Caelesti's notes

Date

01/03/2008

Log

The prisoners awaited their trial, and eventually were escorted to the queen's chambers. Nessey was asked to speak first. She spoke of the prisoners' plot to sell her into slavery, though believed the Caelesti charmed the others (so it wasn't really their faults). The queen asked specific questions to clear up details.

The queen then questioned Yoshi. He explained that he knew nothing of what happened within the house, but did explain the both Caelesti and Nessey left Corum's house together. He thought Nessey seemed odd, but she had good cover stories. Once the party returned to Rowensmeade, the Nessey left the group. Later her parents tried to locate her via magic. She was able to communicate that she was sold into slavery by the party.

Carric spoke second. He told of the original kidnapping attempt of Nessey and how the party first met. He told of the investigations that determined little; just the name Corum Trimble. He told of rumors of someone that looked just like Nessey up north. He told of the investigation of Corum Trimble and confirmed that Caelesti and Nessey left the house together. He later told of the battle with the brain in a jar, including some of the things it did - flying around, speaking telepathically, & using mind control. He told of the manacles in the basement with the aasimar hair; scrying later revealed the hair came from a barbarian woman, so clearly not Nessey. He confirmed Yoshi's story that the Nessey disappeared once back in Rowensmeade.

Caelesti was then asked to speak. She first agreed with Carric's and Yoshi's accounts, and then started with her recollections of Nessey's fainting in Corum's house, and finished with the party's trial in Rowensmeade for Nessey's kidnapping and subsequent acquittal.

Yoshi and Carric told a little of the trial, investigations, and that the fake Nessey was believed to be a doppelganger.

The queen then questioned Talon about how she met the group. She told of meeting at an inn through her cousin Siobhan. She told about a battle with a hydra and another with wights. She told of another trial of the party for the assault on a merchant (the party was acquitted because their accuser never showed up).

The queen then questioned Mavis. Mavis told of her first meeting. She said that she and Gareth met the party and, later, introduced them to Corum. She said that she was not in the house when Caelesti and Mavis went in. She later talked about Gareth and her goal to help get Nessey back because Nessey and the party seemed like nice people. She did corroborate that the party traveled to the barbarian lands specifically to rescue Nessey.

Caelesti was asked about why Nessey would have been substituted. She tried a few guesses, but none of it seemed plausible even to her. The queen decided to see if Yoshi could do better. Yoshi pointed out the strangeness that the doppelganger helped defeat the brain in the jar. Caelesti had pointed out the strangeness that the doppelganger disappeared after successfully substituting itself for Nessey.

The queen consulted with her advisors. Nessey swooned and was assisted by her attendants.

After consulting, the queen stated that she believes that the party did not kidnap Nessey. Nessey still argued the point. The queen said to Nessey that she (Nessey) was confused.

The queen turned to the party. She said that the party was found not guilty and was now guests of her tribe instead of prisoners.

Nessey seemed unconvinced. The queen, with great wisdom, commanded Nessey to go on a small quest with the party, hoping reconciliation would occur soon enough. She said that her druid would scry Nessey to make sure she was safe, though she would not expect trouble. The quest was to place a staff on the top of the Hill of Belenus, which they do every 20 years. The party agreed to go along.

Talon's notes

Talon: Here we are. La, la, la
Talon: Bear Sun Cake Beer to you!
Talon: So, late in the afternoon...
Talon: While the evil slave traders are lounging in the jail cell, after being damaged from falling
Mavis rolls d4: [2] = 2
Talon: Carric took 1d4 damage. Yoshi only pretended. Caelesti remained standing.
Talon: Brain in jar dominated Carric and Carric attacked and almost killed Yoshi.
Talon: They recall.
Talon: Yoshi understands being scarred by being sold into slavery - or so he keeps repeating to himself, out loud and then arguing back to himself.
Talon: Carric paces
Talon: Yoshi says to his friends - should we make special plans? I am guessing the answer is no, but I wanted your thoughts.
Talon: Caelesti says, "I'm sure everything will work out well in the end."
Talon: Yoshi - "Now, Caelesti, this is serious. I'm sorry but that is not always true. Sometimes bad things happen. I'm sure you've had friends who have died?"
Talon: Carric - And Nessey is being unreasonable.
Talon: Yoshi - to Caelesti - also she seems to be blaming you now almost exclusively.
Talon: Caelesti - You liked it better when she blamed all 3 of us evenly.
Talon: Cael - I hope that the person who makes the ultimate decision is reasonable.
Talon: Yoshi - we can hope that.
Carric rolls Save/Will (d20 + 8): [10 + 8] = 18
Talon: Yoshi - I have a fairly good ability to discern whether a person is being reasonable or not, let's come up with a sign
Talon: They are still planning. If things go wrong, then what? Asks Carric.
Talon: Brave Carric!
Talon: Carric is in his clothing, but no spell components or other equipment
Talon: Carric is detect-magic-less
Talon: Carric brags about how he can turn himself into an animal to while the time away
Talon: Blade and Nalot come in and talk to the evil slavers.
Talon: "The queen is ready to talk to you."
Talon: She opens the door.
Talon: "Come with me."
Talon: They follow, we assume.
Talon: there are plenty of guards along the way
Talon: They are led north to a building of 25 x 40 feet or so with a wide front door and dais opposite with a chair with a self-confident woman.
Talon: On her left is an older Druidical Wisish woman
Talon: One her right is a very tough looking fighterish woman
Talon: There are some keepers by Nessey, also watching over the evil guilty slavers
Talon: When Nessey talks too much, her friends shush her.
Talon: Yoshi bows before the queen
Talon: Carric does also.
Talon: Queen acknowledges the bows with a slightly raised eyebrow
Talon: Queen, let's start by hearing what we've all heard for months
Talon: Nessey steps up
Talon: Nessey tells her story.
Yoshi rolls Sk:Sense Motive (d20 + 18): [10 + 18] = 28
Talon: Nessey tells about possible double and going with Gareth to Corum Trimbles house with Yoshi and Carric and Caelsti. She tells how Caelesti lured her into the house to meet Corum's sister. Then how Caelesti Sleeped or Drugged her and knocked her out after promising not to leave her.
Talon: She talks of waking up in the dungeon basement and hearing the sinister voice in her head and how the predictions of the voice came true. And how the voice told her Caelesti took her to the trap and drugged her and sold her. Voice also said all kinds of things about Yoshi and Carric, but Carric is, after all, a fellow Aasimar and good at heart, though lecherous with women. Nessey is sure that Caelesti, being a fey, charmed Carric to do evil unwittenly.
Talon: Yoshi tells how Nessey came back out of Corum's house and how they pursued Corum as he made his way to the river with a rolled up carpet. Then, later, how Nessey supposedly sold an evil spell book.
Talon: Nessey says, "I did wake up in a rug in Barbarian camp, your Majesty, if I may say so."
Talon: Yoshi tells how Nessey's parents spoke with her via scrying spell and then hired Yoshi, Carric, Caelesti to find her.
Talon: Nessey agrees she was scried and told her parents she was sold into slavery by her friends.
Talon: Barbarian Queen recaps.
Talon: Queen drills down to the bare facts.
Talon: Yoshi admits to finding the room Nessey was locked in.
Talon: Yoshi, Carric, Caelesti, and person they thought was Nessey went in later and defeated a jar.
Talon: Carric, We orginally met Nessey during a kidnapping attempt in Rowansmeade. We came to her aide, as strangers, and foiled the attempt and tried to figure out what the plot was.
Talon: Carric - We did manage to apprehend some of the lowlives, but then Corum's name came up. We traveled to Oakrill and Meadowbrook and people kept doing a double take and saying they had seen someone who looked exactly like Nessey, not just similar.
Talon: We heard Corum lived in a house and we came to the door there and thought it would be overwhleming for all of us to go into the house, so Nessey and Caelesti went to the door. They were met by a servant at the door who brought them in. About 20 minutes later Caelesti and person we thought was Nessey came out.
Talon: Caelesti told us they met Corum who would go and get his sister who didn't look like Nessey. While they were waiting, Nessey fell faint. I didn't see what happened in the house. But I heard Nessey fell faint. When they came out Nessey seemed subdued. Earlier in the day Nesssey had bought new clothes. I check out Nessey, nudge, nudge, and her clothes seemed too tight, but nothing seemed to be missing.
Talon: We watched the house and later saw an individual leave the house and my friends followed, cause I was busy with a fellow druidess.
Talon: We went back later and looked at this house and knocked on the door and later found an open basement door. We encountered what can only be described as a brain in a jar.
Talon: The brain could fly around and communicate telepathically and dominate people. It dominated me.
Talon: The Queen stops Carric's blathering. Fellow Aasimar, fellow jabberer of Nessey.
Talon: Queen - so who decided to go into the basement.
Talon: The new Nessey wanted to go in. She insisted.
Talon: Carric and Yoshi were reluctant.
Talon: The jar with brain inside could fly as a whole assembly.
Talon: Carric - it dominated me and I attacked Yoshi. I was ordered to attack Yoshi.
Talon: Queen asks specifics.
Talon: Yoshi - I got better.
Talon: Carric - fortunately my companions destroyed the brain and I got better.
Talon: We found manacles there with a golden Aasimar hair - this made us very suspicious.
Talon: Yohsi - very suspicious.
Talon: Carric, I had my friend Ginnessa scry the hair and to her it looked like a woman on horseback, but let me back up.... we were worried about a whole ring of kidnappings... there was a lot of confusion... we thought there was, still think it, know a little more, there is , a general purpose kidnapping ring, so it wasn't necessarily Nessey because we had Nessey with us, so I thought it was perhaps another woman hunting and it didn't look like another kidnapping victim, she was obviously free and she was on a horse and everything....and...
Talon: Queen - why would this Ginnessa person know?
Talon: Carric - she is a druid of Belenus who lives in Meadowbrook.
Talon: Carric - I am a druid of Belenus as well.
Talon: Queen - so you were doing druidly-things together and so you brought her the hair.
Talon: Carric - yes, because she is higher level druid than I am and...
Talon: Queen - when did you do the scry with Ginessa.
Talon: Carric - the next day or day after?
Talon: August 7th. they think after Carric and Yoshi consult each other.
Talon: they are not sure which day they found the hair. It might have been 8 days from when Nessey was kidnapped that she was scried.
Talon: Carric rattles on and on and on.
Talon: Queen - so it was several days later - you saw the Barbarian woman on horse via scry.
Talon: Carric - yes.
Talon: Carric - we were traveling with the fake Nessey who we believed was genuine and had several side adventures and then the fake Nessey checked in with her parents and took some items and disappeared. We couldn't find her. She seemed to have run off. She seemed to have gone on another adventure.
Talon: When we returned some months later, we were confused with...
Talon: Queen - Stop! Bring me a beverage.
Talon: Queen - Caelesti, step forward, please.
Talon: Caelesti - "hello"
Talon: Queen - tell me what happened starting from the time you and Nessey walked up to the door of Corum's house.
Talon: Caelesti - First let me say that I agree with Carric and Yoshi so far and agree with Nessey that I am Fey.
Talon: We went in the house and asked about Corum's sister. Nessey suddenly collapsed. And then Corum or maybe it was his sister who said "oh, she probably needs some water" so I went into the kitchen with Corum and came right back out with water and Nessey got up and we left.
Talon: But they did ask me to go into the kitchen.
Talon: I went over and shook her arm and she was woozy.
Talon: Caelesti - then we went outside.
Talon: Queen recaps.
Talon: Queen - who did you go into the kitchen with?
Talon: Caelesti - Corum or his sister. I think I came back with drinks and snacks.
Talon: Queen you left Nessey alone then with either Corum or his sister.
Talon: Caelesti - I guess. I don't recall.
Talon: Queen - tell me about the basement.
Talon: Caelesti - we went to the basement, Nessey wanted us to go, I'm not sure why, then we heard voices in our heads.
Talon: Cae - then we were attacked by a flying brain in a jar and Yoshi was groaning in pain for no apparent reason. The brain was maybe doing some sort of mental attacks. Nessey and I attacked the brain. Carric attacked Yoshi. The jar shattered and the brain fell and the brain seemed to not move the way you would expect it to not move.
Talon: Queen - tell me more about how Nessey behaved after came out of the house, onwards....
Talon: Caelesti- I remember being suspicious and following a man with a rug with a bulge in it and while we were being nosey he pulled a wand on us, then Nessey had another fainting spell, uncharacteristically, then I was hit by flame and that's the last I remember.
Talon: Only Yoshi could say how that ended. Nessey and I were down.
Talon: Queen - obviously, with the two women down, a single man would not be able to cope!
Talon: Yoshi - I gave up.
Talon: Queen nods.
Talon: Caelesti - all the way back to Rowansmeade Nessey was far less talkative than you or we know her to be - but seemed to know all about us.
Talon: Cae - so we thought it was Nessey even though she was acting slightly strange. When we returned we were arrested for kidnapping Nessey. Once we found out, we waited until the snow was gone.
Talon: Queen speaks to counsellors on either side of her.
Talon: Queen - okay, let's talk about another phase of this. I will speak to each of you in turn again.
Talon: Yoshi - tell me what happened, in your experience, what happened in Rowansmeade after Nessey had disappeared.
Talon: Yoshi - you mean the fake Nessey?
Talon: Queen - we will assume so. I think we all agree our real Nessey was over the river here by then.
Talon: Yoshi - We did a scry of some kind perhaps with a hair from her hairbrush. We left on our mission. Figured Nesey was an adult and responsible to herself. Some months later, we came back to Rowansmeade and her parents hired us to go find her.
Talon: Carric - ?
Talon: Carric - yes, we came back, um, from the uh, adventure, and we found that we were being accused of kidnapping Nessey, while we were away her parents had scried her and she had told her parents we sold her, her friends sold her, that's us, and we went to the temple to be questioned, Nuadu, determined we were not involved in Nessey's kidnapping and at that point, so we were released and er, hired by Nessey's parents to retrieve her, to rescue her rather, and that's why we are here now and by the way we had discovered before that the spell book that we had given to the temple for safe-keeping, because it was found in abandoned house and so might be evil, but we had found Nessey had claimed the spellbook and sold the spellbook and so...
Talon: Queen - who recovered spellbook from basement?
Talon: Carric - necromantic spellbook.
Talon: Queen - yes, who recovered.
Talon: Carric - me, Caelesti, fake Nessey and Yoshi.
Talon: Queen - so Nessey had a claim
Talon: Carric, yes, but we didn't know who really owned it and it seemed evil, but the fake Nessey obviously was eager to sell it and get her share and we had moral qualms about it and she was not happy about that.
Talon: Queen - so she sold it for her share?
Talon: Carric - for all the shares.
Talon: Queen - got it.
Talon: Carric - the spellbook was sold to a merchant in Rowansmeade and stolen by a wererat who was involved in other kidnapping, so there was a larger kidnapping ring in Rowansmeade, not just involving Nessey, but involving others, and so basically we saw Mavis again who we had seem on the road much earlier and so we went with her in search on the road for the real Nessey, because we had consulted with a sage in Rowansmeade and he said someone who can impersonate to that level of ability had to be a douple-ganger, we aren't absolutely sure, but based on his information, that's what we believe and also that Nessey had actually been sold into slavery in Corum's house and that when Nessey was scried she was duped by the douple-ganger and falsely believed we were her kidnappers and we were upset, it was our hightest priority, as soon as practical, as soon as the snow melted, we went out to resuce Nessey and....
Talon: Queen, - Okay, you can stop there. Talon?
Talon: Talon - yes, my lady.
Talon: I met them in Meadowbrook, with my cousin Siobhan, at a fine tavern.
Talon: I went with them on the Hydra adventure.
Talon: They told me of Corum Trimble, but I found the story a bit garbled and not as heroic as I would have liked.
Talon: Nessey was obviously a fighter and good, I thought.
Talon: Queen - she was fighting at the side of everyone else?
Talon: Talon - Oh, yes.
Talon: I accepted her as one of them.
Talon: Queen - discrepency in Yoshi and Carric's tale.
Talon: Talon explains they were accused of assaulting an honest Trader and Talon worried very much about the company she was keeping, but then they were cleared, and their accuser did not show up.
Talon: I felt they were trustworthy - otherwise I would not have continued on with them.
Talon: Queen - recaps. Says again no wonder the men were defeated without the women in their party to help them.
Talon: They were arrested and then cleared. After this little situation - in which Yoshi yielded and Caelesti and Nessey did not do what one might expect. With two such great women... but.. ah... well, for whatever reason this man got the better of them and then accused them of assault.
Talon: Queen speaks to Mavis
Talon: Mavis - yes, Queen, your majesty?
Talon: Q How do you know these people?
Talon: M - I met them long before when traveling with my friend Gareth - all these 3 and Nessey too.
Talon: Q- did they seem trustworthy?
Talon: M - Oh, yes.
Talon: Q - So Gareth took these people to see Corum?
Talon: Mavis - oh yes, Gareth and I and Caelesti and Nessey all went in.
Talon: Q - and I have heard what happened with Caelesti and Nessey. What happened with you and Gareth?
Talon: M - I don't talk much. Gareth talked to Corum and said he had friends who wanted to meet him. Corum said okay.
Talon: M - I asked if I could go back to the Inn. I went out the back door and went to the Inn and waited for them to come back and they sort of came back later.
Talon: Q - You didn't really see Caelesti and Nessey go in?
Talon: M - No, they were waiting at the front. I assumed Gareth took them in later.
Talon: Q - how did you meet first time?
Talon: M - on the road to Meadowbrook, met at our camp, Gareth sold them some stuff. Then they were in Rowansmeade later, at Silver Harp, one of the best places in town.
Talon: Talon sort of showed up there. That's where her cousin was staying. We recognized them, of course.
Talon: Q - why you are involved with them now?
Talon: M - I remembered Nessey vividly, of course, and they said she had been kidnapped and substituted and all kinds of strange stories.
Talon: Mavis - well, I mean, they seemd like nice kids on the way to Oakrill and Meadowbrook and Gareth seemed mortified that their nice friend Nessey was missing and we agreed we needed to try and help them get Nessey back cause they were nice people so Gareth came up with trade goods so we could trade with Barbarians and between you and me they are not necesarily the most savvy group of people and I provide a strong arm and needed cunning and they seemed so genuinely concerned, I came to help recover their friend.
Talon: Q - so they really came across the river to find their friend?
Talon: M - Yes.
Talon: Q - hah! okay.
Talon: Q- Caelesti - it's your turn again.
Talon: Caelesti - oh, boy!
Talon: Q - we have heard your story about brain in jar and that Nessey later disappeared. Tell me more about what you know or think about Nessey's disappearance and why you are here now?
Talon: Caelesti - I think Nessey was replaced by that Doppelganger character, so Nessey was gone, and we made it through her trial for kidnapping, but then we had to wait until the snow was gone, before we could get her back.
Talon: Q- do you have an clues as to replacement?
Talon: Caelesti - I think it happened before we even met her, the kidnapping might be because her family is wealthy. I don't know why. Oh! But with a family in a position of power and real Nessey out of the way, ther fake Nessey could do stuff, except it ran away.
Talon: Q- why did it run away?
Talon: Caelesti - I don't know. To look like someone else?
Talon: Yoshi - To get us out of town!
Talon: Q turns to Yoshi.
Talon: Q- it looks to me like there was some sort of plot to get Nessey, which you foiled, then later Nessey was captured and substituted with someone who served at your side like a companion, then disappeared in Rowansmeade when you went back there.
Talon: Q- so Nessey was captured in house and substituted by a person who fought at your side and then disappeared.
Talon: Yoshi - yes, but there is a part I am very confused about. Well, based on the real Nessey's story, it would seem that the Doppelganger was in cahoots with brain in the jar, so why would it have us defeat Brain in Jar and start chain of events that led us to discover that Nessey was a duplicate. It would have made more sense for them (opponents) to keep quiet.
Talon: Q- it seems to me that your opponents are not unified.
Talon: Carric - she only wanted the money for the spellbook and then ran off. I would have expected her to stay with Nessey's parents and do nasty stuff as fake Nessey in Rowansmeade.
Talon: Yoshi - infiltrating power structure in Rowansmeade, yes. Perhaps the Doppelganger herself was not a willing participant. Is there such a thing as a good doppelganger? I don't think so! It did not fight with us agains the Trader, Corum..
Talon: Carric - it is interesting she fought against the brain in the jar, to throw off suspicion....
Talon: Yoshi - but she encouraged us to fight brain, perhaps she wanted the book....
Caelesti: Caelesti looks at Nessey's expression during these explanations
Talon: Carric - she didn't want book for book's sake, she wanted the money. She was in it for the money.
Talon: Yoshi - or it was a trap, her bosses expected the brain to defeat us.
Talon: Q -who killed the brain?
Talon: Caelesti - I thought Nessey did.
Talon: Yoshi - so perhaps she was trying to rid herself of brain controller.
Talon: Q- this is very interesting.
Talon: Caelesti - what if the Doppelganger was putting the thoughts in our heads and the brain in the jar was an illusion.
Talon: They debated illusions for a while and say, no, they think it was an undead creature.
Talon: Carric - I think if the fake was able to dominate.. I don't know. She seemed to fight alongside us and, and...
Talon: Queen - let's stop here. Let's agree it was a fake Nessey that fought against brain in jar and hydra and traveled back to Rowansmeade and then dropped out instead of taking the place of Nessey in society at Rowansmeade, since then you have been traveling with Mavis and Talon.
Talon: Nessey looks pale, faint and befuddled.
Talon: Yoshi wonders if Nessey's parents were in in the plot and sent them there to get rid of them.
Talon: While Queen debates, Nessey swoons and passes out.
Talon: Yoshi and Carric talk about whether Nessey's parents were in on plot. Caelesti and Carric think they were innocent and good people.
Talon: then they discuss whether first kidnapping is related or not to substitution of people in Rowansmeade.
Talon: They decide there is a gang of dopplegangers who might not have wanted the assignment after they saw what was going on.
Talon: Yoshi - commune suggested others in Rowansmeade have or will be replaced. We are few who know this. Why us?
Talon: One or more decided didn't want assignment, corrects Yoshi.
Talon: One or more dopple-gangers, says Yoshi, might be only one.
Talon: Queen consults with her advisors and comes back.
Talon: Nessey's attendants revive her.
Talon: Nessey revives.
Talon: Queen looks over the group.
Talon: Queen says - here's what I think -
Talon: I don't think you guys kidnapped Nessey. I think it's certainly clear
Talon: Queen - Somebody did kidnap Nessey. Her story is consistent with her being kidnapped in Meadowsbrook and being sent over to those Otter Scum. But would you come and look for her if you had been the kidnappers? I can't imagine that. Barbarian Territory and then ours.
Talon: Nessey says - or, they wanted to sell Talon and Mavis into slavery.
Talon: Yoshi - if we had wanted to do that - would we not have done that at the Otter Tribe?
Talon: Queen - agrees, if anyone would be enslaved here it would be Carric and Yoshi.
Talon: Nessey - oh, so you are saying that Caelesti lured Carric and Yoshi here to enslave them?
Talon: Queen - I am speachless. Well, no. Nessey, Nessey, Nessey, I don't any of these 3 are guilty of anything in particular.
Talon: Nessey - it's easy to be confused by evil Fey, she may have charmed you, your majesty.
Talon: Queen, I don't think so. I'll tell you what - you three (Yoshi, Carric, Caelesti) are free, no longer prisioners, but guests of my tribe.
Talon: Queen to Nessey, her brow furrows, she says... (while Caelesti looks sad at Nessey) Nessey, I can completely understand from your view-point why you suspect these people, but based on the information we have, I don't think they actually set out to harm you.
Talon: Queen - I don't know what to say. You ARE a valued member of our tribe, we are delighted to have rescued you from the Otter Scum... but I would like to see a reconciliation somehow.
Talon: Caelesti - I brought you gifts.
Talon: Nessey folds her arms and looks suspicious.
Talon: Yoshi - it is your prerogative- stay here, go with us, go back to Wulfy.
Talon: Carric - why don't we all stay here and make you feel safe. But it is your decision. Come back to Rowansmeade... I think you are mistaken by how you were treated in basement.
Talon: Nessey - hmmmn! Hmmmn!
Talon: Caelesti - you can trust us. We are still your friends.
Talon: Nessey - Hmnnn!
Talon: Queen says - ahem!
Talon: Queen says - Tell you what.... I trust you, even the men, this time, and I think you are basically good hearted people.
Talon: Nessey - How can I ever feel safe with them again?
Talon: Queen - well, let's have a little trial..... I think, Nessey, and I request, or rather, I command, as your Queen, that you accompany these people on a little mission for me
Talon: And you see how things go. Hopefully trust will be regained in both directions. She nods to her Druidess, "Tipotongue"
Talon: Says she will scry you and make sure you are not being taken advantage of. She has told me of a little obligation of our tribe, Nessey you could fullfill it....
Talon: Nessey - I would be proud to filfull any mission for our tribe!
Talon: Q - good - because I have chosen you and you might need help, not that I have doubt in your abilities.
Talon: Druid, Tipotongue, goes out and come back holding a staff. with a squirrel tail and some feathers hanging off the top. Hands to the Queen.
Talon: Queen says - well, every twenty years this tribe
Talon: Every twenty years, our tribe deposits a staff of this sort on top of the Mount of Belenus (looks at Carric) over to the West and the South - in the plain - where Barbarian scum roam - this is our duty. This is what our goddess requires and Belenus who is allied with our goddess. Nessey, I require you to carry this staff and plant it at the top of the hill of Belenus.
Talon: Nessey bows and accept the staff, the mission.
Talon: Queen says leagues to the west and south some - you will find a ring of hills - in the center a taller hill - on top ancient stones - this is our sacred spot and that of others. WE would like you to accompany Nessey so that she can plant this staff and hopefull reconcile along the way and fight side-by-side. WE have found her a stout companion. Our Druid will scry to make sure you are not treacherous.
Talon: Hopefully at top of hill you will all be reconciled and your future way will be clear.
Talon: Nessey, we are delighted to have you here. But do not throw away old friends. Do your best to go along with these people and see their worth.
Talon: You are an honored member of our tribe, but can adventure with these people sometimes too. But do come back here.
Talon: Queen turns to Talon and Mavis -
Talon: I don't quite understand either of you, really. You were not part. of orignal party with Nesssey....
Talon: Talon speaks of collecting stories and asks about the Valley of the Bridgers?
Talon: Queen - raises eyebrows and speaks to her advisors. She says there are only very old legends of that...
Talon: Queen - I am sending you 100 leagues (3 miles each) to the west, the Valley of the Bridgers is reputed to be farther to the West, but you will certainly be closer.
Talon: Talon - that is certainly a goal of mine. All Bards dream of seeing the Valley of the Bridgers.
Yoshi rolls Sk:Diplomacy (d20 + 0): [10] = 10
Talon: Queen - well Nessey does not have to come back right away. You may go there if you wish.
Talon: Queen turns to Mavis. Mavis is not as diplomatic.
Mavis rolls Mavis Diplomacy (d20 + 4): [4 + 4] = 8
Talon rolls T - Diplomacy (d20 + 16): [5 + 16] = 21
Talon: Queen - I don't understand you - why you are here? what you are doing? (they stare each other down, Mavis first to drop gaze) What's in it for you?
Talon: Q - But from what I've heard, you are doing well by them and I expect you to continue doing well by them.
Talon: Mavis nods without making eye-contact.
Talon: Queen - you take Nessey and behave like I expect you to behave and all is well. Anytime Nessey comes back, she is member of tribe. The rest of you will be guests of tribe again, if all goes well, even the men. You can go on to Valley of the Bridgers if you so desire. If you come back, you are welcome. Please do come back. Nesssey - you are ALWAYS a member of our tribe.
Talon: Q - and we like good stories.
Talon: Talon smiles.
Talon: Nessey gushes.
Talon: Yoshi is concerned about leaving Rowansmeade too long.
Talon: Queen pooo-pooos this... Yes plots progress, but you can't be in several places at once. You can only do one thing at a time. The most important thing for you right now - is to reconcile with Nessey. Talon mentions this legendary place. By all means, go there.
Talon: Deal with the rest as it is when you return.
Mavis: Barbarianscum
Talon: Carric asks what creatures we might encounter.
Talon: Queen - malebarbarianscum
Talon: Name of this Tribe?
Talon: Carric asks.
Talon: We are told later.
Talon: Q - Carric, I expect you will be traveling through the forest for at least 80 leagues, then south where barbarianscum live and make way to obvious ring of hills, see our map we will give you. Watch out for the scum on the steppes. On the hill, who knows? In the forest, who knows? In the meantime, you don't need to stay in the cell anymore. Mavis and Talon have had good quarters, you will get comparable hut. Nessey, I encourage you to talk with your friends. You will be traveling a long time with them. I do not think, Nessey, that this is an evil group that is out to oppress you.
Talon: Nessey - Well, your majesty, watch out for that Carric, he's all hands.
Talon: Carric is not all hands with random Amazon woman walking by, therefore Carric has all his hands. :D
Talon: We call it a night.
Talon: More tribulations and less trials in future