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Erkonin (Campaign #2) [Session 45: Rajalmin's Agent]
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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8121077" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 17: Dwarven Oaths</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p>Aldalómiel - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)</p><p>Elama “Lamie” Galanodel- Wood Elf Cleric (Tempest)</p><p>Vinya Anar - Wood Elf Monk (Way of the Sun Soul)</p><p>Elderon - High Elf Wizard (Loremaster)</p><p>Marxine Deepfoot - Dwarf Fighter (Champion)</p><p></p><p>GM - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p>(Note: This session was held on Discord.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>24 Blizzarin 749 (Campaign day 55) (immediately after)</p><p></p><p>As we left Hammerhammer’s smithy, we talked about next steps. We thought about looking into suspicious deaths among the merchant class. VInya thought she understood that the former head of the Gemcutters Guild, replaced by Artok Fireruby (nephew of Armok), had died.</p><p></p><p>We thought about going off to talk to Captain Toris, but realized that it was near dinnertime, so we decided to hold that for the next day and went back to the Silver Loupe for dinner. As we went, we passed through Facet Square -- there was picketing going on, but there had been no major actions like the day before. Marxine noticed that morale was still good among the picketers.</p><p></p><p>When we got to the Silver Loupe, the people there recognized Marxine as someone fighting on their side and she was greeted warmly.</p><p></p><p>Smolly: Some of the merchants are negotiating with the workers -- they’re breaking ranks to increase wages and provide better conditions.</p><p>Vinya: Huh. Cool!</p><p></p><p>Marxine told Smolly what we’d been working on as far as finding information that would cause the guilds to step away from the Firerubys.</p><p></p><p>Smolly: The other guildsmen are undercutting Armok and the other Firerubys by coming to the table. I’ve heard of one or two merchants offering concessions to workers who’d been employed by other people.</p><p>Elderron: I wonder what Fireruby thinks about this.</p><p>Smolly: I don’t know what to expect from Fireruby, either the clan overall or the few doing most of their Guild business.</p><p>Vinya: What do you know about the death of the former head of the Gemcutters’ Guild?</p><p>Smolly: Well, I know she was a very old hill dwarf. I thought she died of old age. Her clan is still here, but I don’t think she has any immediate relatives in town.</p><p>Elderron: Where does the clan live?</p><p>Smolly: Not too far from the Firerubys.</p><p>Elderron: What was her name?</p><p>Smolly: Thodrina Frostgem.</p><p></p><p>Marxine went to talk to some of the dwarven workers in the bar. They said they were surprised that things were happening in their favor so quickly.</p><p></p><p>Elderron, to Smolly: Who’s been increasing pay? We’d like to know what changed their minds.</p><p>Smolly: There’s a human named Cordun Emmlin, a gnome named Skorada Stickyfingers Orindon, a hill dwarf named Molg Faceteye, and the Frostgems.</p><p>Elderron: Thanks!</p><p>Smolly: We aims to help.</p><p>Marxine: You really have.</p><p></p><p>We enjoyed the food for a while then Vinya asked one of the workers if Marxine’s friend Erloto had helped to broker the deals between the guildmembers and the workers. The workers said they had the sense that the guard had evidence from the Spearbreakers that he was going to present to the Council.</p><p></p><p>After dinner, we went back to the Soaring Gull and the night passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>25 Blizzarin 749 (Campaign day 56)</p><p></p><p>We had breakfast and then headed out to the guardhouse to talk to Captain Toris. We immediately noticed that he looked less stressed than he had been.</p><p></p><p>Captain: Good morning.</p><p>Marxine: You look good.</p><p>Captain: It’s amazing what happens when you act as though there aren’t powers that be that will stop you from doing the right thing.</p><p>Elderron: Do you think you have enough of a case for the jury? Will it convict?</p><p>Captain: Interested parties within the station have passed word about the information we have to the guilds.</p><p>Elderron: Have you heard about what happened in Torm Brinnom?</p><p>Captain: I know he had some problems there.</p><p>Elderron: Talk to Hammerhammer.</p><p>Vinya: It was thought that Armok was responsible for the deaths of other dwarves. Have there been mysterious deaths among the guilds that the Firerubys are in?</p><p>Captain: There haven’t been any unexplained deaths, no. But some interesting and disturbing property crimes.</p><p>Marxine: Property crimes?</p><p>Captain: Stores burning down in situations where one of the guilds have discouraged a full investigation. We haven’t figured out whether that was from the entire Fireruby clan or just from the upper echelons.</p><p>Marxine: Do you know which people have had places burned down? Can we get names?</p><p>Captain: I can give you names. The victims have been mostly humans.</p><p>Marxine: Elves and dwarves hold longer grudges.</p><p>Captain: The Council of Guilds is meeting this afternoon -- this will be on the agenda. The other guilds are not happy.</p><p>Marxine: We’ll talk to the store owners who had their shops burned down. If we shore up their resolve maybe they’ll be willing to testify.</p><p></p><p>He gave us two names: Tara Grastim, a milliner, and Dallatin Turst, a dry goods merchant.</p><p></p><p>A dry goods merchant seemed like quite an outlier in the Fireruby’s sphere of influence -- gems and jewelry -- so we went there first. We found Turst in Naggedon. His place had been burned down one year before and we followed Captain Toris’ directions. We found a stone building under construction, with masons (mostly human) under the direction of a person who was clearly the master mason. There was someone else there who we assumed was Dallatin Turst.</p><p></p><p>We talked to Turst about the circumstances leading up to the fire that had destroyed his building. He said that he had provisioned a Fireruby caravan going to Torm Brinnom. Armok Fireruby said he needed a little float on what he would pay, but he would make enough money to pay the full bill when he sold his goods. But when the caravan returned, Turst didn’t get paid, even when he asked for the money he was owed. When the Firerubies came to him to get provisions for another caravan, Turst declined to do so, because he was still waiting to get paid for the previous one. Right after that, his shop was burned down. He felt somewhat lucky that no one was hurt.</p><p></p><p>Marxine: Captain Toris is reopening the case and reinvestigating it. Without restrictions from the guilds. The Firerubys world is crashing down. You should get the word out to your guild.</p><p></p><p>He agreed that he would consider it.</p><p></p><p>We then headed to Facet Square to go to the shop of Skorada “Stickfingers” Orindon, a gnome dealing in flashy and gaudy, but well-made, jewelry.</p><p></p><p>Skorada: Top o’ the day to you! How can I help you?</p><p>Marxine: We want to talk to you about the strike.</p><p>Vinya: And why and how you resolved it with your workers so quickly.</p><p>Skorada: Oooookaaay….</p><p>Marxine: What brought you to the table so soon?</p><p>Skorada: It’s one thing to stick with your guild, but when you find out your guild is killing people. That’s another thing. I chose not to stand with them when I found that out.</p><p>Vinya: How did you hear about them hiring the Spearbreakers?</p><p>Skorada: If I hadn’t been in that fern bar in Blossomside, it still wouldn’t be hard to figure out who hired them.</p><p>Elderron: Was it the elder Fireruby or one of the younger ones?</p><p>Skorada: Armok is the older one, he was the main force. He arrived at the fern bar with the two youngers, Artok and Kurkul.</p><p>Elderron: Would you like to see him removed from your guild and from the council?</p><p>Skorada: The number of guilds on the council varies. Right now there are twenty-seven guilds. Of those there are twenty-four votes to exile them. How many more beyond that will depend on how many meet between now and the Council meeting. Or in the case of my guild, the Jewelers’ Guild, he’s already been voted out in a meeting held in private.</p><p>Vinya: Has he been informed?</p><p>Skorada: That is in progress.</p><p>Elama: Why are you called Stickfingers? Do you really have stick fingers?</p><p>Skorada: You get your hands caught in the vise one time--ONE TIME--and a nickname sticks.</p><p></p><p>We left for Blossomside to see what was going on at the Fireruby estate. When we got there, we sauntered past the gate, through it we saw that the shutters on the house were closed and the shades were all down. Four grim looking guards stood at the front gate.</p><p></p><p>Elama: It’s almost like they’re expecting trouble.</p><p></p><p>The estate had a wall around it, solid and high which made it impossible to see in except through the gate. We walked around the estate, casually as possible. We could see an upper story and the roof of the mansion inside, but we couldn’t see any activity or movement. Around the back we saw a second entrance, clearly a trade entrance -- less grand and a wider gate. This back entrance was also guarded by four guards. They also looked grim, even by dwarf standards.</p><p></p><p>Aldalomiel noticed that they didn’t appear to merely be grimly waiting for bad stuff to be coming from outside their compound, but were more broadly unhappy with what was going on in their life.</p><p></p><p>Through the gate, we saw that there was some activity in the courtyard. There was a cart waiting with some chests in it, but it wasn’t anything like big enough for the whole clan to be moving. Marxine thought Armok was leaving because of the heat. Vinya, considering the grimness of the dwarves on guard duty, wondered if he was being kicked out of the clan.</p><p></p><p>We decided to head to city hall to see if we could pick up anything about, or at, the council meeting. We then realized that we didn’t really know where that was. Vinya went back to talk to the guards outside the back of the Fireruby estate.</p><p></p><p>Vinya: Can you please point us in the direction of the Council building? I love architecture and really want to see the building. Do they let visitors in?</p><p>Guard, looking puzzled: Really? It’s that way. Turn left after ten blocks.</p><p></p><p>The council building was really bland with the only windows clerestory windows at the tops of the walls.</p><p></p><p>Vinya, still playing idiot, architecture-obsessed tourist, went right to the door of the council building and asked the person at the entrance if we could go in and look around.</p><p></p><p>Vinya: I find government buildings so interesting, don’t you? I’d really love to look into this one. Is that possible?</p><p>Guard, looking over his shoulder, then back at Vinya, puzzled: Umm, there’s really not much here. I’d be happy to let you see it, but the Council is going to be meeting in just a few hours and I can’t let you in. If you come back tomorrow…</p><p>Vinya: Oh, well, shoot. I don’t know if we’re still going to be in town tomorrow. Can you at least tell me what the building is like inside?</p><p>Guard, still just puzzled: It’s a room. With some smaller offices around it. There’s a table. Come back tomorrow if you can.</p><p>Vinya: I definitely will! Thanks!</p><p></p><p>We found a quiet place not too far from the council building and Elderron sent Oda to fly up and look through the clerestory windows of the building. He saw a conference table with 27 chairs around it. There were additional chairs lined up on the side of the room, that we surmised were for witnesses who were going to speak to the council.</p><p></p><p>We decided to head over to the same bar we’d seen the guildmasters meeting at the day of the Spearbreaker attack, the fancy fern bar, which was just a couple minutes walk away. It was the closest restaurant/bar/eatery to the Fireruby estate, but sadly not very close to it (several minutes away). As we went in that direction we saw a group of well-dressed people of a smattering of races, humans, dwarves, gnomes, elves, a halfling, all moving in the direction of the Fireruby estate. We let them go by then casually sort of went in that direction, staying back and trying to be subtle about it. We noticed other people standing and staring, or openly and obviously following the group.</p><p></p><p>When the group arrived at the front entrance to the Fireruby estate, we noticed that there were only three guards at the gate now. Most of the party went to the back of the estate, thinking that there would be some action back there -- probably an attempt to flee. Vinya stayed at the front to see what happened with the group.</p><p></p><p>After a while a female dwarf who looked to be about the same age as Armok came to the gate with the fourth of the guards who had been on duty there. She spoke with the well-dressed group in a quiet but very intense conversation. Vinya heard one of the group say that they had come to tell Armok that he was no longer the head of the Jewelers’ Guild.</p><p></p><p>Fireruby Matriarch: By telling me, you have told him. We will not contest this.</p><p></p><p>Hearing that, Vinya circled around the building, without crossing in front of the gate, and joined up with the others in the back. We stayed back there until shortly before the council meeting. As we hung out, Marxine and Vinya saw movement through the back gate inside the estate. We saw movement and one of the guards headed toward the front.</p><p></p><p>Elama started casting clairvoyance.</p><p></p><p>Elderron sent Oda toward the front of the house to see what was going on up there. He saw a mature dwarven woman, escorted by four guards, head toward the council building. Oda followed them to the building then watched through the window. Elderron could see the people in the council room and we were hoping that Elama would be able to hear.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, her spell failed and Oda was unable to hear anything that happened. We figured that there must be a spell or something blocking anyone listening in on the proceedings.</p><p></p><p>Elderron continued to watch. He saw the meeting coming to order, then the dwarf woman walked in without her guards. She insisted on speaking to the council before any of the witnesses, talking intensely and fiercely. She looked scared and uncertain -- maybe of what the council would do, maybe of Armok.</p><p></p><p>The dwarves among the council and sitting in the witness chairs, were stunned by her words, their jaws literally dropping. After that there was some explanation from the dwarves to the people of other races, then everyone seemed to be stunned and surprised.</p><p></p><p>She spoke for another minute or two, then there was animated discussion among the witnesses and the council, while the woman left the room. A moment later Elderron saw, through Oda’s eyes, as she left the building with her four guards and turned down the street toward the Fireruby estate.</p><p></p><p>Vinya moved to the front of the building, while the rest of the party stayed in the back, and hid up between the Fireruby fence/wall and the neighboring estate. A few minutes alter the dwarf woman got to the front entrance. One of the guards opened the gate. When she entered, two of the guards stayed at the front gate and the other two went in with her. Vinya noticed there were six at the front gate now -- four facing in toward the house and two facing out to the street. Like they were trying to stop something from coming out of the house even more than they were trying to stop something from going in.</p><p></p><p>Elderron had Oda fly around the house looking for windows, but they were all shuttered or shaded. Vinya saw a glimpse through the gate of people taking a chest out to the cart we’d seen before. It looked like it had seating for three people, and there were three chests on it. It had been moved from the back of the house to the front and looked like it would go out the front entrance. Oda could see more clearly, so Elderron noticed that it wasn’t a very high quality cart -- not better or fancier than the ones we’d used between the Knot and Tash.</p><p></p><p>Vinya ran to the back of the estate to tell the others what was going on in the front. Then she ran back to the front without seeing if they were following her. Oda saw some dwarves leaving the mansion -- it was Armok, Kurkul, and Artok, only in ordinary trader’s clothes -- not the finery they’d worn when we saw them days ago.</p><p></p><p>Elderron conveyed to Marxine what he was hearing, repeating the unfamiliar dwarvish words as best he could, but Marxine couldn’t understand him. It definitely sounded like there was argument. And Armok giving orders, but no one was following them, then the realization that he was not in charge anymore. There were guards on the doorstep of the house, to prevent the three of them from going back in.</p><p></p><p>Armok, Artok, and Kurkul climbed onto the cart and the woman led the cart to the front gate. The guards opened the gate and she led the cart out onto the street. Once on the street, she started speaking forcefully in dwarvish.</p><p></p><p>By that point Marxine and the rest of the party had moved to the front of the alley between the Firerubys and their neighbors. Marxine heard the woman name each of the three men fully, not just their given names and clan names, but the names of their ancestors going back several generations.</p><p></p><p>Fireruby Matriarch: By the forge on which your souls were made and the hammer that made them, you are cast out of this place. You are no longer of us.</p><p></p><p>The cart then started moving away from the house, generally in the direction of Silent Up and the main city gate. Armok, Kurkul, and Artok weren’t going meekly -- they seemed more angry than humbled or shamed -- but none of the three were fighters and they went.</p><p></p><p>Oda flew after the cart until it had left the city and turned down the river in the direction of New Arvai. Then he returned and reported to Elderron what he’d seen.</p><p></p><p>Maybe an hour and a half after the cart left, Captain Toris and a group of people, which Elderron recognized as the council members, arrived at the Fireruby estate with a large contingent of guards. We stepped out from our secluded alley so we could see better and Captain Toris waved us over to him.</p><p></p><p>Captain Toris: You know the Firerubys kicked Armok, Kurkul, and Artok out?</p><p>Vinya: Yeah. We saw them leave.</p><p></p><p>The dwarven woman came out of the house and came to the gate.</p><p></p><p>Fireruby Matriarch: Captain. What is the council’s decision? We have kicked the offenders out of clan and city.. The offer of restitution is sincere and still stands. We have learned from talking to him that our entire clan was not exiled from Torm Brinnom, just those three. They lied to us and betrayed their whole clan. If the council has determined to exile us from the city, we will accept that.</p><p>Captain, to Marxine: She said something about a hammer and forge of souls.</p><p>Marxine: Yeah. That’s how dwarves are made.</p><p>Captain: So if she’s swearing by that it’s a big thing?</p><p>Marxine: Yeah.</p><p>Captain: I wanted to hear that from someone not from Lonoj.</p><p>Marxine: I was positive something bad was going to happen until she said that.</p><p>Captain, to the Fireruby Matriarch: We accept the justice you have dispensed within your clan and we accept the restitution you offer. Furthermore, no one in your clan is allowed to lead a guild in this city, nor may their children or grandchildren.</p><p>Vinya, to Captain: Does the restitution they offered include the dead workers or does it only go as far as the dead guard?</p><p>Captain: The individual guard’s family, and our widows and orphans fund, will all receive money. All of those who work for the clan will receive better pay. There will also be money for the families of the dead picketers. There will be no punishment for the Spearbreakers except that they are not allowed to take jobs within the city.</p><p></p><p>He took us back to the guard house and paid each of us 250 gold pieces for the help we’d given the city.</p><p></p><p>Vinya: Is the strike over?</p><p>Captain: Artok, Kurkul, and Armok were the main drivers and instigators of the merchants and bosses refusing to back down and refusing to negotiate. With them gone, the workers will once again be able to negotiate for better pay and working conditions.</p><p></p><p>We headed then to the Silver Loupe to relax and hang out. There was a big shout when we entered. Smolly waved us over to the bar.</p><p></p><p>Smolly: A bunch of the people chipped in with a bit of money and some of them had things sitting around that they didn’t have a use for and they thought maybe you did.</p><p>Vinya: Oh, that’s not…</p><p>Marxine: I’ll respect their kindness and we’ll accept their gifts.</p><p></p><p>Smolly put a chest on the counter (it had 1000 gp in it) and three magical items which, when identified, turned out to be an Elixir of Health, a Rope of Climbing and a magical flail, a Flail of Warning.</p><p></p><p>Vinya and Marxine each stood around for the whole bar, then the whole party decided that would be from all of us. (So we spent 10 gold out of the chest they gave us.) Some of the people there bought us drinks. And we celebrated and partied until late in the night.</p><p></p><p>We stumbled our way back to the Soaring Gull to find Mr. Stonebright waiting up for us.</p><p></p><p>Stonebright: Good news, everyone! I’ve found us a ship to Tuntori. The Riverspark will leave tomorrow afternoon -- the captain is a hill dwarf so I expect no problems on the way.</p><p></p><p>We got the details on when and where to meet him to board the Riverspark and headed off to bed.</p><p></p><p>And there we ended.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8121077, member: 7016699"] Session 17: Dwarven Oaths Dramatis Personae: Aldalómiel - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave) Elama “Lamie” Galanodel- Wood Elf Cleric (Tempest) Vinya Anar - Wood Elf Monk (Way of the Sun Soul) Elderon - High Elf Wizard (Loremaster) Marxine Deepfoot - Dwarf Fighter (Champion) GM - Everyone Else (Note: This session was held on Discord.) 24 Blizzarin 749 (Campaign day 55) (immediately after) As we left Hammerhammer’s smithy, we talked about next steps. We thought about looking into suspicious deaths among the merchant class. VInya thought she understood that the former head of the Gemcutters Guild, replaced by Artok Fireruby (nephew of Armok), had died. We thought about going off to talk to Captain Toris, but realized that it was near dinnertime, so we decided to hold that for the next day and went back to the Silver Loupe for dinner. As we went, we passed through Facet Square -- there was picketing going on, but there had been no major actions like the day before. Marxine noticed that morale was still good among the picketers. When we got to the Silver Loupe, the people there recognized Marxine as someone fighting on their side and she was greeted warmly. Smolly: Some of the merchants are negotiating with the workers -- they’re breaking ranks to increase wages and provide better conditions. Vinya: Huh. Cool! Marxine told Smolly what we’d been working on as far as finding information that would cause the guilds to step away from the Firerubys. Smolly: The other guildsmen are undercutting Armok and the other Firerubys by coming to the table. I’ve heard of one or two merchants offering concessions to workers who’d been employed by other people. Elderron: I wonder what Fireruby thinks about this. Smolly: I don’t know what to expect from Fireruby, either the clan overall or the few doing most of their Guild business. Vinya: What do you know about the death of the former head of the Gemcutters’ Guild? Smolly: Well, I know she was a very old hill dwarf. I thought she died of old age. Her clan is still here, but I don’t think she has any immediate relatives in town. Elderron: Where does the clan live? Smolly: Not too far from the Firerubys. Elderron: What was her name? Smolly: Thodrina Frostgem. Marxine went to talk to some of the dwarven workers in the bar. They said they were surprised that things were happening in their favor so quickly. Elderron, to Smolly: Who’s been increasing pay? We’d like to know what changed their minds. Smolly: There’s a human named Cordun Emmlin, a gnome named Skorada Stickyfingers Orindon, a hill dwarf named Molg Faceteye, and the Frostgems. Elderron: Thanks! Smolly: We aims to help. Marxine: You really have. We enjoyed the food for a while then Vinya asked one of the workers if Marxine’s friend Erloto had helped to broker the deals between the guildmembers and the workers. The workers said they had the sense that the guard had evidence from the Spearbreakers that he was going to present to the Council. After dinner, we went back to the Soaring Gull and the night passed without incident. 25 Blizzarin 749 (Campaign day 56) We had breakfast and then headed out to the guardhouse to talk to Captain Toris. We immediately noticed that he looked less stressed than he had been. Captain: Good morning. Marxine: You look good. Captain: It’s amazing what happens when you act as though there aren’t powers that be that will stop you from doing the right thing. Elderron: Do you think you have enough of a case for the jury? Will it convict? Captain: Interested parties within the station have passed word about the information we have to the guilds. Elderron: Have you heard about what happened in Torm Brinnom? Captain: I know he had some problems there. Elderron: Talk to Hammerhammer. Vinya: It was thought that Armok was responsible for the deaths of other dwarves. Have there been mysterious deaths among the guilds that the Firerubys are in? Captain: There haven’t been any unexplained deaths, no. But some interesting and disturbing property crimes. Marxine: Property crimes? Captain: Stores burning down in situations where one of the guilds have discouraged a full investigation. We haven’t figured out whether that was from the entire Fireruby clan or just from the upper echelons. Marxine: Do you know which people have had places burned down? Can we get names? Captain: I can give you names. The victims have been mostly humans. Marxine: Elves and dwarves hold longer grudges. Captain: The Council of Guilds is meeting this afternoon -- this will be on the agenda. The other guilds are not happy. Marxine: We’ll talk to the store owners who had their shops burned down. If we shore up their resolve maybe they’ll be willing to testify. He gave us two names: Tara Grastim, a milliner, and Dallatin Turst, a dry goods merchant. A dry goods merchant seemed like quite an outlier in the Fireruby’s sphere of influence -- gems and jewelry -- so we went there first. We found Turst in Naggedon. His place had been burned down one year before and we followed Captain Toris’ directions. We found a stone building under construction, with masons (mostly human) under the direction of a person who was clearly the master mason. There was someone else there who we assumed was Dallatin Turst. We talked to Turst about the circumstances leading up to the fire that had destroyed his building. He said that he had provisioned a Fireruby caravan going to Torm Brinnom. Armok Fireruby said he needed a little float on what he would pay, but he would make enough money to pay the full bill when he sold his goods. But when the caravan returned, Turst didn’t get paid, even when he asked for the money he was owed. When the Firerubies came to him to get provisions for another caravan, Turst declined to do so, because he was still waiting to get paid for the previous one. Right after that, his shop was burned down. He felt somewhat lucky that no one was hurt. Marxine: Captain Toris is reopening the case and reinvestigating it. Without restrictions from the guilds. The Firerubys world is crashing down. You should get the word out to your guild. He agreed that he would consider it. We then headed to Facet Square to go to the shop of Skorada “Stickfingers” Orindon, a gnome dealing in flashy and gaudy, but well-made, jewelry. Skorada: Top o’ the day to you! How can I help you? Marxine: We want to talk to you about the strike. Vinya: And why and how you resolved it with your workers so quickly. Skorada: Oooookaaay…. Marxine: What brought you to the table so soon? Skorada: It’s one thing to stick with your guild, but when you find out your guild is killing people. That’s another thing. I chose not to stand with them when I found that out. Vinya: How did you hear about them hiring the Spearbreakers? Skorada: If I hadn’t been in that fern bar in Blossomside, it still wouldn’t be hard to figure out who hired them. Elderron: Was it the elder Fireruby or one of the younger ones? Skorada: Armok is the older one, he was the main force. He arrived at the fern bar with the two youngers, Artok and Kurkul. Elderron: Would you like to see him removed from your guild and from the council? Skorada: The number of guilds on the council varies. Right now there are twenty-seven guilds. Of those there are twenty-four votes to exile them. How many more beyond that will depend on how many meet between now and the Council meeting. Or in the case of my guild, the Jewelers’ Guild, he’s already been voted out in a meeting held in private. Vinya: Has he been informed? Skorada: That is in progress. Elama: Why are you called Stickfingers? Do you really have stick fingers? Skorada: You get your hands caught in the vise one time--ONE TIME--and a nickname sticks. We left for Blossomside to see what was going on at the Fireruby estate. When we got there, we sauntered past the gate, through it we saw that the shutters on the house were closed and the shades were all down. Four grim looking guards stood at the front gate. Elama: It’s almost like they’re expecting trouble. The estate had a wall around it, solid and high which made it impossible to see in except through the gate. We walked around the estate, casually as possible. We could see an upper story and the roof of the mansion inside, but we couldn’t see any activity or movement. Around the back we saw a second entrance, clearly a trade entrance -- less grand and a wider gate. This back entrance was also guarded by four guards. They also looked grim, even by dwarf standards. Aldalomiel noticed that they didn’t appear to merely be grimly waiting for bad stuff to be coming from outside their compound, but were more broadly unhappy with what was going on in their life. Through the gate, we saw that there was some activity in the courtyard. There was a cart waiting with some chests in it, but it wasn’t anything like big enough for the whole clan to be moving. Marxine thought Armok was leaving because of the heat. Vinya, considering the grimness of the dwarves on guard duty, wondered if he was being kicked out of the clan. We decided to head to city hall to see if we could pick up anything about, or at, the council meeting. We then realized that we didn’t really know where that was. Vinya went back to talk to the guards outside the back of the Fireruby estate. Vinya: Can you please point us in the direction of the Council building? I love architecture and really want to see the building. Do they let visitors in? Guard, looking puzzled: Really? It’s that way. Turn left after ten blocks. The council building was really bland with the only windows clerestory windows at the tops of the walls. Vinya, still playing idiot, architecture-obsessed tourist, went right to the door of the council building and asked the person at the entrance if we could go in and look around. Vinya: I find government buildings so interesting, don’t you? I’d really love to look into this one. Is that possible? Guard, looking over his shoulder, then back at Vinya, puzzled: Umm, there’s really not much here. I’d be happy to let you see it, but the Council is going to be meeting in just a few hours and I can’t let you in. If you come back tomorrow… Vinya: Oh, well, shoot. I don’t know if we’re still going to be in town tomorrow. Can you at least tell me what the building is like inside? Guard, still just puzzled: It’s a room. With some smaller offices around it. There’s a table. Come back tomorrow if you can. Vinya: I definitely will! Thanks! We found a quiet place not too far from the council building and Elderron sent Oda to fly up and look through the clerestory windows of the building. He saw a conference table with 27 chairs around it. There were additional chairs lined up on the side of the room, that we surmised were for witnesses who were going to speak to the council. We decided to head over to the same bar we’d seen the guildmasters meeting at the day of the Spearbreaker attack, the fancy fern bar, which was just a couple minutes walk away. It was the closest restaurant/bar/eatery to the Fireruby estate, but sadly not very close to it (several minutes away). As we went in that direction we saw a group of well-dressed people of a smattering of races, humans, dwarves, gnomes, elves, a halfling, all moving in the direction of the Fireruby estate. We let them go by then casually sort of went in that direction, staying back and trying to be subtle about it. We noticed other people standing and staring, or openly and obviously following the group. When the group arrived at the front entrance to the Fireruby estate, we noticed that there were only three guards at the gate now. Most of the party went to the back of the estate, thinking that there would be some action back there -- probably an attempt to flee. Vinya stayed at the front to see what happened with the group. After a while a female dwarf who looked to be about the same age as Armok came to the gate with the fourth of the guards who had been on duty there. She spoke with the well-dressed group in a quiet but very intense conversation. Vinya heard one of the group say that they had come to tell Armok that he was no longer the head of the Jewelers’ Guild. Fireruby Matriarch: By telling me, you have told him. We will not contest this. Hearing that, Vinya circled around the building, without crossing in front of the gate, and joined up with the others in the back. We stayed back there until shortly before the council meeting. As we hung out, Marxine and Vinya saw movement through the back gate inside the estate. We saw movement and one of the guards headed toward the front. Elama started casting clairvoyance. Elderron sent Oda toward the front of the house to see what was going on up there. He saw a mature dwarven woman, escorted by four guards, head toward the council building. Oda followed them to the building then watched through the window. Elderron could see the people in the council room and we were hoping that Elama would be able to hear. Unfortunately, her spell failed and Oda was unable to hear anything that happened. We figured that there must be a spell or something blocking anyone listening in on the proceedings. Elderron continued to watch. He saw the meeting coming to order, then the dwarf woman walked in without her guards. She insisted on speaking to the council before any of the witnesses, talking intensely and fiercely. She looked scared and uncertain -- maybe of what the council would do, maybe of Armok. The dwarves among the council and sitting in the witness chairs, were stunned by her words, their jaws literally dropping. After that there was some explanation from the dwarves to the people of other races, then everyone seemed to be stunned and surprised. She spoke for another minute or two, then there was animated discussion among the witnesses and the council, while the woman left the room. A moment later Elderron saw, through Oda’s eyes, as she left the building with her four guards and turned down the street toward the Fireruby estate. Vinya moved to the front of the building, while the rest of the party stayed in the back, and hid up between the Fireruby fence/wall and the neighboring estate. A few minutes alter the dwarf woman got to the front entrance. One of the guards opened the gate. When she entered, two of the guards stayed at the front gate and the other two went in with her. Vinya noticed there were six at the front gate now -- four facing in toward the house and two facing out to the street. Like they were trying to stop something from coming out of the house even more than they were trying to stop something from going in. Elderron had Oda fly around the house looking for windows, but they were all shuttered or shaded. Vinya saw a glimpse through the gate of people taking a chest out to the cart we’d seen before. It looked like it had seating for three people, and there were three chests on it. It had been moved from the back of the house to the front and looked like it would go out the front entrance. Oda could see more clearly, so Elderron noticed that it wasn’t a very high quality cart -- not better or fancier than the ones we’d used between the Knot and Tash. Vinya ran to the back of the estate to tell the others what was going on in the front. Then she ran back to the front without seeing if they were following her. Oda saw some dwarves leaving the mansion -- it was Armok, Kurkul, and Artok, only in ordinary trader’s clothes -- not the finery they’d worn when we saw them days ago. Elderron conveyed to Marxine what he was hearing, repeating the unfamiliar dwarvish words as best he could, but Marxine couldn’t understand him. It definitely sounded like there was argument. And Armok giving orders, but no one was following them, then the realization that he was not in charge anymore. There were guards on the doorstep of the house, to prevent the three of them from going back in. Armok, Artok, and Kurkul climbed onto the cart and the woman led the cart to the front gate. The guards opened the gate and she led the cart out onto the street. Once on the street, she started speaking forcefully in dwarvish. By that point Marxine and the rest of the party had moved to the front of the alley between the Firerubys and their neighbors. Marxine heard the woman name each of the three men fully, not just their given names and clan names, but the names of their ancestors going back several generations. Fireruby Matriarch: By the forge on which your souls were made and the hammer that made them, you are cast out of this place. You are no longer of us. The cart then started moving away from the house, generally in the direction of Silent Up and the main city gate. Armok, Kurkul, and Artok weren’t going meekly -- they seemed more angry than humbled or shamed -- but none of the three were fighters and they went. Oda flew after the cart until it had left the city and turned down the river in the direction of New Arvai. Then he returned and reported to Elderron what he’d seen. Maybe an hour and a half after the cart left, Captain Toris and a group of people, which Elderron recognized as the council members, arrived at the Fireruby estate with a large contingent of guards. We stepped out from our secluded alley so we could see better and Captain Toris waved us over to him. Captain Toris: You know the Firerubys kicked Armok, Kurkul, and Artok out? Vinya: Yeah. We saw them leave. The dwarven woman came out of the house and came to the gate. Fireruby Matriarch: Captain. What is the council’s decision? We have kicked the offenders out of clan and city.. The offer of restitution is sincere and still stands. We have learned from talking to him that our entire clan was not exiled from Torm Brinnom, just those three. They lied to us and betrayed their whole clan. If the council has determined to exile us from the city, we will accept that. Captain, to Marxine: She said something about a hammer and forge of souls. Marxine: Yeah. That’s how dwarves are made. Captain: So if she’s swearing by that it’s a big thing? Marxine: Yeah. Captain: I wanted to hear that from someone not from Lonoj. Marxine: I was positive something bad was going to happen until she said that. Captain, to the Fireruby Matriarch: We accept the justice you have dispensed within your clan and we accept the restitution you offer. Furthermore, no one in your clan is allowed to lead a guild in this city, nor may their children or grandchildren. Vinya, to Captain: Does the restitution they offered include the dead workers or does it only go as far as the dead guard? Captain: The individual guard’s family, and our widows and orphans fund, will all receive money. All of those who work for the clan will receive better pay. There will also be money for the families of the dead picketers. There will be no punishment for the Spearbreakers except that they are not allowed to take jobs within the city. He took us back to the guard house and paid each of us 250 gold pieces for the help we’d given the city. Vinya: Is the strike over? Captain: Artok, Kurkul, and Armok were the main drivers and instigators of the merchants and bosses refusing to back down and refusing to negotiate. With them gone, the workers will once again be able to negotiate for better pay and working conditions. We headed then to the Silver Loupe to relax and hang out. There was a big shout when we entered. Smolly waved us over to the bar. Smolly: A bunch of the people chipped in with a bit of money and some of them had things sitting around that they didn’t have a use for and they thought maybe you did. Vinya: Oh, that’s not… Marxine: I’ll respect their kindness and we’ll accept their gifts. Smolly put a chest on the counter (it had 1000 gp in it) and three magical items which, when identified, turned out to be an Elixir of Health, a Rope of Climbing and a magical flail, a Flail of Warning. Vinya and Marxine each stood around for the whole bar, then the whole party decided that would be from all of us. (So we spent 10 gold out of the chest they gave us.) Some of the people there bought us drinks. And we celebrated and partied until late in the night. We stumbled our way back to the Soaring Gull to find Mr. Stonebright waiting up for us. Stonebright: Good news, everyone! I’ve found us a ship to Tuntori. The Riverspark will leave tomorrow afternoon -- the captain is a hill dwarf so I expect no problems on the way. We got the details on when and where to meet him to board the Riverspark and headed off to bed. And there we ended. [/QUOTE]
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Erkonin (Campaign #2) [Session 45: Rajalmin's Agent]
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