Phar nods at Mazz, "I have no doubt we'll need water on a day like this. Is it usually so hot here? Makes me miss the cool shade of my homeland."
He shakes his head. Talking of the weather like some old farmer, he thinks to himself.
Mazz looks at Phar and nods his head. "While it It can get warm in the eastern heath, today looks to be a hotter day than usual for late spring. Be glad we are not in the Month of Hela, young elf, or it would be scorching hot every day in the low shrublands. Not so much up here in the hills or higher up in the Dry Mountains but it can get unbearable. There is little rain here as most spring and summer storms sweep north of the Hazepoint into the northern lands before heading inland. When a storm does hit south of the peninsula, however, it can be powerful as it slams into the Eldermounts or across the Wasting Shores to the south."
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OOC:
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Harqual's New Calendar (sometimes called the Ariagian Calendar) has 12 months that correspond (somewhat) to the months of the Gregorian Calendar. The names of the months are taken from the Divine Children of the North Gods who were killed (or trapped) during the Divinity War: Anon (January), Zealot (February), Sialic (March), Thorn (April), Truce (May), Hansa (June), Hela (July), Seraph (August), Nesus (September), Euphoria (October), Tulle (November), and Jaeger (December).
Anon was the god of righteous battle. Zealot was the god of rage & the frenzy. Sialic was the god of revelry & song. Thorn was a forest god of rain & sunlight. Truce was the god of oaths & scholars. Seraph was the god of barbarians, elves, fire, & serpents. Nesus was the god of archery & the dying wish. Euphoria was the goddess of happiness & joy. Tulle was the god/goddess of fish, lakes, & rivers. Jaeger was the god of honor & sainthood.
While Hansa and Hela are still alive, they are considered to be trapped deities. Hansa is trapped deep in the Underearth while Hela is trapped in the waters of Sword Gulf (off of the western coast of Northern Harqual). Hansa is considered a CN demigod of combat, earthquakes, soldiers, & the earth. Hela is considered a CG demigoddess of healing, peace, & the Sword Gulf.
(I'll post more about the New Calendar on the Lands of Harqual thread sometime later.)
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Maur considers the axe. On the one hand, it is a treasure wasting away here on the wall. On the other, his own continued survival is questionable and the axe might be lost if he takes it. Then again, he may meet some surface dwarves at the fort they are apparently going to. And the axe definitely needs some sharpening and proper care.
"Thank you, elder, I will take good care of it and I promise I will find it home at a good dwarven place. I am interested in hearing its tale, though. When you have the time...it seems we will wait out this heat. If that's how it is at the surface, I need to prepare a spell to keep it out of my armor. I've heard about the delve, but I am not of the surface world, I don't know much."
He considers the axe for the moment, weighting it in his hand
"Yes, we will wait until the sun goes down and then share that wine," Mazz replies to Maur.
Maur stows the axe away carefully and follows after Mazz and Ivoron into the inn. The heat of the sun is brutal and he is glad to be quickly back inside. The dwarven champion is tempted to close the door, but it would block the breeze wafting through the inn. When Ivoron leads Aries back towards the house, the Soldier of Iron nods to Maur. "I am finished with my prayers."
Scotley said:
(Phar) continues. "I have enjoyed your hospitality and counsel good Mazz, but I think we must take leave of this place on the morrow and try to make some contacts who can help us." With a glance outside at the sun he adds, "Early in the morning I think." He glances to the others for agreement his elven eyes penetrating as if trying to read the thoughts behind their eyes.
"It has been good to have guests," Mazz notes. "When you are done at Fort Symas, I hope you will come back this way and tell us how your friend is doing." The old gnome muses for a few moments. "Hmm, I guess if you're going to see Summerwind, you will be heading west instead. There are no trails from the fort through the Roaringride into the Halfling Woods. Well, there are no trails I know of."
He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "You could come back this way and then travel the northern trail to the Forgeride Hearth and then to The Ghostgrass. Both of those inns were built much like the Hillwall, although they get less travelers than we do. Ranvan's inn is more of a tavern that caters to the halfling clan known as the Copperfellows and woodcutters of Rindwood Camp. A place to wet ones whistle. I'm not even sure The Ghostgrass is still operating."
"We might just fly over this Roaringride, as you call it," Aureus says to Mazz. Then, she looks towards Phar.
"Can you cast a spell that will allow us to fly over a long distance?"
"Be careful not to fly over the deepest parts of the forest," Mazz warns. "There are more things in the Halfling Woods than halflings and a semi-friendly dragon. There is a massive manticore that lives in the southern part of the forest near the Green Mounts. Well... that's an old tale, but I've not heard that it has been killed or fled those woods. Be careful, regardless."
"Anything else?"
"Probably, monstrous vermin in those same mountains, as well as some insular hill & stone giants. There is a clan of vonakyndra living in the southwestern part of the forest, but they tend to be friendly. I wouldn't worry about them unless you mistakenly stumble through their sacred burial grounds. The forest is full of animals & birds, of course, so there could be monstrous versions of such creatures. Think owlbears and other such magical crossbreeds. But, I don't know for certain. It's been a long time since I visited that forest."
Mazz looks at Phar. "I'm sure you'll find it a pleasant place. It's less wild than the deepest parts of the Great Forest."
OOC: The Halfling Woods are considered to be temperate, for the most part. However, the southern part of the forest is warmer, especially around the Green mounts. It is, at most, subtropical, in the summer months. It rarely gets bitterly cold. More often, it gets a lot of rain from storms that sweep down from the north.
Neurotic said:
"I came up to look for an artefact of the past. Two actually, but one is a personal quest, the other a mission from the church. In my research there was a mention that at a small town in Strandlands a dwarf may know the location of one of the items. Now I realize you're not a dwarf, but maybe the man who wrote the report didn't. Or maybe you just heard things over the years.
I'm looking for the Shield of the Resolute, lost relic of Moradin, lost well before our time. I'm also looking to complete vestments of divinity, I already have ephod of authority, lenses of revelation and cord of favor. I still need to locate Badge of glory and Phylactery of virtue. If you ever heard of such items."
Mazz shakes his head. "Hmm, I've never heard of that shield... your lost relic. I don't think I'm this dwarf you're looking for either. But, I think I know who you're looking for and the city she lives in. Dwarven cities tend to be massive places, so your author is probably referring to one of the Strandlands smaller cities. There aren't large numbers of dwarves living in the land's smaller towns. Well, there are some in the mountain towns & villages surrounding Ironwatch Keep, but those are mainly miners. There are pockets of hill and sundered dwarves living in a few of of the larger towns but those communities are full of farmers and fishers."
Mazz rubs his chin again. "The author of this report your referring to could have been thinking Ironsoul. It is the seat of the senate and is considered to be the capital of the Strandlands. While it's not a city, it's quite large for a town. Around 500 dwarves live there, if I'm remembering correctly. It's one of the few places where they do a census every decade." He looks at Maur. "But I don't think your dwarf would be living there unless it is Yustaren Earthguard, the senator for the City of Blackwater. She lives half of the year in Blackwater and the other half in Ironsoul. But.. she's a sundered dwarf, not a hill or high dwarf, so I doubt she has this shield or knows where it hidden.
"Helt is the smallest
true city in the Strandlands, but there are only around fifty sundered dwarves living there. It is doubtful that the dwarf you're looking for is from there... or Belporte." He shakes his head again. "No, I'm fairly certain you need to travel to either Blackwater or Oxshore. Probably the former even though it a much larger city than Oxshore."
"Oxshore?" Aureus scratches her head.
"I know I haven't been in these lands long, but I've never heard any of the locals refer to such a city."
"That doesn't surprise me. It is only nominally considered to be part of the Strandlands by those living on the mainland. It is located on a island far to the south beyond both Blackwater and the coastline known as the Graven Wastes. The island is called Belgrel. The city came into existence only 300 years ago after the senate had Strand Keep built on that island as a southern bastion to keep an eye on the denizens of Nesin Island. Some thought the city would break away from the Strandlands after The Transformation and ally with either Chaja or Selquin, but Thomas Stangassinger quickly reaffirmed the city's loyalty soon after that magical conjunction. He's Oxshore's senator. Yet, he
rarely visits Ironsoul himself. He assigns a proxy elder to go vote for him in most cases."
Aureus pulls out her makeshift map and shows it to Mazz.
"Where exactly?"
Mazz uses his spectacles to look at the map and shakes his head. "No. This is very poorly drawn." He has her lay the map on the table next to him and he takes a piece of bread and places it where the island is located far beyond the edge of Aureus's map. "The island is here." Then he places a bigger piece of bread next to it. "This would be Nesin Island, and, here, this where Chaja is after it was brought to Harqual during The Transformation. It is a city-state of birdfolk. They were skittish at first, but soon made allies of Yuln. Lord Harian Mal has signed a mutual protection alliance with them."
"Selquin. Where is that?" Aureus asks.
"I've heard of it."
"Farther south along the coast," Mazz picks up a grape and holds it well off the table in his good hand. "About here, I think. It has been a long time since I've been there. More than 150 years, give or take. It is a vital trading port between the north and the Far South." Mazz moves the grape back onto the table and places it west of another grape, 'Chaja'. "This is where Yuln is located. It's not part of the Strandlands, but there is trade between the Yulnish and these lands. Yuln is a massive city of over 45,000 souls and its population is not just human. All manner of people live in that city and the lands it has sway over."
"That's a big city," Aureus notes.
"Indeed, but you do not need to go there," Mazz laughs. "I think the place Maur needs to go to find his mysterious dwarf is Blackwater. while it could be Oxshore, I'm sure the author who wrote that tale about this shield is referring to that city and its population of seacliff dwarves. Yes, there are sundered dwarves living there too, but the seablooded have stronger dwarven traditions." Mazz points to the spot where the city is located on the map. "It more north than you have here. Did a human create this map?"
"I don't know," Aureus sighs.
"I bought it in Belporte while Phar and I were traveling to Carnell." She looks at Phar.
"You were right, I shouldn't have bought it."
"The people of Belporte tend to think of themselves as being more important than anyone else in the Strandlands. They can be a bit arrogant, especially the city's human nobility," Mazz rolls his eyes. "Look how big the cartographer has made Belporte on this map. Only the citizens of Sandbreak are more full of their own hot air."
Mazz looks at Maur. "I'm certain the dwarf you are looking for is Belleva Stormeye. She is a cleric of Lyesthel and is one of the elders of her people. If Senator Yustaren ever steps down or dies suddenly, the dwarves of Blackwater will push for her to take Yustaren's place. She is respected by many in Blackwater, especially the city's fishers and sailors. If any dwarf in the Strandlands knows where this shield is located, it is her."
"So, its a city of sea dwarves?" Aureus asks.
"No, roughly half of the city's population is human, but dwarves make up a significant part of the rest of its citizens." Mazz looks towards the ceiling and tries to remember. "There are just over a thousand dwarves living in Blackwater, I think. It's been a while since I've been there. Most of the city's dwarves are considered 'sundered', but the rest are the seablooded. There are a large number of elves in that city too, urbanites and islanders --
well over a thousand of them for certain. There are halflings, kitts & rakastas, and half-elves & half-orcs. It's not as cosmopolitan as Yuln, of course. I don't think there are any dragonborn living in Blackwater." Mazz chuckles. "But I wouldn't be surprised if there are some hadozee working on its docks."
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OOC:
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Lyesthel is homebrewed dwarf god who is the patron of the Seacliff Dwarves of Kulan. He is a god of fishing, sailing ships, and ocean voyages. There is another homebrewed dwarf deity that Maur would have heard of too: Naldielle is a goddess of female dwarves, radical thinking, and chasing dreams. 
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Neurotic said:
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OOC:
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Mechanically, if you didn't prepare anything special he can roll arcana or religion or bardic lore with DC 30 to know exact location of one of the vestments. 15/20/25 give progressively more info, Maur already hit 27 once. The relic is a story item, that's on you 
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OOC: Knowledge (arcana) isn't one of his specialties and the religion check was very low (less than 10). His Knowledge (local) check was very good, however, which is how he knew of Belleva Stormeye.
