Baldar takes the bag with a somber nod and a simple "Thank ye". There is not much else to say. Despite apparently vanquishing the threat, and with no way of knowing how or why it came about, apart from 'the gods willed it', Baldar feels The Rattle and Promise still have many battles yet to face. And with many of their number of lost, it will be a difficult fight. She sits quietly and allows the locals to mourn their losses, and to let Kianna finally sleep.
Walt walks over to Baldar, sits by her and playfully nudges her shoulder "Nice pack there."
"You know, you did good out there. We couldn't have done it without you." He pulls out his quarterstaff and begins carving something into a blank spot on the shaft. If one were to peep over his shoulder as he carves, they would see that he etched the name of Baldar , Bendrak and Lucky into the shaft, right next to the slightly more weathered carvings of other names including Tuuli, Harrow, Rycroft, Knicknack, and Calista.
"You know, everything here happened so fast that I hardly got to know you. What's your story?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
The party, together with Proclaimer Ward, Lady Dre, Kianna, and the other farmers, spends the night in Uncle Polder's modest farmhouse. Kianna sleeps deeply through the night and well into the morning. The old man finally gains consciousness, too, in the middle of the night. He will recover.
The party returns to Promise in Lady Dre's wagon (with a few repairs, a new horse, and Lady Dre's new trade arrangement with Polder's pact.) The Proclaimer stays behind to help the farmers get back on their feet, and to study the anomaly further. In the deep of the night, Proclaimer Ward confides one piece of information to Tuuli, only to deny it in the morning: that the members of the Covenant have learned the blood of a deity is needed to revitalize the soil of the Ribbon and stave off potential famine across Godsbreath.
In Promise, Aunt Dellie is overjoyed that Kianna is safe and well. She’s grateful to the party for ending the soul shaker’s threat, and relates to them that the enchanted farmers in town have regained awareness. Aunt Dellie rewards the party with 200 gold pieces to split, and offers you free passage on her boat whenever you please. (Divvy up the gold accordingly and update your character sheets!)
You arrive at the grassy landing area of the Concord Jewel, and watch the massive jewel make its slow, silent descent to the ground. It lands with nary a sound. Just before you step through the intangible, semitranslucent reddish-yellow walls of the Concord Jewel, you look back one last time at the tall green grass, thick clusters of trees, and friendly farmhouses bathing in the warm sunlight of Godsbreath.
As the craft launches, a small commotion breaks out as Baldar finds that a crawling claw has gotten itself trapped within her new sack. She dispatches it quickly, but not without a brief rush of adrenalin for everyone aboard. (Baldar: your new sack is added to your inventory.)
(Welcome to Level 4! You may update your characters and purchase anything you might require at normal PHB prices.)
You have successfully completed Written in Blood, the second adventure of Journeys through the Radiant Citadel!
We will start the third adventure soon for whoever wants to join. For those of you who had to drop out midway, you're warmly invited to join in again, if you feel up to it. Just let me know! Everyone will advance to 4th Level, whether you completed the adventure or not. You can even take the opportunity to change characters, if you feel your old one wasn't working.
I'd also love any feedback you have on Written in Blood, which I understand was based loosely on the African diaspora and the culture and tradition of Mississippi and the southern US.
Also, since the Radiant Citadel adventures are completely independent of each other (as far as I've read!) and not a big messy overlapping campaign, I can completely and openly answer any remaining questions you might have about this second adventure. (Not that your characters can't go back at any time to visit!) Indeed, you are welcome to read the whole adventure directly - https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/jttrc/written-in-blood - just don't read beyond the end of the chapter, pretty pretty please! See also https://dnd.wizards.com/news/written-blood-erin-roberts for an interview with the writer.
During their rest before departing for Promise, Baldar responds to Walt. "I know what yer doing Walt, and I appreciate ya trying, but I didn't do good. Everythin' I did fell just short." She sighs, and looks again at the symbol on her shield. "Me mother made this shield, her arm powered by Moradin, and so it holds both his essence and hers. Ya know I came to the Ethereal to find her. I saw her ghost wandering and lost and I had to find out why she hasn't yet moved on. I always felt this shield would guide me, but now it feels like just a hunk of metal and I don't know what that means. Have they both left me?" The question is rhetorical because Baldar doesn't expect Walt to have any answers.
On their return to the Citadel, Baldar promises to catch up with the others and heads off to find a temple, any temple. She had to know if Moradin, if anyone was still listening.
Bendrak claps Harrow on the back upon returning to the Citadel. "A proper adventure in a lovely place, I thank you. Might I tag along should your lot find some other journey?"
In the meantime, he takes up a job in the kitchen of an inn, trying with mixed success to duplicate some of the distinctive flavors of Promise. The patrons are occasionally appreciative and only rarely ill. A particularly hand-like ginger root gives him pause one day, but he finds it no more difficult to chop to bits than the animated ones, and much less grabby.
Walt returned to the Citadel a changed man. The encounter with the soul shaker left him rattled. If he intends to continue on adventures like this, he must adapt. After resting and recovering, he spent his time studying diseases, poisons and delving deeper into herbalism. He procured some ingredients from the Night Market and created some health potions.
On a return trip to Godsbreath he took Aunt Dellie up on her offer of a free boat ride. He studied various marsh birds, snakes, crocodiles and reef sharks. He spent several nights camping in the wilds reconnecting with nature and various beast spirits. Now it’s not uncommon for Walt to be seen wandering the Citadel or drinking at the Cat accompanied by small woodland creatures like squirrels, chipmunks or even a beast spirits.
While exploring the Nightwater Isles on the outskirts of Promise, Walt stumbled upon an old bleached and weathered piece of driftwood. It appeared to be a wooden hatch or door from a ship or one of the various houses built on stilts around the waters edge. He used his knife and tools to create a crude, but sturdy wooden shield with intricate etchings of stormy seas and a boiling cloudy night sky with patches of stars and moonlight breaking through. To round out his new kit, he purchased an obsidian spear point and affixed it to the tip of his quarterstaff. He hacked off a short length from the bottom of the staff so that it’s balanced perfectly.
Walt is unsure where his next adventure will take him, but he now feels more ready than ever for what lies ahead.
Tuuli slotted right back in to her job at the Catford Cask, though "job" doesn't really seem to cover it anymore. She doesn't seem to have regular hours, and she doesn't seem to have any obvious responsibilities, but she's there all the time, mixing drinks, chatting up customers, cleaning about the place, sitting with her friends, getting shut down repeatedly by Ruby. Lucky is back, too, frolicking with the other cats, occasionally trying to make friends with the critters Walt brings in. As far as anyone can tell, she might sleep behind the bar? She and Ruby will occasionally be seen having intense conversations, but they're always smiling by the end of it. On occasion Tuuli will go boots over hat for some random pretty person who stops in, but she never manages to make a go of it, leading many regulars to wonder how she ever wooed Ruby. All in all, just another fortnight at the Cat.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
The Radiant Temple is not known for religion, and so Baldar finds no grand temple to Moradin, nor to any of the other gods, but she successfully finds informal shrines and casual opportunities to pray and meditate.
Bendrak spends his days cooking at the inn and staying out of trouble.
Walt studies, collects specimens, brews, and whittles. (He spends 25 gp in ingredients per common potion of healing. The spear and shield cost 5gp in materials.)
Tuuli finds things are slowing down at the Cat. Those garapiñas, while tasty as ever, are not bringing in the arcane traders and ironworkers from San Citlán the way they had been.
Tuuli decides it is time to refresh the drink board. She begins sourcing ingredients, spending more time outside the Cat, hunting down fizzy things and sour things, sweet bits and odd fruits, whatever she can find, but that can also be found in some quantity. No sense in making one drink and then running out of the special ingredients. It takes her away from the tavern more than usual.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
So it happens that Tuuli arrives from an unsuccessful search for unusual produce to find one of her recent regulars, a trader's assistant from San Citlán by the name of Fortino Infante-Moreno, deep in conversation with Ruby and a gray-haired rabbitoid customer nursing an Orange Sunset.
Fortino is deeply upset about recent news of some sort of plague in the village of Milpazul, where his mother lives. He is desperate for help investigating this wave of strange ailments and fiendish attacks plaguing his mother's community, but he lacks the resources to do so.
Tuuli throws her satchel behind the bar and sneaks up behind Ruby who stiff arms her with a hand to the face without even bothering to look.
”Mphm!” Tuuli says, and backs off to pull out a chair, flip it around, and sit on it backwards. “So, what’s going on?”
(for GR’s benefit) Tuuli is a twenty-something air genasi, with light blue skin and hair so light blue it is almost white. And there’s a lot of hair, cascading around her face and down her back in waves and curls, an imperceptible breeze moving it gently. She is cute, medium height and rangy, and has a ready smile and a playful touch. Right now she’s dressed in flowing clothes, breeches and a blouse.
Walt is sitting off in the corner in a booth by himself sipping on some herbal tea. He's slouched down in the chair with his hood pulled over his head trying to keep a low profile. To the untrained eye, it would seem as though he's snacking on some salty bar snacks, but he's actually slipping various nuts and crackers to a tiny field mouse tucked away in his hood.
He spots Tuuli walk in and start chatting up Ruby, Fortino and a rabbit folk lad that he hasn't met quite yet. The conversation seems to be serious and now that Tuuli is in on it, Walt can't resist the temptation to butt in. He grabs a handful of snacks, sticks them in his pocket and tucks the field mouse into his shirt.
He looks at the mouse, smiles and says "shhhh...you stay in there little fella. Lucky might be out and about."
Walt shuffles across the bar and arrives just in time to hear what all the fuss is about. Talk of plagued villages and attacks give Walt flashbacks of what happened in Promise. He stands by quietly listening for more details and cracks a smile when the rabbit folk fella offers help. Walt thinks to himself "I always liked rabbit folk."
He clears his throat and says "eh hem, pardon my rudeness...Fortino, is it? I, too, would like to help if possible." He then looks towards Tuuli, smirks and shrugs his shoulders.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
In the weeks following their return from Promise, Baldar continued to feel lost. She was often seen sitting in front of an informal shrine near the Court of Whispers, staring at her shield and axe. Eventually, not knowing what else to do, she buried herself in work; volunteering at a blacksmith and spending long sweat-soaked days hammering away at the forge. Each night, she stopped by the Cat for an ale and to give a resident tabby a few scritches, before repeating the whole process the next day.
On this particular day, she comes in a little earlier than usual, and this time instead of carrying her usual axe, she bears a heavy hammer over one shoulder. On one side of the hammer head is the symbol of Moradin, and on another a bas-relief of a woman's face. She orders her ale from Ruby and finds Walt, Tuuli and another fellow speaking to someone else. Downing the ale in one gulp, she hears the word "mother" and decides to listen in, but does not interrupt.
Bendrak bounds in bearing a loaded platter. "Canape anyone? Made with giant koi prawn butter. Ferocious buggers but they do cook up well. Found them at this delightful little night market, you lot should check it out sometime. Watch out, some of them are quite spicy."
He notices Fortino chatting with Tuuli and a long-eared newcomer.
Zartan, even though he's heard these jokes before, this time feels different. Not meant to be cutting as toward an outcast, but as a true question; friendly like. To Bendrak - "Thank you for your concern. Yes, I'm concerned about the troubles plaguing his mother's community." Back to Fortino "Please sir, continue. What troubles are there. Perhaps I... (hesitantly) maybe WE, can help you."
Bendrak sets the tray down and extends a hand to Zartan. "Apologies, I was referring to our sorrowful friend here. I don't recall the last time I made fun of a fellow's ears, but I do remember the morning after. It wasn't the least comfortable jail cell I've woken up in but the scratches stung for days.
"Nice to meet you Bendrak. My names Zartan, Zartan Furfoot. No worries, I understand. I came to the citadel to connect up with a friendly group for adventuring. But I overheard his story about his mother and wanted to see if I could help."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
D&D since 1984
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Baldar takes the bag with a somber nod and a simple "Thank ye". There is not much else to say. Despite apparently vanquishing the threat, and with no way of knowing how or why it came about, apart from 'the gods willed it', Baldar feels The Rattle and Promise still have many battles yet to face. And with many of their number of lost, it will be a difficult fight. She sits quietly and allows the locals to mourn their losses, and to let Kianna finally sleep.
Walt walks over to Baldar, sits by her and playfully nudges her shoulder "Nice pack there."
"You know, you did good out there. We couldn't have done it without you." He pulls out his quarterstaff and begins carving something into a blank spot on the shaft. If one were to peep over his shoulder as he carves, they would see that he etched the name of Baldar , Bendrak and Lucky into the shaft, right next to the slightly more weathered carvings of other names including Tuuli, Harrow, Rycroft, Knicknack, and Calista.
"You know, everything here happened so fast that I hardly got to know you. What's your story?"
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Conclusion.
The party, together with Proclaimer Ward, Lady Dre, Kianna, and the other farmers, spends the night in Uncle Polder's modest farmhouse.
Kianna sleeps deeply through the night and well into the morning. The old man finally gains consciousness, too, in the middle of the night. He will recover.
The party returns to Promise in Lady Dre's wagon (with a few repairs, a new horse, and Lady Dre's new trade arrangement with Polder's pact.) The Proclaimer stays behind to help the farmers get back on their feet, and to study the anomaly further. In the deep of the night, Proclaimer Ward confides one piece of information to Tuuli, only to deny it in the morning: that the members of the Covenant have learned the blood of a deity is needed to revitalize the soil of the Ribbon and stave off potential famine across Godsbreath.
In Promise, Aunt Dellie is overjoyed that Kianna is safe and well. She’s grateful to the party for ending the soul shaker’s threat, and relates to them that the enchanted farmers in town have regained awareness. Aunt Dellie rewards the party with 200 gold pieces to split, and offers you free passage on her boat whenever you please. (Divvy up the gold accordingly and update your character sheets!)
You arrive at the grassy landing area of the Concord Jewel, and watch the massive jewel make its slow, silent descent to the ground. It lands with nary a sound. Just before you step through the intangible, semitranslucent reddish-yellow walls of the Concord Jewel, you look back one last time at the tall green grass, thick clusters of trees, and friendly farmhouses bathing in the warm sunlight of Godsbreath.
As the craft launches, a small commotion breaks out as Baldar finds that a crawling claw has gotten itself trapped within her new sack. She dispatches it quickly, but not without a brief rush of adrenalin for everyone aboard. (Baldar: your new sack is added to your inventory.)
(Welcome to Level 4! You may update your characters and purchase anything you might require at normal PHB prices.)
📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖
Hey @everyone!
You have successfully completed Written in Blood, the second adventure of Journeys through the Radiant Citadel!
We will start the third adventure soon for whoever wants to join. For those of you who had to drop out midway, you're warmly invited to join in again, if you feel up to it. Just let me know! Everyone will advance to 4th Level, whether you completed the adventure or not. You can even take the opportunity to change characters, if you feel your old one wasn't working.
I'd also love any feedback you have on Written in Blood, which I understand was based loosely on the African diaspora and the culture and tradition of Mississippi and the southern US.
Also, since the Radiant Citadel adventures are completely independent of each other (as far as I've read!) and not a big messy overlapping campaign, I can completely and openly answer any remaining questions you might have about this second adventure. (Not that your characters can't go back at any time to visit!) Indeed, you are welcome to read the whole adventure directly - https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/jttrc/written-in-blood - just don't read beyond the end of the chapter, pretty pretty please! See also https://dnd.wizards.com/news/written-blood-erin-roberts for an interview with the writer.
During their rest before departing for Promise, Baldar responds to Walt. "I know what yer doing Walt, and I appreciate ya trying, but I didn't do good. Everythin' I did fell just short." She sighs, and looks again at the symbol on her shield. "Me mother made this shield, her arm powered by Moradin, and so it holds both his essence and hers. Ya know I came to the Ethereal to find her. I saw her ghost wandering and lost and I had to find out why she hasn't yet moved on. I always felt this shield would guide me, but now it feels like just a hunk of metal and I don't know what that means. Have they both left me?" The question is rhetorical because Baldar doesn't expect Walt to have any answers.
On their return to the Citadel, Baldar promises to catch up with the others and heads off to find a temple, any temple. She had to know if Moradin, if anyone was still listening.
(We'll begin the new chapter soon! Stay tuned!)
Bendrak claps Harrow on the back upon returning to the Citadel. "A proper adventure in a lovely place, I thank you. Might I tag along should your lot find some other journey?"
In the meantime, he takes up a job in the kitchen of an inn, trying with mixed success to duplicate some of the distinctive flavors of Promise. The patrons are occasionally appreciative and only rarely ill. A particularly hand-like ginger root gives him pause one day, but he finds it no more difficult to chop to bits than the animated ones, and much less grabby.
Walt returned to the Citadel a changed man. The encounter with the soul shaker left him rattled. If he intends to continue on adventures like this, he must adapt. After resting and recovering, he spent his time studying diseases, poisons and delving deeper into herbalism. He procured some ingredients from the Night Market and created some health potions.
On a return trip to Godsbreath he took Aunt Dellie up on her offer of a free boat ride. He studied various marsh birds, snakes, crocodiles and reef sharks. He spent several nights camping in the wilds reconnecting with nature and various beast spirits. Now it’s not uncommon for Walt to be seen wandering the Citadel or drinking at the Cat accompanied by small woodland creatures like squirrels, chipmunks or even a beast spirits.
While exploring the Nightwater Isles on the outskirts of Promise, Walt stumbled upon an old bleached and weathered piece of driftwood. It appeared to be a wooden hatch or door from a ship or one of the various houses built on stilts around the waters edge. He used his knife and tools to create a crude, but sturdy wooden shield with intricate etchings of stormy seas and a boiling cloudy night sky with patches of stars and moonlight breaking through. To round out his new kit, he purchased an obsidian spear point and affixed it to the tip of his quarterstaff. He hacked off a short length from the bottom of the staff so that it’s balanced perfectly.
Walt is unsure where his next adventure will take him, but he now feels more ready than ever for what lies ahead.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Tuuli slotted right back in to her job at the Catford Cask, though "job" doesn't really seem to cover it anymore. She doesn't seem to have regular hours, and she doesn't seem to have any obvious responsibilities, but she's there all the time, mixing drinks, chatting up customers, cleaning about the place, sitting with her friends, getting shut down repeatedly by Ruby. Lucky is back, too, frolicking with the other cats, occasionally trying to make friends with the critters Walt brings in. As far as anyone can tell, she might sleep behind the bar? She and Ruby will occasionally be seen having intense conversations, but they're always smiling by the end of it. On occasion Tuuli will go boots over hat for some random pretty person who stops in, but she never manages to make a go of it, leading many regulars to wonder how she ever wooed Ruby. All in all, just another fortnight at the Cat.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
A few weeks pass.
The Radiant Temple is not known for religion, and so Baldar finds no grand temple to Moradin, nor to any of the other gods, but she successfully finds informal shrines and casual opportunities to pray and meditate.
Bendrak spends his days cooking at the inn and staying out of trouble.
Walt studies, collects specimens, brews, and whittles. (He spends 25 gp in ingredients per common potion of healing. The spear and shield cost 5gp in materials.)
Tuuli finds things are slowing down at the Cat. Those garapiñas, while tasty as ever, are not bringing in the arcane traders and ironworkers from San Citlán the way they had been.
Tuuli decides it is time to refresh the drink board. She begins sourcing ingredients, spending more time outside the Cat, hunting down fizzy things and sour things, sweet bits and odd fruits, whatever she can find, but that can also be found in some quantity. No sense in making one drink and then running out of the special ingredients. It takes her away from the tavern more than usual.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
So it happens that Tuuli arrives from an unsuccessful search for unusual produce to find one of her recent regulars, a trader's assistant from San Citlán by the name of Fortino Infante-Moreno, deep in conversation with Ruby and a gray-haired rabbitoid customer nursing an Orange Sunset.
Fortino is deeply upset about recent news of some sort of plague in the village of Milpazul, where his mother lives. He is desperate for help investigating this wave of strange ailments and fiendish attacks plaguing his mother's community, but he lacks the resources to do so.
"I don't know where to turn," he laments.
Tuuli throws her satchel behind the bar and sneaks up behind Ruby who stiff arms her with a hand to the face without even bothering to look.
”Mphm!” Tuuli says, and backs off to pull out a chair, flip it around, and sit on it backwards. “So, what’s going on?”
(for GR’s benefit) Tuuli is a twenty-something air genasi, with light blue skin and hair so light blue it is almost white. And there’s a lot of hair, cascading around her face and down her back in waves and curls, an imperceptible breeze moving it gently. She is cute, medium height and rangy, and has a ready smile and a playful touch. Right now she’s dressed in flowing clothes, breeches and a blouse.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Zartan asks Fortino “I’m sorry i couldn’t help but over hear. Did you say there was trouble in a community? Tell me more. I’d like to help if I can. “
D&D since 1984
Walt is sitting off in the corner in a booth by himself sipping on some herbal tea. He's slouched down in the chair with his hood pulled over his head trying to keep a low profile. To the untrained eye, it would seem as though he's snacking on some salty bar snacks, but he's actually slipping various nuts and crackers to a tiny field mouse tucked away in his hood.
He spots Tuuli walk in and start chatting up Ruby, Fortino and a rabbit folk lad that he hasn't met quite yet. The conversation seems to be serious and now that Tuuli is in on it, Walt can't resist the temptation to butt in. He grabs a handful of snacks, sticks them in his pocket and tucks the field mouse into his shirt.
He looks at the mouse, smiles and says "shhhh...you stay in there little fella. Lucky might be out and about."
Walt shuffles across the bar and arrives just in time to hear what all the fuss is about. Talk of plagued villages and attacks give Walt flashbacks of what happened in Promise. He stands by quietly listening for more details and cracks a smile when the rabbit folk fella offers help. Walt thinks to himself "I always liked rabbit folk."
He clears his throat and says "eh hem, pardon my rudeness...Fortino, is it? I, too, would like to help if possible." He then looks towards Tuuli, smirks and shrugs his shoulders.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
In the weeks following their return from Promise, Baldar continued to feel lost. She was often seen sitting in front of an informal shrine near the Court of Whispers, staring at her shield and axe. Eventually, not knowing what else to do, she buried herself in work; volunteering at a blacksmith and spending long sweat-soaked days hammering away at the forge. Each night, she stopped by the Cat for an ale and to give a resident tabby a few scritches, before repeating the whole process the next day.
On this particular day, she comes in a little earlier than usual, and this time instead of carrying her usual axe, she bears a heavy hammer over one shoulder. On one side of the hammer head is the symbol of Moradin, and on another a bas-relief of a woman's face. She orders her ale from Ruby and finds Walt, Tuuli and another fellow speaking to someone else. Downing the ale in one gulp, she hears the word "mother" and decides to listen in, but does not interrupt.
Bendrak bounds in bearing a loaded platter. "Canape anyone? Made with giant koi prawn butter. Ferocious buggers but they do cook up well. Found them at this delightful little night market, you lot should check it out sometime. Watch out, some of them are quite spicy."
He notices Fortino chatting with Tuuli and a long-eared newcomer.
"Why the long face, stranger?"
Zartan, even though he's heard these jokes before, this time feels different. Not meant to be cutting as toward an outcast, but as a true question; friendly like. To Bendrak - "Thank you for your concern. Yes, I'm concerned about the troubles plaguing his mother's community." Back to Fortino "Please sir, continue. What troubles are there. Perhaps I... (hesitantly) maybe WE, can help you."
D&D since 1984
Bendrak sets the tray down and extends a hand to Zartan. "Apologies, I was referring to our sorrowful friend here. I don't recall the last time I made fun of a fellow's ears, but I do remember the morning after. It wasn't the least comfortable jail cell I've woken up in but the scratches stung for days.
Bendrak Merser. And you are?"
"Nice to meet you Bendrak. My names Zartan, Zartan Furfoot. No worries, I understand. I came to the citadel to connect up with a friendly group for adventuring. But I overheard his story about his mother and wanted to see if I could help."
D&D since 1984