Session 28 - Fights and Fundraising
19 Yarthmont 1010 - 2 Klarmont 1010
General Summary
The party enjoyed their down time, doing various chores, studying new techniques, and looking into new items at Winston's, and other miscellaneous tasks. The party is invited to a charity fundraiser for the families of the fallen from the attack on the Sahuagin lair. This would be the day after the scheduled boxing match, and the party is all happy to participate in the good cause. Constantin Cozmo has finished the painting of their glorious two-headed shark. It has turned out nicely, and they put it on board the ship as a memento.
Meanwhile, the party was getting interested to see how this local boxing match works. In no time, the 27th of Yarthmont has arrived, and that evening the party ventures out along the road. It seems like a popular activity, as they see a variety of Saltmarsh citizenry headed up the road toward the Brenatto farm. As they get closer, they can see a fire out front, with sausages cooking, and Leo heads over to check this opportunity out, getting an early taste of the food. Meanwhile Tork introduces himself at the door to the barn, and is told generally how things work. They are shown into a large open space with a boxing ring set up in the middle, beer on tap at the far end, and soon the sausages will be ready. They see several members of the crew of the Everlasting Light, and say hello. Leo offers to buy the crew a round of drinks, and suggests that if Tork ends up participating in a fight, that he recommends betting on him, if there is betting to be had!
They also encounter Eda Oweland from the town council, as well as other respected members of the citizenry, all of which makes them feel more comfortable about the whole event.
The opening bout is between apparent cousins, Raff and Hank Dollet, and the fighting quality is not so great. Apparently they often are the opening event. Eventually Hank knocks Raff down for the third time achieving a TKO.
The meat is brought in, and everyone buys some, and Leo makes good on the offer of a round to the crew.
The second contest is between a dwarf from the mines (Luz Barrelbraids) and a short human (Varin). The quality is better, but still not overly impressive. by the end of this fight (Luz wins!) however, Tork is confident that the fights are good clean entertainment, and speaks to his contact Tomas, and confirms that he is interested in a fight. Tomas is clearly excited and goes off to speak with Toboldt, the organizer, to see if they can get Tork slotted in for a fight.
Toboldt comes out and looks over Tork professionally. It is clear that Toboldt has fought his fair share of boxing matches over the years. He explains the rules, as well as how Tork will be paid for the match. Obviously it is OK to bet on yourself winning, but unacceptable to bet against yourself. No magic, and no below the belt activity or kickboxing or wrestling.
Tork inquires about his boxing, and Toboldt explains that he is retired now, but used to box quite regularly in his youth. This is a young man's sport. Tork moves to the back of the room, and begins meditating in preparation.
Meanwhile the 3rd match has started, between Stanimir "The Hammer" and Rato Slifkin, both human boxers. Once again the quality improves and within a couple rounds Stanimir defeates Rato. There is clearly gambling on the matches, so Tork gives Leo some money to bet on his behalf, and Leo also plans to put some money down on Tork, having seen plenty of Tork's unarmed strikes to know a sure bet when he sees it!
With the arrival of Tork's match, it turns out Tork is the underdog, paying 3:2. Leo places both his and Tork's bets, and settles in to watch the event. His opponent is Draza "The Manic" Stanik. Draza is a large Traladaran, and with Tork being relatively small for a half orc, they are similarly built.
Initially Tork tests the waters, electing to dodge rather than attack, and Draza lands a blow on Tork, though it is nothing too concerning. Tork decides to move to the offensive, and immediately lands two very aggressive blows on Draza, though he seems to hold up pretty well against these hearty thumpings. It is clear that Tork is trying to achieve a different approach, but Draza keeps shaking off the secondary effects, his endurance clearly strong. After some additional hits landed each direction (Tork's seem to be quite powerful strikes), the first round winds down, and Draza seems shaken, but not willing to give up. Tork seems to be in good shape relatively. Tomas is quite pleased with the results of the first round and is clearly proud of his "find." It is clear that Tomas must get some sort of commision for finding fighters, and Tork is a great one!
The second round Tork once again shakes off a couple weak hits from Draza, and lands more moderate strikes on Draza, but whatever it is Tork is trying to do through technique is not quite working, and Draza keeps at it. After a few more exchanges though it becomes clear that it is just a matter of landing one or two more hits and Draza will be out for the count. Before long this happens, and Draza goes down. The crew and party are all quite pleased with Tork's performance, and Tork helps bring Draza to his feet, and compliments him on his clearly hearty endurance. Leo offers Draza some healing, and collects the winnings from the bookkeeper.
The final match is between Tassos Milakos, a Thyatian, and Gregor Cerny, a Karameikan, and eventually Tassos is victorious.
The next day is the day of the fundraiser, and everyone gets prepared for this. Tork meanwhile has found an orphanage to patronize, as he wants to donate his boxing earnings to this cause. It is Blossom's Home, near the center of town, and run by Blossom herself, a kindly older woman. Normally it houses 6-8 orphans, and runs on charitable donations. She is enamored by Tork's offer to make such a generous donation, and has Tork in for a cup of tea and some lemon cake. When Tork asks if there is anything else he can do to help, she mentions a shutter that is not quite working properly. Tork is able to fix this up with a bit of effort, and says his goodbyes to a beaming Blossom.
Now however, it is time to move on to the fundraiser. On the way to the fundraiser, Tork mentions to the party that he noticed someone studying him oddly at the boxing match. A character with a bit of a hooked nose. This hadn't registered at the time, so he doesn't have any good details on who this might have been. The party is mildly concerned, and asks him to keep his eyes out for the mystery person.
They arrive at the Primewater mansion, and it has been rearranged into a casino layout. There are several table games set up involving dice or cards, and out in the backyard, a racetrack has been set up with ducks. The party mingles with the crowd, and there are several officers from the town guard that participated in the battle that are here as honored guests.
Gellan is happy to see everyone, and brings them outside to see his new trees. He has planted the seeds from that magic fruit he sent them out to acquire, and the party is concerned when they see the saplings, as they look just like twig blights. They express their concern, and suggest that he bring in Ferrin Kastilar to give an opinion. They describe what twig blights are like and he seems upset, naturally, as this could have been a nice grove of magic trees, but instead it looks like trouble brewing. He says he will talk to Ferrin, and they won't worry about it now, as the fundraiser is the main concern for tonight!
The party goes into the games with the intent of helping the cause. So as they win some money here and there at the tables, they bet more aggressively to unwind their winnings. By the end of the night they are all successful in this endeavor and everyone is even at best on the night. Meanwhile, they and the other guests all had a good time, especially with the duck races, which were quite entertaining. By the end of the evening, it seems that the fundraiser was a success, and the party felt they had contributed to the event well, and head out for the evening.
A couple days later, as Seraphina is headed to town to have a meal with the rest of the party, Aubrek catches her, and when the party is all together, he tells them of a concern he has. It turns out that a courier, Stefan Vanik, has disappeared while returning from Mirros with documents for Aubrek and others.
The last news of him was that he had to stop in a small town near Radleb Keep when his horse lost a shoe. Aubrek didn't want to distract from the fundraiser, so he hadn't mentioned it until today, but Stefan is now a week overdue. The courier is a young man making his way since his shearing. The main concern is for his safety, as the documents can be replaced, and therefore not so valuable as the last mission, so there isn't much to be offered as a reward in this case. The party is happy to look into the situation for Aubrek, and for Stefan.
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
18 Sep 2020
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