Session roll call:
- Frederick
- Jax
- Fulvus
- Rondel
- And their various hangers-on
Wandering across the center square of town, they enter a walled grove across the way from the temple. The grove consists of aged apple trees, and Jax and Fulvus poach a couple, which causes them to be set upon by the caretaker. Rude. The grove was not in honor of Khador, but was present since the time of the city's previous settlement, generations ago. The grove was in the honor of Asaxsxas, a saint risen to godhood long ago (she is first presented here). The caretaker explained the myth of the saint, and that he had a special dispensation from the Temple of Khador to maintain the grove. Fulvus tossed him a few coins in offering, which seem to satisfy the caretaker for their incursion. They then asked after the location of St. Vivinna's Home for the Wayward, and were pointed toward a sprawling building along the river.
The party headed over. A fellow draped in multiple tattered cloaks asked, "Alms for St. Vivinna?" Fulvus threw him some coins while Frederick subtly threw some not-a-thief gang signs. The fellow appraised this, and told the party to wait, suggesting that they step to the river side of the building, to take in the view, of course.
They did, and a few minutes later, a side door opened, and they were led into an apparent combination orphanage/flophouse/brothel. Following their guide upstairs, they stepped into the chambers of Brother Sigeric, which were considerably more opulent than the rest of the building. Brother Sigeric was obviously a man who enjoyed his delicacies. He greeted the party, and got a quick run-down that his charity had been recommended by Mellia Saber. The brother took the recommendation, and offered the party drinks from a well-stocked cabinet. Rondel tried to assess which bottle of wine looked the most expensive and requested that one...
The party enjoyed their drinks and gave the brother a rundown of their time in town, as well as generalized overview of their quest. In an information-sharing mood, Sigeric traded a few bits of news and rumors, as well as his take on the leadership of the city. Brother Sigeric seemed to enjoy his position on th margins of the theocracy, and noted that there were more things to be gained in these lands than mere souls.
Frederick, always the cooperative one, asked if there might be any jobs that the party could help with to support the charity's work... The affable brother said he'd think on it...
With this, the party asked for recommendations for lodging. Sigeric listed out a few places to be found in the town walls, the first was of poor quality, but he mentioned that if a message needed to reach him surreptitiously to talk with the innkeeper. The other two were run by dwarves, and of better quality. And a bath? Of course, a bath house happens to be behind the “Archer and Chariot” inn. Oh and take a few of these chits, you'll get the special bath. A couple of my girls are attendants.
Everyone was very clean.
That done, they traipsed into the Archer and Chariot, set up some rooms, got acquainted with the proprietor, an aged dwarf named Thildga Hognidotr, and asked for the menu. After some deliberation, they just ordered everything, family-style.
Around this time, a patrol led by a couple of priests stepped in. The locals studiously ignored them. The patrol honed in on the party, particularly Henry Cee. Asking their business in town, The party told them they'd just arrived, and were recuperating. The clerics asked after Henry's deity of choice, to which he responded "Garond the Judge." The patrol nodded appreciatively, noting that Garon and Khador shared many attitudes and values. However, anyone proselytizing for another god withint the theocracy's bounds must pay a tithe to the temple. Henry swore that he was just here with the party, and didn't intend to preach. No matter. Grumbling, Henry asked the amount. 50 gp. He also received a chit, but one without any bath house priviledges.
Time to kibbitz with the other patrons...
Frederick sidled up to the proprietor and another dwarf she was speaking with. Rida was a craftsman in town, making small mechanical devices, including locks. Frederick showed her the broken signalling orb. Rida looked at it appreciatively, but it was well beyond her skills. Perhaps gnomes might be capable of such work? Fred asked about the dwarven clans, and if others might be around. Thildga noted that there was a clan leader around, planning to head to the mountains to mine. Fred mentioned that the party had traveled a few days with another dwarven mining expedition and their impressive wagons. “Ah, the humphenwagen? Oh, I rode in those in the old days. Humphen in the humphenwagen!” Changing the subject, did they knew of the sea dwarves? Thildga did know of them, but they were rarely seen this far north.
Rondel was pleasantly surprised to see a pair of elves, as he had rarely encountered any of his folk in the party's travels. Celadrie was statuesque, silver-haired, and striking. And spoke of herself in third person. The second, Ellarwel, was samewhat wan, even for an elf, and had just arrived in town in hopes of using her language skills for translating and clerical work. The three talked elf business, Rondel explaining his traveling with a mixed group as part of his objective of moving out in the world, experiencing the younger races, and hopefully acting as an envoy for the elves (with his 5 Charisma). The three exchanged their particular viewpoints of the mercurial and short-lived humans, and humans' propensity to expand and create a vibrant culture. Rondel asked if there were other elves in town, and Celadrie noted that their were, and that there was a planned elf-moot the following night. Excited by this news, Rondel coordinated with the pair to join.
And Fulvus honed in on the halfling. More specifically, the only female halfling he's seen in this campaign (I know, I thought they were a myth, too.). Wene was a tough customer, sporting a badger facial tattoo. Of course Fulvus was smitten. They exchanged pleasantries, and Wene asked about his impressive armor (leather reinforced with ankheg chitin plates). She was slightly more attentive now. Wene was a mercenary and caravan guard, hoping to pick up a new job in the morning. She'd been working mostly along the east trade road, so hadn't encountered anything beyond the usual bandits, and certainly nothing like Toby. Begging pardon, she departed to turn in early in hopes of catching a job at the notice board in the caravan yards. Fulvus needs to up his game.
Jax was tired of all this socializing, and with Goober and Raspberry in tow, headed to the stables outside the town walls to check on the party's horses. The party had gotten some side-eye at the stables for having well-worn mounts in need of some new shoes and decent grain, so she wanted to make sure all was well. Edwam, the adolescent stable-boy on night duty assured them that all was good, and excitedly showed the tall barbarian where the horses were stabled and their fodder. She asked if any unusual traffic had come through. The stable-boy thought a moment, and said that more couriers than normal seemed to be going to and fro. Oh, and parties that had similar appearance and bearing as our heroes had departed, apparently after some contact with the theocracy. No, they hadn't returned, yet. Satisfied with this, Jax opted to bed down in an empty stall near the horses. The stable-boy assured her that he and his younger brother would keep watch and they wouldn't be disturbed.
Raspberry looked at the pile of straw, contemplated the rest of the party and henchmen on beds back at the inn, and meditated on their life choices of following the barbarian.
DM Notes:
Another RP-heavy session, with no dice rolled. I have a good list of NPCs built up for Opharel, and a healthy amount of notes on the Brother, so references were already built in. The conversations led the scenes, and lore or random details dropped as things developed. We'll see what the players follow up on, and what may turn into something significant, and what is just a red herring. These sessions are very dynamic, and although I try to get as much information summarized after a session, I know I miss a bit, or put things out of sequence on my writeups. Thankfully, I have two players who are strong note-takers, and details get clarified with the next session's play.
More voices (leaning on some voice acting training I took years ago). Particularly a haughty self-important elvin artist, and a crack-voiced stable-boy trying to impress a towering barbarian. :)
They asked after a job. Who knows, I may have just happened to have borrowed a map and statted it up. But possibly not...
Happy Thanksgiving to the USA-ians out there!
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