Making Plans

Once he's aware of what's going on, Sandros whispers, "We lost our half-orc friend on the way back here. But before that...he seemed to be making preparation for a long journey, along with getting passage on a boat out of the city. Seems to me we might find out what boat, and try to follow; perhaps he's going to meet the others involved in the kidnapping." He shrugs. "Or...could all be a wonderful conscidence, as well. Paranoia does wonderful things to prove guilt." He grins.

As Myr mentions Avon's attempt, he nods, and figures he'll wait to see what was discovered before making any further comments. Tavarek nods, "Myr if you need help with avon just let us know, and we can spell you off".

Giving the two newcomers a once over, he smiles, and introduces himself before sitting. "My name is Sandros. Good to meet you both." He sits, giving Tav an eye as if asking whether or not they were in on their planning

Starmyst smiled at Sandros and replies, "I go by Starmyst. I hail from up north by the mountains, and I'm part of a Druid Order. She decided that if they were friends of Tav, they were friends of hers too.

Tav recounts to Sandros the tale of how he met up with the two women. "They seem to reliable and i think would make a welcome addition to our group." Upon hearing the information about a boat, Tav ponders a second before saying "Hmmm a boat ride, you say. wasn't there mention earlier of caves or a swamp? I wonder if this could all tie in with each other."

When she comes back down she goes over to the table where everyone is sitting at.and introduces herself to the other women. "Hi,my name is Alexa.good to see more women in the group."when her meal is served she eats it viciously "Please excuse my eating behavior."Gulp "I haven't eaten since I ported to this place"Gulp.slurp.

Tavarak looks on as Alexa inhales her meal. "You know Alexa" Tav teases, "I shall be most disappointed if you don't burp your appreciation for the meal"

"BUUURRRRP!!  Oh, excuse me.  I'm sorry.did you say something Tav?"

Starmyst chuckled and said with a grin, "Darn right there's more of us here, we're the only smart ones out of em'all!" She notices the stew that had been placed in front of her and immediatly digs in, feeling the warmth soaking through her, and saying through a mouthful, "Mine aren't much better!"

Tav grins at the more women in the party comment, silently thinking that at least the party will smell better.

Quill also pays for a robe and towels, and asks Starmyst if she wouldn't mind rooming with her for the night.

Starmyst smiles at Quill and says, "That'd be wonderful! Who knows what sort of evil night time crawlers will creep out from under the beds. Pleasent dreams everyone!" She laughs and drinks down the last of her stew, her spirit fully healed. "So, shall we share information?"

Quill asks the half-orc for any meat they might have available. "You don't mind if my dog stays here, do you?"

Quill pays for the meat and leads Edge upstairs to her and Starmyst's room. On her way by the table she says, "Sorry for being so rude, but right now I'd like to get out of my leathers before I'm the size of a halfling. My name is Quill O'Dann and I'm a woodswoman of sorts. I'll be down in a short while." She makes a hasty retreat for the stairs with her dog trailing closely behind.

Returning quickly, Quill sits down at the most available chair and orders a bowl of stew from the serving girl. As she scans her new companions she begins to scratch Edge behind his ears. "As I said earlier, my name is Quill and this here is Edge." Edge seems much more interested in his bone than in the new party of adventurers around him.

"Well, if I don't trust anybody, I'll never be trusted," she thinks. "A half-orc you say? What of this half-orc?" she asks.

Quill feels that while everyone in the town is probably talking of their plans to save the prince, it still wouldn't hurt to keep her voice down. Leaning in towards the table and lowering her voice she starts... "Starmyst and I met up with a local 'wise man' before we ran into Tav and he told us that he saw a group of orcs take the prince to the docks and off in a rickety skiff." Quill goes on and explains everything about what she and Starmyst learned from Poppy and how they met up with Tav in front of the embassy. "But, I've already been commissioned by the embassy and it says here that we can ask anyone from the MDF or dwarven nation to help us in our quest. It doesn't say anything on the Letter of Marque about how many people are in our party, so I think it would do for any or all of us."

She goes on and explains what she has seen and heard pertaining to the lost prince, including about the Dragon's Maw Adventuring company and the half giant who seemed a little suspicious at the embassy. "I've never seen a half giant and he was 8 feet tall if he was a foot. But he did not seem as stupid as he led the Lord to believe."

"So far it seems we have some suspicious characters, a boat, and some caves to deal with... what do you say?"

Starmyst smiles and nods a hi to Myr, listening to Quill and adding in things she missed. If they were going to travel together, everyone might as well know everything. When she was done, she added, "I say we go down by the docks first thing tomorrow, and then get a start to the caves. He mentioned that we could only get in at low tide, do you think that might bring up a problem?"

Tavarak listens to Quills story in silence. "Well you sure have been a busy pair, I think those are solid leads. If you trust this Poppy character, and i do trust in your judgement, then i think that is the lead that we should follow up on."

Tav looks back at Alexa as she burps a burp that would make a Ogre proud, and bursts out laughing. "Now that must have been some meal"

Alexa laughs along with Tav "Why thank you very much" and bats her eyes.

Tav listens to Starmyst's comments before saying "Well i for one am no sailor so i have no idea about the tides and such. Hmmmmm, Didn't Quill mention that this Poppy was a sailor of sorts? Perhaps we could secure a boat and he could take us to these caves. Then stay with the boat while we investigate. Failing that we could always take the land route.

Tav looks at Sandros and Ven, "What do you think?"

Alexa responds after contoling her laugh "That sounds like a good plan to me"

Ven, who has been listening quietly to all of the leads--except for the period of time when Alexa's eating became loud enough to obscure some of the conversation--and cannot see anything immediately wrong with the plan. "Sounds good to me. But," he turns from Tav to Starmyst, "this Poppy character sounds a bit, uh, transient. Are you sure that we can find him again?"

Tavarak nods at Vens remark "Thats a good point Ven and we have no idea if he will help us or not. In hindsight i'm not to sure I would feel comfortable with a drunk navigating any boat that i'm in. You never know what a short 4 hour cruise would turn into."

Tavarak addresses the group "Here is what i propose we do. Tomorrow morning we set off overland to the caves, those without horses could buy some here in town and it would probably be cheaper then getting a boat and crew. If the caves don't pan out we could always come back here and start over, with any fresh leads that we get. If Kerr isn't up to travelling then we can wait an extra day or two until he is fit. There are 8 of us" Tav looks at Quill and Starmyst " That is if you decide to join our little group, and thats a good number. Quill has a charter so we don't need to get another one."

Tavarak waits for any suggestions of modifications to the plan before standing. He bids his companions goodnight. Tav then makes his way up to check on Kerr and Myr, passing on the plan and all of the information from this evenings chat. He retrieves the key to his room and heads off to bed. He enters his room, noticing that everything looks as when he left and nods a silent thanks to Myr and Kerr for being careful during there search. Tavarak removes his chainmail and begins the process of oiling and polishing it up. He also spends time brushing the mud from his clothes and boots before rolling into bed and falling asleep.

The dwarf captain stands and stretches, "Long day, eh boys? And tomorrow will be longer, no doubt. Let's go." The others stand and they begin to clump upstairs to their rooms... one of them tossing out "Lead on MacDwarf" under his breath.

Outside, the rain / thunder / lightening continues unabated.

After a period of deep thinking silence, Starmystl laid out the plan so far. "We have a few different leads we could follow. I propose that we check out the caves first, and since the group of orcs departed in a boat, they could very well of been headed there. I, for one, am not too fond of the sea, and getting a boat might be a tad expensive, depending on how far away this place is and the number of people going. The land route to the caves is the path I would go, should it be up to me. Anyone have other thoughts?"

"Well,I'm full.I'll be going to my room to fix up my leather outfit.and then crash for the night.Someone can knok on my door to wake me when we're ready to go.Good-night all" Alexa then gets up and goes to her room.

Quill notices the dwarves getting up and jumps from her seat. Edge stops gnawing on his bone to see what her commotion is all about. "Excuse me, Captain?" she adresses the dwarven officer. "I hate to trouble you and your men during times such as these, but I do possess a writ from your embassy and I was wondering if we might be able to help each other in our mutual quests?"

Jaspar pauses and turns to the Ranger, motioning the other dwarves to go on upstairs. "Have ye been travelin' alone, miss? That'd make your wolf, Tonto, then, eh?" Sticking out from a corner of his pack, Quill can see a copy of the Illustrated Classics "The Lone Ranger, v 1"...

"A writ you say? That puts ye in fine company, I'd say... Got one meself.... errr.. ummmmm... Well, never mind about that... What can I do for you?"

Quill replies, "Well, sir I was traveling by myself but I found a company of adventurers through my journey. I realize that you have heard this before, but I think that we have a pretty good lead on the prince and it would be my honor if you and your men could accompany us. If not all of your men, whatever you can spare."

A small smile crosses the dwarf's face. "Join you, eh? We currently have a....er.... committment. But that might be cleared up in a day or so ... one way or t'other. We are most definitely interested in any good lead for the Prince's return. What would your pay be then? and... ummmm... what's your lead, miss? --- or how about this... give US your lead... and we'll pay you 500 gold if it turns out to be useful. What do ye say to that?"

"While I do understand that prior comittments must be upheld, I must decline. Besides, if my lead does turn out to be useful, I receive a greater reward if me and my companions rescue your prince." Quill winks at the captain and stretches her arm out towards him. "Good luck and may the gods bless you and yours."

The dwarf smiles again and is somewhat nonplussed at her parting words. "Why.. ummm... Thank you, miss. I hope He does likewise for you and yours." He briefly touches the symbol worked into the metal of his armor: a sword with blade pointing down, from the ends of the hand-guard hang the scales of justice -- Illuvitar's symbol. Then nods and turns up the steps.

Quill shrugs her shoulders at the dwarf capatain's response as he walks up the steps. "I was trying to be polite," she thought. She then twisted her neck and felt a satisfying pop as a yawn began to escape her mouth. "Well, Captain Jaspar has the right idea," she thought. Quill whistled to get Edge's attention and tapped her left leg twice. The dog immediately came to her side and the two of them went upstairs to sleep.

Starmyst yawned as she said, "Ok, land route to the caves it is. Night everyone." She got up and followed Quill up to the room she was sharing with her, climbing into bed gratefully. This had surely been the longest day of her life.