Session 19. - A Hero's Welcome
General Summary
2nd of Icegrip, 1440 A.P.
Arriving at The Alder Arms, the party discovered that Lord Davram Prestor had retained the whole upper floor of the inn for their needs. They each had a spacious, if not luxurious room to themselves. After depositing their gear in their rooms, they sought out the innkeeper for sustenance and to ask some questions.
The innkeeper, a surprisingly rotund, dark-skinned elf with piercingly pale blue eyes cheerfully greeted them and escorted them to a private dining area. He enquired to their comforts and then politely excused himself, saying he'd return shortly with food. When the food arrived shortly thereafter, it was an amazing assault on their senses: Several roasted chickens, thick slices of ham, potatoes and savoury vegetables. Even a spiced fish soup, that everyone initially avoided but the smell was so enticing that they tried it and discovered that it was absolutely delicious.
Several bottles of wine were opened, and flagons of chilled ale started arriving as well to wash down the food. The party was both well fed and suitably buzzed. Urith, ate and drank with gusto, but despite eating the best meal he'd had in several long months (if not years), he still harboured a nagging suspicion that they were just being wined and dined so as the Lord could easily guilt them into working for him. He shared his cynicism with the others and while they agreed, in principle that this was likely, they weren't going to turn down free food in the meantime.
While they were discussing their next moves, there was a polite knock on the door and before they could answer it, the innkeeper entered followed by another man in fashionable silks. He was introduced as Danyel, a courtier in Lord Davram's employ. The courtier passed along his lord's thanks and extended an invitation for the six of them to attend a celebratory dinner in their honour at Lord Davram's estate this evening. Oorr barely waited for Danyel to finish before agreeing to attend, his eyes alight with possibility. The others were not as hasty (or enthusiastic) and made excuses along the lines of having nothing to wear. Danyel assured them that his lord had already taken care of that and the town's finest tailor would be there shortly. Realising that any further excuses would just seem rude, Arbor spoke up and accepted for the rest of the group.
After Danyel left, Angrar noticed that the invitation had been for six yet there were only five of them in the room. Once again, Deadeye had not joined them for lunch. It was such a common occurrence for the little "bird brain" to be distracted by something shiny that the others hadn't even noticed his absence this time. He quickly ducked out of the room to check on their friend, expecting him to him laid up in bed after eating bad eels (he never seems to learn) or sleeping like the dead. To his shock and surprise though, the tiny kenku was nowhere to be found. He headed back to the dining room to inform the others, and on the way asked a passing chambermaid if she'd seen him but was told that she hadn't seen him since they'd first arrived.
Angrar slipped back into the room without the others even noticing his absence but before he could inform them of Deadeye's absence, the tailor showed up shortly thereafter, true to the courtier's word. The tailor was a fastidiously dressed gnome with a meticulously trimmed goatee and a personality that made him seem far larger than he actually was. He strode in larger than life, with two attendants in tow just as the serving girls were removing the decimated luncheon platters and wasted no time into corralling the ungainly group to the far end of the dining room. He introduced himself as Roberto and asked for volunteers. When they initially hesitated, he casually snapped at them that time was of the essence. If they didn't hurry up, he wouldn't have time to finish their orders. As it was, he was worried he'd not have enough cloth in his shop to equip some of them (giving a pointed look at Angrar).
Oorr, momentarily stunned by the tailor's entrance, quickly regained his composure and stepped up as the first "victim". He made some pretence of knowing what he wanted. He requested something that was the latest fashion in Gald to which the tailor laughed at, apologising for not knowing what the latest Galdani fashions were but advising against it as they had a propensity for using a lot of heavy wool fabrics which would have Oorr sweating in this equatorial climate. Oorr responded that he wanted silks, just in the Galdani fashion. Roberto agreed and the two verbally fenced back and forth, lightly arguing the merits of various styles and cuts of cloth. Oorr held his own, despite the fact that most of his knowledge stemmed from a four-hundred year old book.
The others were far more reluctant to be assaulted by the tailor, having no real concept of clothing suitable to wear in the presence of a lord. Sensing hesitation, Roberto singled out Suljurn and bombarded the normally taciturn saurial with questions he was unable (or unwilling) to answer. The others offered suggestions, perhaps something that would accentuate his armour to which Roberto gasped in shock. Wear armour to dinner! Lord Davram would be apoplectic. You might as well wear steel in his presence. The others nodded in agreement, trying very hard not to look like they had planned to do that very thing.
With Suljurn's measurements taken, Roberto turned to Angrar and sized him up, again commenting that he worried about having enough cloth to cover his giant form. After some discussion, Angrar left the creative decisions to the tailor who then moved on to Urith. Urith requested a simple outfit in blues and greys, which drew commentary from the others as Lord Davram's colours were blue and grey and they were shocked that he was going to commit himself to the lord's cause so eagerly. Urith corrected himself, not realising that the lords colours were blue and grey. He decided to follow Angrar's lead and gave Roberto creative license to work his magic.
Finally came Arbor, who was almost as picky as Oorr was. While he wasn't as knowledgeable about fashion of cuts of cloth, he was insistent on several things (numerous small pockets being sewn into the inside of the cape for example). During the fitting, they inquired casually about the town's gossip and asked if the tailor had seen the saurial bard come through town. Roberto confirmed that to his knowledge, the bard was staying at Aldergrove Manor. They peppered him with a few other questions and he was able to supply them with the names of several reputable shops in town.
When the fitting was completed, Roberto thanked them and advised that he would have their outfits ready at sixth bell or his name wasn't Roberto Tremendorius. He asked if they would want them delivered or would they be stopping by his shop. They decided to pick them up, surmising that if there were any last minute adjustments, it would be easier to fix there than here. Roberto agreed and departed quickly, eager to get to work.
In the aftermath of hurricane Roberto, the party regathered their thoughts and immediately started planning what to do with themselves while they wait for their outfits. The first and primary order of business, in their minds at least, was to figure out a way to ensure they had their weapons and armour close at hand once they were at the dinner. Their paranoid little adventurer hearts could not comprehend the thought that something bad wouldn't happen and that dinner, just might be dinner. To that end, they went in search of a few craftsmen who might be able to assist them.
Their first stop was a smith. Oorr had it in his head that he needed a second rapier to pair with his recently uncursed magic one. The others had no need of anything particular, but Angrar realised he'd been carrying around several sets of spare armour and even his back was starting to feel ill used. They dickered over the price of the adamant armour from the crypt and finally came to an agreeable price which Arbor and Angrar distributed to the others.
While Angrar had been selling his armour, Oorr's eyes had fallen on his prize. an exquisitely crafted silvered rapier with a sapphire encrusted hilt. He immediately expressed his interest in it and when the smith told him the price was 1000 gold, he only paused slightly before attempting to purchase it for less than half. Oorr dazzled the smith with a diatribe so bizarre that the smith was stunned and acquiesced to a far lower price than even he expected. Even with the lower price, Oorr had to scrounge every coin he had and even borrowed money from Angrar to afford it. Once the smith had counted every last coin, double checking that none had been clipped, he begrudgingly handed over the blade, much to Oorr's glee.
They then moved on to a cabinetmaker where a young girl spoke to them and they enquired about installing a chest into the wagon. After discussing the specifications and time requirements and eventually agreeing to a price, they left the wagon and headed off to the apothecary to restock on potions. Arbor debated selling off some of his Frozen Woe and Oorr was insistent that Suljurn fill his magic belt with something useful, like alchemist's fire, though the big lizard was his usually resistant self and wanted to stick to something simple like a healing draught, which Oorr begrudgingly admitted would work as well.
With their immediate shopping needs met, the party still had several hours to kill before either the wagon or their outfits would be ready and decided on the off chance to check with Roberto as they were nearby. They stopped in and were greeted by an assistant. From the back room, they could hear Roberto shouting instructions worthy of any campaign drill sergeant. The attendant stepped into the back to check on their order and the party could hear the full force of Roberto's tirade turn on the poor assistant. When she returned, she wore a pale and frightened look on her face and meekly said that the order was not ready and interrupting genius would not make it go faster. She advised that Roberto would bring the outfits by when he was finished and not before. They thanked her politely and figured they'd make their way back to the carpenter who thankfully had finished the job to their satisfaction. They drove the wagon back to the inn and spent the remainder of the afternoon in the inn's stableyard trying to efficiently load all their weapons, armour and adventuring necessities into the chests while waiting on their outfits.
The sixth bell rang and still there was no sign of the tailor. They were starting to get antsy when a visibly winded Roberto rode up on a horse with several bundles tied across its back. They helped him unload his parcels and got dressed as quickly as possible under his supervision. Amazingly each of the outfits were perfect fits and each suited the nature of each of them. Oorr's was flamboyantly purple that complemented his new blade perfectly. Suljurn's outfit was muted in greens and browns that accented his hidden reserve. Angrar's colours were also muted, but the cut accentuated his strength and build to great affect. Urith's outfit was simple enough, but the dark colour added an air of mystery to him. Arbor's robes gave off an air of power and the cloak was littered with numerous hidden pockets.
With a satisfied air, Roberto deemed them adequately frocked, though he did complain that had he not been so rushed, he could have done a better job. The party thanked him and rushed downstairs to get in the wagon, realising they'd be late if they did not leave immediately. As they exited the inn and headed towards the stables, they were directed instead to the sleek black coach waiting in the street. It had a coat of arms emblazoned on the door of a golden tree against a green field. None of the party recognised the sigil though it twigged something in Arbor's memory he couldn't quite put his finger on.
The coach door was open and a footman was waiting for them. Realising that their preparations with the wagon had all been for naught, they scrambled to figure out the logistics of transferring their gear to the coach. While they briefly considered ripping out the chest out of the wagon and transferring it to the coach, in the interests of time they left their gear safely stowed in the wagon. Oorr assured them that he'd keep them safe and audaciously patted his sparkly sword that he refused to relinquish.
With the gear stowed safely and their protection vouched for by Oorr, the party cautiously clambered in to the cabin and the coach was off. While they'd never ridden coach before, they were certain it wasn't normally like this. The scenery raced by and the town soon disappeared in the distance, giving way to darkened fields and eventually a light forest. The ride was smooth and other than the sound of the horses hooves against the cobbles, extremely quiet. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Arbor, sitting by the window watching the darkened fields fly by, privately made note that neither moon had risen yet and wondered if they were just late or if tonight was Raven's Night. Before he had time to mention it to the others though, they had arrived.
The glow of the lights from Aldergrove Manor stood out in stark contrast to the darkness of the evening. The warm cheery light lit the compound and through the window, the party could see manicured gardens, some statuary and possibly a small ornamental pond. From what they could see, it was an elegant mix of the Elven aesthetic and a human one that none of them had seen before. The party were suitably impressed at the show of wealth but equally impressed with their ride as it had made the journey in half the time than they'd expected.
The door opened onto a set of marble steps leading up into the manor itself where they could see Lord Davram and his wife Lady Aliana Prestor at the top greeting guests as they arrived. They stepped out of the coach and got in line behind a few other guests but not before Oorr was immediately and discretely taken aside by a guard in the lord's livery. The guard politely but firmly requested that Oorr remove his blade to which Oorr feigned insult and refused. The guard, not wanting to make a scene but obviously had a job to do. He continued to press Oorr on the issue, refusing to let him pass with bare steel at his waist. Oorr continued to argue with the guard, neither side giving way until in a fit of pique, Oorr muttered a quick prayer to Rayah under his breath and cast Charm Person on the poor fellow. He then easily convinced his new friend to let him wear his sword and seeing as his friends had moved so far up the receiving line, asked him to get him inside without having to meet Lord Davram. Quickly slipping inside as the others made their introductions.
After introductions and pleasantries were exchanged, the party were ushered into the manor proper where they did their best not to gawk and look like wide eyed yokels. As Lord and Lady Aldergrove were still receiving guests, Urith suggested they all find a suitable corner table away from the main bustle and see what they could learn. Unfortunately, when they entered the dining hall they quickly realised that there was a seating plan and they'd all been separated in such a way as to provide interesting conversations with their neighbours on either side.
Suljurn and Urith were about to ignore the plan and throw a few chairs together when a delicate chime rang out and guests started taking their seats. Urith sat himself beside Danyel, the courtier with Arbor on his other side. Beside Arbor was the tailor Roberto, and across from them was a very familiar face in the Lady Lea. On Danyel's far side was an elderly white haired woman of Dhabaran ancestry who introduced herself to Angrar as Lady Elvera Alder, but she genially assured him that he could call her Vera. Suljurn was seated beside Angrar and next to him was a plump woman who introduced herself as Janna Fletcher, the mayor's wife. She made apologies to Suljurn that her husband wasn't able to attend this evening, apparently he'd eaten some eel pie for lunch that hadn't sat well with him and he was at home resting. On the far side of the mayor's wife was another empty chair, presumably for Deadeye, who had not been seen at all today. Beside the empty chair, right next to the head of the table was Oorr, who was sat beside Lady Aliana Prestor herself. Across from him though, he caught the eye of Terazmisci, the saurial bard he'd apparently insulted several days prior.
After everyone was seated, Lord Davram stood and gave a small speech praising the party's intervention at ridding them of the menace that had plagued the fields recently which garnered polite applause from all the attendees. As Davram concluded his speech, servants started bringing out the meal. If the group thought today's luncheon had been the best meal they'd ever had, then dinner left that meal in the dust. The meal was absolutely exquisite. The food was perfectly spiced with the flavours of every dish engaging every sense.
At first dinner seemed to be a quiet affair, but as people continued to dine, small pockets of conversation broke out and soon the clatter of silverware was overwhelmed by chatting voices. Arbor spoke briefly with the tailor, but was drawn into a conversation with Lady Lea across the table from him. They spoke about the troubles in Cìrdan and Lea assured him that she'd left shortly after their last meeting and thankfully hadn't witnessed the catastrophe. She was obviously torn up about it all as Cìrdan was one of her favourite places in all the realm.
Urith's companion, the courtier Danyel, attempted to speak to him about the battle in the fields but Urith focused on his food and didn't engage much in conversation. Danyel commented that he had once thought to become an adventurer himself but an accident involving taking an arrow to the knee had ended that idea early on. Urith failed to react and so after several more unsuccessful attempts at conversation, Danyel turned to listen to Lady Vera who was regaling Angrar with her family's history. Angrar asked several questions that she gladly answered and in turn shed light on the region's history as well. Suljurn stoicly sat through a near incessant stream of words from his dinner companion. The mayor's wife tittered non-stop about her husband's greatness and how he had the ear of Lord Davram and together they had great plans for the town. She spoke about how Lord Davram was going to rebuild the keep and had commissioned masons from one of the towns in the hills to come and assess things. Suljurn did his best to humour her but as she had no one else to talk to he endured in near silence. At the head of the table, Oorr was thoroughly in his element (or his imagination). He listened politely as Lady Aliana shared that she and her husband were once adventurers themselves and had done his majesty, The Prince, a favour which he had repaid in kind, by granting them this land. Oorr nodded enthusiastically, and circled back to his own tale, noting the similarities in their ascension with his family's. He then regaled Lady Aliana, Lord Davram, Terazmisci and anyone else within earshot with his family's history and fall from grace. The Lord and Lady engaged with him politely while the bard stared at him with hard eyes and pursed lips.
In time, dinner came to an end and as the plates were discretely removed, Lord Davram encouraged everyone to get up and mingle and then shortly they would be welcome to gather in the ballroom to witness to an original performance by their guest, the bard Terazmisci.
As soon as dinner was over, the party made a beeline to each other and politely shared what snippets of gossip they'd discovered but then broke off again so as not to appear too intimidating to the other guests.
Arbor was almost instantly snapped up by the Lady Lea who hoped that he had enjoyed the coach. She clung tightly to his arm and as they chatted, he could feel cold seeping into it. They continued to spar verbally though he was clearly outmatched. Eventually she let him go and disappeared in the crowd off on her own devices.
Urith and Suljurn kept together, hoping their collective stoicism would deter all but the most dedicated conversationalist, which it thankfully did. They resorted to people watching and tried to pay attention to who spoke to whom. They noticed that young Danyel rarely left Vera's side and often was seen leaning in to whisper something to the old woman, which often garnered him a smile or a pat on his cheek. Lady Aliana flitted between all the groups and acted as the perfect hostess. They could also hear the mayor's wife loud, nervous laughter somewhere in the crowd but they couldn't spot her. They sought out Lord Davram but couldn't see him at first. Eventually they saw him speaking to a figure at the corner of the room. He had a dark and angry look about him as he strode through the crowd purposefully, as if he was looking for someone.
Angrar took this opportunity to approach the bard as she was tuning her lyre and reviewing some sheaves of paper notes in a quiet alcove near the ballroom. He was polite and apologised for interrupting her. She looked up and after recognising him she quickly glanced over his shoulder to see if he was alone. When she saw that he was, she smiled warmly and asked what she could do for him. Angrar apologised again for the interruption and inquired if she knew any songs from his homeland of Khedris. She said she did and said she would see if she could fit something in. He thanked her and understood that she was busy, but was wondering if they could talk again after her performance, to which she replied snarkily that she would be glad to as long as it wasn't to verify the historical accuracy of that insufferable faun's family "history". Angrar smiled politely and assured her it wasn't and then left her to her preparations.
Oorr had been flitting socially through several of the guest's circles, inserting himself eloquently into each conversation (or so he believed), when he saw Lord Davram approaching him at pace. He disengaged from his current conversation with the Mayor's wife -- something about Lord Davram securing a loan from a consortium from the capital, a Hartram & Wolfe -- and headed toward Lord Davram who bore down on him. Oorr was oblivious to the anger evident on the lord's face and greeted him politely, which gave Lord Davram an unexpected pause. Oorr politely complimented the party, again oblivious to the Lord's mood.
The pause had given Lord Davram enough time to compose himself and he quickly changed tact, inviting Oorr to join him out onto the balcony. Oorr gladly complied, thinking it a high honour and perhaps they'd be commissioned for an epic quest worthy of their time. Once on the balcony, the lord turned to Oorr and asked acidly why he was insulting him? Oorr acted shocked and unsure as to what he'd done to insult the lord. When Davram pointed at the sword at Oorr's hip, he brushed it off saying it was part of him and he would never be without it, in case he was challenged to a duel. Lord Davram raised his voice indignantly at the idiocy of such an idea as no one was allowed to wear weapons within the manor and how dare he presume that he knew better than the Lord did... in his own house no less. Not only that, Lord Davram continued, how dare he subvert one of the lord's guards to maintain this petty pretense. Lord Davram was livid and it seemed as if he was about to demand satisfaction from Oorr right then and there but he bit back whatever words he was about to say and with deep restraint tersely advised Oorr that he was on very thin ice and any further mischief would not be tolerated. He then turned on his heel and went back inside, leaving Oorr alone on the balcony with this thoughts.
Oorr stood silently for a time, admiring what he could see of the gardens below when something caught his eye to the west. At first he thought he was imagining it but then he was certain that he saw a light flash at the top of the distant Aldergrove Keep. As he continued to look, hoping to catch a further glimpse of the light, he realised that there was in fact a sullen red glow was coming from direction of the town, in stark contrast to the blackness of the night around him. Oorr quickly ducked back inside as Lord Davram started to gather his guests for the bard's performance. He sidled casually up to the others as everyone was slowly making their way towards the ballroom and very nonchalantly mentioned, "I think the town is on fire. Come look." Everyone nearby who heard him, went to investigate, crowding onto the balcony. There was indeed a reddish glow blazing in the distance but it wasn't until Angrar caught the first whiff of smoke that confirmed it. The town was on fire. As the news spread through the guests, panic and chaos erupted. Oorr reacted instinctively and jumped over the balcony, landing gracefully in the garden below. Once on the ground he then realised he'd have to run around the whole manor to get to the stables on the far side, but better that than try to manoeuvre through the herd of panicked guests..
After Oorr jumped, the party were caught off guard for a moment but quickly regained their composure and started heading back inside to the front of the manor house. The guests were all panicking and racing about trying to get to the stables as well. They could hear Lord Davram's booming voice trying to calm people down to little effect. The had managed to react faster than most of the guests and were ahead of most of them. Only the courtier Danyel and his ward, the old Lady Alder, somehow managed to be ahead of them and even then, they were walking at a calm pace, with Danyel protectively shielding Lady Vera from any unnecessary duress. They hurried past the pair and raced back towards the stables, planning on commandeering some of the horses to gallop back to town. As they exited out of the manor, Arbor was grabbed by Lea, who told them to take her carriage as it was faster.
When they got to the stable, Oorr was already there, attempting to saddle a horse. They pulled him away despite his protests and piled into Lea's coach which was already saddled and waiting for them. They were thrown into the seats as the coach achieved speeds beyond their wildest dreams. While the ride to the manor had been smooth, the ride back though far, far faster, was much rougher and they felt every bump and cobble along the way.
In barely fifteen minutes time the coach had travelled the distance between the manor and the town and disgorged its passengers back on the steps of the inn, slightly shaken and only a little worse for wear. The party scrambled into the inn's stables and hurriedly donned their armour over their fancy silks. The windmill near the center of town was alight as were several buildings nearby. Townsfolk scrambled to create bucket lines to the nearby wells in an effort to douse the flames.
The party emerged from the stables and headed to the worst part of the blaze. Above the screams of panic, they could hear shouting and the whinnying of many horses. At the northern edge of town they saw a pack of black clad riders tossing torches onto the nearby buildings while others feathered several townsfolk as they got close to put out the flames. The party charged forward, trying to engage the riders. The lead rider charged forth and engaged with the group. The fight was disconcerting as the riders did not seem to falter, no matter how many times they were hit. Even Oorr's new silvered blade seemed to pass harmlessly through the leader without any visible harm.
The riders had been clustered in three groups and once the party arrived, the first peeled off shortly and headed north. The group continued to land blows against them (or at least they hoped so) but the riders refused to fall. Only a few of them disappeared into a puff of smoke after Urith feathered them with enough arrows. Eventually, it came down to the last rider, the first leader. He turned and rode north into the night. Urith was unwilling to let his target go and continued to fire arrows into the night, unerringly hitting the distant target that refused to go down. As the rider continued north it finally disappeared beyond Urith's ability to track it and the fight was seemingly over.
The town was still in flames however but with the riders finally driven off, the bucket brigades eventually managed to quell the flames. The party joined in and after a seemingly endless amount of time all the flames had been doused. The party were exhausted. At some point, Lord Davram and many of the guests had arrived and everyone had pitched in to put out the fires.
Oorr and Lord Davram faced each other in the town square where the lord begrudgingly and tiredly said that I suppose you have my thanks once again. It was clear that he was still perturbed with the faun's breach of etiquette but was willing to let it lie for now. Oorr, of course, was oblivious to the nuances and simply focused on the Lord's praise.
The party went to investigate the bodies and were unable to find any of the riders, despite them being certain of downing a few of them. They were faced with yet another mystery when they examined the townsfolk. None of the bodies were indicative of arrow wounds, all had slashing cuts instead. Oorr wondered aloud if they'd been the ones to injure the villagers. None of the others had any answers though.
With the cleanup underway, the party headed back to the inn for a night of well deserved rest. As they approached the inn, Deadeye burst out of a nearby street and raced eagerly to meet them. He was as soot stained and filthy as they were but had a bright cheerfulness about him. "Guys! Guys!. You'll never guess what I found!"...
Character(s) interacted with
- Merrick, The Innkeeper
- Roberto, The Tailor
- Lord Davram Prestor
- Lady Aliana Prestor
- Lady Elvira Alder
- Terazmisci
- Lady Lea
- Janna Fletcher, The Mayor's Wife
- Danyel Aldermoor, The Courtier
Notes
Contact the GM privately via messenger prior to next game for your xp reward.
This offer has now expired
[/FNORD!]
Deadeye Cliffhanger
Oorr Rosetta del Hilltopple
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
10
18
12
8
12
16
Urith Thane
Suljurn sah-Ghad
Arbor Nox
