Who made it?
- Rondel - elf
- Fulvus - halfling
- Jax - barbarian
- Slick - Thief
- Orzu - Illusionist
The brother was eating dinner, but took a break from his repast to greet the party. He was, understandably, disappointed to hear that he'd been double-crossed by the merchant's guild. Sigeric did honor the professionalism of the surviving mercenaries and promised them safe passage. Likewise, he was happy to receive his wayward scout back, and suggested that the youth had learned an important lesson regarding watching his step. Oh, and Brother Sigeric now owes the party a favor. Something for the party to meditate on.
The party was ready to head back to the inn for their own dinner and celebrations. The Brother offered a couple of youth to take their horses to the stable to save them some steps. The party accepted, although Jax insisted on joining. After all, the party just gained six more horses, and although they have a good relationship with Saint Vivinna's Home for the Wayward, "accidents" do happen.
And so they did...
Outside of the city walls on the way to the stables, and in a conveniently dark location, three individuals stepped from the shadows to inquire if anyone might be hiring out. Jax shrugged and suggested the caravans. The three got a bit closer, looked at her, and said that it would be best that her friends stop looking for barriers out in the wilderness. This put her off a bit. As did one of them trying to hit her with an axe. It was on. Unfortunately, our brave barbarian was a bit on her heels as the second of the three slept most of her companions, and another cast fear on the ever reliable Goober. Dammit.
Oh, and the one dude had a beak, or was is a plague doctor mask? Tough to tell in the dark.
Jax struck out, and was summarily incapacitated by a cloud of spores expelled from the mouth (beak?) of the apparent spellcaster. Striking blindly, she dealt him a solid blow. Unfortunately, in the confusion, neither of her other foes made much of a dent in her... She attempted to clear her head with some medicinal herbs, but to no avail.
The sounds of struggle had alarmed the stable, and two stable boys rushed out to aid the embattled party. One struck the spellcaster, but was struck down in turn by another of the baddies. Deciding that they had raised enough attention, the three assailants slunk off (although Goober, recovered, did send one off with a good ass-bite).
The city guard was called, and Jax gave a somewhat confused report regarding her assailants, likely due to the spore cloud effects. The doomed stable boy was bundled up by a priest, and the two "Wayward" youths decided to remain at the stable as night guards.
Jax stumbled back to the inn, with a report of the events. With that, she retired to the bath house to wash off the spores and clear her head.
Rondel departed with a couple other elves for the "Elf-moot" gathering of the small local elven population. He shared his travels and researches of the Barrier and other curiosities of the wilderness. A prolific note-taker, he agreed to share knowledge (as well as rubbings collected by the dearly departed Mareth) with the elves in hope that they might be able to shed some light on the magics involved.
The remaining party, well, partied... Several carousing rolls were made. Most survived their drinking, although Roderick, Fulvus' hench lost a couple hundred gold gambling (to Slick and Orzu). Oh, and Slick, Orzu, and Fulvus decided to do a drunken heist of the other bath house in town, distracting bathers and attendants with pretty lights and drunken bath price inquiries. Slick cleared out a few purses worth of loose change and some other random items before the three ran giggling back to the inn...
The following morning, their hangover breakfast was interrupted by Serafina Rissanen and her colleagues - the local representatives of the so-called "Paragons of the Comet" - zealots even within the auspices of the Theocracy. The party responded with appropriate surliness and cynicism to one who has disturbed one's biscuits and gravy. The Paragons made it clear that the party's bringing of Chaos within the walls of Opharel (Toby the crab-man, RIP) was unacceptable, and that they were a distraction to the Theocracy's true mission of consolidating its own faith and power in the region. As well as hunting for heretics.
That distraction past, the party finished breakfast and decided to pay the city's artificer a visit, as it was rumored that he may have recovered items from another Barrier node. That was put off by the Theocracy guards around his residence-lab. The party even tried, "Don't you know who we are?" to no avail. They did send a runner to deliver a message to the Tribunal, asking access to the artificer. No reply was received, and they departed to find some street food and plan next steps.
Over their repast of dead-thing-on-a-stick, they watched a ship offloading cargo, settlers, and other passengers. This was of minor interest, until a young woman and a couple of companions disembarked and started to preach loudly of Chaos and twisted ones threatening the city and civilization. She became even more interesting when the city guard rapidly bundled her off, probably to the local gaol. Just a bit much of a coincidence.
Orzu suggested reaching out to the military leader, Alonso Ngom, who seemed to be relatively open to the party. A bottle of whisky was sent as an offering. Alonso responded to meet at one of the other local inns (probably one with a sufficient number of dark corners).
Alonso greeted them, and explained that yes, Serafina was a handful, and yes, she was in charge of the Paragon locally (so no, they couldn't talk to the manager). He revealed that the Tribunal was still in discussion with respect to the intelligence provided by the party, but seemed to be in favor of withdrawing and consolidating control. He himself was cautious of becoming overextended in these lands, but would marshall his forces as needed. The Theocracy had explored and secured an apparent Node location, but were unsure of its significance. Although he had little concrete news, he seemed willing to share. As to the young woman arrested, he had no news, but the Theocracy was used to such crackpots preaching in the streets, and if they appeared to be a concern, they were taken in for their own protection...
With that, he begged his leave, as it wasn't necessarily wise to be seen in the company of infidels...
Well then...
Oh, and Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Good Yule, Grim Dance of the Winter Wolves, or whatever midwinter's holiday you celebrate in your own lair or stronghold.
We'll be back after the new Year's with a "Secret Santicorn" request and more hijinks from the party.
Thanks for following along.
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