On the Road and Port Fairview

 The Wider World

After some deliberation in the morning, it was decided that we were not going to be joining the crew of The Drowsy Rock on their sail to Port Fairview. A desire to view the country side and enjoy the time we had was the fair reasoning. After that deliberation we went to gather our weapons and start out on the next leg. Mace, in all his wisdom, got it into his head to acquire some flint, completely forgetting that Ooru can produce flame at will and is a much more effective fire starter than any piece of flint would ever be. Never the less we browsed the market of Cragskeep for a brief time, then set off towards the road. We caught a passing boy and sent him off to let the crew know that we would not be joining them and to wish them well. We may have done this a bit late in the game, but such is our group.

A comfortable day of traveling passed, with some entertaining experimentation with light spells. At one point Mace ended up with glowing hair. He was quite pleased with it. We found a good spot to rest for the night an bedded down.

During my watch that night, I heard the sound of a horse in the distance. It being the middle of the night, and bandits are not outside the realm of possibility, I woke Mace who went to check it out. When he crept back to be he said there were five fellows and a very nice horse with the symbol of the North Guard on its bags. At the time, they were not bothering us, so Mace started his watch and I went back to sleep. Not long after that, Mace woke me again, as he had heard something. Turns out one of the group was trying to sneak up to us to spy. We dragged him back to our camp and had a chat. He told us that the group was indeed a small bandit group who had just come into a bit of a job. We figured this would not do and we decided to put it right.

A brief scuffle where a fellow lost his life and another both his hands to Mace while he was in a bit of a frenzy over the rudeness of people not letting us get a good nights sleep, and some other good bumps and bruises, we came to an accord. Dave, gave us the general information of what was going on. Turns out their leader Ryker had stolen the horse from a North Guard courier and had left him in a bad state. The courier had been carrying a bag of holding full of letters and communications. It wasn't entirely clear if that was part of their job or not. The job had come from Bogs Burrow was all Dave knew, and this was not really what most of them had signed up for. So, after some convincing we sent Dave, Gary (fellow that lost his hands) and Cole (Dave's cousin), off to find the courier and help him to the closest garrison. We slung Ryker over the back of the horse and decided we would take him in to Port Fairview as a brigand and they could deal with him there. Mace continued to grumble about the lack of consideration for peoples sleep.

Baring a few altercations with our prisoner, the next couple of days went by with out much event. We made it handily to Port Fairview!

We were stopped at the gate of the city, as I'm sure you can guess having a fellow strapped to the back of a North Guard horse. After some discussion, giving over the couriers bag and a bit of clear talking, Ryker was taken away and we were let into the city proper. Now, I know you have been around, but this city was something else. Busy and full of life, all out in the open! To tell you the truth it was a bit overwhelming, but being me I made it through with out much fuss.

We headed straight for the Trinket Tree, which was our ultimate destination you may remember. There seems to be something about magic shops in this area because this was also a tiny space. There were not really many items on display, but small written cards that described what was available and their cost etc. We poked around for a brief time, and sadly came to the realization that we were severely lacking in funds. After this sad realization we rang the bell on the desk, which oddly made no sound, but moments later a gnome lady with bright pink hair scampered out from behind a beaded curtain and introduced herself as Blink Nocktonic. We delivered our parcel and a bit of...ahem...smooth talking on my part, we got paid a bit extra. We then had a lovely chat about the goodies that the Trinket Tree provides and came away with a slightly discounted Handy Haversack, and some different coloured Rune Chalks for us all. I got myself some of the pink ones!

Blink gave us some recommendations on places around the city to check out, so we went on a bit of an adventure. We visited the Iron Bull, where Magni commissioned a new shield which he could mount the bident head in. There we met Dolgren and Sephire who told us about the mercenary company they had belonged to. Later we made our way to the Thirsty Scoundrel to see about rooms for a few days, and if we could get a discount for exchange of performance. As a trial I played with the others that were there that night, and told a few stories. Needless to say, I did alright! I got some crazy amount of tips too - 11 gold pieces! If that is how generous the people of Port Fairview are, we might have a fine time here.

I have to say, so far I am enjoying this more city centered experience. The sheer amount of different people is boggling, and the ways that people live is so vibrant. I can see why you and mother didn't come home often now. Why be stuck in one place when you could be out in the wider world. I was always too afraid, but now that I have friends to experience it with it is not so frightening. 

Thank you for showing me that there was more to life in the first place.

Much love Asotta, goodnight.