Dungeon Master KEJR's page

There were a few things that I noticed changing for Bardolph, but I already talked to his player about that last night. Nothing else jumps out at me at this time, but it wouldn't hurt to give the rules for your class another once over to make sure nothing changed.

"Ye remind me o' a male friend o' mine from my adventurin' days. 'Cept you have more teeth. Poor Brelnan . . . too bad he couldn't hold his breath longer . . . "

"Whatever ye be needed from old Burna, I'll look after ye. I've got a feeling that ol' Yellowknife's got yet chasin' shadows for him, so I understand ye may be needin' special help."

Burna brings out some scraps of clothes and various other articles you might need to disguise yourself.

"As to helping all of ye out, just let me know what ye be needin' and so long as it don't cause me kinswoman that owns the place no problems, I'll be helping ye . . . "

She then winks and looks at you in a manner that you never though an aging dwarven woman might look at a halfling.

"Maybe someday ye can show me how long ye can hold ye're breath?"

Burna walks off to tidy up for the evening.

100 xp RP award for all of the research and investigation of Daggerford so far.

Longhand was killed the same night as Pwyll and the rest of the Duchal family, but up until that time he seemed to only have contact with the family when it came to his official functions as a servant of the Duke, meaning that he was on good terms with the Duke, but not particularly close. He served under his grandfather at the end of his reign as Duke, under his own father, and under his brother's command as well.

Since you asked it up front, I'll give you Burna's answer "in public."

Also, Mediacom continues to screw me over for internet access. Work has been pretty hectic this week, and when I get home, I have really spotty internet access that fades in and out.

Sorry about the intermittent DMing. Hopefully time and the internet will allow for some more consistent time online.

After you run your errands, it doesn't take too long to catch up with the others at the Daggerford Inn.

Kullen isn't the brains of his gang, but he is the leader.

Balabar Smenk has long been angling to make the Mining Guild the preeminent guild in the town, and has also been angling to increase his control over the mines. He's had a rivalry with the Ironeater clan for some time now, as well as the Parrin family, but he recently aquired much of the Parrin holdings (but not all). Rumor has it he has some important friends in Luskan.

The common room is dingy, poorly lit, and filled with ramshackle, poorly made wooden furniture.

Burna, the dwarven woman running the inn for her kinsfolk, is gruff. She grunts to acknowledge you when you enter, and if you ask for food, she pushes some hard bread, moldy cheese, and dried jerky of some kind toward you.

If anyone asks, Burna grunts that Burik was here already, but went out for a drink, "probly to wash down feast I serve 'im."

Shag Solomon is the name of the hairy humanoid that was at the door. He's one of the prize "freaks" of Zalamandra's Emporium. He was born a slave to drow in the Underdark, and is something known as a Quaggoth. On a whim, one of the house wizards taught him to read and write, and eventually he was smart enough to hook up with a wizard trading in the Underdark and made his way to the surface and the freak show.

The Northward Three have been staying at the Emporium for a few days now in the upper room. The big Northman is constantly hitting on the elf, and she constantly turns him down, so he often preoccupies himself with the "girls" in that wing of the Emporium.

The other two have discussed how they are slowing searching the outlying Shoon crypts in the Forlorn Hills until they finally check out the one nearest to Daggerford, the Whispering Cairn, which they doubt will produce anything useful, since the local children use the place as a hideout and a place to dare one another to enter, and seems less than likely to hold "anything of use."

Twice in my lifetime I've seen the cup wreathed in flames and the wine drain out of the cup, so I know that Lady Luck herself has drank in my presence. 'Tis a great honor for a servant of the Lady!"

While there are a few patrons here, and they are all pleasant, they do see a bit subdued, and Owenden tells you that its been this way ever since the Duke died.

"The Lady herself is saddened. The Duchal family has always had respect for Tymora, and often said prayer to her and made donations in her honor at the shrine in town."

When you return to the Daggerford Inn, you notice Bardolph, Rolem, and Hamfast entering the place. From where you are, they'll have been inside for a few minutes before you catch up, and they are already in the door before you can say anything.

At the end of the counter is a silver goblet all by itself, and none of the patrons sit near it.

The man behind the bar hails you,

"Well met good dwarf! Remember, your first drink at the Lady Luck must toast the wall of the Fallen, and if you bring a token of a fallen adventurer for the wall, not only do you honor Tymora, but you get yourself a free drink as well.

Beyond our drink, we have some food as well . . . mainly stews at the moment. They're good and hearty, but its about all we have at the moment, trade not being as brisk as it could be right now."

"There are guilds for everything in this town, even the kind of work you are looking for. Problem is, if you want to prove that you should be doing that kind of work, you need to find the guild yourself. May Beshaba not cut you off at the knees on the way to do that."

No one else seems willing to further elaborate.

When Hamfast asks around, he seems to be able to tap a vein of conversation, hitting many of the patrons that have the combination of knowledge and slight inebriation making them more amenable to loosening their tongues.

You hear that Smenk recently hired several local thugs, such as Kullen and his friends, to help him "convince" various mine owners to sell their mines to him and to refer various guild workers to his "care."

Rumor also has it that Smenk has recently sent off to Luskan calling in some of his ties to that northern city to bring in a few more hirelings, though no one is quite sure of who might be coming from that city to aid him or why.

Kullen is not in attendance tonight, but a few of the patrons are afraid the brute might come in at any time, since he often does stop by at least some time during the night.

After Hamfast and Bardolph walk out the door by "invitation" of the large humanoid, they stroll right by you. Hamfast almost looks like he glances your direction, but then smiles and keeps moving.

"Please do not make me resort to physical force, I do so hate to lower myself to such base recourse," the large furry creature says to Bardolph and Hamfast.

As her words fade, Bardolph feels his connection to his sword weaken and fail, and it drops to the ground.

"We'll have no more of this in my establishment. You have all been amusing, but now, its time to go. And please, do not come back."

You see an attractive woman, a southerner by her skin tone, whose eyes are covered by her ornate hooded veil. She wears an elaborate dress adorned with gold and gems.

"Saer Solomon, please open the door for our guests," the woman says to the large white creature in front of you.

He grins and stoops low enough to reach the door knob and open the front door of the establishment.

The common room is dingy, poorly lit, and filled with ramshackle, poorly made wooden furniture.

Burna, the dwarven woman running the inn for her kinsfolk, is gruff. She grunts to acknowledge you when you enter, and if you ask for food, she pushes some hard bread, moldy cheese, and dried jerky of some kind toward you.

The woman, whose name is Laedra, tells you that the town was richer, per se, but that the guilds have become stricter in recent months, after Duke Pwyll was killed. Many of the guilds began to "annex" various professions as part of their guild, and press every person they could into guild membership.

The guild memberships in practice serve to "brand" a citizen as only being able to work for a given guild. While many guilds aren't particularly bad, they are aggressive in keeping their guild members from working for other guilds.

For such a small town, Daggerford has always had more intrusive guilds than their size were indicate, but the Duke used to keep the guild'sinfluence in check and in perspective.

The way that you asked about the nobles and guild leaders tends to set Laedra's companions on edge, but when you smooth things over, she points out that people are concerned about the various guilds spying on one another, and then she suggests that its best to just end this conversation now.

"Northern barbarian piss ant hedge wizard flying monkey spawn."

Hamfast made 4 gold pieces from his performance, but a rather large, white furred creature wearing spectacles comes up to the halfling.

"While you seem to be quite a talented performer, I must point out that Mistress Zalamandra frowns on unauthorized entertainment in the Emporium, especially that which does not enrich her personally. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave, if you would be so kind," the creature intones in a voice that sound far more cultured than you might expect from a being of his appearance.

"You've already said too much you puffed up fool. Don't cause any more problems this evening. I think that its well past time for us to retire to our quarters to plan the things we need to accomplish."

The Calishite spins on his heel and stomps away toward the stairs, with the graceful and attractive wood elf close behind him.

The tall Northmen walks up to the hin, who looks even more diminutive compared to the giant like human, and says,

"Yes, little man . . . be careful what you speak of. I'm sure that I could find some place to put that wargong if Khellek wanted me too," the Northman says, and seems almost proud of himself for his threat.

"Heh . . . yeah . . . that was good."

He then stalks off after his companions up the stairs.

You are correct in assuming that the conversation is too difficult to discern, and soon after it begins, the youth takes off.

Exactly how do you describe what he should be on the lookout for, and where to report the information?

Also, make a perception check and let me know what you rolled.

"You foolish little half-man, you know nothing at all, do you? You obviously don't realize what the tombs really hold, or you wouldn't tell such silly tales.

My companions and I have been personally scouring them for any of the lost treasures we are seeking, and I can tell you that more than the Shoon lies hidden beneath this region.

Why must you northern barbarians be so ignorant of important things?"

You see Rolem nearly run into someone in the doorway, but you can't figure out what was going on in, and the other figure ducks out of the way.

The perception roll I'm asking everyone to make doesn't apply to you.

Roll a perform check for you song, to see how the patrons react to your entrance.

Once you spend some time asking around, you see Rolem enter the Emporium far down the street, but it will take you a few minutes to catch up on your sure and steady but somewhat stubby legs.

You don't manage to see Smenk out on the street, nor do you see Derwin anywhere, and information on either of them don't seem to be flowing from those you are speaking with.

You do pick up that Kullen has been spending his time lately turning the Happy Cow from a nice friendly bar into the kind of dive his associates frequent, and that the guildmaster that he has been working as the hired muscle for is none other than Balabar Smenk.

You can find everything on your shopping list fairly easily except for the potion of cure light wounds. Most of the temples seem a bit tight fisted right now, and the local apothecary doesn't have full blown potions, just alchemical reagents and the like.

In and out of picking up gear and asking questions, you have stayed a couple steps behind Rolem, and as you pick up some weapons in the same shop he just visited, from a half orc named Oleg. You also run into the Lathanderite Taranis while you are here, and about the time you realize that, you see Rolem ducking into Zalamandra's Emporium.

"Normally, trading in spells and the like is the purview of the older, more responsible members of the Wands family, but given that I just dropped a few harbor moons to Khellek here, I'm in need of some ready gold, and not over anxious to go begging at the family villa. I believe we can do buisiness."

You can pick up scrolls of anything up to 800 gp from Adeven, but he won't let you peek into his spellbooks, only pick up some scrolls from him (which you can use to put spells in your spellbook, if you so choose).

You can use the Player's Handbook, the FRCS, the Player's Guide to Faerun, and Magic of Faerun as sources if you want to pick up a scroll or two.

"Khellek here is an absolute beast at the lanceboard," Adeven says.

Khellek looks you over and turns his head dismissively with a sneer that only a Calishite wizard can muster.

As you surmised, you didn't manage to find anyone that was particularly helpful when asking about the adventuring party that Hamfast told you about.

Deglin Ironeater, the cousin working the shop at this time, doesn't seem to pick up much on your feelings about Delfen or your trip from Secomber, but when you mention mining and such, he smiles and volunteers that the Ironeaters are into a lot of different buisinesses in town, and have several guild members across various guilds.

The mining guild its the most contentious, but Balabar Smenk recently bought out Parrin family when the head of that family was implicated in the death of the Duke (though nothing was ever proven). So now the Ironeater family only really has Smenk as a rival within the mining guild.

In the mean time, the Smithing Guild and the Woodworker's Guild are both falling in line nicely.

As for hostility towards priests in the streets, Deglin mentions that it might be because Zalamandra has the ear of Cubbin and a few others, and her Emporium often comes under moral scrutiny.

Deglin mentions that if a dwarf wants to preach about corruption, the Emporium is the place to do it.

"Damn humans already breed like orcs, and that damn place just gives them another place to do it."

As you finish up at Oleg's, you notice that Rolem is further down the street, apparently heading into the former Riving Shinning Inn, now Zalamandria's Emporium.

While there are still rooms and a common room, one wing of the place is dedicated to Zalamandria's "freak show," a place where various strange people and creatures perform for those with a few extra gold pieces.

There is a room behind some curtains that exudes a strange scent, likely some kind of intoxicant that most civilized places in the North are leery of allowing.

Finally, there is another room that is dedicated to gaming and gambling in all of its forms, from various card games to knife throwing games, to lanceboard.

When you enter, you notice the three individuals you were trailing in the gaming parlor, as well as Bardolph, who seems to have just stumbled in a few moments before you did.

While there are still rooms and a common room, one wing of the place is dedicated to Zalamandria's "freak show," a place where various strange people and creatures perform for those with a few extra gold pieces.

There is a room behind some curtains that exudes a strange scent, likely some kind of intoxicant that most civilized places in the North are leery of allowing.

Finally, there is another room that is dedicated to gaming and gambling in all of its forms, from various card games to knife throwing games, to lanceboard. In fact, you can see the errant Wands scion sitting at a gaming table with a dark skinned, thin man in his thirties, wearing opulent robes, with a precisely cut goatee.

Looking over his shoulder is a huge man with long blond hair and one of the most impressive frames you have ever seen on a human. Next to him is a petite elven woman with coppery skin and red streaked brunette hair.

He seems fairly intent on the game with the southerner.

Its fairly easy to pick up the common equipment from street vendors.

As far as the weapons go, you hear a familiar name when you go looking for dwarven craftsmen. Derval Ironeater owns the best known and respected armories in town, and his cousins run the store and are able to provide most of what you are looking for.

While most of the time he is at the Kryptgarden Scrolls or the Thinkers' Fraternity, both places of which you have been . . . asked to leave. On the other hand, he is staying at Zalamandra's Emporium, so you might be able to catch him there.

You can pick up most of the common gear from vendors in the streets, and your weapons and armor can be purchased from the first shop you see that specializes in this product, a half-orc called Oleg, proprietor of Oleg's Weaponforge. The locals don't often frequent him, but travelers from outside of Daggerford seem happy with his work, and he has a few adventuerer clients that move through the area.

Your check on Duke Pwyll's death turns up the following, from various local rumors:

What you know about Duke Pwyll and his family is that there are rumors of poison, and that one of the members of the mining guild was implicated in the murder, though nothing formal was ever announced regarding this, and he's not been seen since the event. Duke Pwyll, his sister, a wizard who is rumored to have ties to the Harpers, and his illegitimate brother were all mourned when the Duke's death was announced.

Your appraise check has allowed you to guess that there is about 600 gold pieces left in the sack that you have been carrying . . . of course, you have no idea what might trigger the curse that Delfin intimated when you were given the sack.