Well Iaka for one won't be too thrilled about a fetch quest to pick onions. Could try to bully his way in, that would definitely be in his nature.

Animated Armor and Flying Swords!

Ok, so they didn't make the lair, but they would certainly be decent temple guardians.

"Ok, final offer girly. We can watch you eat your blood until you die, or you tell can me where to go and I'll bring the magic back for you."

(((Intimidate)))

After a bit of searching, Iaka found his first real target. The girl was young, but clearly not immune to the effects of the flux. Her hollow eyes darted about as he approached. Her hands shook with anxiety. Withdrawal always seemed to look the same. Good. Her desperation would be their ally. 

'tch 'tch "You look like you need a hit. I'm Aaron. This is Jay,"  he said, motioning to his only visible companion. "Look, I could use some myself and Jay... Jay's itchin' to try it. Take us to your guy and I'll buy you a hit for now and one for next time."

"While we're on the way, I'll tell you what you can do for me."

((OOC: I think that's a bluff check? +8 if it is. If Iaka fails to bluff her, he will try to intimidate her))

Iaka would be perfectly happy to use you as bait. You can be an obvious good guy to keep them from looking too closely at the rest of us...

Iaka looked sidelong at Kheric, his meal having doused the last of his anger. "Look, uh, if you're still in, we need to get out there tonight and find a dealer. It would be easier to work alone, but safer to go together. It's up to you but here's what I'm thinking. We can cover a lot of ground if we spread out a little. We could work out some kind of signal - we used to do bird calls when I was a ratling - and if we get in trouble we can help each other out. Say, this food's pretty good huh?"

The rat's eyes flitted about the room as he searched for someone who seemed likely to have a bit of information.

Your HR line shows in the editor but doesn't show up in posts.

ONWARD! I felt like we didn't have a direction, so I took one for myself. Hope that little Rat wasn't an important lead!

The Prison

"DEAF AND DUMB? THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HANDY INFORMATION TO HAVE!" Iaka shouted at the officer currently losing his lunch. An internal, more collected version of himself noted the guard was pretty upset by this gore considering he should have been a trained officer of the law, and every bit as familiar with the insides of a person as the outside. 

"And now dead. Great. We're dropped in the middle of this investigation like we're some kind of bloodhounds and our only lead is a dead man. Do any of us actually know why we're here? Just a little something to do with your spare time? Do they give out these medallions to everyone who shows up and asks for one, or just us? Because these things,"

He paused for breath, pulling the medallion out from beneath his shirt.

"Are gonna be a SQUEAKING LIABILITY if we want to get anything done after dark around here. Officer, the incompetence of your force is astonishing, yourself included. Any of you still want to do this thing, I'll be at the Two Moons tavern tomorrow morning. I'm hitting the streets." 

With that, Iaka Arona strode out of the holding area without waiting to see if he was followed. He thought he heard the desk officer behind him muttering something useless about reporting the incident immediately.

The Two Moons

The short walk to The Two Moons was enough to diffuse Iaka's anger. He checked in, ate his dinner, and made his way to the bedroom, where he stuffed his new pendant into the bottom of the foot locker. Hopefully it was safe there. The midday heat was dissipating, and soon he would begin his investigations.

For now, he stopped in at the bar to buy a drink and cast about for leads.

She.

(((OOC:  Headed to go out on the town at dusk. First place he starts asking questions will be the tavern so if anyone wants to catch him, you can either find him at his dinner or on the way out after he hides the pendant. Specifically I want to find anyone who looks shady and ask them a few questions, try to buy some skooma off them, whatever moves him forward. After darkness falls, I want to move using Stealth as much as possible, to try and catch some dealing in the act. Definitely using Eyes, Ears, and Scent ability throughout.)))

Sorry - I currently SUPER have my hands full with the new brewery. I will be free in the next few days to post something up. I haven't left.

So is everyone in the same room as the prisoner? Seems we've stalled a bit, let's formulate a plan. Perhaps we can get him to talk if we break him out or promise him more candy?

Iaka fingered the medallion hidden behind his shirt. Astonishing. He gotten off the boat without any kind of plan, and now here he was shuffling along with this merry band of misfits. The security in this town must be pretty lax - Jirolin had barely asked him his name before handing him the keys to the city!

This was certainly going well. Iaka kept his mouth shut and stroked his whiskers while questions were asked and answered. These guards barely knew anything, and if they knew more this crew would be collectively out of a job.

Jirolin pulled out a handful of the drug. Magic candy.

"Jirolin, just one question. Can I have a bit of that to keep? It could be an invaluable asset - we may be able to trade some for information."

((If J. doesn't agree, Iaka will attempt to sleight-of-hand some during show and tell.))

===
Later
===

She was asleep.

Iaka waited until the captain had departed. He looked at the addict in the cell and, without saying a word, took his meteor hammer from its leather pouch and dropped the heads on the ground so they each made a nice, loud thump.

After a moment, he looked again at the addict. Just above a whisper, he asked "Do you know what happened?

((Intimidate))

No offense, SW, but I kinda feel like I'm being rushed with your four DM posts in six days.

Iaka will play bad cop. I have points in intimidate and that's totally in his nature.

Oh my jeez thank you!

>The game is afoot!

No, the game is a play-by-post pen-and-paper role-playing-game!

No worries, the text color is a new addition to the site and we're all experimenting. I agree with you, since default is red, that color should be general use, and each character's thoughts and words should be in a unique color. I'm also using italics without quotes to indicate inner monologue.

Oh I would also like to reserve that very light grey for... purposes.

A couple things

- It seems we're all choosing colors for ourselves with this new editor. Iaka speaks in black and I'll be writing in standard red. I vote we keep quotes from other characters in their respective colors. 

- If anyone cares, Iaka Arona is pronounced Ee-uh-kuh Er-uh-nuh

- could we get a link to this QA as a parent thread to the game?

She is true. She is loyal. She is in despair. She is in silence.

Good enough.

The barge rocked and swayed in the midday heat as Iaka prepared to disembark. His tail flicked with impatience. Beside him, the giant rat Knuckle chirruped and hissed, anxious to be rid of his saddlebags. They were standing next to a man with pale hair who seemed bothered by the stench.

Iaka breathed deep. He exhaled, and exclaimed (perhaps pointedly), "Ah. Smells like this remind me of home." He fidgeted his wedding ring with one claw, seeming to send his mind elsewhere for a moment.

The strange signs had a bit of a desperate air about them, what with being posted all over the place. It seemed several of his ship-mates had also taken notice, and were converging on a man they assumed to be this Jirolin. Well, it could make for an interesting diversion. Maybe a few worthy foes would even turn up during this little trial. And hey, free food.

The big man spoke, clearly used to his authority. "Have you come regarding the Call to Action we've posted? My guards are already stretched thin and we could certainly use any help we can get."

"Ayuh," said the Ratman, who had made a point of arriving a bit slower than the others. "Why not."

In light of Tann's issue, it might be a good idea to keep an "undo edit" option. Don't know how it would work, you would have to keep the previous copy on an invisible page I guess.

Welcome to the Inn!

Oh man, I really like that solution. Combat has always been the weakest  and slowest part of games in pbp, this should help considerably.

Man that Facebook group is really hateful to fifth edition. Had to unsub, I like 5e!

I have a feeling my replies are always going to be titled with an ellipsis, regardless of subject requirements!