Part 1: The Fish Paste Idyll: A Prosperous Interlude

[Pulpatoon]

It is Spring in Herebury, and things are looking hopeful. There is suddenly a brisk export business in a thick, herbed fish paste that is a regional specialty, used as a means of preserving excess fish when it’s too damp to salt and dry them. The locals only eat it when they’ve run out of everything else. But, through the vagaries of fashion, it has become a de rigueur condiment in a distant and prosperous city.



All hands are busy catching and preparing as many fish as the Serene will yield. Great iron pots have been set up in the Town Square, and villagers work in shifts, rendering the fish over low flames, filling the town with sour smells. This has prompted the citizenry to hang great bouquets of lilacs at every door and window to counteract the smell.

New faces have been showing up in town, lately. There is even a pair of traveling merchants staying at the Herebury Hearth, prompting Fat Gruber to make a few minimal efforts at sprucing the place up.



Abel, Smokey, and Marcus, for their part, have banded together to collect the bushels of herbs necessary for production of the fish paste, and roped their friends into helping them. Each PC has an additional 1d6 silver to reflect the fruits of this endeavor.



Everyone, please roll a d8.

[GreyWolfVT]

Abel rolls a [1d8] = 6

[mb.]

Bürd rolls [1d8] = 8

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus: [1d8] = 6

[KingOfCowards]

Simon's Roll: Random d8: [1d8] = 7

[Pulpatoon]

Not all is well in Herebury, however. Amidst all the bustle of the spontaneous fish-pastery, there have been some unsettling events, as well.

Last week, a wandering priest came into town, on his way North. He was a tall, thin man with mahogany skin and eyes clouded pale blue with cataracts. He did not stay long, and seemed extremely disconcerted. He lingered long enough to have lunch in the Town Square, however, and Marcus and Abel sat down next to him for a lunch break of their own.

MonkeyWrench and GreyWolf: Do you care to start up a conversation with the priest? If so, what do you say?

A few days later, there was a sudden and terrible storm, after which the Serene ran red with blood. It overflowed its banks and many villagers were caught by the red, churning waters. Bürd was there, and Simon came upon the scene quickly.

Mb., please roll a Constitution check, applying any relevant skills, to see how you did, rescuing the villagers.
KingOfCowards, you may choose to assist mb.’s roll by either having a relevant skill or spending a Fortune point. Either will provide a +2 bonus.

[GreyWolfVT]

Abel to the priest "So what brings you to Herebury? Are you a travelling priest?"

[MonkeyWrench]

Abel to the priest "So what brings you to Herebury? Are you a travelling priest?"

Marcus remarks as well, "Yeah, I'm sure you have some good stories to tell."

[KingOfCowards]

A few days later, there was a sudden and terrible storm, after which the Serene ran red with blood. It overflowed its banks and many villagers were caught by the red, churning waters. Bürd was there, and Simon came upon the scene quickly.

Mb., please roll a Constitution check, applying any relevant skills, to see how you did, rescuing the villagers.
KingOfCowards, you may choose to assist mb.’s roll by either having a relevant skill or spending a Fortune point. Either will provide a +2 bonus.

If we are rescuing people, Simon's skill at healing may come in handy. CPR on drowning victims, tourniquets for other injuries.

[mb.]

Bürd sees village folk up the their knees in bloody water and, being the shortest person in the village, sensibly grabs a coil of rope from a fishing boat and bounds onto a barrel, a tree branch and then onto the roof of the Red Herring. As he spots people struggling against the flow and losing, he throws one end of the rope out to them and drags them to where Simon is waiting in one of the upstairs windows of the building...

Athletics skill for the climbing & throwing, CON 13, rolls [1d20] = 12

[Pulpatoon]

Bürd sees village folk up the their knees in bloody water and, being the shortest person in the village, sensibly grabs a coil of rope from a fishing boat and bounds onto a barrel, a tree branch and then onto the roof of the Red Herring. As he spots people struggling against the flow and losing, he throws one end of the rope out to them and drags them to where Simon is waiting in one of the upstairs windows of the building...

Athletics skill for the climbing & throwing, CON 13, rolls [1d20] = 12

Bürd gets caught up in the waters himself, his short stature putting him in peril of being submerged entirely. But the stout dwarf knows how to set his feet and brace himself. He is able to throw the rope to some struggling villagers, and grab others bodily. He throws the other end of rope to Simon, who has found high ground on the roof of one of the few riverside fishing shacks. Simon winds the rope around a beam, and uses this makeshift pulley to haul in the villagers. Bürd, soaked to the skin and with a beard full of copper-smelling foam, dives back into the flood to collect those he did not get the first time.

Half an hour later, the flood has subsided. Thanks to Bürd and Simon's combined efforts, no lives were lost. Bürd in particular is singled out as the hero of the day. Bürd receives a +2 Charisma bonus with the Villagers for the duration of this adventure.

Cleaning up after the mysterious flood is hard, smelly work, with animals coming out of the woods to lap at the red puddles. Fortunately, in rains that evening, and washes the remains of the flood away. There is a lot of excitement over what a terrible portent the flood surely is, but within a few days most people seem to have convinced themselves that it was red clay that colored the water, perhaps from a mudslide resulting from the previous storm. Bürd, however, was in the water up to his nose, and is not going to forget its taste anytime soon. That was not red clay.

[Pulpatoon]

Abel to the priest "So what brings you to Herebury? Are you a travelling priest?"

Marcus remarks as well, "Yeah, I'm sure you have some good stories to tell."

Wandering Priest speaks with a thick accent that the boys have never heard before. It is clear that this is not his native language. "I..." he thumps his chest, "I am Eligwe. I am a gods' man, from below the belly of the world. I am seeking the lights."He gestures at the sky. "The lights upon the roof of the world."

He looks round in bemusement. "You boys, you are from this place?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Abel nods "Eligwe what lights are you seeking is it the stars, the moon, the sun? We are local to this town you'll have to pardon the smells are not normally this strong around here."

[Pulpatoon]

Eligwe laughs. "No, no. These are lights we have in my country, too. No, at the roof of the world, there is fire in the sky. The lights dance for the gods. This town, it has a smell, yes."

MonkeyWrench, let's have a Charisma check from you. +2 for skills applicable to getting this guy to open up. GreyWolf can assist with either a skill bonus or by spending a Fortune point.

[GreyWolfVT]

Fortune it is!

[Pulpatoon]

Fortune it is!

MonkeyWrench, with GreyWolf's Fortune point, and your Charisma, you are trying to roll a 13 or under.

[mb.]

Bürd's a dwarf who likes to know what the hell's going on, so after The Red Flood he spends some time investigating, and takes Simon (since he was there) and Abel (for his woods wisdom), along. They hike upstream as far as the next village, asking around, trying to locate a cause and origin.

If it's relevant, here's Bürd's roll against his INT of 15: [1d20] = 5

[zebediah]

PbP Forum code: [1d8] = 1

[Pulpatoon]

Bürd's a dwarf who likes to know what the hell's going on, so after The Red Flood he spends some time investigating, and takes Simon (since he was there) and Abel (for his woods wisdom), along. They hike upstream as far as the next village, asking around, trying to locate a cause and origin.

If it's relevant, here's Bürd's roll against his INT of 15: [1d20] = 5

How are you equipped for this trip? Ready for battle, or lean for speed? It is probably an overnight trip.

[KingOfCowards]

Bürd's a dwarf who likes to know what the hell's going on, so after The Red Flood he spends some time investigating, and takes Simon (since he was there) and Abel (for his woods wisdom), along. They hike upstream as far as the next village, asking around, trying to locate a cause and origin.

If it's relevant, here's Bürd's roll against his INT of 15: [1d20] = 5

Not to change your plan, but isn't Smokey the woodsman?

Simon slaps Bürd on the back, trying to cheer him up after a grisly job. "Well done old friend. You've done the gods' work in saving those people today." Does Simon's religious knowledge of lore remind him of similar cases of this anywhere else? He is more than willing to go along with Bürd, to satisfy his own curiosity. He'll fetch his sword and his pack before venturing off.

Religious Lore Check if applicable: Relgious Lore Check: [1d20] = 4

EDIT: Speaking of which...What townspeople did we save? Probably just some fishermen, but it would be nice to know.