Day 70 Continued~Chaos Arrives at the Keep

Martin puts the knight to work at the church. The carpenter and his assistant are helping out with farm chores for now, but there is much to do on the building. Martin speaks with Wendrig about work needed done and sets the knight to task. The knight can lodge with Wendrig or spend his own silver to stay at the inn at the Keep. The knight’s man-at-arms looks sullen. He has been conscripted by the knight to work with him.

Martin then seeks out the Curate’s advice on combating the skeletons the company encountered. The Curate can offer no advice, but tells Martin to keep faith in Eos and your path will be shown. The Curate gives Martin a vial of holy water. Martin wants nothing more than to snuff out the undead at the caves. Their existence is an affront to all he believes.

Arden seeks out the Provisioner in the hope that he has a suit of chainmail. The Provisioner does indeed have a chainmail suit. It will need a little bit of modification for it to fit properly, Arden knows that Thane, the dwarf, will be eager to work on the suit. Any reason to work on the forge, is reason enough.

Arden also needs a new greatsword. He is considering finding a smaller weapon and shield to fight in the cramped cave tunnels. The greatsword is hampered by the narrow spaces. He still wants to carry one though. Arden decides to carry spear and shield and strap the greatsword to his back. The Provisioner has a greatsword but it is dull and needs some repair. Thane will have another project to work on.

Thane is busy at the forge repairing arms and armor. During the week he fits Arden’s chainmail and repairs the greatsword. [Rolls a 9 and I rule that this is an easy task for him.] Thane also has Handsome and Meklin cut some quarterstaffs to use in case they run across more oozes. They cut six of them. Thane saw the damage the acid did to Arden’s sword. He hopes that wood may be more resistant.

Corwin waits for the clerk at the bank to end his day and approaches him. Trying to be convivial, he offers to buy the clerk supper at the Traveler’s Inn. The clerk politely refuses. He is guarded and Corwin thinks there is some mystery about the man. Corwin does get the man to have a drink at the tavern. [I rolled a “no” for the meal, but the man did have a friendly reaction to Corwin.] In a dark corner of the tavern, the two spell casters talk. Corwin tells the clerk of their latest adventures in the caves. The clerk doesn’t say much about his arcane studies other than he learned a little magic in the course of studies as clerk and scribe somewhere in southern Eyre. Corwin asks the clerk once more if he would let him copy a spell from his spellbook. He would share his own spellbook in return and offer any fair amount of silver. The clerk is still adamant in his refusal. He is cordial, but seems nervous discussing it, and changes the subject. Corwin accepts this failure and figures that the man is hiding something. There is more to the man’s story. Corwin decides to leave it alone. He orders another round of wine and the two men talk about the Keep and what merchants have been coming north.

Handsome Brune woke up in a sweat. He had dreams of fighting the owlbear but he was all alone. He pulled his sword and it burned like fire in his hand. But the fire didn’t hurt him, it somehow made him stronger. When he awoke, he sat up and reached for the blade hanging on his bedpost. He pulled the sword from its sheath. The blade was polished and he could see his reflection. Handsome actually looked more handsome in the reflection, not the scarfaced ugly warrior he was. He had spent much of his time cleaning the blade ever since Corwin gave it to him. Handsome swung the sword overhead a few times. There is nothing I can’t do with this sword in my hands, he thought.

Catamont had seen a change in Handsome after getting the sword. He seemed different now, maybe a little more cocky. Catamont wasn’t sure, but it worried him.

The evil cleric is not at the Keep. [I rolled to see if he was here and also if he would return this week. No for both questions. I figure he is at the evil temple in the caves.]

I rolled a Rory Story Cube and the symbol that came up was a multi-direction arrow. This represents chaos to me. I thought about this and it represents some event at the Keep connected with the evil cleric. He is planning something and it means additional troops to serve him at the evil temple. 11 evil warriors come to the Keep in the guise of merchant guards. They stay at the inn one night then leave early the next day. They will head to the caves to rendevouz with the evil cleric. Two of the men wear black leather and have crossbows. The others are in black plate and carry swords. Their leader is a weathered, bald man with an evil face. The men have been quiet at the inn, taking their meals in silence. They have put the innkeeper on edge and he is glad to see them leave.

Question–Did Arden speak with any of them? No, he hears about them from Goat, but they are gone before he can see them.

More to come…