From the Journal of one Vargo Tusur Stonebreaker, of Hustane "Clear As Mud"
Adventure!! It calls to many Adepts but little did I realize it would involve so many meetings!
First we gathered at the Ghost Pepper seeking others to join our adventure. Rumor had it that lawyers Gajorvi, Jukse, and Hvordan were seeking Adepts. But TEAMS of Adepts. I ran into Kalandar (a Thief) and Melcar (a Swordmaster) again, worthy Adepts who travelled with me during the late Tassidae Farms unpleasantness! We struck up a quick rapport with new Adepts Valoric (a Gauntlet), Redroum (an Illusionist) and Nyx (a Seeker whose real name is much too long).
We agreed to meet at the Klava Mine shop for pastries and coffee in the morning and then to proceed to the Barristers. I had 2 of their apple peach fruit-stuffed pastries and I daresay mother would be wroth with me. I will soon not be able to fit into my armor.
We met with the lawyer for the House Mikul. They are at odds with House Uraeven. (handout received and attached to this Journal entry).
Nyx was so confident in the lawyer that I immediately was caught up and joined!
A Private investigators gained a lot of information but the things that our boss hold to be true:
1) The McGill Clay Works and their relationship with House Mikul are being affected by direct actions from House Uraeven agents
2) House Mikul wants to keep the high quality clay for their enchanted goods division
3) Rubus McGill recently lost his wife and unborn son
4) Nethermantic reports suggest the wife knows she was poisoned
5) Circumstances suggest it was an agent of House Uraeven who died shortly upon returning to Throal after fleeing the scene of his crime and hiding out for a time
6) Rubus has a daughter "Cricket" who has run off rather than face being married off to Joeffrey Uraeven
7) Joeffrey Uraeven has outlived 4 wives and is known to be abusive towards women, with accusations on record
7) Rubus appeared to be driven by business after the death of his wife and even "mind addled" perhaps by mind altering spells from House Uraeven
Our mission, to get hired at the McGill Clay Works to find young Cricket and bring her to House Mikul for safety - so she won't be married off and any spells over Rubus McGill can be broken!
Looks like I am off to Kampung Gajah again! The now familar trip should be exciting! But no boats this time!
Itinerary:
Throal (43.09) through Bartertown (also 43.09, right outside the gates, well traveled)
From Bartertown take the Via Triolvi west to Juniper Hollow (41.10, about a day, well traveled)
Follow the Via Triolvi south to Clear Creek Crossing (44.12, about four to five days, moderately traveled)
Continue south to Kampung Gajah (44.13, about a day, moderately well traveled)
Follow the ruins of the old Via Caucavic cross country east towards Uzhok Pass (46.12) but leave the old ruined road at the Cairn of Upandal (45.12 before you reach the pass) and take the new track north past the Fire Swamp and around to the the Clay Works (still in 45.12). Beware ROUS!
At Juniper Hollow (which sells veggies to Throal) we asked around after travel conditions and to see if anyone had noted a girl traveling alone. We got little information until Redroum was able to get them talking. Redroum found out that Clear Creek Crossing is building a palisade. To which I was able to find out more information in Clear Creek Crossing. They are adapting old Kaer technologies to create a palisade to retreat to if necessary. One of the now retired Council is well known to have visions of accurate nature. She said "The bugs are crawling, the bugs are crawling, the bugs are crawling" and said they needed to build these walls. Given our experience at Tassiddae Farm I am apt to believe her. I will make sure this information gets passed on to anyone I can involved in settlement defenses.
In Kampung Gajah we saw another band (sadly not the elvish lasses from last time) called Dead Fish Stinkin' and they were made up of t'skrang and humans. It was true swamp-band music and very entertaining! There I met some t'skrang mystics and their guardsmen. They were brought to discuss the Shrine to Upandal near Uzhok Pass. The mystics are discussing a "river of astral energy that is coming down from there" and that the Shrine must be preserved. It must be "stitched", having to stitch astral space. That area once held a Shrine to Roshomon (now the Mad Passion Raggok) and the Cult of the Scourge brought an army through there. This adds to information we had from our trip to Tassidae Farm. That beneath the stones of that place there is something buried. A river of astral. They most likely are related.
We also learned that something is stirring up the Fire Swamp. At first we thought maybe Cricket was doing it, she is supposed to be the ancestor of a powerful Elementalist but this is purely conjecture.
Passing towards the Clay Works we came close to the Shrine to Upandal and I saw a message in runes the others did not see. "If your free will was a needle and your consciousness was guiding a hand doing the stitching then this pass must be preserved." There was a gate and protruding stone arching from the ground with tips that glow. This is a much greater mystery!
We also noted that someone has been making excellent (almost Dwarf-efficient) updates to the road to the Clay Works.
We fought some dangerous swamp rodents, and I again must say that my weapon skills leave much to be desired! I must redouble my efforts or risk endangering my companions. Watching Nyx in battle was eye-opening - just single handedly destroying creature after creature! Our new friends fought well, no one broke and we survived to live and fight another day!
At the Clay Works we met Master Rubus and were served by his servant Sebas. Therein we also met Joeffrey Uraeven and his higher Circle Adept bodyguards who were almost magically hidden from us. But my perception exercises have paid off and we saw them. Rubus didn't even recognize his own daughter's name. Obviously under a spell!
We received all the maps of where she might have run to and together with the group and my Navigation skills and charts I was able to break it down into the most likely areas that were unsearched. We made it away from Joeffrey and his men and into the Fire Swamp!
Attacked by muckers (vile mud creatures with maggots on them) we eventually came across a creature, the Lady of Shackles (a woman with glowing wood bracelets glowing with energy) tell Christine "Cricket" that we were there to take her back! In her shadow was Cricket! Somehow they were entwined, overlapping spirits! Also there was some form of horrific creature also telling her not to go back and to join it - perhaps in some perversion of marriage!
My guess is that Cricket had somehow become the Lady of Shackles but was also being corrupted by a horrific spirit.
As we fought yet another beautiful woman appeared and told Cricket that life was about forgiveness and letting go of pain. During this fight the muckers were dropping magical artifacts that were somehow tied to a ward! Once we were able to solve the ward the horrific creature tackled the Lady of Shackles (and Cricket!) through the gate where a fight ensued.
Forgiveness wins out and Cricket won't be married to anyone and blasts the Lady of Shackles into rocks which creates a new Shrine to Jaspree! Cricket becomes the Lady of the Fire Swamp!!! We get knocked out of the swamp and fully healed for our help! The swamp is now very vibrant with LIFE and True Earth, Wood, and Water were being reported.
Truly this was a day of miracles but there are still so many questions! But for now our mission complete we return to the barristers for our just reward. Cricket was found(?), Rubus is healed, and Joeffrey is not seen in the Uraeven compound for some time, obviously under some form of punishment.
This region is rich with stories and adventures. I must learn more about these shrines and this "river" of Astral energy. And "stitching". Perhaps a journey to meet the mystics of the t'skrang is in order.
AAR: Clear as Mud, Monday December 27, 2021, 23:00 GMT / 6:00 PM Eastern
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Re: AAR: Clear as Mud, Monday December 27, 2021, 23:00 GMT / 6:00 PM Eastern
After successfully defeating... well, whatever it was, horror construct? failed experiment?... the menace plaguing Tassadae Farm I have become quite accustomed to the company of Vargo and Kalandar. Vargo has quite the knack with improving the balance of weaponry of all kinds which has improved the flow of my blade's dance nicely. Kalandar is a loyal sort to have around even if he prefers to blend with the shadows and while his blade work is effective, it lacks a flow to really be considered a dance. Both are good company to have around though when in the thick of things.
Tonight started like any other, a little lighter on funds comparative to a few days ago though. But we had caught word that one of the lawyers from Gajorvi, Jukse & Hvordan was looking for a group of adventurers for a task and so we decided to meet up at The Ghost Pepper to discuss this opportunity. Being light on funds this seemed like a perfect opportunity to freshen up those pockets and get a little more exposure outside. But, we needed more than just the three of us and our previous companions, Mirage and Eruriel, could not be found anywhere recently.
It was fortunate for us that the three of us drew the attention of a surly dwarf name Valoric. What was not fortunate was that we drew his attention AFTER he's bellied up to the bar and downed two massive mugs of Hurlg. The attention gathered from the cheering of Valoric finishing the drinks definitely brought more attention to our table and quickly we found ourselves with two more individuals, Nyxallah (a Seeker) and Redroum (an Illusionist), at our table. Some quick talk and discussion put us all on the same page thinking we had a great chance at landing this contract as a group of adept adventurers. We agreed to make preparations and meet in the morning near the lawyers office, some pastry and coffee shop run by Windlings that Vargo was dying to go to.
Upon arriving at the designated site, we found many other individuals there vying for the contract. However, none of them were a ready-made group and few seemed to even be adepts of any kind with no adventurer's swagger among them. After signing up, which our hunch of coming as a full crew pushed us to the front of the line, we quickly found out that Kalandar had done some work for Vostut before. This made landing the contract rather fast. Kalandar must have made a good impression during his previous work.
The job seemed straight forward, we were to investigate some strange happenings at McGill Clay Works. Specifically there was "concern" behind the safety and disappearance of the Rubus McGill's only daughter, Christine "Cricket" McGill. Being the only daughter, this obviously made Cricket the heiress to the family business should anything happen to Rubus and it has seemed that she has become betrothed to a member of House Ueraven with a rather unseemly past. This seems like an obvious attempt by Ueraven to undercut House Mikul in this trade business, and I care nothing for getting involved in that. However, if an innocent is being exploited or hurt, that is all that needed to be said.
We quickly gathered our things and made a few last preparations. I picked up a nice spear as we left town, the additional reach seemed like it would benefit me if we were to be trudging through swamp; plus, I have always liked the balance and dance of the spear, it is clean and elegant. A few of the other picked up some rather unique items, one deciding the travel required a full keg of some liquor and another being quite interested in some stray bricks (perhaps a follower of Upandal).
For the majority of our travels I focused on my new weapon, testing it's dance at every opportunity and leaving the talking to the others in the group. We traveled from Throal to Juniper Hollow to Clear Creek Crossing on our way back to Kampung Gajah. We should have looked for a boat, as it would have cut all this walking down, but the travel did give me plenty of time to learn of the spear.
Kampung Gajah was the last stop before we would make our way towards the Clay Works. We decided to venture into a bar we were familiar with. Tonight, it was a much louder band than before which seemed to have stirred up the locals more than normal. Many of our party found themselves in... misunderstandings with the locals for a while. By then end though, everything was settled down again and thankfully Big Mamma didn't throw us out. Some of us took the distraction to poke around about what to expect on our way to the Clay Works and through the Fire Swamps. One old T'skrang told me a story of rats the size of small ponies inhabiting the swamp that were vicious *as he pointed to his missing finger*. The others at the table with him just laughed at his story, insisting they didn't exist but that the creatures in swamps were more riled up than usual.
The next morning we headed out towards the Clay Works. We had to make a quick stop for Vargo to gawk at the Upandal shrine... he insisted something was wrong with it. Here we left the main road and started following some caravan tracks, again, the dwarfs gawked at some workmanship done to the road; looked like ruts and mud to me.
The path took us mostly around the swamps, but we did find ourselves getting a bit deeper off the road than we probably should have. Sudenly the the swamps came alive as rats, not quite the size of ponies, came lunging at us from every direction. One took me by surprise, striking me hard and knocking me to the ground and taking a large bite out of me before anyone knew what was happening. From time to time the swamp also exploded in gouts of flame... this must be why they are called the Fire Swamps. The party made some quick work out of the rats, but should I get a chance to make it back to Kampung Gajah, I will have to find that old T'skrang and thank him for the heads up and remind him to maybe include the bit about the fire to the next person that asks.
Once we got to the Clay Works, we were met by Joeffry Ueraven and Rubus. Joeffry did all the talking. Had his body guards, a trio of seemingly high Circle Adepts, not been there protecting his slimy arse, he would have found my new spear run through him and fed to any remaining rats in the swamps. Nothing about Joeffry seems redeemable. It was clear he didn't care for Cricket, whom he was supposed to marry, he honestly didn't know a thing about her. To him, she was just a business transaction and an object for less savory activities of his. It was clear now why House Mikul requested us to find Cricket and get her to safety as quickly as we could and ensure that the marriage doesn't go through.
The one bit of information we got did lead us to the most likely place to find Cricket. Though, why Joeffry's henchmen couldn't go is still beyond me... better for the girl though that they didn't. It did not take long to find an old witch in the swamps as we tried to question her I swear I saw Cricket... in her... no through her... perhaps their spirits were somehow mixed. Before we could do much more investigating the witch sent mud creatures of some kind after us. This time I took to my dance trying to occupy as many as I could, but it seemed the whole swamp was alive and against us. Again, the rest of the party made some quick work of the foul monsters that were set against us. Some odd, glowing, items were littered about where the creatures were slain. It became quickly apparent these were part of a ward that had been disturbed letting loose some foul being into the swamp. One of the party members quickly identified where the pieces needed to be place to put the ward back together. This caused some form of spiritual battle to ensue that we had no control over nor the history to make sense of what was going on. In the end the spirit of Cricket prevailed and came back to us, possibly with the help of the spirit of a close relative of hers... perhaps her mothers spirit.
In a final defiant stance Cricket proclaimed that she would not marry Joeffrey or anybody! Dedicating herself to protecting the area. Where some strange portal had been, a shrine to the Passion Jaspree sprung up and Cricket took on the mantle of the Lady of the Fire Swamp. Quickly the swamp started changing in appearance, it was settling down and healing before our very eyes. With our job done, we made our way back to Throal, satisfied that Cricket was ok and that Joeffrey's plans had been thwarted.
We hear from rumors that the Clay Works is finding quite an abundance of true elements and life is thriving out in the swamps. This should be an even more lucrative business for Rubus McGill. Hopefully after all the pain he's suffered out there, he too can heal like the swamps. As for Joeffrey, nobody has heard much from him. Failing, yet again as the rumors say, has placed him in rather poor graces with his family and associates.
Tonight started like any other, a little lighter on funds comparative to a few days ago though. But we had caught word that one of the lawyers from Gajorvi, Jukse & Hvordan was looking for a group of adventurers for a task and so we decided to meet up at The Ghost Pepper to discuss this opportunity. Being light on funds this seemed like a perfect opportunity to freshen up those pockets and get a little more exposure outside. But, we needed more than just the three of us and our previous companions, Mirage and Eruriel, could not be found anywhere recently.
It was fortunate for us that the three of us drew the attention of a surly dwarf name Valoric. What was not fortunate was that we drew his attention AFTER he's bellied up to the bar and downed two massive mugs of Hurlg. The attention gathered from the cheering of Valoric finishing the drinks definitely brought more attention to our table and quickly we found ourselves with two more individuals, Nyxallah (a Seeker) and Redroum (an Illusionist), at our table. Some quick talk and discussion put us all on the same page thinking we had a great chance at landing this contract as a group of adept adventurers. We agreed to make preparations and meet in the morning near the lawyers office, some pastry and coffee shop run by Windlings that Vargo was dying to go to.
Upon arriving at the designated site, we found many other individuals there vying for the contract. However, none of them were a ready-made group and few seemed to even be adepts of any kind with no adventurer's swagger among them. After signing up, which our hunch of coming as a full crew pushed us to the front of the line, we quickly found out that Kalandar had done some work for Vostut before. This made landing the contract rather fast. Kalandar must have made a good impression during his previous work.
The job seemed straight forward, we were to investigate some strange happenings at McGill Clay Works. Specifically there was "concern" behind the safety and disappearance of the Rubus McGill's only daughter, Christine "Cricket" McGill. Being the only daughter, this obviously made Cricket the heiress to the family business should anything happen to Rubus and it has seemed that she has become betrothed to a member of House Ueraven with a rather unseemly past. This seems like an obvious attempt by Ueraven to undercut House Mikul in this trade business, and I care nothing for getting involved in that. However, if an innocent is being exploited or hurt, that is all that needed to be said.
We quickly gathered our things and made a few last preparations. I picked up a nice spear as we left town, the additional reach seemed like it would benefit me if we were to be trudging through swamp; plus, I have always liked the balance and dance of the spear, it is clean and elegant. A few of the other picked up some rather unique items, one deciding the travel required a full keg of some liquor and another being quite interested in some stray bricks (perhaps a follower of Upandal).
For the majority of our travels I focused on my new weapon, testing it's dance at every opportunity and leaving the talking to the others in the group. We traveled from Throal to Juniper Hollow to Clear Creek Crossing on our way back to Kampung Gajah. We should have looked for a boat, as it would have cut all this walking down, but the travel did give me plenty of time to learn of the spear.
Kampung Gajah was the last stop before we would make our way towards the Clay Works. We decided to venture into a bar we were familiar with. Tonight, it was a much louder band than before which seemed to have stirred up the locals more than normal. Many of our party found themselves in... misunderstandings with the locals for a while. By then end though, everything was settled down again and thankfully Big Mamma didn't throw us out. Some of us took the distraction to poke around about what to expect on our way to the Clay Works and through the Fire Swamps. One old T'skrang told me a story of rats the size of small ponies inhabiting the swamp that were vicious *as he pointed to his missing finger*. The others at the table with him just laughed at his story, insisting they didn't exist but that the creatures in swamps were more riled up than usual.
The next morning we headed out towards the Clay Works. We had to make a quick stop for Vargo to gawk at the Upandal shrine... he insisted something was wrong with it. Here we left the main road and started following some caravan tracks, again, the dwarfs gawked at some workmanship done to the road; looked like ruts and mud to me.
The path took us mostly around the swamps, but we did find ourselves getting a bit deeper off the road than we probably should have. Sudenly the the swamps came alive as rats, not quite the size of ponies, came lunging at us from every direction. One took me by surprise, striking me hard and knocking me to the ground and taking a large bite out of me before anyone knew what was happening. From time to time the swamp also exploded in gouts of flame... this must be why they are called the Fire Swamps. The party made some quick work out of the rats, but should I get a chance to make it back to Kampung Gajah, I will have to find that old T'skrang and thank him for the heads up and remind him to maybe include the bit about the fire to the next person that asks.
Once we got to the Clay Works, we were met by Joeffry Ueraven and Rubus. Joeffry did all the talking. Had his body guards, a trio of seemingly high Circle Adepts, not been there protecting his slimy arse, he would have found my new spear run through him and fed to any remaining rats in the swamps. Nothing about Joeffry seems redeemable. It was clear he didn't care for Cricket, whom he was supposed to marry, he honestly didn't know a thing about her. To him, she was just a business transaction and an object for less savory activities of his. It was clear now why House Mikul requested us to find Cricket and get her to safety as quickly as we could and ensure that the marriage doesn't go through.
The one bit of information we got did lead us to the most likely place to find Cricket. Though, why Joeffry's henchmen couldn't go is still beyond me... better for the girl though that they didn't. It did not take long to find an old witch in the swamps as we tried to question her I swear I saw Cricket... in her... no through her... perhaps their spirits were somehow mixed. Before we could do much more investigating the witch sent mud creatures of some kind after us. This time I took to my dance trying to occupy as many as I could, but it seemed the whole swamp was alive and against us. Again, the rest of the party made some quick work of the foul monsters that were set against us. Some odd, glowing, items were littered about where the creatures were slain. It became quickly apparent these were part of a ward that had been disturbed letting loose some foul being into the swamp. One of the party members quickly identified where the pieces needed to be place to put the ward back together. This caused some form of spiritual battle to ensue that we had no control over nor the history to make sense of what was going on. In the end the spirit of Cricket prevailed and came back to us, possibly with the help of the spirit of a close relative of hers... perhaps her mothers spirit.
In a final defiant stance Cricket proclaimed that she would not marry Joeffrey or anybody! Dedicating herself to protecting the area. Where some strange portal had been, a shrine to the Passion Jaspree sprung up and Cricket took on the mantle of the Lady of the Fire Swamp. Quickly the swamp started changing in appearance, it was settling down and healing before our very eyes. With our job done, we made our way back to Throal, satisfied that Cricket was ok and that Joeffrey's plans had been thwarted.
We hear from rumors that the Clay Works is finding quite an abundance of true elements and life is thriving out in the swamps. This should be an even more lucrative business for Rubus McGill. Hopefully after all the pain he's suffered out there, he too can heal like the swamps. As for Joeffrey, nobody has heard much from him. Failing, yet again as the rumors say, has placed him in rather poor graces with his family and associates.
Re: AAR: Clear as Mud, Monday December 27, 2021, 23:00 GMT / 6:00 PM Eastern
I was looking to expand my business from just a cart on the roads of Thoral to a proper store front. My potions and tonics business was doing ok but I feel like a proper store would provide more opportunities, and with the silver I was making by being an adept, I had the means to expand. Though it has been a little while since my last adventure…
While sitting in a local bar thinking of where to open my store, a messenger found me, the note was from a lawyer’s office asking for adepts to apply for a job at their office. Well getting to know a reputable lawyer and getting paid to do so sounded like a good move forward for my business aspirations.
I was to meet with some other adepts at the Ghost Pepper, where several other adepts were waiting. The adepts are Kalandar(a thief), Melcar(swordsmaster), Valoric(gauntlet), Vargo(weaponsmith) and Nyx(seeker). They all seemed very eager and a little inexperienced but they should do very well at protecting me from any trouble we were likely to run across.
The next morning we headed to the lawyer’s office of Gajorvi, Jukse, and Hvordan, who were interested in hiring adepts for an investigation into a missing girl case down outside of Kampung Gajah, at the clay works. They wanted their employer’s involvement in this case kept secret as they didn’t want House Uraeven to know that we had alternative motivations. House Uraeven has a shady reputation and I’ve had some minor dealings with their street level people from time to time.
Well this is a very interesting situation and opportunity. The lawyer’s could be great contacts for myself and if I can get some connections with either House Uraeven or House Mikul that would be amazing. Even better if I can get connections with all three groups…But what to do with these connections.
Apparently House Miku has dealings with Rubus McGill but believes that a string of bad luck is the work of House Uraeven and has resulted in a poisoned relationship with House Miku. The daughter of Rubus has run off in protest to an arranged marriage and we have been hired to find her and bring her back to be married off. House Miku wants us to find the girl and get her to Rubus and break the hold Uraeven has on him.
This will require a fair amount of travel and I think I have a plan for my new store/business. If I can make connections and contacts all the way down to Kampung Gajah and with these trade focused houses I can start an importing business. I’m sure all of these towns have goods that won’t or can’t be sold locally due to legal disputes but in Thoral far away from the local interested parties I should be able to sell them easily. I’m getting paid to travel and make all the contacts I need to start this new venture, they are even providing guards for me on this trip. Becoming an adept for Thoral has been the best business move of my career.
While my new companions were busy talking with locals about food, music, ale or who knows what, I was talking to some of the more enterprising people in Barter Town, Juniper Hollow, Clear Creek Crossing and Kampung Gajah. They were open to a trade arrangement where they would add some goods to House Uraeven or House Miku caravans heading north to Thoral, at least at first until I can arrange my own caravans. Hopefully our success with this mission will provide some good will for some space of the caravans for my fledgling import business.
Eventually my escorts and I arrived at the Fire Swamp which is the home of the Clay Works, our final destination. Well the Fire Swamp was full of all kinds of dangers and likely alchemical ingredients. We were attacked by some very unusual rodents of giant size that my escorts handled with fists and weapons while I augmented their abilities with my magic. Some were injured but no one died which was a favourable outcome.
At the McGil home we were met by Sebas and escorted to see Rubus along with Joeffrey Uraeven and his bodyguards. It was easy to tell that Joeffrey was the man in charge and that Rubus was barely able to decide if he needed to piss or not. Some strong magic was controlling him.
After talking with Joeffrey and some of the house servants we were off into the swamp again to find Cricket McGil and bring her safely home. We searched the swamp for several days and eventually came across an old witch who seemed to befriend Cricket. Like everyone else involved in this matter the witch was only interested in using poor Cricket for some evil purpose. Several Mudmen rose to attack us at the witch’s bidding. Like with the unusual rodents my escorts fought these creatures in melee, while I assisted with my magic to make them more potent.
The Mudmen were enchanted with some glowing items which were apparently important to Cricket and the Witch. We had to solve the puzzle of these items to free Cricket from the Witch’s influence. Once Cricket was freed she indicated that she had no intention of returning home and would remain in the swamp and be it’s keeper and protector. I’m not normally the most devout believer in the Passions but after Cricket’s decree a shrine to Jaspree was created with Cricket it’s head priestess??
I must say that was not the outcome I was expecting when this all started. Rubus was stunned out of his stupor by our news and Joffrey was not too pleased by this turn of events. House Uraeven was even less pleased with how this all unfolded and his handling of matters. I was able to talk with some of the workers at the Clay Works and they agreed to send some interesting alchemical and animal ingredients to my shop in Thoral.
Overall I was paid well for my services, I met with several new companions, gained a small amount of favour with House Muki, the lawyers Gajorvi, Jukse, and Hvordan and Rubus McGill. Most importantly I was able to make connections with some eager trading partners at the various towns we visited and thus my new store has opened in Thoral, Redroum’s Fine Used Goods and Potions, with the help of my suppliers from the southern towns.
While sitting in a local bar thinking of where to open my store, a messenger found me, the note was from a lawyer’s office asking for adepts to apply for a job at their office. Well getting to know a reputable lawyer and getting paid to do so sounded like a good move forward for my business aspirations.
I was to meet with some other adepts at the Ghost Pepper, where several other adepts were waiting. The adepts are Kalandar(a thief), Melcar(swordsmaster), Valoric(gauntlet), Vargo(weaponsmith) and Nyx(seeker). They all seemed very eager and a little inexperienced but they should do very well at protecting me from any trouble we were likely to run across.
The next morning we headed to the lawyer’s office of Gajorvi, Jukse, and Hvordan, who were interested in hiring adepts for an investigation into a missing girl case down outside of Kampung Gajah, at the clay works. They wanted their employer’s involvement in this case kept secret as they didn’t want House Uraeven to know that we had alternative motivations. House Uraeven has a shady reputation and I’ve had some minor dealings with their street level people from time to time.
Well this is a very interesting situation and opportunity. The lawyer’s could be great contacts for myself and if I can get some connections with either House Uraeven or House Mikul that would be amazing. Even better if I can get connections with all three groups…But what to do with these connections.
Apparently House Miku has dealings with Rubus McGill but believes that a string of bad luck is the work of House Uraeven and has resulted in a poisoned relationship with House Miku. The daughter of Rubus has run off in protest to an arranged marriage and we have been hired to find her and bring her back to be married off. House Miku wants us to find the girl and get her to Rubus and break the hold Uraeven has on him.
This will require a fair amount of travel and I think I have a plan for my new store/business. If I can make connections and contacts all the way down to Kampung Gajah and with these trade focused houses I can start an importing business. I’m sure all of these towns have goods that won’t or can’t be sold locally due to legal disputes but in Thoral far away from the local interested parties I should be able to sell them easily. I’m getting paid to travel and make all the contacts I need to start this new venture, they are even providing guards for me on this trip. Becoming an adept for Thoral has been the best business move of my career.
While my new companions were busy talking with locals about food, music, ale or who knows what, I was talking to some of the more enterprising people in Barter Town, Juniper Hollow, Clear Creek Crossing and Kampung Gajah. They were open to a trade arrangement where they would add some goods to House Uraeven or House Miku caravans heading north to Thoral, at least at first until I can arrange my own caravans. Hopefully our success with this mission will provide some good will for some space of the caravans for my fledgling import business.
Eventually my escorts and I arrived at the Fire Swamp which is the home of the Clay Works, our final destination. Well the Fire Swamp was full of all kinds of dangers and likely alchemical ingredients. We were attacked by some very unusual rodents of giant size that my escorts handled with fists and weapons while I augmented their abilities with my magic. Some were injured but no one died which was a favourable outcome.
At the McGil home we were met by Sebas and escorted to see Rubus along with Joeffrey Uraeven and his bodyguards. It was easy to tell that Joeffrey was the man in charge and that Rubus was barely able to decide if he needed to piss or not. Some strong magic was controlling him.
After talking with Joeffrey and some of the house servants we were off into the swamp again to find Cricket McGil and bring her safely home. We searched the swamp for several days and eventually came across an old witch who seemed to befriend Cricket. Like everyone else involved in this matter the witch was only interested in using poor Cricket for some evil purpose. Several Mudmen rose to attack us at the witch’s bidding. Like with the unusual rodents my escorts fought these creatures in melee, while I assisted with my magic to make them more potent.
The Mudmen were enchanted with some glowing items which were apparently important to Cricket and the Witch. We had to solve the puzzle of these items to free Cricket from the Witch’s influence. Once Cricket was freed she indicated that she had no intention of returning home and would remain in the swamp and be it’s keeper and protector. I’m not normally the most devout believer in the Passions but after Cricket’s decree a shrine to Jaspree was created with Cricket it’s head priestess??
I must say that was not the outcome I was expecting when this all started. Rubus was stunned out of his stupor by our news and Joffrey was not too pleased by this turn of events. House Uraeven was even less pleased with how this all unfolded and his handling of matters. I was able to talk with some of the workers at the Clay Works and they agreed to send some interesting alchemical and animal ingredients to my shop in Thoral.
Overall I was paid well for my services, I met with several new companions, gained a small amount of favour with House Muki, the lawyers Gajorvi, Jukse, and Hvordan and Rubus McGill. Most importantly I was able to make connections with some eager trading partners at the various towns we visited and thus my new store has opened in Thoral, Redroum’s Fine Used Goods and Potions, with the help of my suppliers from the southern towns.