Bright Lights, Big City

General Summary

Ugh the smell… The large Rageborn warrior chuckles to himself… I thought the city above stunk once we entered it… Never did I think I would be entering the catacombs and sewers beneath it to experience a while new meaning of stench… How did a simple country boy from Vaasa end up like this ruminates Pagu, as he thinks back to how he ended up here…

Mirtul 27 – Kythorn 3, Year of Rogue Dragons

The trip from the Vaasan Gate to Heliogabalus was uneventful… The well traveled roads of Damara were far safer than any of the trail I was used to in Vaasa… I am truly stunned as the Walls, Spires, and sights of the capital crested the horizon… I have never seen a community on this scale… Even on the road here we avoided the cities along the way for but we saw them from a distance and I wasn’t that impressed… But this, this is a whole new matter… From the road the size and scope of Heliogabalus is astounding…

Yet once we entered the southern gates (into “Good ole Southie” as Jinx calls it) the smells started… Maybe it’s the preponderance of human industry and commerce that creates it but a distinct reek permeates the city… Or it does to an outsider like me…

Kythorn 3, Year of Rogue Dragons

The Magnificent Seven (as I am now counted amongst them) settle into accommodations near Magnus Tai’s guildhall… A fine low-key establishment meant to hide us from this nefarious thieves guild called Tightpurse that has bad blood with several members of our band… Tai, my companion whose judgement I trust the most, is quickly taken from us because of upheaval within his guild and we are left to out own devices… I don’t need to see Omens to tell me this is bad…

Tai is unable to research our information on Slaughtergarde during his guilds upheaval so our band has time to kill… I decided to present myself to the Tempurian establishment here in Heliogabalus… I figured in such a mighty city the Foe Hammer would have a majestic temple with it’s martial presence being the backbone for security here in civilization… Boy was I wrong…

First of all my travels take me through the oldest and smelliest of the “quarters” (of which there is more than 4, which makes no sense as well) to a small compound, at least in a neighborhood of the Old Quarter that has the least stench to it… This is the Monastery of Saint Kruskien… Home to the Tempurian faith here in the capital… I am fairly unimpressed… Cromm's Holdfast back home in Palischuk is a mighty fortress that is an integral part of the town’s defense… This looks more like a fortified nobles manor house…

I have an startled acolyte announce my intention to present myself the faithful here… Battle Guard Ezekiel Hekrit meets me… I announce I am a sworn Battle Brother of Cromm's Holdfast in Palischuk, raised in and by the Tempurian faith, and that my sword is his sword as long as I remain here… Ezekiel questions me and takes notes on my story, I answer him truthfully and after an hour or so of conversation he takes me to a small training yard… We take up training swords and he takes measure of me as a warrior as do I of him… After an hour of sparring we retire to his study and have some more conversation over some drinks and a modest meal of cheese, meats, and bread… Ezekiel is impressed with my skill but says in order to engender the full trust of this chapter of the Tempurian faith I need to return and put it my duty over some time… It is a reasonable request and for the rest of that week I return daily to help about the business of the faith…

The Magnificent Seven meet at breakfast and dinner at The Dimension Door Inn during the first week of our stay in Heliogabalus… I notice that staying low-key and out of troubles is hard for some members of our group but trouble does find a way to find us… Even Tai and I, one afternoon head out to try to sell some arms and armor we won during our adventures… A few city toughs recognize Tai and try to give us the business… Tai quickly defeats most of them with a sleep charm and I knock out the last one… After we manacle the lot of them and wait for the Watch to come Tai wakes one and warns them the next time they accost us it will be a fireball and not a sleep spell that will end the fight…

Kythorn 13, Year of Rogue Dragons

The week turns to the next as we wait for more information on Slaughtergarde….

During my chores at the Monastery, Battleguard Hekrit does reward my service with a Writ of License to wear armor. He tells me to be careful in it’s use as it is on his honor and reputation that the written is issued… I swear to bring no dishonor to his name in the use… He also asks me if my company would be interested in a trade for him… I agreed to host a meeting and bring it up…

We move our residence from The Dimension Door Inn into to the newly named Goodbarrel Manor! Reed purchased a manor in a splendid part of the city that actually doesn’t stink! By Tempus’s grace, there is no stink and we are surrounded by Hin establishments that have the most tremendously fine foods!

Kythorn 23, Year of Rogue Dragons

We host Battleguard Hekrit as he presents his task… He informs us that after the defeat of King Bloodfeather at Goliad some of his surviving knights and confidants tried to start an underground resistance… One member of those knights was a close friend of his who would clandestinely visit him at the Monastery. Ezekiel believed that resistance had a hidden redoubt somewhere here in the sewers of the Old Quarter. It is curious that Baron Ree, the Lich King’s puppet, curiously closed off much of the sewers therein… Ezekiel asked us to enter and explore the sewers and try to find the hideout… We agreed…

We take several days to recon and research our mission… Clandestinely a few nights later we entered the sewers from a entrance near the monastery… As we get acclimated to the foul stench of the sewers I swear to never again complain of the stench above… I say a quick prayer to the Foehammer and our band sets of in search of adventure!

Report Date

29 Jan 2018