Session notes 8-3-2020

17th of Iasluin
 
The next morning is better. We have had some conversations about our actions, have seen the people travel towards Baferton and we hope and think they will find a new way of living there. With the coin given by Thalmiir, they should be able to get by for a while.
 
Now that Thalmiir has finished his quest, he really has to think about what is next for him. We are all a bit lost on what to now, we have spent the past 3 weeks focussed on Kulragh, the convoys and the raids. After having travelled back and forth from Baferton to Hibee, we are keen to see someplace new.
 
After a short discussion on what to do next, we decide to go south, towards the war. We are all curious about Apelés, the capital of Jurtal -Well, sort of together with Volheim, no one is really certain about it- but Apelés certainly has a certain allure with its large university and interesting location. I know little more of Apelés, but Ferrum told us that it has approximately 2-2.5 million inhabitants, which is really cool, but what was even more interesting was what he told about the location of the city. I knew that it was situated on a sort of island, but apparently that is 'New Apelés'. Before the city was on the island, it was on a floating archipelago, next to where the isle of 'New' Apelés is now. It is possible that from the first bridge that we will cross in twenty days or so, we will be able to see the ruins from the 'Old' Apelés.
 
According to Ferrum, 'Old' Apelés fell down 2000-3000 years ago. It is like I read in the stories at home: when the mage wanted to slay a god to become one himself. That had some consequences, but I never thought i would see one for myself after all this time. I am quite excited to go.

 
18th of Iasluin
This afternoon Thalmiir tried to use the Sending stone that we found on Kulragh. We do not know what it links to, but we hope to get a response soon.
 
19th of Iasluin
 
Today we are - once again- back in Baferton. We pay our mercenaries, and give them the handcuffs from Mortel and tell them to tell the guards about Kulraghs camp. We together pack our things, get some food for ourselves and the horses and continue on our merry ways. Towards Chepstow we go.
 
20-21-23rd of Iasluin
 
The days go slow, travel is fast by horse but it gets boring after a while. The scenery does not change a lot, just plains and sometimes a bit of a hill. Every now and then, I think I can see the sea?
 
24-25-26th of Iasluin
We talk a bit about our travels, about why we went on our way in the first place. I tell the party a bit about myself, and how I should be in law school right now. It is a fun game of 'what is your biggest secret?'. Thalmiir and I share a moment when we say that we have been wandering around without a roof over our heads for a while. It's all fun and games.
Liya is surprisingly quiet, we get little out of her. Perhaps its the mood from not having a drink in almost a month, but she seemed to handle that quite well overall. She is just a bit secretive for someone who we have been around and about with for almost four months now.
 
Anyways, we make our way as the horses' feet across the street and we softly hear Ferrum recite the words Giant he is learning.
(which is good, because it helps me refresh my knowledge a bit)
 
 
28th of Iasluin
As the new moon rises, we approach Chepstow. This small city is mostly farmers and farmland. We pick up a few rumours about the war and how almost 20 per cent of Sarton's lands have been taken by now. Luckily -well as lucky as a war can be- there are little casualties. An interesting fact.
 
We do not stay long in this town, Apelés calls.
 
1st of Istrith
Another month has gone, Autumn is on its way.
 
2nd of Istrith
I had a short conversation with Ferrum and Thalmiir concerning the source of my power. I had told them about the Bard a few days earlier, but they seemed to know a bit more about it than I had expected. They could tell me that the Bard is a minor Deity, and does not often 'stick around', he mostly intervenes when things go south and then is back on his merry way, but somehow I have had some kind of contact with him for the past five months or so. Very interesting. They advise me to check the Bard's College in Apelés, the Bard seems to have a connection with them.
 
3-4th of Istrith
 
Thalmiir has been calling with the Sending stone for the entire journey. There have been some responses, but always from a different person. We are almost certain that it is the Undead King, but we had not expected that he would have an entire sending-centre like the Keepers have (as Thalmiir told us). But still, quite interesting. The other side of the stone got annoyed with us on the fifth day or so, and the responses have become shorter and shorter ever since.
 
They asked us to stop sending. hahah
 
5th of Istrith.
 
We have arrived at the northern bridge of Apelés which is called 'The Golden Crossing'. The bridge is very long, and protected by large metal gates. As we step towards the gates, - in line there are quite some people going in and out of the city- we are stopped by the guards.
They asked about our business and Thalmiir showed his little badge/sending thingy and they let us through. There is a lot of curious folks who want to cross the bridge, from mercenaries to salesmen and here and there a few travellers like us.
Ferrum is stopped for a moment, but William quickly joins the conversation and does the explaining after which we can all continue.
 
After passing through three or four doors we are finally on the bridge. The wind feels different and we can almost see Apelés from here! As we continue our way, looking at the other people here, the structure of the bridge and the many many towers situated on this bridge, Ferrum points towards a small hill in the water on our left. The hill that we saw there is the 'old' Apelés he told about! It is quite far away, but interesting to know its origins none the less!
 
The bridge goes on for a kilometre or so, with towers ever 50m. This is a solid bridge.
 
6-7th of Istrith
 
We were further from Apelés than I thought. The following days we walk through 'The Bountiful Planes', a patch of hilly fertile land on which most of Apelés goods are cultivated. Here was pass through a few small villages. We have a few beers and actually sleep in a bed for once! It was really nice to not have to sleep in a bedroll for the first time in twenty days.
 
8th of Istrith
Today we finally arrived in Apelés!
And oh was it worth the journey! We enter the city through the northern gate of the university. The buildings are huge and all very decorated, it is quite a sight to see. Several high towers with pointed tops stand on this huge campus site. Honestly, it is a bit overwhelming but very exciting. We make our way over the university grounds, towards the heart of the city.
 
Thalmiir leads us the way towards one of the safehouses of the Keepers, in the west of the city. It is somewhat of a stroll, but the scenery is a lot more interesting than the past few weeks. It is very lifely on the streets.
 
At this safehouse, Thalmiir drops off the strange stone he obtained from the house in which we fought the doll and the strang hag. Apparently it is called 'The Leachers Emerald'. This strange artefact is stored beneath a house that looks normal at first but is a gateway to a large underground safekeeping cellar. I was surprised that we could enter without an issue.
Ferrum also drops something off, the arm of Copper M54. The lady taking these artefacts was curious to find out that it contains a soul. Still, also this was carried past some heavy doors, perhaps never to be seen again.
Both of them got 200 GP for the items, time to spend that money here!
 
 
We make our way back to the city streets, and decide to find a place to sleep tonight. Our eyes fall upon the Crossed Candles, a somewhat fancy place near the university. The owner, Burga is more than happy to help us get a room, and find a nice place to shop for some magical items! Anrath's Arsenal.
 
Anrath's Arsenal is some sight to be seen! The high elf almost literally has - or can get- everything you can imagine. Spell scrolls, magic weapons, rings, armour. All of it.
 
Thanks to Thalmiir's money, we together buy the following things:
 
Ferrum: Belt of Hill Giant Strength
Thalmiir: Ring of Spell Storing
Nimueh: Ring of Shielding and a scroll for Leomunds Tiny Hut
 
Overall, we -Thalmiir- put down a lot of money for this. I also gave the gem that I got from the mines under Conwy. But we got a nice deal out of it.
Excitedly, we make our way back to the Crossed Candles.
 
Back at the tavern, we meet Liya. She has spent her afternoon in the park and has bought a shield for herself.
 
The reason we are here is not all shopping and fun, we have things to do. We want to do something for the country, but prevent ourselves from going in without a plan, we decided to go to the authorities or the army to ask for a task. Burga points us to the army outpost a little ways from the city centre where we can enrol for the army if we wish. Together we make our way there and enquire about a task a squad with our 'skills' might be able to do for the army. We are a bit of a strange group and after the soldier has taken down our names, he kindly asks us to return tomorrow after he has time to enquire higherups about a task for us. And thus we make our way back to the tavern, for a calm evening after all the impressions from the city.
 
The evening is spent going to separate bathhouses. (Except for Ferrum, who stays at the tavern because bathhouses are no fun for him. Perhaps we should just take him along someday and see what happens, maybe it is fun regardless of the possible rust)
 
Thalmiir, Erky and William make their way to the fanciest place Burga could point them to. We see them later that evening wearing fancy bathrobes, fully shaved and armour polished. Never that relaxed in their entire lives. It is quite different from a few weeks ago.
 
Liya and I make our way to the student version of a bathhouse establishment. I want to get some intel on this university, where I could perhaps have studied if things had gone differently.
We meet several students, two who are studying singing and painting, a wizard student from the school of evocation who just had his last exam and a young man who looks so battered that he must be from one of the more physical schools.
 
Overall, we all have a nice time, come home relaxed and have a good nights sleep.
 
 
9th of Istrith
 
I have never woken up so relaxed.
 
This morning, the rest of the party makes their way to the army outpost once again, whereas I go towards the university. I want to find someone who can make tattoos, I want something to match the tattoo I got from the Bard. I found a Tiefling man who has tattoos all over and I just stoke up a conversation with him. He told me a lot about his artwork and how he did all his ink on his own, it was quite interesting. I asked him to help me design something for me and we sat down together to make a drawing. It became better than I could have ever done it myself!
 
During lunch, we reconvene and tell each other about what we did in the morning. Apparently Thalmiir has become Corporal, and we have all become his subordinate soldiers. It is quite cool. William is Co-Corporal, just in case anything were to happen to Thalmiir.
In a few days, we will be called or reached out to for a first task. I suspect they will test us a bit, but we can only wait.
 
When I tell Ferrum about the tattoo, he asks if we can go again. Once again we make our way to the university, this time to find a teacher, preferably known in the language of the giants. After some questions and some asking around, we find a human man named Carlo, a teacher of the Basic Arts. He can help Ferrum create a design for his engravings.
 
Finally, we make our way to the library. Ferrum has something he needs to find. Sadly, we are not allowed into the library, as we are not students here. (and a year of studying is 2000gp, a little over our current budget).
To at least help Ferrum a bit, I try to get in by being a bit of a smooth-talker and saying I forgot my card, to no avail. However, thanks to a kind student called Mary Strain (card number 1714237) whose card I could borrow I could get in. Ferrum had given me a few names to research and with some help from one of the library employees I was able to find some things. (I told him telepathically that I was inside but apparently the feeling of someone talking in your mind is a bit odd, at least he did not seem to enjoy it, I'm sorry Ferrum)
 
 
 
What was interesting in the library was that I sensed that there was a lot of Illusion magic behind the place where I was sitting sifting through the books. I wrote most of the notes I made in my other journal so that it was easy to pass on to Ferrum.
After a long afternoon with a lot of books, I found some information. Not a lot sadly, I think that my days without studying may be affecting my research skills. I think we should return some other day and continue the search.
 
This evening is calm, most of us stay at home in our rooms at the Crossed Candles. We exchange some info on what we did today or what we plan to do tomorrow, talk about what we think about Apelés and imagine what tasks we may get from Lieutenant Barry Olden. -They talked to someone really high up the ladder this morning-
Overall a calm evening. There is noise coming from where Thalmiir and Erky are staying. A door opening violently, a splash and some cheering. Then we hear Ferrum sprinting to the hallway - later I learn this was with axes drawn-, only to find it was the Lieutenant and two of his men, coming to inaugurate Thalmiir with some beer. Now he is truly a Corporal.