Adventures in Esyldien - Campaign Thread

Witt is bursting with energy and will attempt to race for short stretches with anyone who's willing.  Initially this is probably Rusty, but he will attempt to get Cali and Moira's hawk involved too, and any of the party who wish to join.  As he does so, he feels for perhaps the first time in some years that he would really like a pet.

Hey, Rusty.  I can run faster than you!

And a small halfling disappears into the distance ahead of the caravan.

Nemeia had spent most of her early days moving between the tinker shop and the forges. Heat was never much of an issue for her and being a tiefling definitely played a role in that as well. Still, the high sun overhead wasn't the most comfortable environment to spend her time in. She looked to the others to see how they were handling the heat though she didn't have much that could aide them.

She looks to Cali who had been keeping pace with the wagon. The mechanical pieces within the creature seemed to be handling the heat though she didn't really want to test the threshold of the inner tinkerings. Nemeia does what she can to make sure the creature is comfortable in the heat. Hot metal did have its threshold.  As she's attempting to check in the interior gears, she sees a burst of magical essence and she quickly draws her hands away. Cali bursts forward chasing something and Nemeia turns drawing her crossbow. She lets out a sigh of relief when she sees that Cali is just chasing her halfling friend. Nemeia just lets the creature play and she resumes her scan of the area. 

She then spends the rest of the time looking out over the area hoping to make sure no ambushes caught her unaware. 

SUR:   21

(Cali is speed 40 and can dash if needed)

Nemeia spends most of her time looking at the other wagons and seeing that they could be improved upon for effeciency. She also spots the signs of wear on them and uses her magic to mend any pieces that could be slowing the journey down. She lets Cali play with Witt while she stays keenly focused on the task that she assigned herself with. 

Moira

Moira giggles as Witt takes off. Rusty disappears from her shoulder and appears in a puff of smoke on Cali's back. The remaining hawk continues circling high above keep watch.

Hawk perception : 16

Sora continues helping out where she can as they move along. Laughing happily as she watches all of the various critters of the group playing along with Witt. 

Perception: 7

The trip continues through the muggy afternoon, though the caravan makes surprisingly good time. In part due to Gerald's constant pushing, though this is helped in no small part by Nemeia's tinkering on the road. Causing the wagons to move smoother and quicker than anyone would have expected. A feat made all the more impressive by the fact that it was accomplished while on the move. 

As the sun starts to get low in the sky the town ahead begins to come into view, along with the castle that it surrounds. This is Tarrin Castle itself, a sight that is more imposing then you first imagine. The entirety of the castle is built jutting out from the hard stone wall of the mountain it sits upon. Below it is a modest town built up around the castle, the outermost walls of which reach the base of the mountain which is ahead of the party now. While the town may be modest it is considerably larger and more intricate then the tiny hamlet of Greymeadow that the party recently departed from. Even at this distance you can see several section of the town, with the more affluent areas closest to the castle itself while lower class sections built the farther you get from the castle. 

Once you reach the outer-most wall of the town you are stopped by several guards at the gate. To which Gerald hands over some manner of folded document that the guard next to him reads over quickly before handing it back and waving the entire caravan through without so much as a word. And thus the party finds themselves within the boundary of Tarrin Castle.

From here the first destination is a large building that looks like a warehouse in what you can only assume is some manner of Merchant district not far from the castle itself. (Though still not as close as the noble districts that lay next to the castle grounds themselves.)
Witt would recognize this place from prior trips as a location where a royal representative will typically take delivery of the goods.

Nemeia is lost in wonderment at the scale of the city and it's outlying towns. "Wow," she lets slip through her lips. "I wonder how many people live here."

Her excitement comes with a self motivated mission of finding someone, anyone, that can assist in the furthering of her studies. She had promised 9 the stop at the castle wouldn't last long so she knew that she was going to need to make any exploration quick. First, she wanted to make sure the food was secured where it was to be delivered. Only then would she begin to ask any local that seemed at least decently friendly where she could find the tinkering guild or even the artificers guild. Surely a castle of this size and its surrounding towns would house such professions and she didn't have much time to spare.

Sora didn't seem nearly as impressed with the town. As with most towns even this place was tiny compared to Angel's Cove. She was intrigued by the castle itself, however, it's not common to find castles built into mountains like that. Well perhaps among the dwarves up north, but she'd never been there herself, only heard the stories. 

Like most everyone else, at the moment she was focused on making sure the goods got delivered and the job was completed properly. Then, well, she'd probably wanna go out and see what kind of trouble she could get into at the local taverns.

After THAT however, there was another job that she was planning to look into ...

9 watched the city with her usual look, however as she glanced up to the castle her thoughts came back to the recent whispers. This didn’t impres her, she saw a lot of cities in her time, although nit from this perspective. Once inside, she helped carry the goods and suggested to the group, “I think we should get our payment as soon as possible. Maybe we can go to the castle after this?”

We're here, Witt says excitedly, though a little breathlessly.  He hasn't yet managed to beat Rusty in a race, but he hasn't stopped trying all day.

As they travel through the city, Witt will try to remember the name of the inn where they stayed the previous year, and whether he knows of any other interesting places in town.

To 9 he responds doubtfully; I'm not sure they'll allow us to the castle, I remember last year they... oh, but we have that letter from the fellow in Greymeadow, right?  Gosh, maybe we will get to see the King.  Or Queen.  I'm not sure what they have at the moment, actually.

Moira

”Right and I’ve been thinking about this idea of a group name. And I thought the first thing we all fought together was a giant snake. So many something to do with that. And have some honorable trait suggested in the name would be good. What do you all think of Scale Bearers?”

It was some time after the entire caravan reached their desired destination that the Royal quartermaster finally made his appearance. There was no doubt this was the royal quartermaster because he did absolutely nothing to hide that fact. Dress in unnecessarily fine clothing, dropping down low beyond what would be practical and flanked by a pair of guards in armor far too shiny to fit in the streets even this close to the castle. He held a tablet with several pieces of parchment attached and seemed overly focused on eyeing the entirety of the caravan and its goods with an overly critical eye.

"You are late." He said by way of an introduction. He was a gaunt man, taller then average. It was hard to tell if he was just an ugly half-elf or an overly thin human. Neither his face or voice gave any indication of his age. His hair appeared thin but it was hard to tell if that was natural or not. Also the color of his hair was an odd shade of silver which was difficult to discern if it was due to advanced graying or due to a natural silver hue.

Before Gerald could say a word the man waved him off and continued inspecting the merchandise that was brought in, he avoided everyone in the caravan, including all the party members, focused only on the food that was brought in. Only once he was done with his initial inspection did he walk back up to Gerald, looking at him expectantly, "Your ledger please."

Gerald grumbled slightly as he handed over some parchments, which the quartermaster took quickly and began reading them over, "This is less then we would have hoped given how well the harvests were to the south. Though this is still well within expectations."

"Aye, ya see we ran inta' quite o' bit o' trouble getting 'ere." Gerald started explaining, and once again was quickly cutoff.

"And I appreciate the difficulties you must have had on your travels, but I have an entire kingdom to feed and not the time to deal with trivialities. Particularly with how strained matters are at the moment." The quartermaster said quickly, "We will purchase all of your stock at the agreed upon prices as per our contract. Is this acceptable to you?"

"Ah ... Aye." Gerald said half frustrated with dealing with this man, but half relieved to be so close to done with the trade.

"Wonderful, please head over to warehouse 13, I have men waiting for you there to assist in unloading all of your goods. I'll go prepare your payment. I urge your patience while I secure the proper amount from the royal treasury. Have a good evening." With that he quickly turned around and began walking away back towards the castle.

"Ach, what a right pain in tha' arse. Well whatever, business is done, let's head to this place and get everything unloaded." Gerald spat out before leading the caravan towards the specified warehouse. True to the quartermaster's words, a couple of the royal guards were already there, quickly going about helping where they could to unload the caravan's carts quickly. With the combined efforts of everyone in the group the task moved along smoothly and quickly, and all of the carts were soon empty.

She had only just barely met that quartermaster, if you can call his rude glaring a meeting, and already Sora knew she didn't like him. Well whatever, it was no concern of hers. Instead she made sure to help out unloading the carts once they reached the proper warehouse. Once again her strength proved useful here as she was able to lift and carry far more then one might think given her shorter stature. 

As she helped along, she chipped into the conversation with everyone, responding to Moira's suggestion, "Well then how about the Fang Gang? ... Ugh, nah, that just makes us sound like a bunch of unruly vampires. Hang on got a few more ideas. How about Fangs of Justice? Or maybe Scale Reapers?" 

9’s eyes pierced the quartermaster, as he spoke to Gerald in the manner that he did. She a made a point of projecting her dislike by her gaze. Later she joins in with Moira and Sora, “Honour might attract unwanted attention. How about Scalesplitters?”

What do you suppose he meant by saying things are strained?, asks Witt, ever ignorant of politics.  Investigation to remember useful things from the previous year:  10.  Frogbusters?

Moira

”Ehh, that guy was a jerk. Probably just being dramatic.“ Nudging one of the guards. “What is the deal with that Quartermaster guy? Seems like he has an extra big stick up his backside.”Suddenly she turns back to the others with a huge grin plastered across her face. “How about ‘Sutarbelecni’? It means unknown in the arcane language.” Those that know would recognize it as infernal. 

Unfortunately Witt couldn't quite remember any other details about this town beyond what he already knew. Fortunately Gerald already knew of a fairly cheap and simple inn near the outer edge of town that should be able to accommodate everyone. Though with Gerald being the frugal sort, even by dwarven standards, this could well be little more then a stable big enough to fit everyone. For now, however, he wanted to wait until the quartermaster returned with the payment owed. 

By the time the quartermaster did return, he had brought with him four royal guards this time. Two of them were holding a simple, nondescript chest in which one would assume the payment was held. He had the guards place the chest in one of the caravan's now empty carts, at Gerald's direction, while he handed the dwarf a parchment of what seemed to be a completed invoice.

"And with that the payment is complete. Now if there is nothing more, I have more urgent matters to attend to." The quartermaster said as he handed over the invoice.

Witt opens the chest and inspects the payment, sighing at the undeniable truth that some city folks are not to be trusted.

"Actually before you go." Sora speaks up as she approaches the quartermaster, "We got another payment that we're here for. Well more of a reward. Figured you might be the best guy to take this to." She offers up the letter they received from Priest Mathais as further explanation.

Nemeia laughs as the different ideas for names are submitted though she was never great at naming things herself. When the quartermaster arrived, she actually appreciated the dedication the man performed while doing his task. He was focused and done quickly which was a pleasant surprise after such a long journey. She did her best to stay out of his way and made sure that Cali did the same. She was a bit perplexed that the QM mentioned how strained things were currently. Knowing it wasn't her place to question the official, she just made note to ask about it to a local if she were afforded the chance. She wondered if the strain was due to the untimely change in leadership that she's heard about.

She knew that the funds in the chest were not hers, but Nemeia couldn't help but to try and look over Witt's shoulder at the contents.