"Bye Jillia!" Krogge calls out to her as she runs homes.
"Well shall we get our free food and head out? I think Jillia said the next stop is only a half day from here." he says as he steps towards the door.
"Indeed."
He said simply nodding quietly and heading inside. He didnt like the idea of this pixie wing idea at all. His tail lashed as his ears titled back slightly.
“Bye bye, Jillia! See you later!” Sweet Pea waves energetically at the departing figure for quite a bit longer than strictly necessary. She then follows the others inside. “I’m hungry! I could eat a whole lot, as long as it isn’t someone’s wings, that is.”
"Oh my! Do I have some new customers, new adventurers, or both?" calls an exuberant male voice. The source is a round-faced man with an immaculately groomed mustache. He sets down the three bowls upon his tray, each containing steaming dumplings, for a table of diners before he continues to speak.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he rubs his hands on his apron before offering a bow. "I am Master Chef Tobias Thrum, and I welcome you to my restaurant. Will you be dining with us today, or are you interested in my ingredient wish list?"
Krogge looks around to make sure the man was talking to them, "Jillia said to come her for a nice meal..." he says shyly looking around before speaking up," Ya got any mead round here?"
He wishes the girl well, Something odd about her but I can't figure out... oh but then his nose smells the food.
"Mead, and perhaps some beef or mutton."
He smiled politely his ears twitching. He didnt say anything at first merely studying the man but he finally nodded as if answering both questions.
"Pa Apta's girl told us this was the best place in the world to get food. I do have one serious question.. I read on the sign that you serve pixie wings.... those are a sentient race. That morally doesnt weigh in on you? Just thinking about it makes me wonder what such food would do to my soul. I digress not the place for philosophical debates I am sure."
He smiled his best feline smile... you know the toothy one, that let some folk feel like a predator was looking down upon them like they were a meal.
once seated, (or if seated i suppose) He looked to the others and smiled.
"I have been to Absolam. Its grandeur and scale make this place pale by comparison. Large cities though bring troubles on their own. This town seems like a fine place. Hopefully the meal here is good."
"Nonsense!" Master Thrum replies to Rrruh with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Pixies are little more than squeaking insects. They are no more sentient than a mosquito. Anyone in Olfden can tell you that."
Thrum digresses from the philosophical discussion, although he does not sound particularly open minded, to instead welcome you into his restaurant. He escorts you to a table at the back of the restaurant's common room, situated beside a wide, outwardly bowing window that offers a sweeping view of the greenery beyond. The land slopes down gently, allowing you a pleasant perspective of the park that sits between the Thrumming Birch and the grounds of the Town Hall in the distance.
"This evening's special is boiled grick dumplings served in a broth of carrots and leeks," Chef Thrum announces proudly. "We're also serving a potato and barley pottage with shaved ox shank, and a fish pie served with salmon, pear slices, and pitted damson plums."
His ears flickered at the mans dismissal about pixies. He was wrong but he got the feeling that it wouldnt be worth the energy to educate him truly. His nose and whiskers twitched when he head about a fish pie though. He loved fish.
"I'll have some of everything!" Sweet Pea announces, already seated and ready to eat. "Long as it doesn't have any pieces of anyone in it."
Krogge smiles at all the dishes the chef lists off, "Those all sound good. I'll take one of each please." Krogge says with a toothy smile.
"The Potato and Barley Pottage with shaved Ox shank, please." He says
Master Thrum eagerly bounds off to the kitchen to prepare your meals. As you wait, you have time to observe your surroundings and the company you find yourself in within this restaurant. The other tables are populated by artisans and merchants, both local and visiting. Although they would not be considered wealthy in a city like Almas or Augustana, compared to their peers in Falcon's Hollow, they may as well be barons and counts.
Your food is soon brought out, and it is just as good as Jillia promised, although it is quite unlike anything you've ever eaten before. The grick dumplings have an unexpected succulence, and everything tastes much fresher than what's available in Falcon's Hollow.
Randu sighs happily, and says "If I had supplies like this..." He hopes he's not eating any fairys.. he made his order for a reason.
You have an enjoyable meal, and as promised by Jillia, you are not charged a single copper.
You step back out onto the Olfden street with the midday sun edging ever so slightly to the west.
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Satisfied, Sweet Pea dashes into the street, and begins accosting strangers making new friends. "HI! I'm a Sweet Pea! What's your name? I came all the way from Falcon's Hollow! Do you live here?"
Krogge rips into the fish pie and ox tail pottage and makes sure to eat at least one helping of each. His marathon of eating is broken only by the occasional belch or quaff of ale or mead to wash the food down.
"BLLEUUUUUGRRRHHHH.... ahh well that was delicious." he says to Thrum as he stands up. suddenly his hand goes to his stomach, "oooh well maybe not all of that fancy food sits well in me... uh where's the outhouse?" he asks urgently.
Randu says "Oh blast.. I need to find Jeb's family... favor to someone." He looks about, this place is quite large here, but maybe there's someone who looks like they know the families in the area.
And if he sees a glassworker or someone who sells glass jars, he'll drop in there too. Almas will have a better collection to be sure, but perhaps the vendor would know about Jeb's family so he can pass on Pulk's regrets.
As he searches for the proper home, Randu is interrupted by a soft but insistent hooting. He turns to see that Sage has alighted upon a nearby fence post. A glint of metal draws the cook's eye to the owl's leg, where a small brass tube has been affixed - the kind that might carry a rolled up message.
"Whose side are you on?" Randu says "Taking odd jobs" But he takes the tube carefully, and if it is a message he can open, well, he opens it and looks.
The small brass tube comes away from Sage's leg with no effort at all, and once it is in Randu's hand, he cannot see how it was even attached in the first place. Sure enough, a rolled up message sits within the hollow tube. When he removes it, Randu cannot even immediately identify what it is written on. Rather than parchment or paper, it feels like some kind of silken cloth - impossibly light and soft.
Child,
To aid your cause, to avenge Runo, I can expedite your path.
I wait in the woods.
-The Voice from the Shadows
As he holds the gossamer message in his hands, Randu can feel that - should he choose to respond to this summons - Sage can lead him back to its sender.
"Lead on, Sage."Randu says, and follows where his guide leads.
Once Krogge Relieves himself, he looks around to find that Randu, and possibly Sweet Pea have left.
"If we are running errands I'll be back in an hour. Gotta find a good shawl for Ms Laurel for the fall." he says as he heads towards the nearest market in search of a clothing merchant.
As Sweet Pea eagerly takes to the streets of Olfden to make friends, she espies her good friend Randu speaking with his owl. Curiously, the two begin to wander off, and she wonders whether to follow.
Meanwhile, Krogge receives a few recommendations from locals, who seem to take him for a visiting adventurer. A woman walking down the street with a basket full of vegetables recommends either Tuttle and Weft's, on Fir Street, or Mother Cotter down in the Coppers Market.
"Of course, it's a bit of a local secret that the best weaver in town is Lissel over at the Hall of Sarenrae," she eagerly gossips. "She's the high priestess, don't you know? It would be quite the trick to get her to admit her talent, though, and it would be even harder to convince her to part with any of her work."
Sweet Pea scampers after her friend. "Randu! Wait up! Where ya goin'?"
Krogge, never one to gossip thanks the woman and heads to the Hall of Sarenrae.
"Thank you Ma'am, thats all I needed to know" he says before stopping for a moment,"Ye got any advice on how to make her part with a nice winter shawl? Maybe for a very special herbalist?" he asks shyly.
Sweet Pea scampers after her friend. "Randu! Wait up! Where ya goin'?"
Startled he turns, "It's a family matter of sorts, Sweatpea. No need to trouble yourself. " He does not change his path as he follows the owl.
It was an excellent fish dish, Good enough under normal circumstances he would have asked for another...but he didnt like the chef's thoughts on politics. Before he realized however he was sitting alone in the booth. He should have paid more attention after all, the rest of his group thought this was a large city, of course they went out to explore its environs.
He flagged down a waitress, the owner, a cook... anyone really who looked like they might be able to help him.
"Pardon me yes yes. This town has an inn? Someplace travelers go to when they need to stay the night?"
"Oh, um...The Silver Bulette's probably the most popular inn," she stammers. "It's certainly the biggest. I hear the prices are very low, too. But, um....I also hear it can be a bit rough. At least, that's what Master Thrum says."
Sage leads Randu along, alighting from rooftop to rooftop and guiding his halfling companion across the span of the wide farming town. Eventually, the owl's guidance brings Randu through the east gate, onto the road leading into the Arthfell Forest beyond.
The handful of farmsteads on this side of the town's environs all look quite sturdy and fortified. The cottages are girded by fieldstone walls and adorned by colorful signs that Randu recognizes as intended to repel fey and dark magic.
"Yes yes, Silver Bulette sounds good. Which part of town? If my friends return could you tell them to meet me there? It seems they have never been to a real town before and well they have scattered."
He asked her reaching into his belt pouch and pulling out 3 silver coins and placing them in her hand. He then carefully described Krogge, Randu, and SweetPea, not that they probably hadnt stuck out a bit, but just in case and merily made his way into the town keeping his eye out for anything interesting... and an eye out for this inn.
Sweet Pea continues to follow Randu through the town. “Wow! You never mentioned you had a family! Do they live out here?” She pauses and looks back into the city. “Wait, where’re the others? Should we be splitting up?”
"Well I certainly won't be a suitor. 'Least ways not from me. Thats sorta why I'm lookin' for the shawl." Krogge replies on his way down the road.
"Sweet Pea, please. I need to do this. If you must come along then do so but hang back a bit please?" Randu seems frustrated as he follows the owl, "I don't know if you've ever lost someone close to you but it's not something some of us can let go. Not without setting somethings in a .. in a balance."
At the Thrumming Birch, the aspect in the waitress's eyes shifts between shades of awe as Rrruh places this silver coins in her hand. Although Olfden is hardly as impoverished as Falcon's Hollow, and this restaurant is perhaps the finest in the Vale, three whole silvers is still an impressive amount for a single ordinary person to receive at once.
Outside, as Rrruh searches for the described inn, at the confluence of three Olfden streets he encounters both Krogge, on his way to the temple of Saranrae, and Sweet Pea, on her own and looking a hair less exuberant than her normal self. Of Randu, there is no sign.
You lose track of time as you plunge through thick tangles of trees and brush. The forest canopy blots out most of the sunlight, leaving you in a strange, timeless twilight. You suddenly find yourself on the edge of a vast indentation in the forest floor. Only silver-barked pauliel trees grow in this shallow vale - not a single oak, pine, or other tree dares stand within. Stranger still, a chilled fog fills the indentation, obscuring out the forest floor within.
"Thank you for making such haste," calls an unseen woman's voice that pours into your ear like honey. You cannot trace the voice, which seems to drift out of the fog. "I have a favor to ask of you, my champion."
He smiled and shook his head at the other two only pausing quizically at not seeing Randu.
"I'm on the way to get some rooms at a place to sleep,It's called the Silver Bullette. Do either of you want company yes yes?"
He asked certainly not wanting to disturb their meanderings if they wanted to explore on their lonesome.
"From whence did you think your magic sprang?" she asks with a laugh like a bell. "Of course you are my champion."
The mist swirls like a lake's slow current, shrouding the forest floor in the depression. It grows opaque towards its bottom, disguising how deep it sits. Through the mist and silver-barked trees, you still cannot see the speaker - who claims to be your magical patron.
"I am one who would see wrongs avenged, including the tragedy of the lost brother, but gifts never come without strings, I am afraid. However, gifts can beget gifts, as I wish to show you."
A ghostly form takes the vaguest of shapes among the mist. A gray silhouette soon becomes the outline of a woman, either floating upon the mist or else standing tall as a tree. As her form coalesces, she becomes a pale skinned beauty with hair like moonlight.
"I am Ambrosia, sister to Syntira, the Queen of Darkmoon Vale and one of the Eternal Eleven. I seek to craft a gift for my unparalleled sister, and I require your aid. In return, I can shorten the road traveled by you and your companions.
"I see your destination, a city of smoke and ash. Your feet would carry you there only after many days, if not weeks, but I know hidden ways that could bring you there in mere moments."
"So you are the source, who Sage carried the teachings from.. I.. see." He nods. "I thought you were a dream at times. I should thank you, Shadow Mistress."
And he does.
Then when she makes her request, "A trade then? mmm nothing shame ful about that. But this task, it's not going to hurt any good folk is it?"
"Near the northern verge of this forest lies a site the mortal children call the Moon Silver Pool. There, in a quiet glade, you will find a shallow reflecting pool, its lip and bottom lined with thick plates of silver enchanted to never tarnish. I wish for you to bring me one of those plates so that I may fashion a bracelet for my illustrious sister."
The fey princess pauses to sigh dejectedly before speaking again.
"A fiendish curse bars immortals such as myself from entering the glade and nearing the pool, hence why I need my champion to act on my behalf. A pack of malevolent werewolves haunts the pool to sustain the curse and use the waters for their bestial rites. Thus, this favor does not come without danger. However, I would not send you bare."
Ambrosia raises her lithe arms, and the mist begins to swirl and coalesce as though she were weaving cloth. Soon, a cloak of pale gray manifests in her grasp, and she offers it to you.
"This magic cloak will render you unseen, unheard, and unsmelt by creatures that are bound to the moon. But this is a powerful boon, drawn from the vaults of the immortals, and must be returned upon completion of this favor."
Sweet Pea stands still in the road, watching where her friend ran out of sight. Eventually the cat man comes and speaks to her. "Oh, ok. Randu went to chase an owl or something, we should make sure he can find us when he's done."
Krogge stops for a moment when he Rrruh calls out. "I'm going for a visit to the local temple of Sarenrae if your interested. Sweet Pea too, I'm sure Randu will be able to find his back to us again."
The friendly Olfden folks again eagerly provide directions to the visiting adventurers, as they view the three of you. Thus, you find the Hall of Sarenrae in the heart of town, on the edge of the large park that cradles the town hall and its impressive fountain.
Despite its size, surely one of the largest buildings in town if not the entirety of Darkmoon Vale, this temple is quite plain to look at. Simple walls of gray stone support a wooden, white-washed dome that glistens in the sun. Square collonades frame the shallow porch that offers entrance inside. The interior immediately serves as a stark contrast with the austerity of the exterior. Warm, woven tapestries line the walls, and a tall wooden sculpture of the Dawnflower herself commands attention in the central hall.
A lesser priest, his hair shorn and his robe wrinkled, approaches to welcome you with an uneven smile and inquire about your visit.
Krogge steps up and replies, "Looking for a Lissel? I heard she makes the best shawls." he says calmly, "Do you know where she is?"
"Wow, that statue is a lot prettier than the last time I saw a big statue inside a building. Sweet Pea remarks reverently as she approaches the religious image.
"Oh! Yes, I...er...that is," the low priest stammers before finally coughing to clear his train of thought, casting his eyes down to recompose himself. "High Priestess Lissel is currently performing an ablution, purifying herself before the Everlight.
"You are correctly informed. Her weaving is peerless. However, she cannot simply be called upon like a common seamstress. Her work is usually reserved for visiting knights of the Dawnflower or emissaries from the south."
Sweet Pea's praise disarms the priest, leaving him surprised, but a warm smile soon spreads across his face.
Unless she has more, he will withdraw. He has to find the others.