The Large Dumbo

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kythor

"Interesting..." Kythor leans back. It seems this man was no charlatan: he was telling the truth about his ability to conjure and talk to the spirits of the deceased. "I'd be interested in seein' how a seance with the Pale Lady goes..." As he talks, he watches Kyra step up and out - although he hadn't been paying attention to the brawl outside, he had started to assume it was growing a bit more serious. He stands up, shoving his chair out some with a heavy sigh. "Just a moment," Kythor says with a sigh.

Although Kythor cared little for how bloody the battle grew between the dragonborn and the fox-eared woman, he was in no position to allow the former to be murdered. If Domic wanted to outright kill the other in the middle of town, he would rather they do it away from the tiefling just so that he could have some degree of plausible deniability. He didn't know the guard of this town too well, but as far as he was concerned, from the stories the elders had hammered into his brain, a simple murder while he was in town was all it'd take for him to be locked up in jail, likely burned at the stake as that other man had been during their last trip in Easthaven.

By the time Kythor arrived at the scene, it seemed Kyra was able to deescalate the situation. He moved past the fox-eared woman, stepping out to judge the scene for himself. The dragonborn was pretty harshly beaten... Kythor should probably tend to his wounds, but as he watched the dragonborn wander back in, he supposed that he was probably fine for the time being. "Hmm. Seems like we've got all that taken care of..." Kythor sighs to himself. "Don't worry, I'll make sure the big guy doesn't keel over in the middle 'a dinnertime..." He shook his head. "Don't care too much to see him throw himself into an unnecessary fight and waste his energy 'n stamina like that, but I figure we ain't gonna be headin' out to find the fishermen tonight anyhow. He'll be good as new in the mornin', I bet."

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

@Lurking Krog

I'd like to make an Insight check to see if the halfling is actually capable of performing the seance, or if this is some sort of hustle or scheme to pick our pockets or anything like that.

Wisdom(Insight)= 1d20+4=19

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kythor

The tiefling sits back, watching all of this unfold in front of him. He takes a hefty swig of his mead before slamming his mug down on the table. "Fierna, qujy py wzrylqzm..." Kythor scowls, cursing to himself in Infernal. They were supposed to be on the hunt for somebody to help them navigate the waters to find the missing townsfolk, and yet here they were - two of them preparing to head out to fight one of the other patrons. It wasn't that he was annoyed inherently by them fighting, not at all. He'd sparred with his kin fairly frequently until he was separated from them. Instead, it was more irritation at how side-tracked they'd gotten: he would rather they focus on the task at hand before doing something like this.

Well, whatever. He needed not concern himself too much with whatever was brewing between Domic, the large lizardperson, and the fox-eared one. As long as none of them were too seriously injured in whatever was about to happen, they could rip each other to pieces for all he cared. Besides, it wasn't like the ferry captain was going anywhere anytime soon, and they likely wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow anyways to give the captain time to get set up.

Two of his group had gone over to the halfling, and his interest was piqued. Kythor picks up his mug and approaches the halfling. "A seance?" Kythor repeated, taking a sip from his mug. "You're planning on talkin' to the White Lady's spirit, hm?" The tiefling's skepticism is evident when he scoffs. "Interesting... and just how do you plan on goin' about that?" Conjuring the spirits of the deceased was something that one had to spend many years of dedication and training to undergo, or at least it was the case in his tribe. He watched the halfling carefully, keeping an eye out for any signs of deceit. If this was some sort of scam, then at least he can warn Dullin and Kyra both their time and their coin.

If, however, he was being honest... Well, Kythor was quite intrigued to see such a process for himself.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

So it turns out that 'tomorrow' wound up getting pushed back quite some ways after I got called in for work unexpectedly, and of course having a bit of writer's block and some other business to attend to didn't help either, but I finally got something in! Even though it's obscenely late as of me writing this post, hahaha...

Anyways, sorry again for the sudden disappearance! I'll try to be present more often and make sure to communicate myself more often and more efficiently both in and out of the campaign going forward.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kythor

Kythor wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of hiring an extra hand or two. More hands meant likely more people to feed, less gold towards his goal (as it would be spent on hiring them), as well as meaning that he'd likely have to be put on babysitting duty to stop their city-dweller-for-hire from throwing themselves to the wolves. Sure, they might run into someone who has experience with the harsh wilderness to match his own, and they might even be generous or foolhardy enough to do the task for free, and perhaps they may even find someone sturdy enough to survive the wilds, but to find someone who fit all of those descriptors? Unlikely. He imagined he, or at the very least the party, would be hurting somewhere, unless they could find the ideal partner. When the party entered the tavern, he joined them as they walked in. He'd feel most confident being able to look over their possible candidates for a captain to their ship. Talk was cheap, but mannerisms, actions, and experience... Those were important.

First, though, he'd take a moment to warm up. When the strange woman by sitting in the corner catches his gaze with her own, he lifts an eyebrow slightly. Some sort of humanoid, with fox ears and a tail. Had this person wronged a druid and been placed under some sort of curse? Or was this perhaps some sort of effect acquired at birth? He shook his head slightly, before taking a seat at the bar. He lifts his gloved hand up slightly and waves it to get the attention of the barkeep. "I'll have a mug of ale," Kythor calls out. Might as well take this opportunity to warm up while they search for any seafarers who can help them. He pauses for a bit as the fox-eared woman shouts something about the White Lady, and asking how she died. The tiefling wasn't too sure what to make of it, but assumed he was missing some context - thus, after a brief glance of curiosity in her direction, he slowly turns back to face the barkeep.

"And while you're at it, we're in need of someone who can help us get a boat through the frozen waters, yeah? Specifically, we need someone who's able to help us steer the thing while we follow the coastline to see if we can track down the missing fishermen. Could also use a couple 'a people who aren't afraid of the cold, and can handle themselves too, perhaps, but I figure we oughta find the first before we move on to the second. Know anyone we could talk to that might be able t'help us?" His volume is decently loud for two reasons: one, to make sure he can be heard over the din of the tavern's background noises, and two, to allow any such individuals who fall under either category to eavesdrop and possibly present themselves.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Sorry about the absence, everybody! I'd planned on getting a post up today, but things came up. I'll have one up tomorrow for sure!

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kythor

"I figure we might have to do a little bit of convincin' to get them to hand over too much," Kythor replied, before lowering his voice significantly. "Well, maybe a bit more if these people think their fishermen have gone 'n gotten themselves killed out there. Obviously in that case, they're in no rush to hand over life savin' supplies to save the lives 'a people who are already dead, yeah?" Although he didn't plan to operate with a single possibility in mind, he did at least put some consideration into their needs - namely if the fishermen were alive. Food would be a necessity for them, but Kythor had no fear of food shortages: a simple magical spell taught to him by the druid he once called his mentor would provide sustenance to up to ten bodies. Excluding his company, this left them with six spare Goodberries to distribute among any survivors. Extra clothing, healers kits, and possibly even repair kits, however, were best left to the hands of the townsfolk's generosity. While it was true that Kythor had a very minimal capacity to heal others, he preferred to avoid using that spell as much as he could. It was a very powerful drain to his magical energy, and he imagined it would be more efficient to let the Goodberries patch up any minor wounds to begin with. With that in mind, he spoke up once again.

"Doubt food's gonna be much of a concern for any of us, regardless of the state of the fishermen when we find 'em," Kythor says, "unless somehow we end up with a body count higher than 'bout ten. As for what I can offer once we're out on the water: I can help row us, or I can assist Kyra in keeping watch. After all, the more eyes we have searching for our target, the better, yeah?"

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Ack, sorry about that, everybody! I missed where we were talking about going out to the lake OOC and thought we were going to discuss it IC, sorry! I think it might not be a bad idea to consider picking up a boat to help us find the missing fishermen, but that being said, do any of us have proficiency in that sort of thing? I guess we could try to have somebody pilot it regardless, but that seems kind of dangerous. Does anybody else in the group have any particular feelings one way or the other?

Oh, and before we go out - what did we end up doing with the bloodied book we found here, in Easthaven? I think it might be a good idea to have any of the more magically-inclined characters take a peek at it, if possible. I think there was an illusion cast on the book that prevented us from actually reading it, right? Maybe someone in our new party might be able to make something of it.

Yeah, it's been pretty slow. I don't mind a small group but it sucks when players just up and vanish. Its not easy on a dm to explain that sort of stuff.

@Birdboy

Honestly, it's especially bad too if that sort of thing kills a campaign. I've had a couple of campaigns just kind of disintegrate after players just poofed into thin air, which is really a shame as both a DM and player if you've had a lot of buy-in into that campaign. Like, I'd rather people just be up front about why they've suddenly stopped showing up than just fading into obscurity, it's really the least you can do for all parties involved.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kythor

The tiefling stayed silent as his compatriots discussed among themselves whether or not they should take the job. The way that Kythor saw it, it was up to the people to tend to their own dead, but in the event they couldn't - which was obviously the case in this scenario - then it fell upon someone who could. The dead deserved respect, with only the most vile of people having this right rescinded in his eyes. Of course, it was also possible, albeit unlikely, that the fishermen were still alive. Perhaps they had taken refuge in a cave somewhere, or had found shelter to ward off the cold.

Either way, it would do no good to assume the fishermen are dead - at worst, they can retrieve what's left of the bodies to return to the village, and at best they simply had to watch over the fishermen and make sure they survived the return trip.

"Figure it's only right that we go 'n retrieve their dead for them, yeah?" Kythor proposes, agreeing with Domic. "Or their living, if there are any. Hey, who knows? Maybe they got waylaid by some kobolds or somethin'. Way I see it, only way we're gonna know for sure is by goin' out and looking for ourselves, yeah?"

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Hope everybody enjoyed their Christmas/ had a happy holiday! I know I'm very overdue on a post - in retrospect, maybe promising a post up on Christmas Eve wasn't my best idea - but things are finally starting to wind down for me. I'll definitely have one up tomorrow!