Party 11

[DevilishEgg]

Garosh was throughly shamed and tried to take up even less space as he turtled up further in his hood. "Sorry..." He mumbled and hugged Scout closer as he whispered to the pup, "We should be quiet, Scouty. We don't want to be making a scene in our first day out or else they will make us go back."

Still hunched over, the dragonborn peeked beneath his cloak to stare at the fancy man giving his too long speech.

 

[sonojax]

Boros looks at Maris and scoffs, then blows a rasberry at her. He then turns back to Garosh and says, at the same volume. "Do not be sorry Punch Man. Fancy Man has said no things yet. Holy Lady is also fart bag." He does quiet down, though, and waits for the presentation to start.

 

[SilentTears]

As Dmitri and Griswolde follow the signs and walk into Pellington Ballroom, he watches as the extremely large half-orc and the black dragonborn he saw earlier from the tavern talk to each other and get settled. Looking around to the others gathered, he notices that they all seem to be relatively experienced adventurers. Smiling, he turns to his employer. "Shall we find a seat? Looks like the party's just getting started."

 

[Kanaxe_Ru]

Pellington Ballroom:

"Yes, I believe we shall," Griswolde replies, allowing Dmitri to guide him to a seat. He taps around with his cane before sitting down neatly, bag to his side. "It's a pretty nice turnout, I would add. Should be a curious time indeed."

Scout yelps quietly upon seeing all the new strangers but eventually settles down in Garosh's lap, starting to doze off slightly. "That's... you brought your pet here?" the half-elf asks, a bit of confusion in her voice. The man next to her elbows her and shrugs. "C'mon, not our business y'know? I bet those big strong men could protect a little puppy real easy." The half-elf sighs, eventually relenting and turning back to her own business. Meanwhile Theodor quickly pulls up a chair next to Maris and gets himself settled, clearly eager to begin.

"Right, first things first of all," goes the man at the podium, clearing his throat to catch the room's attention. "As this has been determined to be an inter-factional threat, we'll have to make the usual accomodations. David, the paperwork," he calls to his assistant, who quickly scrambles to hand him a sheet of paper, quill and ink. "We'll need to know our representation here."

He starts to call out faction names. "Harpers?" The human man strums his lute and nods, as the dark-skinned half-elf gives a short wave next to him.

"Order of the Gauntlet?" Theodor dutifully stands up and salutes, before making himself comfortable once more.

"Emerald Enclave?" The earth genasi gives a thumbs up, gesturing to themselves as well as the dwarf.

"Zhentarim?" Griswolde himself puts a hand up nonchalantly, his gaze looking nowhere in particular. This would be the first time Dmitri had heard of such an association from the older man.

"The rest of you must be independent mercenaries, so for the sake of this mission you will be considered under contractual agreement with the Lord's Alliance -- represented here by Duchess Morwen Daggerford, who is also acting as sponsor to the endeavor," he notes, gesturing to the woman seated at the table before adjusting his stack of notes to start reading.

"Moving on to the subject matter at hand, I'm sure you are at least vaguely aware of what you're signing up for since you followed the signs here. A few hamlets east of Daggerford have reported repeated assaults by a pack of werewolves that seem to spill out of the Misty Forest on nights of the full moon. It's particularly concerning because they seem to specifically seek out and abduct small children roaming the streets at night. We do not know the exact size of the pack but they appear to be able to attack multiple different settlements in rapid succession which leads us to believe this is a growing threat." He squints at the bottom of the page. "... Oh, and it seems I should mention that it will be a full moon tonight as well."

He pauses to look over the gathered group, as if slightly judging them on whether they were listening or not. "As a result we are funding a multi-party expedition into the Misty Forest in an attempt to seek their hideout and, if possible, vanquish them. You will be suitably compensated for your service, and participation communicated with your faction if necessary. We plan to leave tonight. Any questions so far?

 

[DevilishEgg]

Gerosh raised an eyebrow at the half-elf but simply gave a withering glare in response before turning his attention back to the too-long speech.

Find werewolves. Kill werewolves. Seemed simple enough.

He wondered why that couldn't have been communicated in fewer words but chose to keep his thoughts to himself for now. His order hadn't been mentioned but even if it had, he remembered to keep it hidden like he had been instructed.

After the man was done, the dragonborn turned to Boros and shrugged in question then replied with a second shrug, "Alright, our objective seems straightforward. Ever fought werewolves before?"

 

[sonojax]

Boros stares ahead as Gerosh talks to him. "Boros has not fought where-wolves. Boros will hit them with hammer until they are red." He pauses for a bit in contemplative thought. "Or sword. Boros is not picky." He turns back to the presenter.