Write up follows:
Avulstein and Barb returned to Sorton and the Illytch Demesne later that evening where they spent some time along with the rest of the party going over possible plans to and personas they were going to use to get into and past the League of Odin guards in the Fighting Pits.
Ideas were taken and discarded but they settled on being a Fasted distant member of Pantal’s family (the elder half-orc) and since Marun was going to be with them the entire time they were there, Avulstein would pretend to be an actual wolverine and former pet of the expiring contract half-orcs. If and when he can get them alone, he would cast the three spells on them and that should be that.
The next morning (Firemonth the 19th) was an easy morning and by the time noon rolled around, Barb had been released from her training. She met up with Marun and Avulstein where they folded the three scrolls into a long tube and rolled it under a collar that they borrowed from the kennels. The collar was fastened to Avulstein’s neck and with the leash in hand, the scrolls were pretty much invisible.
The three of them were gone from the Demesne a bit after two and arrived at the League of Odin in Central Quarter shortly after that. The Temple of Odin was abutted against the League’s Fighter Guild and the 20’ tall stone statue to the one-eyed king of the gods was enough to make everyone feel a bit intimidated. The actual interior of the League was sizeable, set up like 8 long houses each with a different focus, but the entire think encircling the League Fighting Pit – a coliseum that could seat 2,500 and had a fighting pit roughly 100 x 50 oval.
The trio made their way down the stands and to the byway near the floor where Marun led them to a set of three openings, each once blocked by a stout iron gate. A local dwarven guard was there, chatted with them for a bit, and then opened the door with the single key on his neck and let the group in. It was a long corridor, 40’ deep that led eventually through the reek of sweat and hot leather to a dining area/common room. A few passages went off from here and there were three doors on the east wall (closed). Half a dozen tables had a dozen orcs and half orcs here along with a 3 or 4 count of dwarves.
Marun was well known and there was some banter back and forth with the “fixer” but eventually it came around to Barb and whether she was here as pleasure or something else? Sadly her tale was told that she was the niece of Pantal and wanted to see him before he signed the next contract. The wolverine was his “pet” and was well trained.
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| Hi, you don't know me and I'm a talking wolverine but I'd like to sneak into your private bedroom and talk to you about pretending to die. |
As for Avulstein, once inside and the door closed behind him, he rose to his hind legs and addressed the three surprised and lounging half-orcs within. He gave them a brief heads up of who he was and what they were doing. They were under the impression that he was a Freylian, a follower of Frey, and he didn’t dissuade them of it. He let them know about the feign death and the limited 2 hour window to get them out and gone.
One by one, they agreed to being put under (one of the younger half-orcs actually crapping his pants since he heard you crap your pants when you die) and when it was done, Avulstein huddled up against one of them and began to howl mournfully.
Outside, eating soup and killing time, Barb and Marun waited until it was finally Avulstein’s signal and they helped the dwarves get into the room and look around. The medic was called and one of the dwarven overseers came in as well. The three orcs were pretty beat up looking and Marun took the League overseer to task. The contract was 2-3 bouts per week – and it was obvious that Pantal and his nephews were running 8 or 9 bouts, and longer bouts at that, per week. All of it somewhat obvious that the Overseers were looking to force the trio into the contract prematurely.
Lots of yelling and accusations and the dwarves admitted that Pantal was a real fighter, not just some greenskin tough who pretends he was one – and the League didn’t want to lose him. Marun was disgusted and after the death certificate was signed off and sealed, ordered a body cart to be brought in and wanted these bodies “out of here now and back with their family”. Barb and Marun dragged the body cart laden with the three corpses out of the Fighting pit and out of the League, getting a number of respectful salutes and condolences from those they saw.
Outside of Central Gate they made their way to the Main Gate and then eventually the wilds outside of Sorton. To the east some half mile to the Randari camp where Spuntyr, Dungar, and a number of other orcs had gathered to help them take the bodies off the cars and into the yurt. It was another 10 minutes before Pantal came around and then the two nephews woke up a few minutes each after that. They reported they were able to hear everything that had passed during their time under the feign spell and were so happy to be out of the League’s contract.
There was some confusion as everyone thought Barb was a Freylian as well and then there was some discussion as to who was what and what everyone was. Pantal was satisfied it was over and wanted to spend some time here with his family before heading back east to the original home and joining a Freylian orcish community there. It seems he had a lot of anger and aggression after his betrothed had passed away early and her dream was to join the community. To get his aggression out he joined the League, not realizing that 8 years later he’d be a virtual prisoner.
According to Marun, 19 out of 20 contract go as expected and even though the signers don’t always walk away with 150 noble bonus at the end, they do walk away with something. It’s the rare good fighters or serious blowhards that get stuck in the contracts and it’s those that the League screws with the rules to keep them roped in.
After looking at Pantal for a bit, Avulstein had then launched into a spiel where he was literally offering to swap bodies with the half-orc. He explained who he was originally, his race, and the fact that if Pantal was indeed a follower of Frey, joining the group as a wolverine would give him a leg up in the organization. They talked about the swapping, how it would come about, and Pantal agreed to wait up to 3 months – if he heard nothing from Avulstein in that time, he’d wish the wolverine/shaman well and head off to the Gorokian Orcish Commune before the snows started.
Barb and Avulstein returned to the Demesne that evening and they felt good that they had done a good deed.
The next day, Firemonth the 20th, had Negan and a half dozen fighters training at the Demesne being relocated to the League’s fighting pits. House Illytch, along with a number of other Houses, was interested in cross training their people and the League was interested in possibly having other fighters come and try out their facilities. For the first half of the day, the fighting was pretty much spot on, and Negan did notice that half-ogres were treated very well at the League. They wanted their people in and have the opportunity to see what the League can do for them. At lunch, a League Impressor named Cleius was trying her best to get Negan to sign for a 20 month contract. Good food, lodging, camaraderie, the world’s your oyster. Negan was pulling the “dumb half-ogre” trick and purposely not understanding Cleius’ wants eventually frustrating her but not before two other fighters, Corkill and Nysandis, intervened and sent Cleius on her way.
Corkill was with House Randall (big stone house – assumed to be the richest house in Sorton) and Nysandis was with the Darblewyth Mines (known for stone stores and precious metals). They took to befriending Negan and during lunch plied him with bacon and mustard sandwiches. They were trying to get him to open up as to what House Illytch was doing out in Morata. They had some information, kobolds, ears, mushrooms, a mountain, and the adventuring party/mercenary party was involved in it.
Negan was in a tight spot and continued to deflect. Would say nothing until an older dwarf and an obvious priest of Odin showed up and suggested strongly that all of them come and have a private conversation. The older dwarf was Fannir Randall, 3rd Consul for House Randal and the other was his adjunct, Father Fundyr Randall, Priest of Odin, and also of House Randall. A room was set aside and a dwarven guard was asked to come in, lock it, and make sure that no one could hear us in or out. She activated a sound dampening rune on the door and was then informed that anything she heard in this room was privy to League and House only – and she would say nothing to anyone.
Negan had to drop the dumb half-ogre bit as Fannir was grilling him on more information that he didn’t know House Illytch was doing. House Randall knew quite a bit but they had three main questions and they wanted an opportunity for a contracted person, a hireling, to supply the information as they had zero luck getting a member of House Illytch to talk. They wanted to know what the mushrooms were, what they were to be used for, and what was with the kobold slaying? Was there a profit in it? Why would House Illytch do this? What was the angle? Yes, since they had been out there, kobold raids near the Terraces and local mines have been down, but what was the real reason?
Now Negan was going to remain mum on this until Fannir let slip that he knew about Siggurd Eindaud. He knew about the wanted bounty on the man and that the group had been under the employ of House Darbeard recently. He knew of the burnt Rolling Ridge Lodge and that Siggurd had been given a sweetheart deal with the League by facilitating a lucrative iron trade deal with House Brinster in Thak and the League.
But he was willing to do Negan a favor and have Siggurd in a place far from the League’s control in a certain day at a certain time – giving Negan and his crew a chance to get Siggurd and get him out of town. But only if Negan came back to him with some answers. Negan asked for a few hours to put his thoughts together and ask his crew if it was ok. Fannir was reluctant and then agreed – he had until 7 PM that night. A runner would get him from House Illytch and take him to a neutral place where he could safely talk – and if all goes well, House Randall would make the arrangements on getting Siggurd and him embarrassing gambling issues out of town.
After training, Negan returned to the Demesne where he let the group know what happened. The first thing the group said was they could NOT violate the contract and article two plainly stated we had to keep the secrets of the House…secret. It was why Negan was torn. Plus he was sure Fundyr had a Zone of Truth up, meaning if he lied, he’d be caught out. We needed a way to give House Randall the answers but do it in a way that had Negan telling the truth and still honoring the contract.
So the rest of the party – NOT NEGAN, went off to Spearo Illytch, the 3rd Consul of this house and their contact, and let the rotund dwarf know what was going on and what they knew. He was upset and concerned about House Randall sniffing around and thanked the party for bringing it to his attention. The feeling was they could release some fake information to House Randall, but still be true enough to throw off any zone of truth spells.
They then went over other mushrooms harvested, things brought back, and what House Illytch had been doing up there and settled on some facts to give to Negan to give to House Randall. Prepared, Negan waited until a runner came and invited him back to the Red House (Gambling house attached to the Church of Loki) for a meeting.
Armed with some knowledge, he joined Fannir Randall the 3rd Consul, Fundyr Randall the Priest of Odin, Corkill Randall the fighter at the League, Nysandis of Darblewyth Mines, and Millius, a representative from the Red House and mid level functionary for the Church. Once they were in a private room and away from listening ears, they were able to talk.
Fannir had no horse in the Siggurd thing and found him to be an embarrassment to the League. House Randall was always looking to make the League a better run organization and had been funneling more money into the League mainly because the House is convinced (as are some dwarves) that the day is coming soon when the Randari will realize that they don’t have to stay 2nd class citizens and will try to rise up and take back their country. Even here in Sorton, there are half the number of Randari compared to the dwarves – a number that 70, 80 years ago was closer to ONE TENTH! So the dwarves need to know best how to fight Randari and not be afraid to put the hammer down if need be.
Siggurd owes lots of money to lots of people and House Randall would like to see him go. The group can facilitate this IF Negan is willing to answer some questions. What is House Illytch gathering out in the Morata lands? Negan answered they had gathered Four Prong Red Spec Mushrooms mostly and it triggered the Zone of Truth. So Negan quickly backed up and said they were gathering it for a diuretic.
Diuretic? Why? It’s a soft resource that many healing houses use. Many smaller thorps and villages with poor sewers or open cesspits have people with diseases that sometimes a diuretic is needed. Ok…possible. And what’s with the kobolds? That is a function of keeping the base camp safe and taking care of a bounty for the Thane Ufrecta. So, House Illytch has the party kill kobolds, pays them a bounty of “X” and the Thane pays House Illytch a bounty of “3X” – giving the House a bit of profit, making the city safe, and allowing the House to do their operation.
House Randall thought it was small potatoes but they did not know the full extent of House Illytch’s holdings and income and knew that the House was big on having lots of small operations all over the place doing soft resource supplies.
Satisfied, Fannir then turned things over to Millius who let Negan know that they would arrange a game at the Sickly Cat Tavern and Gamehouse on Hardslope Street in Slagbottom. He would have as few League members as possible with him (closed game) and that area was lightly patrolled at best. She would arrange to have him forcibly removed shortly after 11 PM that night and the entire thing would occur in 3 days time.
Negan thanked everyone, some drinking followed and the Half-ogre then left the Red House and returned to the Illytch Demesne where he shared his success and findings with the rest of the party.
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