What's strange to the group, although the entire place stinks a bit of BO and beer, there ARE some redeeming qualities about the place that does sound attractive. For now.
Write up follows:
Paxian was at one point a minor trading city in the Ympire of Rand over a century ago but had been sacked during the dwarven assault and remained either a veritable ghost town and shattered remnant of its former self. When the Sovereign Stone was found almost 13 years ago and the Mercenary Seljack of Madar was lucky enough to be found holding one, the next area around Bork Keep that was open encompassed the moldering city of Paxian and it’s barely 1,000 residents.
Paxian, now the crowning jewel of the Kingdom of Canaslan, houses a bit over 10,000 souls and is known for having one of the largest and most active black markets in the nearest two dozen leagues. The group walked their way up to the city, having to pass through a shanty town of slurry roads and broken lean-tos where the scent of despair and drudgery filled the air. The walls to the city showed long ago damage that was inexpertly repaired and there was a run off from the wall to a pool where the people living outside the city brought buckets and gourds to get something to drink.
The outer gates were long gone, the portcullis had been torn free, and as we passed through the breezeway, we could see other signs of disrepair. The Courtyard was cordoned off by a palisade of wooden slat fencing, piled stone, and other barriers, the main gate was an ox cart laden with long sheets of metal, spears and spikes, and lengths of undressed lumber. We could tell that we were inside a “kill box”, bracketed on all sides by crossbow wielders on the other side, while two guards stood at the gate, each with a kris-bladed broadsword and a halberd at the ready.
They wore a mix of brigandine and scalemail and had tabards on, red, with a large “X” inside a circle. We identified ourselves, Barb taking point on the discussion where we got a list of rules and generally accepted behaviors in Paxian and Canaslan at large. Freedom of speech important, freedom of religion important, freedom of love and sex important ONLY if both parties interested, murder or the like sentenced to immediate death. All rules were sacrosanct and violation of them would result in being beheaded and your head stuck on a spike outside Castle Whitehall.
Touching on Castle Whitehall, everything else in town seemed to be in poor condition and barely held together, ruts in the cobbles, poor drainage, questionable buildings – but King Seljack’s castle was…perfect. White alabaster marble walls, blue tower tops, 4 or 5 stories tall, minarets, flying buttresses, and a the huge flag of red with a the X and circle – in complete contrast to the rest of the town.
What?
He opened the trench and showed he had a cup of wet rags tied on his right knee, a foul bag tied on his left knee, and between them on the floor was a brass chamber pot. Yep, a portable outhouse. Most of the businesses won’t let you use their facilities unless you were a paying customer and being caught crapping on the streets of Paxian was a punishable offence, so for a bit – there were a group of a dozen or so half-ogres who set up this business for citizens who needed to go.
Thalin went, dropping a bit for his troubles, and we talked to the half-ogre, named Eydis, for a bit, getting his take on the city. On an average day he makes about 150 bits (his share) but on Marketday he could clear over 300 bits in 8 or 9 hours. We asked him the best place to stay and where to go and he suggested the Bawdy Wench Tavern, take the western main street up and around to White Shadow and the Tavern was there.
As we walked the streets of Paxian we saw some signs of commerce and industry, but easily 1 in 3 or 4 buildings were being underutilized, leading us to understand that Paxian could continue to grow and had plenty of room to do so. There were chicken about, quiet a number of them. And we also noted many of the shops and businesses had something to do with the brewing of beer. Malters, mashers, strainers, fermenters, conditioners, and the like – there was an aroma of sugar in the air as well as hops and barley.
We arrived at the Bawdy Wench Tavern and after getting a place to sit in the Common Room, a pair of wenches took care of us, taking our writ of stipend from the GRSAG to cover our room and meal, but also introduced us to a variety of local beers: Paxian Brown, His Majesty’s Deep Lager, Two Cask Beer, even something called Pumpkin Head Beer that Dizzy enjoyed. No one wanted to try the brew referred to as Grimyrian Shadow which we understood came from a trading deal with the nearby Sovereign Kingdom where the fields of barley were fertilized with “god knows what” and came from “the undead kingdom – no thanks!!”.
We drank, ate, sampled some braised steak on a stick and crusty buttered rolls, and had a nice night. The thought was to get some information about the crates and their costs as made locally here from whoever would craft such things, getting a price and seeing if we could use that the help sell the idea of the Letter of Credit to King Seljack. A few of the wenches and bandy-boys did try to make a run at the group but we shut them down and they knew that there was going to be no business for them tonight.
We rested and awoke the next feeling pretty good. The rooms were in good repair and had numerous safeguards and measures in place to dissuade casual thievery. At breakfast we asked the locals where the best place was to see about boxes and were told to head to the east end of town to the carpenter’s district.
We went on our way and say a number of men (and women) working with a variety of saws and the like, stripping long boles of trees and getting useable lumber out of it. We questioned a few now and again, learning that there was crate maker who made for the King himself on the next block named Hongor. Hongor was a middle aged dwarf who was working with his 3 journeymen when we arrived.
Once pleasantries were dispensed we learned that the King had indeed commissioned 24 such crates almost 5 months ago, first time he had done so with the specifications that they were more than twice as sturdy as the normal shipping crates (5’x 3’x 3’). When tested they could withstand 800lbs of force and had a double cross buck system supporting the inside and out. Each crate was built to exacting specifications and took about 2 days each to make interspersed with normal business.
So it was a surprise when a bit over a month ago he requested 19 more of them and only a week ago Hongor and his people finished the order. He would not tell us what the King paid for them, but if we wanted a similar crate, it would cost us 80 nobles per crate, with a probably discount if we ordered multiples of them. We thanked Hongor and armed with that knowledge left the woodworking district and made out way back to White Shadow and eventually Castle Whitehall.
We had a better feel for how we were going to handle the King and the Letter of Credit and arrived at the line outside Castle Whitehall where some 2 dozen stood in line in front of us. The King was meeting with people from 8 to12 and then again from 1 to 4. We were assured we would NOT meet with the king before lunch but would be shortly afterwards as he was with each group some 15 to 30 minutes before moving to the next.
Eventually another Half ogre with a trench coat and chamber pot arrived and we took advantage of his presence and then a travelling meat seller arrived and we took advantage of that as well. Eventually the line snaked in again and then after some traders from Grimyria went ahead we had our chance to meet with King Seljack.
He was well protected in a throne room seated on a raised dais, surrounded by halberdiers and crossbowmen, a leather clad woman was positioned behind him as if a bodyguard, and there was a small cordoned off section where sycophants and courtiers stood in audience. Seljack was about 50, thinning greying brown hair, still a muscular build, bearded and having a few scars and laugh lines on his face. A simple but well used kris style longblade was near his throne and he seemed to have a smirk and smile of a man who was comfortable and just in his place in the world.
Within a few minutes he was apoplectic in his anger at Pha-iyr Carom and the Greater Rand Sellsword and Adventuring Guild. We talked about the missing crates, the ignominy of the GRSAG, Pha-iyr being a cowardly prick, and the group being sent here to face his ire while the half-elf hid back in Erylond.
We tried to present the Letter of Credit in a good light, Seljack noting with irony that the Duke himself had been dragged into this mess. It seemed that Seljack and Pha-iyr had a long standing hatred and rivalry dating back 15 years to before the Terror Dungeon ever opened and the half-elf black listing Seljack when the Adventuring Guild first opened its books. Since then it’s not gotten any better and this “fortuitous destruction of MY property” is just the latest icing on the cake.
He did talk about his trip into the Terror Dungeon, The Glyph Gate for the Sovereign Stone was found on the 7th level, and something about Vampire hair was a component to help enter the place. We paid attention to that (along with wandering Minotaurs on the 3rd level!!) and knew that this could be bullshit or very outdated information since it had been 13 years since Seljack ever wandered the Halls of the Terror Dungeon.
Eventually he sounded like he would agree to it and we should come back tomorrow at lunch, eat with him, and he’d sign the two Letters of Credit then. We left without issue (passing a few guys sharpening metal spikes to put on the walls) and were back in the streets, north of Castle Whitehall and it was almost 2 pm.
We decided to visit the Black District for now but NOT go to see Thimbles until tomorrow when we were ready to leave Paxian and return to Erylond. On the north end of town, taking us the size of a city block, we were surprised at how…open it was. No one bothered us, as long we kept to ourselves and our money was good, we were welcome. We did stop at a weaver who sold double sided clothes and a few of us got some for now, allowing only a short time to effect a quick change of appearance. Some boots with hollows in the heels wrapped us up and we did not where Thimbles location was, a warehouse with the signage “Canaslan Export Company” upon it.
It was almost 3 on Spiritmonth the 6th and we were deciding what to do next.
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