Session #11.1 – A plan develops
Once Zalman finished work on his Goggles of Darkvision, the group was ready to return to Water Break. They had a narrow set of very specific goals they had to accomplish so they could get in and back out of the city without having to spend a night there and risk exposure to Kisty’s sister and the Thieves’ Guild. First, Amblin wanted to meet the master of the Green Snake School in hopes of learning what school of martial arts Chelis had trained him in. Second, Amblin wanted to pick up the map of Myrial that he had commissioned from a mapmaker the last time they’d been in town. Third, the group wanted to stop by the Traders’ Guildhall in hopes of setting up some sort of trade connections for New Selmar. After that, they would cross the river and make for Lohna’s hometown of Vineyard Pass – and hope that her invitation to pay a visit would still be welcomed, even after a six-week absence.
The group said a fond farewell to the mages of the Thunder Guild and promised to return when time permitted. On their way out of town, they stopped by Happy’s for another wonderful breakfast and another fond farewell. The rest of the day’s journey was quiet and uneventful. Kisty placed them less than half a day from the city gate. She borrowed a Hat of Disguise from the group and told them she’d go ahead of them so as not to arouse the immediate attention of the Theives’ Guild. Furthermore, she’d tail them while they were in the city and watch of signs of pursuit. If she found anything, she’d alert them with the keyword “Digger,” the name of Shadykin’s familiar.
By noon, the rest of the group reached the city’s West gate. Lohna’s note again sped their access to the city past the watchful eye of the guard and a pair of priests from the Church of the Small. They made first for the Green Snake School.
Hidden in the back alleyways in the heart of the city’s industrial district, an unremarkable door was painted with a stylized green snake. The door was answered immediately when Amblin knocked and the student bowed before Amblin, apparently recognizing him from the Duel of the Bat. Amblin entered with Nigel following closely. Zalman and Rurik remained in the alley with the horses, keeping a close eye out for unwelcome visitors.
The decor of school belied the building’s crude exterior. It was done in a pleasant mix of polished woods, ornate artwork and sculpted plants. A training area was set in the center of the large room and doors led out the back to a picturesque garden courtyard. Druk Var, the half-orc, soon joined them, expressing his pleasure at seeing them again. Amblin apologized for taking so long to pay them a visit, mentioning the need to leave unexpectedly on important business. Druk Var did not dig further.
Druk Var led Amblin and Nigel into the garden and introduced them to his master, Ketterin Klock. Ketterin was a human with darkly tanned and weathered skin. His hair was graying but his eyes were bright and quick. He hopped up from his work trimming a bush and he bowed briefly before Amblin. Amblin returned the gesture with a deep bow and Nigel, feeling like the odd man out, bowed awkwardly.
Druk Var excused himself while Amblin and Ketterin spoke. They exchanged some small pleasantries and then spoke for a while of philosophy and style. Amblin found the older man to be well spoken and wise, asking careful questions that elicited pointed responses. After a short bit, Ketterin encouraged Amblin to perform a demonstration of his martial arts skills and moves so that he might better be able to identify his style. Ten minutes later, Ketterin had something of an answer.
“While I am not certain of your school,” he began, “it is clearly one of the Southwestern styles. I would wager it is most likely that of the Springing Sphinx, based on your leaping and lunging prowess. Little do I know of this style, though, as I have only encountered its practitioners a couple times in my life, and then only when I was quite young. The Springing Sphinx School, if I recall correctly, is based out of the great city of Tet Amir, far from here.”
Amblin thanked the master for his wisdom and his time. He wished he could stay longer, but told Ketterin that he and his companions had urgently pressing matters to attend to and that it was only for the sake of his friendship that they had spared the last hour so that he could visit the Green Snake School. The master seemed to take no offense and bade them farewell and good journeys.
Gathering up the horses, the group returned to the main thoroughfare and made for the Exchange District and the Trader’s Guildhall. En route, a young human girl wearing a dirty dress came up to Amblin and tried to sell him a flower.
“Uh, how much are they?” Amblin asked.
“For you, sir, three gold coins,” she innocently replied and grinned broadly. Amblin almost chocked. He was about to turn her down, but something in her posture made him a bit suspicious. Fishing in his belt pouch, he retrieved a couple coins and handed them to her. She gave him a very ordinary white daisy in exchange.
“Thanks!” she said as she tucked away the coins. “Enjoy your stay in the city. It doesn’t look like anyone is giving you problems so far.” With that, she gave him a wink and skipped off into the early afternoon crowd.
Amblin quietly relayed to the others that Kisty thought they did not have a tail yet. They looked around in search of their companion, despite knowing that she was likely well disguised with the magic hat.
A few minutes later they arrived at the center of the Exchange District and had little difficulty finding the prominent three-story building that was the guildhall of the Traders. A pair of groomsmen took their horses near the entrance and another servant held the door for them to enter. A large tastefully decorated hall with a pair of balconies overlooking it from the second the third floors, dominated the center of the building. Doors led to the offices of various trade guild merchants and the handful of well-dressed folk moving about the place conveyed a sense of a professional business environment.
From behind a large desk in the hall a young man asked them the nature of their business. They explained that they were representatives from the city of New Selmar and they were here interested in working with someone to open potential trade contacts. He asked them to take seats and that he would inquire with a few of the more likely traders.
Ten minutes later, he was leading them up to the second floor to the office of one Trevor Aberdeen. He held the door and indicated they should enter. The front room of the offices was small and cramped. Behind a desk sat a young man, a clerk, who was busy working through a pile of paperwork. Cabinets, bookshelves, and stacks of papers and boxes filled what little space was left in the room.
The clerk looked up as they all tried to fit into the small room. “Oh, hello there,” he said as he gave them an appraising look. “Mr. Aberdeen will be with you in just a moment.”
True to his word, the door behind the desk opened a minute later and a tall man with slightly graying hair and tasteful business attire stepped forward. “Welcome, welcome,” he said in a solid baritone. “I am Trevor Aberdeen. Please, come into my office.”
Trevor’s office was larger and less crowed than the clerk’s, but still was tight once he managed to get four extra chairs situated in front of his own massive desk. A window behind the desk overlooked the center of the Exchange District. To the left of the desk was a door. Around the room were assorted odds and ends, knick-knacks and artifacts from a lifetime of various enterprises.
“So,” Trevor began, “I understand you’re from New Selmar? I’m guessing this is somewhere in the vicinity of the old city of Selmar?” They nodded in agreement. “Fascinating. This long after the end of the war, no one had heard a peep out of that region and everyone just assumed it had been completely lost. Anyway, I get ahead of myself. Perhaps I should let you introduce yourselves properly and tell me specifically what business brings you to my attention.”
They told him their names and explained the story of Selmar’s fall, their people’s enslavement, and how New Selmar was formed over the last six years just a bit upriver from the old ruins. They further explained how they had been sent out in search of other cities and survivors and, hopefully, to establish trade contacts.
Trevor seemed interested in their tale. “Well,” he began, “when the clerk told me that some folk from New Selmar were looking for traders, it peaked my interest. You see, before the war, I actually used to work caravans out to Selmar. I think I might even have a few of the old route maps.” He went through the side door into a closet of sorts and rummaged around for several minutes before returning with a large leather-bound volume stuffed with dozens of loose parchment maps. As he laid it out before them, they were able to finally see the entire lay of the land between New Selmar and Water Break – much of which they’d skipped when Thrindlemond teleported them across most of the distance.
The conversation continued for some time with Trevor probing for information on goods and commodities that New Selmar might have to make the trade trip worthwhile as well as what goods they were most in need of. The stories also covered the group’s journey to Water Break and many of their misadventures on the way. When he heard of their encounters with the Shadow and his gang, he was most impressed. Word has spread around town about the group who had taken him on and survived. Trevor wasn’t surprised to hear that the Shadow had been involved in the incident out in the town of High Hill, either. The group was a little surprised to hear how news of their doings had spread so extensively. When Trevor learned that they had been to a private audience with the Duke, and had also received a reward for their heroism, he seemed to take on a thoughtful look.
“I have a thought,” he said finally. “It may or may not work, but it might be worth inquiring about. Look, it’s already mid-summer. If I wanted to stage a caravan trip out to New Selmar and make it back before risking the bad weather of fall, I’d have to set out within the next month or two at the latest. In order to make such a trip worthwhile, though, I’d have to have contracts secured with the people of New Selmar. I would need to know exactly what they needed and what I could bring back in return. The land between here and there is not safe any longer and I’d need a large and heavily guarded group. That’s not cheap. Now, there isn’t nearly enough time left in the season to get there and back to secure the necessary contracts, unless we find an alternative means of getting there and back in a hurry.”
The group looked at one another, wondering what the merchant was getting at.
“The Duke,” Trevor said, “has a small contingent of griffon riders under his command. Griffons would easily be able to make the trip there and back in much less time and with considerably less risk. Now, you guys seem to have gotten off on the Duke’s good side with your efforts against the Shadow and in helping deal with some giants. If you could somehow convince the Duke to lend you a few riders, we could make a quick trip out there and secure the contracts in time to get a caravan set up yet this season. Want to give that a try?”
This was a bit more than they had expected from the merchant. They had just assumed that telling him of New Selmar would probably be sufficient to accomplish what the council of their hometown had asked of them. This Trevor seemed very interested in starting trade, and seemed willing to take aggressive measures to get things moving quickly on it. Finally, they agreed that they would speak with the Duke the next morning and try to negotiate use of some griffons for the trip. Frankly, they had no idea how they were going to manage that, but they would lose nothing in at least speaking with him.
When they were done discussing the matter, Trevor shook hands with each and escorted them out to the street where their horses were returned. Hooty, who had been set to watch over the area, informed Zalman that he had not seen any sign of unusual activity or of Kisty. Waving farewell to the trader, the group pressed on to their last bit of business for the day.
They found mapmaker Joe at his little stand on the dockside of the Exchange District. The aging man had almost completely forgotten who Amblin was, but with a little reminder was finally able to recall the monk’s visit some six weeks earlier. He had indeed finished making the requested copy of the map of Myrial, though he cautioned Amblin that not everything on there was accurate post-war. Amblin unfolded it and marveled at the visual reconstruction of everywhere they had been and of the countless places they had yet to see. He found Tet Amir, the city the master had told him of, on the coast of some ocean some five or six time further from Water Break than New Selmar was. Closer to their hometown was a reference of some interest. Located about a hundred miles to the northwest of New Selmar in a small mountain range was “Mt. Goldforge.”
“Hey, Rurik,” Amblin said. “You ever hear of this place?”
The dwarf had, but knew little of it. His clan was not from that area, but they were well known for their skill in weapon and armor smithing. Since the war, there had been no contact with the dwarves that Rurik was aware of. “They were always pretty closed off to outsiders.”
Amblin thanked and paid the mapmaker and then carefully packed his prize in a hard scroll case. The group, eager to get out of town while it was still afternoon, crossed the river, passed the Duke’s keep, and made it through the North Gate without incident. Once out of the city, they keep one eye ahead of them and one behind – looking both for anyone trailing them and for signs that Kisty was catching up.
Next session: Loopy Vapours' Incredible Alchemist's Fire and a visit with a Lady.
-Rybaer
