SessionTen

November 1, 2008

The party arrives at Lad. The road leads to a bridge that spans a river and another road that joins up with the one on which they travel. A mile on the other side of the bridge is a hill, on which the party can see part of a town.

As the party approaches the town, they can see a section on the west side is walled and higher up on the hill. The section nearest the river looks as if it has seen better days. The wall has been damaged, and people are building a palisade there. A couple of wrecked siege engines - artifacts leftover from the recent goblin war -- sit moldering next to a gate that leads into the lower part of town.

Osrik leads the party to an Inn, which has been newly repaired and having a new sign hung. Osrik asks one of the guys with the sign if the place is an inn and opened for business. The guy tells him the place is the "Bottomless Tankard" [just itching for a dwarf].

Osrik goes in and orders a drink, looking around. He and the rest of the party can see a group of dwarves dressed in work clothes. While this lifts Osrik's spirits, Chaedi is quite bored. [We just got here!] Cinoi glares at the dwarves. [Because he hasn't glared at anyone all day!] Osrik tries not to appear intrusive to the dwarves, but he does notice they are not part of his clan. +Dwarves don't have tribes, silly! [Whatever!] Chaedi looks for anyone to flirt with, Cinoi finds himself a table near the door and proceeds to look bored, and Gloriana looks for a clean spot to sit +It's a brand new building, spanking clean+. [With dwarves in work clothes? Not hardly!]

Osrik strikes up a conversation with the bartender, who tells them they just finished remodeling after the goblins finished trashing the place. Osrik orders a beer, lays down a bit more coin, and asks if the bartender knows Dex or Murthond. The bartender points out a woman he thinks might know them and says to watch out for "them tree huggers." [Little did we know he meant that they smoke something and drive you crazy while you try to understand their drugged delusions.] He looks around and sees her sitting at a back table. Osrik turns back and asks if the bartender knows anything of his father Vellerik or his brother Emerik. The bartender doesn't remember the name but says a lot of dwarves go through there. Osrik tells the bartender to let him know if anyone comes through, and if he sees his father to tell him that he saw Emerik a few days ago but he (Emerik) was in trouble. So, he (Osrik)'s going to try to help him. Vellerik can learn more from the Otillis Lodge near Vim.

[Somewhere in here is where Alecsa tells Chaedi that Cinoi's father ran moonshine.] +After first trying to accuse Osrik's father!+ [As if she doesn't believe it anyway!]

Alecsa rolls her eyes at the dwarf's avoidance of the other dwarves +He wasn't avoiding! It's polite not to jump into conversation with strangers.+ and goes to talk to them. She greets the dwarves and asks if they've been in the area long. They say they've been there several years but do not know Dex or Murthond. When she asks of Osrik's father and brother, they don't know anything. +Dwarves don't gossip, you see. That's a human failing.+ [I fail to see where she was asking for gossip. She is not interested in what dwarf is seeing what dwarf.]

She leaves the dwarves and looks around for Osrik, who signals her to follow him. He approaches a table where a woman in a leather jerkin with fringe, high brown leather boots with fringe, green trousers with embroidered flowers, and a necklace made of glass beads and a peace sign is sitting.

Osrik stops at her table and asks if she wants company. She agrees and thus starts one of the most brain-killing conversations ever!

Osrik had to end up introducing himself and Alecsa at least three times. He tells her they are looking for Dex and Dudley. She says she might know, and don't they just know a lot of people. This is where Alecsa determines she must smoke and not hug those trees. Chaedi decides to get up and make life even more difficult. She leans in close to tell the woman that she knows nothing and no one, so the party's moving on, and Dudley will be mad when he finds out the woman didn't help them. [Cinoi carves off a piece of table and adds it to his pebble collection.] Chaedi tries to look menacing, but Alecsa gives her a you're-being-annoying look.

Alecsa puts money on the table and asks if that will improve her memory. The woman says a lot of people are looking for Dudley, including her, and not all of them are nice. This annoys Alecsa, who asks if this woman is his personal secretary, to which Chaedi has to reply that the woman is a twit. Alecsa tells Chaedi she's not helping the situation. Then Chaedi says "her darling" Dudley wouldn't be involved with such a stupid woman. [Really? Seems the type he likes most.] +Why, Alecsa, are you implying that Chaedi is an airhead? What would ever give you that idea?+ [Who's implying? I thought it was pretty clear.] Chaedi proceeds to look all lovey-dovey. Alecsa is disgusted by the display and tells her to go to the bar and get a drink, as in get lost!

The annoyingly nameless woman has Chaedi sit down and tells her that women might like to chase Dudley around, but Chaedi might not like all the places she'll have to go to find him. Alecsa is bewildered with this concept of chasing after some guy. Chaedi declares that she never chased him; it was true love. Alecsa tells her to shut up, and Chaedi stops, pouting. The annoying woman buys them a round of drinks. Cinoi refuses to drink, saying something crazy about fairies in the ale, but by this time Osrik and Alecsa need one. Badly. Then, Cinoi orders whiskey. Whatever.

Alecsa finally gets her name. The woman is Summer Twilight [gag! Sounds like a porn star] +This was a previous PC -- Tod can't be responsible for what Darcy named her, he says+ [No, but he can be held accountable for torturing us with her!], and Cinoi nearly chokes on his whisky at the name. She says she's a priestess of Yilliki, whose temple they had passed by and where Cinoi revealed his fear of trees. Chaedi wails that Dudley is her true love and that they've been separated by misfortune. She must find him. At this, Cinoi asks who was it that slept with the fort commander, and Chaedi tells him love sometimes has its fickle moments. Right.

When Alecsa tries to get back to interrogating the woman, Cinoi starts in with complimenting her necklace and trying to buy it. Alecsa orders another drink and mutters about pulling teeth. Summer refuses to sell the necklace, saying it was from her mentor. So, Cinoi puts a away is money and starts carving "mysterious" runes on the tabletop.

Alecsa recalls Summer's attention +she has attention?+ [Very, very little] and tells her the party has given her information [Osrik's life history and Chaedi's bout of "true love"], and she needs to give us some of hers. Summer claims she can't go running around giving out her friend's business, but she'll try to help us, since we're such nice people. [Oh, joy] She won't tell them were Dex is, but Alecsa sees she reacts strongly when Alcon is mentioned, telling her Dex is there. Osrik shows Summer the necklace they had found at the forge in Vim, glares at her, and tells her to give them information.

She proceeds to give them worthless information about how scary Alcon is. One notable exception is she tells them the dragon riders are called Air Knights. The servey Lord Andoth, who is holed up in the Forest of Grinn. Chaedi begs Summer to tell her "for true." [She claims it's "lovespeak".], and Alecsa calls her down again for again trying to just antagonize a woman they are trying to question. Summer claims Murthond might be able to show them to Alcon, but she has to leave in the morning on tree-hugger business. Chaedi gets up to go flirt with the bartender. A bored Cinoi whistles under his breath while he carves up the table. Osrik is moodily nursing his drink, Gloriana is bemused by the whole thing, and Alecsa is ready to gut Summer or Chaedi but orders another drink.

The bartender tells Chaedi of an Otillis lodge up ahead. She gets directions and returns to the table. Summer finally tells them Dex was supposed to meet her there but is two days late. Chaedi interrupts and tries to get the party to leave, which gets her rebuked by Alecsa again. The party gets the Alcon-is-scary story again. Cinoi and Alecsa exchange looks when Summer mentions things of "value" are at Alcon. She says there were three kings of Civari, and the party is looking for a "Hall of The Dwarf King". She says Dudley, Luguruk, and Violet +I thought she also mentioned a 4th name, Lorf Lightfoot+ [Might have. The Lightfoot part is familiar. I guess we'll find out if we ever get to meet them. See me holding my breath.] are looking for it still. She tells them a few other tidbits about what is there, mentioning ghosts. Cinoi asks Gloriana if she is afraid of ghost, and Gloriana tells him she is not because Lir has given her the gift to fight them. Summer tells him the Hall sits atop a great shaft. Alecsa smacks Cinoi before he can take off on that tangent; he gives her an innocent look. Dex is the one who knows how to get into the Hall because he has the diary of Throf Eguagnol.

Alecsa asks if Dex has been missing long, and Summer says Dudley has been gone a long time, and now Dex is missing. Alecsa tells Chaedi that it looks like her boyfriend is dead. Cinoi finally gets up and goes outside after trying to deal with the woman repeating nonsense ad naseam. He's looking at stars when Chaedi comes out and sits down next to him. He tells Chaedi her boyfriend is most likely dead, but he will support her in her search for him.

In the meantime, Alecsa is very, very close to popping a shuriken into the skull of this annoying tree hugger. Instead, she heaves a huge sigh and beats her head against the table a few times. Alecsa and Osrik finally get the woman to make them a map of what she remembers. Chaedi takes the opportunity to flirt with Cinoi and lean against him while he points out constellations "to better see what he's pointing at." He's surprised she'd do such a thing after all the blabbering about true love and telling her he thought her boyfriend was dead but doesn't object. +Chaedi doesn't deal with death. She just ignores it. When one of her friends dies in front of her, she may be forced to mature. Or flake out even more.+ [I can't imagine how you think that justifies what she does.]

More than tired of the crazy conversation indoors, -- and admiring Alecsa and Osrik's ability to endure it -- Gloriana goes outside. What she observes she keeps to herself.

In the middle of Summer babbling about her party needing a dwarf, Alecsa excuses herself from the table. She goes outside, screams at the top of her lungs, and returns to the table. However, Osrik says something Chaedi-like, and Alecsa tells him to stop or she'll gut him. +Huh? what did he say?+ [I'd have to look it up, but trust me. It was very Chaedi.] Yeah. Primal scream did not work. Cinoi starts to wonder when the conversation will end and when Osrik and Alecsa will go insane. +Somewhere in here, Summer finally admits that the "Hall of the Mountain King" is a TOMB! Osrik is amazed that she would think the tomb would be BELOW the living areas of the city of Alcon. She admits they didn't have a dwarf along in their explorations of an ancient ruined dwarf city!+ [I'm thinking that might have been why she was going on about not having a dwarf in their party. I'm sure they could have found one had they not left that task up to Summer!]

Alecsa and Osrik are finally able to get a map and leave. Cinoi greets them when they meet up. Alecsa would like to strangle Chaedi, whom she blames for getting them into the conversation from hell. +Hey, Chaedi just intervened when it was going nowhere. Osrik started the whole thing!+ ["Intervened?" She brought what little conversation they had to a screeching halt and veered it into an unnecessary direction! It didn't need intervention!]

They note the lower half of town is filled with refugees, and it's too late to go the lodge. Chaedi starts looking for someone to ask about Murthond, and Alecsa tells her not to find any more dopeheads to deal with. Gloriana is less than pleased with Cinoi's opinion of priests but is placated by his sucking up. [Hey! She's 16, which is more than you can say for Chaedi's antics.]

They begin to head out but learn it's too far away to get to before nightfall, so they head back to the inn to get rooms. For some reason, Chaedi declares everyone has to sleep in their "own beds." Alecsa thinks that's rather two-faced of her and none of her damn business. Who was it acting slutty all night? +She's beginning to think she wants to take Cinoi away from Alecsa, maybe. She's bored and a tad bit jealous of their relationship.+ [She's an ass, and Cinoi would be best served kicking her into a river. She's stalking just waiting to happen. Look at this whole Dex thing!]

Cinoi and Alecsa discuss the practicality of sucking up to clerics and romantic behavior in particular. She tells him he has never said flowery words to her and not to start. He says it is how she commands and then winks at her.

Chaedi, who is rather pissy at this point, declares Alecsa the party treasurer. Unbelievable. Sure, she's hidden money, but even Cinoi agreed he wouldn't trust her to be the treasurer. It's all so bizarre. +No, she told Alecsa to pay for the Inn rooms and meals, because she knows Alecsa has money. None of the treasure we've found so far has ever made it into party pockets... so SOMEBODY has it! Alecsa seems the most likely candidate. Plus it's fun to make the rogue pay for things. Chaedi thinks Gloriana should be party treasurer, because she's painfully honest.+ [No, she flat out said Alecsa should be the party treasurer. And if you think Alecsa is forking money out for Chaedi to sleep anywhere but on the street, you can keep dreaming! Chaedi was far beyond her favorite person this day.]

Alecsa is woken in the morning by Gloriana's morning prayers, so she's not in the best of humor. They discover that crazy Summer has already gotten up and left, even before Gloriana got up. A stunning revelation. Alecsa asks if you have to wake up early to worship trees. Cinoi says something about morning wood, and she laughs.

As the party passes the gate, heading out of town, Cinoi starts talking about wanting springs, and Alecsa tells him they can't afford to have any smithed, since they have yet to come into a good haul. +Chaedi suggests asking the smith to make them, but nobody realizes she means OSRIK! After all, he made the caltrops a few days ago.+ [Well, that's always how it is. One of your friends who used bomb stuff with you has become a priest. He's not the first person you think about when you need one because he used to be as hedonistic as you!] She (Alecsa) tells Cinoi to get in a last glare as they leave. Gloriana, who was in the back and avoiding the base conversation in front of her, is hit with a dart in her derrière. She turns to see a thin guy with dark hair running back into the city. She calls him a coward as he flees.

Her companions discover the dart has a note on it. It reads: Tell your friend the tree hugger that if she wants to see her buddy Dex again, she'll be at the Golnath Houd tonight!

Not liking the idea of ever seeing Summer Twilight again, Alecsa is all for going to the meeting themselves without telling her. Looking over the dart, Cinoi discovers and Alecsa determines it is a thieves' weapon from Tisloch, making them think someone might be after them. Who would believe they are friends with tree-woman after all of that?!

Alecsa and Cinoi take off after the thief, following him as he runs into an ally. There, Alecsa sees a door shut. Alecsa eases her way to the door. She listens and can hear some shuffling and moaning. Since it's early and not all the shops are open, she picks the lock. Peeking through when she cracks the door open, she sees some undead guy reaching for her. She shuts the door and locks it. Cinoi spikes it.

They head around to the front side of the block and discover this particular storefront is boarded up. Cinoi carves the D&D equivalent of "FUCK THE UNDEAD" on one of the boards. [I think that's how it would go in D&D lingo.] Alecsa's rethinking this finding Dex thing. She doesn't think he's worth messing with the undead. After all, Chaedi's love is so "true" she's slept with a fort commander and flirts with anything else. +Chaedi just has a short attention span! She means well, and always returns to her "true love quest".+ [Right. No one's buying that bridge.]

Cinoi points out goody-two-shoes Osrik will make them go. +Rescuing one's family is slightly more than "goody two shoes" behavior.+ Alecsa says there better be a lot of treasure in there. Talking to the neighboring storekeepers, they learn their complaints to the guard about strange noises coming from the building and the disappearance of dogs has been ignored.

Alecsa wants to see if she can get a look inside before rejoining the party. Back in the alley, she scales the walls until she finds a board with a spot she can peek through...

SessionTwelve