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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 5460712" data-attributes="member: 16069">Rogar's diary for session #11-<session 11>After the confrontation at the house of the Sun, Drake needed a distraction and I still needed to sell of the bag of minor gems and (ugh) another of our souvenirs from Gorizzbad.  Thus, we trot off to the Halfmoon trading house.  I figure that it’s a Halfling enclave and an adventuring halfing like myself would get a good deal there.I figured wrong.This is something I don’t get.  Something I may never get.  At the monestary we all worked together for learning and protection; when I worked a mundane job we all worked together to move cargo or clear out rats; even when I was part of the gang... we all worked together to keep safe and get our imagined greavinces and get out.  But here I met another Halfling, a fellow, another person making their way in the world.  How come we where at such cross purposes?I used half as many open words and weasel words as Selaround Halfmoon did... and still feel dirty.  Part of me thinks that he was just working his angle, but still, I had to work hard to walk out of there with 125gp in coin for what I reckoned was 140gp of goods.  I asked about a 50gp haling potion (the one I used on Drake) and was offered a 70gp healing potion.  I said I may well be back with friend with alchemical formulars.  I may well be wrong about this... but hell, I’ll accept it just to not deal with this guy again.After that debacle, we wander on to the Moonsong Temple, to see if they can help us with Hoyt’s affliction.  On the way I discuss armour with Drake, maybe he is realising the risks he faces with the work.  I steer the conversation towards heavy armour and Drake is heasitant due to the weight and heft.  If only we could find some armour that does have this; I recall the story/song of an Eladrin who wore special Eladrin-made chain that was as light as wool.  Was this made or drawn from real experiances?  It is beyond me to know.Neb, Jeb and Maldor look both bored and strung out from their travels.  Thet say that they have delivered a message to the Spetarch’s tower... but they don’t seem confident with the result.The Moonsong temple is... different yet similar.  The priest there was as aware and clued up as my masters at the monestary.  His name is ‘Ressilmae Starlight’ and he is entertaining a group of children.  As soon as I see the situation I melt into one of the alcoves and while the children don’t see me, I’m sure Starlight does.  So this preacher sees our motley band and for reasons that I will never devine, even if I reach one hundead years of experiance, decides that he should ask us to sing or hum a tune for the children to guess.  I remain hidden through this, as the others sing and.. I just don’t get this.   The sounds, the expressions... It’s more ailen than Jeb.  I just remain silent until this is over and the children run off to do children things. Again, Starlight, this elf seems strange.  He knows far more about us that we expect and we don’t know how he knows, apart from in Drake’s case... turns out his parents have sent a message and a parcel to Drake via the temple.  Drake’s a lucky guy, although it must have been embrassing to hear his letter from ‘mumsey’.  The parcel was a pair of rabbitskin slippers, made to look like fluffy-toy rabbits, some of the other laughed, but they did look comfy.We tell Starlight the story about Hoyt, he can help us but requires money for the ritual materials and suggested that we get some extra stuff, a preperation of ‘Ratsbane’.  We shall have to wander and talk to ‘erbalists.  We make plans to return here after the sermon tomorrow, to use the ritual and cure Hoyt.Of course this will cost a decent weight of coins, so we head to the other trading houses so Neb can sell the alchemical formulars.  We have mixed success at this, and by mixed I mean things go bad, things go well and … Jebedia, the Githyanki, the guy with no nose and skin like old parchment and a baby Stirge in his pocket... has apparently got a date for the following evening.  In a possibly related note, my hipflask is almost empty.We sell most of the formula, netting an impressive 1300gp total!  I took a distant back seat during these neogotations and I’m glad I did.  It was frustrating to watch and even more frustrating to do myself later.  I miss the simple clarity of the monestary, everyone worked together, everyone was a team.  Here, so many of the people we meet seem to be working an angle.For example, in Naerumar Imports, where we had sold some of the formula, I asked to buy a healing potion.  They wanted 70 gold for a 50 gold product!  I tried to explain how we did good and the potion could help us live longer and return to buy or sell more things, she was unwavering.  It was only someone else’s remark about buying three at once that changed her mind and brought it down to 150g for three.  I almost leapt onto a table to shake her hand before she could change her mind.But enough complaining, what do we do about it?  Maybe if this is a game of social animals, we need a social animal of our own.  A retainer to speak for us, someone who knows the town and can turn our intents into flowerery and well-timed words?The alternative is to speak less I suppose.  Do more with actions than words.  If it will work, then it’s clearly the better path... but will it work?After this stressful experiance, we head to the Nethil Inn for a calming drink.  Not so claming considering the prices, but hey.The Nethil Inn is... I don’t know how to explain it.  First of all, it’s like two places in one, with a simple and pleasant stone-walled taphouse at the front, and an expansive (It’s massive! no, MASSIVE!) tavern/resteruant at the back.  Given it’s size, it is pretty expensive but... I’m just not sure how it makes it’s money... sure, there are plenty of customers, but why are there so many customers?  What does it have that other places don’t?  What counteracts the high prices and din?  Something just seems off at the place and I’ll be happy to never return.Anyway.  We where told that the back bar had a wider selection of ales, so we hiked over there and I hopped up onto a barstool.  The menu is a jumble of made up words and real foods, it lacks prices which is never a good sign.  I select the ‘Swamp River Ale’ which tastes a lot better than it sounds.  It’s an old fashioned bitter, chestnut in colour and mild in flavour.  Nice, but not really worth 1gp a pint!  Another reason to give this place a miss in the future.Still, the wide selection and sheer number of people here makes it a good spot to (carefully) ask about Dreus, so we split up and see what we can see.  There is an open spot at a card-games table so I hop up to there.Another difficult conversation, made worse by learning nothing of value.  I must have been frustrated at the end, because at the end of one of the hands, I kept hold of a jack and what a conincidence, that really helped me in the next hand.  My action was flawless (half proud of it, hiding a human-made playing card in my little hands, in front of 5 people and a crowd) but I just knew it was showing on my face.  Either I was wrong or the other players where to distracted to care, as all that happened was me winning the hand and making my exit.  I left the spare card on floor, towards the other end of the table and got another Swamp River Ale at the outer bar to relax a little.None of the others turned up anything useful, apart from Drake who is to return tomorrow to talk to an old woman?  I’m not sure of the details.  Resolute also managed to join a gambling table and apparently lucked out.  Even though I walked out of this place with 5gp and two pints I still don’t think it’s worth it to return.</blockquote>

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