The group backed out of the short adventure's midsection by not having the exploration and combat in the gnomish/kobold safe house, so total XP and time for this adventure was truncated. It means that this marked the end of the "getting to reknow the campaign world" again adventures and ramp things up from here on out.
We wandered around the town a bit as the weather continued to snow down, adding another 7” to the ground. The discussion was that we needed to talk to Virdrid tomorrow and instead of overwhelming him with the party, just 2 of us would talk with him. We opted for Connal and Dizzy as they were both members of the Sifian temple and could relate to him best.
The next day had us dealing with a windy day and then a trip around town, stopping at the Adventurer’s Guild for some talk with Pha-iyr before we figured it was time. We all went to the Ecclesiastic Guild, 2 of us heading to meeting room 5, the rest of us in the courtyard for the time being. The moderator was a stoic older man named Halod who was interested in the meeting being perfect…and smooth. He had concern with Connal moving chairs around, and we did swap the crystal ewer for a sturdier copper one, but eventually we learned that Halod was not a verbose person and we waited – nibbling on water and dry white rolls.
For hours.
Virdrid wanted to make the party wait and made it his business to show up at 3. He brought with him the Grymerian Envoy, Swanhild. They had stopped at the Sifian Outreach Temple earlier and arranged to have Hraetrek show up before 4.
The meet was rough. The gnome had his own opinion on the group and lambasted the group for being party to destabilizing the Prime Material Plane with their actions. It took some effort on our part to get them to understand that we were not on Granmund’s side and that we didn’t want him to bring whatever magic he was attempting to bring to Shadowthyrst and Merryn. Swanhild required further explanation of our actions and we covered up the opening of the vault by denying we ever did.
Eventually we got to a point where it was an enemy of my enemy sort of thing. Virdrid was unhappy with the group for infiltrating his safe house. He was going to be gone in 2 weeks, along with his K’Morat kobold friends. Hreatrek did arrive and gave the key over to Swanhild who declared the contract fulfilled. Virdrid still wanted the 60 nobles for taking out the rest of the crèche but we compromised if he would let the “Halfling” live (Olo) and that was good enough for everyone. Compromise – halfway happy.
Halod said the meeting was perfect and continued having a stellar record for moderating these difficult situations. The party’s all left and we went on our way.
Over the next few days, there were some changes for the group. Dizzy got promoted at the prison reclaimed warehouse and the person in charge was now reduced to counting pallets. Connal and Gryg returned to work, with a better understanding of why the work was important and the trust the temple had in them. Thon was working with Hibuela as a clerk and gofer for now, and Asher ended up no longer having to work outside the prison in construction but instead got a job at the provisioners, cleaning up pig guts and entrails. As he said, it was inside and better.
In addition, Odie went to visit her brother when she could, keeping his spirits up. There were a few unexplained deaths (the other members of the crèche) but Olo escaped any danger or issues. It was around Restmonth the 4th, after having a long day, the 5 of us had gone to sleep and one by one, each of us were having our own dreams, when it felt like something was pulling everyone together. We each met each other while sleeping, and the background changed to a night scene.
We were on a barge, floating slowly down the Enderlyn River. It felt a bit foggy to us, like we were there, but also weren’t. But a figure was here and he wanted to talk with us. Older male, wizard type, had a glowing orb that he was running his hand over constantly, keeping some of his attention focused on it. Yes, it was Granmund. He was dismayed that this was the 2nd time the party had stuck their noses in his affairs and he once again, had nothing to show thanks to them. He also seemed to know a few things about us, nothing deep, but a few surface things that had us concerned.
We bantered a bit, not giving anything up or making any deals until he gave each of us a small bag. 50 gold crowns. For them. And all they had to do was stay at whatever jobs they were doing and stop adventuring or getting in his way. Catalog the pallets, clean the guts, write the missives – I know the pay is poor, but he would supplement each of us to the tune of 50 crowns. Every month. Just…stop.
Thon palmed a few coins and we really discussed it, but the group didn’t trust Granmund and as had been explained – his plan and actions would destabilize this area of Midgard and strike divine influence from everyone. Sorry, but no.
It didn’t go well and the party had time for a fast round of attacks. Thrown daggers and other quick assaults, interrupt the crystal gem thing, before he ended the enchantment and we all wound up back at home. We got out of bed, compared notes, and Thon even had the 2 gold coins for his efforts. Gryg was a bit sad about not taking the offer but we all knew that Granmund did not have the party’s interests anywhere at heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment