Location:
Talynbourg

Current Task: Travel to Cydon to seek the source of the Blight

NPCs Met:

• A mysterious cloaked stranger
• Lugubrous
• Father Augustin

A Needed Rest:

Upon arriving in the Cydonic town of Talynbourg, the party checked into rooms at the merchant inn, The Lion’s Paw. They then set out to sell their accumulated loot and to see if they could gain some insight into recent events occurring in the mountainous country.

Research Efforts:

Eleanor decided to head across the town square to the church of Heironeous, where she offered her services as a healer in exchange for conversation and use of the church’s library.

• Results

Daethin, Piruk, Rua’Lanna and Wigston headed into the adventurer’s quarter, where they ended up at the Chopping Block Tavern. They supplied the local patrons with drinks in an effort to loosen some tongues.

• Daethin’s Results
• Piruk’s Results
• Rua’Lanna’s Results
• Wigston’s Results

By the evening of the first day, the party had successfully unloaded the collective spoils of their journey. The next day was spent conducting the research and information-gathering efforts listed above.

Daethin, Wigston and Rayne spent some time out at Daethin’s dire-wolf and unicorn-friendly campsite drinking pearl infused wine as they identified the various magic items the group had picked up in their travels.

In the midst of their investigatory carousing, the trio was visited by a mysterious cloaked traveler. He asked politely if he could rest by their fire before heading into town. After discretely checking with Ceffyl to see if the visitor smelled of evil, the group cautiously decided to allow him to share their fire for a bit.

The mysterious figure asked a few small-talk questions about the services to be found in town and the general location of each. In the midst of the conversation, another visitor arrived. A member of the city watch had been dispatched to investigate reports of a very large wolf frightening the flock of one of the local goatherds on his way to market. When he saw that the dire-wolf in question was tethered and barded, he issued an awkward reminder to the party to make sure their animals were under control, before excusing himself back to his duties.

A little while after the guard had left, the mysterious stranger also excused himself, and continued on to the town gate, leaving behind a small purse with a few gold inside.

The adventurers continued their identification efforts unmolested for the rest of the afternoon. The only other incident of note occurred when a platoon of Cydonic infantry marched past into the town, lead by a leather-clad scout and an impressively armored knight mounted on the back of one of the Cydonic dire rams, which the group had previously only heard about.

Dinner and a Floor Show

That evening, the party convened out at Daethin’s campsite to distribute their newly identified items and to discuss their course of action. They decided that it would be prudent to proceed to the capitol to get a better sense of recent political occurrences and potentially to offer their assistance to the prince regent.

After deciding on a course of action, the group adjourned to the common room of the Lion’s Paw, where Wigston set about performing for the patrons. The clientele consisted mostly of merchants and the aristocracy of the town, along with a table of Cydonic soldiers enjoying an evening meal.

The bard was in the middle of a tale of forbidden love when Daethin, pondering a trip to the bar, noticed a disaster about to occur. It seemed that Kit’s spider-thief had gotten loose at some point during the day’s shopping trips and was now perched on the back of a chair occupied by an affluent looking woman, and was reaching towards the sparkling jewel in her hair.

Hoping to avert a disaster, Daethin quickly rose and crossed the common-room under the pretense of going to refill his drink. As he passed behind the spider-bot, he made a grab for the construct. Unfortunately, the squirrely machine dodged away from Daethin’s grasping hands, while simultaneously giving a mighty tug on the woman’s jewel, forcibly yanking it from her hair.

The woman screamed.

Wigston’s performance halted mid-syllable. The spider-thief, jewel in tow made a b-line for the table where Kit was sitting. Kit, thinking quickly decided to play the victim and began screaming hysterically as soon as the spider thief reached her.

The table of soldiers stood up and their leader, a lighthaired man in an impressive and meticulously polished suit of plate ordered Daethin to halt immediately. The elf threw up his hands and backed away from the screaming woman, unsuccessfully attempting to extract himself from association with the robbery.

Meanwhile, Kit bolted for the door as she continued to scream and play the victim. Unfortunately, the soldiers had gone into control mode and had no intention of letting the victim of a crime leave the scene, especially if the culprit was potentially hiding somewhere on her person. Kit was halted at the door by a soldier urging her to calm down and return to her seat.

The other members of the party tried various tactics to either dissolve or escalate the situation in order to facilitate an escape. Eleanor offered to assist the soldiers in their investigation, while Piruk took the opposite tack. Slamming down his tankard, he roared at the officer nearest to Kit to unhand his wife and immediately charged the offender. Unfortunately, the dwarf’s balance failed him as he attempted to vault a table in his path. Slipping on one of the dishes, he landed face first in a surprised merchant’s soup.

At this point, the situation went from dire to worse. Rayne foolishly attempted to use her wand of charm person on the lead soldier. The spell failed, as did her sleight of hand attempt. Then, members of the city watch arrived on the scene, responding to the sounds of screaming coming from the usually peaceful inn. One of the officers, the same one Daethin had met earlier that day at the campsite leaned over to the lead soldier and whispered, “Those are the folks I saw speaking to that one you brought in earlier.”

Recognizing that the futility of their escape attempts, and unwilling to resort to outright violence, the party at last decided to comply with the soldiers’ orders to return to their seats. Once the scene was secured and the jewel was returned to the shaken woman, the lead officer, who the group could now see sported the lightning and gauntlet symbol of Heironeous on his armor, ordered the guards to take our heroes into custody and to escort them next door to the city watch headquarters for questioning.