When writing this adventure, I wanted the figure of Sonnab to be that of a person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and did something horrible because of it. However, he is truly repentant and wants to make amends for his crime - but does not have the skills or capability to do so. So he keeps snowballing the problems larger and larger.,
He also figures in to the larger BBEG that is to come as he has a connection to a divine power but there is no direct through-thread that made it possible. 17 year old 3rd level commoner with 8th level druidic abilities. Either way, if the party can get him exonerated, great. If not - then not. I hope they do - he's a dumb fuck, but a like Peregrine took - an honest fool.
Follows:
Leaving the Dikstra farm, the party agreed that Sonnab was a mess of a person who had made terrible choices and then just kept building on them. The two dogs, Ajax and Butch, were walking with them as they discussed the situation. They were going to hold off on letting the Lord Glagdir know the details and the Sheriff Torod too if at all possible.
Eventually at the Province main, the Sheriff was happy to see his animals returned. We obfuscated the truth as much as possible for the time but the Sheriff was not a stupid man. He suspected that Sonnab and maybe his entire crew were responsible. Dikstra’s eldest son had come to the Tradehouse today to buy 4 new shovels, the group went off to talk with Sonnab, Niring had been caught at the scene, and the 2 dogs were discovered up there.
The group did impress on the Sheriff that there was more to the matter at this time and they wanted his patience and approval so they could finish the job properly. Torod was willing to give it to them but would watch the situation and make sure that Sonnab and his crew were not going to skip town in the near future.
From there the group wandered the town, making a few visits as need be. The Lord Glagdir was visited and the young nobleman was given a rough outline of what was going on. We checked out the local horses and Darius was pretty happy with what he saw. Shim needed some much needed rest and the party spent time back at the Wandering Ewe. Once again, Eoghan had another strange encounter this time with a young man, Ithvi, who on seeing Jessie, was inspired to head back to visit his goodwife for some afternoon…time.
We let the hours pass, eating and drinking, readying ourselves for the trip to go to Swelter Ridge. A few hours of sleep helped and then by 10 we were on our way to the Dikstra farm. We picked up Sonnab there, the young druid touched shepherd was overwhelmed and happy to have someone else guide him. We tried to avoid having any detailed conversation or promises as we walked onward. The moon was slowly waxing and the night was clear, so there was enough light to guide our way.
Swelter Ridge was north of the Provincial lands but an identifiable landmark. The cliff was maybe 30’ tall of rock, 4 to 500 long, a natural ponding at the base of it. We walked around the far end of it to the base shore. Using one of the already established fire pits, we lit a welcoming fire and waited in the dark and quiet. About an hour or so after midnight, a troupe of orcish warriors and braves arrived, beating a drum slowly in time to their approach.
We waited and then lowered weapons, and they did likewise. The leader was the Fire Champion, a brute named Svandan. Besides the almost 20 orcs here, there was a dark furred individual identified as their Justicar, an orc named Fundar. Not all of them spoke Common and we went back and forth between orcish and common. They were happy to see no dwarves with us at this time and met Sonnab with a nod.
We had to impress on them that we were not taking over Sonnab’s debt but were willing to help the young man fulfill it. Could it be changed? No – an agreement was made for 30 to 50 gemstones – quality does not matter. They aren’t merchants, but Firvanir. Randari. Honor and words count. Renegotiation is an alien concept to them.
They went over the crime and the state of the women again, getting a Randari view of the crime and the onus placed on the women and the Far Dam orcs. They demanded recompense. We offered to maybe look into the crime. The women/girls were taken and placed somewhere for some reason. Who could it have been? The Underfang goblins are in the area and could have been a party to it, maybe not though, would have most likely just taken them for slaves.
There is also an Ogre named Ricar Mankiller who walks the Randari ruins. He is a cruel warrior with a small troupe of like minded ogres. It's best to give him tribute and stay out of his way. He is known to ride a wyvern that he had tamed some time ago. Either way, heading to Hillscar which is near Canaslan is most likely our best bet. As for why the orcs do not, they all stay clear of this area since according to the wisest seers, between now and the summer solstice is when the sovereign lands some into being. And any tribe that is in the area is immediately enslaved to the lord and the lands. It’s been almost 3 years since the last one, and all the Firvanir tribes give the entirety of the Southern Rand a wide berth these days.
At some point Darius was trying to come up with a different manner of payment but he ended up irritating the Justicar and then the Fire Champion. WE DO NOT RENEGOTIATE A DEAL AFTER ALL PARTIES SWORE TO DO IT!
He got it and shut up.
They are like us, they don’t want their Chief Ungar or their Subchief Ralid to get wind of what happened as the matter would escalate and an honor raid and coup would have to be called – and no one wants that. As the Justicar said, those days are in the past and everyone should be more concentrating on getting along if at all possible. We agreed and wrapped it up. They still demanded that Sonnab show up here every night between midnight and three – even if he has no gems. Honor demands it. As for us, take what time is needed. Days? Weeks? A month or more –that is ok – the party’s word and the Vanguards of Ragnarok are good enough.
We left and reminded Sonnab to not make any decisions on his own anymore. His job is to just come back every night and that’s it. Don’t rob, don’t steal, don’t do anything. He agreed and thanked us. It was 1:30 when we dropped him off and it was Plantmonth the 21st at 2 in the morn when we came back to the Wandering Ewe – a day before the Festival of Pies. J
No comments:
Post a Comment