25th Meadow, 802, cont'd

When we last left the intrepid company, we were having supper with Roderick and Fara in the Elfsong Tavern. In the course of conversation, we find that the ghostly elvin singer really only sings the one sad song that we heard. Stephen may play it here at some point in the future and see if she joins in, but that has been deemed too risky a possibility for tonight.

Sister Fara answers a few mundane questions for us and then says she must leave Bliss to go back to her work. We are sorry to see her go, but don't realize the import of her words (i.e., it will probably be quite some time before we see her again) until she has left us.

Roderick leads us out into the starry night. The city is mostly dark, with the occasional continual light torch here and there. The Elfsong is on the square with St Raphael's, in an upscale part of town. As we leave, a lovely young woman with dark hair begins to walk next to Roderick. She is well dressed and has a guild masters clasp on her cloak. Blackhawk introduces himself to her and asks her name, but she only smiles. He is persistent, and her reply is to pass quickly by us and vanish. Upon questioning, we find that Roderick knows all of the guild masters, but does not know her. This news greatly upsets Blackhawk.

We head toward the docks, the rough part of town. Roderick assures us that crime is not a big problem here, but with the level of variety and power here because of the guild, now and then there is a problem. There seem to be a number of people lurking in the shadows as up ahead we see our next destination, the Grinning Goblin, a pub with the carved head of a goblin out in front. Inside it is smoky and crowded. I have never seen so many half-orcs in one place! Even the bartender, Bankrah, is half-orc. Jotork causes quite a stir, as you can imagine, and as the evening wears on, I see more and more of the clientele eyeing him with malicious intent. Roderick says most of the people in the bar are guild members. There is a man in the corner who catches my attention, for on his shoulder is a grinning imp. Roderick says his name is Arnie. We manage to make our way to the bar and I must say, the beverages here are quite...unusual. Raven and I had ale (and a pounding headache this morning), Stephen tried the orcish whiskey (strong, with a red tint and red clumps of something floating in it), Jotork had the wine, which was apparently nastier than the ale, and Blackhawk ordered something that burst into flames when he set it down after his first sip...

I'm not sure what there is here to drink that doesn't blow up or make you sick. Blackhawk and Raven swear they see the young woman with the guild masters pin in the back of the bar, but by the time they get there, she has disappeared again. I have a suspicion that it is Carlotta, who seems to have attached herself to our party and has an appetite for mischief making! As they make their way back to the party, a half-orc, who has noticed Deval perched on Raven's shoulder, asks "How much for the cat?" She tells him he is not for sale. The half-orc looks both disappointed and hungry. Roderick begins to talk to a ranger at the bar, who says the winter was about an extra month long this year and many animals came down from the hills as a result. His name is Geoffrey. We are trying to drink our drinks when a halfling approaches Roderick. "I hope you're happy," he says with venom, "He's not going to get out any time soon and you're responsible." There is a sparkle and Roderick falls forward onto the bar. Standing behind him is another halfling with a wand. There is quite a brawl then, as Blackhawk pounds one of the halflings, Jotork and Stephen and I fight the magick user, and a rogue named Lars enters the fray. The half-orc grabs for Deval and misses and it is all glitterdust and thumping going on for a long time as Geoffrey tries to rouse Roderick. Suddenly, the place starts to clear out, like cockroaches when you turn on a light. There is a commotion outside and the Guard comes in. The place is cleaned up pretty quickly as one of the guards says to Roderick "You didn't do very well, did you?" It turns out the halflings who attacked us were the brothers of one that Roderick sent to jail recently. The rogue managed to escape. We stumble back to our beds and have a long hard sleep.

to be continued