18 Ardor 508

As the party comes downstairs from their suite in the Rampant Unicorn, dressed in their fancy clothes for their visit to the local shrine, they spot a merchant checking out. He’s berating the innkeep, obviously upset about something. “It’s outrageous! Outrageous I tell you!”. The merchant spots the party coming down the stairs and makes a point of pointing at the innkeep again. “Outrageous!”

The party eats a basic breakfast in the common room and notices the merchant group that Surm spoke with last night. There are close to twenty of them, making preparations for their journey. They also have an entertainer in their group—Mõrvar notes that she is pretty. They also have a healer, a priest of Cereth—Surm finds this interesting. Nevertheless, the party lets them alone and they move on, following their plan to go to shrine of Wygulf Darkbane.

As they get in line to go on the ferry that runs to the island shrine, Furfur takes off. After a brief discussion, the party changes their mind about going to the shrine and turn around and head toward the road to the mountain pass. As they move, Furfur returns and alights on Mõrvar’s shoulder.

As they approach the pass, they see the larger group at the beginning of the pass. They note that they have six wagons has part of their entourage and their six guards and various members on horseback. The party passes the group, shouting greetings and salutations as they go by. Mõrvar winks at pretty entertainer as he passes.

They ride throughout the day and make it through the pass and out the other side and camp in the forest at sundown. on the other side, making it to Ornis.

During Mõrvar’s guard shift, Furfur flies from his shoulder over to Savaric’s sleeping form and looks around his hand and flies back. “You should have the ring,” the bird tells Mõrvar.

“Savaric should have the ring,” Mõrvar counters.

“You could do much,” Furfur says.

“I can already do much,” Mõrvar says, confident.

“You can do more,” the bird presses.

“Then Savaric would do less. We would all do less. We are a family. We are strong together, me Savaric, Rilka, and Surm.”

“Surm doesn’t trust you,” the bird says, slyly.

“He trusts me so far. He knows how far I can go.”

The bird says no more that night.

19 Ardor 508

Everyone changes into traveling clothes and the party continues traveling down the trail toward Glofthall.

Around noontime, Surm, Rilka, and Mõrvar notice a large dragon-like creature flying down toward them from sky. The three cry “Scatter!” and put words to action. Furfur flies off.

Unfortunately, in the scatter action, Surm and Savaric are thrown from their mounts, just as a ball of fire erupts around them. Surm is caught up entirely in the flames, while Savaric manages to avoid some of their deadly force. The drake lands and engages with the Ranger.

Mõrvar stops, dismounts, and goes looking for his brother. Surm looks for cover. The drake bites viciously into Savaric. Rilka dismounts and heads toward the drake while Savaric attacks with Edgefrost and notices that the cold seems to adversely affect this creature.

Then Rilka is there and attacks and misses. Mõrvar casts True Strike on his weapon and moves in. Savaric misses the drake with his weapon. The drake goes to bite Savaric again and misses. Surm, from his newfound position of cover, casts Ray of Frost and damages the drake.

Rilka attacks and hits the drake with her falchion. Surm hits the drake again with a Ray of Frost. Savaric hits again with Edgefrost. The drake tries to hit with a tail swipe and misses. Mõrvar hits it and finally slays the drake.

Rilka gathers the horses while Savaric gets the teeth and talons off of the drake. Savaric and Surm treat each others wounds. Finally, the party is ready to move on. They continue through the forest until they make camp for the night.

20 Ardor 508

The party breaks camp in the morning and continues through the forest for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, they arrive at Glofthall. After paying their gate taxes, they head to the Lost Griffon, an inn near the market center. It’s a modest inn, nothing fancy. There are some common merchants inside, some barmaids, a couple of lady-adventurers inside, and a pair of dwarves.

The party get rooms, a meal, and seat themselves in the quiet common room. Everyone seems to be minding their own business. After a brief discussion, they decide to get a job on the way to the north. So Surm approaches the innkeep and asks if he knows of anyone heading north looking for caravan guards or if there is a gathering place for people looking for such work.

The innkeep says that he thinks that those dwarves are heading north. I don’t know if they need guards. Or there’s the market center. Surm returns to the table and announces that he will be going to the market center in the morning.

21 Ardor 508

Everyone is dressed in their “Captain Rilka” costumes and head out to the market center for Glofthall. At the center of the marketplace is a series of large posts where various postings are to be had: wanted posters, bills, workers wanted, etc. There are also criers out soliciting work for various outfits. Savaric and Mõrvar get distracted and want to go check out the postings but Captain Rilka tells them to “stay in formation” and they stay with her. Surm asks them to hang out at The Hound, a nearby tavern, while he checks the posts for work and possibly becomes a crier himself, soliciting work.

Surm checks the posts and doesn’t have much luck finding something appropriate for their group. So he joins the criers in soliciting work. Before too long, he is approached by an old man who says he’s headed north. He’s a chandler—he makes candles and other wax products. He’s got two wagons. He and his wainwright are heading north to Pylar and could use some guards on the road. Surm impresses him with their credentials of “Slayer of a Dire Wolf in Jenna” and the letter of reference from Kyra Feldane in Skeene for helping with a murder investigation. The old man wants to meet this “Captain Rilka”. So Surm leads the old man to The Hound where the rest of the party is waiting.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party has been waiting at the The Hound. The Hound is mostly occupied by clerks and scribes from the city courts. So it is certainly not the lively tavern that Mõrvar was hoping for. Surm leads the old man to the party and introduces him to “Captain Rilka.” The old man’s name is Daveth Shandrel. They work out the details of the trip. He also comments that he’s never traveled with a half-orc before, but then she’s probably never traveled with a wax-work before. Then comes the negotiation of price. Shandrel proposes pay of 3 silver per day per guard. Surm proposes double pay due to military experience, unless he’s also going to pay for food. Shandrel proposes 4 silver per day, but he’ll also provide food. The deal is made.

They return to their rooms at the Lost Griffon and let the innkeep know that they want to be woken up before sunrise.

22 Ardor 508

The party is awakened shortly before dawn. They gather their belongings and ride out to the market center to meet Daveth Shandrel and Jory at their wagons. Daveth introduces Jory, another grizzled older man. Rilka arranges which guard goes where and the group heads out of the city, heading north up the road.

It’s a warm summer day. The day passes without much incident and without much chatter. Both Daveth and Jory are fairly taciturn men. As the sun goes down, Daveth asks if one of the men can scout out a place for the wagons to pull over. Rilka has Savaric do it. Savaric scouts ahead and finds a clearing and yells back about it. The group pulls over and starts making a camp area with tents. Rilka and company set up on the perimeter and take care of the horses.

During the first guard shift, Surm’s guard shift, he hears a friendly voice call out from the darkness “Hail to the camp!”

Wary, Surm calls out “Who goes there?”

" Jonstan Longstaff is the name. I saw your fire and thought ‘safety in numbers’ and all that. Nice night to camp to though, don’t you think… " and he goes on like this for a good five minutes.

“Come into the light.”

“Alright. Perfectly right. You can’t be too careful, I always say. Ruffians about these days…” He continues to speak as he comes into the light. He’s a halfling, dressed in traveling clothes and a hat. He’s got pouches on his person and a backpack and bedroll. He’s carrying a fishing pole which he has cocked over his shoulder “…and they had the worse fishing holes I’ve ever seen…”

Surm, wary that this might be a distraction for ruffians, looks about for others, and wakes up Rilka. Rilka checks out the halfling and asks him what his business is and he says, amongst other things, he’s on his way to Kalimsport to fish in the ocean. “Biggest city in the world, you know…” Rilka decides to wake up Daveth. She does so and updates him on the events and the old man comes over to loquacious halfling. “Oh, this is your camp. Well you can’t too be careful, I always say…” The old man asks Rilka if he’s armed. She checks him for weapons and finds only a sling. “Well, it’s only for one night and he seems harmless enough. Alright.”

So they clear him out a space in front of the fire and during the night, each shift notifies the other of the halfling in camp—with an admonishment to NOT wake him up to talk to him. Mõrvar stares at him as if he might be illusion during his guard shift.

23 Ardor 508

Rilka wakes up Daveth, and then wakes up the halfling. Mõrvar is standing over him, intimidatingly. He tries to strike up a conversation, but is even cowed a bit by the staring Mõrvar. Still, he wishes them all good journey and make his way down the road, south, to Kalimsport. The party all check their belongings—nothing is missing.

They all march up the road. It’s another warm summer day that passes peacefully. Savaric has trouble finding a clearing for the wagons to camp in that evening, but eventually finds one as the sun is barely visible on the horizon. The night passes without incident.

24 Ardor 508

As the group travels this morning, they pass a group a of old men in robes and large floppy hats scouring the wilderness for herbs. Around noon, they pass Tower Iosabail, one of the Towers of Wizardry that dot the land.

As the day wanes, Savaric eventually finds another camping spot for the wagons and the night passes without incident.

25 Ardor 508

This morning, Daveth informs them that they will be entering the city of Hollton to crossover their bridge into the city of Pylar. They’ll probably get into the city of Hollton by tonight, but he’s not sure if they’ll make it to the gate at Pylar in time, as they shut at nightfall. Hollton is in Ornis, Pylar is in Leilior

They ride through another warm summer day and arrive at the gates of Hollton in late afternoon. The gate taxes are paid by Daveth. As they ride through the city, slowly with the wagons and traffic, the sun is going down. Surm rides ahead to the bridge gate. “Captain Rilka is escorting Daveth Shandrel and will need to cross. They are currently waylaid by traffic, but will be here.” The guard responds “We’re not familiar with Captain Rilka, but we’re happy to oblige if they’re on their way.” Surm stays with the guards and makes some small talk.

The wagon finally breaks through the traffic jam and makes its way through. Daveth pays his fees and they are in Pylar. He makes his way to the market and sets up his wagons. He then settles up and says that he was happy to do so—though it was a quiet trip, you never know what you’ll find and they did a fine job of keeping an eye on things. Daveth then gives them some recommendations on some local inns. He tells them about the Lively Falcon at the North Gate, to stay away from The Goblin’s Teeth, and that the Whistling Spirit is nearby, but some people say its haunted. They say their goodbyes and move on.

After a brief discussion, the party decides to stay at the Whistling Spirit. Savaric and Rilka seem fascinated by this ghost idea. Surm and Mõrvar, not as much. When they get there and arrange for their rooms, the half-orcs quiz the innkeeper on the ghost. At first he kind of pooh-poohs the idea, but then he warms to the idea that there strange, unexplained noises and moaning in the inn. He doesn’t claim its a ghost—but he doesn’t discount it either. The noises have been there for the past few years. Nobody’s found a source for the noises.

Mõrvar and Surm try to get Savaric to get out and come with them to fight at the Goblins Teeth. They also convince Rilka to come, too. “Someone’s got to watch your backs…,” though she protests the cheating plan they have to cast mage armor on Savaric.

They go into the Goblin’s Teeth inn. It’s a ramshackle inn on the riverfront. A wide variety of races are inside—humans, half-orcs, dwarves, half-elves. They find a table and sit down. “What’ll it be?” asks a half-orc barmaid. Rilka orders four ales. Surm asks her about the local fight club. " I don’t know nothing about that. But you might ask Murtog. " She points to a large, bald human sitting at another table.

Surm and Mõrvar head over to Murtog’s table. Surm asks about the local fights. Murtog looks him up and down and laughs and says he doesn’t look like a fighter. Surm points at Savaric and says “That’s my boy over there. He’s undefeated.” The two discuss his history and Murtog seems to know of Rollgut over in Jenna. Murtog says he’ll have to see him fight. So he says to follow him.

As Surm gathers up Savaric and Rilka, he casts Mage Armor on Savaric on the sly. They follow the human to a riverside warehouse that has fighting going on inside. He asks them to wait while he makes arrangements. Murtog returns and says that because he’s an unknown, the best odds he can get is 1/10. He fights for a purse of 10 gold. "Get your boy ready, " he says.

Savaric gets ready while the others (except for Rilka) place their bets. Then he’s brought to the ring and meets his challenger—a half-elf. Lithe and athletically built. The referee shouts “Fight!” and the two go at it.

At first, Savaric clearly dominates the fight. He’s got the speed and the muscle on his opponent. But, his opponent seems to be able to take his blows. But then, his foe gets in really good punch, crushing Savaric’s trachea. Now the half-orc can’t breathe. He’s holding his breath and hoping he can take out the half-elf quickly and get to some healing before he keels over. Finally, he does just that. His opponent falls and his companions bring the healing wand over to administer healing to his crushed windpipe.

Mõrvar and Surm collect their winnings, but Murtog comes by and warns, not in a threatening way, that “If I were you, I’d take your winnings and get the hell out of here.” Mõrvar shakes hands with him and they make their way out.

Rilka sees the others making their way out and makes her way out as well. She is not impressed with the night’s shenanigans. She tells them that from now on, for fight club nights, they’re on their own. She’s not participating. Surm seems hurt. “You’d let us go to a place like that without your back up.”

“Yep. If you’re picked up by the watch, I’ll come bail you out.”

“Places like that, you’re not picked up by the watch. There’s a reason why they’re by the riverfront.”

“Then we’re in a quandary.”

They return to the Whistling Spirit, mood soured by Rilka’s pronouncement.