NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8261634" data-attributes="member: 7015827">After a restful and long night’s sleep, the party gathered once more in the Giant’s Folly common room, nigh onto noon. The bard from the previous night was playing once more, singing softly to blend in with the tavern conversations. Dermot went over to tip the minstrel, as the others discussed Shanni’s dream of a big house with comfy beds and a bath. Once the song ended, the ranger wandered back to their table, as Erinetta carried over a rather large platter of food, including fresh boar meet and some stinky but tasty cheese.As they were tucking into the meal, Ian Gryphonhawk approached and told them he had some news, mentioning several things that had occurred since they were there last, over a month ago. He first mentioned a troll scare near the Reddan River bridge, which had been troll country in the past. (It is a strange thing, the penchant trolls have for bridges, yet perhaps it is also understandable. If they are in the business of waylaying travelers, what better place? --C) Aerikoth then suggested that Dermot show the innkeeper the Ascetic’s map, in the event he had more knowledge about the area. The ranger produced the map and smoothed it out on the bar in front of Ian. He observed that it looked recently drawn and not by a professional scribe, points which Dermot acknowledged. However, he was able to recognize the area well enough, being further along the Starmantle road from Reddansyr.After confirming that they planned to head that way, Ian asked them to bring back any word of his son Killian, if they could. The innkeeper’s face blanched as Aerikoth described their destination as a city full of undead, but continued on, describing how his son had set out on a foolish adventure, as he put it, some months prior when winter was coming. Killian had thought to explore the Starmantle road, to see what the dangers were. At the time, prior to its clearing by the Scarlet Company, the road had been closed due to the unusual presence of beasts, not to mention the harsh winter. Ian, hanging his head slightly, wonder if perhaps his son had heard one too many tales of his own past as an adventurer. Shanni and Darrow shared a grim look, evidently thinking about Killian’s potential fate. (It is unlikely that they accurately imagined what in fact ended up happening to the erstwhile adventurer, although it was certainly grim, as will be seen. --R)Returning to the map, Ian examined its features more closely and queried if the skulls marked on it were real, which was confirmed by Dermot. Pointing to the area where the tower was marked, the innkeeper said that no one ever went there, largely because there was no reason to, observing that it would be several hours' travel in the wilderness north of the Starmantle road. When Ian mentioned the Scarlet Company was the last to fully traverse the road, so would have the most recent knowledge, Darrow told him that they had ended up at opposite ends of some bad business recently, so hadn’t really talked about the Starmantle contract.Ian then brought up Old Hamish, a forest recluse whom Lady Rahnee – a former party member – had stopped by to talk to earlier in the month. She had been looking for information about his daughter Belle, who had traveled with Helm’s Shadows for a while, the innkeeper informed them. He also warned that Old Hamish wasn’t very social, living about two hours’ walk outside of town, in a hut with a small stead in the forest. (I too am curious about what happened with Belle, who stood with the party in their epic fight against the ancient lich Ashnakzeroth, but seemed to fade away afterwards. Perhaps there is more to the tale. --C)At Dermot’s invitation, Ian marked the location of the hut on their map, taking his time to get the location as precise as he could. According to the innkeeper, Old Hamish was the most knowledgeable person about the countryside, having lived in the area longer than most anyone. Ian said that normally he would recommend asking the bard, given their profession’s penchant for travel, but this one had come from Cormyr. Dermot nonetheless thought this would be useful, so went to approach the bard, as Darrow headed back upstairs to put on his armor and Aerikoth watched Ian work on the map.</blockquote>

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