We still drifted back in time for the 26 days the “B” team group was in Grymeria. They had been invited to Glagdir Province at the behest of Lord Glagdir to oversee their donation of food stuffs as well as spend time with the locals and helping them with the group's knowledge and experience. Connal opted to stay at the home in case the group came back early. Darius was requested to go to Stivil and spend time with Baron Skuddrid and his cavaliers to learn the skills to become an armiger. Eoghan and Wilhelm wanted to go back to Ironcamp and meet with Arnskar and get another wolfhound and/or mountain lion. They left with Darius on the way, leaving him st Stivil, and proceeded northward, arriving in Ironcamp 5 days later.
They then went to Shebara Dizzrae, Dizzy’s mom, and Frontari, arranged to have dinner with them later, and then went to the Hunter’s Guild to meet with Arnskar. With 10 thousand citizens out currently on the 1st of the 3 Reetersbeard Caravans, the city was light of people. They got good service but as for exotic animals, there weren’t any. Normal dogs and the like, no lupine types. And for cats, the largest they could find was a Giant Lynx, some 4’ long and very intelligent. The Saber-toothed tiger was still there but it was outside Wilhelm’s costs. Eoghan forewent an animal at this time, sticking with Quivers and Jessie. Wilhelm bought the Lynx and then went back to Shebara’s home with Arnskar. The 5 of them had a nice meal and time at a tavern and although Arnskar did make out with Wilhelm, the connection getting to 2nd base, she did not pursue a more carnal night and instead opted to wait for his next visit. They left and headed back eventually to Erylond and Glagdir Province.
Shim was on site and the diminutive gnome was a local celebrity for his time. Lady Vari and her paramour made sure he was invited to most of the meetings with the local gentry and head families and hi was a hit with the children of town based upon his size, demeanor, and his magic. However he was still haunted by his dreams of the skein and its massive shredding as well as the exploding mountain. He was down to about 6 hours of sleep a night, with a few hours of half wakefulness. He was still able to work his spells, but this was taking a toll on his health. His skin was grayish, bags under his eyes, lank and lifeless. The Falsers’ were invited at some point and visited Shim for 2 days. They could not help him dull the nightmares, but they did provide Falser Intoxicating Candy – each one is the equivalent of 3 drinks to a gnome or Halfling – to anyone else, they just have the taste – not the intoxicating effect.
After they had left and some time had gone on, Wilhelm and Eoghan arrived – followed by Darius. The group then went back to Erylond in time for the Reetersbeard Caravan and enjoyed the arrival and festivities.
As for Connal, he spent the 1st week acting as a fill-in proctor for the Church of Sif, teaching young acolytes and neophytes as need be. Abbess Cala and he had reached an uneasy truce for now. She wanted him to be more for her and the church, needing a “hand” to get things done. And the next job was fairly big. Patron Guilly MacBorren, had arrived from the Crown (the Duke), and after giving Connal a stink eye for interrupting the meeting, left; her considerable perfumed bulk leaving in a huff.
The Abbess had let Connal know that a new edict had come down from the Duke and was being penned soon – dictating that anyone who had dual guild memberships in the Adventuring Guild and the Ecclesiastic Guild, must give up one. What? If you are an adventurer – you cannot train in Erylond as a cleric or monk. Patron Guilly was thrilled to present this to the Abbess and she wanted to know what was going on. So Connal was dispatched to find out.
He was going to go to Guilly, who had an apartment here on the Council Grounds, but instead wanted to get an audience with one of the Duke’s Castellans. Eventually he made his way to Center Circle where we went to the Duke’s Conclave and Castle. A variety of people cycled him through until he was sitting with a mid level functionary Castellan. They talked for a bit and it seems that a contingent of Gorokian Dwarves had arrived a few days before the Reetersbeard Caravan and was spreading money around. They gave a donation of 14,607 crowns to the Duke for the rehabilitation of one of the abandoned Temples in the Inner Circle at Temple Row to be used as a halfway home for itinerant dwarves down on their luck.
In return for turning this unused piece of property into something profitable, the Gorokian Dwarves came up with the edict idea and the duke’s people signed off on it. As a thanks, this Castellan had a Gorokian made piece of statuary in his office. Connal left disgusted. He went to Patron Guilly next – she was staying at an apartment on Ecclesiastic Grounds and was currently at lunch. The rotund Patron was not liked by the staff so they quoted the rites of Baldur’s Hospitality at her and they Connal could sit with her and her many plates of food. He orders a bacon sandwich and they traded barbs with each other. She is doing what’s best for all parties – and the dwarves are willing to help out. Why shouldn’t we accept it? It’s not a big deal. Where do cleric’s train then if not here? There is room for them to train at Gorok if they want and at half the rate they would have to pay here. Connal left more frustrated. He went to see Pha-iyr Carom @ the Adventurer’s Guild next, hoping to get some answers from him.
Pha-iyr did not know of this edict and thought it was stupid. Gorokian dwarves arrived yesterday and tried to get Pha-iyr aid in some cross-joined help but the guild facilitator squashed their request, instead shuffling them upstairs to see Master Bjorn Durkenlurk, the leader of the GRSAG. We also learned that the Gorokian Dwarves had been taking a big interest in the Terror Dungeon this season, tracking who is going in and out. And to make things easier, they had some 60 count of porters, shieldbearers, heavy footmen, and rogues on site for hiring to flesh out parties that might need them. Yeah…not suspicious.
Pha-iyr and Connal went up to see Master Bjorn who was sitting with the number 2, Guilder of the Dead Taris, Priest of Hel. They were at odds with one another, Master Bjorn worried about the guild as a going concern and Guider Taris worried about the people in the guild and not the establishment in and of itself. The dwarves had indeed come by and made a donation to the GRSAG which had Master Bjorn sign off on the edict, Guider Taris thinks it’s a terrible idea. They also wanted to sponsor the addition of new people to join the GRSAG, effectively a recruitment drive to every nearby Thorpe, town, Demesne, and Province to convince young hopefuls to leave the farms and cottages and grab a sword and try their luck in the Terror Dungeon.
Guider Taris thought it was a terrible idea. Pha-iyr was not thrilled with it either. Master Bjorn was ambivalent to it, citing that membership was important and this would further expand the guild. Master Taris then let slip that over the last month and a half, the average “death” as per adventure had risen from roughly 1 every 2 days – to 2 deaths on average per day. A four fold increase. Master Bjorn also had a Gorokian statue in his office and there were 2 crates in here that had Gorokian seals and stamps on them. Guider Taris indicated they were a bribe, thousands of gold from Gorok. Master Bjorn chided him for his misguided idealism and had them leave, he had much work to do.
Eventually the edict was signed but the feeling from the Ecclesiastical Council was that this was an easily enforceable law and they would do what they could to shield their members from the crown. Still, at least a third of cleric/monk adventurers let their membership lapse with the Council to avoid any issues – opting to go to Gorok for training.
As the weeks went on the group had a few meetings but at one of them they had a frank discussion about the two groups of their charter. Their group had saved an angel, a valkyrie. They had glimpsed Asgard through a portal there from Midgard. They basked in the brief view and thanks of the Major Eddas, Odin, Frigga, and the like. They had a gemstone with a complex ritual composing 40 powerful spells that was strong enough to rewrite the skein. They had seen and done things. And the other group just seemed like…fuck ups. We wanted to get to more detail as to what was happening because as Shim points out – the end of the world is coming. He sees it every day. And the skein is shredded when it happens, some 2/3rd of the souls here just end instantly, and others continue to trail off as the Norns try to keep the tapestry from falling apart.
The group did return and we all shared stories of our adventures. We were contemplating going to the Terror Dungeon, hoping that it had thinned out a bit, but now we were more interested in maybe finding Donnegarten. So the party spent time arranging for new equipment to replace all we had lost during the last adventure and were hoping to head off in a few days to find the lost dwarven research stronghold.
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