Echo is chaotic neutral so his alignment really doesn't play any major part in his thought processes. However, he also realizes the value of being involved with a group like the Blue Hand. Failure in a task jeopardizes their position in the guild, thus in his mind failure is not an option. He is not without sympathy for their plight, but he is more self absorbed and removed from the situation due to his own goals and aspirations.

Also, don't I recall the orders saying the "property" was stolen from our client. For all we know their "owner" is a benevolent master who takes great care of the slaves and their needs, and the horrible treatment may have only started once they were stolen.

I'm quite sure that if their former master was a great owner, they would have happily opted that perhaps we were hired by him.

Since they were very clear on their feelings on being slaves, their is no guessing as to how they will feel about being (re)united with any slavemaster.

Another problem we have is that our group is put together out of several individuals who didn't know each other beforehand (except the two dwarven brothers). So, I'm sure we won't come to an agreement easily if half of the group wants to go with the plan, and the other half thinks it's better to abort.
And I don't want to risk having Argent's intentions snitched to upper management by one of his team members.

So, I propose the following:

We bring back the slaves to the meeting point, return to the Blue Hand headquarters and get praise or money for our job.
Then, we return to free the slaves and deny involvement. My guess is that at least the half orc should be happy to help out?

But if Shades331 is going to continue playing with us, we can't "succeed" in our mission. Either, "oops, yeah, that half orc didn't make it, sorry we couldn't drag his body here." or he's going to refuse once the jig is up, or we'll have to buy him for some reason. Or he's going to escape on his own, and find us and be like, "hey guys, mind if I hang out even though you're responsible for returning me to my unwanted master."
Yay, moral dilemma!!!

I have been trying to figure out how this whole group thing is going to work given the current situation. As far as I know, Half-orc-supreme has not caught the affections of any one's hearts, so its not as if his well being is the first thing on your minds.

we also have the fact that he is pretty introverted and seclusive. If you read his character sheet, he is a half-orc of few words. Even if he was not cold, communication would be awkward at best...

but this is all assuming that you guys try to speak to him during this small voyage. In all honesty, with so many slaves that you don't want disappearing into the slums, I would assume that little would be noted about the half-orc.

I am almost thinking about just making Uthgar spirit himself away... and then make fate (AKA DM) bring us back together. Uthgar has reasons for being in the area, though Streetlight and myself may need to iron out the wrinkles. I will give you guys until the weekend to come up with your own group decision. If not, I will decide for myself whether Uthgar will be meandering off or not.

not to be picky, but Argent made a pass to enter conversation. That was your shot at getting to know other people in the group. I could've had him ask any of the other slaves. I asked the half-orc for RP purposes. If he just gets a growl in return, you can't really blame anybody for not having a special place in their heart for your character.

I'm not saying that you should have acted differently, if that is how your character is feeling about the branding. But it limits the angles if you make him recluse himself from other PCs.

I knew that it would be hard for Uthgar to get into the group. plz dont take any of this as complaining.

I apologize that the update is late once again. RL has run away with me. I WILL get it done this weekend. Thank you all for your patience.

Is Dakarta still playing? There hasn't been a post by the rogue in a while. What would be good is to know who's in the warehouse, and send them a note that says, "hey we got your stuff, it's out here, we just can't get it in the door, 'cuz of the body guards out front."
It'd be nice if someone sneaky could do it.

He is not. Though I am open to a new player taking over his character. My efforts at recruitment have thus far failed.

While this is frustrating, he's got to do what he's got to do. Just so those of us who are still playing can know who's around, it would be nice to have some kind of in game post about the character leaving. Either they die, or they wander off. Or something in the Q&A so we can keep track of each other. Or I don't know if you'd be willing to NPC characters. For instance, didn't we have an archer once upon a time? Boy they would have been handy in that rooftop fight. Is Dakarta's character still around? Can we ask Skit to do something? I mean I feel a little funny using out of game knowledge to ask Argent, who is a monk who is kind of sneaky, to break into the place when Skit, who has proven himself good at breaking into places, is right there.

The archer ran off if memory serves. I think I did post something about that (though at the moment I don't have time to go through and see if I did or not). And as far as Dakarta, I heard only recently that he wouldn't be returning to the game.

I am willing to NPC characters for a short period of time. In this case that is what I would do... except that I think I have found someone to take the spot. Though you guys may have to give him a bit of leeway since he is stepping into someone else's character.

At this point Echo is at a complete loss for words, he is all for continuing and completing the mission, but still can't help but feel sorry for the mob of slaves they've escorted...

At this point, for the sake of ease, assume he'll go along with whatever the team decides. I'll try to get posts in when I find more time to do so otherwise.

Yeah, I was going to have Argent wait to see what the guards are going to do. They won't stand there forever, I suppose. But if we need somebody to go in, Argent can do that. He'll aim for a back door first of course, but it that doesn't work, he'll just stroll in acting like he is completely supposed to be there. These guards don't know what we all look like, so we won't have any problem, I guess.

Steelight,
Just checking to see if you are waiting for anymore information from anyone, or if we are just waiting for you for the update.
I know, I know... I'm new so I'm impatient... it's true.

Ayrn

Thanks, Steelight! That was easy!