Caradoc

## Day 35-41 – The fourth week in Northlake

Another busy week, even supported by the YOP squad, Olg in particular takes most of the week to track down. It is not that he seems to be avoiding you, but he seems to wander around the city without a specific route or timetable. Somehow, when you do finally catch up with him, he has contrived to be at an expensive tavern in the Lakeside district. He is just about to sit down at a small table when he contrives to notice you and Garaf approaching.

Olg: “Greetings again Garaf, obviously I was wrong about us not meeting again, what a pleasant surprise! And I see that you have brought a colleague, what is your name sir?”

Caradoc: “Caradoc”

Olg: “Good to meet you Caradoc, I gather that you are not a follower of Perceval – or at least not directly. Anyhow, what can I do for you fine folks, since you have obviously spent a lot of time trying to find me?”

Garaf: “Just would like to chat, possibly trade notes.”

Olg: “I nearly always have time for trading, tell you what – why don’t we have dinner here. They cook some wonderfully spiced Lamb and have a decent selection of wines.”

Garaf: “I guess we could open with that.”

Olg: “You are obviously learning.”

Olg waves to one of the waiters, who indicates a slightly larger table in an alcove.

The waiter recites a menu and taking the lead from Olg – everyone orders the spiced Lamb, whilst Olg asks the waiter to fetch a couple of bottles of the Sarantaplo Red – the good stuff.

The meal is extremely good, as is the wine.

Things you and Garaf manage to pick up during a meandering conversation are:

* There does not seem to be a way to learn the ‘detect clearsight’ ability, or certainly not one that Olg is aware of;
* In Northlake, the key people that Olg is aware of having clearsight are Duke Adamas, Apana and Cohner, there is also a senior officer in the city watch, plus he believes that the senior researcher that went to Starport had it;
* The forget/ignore effect seems to cover everything from a period about 10 years into the Age of Chaos and back. People, religions, events – all seem to come under the umbrella effect. It seems to particularly limit any focussed activity as opposed to generic. So for instance during the Age of Chaos people were aware of the Elven ruins but simply passed them by, as things stabilised people were able to explore these and a general understanding of the existence of Elves etc. was gained. People or groups of people with intellect and insight were able to explore more deeply, hence the success of the College, but even so – until clearsight began emerging they were just skimming the surface.
* Another thing to note is that once a fact emerges it seems to be removed from the scope of the ‘forgetting’, once enough people had seen Elves for instance – their existence become known to all and not considered as folklore.

The bill arrives, and Olg gets up to leave.

Olg: “Many thanks for the meal gentlemen, and a very interesting discussion. I have a busy couple of weeks coming up assisting in some negotiations – and no you could not afford any insight into those. Good luck up North, perhaps we will catch up again if you pass this way, I would be interested in any news on Ownen.”

The next evening, Caradoc decides to stay in for the evening, the inn is packed with people speculating about the Elven delegation and their purpose. However, towards closing time you are able to sit down and chat with Jurrage, over a couple of bottles of wine – thankfully not as expensive as the Sarantaplo Red. It soon becomes obvious that Jurrage, although extremely observant, does not have clearsight.

Jurrage: “Hentorn you say, well the body was never found, and as you can imagine there were a lot of people out looking for it. Shame really, he would have been a good King, somehow he always managed to keep Solara and Alvera on at least civil terms with each other.”

Jurrage: “Not sure I can recommend an Inn in Far Haven, the place is pretty uncivilised to my way of thinking. ‘The Wanderer’ near the South Market is at least clean and honest, not that cheap but at least it doesn’t try to rip you off – aim to spend 4sp per person per night at a minimum there. On route North, the ‘Griffin’ waystation near the Larkspur turn off is excellent, only issue is that it can often be full. Pretty much all of the others are far too expensive for what you get, too many merchants travel that route and sometimes I think they have money to burn.”

Jurrage will give you the name of a number of trustworthy animal dealers, his recommendation is that you buy the animals in Northlake rather than Jevenne.

Jurrage: “Sure, I’ve met a couple of Centaurs, really nice folk although I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of one of their lances. They do, or rather did, a really good job of keeping Ghoulagabba and Trollheim in check. Generally they are really easy to get on with, but don’t go imagining that they are totally laid back.”

## Day 28-34 – The third week in Northlake

Deciding that trying to keep track of everyone is simply a losing proposition, you strike up a conversation with Jurrage one evening on whether he might know some reliable street runners that can at least do some of the basic shepherding and surveillance. Obviously these runners need to stay away from any illegal activities, and it will be a short term assignment. It takes Juarrage a day to get this set up, but then you have 4 teenagers in your employ (6 copper each per day) that will keep an eye on your “flock”.

Finally having a little time to think and plan, you work with Wun to plan out the costings for the trip North, and one evening buy Jurrage a decent bottle of wine to get some gen on Far Haven and the route North.

## Day 21-27 – The second week in Northlake

Another busy week running shotgun for the other party members, Joshuas activities in buying up ancient looking memorabilia/”artefacts” has obviously not gone unnoticed and you spot at least a couple of cutpurse types shadowing him, though no obvious attempt at theft is made.

Towards the end of the second week, whilst you are waiting for some of the party to finish up at the college you are approached by a well dressed Dwarf.

Dwarf: “Greetings young brother, perhaps I can stand you a quick ale whilst you wait to chaperone your friends back to the Inn?”

The Dwarf does not seem at all hostile, and there is a small hostelry near the college with outside tables, so you accept the offer.

Sitting down at the table, with your back to a wall you can survey the street outside the college. The Dwarf orders two ales and sits in silence until the drinks have been delivered. Then, once the waiter has moved on, the Dwarf slides onto the table a small wooden disk with the same sigil burnt into it as you have noted on a number of properties.

Dwarf: “I would be guessing that you know what this sign means?”

You nod.

Dwarf: “Well, let me explain things to you in a little more depth, just to make sure there are no understandings so to speak. The Elven invasions has put the bollocks on a whole lot of operations and caused a lot of people to reassess where they stand. Here in Northlake, we brethren have no wish to end up slaughtered or enslaved by the Elven scum and so have reached an accommodation with the authorities. We do not interfere with or jeopardise anything that is involved in the defence of the city and its environs.”

You: “…and you and your brethren get?”

Dwarf: “For the moment, nothing – lets just call us a patriotic bunch shall we.”

Dwarf: “Anyhow, you lot arrive in town in the company of the small group of Pathfinders. But you don’t report to military HQ but instead take up residence in the main city and proceed to familiarise yourselves with the town and in particular the college over there. It doesn’t take much digging to find out that you have papers that pronounce you to be auxiliary Pathfinders, and you and I both know that the those papers are really only suitable for wiping your arse with.”

The Dawrf pauses, but you decide silence is the best option at this point.

Dwarf: “Hmmm, so me any my colleagues get a little suspicious and do some more digging, and find out that whilst your business may not be official like, it has been sanctioned by more senior officers in the Pathfinders and also a landed Knight from the Sky Guards.”

At this point, your colleagues come out of the college and begin the journey back to the Inn.

Dwarf: “Leave them, they will be safe enough. Another beer?”

The Dwarf waves to the waiter, who brings over two more ales.

Dwarf: “So me and my brothers have a bit of a quandary, in some ways as patriotic citizens of Northlake we should be reporting you lot to the authorities. On the other hand, you do not seem to be doing any harm, have some reasonable sponsors and from what I have heard have already been involved in some fighting with the strange critters that are rumoured to be surfacing.”

Dwarf: “…and so, what we have decided is that it is unlikely that anyone else will blow your cover in the next couple of weeks. So, you folks have two more weeks to finish your business in the city and then you either move on – or else end up explaining to the authorities why exactly you are here. I do not want to hear any explanations as to why you are here, it will either be a tissue of lies or something that I probably should not know about. Whichever, it is irrelevant from my perspective.”

Dwarf: “Do we have an understanding?”

You nod, and take a deep drink of ale.

Dwarf: “Great!”

Dwarf: “So now, lets talk of lighter things, you are obviously an apprentice still, have you decided if you are going to follow a specialist path?”

(Two hours later, and slightly the worse for drink, Caradoc stumbles back to the Inn)

## Day 14-20 – The first week in Northlake

Trying to run security on the group is difficult, and so you have to be selective in who and when you shadow, and using your time to get a feel for what is happening under the surface of the city – so to speak. As you would expect the markets, in particular the large city market, has a fair number of cutpurses operating although the militia presence is high there are obviously street “gangs” operating – using young urchins to do the wet work under supervision. Nothing grand scale, but obviously coordinated.

In the Merchants quarter, you notice that a number of the commercial premises have small marks burnt on to the door frames, you are not familiar with any of the local sign convention but the sign bears a resemblance to that used in your early apprenticeship to indicate somewhere out of bounds. It is pretty easy to spot the connection between those properties with this mark, they are – or at least were- all involved in supporting the war effort. Returning back to the Inn one evening, you are somehow not surprised to realise that the Falling Star Inn has a similar mark on its door frame.

Over the week you fail to spot any regular tails on any of the party, you do notice the occasional opportunity thief sizing up a party member but so far these quick spot checks are all that has occurred.

“Lived in a small village just to the East of Stormhaven, joined the ragtag of refugees fleeing the Elven invaders. Over the summer you gradually made your way East meeting up with other groups but then occasionally becoming isolated as the Elven forces raided.

You had visited Stormhaven frequently as a youngster, as the Capital of the Old Kingdom it was largely untouched by the Solara/Alevera civil war – mainly after declaring itself neutral in the conflict. The city had been large and prosperous with a cosmopolitan outlook. Some of the refugees that had managed to flee the city told fantastical tales of a flying city appearing above the Royal Palace raining fire down upon the defenders whilst huge warships suddenly appeared in the harbor disgorging large number of Elven soldiers.”