Option Number 1

You stand in the Adventurer's guild with one very bored looking receptionist looking at you. He blinks slowly and rummages through the papers on his desk. "Well, I've got three different missions here that are for /greenhorns/." The man says greenhorns a bit rudely and holds up the three postings that haven't gone up on the board yet. "One of them is that a local man named... something... went missing and his neighbor is looking for him. One of them is to check out a suspicious pool in the wilderness. And the other is a mission in the sewers. Seems something's spooking animals down there." He holds the papers out toward you.

"Whattya want?"

Mal'Thael says, "Well....I imagine we could track down the 'something'." He says as he pets the hyena next to him...who lets out a series of chuckles before leaning against Mal.

Malik is sitting on one of the benches nearby, waxing his bowstring and listening as the clerk explains the options. "I recommend -not- the sewers," he tells the others. "It sounds like easy work, but you'll never get that smell out of your stuff." Spoken like someone who may have some experience in these things. "Between the other two, tracking down the missing guy sounds noble and all, but the pool isn't -moving-, so. Up to you, though. Hopefully the sewer job at least has olfactory hazard pay."

Mal'Thael says, "Well....Trakker here can help us find the guy, as can my knowledge of the woods and earth. The pool may not be moving anywhere, but the guy may be." Note...he didn't agree to the sewers either.

Stena, of course, is nodding her head slowly.

"...Something?" she asks. "Well, okay. Let's do this, then." A shrug follows. She seems amiable. No skin off her nose. She's gonna get paid if they're right. "Not the sewers," she agrees with a sigh.

The man looks a bit irritated thumbing through the papers. "The missing person then?" He seems doubtful even as he lays it on top. "A Mister Menel Dinmorin? There's more information on the sheet if that's the one you want. Or did you want the directions to the pool? You aren't being very clear here."

Malik just nods, giving a little shrug. "Alright. Guess we're tracking down Mr. Dinmorin." He grabs his stuff and gets ready to go, letting the others get the details from the irascible clerk. Perhaps that was clearer. "Hopefully this one turns out better than the last one. That one we found drunk and pantless in the woods, professing his love to a tree that he thought was a wood nymph. Awkward."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. The last place I wanted to go was the sewers," says Stena. "Dad dropped me off in there once. As a rat. Wasn't pleasant."

She shrugs, then reaches to take one of the sheets in question. She eyes Malik. "That must've been fun..."

Mal'Thael says, "Perhaps he was just missing some fiber. If it's him again...we can nickname him 'Splinter'" he then looks a bit. "This should be fun." He says walking out."

Mr. Dinmorin, the information states, is a young human. He is described as being tall, a bit over six feet tall. He is further described as having short white hair and sky blue eyes. Mr. Dinmorin's occupation is as a weapon's trainer specializing in swordsmanship. His business is beside that of a tailor's shop (oddly enough), and his home is close to the noble's district which suggests that he is at least moderately wealthy.

Malik reads the paper as they head in the specified direction, looking at the others. "So we're looking for -- a young man with a hell of a sword arm." He sighs, passing the paper back to the others as they move along their way. "Fantastic. There is no way that this can go sideways." Looking to Mal'Thael, he asks, "You really think your hyena can track him?" And then, over to Stena, "You and I should trade stories sometime. I've got something that can one-up your rat thing. But I bet you've got others."

Mal'Thael says, "Of course he can." He then pats the hyena. "he survived being in a thul Shrine. he'll be able to do this." he says as he touches the ground....and the Hyena begins to sniff....getting the clue immediately.

GAME: Mal'Thael rolls survival: (18)+13: 31
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls 1d20+5+3: (4)+5+3: 12

The tracks will lead you from the house, which seems to smell strongly of the elf through the city to his shop. Which is where it seems he must have been most recently. The tracks meander into the alley for a while and the hyena sneezes twice at some scent there that is clearly uncomfortable. The elf's tracks mingle with those of someone else, and then suddenly stop.

Mal'Thael tilts his head as the tracks stop....and looks to Trakker. 'What is it buddy?" He says putting his hand on the dog's back. The hyena begins to search around for more smells. "The tracks end here. Along the way, he picked up another scent, as I picked up another set of tracks. They end here though."

Malik stops behind the druid, looking down at where the tracks disappear. "Soooo. Our options are, what? Magic? Flight?" He glances up to the sky, just to be sure, though he does give a quick look around for any sign of clues as to what they should be looking for. He glances to Stena, asking, "Any ideas? Suggestions?"

"...are they! Great. Well, I don't know anything about tracking." She begins munching on an apple she got from her pouch. "JUst point me in the direction of things that need hitting when we get there."

The tall, human, mercenary warrior named Darius walks behind the group and raises an eyebrow at Mal'Thael and then simply waits for a direction to go.

GAME: Mal'Thael rolls perception: (19)+9: 28
GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (1)+5: 6 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Stena rolls Perception: (4)+0: 4.
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls 1d20+1: (13)+1: 14
GAME: Darius rolls perception: (20)+5: 25

Darius notices it first, kneeling down by a track and then looks up at the house and says in a low bass rumble of a voice, "It appears that our kidnapper jumped straight up from here, perhaps to the roof."

Mal looks up as Darius says that. "it seems so. So he's probably outrunning someone. But who." he says before petting the hyena. "Come...let us find him. But we must go up..."

GAME: Darius rolls Athletics: (3)+6: 9
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls athletics: (4)+6: 10
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls 1d20+6: (14)+6: 20
GAME: Malik rolls Athletics: (12)+2: 14

Mal tries his way to climb and....doesn't get far. As for the Hyena. Apparently the hyena takes a rather stylish approach. He leaps and chomps onto a brick, then flips upwards and chomps onto a higher brick...and that's how he gets to the roof....and Mal'thael just stands there. "The hell did you do that?" Wuff!

Darius tries to jump, but... his armor is just too heavy and he barely clears a couple feet before gravity drags him down. He stares at the Hyena and mutters, "What... the...??"

GAME: Stena rolls Athletics: (20)+5: 25

And so Stena looks at it for a moment before grabbing the end of the rope and more or less running up the side.

"Been a dog once! It was pretty fun!"

And then she's up there!

Darius tosses the rope up to Stena and says, "Here... try to find something to tie it to so that we can climb up ourselves."

GAME: Mal'Thael rolls survival: (4)+13: 17
GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (3)+5: 8
GAME: Darius rolls perception: (16)+5: 21
GAME: Stena rolls Survival: (9)+0: 9

You all make it to the roof safely enough, where you can look around for more clues. It's cold up here and for the most part there's no sign of your missing elf.

Darius peers at the roof and raises an eyebrow, "Apparently, our missing person is also a cat burglar... He went northwards along the roof according to the footprints I've found." as he points them out to the group.

Mal'Thael walks his way over and looks to where Darius points out. He clicks his tongue and Trakker is there....sniffing. "Hopefully he's not too far ahead....."

So you head northward, finding the tracks on the roof much easier to follow than the ones on the ground. Particularly since the footprints are made with such a fancy shoe. Once you reach the edge of Alexandria you're forced down to the ground as the tracks are.

GAME: Darius rolls perception: (9)+5: 14
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls survival: (15)+13: 28
GAME: Stena rolls Perception: (18)+0: 18
GAME: Mal'Thael rolls 1d20+5+3: (14)+5+3: 22
GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (3)+5: 8

Malik just follows along with the group, unsure of what the others are looking at, trusting them to know what it is they're doing -- even if he looks somewhat dubious.

The tracks lead clearly northward but it's not the tracks which surprise, it's the snow. There's a tower out here, a white tower short in stature but standing proudly. Around this tower the land has become ice and snow in every direction. You follow the tracks easier to find here out into the snow until you find... A man standing in the snow. He's a tall man, easily over six feet tall and so thin that he looks taller than he really is. He has black hair and skin so pale that it looks exactly like the snow around you. He's wearing a fine black suit and has the most striking green eyes.

He smiles as sees you. "Hello my friends."

"Oh, he's wearing a suit. Clearly, he's evil," she remarks. She blinks her big eyes at him before waving, "Hello there, gentleman! We're looking for someone."

The tall human mercenary warrior just stops and raises an eyebrow, "Wearing a suit is evil?" He asks, shaking his head, "That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard..." When the man smiles and greets them Darius simply nods, letting the others speak... he's just here to act and look intimidating and break stuff if need be.

Mal'Thael looks to the Man as they draw close. "We're looking for someone, actually." he then looks to Darius. "I've heard worse....like being an Oruch is evil." He then shrugs. "I try not to judge." he then looks to the man in the suit. "Perhaps you can help us find this person?"

Malik just looks at the others, raising an eyebrow as they very clearly talk about the man as he's standing right there. He takes a breath, looking ready to start speaking, but then just offers the taller man an apologetic look as the others beat him to the punch.

"Oh?" He smiles more broadly and takes a few steps toward the person standing closest to him. Namely Mal'Thael who had been leading you into the wilderness and snow. "Looking for whom?" He leans toward Mal'Thael with interest.

Mal'Thael says, "We're looking for a tall elf....about this high." And he holds his hand about 5'5" tall. "....with black hair and....weird shoes. Seen him?""

"In this situation?" says Stena to Darius, "Yeah, probably. I mean, just look at him." She gestures at him vageuly, as if it should be obvious. She's possibly totally wrong.

She grrew up on stories, okay?

At any rate, Stena steps closer to Mal'thael, cheerful smile on her face as she takes another bite from her apple. She produces another one and holds it out to the gentlemen. "Apple?" She offers.

"I can not say that I have or have not." He never seems to cease smiling, and he reaches out to offer his hand to the hyena. His attention is distracted for a moment by Stena's offer. The man lets out an odd mechanical noise and drops his hand on her head instead, taking the apple from her hand. "Ah my sweet how can I help /you/?"

Mal'Thael shrugs a bit. "hmm...." he says before putting his hand on the Hyena's shoulders.

Malik watches the exchange curiously, raising an eyebrow over at Stena. He almost looks like he wants to ask questions, but thinks better of it, just letting this little interaction play out how it goes. Though there will certainly be questions -later-.

"...your... sweet? WEll, you can help us..." She looks down at his hand after the sound. "Say, is that prosthetic? Well, you know." She's still staring at his arm and hand.

The tall man bends down toward Stena and lets his hand trail down her face until they are eye to eye. "It would be my pleasure to help you. Just tell me what I can do yes?"

GAME: Stena rolls will: (6)+0: 6

"Come north with me." He offers, taking her hand and waving off the rest of you. Stena doesn't disagree, following along with him. "Goodbye for now my friends, I will help this sweet one. You can find your way yes?"

"What a lovely idea!"

Stena seems to've glazed over slightly, apparently perfectly willing to follow him. Wasn't she just saying he's evil?

Mal'Thael steps forward immediately. "How about not, hmm? Why don't you either help us out or step away, but don't take away one of us and expect us to just keep going without her." He even goes to put his hand on the man's shoulder.

The man turns his head, allowing Stena to continue forward without him a few steps. He smiles with a touch of curiosity. "Do you mean to do some-thing with that hand?" He takes his own and gently touches Mal'Thael's hand. It's cold to the touch.

Malik nocks an Arrow, looking to the others as the tall, strange man tries to lead Stena away, a slight frown forming as he prepares for the worst. When he reaches for Mal'Thael, though, the bow comes up, the human simply saying, "Don't." Whatever is going on, it seems Malik is in no mood for it.

The man tilts his head at Malik. "Me? Do not do what? Remove his hand from me?" He grins and leans toward both Malik and Mal'Thael, his green eyes seeming to glow. "Please, shoot me."

"Don't shoot him! I'm sure he's a lovely fellow with.. a... prosthetic hand?" She looks down at his hand.

Then smiles.

"You're so sweet."

Mal'thael looks at his hand, then back up to the man's eyes. "I've had enough of your double talk." Then he yells something in druidic....and the hyena immediately rushes forward to snap at the man's leg and YANK it out from underneath of him. It's only then that Mal'th's hand works feverishly......and a loud hiss can be heard from his hand....with a very red looking sword lighting up in his hand. "Drop 'im!" And he moves to smack Stena from her stupor.....with his shield.

-TBC-