At Hornet's warning, Constantine drew a javelin from the sling on his back, smiling menancingly in the dim light. "Allow me to contribute to the fray. I'll take the one on the left, if you don't mind, friend Thäoran."

To up our chances with Sleep, I'd recommend doing a surprise ranged attack first to reduce the bugbears' HP. Then Soledad can cast Sleep on them, and any that are left standing the frontliners can just take out. Leaving one alive for questioning would be a good idea.

To help with that, Constantine can cast Bless to help out with attack rolls. Any takers in particular want an extra d4?

Basic perception checks to see if the retainers pick up on any interesting gossip or tidbits would be all I wanted done with them in town; could lead to us getting some leads if Soledad is correct and the townsfolk haven't told us everything.

"Another astute observation, friend Thäoran!" Constantine rumbled, slapping a hand onto the elf's back and shaking his shoulder heartily. "But that is a risk we need taking, I fear. We've run into a fresh trail worsening with this downpour, and should we turn up empty-handed, we will be returning to the village prematurely. Inevitably we will have to go back to Botkinburg for supplies anyways, so I see no need to have our unarmed friends venture out into the wilderness after us when our return to civilization is assured."

He grinned broadly at the group, eyes glittering in the firelight. "Shall we call this our first adventure together then, friends?"

I'm with Keeper; going back to the village feels too much like backtracking when we could get Luna to sniff the goblins out.

To that end, I've set up the retainers' return to Botkinburg, and I'm sure they will be lovely company for any non-controlled PCs on the way back.

At the elven wizard's words, Constantine brightened. "Indeed, we have much intel and quite a few hands to spare in culling this goblinoid threat, though I despair to think the villagers would be hiding anything from us. They were quite typical for commoners, accomodating but not overly friendly, in my dealings with them." He gestured about himself, drawing attention to the blue scales and pronged horns on his head. "Though I am not the most familiar of faces around here," he said with a smile before looking solemnly to his retainers. "Though they were inviting enough to you lot. Should you return to the village, perhaps we can cover two more area that way."

The dragonborn regarded Soledad, smiling imploringly. "Allow my servants and squire to go in our stead to Botkinburg. They can investigate in greater detail than our eclectic selves could, and we can pursue these fiendish goblins to their hideaway like friend Hornet recommended." He arched an eyebrow at the group, looking for support for his "novel" idea.

Constantine's got zilch on useful spells or features here, unfortunately, so all he can offer is a hand.

But looking over the druid spell list, @Dragonmist, if Luna has Speak With Animals prepared, maybe finding a rabbit that might have seen which way the goblin ran could give us a trail to follow? Not meaning to tell you how to play your character, but just spitballing ideas to get the party moving in a direction hopefully.

How curious, Constantine though to himself, that so many would be seeking these goblins out on the same night. Perhaps they have their own reasons for the hunt. His eyes flicked between his new company, from the menagerie of elves, wary and friendly alike, to the dwarf and warforged. Being the odd man out in such a situation was not unfamiliar territory for the dragonborn, but it was typically humans he was amongst, not those of fey descent. At any rate, they were welcoming enough, and Constantine was just glad to be out of the rain.

"You are right in your assessments, friend Thäoran," he says to the elven man, "Training a squire on the Ridge is not ideal, though travelling by myself through this place I determined to be the worse option. In truth, I've no desire to be out here myself, though I could hardly call myself worthy of my oath to Torm were I to leave Botkinburg unsafe as it is." The dragonborn cracks a smile at the group. "Though I dare say the village has a shot now, with the likes of you all as her defenders. You've all spoken of pursuing these goblins to their base of operations, which I heartily agree with, though fear I cannot contribute more than martial skill in pursuing them." Constantine regards Luna for a moment, getting a rare inkling of insight looking at the man. "Say, should you happen to have any means of tracking those goblins? You seem the type to know your way round the wilderness."

I'm still interested and invested! Looking forward to getting to meet the crew in-character.

If the transition from meatspace to cyberspace was like falling, then the reverse would be getting caught. All at once Cipher felt every sensation return to her body, a tidal wave colliding with every nerve and sense reigniting. The nauseaous feeling from the drop into cyberspace comes and goes quickly, as she feels keenly the crick in her neck and the pins and needles in her legs. She lunges forward, allowing her bag to topple onto the toilet lid as she grabs at her stomach and head, breathing intently.

Catching her breath, Cipher glances up at Guardian and gives him a thumb's up. "I got it," she pants, breath evening out. "I've got a map of the place so we're not walking in blind." She cracks a smirk, "Told you I'm good."

Now that the retainer thing is cleared up (sorry everyone), I'll contribute to planning by saying I was waiting on the rest of the party to give their opinions on if Constantine can come any closer before then discussing in-character what was the next step (which would be dismissing his retainers to Botkinburg and pursuing the goblins to their HQ, as Constantine's preference).

Sorry all for the confusion. @Nomad, gotcha on the rolls. Applogies for that.

I introduced the NPCs with Constantine without consenting Nomad so that'a a bad player move on my part. I'm not in control of them normally, so I won't be writing for them going forth. I can edit my post to clear that ul if you'd like, Nomad.

Constantine sighed. Adventurers were a wary type by trade and should be no less when it was nearing a thunderstorm at night just after a fight, but truly, was hostility necessary? It seemed so according to the elven male brandishing a threatening glare at him. It was times like this that made Constantine miss the court; at least there manners were paramount in public. The dragonborn looked to his servants and squire, giving Armand a pointed look of Here we go again before regarding the elf.

"My name is Sir Constantine of House Dumont," Constantine divulged. "These are my retainers; Armand" - he pointed to the lithe elf in a suit, who gave a stiff nod at the group - "Ludovic" - the dark-skinned human with a well-kept beard simply smirked, as always - "and my squire, the honourable John of House Renou" - the young human seemed startled at the sudden attention, to the point his glove caught on his sword hilt and snagged it out of the sheath. Constantine froze at the movement, praying the suspicious elf didn't take it as a threat. "As you can see, he is still in training. It was part of his apprenticeship that led us out here, as well as the bounty on those goblin ears. We've been wandering after them awhile, and as it would seem, you've beat us to the punch."

Assessing the elven man's stance and his companions seeming preoccupation with mutilating goblins, Constantine chanced a step towards the group. Extending a hand in good faith, he said, "Might we close this distance and introduce ourselves properly? I fear the shouting may attract more attention."

Sir Constantine the dragonborn, at your service!

The trek following these goblins had been an ardous one, hampered by the need to douse their torches and rely solely on Armand's darkvision. Constantine was not thrilled to have so little to do save wander after his butler, but the least he could do was keep his battleaxe at the ready and his nerves in check. He had an example to set with young John, and that would not be one of impatience and a quick temper.

Perhaps a turn of fortune or mishap it was, but the sounds of battle drew Constantine's attention. He adjusted his grip on his battleaxe, striding to the head of the group to halt Armand. They crept quieter, mindful of the squelching mud, and strained to see in the dim light. The ridged scales above Constantine's eyes drew downwards at the sight of humanoids thoroughly battering a group of goblins - the same ones he had been tracking, he was sure - and he signalled to his retainers to gather behind him. If this group was a danger to his men, Constantine needed to assess.

Though it seemed no reason to be alarmed, as the group was preoccupied with loud threats and flashy displays of magic at the goblins. Their line of questions intrigued Constantine. More adventurers after the goblins? Perhaps they could be of a friendly nature.

Constantine spoke amongst his retainers for a moment, ordering them to stay back and behind him in case this went awry, before securing his battleaxe in its sheath, and walking down the hill towards the group.

"Hail and well met!" he yelled across the way, doing his best to appear friendly. "I was tracking these same goblins. You have saved me the task of killing them myself! May we approach?"

Nice to see you back around, Espatier.

Sorry Brom for all this waiting. Prepping to run a live game of my own has been distracting me from a lot of things atm.

I didn't advance the story, but I did update the Doc with a couple questions. Sorry, I have the Doc open all the time so I'm catching the updates as they happen, rather than seeing any PMs. PM tag on Discord would be the best way to reach me, btw.

Me, for one, at least in the Google Doc lol. Sorry, Brom, will have that updated this weekend at the latest.

With Guardian in tow, Cipher leads the way to the stall furthest from the doorway, hoping for some amount of privacy, and locks the door when they're both inside. She's quite pleased with her home turf's care for even public restrooms, but still isn't keen on potentially waking up on the floor, so she closes the toliet lid, takes a seat on the basin itself, feet on the lid. Her bag she sets on her lap, settling as comfortably as possible against the wall.

As she readied herself for jacking in, Cipher regards Guardian one last time, "See you in a few."

Post is up. Apologies to Guardian for the mixed signals.

Cipher worries her lip between her teeth, mulling over the options; the Edge is her preferred locale, where she's done many a netrun - not to mention the booths are so comfortable - but her credstick is decidedly depleted, and that four-hour walk is as unappealing as asking Guardian to bum out a few EDIs to cover her bus fare. Public restrooms are doorways to hell, as far as she's concerned, but being private and close to the mecha she can count on if the corp thinks of sending armed goons to her heavily-armed home turf is a plus.

A sideways glance at Guardian has ideas spinning in Cipher's head. He isn't bad-looking by any means, and the flirting when they met and how close she has been getting to him likely is sending some romantic vibes to any strangers keen on people-watching. Public restrooms are known for rendez-vous, and would make for a good cover...

Guardian has a good look at Cipher's lips curling into a sly grin before she glances between his eyes and his mouth, inching her fingers between his. She presses close to him, not being shy about where her chest touches his, and whispers huskily into his ear, "We're going to the non-gendered bathrooms and acting like a horny couple, so for now you have permission to put your hand on my ass. But I'm doing a netrun and will be unconscious once I get jack in, so it's your job to keep me breathing until I get back."

To make it look good, she presses a linger kiss just below Guardian's ear, entwining her fingers with his properly now, and begins leading him towards the public restroom.

If there's any hope of trusting him, Cipher thinks to herself as she walks, I'll found it shortly.

Sorry, been out of town this weekend and wasn't watching this thread.

Thanks for the specifics, Brom. I'll have a post up tomorrow.

Oath of the Crown paladin male dragonborn (blue) with the noble (knight) background. I'll likely join the majority on D&DBeyond. Do you need the sheet done by a certain date?

Still looking for a player or two to join in? I'm interested, if so.

In regards to Cipher's locale to jack in, I've got a couple questions. Are the bathrooms near the Park gendered? As a member of the Densai alt-cult, is it safe to assume that if Cipher was being attacked, the mech operators would be on her side/step in to deal with it? How far away exactly is the club, in terms of minutes on foot?