D&D 5e Princes of the Apocalypse IC

[Theoboldi]

Spoiler: Anac

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After a few seconds of thinking, Anac remembers an important bit of information that he had almost forgotten. It was actually Alonzo, cook of Candlekeep, and his recipe for roasted beef with sage that he was thinking about. Come to think of it, a meal like that actually sounds quite nice right now.

Heck, come to think of it, how does Karashi know about chess?

What was he thinking about again? Oh yeah, elemental cults. Perhaps he has read more on the subject at some point, but right now Anac knows only the basics. There are quite many individuals and religious organisations all across Faerûn that model themselves after or utilise the power of the four elements.

Air, Fire, Earth and Wind are primordial forces with nigh-limitless power, and are interwoven into all living beings, so it is only natural that many mortals, druids foremost, would be drawn to them. To count them all would be nigh impossible. Similarly, many deities, and a few genie and fey nobles are said to provide small measures of these powers to their followers.

Otherwise, he does not know much about such cults or religions in the Dessarin Valley aside from his own tribe, who are of course staunch protectors of the elemental air. Perhaps the knights and warriors of Tyr at Summit Hall have come across such forces in the past? A visit to their monastery may reveal more.

[Armored Walrus]

Anac the Warlock

After another mile or so, Anac comes out of his head for a moment again, ”I don't suppose we have time for a trip to Neverwinter? Hrm, probably not... ” and he trails off, muttering to himself about monasteries and beekeeping.

[kladams707]

Theren largely ignores Anac's question, feeling it more rhetorical than anything else. He reflects on the recent past, looking back at the cultists for lack of a better word. He worried about the intelligence the man had on the group & had some concern over his own actions. He continues walking with ithers, still silent on the whole ordeal.

[Theoboldi]

With this strange encounter dealt with, and two magical suits now in your possession, you resume your march for Red Larch, the sun beating down on your as hot as ever. Though, compared to earlier this day, the weather seems a bit more bearable, as a soft breeze has started up, cooling your bodies as you walk. Whether or not this is a good sign, considering what has happened, you cannot be certain about.

The next two days pass without any further incidents. While putting out the potential wildfire Theren nearly started has cost you the remainder of your water supplies, Karashi is able to make up for it. The bounties of meat, fruits and berries she is able to bring back are quite a bit lesser, given her increased workload, but at least none of you have to go thirsty. And finally, on the eight day of your journey, as you are getting close to the Slumber Hills and noon as just passed, a first few small huts becomes visible in the distance.

Getting closer, you see more buildings, houses, though none of the comparable to the kinds of palaces you'd see in a city like waterdeep. It is mostly cottages and farm- or warehouses, all tightly gathered around a large crossroads towards which your path is leading and surrounded by several growths of Larc trees. Karashi and Anac immediately recognize this place as Red Larch, though even those unfamiliar with it can easily guess that they have reached their goal.

To the left of the town, you spot a small, but well travelled path leading towards a natural waterhole, as large as a plaza. To the right, another path leads towards a similarly big field, ringed with abandoned outhouses and rings of stones that have clearly been used to hold fires, given the dust and ash gathered within them. This must be the village's marketplace, though right now it appears to be empty safe for one person. Some half-orc man, recognizable even at a distance by his green skin, stands by a row of large wooden vats. He is dressed in a wide, burlap shirt and pants, and currently fiddling around with the barrels for some reason.

Spoiler: Karashi

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You know this man as Grund. While not the brightest bulb in the bunch, this half-orc has lived in Red Larch for his entire life, and his jovial and gentle nature have earned him a place as the village's amusing, but harmless town idiot. You're not quite sure how he came to live here, but he always seems happy to see you, and will gladly talk with any visitors as if they were old friends.

Most days, he spends his time time making pickles in those large vats behind him, before selling them for a meager living on market days. Granted, he'd perhaps make a little bit more money if he wasn't so ready to give them away for free to anyone he likes. Either way, you are reasonably certain that if you approached him now, you could easily score a few.

Approaching the village, you are greeted with an eye-watering, throat-closing stink that seems to come from the first building to your left. It appears to be a large warehouse, and through its open doors you spot a small company of six people working on several tanning racks and cutting tables, preparing various leathers and hides. Several huge vats of metal at the back of the building appear to be the source of this foul stench. A small sign hanging near the warehouse's entrance helpfully informs you that this is 'Luruth's Tannery'

To your right, there is a rather strange looking house. Though it looks built as an ordinary residence, the kind normal people would live in, a large assortment of broken doors, barrels, rotting old furniture, and tools lean against its walls, placed seemingly at random. A faded, and very crooked sign hanging by the front door spells out 'Vallivoe’s Sundries'.

Spoiler: Karashi

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You know that this house does indeed belong to one Endrith Vallivoe, a retired and rather eccentric caravan merchant, who sells all manner of new and used goods. If you're looking to purchase something, or just need to hear the latest news, chances are he'll have it. Not that he'll guarantee for its quality.

Tarnlar's shop, you assume, will be deeper in the village. As would be any authorities to which you could report what happened on the way here.

[DigoDragon]

Karashi grins in the direction of the marketplace. "Ooh, Grund is out there. He makes really good pickles. We should buy some after meeting with Maegla."

[kladams707]

Spoiler

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Before I forget, portent:

(1d20)[13]
(1d20)[3]

Theren's nose rankles as the smell of the tanner's shop, but still remains silent. He tries to get his bearings in this new town, noting the various landmarks, the odor not withstanding.

[WarTortoise]

Jack had been silent for most of the journey to Red Larch. He hoped his heavy handedness hadn't put the others off. It was a good reminder of the fact that he wasn't in uniform anymore, but merely a man following his conscience.

He did say "Thank you." to Theren during the first campfire after the incident.

Now, riding into town, things started to turn around again. His hope for a successful completing of the mission rekindled and he was anxious to get to the bottom of the mysteries set out before them.

He nodded at Karashi's words, and smiled. "Can't wait!" He stated positively as they rode deeper into the village.

[Armored Walrus]

Unless anyone in the party stops him, Anac continues further into town, searching for Tarnlar's shop.

[DigoDragon]

Unless anyone in the party stops him, Anac continues further into town, searching for Tarnlar's shop.

Karashi is same way, following Anac to the clothier shop.

[Theoboldi]

Theren's nose rankles as the smell of the tanner's shop, but still remains silent. He tries to get his bearings in this new town, noting the various landmarks, the odor not withstanding.

It does not take much for Theren to get a good idea of the town's layout. Almost all of it is tightly built around a large crossroads, where your path, the Long Road, and the Cairn Road that leads eastwards through the valley intersect. In the middle of town, almost right next to the point where the two roads meet, there are two larger buildings that appear to be taverns.

Far to the north, at the other end of town, there seems to be farmland and a slope of land. That appears to be Red Larch's quarry, as far as you can tell. However, there's really not that much more to see. A waterhole, the market, the quarry, and the farmlands, each in one corner of the village. And right in the middle, two inns. The fact that you can just barely spot it all from the edge of town speaks volumes about the size of this place.


However, before you are able to do much exploring, you suddenly hear a loud voice, yelling angrily from inside of 'Vallivoe's Sundries'.

"Do you have any idea who you are talking to, old man?!" A few seconds of silence pass, you unable to hear the response to these words from where you stand. Then, the loud voice blares out again, even louder this time, like a roaring bear. "I AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR THIS! YOU'RE GONNA REGRET TRYIN' TO RIP ME OFF!"

Even from the outside, the sound of heavy footsteps marching towards the shop's entrance is audible, and you are not surprised even one bit when the door is slammed open, and a human steps rushes out of it. Though he is dressed in a surprisingly fine coat and some expensive looking clothes for a town like this, his demeanor and appearance dispel any notions of affability you might have about him.

The stench of alcohol is clear on his breath, and his eyes are deeply sunken and red with bloodshot. His thick nose is swollen a similar color, and his greasy brown hair is utterly dishevelled. As you get a good look at his rough and unflattering features, he similarly takes a good look at you, throwing especially Anac and Karashi some unfriendly glances.

Spoiler: Anac and Karashi

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This man is Ilmeth Waelvur, one of the village's two local wagon makers. Though his business is the far less successful of the two, he still is a fairly wealthy individual, and one of the town elders.

He also is widely known as a complete jerk.

"Who are you lot? And what's it with those weapons?" He points his finger at the clearly armed Jack, then at Karashi. "Ya better don't plan on causin' any trouble..."

[Armored Walrus]

Anac the Warlock

”N'no, `of course no'.” says Anac, giving a suggestion of a bow. "Have a n`ce day."

Anac tries to appear harmless and silently urges the aggressive human to move on about his business.

[Theoboldi]

"Yeah, you'd better watch yourself, birdman...." the drunk man slurs, though without making any further aggressive moves. "Bunch o' dirty rotten thieves..."

Then, he turns towards the rest of the group, looking in particular at the human and elven members of it. "Look, I'm Ilmeth Waelvur, businessman and entrepreneur." To nobody's surprise at all, he utterly mangles the pronunciation of that last word. "This town'd be nothin' without me. So if you don't wanna get into trouble, you'd better watch that bird and the Uthgardt girl. Ya got it?"

[DigoDragon]

"So if you don't wanna get into trouble, you'd better watch that bird and the Uthgardt girl. Ya got it?"

Karashi

"No worries, we are not in getting into trouble. Friends can still watch Karashi, but no catcalling," Karashi replies, sounding like she understood this man's words as advice and not a threat. She's still friendly about it.

[kladams707]

Theren continues to remain silent, knowing any respnse he had to offer would simply result in effort not needed. He simply nodded his understanding instead.

[Panzo]

"Quite the lively town they got around here..." She says as the feisty elder reprimands the others. A thought comes to mind as she approaches Jack, "You don't, you don't think he's been here do you?"

[Theoboldi]

Waelvur looks somewhat dejected as no one answers him, and stands quietly for a moment. "H-Hey...Don't y'all ignore me..What the heck are you talkin' about? And what's it got to do with cats?" he eventually mumbles, sounding rather unsure of the situation.

[DigoDragon]

Waelvur looks somewhat dejected as no one answers him, and stands quietly for a moment. "H-Hey...Don't y'all ignore me..What the heck are you talkin' about? And what's it got to do with cats?" he eventually mumbles, sounding rather unsure of the situation.

Karashi shakes her head. "You go home and rest, sleep off the firewater. All will be clear to you then."

[WarTortoise]

When the man first started ranting at the group Jack paid him no mind. He didn't feel like having to explain himself to this particular rude drunk.

As the ranting continued and the man started getting personal Jack glanced over his traveling companions but none of them seemed to take offense.
Karashi in particular surprised Jack by simply defusing the situation and not taking the insults serious.

He decided to ignore the fool and focus on why they were here when Thiadel approached.

[COLOR="#ff6666"]"You don't, you don't think he's been here do you?"

Jack looked ahead. Staring at nothing in particular. His thoughts had also gone where Thiadels went right now.

"We'll find him." He said eventually, in a decisive but reassuring way.

[Theoboldi]

Waelvur glares back at Karashi when he notices that nobody except for her even seems to be acknowledging him, his confusion slowly turning to anger. "Don't you tell me what to do! We've tolerated you Uthgardt folk so far, but you ain't welcome here!" With a "Hmph!" he turns around, stumbling away from the scene.

"Arrogant outsiders. Who the hell do they think they are? They're gonna regret this..." you hear him mutter to himself.

As he walks away, you spot someone, looking at you from a window of the store Waelvur just came out of. Perched behind the foggy, tinted glass is the wrinkly face of an old man, intently watching the scene before him. You figure that this must be Vallivoe himself, the titular owner of Vallivoe's sundries. Those among you who visited this village before could easily confirm this. Once he notices that you spotted him, however, he disappears again, his eyes growing wide as he scuttles deeper into the building.

[Armored Walrus]

Anac the Warlock

Anac, having begun to wave at Vallivoe, puts his hand down as the old man ducks back into the dimness of his store.

”On to our meeting?” he asks as he once again begins walking toward Tarnlar's shop.

[DigoDragon]

"Hi Vallivoe, bye Vallivoe," Karashi waves. She turns back to the group. "Okay, so let's go find the cloth- heyyy... that Waelvur man was making insults, wasn't he? Humph!"

[kladams707]

Theren simply resonds It was probably best we let the insults slide for now. Any response to them may have hindered us.

[DigoDragon]

"Okay, it slides for now," Karashi says, following Theren's advice.

[Theoboldi]

Despite your uncomfortable encounter just now, the rest of your trek through the town is fairly uneventful. It's a quiet day, and most of the townsfolk are busily at work. As you pass by some of the open workshops, you see them working on various items of wood and metal, some doing carpentry, others attempting to fix a wagon's broken axle.

The only people walking around are playing children, housekeepers on their way to buy supplies, and the occasional, other traveller. Most of them throw you somewhat weary glances, perhaps put of by the strange composition of your group, or the weapons and armors you carry. But whatever they may think about you, none of them seem eager to confront you over it.

Eventually, after a bit of walking among the dusty streets and rustic buildings of the village, you reach the middle of town, and with it the shop you are supposed to visit. Standing right at the intersection of the Long Road and the Cairn Road is a large, two story building, built from finer wood than the houses surrounding it. Ornate scrollwork iron bars protect its windows, behind which you see all manner of fine cloth, boots and furs, all beautifully crafted and somewhat beyond the standard of your average frontier town. Its signboard is painted with the images of a well-dressed lord and lady, one on each side of the board.

Opening the door and stepping inside, you hear the sound of silver bell above you. Looking around, the inside of the shop is the most colourful sight you've seen in days. Cloth in all the colours of the rainbow surrounds you, sitting in the many shelves that roam the room. Boots of various leathers and sizes rest on tables, and coats and vests hang from the ceiling by in long rows of coathangers. In the corner you spot several rulers and pieces of measuring tape.

Several other people are in here with you, eyeing the merchandise, others eyeing themselves with their new purchases in small mirrors. Most of them appear to be travellers like you, judging by the wear and style of their clothing. Behind an ornate wooden counter you spot the man of perhaps 30 years old, who seems to be running this place. Dressed in the same kind of finery that you've seen Waelvur wearing earlier, and which is displayed in his windows, but in far gaudier colours, he seems somewhat out-of-place even for this shop.

Looking up at you from under a mane of slick, black hair, he greets you with a surprisingly high-sprung tone, sounding almost gratingly cheerful. "Well, hello there! Please, do come in! I'm Mister Tarnlar, but you can call me Helvur! Is there anything you fine gentlefolks need?"

He stares at you happily for a couple of seconds, before suddenly shaking his head and taking a second glance."Goodness! Karashi, is that you? Since when do you visit me my shop? Unless...oh. Are you people from Waterdeep?"

[DigoDragon]

He stares at you happily for a couple of seconds, before suddenly shaking his head and taking a second glance."Goodness! Karashi, is that you? Since when do you visit me my shop? Unless...oh. Are you people from Waterdeep?"

"Greetings, Helvur. No, I'm from the Uthgart, but some of these companions I believe are from Waterdeep. We have come to help unmask a mysterious enemy plaguing these lands."

[WarTortoise]

'Sir Jack Bruneau.' Jack said while stepping forward and extending his arm to give the man a friendly firm handshake.

'I am amongst the ones from Waterdeep, and we have urgent business with your wife.. Maegla. We work for the Lord's alliance.'

[Panzo]

"We've also been sent to search for a missing noble from Waterdeep, named Lord Xander de Lancette of the Alliance" She sneaks in an extra information after Karashi's statement. "Oh and I'm Thia, nice to meet you."

[Theoboldi]

As you talk about your mission in front of everyone, you notice the eyes of the other customers on you, watching you curiously. Some, you overhear whispering among themselves.

"A mysterious enemy? The rumors must be true then!"

"Those bandits are kidnapping nobles these days? How ruthless!"

"The Alliance sent an Uthgardt to deal with this? They must be desperate."

Meanwhile, Helvur's eyes grow wide as Jack mentions his name, and he eagerly leans forward. "SIR?! You are a Waterdhavian noble, then? Would you like some new boots? Perhaps a cape? I own the latest fashion, from all over the Sword Coast!" He steps back a bit, pointing out a rack full of hats behind him. "These are all the rage in Silverymoon! You absolutely must own one!"

Once he turns back to judge your reaction, he manages to calm hiimself a little, blushing slightly at his outburst. Clearing his throat, he quickly adds "Ah, yes. Your mission. I apologize, it simply isn't every day that I get to speak with high society."

He steps out from behind the counter, walking up to a door in the corner of the room. Opening it, he puts one hand to his mouth and yells into the rooms beyond. "Darling, our guests have arrived!" From beyond the doorframe, you hear a muffled response. "Excellent! I will be right there!"

It takes a few more moments, during which Helvur looks at you with almost child-like giddiness, but then you hear the sound of a pair of boots hastily marching down a flight of stairs. Then, a dark-skinned woman steps into the doorframe, dressed in finery of the same quality you see all around you, but of a more tasteful arrangement than her husbands. She looks at you with two piercing, but very much friendly eyes.

"You must be Mister Lostacia?" she says, directed at Theren. "I'm Maegla, nice to make your acquaintance. I was told you'd arrive with...company." Directed at all of you, she waves you to follow her through deeper into the house. "Let's talk about business in a more discreet place, shall we?"

[DigoDragon]

Puzzled by the fashion designs of more... complex societies, Karashi quietly follows as directed into the house.

[kladams707]

Theren gives a slight smile which belied some surprise, as he has not expected to be known or addressed. He hid it as well as he could and politely replied.

"Indeed, though Theren will be fine. And a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well. I agree, a more discreet location would be.appropriate."