Lobo's AU: Sunless Citadal Game

[Lobo Lurker]

Ma-Barak: The serving girl cleans up your plate and picks up the coins. She looks at you rather guiltily and seems about to say something, but she just nods at you and takes the dirty dishes back to the kitchen.

Alfonso: The merchant, a rancher from the smell of him, narrows his eyes a bit as he seems to size you up. "I reckon that the new shrubberies are to make the town look right-new." (sound of dice rolling) He doesn't appear to be deceiving you.

"Mil'lady Hucrele probobly wants you to... well, heh, maybe you should just go and see her. She maintains a summer-ranch up on the east side of Oakhurst, where I tend to her sheep herds."

He looks hard at the coin and then at you again. "Keep your coin mister. I reckon you'll need it more than I will." He turns back to his breakfast.

In response to your other question he says, "I have no idea what you're talking about mister." <a pause> "...but if I did, I'd probobly say that Misses Penny and Eugenia there," he points to the two young ladies talking to Stahm, "...are of negotiable morality. Not that I would actually say anything like that."

Yossariad: A fat (220lbs) kid (say, 14 years old) is staring at you. After watching you eat about 10 mouthfuls he says "You know, the food's pretty good if you mix it up. Me? I like to make sandwiches out of the bread, bacon and cheese. Its especially good if they've got some pancake syrup."

Yina: The two Terrig finish eating and one of them picks up the bone (there's still a little meat on it). Both nod to each other and pass by you on thier way out the door. The one with the bone tosses it in front of you and leans close as if to say something. Instead, he inhales deeply through his nose and smiles. Both Terrig leave wordlessly and without further trouble. The people who were near them seem to visibly relax.

Strahm: A couple of the barmaids approach you. "Hey Mister... Strahm right?" She looks a little embarassed and quickly explains that she spoke to Hurak earlier this morning. The other serving wench elbows her in the ribs. "Err... Mr. Strahm, we was wondering..." She leans in closely as if embarassed about something. After a couple confusing minutes of conversation you can pretty much make out that they want to know if: A) you're a Greenbond and B), if so, is there anything you can make via some Greenbond sorcery or alchemy that will keep them from getting pregnant. "Occupational hazard," one of them quips.

 

[Pate Pot Pete]

I go over to Miss Penny after she finishes talking to Strahm and ask her if she'd "Be interest in offering me some servesis out side of her job description if I throw in a good tip."

 

[Krug]

Strahm looks at the two girls, and says with abject seriousness. "Yes, I am a servant of the green. As for preventing pregnancy, you should let the course of nature flow. To halt being with child is against her mighty will, for the power to create life is a wonderful thing. Besides, I'm better with plants."

 

[Lobo Lurker]

The girls look crestfallen at Strahm's diplomatic response.

"Later..." says Penny when Alfonso speaks with her. "...I'm just not in the mood at the moment." <pause> "Especially since you're traveling with that guy." She indicates Strahm.

Both barmaids storm off into the kitchen. An onlooker nearby suggests that Strahm might not want to eat or drink anything provided by the inn until the girls "cool off".

 

[Krug]

Strahm looks up. "Was it something I said?" His stomach growls as he looks at some of what the others are eating. "The green will nourish me... " he mutters to himself.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

*Yina looks at the two terrig with interest, and considers the bone. Such a thing would a primitive indication of interest, and they did look rather strong and fit... Perhaps later after her duty was done she could see them out.*

"I say, let's go see this woman. I'm not minded to wait on ceremony," she says shortly, standing from the table and stretching every inch of her considerable height.

 

[Lobo Lurker]

RAILROADING AGAIN:
You all finish up your breakfast and leave word for Hurak that your off meeting with Lady Hucrele. Bartus assures you that he'll see the message delivered.

The Hucrele estate is large and sprawling. You can see a new fence has been erected near the house (manse?) to keep the sheep from eating the new row of saplings growing next to the house. They are the same curious saplings that were planted in front of the inn.

The summer house is two stories tall, although it looks like there is a large vaulted entryway/great room that is three stories tall. The Hucreles obviously have some money.

A servant draws you into a meeting room on the second floor. There are ornamental swords and weapons on display here as well as two suits of ceremonial armor on mannikans. Books about geography, history and culture line the walls. A large redwook desk sit in front of a bay window overlooking the town of Oakhurst. Being that the manse was built upon a slight rise, this room has quite a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside.

An old woman dressed in well-cut but functional (ie, masterwork) clothing is reading a set of documents behind the desk when you enter. Without looking up she gestures for you to sit and says. "I'll be right with you."

She finishes reading whatever it is that she's reading, signs a document, and hands it to the servant that showed you in. He hurries out of the room.

"I'll be brief." She states, looking at each of you in turn with her storm-gray eyes. "My children, Jasen and Leowyn Hucrele are missing."

She pauses and gestures to a tattered & worn painting of some sort white & red temple-like structure on the wall. "They were supposedly investigating Ashardalon's Hold, supposedly a building used by the dramojh at some time in the past."

"I want you to find them and return them to me. They were playing at being... adventurers." She says this as if the word is somehow distasteful. "They'd been spending the majority of their time in a ravine to the south of Oakhurst where they claimed they'd found the structure. They'd dubbed it the Sunless Citadel because it was supposedly underground... which is absolutely preposterous!" She seems to have lost her temper and takes a minute to compose herself.

"Thier father died seventeen years ago. Jasen and Leowyn are the only two links I have left of him. I tried to contract another band of adventures, The Broken Blades, but they weren't interested."

"Please find out what happened to my children. If you find them and they don't want to return, bring me thier signent rings and I'll compensate you for finding them and alerting me to thier location if you cannot convince them to return to me." She pauses and her head falls. Her voice seems to break. "If... if you find thier remains, please take vengence in my name, and return the bodies to me." A tear falls down her face. "I'll reward you handsomely in any case."

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"Over hill and dale, hearth and heath, as the Ram runs his half course in the sun, I swear I'll find your children one by one." Yossariad grins wildly, then reigns himself in (pleased with the rhyme, but frustrated with the meter). "You said they called it the 'Sunless Citadel' because it was underground? That seems rather plausible to me." He looks at his companions, his head cocked to the side and ears slanted forward.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Yina Fireforged, female litorian champion of freedom

"We will do everything we can to find your children. The future cannot be written without them," Yina says simply, reciting an old litorian saying.

 

[Krug]

"I haven't heard that phrase in a long time," says Strahm, scratching his fur. He swipes whatever leftover food is lying around his compatriot's plates. He thinks of saying if her children have perished how they are providing nourishment for nature, but stops himself.