The Mudpole Inn

Advanced search

[Himo]

The gnome wasn't very subtle with his response:

"I have another idea, mind your own damn business and go away.  Before you come into the Mudpole and pushing your ideals on everyone you should really think about where you are at."


Then an elf and a catfolk barged in on their discussion:

"The Dwarf spent the lives of his companions to pay for the gem.  It seems to me that makes him far worse a thief than our gnome friend here.  Besides, losing the item might provoke him to find a new story to tell.  Gods know this one has nearly played itself out."

"Good evening fellow travelers - it seems that there is a misunderstanding, perhaps I can be of assistance?"

How much Sofia wanted to 'solve' the problem by whacking the gnome, she decided that it wasn't worth the trouble.

"No... nevermind. I just hope I don't need you gnome to cover my back when I happen to have some shiny bauble with me."

She wanted to walk away when the gnome started to harass her.

"Sofia, I will not go back to your room with you!  You couldn't handle such a gnome like me. Leave me alone."

The elf tried to diffuse the situation, but it was too late. Sofia's hands were already on the gnome's shoulders and she tried to drag him along.

"Okay, now it's on you little wretch. I bet that your posture will match your member. You, me, outside, NOW!"

Actions:

Grapple Ellyrick +10

[Wallace]

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. To the elf wizard it was infortuante that he found himself in between the woman and the gnome and within a matter of moments the three of them were struggling with Sofia grabbing Ellyrick's shirt who was in turn trying to push himself away from Arin who was himself trying to get the woman to let go of the gnome.
Sylvester would've ended the "six feet shuffle" had he not caught the bartender's intentions from the corner of his eye. He jumped back just in time before the dwarf empties a bucket of cold dish water on the three adventurers. "Yecannaebefighininere. Helmetromout!" He grabbed Sofia and pushed her towards the door. People of all sizes started getting out of their seats and pushing the three troublemakers out the door.

"Andonnabecominbackeer!" The dwarven bartender shouted before he slammed the door shut behind the trio. Barely half a minute had passed since Ellyrick had taken the shiny bauble but now three of them stood outside, shivering from the cold water that drenched the clothes and armor and the icy mountain wind blowing through the trees.
The howling wind, the chattering teeth and the drunken laughter coming from inside the inn all forced the adventurers to conclude that they had to get moving. They could try to find Summergold or they could try and build a fire before they left the trees behind them. It might be the last chance to warm up before they left the wooded regions of the mountain and headed for the summit. Either way, they were going to have to go at it alone or try to work together and there would be no shortage of accusations and fingers pointed at matter of who got whom into trouble.

[InnsmouthMedic]

Sylvester stood aside as the cluster unfolded.  He casually slid along with the group and found himself outside, once again, in the icy cold air.  He licked his hand-paws and calmly smoothed the ruffled fur around his head and face.  He looked at the wet, unkempt group before him and calmly stated, 'Well that went well."

[Wiseman]

"It would have never happened had missus nosey minded her own business!  Now look at the fine mess ya dun got us into!"

[Himo]

Sophia knew that what she was about to do was wrong. She knew that it would have consequences, but more than that she had her pride. That midget rogue wouldn't step on that. Within seconds she had the gnome's shirt in her hands and tried to pull him up in the air. A hapless elf tried to intervene without much success.

"Yecannaebefighininere. Helmetromout!" she heard the bartender shouting in his unintelligible slur.

Before she could translate what was just said she felt ice-cold water over her followed by a couple of strong arms tugging at her. From there it quickly went down hill. When Sophia finished to blink her eyes she stood in the cold. Quickly small icicles formed on her armour.

"Pffff, at least it won't rust that way" she thought mockingly.

"It would have never happened had missus nosey minded her own business!  Now look at the fine mess ya dun got us into!"

"Ugh, don't get me started about you gnome" she growled. "We can still duke it out now that were outside. Is that what you want? My frozen right packs a nasty punch."

She then pointed at Arin.

"You elf. I know your magical kind. Can't you fix us a fire?"

[Wiseman]

The enraged female continued to act like a bitch and started to speak down to the rest of those who had been kicked out and Ellyrick couldn't take it anymore.  "You REALLY have a way with people don't you lady!  How about you go over there and we'll figure out how we will stay warm."

The gnome turned to the elf and nodded.  "Thanks for your help in there, though the results were a bit unfortunate."

[Stefan]

The elf laughed as he stood up, ignoring the woman in the process.  He spoke a few words in the tongue of magic and his robe appeared to twist and all the water drained from it.  Once he was dry he answered.

"My pleasure.  That was more fun than I've had in ages.  The towers get so stuffy you know.  I think I might be able to light something on fire but we still need some wood.  I'm sure there is some around here but I think these good folk would be even more upset if we lit the whole forest."

[Wiseman]

"I'm sure we can find a few pieces of firewood, I'm at least good at finding useful things like that.  Perhaps you go and find a suitable place to make the fire?"  Ellyrick didn't wait around, already the cold was starting to get to his fingers and he wanted no part in finding out just how bad it could get in the next hour.

The gnome started to sneak around the inn, trying to find some firewood that he could bring back to the group.

[Wallace]

A bird started started chirping and the gnome walked out of the clearing to the pine trees and started breaking off dry low-hanging branches. It was a question whether the little gnome was strong enough to carry much at all. Somebody needed to get the heavier logs if they wanted a sustainable fire.

[Stefan]

"Maybe instead of starting the fire here we could head up the mountain.  I good brisk walk would warm the blood and maybe sooth a temper or two."

[Wiseman]

"Huh, now that seems good too."  Ellyrick finished grabbing the twigs for use in kindling and turned around to find the trail up the mountains, getting out of the wind and cold would probably do more to warm them than a fire would in the open.  "Maybe carrying a few logs of firewood would calm those tempers as well, I alas have my hands full already."

[Stefan]

"Never fear."

With a wave if his hand and a few more magical words a 4' disc appears just above the ground.

"This will carry the wood that you gather."

[Wiseman]

The gnome was surprised at the resourcefulness of the elf and went about finding as much firewood as he could and piled it up on the discs, all the wood would prove invaluable in their long trek under the mountains.

[Himo]

The gnome's response wasn't quite what Sofia had expected.

"You REALLY have a way with people don't you lady! How about you go over there and we'll figure out how we will stay warm."

She looked at the elf and catfolk incredulously. They wouldn't fall for the thief's sly tongue. The more hurt she was when they simply turned away from her and walked away with the gnome.

"Fine!" she called after them. "But don't trust the guy!"

There she was... freezing and alone.

"Great job you did there Sofia" she sulked. "This is exactly what you left the palace life behind for. A freezing mountain and an inn full of scum."

Maybe she could apologize, but she immediately scrapped that notion. No way she was going to apologize to that... that... midget. He stole that gem and in her country that stuff just doesn't go. Still there was no way she was going back without some proper adventuring. This was the outside world and that's she way she had to cope with it. Currently she was penniless, but she heard that there was a mine with treasure around.

She shrugged. "Let's go then" and she walked up the mountain to what she presumed was the way to the mine, but keeping an appropriate distance from the others. She was just going in the same general direction.

[Wiseman]

"Thanks for helping, don't worry we got the firewood, hope you have your own way to make due."

[InnsmouthMedic]

Sylvester watched the exchanges with slight irritation coupled with a weak sense of amusement.  In either case, he was indifferent, viewing those before him of less worth and lacking morale character.  Such things were expected from the weaker folk.  He let out a sort of huff-purr, in a passive attempt to gain the bickering group's attention.  He calmly stated, "My fellow humanoids, would it not be wise to focus our energies on a more fruitful endeavor?  Surely by pooling our, ahem, talents, we can equally benefit from them?"  He lithely strode amongst them, arms open, palms up in a gesture of peace and calm, "It seems that the actions of some of you have already classified us as a 'group' whether through direct intent, "he looked at the gnome and woman, "or by proximity", he laid a hand on his chest and looked at the mage.  "In any case, we will all be remember as the, 'troublemakers' from the inn.  Rather than set us up for further undue issues, I suggest that we focus on working together to equally benefit - thus turning this unfortunate incident into a... shall we say - more profitable venture?"

[Stefan]

"Profitable ventures?  And here I was thinking that we were just going to head up the mountain to the caves and ransack whatever we found there.  And as far as trusting the gnome, we'll have to wait and see about that, he does have a knack for getting into trouble but you never know when you'll find a diamond in the rough.  He can't be any worse than the dwarf who left his companions to die in the caves to save his skin and one gem and you were trying to protect him.  In any case, I agree, we're here and nominally a group so unless one of you has some issue with travelling with the rest of us lets get going so that we're not caught out in the open on the mountain after dark. I've heard it gets really cold up there at night."

[Himo]

Although Sofia was walking behind the main group she could somewhat overhear what the wizard and the catfolk were saying. They were right for looking beyond a simple fight and to the fact that none of them would survive in the mine on his or her own. They even went as far as qualifying their motley crew as a real adventuring group. At least the mage and the catfolk looked like sensible humanoids. They too had some troubles with the integrity of the rogue. Good enough for her. She walked up to the group and interjected:

"Hey... ehm... I just want to say that I know I wasn't exactly lady-like back there, but I too share the feeling that we're some kind of group. I'm sorry. There you go. Let's get some treasure now!"

[Stefan]

The wizard laughed out loud at the young lady's apology.

"Very good, and very noble of you milady.  I'm not sure you're the only one who owes an apology but you might be the only one of us with the bearing to admit it.  I, for one, am happy that you chose to join us on our adventure. I'm sure that your skills will be a tremendous boon to our treasure finding mission."

[Wallace]

The journey of a thousand miles, begins with being thrown out on your arse with no other place to go. Staying warm was a priority for the group and everyone tried to pitch in a little in taking branches and logs and placing them on the floating disc that the wizard had conjured. Now that the group had some work to do and a single goal to attain the mood started changing positively.
The wizard kept an eye on his disc to make sure that during the long walk it wouldn't tipe over and cause them more work than good while the others stayed on the trail that would lead them to Summergold. After a half hour they were already above the tree line and despite the time of year it was starting to become chilly. A good pace was all that was needed to keep them warm for now and they kept their eyes on the snow-tipped summit far above them.
The trail they were following grew smaller and became more difficult to follow as sometimes the path would be no more than rocks strewn about the grassy knolls. A mountain goat would look on the travellers and whinny in a bemused fashion as the amateurs clambered over rocks where it would hop happily from one place to another if it wanted.

Another hour passed and the group became weary with the hard work. They had only lost the trail for a moment before finding it again and were happy to see that they were coming close to the summit. Sofia, being the most hardy of the group was leading from the front. She had her cape wrapped tightly around her and her hood covered her features and kept them hidden from the sudden shears of cold wind that would sweep over the mountain. She was thinking about calling a break for the slower ones at the back as soon as she was at the top of this next crest but as soon as she was almost close to reaching it, she saw the rooftops of the town appear before her. She shouted and with a few more steps she reached the top and there came to realise the folly of her joy because between them and Summergold gaped a ravine as wide as a river and as deep as a mineshaft.





Click this:

Arin the Wizard willed the floating disc to settle on the top of the crest where it wouldn't tip over and then joined Sofia to guage the situation while Ellyrick and Sylvester stood shivering in the cold trying to catch their breath in the thin air.
They must have taken a wrong turn or picked up the wrong trail but, whatever it was they had done, they had ended up on the wrong slope of the mountain which only led to this side of the crevice that now lay before their destination and stopped them from reaching it quicker than they had hoped.



OOC:
There is a solution to the problem at hand. If you can't find it yourself I will roll an INT check for all the characters.
You're starting to get colder so another half hour without something to warm yourself means I'm going to roll hypothermia checks as well. (Not a good prospect for those with bad constitutions )

[InnsmouthMedic]

His fur fluffed out in an attempt to create more insulation, it gave the appearance that the cat-man had gained several stone in weight and size.  He was gathering his cloak and robes about him as he stepped up to and squinted down into the chasm.  Without looking at the wizard and gazing across the gap, he mentioned idly, "Mr. Arlin.  Is your magical disc able to bear the weight of a rider?  And if so, are you able to control it suitably to ensure the safe deposit of said passenger to the other side?"

[Stefan]

"I could probably keep it steady but I cannot send it more than a couple of yards away from me.  I don't suppose that any of you brought Rope?"

At the same time he glanced around the area to see if there was either a trail leading down into the cravasse or another way that they might cross.

OOC: Is the chasm more or less than 50' across?

[Wallace]

Arin Moon peered across to the other side and measured it to be at least one-hundred feet with the naked eye. His rope question was futile. Even if they had brought enough to span the distance there was probably not much to tie the rope to. As though to confirm his own thoughts he looked around the area they had stranded. There were two postholes in the ground but the wood had rotted away after being in a fresh layer of snow every year. The holes were at an angle and spaced five feet apart and would've been used to span a rope bridge at some point.
Although an interesting discovery on its own, it wasn't going to bring them across the gap.



OOC:
I'm starting to drop clues here. Think outside the box. Eat the box if you have to.

[Stefan]

Arin looked at the place where he thought the bridge would have been then put his foot out onto where the bridge would he if it were still there and stepped down.

[Wallace]

Without warning, explanation or any apparent shread of sanity, the wizard stepped off the edge and fell. Sofia startled and after failing to catch Arin was almost too scared to look, but the man simply floated downwards as if he were as light as feather. That was, until his flowing cloak caught on a sharp rock. Much less gracefully than he had stepped off into a ravine, he now hung extended from his cloak. He looked up to see if he could wrest himself free but he heard the tearing near his ear as soon as he started moving.

Had anyone been watching from the other side, they would've surely been struck with laughter at the comical sight of an elf stepping off a cliff and getting hung up. But it was no laughing matter for his comrades who now to scramble and figure out how to get the wizard back up again.