Hupperdook – The 20 of Misuthar, 835 PD.

A city famed for its playful, lively entertainment scene – the music, the food, the drinks, the fireworks! The residents live by the rule of Carpe Noctis – Seize the Night; after long hours in the mines, the forge, the factories, the whistles blow and the citizens of Hupperdook take to carousing with the same ardor they took to their ten-hour work days, if not more. It has certainly earned its reputation as one of the rowdiest cities in an empire that knows the value of keeping its subjects happy. Or at least, in a well-gilded cage.

It is also the city of industry in the Dwendalian Empire, and indeed in most of Wildemount, once giving life to technological marvels! But underneath the thin gilding of ‘work hard, play hard’ that the gnomes so prize, beats a dark heart fueling the fires of corruption and war. Turned from art and science for the sake of it, Hupperdook’s industrial genius now serves at the heels of war demand, building defensive weaponry, siege engines, and firearms. The Crown spares no expense in their efforts to hold against the Kryn Dynasty, to turn the tide of war and break the stalemate, and perhaps, break the Dynasty itself.

Hupperdook is the city of war machines; the Dwendalian Crown’s most prolific war manufacturing center. It is also the city of drink and song and life; a dichotomy that somehow works.

As the saying goes: “Ya come here for an early grave worth earning!”

This is the city you find yourselves in, purposefully or not, on a chilled, misty night. The scent of a recent rain on the air as you walk the muddled path. The nightly festivities have already begun, with the elevated section of the city known as the Idleworks Shelf alight with colorful lanterns and streamers. The distant sounds of music and firecrackers echo from hundreds of feet up the stairs of the mountain. You arrive at the quiet, dark fields of the Assembly Yard, passing massive forges and partially constructed war machines. All the city’s industry has seemingly been abandoned for the night, while the workers of Hupperdook unwind in the celebrations of the upper city.

Wandering down the Ironlot Streets -a very confused, almost frustrated look marring her pale features- is a burly human woman, an exquisitely-made, if well-worn, lute strapped to her back and a hastily-drawn, somewhat crude map of the city clutched in one of her hands. She appears to be muttering crossly to herself.

She is also, undoubtedly, lost again.

In both her haste and her inattention, she finds herself colliding abruptly with a tall, golden scaled dragonborn, causing them both to stumble. The dragonborn trips over his long, skinny tail, falling right into the thin human man dressed in the colors of the Cobalt Soul who had been walking alongside him, interrupting whatever he’d been about to say.

The map, having been dropped by the woman in her surprise, flutters towards a pool of recently left rainwater only to be caught up by a pale elven man at the last moment. He shakes it out, the thin dark chain running up the back of his hand jingling lightly with the movement. Beside him, a tall figure in what looks to be a new black cloak stands, the hood drawn, almost absently twirling a purple feather in his fingers.

You have all quite literally stumbled upon each other here, in the seemingly abandoned Ironlot streets of Hupperdook. You can hear, faintly or not, the sounds of fireworks, music, and loud carousing coming from the direction of the upper city, where the human woman was undoubtedly attempting to go before she took a wrong turn several streets ago.

After shaking out the piece of paper he saved, Eryn takes a quick look at it to confirm his idea that it is indeed a map, and to see if there is anything of interest also written on the page.

"No damage done, it seems," he says, passing the map back to the woman.

He then adds, "Ahhh, I don't suppose that map shows where a traveller might find lodgings for the night? It has been a long day and I am somewhat footsore."

 [Edit: For the record, I'll add a Perception check for looking at the map as well: 9 ]

The map is hastily-but-neatly drawn, very rudimentary. Your practiced eye easily discerns that it was drawn by someone still very unfamiliar with the city. There's a large square to the North of what you figure is your current position, relative to the x marked as 'City Entrance,' that is circled and marked 'Lodge.' There's a bolded line drawn from the square in a meandering, south-eastwards path towards another 'x' marked 'Stairs To Upper City.' The handwriting is quite neat. There's a doodle in the corner of a bear playing a lute in a bookstore. 

(First roll and a nat 20, niiiice) 

Quote from inkedwolves >>

The map is hastily-but-neatly drawn, very rudimentary. Your practiced eye easily discerns that it was drawn by someone still very unfamiliar with the city. There's a large square to the North of what you figure is your current position, relative to the x marked as 'City Entrance,' that is circled and marked 'Lodge.' There's a bolded line drawn from the square in a meandering, south-eastwards path towards another 'x' marked 'Stairs To Upper City.' The handwriting is quite neat. There's a doodle in the corner of a bear playing a lute in a bookstore. 

(First roll and a nat 20, niiiice) 

[LOL: What can I say. He's got good Dex and Perception... Of course it is likely to be all downhill from here ;-)]

Menodora lets out an all-too-obvious sigh from the spot where she has dropped to a knee in the street, after the collision. She can feel the water from the earlier rainfall trying to seep through the cloth of her pants.  

"Thank you," she responds, doing her best to ease the frustration from her tone as she retrieves her map from the man. Though it is not easily shaken. It was bad enough to have seemingly managed to get herself lost in an unfamiliar city. It was something else entirely to have found herself walking, literally, into someone in near-empty streets. Carefully, she draws herself back up to her feet. She gives the map a once-over. 

"In theory...it might get you back to the Sootswallow Lodge. I'd expect it might offer the accommodations you might be in need of. Barring you're not opposed to a place that's not of the utmost finery."

Taking a look around the now hastily assembled group, she offers small nod. 

"And please forgive me for my inattentiveness," she announces, primarily in the direction goldenscaled figure, "I do hope I haven't caused any harm." 

"Soot. Swallow. Lodge?" says Eryn with a raised eyebrow as he looks around at the nearby buildings of the Assembly Yard. "I take it the place has a certain atmosphere in keeping with the area... Still, it would be nice to have a roof over my head over so many days travel."

He then looks at the lute across the woman's shoulders and says, "I take it you are on your way up to the revels occurring above? Do you play professionally?"

Aeros lets out a hearty laugh before responding.  "No, no not all at.  I'm partially to blame for the collision if we're being honest here."  Turning back to the man he had been walking with, he pauses for a moment before chuckling to himself.  "It also seems the question I was about to ask you has slipped my mind!  Oh well, must've not have been all that important if I've forgotten it that easily." he says as he snaps his fingers to emphasize the point.

Insight check: 5

"And Miss where are you off to in such a hurry?  Off to 'Carpe Noctis' with everyone else in the city?"   he asks her before following up with another quick laugh.

(Edited after a poor insight roll)

"It's...less wet? And has vaguely warm blankets. I'll be honest, though, that I could sleep anywhere, so. I'm not sure that I'm the best judge of lodging these days." 

She shrugs vaguely at the lute strapped to her back. It seems to be undamaged from the haphazard tripping, mercifully.  

"And here I thought I might perhaps get away with being mistaken for a future...weapons maker,"  she grins, waving around at their surroundings and looking between the two who had easily recognized why she might find herself wandering the streets at night with an instrument.

"Professional might be a bit of an overstatement. It provides well enough, or well, so far it has. I've been been playing since I was old enough to carry it about. Though, those are semantics I'm sure none of you honestly care about from someone who nearly toppled you all in the streets."

Menodora glances between the map and somewhere vaguely in the direction of the revelry. 

"But yes, I was hoping to find my way to the center of all the activities. Perhaps see how my skills play out against those of this region."   

Eryn nods at the woman's words and then smiles at her small joke.

He then turns to the dragonborn and his eyes flick quickly between the contrasting colours of the golden scales of the dragonborn and the dark blue robes of the quiet man at his side.

"Are you and your friend also new to this city?" he asks.

Arthasis despised the cold and the recent rains had made it all the worse. Not long after he had set foot in the Dwendalian Empire he had cursed himself for doing so - for ever leaving the warmth of the south. Truth be told, he had been cursing a lot of things since he had entered the borders of the empire. The cold, the land, the people and most of all the constant marching.

He wasn't cut out for a life on the road. Someone who cared took look at him, might have thought otherwise though. They would see a tall and bearded man with a clean shaven head, who couldn't have been much older than thirty years. He was dressed in a rather fine set of black leather armor, that only recently began to show first signs of wear. Over them he now usually wore a black cloak, which he had bought against the creeping cold.

Arthasis looked the part of an adventurer well enough, but he certainly wasn't one. He was a refugee driven from his home, who came to these wretched lands to escape the cold hands of death.

'Fools!', he thought as he observed a group of people stumbling heedlessly into one another. The distraction made him loose his line of thought just long enough for him to notice that he had lost his way. From what he could tell, he must have been wandering the streets for hours with neither purpose nor destination. Darkness had already fallen. 'Fool!', Arthasis thought as he suddenly realised that he didn't have a place to stay the night yet.

Grudgingly he approached the motley group of people that now congregated in the middle of the street. He removed his hood and as if another person, donned his most cheerful smile. "Good evening friends! I hope you didn't hurt yourselves.", he said amiably. "I couldn't help but overhear that you might be able to point me to the nearest inn.", he chuckled. "It seems like I've lost my way."

He wasn't interested in whatever festivities were taking place in the city. He needed a good night's rest. Tomorrow he would travel farther north and leave Hupperdook behind him. 

Eryn turns quickly as the man in the black cloak starts to speak, his hand going instinctively to the short sword at his side.

However, when it becomes apparent that the newcomer—despite his dark clothing and dangerous appearance—is just another traveller like himself, he relaxes, hoping his nervousness wasn't too obvious.

"I have just asked the same thing myself," he says, in reply to the man's question.

"Apparently, there is a place to stay quite close," he then adds. "But it sounds like that it is tainted by all the industry hereabouts, so I am wondering if there might be better places to stay in the heights, where I believe this young woman is heading."

He then turns back to the woman and politely asks, "Would you mind if I followed you when you head up? My name is Starflower, Eryn Starflower, I am from Port Damali on the Menagerie Coast and know little of the way of things here in the Empire, so I would welcome help from anyone who knows the area and local traditions."

Speaking to his new dragonborn friend, the willowy man says, "Ah, of course. Unfortunately so have I.  I know that we started the conversation by discussing the Carpe Noctis mindset of this town.  The work hard, play hard philosophy is fantastic, but ultimately will lead to exhaustion.  I truly wonder how they do it.  Maybe I should ask.  Regardless, I have been known to ramble a bit, to get off topic.  Oh well.  Anyway, I was wandering through the city looking for a place to stay.  I just got in from Zadash."  He absently goes to puff on a pipe that is not there.  His distraction ending, Keaton looks around and says, "Oop.  I must have dropped this in the stumble.  Silly me.  Oh.  The leaf is all wet.  Pity."  He dumps the ashes and leaves in an inconspicuous spot nearby and pockets the pipe.  

"I could go for food.  This Lodge sounds like as good a place as any.  Shall we head there together?"

"Port Damali?", he asked surprised. "The world truly is a village. My name is Arthasis and I am from the Menagerie Coast myself." There was no chance to hide his accent. The paranoia he had been cultivating for the last few months cautioned him to use his real name, but out of habit he did it every time. To his defense, he hadn't been asked his name a lot since he had left Port Damali and he reckoned that he would get used to it eventually.

Arthasis got a little closer and now also adressed the woman who from what he could gather from the conversation, knew her way around the city. "If you don't mind I would also gladly follow you towards the more accommodating parts of this city." While he still wasn't interested in the festivities he surely did prefer a bed without flees. 

"Welcome," Eryn says to his fellow Port Damalian. "And what brings you to this..." 

Suddenly realising that what he intended to say might not be politic, Eryn ends his sentence with, "unfortunate part of the world."

"Oh yes that sounds about right!  Our gnomish friends certainly know how to live life to the fullest that's for sure.  I've been in town for a few days now and it's quite a site to see the change in attitude from day to night, it's quite admirable actually."  Aeros begins to the scholar before laughing once again.  "Well," turning towards the others, "We were just about to head in the direction of the Sootswallow Lodge to celebrate Carpe Noctis  ourselves and you're not going to find many areas of the city livelier than that part of town.  You're all more than welcome to come along if you'd like!" he offers the impromtu group.  The More the Merrier! he thinks to himself as he waits for their response.

(Mild Retconning for myself and Aeros, based on DM-provided info)

"When here, the Cobalt Soul usually uses a Tavern known as the Blushing Tankard, which lies in Upper Hupperdook.  I don't know how personally interested in you all are in the Sootswallow, but I know that the Blushing Tankard is of the highest service."  The man pauses a moment, "OH!  That's what we were arguing about, Aeros!  You were advocating for the Lodge, and I for this Tavern.  Nice to have some closure on that.  It was going to bug me."

"Business.", he lied to the rather pale looking elf. "It's hard work to make a living and sometimes it necessitates some traveling." It never had been hard work though, not for him, not for his family. The business which his ancestors had established a few generations ago, still made his family a fortune without investing too much of their time on day to day dealings. They were free to pursue their personal agendas, which ironically often came down to try and make even more money. Not to mention the conspiring against one another, there was a lot of that too. "I don't think this place is too unfortunate though. It has festivities, war machines and ... gnomes. What more would you need?", it was hard stopping him once he had started with this jovial drivel. He despised it, but deemed affability to be a very useful and cheap tool in social interactions.

"The Blushing Tankard.", Arthasis repeated with an easy smile across his face, while he turned towards the other human. "That sounds quite promising." He wanted to get off the street into a warm and clean bed as fast as possible. "Could you point me in the right direction?"

Her eyes widen in curiosity as she takes in the group that has assembled around the scene of her clumsiness. Though her travels since she had left home had hardly been uneventful, and she had met plenty of interesting folk upon her entry into the Empire -- this was, by and large, the largest and most diverse group she'd come across.  

"I would be glad to join any of you on the route back to the Lodge. It might helpful to have a few extra eyes on the trip, lest I wind up wandering in circles around these empty streets. I'm afraid I have only managed to capture my path to the Lodge, and well...even that might be questionable at this rate," she admits, waving the map in the hand gently.  

"And my name is Menodora. Menodora Ercanbald. I've wandered here from Uthodern. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. All of you."

Eyeing her map, she looks it over -- at the vague landmarks she had managed to create, then gestures in a vague direction. 

"Shall we? I think this is the....general direction we need to head. We could perhaps continue introductions on the way? That way those who'd prefer a rest can do so."

Appraising the black-garbed human's obvious weaponry: a spear and a crossbow, Eryn asks, "Apart from your own—which is an answer I am willing to accept, by the way. What sort of business are you in?"

He then affectionately pats his short bow and adds, "I have heard that the Empire is in need of people skilled at arms to help keep the peace while their army confronts the Kryn Dynasty in the east. Perhaps we are in the same business."

Then, in answer to the woman's words, he says, "Lead on Menodora. Eryn Starflower, for one, will follow you for the moment. Anywhere in fact. Anywhere to get out of this cold and damp air."

If you're all heading for the Lodge, you'll follow Menodora's little map north. The street you're on goes northeast for two blocks, and then cuts northwest. If you're headed for the Blushing Tankard in the upper City, Menodora's map has you headed the same way, down the street for two blocks, and a cut towards the northwest for a block. There's another small square with 'Prayer Foundry ????' written beside it. The Lodge path continues North from the Foundry, while the path to the Upper City turns southeast from the Foundry. 

While you are all deciding whether to trust Menodora's map, both Keaton and Eryn hear the clanging of tools being put away nearby, perhaps a few feet up the street.