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After the little incident in the basement, they both felt a little hungry and grabbed some quick street food on the way to the South gate and Sergeant Auber. There are more and more people on the streets, some streets close to the market squares are becoming really crowded. They see Sergeant Auber in the distance and he looks even more unhappy than usual. There is a long line of people heading towards the gate, and they see a long queue outside the gate as well. When Sergeant Auber sees Gnosha and Aered he shouts: - “Mr Gno.. Mr Gno.. Mr Gnome and Mr Aered, are you two responsible for everything?”
Gnosha replies: - “Everything sounds a little exaggerated, we are only responsible for a little.” Then he continues: - “Have you seen Kanna Okkura?”
Sergeant Auber replies: -”We got the message and we closed the gate, and long queues started to form. Then Captain Woode arrived and acknowledged the order and we were ordered to open the gates again, but carefully check anyone exiting the town. We still have to check all incoming wagons and people for toll and such things so we are very overworked here. I had to put every man I have on duty, even those who had their day off. Then a man came to the gate and we asked about his name, he quickly turned around and went into the town again. He was dressed in heavy boots, a coat and carried a backpack, but he wore typical fine palace yellow trousers, which looked odd.”
Gnosha thinks quickly. He gathers a group of errand kids and says: - “We will have a contest. The person who can give me the location of a man in heavy boats, yellow pants and a coat, will get ten silver coins. Spread the word. I will be here at the South Gate.” The group of kids rushed away in different directions. Gnosha wrote a note to Ennet Woode with the description of Kanna Okkura and where he had last been seen.
After about an hour, two girls and a boy come running towards Gnosha, - “Mister, we know where he is!”. Gnosha replies: - “Great, tell me where”, but the kids replies, the money first. Gnosha gives them ten pieces of silver, and one of the girls says: - “He is at Beggar’s Chase, he is in one of the houses at the corner.” Gnosha asks which of the houses and the girl answers: - “The house closest to the wall, the little one.” Gnosha thanks the kids and he and Aered quickly walk to Beggar’s Chase, which is located close to the east wall. The walk takes about ten minutes as the streets are crowded with both people and wagons.
When they arrive, even Beggar’s Chase square is full of caravan wagons, merchants and caravan guards. The house is a very small and probably very old house. Gnosha walks around and says to Aered: - “I watch this backdoor so he doesn’t try to escape this way. You take the front door and ask him to surrender himself.”
Aered stands in front of the front door and knocks hard on it three times and says in a loud voice: - “Open the door!”. The door opens and a man in his mid thirties opens the door. He is dressed in heavy shoes and yellow pants and an undershirt, but it is not Kanna Okkura. The man looks frightened and asks: -”What is this, what has happened?” Aered replies: - “Excuse me sir, my name is Aered Ealchfrilen, Paladin of the Order of the Viridian Key. I am so sorry, it is all a misunderstanding. Can you just state who you are and what you are doing here? We are looking for a criminal.”
The now even more shocked man replies: - “My name is Orn-noth Awad, I am a merchant. I rented a room in this house for the festival to save some money. The inns are charging ridiculous money for rooms these days. The only other person here is the old lady owning the house.” Aered excuses himself once more and then goes around the house and tells Gnosha about the mistake. Gnosha tells Aered that mistakes happen, that’s why we have to be polite and talk before we go into action.
Gnosha says: - “You did a fantastic job here, I am proud and Master Didethor will be proud too when we tell him about this.” Aered got a very happy look on his face, and he thought, I did as was taught, and I did the right thing.
Some history of the North. The old stone bridge over Willow Creek was built about four hundred years ago. Before the bridge existed, the only crossing was a ford. The ford was passable most of the times of the year, but autumns and springs it was problematic. The spring flood made it impassable during high waters, and before the ice had become thick enough before the winter, it was impassable too.
The bridge was built by a team of Dwarven engineers, and it was paid for by the local imperial governor. The team consisted of eight sturdy Dwarven engineers and two hobbits, Folgor and Fanny Proudmead, who were responsible for food and lodging. Before the actual construction of the bridge was begun, the Dwarves built a lodge with several rooms, a kitchen and a dining room.
The stones that were used to build the bridge were cut at a quarry three days north, along the east shore of the great lake, and it was a second team that cut and transported the stones using horse carts.
When the bridge finally was built after almost two years of hard work, the Dwarves left and went back north, but they left their lodge, and Folgor and Fanny had been so attached to it that they decided to turn it into an inn. The location was perfect, two days on the road from Winterhaven to the West, a perfect location where travelers and merchants could get a good night's sleep and a good hot evening supper, and a sturdy breakfast. Fanny Proudmead’s cooking became famous in the area, and it was one of the reasons the Dwarves hired them in the first place. No Dwarf works on an empty stomach.
Soon a few more houses were built as people moved here to work the land or fish. The village was first just called bridge village, or Willow Creek Bridge, but soon someone started to say Willowdale, and the name stuck. Folgor and Fanny had four children, and the Proudmead’s Inn has been in the capable hands of a Proudmead ever since.
The Willowdale prospered during the years of the empire, as merchants and travelers came for a good rest. When the empire started to crumble, and monsters and bandits started to roam the lands, some people have left Willowdale, but the villagers are proud of it, and they have fought to defend it on several occasions. Houses have been rebuilt, even the old Dwarven lodge has seen many changes over the years, but Willowdale is still Willowdale.
Willowdale is now under the protection of Erast, and the Knights of Erast, but recent political events have rocked the once solid arrangements.
The Bald Wizards Circle is an order of wizards that has been living alone on an isolated island along the Eastern shores of the great lake for almost one hundred years. There is a small drawbridge connecting the island with the main lands, and that bridge is mostly opened to prevent passage.
The order resides in an old tower, built in the early days of the great empire. There was also a village around the tower, but that is since long gone. Only a few remains can be found in the vegetation surrounding the tower.
The shores of the island are very dangerous as sharp underwater rocks are all around, making the island almost impossible to approach by boat. Only in the winters, when the ice is thick, the island can be approached from another direction than the drawbridge.
The Bald Wizards Circle was formed about a hundred years ago by two wizards that were outcast from their village by a priest who declared that wizardry was against the will of the gods. To warn other villages about the wizards' blasphemy, the villagers set fire to the wizards’ hair. They wizards fled, and found the abandoned tower, and made it their residence and created the Bald Wizards Circle, away from ignorant mere commoners. The Bald Wizards Circle has grown, and they stay out of the business of simple people. Their only contact with the outsiders is through Throinanain, their ambassador in Erast, who lives in the public quarters of the Royal Castle. The Bald Wizards Circle do not have a leader, everything they decide is decided in the Wizard’s Council. The Bald Wizards Circle do not generally have any interest whatsoever in the politics in the region. Their focus is on greater things, beyond the comprehension of the minds of mundane people.
There is a saying in Erast, Don’t meddle in the affairs of the wizards, as it will often end badly. Erast and the Bald Wizards Circle have been having a mutual understanding, we do not interfere in each other’s affairs.
The recent events with monsters and bandits once again in the area, and the rise of an ambitious wizard that has gotten the Wizard’s Council to listen to his thoughts and ideas, has changed this stability. It has led to the point where the Bald Wizards Circle has decided to break the agreements with Erast and start to act on their own, writing their own history and future.
So, after the quite shameful situation of chasing after the wrong man in yellow pants and large boots, Gnosha and Aered went to grab some street food and a large tankard of ale, and Gnosha needed to plan the next step. Gnosha thought that now when Kanna Okkura was wanted by the town guards and the Knights of Erast, his job to identify the thief was done, and it was time to dig deeper into the mystery. The abandoned village that the Kobold Ubba told him about as a possible hideout for the person calling himself the Bandit King had to be his next objective. When they had eaten skewers and downed a good tankard of Erast ale, they went back to the tower, where Gnosha wrote a letter to Heskan. He decided to give the letter to one of the guards, Hjartur, to give to Heskan in case Gnosha and Aered had not returned after 8 days. He would just say that they are about to follow up a lead.
Sir Paragon Knight Heskan,
If you receive this letter, my pursuit of a lead was correct, but Arered and I have ended up in more trouble than we could handle. I ask you to dispatch as many Knights of Erast as you can spare to the abandoned village on the south shore of the lake, about three days west. I think you know what village I mean, but I do not have a name for it, as asking around might give away the advantage of surprise. The person known as the Bandit King is rumored to have set up his camp there, and he is, if I am correct, the person behind all the problems in the area.
Best regards,
Gnosha Curosinei
Gnosha and Aered pack for a week in the wild, and purchase supplies like dried meat, some extra water skins and fresh fruits. When they had packed, they set off to the palace, where Gnosha went to see Hjartur, and gave him the sealed letter. He told Hjartur that if he or Aered were not back in Erast the morning eight days ahead, he should give the letter to Sir Heskan and tell Sir Heskan that it is a matter of utter urgency. Hjartur accepted the task and wished Gnosha and Aered good luck with whatever they were up to. Hjartur was indeed a good hearted man. On the way from the castle, Aered asked: -”Are we going to that abandoned village Ubba the Kobold talked about?” Gnosha replied: - “Yes we are.” Aered said: - “Do you think it has something to do with what has happened here?” and Gnosha replied: - “The connection is quite obvious if you look at it, you know, everything is connected.” Ghosha could almost see the sprockets turning behind Aered’s forehead while he was trying to piece it together.
They went down to South Gate, as outside the gate they had seen some stables, where you can rent a riding animal. Ghosha decided that they should ride, as time was of the essence now. When they passed the gate house, Sergeant Auber shouted to them: “Have you caught the thieves yet?” Gnosha replied: - “Not yet, but keep your ears and eyes open.” Sergeant Auber made a funny face, opening his eyes with his fingers and replied: - “I will keep my eyes open!”
The stables were owned by Hellery Ethyn, a strong looking, tall woman. Gnosha told Mrs Ethyn that they were looking to rent a horse and a pony for ten days maximum, and the price was 8 copper a day for the pony and one silver coin a day for the horse. After a quick look in the stables, one horse, named Amadeus, and one pony named Peridot are selected.
It feels good to leave the town behind as it’s getting more and more crowded each day that passes. The weather is late summer sunshine and the moisture can be seen leaving the ground when the hot sun heats the ground. Gnosha and Aered follow the shoreline southwest and they pass several farms where the farmers are working hard to harvest whatever crops they grow to be able to trade or sell at the upcoming festival and market week.
The landscape is still not total wilderness, they know as they passed here on their way to Erast from the south, but along the road. Now they have horses without a cart and can take the trials. They also pass some small fisherman’s houses along the shore. It’s a peaceful landscape, but they both know that dangers lurk where you least expect it.
In the evening, when it’s time to rest for the night, they start to look for farms, but as they now are on the edge between the rural landscape and the wilderness, they only sign of civilisation they see is a small fisherman’s cottage on the shore, standing on poles, with a jetty on the back. It’s two houses, one two story and one single story building, and lights are coming from the two story building, and smoke is coming from the chimney. As the houses are all on poles, there is a steep staircase from the ground up to a small porch in front of the two buildings.
They decide to go there and ask if they can spend the night and rest their riding animals. Gnosha knocks on the door, and they can hear a heavy chair being pushed and heavy footsteps coming closer to the door. After a while, which felt quite long, a small hatch in the door opened and a pair of eyes were looking out. A strong voice called out: - “Who is it?” Gnosha replied: - “Here, look down. My name is Gnosha Curosinei, and I and my travel companion seek shelter for the night, and we will pay for it.”
The voice replied: - “Who is your travel companion?” and Aered replied: - “My name is Aered Ealchfrilen, Paladin of the Order of the Viridian Key. We seek shelter for the night and we have silver to pay with. If it is too much trouble Sir, we can travel on.” Aered’s well spoken greeting made the man close the hatch and open the door. The man was tall, strong and weathred. Not fit like Aered, but heavily built and looked like someone who has done hard work all his life. His hands were huge, strong and marked by hard labor.
The man introduced himself: - “My name is Maco Boffin, fisherman. You can rest your horses in the boat house, but you got to muck after them in the morning all by yourself, agreed?”
When the horses have been fed and watered and stabled in the boat house, Aered and Gnosha enter Mr Boffins house and find him sitting on a chair with a small fire burning in a fireplace. Fishing nets are hanging all over to dry or to be repaired, and the whole house smells like old fish. Mr Boffin says: - “Where are you two heading? There is nothing out here, are you lost or something? There is nothing here except the wilderness. “
Gnosha replies: - “Sometimes you need to go into the wilderness to look for things.” and put ten pieces of silver on the table. Mr. Boffin says: - “Ten pieces of silver, I see you pay for good food, a roof over your head and my silence. I have salted herring and turnips for dinner.” Mr Boffin pours three tankards of Erast ale and continues: - “You do look like the adventurous type. I can talk and you can fill in the blanks. It’s not often I get company out here.”
Dinner is served and they smalltalk a little over dinner. Mr Boffin does most of the talking and talks mostly about fishing and life here at the edge of civilization. Gnosha do notice that Mr. Boffin never once mentioned why he lives here all alone, and Gnosha decided not to ask. A man is entitled to his privacy unless you are a suspect of a crime.
After a while Gnosha says: - “We have heard rumors of an abandoned village about two days west from here, on the south shore of the lake. Do you know it?”
Mr Boffin replies, almost happy that Gnosha for once started a new thread of conversions: - “Ah, you mean the village Luckfall. I see it from the boat. It’s not really as abandoned as it used to be. I see the smoke from fireplaces, but the houses are all fallen. The name of that village, Luckfall, is quite ironic. I have seen boats there too, but they don't look like decent people though. I guess they are bandits. I’ve been staying away from them, I don’t want to get involved with dishonest people. I tried to tell the Knights of Erast about them when they passed here, but they dismissed my observations as hunters having campfires there. I know many hunters around here, and they never make camp in Luckfall, hunters make camp in the wilderness, that’s what it is to be a hunter. ”
Gnosha looked at Maco Boffin and said: - “Good Sir, the information you just gave me just confirmed the information that made us travel here, and further. I now know that you are a good man, so I can tell you that I work for Captain Ennet Woode, head of the Erast townguards and Sir Paragon Knight Heskan, head of the Knights of Erast. I will assure you that your information will be brought to their attention.”
Maco Boffin continues: - “And the woods to the south are just crawling with Kobolds these days. When you hunt, you want to use your arrows to shoot deer, not waste them on Kobolds all the time.”
The conversation continued for a while and Aered stuff himself with yet another plate of fried salted herring and turnips. It was getting late, and they laid out their bedrolls on the floor close to the fireplace.
The next morning Gnosha and Aered woke up early, finding that Mr. Boffin had already prepared some breakfast for them. Mr Boffin was on the way out to take up his nets. He said farewell and safe travels, and reminded Gnosha that they had to muck the boathouse before they left, and then he said that Gnosha and Aered were welcome to stay in his house again if they were in the neighborhood.
Gnosha and Aered continued to travel towards the abandoned village, which they now knew was named Luckfall. They rode along the shoreline on windling narrow trails, probably made by hunters or animals. Nature grew wilder the further they traveled, they were now back in the wilderness. As they came further west, the forest became more dense.
After a couple of more hours on horseback, they entered the forest. As they were close to the shore line, there were small streams of water running from the hills in the south, down to the lake. The streams were neither very wide, nor very deep, and it was easy to find suitable fords where the horses could easily cross without too much effort. They rested close to a stream and let the horses graze and drink while they had some dried salted meat and some bread, which was still very fresh. After a week, even travelbread started to get dry and hard, but it was good to eat as it gave you energy. Travelbread was dark bread filled with nuts and dried fruit, you could live on it for weeks. But Gnosha liked to have some dried meat too, and Aered did not complain at all.
They continued this slow ride, and while crossing yet another small stream, Gnosha spotted a pair of eyes in the water, attached to a scaled body with four legs, a long tail and sharp pointy teeth.
Gnosha tried to get Peridot to quickly get out of the water, while shouting to Aered: - “Stay on the ground, there is something in the water!”. Peridot, not knowing Gnosha very well, got very confused by his hasty and stressful commands, just stopped and stood in the water, until he made a sudden quick jump out of the water when Gnosha was trying to figure out what that thing in the water was, so quick that Gnosha was not ready for it and tumbled off into the water.
Aered jumps off his horse and draws his sword and his shield, and walks down into the knee deep water, to prepare to protect Gnosha. The beast faced Aered and tried to attack him with his huge mouth, but missed. Then it tried to swing its long tail against Aered, but even that missed. Both Aered and the beast were quite confused about how this played out. Gnosha picks up his thunderstone and tosses it at the beast and hits it, and the sound deafens both the monster and the unfortunate Aered. Aered swears, very loud, and then strikes at the beast with his sword, and hits it. Then he tries his most frightful intimidating pose and screams the loudest he can to try to scare off the beast, but the beast is so deaf that it doesn’t hear the fearful screaming by Aered and just ignores it. Instead, the beast attacked Aered, but Aered was ready and parried the attacks with his shield. Gnosha now suddenly shouts to Aered: -”Alligator, it is an alligator, a very dangerous beast, be careful!”, but Aered didn’t hear a word of what Gnosha said.
Gnosha stumbles out of the stream and onto dry ground and picks up his little hand crossbow, carefully aiming at the only weak spot on the alligator that he now remembered from his studies, just between the eyes, under a thin layer of skin, is the brain. He fired, and hit, but just a half inch too high, and the bolt is stuck in the alligator’s skull. Aered strikes it again, and this time he deals the final blow that kills the alligator. Gnosha jumps into the water again to retrieve his crossbow bolt. They are expensive, and he doesn't carry an infinite number of them. He also inspects the alligator. It is a freshwater alligator, a small one, probably just a year or two old and it was only like seven or eight feet from head to tail. A full grown can be up to three times as large. Aered kept talking very loud, and Gnosha cursed himself for not thinking when he threw that thunderstone. But, on the other hand, the other alchemic weapon he had prepared was an alchemist’s fire, and fire in water would not have done anything good at all.
Aered takes Amadeus and crosses the stream and they decide to carefully scout every stream before crossing from now on. Gnosha did not know that there were alligators here in these waters, you always learn something new. After about ten minutes Aered stopped talking so loud, which told Gnosha that the effect from the thunderstone was wearing off.
While Aered is loudly making remarks about Gnosha’s use of thunder stones and not hearing Gnosha’s reply, Gnosha found a good spot against a cliff side, in the sun, where Gnosha could dry his wet clothes and Aered could dry his too. They made a little fire and hung the wet clothes on a rope so the sun would shine on them from one side, and the heat from the fire would dry the other side. They also made a little lunch meal as they had nothing better to do while waiting for the clothes to dry enough. After about an hour or so, they put the clothes back on again, and Aered had carefully oiled his chainmail, and greased all leather straps.
They continued to ride westwards, in the direction of Luckfall village, or what was left of it. They crossed several small streams, and Gnosha tossed stones or branches in the water to stir up any alligators, but they didn’t find any more, which was good. The forest was dense, and they tried to follow the general direction, while using trails made by humans or animals, and the forest could hide all sorts of surprises, which would not be good for the horses, like badger holes or worse. Time slowly passed and it began to be time for supper and finding a camp for the night. They rode a bit further towards a small hill and they found a good spot for a camp. As they were only two, they took two hour shifts from evening to morning, so both could get enough sleep and feel rested. The night was uneventful, except for one small incident. Gnosha woke up with a spider crawling on his face, and suddenly he got flashes in memory from the horrible spider swarm at the abandoned tower, when the Whispering Way had prepared some unspeakable rituals, but it was only an ordinary spider, and Gnosha just brushed it away and went back to sleep.
In the morning they were both well rested. The sky was full with heavy clouds, and it looked like it would start to rain any minute. Gnosha told Aered at breakfast that the food they had with them was supposed to last a whole week.
Ghosha once again looked at the gray, dark sky and said to Aered: - “I wish we could have had better travel weather today, but according to my calculations, we should reach Luckfall by lunchtime.”
They packed things up and began the last part of their journey for Luckfall. They rode carefully to avoid being seen, just in case the bandits had scouts in the woods. After about an hour the rain started to pour and Gnosha, who disliked the rain, realized that even though the rain was annoying, the sound of the rain hid their sounds, and the rain also clouded the vision of potential scouts. On the other hand, rain is tiresome and it’s hard to stay alert in constant downpour.
The forest started to get a little thinner, and far ahead they could see a large area of bush wood with small saplings, bushes and high grass. They rode closer, and behind the bush wood, the remains of the abandoned village Luckfall could be seen, but it was not very abandoned at all. Mr. Boffin was absolutely right the village was populated again, not crowded, but there were people there. They saw a tent against the wall of a ruined house without a roof, and smoke was coming from a fire in front of the tent. They dismounted their horses and left them a bit from the edge of the woods, and carefully moved a little closer on foot. A wide windling stream was a border between the forest and the bush wood. Gnosha carefully picked up his spyglass from his sack and extended it to its full length, and began to look, but he didn’t see a thing. He silently cursed as he discovered that the spy glass was full of water and moist from the unfortunate swimming with the alligator. This was because his very expensive spy glass protective case was leaking. And as it was raining, there was no way he could get it dry again. Aered spotted four figures that moved between the tent and some houses. He did not see any pattern, and he did not know if it was one person or several different persons. As they all wore rain ponchos, weapons and armor was not visible either. Gnosha, still cursing his very expensive and now completely useless spyglass, looked at the areas with bush wood and realized that they were probably once healthy food bringing crop fields surrounding the village of Luckfall.
They returned to their horses and decided to ride in a wide circle around the village to try to get a good look at it from other directions as well, without the risk of being spotted. Gnosha and aered were on high alert as they knew that there might be bandits or other individuals lurking in the area around Luckfall. Gnosha was still hoping that the rain would hide their sounds. He had been riding for about a quarter of an hour, when Gnosha suddenly saw something ahead in the forest. It was the heads of a group of Kobolds coming towards the village, and their paths would cross in just less than 30 or so yards.
Gnosha stopped Peridot and said quietly to Aered: - “Shh, Kobolds ahead”. Gnosha then picks up an Alchemist’s fire and then tries to dismount silently from the horses to prepare an ambush. Unlucky for Gnosha and Aered, one of the approaching Kobolds spots Gnosha and fires a bolt from his crossbow that hits Gnosha in the left shoulder.
Then, two red skinned Kobolds charged towards Gnosha and Aered. Aered jumps off Amadeus and runs towards the Kobolds drawing his sword and attacks the first of the red skinned Kobolds, and it falls to the ground. Gnosha draws his Rapier and attacks the second red skinned Kobold and hits it in the throat with a complex fencing move, and that Kobold is no longer posing a threat. The blue skinned Kobold with the crossbow that is still at safe distance, fires his crossbow again, this time at Aered but misses. Then he hides behind a large oak tree, but Gnosha sees him and knows where he is hiding. Gnosha throws his Alchemist’s fire at the Kobold, but hits the tree instead, and a small fire starts. Aered shouts to Gnosha: - “What are you throwing at?” and Gnosha replies: - “The blue skinned Kobold with the crossbow that hit me and almost hit you. He’s behind that big tree!”
Aered charges forward and reaches the large, now slightly burning oak. He runs to the right of the tree, while the blue skinned Kobold sneaks up from the left of the tree with his crossbow and fires from behind on Aered, but hits Aereds shield that still hangs on his back.
Gnosha steps forward with his rapier, studying the blue skinned Kobold for weaknesses, and makes a solid attack and hits the blue skinned Kobold in the kidney and he is also no longer posing a threat. They quickly leave the scene to avoid being detected by any guards that heard the shouting from the Kobolds. When they are at a safe distance, Gnosha spends about a quarter of an hour bandaging his shoulder. The damage was less dangerous than it first looked, just a deep scratch as the bolt was stuck in his leather armor, but the point just hit the flesh.
Gnosha and Aered decide to take a chance to go back, and Gnosha makes a note in his book about the Kobolds, apparently heading towards Luckfall. When they look around where the recent skirmish occurred, Gnosha sees a large trunk, probably carried by the two red skinned Kobolds, and dropped before they joined into the fight. They open it and it looks like it mostly contains junk, like a rusty sword, a rusty ax, some old daggers, a rusty shoulder piece of armor and about a squarefoot of a rusted chainmail. Gnosha realizes that this is probably a tribute to the bandit king, stolen and gathered by the Kobolds.
Aered picks up the trunk and they ride back to where they think they are at a safe distance from Luckfall, and take a closer look at the content in the trunk. After removing the obvious junk, there are some valuable things in the truck. Ghosha counts to twenty three pieces of gold and ten pieces of silver, and four gems which he estimates to be worth about forty pieces of gold together, money that would come handy.
At the bottom of the trunk, there are three stones the size of eggs, two are rough stones with a one flat surface, with a rune on. The third stone is a flat smooth stone, like a river bed stone, that starts to jump around and tries to escape from the truck. Gnosha has to catch it and put it back again and close the trunk. He tries to figure out what the stones with runes could be, but he comes out blank, he really has no idea what they are. The jumping stone was even more confusing.
Aered asks Ghosha if he can have a look at the stones, and he makes a little prayer and then closes his eyes and touches the stones. He opens his eyes and says: - “These are Rune stones, created by a powerful magician. Their purpose is to transfer their magical power to a weapon, but I do not know how that is done, and I do not know what the magical powers are, yet. And for the jumping stone, I’m not sure but that could be a cursed magical stone of some sort.”
Gnosha thought, a stone that jumps, maybe cursed, this can be a quite useful distraction when you need to sneak past guards, I need to lock it into a small purse and keep it handy. They decide to continue circling Luckfall to get to the other side of it and maybe see a little more. One thing is certain, the one calling himself the Bandit King, has set up some kind of base in Luckfall.
Ghosha and Aered continued to circle the village of Luckfall, to try to reach the other side of the village and see if they could see more from there. They watch every stream they cross carefully, to avoid any more surprise attacks by alligators, but luckily they didn’t come across any this time. It’s still raining, but a much lighter rain, hopefully it will clear up tomorrow. They reach the forest edge from the other side, and find a good spot with cover where they could try to observe what happens in the village. Gnosha takes out his spyglass again, hoping it has dried up, but no, he still can’t see a thing through it. He curses the person who sold it to him, and puts it back into its expensive but not waterproof cover again. Aered on the other hand sees something that he explains to Gnosha. He sees a group of people in hoods, looking like thugs or bandits, standing in a half circle in a small open square in the village. He also sees a tall person with long white hair, standing facing them, and then the person mounts a large black horse and rides off. He can’t tell if it was a man or a woman from that distance.
Gnosha’s first reflection was that as the person has long white hair, it’s not a bald wizard from the bald wizard’s circle, which is good. He was not very keen at all on getting the wrong end of the stick regarding the bald wizard’s circle. He was sure they were not involved in what was going on, and this was a sign in that direction. Gnosha says to Aered: - “Come on, to the horses, we need to follow that person.”
They decide to track the person at a distance, to avoid getting too close. If it was, as Gnosha suspected, a wizard of some sort, they need to come uncomfortably close to be able to arrest the wizard for interrogation. At first, Ghosha cannot really see the tracks to follow, but his sensitive nose picks up a foreign scent and he can pick up the tracks. As it’s not raining so much anymore, the tracks are quite easy to follow. They follow the old road to Luckfall, and it’s a winding road that follows the hills as it was once made for wagons. They pass the tree where they fought with the Kobolds just a few hours ago. The road goes in an Northeast direction, away from the water and towards what Gnosha thinks is the main road to Erast, the road where they were ambushed by Kobolds some weeks ago.
They come to close the person, and Gnosha and Aered hold their horses to let the person get some distance again. You can never be careful enough when it comes to wizards, especially wizards that seem to do some kind of business with bandits and thugs.
The road, or actually the very overgrown remains of what once was a road, continue to wiggle between the hills. Gnosha gets an idea, if they took a shortcut up to the next hill, they would be able to watch the person riding by, hopefully without being detected, and get a better view of what the person looks like, equipment and such things. Knowledge and intelligence is always the key to success.
They leave the horses at the foot of a hill where the road makes a sharp left turn to follow the hills contours. They quickly and silently moved to the top ridge and took cover behind some bushes, with clear sight of the road beneath. Gnosha took up his spyglass again, and thought that if it didn't work this time, he would toss it in the nearest lake. He looks at the point where the road comes around the hill they just mounted, and he was surprised, the fog in his spyglass was now gone. He sees the white haired rider, it’s a woman, dressed in leather and padded armor. She looks like a human, but has pale skin, very unusually pale skin. The eyes are difficult to describe, they are like blue, purple and white, and the hair is all white. She’s riding her large horse, with a large coin pouch in her lap, putting her hand down in the purse, smiling. Gnosha thinks it might be an necromancer, someone tied to the cult of the whispering way, but Aered takes a look and recalls what he has read in his religion studies about necromancers, that they usually have their body full of tattoos, but this could be someone inspired by the necromancers and the undead cult. She has a short sword and several daggers in her boots, so she looks like someone who would put up a fight. But Gnosha is certain that she needs to be stopped and interrogated, so a plan has to be made.
They let her pass and go back down their horses and continue to follow the road. Gnosha decides that at the next opportunity like the one they just had for looking, they need to make a little ambush and catch her.
The ride for another half hour when there is a similar sharp turn, but to the right, where the road follows another hill. They tied their horses again and hurried over the hill down to the road on the other side. They hid on each side of the road. Gnosha decides to open up with his Perspine Grenade, which both hurts and shocks the target. A shocked wizard might be less sharp when it comes to using her magic, Gnosha thought.
They lie down, trying to be as invisible as possible, but just when Gnosha is about to toss his grenade, the horse stops and the woman shouts: - “Come out or I kill you!”
Gnosha throws his grenade and it hits its intended target. Aered rushes forwards with his shield and his sword and shouts: - “Yield! You are under arrest!”. The woman makes some quick gestures with her hands, and Gnosha thinks, damn, she’s using magic. Suddenly Aered has problems standing on his legs, they just give away in a feeling he has never felt before, fear. That woman must be the most fearsome thing he has ever faced. The horse explodes into a full gallop. Aered now feels something else, shame, he feels ashamed of being scared.
Gnosha raises his hand crossbow, looks for an unprotected spot, and fires, and hits her in the thigh with his bolt. He also quickly adds her to his list of suspects in his head, but will write it down later, as the bolt didn't seem to bother her much.
Aered overcomes his fear and tries to rush and climb onto the horse, but as he grabs one of the backpacks tied to the horse, he, and the backpack falls to the ground, and the white haired lady on her large black horse rides off in full gallop.
Gnosha tries to get another shot at her but can’t because of the trees. Aered looks very disappointed.
That is a very realistic looking fire!
Thanks - its done by some different fire products mixed together.
Gnosha says to Aered: - “You did your best, and we have a nice little backpack to scrutinize for clues. And her horse is so much more powerful than ours, especially my little Peridot, so we have no chance catching up with her. Come here, let’s go back to the horses and check what you got in that backpack.” Aered picks up the backpack and they walk slowly over the hill back to the horses. Gnosha carefully looks through the content. There are some clothes, a handful of coins summing up to ten pieces of gold, some days worth of trail food and some pieces of parchment. Most of them are without interest, but one is very interesting indeed.
It’s a letter to Tarash the Bleak from Frori Thratelch, asking her to come and leave the books she has picked up. Very interesting. Frori Thratelch, also known as the Bandit King, wants the books, most probably the books stolen in the private library of Duchess Maimux. The white haired lady must be the person going by the name Tarasha the Bleak, and both their names were in the letter they found at that tower ruin with the spiders and the mummy. One person mentioned in the first letter is still unknown, Odan. So, Kanna Okkura worked with Tarasha the Bleak to steal the books. Gnosha has been on the right path all along, it’s just that the clues have been very slow to reveal themselves.
They decided it was time for lunch, and they found that Tarasha the Bleak, no matter her dubious business associates, had an expensive taste for trail food indeed. The lunch consisted of very good dried and salted beef, a grilled chicken, sausages, some tasty thick biscuits and a tankard each from a small keg of very good Erast ale. Aered decided the chicken was for him. Gnosha was fond of the smoked, dried and spicy sausages.
While they had lunch, Gnosha and Aered discussed how to proceed. As the books now were in the hands of Frori the Bandit king, in Luckfall, they most probably were about to take them somewhere. Ether by boat, or by road. Neither Gnosha nor Aered were experienced boaters, so trying to intercept the bandits if they decided to travel by boat would not work. But as Tarasha the Bleak were heading towards the Erast road, there was a fair chance the bandit king and his entourage would take the same route. So, their best chance was to make a proper ambush on that road, not something half done Kobold style. They should hire Maco Boffin to help them have an ambush that would never be forgotten. Dig wolf pits, use hidden net traps. Gnosha was an expert craftsman when it came to things like that, and with muscles from Aered and Mr Boffin, this could probably be pulled off. The tasks were set, now circle the half circle back to the lake shore and follow it back to the house of Mr Boffin, and see what kind of help ten pieces of gold could buy.
The journey back to Mr Boffin’s house would take the rest of the day and all evening and into the night.
They rode and slowly found the trails leading closer to the shores of the great lake west of the village of Luckfall, finding the trails they followed on the way here. They still were very careful when crossing streams, and threw rocks in the water to be sure there were no alligators lurking in the waters. That experience with the alligator still was fresh in their minds, and not a very pleasant memory. Day turned to evening, and they stopped to rest and water the horses, and to eat the last of Tarasha the Bleek’s rations, and some of their own. - “All this riding makes me very hungry” Aered said, and Gnosha replied - “Is there anything that doesn’t make you very hungry?”. To that Aered replied: - “One thing, eating”.
They continued after dinner, and evening turned to night when they exited the woods and came back to more open lands. They saw in a distance light lit outside Maco Boffin’s house, and Gnosha hoped he would not be angry when they arrived this late, but he had his gold coins, that Aered got with the backpack he tore off her horse, and Gnosha had already decided to be generous with them.
They stopped outside the house and knocked on the door. Maco Boffin opened the door when he saw who his visitors were and said: -”You are alive! And you do not look particularly hurt either. Come in my friends, I’m so glad to see you again!” Gnosha tells Maco Boffin about his plan, and that he wants to hire Maco Boffin, and gives him five pieces of gold, telling him that this is just the upfront payment, and that he will get five more when the job is done. Maco Boffin hesitates, he explains that he is no adventuring type, and if he got involved in this, and the bandits find out, they would burn down his house and he would lose everything he has. Gnosha tries to convince Mr Boffin, but even though he might be convinced, Gnosha realizes that this idea will not work. Mr Boffin might put himself in danger, which he really doesn't want to do, and Gnosha does not want to be that person that forces other people make bad decisions for themselves, especially not decent and good folks.
Gnosha understands his situation, and quickly comes up with a plan b. He asks Mr Boffin if he can sell Gnosha and Aered ropes, nets, and let them borrow tools, like a shovel, an ax and a bucket. Maco Boffin gets a smile back on his face and says he will help them make good ropes and nets, he has all the tools for this in his boat house. Gnosha asks Mr Boffin if he can sail to Erast tonight, after they have started making ropes and he has shown Gnosha how to do that, and Mr. Boffin says that he can. Gnosha writes a letter.
To Commander Sir Paragon Knight Heskan.
The book thief is Tarasha the Bleek. The books are in Luckfall with the Bandit King. Something big is brewing. Hurry!
- Gnosha Curosinei
Gnosha hands the letter over to Mr Boffin and says: - “Take this letter to the palace guards in Erast, and tell them it’s urgent for Sir Heskan, and tell them it’s from me, Gnosha. You really need to tell them it’s urgent, life or death urgent.”
They hurry into the boat house, and Mr Boffin lights several lanterns to get light enough to work. He shows Gnosha how to make ropes from the piles of hemp he has in the boat house, and when Gnosha and Aered got the hang of it, he makes some strong reinforced rope nets, for catching bandits, not fish.
After an hour or two he says: -”I head for Erast now. Have a short nap, then ride out. Lock the door and hang the key on the nail under the stairs.” Mr Boffin sets sails and silently disappears into the darkness of the night. Aered and Gnosha work another two hours, and then crash totally tired until sun up. They grab some breakfast and pack the horses with rolls of ropes, nets and assorted tools.
It has finally stopped raining and the sky looks like it might even clear up later in the day. Gnosha and Aered ride off in the direction of the old road from Luckfall, before it joins with the larger road for Erast that comes from the South. In the afternoon they have found the road, and Gnosha searches for a spot where they could build the traps, and after not very long he sees the perfect spot. They unload the equipment from the horses and begin to work. They will take the horses about 500 paces away from where the traps will be set when they are done, but right now they will need the force of Amadeus. They start with this old, and half rotten tree. Carefully axing so it will have a breaking point, then Gosha climbs up and fastens a rope that Aered and Amadeus then use to pull the tree down, blocking the old road. Step one completed Gnosha notes.
Step two is Aered starting to dig a wolfpit on the old road on the other side of the tree, if you come from Luckfall. Meanwhile Ghosha walks a path beside the road, around the crown of the fallen tree, over and over. Taking the horses back and forth, and Aered also walks there with his bucket full of soil, at least a hundred times, and then empties the bucket in the woods, using different routes every time to not making visible trails.
Gnosha rigs the net trap on the neat little bypass trail they just made, which looks like it has been used several times now. When that is done, he takes another rope, and rigs it with two tied down bent trees. This rope follows the trunk of the fallen tree. If someone on a horse tries to jump, they will be knocked off the horse. Last, they carefully mask the wolf pit and the net trap. Now, they take the horses away, and decide to take two hour watches while the other sleeps, to get some rest. They also eat some food, and they wait and wait. They have been working hard until early night, and both are very tired.
In the morning, a bit after sun up, when Gnosha has the watch, he hears voices. They come from the direction of Luckfall, and he quickly wakes Aered and helps him put his armor on. They take their positions. Gnosha with his dagger, ready to cut the rope that sets off the net trap, and Aered, on the other side of the road, ready to cut the rope that triggers the rope trap over the trunk.
They wait, and try to stay hidden, and Gnosha sees four people coming on foot. The two in front are armed with clubs, the guy in the middle with a crossbow and the last one has a scimitar on his side. They all wear hoods, very similar to the ones Gnosha saw in Luckfall. The two in front sees the fallen tree, swears loudly and takes the detour Gnosha had made, heading straight for the net trap. The other two follow. Gnosha waits, and he feels the sweat dripping from his forehead. When the two frontmost reaches the wolfpit, the middle one is on the net trap, and Gnosha cuts the rope. The middle bandit with the crossbow now hangs in a net sack, 5 feet above the ground. The two in the front fall into the wolfpit.The first falls and seems to not react fast enough to try to grab an edge and hits the ground with a loud thump. The second one reaches out and slows down the fall.
The last bandit draws his scimitar and rushes to the bandit in the net and tries to cut him loose, but Aered rushes across the trail and runs him through with his longsword, and the bandit falls dead to the ground. The bandit in the net tries to reach his dagger, but he is entangled and cannot reach it.
Gnosha picks up his hand crossbow, as he sees one of the two who fell into the wolf pit is trying to climb up. He fails once, but on the second attempt he comes up. Aered shouts - “Yield!” to the one in the net, but he seems to ignore Aered. Gnosha looks at the one just climbing up and tries to spot a weakness in his armor, and fires his crossbow and hits him in the shoulder, then he quickly reloads. Aered rushes to the one that just climbed up and uses his shield to push him back into the wolfpit again, shouting: - "Stay there!"
The bandit in the wolfpit makes another attempt to climb up, and then another one, and he climbs up again and raises his club to attack Aered. The bandit in the net tries to reach his dagger in his boot, grabs it but then drops it on the ground. Gnosha walks to the bandit in the rope, draws his rapier and points it at the bandit and says: - “Now you yield!” but the bandit just spits and swears, and is not giving up this easily.
Aered tries to push the notorious wolfpit climber back into the wolf pit yet again, but misses, and then tries to hit him with his sword, but the bandit dodges even this. Then the bandit strikes back, and hits Aered on the sword arm with his club.
The bandit in the net tries to get out, but fails, and Gnosha aims with his crossbow at the wolf pit climber, shoots and hits him in the chest, and he falls down into the wolfpit a third time. Aered shouts at the bandits in the wolfpit: - “I told you, stay down there!”
Yay! I was actually thinking of this story yesterday and wondered what happens next. I'm glad to see new posts from you!
Thanks!
DM (my son) has been working even more than I have (11 days in a row, shifting times, then 36 hours rest, then on it again) so we just haven't had time to play, until this past Thursday. Hopefully we can play more the coming weeks, but there are so much that happened so I have lot's of fun and exciting things to add to the story.
Aered looks down in the wolfpit, but no one seems to be climbing up again, so he walks over to the bandit in the net, ties a rope around his neck and says: - “You are under arrest!”
When they have cut him loose from the net and tied him up even more, the bandit says: - “Who are you? Are you bounty hunters? Is it money you want? I can pay you ten times whatever they pay you.”
Gnosha replies: - “No, we want information.” While Gnosha tries to interrogate the prisoner, Aered checks the bodies of the other bandits for letters or information, but he finds nothing of interest at all. The bandit replies: - “Why don’t you just hand me over to the town guards and they will have me hanged at first light?”
Gnosha replies: - “What is Frori planning?” but the prisoner refuses to answer. Gnosha calls for Aered and says: - “He doesn’t say anything. I think you need to politely inform him that he should be polite and answer my questions.” And then Gnosha asks again: - “What is Frori planning?”
The prisoner replies: - “He traveled north, on a boat, over the lake. The boat was full, we had to walk, we should meet up at the Bugbear.” Gnosha knows that the Bugbear is a large inn, a day or two north of Erast, and he thinks for himself, a prisoner, a bandit, we need to bring him to Heskan, he has to get a trial, we cannot just sentence him to death here and now, as he did yield.
They decide to tie up the prisoner and gag him so he won’t be screaming for help, and then they will head to Luckfall again, hoping it has fewer occupants now that a full boat has left, and four more bandits have been put out of service. Aered walks and fetches the horses, and the prisoner is tied up and tied to Amadeus, and has to walk, as they once again head toward Luckfall. After several hours, Gnosha suddenly hears the sounds of approaching horses from behind.
Gnosha tells Aered about the approaching horses, and they quickly move off the old road and into the forest, out of sight. He sees several horses, six knights in full armor, and the group is led by Sir Heskan himself. Gnosha steps out and is fully visible again, and raises his hand in a salute. Sir Heskan raises his hand and the knights stop at his command. Sir Heskan says in his loud, thunderlike voice: - “You called for us and Erast has answered.” Aered comes out as well, with the prisoner, and Gnosha quickly tells the big picture of what he and Aered have discovered. Sir Heskan listens, and when Gnoha explains about the traps, Sir Heskan replies: - “Very well fought, very clever indeed.” Gnosha asks how things are back in Erast, and if they have caught Kanna Okkura yet, and Sir Heskan replies: - “No, not yet, but he will be caught!” Gnosha also emphasizes the help they got from Maco Boffin, telling Sir Heskan that ordinary men doing extraordinary deeds in the service of good is the best way to stop evil.
Gnosha hands over the prisoner to Sir Heskan, who orders two knights to tie the prisoner to a tree, to be dealt with when they have completed the task at hand. He says to Aered and Gnosha: - “We are heading for Luckfall, lead the way!”. Gnosha and Aered set off first, as fast as Peridot can ride, and Gnosha can feel the knights behind are having a hard time at this slow pace, even though Peridot is galloping at his fastest. The knights have to change between trot and slow gallop to keep this slow pace.
After about an hour, they are close to Luckfall, and suddenly it sounds like the earth is shaking when the six knights, led by Sir Heskan, set off in full gallop and pass Gnosha and Aered on both sides. The knights charge straight into the village, riding down any bandit they see on the way. When they have passed through the village, they stop, turn around, and wait until more bandits have come out of the buildings to see what happened, then they charge again. The result is devastating, Gnosha has never seen knights doing battle, and he now understands why they are so feared on the battlefields.
The battle is over as fast as it started, and then it has settled down, Gnosha and Aered search for clues of where Frori the Bandit King can have gone. Gnosha tries to interrogate a wounded bandit sergeant, who lost an arm in the battle and is quickly fading away. Gnosha learns that Frori left on a boat with a group of men, for an important meeting. The rest was to burn down the remains of Luckfall to destroy any tracks, then the sergeant died from blood loss.
Gnosha, together with Aered and the knights, searches through Luckfall in search of clues of what the Bandit King is planning, but they come out short. Gnosha did find some documents, lists of payments and salaries. It looks from these lists that the number of bandits has varied between twenty and forty. As the bandit group now has been decimated by sixteen bandits, the four Gnosha and Aered took care of, and the twelve that the Knights of Erast took care of, the remaining force would be at maximum a bit over twenty. He also found documents that proves that The Bandit King actively worked with and had agreements with the Kobolds, which Gnosha suspected, but could not previously prove.
They find one good tent, with space for four people, inside one of the roofless buildings. It looks to have been the tent of a commander, maybe Frori himself. Gnosha gets the tent, and it will come handy for future wilderness adventures. They find a good amount of money in the bandit camp in the village, and Sir Heskan decides to give Gnosha 20% of it for his help as a bonus. It totals to 15 pieces of gold.
After they have searched the village and made certain that there are no alive bandits hiding anywhere, the bodies of the twelve bandits in the village are burned, to prevent diseases and rumors from spreading.
Sir Heskan gathers his knights and says that it’s time to return to Erast, mission completed. It's a long ride, and rest will be at sundown, which is some hours away. Gnosha and Aered look at Peridot, and then at the huge warhorses that the knights ride, and think, this will be a tough ride back.
The formation sets off again at a high speed, and this time Gnosha and Aered are not leading, but doing the best they can to keep up the pace. Peridot and Amadeus are both used to slowly trott, not moving like war horses, and they are constantly falling behind.
After an hour or so, the formation reaches the place where they left the tied up captured bandit. Sir Heskan halts the knights and orders two knights to bring the prisoner to him and remove his gag.
Sir Heskan says in his most thunderlike voice:- “Prisoner, state your full name”, and the bandit answers: - “Keven Gilbert Jaubert”. Sir Heskan: - “Keven Gilbert Jaubert, I hereby charge you for being part of a bandit band, how do you plead?”.
The bandit replies: - “Guilty”. Sir Heskan looks at him briefly and says: - ”Keven Gilbert Jaubert, I hereby sentence you to death by decapitation!” , and then orders the two knights: -”Behead him!”.
Shortly after they continue their hastily journey back to Erast, and they pass the traps, and Gnosha sees that the tree has been pulled aside, and partly covers the wolfpit, to prevent anyone from accidentally falling into it. After several hours, they finally rest, and Amadeus and Peridot are really really tired. Sir Heskan comes over to Gnosha and Aered, who have just set up the nice tent they got, and he says: - “I see your horses are not really up for it, but try to keep up, we cannot move much slower than this.”
Early in the morning, after not enough rest for Amadeus and Peridot, they quickly break camp and continue the journey to Erast. Hopefully they will be there for late supper, if the slow horses do not slow them down too much. The journey continues, and Peridot and Amadeus are really struggling with the pace, especially Peridot, but they do make it to Erast before the city gates closes.
Sir Heskan and the knights ride through the gates and to the castle, while Gnosha and Aered turn left to the stables to return their hired horses. Hellery Ethyn, the stable owner comes out, and when he sees how tired Peridot and Amadeus are, she shouts at Gnosha: - “Are you out of your mind? How dare you drive poor Peridot and Amadeus so hard?” Gnosha realized that even if they paid for ten days, and only were out for six days, the 32 copper and 4 silver coins he paid upfront, he won't get back. The look on Mrs Ethyn’s face told him that, loud and clear. Gnosha gives Peridot a pat on the head and says: - “I’m sorry for that my friend, I hope we meet again, you served me well my dear Peridot.” and they enter Erast through the south gate. They see parchments posted at the gate, with a picture of Kanna Okkura, or it at least looks somewhat like him, and the text under the picture reads: Traitor! Wanted Dead or Alive! They see several notes about this, and everyone looks a little different. It looks like several scribes have been working to create these, and they all had a slightly different idea of what Kanna Okkura looks like.
First they plan to go to the rented room to unload the things they had to carry from the gate, or Aered had to carry. The tent, an extra backpack, and some rolls of rope they did not use and the tools they borrowed from Maco Boffin. Gnosha realizes that this is too much even for Aered to carry, so they rent a cart boy to help them, it’s only 4 pieces of silver. The town was even more crowded now, as the festival was just a few days away, and they grabbed some street food on the way. At the tower, Gnosha said to Aered: - “Grab some clean clothes, we’re off to a washing house, I need to get this dirt and sweat out of my skin, I smell like a bandit, and so do you.”
Gnosha remembered that there was a washing house on a street in the center of town, close to the river. It was named Mrs Fournier’s Washing Parlor. They packed clean clothes in a sack, and went to the washing house. Well there, Gnosha said they wanted the large bath for themselves and hot water, lots of warm water. A large tub for Aered and a small tub for Gnosha. The nice lady told him it would cost them 8 pieces of silver each and Gnosha gave her two pieces of gold and said: - “Perfect, keep the change!”
After the bath, they walk back to their rented room, but pass some street food stands to grab some dinner. The festival has now started so there are lots of people in the streets, and everyone is already preparing for the carnival that closes the festival. Many sellers of costumes for the masquerade at the carnival have come to Erast the last few days.
Before Gnosha goes to bed, he decides to investigate that jumping little rock that they freed the Kobolds of, a little closer. This time he figures out what it is. It’s called a Pet Rock, you squeeze it gently, and it starts to jump around randomly for a little while, and even make some funny noises. This is a perfect item to use as a distraction.
So, time to sleep, and tomorrow it’s time to pay a visit to The Mad Chimera again, and see if Mr Varalei can help them to apply the runes to their weapons. He asks Aered if the wants his sword to be even better balanced, and for himself he decides to make his crossbow a little more accurate.
After a sleep in and a late breakfast, they head off to The Mad Chimera, and they enter, the well known voice of Mr Varalei is heard: – ”Good day, my name is Varalei. You are back adventurers, what can I tempt you with this time?” Gnosha replies: – “Can you apply magic runes to weapons, and how will it cost us? We have two runes, we want one applied to this longsword and one applied to this hand crossbow, and how long will the process take?”
Mr Varalei: – ”But of course, it will cost you five pieces of silver per weapon with hundred percent success guaranteed, but if you want to gamble, I can do it for three pieces of silver without a guaranteed success The process will take a few hours.”
Gnosha replies: – “Here is ten pieces of silver, I do not gamble, not even on horses or dogs. And I also plan to extend my alchemical laboratory. I see you have an extra fine alchemist kit here, how much is that? I have three gems here that I think I could use as payment.” Gnosha had previously estimated the value of the four gems to be about forty pieces of gold, totally, where these three were worth about five pieces of gold each.
Mr Varalei: – “I think that set is out of your budget dear, it will cost you fifty pieces of gold I’m afraid. These gems, worthless for alchemistry, might be used for trinkets, I can give you fifteen pieces of silver for them. Can I interest you in something else? A potion maybe?”
Gnosha: – ”No, I see you in the afternoon to pick up the weapons.”
Gnosha asks around a little at a few tavern for a jeweler. He thought that he could get at least twelve pieces of gold, fifteen would require finding the perfect buyer, and he doesn’t have time for that. He got a hint about a Jeweler close to the North gate, The Silver Yeti. They decide to go there and try their luck. They arrive at a narrow alley, with a muddy street, and a building with barricaded doors and windows. A broken sign saying “Silver Yeti” hangs from the wall. Hmm, I need to ask someone else, this is really a dead end Gnosha thinks.