Summary
Arriving in Vel Rau’dan, the party checked on The Tail’s End, assigned Barbara to entertainment, placed Avenj’s remains in the basement, and saw the weapon Yharov forged from his body. They recruited Shadowfell rogue Rithas (who provided a copy of Lost Experiment) and Diana from The Iron Wake Mug to manage the tavern. To fund their plans and advertise the opening, the group disguised Theratina and defeated two C-tier dragons in the Arena of Vel’Therin Expanse, claiming a 7.5-to-1 payout and a copper dragon horn. Post-fight, Yharov pilfered The Letter to Grindledark from the post office, and the party confronted Bruce at The Patio—discovering an invisible V eavesdropping on his plan to hunt dragons in Grumdur-Khaz. After buying The Book of the Second Roar from a Drakhakar recruit in an alley, they returned to The Tail’s End, where Roz prayed to Selûne and learned from Jimmothy about a Travelling Tavern near Mazca’Tan as they weighed their next path.
Events
In Vel Rau’dan
- We land Ferrar’s Airship in Vel Rau’dan
- Yharov talks to Theratina
- He reassures her that Avenj’s death was not her fault
- We all go to check on The Tail’s End
- We recall that we need to bring Barbara somewhere
- We also need to bring Avenj’s remains to The Tail’s End
At The Tail’s End
- It appears the work is largely complete
- Our first shipment of goods even arrived
- Rod greets us as we enter
- He mentions that a pale, hooded man has come by looking for us at evening every day
- Rod leaves
- Barbara is extremely excited
- We inform her that she will be in charge of entertainment
- She is excited but nervous (she claims to have stage fright)
- We want to later build a shrine, but for now we put Avenj’s remains in the basement
- Yharov shows us a blade he made from Avenj’s body
- The idea is to use it to later kill The Unknown
- The aforementioned pale man walks in the front door
- He claims to have been looking for us
- He tosses a crumpled paper to us
- It is a copy of Lost Experiment
- His name is Rithas
- From Shadowfell
- He clearly does not like the Council of the Cold Veil
- They are stealing some sort of power from his people
- He and Roz get into a bit of a scuffle
- Roz does not trust him
- They eventually see eye-to-eye
- We all have a drink and continue discussing
- We decide to head to The Iron Wake Mug
- We want to see if Diana can help us recruit trustworthy staff
At The Iron Wake Mug
- Not much has changed here
- Diana agrees to work at (manage?) the The Tail’s End
- She also mentions how we can hire people through the papers
- She claims if we are hiring elite staff (we are), they will likely be trustworthy
- We decide to go find Bruce
At the Arena of Vel’Therin Expanse
- Bruce hugs us and gives condolences for Avenj
- He mentions there are B, C and D tier fights today
- Because we beat a B tier monster already, our odds are down 75% for 5 months
- There is a loophole: fighting 2 C tiers pays the odds of one A tier: 7.5-to-1
- We decide to fight two C tier monsters at once
- We decide to do it
- We also convince Bruce to advertise for The Tail’s End during our fight
- We plan to open on day 24 (in 12 days)
- The fight isn’t until midnight, so in the meanwhile we (off screen):
- Buy Theratina some candy
- Put out some advertisements for our hiring
- Theratina wants to join us in the fight
- We agree, as long as she uses the Hat of Disguise
At the betting till
- The man at the till gives us some useful info:
- The dragons are brothers and have a strategy when fighting together
- The winner gets “dragon fighting gear”, but evidently it goes to our sponsor
- We make our bets
The fight
- Both dragons come out, flying 50 feet in the air
- We roll insanely well and make somewhat light work of the two dragons
- The few breaths they do breathe do a lot of damage
- The Young Copper Dragon’s horn gets cut off during the fight
- We take it
With Ferrar afterwards
- We give him his 10% cut
- We also ask him about the dragon fighting armor
- He knows nothing about it
- Bruce would
- Ferrar tells us we can find Bruce at his hang: The Patio
- He also asks us to drop off a letter for him at the post office
- It is supposedly for one of the alphas at Glasscap Grove
- He isn’t comfortable having Theodore use Sending for him
- We agree to deliver it for him
At the post office
- An Owl works there and takes it
- He offers us a postbox for 1 silver per month
- 1 gold for the year
- Raelor pays it
- He offers us some of the unclaimed boxes for free
- Next to the one titled “Grindledark”
- Yharov uses slight of hand to get what is in the Grindledark package
- It is a single letter
- It is pristine, despite the package
- We take the letter, but do not yet open it
- We next go to find Bruce
At The Patio
- Bruce is here with a bunch of his Hoods Faction members
- They seem to be discussing something important
- Yharov hides in the bush to eavesdrop
- Roz Messages Bruce to alert him we are here
- He waves us over
- He claims he has some “intel” that we might like
- “When you are heading to your tavern, stop by the job board and look at the third job”
- We also ask him about the dragon armor
- He claims he needs it for his men
- When asked, he does admit they plan to fight 6 dragons, “before they get big”
- He said he’s going to Grumdur-Khaz to fight them
- After some more questioning, it became apparent that V gave him the job
- Moreover, he is skeptical that The Unknown even exists
- They will be staying at the Brawler’s Den (todo: check why the name of this Grumdur-Khaz tavern is same name as the one in Vel Rau’dan)
- At one point in the conversation, Roz notices him shrug to a place where nobody is
- Roz casts See Invisibility
- He sees V, invisible, pushed up against the wall
- He very subtly waves to her
- We decide to go to the message board to see what the aforementioned job was
- V is following us
- Only Roz sees her
- He finally addresses her
- She says, “I just want to see what Theratina would like to do before I introduce her to her new mother”
- He eventually tries to Faerie Fire her and she teleports away
At the job board
- We see three jobs (got an image of them)
- They all seem like diversions
- We think Bruce was misleading us
- We consider the possibility of trying to beat him to the dragons
- Perhaps we could partner or protect them
- After all, if V wants them dead, we probably want them alive
- We see a man nearby in an alley, talking to a vulnerable looking homeless person
- On this person’s cloak there is an image of Drakhakar
- The man seems to be trying to convince the homeless man of something
- Yharov tries to sneak over and eavesdrop
- “Mountains may split; the dead may rise; the sky may burn. But i promise you: this is merely small signs of what is to come”
- “And you’ll feed me?”
- “Yes. Anyone who follows in our steps will be welcomed”
- “Okay. Where do i have to go?”
- “There are people needed in Mazca’Tan at the church. Anything you need will be provided”
- He hands the homeless person a book and begins to walk away
- Yharov buys the book
- We head back to the tavern
At The Tail’s End
- We first open up The Letter to Grindledark
- We then read The Book of the Second Roar
- Note that this book is most likely pro-Drakhakar propaganda
- There still might be threads of truth within it
- We discuss more our options before heading to bed
- We either want to go to Mazca’Tan (the church above) or Grumdur-Khaz (supposedly where Bruce is going, and where Drakhakar is)
Roz’s prayer
- He begins by calling out to Selûne, repenting for his lack of prayer
- She responds
- “I have had many clerics in my life worship and fight in my name. Never one questioned themselves the way you do. The reason I allow you to be my chosen is you are humble. There’s a lot that is going to happen. It is all coming close as the Blood Moon grows near. Your role is to follow your destiny, and ensure you do so humbly. Fame and fortune will be filling into your lap like a fish falling into water. But you must see the path forward. Dragons, the undead boy you’ve seen, they all mean something. And you will figure it out. It is why I’ve given you Jimmothy. I see your destiny; there are two ends of it: one where you allow the monster within to consume you, and one where you turn into the most glorious hero known to man. You’ve chosen this path and I’m proud that you are my cleric. The mermaid is a good idea, but your destiny follows where you want to go. Follow your gut and intuition.”
- He and Jimmothy chat more after, and he jokingly asks for ice cream
- Maybe he can taste
- Jimmothy also points out there are no such thing as “land mermaids”
- He mentions there is a Travelling Tavern near Mazca’Tan
- Eventually the conversation ends and he goes to sleep