Palace of the Vampire Queen (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

There is little else to find that will be of any use in the basement, and nothing else to learn unless you want to ask the Eye a question, otherwise you can leave the basement whenever you are ready

Where would I go? Miagnik echoed to himself after he had a moment to calm down a little. Despite the Eye's claims that it wouldn't destroy them, he was still very apprehensive about staying anywhere near it. Probably back to the palace of the Vampire Queen. Somehow that place seemed a lot safer by comparison than here.

But before he could think anything else.

A small voice suddenly pipes up, growing louder.

"I've had just about as much as I can take of this fool."

Maelodakh plants her feet on the ground, and strikes a dominant pose before the altar the eye rests upon. She makes a grand show of looking the thing up and down.

"You talk a lot, and with much... bravura. I disdain bullies, and…bodiless entities that proclaim much power. You may have much power. And knowledge. But what of friends? Or understanding from other entities. From where I'm standing you're just a gobbledy, sad little maniacal eye inhabiting a dank cellar in the arse end of nowhere. Threatening visitors and lording over cobwebs and other assorted vermin. How does that sit with your chthonic plans for world domination?"

She turns on her heel, showing the creature her back.

"It talks to me. [here taps head with one sooty fingernail] In here. It compels me…to buy stuff? I do not like it. At all. "

Miagnik stared wide-eyed at Maelodakh. He wasn't sure if she was entirely too brave, stupid, or some mix of the two to realize that antagonizing the Eye was possibly the worst decision she could have made!

Then it simply replied.

I – suppose

He was stunned again.

Was it really so uncaring as to ignore Mae's obvious affront? If so then maybe it wouldn't care destroy them at a question. "How did you get so powerful?" he asked in his mind.

The eye moves so slowly toward Miagnik that for a moment it seems that some line has been crossed, a place reached where there is no point of return, and then,

"a pointless inquiry, for in the answer nothing is gained. How did I become - this? Was it because I struggled, I endured, I schemed, I betrayed, I demanded, I manipulated, I controlled, I killed, I saved, I brooded, I planned, I waited, I fled, I hid, I conquered...no. I t - was - none - of - these - things."

"I am this because of the only thing that allows power to grow unchecked, uncontrolled, unimaginable. I am this because of apathy."

"Because I learned that when the world forgets that it is afraid of you, when the heroes do not care if you are real or not, when the Gods can only hear the prayers of their flocks, when you are silent, when you stop trying to be cared about, that is when you become more than they can understand."

"and because of the apathy of the universe, I see everything, I know much, and I, care, little."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Mae shakes her head in evident disdain.

"That is literally no answer to anything I said. I think this orb has little brain. May we leave now?" she asks matter-of-factly.

Sometimes it pays to be polite. I do not want to get royal here and now. Not with that mad... thing... poisoning our minds...

"Stop." Hal said, steel in his voice. "We are done here. Shut up, grab what you need and get out. All of us. Go."

He stared at Mae, Miagnik and Rowing with a combination of worry and anger, waiting for them to decide what was really important to them. Every fiber of his being was wanting to get out of this place, but he was not going to leave until the rest of them were safely out.

At Hallister's words Miagnik came back to himself. He felt numb and had to remind himself how to breathe. Without so much as a word to anyone, he turned and left the way they had come. He did not pick anything up as he left. It felt as though it wouldn't matter. They had all seen a truth to the world, one he did not like, and one he wished they had not learned.

Some things are better left forgotten...

Mae looks at Hal with something approaching ....deep haught. She decides not to make a scene, and rather mumbles

"Stop. Go. Which is it? Make up your dwarfblessed mind..." before simply following after Miagnik, trailing her morningstar after her like a petulant child.

Day 10, 7:30 am (turn 46)It is morning. Location – Three Willows

The group learns almost nothing about what happened in the basement, and decides to return to the ruined building above.

you can take care of anything you think you need to do in the town, just go to the discussion thread with your ideas about what you need and I will organize it all into a game post to get us through this as soon as possible

Bah so slow. Can;t resist this kind of lure for stephaine though. If everyone would be so kind as to step back into the way back machine for half a step.

"But." The gnome retorts at Hallister, having been silent since her muttering. "But that is exactly it isn't it. If we leave we will never know what happened here, never learn how much the Eye of Lakoradak might be willing to share on the events in the past that we so desperately need to know of. Where the Vampire queens lover lies, Omara's plans, where we can find the followers of 'The enduring one'" The gnome rants feverishly glancing to the others of her group.
"such bartering is dangerous, the tales tell so, but can we really afford to let the chance slide?"

Somebody had to stand in the magical quick sand. why not the brainy one?

Rownig listened to the banter, but decided not to ask any other questions. Rightfully he was concerned about how the Eye knew so much about him. Like my ol'pappy use to say, sometimes shush-up, and try to figure things out later. Hal's steely voice jerks him to reality, Rownig grabs a few loose items and backs out.

"Yes. We can afford it. Some questions are not worth the price you pay for answers. There is nothing we do not know that we cannot learn by other means. We do not traffic with monsters to fight monsters."

"Just walk away, Princess."

Stephaine falters for a moment on gain the full attention of Hallister but it is not for more than a moment before she sets her jaw. No, if we wait. If we take the high road, we run an even greater risk of losing everything.
"The tell me Hallister were will we find the site of a centuries old wrecked human vessel to retrieve the corpse of the vampire queens lover so we can put her to rest? How about the ancient ritual to properly put the queen to rest with? The location of the goblin priest we need to speak with? Omara's intended double cross so we can deal with it? the gnome asks with increasing fervor. As she looks solidly at the the Dwarf
"How will we discover all these things in three weeks with only the tools we currently have. Has the Helmsman whispered secrets to you in the night so that we might finally end this all? Or are we just going to have to muddle through as best we can with no information. While that happens we have to deal with the goblin tribes ready and willing to go to war with their neighbor because of a deceiver king and his deceiver goddess. never mind the other challenges we face."
the gnome responds to the grizzled dwarf, trying to reign in the irritation in her voice
" So should resign myself to losing at least one family member by the end of this then? One of the friends I have found in you all? Perhaps curl up once this is over and be thankful that while I have lost those I loved I managed to keep myself unstained from the darkness of the world? Perhaps you can accept that Hallister but I cannot."
The gnome lowers her face and does her best to breathe calmly, some small cracks of embarrassment in the corners of her face as she finishes off her rant. I've spent so long just following along. If I can't speak my mind i might as well put on a potato sack and go farm beets or some other common job like that.

Windel, now, near the exit of the basement stops during the Princess' rant. His bushy eyebrows raise suddenly as his stomach gurgles, he reaches inside his sack and pulls out a small glass jar of pickled beets and pops it open. The release of the suction breaks the the silence. "Sorry..."

I couldn't resist the beet mental commentary.

Miagnik stopped just at the edge of the stairs.

"Stephanie... that eye... it's more dangerous than anything we've seen or likely will again! I could feel it's power and every instinct I had was telling me to run. I want to end all of this as much as you do, but that thing could destroy us all in an instant and there is nothing any of us could do to stop it. Hallister is right, some answers just aren't worth the risk. We were lucky to leave once!"

He paused for a long moment and looked back at Stephanie.

"I care about you Stephanie. I'll help you stop the Vampire Queen and deal with Omara and Sir Guisse's plans. We'll find a way to end the curse. I'll help you end the save the rest of the Royal family. I'll help you put an end to the false Goblin King and his uprising. I'll do all these things, we'll muddle through in the time that we have somehow... but I will not go back to that room."

He took a step up the stairs facing forward.

"If you want your answers so bad then that's your choice. I'll be waiting for you outside."

"If that's all you lose you'll be getting out lucky." Hal growled. "You traffic with this thing, you'll lose a lot more."

"Every story I've ever heard about this thing ends in things worse than death. It steals souls. You know what that means? Ever really thought about it?"

"You want to risk that, its your choice, but if you do, we are done. I'll find another way, and it will be without you."

"Then, when this is all done, the Black Watch will send someone to kill you. If I'm still alive it will probably be me."

"Don't make me do that."

"What are we talking about? I thought we were leaving?" Mae adds helpfully...

Day 10, 7:30 am (turn 46)It is morning. Location – Three Willows

Stephanie is the last to remain in the room, as the others stop on the stairs as Hallister makes it abundantly clear what his position is on the matter. There is a tense moment of silence, and then

*Who*

The call of a small owl comes from the top of the stairs. Stephanie sense some discomfort from her familiar and it jars her back to the moment, in her worry she calls out to Whiskey, but then she is relieved when it turns out that the owl is simply feeling a bit over stuffed. It turns out the farmers fields are over run with mice and voles, and Whiskey lost track of time, eating all through the night.

Mistress. are you alright? you interrupted my breakfast Mistesss. the farmer with no leg to stand on has many delicious creatures in his field. You look to be having issue with the grumpiest of the bearded rocks should I poop on him? the owl hoots with concern

Stephaine turns her head to look at the creature at the top of the stairs. "No.. I'm fine whiskey we are just having a disagreement on how we should proceede with our pl-" Stephaine says trying to calm herself from the arguemnt still churning.

Ok then. can I poop on him anyway?

"No whiskey..." The Gnome states, with a small waver in her voice. A small portion of her mind unsure.

"Anyway, to both of you. Yes I am aware of what is down there, I am aware of the danger involved. An animate locus of evil and sloth, a Lich of an Aboleth with unlife so long to be a one of Paggrul Strongarm's prayer story monsters rather than a known threat to the world. Many have lost their lives to itand I know their stories. And regardless of all that every story told is of Madmen who chose to try and force secrets of power out of the eye, I don't need power. But if we are to have any chance at surviving this we need find out the answers to the questions I have posed Hallister, Miagnik. The eye is a Locus of Apathy, it doesn't care and all I want to do is ask these questions to it. If it asks me for a favor I will not grant it, I will permit it now power over me. But that creature is also Bored and was speaking to us before. For all we know it might give us some of what we need because it has nothing better to do."
The Gnome says as she glances to the two who had chosen to speak.
"In addition to the religious references there are ones I know from my arcane studies. I know the dangers and again Hallister all I'm hearing from you right now is that your Order and your convictions are more important than the lives of the people of this island. If your so hidebound to follow your Order then I'm already due a dagger for speaking with and learning the secrets of an undead. The ghost of Chief Heelgodd." Stephanie says with a look of irritation
"Or does he not count because he was nice to us?" The gnome asks with grinding anger.
And you were not afraid of him you hypocritical old rock?

"There's a world of difference between a ghost and a lich. Especially that ghost and this lich. Don't pretend you don't know that."

"Right now you're saying that the ends justify the means. You really want to go down that road?"

"Why yes Hallister I do know the difference, I can read you a list of the Eye's exploits. And each and every one says that those who lost their lives demanded too much of the eye. They each coveted the eye and kept it a secret from others letting it whisper dark secrets into them. They wished on it like a Genie and inevitably they were destroyed by their greed. Why I am asking you now rather than just doing it myself is that when we have stood together we have accomplished much we could not separately. The eye terrifies me but I think if we do this together we can succeed where others have failed."

"Will you at least consider it? Unless we have another source of information to find it from those questions I've already asked will go unsolved. Then my family and everyone else on this island will suffer the wrath of Your god. Are you telling me you want to leave that up to chance?"

"My god? You don't know a damn thing about me." Hal snarled, going from grumpy to mad in an instant.

"All this, the dead rising, the wedding gifts, the damned Vampire Queen herself, it all came about because of people who started out doing exactly what you're doing now. They all had reasons, and they all thought they could handle the risks, and they were all wrong. They all became the monsters in the next poor bastard's story. That's the way it has all worked all the way back to the Bride herself. It starts with love and ends with death, every single time."

"That's why we're in this. Someone always thinks that the people they love are so important that it's worth risking everyone else's lives for them."

"That's what the Black Watch is. We aren't here to kill zombies or exercise spirits. We got people like Windle to do that. The Helmsman ain't my god. I ain't a priest. I don't pray. I don't lead sermons. I don't do miracles or blessings. I just clean up after other people's mistakes."

"I'm here to stop people like you from doing things like this."

"We're going to leave this place now. You can walk out with us, and we can all get back to work, or you can stay here and take the path this thing lays you on."

"You chose. I'm done trying to convince you of what you already know is right."

Without another word Hal stomped back outside.

Mae pipes up.

"What's love got to do with it?"

Then waits. To see if Stepahnie survives her Battle with the Locusts of Apathy, wherever they are, and however the Eye controls them.

Because, love has something to do with it after all.

Stephanie sniffles once and rubs at an eye to block tears as she looks at the dwarfs broad back. "No, this all started because a dwarf just like you wanted a bunch of dead humans to be someone else's problem. So they buried them deep in their neighbors backyard and forgot them."
The gnome says sadly glancing to the rest of her allies
"I assume you think he's right as well?" The gnome asks looking to the group but settling primarily on Miagnik.

EDIT:
Stephaine turns to her sister still quite obviously upset by the discussion. "Love... I suppose love has a lot to do with it Mae. That eye below us has answers, Hallister feels that whatever answers I might obtain from it would be at too much of a cost. I can't know that until I ask but he doesn't want that to even be a possibility."

Miagnik watched Hallister stomp past. He had been unable to take a step further when the argument had continued.

His head dropped down and his gaze was fixed at his feet. He sighed. "Is he so wrong for looking at the past and seeing examples of what has happened to others, Stephanie? Is he wrong to think the same might happen to you? Hal's got more experience than either of us and he's been part of the Order longer than I've known him. Maybe even longer than I've been alive. What he said about the Order, I didn't even know that much about what we did after I joined. I just thought we hunted Undead.

He shook his head, realizing he was starting to rant.
"I don't know much about his past but he's scared of the eye and what it could do, and rightfully so..."

He paused. "But... Maybe you're right though, Stephanie. There's so much we don't know about Eye. Maybe it will divulge some of the answers we need freely. Maybe you will be cautious enough to not fall into the same trap like those others."

He suddenly slammed a fist into the wall, his hands clenched and unclenched as he stood up straighter and he turned to look back at her.
"I wish I was as inquisitive as you. I wish I had such a focused mind to only ask what needed to be asked and to push aside my instincts in the pursuit of knowledge. I'm not like you, I can't go back! I'm glad that Hallister got us out. Because now I realize there is a part of me that if I did go back, if I somehow held myself in check, I would end up like the Lussons or any number of people from your stories!"

Miagnik stared at Stephanie, his eyes pleading.
"I don't want you to go back."

Rownig and Windel are standing outside chit chatting when everyone finally emerges. Looking towards Hal, "So are we heading to the town? That was just plain eerie how that thing knew stuff about me? Scared me a bit witness, it did."

"Good." Hal grouched. He looked over his shoulder to see if the princess followed him or not. "Whatever we do next ain't up to me."

"Well we need gear...if we are gonna to survive. That...thing...spoke to me brain, and directed me towards a three items in a cabinet that he claimed to 'ave hidden from the Bridesmaids. I grabbed 'em." He pauses to make sure Hal and any others nearby are listening, "One item was the curs'd ring of the phantom sailor." He shakes his head, "cursed he said." Exhaling, "I've got the shield Alcor’s bane, which was one of the wedding gifts." He smiles. "And someone could use this wand....it's suppose t'shift yer position."

minor wand of displacement. DM because you mentioned it was a minor wand of displacement is that a 20% missed chance rather than 50%?

Stephaine sullenly follows the rest of her group.

Mae fumes. And stews. Her lackluster sister never has the courage of her oh so lofty convictions. So once again, Maelodakh, the Listener must step up and do the dirtiest of dirty work.

Treat with Eyes in Balls.

The doughty barbarian princess stomps back down the few steps she had already gone up, and eyes her sister's retreating back. Mae ambles toward the unblinking, uncognizant Eye. Uncognizant of just how p!$$ed off a certain Mae is.

She plants her feet again. And shouts.

"YOU! Eye of Bugs! You dare sit here and threaten, and …do… nothing! Answer me! Where is the Sentries-wrecked vessel that holds the Vampire Queen's Lover? What is the ancient ritual that will put the Queen to rest? What goblin priest…. [here stops shouting and visibly fumbles a moment, thinking] um never mind….. Um….Errr. Oh, yes. [resumes shouting] What is Omara's Double Cross and what is its power? "

Mae shakes, unsure if this was, at all, the wisest course of action.

Hal reached out as Mae began to speak, but he could do nothing but stare.

"F+!*." he muttered, nearly audible.

Then he held his breath, waiting, praying, for the first time in his life, that the ancient evil would just ignore the idiot goblin princess.

Yes, I do

I presume to sit here, threaten and…

do

nothing.

For that is my will, and you, little Maelodakh of the coming storm, it would seem that your will is to be a loud voice. I will answer your questions. Your friend Silverspike has the gist of it, but only the gist. He is correct, knowledge, the knowing of a thing, has in its seeds the price that is paid when one moves from the ignorant to the enlightened. There are few who can know a thing and understand it at the same time. I will take nothing from you, in exchange for the answers you seek. What you do with the knowledge is the only price you will pay.

Your first question is built upon a false premise. The Vampire Queen’s lover does not lie within the wreckage of any of the four ships that carried the wedding party of the Countess Olaphila Foresca D’Vorja.

A little more than three centuries ago, four ships sailed from Burova for the Island of Moritosse. These ships carried the wedding party of Countess Olaphila Foresca D’Vorjka. The ships were caught in a storm south of Isla Karrita Morianna, and wrecked. Many perished in the storm, while some survived clinging to the wreckage of the ships that washed ashore on Karrita Morianna, near a dwarven village that was called Handwind. However, their trauma and exposure, coupled with a strain of influenza that was already spread among the ship’s crews, eventually resulted in the deaths of all of the survivors. The intended bride, who was among the survivors, was one of the first to die. Also among the survivors of the storm was a woman named Perretta Antollette Kruskova, and she was the Maid of Honor, the closest and dearest friend of Olaphila.

Now, to understand what happened next you must understand that these people, from Burova, have their own customs and traditions.

Perretta was not only the Maid of Honor, but the First Lady in Waiting to the Countess, and the tradition of the Burovan people dictates that the First Lady in Waiting cannot take a husband while her Mistress is unwed. When the survivors of the shipwreck were being tended, by the dwarves of Handwind, Perretta was feverish, and on the edge of madness, for she knew that if her mistress perished, and should she survive, she would be required to remain unwed for the rest of her life, and as it would obviously turn out to be, she was deeply in love with a man who did not travel with the wedding party. This man, Geordraj Sulav, is the one you asked about, the love of the Vampire Queen, and he did not die in the shipwreck or upon the beaches of Karrita Morianna.

When the Countess pased from this world, Perretta lost her mind. She blamed the dwarves for their incompetence and inability to save her mistress, and as she too succumbed to the ravages of the sickness and the trauma of surviving the storm, she called down upon the people of Handwind, and by extension all the dwarves of Karrita Morianna, a powerful curse spoken to the dark god of the human people, Ewis Yarvos.

The dwarves of Handwind, disturbed by the speaking of this curse to a human god of death and destruction, devised a plan that they hoped would shield them from this curse, and they buried the humans who washed ashore deep in the tombs of the great Goblin King Outogal. This act offended the Goblin Gods. Perretta was raised from the dead as the Vampire Queen, and the sixty three other humans entombed in the mountain were raised to be at her command. The only one who was not raised to a state of undeath was the intended bride herself.

Since her return to this world, Perretta has been consumed with a desire to find a way to raise her mistress from the dead. She has sought to raise the countess and complete the wedding ceremony. She does not care what man the countess is married to, and she intends to allow Omara to supply her with a suitable dwarven man to fill in for the groom. The countess, for her part, will not return to her body willingly, and a bargain was struck between three immortal deities, Ewis Yarvos, who is the power behind the curse, Fath’Reen the Trickster who is the protector of the Goblins of this island, and Freeda Songwind who protects the spirit of the countess.

The bargain is simple, if the wedding gifts, lost in the storm, can be collected, and presented to the bride, Freeda will return the countess's spirit to her body, Fath’Reen will unbind the spirits of the dead humans from the wedding gifts, and Ewis will lift the curse of Perretta, allowing her spirit to be united with her love in the afterlife.

So in answer to your first question, the Vampire Queen’s love is not among the cursed who died in the shipwreck. The ships lie below two hundred sixty feet of water, south southwest of Alicaz Rock, off the south coast of Karrita Morianna.

At this point, assuming Mae was even remotely patient enough to sit through all that dialog, and with her head slightly tipped and a long thin line of droll hanging from her lip, Mae will be asked

Are you now ready to hear the answers to the rest of your questions?

Mae shakes her boogly eyes as the Eye prattles on about...stuff. "Umm. [realises she forgot to shout, and wipes off excess drool] YES. OF COURSE!!!"

She plants a hand on one hip, and shakes her morninstar for effect.

"I. AM. READY!!!!"

Hal's knuckles tightened on his axe.

alright then.

Your second question is answered by what I’ve already told you. If what you seek is an end to the curse that perpetuates the existence of the one known as the Vampire Queen, then collect the wedding gifts, and present them before the remains of the Countess. That is all you need to do.

Your final question, Omara, hmmm

There is a pause here, and when the voice resumes speaking it seems as if it has taken on a different, more diabolical tone.

She would serve me well. She would be, a prize. Yes. Omara’s double cross is simply her desire to control the Vampire Queen, and by extension, control what the Vampire Queen controls. She has power, and she uses it with great control. Omara has been able to convince Perretta, the Vampire Queen, that together they are working toward the same goal. But, haha, hehehe, ah haha. Yes, can you see it now Hallister Silverspike? Yes, yes. Omara is exactly the kind of person Mister Silverspike was trying to warn your half sister about. A person who has set her sights on unlimited power, before she understood the price she would pay to acquire it.

Omara’s double cross is doomed to failure. She meddles in things she does not understand, and yet, she will continue on her path, unless something stops her.

The power of Omara’s treachery is a false power. She seeks a reward she cannot obtain, ah, if only she had come to me first, but alas, the Lussons were diligent in their role as jailers. They kept the secret of my existence to their graves, and for their reward they now serve me, as many do. I think they are content with the roles I have given them, but that is not of interest to you.

Mae stands still, more than slightly confused.

"Erright then. Wasn't so hard. Was it."

The noble gobliness thinks again.

"So the Double Cross is not two crosses bound together. Ah. I was in vain, of course, I understand that now, hoping it might be some kind of heirloom of, say goldy-jewelly form. Loot as it were. Never mind."

As yet unbeaten, she turns back to the Eye.

"Are you sure you are not mistaken? You could have a .... more Eyebally look? Something goldy? Jewelly? Gems? A necklace?"

Windel looks at Rownig hearing the voices but not daring to go back down into the basement. Rownig nods his agreement.

"Did I hear the word 'eyebally'?" The dwarf looks puzzled.

MISTAKEN!

Come, let’s not be silly. I do not make mistakes. If your interest is in treasures of the more mundane variety, then venture deep within the Palace of the Vampire Queen, for there are treasure beyond your imagination laid in the tombs of the ancient Kings of Balyor.

There is a long silence, the eye is unmoving, and then after this long pause, a rumble and then

Was there, in fact, something else troubling you little one?

Maelodakh is about to give a curt thank you, when the eyeball asks a question of its own…

Miagnik wants to be king. And Stephanie…queen. Where does that leave Maelodakh Listener?

The goblin shivers for a moment, considering the awesome power of this… Eyeball. Then with a jut of her chin she replies shortly.

"No. Nothing troubles me. Thank you and…goodbye. I hope you find what YOU are….looking for."

With that Maelodakh stumps off, her heart wrenched, and stomach twisting with her own worry.

The two dwarfs watch Mae emerge from the basement, then Windel approaches her. "You ok lass? You hurt or need healin'? Did you really use the word eye-bally?" Sort of in awe of the goblins bravery/foolishness.

Mae forgets herself enough to answer truthfully.

"I'm tired Windel. Tired of politix,and hurt and woe. Mostly."

She smiles then, a wan, wry smile.

"Huh. Eyebally. Hee! I guess I did." Mae looks into the beyond, a sort of middle distance she feels only she can access, before returning to the here and now.

"Shall we be off then?"

"the next cigar's on me." He Rownig roars heartedly. [b}"eyebally...I told you Windel...eyebally."[/b]

Hal looked at Mae with a flat expression. "That was the dumbest, most dangerous thing you've ever done in your whole life. I am pissed as hell at you, but I'm glad you're alright."

Stephaine had spent the entire time Mae had charged blithely into the maw of danger she had been plotting to dismantle blinking and making small noises.
She.. she really just did that? Gambled Hallister's continued help on the questions for the eye. She.. she did that for me didn't she.
The gnome sniffles onces and swipes a sleeve glancing at her sister.
I wish I could be that brave. Even now with all the power I've gained I can't, conviction like that to walk her own path. I think she will make a great leader one day.

"Mistress. If you are attempting to catch flies you should stop closing your mouth. The mousethief is still my new pooping roost but the other green landwalker is someone I would be willing to make my servant. Eyeball-y. I like it." A certain owl hoots perched on a nearby fragment of stone. Looking to Stephanie before glancing to Maelodahk with almost.. Avian pride? though whiskey might have also just seen a mouse, who knows?

"Mae.." The gnome starts, face twisted and unsure. Thank you for having the strength to walk a path I could not. The gnome seems to banish cobwebs from her mind before speaking again with a start
"Right.. lets go back to town and buy what we need. I can't believe I missed the obvious and thought we had to recover the Queens lover. That removes so many questions and makes our path much easier, we have two targets The goblin tribes and the Palace."

Amidst the congratulations and the berating, Miagnik's mouth hung open.
That thing... I was so sure it was going to destroy us all if we'd stayed, especially Maelodakh.

After a time he closed his mouth, it was dry after so much exposure to air.

"Ach. I can't believe you did that Mae. That was... well it was brave, just like the stories about you."

He turned from the group after that and started making his way to the center of town. He felt as though his pride had been damaged. After making his statement to become king openly known, what had he shown them? Letting fear get the better of him, he had shown weakness.

What kind of a king would I make now?

Day 10, 8:00am (turn 49)It is morning. Location – Three Willows

The party enters the main village center, where there are several cross streets and the main road that passes through the village. It is still early, many workers are out in the fields and many shops are still closed, but it is a sunny and warm day, and slowly all of the shops open, one by one.

You can purchase common goods here, just about anything that is listed in the PRD, and you can arrange to have your weapons modified as you have already discussed. It will take three days to finish the weapons, and then you can leave, or wait longer if that is your intention. The people of the village treat you well, but not overly kind. Dwarbon’s condition will continue to improve and the village will not be attacked by the undead. Windel has a few items of interest, and you have gained some information from the Eye. By the way, I hate to keep dragging out something like this, but are you thinking of doing anything to keep villagers out of the basement?

Rownig searches out that wizard fellow, Kastol Topozzinoa, he places his two masterwork handaxes on the man's counter. "I 'eard you be," he wiggles his fingers a bit over his weapons, "good at puttin' enchantments that help with hittin' and damagin' thing hit." He points to each ax. "That's what I want on each of these trusted weapons." He still has several other handaxes and dagger visible. "You take gold...right." It's more of a statement than question as he puts out four heavy sacks on the counter. "You can count it, if you want but it'll some up to 400 pieces of gold, counted it myself."

After that he off to look for cigars and tobacco.

+1 enchantment on his two masterwork hand axes.

Windel is at the silversmith when he spots Rownig holding a large pouch of tobacco. "This guud man, can add silv'r to that mace of yers. I'm havin' my heavy mace done myself."

"Who's in charge here?" Hal asked the others. "Have we met the mayor yet?"