so.." she looks to Naomi who's waiting for a name, "We need this Joe guy anyways. Could payment be.. a ride?" Naomi pouts at Eleanor. "H-hey! I wanted to do the cool adventurer-y mission findin'..." "Mrs Mann." she says, "I can't guarantee payment of any kind, but there is said to be treasure in the cave, so you can take whatever you want, and so long as joe is alive, you can talk payment with him. Im really sure he is hurt and the longer we wait the more likely he won't be coming back." "Mrs Mann? Uhm, w-well if he's hurt then tell us where to go and we'll go! I'm a Cleric, Ma'am. I could heal any injuries he has." Eleanor nods to herself, "Which ways' the cave?" Mrs Mann gives the party directions to the cave and sends them off on their way. "The ship has tomorrow and the day after to leave, and it should only take two hours by foot to get to the cave from here, its an old lava tube on the edge of the forest." "Lava tube? Neat! I've always wanted to see one of those after reading about them!" Eleanor gasps, "That sounds like a super awesome cave system!!" she visibly gets all hype about this quest now, "Lets go lets go lets go!" The party makes their way to the gate of the city closest to where the know the cave would be. The mysterious figure from the night before is waiting for the party. In front of the gate are two Paladins of the Stone, riding large lizard like mounts, checking paperwork at the door. The party looks to Ayame, who offers them her trade papers. The paladin inspects Ayames papers, and looks to her. "What are you trading from the city?" Ayame smiles "The Wisdom and teachings of the Shiori shrine...for a price of course!~" "Than you would pedal your wares in the city. What was your profit margin?" He says before the other paladin casts a spell. A zone of truth is now surrounding Ayame. "Eh, pretty terrible actually...I spent more money on food then I made...." she says, looking down sadly, her tail drooping. "W-Would you like to hear the teachings?! Its a fair price!" Says with a wide smile, instantly changing her demeanor. "So if you know the teachings, why are you leaving the city if you made no profit, your town is days away." "So far, no one really seems interested..." Ragia then arrives at the gate with a small stack of papers. Ayame waves to Ragia, who waves back and hands a paper to everyone in the group. Ayame looks down and reads the document. This document, given by the city of GUG-OEJA, has determined that AYAME SHIORI with THE WRECKED, is proof by a government entity of adventuring status. They may travel to any jurisdiction so long as they follow the laws and regulations of the country, or do so as part of a declared act of war. Ragia moves up to the guard, showing her own slip. "Forgive my friends here, they darted out into the city while i was finalising our adventuring licences, we should be good to go now." The guard looks at the new document before looking back to the party, and taking the individual documents to confirm. "Everything is in order, and you all be safe out there." The doors open, with Ayames companion making his way off along the wall in a different direction. Ragia looks at the figure, but doesn't pry. As the party leaves the city, Eleanor wags the paper to Ragia, "What are these?" "Adventuring Licences, I got them earlier while y'all had abandonned me." says Ragia. "We knew you would catch up!" Ayame says. Eleanor hums, "Adventurin requires a license?" "Well yes, at least here." says Ragia. "How else would you all have justified your presence outside the walls otherwise?" "Ah... I was trying to convince them I was a failed merchant with nothing to sell..." Eleanor tilts her head, "This place is weird. Why do you have to justify being anywhere outside" "Oh! Well its a way to control the population." says Ayame. "It isn't the same where you come from?" Eleanor chuckles, "No, I think." she thinks to herself a moment, "Though for all I know I broke many laws." "i'd have been surprised if that worked, you don't strike me as someone that can look humble and down on your luck that much" Says Ragia to Ayame. Ayame pouts, "I-I can so! I'm super humble...anyways lets go" The party travels for around an hour, it is not quite noon by the time they reach the cave.It looks like a small wildlife trail goes down a hole in the ground, reaching rubble before opening up to a hole in the ground.the trail itself is about 270ft long before going into the entrance of the cave, with it pointing towards the party. The flooring looks rough and will be difficult to travel on. The entrance is about 60ft wide. Eleanor approaches the cave, "I wonder how deep this Joe guy got." "Hopefully not too far..." says Ayame. Eleanor and Ragia step into the cave, They note that though it is spring, large peices of ice still coat the floor of the inner cave, and even just a feet in, darkness falls before the cave turns to the left. Bits of rubble and ice coat the floor of this section of the cave, and it is quite chilly at the entrance.(About 35 degrees F or 2 C) Naomi shudders while looking around the cave. "Its fudging cold in here!" Eleanor looks to Naomi, "Agreed but we should be fine" she says before starting to step into the cave. Naomi stops her before she does, "Uh... wait, wolf tracks." Eleanor looks down to see them, "Wolves?!" she says excitedly. Naomi points them out to the party, "Our quarry Joe may be gettin' eaten alive by said wolves, lets get moving." Eleanor nods, "It's been a while since I've fought wolves, yea lets go!" she follows in next to Ragia, "you seems quite comfy here, you from cave systems or the underdark or somethin?" Ayame shivers, following after in the back. "kobolds live in mountains, even if it's been a while since i've been in one, i still got my natural abilities helping me around here." says Ragia. Eleanor gasps, "I didn't know that! I'm just from underground, or at least spent a lotta time there." She walks with her hands behind her head looking relaxed, "So the deeper we go the more familiar things get for me" Ragia pats Elea's side "i'm sure there's a lot more you'll be learning as we keep exploring." Eleanor chuckles, "Well lets find this Joe guy, probably got really cold and passed out maybe, though this was supposed to be a lava tube." "lava tubes only had lava long ago, they are made of very good insulator and are tubes, so lot of airflow too, so it's no wonders it get cold in here." Says Ragia. "Wow Ragia, you're very well learned!" says Naomi. As the party marches forward, the floor becomes a little more stable, but strange to walk on. It feels like walking on hardened sand with a thin layer of dirt on top. from the slow arching to the the left it also is a slight uphill climb before you reach the first obstacle. An inclined dip, at a 45 degree angle, going into a flattened section. At the top of this dip, a rope has been laid out, and the mangled remains of a horse, still tied off to a piton in the wall, lays against the wall itself. The remains are still warm. By this point, the walls have shortened to about 50ft wide. Naomi covers her mouth and tries to not retch "Must be fairly recent if its this cold in here and the body is warm..." says Ayame. "O-oh Goddess...Get ahold of yourself Nahemah, you can handle this..." Naomi mumbles to herself. Eleanor bends down to inspect the corpse. It looks like the creature was dead before it was eaten. The strange part is that it looks like it froze to death, as there are ice crystals that formed on its mouth and eyes, which are frozen completely solid, unlike the rest of its body before it was eaten by some lupine creature. Ayame grabs onto the rope, tugging it to test its strength, and finding that the rope is well tied off. Eleanor hums, "It's not THAT cold here.. weird that this thing died to that. This.. Is not a normal cause of death guys" "Really, you think Eleanor?" Naomi says sarcastically, "It's not everyday you find a dead horse at the base of a lava tube shaft." "Yeah I figured" says Ayame. "Even if this thing did die by the cold it would've taken almost a week, or at least a couple days, but this things body is still warm, but its face is covered in ice crystals." Eleanor rubs her head, "Magic maybe?" "That would make sense to me," says Ayame, "I don't know much about caves but this place seems way too cold" Ragia winces at the conversation. "I don't like ice magic, it's no good for us cold blooded." "Well, let's hope Joe didn't freeze to death, then. This is a good sign that he should be somewhere deeper in though." Naomi says, starting to climb down the rope. Ayame nods, "No use waiting around here then!" she says before climbing down as well, followed by the other two. As the last of the group makes it to the floor of the incline, they look behin them to see a wolf, a very large one with obviously white fur even in the darkened environment, sniffing about atop the next slight incline that they would have to climb upwards next. Naomi almost squeeks out in surprise while Ragia whispers to the rest of the party, "Can I barbeque it? This wolf looks frosty." Eleanor nods towards Ragia, pulling out a heavy crossbow and aiming it at the wolfs leg, telling Ragia to go for it when she shoots telepathically. Eleanor fires the shot, but it wizzes by the wolf, hitting the ceiling and startling it, while Ragia shoots off a burst of flame at the creature, who yelps, and quickly runs away from the party, deeper into the cave. "Fuck." says Eleanor before looking to Ragia. "It's been a while since I shot this thing, I'm sorry I missed." She says, patting her crossbow, "Poor Calypso don't get used that often... We have to get moving fast though, wolf packs are smart, and that one wasn't normal" The party discuss weither or not moving forward to find their captain, but quickly decide to move forward, but keep up their guard as they do so. They continue to the end of the flat area before climbing up the small incline that the wolf was atop of, before reaching a point where even the tiniest glimpse of sunlight has abandoned them. Before them lies a long, slightly curved tunnel that reaches hundreds of feet long with a curve in the middle. Along the walls and ceiling of the cave, small icicles of stone hang down, made of natural lava rock, eroded by time and the occasional traveler. "What in the heck did joe think he would find in here?" asks Ragia. Eleanor chuckles, "Treasure, it's what we're expecting alongside him too." Ayame shrugs. "Don't know. Couldn't see anything to tell you." "Pretty dumb for him to spelunk solo though." says Eleanor. "That's only something I do" she chuckles again, pulling up her shirt to show her stomach, which is like 1/3rd scars, "And take it from me, its a bad idea." Ayame nods "I trust you" she says...before slowly starting to move forward, sniffing at the air, the faint scent of fresh whale oil wafting throughout this section of the cave. "Don't you two have torches or something to see in the dark?" Ragia says to Ayame and Naomi. "I smell oil." says Ayame. "Oil? A lantern maybe?" asks Eleanor. "Most probably. I mean, we're assuming this guy doesn't have darkvision of some kind." Ayame nods. "Probably." Ragia's gears of mischief turn within as she smirks. "Fresh oil you say~?" "No blowing things up!" Ayame retorts to the kobold. "We don't want a cave in." she says continuing down the hallway, following the smell. Eleanor sighs and heads forward, it's honestly much more cave down here than I was expectin, lets keep going though. Those wolves defintely are trying to sniff us out."