Town Business (Vaul) - II

[Keehnelf]

April 18th morning

Bertram visits the temple, seeking head priest Gronn. He barely misses meeting up with Adrienne the lame, as she prepares to leave on an expedition, herself.

"Father Gronn, I have a boon to ask of you. On our last excursion, we were beset by undead. They killed two of our number, including the priest of Veles, Crivit. I was hoping that could sell us some holy water to help in our battle against the undead."

He has two vials he can sell, at a reduced cost of 20gp per vial given the circumstances.

[Spartakos]

Galen also visits the temple in the morning, bearing the rowan staff the group recovered.

"A good morrow to you, father. My comrades and I found this, hidden within a hollow hill. It bears the aura of magic, but we know not what its purpose is. I was hoping you could examine it, mayhaps shed some light on it? I would be most grateful." He offers a donation of 5 gp.

[Keehnelf]

The priest scratches his head."I've been vexed with one staff already--it's taken me away from my other duties quite significantly, trying to unlock the mystery--and of course the business with the deformed bird at Harrowing...it bodes ill. But I will do what I can. Unfortunately, I have no timeline to give you for when I might be done."

[Spartakos]

Galen bows. "My apologies, father, I have no wish to vex you. Let me take it back to my comrades; perhaps we will inquire with you later."

If Abi ends up taking it, I'll let her deal with figuring out how it works, I reckon.

After this business is concluded fairly quickly, Galen wishes to visit the Duke, if he is available.
Would Bertram, Abi, or Krysta like to accompany him?

[hedgeknight]

Krysta will go with him to visit the Duke...then she is going shopping!

[hedgeknight]

Either before or after meeting with the Duke, Krysta goes shopping:

10 days preserved rations 6g
4 flasks oil 4s8c
1 waterskin 1g2s

Coin deducted.

[Dogma]

Martin will stock up another 8 days of preserved rations prior to the expedition
deducted 4g8s

[Spartakos]

Is the duke able/willing to meet with Galen and Co. on such short notice (on the 18th)?

[Keehnelf]

He can meet on the afternoon of the 18th. Anyone of the group who wants to be present can feel free to chime in.

The group is escorted into the Duke's audience chamber. He puts down the thick leather-bound volume from which he is reading, takes off his pince-nez and leans forward on his desk, smiling. "How can I be of service this afternoon?" he inquires.

[Starbeard]

Seadu Erana makes his way to the town shops and procures some necessities for the upcoming expedition, packing them away in his saddlebags.

10 preserved rations: -6gp
Waterskin: -1gp 2sp

[KingOfCowards]

Bertram will purchase the two vials of holy water from Gronn, with his thanks.

He'll also purchases 3 days of fresh rations, 5 days of trail rations, and 3 torches to refill his supplies.
40 gp deducted for the holy water, 38 sp and 6 cp deducted for supplies with 20% markup

[Keehnelf]

He can meet on the afternoon of the 18th. Anyone of the group who wants to be present can feel free to chime in.

The group is escorted into the Duke's audience chamber. He puts down the thick leather-bound volume from which he is reading, takes off his pince-nez and leans forward on his desk, smiling. "How can I be of service this afternoon?" he inquires.

In case this got missed in all the shopping posts.

[Spartakos]

Galen bows and makes a courtly introduction of himself and his companions, before getting down to business. He will explain to the duke about their eastward journey, the refusal of the dwarves to accept the duke's offer, and the subsequent destruction of the hold. He will also mention their brief trip further east (though he will leave out the commission the thane offered), and show the map and information gleaned from the hobgoblin. He will mention that they saw signs of organized hobgoblin activity out there. Finally, he will mention the mysterious black tower, and the voice that spoke to us (threatened us, really).

"We thought it best to keep you informed as to happenings in the land, your grace. Have you any thoughts on these matters you would care to share with us?"

[Keehnelf]

He nods thoughtfully, but seems to shrug off news of the dwarves' demise casually. "I've suspected that a powerful wizard must dwell of have dwelt in these lands, and recent discoveries have shown me the correctness of my suppositions. That black tower has all the markings of such a dwelling. I would be interested in discovering if a wizard yet resides there, and if not, I wold pay a good price for any items of interest you might recover from the place. I understand that you have been sorely tried on your recent journey, and I do not mean to press you harder. There is no real urgency about the tower, except that it might give us weapons to fight these hobgoblins.

"Hobgoblins are only more evil than they are organized, full of greed and a list for conquest and control. Now that they have learned of the presence of an organized outpost of civilization, I think it is only a matter of time before we become a target of their ambitions. If they are allied with the goblins, so much the worse--the goblins are poorly-organized, but they have a defensible hold only a few days' travel from our home. We require defenses.

"I will liquidate what can be spared from the town's coffers and send word over the mountains that we require troops. This message will depart in two days' time. Mercenaries and soldiers-at-arms back south will require two months' pay to sign on--if anyone wishes to levy troops for the purpose of our here we in this way, I will take the gold to get the contracts signed. Anyone who leads a unit against the hobgoblins under my overall command will be given the title of Knight of Vaul as soon as practicable. I will have a notice posted in the square to this effect.

"Any questions?"

[hedgeknight]

"Only one, sir," Krysta says, stepping forward with a slight bow of her head."To get to the tower and back expediently, and to search it thoroughly, can you equip us with horses, mules, and extra guardsmen to handle any resistance we may encounter in our venture?"

She bows her head again and steps back beside Galen.

[Keehnelf]

He shakes his head. "I'm offering rewards, not resources. Especially with hobgoblins potentially on their way soon, I can't spare some of my very small guard on an excursion of this nature. As it is, I needed to hire mercenaries for the Harrowing festival to make sure I had things adequately covered in case of goblin attack."

Come to think of it, you've never seen more than eight or nine guards in one place at a time. The total number might not be more than a dozen or two.

[hedgeknight]

Krysta sighs inwardly and gives a slight bow to the duke.
"Thank you for your consideration, sir. Pelor's blessings upon you."

She then looks at her companions to see if they have any further questions. If not, she turns and walks out.

[Keehnelf]

Oh, and prices to retain mercenaries according to the Duke's plan detailed above would be per the LL book, with a 20% premium for non-human friendly races (most of the main southfolk are humans).

So: price per month per type...

Light infantry: 3gp (6gp elf)
Heavy infantry: 4gp (6gp dwarf, 8gp4sp elf)
Crossbowman: 5gp (8gp4sp dwarf)
Bowman: 7gp (14gp4sp elf)
Mounted bowman: 15gp (42gp elf)
Longbowman: 10gp (30gp elf)
Light mounted: 10gp (30gp elf)
Medium mounted: 15gp
Heavy mounted: 20gp

[MonkeyWrench]

This will come in handy for when we attack that dragon to the east...

[Keehnelf]

It just depends on whether anyone decides they want in.