Markas says "We've no time for sport, we need to keep moving." 

"Markas is correct. We need to return directly," Pagan offers.  

"Do Blink Bunnies taste good?" Pagan wonders to himself.

You press on past the blink bunny sighting and ahead lies the keep. Within perhaps a half hour you move up the road to the main gate and the guards quickly call for you to announce yourselves. The guards quickly recognize you as the party that just departed in the morning and they also recognize Lhodis and his group.

"Open the gate, they have returned with Lhodis!"

The portcullis raises and the corporal of the watch, scribe, and lackeys await you inside the entry yard.

Refresher on the Keep

• The keep rests on a lone hill just north of a road that runs from the west (back toward civilization) and to the east (deeper into the wild). Looking north of the keep you can see the start of deciduous forest sloping up hill. To the south lies a swiftly running river that roughly follows the road. The immediate terrain around the keep is a dry, rugged grassland. 
• The only known entrance (and exit) to the keep is a gatehouse flanked by two towers facing east. On approach to the gatehouse, numerous guards are visible atop towers and battlements. Two guards clad in plate armor and carrying halberds approach all visitors across a lowered drawbridge demanding to know their names and business. The guards ask also that all weapons be sheathed/stowed away before leading visitors under a raised portcullis into the keep. (You are allowed to retain your weapons on your person.)
• Past the gatehouse is an entry yard where a grumpy corporal of the watch, and a scribe record the names of all who enter.
• From the entry yard, visitors are then escorted by a lackey along the southern wall inside the keep to an inn. Along the way to the inn, the lackey points out a weaponsmith, armorer, provisioner, trader, and even a bank. A square formed by the southern and western walls of the keep contains a gushing fountain in its center, with the inn (along with the Stretching Goat tavern) forming the west and north sides of the square.
• Daily rates for the inn are 1 gp for a private room and 1sp to sleep in the common room. (You could also sleep in the stables for free. Those are back by the gatehouse.)

The Keep

Key

1. Main Gate
2. Flanking Towers
3. Entry Yard
4. Common Stable
5. Common Warehouse
6. Square Tower
7. Private Apartments (Residences)
8. Smithy and Armorer
9. Provisioner
10. Trader
11. Loan Bank
12. Watch Tower
13. Fountain Square
14. Traveller's Inn
15. The Stretching Goat (Tavern)
16. Guild House
17. Chapel
18. Inner Gatehouse
19. Small Tower
20. Guard Tower
21. Inner Bailey
22. ?
23. Great Tower
24. The Keep Fortress
25. Tower
26. Central Towers
27. ?

You make your way into the entry yard which is not busy at first, but several onlookers arrive as rumors start to spread of Lhodis's rescue. Laressa turns to address you all and with a soft voice says, "join us later in The Stretching Goat. We would like to reward you for saving us from certain death. We must rest now."

Unless there is any thing you want of Lhodis and his crew right now, they will shuffle away into the keep. You assume they live in one of the private apartments you noticed the first time you were here.

Brumdal looks at you all and says, "what do you reckon we should do with this?" He presents a shinny silver armlet with intricate artistic designs etched into it. "I pulled this off of one of those hobgoblin "whiper-snapers" when I came back from retrieving my javelins.

At this you are reminded that you did not come away with a lot of treasure, but you likely came away with a better reputation and stronger credibility with the denizens of this keep.

It is mid to late afternoon and the weather is promising. There is a cool breeze that refreshes you and perhaps promises a hint of rain to these dry lands.

As you can tell from the map I posted there are several services you could take advantage of in the keep.

What would each of you like to do? (Nothing says you have to go about your business as a group.)

XP Awards

I've awarded 90 XP to each of you for successfully rescuing the prisoners and getting them safely home. You each have 700 XP now. (At 900 XP you gain level 3.)

Markas will visit whichever establishment carries arrows and re-stock (Smithy and Armorer?).   If nothing eventful transpires, he'll head to The Streching Goat, purchase a private room, and take a nappy nap.  He'll head into the main room once the sound of increased activity rouses him.  

 Zerys will mosey about and investigate locations 22 and 27. Just 'cause.  If this turns dull she'll head to the Tavern down an ale and and sleep in the common room.

Amar, looks to Pagan, "I got a bit of shopping to do, I hope to take you up on that ale!" 

Amar looks to Brumdal, "Bet the trader will make you an offer on that bit of silver, negotiate a good price!"

@Amar, what are you shopping around for?

Markas

Quote from APhew >>

Markas will visit whichever establishment carries arrows and re-stock (Smithy and Armorer?).   If nothing eventful transpires, he'll head to The Streching Goat, purchase a private room, and take a nappy nap.  He'll head into the main room once the sound of increased activity rouses him.  

Markas makes his way out of the entry yard walking past the warehouse. Several onlookers--guards and commoners alike--take notice of him as he rounds the corner and finds himself outside the open double doors of the smithy and armorer.

Like the other buildings bordering the entry yard this one hosts a parapet at its roof and its walls are pierced for defense. The building is a sturdy stone structure suitable for housing a forge and bellows within on the first floor. The second floor you assume contains the residence of the smith who pauses in his work when you enter his shop. Two others, who you assume are apprentices, continue work further back in the shop. Before walking over to you, the smith sets down his hammer, unfastens from his neck the top portion of a heavy leather apron, letting it fold over at his waste. A wooden counter interposes itself between you and the bulky man who you soon learn is name Ghor.

He explains that the provisioner just across the alleyway has the arrows you are looking for. If you need your horses shod, weapons forged, armor repaired, or similar work, he would be happy to provide service. In the shop here, Ghor has a couple of longswords, a mace, a suit of chain mail (sized for humans, elves, etc.), and several spears, but you are not sure they are for sale.

I will continue on to describe the encounter at the provisioner's shop, but feel free to add more interactions with Ghor and his apprentices. We can either say they happen before you go to the provisioner or that you came back afterwards. (You have an afternoon to kill, so ...)

Markas will make small talk with Ghor and any apprentices that join in, then thank him for the information, and head over to the Provisioner's.  

Markas, continued ...

You cross the alleyway to a lower wooden building that appears to house both a provisioner and a trader. The two shops only seem to be partitioned by a thin curtain.

Entering through the doorway, you are greeted by a woman wearing moon-shaped earrings. She has an unusual bearing in that you could picture her easily in both a formal banquet hall as well as trekking through the backwoods of some wilderness. She explains that she does have a small supply of arrows along with spears, daggers, spears, and crossbow bolts. Her inventory however is geared more toward equipment used in wilderness exploration or "dungeoneering" as it were. Prices for that seem standard. For the aforementioned weapons, she might be asking for more than you would expect.

You can decide whether you want buy a quiver of arrows for 2 gp or shop around.

Going back out the door, down a bit, and into the same building through double doors takes you to the trader. Again the same curtain separates you from the provisioner.

The trader is a mocha-skinned man wearing a faded red bandana and one hooped, gold earring (which you assume is not real gold). He reminds you of maybe a ***** or a pirate. His name is Khalidd and with him are two younger versions of himself minding the store.

This store has almost all manner of armors (for bipeds) as well as simple and martial weapons ... including a quiver of arrows for 1 gp.

In addition to the armaments the shop seems to have stores of salt, spices, cloth, rare woods, etc.

Between the provisioner and the trader you should be able to acquire your arrows.

Provisioner

Price List

While in town Pagan keeps his features hidden under his cloak.  

Pagan needs to go to the Guild House.  He will pay his next month's dues and also check for any word from the Mist Clan.  After that he will look for the others at the tavern.

Trader

Price List

Quote from APhew >>

Markas will make small talk with Ghor and any apprentices that join in, then thank him for the information, and head over to the Provisioner's.  

Markas's Charisma check: 19

Markas, continued

During your time in Ghor's shop, he and the others quickly became interested in you once they realized you had just returned from the Caves.

Whether you volunteer that you also rescued Lhodis is up to you.

Regardless Ghor imparts this information which might be true or false:

"The wilds around here are more wild than most. Not only are the Caves a problem, but those marshes as well." Ghor looks at your ears. "An elf like yourself, once disappeared across those marshes south of the river."

Zerys 

Quote from Straetker>>

Zerys will mosey about and investigate locations 22 and 27. Just 'cause.  If this turns dull she'll head to the Tavern down an ale and and sleep in the common room.

Zerys pokes around the outer bailey of the keep with no issues. She determines that there are two types of guards about in the keep. There are members of the watch and members of the guard. She knows this from overhearing conversations between soldiers. Apparently there are these important figures among them:

Corporal of the Watch, who is the grumpy man taking note of people's comings and goings at the main gate.

Corporal of the Guard, who she assumes might be more than one person.

Captain of the Watch, who she assumes is just one person.

Captain of the Guard, who she also assumes is just one person.

There are also Sergeants of the whatever as well.

Most of the soldiers in the outer bailey seem to be members of the watch.

She has free access to the grounds of the outer bailey, but encounters resistance when attempting to enter the Inner Gatehouse (area 18). Guards at this location declare that she is not expected by anyone in the inner bailey and she does not have the required special permits to enter without an invitation.

The inner gatehouse appears highly fortified and defended. It is made of stone and is built like a small fort. The southern portion is only about 15 feet high, plus battlement, while the rear part is some 30 feet tall, plus battlement. There are arrow slits that face outward from the walls. As people come and go through this gatehouse, Zerys can see a tunnel that slopes upward through the structure.

Six guards are visible. Two are at the gateway (papers, please). Two are on the lower battlement, and two on the battlement above.

It does occur to Zerys that now that she is a more powerful level 2 Druid, she has the Wild Shape feature which allows her to polymorph into a beast (one that she has seen previously). Perhaps she could pick one that could flit by these guards unnoticed... I guess that depends on how nosy she wants to be. ...

Amar

Quote from Straetker >>

Amar, looks to Pagan, "I got a bit of shopping to do, I hope to take you up on that ale!" 

Amar looks to Brumdal, "Bet the trader will make you an offer on that bit of silver, negotiate a good price!"

Amar learns the same things about the available goods and services that Markas does.

You can decide if Amar was tagging along or not.

Additionally you learn that there are no mounts or pack animals for sale from the stables. People just quarter their steeds there. (And people sometimes sleep there as you know.)

The warehouse next door to the stables is locked and managed by the guards in the entry yard. You deduce that it is a place for trader's to store their bulky goods while transiting through the keep.

Behind the smith is the guild house. This two story, L-shaped building actually seems to be another place to stay and doesn't seem to be affiliated with any particularly trade guild. It just seems to be a place where a traveling artisan might stay (and probably pay fees to the local guild master).

Beyond the guild house is a chapel that looks large enough to seat many. It doesn't appear to be affiliated with any particular deity; there are no obvious holy symbols on it.

Making your way back around to The Stretching Goat and its inn, you do take note of the loan bank. You were not expecting anything for sale there, but you are surprised to find there are rare items for sale:

1 carved ivory tusk	50 gp
1 silver cup	20 gp
1 crystal decanter	10 gp
1 jade ring	250 gp
1 dagger with jeweled scabbard	600 gp
1 fur-trimmed cape	75 gp
3 blank vellum books	20 gp each
1 gold & silver belt	90 gp
1 set of thieves' tools	100 gp
1 iron box with secret lock	50 gp

 

 

Amar, continued

Within the bank are the banker, who looks like he was once a fighting man, a scrawny old clerk. They politely let you inspect the wares without intrusion.

A sign on the shop outside reads "under direct protection of the Keep" and a large man wearing plate armor and sporting a battleaxe stands just inside the door...