OOC

OK. How often to roll skill checks is completely up to the DM. I am used to DMs that want players to roll as often as possible. Your table expectation is different, fine. That’s what I meant about getting used to your style, which is more difficult when being dropped in to the middle of an existing adventure without being eased in. In game terms, as you yourself mentioned, Geoffrey the character is unaware of everything that has transpired, such as the foolish paladin charge that resulted in the massacre. I, the player, know it because I read the background, and so I am trying to get my character to know it without resorting to meta gaming. Hearing a threat of murder, it is eminently reasonable for a character to consider "was he blustering or was he serious". This is precisely what the insight check is for (see PHB under WIS skills). If that poses an impediment to your table style, please let me know your expectations so that I may better conform to them. For example, what would your preferred method be for my character to determine if Collins really is a cold blooded murderer, being that all he knows is that 1) there is some minor banditry on the road and 2) he has been "captured" by a professional group of people who do not appear to be (were not described as) thugs. I’d like to work with you as seamlessly as possible, obviously.