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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1281258" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #4: Southport. Episode 5 of 5Chuck wakes up in an empty apartment. He feels hot, and very thirsty. His stomach roils from the ill effects of the night before, but at least his headache is gone. From the light slanting in through the slats of the shutters, he judges that it is late afternoon. Jim is nowhere to be seen, so he pokes around a little bit. He finds a note from Jim, some bread, and a half-round of cheese. The note reminds him of the meeting and warns him to keep an eye out for the halfling. Chuck takes the bread and cheese, and heads back to inn, eating on the way. Chuck gets back to the inn without incident. He looks battered and ill. Rian, the innkeeper’s daughter, reacts with solicitous concern, summoning the cook and Paks. Together, Rian and Paks help him upstairs to bed. He asks where Goldpetal is, but seems too weak to understand the answer when Paks tells him that the elf is looking for the shrine of Denev.  When Miriel gets back to the inn, after the festival, Paks asks her to check on him. Miriel finds Chuck wretchedly sick, and she runs back to the temple to fetch a healer. The healer ministers to Chuck, and Madriel cures his disease. Within minutes, he is feeling completely healthy. In return, he gives the healer a generous donation. She thanks him very much and takes her leave. Goldpetal returns to the inn after sunset, and tells the rest of the group that he plans to spend his nights in the forest; he’ll show us where so that we can find him if we need him. He does stay for dinner and drinks with the group, as we discuss what we’ve learned.Chuck tells us how we're supposed to meet Jim on the path to tower on the 12th. He also tells us about his experiences at the bar (“Ow!”) and shows us all the dagger. He asks Miriel for the parchment to confirm that the symbol is the same, and he explains the signals. He tells us of Jim’s plan to trick the smugglers, and how he lost his money and the copy of the signals while he was gambling. Goldpetal suggests talking to someone to learn more signals, and Chuck says he still plans to find the Harbormaster, but that he’ll need someone to go with him - maybe Stone will be able to go tomorrow. “Did you see the halfling?” asks Miriel.“No,” he answers, “But Jim saw him following me all day, and warned me to look out.”We have some dinner; Fox eats with us. We tell him about our various adventures of the day. Chuck asks about the seaman’s signals, but Fox has never spent much time on the water and doesn’t know them. Goldpetal and Chuck surreptitiously look for the halfling, but neither sees anything. Chuck asks Fox, “We’re looking for a halfling. Have you seen one?”“No,” Fox says, “But I’ll keep an eye out. I like ’em, they drink and eat a lot.” Saraya has become the house bard. The old house bard wasn’t very good, and couldn’t compete with her. Everyone clamors for the Goblin Hero song and buys us drinks. After finishing our lay, Saraya launches into an interesting ballad. On the surface, it sounds like many love songs we’ve heard before, but it carries an analogy to the current political situation. A Veshian girl has lost their heart to a callow Callastian youth; in other songs, both would be Veshian, or both Callastian. As the song proceeds, it turns out that the Callastian youth just pretends to care about others, and the Veshian girl gets her heart broken. Some patrons in the bar clearly get the cautionary point, and there are mutterings about how Vesh may get its heart broken. We ask Fox about Callastians, and he tells us about the House of Asuras. “They are well known for trading in illegal goods,” he tells us. “The head of the house, Telos Asuras, is at least a hundred years old now, but still runs things actively. He has an enormous family, with over two hundred children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, throughout the continent. The family has powerful chapters in every big city.” “Is there a family chapter in Southport?” asks Goldpetal, his purple eyes flashing.“There is not,” Fox says, “But their agents come to town occasionally.” Chuck tells Fox about the bar fight and the symbol on the dagger. Fox shakes his head. “It could have been them,” he says, “But it also could have been someone else. I hope, for your sake, it was someone else. House Asuras is very powerful and influential, and are not a good enemy to make.” “Could someone be trying to frame them?” asks Chuck. “It could be. I’ll keep my ears open, for you,” Fox promises.The rest of the evening passes quietly, and we go to bed early after our long days. The next day is Taniday, the 11th day of Charder. Chuck plans to go get the dagger appraised. He asks Fox to come down to the docks with him, and Fox agrees enthusiastically; he doesn’t get out as much as he used to. He goes back to his office, gets a dagger from his desk drawer, and slips it into his boot. They reach the Harbormaster’s office with no trouble. The docks are bustling with activity in the morning, with lots of boats being loaded and unloaded. They find the Harbormaster’s office, easily enough, but are told that Follisan is very busy. They have to wait quite a while for an audience. When Follisan is free, they are ushered into his office. “Fox!” the old salt exclaims. “How have you been?”“Well enough, well enough. My friend, Chuck, here would like to be instructed in seamen’s signals.”“Well now,” Follisan says, eyeing Chuck dubiously. With his leather armor, and two swords at his belt, the Vigilant does not look much like a soldier. “There are a lot of signals, and it takes a long time to learn them. They aren’t written down in books, son. This is seamen’s lore.”“All I really want is to learn this sheet,” Chuck says, offering the original copy of the signals. Follisan confirms the original interpretation, including the repetition of the ‘All clear.’ He wanders around the subject a bit more, but the long and short of it is that he is not willing to teach more. “The signals on the sheet are really all a landlubber like yourself should need, but if you really want to learn, you could sign up on a boat.” “Thanks,” Chuck says dryly. “I’ll keep that in mind.” “You’d best,” Follisan says warningly. “If you keep drinking like you did the other night, you’re going to pass out at the Conch and wind up on a boat anyway.”Chuck shakes his head. “It’s not a good idea to win too much, at first,” Follisan says, and clearly he knows much of Chuck’s activities at The Conch and Trident. “I tried!” Chuck exclaims. “I can’t help how the dice fall.”Follisan raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “If you two will excuse me, I have a great deal to do today.”As they leave Follisan’s office, Chuck and Fox see the mysterious halfling loitering about. Chuck yells, “Hey, you!” The halfling acts casual, and pretends not to notice. “You, sir,” Chuck shouts, walking towards him, with Fox behind. “Halfling!” “Me?” asks the halfling, looking about as though Chuck must certainly mean somebody else. “What do you want?” Chuck is now within a few feet of him, and looks him over. The halfling appears to have leather armor on beneath a cloak. Like all of his race, he is about the size of a child, little more than waist high on the Vigilant. His brown hair is short and tousled. “I’ve been seeing you around a lot,” Chuck says.“I don’t know what you mean,” says the halfling, smiling disarmingly. “I’m just going about my daily business.” “Sure...” Chuck sneers. “Would you like to come to the inn this evening and join us for a drink?” “Really, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the halfling protests. “I don’t have time for this!” He turns on one heel and stalks away indignantly. Chuck watches him go, without following.When Chuck and Fox return to the inn, Goldpetal invites Chuck up to the shrine he has found. They’ve bonded well, in the last few days, even though they have differences in religion. Goldpetal worships Denev, the Earth Mother. Chuck, like most Vigilants, worships her daughter, Tanil the Huntress, goddess of good luck. Chuck takes Goldpetal’s invitation as a sign of great trust between them.  Miriel spends a quiet day helping around the temple, which is much appreciated by the priestesses.That evening, we gather at the Laughing Ogre for dinner. Paks and Stone are feeling much better, and quite ready to set out on our task the next day.Miriel shows the map we found at the tower to Fox. He points out a number of features on the map; we’d already recognized Southport, the tower, the Spiderwood, and the Mourning Marsh. It shows a path running west from the tower to a circle, which none of us recognize, and then south from that into the Marsh. “Those,” the half-elf tells us, “Are a great circle of standing stones, which local legend says were once dedicated to the Titans. They stand on a great hill, overlooking much of the land between these hills…” He traces a line of hills, not marked on the map, which run east to west behind the Spiderwood. “… and the Marsh.”Goldpetal seems very interested when Fox mentions the standing stones. “How long have they been abandoned?” he inquires. “Since the Titans’ War, naturally,” Fox says. “No people worship there now.” Goldpetal looks at the rest of us. “We should check it out,” he says firmly.“Beyond,” Fox says, “A few hours’ ride, you would come to Kratys Freehold.” He points at a spot west of the standing stones. “They’re good folks.” Miriel looks up at him. “What about SySy? Have you ever heard the name?” “SySy sounds like a female name,” Fox says thoughtfully, “Possibly Slytherin. There’s an old swamp hag who lives over closer to the shore. I don’t know her name, but that might be her.” “Were there goblins who used to live near here?” asks Goldpetal. “Well,” Fox says thoughtfully, “I’ve seen those spider-eyed goblins before...” “What about regular goblins?” “Sure,” Fox says with a shrug. “They’re everywhere. They breed like cockroaches, so even when you haven’t seen any for a while, suddenly they’re everywhere.” “In town?” the elf asks with keen intent. Fox shakes his head. “Not that I know of. Once in a while those spider-eyed goblins come up to the Spiderwood. I’ve fought them before. The ones you encountered sounded kind of small, actually.” “They looked big enough to me,” Paks whispers to Chuck, shaking her head at the memory.Goldpetal says, “There are still some in the forest.” “Well, their Shaman is dead,” Miriel points out, “But we might want to check it out, when we’re done at the tower.” “Indeed, they’re never up to any good.” Fox says.  He looks at Paks and says, “You know they weren’t going to live up to their bargain with you.” Paks shakes her head.  Goldpetal asks, “Really?”Fox looks like he despises the goblins. “They can’t be trusted.” We tell Fox the general plan, not mentioning Jim. We plan to go talk to Grilliam in the morning before we go. As the rest of us head upstairs to bed, Goldpetal goes out of town to mediate, saying he will be back a little after sunrise.</blockquote>

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