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Zellar

Zellar considers what wealth she may need on her travels, and how she might carry it...

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

Zellar considers what wealth she may need on her travels, and how she might carry it...

tk, is there a moneychanger in town where I can exchange gold for platinum or - even better - gemstones? I want to concentrate a thousand or two gold pieces to bring with me.

Fourthmonth, Twentysixthday
Kimrid

It's around noon by the time the adventurers are ready to leave Kimrid, and the sky is clouding over, low, grey clouds scudding south on a cold breeze that hints at rain, and a potential cold spell. But it is not raining, and the adventurers feel like they can put some distance between themselves and Kimrid 'ere darkness. The mercenaries grumble as they mount their horses, although they have had little to do for the past week but sit about, whiling away the hours.

There are a network of paths and lesser roads spreading out from Kimrid like webbing, and the adventurers pick the one that seems to take them in the proper direction. Before long they have left the clearing of the town and re-entered the woods. It is sparsely populated, but here and there the trees have been felled and log houses, surrounded by wooden palisades or earthen berms, dot the landscape like mushrooms. Folk work these freeholds, tending small gardens or herding animals, with bow or blade handy. They look somewhat suspiciously at the adventurers, but most raise hands in greeting.

The adventurers have gone perhaps nine miles -- with each mile seeing fewer and fewer settlements -- and begin to think there are no more freeholds this far out, when they come across one of the largest they have yet seen, a clearing some eight hundred yards across, centered in which is a tall wall of earth and wood, upon which can be seen a few folks walking patrol, and inside the ring the roofs of some houses.

"Ho there!" calls out a deep voice from atop the wall, "you do not look like the Eyes of Mnencir on patrol, yet you come from that direction! Welcome to Woodsend, the last settlement west of Kimrid for many miles!"

The adventurers judge that they could perhaps travel another six or so miles before the sky begins to darken with night and rain.

Feargus

"I saw we camp here in relative comfort and safety and then leave civilization tomorrow. The mercenaries should stay outside the berm. Let me know if you agree."

"Ho there! We are a small adventuring party coming from Kimrid. We would like your permission to approach the walls and bring news of the wider world!"

Telemachus

The mage nods in approval of the plan. "Could be the last dry night for us for a while. Might as well at least ask about the mercs coming in, too. This place is big enough to hold them all."

Newton

"A warm meal would be welcome for all, including the mercs, they haven't had the comforts we've had the last week"

Fourthmonth, Twentysixthday
Woodsend

A large wooden gate swings slowly open, and the adventurers and their retinue are ushered into a large enclosure -- almost the size of the walls enclosing Kimrid, but far emptier. About a score of buildings dot the interior, mostly wood, but the majority of the space is taken up by ploughed fields, carefully tended gardens, and animal paddocks and pens. The adventurers see maybe thirty or forty people engaged in various day to day tasks; they too, like those they saw earlier, are armed. Many carry shortbows and quivers, but not a few have blades at their belts, or axes, or at least a long knife tucked into belt or boot.

A large man, nearly as broad across the shoulders as he is tall, hops down from a walkway at the top of the palisade. "Ho travelers!" he calls out, plainly the one who hailed them earlier. "Welcome, with Mnencir's grace! We rarely get folks from Kimrid, and even more rarely travelers from further away. I am Fikrom An, warder and master of Woodsend, and welcome you to our freehold. Dinner is no doubt underway even as we speak, and it looks as though we may be in for some rain 'ere the day is over."

Zellar

"Greetings, Fikrom An, and blessings of Mnencir upon you. I am Zellar, dervish of the Temple in Kimrid. It seems your people have done well here in clearing the land and safeguarding your homes against the threats of chaos. How is your life here? Can my companions and I be of any service in your noble quest to reestablish law and order in these lands?"

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

"Greetings, Fikrom An, and blessings of Mnencir upon you. I am Zellar, dervish of the Temple in Kimrid. It seems your people have done well here in clearing the land and safeguarding your homes against the threats of chaos. How is your life here? Can my companions and I be of any service in your noble quest to reestablish law and order in these lands?"

Fikrom An

"Life is hard, like anywhere. As if worrying about orcs and goblins wasn't enough, we've still got to plow the fields and tend to the livestock. But, it's the same everywhere, is it not? Brutal and short and all that. Things are actually pretty quiet, at least since the thaw. Last fall we had some goblins lay siege to the freehold, but after a couple of days they ended up fleeing without gain. Haven't seen them since. If you're going out further west, though, you'll want to 'ware trolls and giants. Some folk live beyond, further west -- trappers and hunters, mostly. Mountain folk who eschew the comforts of hearth and home. They stop by here every few weeks or so to trade furs and meat for provisions. They say something's stirring out in the wilds."

Zellar

"What exactly do they say is stirring? Something worse than trolls and giants?"

Feargus

"Could this be what we heard speak of from the old ladies in Kimrid? If I remember that was a ways off to the west...this seems too close though."

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

"What exactly do they say is stirring? Something worse than trolls and giants?"

The_Wanderer wrote:Feargus

"Could this be what we heard speak of from the old ladies in Kimrid? If I remember that was a ways off to the west...this seems too close though."

Fikrom An

The barrel-chested man shrugs, a huge motion that looks like ocean swells. "I don't know. What's worse than trolls and giants? There were some giants that we'd see sometimes, round about the last year, but fire enough arrows at them and they just retreated. They'd get a sheep or a goat every once in awhile. Haven't seen a troll in about ten years, I guess. My feeling is that there's a new Cycle starting, and there's always some upheaval that happens right about now. Least that's what the tales say."

Fourthmonth, Twentysixthday
Woodsend

The part spends the evening and night in the shelter of Woodsend, and during that time learn somewhat about the community. Forty-six people dwell within the wooden walls. It was founded nearly twenty years ago, An tells them, at a time when the orcish incursions were waning and he and a few others were chafing at the confines of Kimrid. "Don't get me wrong, they're fine folks there. The priests can be harsh, but they're nothing if not fair, and it's an honor being that close to a living god. But sometimes stone walls and buildings have a habit of closing in on oneself, you know? I started to feel claustrophobic. So, my wife and I, and the kids, got to together with some like-minded individuals and decided to make an early start. Woodsend's grown since then, but we've got everything we need here. My daughter's the blacksmith, and my boys raise goats and pigs, and everyone chips in what they can." He gives a big belly laugh. "It's actually starting to feel a little too much like a city, if you ask me! Might have to move further away if any more folks come to live out here; too much responsibility, and I can't just piss out the front door like I used to." His expression turns wistful.

Dinner is simple but good, and the adventurers and their retinue are put up in a barn. During the night rain starts to fall; the rare spring rain that brings with it both colder air and lightning, but the roof of the barn is sound and the lightning and thunder stays mostly to the north.

Fourthmonth, Twentyseventhday
Woodsend

The adventurers rise in the morning and continue on their way. The rain has stopped, but the air is cold, and a mist rises from the ground as they leave the shelter of Woodsend. The day passes without incident.
Fourthmonth, Twentyseventhday
Junction

Goshawk takes his leave of Madame Fleur and turns his horse to the east, back to Rhea's Ford. He will arrive the next day, just in time to catch the end of the Spring's Dawn festival.

Fourthmonth, Twentyeighthday
Hex 282.118

The night passes without incident, and the adventurers wake in the morning, near to their goal. It's a short ride to the general vicinity of where the Baron told them the ring should be, but as far as the adventurers can tell they're in a nearly featureless stretch of flat forestland.
Fourthmonth, Twentyeighthday
Rhea's Ford

Once more Goshawk finds himself arriving in Rhea's Ford with a festival underway. The streets are a riot of colors, with garlands of flowers strung on shopfronts and from building to building.

Gardo

"So, how are we going about this? Just traveling and hope we find it? Was there something out here we were going to have to fight with? I never was good at 'find the hiders' when I was young."

Newton

"From what I remember, we don't have much of information. They're entombed somewhere vwith traps. So I guess we search for an entrance"

Zellar

"There are certain benisons of Mnencir that may assist us in finding this tomb. Are you able to describe to me very clearly the ring that we seek?"

Newton

"A band of iron chased with bronze, is what I remember'

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

"There are certain benisons of Mnencir that may assist us in finding this tomb. Are you able to describe to me very clearly the ring that we seek?"

I can prepare locate object once per day if I can clearly visualize the ring, and find traps twice. Far from perfect, but they might augment our search if we're tramping through sub-hexes.

Zellar

The following day, Zellar prepare a different set of spells than usual: cure light wounds, light, protection from evil, find traps, find traps, locate object, and cure serious wounds.

She uses the find traps and locate object spells to assist in the hunt for the tomb.

Fourthmonth, Twentyeighthday
Hex 232.118

The adventurers begin their exploration of the hex, starting in the northeast corner. Newton, Ribar, and Zellar all use the various magics at their disposal to try and ascertain where this tomb might be, but to no avail. In subhex 0603 they stumble across a herd of what look to be elk, but the companions and their retinue are loud in the relative stillness of the woods, and all the adventurers see are a number of furry backsides bounding and crashing away from them, to the north. A few of the mercenaries fire arrows in a desultory fashion after the fleeing creatures, but none hit their mark. That is the only excitement the adventurers encounter during the day, and as night fast approaches the party seeks the shelter of a glade of trees in subhex 0404, where they establish a camp for the evening.