Zobeck Se01Ep02

General Summary

From the diary of the late Mistress Arashi, dated Highsummer 96

Let me see, where was I...
Ah yes, in the pit of despair.
Surrounded as we were by rodents of unusual size, we were forced to retreat. Thinking quickly, that whippersnapper Xanza made himself useful and tossed a meat pie behind us while I made judicious use of my skill in masonry. As my new friends fled deeper into the tunnels after that fiend Matimer, I waited until just the right moment to strike. A weak spot in the stone ceiling crumpled like paper with a blow from my hammer, and the rats were blocked off from pursuit, with a pie to occupy their attention.
Deeper in Matimer’s lair, we found a ring of mysterious keys, one of which was marked “gate,” and a book of names, several of which were crossed out. Gummy recognized them as members of the local thieves’ guild.
A little more poking around, and we found a magic fountain squirreled away behind a secret door. Its waters replenished eternally, and were fresh and clean. Unable to find Matimer himself, we hunkered down and rested up in this secret room.
Midway through our siesta, the rat host with the most (rats) made an appearance, and made the very intelligent decision of bartering for his life.
He told us the fountain was blessed and those who drank from its waters periodically could not be magically tracked. The rest of the party was exactly as eager to commit tax fraud as I was, I’m sure of it, because we all became fast friends with Matimer in exchange for continued use of his lair as a home base of our own. We dutifully returned his keys (much later, after having copies of our own made) and took back the heirloom ring he’d burgled that had started this whole mess. We did not divulge his location to Renai, the guard captain. Least said, soonest mended.
The rest of the day was spent scouting out a cave for some religious nut and his talking angel cat, the pay was good and it doesn’t do to ask questions when you answer an ad for a task where a sword might come in handy.
The whole place was one big trap and had claimed the lives of the party who’d been sent there before us. Luckily, as a child of Minos. I had a knack for mazes and was able to complete the map they (and we) had been sent for with no trouble. As is expected for such a cave, it was presided over by a big red monster, which the village idiot and town crier had made a fuss about seeing visions of trying to amass a cult. We decided not to fight him, though. Shame. I’d’ve liked to know if a “god’s” brains were the same color as everyone else’s on my hammer.
Dilbert and his talking cat were satisfied with the map though, and I was satisfied with the gold which bought yours truly some less patchy armor.
Satisfied that we did indeed work better together than separately, we agreed to continue our adventure of mayhem and debauchery (the previous three words are crossed out) valor and glory. Our reasons for staying rather than living out our lives quietly varied. Some wanted to better themselves, to meet an ideal.
(There is a rough woodcut of Xanza holding a pie)
Some were running from something.
(There is a rough woodcut of Atticus looking up at a stained glass window depicting Perun)
And some still were a mystery altogether.
(There is a rough woodcut of Illomen turning his head almost all the way backwards to look behind him)
But whatever their reasons, nobody wanted to die in their beds, which is something I can get behind.
(The following two pages are made up of a spread image of the party members lined up and smiling as if for a portrait. The quality isn’t great, but its rustic quaintness is very atmospheric. Like something out of a colonial almanac) I just hope the rest of them know that’s how this ends. No true adventurer falls asleep in their own bed when it comes time for the final sunset.

Notes

Greetings all! This is the "What are we doing?" Thread for the third episode of the City of Zobek campaign. As always, all discussion of what we should do for the next game should be in this thread for Rich's convenience.
If I recall correctly, we're sort of between jobs right now. Leo's fine with taking either job left on the job board, but he'd prefer jobs that require talking/negotiating than fighting. He also suggests maybe just walking around the city, taking in all of the sights and seeing what the city has to offer in the way of shops, attractions, or unusual looking places like curiosity shops or fortune tellers or something of that sort (Leo's a big fan of all of those), and perhaps we may run into a person or two who could use our help.
Also, if you all are willing, Leo was thinking of setting up a stand in town where he could play music and the rest of you could perform cantrips or do acrobatic feats or something, complete with a cup or a box for tips and a sign offering our services for hire with rates we can discuss here. That way, people can come up to us if they need a job done and we're not limited to what's on the job board.
I'm open to any and all other suggestions, so what say you, fellow adventurers?

Date

Highsummer 2, 92 FY

Report Date

04 May 2018