View Single Post
Old 07-11-2020, 12:12 PM   #156
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Session 37 (2020-07-05)

Thoughts on August 15th

The land here was rather flat and densely forested. Had we found a bare hilltop, we might have seen the Silent Lake in the distance. Urdon, our destination, lies where the Grand River flows out of the lake. It shouldn’t be more than a week until a decent bed in Urdon’s best inn. Unless, of course, the Tamburin Supremacy has invaded and occupied the small town.


Thoughts on August 16th

I practiced with my bow while we traveled, today, shooting at trees with arrows from my infinite supply. I asked the others not to tell Va’lyndra, just in case she took offense at my choice of targets. I really need to get a better bow. I wear exotic swamp wurm leather armor, fight in close combat with a fiery knife and pull fine arrows from a cornucopia quiver. My plain and simple reflex bow needs an upgrade. I can certainly afford higher quality, and I think I’m up for using a bow with a slightly heavier pull.

When we made camp, I mentioned to Va’lyndra that I might get a new bow when we reached Urdon, and she expressed interest in my old one. I promised she would have the first claim if I decided to sell it.


Thoughts on August 17th

We finally reached the Silent Lake around midday. Va’lyndra noticed tracks going south along the shore, and estimated that they were at least a week old. Possibly adventurers, but it might also be Tamburin troops.

Continuing north, we saw more tracks, and Va’lyndra decided to climb a tall tree. She noticed a dark spot on the lake that had to be a boat, but no other sapient activity. At the end of the day, she climbed another tree and determined that the boat was heading north, possibly towards Urdon. The presence of the boat was baffling, as there were no ports south of Urdon. Maybe it was a Tamburin scouting vessel?


Thoughts on August 18th

In the evening, we reached the southern end of the road to Urdon. We saw no people, though, even if there should be farmsteads nearby. Maybe they had retired for the day.


Thoughts on August 19th

We encountered a farmer coming south from Urdon, where he had sold vegetables. The donkey-drawn cart was empty except for a few tools. Va’lyndra interrogated the farmer, who informed us that Tamburin forces lurked around the region. They had taken Garuk, and seemed content with that, for they hadn’t moved in strength towards Urdon. We decided to give the farmer some of our dried fruit, as we had more than enough to get us to Urdon. Our fruit was unfamiliar to the farmer, who asked where we had found it. We told him it came from a grove far to the south, two days outside a boogeyman town. I warned him not to go there. Boogeymen are dangerous. As we parted ways, the farmer alerted us to rising food prices.


Thoughts on August 20th

Since we would be reaching Urdon tomorrow, I suggested that we ask for lodgings at a farm tonight. That way, we could freshen up, so we’d be presentable when we entered town.

Farmers are obliged to take in travelers, but we had to pay for our baths. Olivia cleaned our clothes and did some much-needed mending. Shaving has been kept to the most essential regions while we’ve been traveling, but tonight we shaved each other’s legs and armpits, too. And then we let our inner rabbits out, although we kept the noise down, so as not to disturb the poor family living here.


Thoughts on August 21st

Va’lyndra had also taken the opportunity of a warm bath, and it slipped out of me, only in Olivia’s hearing, fortunately, that Va’lyndra looked hot! “Oh, that,” Olivia explained, “she’s been like that for weeks now. I’m pleased that you didn’t notice it before now!” “Well,” I defended, “I’ve thought that there was something different about her for some time, but I didn’t really …” “Don’t stare, Mattea,” Olivia said with a finger on my cheek, turning my head towards her, “it’s not polite. I may not have Va’lyndra’s grace, but I have something better.” She took my hand and placed it on her chest, not quite where I would have put it, but I could feel her heart beating. “I have you!”

We said thank you and goodbye to the farmers and rode on. A few hundred meters outside Urdon, soldiers had set up a checkpoint. Most of the ten soldiers hardly glanced at us as we approached, some were even playing dice, but three confronted us: “Stop! Who goes there?” I removed my helmet and tossed my head, not very impressive with my hair in a braid, but none of the three recognized me. Leopold just gave his name, but I hopped up on the saddle and proclaimed my identity. Some of the soldiers in the rear clearly knew me, for they started whispering.

The officer asked our errand, and Va’lyndra explained that we were adventurers returning from the south. The soldiers waved us on, and we soon arrived at the Urdon gates, where a single guard stood leaning on his pike, half asleep.

I suggested we find an inn, first; we didn’t have to lug all our equipment along all day. There were rooms available, some of the best, at Urdon’s most prominent inn, and we checked in. I smiled at Olivia. It felt like coming home.

We stabled our horses and moved our luggage inside, and sat down in Va’lyndra’s room to talk. We wanted to contact her knowledge guild and trade one of our new-found relics for the one Ilzo desired. Which one should we give up? Not the staff found in Walter’s temple, as he needed that to function. Nor should we relinquish the whale statuette representing the god of dimensions. That god had spoken to Ilzo and Va’lyndra, if only to inform them that they owed a service for taking the artifacts from beyond the glass bridge, but Va’lyndra especially felt connected to that god afterwards. That left the perversion statuette or the violent chaos statuette. I thought the last one was unsafe, and argued that we should give it to the knowledge guild, but Va’lyndra was flirting with the idea of using it as a weapon against Tamburin.

Va’lyndra and I decided to fill in Ilzo and Leopold on our dream vision, as they had proven reliable and trustworthy. We had revealed some details already, but we now endeavored to tell the whole story, the reason why we were collecting these relics. They listened intently to our story, and then Ilzo asked Walter if he was Chaotic. Va’lyndra repeated the question, hoping to get an answer. Walter said that he didn’t understand the question, so Va’lyndra explained that Ilzo, she and I were Chaotic. Walter brought up the long-dead priest back south, and said that he’d know. How useless!

We picked up the two statuettes that we might want to sell and left the room. We suddenly realized that we didn’t know where in Urdon the knowledge guild had settled down after leaving Garuk. Hiding away the statuettes again, Va’lyndra wandered out to search for familiar faces, leaving the rest of us to our own devices.

Evening was coming, so it was time to get up on the tables and perform. The show went exceptionally well; these folk had starved for entertainment while I was gone. I gathered the equivalents of a whole gold coin in tips, and the innkeeper said I didn’t have to pay for my stay here as long as I performed in the common room in the evenings. I thanked him and retired for the night.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote