The Journal of Dvarim Bolg, Journeyman Weaponsmith of Throal
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 2:26 pm
Two T's Make a Bridge (TT)
Or, The Scales of Justice
William Carver, Scout and general ombudsman, had to show appreciation to the creator of his Very Useful Gloves; such was the deed required to add more power to the Thread had already woven to this wonderful item. A bit of preliminary research indicated that the creator of the gloves might be from the far away city of Travar - a place unheard of since before the Scourge. And so, we made preparations and set off, we intrepid explorers and representatives of the great nation of Throal: Xeviouz, Karl, Daldorer (further representing the Badasumm Liferock), and myself.
I will elide the details of the overland journey. There are enough journals in this august library that describe the plains surrounding Throal and the flora and fauna therein. Suffice it to say that we made good time and were not unduly harassed along the way.
We eventually came to the great Byrose river, which flows north from the foothills of the Dragon Mountains, until it empties into the southern reach of the Serpent. Here, we encountered other namegivers - Humans, for the most part. Fisher folk who were working the river. Civilization! We convinced them to take us to Travar in the traditional way, which is to say that we convinced them with coin. More on that later.
In our journey to this city, we had already seen its great protective dome, a thing of True Fire which glowed so powerfully it was visible from fifty miles away, and at daytime at that. It was not blinding, but was certainly notable and present. Truly a great working. We were told that the Thunder Gate was the only entrance to the city, at present, and that made sense to me. If the Ward was still up, it would not be easy to poke holes through it.
In fact, as we approached the gate, we found that the locals had built a quite ingenious, though hideously expensive, shaft through the ward by way of creating an orichalcum corridor. There were soldiers, or guards, I'm not sure which, to meet us at the gate. They were quite polite, especially upon hearing that we had come all the way from Throal. Their commander, in particular, a human gentleman by the name of Jamile Firecairn, indicated that his uncles would be most pleased to meet us and offered us the hospitality of their home. He also warned us to haggle, and haggle hard. Travar was a city defined by coin.
And by the Passions, how right he was! Tens of silver per person to enter their city? This was an 'inspection fee' that was assessed as a tax and did not include the per day rites of passage. Nonsense! Calumny! Perfidy! I gave the inspector a good talking to and we worked the price down to something still inordinately expensive but manageable.
Attached: Copy of William's map of the city, locations marked.
I'll leave it to the others to describe the layout of the city, and will only say that it was a quite tidy hub and spoke design with an arena in the middle, a pentagonal wall surrounding the inner district, and broad avenues creating the arcs of development. We visited various places to track down William's gloves' creator. Of note was the Dragon's Forge, a lovely community of weaponsmiths and enchanters with an attached storefront. I met a human enchanter by the name of Bashira who had a good head on her shoulders and did good work. I should like to correspond with her more often.
In taking advantage of Jamile's offer of hospitality, we also made arrangements with the Firecairn family. They were overland traders before the Scourge and, predictably, had suffered during the isolation required by that terrible time. I believe both their fortunes and Throal's will be improved if we begin to establish trade between our great nation and their quite decent city, and have begun to make introductions to that effect. Travar's airships, like Throal's, were being repaired and refurbished and crews had been practicing for maiden flights. We had the good fortune of riding one of those merchant airships back to Throal, to start the introductions and trade negotiations. Padimis and Liminor Firecairn of House Dumorjen (Jamile's uncles) will be most pleased.
William, meanwhile, was able to track down one Bram Loman, the rather creepy and socially awkward creator of the gloves. He seems to have enchanted the deed into the glove just to have someone come and do him a favor. Hmph. A bad look for all of us. Anyway, he had some business to settle with the slave-owning and all around predatory merchant [/i]Filman Potts.[/i]
To that end, we redacted and then William was able to redacted. Bram was happy, William's deed was done, and we sailed the winds back to Throal.
Or, The Scales of Justice
William Carver, Scout and general ombudsman, had to show appreciation to the creator of his Very Useful Gloves; such was the deed required to add more power to the Thread had already woven to this wonderful item. A bit of preliminary research indicated that the creator of the gloves might be from the far away city of Travar - a place unheard of since before the Scourge. And so, we made preparations and set off, we intrepid explorers and representatives of the great nation of Throal: Xeviouz, Karl, Daldorer (further representing the Badasumm Liferock), and myself.
I will elide the details of the overland journey. There are enough journals in this august library that describe the plains surrounding Throal and the flora and fauna therein. Suffice it to say that we made good time and were not unduly harassed along the way.
We eventually came to the great Byrose river, which flows north from the foothills of the Dragon Mountains, until it empties into the southern reach of the Serpent. Here, we encountered other namegivers - Humans, for the most part. Fisher folk who were working the river. Civilization! We convinced them to take us to Travar in the traditional way, which is to say that we convinced them with coin. More on that later.
In our journey to this city, we had already seen its great protective dome, a thing of True Fire which glowed so powerfully it was visible from fifty miles away, and at daytime at that. It was not blinding, but was certainly notable and present. Truly a great working. We were told that the Thunder Gate was the only entrance to the city, at present, and that made sense to me. If the Ward was still up, it would not be easy to poke holes through it.
In fact, as we approached the gate, we found that the locals had built a quite ingenious, though hideously expensive, shaft through the ward by way of creating an orichalcum corridor. There were soldiers, or guards, I'm not sure which, to meet us at the gate. They were quite polite, especially upon hearing that we had come all the way from Throal. Their commander, in particular, a human gentleman by the name of Jamile Firecairn, indicated that his uncles would be most pleased to meet us and offered us the hospitality of their home. He also warned us to haggle, and haggle hard. Travar was a city defined by coin.
And by the Passions, how right he was! Tens of silver per person to enter their city? This was an 'inspection fee' that was assessed as a tax and did not include the per day rites of passage. Nonsense! Calumny! Perfidy! I gave the inspector a good talking to and we worked the price down to something still inordinately expensive but manageable.
Attached: Copy of William's map of the city, locations marked.
I'll leave it to the others to describe the layout of the city, and will only say that it was a quite tidy hub and spoke design with an arena in the middle, a pentagonal wall surrounding the inner district, and broad avenues creating the arcs of development. We visited various places to track down William's gloves' creator. Of note was the Dragon's Forge, a lovely community of weaponsmiths and enchanters with an attached storefront. I met a human enchanter by the name of Bashira who had a good head on her shoulders and did good work. I should like to correspond with her more often.
In taking advantage of Jamile's offer of hospitality, we also made arrangements with the Firecairn family. They were overland traders before the Scourge and, predictably, had suffered during the isolation required by that terrible time. I believe both their fortunes and Throal's will be improved if we begin to establish trade between our great nation and their quite decent city, and have begun to make introductions to that effect. Travar's airships, like Throal's, were being repaired and refurbished and crews had been practicing for maiden flights. We had the good fortune of riding one of those merchant airships back to Throal, to start the introductions and trade negotiations. Padimis and Liminor Firecairn of House Dumorjen (Jamile's uncles) will be most pleased.
William, meanwhile, was able to track down one Bram Loman, the rather creepy and socially awkward creator of the gloves. He seems to have enchanted the deed into the glove just to have someone come and do him a favor. Hmph. A bad look for all of us. Anyway, he had some business to settle with the slave-owning and all around predatory merchant [/i]Filman Potts.[/i]
To that end, we redacted and then William was able to redacted. Bram was happy, William's deed was done, and we sailed the winds back to Throal.