Name: Mark (Mark) Redding, Race: Human

Ht: 5’10, Wt: 160, Sex: Male, Archetype: Wizard

HP: 5 / 5 Mana: 22 / 39 MCU: 300 / 300

Stats:

Physical: 2, Moxie: 2, Spiritual: 2, Luck: 2,

Agility: 2, Magic: 3, Mental: 3, Energy: 4.

Relevant Skills: Gather Mana, Magic Sight, Physical - Awareness

______________________

"I think that guard recognized us," Todd said a bit too loudly.

With one hand in front of his mouth, Mark turned to his friend and pinched his thumb and index finger together while moving it across his lips. He tried to look away from his friend casually, then slowly knelt and removed his backpack as if to pull out something from it. After a second, he pulled his hand out and started re-lacing a boot. Once it was tightened, he stood up, slowly turning as he picked up his backpack.

Success! Physical roll 5d10; 5, 9, 8, 6, 5. Two Successes; Skill Physical - Awareness gained 2 Experience.

Skill points to the next level, 9,206.

Standing in a group of 3, one of the guards was looking directly at Mark and his friends. Mark quickly shouldered his pack and gathered mana.

Success! Energy Roll 7d10; 6, 4, 4, 9, 1, 3, 5; One Success; Skill Gather Mana gained 1 Experience.

10 Mana Gathered, Max Mana is 39. Excess is lost.

Skill Points to the next level, 2,459

"Let's go find someplace to get food," Mark said. Then in a softer tone, "somewhere without so many eyes."

Together they moved as swiftly as the crowd would let them. Turning down one street to quickly dart into an alley and pop out down another road. After a second double back, Todd spotted a tavern on a corner and pointed it out. They passed by the bar only to dart into a nearby alley, then emerge out the other side to come back down and enter through a side entrance.

All of the seats and tables inside were empty. A lone bartender stood behind a long bar cleaning cups. No response from anyone inside as the group entered. Mark pointed out a table to the side of one of the doors. As the group shuffled toward the table, Mark headed to the bartender.

"You open?" Mark said.

"If ye got the coin." The bartender looked up at Mark and in the direction of where the group was sitting. "Cook isn't here, so it's an ale or something stronger."

"Six ales, please." Mark set two gold coins on the counter before turning around. A slight cough brought his attention back to the bartender, who was holding up a hand with four fingers outstretched. With a sigh, Mark reached into a pouch and pulled out three more gold coins that he set on the counter. "My apologizes."

Success! Physical roll 5d10; 4, 6, 8, 8, 9. Three Successes; Skill Physical - Awareness gained 3 Experience.

Skill points to the next level, 9,203.

Leaning against the bar, Mark attempted to casually watch the doors. He didn't see any guards pass by, but the view was limited, and the windows were not very clear. Several little thumps announced the arrival of six mugs of a light brown ale with a bit of foam on top. Mark grabbed four and walked over to the table Todd and Jax chose. Setting the drinks down, he headed over and grabbed the remaining two.

"This isn't an inn; after you finish your drinks, please exit; nothing personal; I just had a bad experience." The bartender said as Mark grabbed the remaining two drinks.

"Do you know me?" Mark said.

"No, but I can recognize when someone is not sure what the next step is." Then, with a look toward the door and a barely perceptible sigh, the bartender looked at Mark. "We get busy during the lunch rush, and I need the tables for paying customers."

Mark nodded before turning around and heading back to the table, standing briefly before his friends and taking a sip of the ale. Bitter and sour flavors filled his mouth as he drank the liquid down. His jaw tightened as he swallowed, still not over how much he disliked Ales.

Sitting down, he placed the spare drink in the middle of the table and took another sip of the ale. Mentally he wished it was water, but not the type of water that made him drink the ale. At least he knew he wouldn't be stuck in the bathroom for the next few days.

"I don't mind alcohol but wish they had a good wheat beer or something not as…." Mark struggled to find a word to fit, "hoppy or sour."

"It isn't that bad," Jax said. "Can taste some fruity notes in it."

"Great, we got the one paladin who is a microbrewery snob," Mark said. "I'm kidding, man; I just wish we could trust the water."

"It is ok, I understand," Jax leaned over and touched Mark's glass. The amber liquid disappeared to be replaced with a clear liquid. "It'll still have some flavors but should be close for ya."

Mark took a drink from his glass, the water washing away the taste of sour and bitter that coated his throat. Quickly draining the glass, he thanked Jax before pulling out Charisa's character sheet. The sheet showed her still in full health, and he scanned the info to look for some sign of where she was; her inventory was empty, however. The lack of items gave Mark pause; he noted she wasn't wearing any gear, and there was a status of Restrained.

Mark's motioned to get Todd and Jax's attention. He pointed out the Restrained status and the lack of gear. He could see it in their eyes that they both were wondering what could have happened. Leaving the paper to his friends, he wandered over to the bartender.

"I apologize. I'm not from here, and I'm looking for someone." Mark quickly put four gold coins on the counter. "I'm not expecting you to know, but if you could point me in the general direction of someone who can help me." Before the bartender could say anything, Mark reached back into his coin pouch and pulled out another handful, four more gold, eight silver, and some copper. He extracted the copper and placed the rest on the counter.

"The Medicated Goat I hear trades in gossip." The man said. He scooped up the coins and went back to cleaning.

Mark nodded and went back to the table with his friends. Not sitting down, he grabbed one of the mugs and drank it. Ignoring the sour taste. After he set the mug down, he reached for the character sheet and put it back into his backpack.

"Medicated Goat, we can start looking for the info there," Mark said. Both Todd and Jax nodded and stood up. Each is finishing their glass, and Jax is drinking a second. Not knowing the custom, they placed the mugs on the bar.

After two hours of wandering and asking for directions, they managed to locate the large three-story inn with a sign of a Goat holding a mug. Todd stopped suddenly and stared off towards a nearby building.

Success! Physical roll 5d10; 5, 10, 4, 5, 5. One Success; Skill Physical - Awareness gained 1 Experience.

Skill points to the next level, 9,202.

Mark spotted Reggie once he followed Todd's gaze. The cleric was standing in an alley between two buildings, his eyes darting around as if trying to see everything.

"Follow my lead," Mark said as he strode over to the building and leaned against it several feet from Reggie. Jax and Todd joined him, with Jax between Mark and Reggie. "You guys ok?" Mark said as he watched the traffic on the street before them. He couldn't see Reggie but hoped his friend could hear him over the noise.

"Yeah, Charisse was captured by the Royal Guard, and there is a lady who somehow has the ability to charm people." Reggie's voice struggled over the noise.

"Is Henderson ok?" Jax said. The olf turned toward Reggie and started to move to look around the corner. Mark caught this and quickly put an arm on Jax to hold him back.

"Yeah, he's watching behind me," Reggie said.

"Is the Medicated Goat a safe place to go and talk?" Mark said.

"Don't know, but it was where we met the charmer," Reggie said.

"Let's find somewhere else then. Can you guys move?"

"Yes,"

Mark, Todd, and Jax started walking away from the Medicated Goat, heading towards the outer parts of the town, pausing occasionally to wait for Reggie and Henderson to catch up. As the buildings got smaller and more ramshackle, they found a two-story inn named, The Sleeping Dog. The place was busy inside, but most were crowded by the bar and at some of the tables in the common room. To the side, near some stairs going up, an older man stood near a podium.

"Any rooms available?" Mark said as he approached the podium. The man looked at him and then in the direction of the group.

"Only a single room with two beds, a silver per person." The older man said.

When Mark placed five coins on the podium, the older man placed a key on a ring. Etched in the key was the number four.

"Up the stairs, to the left, fourth door, near the corner."

Mark gave a little bow and beckoned his friends to follow him. They trudged up the stairs and quickly found the room; it had four lines painted in white on it. Mark entered first; the room was small, even by standards for this world. The two beds were foot-wide benches on two sides of the room, separated by six feet. A thick wool blanket served as a mattress or something to keep you warm, as there were no blankets or pillows in the room. A small four-inch hole in the wall was plugged with glass giving an impression of a window.

"Hold up before you guys enter," Mark said. He stood in the center of the room and allowed himself to look in the magical spectrum.

Success! Magic roll 5d10; 10, 3, 2, 3, 8. Two Successes; Skill Magic Sight gained 2 experience.

Skill points to the next level, 12.

Little motes of mana appeared around him; most of it was normal from the wood and various bits from nature. Nothing in the room glowed as if it was magical, nor was there a lingering aura from someone else having been in the room or a spell being cast. Mark moved the thick blankets and didn't spot anything under them except a spider that quickly scurried behind the bench.

"Alright, you guys can enter." Mark said.

"Did you secure the room?" Todd said as he entered.

"Na, just scanned for magical stuff. I don't have a spell that'll block out sound or scrying." Mark chewed on his lip a little as he mulled the idea of digging through the player handbook.

Once everyone was in the room, Mark and Todd sat on one of the benches, Henderson and Reggie on the other. Jax stood in the middle of the room, his eyes focused on the door. Todd threw one of the blankets at the door to cover up the small crack underneath.

"About as private as we'll get," Mark said. "To the best of your ability, can you explain what happened?"

"We ran…" Both Reggie and Henderson spoke at the same time. Both looked at each other and then waved a hand for the other to go ahead. Then after both of them tried to speak again, Henderson quickly shut up and put his hand over his mouth.

Reggie quickly explained the charming lady who enchanted Charisse, Henderson, Samson, and Reggie. He then spoke briefly about the aftermath of the heist and Charisse hiding them while she pulled the guard away.

"So Charisse was captured but not killed," Todd said.

"I think so; maybe we can bribe a guard to get some info. I have some gold." Mark said. Mark pursed his lips and tried to devise a solution, but nothing but a blank. "I'm guessing since she isn't dead, it can't be good. But without knowing where she was being held, we can't help."

"Bribing seems like the best option; maybe we…." Todd already pulled out his coin pouch and started pouring out coins into his hand.

"I have an idea," Jax thundered over everyone else, and he kept talking, "We have a priest and paladin; we can go read last rites to the prisoners; we should be able to locate Charisse that way."

"Excellent, we'll all go and…" Todd caught on and started planning, but Jax cut him off again.

"No, if we do this, we must not abuse our position, even for the greater good. But once we know where she is, we can return or send the rest of the team to do the extraction."

"Are you sure, Jax, this doesn't go against any code?" Mark said, studying his friend's face.

"My way, yes, it meets my requirements," Jax said.

"Great, then we split the party again and hope for the best." Mark sighed.

"No, we pray that our arrogance isn't blinding us from what is right and that we can recover our brother, her sister, from the evil king," Jax said.

"At this point, I'll pray to anyone if that'll help." Mark bowed and silently prayed, 'Please God, let this work." Before looking back at his friend's faces.

Jax was looking down at the floor while nodding his head a little. Reggie was as well. Todd looked confused, but when his eyes met Mark's, he quickly looked at the floor and closed them. Henderson was behind Jax and Reggie so that Mark couldn't tell.

"Fu… fudge, I hope this works."