IC I

[thirdkingdom]

The bulk of the companions wake at noon; Tychon at 2:00.

[sulldawga]

Harald

Once the innkeeper shares what he knows, Harald will make the rounds of the local temples, seeing what the holy water supply looks like. Anyone who wants to come along is welcome.

He'll also inquire as to the availability and pricing for crossbowmen and/or archer mercs.

[Fearghus]

Pesha the Wanderer

"Patience Harald. The cards reveal more than their face value. Sit a moment and plan; refresh yourself as last night was yet another reminder how precious, and short are our lives".

"If the lot of you are in agreeance, then let us inquire about renting the Spelanos home. That was our thinking yes?". He drinks and eats a little more until Styr stands to leave. "Styr, my friend, do not wander alone. Allow me to join you; when your purchases are complete escort me to those that can grant us access to the Manor. I will secure us a satisfactory rate".

Pesha drags an arm across his mouth to dry away the wine, "Would anyone care to wait for Tychon? I do not want any of us to be alone".

[Rodriguez]

He drinks and eats a little more until Styr stands to leave. "Styr, my friend, do not wander alone. Allow me to join you; when your purchases are complete escort me to those that can grant us access to the Manor. I will secure us a satisfactory rate".

Styr the Axe Murderer

Styr looks a bit surprised. "Huh? Thought these things only run around at night?" but then adds with a shrug. "If you want... Hope you know who to ask about the Villa. I am not even sure who owns that place at the moment."

[sulldawga]

Harald

"Styr can come with me. Maybe visiting all the temples in town will fool people into thinking you're a pious man."

[NJWilliam]

Tychon the Blue, Mage

Tychon nods and smiles at Semer. "Excellent, excellent," he says as he hands her a pouch of the agreed fifty gold coins to which he adds another five gold.

"One other thing, if I may, we are looking for something more permanent than our rooms at the inn, and it was suggested that the Spelanos townhome was up for sale. Can you point me toward who we should speak with about renting or purchasing it?

"And, of course, where should I look should we have more business for you?"

[thirdkingdom]

Tychon the Blue, Mage

Tychon nods and smiles at Semer. "Excellent, excellent," he says as he hands her a pouch of the agreed fifty gold coins to which he adds another five gold.

"One other thing, if I may, we are looking for something more permanent than our rooms at the inn, and it was suggested that the Spelanos townhome was up for sale. Can you point me toward who we should speak with about renting or purchasing it?

"And, of course, where should I look should we have more business for you?"

Semer

The trader shrugs when asked who to speak to about renting the mansion. "That's out of my league, my friend. Maybe there's a groundskeeper you can speak with? Or a neighbor?" She pauses, looking the mage up and down. "I'll be in town another week at most. I'll be heading back north no later than Eigthtday once I get this shipment together."

[Hrafn]

Kaa, Shaman


"We have time to sit and think, surely. Or perhaps not." Kaa replies as Pesha gets up. "I'm thinking. Babu and I could commune with the spirits of the city, but we need questions to ask they may be aware of. And our traditions are different, so we would have to each ask the right questions. So I will wait for a map and for some understanding. Because we are running into a nest as if there wasn't something waiting, and that makes me nervous."

She speed-shuffles the cards a few times, before setting them back into her pack. "We need a city map. The sewers are a honeycombed exit, the villa was becoming slowly tainted, and the beguiling eyes of the yaksha mean that they could move aorund with impunity and eat the memories so no one can tell us where they are. I too will go with you, and learn what I can of the city design."

Will watch for manholes or similar, use Mapping to put together an overlay of city and sewers when I get the information so we can make guesses about where else these thigns could have gone.

[thirdkingdom]

During her wanderings Kaa discovers no obvious entrances into the sewers, save for two man-high outflows that empty into the harbor. A thin stream of brown effluvia trickles from both; each opening is covered with a rusted iron grill. Asking about, she determines that Mellas is advanced enough -- or built upon the ruins of a sufficiently advanced civilization -- that most houses have their own cesspit that ties into the sewer. One could, given a sufficient amount of courage and corresponding lack of smell, enter the lower warrens of the city by that manner.

Several of the people she speaks with seem unnerved with the direction of her questioning. "Look, lady," says a fruit vendor six or so blocks away from the Spelani manor, "a lot of these buildings have entrances into the lower city. That don't mean you want to go there, or even will be able to. There's the sewers, which are ripe with shit and refuse, then there the left-overs from the lizard city that was here afore us. The Guilds use some of the tunnels, but there's whole areas they steer clear of. Ghouls and worse live down below, gods and demons leftover from the oldtimes." He looks around. "But I tell you what. Lemme see some gold and I'll tell you how to get down there."

[Hrafn]

Kaa, shaman


Kaa grins. "Luckily, I don't bring too much with me, or I'd suspect you were trying to get me to flash some coin in the fog and then lead me into a back alley." She fishes out a few gold coins and a silver piece from the coppers lining her coin purse. "Lead the way, friend!"

[thirdkingdom]

Vendor

The man grunts his approval at the gift. "Can't take you there myself, but I can tell you how to get there. There's the park -- don't know if you've seen it -- couple six blocks that way." He points the general direction. "Something happened when the lizardman city sank into the ground; left a shaft made of some silvery, unnatural metal sticking out of the ground. Still there, doesn't tarnish or rust. There's a door there, supposed to open at a touch, or something. Not even the Guilds fuck with it, far as I know, as there's some sort of guard inside, leftover from before."

He pauses. "'Course, might just be easier to find someone in the Guild, iffin you know anyone, and ask them nicely to let you below."

I've added the location to the Player's Map of Mellas. It is location "4".

[Rodriguez]

Fearghus had withdrawn his post in favor of the cliffside villa. So Styr will go with Harald

Harald
"Styr can come with me. Maybe visiting all the temples in town will fool people into thinking you're a pious man."

Styr the Axe Murderer
Styr laughs out loud and proclaims "Then I shall be known as 'Styr the most Pious', and get free drinks and lodging in every abbey and brothel from here to the Shivering Peaks". He will join Harald then and grin for most of the journey trough town, apparently he really likes that idea...

Styr now also wants to get himself some priestly garb to pose as a mendicant or priest! Do they come across a Temple where the priests sometimes would give out food and alms to the poor?

[thirdkingdom]

Styr now also wants to get himself some priestly garb to pose as a mendicant or priest! Do they come across a Temple where the priests sometimes would give out food and alms to the poor?

There are several obvious temples in Mellas, all clustered together on one street, although there are rumors of several more; secret temples, hidden down twisting alleys, deep under the city. One man on a streetcorner even loudly proclaims the presence of a temple to Naldgeorruth, the god of Unspeakable Knowledge, right out in the open! "Here!" he cries, gesturing wildly, "You see how you walk, the movement of the carts, the clack of their wheels? All part of the paean to Naldgeorruth! The day this all stops is the day the gods die!"

The patron deity of Mellas is one Rimas, the god of Commerce and the bull, and his shrine is built from white carved marble that stands out from the adobe in the rest of the city. Priests with white robes and long beards move silently on the front steps to the holy place. Next to that temple is a smaller one, dedicated to Ciaja, the goddess of Healing and the Hearth. The priests and priestesses there dress in light blue robes and anoint the heads of petitioners with water from a sacred well. Across the street is the temple of Irol, Lord of Wind and Rain. The courtyard in the front of this temple is filled with a dozen or so sarcedotal chanters; a woman passing on the street mentions they are beseeching their god to drive away the unholy fog that engulfs the city.

The fourth temple is said to be down at the waterfront, squeezed between two warehouses and staffed by a tired, elderly priest with failing eyes. Despite that, the temple to Trithryth, the Drowned One, is said to be the richest in Mellas, as each sailor who lands safely tithes his share of the journey's profits.

[thirdkingdom]

Harald makes inquiries as to the availability of mercenaries and is directed to a street several blocks up from the docks that is a known recruiting ground for sellwords and soldiers of fortunes. It seems that the most popular mercenaries are footmen and other melee specialists; he finds two companies of crossbowmen willing and able to work. The first is composed of six men and is led by a hawk-nosed man from the west named Dicred. The second company is composed of seven mercenaries and captained by a short, wiry woman with ebony skin and an eyepatch over her left eye. She goes by the name Sylmarchael. Both require a week's wages for each part week, and both are adamant that neither they nor their men will enter dungeon nor fane.

Crossbowmen (#). 1-35 1 company, 36-70 2 companies, 71-90 3 companies, 91-100 4 companies: (3d8=13, 1d100=48).

Dicred requires 54 gp to hire his troop per week.
Sylmarchael requires 63 per week.

Note that all costs are the minimum regardless of the part of a week. One day or one week costs the same amount.

[drpete]

Babu the Monkey

Babu goes out to buy vampire hunting supplies... Stakes, garlic, etc.

While he is out, he'll look for street people... Beggars and orphans, as well as carousers or thugs. He is looking to find out if they are being preyed upon without being buried in the ossuary, and possibly to hire some people either as light muscle or to gather information.

While he is out and about, he'll also look for spellcasters with his sense power ability. There may not be a mages guild, but there must be mages around.

He is in favor of renting the villa, and would like to bless it if we do.

[sulldawga]

Harald

Harald will buy all three vials of holy water he comes across (75 gp). At each of the temples, he will inquire as to the availability of blessed weapons that can harm undead. He will also ask if the priests know whether or not blessed missile weapons will harm undead and, if so, how he can get some.

After making the rounds of the temples, Harald will go to the recruiting ground and hire Sylmarchael's company (63 gp). He'll give Sylmarchael 270 gp and instruct her to buy a wagon large enough to carry the company, with a draft horse to boot. Then he wants the company to buy some cloth, tinder boxes, and oil and make sure each crossbowman has at least five bolts with tips wrapped in cloth. If she can't connect the dots herself and is curious, he'll explain about needing fire-bolts. Lastly, he'll instruct the company to take it easy for the rest of the day, as they may be needed after hours this evening.

He'll instruct her to report back to him at the Inn once she's completed her tasks.

[thirdkingdom]

Babu the Monkey

Babu goes out to buy vampire hunting supplies... Stakes, garlic, etc.

While he is out, he'll look for street people... Beggars and orphans, as well as carousers or thugs. He is looking to find out if they are being preyed upon without being buried in the ossuary, and possibly to hire some people either as light muscle or to gather information.

While he is out and about, he'll also look for spellcasters with his sense power ability. There may not be a mages guild, but there must be mages around.

He is in favor of renting the villa, and would like to bless it if we do.

The description of Sense Power indicates it takes one turn to use. I'm inferring it doesn't work the way you are indicating.

[Rodriguez]

While he is out and about, he'll also look for spellcasters with his sense power ability. There may not be a mages guild, but there must be mages around.

The description of Sense Power indicates it takes one turn to use. I'm inferring it doesn't work the way you are indicating.

Could he sit in a cafe on a street corner and concentrate one turn and then wait till a Mage crosses his path?

[drpete]

so, he will be hanging around in markets and such, doing his errands. Once or twice, he'll pause and see if he senses anything. If he sees anyone who "looks" plausibly arcane, he'll try, too. Not just wandering with the power on... Does that work?

[thirdkingdom]

Okay, drpete, can you give me an idea of what it looks like when you use Sense Power. If I might ask, what are you planning on doing if you sense a magic-user?