[Audio/Visual] Dude where's our map? [Date TBD?]

[naturaltwohands]

[Drizzt's human hands are holding up some paper, his eyes focused on a note in neat Imperial Calligraphy:

I have your charts. If you want a chance of ever leaving this benighted island, bring me the Bando rebels’ box and give me safe passage back to the Empire.

K

Drizzt's gaze continues to linger on it as he speaks out loud, voice even but laced with anger. Yes, he's got a young teenager's voice. And yes, it doesn't do anger very well. Also yes, shut up.]

As the note says, our sea charts have been stolen. [You know, the ones Drizzt found after they didn't need them anymore?] I found this ransom note on the back of our charter.

Does anyone possess clues that might lead to the identity of the traitor? What course of action should we take? And where exactly would we meet this individual? They've neglected to mention a location with which to meet.

Comments

[loyalrebel]

Be far enough back so that you do not get hit.

[naturaltwohands]

As if one could do that without causing suspicion.

... The entire plan seems disproportionate in force, do you not think? The thief has only stolen a map. There is little need to kill for such an offense.

[Remember, this kid was picked by Justice for a reason.]

[loyalrebel]

You do not effectively hold an entire island population hostage for something harmless.

[naturaltwohands]

[Drizzt is quiet as he digests that idea.]

It still does not sit well with me. None of our people were slain or even injured. Why should we be the ones to strike the first blow--a fatal one, no less?

[Mostly because he's an idealist to a fault.]

[loyalrebel]

People have been injured, turned to madness, terrorized and even killed.

Just because they are not investigators does not mean their lives are worth less than our own.

[naturaltwohands]

That is not what I meant! What has happened to people here is heinous and unforgivable.

[Now Drizzt is taking offense.]

But how do we know this individual is responsible for any of that? Is there proof that violence is the best course?

[loyalrebel]

They want something that will cause untold destruction and are willing to hold dozens of people hostage on an island to get what they want.

Are you willing to strand everyone's overlays here and risk their lives and the home others of them have built here when we can stop this individual and protect them all?

[naturaltwohands]

I was not aware the box contained a damned dragon. You could have mentioned that a bit sooner.

[Drizzt's voice grows heavy.]

Wanting such a weapon changes the intent of the theft entirely.

[loyalrebel]

I did not know the specifics, only that it was likely something very dangerous to go through such lengths to try to get back.

If we can create a fake scroll, I can place a spell on it that will cause it to explode when read. We put the fake scroll, or scrolls, in the box and exchange it for the charts for both ships.

[naturaltwohands]

I was not even aware of that much.

... And that plan is better than trapping the box itself. Far less likely to catch an innocent in its wake. The perpetrator will wish to view the scroll in private.

[loyalrebel]

...You do not have much experience with duplicitious people, do you?

It is about all I can do to help.

[naturaltwohands]

No, I do not. Most duplicitous people usually either attack me outright, spew vile hatred from their mouths, or run away from me because I am drow. And when I lived in the city of my birth, I was either too useful of a tool to be killed or too skilled with blades for others to attempt assassination. Even in that place I was inexperienced with treachery.

It will more than suffice.

[loyalrebel]

I suggest you begin learning then. Things are rarely as black and white as they seem, and everyone has a reason for doing something. Sometimes someone does something good for a bad or selfish reason and sometimes they do something you may see as bad for a very good one.

[naturaltwohands]

[Drizzt does give this serious consideration.]

I suppose this is one of the reasons why my father insists I am still a child. It is... hard for me to think in a manner suspicious of everyone and everything. It's easy back home to know my friends and enemies.

[loyalrebel]

It is not so easy here, and remembering that will keep you and others safer.

Doubt things, question motives, if something feels like there is more to it then there probably is.

[memoryandtheft]

We have at least one murder victim who wasn't attacked by hungry cannibals. I'd put the odds of that being unrelated to this at slightly south of zero.

[naturaltwohands]

[A very long pause because Drizzt is reeling that there's another in agreement with this idea.]

But what if we strike wrongly?

[memoryandtheft]

That's why we strike non-lethally, in case they're smart enough to use a proxy - either to get the box in the first place, or to open it once they have it. Setting a trap is a good idea. Setting a trap with dynamite is best left to Wile E. Coyote.

But approaching this with the assumption that they're planning on acting in anything like good faith, or that they don't already have a body count...that's just going to get more people killed

[naturaltwohands]

They likely very well may be.

... now that I am aware that there is a dragon involved, I am much less inclined to believe that this individual can be one acting in good faith. And that there is a good chance the murder could be related.

[memoryandtheft]

They wouldn't be acting on good faith if the thing in the box was a kitten. Anyone who holds a few dozen people hostage isn't going to be the kind of person who keeps their end of the bargain.

The fact that they might be after a dangerous piece of magic just makes it that much more important to end this without giving them the box.

[naturaltwohands]

I have never had experience with such matters, other than a dear friend of mine being kidnapped once, and that man's intent was very clear. You're likely more right than I about how dangerous this individual will prove to be.

[memoryandtheft]

I'd say it gets easier to deal with, but I'd be lying.

[naturaltwohands]

I would take battle to the death any day before dealing with something like this.

[memoryandtheft]

Be careful what you wish for.

We're going to either need to set an ambush, or track the thief once we've handed off the decoy. Either way, it's probably going to get messy.

[naturaltwohands]

Only for myself, of course.

Messier still if I directly involve myself with the execution of the plan. As you well know, I am not particularly skilled at either acting or lying. It would also seem odd for an adolescent to be the one to handle such a dangerous request when there are adults about. That, and I could potentially expose the plan by revealing it if guilt or second-guessing gets the best of me.

[He at least knows he'll set the plan on fire?]