Layover in Helmsfirth
Two days later, the party arrived at the town of Helmsfirth, a community of about 5,000 people. The caravan spent a couple of days reprovisioning and trading with the locals. They found out that the town was run by Lord Shirkett and Mayor Grimsford .
The party members met privately in a tavern to discuss their views about their employer and his apparent disregard for human life. They were overheard by a man known as Nicholas Anderson, a ranger who was interested in joining their mission.
All of them discussed Stubing and whether or not they would continue with the caravan. The next morning, Nicholas asked around town about Stubing, but received only favorable comments about the man. However, Nicholas did note that Stubing and the townsfolk had a symbiotic relationship, so their opinions were biased.
During their downtime, Nicholas killed a boar and smoked it. Quinn had some visions about a deer and beaver. Blink studied magic in his room all night. Barrett decided to head out to the woods to practice the magic that Blink had been trying to teach him. Quinn, Blink, and Barrett were able to learn new skills from their efforts.
The next morning, Nicholas gave a report about what he learned about Stubing as they all enjoyed his smoked boar.
Aldrich decided to head out into the woods on his own. He told the party that he wanted to perform a ritual that he had learned from his family. After an hour of walking, he came upon a mother bear and her three cubs. The cubs began to play with Aldrich, and the mother bear became aggressive. Just when it appeared there would be a fight between them, and owlbear ran from the bushes and killed one of the cubs. Aldrich and the mother bear worked together to kill their common enemy.
During the fight, Aldrich noticed that his axe now shouted a profanity whenever it landed a blow.
The mother bear fell during the fight, but Aldrich was able to (fade to black) and saved her life. She walked away with her two surviving cubs.
Aldrich then noticed that the dead cub had disappeared. Later, as he was contemplating the events, he noticed a bear cub paw hanging around his neck. He felt new strength within him that he had never felt before.
The next morning, Stubing hired four new fighters, and gave Nicholas a job on the caravan as well.
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