Ivan nods. sounds good.
I suppose I'll be headin' out soon. It'll be rough, but this is actually the closest thing I've found to a lead on those bastards that attacked me clan. An' even if they ain't, I'd bet me beard they know who did...
Agrit, do ye still have any magical items for sale? If ye do what are they?
Ivan hazards a question to the distracted agrit.
"Sure. Searching something specific?" Agrit asks.
Daseem didn't have anything in particular in mind to buy. That might have been different if there was a fancy greatsword for sale but as it, he found himself fidgeting at the back. [i]They needed to get going soon, to find out who was behind this attack and bring justice to them.[i/]
weapons, items, potions? Things that could be useful for a long treck? Also, I was wonderin' if ye could help me with somethin' else as well.
Ivan pauses for a moment.
ye see, I reforged me father's armor here, thanks to Sara allowing me use O' her forge, but, I am not the master smith me uncle was when he forged this armor for me father. I'm afraid that the magic in it was lost, do ye think ye could look ova' it, see if any O' it is left, an if so, if ye could draw it out? And, I'm going to reforge his shield anew as well, if ye could help with that as well, I'd be more than willin' to compensate ye for yer time. I shoulda asked ye to help from the start, but me stubborn pride lead me to believe I could do it meself.
Ivan looks uncomfortable, almost embarrassed, for the first time in a while
"For weapons and armor you go to my wife. Also for the enchantment. For scrolls, and potions I have some around and can make most of the ones you might need within a day. There is also a wand of magic missile lying around and I have a ring of spell knowledge, if that is any help for you." Agrit tells.
nay, tha ring and wand are O no use to me, would ye let me know ifn' and when ye deem Sara right enough to help me with me armor. Much obliged. Ivan gives a nod to Agrit.
"I'm ready, I can come with you to the clamor right now..." Sara replies and gets up from the place Agrit assigned to her.
"No, you're not! You lay down again and stay there until I say you can get up again." Agrit objects.
"Are you my mom, or what?" you hear as you silently leave the shop and close the door behind you.
With nothing specific to do now, everyone spends some time at their favorite places. Be it in the Longhouse, in the tavern, or in bed. Later that day Kurst comes along and tells Menrozzar and Ivan, that a council meeting is scheduled and that they should get the others.
Trunau isn't large, so it's not hard to find someone everyone knows. Only to get Bupkis out of Alicia's caring hands proves difficult. But finally the group arrives in front of the council.
That sounds more than it actually is. It's a large round table in the meeting room of the Ivory Hall, where Chief Defender Halgra of the Blackened Blades, Councilor Agrit Staginsdar, Councilor and Banker Lessie Crumkin and Councilor Sara Morninghawk. It's more like a family reunion. Only that the group gets to see the meeting room - with commanding views of the surrounding countryside - from inside is new.
Menrozzar moves in, somewhat in awe with being here. He'd never thought about sitting on the Council, so seeing the inside of this place was definitely something he hadn't expected. The view was especially nice to look at. Looking about, he found himself a chair and sat down, waiting for things to start.
The table is prepared with mugs an a large jug of ale as well as some fresh bread and smoked and dried sausages. Halgra gives a short rundown of what got destroyed in town and in what order it will be repaired. It will take weeks alone to fix the wall and towers. "I hope we'll be done with most of the buildings before winter. We haven't been hit that hard for a long time."
"Now tell me what you found. Agrit gave me some hint already, but tell me all the details."
So the group tells what they found out, starting with Rodrik's murder for coming close to Skreed and finding out about his plans. They tell of the Twisted Hearts tribe, and the tomb and share the note. A lively discussion ensues about the consequences of that and what to do next. Mid meeting Halgra decides to have Silvermane invited to the meeting too.
With Silvermane the meeting slows down as he only communicates in sign language and Halgra has to translate. The talk about what to do moves from getting the defenses back up to bringing the battle to the enemy. Finally Halgra turns to you.
"As proven by the note you found, Grenseldek and her tribe is behind that. I'm convinced that she is in Redlake Fort. All the clues we got out of the prisoners point there. It is an old and abandoned border outpost of Lastwall. Would you go there to end that threat to Trunau once and for all?" Halgra asks. Ten eyes rest on you waiting for an answer.
Daseem was equally awed and as often happened when in the presence of important people he shrank inward upon himself. A part of his mind registered that as funny because he knew several of them well, he was staying with Lessie Crumkin and he did odd jobs for Sara Morninghawk, and he'd met Agrit before. Perhaps it was the place and the occasion rather then the people that cowed him?
Menrozzar looked back at those ten eyes, looked to the others, as if gathering they're agreement, then faced them and said, "I will do so. Until Grenseldek gets that map, she'll keep sending her forces. This time it was orcs with a single frost giant - next time, it may be an entire army of giants. This must be done to protect Trunau."
Bupkis felt a bit stronger in the morning. It took some time to convince Alicia that he really needed to attend the council meeting.
He sits fidgeting while Halgra talks about all the damage to the town and the repairs needed. He wonders how long the meeting is going to last. Finally it's the group's turn to speak, and he jumps in with his descriptions about all the things that happened over the last few days.
When Halgra talks of Grenseldek, and her stronghold, he asks, "Redlake Fork? Why it called a fork?" After a moment, the confusion is cleared up, and he understands that it's a fort.
He replies to the Chief Defender's plea, "Bupkis goes to fork... uh, fort, and stops giant and orcs that threaten Trunau!"
Ivan nodded to himself as he entered the chamber.
a good spot, ye can see most everythin' from here..
As the meeting goes on, Ivan helps himself to the food and drink,though, does keep the drink to a minimum. As they ask him to go to this redfort, Ivan let's out a bellow of alaugh.
bwhaha, I would 'ave went even if ye had not asked it O' me. I 'ave a couple O' questions fer this "chief" anyway. It be only a matter O' when fer me.
Scrabbler nodded enthusiastically. His last attempt at riding a giant hadn't gone so well. He was looking forward to trying again.
"It is settled then. I know someone - it will take a few days until he arrives somewhere near on the River Esk - who I can get you passage with." Halgra tell, when Silvermane interrupts by raising his hand and startig to 'talk'.
"Silvermane tells, that you come past the Ghostlight Marsh on that travel. And that there, in the so called Vault of Thorns, is a cache of weapons that were made to fight the Twisted Heart tribe long ago, when they first came over the land. He thinks it would be helpful to get them first."
Scrabbler knew the Ghostlight Marsh. The circus had traveled around it every time they used to come through this area. They had always grouped in threes when in sight of the marsh, just in case one of the Whispy Willows tried to trick them. He'd been warned not to wander off into it many times.
"Thasa bad place," he said, his eyes wide. "Ghosty lights. They leads peoples in, and they don't comes out."
"Are ghostly rats in Ghostlight Marsh?", Bupkis asks, still traumatized by the experience in Uskroth's Tomb.
that may be worth lookin' into. Does he know what type O' weapons were kept there? as the goblins speak of the danger ivan grumbles a bit.
An what can we expect to encounter if we do make a sojourn to this... cache. Can ye tell us anything else?
Ivan cross his arms as he finishes speaking.
Halgra translates into sign language. Some minute later Chief Halgra sighs and buries her face in her hands. "Ok... Ghostlight Marsh is a vast tract of swampland along the shores of the River Esk. The current border between the Hold of Belkzen and Lastwall
runs through the swamp. Both orcs and humans avoid the marsh due to countless tales of strange, floating lights."
"And those tales are true. The reason lies in battles past. Lastwall’s northern border with Belkzen has been pushed back multiple times over the centuries. When the second of these borders, Harchist’s Blockade, was overrun by the orcs, some stood resolute, seeing themselves as protectors of the land. The Council of Thorns, a militant druid circle who despised the orcs’ defilement of the land the creatures conquered, attempted to stand their ground. While the druids’ fight was valiant, the Council of Thorns was eventually driven back to the swamp and defeated by the orcs."
"Faced with sure defeat at the hands of the conquering orcs, the druids of the Council of Thorns made a final stand in the swamp, sacrificing themselves in a bloody ritual. As the druids’ dying bodies slumped into the muck, vengeful will-o’-wisps rose from the marsh and drove the orc army out of the swamp. These cruel and capricious aberrations have guarded Ghostlight Marsh from intrusion ever since. The will-o’-wisps of Ghostlight Marsh are actually the reincarnated druids of the Council of Thorns, who still remember their former lives."
"The only thing lacking here is a good idea of how to get through that, without being killed by those will-o-whisps and not killing them. Because I like it that they keep the orcs from crossing that swamp." She starts signing again to Silvermane. But he shrugs and only makes one gesture. "Talking?" Halgra inquires. Silvermane nods.
"Will-o'-wisps?", Bupkis repeats. "How we talk to Will-o'-wisps? And how we find them?"
"I don't know much about will-o'-wisps, but I don't think we'll have trouble finding them. I suspect they will find us. As for talking to them...perhaps if we tell them our goal, they will allow us to pass? Do will-o'-wisps speak any kind of language?"
This all sounded terribly exciting, Will-o'-wisps where fearsome things from stories to scare children. In his mind he imagined fighting them, it would be glorious! Their actions would be accompanied by an angelic band, music moving in time with the beat of their weapons.
"How we talk to Will-o'-wisps?"
'What! Talk to them?!' Daseem wasn't sure about that at all. Where would the glory in that be? Wouldn't it be better to cut them to itty-bitty shreds?
Ivan looked down to his armor and shield, the shield was much lighter nkw, but still cumbersome. never liked swamps, or water for that matter. Be there no other way than by river to reach our destination? If not, then so be it. But I won't be likin' it. An what if these wisps decide they don't want us there either? How tough is one O these wisps?
"I never fought one." Halgra replies.
Ivan grumbles at the response and tries to recall anything useful he had heard about the things.
Bupkis asks, "Silvermane knows if way to show druid spirits we friends?"
Silvermane gestures and Halgra translates. "He wants to give you a special lantern in which you need to place a dead will-o'-whisp. It will show you where to go and allow entrance into the Vault of Thorns. The former druids should recognize this lantern."
Bupkis sees one difficulty with Silvermane's suggestion: "Where we get a dead will-o'-whisp, without fighting druid spirits?"
"Maybe talk a live one into going into the lantern?" Halgra asks hopefully, but Silvermane shakes his head.
Agrit speaks up. "That are detail issues aren't they. Sara needs to get back to bed to fully recover from her wounds. Can we close this meeting now?" she asks.
"You start with that again?" Sara objects.
"Alright. I declare this council meeting closed. Everyone who wants to stay can do so. The ale doesn't need to go stale. But if you got marriage issues to discuss you do that somewhere else." Halgra states.
Sara and Agrit say their goodbye and leave, but as soon as the door is closed behind them the bickering starts again.
”We may have to fight the first wisp we find, but hopefully the rest will leave us alone.”
After the meeting, Bupkis talks to Sara, "Bupkis glad Sara feeling better."
"Ivan says can make Bupkis mithril shirt, but needs mithril. You know if mithril available?"
"Sure I have. I can show you as soon as I can get out of the grip of Agrit again." Sara replies.
"Maybe this helps?", Bupkis says, and heals Sara.
"Hey, Agrit. I'm healed. I'm off to the forge." Sara calls out, while dragging the goblin with her out of the house. "Let us hurry before she comes after me." the half orc tells. Not much is as bad for her as lying around useless and not being able to work her forge.
"Bupkis tired of lying in bed all day too!", the little goblin tells Sara in a conspiratorial tone, as he follows her.
Sara leads to the forge. Once in she starts the fire in the forge and goes through her daily routine of preparations. There is some damage at the building here and there, and sweeping the floor collects a pile of rubble. But as the building is fireproof it didn't take too much damage. "Make yourself useful." she tells, handing Bupkis a dustpan and brush.
Bupkis feels tired, so he sits down next to some debris while holding the dustpan. The brush moves apparently by itself and starts sweeping the mess into the dustpan.
"You look like you got too early out of bed. Shall I call Agrit for you?" Sara jokes.
"If Agrit comes, who she looks at, Bupkis or Sara?", the goblin reminds the half-orc.
"I'm back to full strength and can fend her off. Can you? She'll take her frustration out on you and grounds you for a week." Sara laughs.
"Bupkis good at hiding!", the little goblin replies, scampering out of sight, before re-emerging a moment later.
Ivan stomps after them, he merely watches the antics with his normal dour stony expression, but one could see the side of his mouth normally dipped down into a scowl, was turned up just a bit into a grin.
Daseem wandered after Sarah and Bupkis. On a normal day he'd often help out in the smithy, this was far from a normal day but he found comfort in routine. While he wasn't half the Blacksmith Sarah was he had been watching and learning. Using hammer, anvil and tonges, he able to forge surprisingly delicate work. There was a proper rhythm to it, strike the bar stock with the hammer, a half twist, strike once more, and repeat. Working up and down he would turn the square bar into an octagon and then into a circle. He would then draw it out into leaves, flowers and then twist it into fanciful scroll work.
He watched Sarah light the forge and he thought, 'Never tried to forge a weapon. I need to be better before I do, lest lord Gorum take offense at my presumption. Best get some practice in.'
Glancing at Sarah he hesitated as he asked, "D-do ye need anythin' made?"
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Scrabbler didn't really understand economics. He could only count to seven. He knew he was a smart gob because back in his home village, the biggest number he'd ever heard used was four. Seven was much more numbery than four. He liked seven because that was the most balls he could juggle. He'd heard of a mythical "eight" but to him eight was pretty much everything more than seven.
So when he wanted to get a new jester suit made, he scampered into the local seamstress shop, said "I's needs new clownsing clothes, please!" and then proceeded to count out seven coins onto the counter.
He didn't really know what the comparative values of the coins were, and had never even heard the word "platinum" before. To him they looked like the silver ones. They were the same shiny color, after all.
In the end, Scrabblers new clothes were fine indeed, durable, tailored, soft, full of hidden pockets and sheathes, and made with the kind of care that only a craftsman who feels guilty about fleecing their client puts into their work.
Scrabbler couldn't have been happier.
"We always need more swords." Sara replis to Daseem. "You know where you find anything." she adds, and starts on her own project.
Bupkis spends the next few days regaining his strength. He helps Alicia's parents repair their house, learning carpentry techniques, and how to manipulate tools with his telekinetic powers. He doesn't need a ladder to reach high places — his growing powers allow him to assist while he was sitting on a chair down below.