Setting out on the morning of the 20th of August, Neegan and his crew cross the river at Frogmorton Ford and join the wagons heading across the countryside to reach the White Tower.
Please subtract the 5gp fee. Also, read below.
Marullus wrote:This location is located across the river (via the Frogmorton Ford) and north, then east, around the ruined city of the Yoldessi Plains. A wagon with a company of 20 knights on horses departs Frogmorton Ford each morning, providing safe escort from Gaul's surrounds to the White Tower.
Please advance two days from Gaul (which includes the time to walk to Frogmorton Ford) each time you take this trip. As it is escorted, there is no encounter roll.
The soldiers take payment of 5gp for safe transport for each round-trip (paid going out, free coming back). Please clearly annotate that you pay this when you travel, otherwise travel is an Expedition with normal encounter chances.
You see a stone keep rising before you...
As you ride along the dirt road, the east-west river running off to your left, you see the White Tower's keep rising on a swale of high ground before you, looming above the river. There is a Round White Tower, rising like a shining beacon at its center, at least 50' high and 30' across, overlooking the surrounding lands. Surrounding this is a stone curtain wall about 10' high, hemming in the bustling keep and and its other buildings, protecting them from the still-harsh wilds that surround this place in every direction. A square tower rises on each of the four corners of the wall, each one squat and 30' high, measuring 40' on each side. The movement of soldiers, gleaming in their armor, can be seen through the open windows on the top floor of each tower. There is little doubt of the security of this place.
Besides the 20 mounted men who ride with your wagon, you have seen occasional mounted patrols during your trip, especially as you've gotten closer to the keep. A small area surrounding the keep (about two bow-shots in each direction) is tilled and plowed, some intrepid peasants working to get crops in, grown, and harvested before the winter.
The double-doored gate is opened as your wagon approaches, admitting you to the large Keep's interior. Most of the area is currently a split-rail paddock housing horses. Directly in front of you, on the way to the white tower, is a ten foot statue of the handsome Lord Commander Bremen, carved of white marble. It is holding the Warhammer of Baudh and looks sternly across the yard, watching those who arrive.
A heavy iron door is visible at the base of each of the four towers marking the corners of the keep. The white tower itself stands in the center, welcoming the Baudhic pilgrims who come from Gaul to pay homage. An inviting two-story building stands against the south wall - an inn with light spilling from the windows and the sound of laughter within.
Upon arriving, the gruff, no-nonsense dwarf begins trying to petition his way in to the White Tower itself to gain audience with the Regent....
CHA Check [3d6] = 8
CHA Check [3d6] = 13
CHA Check [3d6] = 15
Three days of effort bear no fruit.
24 August 2021
Given the secrecy of your goals, you opt not to sleep in the open common rooms with the other riffraff of the tavern. Getting private rooms on the upper level, you have made the best of the last four nights.A brightly-lit establishment of sturdy log planking, the Golden Scales of Justice Tavern is alive with activity of those visiting the White Tower and the off-duty soldiers who serve in the military companies here. It offers both food and lodging, as well as a steady cadre of buxom and bawdy women who frequent a table by the stairs to the rooms above, entreating the lonely soldiers if they'd 'like company.' Furniture of sturdy pine, fashioned from the woodland to the north, provides ample accommodation. Beyond the plain furnishings, the room is adorned lavishly in oil-painted canvases which decorate each wall. Most notably, behind the bar is an oversized portrait of Lord Commander Bremen valiantly standing atop the hill and brandishing his glowing, magical sword as he leads an attack upon cowering ranks of skeletal undead. On the far wall, above the long-tables used by most of the soldiers, is a panoramic painting showing Lord Commander Bremen leading a Halfling, a knight, a cleric -- all of whom look disheveled and fearful -- and a cowled and slinking warrior who hides his face to conceal sigils of a divine curse, into a resplendent temple, a pit trap open beside them.
The proprietor, a wide-shouldered and dark-bearded dwarf with only one eye, the other covered by a patch, glowers behind the bar. His serving wenches are much more personable and serve any orders requested.
Subtract 6gp for the party as a whole.
Neegan finds himself on the evening of the 24th nursing a beverage at the tavern with his fellows, the dark, swirling nothingness of the orb wrapped in his bedroll and hidden deep in his backpack. A bald-pated cleric of Baudh, dressed in black vestments trimmed in rich velvet, approaches your table. "I understand that you seek an audience, but have been unable for the past few days... might there be some way I can assist you, Master Dwarf?" He smiles politely, acknowledging the two dwarves, two clerics of differing gods, an elf, and a stable boy variously gathered around the table. "I am Penitent Harrinon. Your name is? ...and how can the clergy aid you?"
