teryk is even less of a town than bedem was
it's about 200 each guards and support staff for the nearby work camp holding 2000 (!) prisoners
most of the non-prisoners wear emerald claw pendants like the one kraal had ... including the enchantment that lets them work without being attacked by the undead soldiers they're so fond of
there are enough claw devotees here that vedim is hiding his wolfy tattoos – "i'm not the only predator in town"
i really shouldn't be here
but we have a job to do tomorrow and i won't let my friends down
zer' and medya looked scouted from overhead and the work camp is surrounded by a high stone wall with single well-guarded point of entry at the front
getting in: quietly sneak through a portal zer' will create
freeing the prisoners: ... improvise?
getting out: less quietly make two holes in the outer wall using explosives – the first to panic and divert the guards and the second for everyone to escape through
that's tomorrow
tonight we relax and learn some more about "conqueror" with vedim
conqueror is a popular karrnathi board game of war strategy and i don't care for the theme but the rules offer several win conditions and the mechanics are flexible and nuanced
he's fascinated by the effort i put into my "pony way" of avoiding direct combat even when i have the advantage but he respects my resolve
i haven't won a match this way yet ... but he's starting to believe that i can
transom contacted us via sending stone to get bell's advice on how one might replace an entire forged shell while keeping the old shell intact – tricky but doable!
they also shared amazing news!
the first king of breland called the city "sharn" when he took over – renaming stuff is fine but renaming someone else's home while enslaving them is inconsiderate
aejar feels the same way ... and as prince he has officially reinstated the city's original dhakaani name of "shaarat"!
aejar has officially recognized the missing pieces as a veteran's order ... and he's asked them to get in touch with every forged who served breland in the war so they can finally receive the pay and benefits they're owed!
that's a lot of resources coming into the forged community over the next couple months
it gets even better!
crucible submitted a budget that includes funds to address and hopefully fix all the neglect in the cogs – cleaning and repairing and rebuilding
crucible has also asked transom to find people to set up an urgent care clinic in blackbones that can treat both forged and grown
"bolt" – the one who organized the folks protecting the voting station – is assembling a local "civil defense force"
the sands of time is being reworked into a community center
chromatic wants to start a "body design" shop specifically geared for forged self-expression through self-modification
that's a lot of good news to digest all at once!
unfortunately there's also bad news
wrugar's first act as king was to declare the swords of breland to be a "rogue army" so he could tell the king's swords to arrest all of them
in response most of them have holed up in a cyran refugee camp and now the king's swords are preparing for a siege
aundair's queen offered to host negotiations but wrugar told her to keep her snoot out of breland's business
he shouldn't be king
he might enjoy board games more