D&D 5E The Fifth City - Episode 1: The Gathering

The Northern Docks

The Sea Drake approached the 12th dock slowly, guided in by one of the city's glowing buoys. The pattern and color of the buoy lights served as a signaling system, guiding vessels to the numerous docks. With the traffic coming into the city this day, it would be another five hours before the Sea Drake would have a free docking ramp available to offload its cargo.

Captain Irago, an ancient looking dwarven sea dog, had made arrangements for his passengers to take a skiff in as many of them had important engagements to get to.

Dell Varner was the first on the skiff, eager to be on his way. The cagey looking human had business to attend to and spoke very little, always keeping his hands in his coat. It was a bit too warm for such a heavy coat, but he insisted on wearing it.

Tseg'Rhal was among those boarding the skiff. Irago had taken an instant liking to Tseg'Rhal when the Sea Drake found Tseg'Rhal's tiny craft drifting after a particularly intense storm after the dragonborn had left the isolated island he'd called home for a bit too long. The old dwarf had put Tseg'Rhal to work as ship's cleric until they reached the Fifth City and had extended an invitation to join the crew, should the dragonborn feel the urge to take up the life of a sea merchant.

Also boarding the skiff is Duna, who had managed to book passage on the Sea Drake when it stopped in the fishing village of Gull to take on a cargo of shrimp bound for the Fifth City. Her mentor, Rin, had urged her to leave Gull and explore the world...or find a place where the world would come to her.

Lenya found herself on the Sea Drake, boarding the skiff to the docks as well. The elven ambassador had requested her, by name, to fill the role of her assistant, but had asked her to arrive via merchant ships on a circuitous route. As always with the Religious Caste, there was no reason given, just a cryptic riddle, "The path of the One often involves learning from the many." The One, of course, referred to both Valen and the current leader of the Anla'Shok.

The final passenger boarding the skiff this day was Amisi, a member of the Corps of Magi. She was returning after a frustrating trip to one of the smaller islands of the Kingdom and a tiny village named Gull. Ironheart had sent her a strange missive. Nothing in the note made any sense but the navigation coordinates were quite clear, leading her to Gull. But, she had found nothing there. Only a rumor that a man matching Ironheart's description had been in the village a week before. But it couldn't have been him because no one in the village remembered him wearing a mage's uniform.

It would be a 30 minute ride on the skiff to the docks with only the oarsman and eachother for the passengers to talk to.

Blue District, North Merchant Quarter

Korgon found himself shoveling hippogriff manure this fine morning, a sentence handed down by Constable Garrus for getting into a rather massive brawl. All of the other participants had been tieflings and dragonborn and had been handed off to their respective ambassadors for punishment. Korgon had had the misfortune of being caught in the middle. Wrong place at the wrong time and now here he was, shoveling manure. Garrus had actually gone easy on him as he could instead be spending time in jail.

Supervising the work crew, and serving his own form of punishment, was Felix. Garrus had assigned this duty as a not so gentle reminder to keep his gambling debts under control. Garrus had taken Felix under his wing and made him a lieutenant not long after Felix had entered the ranks of the constabulary.

Markus Martenes Stiles XIII found himself attached to this duty as well, as unpleasant as it might smell, for a different reason. Simply put, Garrus didn't like the Corps of Magi and resented having had Markus assigned to his constabulary. He seemed to take pleasure in giving Markus unpleasant tasks whenever he could. On the other hand, rumor had it that Amisi, the only other member of the Corps in the Fifth City, was returning today and the hippogriff stables overlooked the north docks, providing an excellent view of most arriving ships, ferries, and skiffs. Amisi was a commercial mage, a member of the Corps, but otherwise free to pursue her own interests. She was also a mystery. A student of Ironheart, an instructor in the Corps with a history of radical views and inappropriate behavior with his students.

OOC: Please include a physical description in your first post.

Duna Rose grins from ear to ear. This isn't the smile of someone suddenly happy to see something or learn of something - Duna hasn't stopped grinning ever since she first spotted the city. Anytime someone talked about the city, Duna was there, listening intently, trying to learn everything she could.

Climbing into the skiff has made Duna ecstatic (or, rather, more ecstatic). She points at the largest ship in sight. "Look! It's so...." she trails off as another, even bigger ship comes into view as the skiff moves closer to the city. "No, look at that one!" her arm is fixed in one direction, though unsteady from excitement and the movement of the waves. Bouncing on the edge of her seat, Duna looked in awe at each new ship.

Dressed in the same clothes she boarded with (brown leather pants, laced down each side, and a white cotton shirt, also laced down each side), Duna repositioned her sword, unused to sitting in a boat while fully geared up. Not wanting to leave anything on the Sea Drake, all her equipment is strapped to her. Leather armor covers her torso, sturdy boots are strapped all the way up to her knees, and her shield and drum rest against the side of the boat. Her pack, stuffed full of supplies, sits on top of her shield.

Her hair, in a ponytail as always, is the most brilliant shade of blue. It trails behind the movements of her head, never getting a chance to rest. With defined cheekbones and a narrow jaw, Duna's face is punctuated by eyes that match her hair. Herself of average height for a human, Duna's clothing hints at an athletic build.

"I've never been to the city, what's it like there?"

OOC: Seeing as how we've been traveling on the same ship for awhile, we've most likely met each other and made introductions. If I'm mistaken, let me know.

Lenya was crouched in the bow of the skiff, facing out towards the open water- it was the smallest seat on the craft, but at least it was out of the way of the oarsmen... She was a young elven woman with a slender build, wrapped in a bulky hooded jacket. Her clothing was all in shades of grey and black, and she herself was almost colorless- pale-skinned, with light grey eyes and close-cropped pale blonde hair, lacking the elaborate braids which many elves had.

During the journey aboard ship, she seemed to speak only rarely, and never above a whisper. If she had introduced herself at all, it was only to the captain, and she kept to herself most of the time. Except for the cased longbow with her pack and the short sword at her hip, she could easily be taken for a minor clerk or some kind of servant.

Even now, with their destination so near at hand, her voice was quiet, barely audible over the sound of the boat thrashing its way across the water. "It will be crowded. And noisy. And it will stink. Like any other city." She paused for a moment, but kept her face pointed outwards towards the sea. "And there will be many who have lost their way, and many others who have no interest in learning what Paths lie ahead of them."

Markus Martenes Stiles XIII

MasqueradingVampire said:

Blue District, North Merchant Quarter

Korgon found himself shoveling hippogriff manure this fine morning, a sentence handed down by Constable Garrus for getting into a rather massive brawl. All of the other participants had been tieflings and dragonborn and had been handed off to their respective ambassadors for punishment. Korgon had had the misfortune of being caught in the middle. Wrong place at the wrong time and now here he was, shoveling manure. Garrus had actually gone easy on him as he could instead be spending time in jail.

Supervising the work crew, and serving his own form of punishment, was Felix. Garrus had assigned this duty as a not so gentle reminder to keep his gambling debts under control. Garrus had taken Felix under his wing and made him a lieutenant not long after Felix had entered the ranks of the constabulary.

Markus Martenes Stiles XIII found himself attached to this duty as well, as unpleasant as it might smell, for a different reason. Simply put, Garrus didn't like the Corps of Magi and resented having had Markus assigned to his constabulary. He seemed to take pleasure in giving Markus unpleasant tasks whenever he could. On the other hand, rumor had it that Amisi, the only other member of the Corps in the Fifth City, was returning today and the hippogriff stables overlooked the north docks, providing an excellent view of most arriving ships, ferries, and skiffs. Amisi was a commercial mage, a member of the Corps, but otherwise free to pursue her own interests. She was also a mystery. A student of Ironheart, an instructor in the Corps with a history of radical views and inappropriate behavior with his students.

OOC: Please include a physical description in your first post.

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At a boring height of 5’ 10” and medium build he is mostly overlooked. I prefers that. He did not succeed this time as this Constable Garrus seems to have a profoundly perverse pleasure in setting him to nasty tasks. It did give him the pleasure of picturing him as being turned into a mangy cur. This causes a smile escape on his lips that he leaves.

He spent the duty practicing his investigative skills, examining the surrounding for clues of goings on: The hippogriff scat would reveal worms or other paracites to indicate health, or where it has grazed, as well as any seeds in the scat as to what it has eaten and where it may have been.

He stops and gazes accross the harbor at the ships reading the flags displayed to deturmine where they came from, which possibly says what they were carrying.

It didn't take long for his sweaty black hair gets plastered on the side of his head, streaks down his dirt specked face revealing a slight case of pocked marks from acne in his youth.

"I wonder which ship is Amisi coming in on?" he asks no one in particular.

Duna looks openly at Lenya, her face slightly crestfallen. "That sounds nothing like what I've heard so far. What about the giant buildings? And, all the races working together peacefully?"

Duna shifts in her seat until she is looking at Tseg'Rhal, one of the few aboard the Sea Drake she had grown to like. "The Sea Drake was a lot steadier than this boat, but this feels much more like the boats I'm used to back in Gull." Duna then leans side to side, trying to slightly rock the skiff. "This is a good skiff; well balanced."

Turning toward Amisi, Duna's cheery expression returns. "You said the Corps have a base here. Is it an inspiring building?"

The tall sailor stood sweating in the sun. His long blond hair was tied back out of his face. He was bare chested, his muscles strained under enormous loads of manure. The runic tattoos of strength and protection ran down each arm. Despite the labor, and the sweat, the man still wore a grin. A fact that that Garrus had noted with dissatisfaction. the man shouldn't be enjoying himself. Felix would have reminded Garrus that the man always smiled like that whether he was happy or angry, but Felix didn't feel like soothing any of Garrus' pique today.

Korgon smiled to himself inside as well as outside. It had been a fun fight. Dragonborn put up a good fight and tieflings were fun to hit. Whatever punishment he got was a small price to pay. He had lost count of the times Garrus had punished him. Half those times he had been trying to stop some of those fights. Besides he never minded some hard work, he was used to working aboard ship, this was no different.

Korgon threw another pile of manure onto the cart and leaned onto his shovel. He took Markus' comment as directed to him. "Who is Amisi?"

Dressed in his constables' uniform, Felix cut an attractive figure when he arrived at the docks to supervise, but as the morning wore on his overseeing the messy work took its toll. He was a young human just come into manhood. The heat was oppressive and the neat uniform cap did little to shade him and the leather armor was hot. His lean and wiry frame at first was standing straight now sagged against a wall. He watched the men work, but his attention was elsewhere. He looked to the sea curious what strange and new puzzles might be disembarking. The docks might be hot and smelly, but they provided a constant stream of new things to observe and Felix missed little. He was distracted by a small knot of sailors just visible dicing in the shade of sail on a nearby dock, but mostly he watched the boats coming and going.

In response to Korgon's words Felix shifted his eyes from the sea. "A good question. I hope we'll answer it soon. It has been deadly dull of late and I expect she will provide something of a distraction eh?"

The elven woman's voice remained quiet and calm, and she did not turn her face away from the open water and the view of the city ahead. "I know little enough of this place, so it may be as you say. But if there are giant buildings and all of the peoples of the world gathered together here, it will be noisy and crowded- such is the way of any large dwelling-place where those who live there do not share a unity of purpose. And if, as you say, all the races are working together peacefully, I can only offer a quote from a very wise scholar- translated into the common speech, I believe that it is something like 'Pray for peace- but prepare for war." As she paused in her speech, she glanced briefly at the longbow and quiver of arrows beside her. "I prefer to be prepared."

Tseg'Rhal

"'Suspect everything/expect nothing" goes the lesson of Na'Ran from the 6th parable of G'Nor," said Rhal, as he preferred to be called (the forename being unduly formal for his tastes, he earlier explained). His lips twisted in what he hope looked like an approximation of a wry human smile. Rhal reminded himself that he would likely fail to convey the mix of attempted wisdom and aware self-aggrandizement that he found humorous, so he spoke on; "I have heard of the city items both distressing and wonderful, seemly and despicable, and so the lesson. Of course, G'Nor's parable was about opening a door with a loud noise behind it, not visiting the Fifth City. I expect he would have said more about that had he had the opportunity," Rhal said, laughing to himself in a throaty chuckle.

His golden eyes wandered over the others in the skiff, hoping for a reaction to his humor. Humans and elves had different opinions about what they found humorous, and while he once would have simply said 'Dragonborn are more developed in their humor than other humanoids' he now said 'they were different' and while that was unsatisfying, it would need to be enough.

If they laughed they would show their teeth, and he was still getting accustomed to not taking that as a threat. He had taken to keeping his head under the hood of his burlap cloak to hide his headcrest - which rose on it's own volition when he was alarmed by something. Instead he kept his face passive, which he knew was more like inscrutable to others, behind his brown scales tipped in gold, his slow movements, his gold-black, searching eyes were slitted rather than irised. His hands were short a finger compared to the others, and tipped with brown claws. Rhal knew he was the alien aboard this skiff, and knew he had to suppress his discomfort were he to learn anything on this journey.

Tapping his staff against the bottom of the skiff, he asked aloud; "My question is, what does anyone hope to find? This you are most likely to discover."

Fenris said:

Korgon threw another pile of manure onto the cart and leaned onto his shovel. He took Markus' comment as directed to him. "Who is Amisi?"

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"Sheesh Korgan, how do you keep smiling even Here? She is mage corp, but independent contractor. I remember her from some of the academy classes."