Adv Log Session 42: Looking for Kallia in Dwarfchat
General Summary
These are the notes of the session. They haven't been narratively improved yet.
Leafturn 36, evening
Got people up to speed on where everyone was, and what they thought they knew.
While Ruby had been flying around, she saw a bunch of wagons/caravans on the roads. She was the only one with any knowledge about the lay of the land. Elitheris, Taid, and Eykit had all heard variants of the rumors, but hadn’t shared info, pretending that they were all strangers.
Elitheris used the Telesend Shard cluster to communicate the location of the camp to Ruby and Eykit. Taid knew where it was already, and Almë was already there.
Leafturn 37
Almë and Elitheris were in camp. Chilling, playing with the dogs.
Eykit woke up at the Silver Blossom Caravanserai. People were getting up, getting breakfast, getting ready to leave by loading up everything. He ate. Then he made his way to the camp. He was already fairly close, and as he walked, he saw a caravan heading to Kibil-nala. He walked with them; strength in numbers. They didn’t mind him walking with them. He walked along with one of the Human animal handlers. He bumped into him, and snitched his coin purse. The guy didn’t even notice.
He got to the wooded area between the two sets of fields. He fell back, slowing, letting the caravan get ahead of him. Then he disappeared into the woods. He wandered towards about where he thought it was, but had a bit of trouble actually finding it. “CaCAW!” he said, imitating Taid’s approximation of a birdcall.
Both Elitheris and Almë heard a higher pitched “birdcall”. Almë CaCAWed back.
Eykit heard Almë, and turned in that direction. He heard a thrashing in the bushes, and a white dog leapt out of the bushes. It was Mr. Wiggles saying “hi”, happy to see Eykit. Eykit wasn’t ready for it, and he fell down the slope, rolling and tumbling, the dog dancing around him. His back slammed into a tree, which kept him from going completely down the hill. It would leave a mark; his limbs all splayed out, and Mr. Wiggles licking his face. He was covered in mud, dried leaves, moss, dirt, and other detritus.
He got up, his gambeson helmet was lying upslope. And he was missing one of his rondels, which had popped out of its sheath. He swore a blue streak, looking for his dagger. It took him 20 minutes to find it. It had been flung farther than he would have thought possible. With a final curse, he slammed the knife back into its sheath.
Elitheris and Almë both heard Mr. Wiggles charge off, barking, a “Waugghh!”, crashing in the undergrowth, and then an “Owww!” Then about 20 minutes of “Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck fuck shit shit shit!”
“Eykit’s back,” Elitheris said.
When Eykit wandered into camp, Elitheris could see that he had attempted a kind of makeshift forest camouflage. “Good effort, but you’ll have to do better if you actually want to remain hidden.”
“What?” Eykit asked.
“Your camouflage. It’s not very good.”
“Fuck off.” Eykit grumbled.
“Someone’s cranky today,” Almë said.
Taid and Ruby had spent the night at the Cellar Keg. Taid woke up, had breakfast; Ruby was still asleep. There wasn’t much as far as rumors were concerned.
Ruby woke later, then had a really nice breakfast (midmorning). Taid was finishing breakfast when she came down. Breakfast was decent, but not spectacular. There were two dogs there in the Keg. At the same table, with six people seated there. Ruby had to say hello to the dogs; she told them about how she misses her dog. The two dogs were “Jerrid” and “Rocky”.
Taid hoped that Kallia didn’t have some puppies to use to incapacitate Ruby.
The dog owners were traders of a caravan; Ruby engaged in pet small talk. They were part of a smaller caravan with only pack mules, no wagons. Here to trade in Dwarfchat, not the Undercities. Got in last evening, came up to Upper Dwarfchat to get breakfast before meeting their contact in the walled city.
She asked them if they were okay and safe, given what’s been happening in town lately. They were aware of the disappearances and muggings, and about the 8pm curfew (14th Bell, technically). They were scared, but didn’t let that stop them from doing business here. To Ruby, they were very sincere, and she knew they weren’t lying to her. They were who they said they were.
She ate breakfast, sitting next to Taid, pretending she didn’t know him. “Good morning,” she said. “How’s your day going?” Making small talk. Taid just grunted in response. she told him her plans for the day.
Ruby wanted to go to the Mountainstream Inn, for 2nd breakfast.
Taid wanted to get Maggie back. He went to Ashjaw’s Weaponry.
He asked if his halberd was ready.
Taid’s halberd was NOT be ready. “Yeah, about that. Oh, the shaft is done, or was, anyway. Of course we had to test it, and Halgorum swung it about in the courtyard to test the grip, feel, weight. You know, all the necessary things. Well, apparently we did a fantabulous job on it, because he was singing its praises as likely the best polearm we’ve ever made. Well, Galnir Ashjaw himself saw Halgorum swinging the halberd around with the biggest grin on his face, and so he had to take a turn. Well, he took a few practice swings with it, then disappeared into his personal workshop. He hasn’t come out, and won’t let anyone in. Tell’s the cook to just leave some food on the doorstep, and he’ll get it in a minute. There are three trays of food, all untouched. So, uh, no, your halberd isn’t ready. And no, I have no idea what Weaponsmith Ashjaw is doing to it. But it’s rare for him to take such a personal interest. Let me know where you are staying, and I will get word to you when it’s done.”
Taid told him he was staying at the Cellar Keg.
Then he went to the Mountainstream Inn. He got a beer at the bar. He grumbled to no one in particular, “I can’t believe I have to stay here another day while I wait for my halberd to be repaired.” He seemed really put out.
<48:10>
Elitheris went foraging, staying close to camp. She filled a basket with various things (wild greens, miner’s lettuce, nettles, herbs, mushrooms, berries, and some bark strips to make twine, and about 20 sticks for arrow shafts, etc). Eykit saw the meat smoking, and if filled his nostrils with the heavenly scent of smoked meat. It wasn’t jerky yet, but he took a sample anyway.
Then she started making some arrows. She was out of needle bodkins.
Back to Taid and Ruby, at the Mountainstream Inn.
<57:27>
Taid had a bit of worry about his halberd having some stuff done to it that he wasn’t aware of. But the guy behind the counter had seemed more amused by his boss’s actions than concerned. Just a bit of strangeness. Taid wasn’t too concerned.
He wanted to stick around for a few days in case his halberd was ready.
Ruby said that the food there was very good, and that he should eat something. Food and puppies were what made life living and solved all problems.
Ruby needed to make a trip to visit Norolind. She ate her lunch, paying attention to any conversations around her. She heard that there had been a disappearance the previous night. Apparently it was a farmer maybe.
She asked Malram about it. But he didn’t know any new information. Ruby asked if it was the dragon. “I hope not,” came the reply. “Do you know something?”
“I’ve heard that there was a dragon.”
“Do you know something?” Ruby’s answer was only that she’d heard about a dragon.
Ruby wanted to fly to the camp. But she needed to stash her pack and her staff. She asked Malram, and he said that Darmund had a lockbox in his residence that could be used, for a fee ($5). She stashes her stuff there, finds a private place, and shifts into falcon form. She flies back to camp, circling around until she finds evidence of it through the treetops. It took her a little while, but not too long.
She lands on a tree branch above the camp, looking down into it. Everyone but Taid is there. She transformed back to Hobbit, by Norolind. Elitheris was out foraging. Almë still wasn’t used to that little trick of hers.
“Elitheris is still out in the forest,” Almë asked, “and have you seen Taid?”
“Yes, I’ve seen Taid, he’s staying in the Cellar Keg. But he’s currently at the Mountainstream Inn. He has to wait for his halberd to be done. I flew over the town yesterday, checking on manor houses, didn’t see anything suspicious. I also heard that someone disappeared last night, from somewhere near the outskirts maybe? Maybe from a field?”
“Also I heard rumors about a dragon being seen.”
“Maybe a dragon rumor got started to bump up prices and cause chaos,” Almë said.
“I left my stuff at the Mountainstream Inn, so I could come here and exchange info.”
Alme asked about roads that Kallia might be using to transport bodies. He was confident that they should watch for suspicious traffic on the northern road. After Taid gets his halberd back.
Due to the curfew, there shouldn’t be too much traffic at night. So anyone on the roads at night might be suspicious.
Ruby flew back to the Mountainstream Inn, now that she had gotten her Nori fix, to get her stuff.
They didn’t want to be seen as a whole group, but they also didn’t want to be risky and split up. Elitheris could meet Taid and Ruby in town; she had the Telesend Shard, and having the ability to communicate what’s happening would be useful.
The thought was that Kallia has a place outside of town. And when she abducts someone, she has to travel by road from the city to her place. So if they camp near a road, they could possibly catch her in the act.
Ruby also wanted to get some info on the latest disappearance. Who disappeared, and which field did they disappear from. If they could figure out which field, Elitheris could possibly track their path. Ruby flew back to the Mountainstream Inn, peeking in through a window to see if Taid was there. Taid wasn’t there. She flew around, circling, looking for Taid.
Almë bathed in the river.
Elitheris started walking into town. She walked past a shrine, a small stone building with a flat stone altar with a small standing stone upon it. Some flowers and dried herbs were left on the altar stone, as offerings. This one looked like it was set here for two main purposes: one was to provide a place to bless the fields, and since it was on the major caravan road, to bless the travelers. But it provided a place for people to pray to whichever god they wanted to talk to, and to provide a place for giving sacrifices.
The smaller shrines were often used for multiple gods; with hundreds or thousands of gods, there was no reasonable way to provide each god with its own shrine. But the shrine itself wasn’t what was important to the gods; it was the homage, belief, and sacrifices. And technically, one didn’t need a shrine for that. Shrines were simply convenient.
Taid left the Mountainstream Inn shortly after lunch. He went a’wandering. He looked for a place they might have Shardmeets. At a street corner, across from a set of stocks with a pair of felons locked in them, was a crowd of people. They weren’t paying much attention to the people in the stocks; their attention was on a white bearded Dwarf in robes, who stood on a small crate and was addressing the crowd. He was an Awakener, and was touting the mental health benefits of Shard use, how it made one more center and aware, and how it opened one’s inner eye so that they could know themselves better. All the usual Awakener crystal magic/pyramid power new age stuff.
He was Ajahn Reese. Ajahn seemed to be a title, not a name. He wore clothes in the local fashion, and seemed to be a Dwarf who’d been out under the sky for a while. He wasn’t the almost albino pale of the Undercity Dwarves.
Taid hangs out for a while. He does hear some things about the latest disappearance: a farmer and his wife, and disappeared from a field north of town. He also heard rumors about a dragon, although no one has seen it. Only that there are rumors going around town that the disappearances are not the result of a manticore, but of a dragon.
Ajahn Reese doesn’t know much more than the crowd, but he does say that within the last four or so days, there haven’t been any Shard muggings. He’s hoping that whoever has been doing it either has enough Shards, or has moved on. He is currently trying to get a Shardmeet going sometime in the next few days, but they are still trying to get a location and proper security.
Ruby, flying above the city, saw Taid standing with a crowd, listening to a street preacher. She landed on a rooftop in his sightline, spread her wings twice, then started preening.
Taid saw the movement on the roof, and his eyes snapped to the spot. He saw a falcon, one that seemed familiar to him. He had the feeling it was Ruby.
It was late afternoon, and the city was in the mountain’s shadow. He had a couple hours before actual sunset. He had time to walk out to the fields to the north.
About half of the fields in the section had been harvested; there were a lot of people working to harvest the rest of them. Taid asked a group who was reaping some barley; he talked to one of the bundlers. He asked about the disappearance last night. Who was taken, and from where. The guy immediately looked up, checking the sky out of reflex. “I don’t know exactly who it was, happened last night. Apparently a man and his wife disappeared. Not Dwarven, but Human. Young couple.” Further questions lead to him pointing towards the section of fields across the river.
He fords the river, squelching around with wet boots. He finds more field hands to talk to. He talks to some people harvesting hops. There is an Orc with a Goblin on his shoulders, both picking hops, avoiding having to move a ladder all the time.
Taid finds a person to talk to about the disappearances from the night before. He’s met with quizzical looks. None of these workers are aware that someone disappeared the night before. Taid shared what info he had with them.
He moved to another group in another field. These had heard something, and that it happened in the northwest corner of these fields. He was given a couple names, Larim and Becky, who might be the ones he’s thinking of. They don’t know why they disappeared. He knew a bit about Becky: age 17, Larim was older than that. They were having a love affair, and Becky’s father didn’t approve. That person thinks that the pair ran off to elope, perhaps under the guise of being abducted by the dragon/manticore. No one would bother looking for them.
Ruby, meanwhile, was keeping an eye on Taid, but also looking around for anything suspicious or potentially dangerous. Basic overwatch. She could see a series a wagons filled with produce and grain, mainly heading towards Dwarfchat, and empty ones heading back out to the fields for re-loading. She could see caravans as well, making their way on the roads. Normal traffic, by all accounts.
<2:05:00>
In a field on the other side of the river, Ruby could see a group of farm workers, clustered around and listening to a speaker. She landed in a nearby tree at the side of the field in order to listen in. The meeting looked to be some kind of farmworkers’ union meeting, trying to get more pay for the workers. It was fairly political, in that the speaker believed that the wages were being kept artificially low by those in charge. The workers seem to have a current of malcontent.
Ruby takes a good look at the speaker, so she can recognize him again if she sees him. He’s a Dwarf, and is wearing the same kind of clothes as the workers, although his are clean. Simple workman’s clothing, but he hadn’t been doing menial work.
It was starting to get late. Taid went to the Cellar Keg.
Elitheris headed to the Mountainstream Inn. Neither Taid nor Ruby were there. She hadn’t been to the Mountainstream Inn before. She gets a beer, and a snack. She hangs out for a while. People looked at her; she was an Elf, and they didn’t see very many of those. She also heard some disparaging remarks about Elves and how they see “ephemerals”.
She asked Darmund if there was a room available. There was one, a stateroom. ($25, includes breakfast).
Ruby flew along while Taid walked back to the Cellar Keg. Then she went to the Mountainstream Inn to get her stuff.
Ruby shapeshifter back into Hobbit form. She went inside, and saw Elitheris talking to the innkeeper Darmund. She asked for her stuff back, and for a room.
It turns out that an Elf woman had just taken the stateroom. But they could share, or there was a bed in a common room. They shared the stateroom.
<2:20:19>
Ruby looked around the tavern for dogs. There weren’t any. There was a cat, however, with a harness and leash, held by a teenaged girl. That was almost as good as a dog. She immediately went over to the cat and started petting it. It was white and orange, sort of like a calico. Longhaired. Name was Fluffmuffin, and it was resigned to be on leash, although it tested its limits.
“How did you train a cat to a leash?” Ruby asked.
“Muffin knows where her food comes from, and I don’t want her running off, so she gets the leash. I don’t want to have to chase her up a tree again.”
The girls parents rolled their eyes when they saw the cat getting all the attention.
Muffin seemed to like Ruby, rubbing its head all over her hand and whatever else it could reach. She cuddled with the cat for a while, then had dinner. She was hungry after flying around all day. She offered a seat to Elitheris to share dinner. Elitheris joins her.
Ruby and Elitheris spoke only about publicly known things, still keeping up the charade that they were strangers. They trading info about the rumors they’d heard. Talk about the dragon; Elitheris says that she seen it, and that she had mentioned it to a butcher, and then to the bartender at the Cellar Keg. So now Ruby knew that the dragon in the rumor was probably the same one that Elitheris had seen days before.
However, their conversation had been overheard by some people at a nearby table. “You’ve seen the dragon?” one asked.
“Yes, I did see a dragon, very high in the sky, three days ago.”
Eyes widened in alarm.
“I haven’t seen it since, so it’s probably no longer around.” Dragons were territorial, and were rumored to have culture as well, and usually seen in mountains that made their lairs hard to get to. “It was headed west, into the mountains.”
The people seemed a bit less alarmed.
“Was this the first time you’d heard about it?” Elitheris asked them.
“No, the rumor is all around town. But when you said you’d seen it, it got our attention. We were worried it had been seen again recently.”
But Ruby and Elitheris knew that anything they said in the tavern could be overheard, and kept important discussions on hold until they could get privacy.
They went to their room, and got caught up.
Almë, every once in a while, cast Plant Vision and scanned around the area, just keeping tabs on things.
Leafturn 38
Eykit, Almë and all the animals were in camp. Every now and again, they heard something moving around the forest nearby, but none of them came close.
Almë tried to teach Norolind some tricks, mainly roll over, and run in circles. Norolind started off giving Almë “the look”, but eventually played along. Mr. Wiggles wanted to join in as well, and Almë “trained” them.
Eykit set up some targets, and practiced knife throwing. When he got bored with that, he carved a humanoid figure into a tree trunk, with a few small circles for target points, such as eyes, neck, and heart. Then he went to town attacking it with his knives, practicing his strikes.
Taid went to the Keg to get breakfast. No new rumors that early in the morning.
He went to the local Civil Patrol office. He was killing time, waiting for his halberd to be done. He asked them about the disappearances (in general, not just the latest ones). Nothing new on that front (manticore/dragon). The civil patroller also mentioned that they were talking to witnesses about the Shard muggings. And there is also the slew of arrests for the minor crimes.
There was a shrine in the Walled City, and Taid headed that way. He had to ask people where one was, and also found out that a new shrine was being built in Upper Dwarfchat. The one in the Walled City could hold about 60 people at once.
He prayed for an hour. While praying, he fell asleep (rolling a 17 for his HT roll, how convenient!), and dreamed, getting Dream #5.
Elitheris got up at dawn. Ruby was still asleep. Elitheris wandered around South Upper Dwarfchat, getting a feel for the street layout and the building structures, marking climbing handholds and the like, in case she wanted to take the high road. She noted that the roofs were often slate, which, if wet, would be slippery. She also noted where some tall trees were, in case she needed to climb into one or another.
She asked a passersby if there was a library. There was one, in the Walled City. But first, she needed to get to a fletcher; it was a block or two away from the library. She also noticed that all four mage guilds were near the library.
At the fletcher’s, she saw the fletcher wrapping the feathers with silk thread. She purchased some needle bodkin arrows ($3 each). Fine ones he was selling for $30. She purchased two of those, as well. He put dabs of paint on the nocks so Elitheris could easily see which ones were the good ones.
She went to the library, and asked about what kinds of books they had: specifically, about dragons in the area. Dragon lore, legends, local stories about dragons. City history, local politics. Also, she was interested in the moon blowing up and the Shards.
<2nd recording>
The library was a small anteroom with a half wall separating the front part from the part with all the books. They don’t lend the books out; people go there and read them, and leave them there. She mentions she glimpsed the dragon; the librarian is surprised she’d actually seen it. It was a great drake.
“We have books of draconology.”
She asked him if there was a great drake’s lair nearby, but there doesn’t seem to be one. “Where did you see this dragon?”
“I saw it on the road coming into Dwarfchat, high in the sky heading west towards the mountains. But it was clearly a winged creature with four legs. A great drake.” Elitheris had, in her long life, the lesser drakes, warms, and even a faerie dragon.
They do have books on dragons, even if there aren’t any dragons living nearby (that he knew of).
As for the Shards, they have books on those, by learned scholars. A lot of it is speculation, since no one knows exactly what they are and where they came from. Librarian assumes, because of timing, that the exploding moon had something to do with the Shards.
Elitheris went back to the inn. Ruby was eating, as Hobbits do.
Taid went to an armor smith. There was one in south Upper Dwarfchat, not too far from the Cellar Keg. There was all kinds of munitions quality pieces, and a nice set of full plate armor, blued and etched, sized for Dwarves. It was a piece of art, and very, very expensive. (Price ends up being around $97000; See “Blued, Etched Plate Harness of the Vigilant Guard, which is similar, but enchanted with a collection of useful minor enchantments; $99000).
Example of blued, etched plate armor (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC)
There was also a guy riveting chain links together.
Jack chains
The blued plate armor also had shield, with the pair of upward spikes favored by Dwarves (it’s possible to find single spike Dwarven shields, but the dual spikes can act to trap blades better).
Taid spent some time chatting with the armor shopkeeper, giving a bit of his own history and adventures. And that he was waiting on getting his halberd fixed.
“Oh? Who do you have working on it?”
“Apparently Galnir Ashjaw, of Ashjaw’s Weaponry.”
Taid told him the story that the weapon shopkeeper told him, about Galnir taking an interest, even above food.
There was a loud thump as the guy’s jaw hit the countertop. “The master himself? Wow. Who are you?”
“I am Taid.”
“Never heard of you. Why is Galnir Ashjaw working on your halberd?”
Taid told him about the wood used for the shaft. And Maggie has seen some things, so she’s got something of a soul. Just waiting for the weapon. And I’m investigating the disappearances. I’ve heard it might be a dragon, and if so, I might need some better armor.”
“It might help a little, against a dragon.”
Taid bought some Jack Chains for his arms and legs. ($15 per pair for arms and $28 per pair for legs). Then he headed back to the Cellar Keg. On the way, he stopped at the Delver’s Guild to arrange for time to do the Staff enchantment on Maggie.
Eykit and Almë were playing with dogs, and throwing knives and such.
Ruby and Elitheris were at the Mountainstream Inn.
Elitheris’ plan was to go back to the library to find out if there was anything there to help them. They needed to find out more about Kallia. Was she known in town? How much power did she have? Town records, town histories. Taid had asked about the council members, some of which he was able to find out.
Taid found out about Baroness Katvia Goldensand, who has several husbands in politics. Katvia=Kallia?
Taid arrived at the Cellar Keg. There was a message for him, from Ashjaw Weaponry.
Taid hurried back to Ashjaw’s Weaponry. The shopkeeper waved, and gave a message to his assistant, who runs out the back door. Likely to tell Ashjaw himself that the client is back.
A white bearded Dwarf with bloodshot eyes walked in carrying a cloth wrapped long bundle. He set it on the countertop. “See, this is a special weapon. I don’t know what came over me, but it needed to be finished. A simple re-hafting wasn’t good enough.” He gestured for Taid to take a look at it.
Maggie was beautiful. The shaft was carved with shallow carvings. The blade was blacked, and etched, the lines shining silver against the black steel. The edge was keen.
“This is amazing,” Taid said.
“Would you like to go to the courtyard and try it out?”
They go through the back door, which opens onto a smallish courtyard. It was big enough for Taid to swing his polearm around. He noticed that is was very balanced. It was a joy to swing around. It did not become unbalanced with use. And it was a Fine weapon.
Taid thanked him profusely. It was a remarkable gift.
Ashjaw said, “Tell me, is that a sacred weapon?” He looked like he really wanted to know. The implication was that something had come over him to make him act the way he did.
Example of a decorated halberd, with relief carvings
“There are strong indications that this is the case. She’s definitely something special.”
“Good to hear. Use her well.”
As a thank you gift, Taid had picked up some gems at Benmek’s Jewelry, about $200 worth. Metals weren’t really worth much, since mages made tons of them in job lots. But gems couldn’t be made by mages. So they retained their value.
Taid went back to the Keg.
Elitheris went to bed early, thinking she’d be up all night guarding the road, as per the plan. Elitheris sent a message via the Shard to Eykit, who would tell Almë: “I’m guarding the road tonight, join me if you wish.”
Eykit and Almë took Wilbur to a stables in Lower Dwarfchat. They also stored the gear Wilbur carried in a lockbox at the caravanserai, paying $50/night. Then they and the dogs walked up to Upper Dwarfchat and met Elitheris and Ruby on the road. She sent the same message to Taid, and he met them as well.
They found a spot near a split in the road just past some fields, and constructed a hunter’s blind using Plant Growth spells and Elitheris’ knowledge of camouflage. They began the stakeout.
Almë commented on Maggie’s upgrade.
<1:23:05>
They shared the information they had, finally. The night was dark, with a waning crescent moon. Plus they were under the forest canopy. They also saw a smudge of light in the sky, slightly larger than a star, but fuzzy looking; it seemed fixed in the sky, unmoving. They watched the road.
It’s a boring night, with no one on the road. Dawn comes. No sounds of swooping wings, either.
Leafturn 39
Taid had to go into town to get Maggie enchanted with the Staff spell. Elitheris went into town and got her sticks to turn into arrow shafts. Everyone else just chilled at the blind.
The mages, when done, came out and said, “It’s a beautiful weapon.”
He went back to the blind.
They chilled at the blind.
They could have split up, but they were thinking that Kallia was too strong for them if they were split up. They planned to stay several days, then switch roads.
That night, Ruby and one or two others slept; the other folks could wake them if necessary. There was no reason for everyone to screw up their sleep schedules.
Later, at about the 14th bell, they heard the clip clopping of a horse walking, coming from the direction of the split in the road, heading into town. They quieted, watching, They saw a human sized figure leading a mule with bulging saddlebags. He didn’t meet their serial killer/evil necromancer profile.
Taid wanted to cast Sense Foes. Taid had to lay in the bushes by the roadside to get close enough to cast the spell. The spell went off, but he didn’t get indication that the guy was an enemy.
They let him go on. He and his mule was the only traffic on the road that night. The fuzzy thing in the sky was still there.
Leafturn 40
They chill during the day. There is a lot of daytime traffic. Empty wagons going out to the farms, and full wagons full of the harvest going into the city. Several caravans made their way up into the mountains, and some came from the mountains towards Dwarfchat.
Almë and Elitheris wanted to spend some time learning Recover Energy, but they needed to move farther away from the road to prevent anyone from realizing they were there.
Eykit practiced with his knives. He set up a swinging target to throw knives at.
Taid was swinging Maggie around. It felt gooooood. Taid looked like a graceful dancer.
They kept two on watch, but nothing happened that night.
Colding 1
It was overcast, but not raining. It was noticeably cooler, too. Elitheris’ arrow shafts were properly shaped. A groove is cut at the end of the shaft, and a piece of horn glued in. This is for the nock. She glued and wrapped the feathers on the shafts. Note: Warbow arrows are about a centimeter in diameter, often barreled (meaning they taper at both ends) to save weight, and have large fletchings. Due to the way that feathers grow, only half a split feather can be used on an arrow; the three fletchings need to curve in the same direction. This will cause the arrow to spin (and there are fletching methods that cause more spin as well). The other half of the feathers can be used on a separate set of arrows; those will end up spinning in the opposite direction. Then the feathers are trimmed to shape. The feathers are then “whipped”. That is, threads are wrapped around the shaft of the arrow, with the threads going between the strands of the feathers to snug up against the split stem, which has been glued to the shaft. Once the whipping is in place, the feathers are straightened out, realigning the strands. Arrowheads are then attached, and the arrows are ready.
<2:04:34>
There was more training in Recover Energy, and more of Eykit throwing knives.
That evening, they could see the fuzzy thing in the sky, although this evening they could tell that it had moved a little, and it was looking like it was smeared a little in one direction. It was no longer a symmetrical fuzzy blob; one side was a little larger than the other.
No traffic on the road again.
Colding 2
They were running out of veg. They still had some jerky, but Ruby was out of things she was willing to eat. All the travel rations were gone. They still had the food in the preservation boxes, in the lockbox at the Silver Blossom Caravanserai.
Taid went to town to pick up some food. Some came from the preservation boxes, some from a the market. ($30 for a backpack full of veg, and another $10 for some meats). He also dropped by the Mountainspring Inn to ask the bartender for some beer. He also asked about the recent rumors.
A couple muggings, no one had heard anything about the manticore (or dragon!). Just Shard thefts.
(They probably trained some more). Elitheris wanted to change roads. It’s been 4 nights so far, but Almë wanted 5 nights.
<2:18:56>
Perhaps tracking the Shard thefts might be better than trying to follow the disappearances.
The story/rumors about the Shard thefts were that there seemed to be a band of masked Dwarves who mugged people for their Shards and other valuables. They were interested in the Shards, not necessarily killing people.
There was some talk about planning how to follow the Shard thread. There is some difficulty in that it could be very dangerous, and it might expose them to Kallia’s attention.
Almë suggested waiting at the road until there was an abduction, and if they didn’t see the body pass by, the road they were on wasn’t the right road.
Taid got back and filled them in on the rumors.
That night, no one came by. No traffic.
Ralsday, Colding 3
Taid suggested that someone go into town to hear the recent rumors. Alme and Elitheris and Ruby were training the Recover Energy. Eykit was practicing with his knives. Taid went into town to get beer and rumors.
There had been an attack the previous night, and heard flapping and screams. By the time anyone got a chance to look in that direction, there was nothing to say.
He went to the Civil Patrol to ask about the recent disappearance. “Yes, someone did get taken by something.”
<2:30:00>
He also says “the disappearance was in Tuhumzahar.” Was this a freak accident happening in parallel, or is it related? Is the dragon doing it? Why was it visible during the day for Elitheris to see it, but only attack at night? Or is it the dragon’s mate? Would even Shards be of interest to a dragon?
Are the disappearances even related to Kallia? Or the Shard thefts related? It’s possible that the Shard thefts have a better chance to being related to Kallia’s activities. The assumption is that Lennerd Fountainsmith ran to Kallia and told her about the group. Which is why the group is split up, to avoid attracting attention. It’s also possible that Kallia is faking the dragon, perhaps using illusions or other trickery.
They are thinking about either changing roads, or becoming more proactive.
Rewards Granted
Maggie got upgraded.
3CP
Report Date
31 Mar 2024
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