Valldel Amakiir - 3rd Level Male Elven Rogue
Akadum Ironbeard - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Fighter
Dolin Stoneflare - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric
Kethry - 3rd Level Female Human Wizard
5 June 981, Sunday, Continued
Partly cloudy and warm
Kethry tells Jon Fairbrain to gather provisions for their journey to Helix. He notes to them there is little here in Drigbolton and Helix is bigger and a better spot for provisions.
7 June 981, Tuesday
Cool and cloudy
They meet with Zelda. She has identified the kris, which is actually long enough to be a short sword as a +1 magical weapon plus with something else that she cannot figure out. It is a not curse, but something strange. Valdell takes it for use.
The snake statue is magical, but she cannot figure out what it does. Maybe it is part of a larger thing?
The Purple Mushrooms are as Kethry thought of the sort used to make stone to flesh. She offers them 1000 GP for them, but they suggest 500 GP plus half of the produced potions. She agrees with that.
The strange potion from Xiximanter does indeed seem to be an ordinary healing potion despite its strange appearance. Jon Fairbrain takes it and puts it with the bunch of potions they got from treasure room in the Clooney Caves.
They begin their journey to Helix climbing out of the Drigbolton valley and up into the Moon Peaks. Around lunch time they pass the Ironguard Motte which is a castle surrounded by a Moran Army training camp. Along the road are many establishments; bars and female entertainment. They elect not to stop, Valdell is worried he might be recognized, and they press on. They begin descending and can see the Barrowmoor to the south and the Thornwild Forest, pines, to the north. Beyond they can see the rough, broken country known as the Shud Lands.
As night falls they get to the cut off road that leads to Bogton. Here there is a road house called the Marching Tankard.
They see a large man come out and shake some large lanterns lighting the entrance way to the Inn. He greets them as Gunther Grohl and tells them if they want to press on to Helix is is a few miles along the main road. They decide to stay and enter the inn. The fare is fish, crayfish, and game gathered from the Barrowmoor. Also present is a vaguely middle-eastern looking man with three young men who are very differential to him, and two other rougher looking sorts. Overhearing their conversation the man is Professor Tevrat Ilkin and he wants to explore the Barrowmaze to study the burial customs of the Shud Folk.
They talk directly and Ilkin tells them he is a Professor at the White College and this is a summer field study. The Shud Folk are thought to be pre-Moran. He has with him three graduate students and has hired two mercenaries for protection against the swamp beasts and carry any artifacts they might find. He notes this Inn is rife with Shud Folk influence. The inn keeper is clearly a Moran, but the serving girls and stable boys clearly have the Shud Folk look. Look at the vermin they serve and eat! It belies their simple folk ways which are so fascinating.
His plan is to head to Helix tomorrow morning and visit the The Last Stop Inn and Tavern. It is well known as a gathering place for the Shud Folk. Also in a week is the Solstice Fest in Helix which is some sort of pre-marriage ritual, the Marriage Games, which he cannot wait to study.
The party tells them that they are too are heading to Helix and planning to explore the Barrowmaze. Perhaps they can arrange to work together. Privately Akadum tells them Ilkin and his party are likely doomed if they do not get help. They agree to watch out for Ilkin and company. On the other hand they find Ilkin's overbearing ways and superior attitude to the Shud Folk to be highly annoying.
They also ask after the lamps, and the waitress, who is one of Grohl's daughters tells them they are full of Barrowmoor fire flys. They need to be regularly fed, fruit or honey, and then shaken and they will produce light, dull greenish glow, for a few hours. They can buy hand held ones tomorrow.
8 June 981, Wednesday
Hot and sticky
Helix, traditional start of the Great Games by couples pledging. Start the Dead Bride with a party celebrating at The Last Stop.
They purchase some Fire Fly lanterns and make the short way to Helix with Professor Illkin, his three students, and two mercenaries who at least look well armed. One of the students Fitzwalter tells them how excited he is to be going to Helix. His favorite book series starring the Bumblebee Bandit has a new entry coming out, The Battle of the Bumblebee Bandit. It is printed in Helix and he hopes to get a copy. He shares with them a drawing of the Bumblebee Bandit and a pre-release page of text:
...unfortunately the struggle had caused her
corset to come undone. “Oh, my modesty!”
cried Lady Labreque, attempting gather her
torn gown over her lady dumplings...
...“Oh, yes, Bumblebee Bandit!” The Lady
Labreque was overcome with thoughts so
unlike a lady but so like a woman. “I will...
The party is horrified, but Fitzwalter continues to talk about the various plots of the Bumblebee Bandit novels and asks if they have read "50 Shades of Ulfire"?
As they arrive in the town, it is mid-morning, they make arrangements to meet with Professor Illkin and company for dinner at the Last Stop. The party plans to meet at the Temple and decide where to go for lunch.
Akadum goes to the Tobacco Shop. There he sees they are selling tobacco and carved pipes from the Shud Wilds. He notes the art is raw but effective. He buys a bear shapped pipe, and some Shud Wilds tobacco.
Kethry goes to the Wizards Tower. The tower is three stories tall and seems ill kept with moss growing up the sides and it might be leaning. There is an impressive observing dome on the top. A sign on the outside says "Do Not Disturb" but she knocks any way. A hunched man in blue wizard robes and a pointed wizard hat, which is bent half way up, and are covered with small metal trinkets with chime musically as he moves, appears and asks what she wants and if she can read? Kethry says she can read and is instersted in trading knowledge. He introduces himself as Muzzahs and invites her in. The inside seems bigger than the outside, and it is quite nice and cozy. He prepares a cup of tea and they an elliptical talk eventually agreeing to trade spells with Kethry getting Blur and Muzzahs getting Spectral Stilletto. Kethry does not mentions her interest in the Barrowmaze or her connection with Zelda.
Dolin goes to The Axe and Anvil which is a smithery run by a dwarf named Karg Barrelgut. They strike a bargain for a set of half plate that will be ready in about a week for a very good price. Karg tells Dolin that there regularly used to be adventurers going to the Barrowmaze, but since the war started there have been fewer. Adventurers are in danger of getting swept up by Imperial Army press gangs from the Ironguard Motte. Dolin is the first person this season heading to the Maze. Karg says it is infested with undead and Dolin should go to the Brazen Strumpet where Bollo knows much more about the Barrowmaze. The Last Stop is indeed patronized by the Shud Folk and go there for music. The Foul Pheasant is the place to go for gambling, and female entertainment. He does not know much about the maze, but he has heard that all its entrances are trapped.
Valdell goes to the little shack at the south end of town, almost in the Barrowmoor, with Fortunes and Readings sign. Within is a women named Beatrix who looks like Griya and claims to be her sister. Beatrix reads Valdell's tea leaves, the tea is strange tasting, and gets a vague foreshadowing of an unpleasant future. She notes his cursed ring and says she can fix that for him. No charge, she just wants the ring and in return gives him a dried frog, which she tells him is a luck token. Come back tomorrow and she will be ready to remove his curse.
The party meets and heads to the Brazen Strumpet on Dolin's recommendation. There is a warhammer and shield hanging over the bar. It is quiet and they are waited on by Urgritte, who is a tall handsome woman with blonde braided hair. She seems to like Dolin. They speak with Bollo who is tending bar. He tells them he was an adventurer until he took an arrow in the knee. He has been to the Barrowmaze.
He draws a rectangle on a napkin. The northern third he covers with dots. These are small crypts some of which have been looted, some which have not and may contain treasure. There are minor undead. Some of crypts have tunnels that lead to the maze below. He draws lines in a complicated pattern that extends into the southern two thirds of the diagram. This is maze itself which is undeground. It is easy to get lost. There are tablets with rune writing on them. Some are cursed but some contain valuable information. There are stranger more powerful things down there and magical treasures. They mention Professor Illkin's theory that it is a burial place for the ancient Shud Folk. He just laughs and retrives a gold coin. It is an ancient Moran coin, hundreds maybe a thousand years old which he retrieved from the Maze. The Maze is an ancient Moran necropolis. He has no idea why the old Morans buried their dead so far from the coast, but old Moran stuff is what is found in the crypts and in the Barrowmaze.
Akadum notices a dirty bad smelling man seated in a dark corner. The waitress brings some soup and tells them the man is called Alaster and Bollo tells the staff to be nice to him and give him whatever he might want. Akadum talks to Alaster. He is not coherent babbling about the walking dead, the darkness, traps, and being lost. Urgritte tells them he has been around for at least three years. Bollo tells them Alaster was an adventurer, a thief so be careful, and his fellow party members were killed and Alaster was lost in the Maze for days. The Elf, Valeron, who is the Bowyer and Fletcher found Alaster in the Moor and brought him back might be able to tell them more.
They have time to see more of the town before heading to the Last Stop for dinner.
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