Doc Donuts
Villager
Session 6: Part 2
The next day they reach an inn called the Hungry Hound. Marq, Marissa and Ryll wait outside while the other three go in. The Hound seems popular with the local non-dwarven population, Vanal is the only dwarf in the place. Most of the patrons are humans, though there is one table of elderly halfling men in the corner. The clientele seems like a mix of fisherman, farmers and shopkeepers.
Seeing this, Vanal and Mel grab a table and let Figorna do the talking. Seeing how they are armed and dressed, the innkeeper, a man named King, carefully avoids asking about their business. Figorna rightly interprets this as King's assumption that they are smugglers, and that he has no problem serving them as long as they don't cause trouble.
She offers that they are just passing through, they were hired as caravan guards but found out that their employer was ruined financially by the recent collapse of the Endovan spice exchange so they no longer had jobs and got jobs escorting a wealthy but eccentric human scholar (Mel) to pay the bills. King seems relieved.
She learns that they are about 20 miles to the entry to the nearest significant dwarven village, a farming community called Haven. He warns her that they will need to get permits at Haven to go any farther into Dwarven territory.
To this point Marissa has been understanding about not getting the whole story. She understands the value of fleeing to a Xenophobic dwarven kingdom that has no ties to either Avenal or the Brotherhood, but there seems to be something else going on. So far she has been too busy being glad she has not yet become an undead abomination under the control of Cadradabu to ask what is really going on, and her curiosity has reached the point that it has over-ruled her sense of self preservation.
The next day as they are walking towards Haven she finally asks. She's surprised at the answer, both that she gets one that seems sincere, and also that the answer is ridiculous, and she has a hard time hiding her disappointment.
Most of the people she knows who deal with the gods are crazy, it seems to come with the territory in her limited experience, although most of that experience has unfortunately been with people who venerate gods of Death, Jealousy and Vengeance.
They don't tell her the whole story. They don't mention the elf, the Liote temple, or the original glowing dungeon entrance they couldn't get into, they tell her only that they are researching a number of supposedly dead gods.
She counters, that if Ryll is a cleric of a dead god and is actually getting spells, either the god isn't dead, or some other entity is pulling the wool over her eyes for some reason. She notes that while Ryll nods her head with joy, agreeing that Liote is alive, the others by their expressions have already at least considered the possibility that her alternative hypothesis could be true.
But in the end, she decides it doesn't really matter. Against her better judgment she likes these people, even the dwarf that scares her. They are too good for their own good, but she can't argue that might not be a bad thing when Cadradabu eventually catches up with them.
Their plan is to head to Haven and get permits to visit the ancient city of Krotrick. it was once a great city, but its mines where played out centuries ago, and it is now a tiny fraction of its original size, and is mainly known now for the university run by priests of Upandal the builder, the most popular deity venerated by the dwarves.
They manage to get permits in Haven. Vanal recommends they use the story Figorna told King, and they all pretend to work for Mel. Vanal does all the talking, and explains to the border guards that they are there so that Mel can visit the university, the resources there being much greater than the paltry knowledge available in human lands. The border guards eat this up, and one of them comments at how wise Mel is to recognize the superiority of dwarven culture.
They are given passes that allow them to travel, but are warned to stay on the road, and to get to Krotrick in the next 24 hours, or else.
The warning to stay on the road is actually somewhat for their own benefit. Since the dwarves don't allow free travel in their realm, and spend most of their time underground, the area nearby is quite dangerous.
They discover this on their journey. They are accompanied by two dwarven families who are taking their daughters to university. On the way they have to fight off an attack by multiple fey, led by a Woodwose. The fey sneak up, try to charm someone, then lead their victim off the road into the undergrowth while the Woodwose prevents pursuit by entangling anyone trying to rescue them.
Each time they are assaulted they manage to repel them, and rescue anyone that was charmed, but it is a struggle. They fey are very good at illusions and the party wastes a good many spells attacking things that aren’t real.
It gets worse when they start to run out of spells. Finally their luck turns. Ryll manages to kill one of the fey with a cold iron crossbow bolt. This enrages the rest, and they stop fighting intelligently, and in a straight up fight they go down easily.
They lose so much time that they are in danger of not making it to Krotrick in the allowed time for their permit. Fortunately when they do arrive, two hours late, the two dwarven families made sure that the city guard is aware of how they had helped protect them. They quickly go from being arrested to heroes in a few minutes. Rumors spread, and within hours they are invited for dinner with the head of the university.
That evening they encounter a situation far worse than an attack by troublesome fey. Any plan that relies on Mel’s ability to be deceptive is not likely to survive first contact with the enemy, or in this case, a private dinner with the university president and a few of his senior faculty.
When they conceived the plan they thought that they could have Vanal and Ryll do most of the talking, but they didn’t count on a grateful university president who wanted to talk to this noted human scholar.
Mel is quite knowledgeable when it comes to Arcane magics, the outer planes, and the weaknesses of monsters that adventurers are likely to run into. However he knows absolutely nothing about the topic he is supposedly here to study, namely the religious practices of dwarves of antiquity.
Listening to Mel mumble responses to the president’s questions the others realize their mistake. Even Marq would have been a better choice, because while he doesn’t know anything about the topic either, he would have responded with such confidence and eager interest that it probably would not have mattered that what he said made no sense.
Mel on the other hand is sweating, and looks as nervous as a Paladin in a whorehouse.
Vanal steps in, and explains that they were really tired from their journey. The fight with the fey had taken a lot out of them. He implies that Mel was probably still partially recovering from some of the fey’s spells.
The president and his advisers seemed relieved, but Vanal suspects they are still very suspicious, but are willing to accept any explanation that doesn’t make this awkward. It turns out that one of the families they escorted is a major donor and they don't want to upset them. They wrap up the dinner quickly so everyone could go get a good night’s sleep after the ordeal of the day.
The next day they reach an inn called the Hungry Hound. Marq, Marissa and Ryll wait outside while the other three go in. The Hound seems popular with the local non-dwarven population, Vanal is the only dwarf in the place. Most of the patrons are humans, though there is one table of elderly halfling men in the corner. The clientele seems like a mix of fisherman, farmers and shopkeepers.
Seeing this, Vanal and Mel grab a table and let Figorna do the talking. Seeing how they are armed and dressed, the innkeeper, a man named King, carefully avoids asking about their business. Figorna rightly interprets this as King's assumption that they are smugglers, and that he has no problem serving them as long as they don't cause trouble.
She offers that they are just passing through, they were hired as caravan guards but found out that their employer was ruined financially by the recent collapse of the Endovan spice exchange so they no longer had jobs and got jobs escorting a wealthy but eccentric human scholar (Mel) to pay the bills. King seems relieved.
She learns that they are about 20 miles to the entry to the nearest significant dwarven village, a farming community called Haven. He warns her that they will need to get permits at Haven to go any farther into Dwarven territory.
To this point Marissa has been understanding about not getting the whole story. She understands the value of fleeing to a Xenophobic dwarven kingdom that has no ties to either Avenal or the Brotherhood, but there seems to be something else going on. So far she has been too busy being glad she has not yet become an undead abomination under the control of Cadradabu to ask what is really going on, and her curiosity has reached the point that it has over-ruled her sense of self preservation.
The next day as they are walking towards Haven she finally asks. She's surprised at the answer, both that she gets one that seems sincere, and also that the answer is ridiculous, and she has a hard time hiding her disappointment.
Most of the people she knows who deal with the gods are crazy, it seems to come with the territory in her limited experience, although most of that experience has unfortunately been with people who venerate gods of Death, Jealousy and Vengeance.
They don't tell her the whole story. They don't mention the elf, the Liote temple, or the original glowing dungeon entrance they couldn't get into, they tell her only that they are researching a number of supposedly dead gods.
She counters, that if Ryll is a cleric of a dead god and is actually getting spells, either the god isn't dead, or some other entity is pulling the wool over her eyes for some reason. She notes that while Ryll nods her head with joy, agreeing that Liote is alive, the others by their expressions have already at least considered the possibility that her alternative hypothesis could be true.
But in the end, she decides it doesn't really matter. Against her better judgment she likes these people, even the dwarf that scares her. They are too good for their own good, but she can't argue that might not be a bad thing when Cadradabu eventually catches up with them.
Their plan is to head to Haven and get permits to visit the ancient city of Krotrick. it was once a great city, but its mines where played out centuries ago, and it is now a tiny fraction of its original size, and is mainly known now for the university run by priests of Upandal the builder, the most popular deity venerated by the dwarves.
They manage to get permits in Haven. Vanal recommends they use the story Figorna told King, and they all pretend to work for Mel. Vanal does all the talking, and explains to the border guards that they are there so that Mel can visit the university, the resources there being much greater than the paltry knowledge available in human lands. The border guards eat this up, and one of them comments at how wise Mel is to recognize the superiority of dwarven culture.
They are given passes that allow them to travel, but are warned to stay on the road, and to get to Krotrick in the next 24 hours, or else.
The warning to stay on the road is actually somewhat for their own benefit. Since the dwarves don't allow free travel in their realm, and spend most of their time underground, the area nearby is quite dangerous.
They discover this on their journey. They are accompanied by two dwarven families who are taking their daughters to university. On the way they have to fight off an attack by multiple fey, led by a Woodwose. The fey sneak up, try to charm someone, then lead their victim off the road into the undergrowth while the Woodwose prevents pursuit by entangling anyone trying to rescue them.
Each time they are assaulted they manage to repel them, and rescue anyone that was charmed, but it is a struggle. They fey are very good at illusions and the party wastes a good many spells attacking things that aren’t real.
It gets worse when they start to run out of spells. Finally their luck turns. Ryll manages to kill one of the fey with a cold iron crossbow bolt. This enrages the rest, and they stop fighting intelligently, and in a straight up fight they go down easily.
They lose so much time that they are in danger of not making it to Krotrick in the allowed time for their permit. Fortunately when they do arrive, two hours late, the two dwarven families made sure that the city guard is aware of how they had helped protect them. They quickly go from being arrested to heroes in a few minutes. Rumors spread, and within hours they are invited for dinner with the head of the university.
That evening they encounter a situation far worse than an attack by troublesome fey. Any plan that relies on Mel’s ability to be deceptive is not likely to survive first contact with the enemy, or in this case, a private dinner with the university president and a few of his senior faculty.
When they conceived the plan they thought that they could have Vanal and Ryll do most of the talking, but they didn’t count on a grateful university president who wanted to talk to this noted human scholar.
Mel is quite knowledgeable when it comes to Arcane magics, the outer planes, and the weaknesses of monsters that adventurers are likely to run into. However he knows absolutely nothing about the topic he is supposedly here to study, namely the religious practices of dwarves of antiquity.
Listening to Mel mumble responses to the president’s questions the others realize their mistake. Even Marq would have been a better choice, because while he doesn’t know anything about the topic either, he would have responded with such confidence and eager interest that it probably would not have mattered that what he said made no sense.
Mel on the other hand is sweating, and looks as nervous as a Paladin in a whorehouse.
Vanal steps in, and explains that they were really tired from their journey. The fight with the fey had taken a lot out of them. He implies that Mel was probably still partially recovering from some of the fey’s spells.
The president and his advisers seemed relieved, but Vanal suspects they are still very suspicious, but are willing to accept any explanation that doesn’t make this awkward. It turns out that one of the families they escorted is a major donor and they don't want to upset them. They wrap up the dinner quickly so everyone could go get a good night’s sleep after the ordeal of the day.
