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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guilt Puppy" data-source="post: 1156410" data-attributes="member: 6521">(OOC - The only "reward" I can recall is the 24 gp allotted to Niccolo for performances during the downtime... I'm not trying to keep you guys poor or anything, I just haven't had much cause to drop gold in your laps. As I've said before, if your characters need some more cash, they're welcome to go out and get some, and I'll be as accomodating as I reasonably can be... And yes, I know that creates some conflict with time-management in-game -- but that's in your hands, not mine <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )Following some further preparations (PHB prices for any equip; ask about special orders), you group heads off to the Northeast -- taking the North road for a ways, then veering off on an old worn pile of packed dirt which may have once passed for a road. The countryside, if you can call it that, is barren -- not dry, exactly, but still there are only small, sparse patches of brush and trees, their leaves more black than green, the limbs bone white. You travel through more than one abandoned town -- although it is sometimes difficult to tell where one begins and another ends -- and you could almost wonder if you might already have passed Haddal, as the sun sinks lower and lower.Finally, though, what directions you can find from the harmless-looking commoners of Bethel prove accurate enough: You see the old town, resting in an odd pit of earth, a circle of no more than a mile in diameter -- possibly less -- sunken below the surrounding flatness. An old sign marker resting against one of the bone-bushes removes all doubt: You have arrived in Haddal. The letters have been bent and curled from iron rods in an ornate script, and framed with a complex swirl of metalwork. This town's grandeur, however, clearly began and ended with this signpost: Beyond, the buildings are simple and functional, showing next to no sign of age but still seeming old indeed, stripped bare (or, more likely, built bare) of any youthful vanities.From a distance, the city's Temple to Pelor could easily be mistaken for a storehouse or granary: The thick hide shutters on top of the building seem a little out of place, but aside from that the bar white-clay walls are wholly typical of the town. It is only the holy symbol on the door that gives it away, and even this is less than splendrous: It is carved, no, hacked out of some thick wood, protected with a thin coat of the whitish clay that makes it look horribly dusty. It's all wrong, on top of that -- the beams of His Fiery Mane look more like lightning bolts, and there are only seven of them; his eyelids are omitted, his gaze turned into a pair of maniacal diamonds with mismatched pupils; and, most strange of all, his mouth is open, and a row of teeth are showing... The carving is so indistinct, it is hard to tell if the people who made it meant to show him smiling, or grimacing with pain... It is, at least, unnerving, especially as his True face disappears over the horizon.Hiritus seems to be somewhat offended by this, but by no means disturbed -- he strides confidently to the door and finds it opens quite easily. The basement is easy to find, a staircase behind a hide curtain leads down to it, and to a few of Premule's faithful, already assembled... Five, precisely.Among them is the young man who approached you in the morning. He introduces you to his companions: Laam, a skinny, nervous-looking fellow; Balger, whose well-tended beard could make a dwarven King jealous; Shavah, the only woman among these five, and the only half-elf as well; and Lucian, a confident young man with an equally confident greatsword tilted across his back. Finally, the one who first approached you introduces himself: Lanatus, the first son of his father who was the first son of his father, back like that for five generations, all of whom had pledged their lives in service to Heironeous and to Bethel."In that order," he insists."We're all a bit divided in ourselves, I think" Lucian adds thoughtfully. "We have pledged our service to the Visach, as well as to Father Premule... By the laws of Bethel, our oath to Cheraul supercedes, but for those of us who've come --" he looks around at the other, who seem to silently agree -- "the laws of Heironeous supercede even that.""These should be seven more," Lanatus explains. "I didn't mention it to any of the higher-ups -- didn't want them implicated in anything, if we fail, so they'll be around to rebuild what they can. But those seven can catch up when they arrive..." His voice lowers slightly. "We should discuss our plan."It is confusing for a moment, but soon it becomes clear: These five, at least, are looking to the four of you for leadership.</blockquote>

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