the Jester
Legend
Casting Spells at Candidates
Vito talks to the farmers owning the well the party descended. “I have some powerful and wealthy friends,” he tells them, “that would be interested in using the caves that your well leads to for storage of certain items, no questions asked,” and to seal the deal he gives the freeholder family a tidy sum of gold. His diplomatic ways brook no opposition from a newly-wealthy family, so they count their money and cheerfully agree.
Back at the Drinking Dwarves, our heroes fall into an interesting conversation with Longburns. The long and the short of it is that his clan is in debt and willing to sell some local land cheap. Although the group has plans elsewhere- after all, this town doesn’t like their kind and some of them have plans to assault the forces trying to restore the Temple of Elemental Evil- he sells them on the idea, both because the parcel of land he’s offering is supposedly riddled with caves, including a mythical tomb of the last king of Dorla (which may or may not even exist), and because if they own it they can vote in the forthcoming election.
The next day the group revisits the harbor, and to their great satisfaction the infestation of fungus is clearly not as thick as it was previously. Harbormistress Bentricle is as salty as ever, which Krunkshank finds enticing. Later in the day, Vito leaves the group to run a few errands.
These errands, of course, involve the Magpie Gang. He tells them about the farmer on the edge of town and the little operation he’s set up, but much to his chagrin the gang leader, a female half-elf named Athro, won’t have him running any operations until he’s proven himself. She’s more than happy to give him a chance to do so, however. Ooluts, one of the candidates for governor, has some documents that might compromise the Magpie’s man in the election; on election night, Vito is to see to it that those documents are removed from his possession. The gang provides him with Ooluts’ house’s floor plan, including the location of the safe.
Meanwhile, Droidi makes another trip to the bugbear cave and offers them a chance to live in the caves on the land the group bought from Longburns. He’s worked out a deal with the rest of the party; he can live in the caverns with any friends he wants. They don’t yet realize that he means the bugbears, but they probably won’t care anyway. Chagsuuth, the bugbear druid, seems to like the idea, and states that he’ll sneak up to the surface and check out the caves’ suitability, but that most likely his tribe will take Droidi up on his offer.
That afternoon, while the group is in the Dwarves drinking, Ooluts enters the bar, flanked by a pair of tough-looking bodyguards. “A round for everyone, on me!” he cries, tossing Longburns a bag of coin. “And while you’re at it, use some of that to resupply yourself a little, my good dwarf!”
Horbin says, “So are you going to keep buying the whole town drinks if you’re elected?”
“Of course not,” Ooluts scoffs. “But don’t you agree that having a governor with the resources to get things done is better than having a governor who can’t?” The two begin a minor debate, and Vito drops back into the corner, trying to be unobtrusive. Then he begins casting a detect thoughts spell...
Of course, Ooluts’ bodyguards are observant folk. They see Vito begin spellcasting motions and spring into action. The smaller, wiry fellow pushes Ooluts to the ground, shouting, “Down!” and whips a blade free of its sheath. The larger, burly fellow, having missed Vito’s spell beginning, looks about, and Vito, deciding that discretion is certainly the better part of all that other stuff, stops his spellcasting and slips out the door, then hurries around the corner to a good hiding spot.
Inside the Dwarves, Horbin says, “Your bodyguards are quite quick. Maybe they’re overreacting a little bit?”
“Well,” Ooluts answers as he rises to his feet, “we’ve seen what kind of damage adventurers can do here, haven’t we? After all, they did kill the last governor- and I, for one, don’t intend to be next.”
But there’s no more trouble. Vito stays outside, though he does cast his detect thoughts and try to eavesdrop on the bodyguards and Ooluts, and the candidate and his guardians leave shortly, no doubt embarrassed by the ruckus.
“I still want to kill that cleric of Juiblex,” Horbin tells the rest of the group.
“Arr, I agree,” says Captain Clambake, tossing back another beer. “First thing tomorrow. And isn’t tomorrow election day?”
Indeed it is.
Well, folks, it's late so I'm afraid that the election and the final battle against the Juiblexian have to wait til next time. Coming soon, we'll have not only those events, but also breaking and entering....
Vito talks to the farmers owning the well the party descended. “I have some powerful and wealthy friends,” he tells them, “that would be interested in using the caves that your well leads to for storage of certain items, no questions asked,” and to seal the deal he gives the freeholder family a tidy sum of gold. His diplomatic ways brook no opposition from a newly-wealthy family, so they count their money and cheerfully agree.
Back at the Drinking Dwarves, our heroes fall into an interesting conversation with Longburns. The long and the short of it is that his clan is in debt and willing to sell some local land cheap. Although the group has plans elsewhere- after all, this town doesn’t like their kind and some of them have plans to assault the forces trying to restore the Temple of Elemental Evil- he sells them on the idea, both because the parcel of land he’s offering is supposedly riddled with caves, including a mythical tomb of the last king of Dorla (which may or may not even exist), and because if they own it they can vote in the forthcoming election.
The next day the group revisits the harbor, and to their great satisfaction the infestation of fungus is clearly not as thick as it was previously. Harbormistress Bentricle is as salty as ever, which Krunkshank finds enticing. Later in the day, Vito leaves the group to run a few errands.
These errands, of course, involve the Magpie Gang. He tells them about the farmer on the edge of town and the little operation he’s set up, but much to his chagrin the gang leader, a female half-elf named Athro, won’t have him running any operations until he’s proven himself. She’s more than happy to give him a chance to do so, however. Ooluts, one of the candidates for governor, has some documents that might compromise the Magpie’s man in the election; on election night, Vito is to see to it that those documents are removed from his possession. The gang provides him with Ooluts’ house’s floor plan, including the location of the safe.
Meanwhile, Droidi makes another trip to the bugbear cave and offers them a chance to live in the caves on the land the group bought from Longburns. He’s worked out a deal with the rest of the party; he can live in the caverns with any friends he wants. They don’t yet realize that he means the bugbears, but they probably won’t care anyway. Chagsuuth, the bugbear druid, seems to like the idea, and states that he’ll sneak up to the surface and check out the caves’ suitability, but that most likely his tribe will take Droidi up on his offer.
That afternoon, while the group is in the Dwarves drinking, Ooluts enters the bar, flanked by a pair of tough-looking bodyguards. “A round for everyone, on me!” he cries, tossing Longburns a bag of coin. “And while you’re at it, use some of that to resupply yourself a little, my good dwarf!”
Horbin says, “So are you going to keep buying the whole town drinks if you’re elected?”
“Of course not,” Ooluts scoffs. “But don’t you agree that having a governor with the resources to get things done is better than having a governor who can’t?” The two begin a minor debate, and Vito drops back into the corner, trying to be unobtrusive. Then he begins casting a detect thoughts spell...
Of course, Ooluts’ bodyguards are observant folk. They see Vito begin spellcasting motions and spring into action. The smaller, wiry fellow pushes Ooluts to the ground, shouting, “Down!” and whips a blade free of its sheath. The larger, burly fellow, having missed Vito’s spell beginning, looks about, and Vito, deciding that discretion is certainly the better part of all that other stuff, stops his spellcasting and slips out the door, then hurries around the corner to a good hiding spot.
Inside the Dwarves, Horbin says, “Your bodyguards are quite quick. Maybe they’re overreacting a little bit?”
“Well,” Ooluts answers as he rises to his feet, “we’ve seen what kind of damage adventurers can do here, haven’t we? After all, they did kill the last governor- and I, for one, don’t intend to be next.”
But there’s no more trouble. Vito stays outside, though he does cast his detect thoughts and try to eavesdrop on the bodyguards and Ooluts, and the candidate and his guardians leave shortly, no doubt embarrassed by the ruckus.
“I still want to kill that cleric of Juiblex,” Horbin tells the rest of the group.
“Arr, I agree,” says Captain Clambake, tossing back another beer. “First thing tomorrow. And isn’t tomorrow election day?”
Indeed it is.
Well, folks, it's late so I'm afraid that the election and the final battle against the Juiblexian have to wait til next time. Coming soon, we'll have not only those events, but also breaking and entering....
]
so I don’t know when or if I’ll tell the tale of our heroes finding out what’s up with Captain Clambake, the Return of the Wraith, and, of course, the lich. But when I get the chance, I’ll certainly try to do it! There are stories yet to be told- the tomb of the Last King of Dorla, the magic of the ancients... Hopefully I’ll get the chance!
