Session 4: ThirdDay - 2 days to opening

General Summary

Catching up on previous day ...

We sorted out the purchasing for Mantrell.

• 100g for a kitchen, built for you next day.
• 15g for some patchup renovations to the place
• 122g 5s for provisions - food and drink totaling ~ 800 "modest" meals and 100 "comfortable" meals, along with ~ 1400 mugs of moderate ale, 240 mugs of a good ale, and 360 glasses of a good wine.
• 52g5s for a simple safe
• For a grand total of 290g of expenditures!

Rise and Shine!

You awoke to a pounding on the door. "WOOORK! NO LATE! WORRRRRK!". Garg the ogre stood in your doorway, desperate that he be allowed to work. Two halflings with purple hair named Thistle & Heather popped their heads through the door: "You the Stoutheart Inn? Mantrell said you wanted to build a kitchen and some other stuff. You ok with Garg?" When you indicated that you were, they looked back out the door and shouted "Come on in, they're cool!" In through the door walked goblins, hobgoblins, and a few orcs. Outside was a cart filled to the brim with lumber and sundries. They got to work immediately.

More Exploring

Flip woke up with a dozen cats on him, including what must be Lefty, Stinky, and the others. The tortoiseshell seemed pleased.
Your tabaxi friend showed up with a look of concern on its face, and for once you got a good look. One eye scabbed shut, mangy fur, a gaunt frame ... it looked worse for the wear. Anakami told him to use the bed upstairs, which he didn't understand ... but eventually did. It enveloped Anakami into a large gangly hug, and with tears in its eyes it left TWO gold on the bar.

Charlotte Reaches Out

Bronte was slow to rouse. She was deep in dream ...
A hunter is up in a tree, waiting for a caravan to come by - to steal what she can. While this happens, she spies a family of deer cavorting and playing. The little ones are especially cute. She also spies further upwind a family of wolves stalking the family of deer. They look hungry. But she doesn't want to give away her position. She looks nervously up the road. The caravan appears at the crest. What to do? What about the caravan, filled with plush rugs and pillows? The wolves strike, and chaos explodes. Deer run everywhere. Throats are torn open. Blood splatters over the forest. The deer are torn to pieces by the wolves. And her caravan? They heard the noise, and were spooked. They were on guard by the time they came close enough, and had guards with trained bows on the woods as they proceeded carefully. It was ruined. Her moment was gone. The wolves weren't her business, but still, they prevented her from getting her hands on those fine rugs & pillows. She watched forlornly as the caravan rode away, and she watched the wolves settle in to eat the corpses of the deer.
Bronte screamed herself awake, and saw a doe-eyed Anakami hunched over her. "Bronte? Is everything ok?" Bronte panicked for a bit, looking for familiarity in her metal implements ... but was difficult to settle down.

Secrets Within

Flip headed up to the roof to explore the trap door and how it connects to the rest of the inn. He found a mostly-unused attic, and poked around to find 2 daggers and a bag of gold with 15g 14s 3c in it. He found the second opening into the inn, and as he exited, closed it behind him. It seals almost perfectly shut, nearly impossible to see. He returned back to the group, and flipped a dagger at Bronte, who felt a dissonance coming from the dagger.

Out and About

Bert travelled to Speakers Forum to get Shield guards as security for the evening. He encountered Thedd, a blue dragonborn Shield officer who was a bit of a joker. After having teased Bert some (are you here to turn yourself in?), he directed him to the Shield HQ. A thin loxodon with wireframed glasses greeted him there, and offered up a 5g for 12h rate. Bert persuaded her to provide 4 guards for 11g to work from 4p to 4a.
Ola headed out to look for entertainment. She headed first to Fenir's to catch up on how the play was going, but he was closed. So she headed up to the Park and searched the temples there. She came across the temple to Selune, who were happy to greet her - until one of the acolytes was seemingly overcome with a fit: she grasped Ola's forearm and whispered through clenched teeth: He must come, and before it's too late. The acolyte seemed not to remember any of it. Ola learned that she should be looking instead down in the passions, at the temple of Sune, goddess of beauty. There she found Xethenia who managed companions. She used to provide for the Shadow Blades. After some debate, Ola agreed to a "free sample" to see what is being offered. After that experience, Ola was all too happy to put down an 18g downpayment to bring in 6 "elevated" companions (2 clients per hour at 2g per) and 8 "affordable" companions (4 clients per hour at 5s per). If all goes well, you get the 18g back and can make up to 52g!
Ola then headed out to look for bards. She asked around the temple of Sune and they recommended she try the Open Air square within Octata Inspirata. Many troubadours, jugglers, dancers, and other creative types congregate there - should be easy to find a singer! Ola flew over and came across a beautiful park with gardens, open fields, fountains, and walkways. She found a hillside that had a number of individuals sitting on blankets, strumming lutes. She landed in front of one who looked a little shy and asked him if he could play. He did a reasonable job on his banjo what he claimed was an original composition, and introduced himself as Grenn. Ola thought this was good enough for the night and started to offer him the position - only to be interrupted by Timor, another fellow who came up from behind, claiming that Grenn stole his music! They pushed and punched - and Ola managed to calm them down just as Timor pulled a knife. She convinced him to put it away - maybe she can hire both of them! But that was the wrong thing to say - they were a former duo who were now at war. Timor grabbed Grenn's banjo and smashed it. Grenn smashed Timor's lute. And they all went their separate ways.
A nearby satyr was laughing at this exchange, and Ola asked him if he was any good. "Bien sur!" the satyr exclaimed. "Regardez moi", and he played incredibly well. Ola was thrilled and offered to pay him for the night. "Non, non," he said, he didn't need any coin - he works solely on tips, and expects free food and drink. He calls himself Henri, and Ola was thrilled to make his acquaintance. Ola gave him directions and time to show up, and flew away satisfied, with Henri's gentle tones in her ears.  

Back At Home

The rest of the Stouthearts were busy working on tavern prep while the others were out and about. Anakami was supervising the Reborn craftsmen in the kitchen, Bronte was busy making her dream den in the basement, and Ros were directing the patchup work going on throughout the inn. The Reborn made great time - the stairs and doors were all patched and were much better than before. The kitchen was a big lift, and they included piping to run waste out into the street gutters.
Flip spent his time doing a deep exploration of each room - already found one secret door, how many others could there be? Flip's searches were much more thorough than before, but not much new was found. He did find a trap that would explode set up behind some crates in the basement, and together the crew defused it. They reasoned that it must have been left by the Shadow Blades, hoping to catch them and cause some mayhem after they left.
About midmorning, a large loxodon woman came by and introduced herself as Sondron, a lawyer in Caldera City. She had heard from her client that there was an "exchange" that maybe got a little tense, and she wanted to come and clear the air to make sure there were no misunderstandings. Her clients are good people, but do get a little impulsive. But, after all - "the law is the law". She would hate to get the Shield involved. This rubbed a number of the crew the wrong way - why even come? Maybe we should get the Shield involved. It seemed the Sondrin was enjoying the tension - just having fun stirring up some trouble. At the end of it, she left, claiming that things were getting heated and that everyone needed to cool off - which you suspect, was her intent all along.
Ros chased after her to ask her something, only to hear the town crier, far off in the distance shouting "Stoutheart Inn Grand Opening postponed two weeks!" Ros quickly changed her pivot and chased around to find the town crier instead. After a few minutes of chasing echos, she finally came across the town crier and asked about the Stoutheart Inn - that wasn't true, where did she hear that? The crier told her she didn't really know - she just reads what they give her. She gets her news down at Speakers Forum, same as all the other criers. Ros offered to pay her good money if she'd stop shouting it out, or better yet read something else! "Lady, this is a great job, I ain't taking the risk," was the reply. And she continued moving along, shouting out about the closure.
Ros returned back in a huff, and let everyone else know what was going on. In response, Flip used skywrite to advertise "DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES. Stoutheart Inn, This SelfDay - Grand Opening!"
It was about this time that Bert returned from the Shield HQ, and the party found themselves in a familiar position: making good progress, but having to deal with new confounds.

Anakami Strikes Out

Anakami left the kitchen in the capable hands of Ros, and told everyone she would be heading over to speak with Altair, the lawyer.  She brought with her a +1 crossbow - but unbeknownst to others, intended to sell it.  She made her way to the Autumn market's red and white awnings, and went to Aeron's Artifacts, a shop specializing in magical weapons.  The proprieter, a slim and tall aaracokra named Aeron, greeted her.  After some negotiation, agreed to buy the crossbow for 150g.

Campaign

The Inn at the Crossroads of the World

Protagonists

Anakami of Tree Home

Report Date

23 May 2022