Session 19 (02/25/2022)

## Day Sixteen, Night

As the rest of the group heads towards Estafador’s carriage Kaz hangs back to take one last look at Cassandra and Eogham’s carriage. He checks long the sides for anything that may have been used to chain someone to the outside of the cart. Unable to find anything he catches up with everyone else.

Once at the carriage, Estafador looks up and sees that the party has found two more people to bring along with them.

“Oh! You all like to catch quite a few strays,” he says.

“First the little guy,” he looks at Francis than at Hadwin, “well two little guys.”

“Hey!” Hadwin says indignantly

“This is my friend Sylvie!” Dove says

“Oh! So, you were able to talk to her?” Estafador asks

“Just a little bit, I was able to find out her name,” Dove says. “You were right, it wasn’t Waffles.”

“I still really don’t know how to talk to her, but I was hoping we could practice more on the road?” Dove asks hopefully.

“Of course!” Estafador says

“Sylvie only hangs out for an hour though. Do you two know each other?” Dove asks

“No. It’s a pleasure I’m sure though.” Estafador says bowing towards Sylvie

“Could you tell her that she did a very good job and that I appreciate it?” Dove asks

Estafador translates for Dove, however, he does paraphrase some.

“You’re a piece of crap. Why are you now doing your job better?” Estafador says in Devil to Sylvie

“Do you know how she feels being summoned by me?” Dove asks

“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I imagine she’s probably okay with it. I mean most devils and demons are pretty used to being summoned. I’d try and not summoner her too often though, or she may get stuck here.” Estafador says

Worried that she may end up trapping Sylvie away from home Dove turns to her and bids her farewell. Dove closes the Demonomicon, and Sylvie disappears.

“Alright! Since we’re having two more guests join us give me a few seconds so I can make some more room.” Estafador says backing into the carriage.

The door slams and the sound of hammering and sawing wood emanate from inside. A few minutes later Estafador opens the door and steps aside inviting everyone in. As the party enters that notice that an entire second floor has been added to the inside of the carriage, even though the outside hadn’t changed at all.

Dove takes the first shift driving.

Inside the carriage, Swage unrolls the Froghemoth’s tongue and stretches it out as far as he can. He then places some coins on the ground and says a quick prayer to Gond. The coins disappear and in their place, a length of barbed wire appears. He begins to try and weave the tongue and the wire together but doesn’t have much luck, his mind wandering to when he was eaten and the vicious wasp attack.

Cassandra sees Swage working with the tongue approaches him.

“So, you can make weapons out of creatures?” she asks him

“Never tried it before, but I’m going to now,” Swage says

“I knew someone from my hometown who could make different types of armor from creatures. Sometimes they’d be imbued with the creatures’ powers,” she says.

“Interesting. We’re you from?” Swage asks his interest piqued.

“I am from close to the Spell Scar,” Cassandra says

Swage begins to roll everything back up, “You said a friend of yours creates these weapons?”

“Well, not weapons, armor.” Cassandra corrects him

“They’re still back in the Spell Scar?” Swage asks

“Well, a city near the Spell Scar, not actually in it,” she corrects him again

“Does this person have a name?” Swage asks

“My friend? Yes, it’s Evard, Evard the Blacksmith. Technically the only blacksmith.” Cassandra says

Elsewhere in the carriage, Hadwin has been performing his Find Familiar ritual. He builds a small fire in a brass brazier lent to him by Estafador. He adds some charcoal, incense, and a few herbs to the brazier once the fire is going good enough. A large puff of smoke appears but is quickly blown away by a pair of wings. In its place, a flying monkey keeps itself aloft over the flames.

Dove’s driving shift passes uneventfully and in the morning the walls of Midward are visible of the horizon.

## Day Seventeen, Morning

Kaz takes over driving duties from Dove and invites Francis to sit upfront with him. Francis, although hesitant agrees, and climbs upfront with some help from the Goliath.

The two ride in silence for a bit then looks down at the Halfling and says, “Listen, if you’re an escaped slave I’ve got no problem with that. If you tell me who had you enslaved there may be others that I can help free.” He pauses for a few seconds and continues, “Hell, even if you’re an escaped prisoner I won’t turn you back in if you didn’t physically hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it. I just want to make sure that I don’t say anything to anyone in Midward that could cause you trouble and I want to help if I can.”

“I appreciate that. It’s not that I’m running from anyone, it’s…there are people in that city who take advantage of people. But it’s not my place to stop them, I just want to be left alone. If people think I’m gone then that’s fine by me, I’ll go somewhere where no one knows me. I don’t believe in having people die because of me, it’s against Lathander’s teachings. Whatever you do is up to you, but I hope for no ill omen towards anyone.” Francis says

Back inside the carriage, Dove sees Hadwin’s familiar for the first time. She gets very excited at first but calms down quickly when the memories are teased and chased by the monkeys in the jungle near her home. She approaches the newest passenger cautiously.

“Does he like to be pet?” Dove asks Hadwin

“I don’t know, you can try,” Hadwin replies

“You like to be pet?” Dove says extending a paw for Koko to sniff

Koko lowers his head and allows Dove to scratch behind his ears.

“He’s a good one I can tell! However, I may be dreaming so I’m going to go to bed.” Dove says

“You’re not high again, are you?” Hadwin asks

“Nope, not this time!” Dove replies happily

Francis asks Kaz to stop the carriage so he can get off before they get any closer to the town. Francis hops off the carriage and Kaz reaches down to shake his hand. Francis grabs one of the goliath’s giant fingers and gives it a shake.

“If you ever need any help, try and find us,” Kaz says

Kaz releases his hand and Francis makes a run for the trees.

As the group approaches the city the forest gives way to farmland. They pass through a cluster of buildings most of which appear to be farmhouses and warehouses. A sign designating the area outside the walls as Greypole has been set into the ground.

As they enter the city, Cassandra sticks her head out of the window and tells Kaz to head for the part of town known as Middlegate. As they approach the town's center there is a lot more traffic and they start to see more shops and vendors all around. At the very center of the town is an open market selling all kinds of goods, from food to handmade knickknacks.

Past the town center is the Smokeknot district a slum-like area occupied by many dilapidated and unpopulated buildings. The area feels very cramped and overpopulated compared to the areas the party passed through previously.

The party continues into the Middlegate district, the difference between Smokeknot and Middlegate is very noticeable. The streets of Middlegate aren’t nearly as crowded as those of the city center, but many shops line the streets, much more niche than those in the town center. Cassandra directs Kaz down a few side streets, and they arrive in an open courtyard.

“Finally! If you’d like you’re more than welcome to stay here with us. This is our guild hall, one of many we have in this region. If you’d rather stay somewhere else I can recommend a tavern or inn for you all.” Cassandra says stepping out of the carriage.

“Eogham! It’s time to go, we need to make a report.” She says over her shoulder

“What kind of guild is this?” Kaz asks her as she walks away

“Oh, just a standard mercenary guild.” Cassandra answers

“Is the pay good?” Swage asks

“Not bad, no. We get contracts all around, sometimes directly from the kingdom, sometimes from smaller towns and cities. We try and have a guildhall in most of the major cities.” Cassandra says before disappearing inside

The inside of the guildhall is beautifully decorated. There is a large open-pit-like meeting area in the front. One wall is decorated with shields and crests, and another is taken over by a large notice board. A small counter is set against one wall, and it looks as if people are dropping off equipment and other items there. Beautiful iron chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and an upper area holds tables and chairs that appear to be used for dining if you don’t want to use the bar.

Once inside the party runs into Cassandra again who had stopped at the bar to inform them of her guests.

“Is there going to be any sort of obligation with us staying here?” Hadwin asks

“No,” Cassandra says simply

“So, no obligation to the guild, no sneaky nasty stuff to do?” Hadwin continues

“Why would you ask something so weird? What guilds have you been in touch with?” Cassandra asks

“Oh, just covering our bases. I barely know what a guild is.” Hadwin says

“A guild is a group of individuals that come together to perform tasks for accomplishing missions that other people deem for us to do,” Cassandra says dropping into a rehearsed speech

“Or who are mercenaries and have to hire guards as an escort and can’t protect themselves,” Kaz says disdainfully

“Would you like to join?” Cassandra asks Hadwin, ignoring Kaz’s remark

“Not particularly,” Hadwin says

“What is your position in the guild? Like apprentice, journeyman or something?” Swage asks

“My job is basically to train the whelps.” Cassandra answers

Dove turns to Eogham, whose been silent the whole time, and offers her some water. She accepts and takes the drink from Dove.

“Is there a reason she doesn’t speak?” Hadwin asks

“If she doesn’t have anything to say she doesn’t say it.” Cassandra answers

Swage turns to Eogham, and in Giant asks, “Have you ever seen a Firbolg with the same color skin as I have?”

She looks at Swage and nods her head.

“What’s your position in the guild?” Kaz asks

She looks at Kaz and then thinks for a second, and then points at the symbol that hangs around her neck.

“So, you’re a…cleric?” Kaz asks unsure

She shrugs and nods her head as if to say close enough.

“Is there like an initiation into the guild? Like hazing?” Swage asks

“What?!?” Hadwin says suddenly getting very nervous.

“Why are you so jumpy? Do you want to be hazed?” Cassandra asks trying to hide a smile

“Oh, no, there's no hazing. But if you do care to join, we do have an admission test that you must take. It's just a written test, and then after that a practical exam. I understand, most people don't do well on the written part. We can verbally communicate it to you if you need to.” Cassandra explains

“If we joined, would we be required to hire our own protection as well?” Kaz asks

“Now, the only reason we hired someone to protect us is we had some information that needed to be delivered to the guild leader. It’s very sensitive information and traveling in numbers is sometimes better.” Cassandra says

“Is there anywhere we can go for a bath?” Dove asks, hoping to head off an argument

“We don’t have one here, but there is a lovely open bath about two blocks over called the Golden Opus,” Cassandra says

“That sounds delightful!” Dove says

“It sounds like an all-you-can-eat buffet.” Hadwin remarks

“In some cases, it could be,” Cassandra says with a smirk

“Gross!” Swage says

“Do be careful while in town though, bigger towns always have more crime and I’d hate for anything to happen to any of you or your things. If you need any of your items cleaned or repaired, you're more than welcome to speak to Harvill he is the Maître d', if you will, over there at the counter and he'll take your items and clean them, sharpen them if needed, and repair anything that is not too far gone.” Cassandra says

With that said Cassandra and Eogham disappear through the large double doors.

The party approaches Harvill, whose standing behind the counter. He introduces himself as, Santos Harvill. Dove leaves her cloak to be cleaned and Swage leaves a shattered longsword and scale mail to be repaired.

“We can reforge the sword,” Harvill says, “The scale mail though is probably beyond repair.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just use it for materials then.” Swage says

“Well, we can make it into something else if you’d like,” Harvill says quickly

“Okay then, surprise me.” Swage says

The group decides they should grab something to eat before heading to the bathhouse, and Harvill directs them towards the bar. After eating and drinking their fill the group heads out of the guildhall and makes their way to the bathhouse.

## Day Seventeen, Afternoon

Once inside they are greeted by a young woman standing behind a counter.

“Hello! How can I help you?” she says

“What sort of services do you offer here at the Bleached Anus?” Swage asks

“If you're looking for the brothel, my friend that is over in the red-light district, this is not here. We do not offer those kinds of services.” She says visibly flustered

“I heard different, but what do you got?” Swage asks

“It's just a normal bathhouse. We have open baths for everyone. And then we do the private baths for people that are a little bit more private,” she says

“I’ll take a private bath,” Hadwin says.

“I bet you What do you look like you need a private bath? Anybody else?” she says

Swage, Kaz, and Dove make their way towards the open bath while Hadwin is shown to his private room.

While in the open bath Swage smokes some of Chill Man’s dope and finds himself completely paralyzed after and just floats aimlessly around the bath.

Kaz takes off all his clothes and proceeds to wash them and Jorge in the bath before getting in himself. Jorge climbs out of the water and shakes himself dry turning into a puffball in the process.

Dove doggie paddles around the bath with only her eyes, ears, and tail visible above the water’s surface.

After their baths are done the party heads back to the guildhall to pick up their payment from Cassandra.

“About your money, I don’t have it right at this moment. The guild leader wanted to meet you first if that’s all right,” Cassandra says looking around at the group

“Sure,” Hadwin says

“I’m down,” Dove adds

“Okay, well follow me then,” Cassandra says turning around and heading for the large double doors near the bar.

As the party makes their way up the stairs behind the doors, they notice that it's lined with portraits of what appears to be the previous guild leaders. Some appear to show the person performing a heroic deed, while others are just normal headshots.

In the room at the top of the stairs is a beautiful wooden desk and bookshelves lining the walls. Off to the side is a table filled with books and loose papers, standing next to it is a dwarf. He turns around as the party enters the room.

“Cassandra! So these are the ones you were talking about. I can see they look quite capable,” he says looking around the group

“And clean!” Hadwin adds

“Yes, they might do nicely.” He says to himself

Dove chimes in, “We already did nicely!”

“Sure, if you say so. Which one of you is the de facto leader of this group?” he asks

The group looks around, and most eyes fall on Pele, but she appears to be in her own world at the moment.

Dove gives Hadwin a small nudge forward.

“Good, you! So, I don’t know what was agreed upon to escort Cassandra and Eogham.” He says

Hadwin looks behind him at Dove, Kaz, and Swage, “I don’t know what was agreed upon.”

Dove whispers into his ear, “Five hundred gold.”

“Each,” Kaz whispers in his other ear

“Is that what you were told? How about 250 each?” the Dwarf says

“That’s acceptable,” Hadwin replies

Standing behind the Dwarf Cassandra snickers a bit knowing that wasn’t what was agreed upon originally.

The dwarf walks behind his desk and pulls out a small chest and begins to count out the coins. He places each pile into a small pouch and passes them out to everyone.

“Now that that’s taken care of, would you like to have more work?” he asks

“Do we want more work?” Hadwin asks the group

“We already have a job,” Dove whispers to Hadwin. “We’ve got to deliver this letter to Sillea.”

“Don’t tell him that though,” Dove adds

Overhearing this the dwarf says, “Yes, don't tell me that. Well, I'm assuming you're going to Sillea. Well, good luck trying to get out of the city.”

“What’s going to keep us in the city?” Dove asks

“There is a bit of a plague going on right now. I was going to have someone investigate what was going on with this plague, I’ve heard reports of people falling ill and going into comatose states,” he says

“Why would you let anyone into the city then?” Kaz asks

“Well, see, here’s the thing, we were trying to keep it under wraps because we a sent a team in to go and look at it. They didn’t come back,” he says.

“Since you guys are stuck here, and you want to make some money I do have a job for you,” he continues.

“Over in the Smokeknot district, there's a temple where we have taken the people who are ill. They're not dead, but they're not alive either. We don't know what's going on with them. People have had reports of cloud coming through. Almost like a green fog or haze,” he explains

“Oh shit,” Swage says quietly

Dove somehow turns pale at the mention of the green fog or haze, Kaz’s mood shifts, and his anger starts to build. Hadwin looks around at everyone, not understanding why everyone seems too upset now.

“We think it has to do with a tomb that was being excavated in that area,” he says

“Let me guess, someone stuck their nose where it didn’t belong,” Hadwin says

“That could be, there was something about a curse and a mummy, but I don’t know. Somebody thinks it's related, and the team we sent last didn’t come back,” he says

“I’ll pay you fifty platinum, each, half now and half after the jobs completed,” he offers, “That’s as high as I get.”

“Let me confer with my associates,” Hadwin says

They all agree that the deal sounds fair and agree to take the job.

“I do have one stipulation though, I’ll be sending one of the guild members with you,” he says

“Oh! Can Eogham come with us?” Dove asks excitedly

“Funny you should mention her, she is going to be going with you,” he says

He turns to Cassandra, “Can you go and get Eogham?”

Cassandra leaves the office and returns a few minutes later with Eogham. Eogham enters the office, this time decked out in full plate armor with a huge sword strapped to her back.

“Now, I’m not sending her with you to babysit or to check your work, I don’t think that will be necessary. However, she does have some abilities that I think may be useful to you,” he says

As the party heads out the door, Kaz pauses for a second and says, “I don’t think we ever got your name.”

“Oh! It’s Hardwin, Hardwin Woodfella.”

As he leaves the office, he thinks how great that name would be for Hadwin if he ever wanted to start working at a brothel.

## Day Seventeen, Early Evening

After the party makes their way back downstairs, Kaz approaches Harvill and asks if he knows of anywhere in town where he can find an enchanter. Harvill points him in the direction of a magic shop that can help with enchantments but warns that the owner, Karvas, can be quite eccentric.

As the group gets closer to the shop, they see its name on a sign above the door, The Final Form. The sign shows a man standing underneath the name of the shop, the image flips and shows a dragon instead and then flips back to the man.

Inside the shop, a large glass case takes up the center of the shop, filled to the brim with things like combs, bracers, earrings, and even some large items like a shield. Two more glass cases stand against the wall filled with books, statuettes, masks, and other miscellaneous items. The back of the shop is dominated by a huge black oak counter with a door set into the wall behind it. There isn’t anyone behind the counter currently, and only a small silver bell sits on the countertop.

Kaz walks over to the counter and rings the bell.

“I’ll be with you in just one moment,” a voice says from the back

Kaz rings the bell a second time.

“I said I’ll be with you in a moment. For the love of…” the voice is cut off by Kaz ringing the bell a third time.

Hearing movement coming towards the door Kaz quickly takes a step back nudging Hadwin forward.

“What! What was so important that you had to ring the bell not once, not twice, but three times!?!?” the voice says stepping out of the backroom and revealing themselves to be a Tiefling with blood-red skin.

“He needs to know if you have a bathroom you can use,” Hadwin sees pointing at Kaz over his shoulder.

“Are you a paying customer?” Karvas asks

“I will be if you’re able to do what I want done,” Kaz replies setting his war hammer down on the counter, “I’d like this enchanted with ice magic if possible.”

“You want me to enchant your hammer?” Karvas says pushing the hammer back towards Kaz.

Kaz slowly pushes the hammer back toward Karvas.

“I don’t think you understand, I don’t take mundane things on my counter, my dear boy,” Karvas says

“It’s not exactly mundane, this one is blessed by Gond,” Swage says bristling

“I don’t know what a Gond is,” Karvas says

“You don’t know The Gearsmith, the Wonderbringer?” Swage asks

“No, is he your lover?” Karvas asks with a smirk turning his attention back to Kaz.

“I can enchant this for two hundred and fifty gold, and it will take me about a day. Was there anything else you needed?” Karvas asks

“I’m interested in the shield you have in the case over there,” Kaz says pointing

“Oh! The Ram Shield? That’ll be two hundred and fifty gold as well,” Karvas says

“I’ll take that too,” Kaz says

Kaz hands his borrowed shield back to Swage, picking up his new one he runs a hand over the ram’s head inlaid on the front and says to himself, “Kavaki.”

“Will that be all or does anyone else want anything?” Karvas says turning his attention to the rest of the group

After some back and forth Hadwin purchases a Wand of Magic Missile and Swage asks if Karvas has any magical melee weapons.

“What do you have in mind?” Karvas asks

“Anything better than this mace, its nonmagical,” Swage says

“It is very mundane,” Karvas agrees. “I actually do have something that I think would fit you quite well,” he continues.

He heads into the back of the shop and returns with a war hammer that has amber gems on both sides.

“This is the Dawnspark war hammer, it's only useable by certain people, but I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with it,” Karvas says handing the hammer to Swage.

After examining the weapon closely Swage decides to purchase the war hammer. As the party heads for the door, Dove remembers that she wanted a few things as well. She purchases a Scroll of Comprehend Languages and Emirkol’s Guide to Devils.

With that, the party heads out the door and makes their way back to the guildhall for the night.