We wake up on the 25th Laurilden, having spent the night in the Kobold barracks. The party remains suspicious of Baewin after Barnier’s escape, and as such are referring to Ingeret the Elf as ‘Suzie’ for her protection. During breakfast, Adelard expresses his men’s desire to properly bury the dead slaves we found.
Initially wanting to leave some of his men behind to see to burial, we convince him and the other guardsmen that the living are the priority for the moment. It is unknown whether any Kobolds remain in the area, and the junlge is treacharous enough already.
We gather our stuff and leave, carrying Ashton upon a makeshift stretcher, and exit the way we came. With Chuq scouting, we make our way back along the stream and along the trails, eventually returning to the ford. Chuq goes to fetch our hidden animals and cart, startling Brygard (and the ghost of Baldin) in the process.
We pause here to completely clear the ford of traps, finding ten more of them, and in the meantime, Axel spots a figure across the river with the spyglass. A closer look reveals a solitary female dwarf, waiting on the road at the river’s edge, clad in chainmail and wielding a mace.
Since she is alone, we decide to cross, once more loading up the wagon with archers as a precaution whilst Chuq takes a swim. As before, it is a long and difficult crossing. Once within earshot, Axel call out a greeting, and she responds in kind, greeting him as a Forge-Brother.
Up close, she is striking (for a dwarf), with piercing eyes. We stop at the shore to converse, Axel and Thorfus jumping down to talk in thier native tongue. She is Brice Hissel, former Warden of the Rock, outcast due to her claims of receiving visions directly from Xen’Tellar. She is here due to his guidance, sent in dreams of a fiery disk, the god’s eye seen through a hole in the centre. She had left her home in search of its bearers, and her description matches the Xen’Khel key Thorfus was carrying exactly. Whilst we are cagey with our answers, she seems to infer that we do indeed possess it, and agrees to accompany us back to Vargan.
In exchange, she also agrees to heal Ashton of his injuries, returning the half-Orc to wakefulness. Once he is done cursing, we fill him in on recent events and continue on to Vargan. The trip is uneventful, but for passing another caravan, marked with a red wave-like sigil, who we inform of the ford’s clearing.
Back at Vargan, we see a team of City Guard hacking away at Beggar’s Copse, supervised by Elisandro, who is propped up on a crutch. Chuq heads over, both for information and to secure passage into the city. In our absence, things haven’t been terribly well. Beamsly had increased the patrols along the wall in response to our findings, partnering the guards up for thier protection. Several days later, whilst Elisandro was patrolling with Arnold, the Quicklings appeared again. Elisandro was knocked out, but poor Arnold was murdered by the creatures, disembowelled with his blood used to leave a message. A mage was called in to translate, and it simply read ‘Vengeance is swift. Strike not the quick ones.’ After this, the petty thefts continued, and Beamsly beefed the patrols up to four men.
Elisandro grants us entry, saying that we should speak to Beamsly when we get chance. We head straight for the Lone Barrel to see the Mercer’s Guild, stopping only to see Pevral at the Twelfth Knight. He comes out to see Gomez and Reinhard, and pays us right there for thier safe return, before accompanying us. Adelard leads the way.
Upon entering, the serving girl quickly fetches Emery Longstirap, and we relay to her what happened and what we found, Adelard backing up our claims. We also discuss Barnier’s escape, and find that Baewin simply could not explain what happened, especially with so many people (and two trained dogs) present. Barnier must be exceptionally skilled
Emery sends for Guild Mistress Phillis, and our payment for completing the job. Phillis talks to Ingeret, but feels we don’t yet have enough information to properly implicate the Bargemen. Realising that Barnier will likely be on his way to see Rotho Waterman as possible, its decided we need to get there ASAP to get what we need.
In the meantime, the Guild puts up the rescued at the Inn, and we discuss the Dragon Orb and its possible importance. Its at this moment Finklemur discovers the orb is missing from his pack, and we realise that Barnier must’ve stolen it during his escape.
Without the Orb, exposing Waterman would be difficult, but we decide to act anyway, hoping to bluff our way to an answer. Finklemur barters for the means to heal his arm, hoping that his magic would help in this situation, and Phillis agrees.
Emery takes the old wizard to Temple Square via horseback, whilst everyone else gets aboard Axel’s cart, Adelard accompanying us to guide us to Rotho’s base in Fen’s Edge, even paying the toll fees.
Stopping just short of the guard tower, the guardsman points out the building to us and we proceed. Outside city guards are milling about, alongside a number of grey-cloaked men not unlike the bargemen we encountered in the Kobold’s temple.
At the same time, Emery and Finklemur reach the Ark. Leaving the horse with an acolyte, they request to see the partiarch, and an Elder is brought to them who agrees to bring them to Patriarch after they ask for the means to heal Finklemur’s arm. The Partriarch resides in a small building within a garden, and he comes out to examine the injury. Unfortunately, it requires a really powerful spell to heal, and as such would cost them 6000 gold, and won’t even be possible until the following evening. Disappointed, Finklemur asks if the Guild will at least support some of the cost at a later date.
Across town, we leave some of the party in the street to watch for Barnier, whilst Chuq, Axel and Thorfus head towards the building. Chuq strides boldly towards the entrance to the Bargeman’s base, gaining the notice of the greycloaks in the process. He convinces them that we need to see Rotho, and we are taken in and lead to his room. Before we enter, it is made obvious that violence here could only end badly for us, with the city guard so close and obviously allied with them.
We talk to Rotho in the man’s office, spinning a tale of having met Barnier out in the jungle, alone and bloodied, saving him from an attack by Sumonsters. We explain that he left the orb in how possession, but disappeared, so we decided to complete his task and bring the orb to Waterman. Whilst the orb is currently ‘with a friend, visiting thier mother’, we promise to bring it to him later.
We discuss the orb itself, learning that the symbol corresponds to that of the legendary Crystal Tower, which was potentially located upon the Lonely Isle before it fell (though not to Chuq’s knowledge, being from there). The orb is apparently something that would be of great benefit to the guild, though we are unable to ascertain why exactly.
We barter then for a reward, pushing high due to it’s importance to not only Rotho, but also historically for dwarves, even factoring in it’s obviously high level of craftsmanship. We settle on a price of 20,000 gold, payable that evening, and Rotho even offers us futher work after.
Still lacking answers, we ask how he discovered that the Kobolds were in possesion of such an artifact, trying to pass it off again as if Barnier informed us of that. Rotho cites that he had done a lot of research and had luck on his side, expanding on the Kobold rumours by saying he had heard that a Kobold King, Faldinmixis, had set up the toll on the ford.
Jumping on that particular tidbit, we try to impress on him that the theft of what was obviously an important object of worship to the Kobolds, known for their reverance of dragons, would only serve to potentially push them to attack the city itself. With some difficulty, we get him to agree to warn the city watch, but fail at getting him to warn Adalun Beamsly directly, the Captain who would certainly have first contact.
Here we realise that we have lost, and only served to give Rotho suspicions and information on us, as the Guild Master jumps on any potential slips such as us having ties and a base in the Wall District. We misdirect him towards the Winking Swordsman as damage control, where we say we will meet him to exchange the Orb, which we have no intention of doing.
We leave, and he goes to speak to Captain Leofrick about the Kobolds. As we regroup, we see Emery and Finklemur have caught up, and there is still no sign of Barnier.
We head back to the Lone Barrel. Finklemur notices Aardman once again following us, despite Ashton’s warnings previously, and confronts him. The thief claims mere curiosity, referring to Ashton’s conversation when pressed. Thorfus approaches, and asks about the Punter-Mercer conflict, and we learn that Aardman has some sort of business arrangement with the Bargeman, claiming that he wouldn’t trust a Mercer. He also describes the Kobold situation as ‘lucky’ for the Punters, and is shocked at the idea of slaves.
He leaves, and we make haste to the Wall District, not noticing any further pursuit. Back at the Inn, we fill Phillis in on what occured. It’s obvious we shouldn’t go to the meeting, and should likely lay low for now. After some discussion, we realise that the acquistion of the Dragon Orb is likely tied to dragon expedition being planned in Fen’s Edge, further solidfied when we remember that Rotho Waterman’s name was cited when we were looking for experts on dragons in Vargan.
Things looking grim, we take advantage of the Mercer’s hospitality and keep our heads down, spending the next week training for the future.
