You clean up the camp at the Selune altar as best as you can and leave it all behind you. The next couple of days passes without any other issue other than Hung having dreams of the spectral form within the blue symbol that he sees from time to time. In the dream they are doing strange stretches together, elongating the bulky muscles, making them leaner and more lithe. He starts incorporating these moves during his daily exercises and does in fact feel a difference in his dexterity. He silently thanks the strange person he feels he knows yet doesn’t actually know. Sai, seeing the difference in Hung also joins in and they help her as well. Malkey realizes he’s not as spry as he once was and joins in with some of the exercises with Hung and loosens up his old bones on occasiontalk. He’s also getting more comfortable with these folks and finds it easier to talke to them without using jokes as a defense mechanism; though still on occasion he can’t help it. Malkey also notices the patches of burning, itching, scaly dry skin on his elbows and knees are getting larger, and some spots started appearing on his knuckles as well, but he’s been more focused on fixing poor little Nutbag; and from atop his pony on the travels, fix him he did! Nutbag, now practically good as new, throughout the next couple of days, you all catch G, Fawna, and Cheato up to date on everything you’ve experienced since coming together and hopefully clearing up some confusion along the way as well as bringing up more unanswered questions to look into. Cheato spends his time reading the journal of Aryn Feyra and in doing so finds three spells within them that are in there that he will surely utilize in the future.
They finally see the famous Tri-Spires along the morning horizon, they will be arriving in Zadash today! Thank goodness they’re going to be going to a larger city, one can always find more of anything in a city. Towards the afternoon, they pass through the hovels and pauper houses on the outskirts of the cities' walled exterior. As they approach the large stone gates of the city wall itself. The smell of feces and B.O. are appalling as you make your way through the slums, being bombarded by filthy beggars of all sorts, some calling attention to their disabilities, ‘Please, my eyes, could you spare a bit of change’. And others calling out about their starving children, ‘Please, can’t you help us, just enough for a bit of bread! Or, take her with you so she may have a better life’. Ultimately, they are just trying to gain a bit of coin from the party. As they approach the portcullis to enter Zadash, the human guards help them shoo away the beggars and paupers and allow them entry without question. As they pass through the gates entering into Zadash, Fawna notices one of the guards lean over to the other and quietly ask, “Do tieflings lay eggs?”
Sai leans over and covers the eggs' ears, “Shhhh, don’t tell them!”
Fawna feels the egg doing a flip-flop within, clearly getting a kick out of the situation. Looking around in awe of the big city, they notice the usual sort of folk of the Dwendalian Empire, the humans, the halflings, the gnomes, and the dwarves all busily going about their business. Compared to the small farming towns and open, seemingly endless, valley grasslands, the city is a breath of fresh air with its constant chatter and noise of city life. “I’ve been to Zadash before, and I suggest that we secure our lodgings at The Leaky Tap it’s actually the closest tavern to here,” Cheato offers.
“We have to go to a lot of different places, we could always hit some important points. I wouldn’t mind hitting up the Evening Nip,” Malkey responds.
"I mean yeah, but I think we should still secure where we’re going to stay, set up the horses … “ Cheato starts to list out the necessary errands before it dawns on him that Malkey has been here before too, and stops listing all they have to do, “Nice.”
"If we’re really going to go with the closest, and try to get some info at the same time, the dungeons?” Sai suggests. “We had someone that was kind of coerced into that whole poisoning situation so at the dungeons we might find some news amongst the miscreants.”
“Speaking of that, we’ve had an idea forever, and it's yet to happen, I would like to stop by a post office. That only takes a minute, we don’t have to make that a thing,” Malkey states.
“I’ve got an idea for ‘ya. You’re the biggest one of us all, the boldest one of us all,” Cheato eyes up Hung.
“He’s talking to G,” Malkey quips.
Ignoring the gnome Cheato continues on, “listen, we know that this person is wanted, and probably has a bounty. Maybe you could wrangle up something, talk to some bounty hunters, or whoever is putting anything out, and see what is happening with that lady from the paper,” and even as Hung listens, he looks around distracted by everything the city has to offer.
“First time in the big city,” Malkey explains to Cheato.
“Great …” Cheato sighs.
“I don’t know about any bounties, but I could speak to some of my guild members and see if they have any info.
“Sure!” Cheato brightens a bit.
“Although,” Malkey pauses and considers, “Now that I think about it, do I really want to be outing myself as I was, you know, KIDNAPPED! Oh no! Quandry, what do you think?”
“You could disguise yourself, there’s a lot of your type here,” Hung points out.
“What’s that mean, my type?” Malkey asks.
“Gnomes,” Hung says.
“The little ones,” G adds diplomatically.
“Look, there’s four over there,” Hung literally points out this time.
“Hung, those are children,” Cheato jokes. “Do we want to split up now? Some of us go and get some rooms and start doing our thing in town or…” Cheato starts.
“You want to split everyone up?” Malkey raises an eyebrow.
“We’re in the city! We’ll be fine,” Cheato brushes off Malkey’s concern before leveling with him. “Look, I want to go get a room, visit some shops, and basically spend 10 hours in the library, so if you wanna do that, I mean.”
“Does anyone have any contacts in the city?” Hung askS.
“I do, that’s why I brought it up!” Malkey cries.
Cheato spies a passerby in bright flowing robes of A Marquesian flare and stops him in his tracks while flipping him 3 silver pieces, “What do you know, what’s the tale, what’s going on in town?” Unfortunately, he finds the gentleman doesn’t speak common, and with a sigh, he continues towards The Leaky Tap, he’s never been there before but he’d heard of it.
They all follow after Cheato, the townsfolk taking note of them; especially the dragonborn, the half-orc, and the tiefling with the egg. Cheato’s ego takes a dip as he realizes they’re detracting from his usual experience of him usually being the center of attention.
“I think it’s a good idea, to reach out to your contact,” Hung nods his approval of that plan. “I will combine his idea, with your contacts,” He states, thinking about being a bounty hunter and pointing to Cheato.
“Well yeah,” Malkey starts, “but I can’t just go introducing you as a bounty hunter to my guild artisan contacts.”
“You point to somebody you think will speak to me, and I will ask them questions,” Hung nods again.
“Ok, we’ll see what they know, and then maybe they can direct you,” Malkey offers.
“Or we could sell you two as a duo!” Cheato says with a glint in his eye. “Minds … Might,” he starts thinking of a catchy name.
“Oh yeah, Mind and Might,” Malkey smiles and jumps up for a high five with Hung. They approach The Leaky tap and it looks just as the name implies, very leaky. The streets are covered with filth and standing water, trash is discarded haphazardly; everything is just a mess. They park in front of the building with grimaces on their faces.
“So we’re in the high end of town,” Malkey quips as they get down from their mounts and look at the red door in great need of a paint job. Cheato bursts through the creaky swinging door causing anyone behind him to either catch it or get hit, they all look around at the dingy, sparsely populated … space. There are 2 people on the left and the barkeep stops and looks and glares at the party.
“Greetings barkeep!” Cheato eagerly calls out. “I am Cheato, the Savior of Alfield, and this is my merry band of travelers who are looking to stay and stable our horses!”
“Does this look like this is a very merry place to you?” He responds with a grumble.
“No! But I have coin!” Cheato points out with a smile. “I mean, we could just leave if that’s what you want.”
“Oh well if you want to go and leave your coin, I think we could arrange something.” The barkeep says as he tilts his head.
“Well, we need a place for the cart, 2 horses, 2 mules and a pony, and a room for us!” Cheato continues to smile brightly.
“And what do you say to receive these services?” The barkeep asks leaning forward. He watches as Cheato’s smile fades and he holds up the bag of coin again. “This is just a bar kid, get outta here.”
They take his advice and turn to leave, “I guess our coins are no good here,” Cheato sighs and turns as his face reddens with anger.
They follow him out and G points out, “You know, this might be a good place to come back to for some information later, definitely a rough-looking place.” They all clamber back onto their mounts, “So what are we doing guys?” she looks around a little confused from the back of her mule. Malkey suggests the Song and Supper Inn and they all agree as they head down the main thoroughfare to cleaner streets and brighter prospects.
They approach a pristine but quaint white inn and it is definitely a lot better, with its welcoming flowerbeds and sweet smells that are quite a treat in comparison to their own odor! They all leave their mounts with Cheato as he heads to the attached stables and they go inside the inn to be greeted by an elf woman with pretty blonde hair in long loose curls and a long white dress. “Hello. Welcome to the Song and Supper. How can I help you today?” She asks with a sweet smile and soft voice. The group inquire about rooms and start discussing how many rooms they will need.
Meanwhile at the stables, Cheato introduces himself lavishly to the stableboy catching the child off guard with talk of being a Savior of Alfield. He promises to take good care of the animals and tells Cheato to, “not worry about a thing, go eat some food, rest your head, and enjoy Zadash!”
Cheato feigns offense and threateningly states, “You telling me what to do?” He then bursts into laughter at the boys face as he turns away and says, “of course my friend, I’m here to have fun!” before bursting into the door of the Song and Supper Inn behind his friends, squishing Fawna behind the door as it swings open, “Have we procured rooms?”
Pushing the door back and peeking around from behind it she responds softly, “I think so.”
As she says this, Cheato hears that Hung needs a little more convincing to share a room and save some gold, “Hung, can Malkey use your room, he’s scared of the dark.”
Hung stops and looks at Cheato, then down at Malkey, “I get the top bunk.” They finally procure 3 rooms, Cheato and Fawna decide to share a room and Cheato has to help Fawna understand money and eventually he digs into her very full gold pouch and comes up with the necessary silver. G and Sai take the second, and Hung and Malkey take the last. Hung approaches the pretty elf woman.” We will be staying until Da'leysen.” She smiles brightly and lets him know that that qualifies them for the tourist discount! He then provides her with 6 silver and two gold. She tries to explain to him that he’s still a little short to be paid in full when he responds, “Did you know we’re a famous tag-team?”
“Oh no, I don’t know, maybe.tag team What is your name?” she asks curiously.
“They sing,” Cheato chimes in.
“We’re multi-faceted traveler’s,” G remarks.
“No lady, he said it wrong, we like to tag team is what he means,” Malkey implicates.
“Oh dear,” she gasps in shock.
“I am Hung,” Hung declares.
“Oh, is Hung your stage name?” she asks.
“No, I am Hung,” he proclaims and tries to hand her the coin again, “There, we have rooms now.”
She takes it and looks around expectantly at the others. Malkey commends Hung as he comes forward, “Good math.” He then provides the difference for the cost of the rooms which will cover their stay and board for the horses; though they will be using their personal feed supplies for the horses.
She gladly takes the coin, “It was a pleasure meeting you all, make yourselves at home,” as she scurries off from her interesting new patrons.
“See us later for that tag-team thing,” Malkey calls after her.
“Ok, so like I said, I want to do some shopping and the library. We could probably get some shopping in today and hit the library tomorrow,” Cheato notifies the party.
“I need to pick up a few things myself,” G adds.
“What’s the thing you wanted me to find out?” Hung asks Cheato.
“Remember the person we’re searching for that had fucked with you guys has just been put on notice of being treasonous. With that understanding, there’s probably a bounty or something put out on her,” Cheato explains.
“The city is going to know of that?” G asks.
“Yeah, that’s what the fruit lady said that the newspaper said,” Cheato reminds her.
“I’ll go look for a bounty,” Hung agrees.
“You know what a bounty is right?” Cheato tries to confirm but is met with silence. “Mind and Might really would make a great tag-team, but let me explain a bounty, it’s a job for money that’s usually violent.”
“Aren't those kinds of things known as a commission?” Fawna pipes up softly as G leans back and takes a bite of one of her apples.
“Yeah, that works. Hey G, are you looking for spell components?” Cheato inquires as she’s chewing.
G swallows quickly, “I am, yes.”
“Me too. Ok, Sai what do you have to do about town?” he asks.
“Well, are there any dungeons around here? I feel if anyone has been kidnapping or involved with treason is probably been through the underbelly,” she says stoicly.
“Why don’t we stay together for shopping at the Pentagram Market, and then split up after? We all need some spell components and you guys will love the guy at the Invulnerable Vagrant. You’ll see. I need to stop by the post office,” Malkey asks, looking over at Cheato.
“Let’s meet at the Invulnerable Vagrant in 2 hours,” Cheato suggests and they all nod in agreement. Cheato, Fawna, and G make their way to the market only a couple of blocks away from the inn, passing through the bustling city streets. The market is quite busy and prices are being called out as people haggle their purchases. Cheato picks up 2 journals, and 10 days of rations. G picks up a couple of empty vials that could come into use in the future and some carrots. Cheato looks over at Fawna questioningly, “Hey, do you want to get a papoose?”
“Wha . . . . “ she tries to respond before Cheato grabs her by the wrist and pulls her over to a stall where there are long draping fabrics that the women are wearing as wrapped dresses.
The woman eyes up Fawna curiously, “We’re looking for something for, yeah; the egg.” Cheato quickly points out.
“Yes, we know this. We know what you need,” she says as she pulls a long strip of brightly colored fabric and walks over to Fawna, and starts wrapping it around her. Fawna feels them pulling and tucking and tugging making sure that it is tight and secure. When she’s done she steps back to admire, “Now you truly look like you’re expecting eh?”
“What do you think?” Cheato asks. “You can use both arms. How much?”
Fawna instinctively still wraps her arm around it but nods with approval, “Mmhm. Thank you.”
“That’ll be five gold,” she replies. “What color would you like?”
Fawna looks around thoughtfully before choosing an icy blue one. She then wraps it around Fawna again. Cheato watches the woman closely so he will be able to help Fawna tie it properly then hands her the gold.
As they walk around the market admiring the wares, Fawna notices a sign posted on a wall, it’s a WANTED sign! “Cheato, Cheato look,” she points out.
Cheato approaches and looks closely at the sign. “Oh,” she says before waving G over to take a look. While Cheato and G look over the poster, Fawna spots a dwarf woman with long blonde hair with a silver tinge to it and no beard looking at them intently. She makes eye contact with Fawna, looks at Fawna’s belly, then at G and Cheato before she turns on her heel and disappears into the throng of people.
“So this is the lady we’re looking for,” Cheato says to G as he feels a tug on the sleeve of his robe. He looks over to see Fawna, still holding onto the egg on the outside of the pappose, “You can use your other hand by the way.”
Fawna switches her hands, always keeping one on her charge. She points down the road where she saw the dwarf woman, “There was a woman watching us.” She then describes her to them as Cheato looks at his tiefling and dragonborn friends with an understanding as to why someone would be looking at them.
“Should we follow?” G asks.
“Yeah, where’d she go?” Cheato follows. Fawna points and tells him that she walked into the crowd. They all hurry to the last place she was seen to see if they can possibly catch a glimpse.
Fawna sees a waft of her hair flowing and disappearing behind the corner, “There," she points. ."She’s running!”
Cheato bursts into a run full speed ahead pushing through the crowd, “Cheato, Alfield, Savior…” as G follows close behind and Fawna brings up the rear.
Cheato sees her, she has on a blue dress and it looks like a bit of red underneath and it blinks back to blue as if an illusion spell had a glitch or was wearing off. He digs his heels in and screeches to a halt, throwing his arms out to the side to stop the others. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. We’re good, we’re not chasing after that person anymore. We’ll talk in a minute, just nope.”
“Are you positive? Before we turn around,” G asks as Fawna catches up breathing heavily from the run.
“One Hundred percent,” Cheato responds as a look of confusion crosses over G’s face.
He leans in close, “So I got a better look at the dwarf and it looks like a spell was fading off and they’re wearing the red robes of the Cerberus Assembly,” he explains to them. I’m not chasing one of them somewhere in one of their cities. This is their territory, they’re powerful wizards, I’m not …”
“Ok, so are they watching us?” G asks concerned.
“I guess they were watching the poster. To see if anyone had any interest or something, I don’t know,” Cheato responds.
“She looked at me and then walked away,” Fawna informs.
“Ok, let’s go tell the others,” G suggests and they turn and make their way back to the Pentagram Market and the Invulnerable Vagrant.
Meanwhile, Hung, Sai, and Malkey decide to go to the post office to mail a letter, “Huddle up guys, we’re sending a letter back to Trostenwald to Brad to find out what they found out about Starosta Fryda Langer, the one that tried to kill us. I think she’s connected to this Cerberus Assembly and this Jenna. We could use the information”
“While we’re here we should probably see about that newspaper by owl service we heard about," Sai suggests.
“Can’t we just go to the newsstand?” Malkey asks.
“Yeah but this is delivered by owl so that way we can get the paper even after we leave here,” Sai reminds Malkey of what the farmer woman had said.
Overhearing their conversation the clerk speaks up, “Yes miss, this is where you would sign up for that subscription. Are you interested?”
“So it’s going to deliver the paper to us on the road?” Malkey asks.
“Yeah, they imprint. So if she’s purchasing, she’ll go and pick the owl; or should I say the owl will pick her and it will go and find her to deliver. You get to choose an owl or a pigeon,” the clerk explains.
“Owl please,” Sai says. “How much?”
“It’s a rental, so it’s 5 copper a month,” he responds while Malkey tries to convince Sai that Hung wants a bird.
She ignores them while they squabble and gives the clerk 30 silver, “I think that should cover it,” she says.
“You’re paid up for five years of Dwendalian Gazette bird service ma’am,” the clerk says. “Follow me to the owl room.” He leads her back behind the counter and down a hallway and they enter an aviary. Sai doesn’t see any birds at first but then she notices that eyes are coming out of the treebark, then they flap their wings and she can see that they are owls in their expert camouflage. There are birds everywhere, and all their poop too. “Just go stand in the middle there for a little bit and one will come down to you and pick you.”
Sai walks to the center of the aviary and the birds all start to circle their heads at her, inspecting her thoroughly up and down. Finally, a small screech owl, comes and lands on her shoulder and nuzzles her neck a bit. “Hey little fella’,” she smiles at him warmly, wanna be my buddy?”
“That’s a good one, they’re really fast,” the clerk affirms. “And they don’t mind twilight owls, some of these wait until the sun fully sets before they get out of bed.”
Sai pulls out a biscuit from one of the rations in her pack and offers it to the wee owl who accepts it voraciously, “I can tip in food right?”
“Absolutely, they like mice, crickets and stuff. You can give him whatever really. He takes the owl back, “Your deliveries are going to be monthly on the first!” Sai thanks him and she goes back out to Hung and Malkey.
“I’d like to send this next day delivery if I could,” Malkey tells the clerk while he holds out the sealed envelope.
“That’s a falcon charge, an additional copper,” the clerck informs
“I do want tracking what’s my tracking number too,” Malkey adds.
“That’ll be F17 - stands for Falcon 17,” the clerk provides.
“And delivery confirmation as well,” Malkey adds further.
The clerk calls out to the backroom where Malkey’s letter had just been taken, “Hold F17 for a confirmation request,” He then looks back at the group, ”What should the bird come back with from the receiver for confirmation?”
“Well I’d hope to get a letter back,” Malkey looks a bit confused.
“Then you don’t need confirmation, you just need to tell them to write back,” the clerk stares at Malkey. The letter is then brought back out and they add to the bottom for Brad to respond, ‘forthwith, henceforth and heretofore right away!’
“I’ll be back tomorrow to get my confirmation for next-day delivery,” Malkey tells the man.
“And the name it’s under please?” The man asks exasperatedly.
“Neal & Bob,” Malkey provides. “I’ll be back tomorrow, to check on my confirmation.”
Hung, Sai and Malkey exit the post office and decide to check out the dungeons before meeting the others in the market. It’s a short walk from the post office so may as well check it out. They approach and see first the tall building where the prisoners are processed and booked before the actual dungeon comes into view, and it’s terrible. A large corral with an assortment of stocks, gibbets, and posts; most occupied with a chained being, all in a sorry state, withering away.
“So Sai, is it as sexy as you pictured it?” Malkey quips.
Ignoring Malkey, Sai looks around. No guards, interesting. She approaches the fence surrounding the corralled prisoners looking for someone that looks like they’ve just been brought in recently. She settles on approaching the gibbet closest to the what seems to be an electric fence. She shouts out, “Do we have any friends of Jenna Irresor over here?”
She doesn’t get a response at first as the prisoners all look around at each other before groans of, “Food … Water …” come from the first one, then they all start calling out for sustenance.
“If anybody actually can help us at all with Jenna, they’ll get a twinkie!” Malkey tries to persuade any who hears, but as he takes stock of what he’s seeing; these people look like they could be the same as those down by the south gate. Paupers. From what he knows of Jenna, she would most likely use the upper echelons of the criminal networks, not these petty criminals.
Malkey looks around to make sure nobody is watching and takes the last of his beef jerky out of his pocket and throws it as close as he can to one of the unfortunate prisoners. The eruption of rattling chains, moans, and groans gets louder as they reach out to scramble for the scraps if their chains were long enough, fighting each other for the scrap, and begging him to throw more.
Sai, concerned that someone would definitely hear this picks up Malkey and they run outta there so as not to attract any more attention than what they’ve already caused. Once they’re safe, they head towards the Hearth of the Allhammer and hopefully get some information from Malkey’s guildmembers. Along the way, they pass a fighting pit and see a large goliath woman kicking ass against her opponent with a smile on her face. Malkey pulls out a slip of paper and writes the inn information and his room number on it, “Hey there, give me a holler,” he yells as he throws it into the pit.
She looks at him a little confused and the distraction causing her to take a hit to her strong jaw. “Yeah, once you go tiny you get very disappointed and want to go back to whatever you came from!”
She laughs heartily at that, “Maybe someday, the name’s Daughtte!” she yells back as she slams her opponent with a severe uppercut.
They make their way to the guild hall and enter to see the shrine to the Allhammer. Hung sniffs the air and finds there is no food here. There are sections of all the different trades and their wares available. They head toward the alchemy section and Malkey sees a half-elf with rather large ears even for an elf; his friend Miras Gilven of the guild and his apprentice Bill. Miras looks up from his work and looks at Malkey like he’s seen a ghost.
“Keep those reactions a little more subtle. How are you doing?” Malkey breaks the silence and stare.
Miras looks around very confused before whispering, “Hey, come back here.” He shuffles all of them through a door, telling Bob to close the shop for a bit. They find themselves in a little breakroom.
“Oh, big ears what’s up?” Malkey exclaims as he leans in for a half hug and pats the half-elf on the back of the leg as he does so.
“I…I…I…, you first,” he stutters as he puts his hand out and tests Malkey with a guild handshake. “You feel real. I don’t understand what’s going on, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you … why aren’t you … dead?”
“Between you and me we’re going to keep it that way,” Malkey states implying that he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s there.
“Well, why did you come back then you dumbass?” Miras says sarcastically.
“Alright tough guy, I'm just saying,” Malkey responds.
“Don’t tough guy me, you’re the one that’s supposed to be dead!” Miras says incredulously.
“Yeah and I’m still alive so who’s the tough guy?” Malkey quips back.
“Ha! You got a point there!” he says as he laughs and slaps his leg.
"Well, I’m here now so what info could you give me that I probably don’t know about?” Malkey asks quizzically.
“Well, from what I saw, your funeral went down,” he informs.
“They didn’t list a reason for death?” Malkey inquires.
“Yeah, they said it was an accident at work, an explosion, but you don’t look burnt,” he provides.
“Fucking liars,” Malkey says angrily under his breath.
“Really? Do tell,” he leans in curiously.
“Have I ever made an explosion that I didn’t want,” Malkey asks rhetorically?
“That’s true. I mean, not that I know of. I live here you live there, we only see each other what, once every six months?” Miras rattles before adding, “Speaking of, this is cause for a celebration!” He gets up and opens a small cabinet and grabs a bottle of scotch that he pours for the four of them.
Hung grabs the bottle and begins to drink among cries of, “No, no, just a little!” but it was too late, Hung erupts into a fit of coughing as his throat feels like it just caught fire.
“That’s some good stuff your wasting,” Malkey tells Hung.
Miras looks over at Malkey, “You owe me for that one.”
Hung hands it over to Malkey who takes a sip without a reaction at all then hands the bottle back to Miras.
“How about you miss? Any friend of Malkey is a friend of mine!” he looks at her expectantly.
“How could I say no,” she stutters as she takes the glass that he pours.
“So how long have you not been dead? Since the funeral? Miras implores.
“Well I’ve not been dead all my life it’s pretty amazing that way,” Malkey responds.
“You gotta level with me here Malkey, Gods!” he says exasperatedly.
“I don’t know how else to explain it to you, I’ve been alive all my life. I never died!” Malkey tries to explain.
“What’s this?” Miras asks tapping Nutbag who scurries away and hides in the folds of Malkey’s robes. “Oh man, that’s nasty. You got bugs now?”
“That’s my friend,” Malkey informs.
“What the fuck is it, can I take a look?” Miras says unable to control his curiosity.
Malkey calls Nutbag out and telepathically tells him to land on the half-elfs shoulder. Miras’ eyes get big as he looks in awe at the tiny construct. “Where’d you get this guy?”
“Oh, when I died,” Malkey offers and receives a blank stare for a moment.
“Now you’re really fucking with me,” Miras says as he tilts his head and narrows his eyes.
“Yes, yes I am,” Malkey smiles. “But around that time.”
“Do you guys know what this fucker’s talking about or what? Is he dead or is he alive or am I crazy and this is a hallucination, am I dreaming?” Miras directs his gaze between Hung and Sai.
"He’s been alive for as long as we’ve known him," Sai informs.
"We found him in a cave," Hung adds.
"Question, what is the last thing that you heard from or saw him," Sai asks Miras as she points to Malkey.
"You don’t go spelunking …! last I saw him he was dead I was at his funeral, his wife was there the whole nine yards!” Miras tells them.
At the mention of his wife, Malkey’s entire being changes and he interrupts Miras, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, time out. My wife was at the funeral?”
“Yeah, she just stood there the whole time at the front. Just stood there, that’s it,” Miras recollects.
“Didn’t move or talk?” Malkey asks.
“Nope, nothing; stone,” Miras explains. “I tried to hug her, I tried to express my condolences. Come to think of it, it was a closed casket and we didn’t really get to say our proper goodbyes at all. Was the whole thing just a ruse?”
“I need more information about the wife, she’s alive,” Malkey tries to process this new information.
“I see your condition is getting worse,” Miras says noticing Malkey’s knuckles.
“Yeah I got ashy elbows, the wife is alive,” he says again; still in disbelief.
“Yes, she’s alive,” Miras confirms.
“Is she still at home?” Sai inquires.
“As far as I know,” Miras responds.
“You’ve been looking for your wife,” Hung adds looking to Malkey.
“Maybe we should pay a visit and ask her what’s up,” Sai suggests.
“Unless she put a hit out on me!” Malkey shouts.
“She’s your wife, she should be happy to see you I'm sure,” Sai offers some levity.
“Put a hit on you?” Hung asks, never before hearing that term.
“I mean come on you can’t be suspicious of everyone, this is your wife!” Sai explains.
“Can’t be suspicious, I woke up in a cave!” Malkey shouts incredulously. “If she was all … was it the wife, or someone pretending to be my wife.”
“It looked like her,” Miras shrugs.
“Did she have any scars or damage?” Malkey asks.
“No…” he responds confused.
“Well if they said you died in a work accident, they probably took you when you were alone then,” Sai says logically.
“Last I knew she was probably dead also,” Malkey reminds Sai.
“Well we’re going to have to see how she is and see if maybe there’s something she was covering up at the time,” Sai suggests.
“Who put the funeral together?” Hung asks.
“Apparently she did. Oh, and your neighbor, your really nice neighbor that was chummy with her all the time. What was her name, Helga I think? I don’t know, you’re nosy neighbor that you didn’t like and complained about but your wife liked a lot.”
“What’s my wife’s name,” Malkey narrows his eyes and looks directly at Miras.
“Filona,” he responds without hesitation. “She looked fine, maybe it was shock i don’t know but there was nothing there, like she was empty.” Miras explains about the last time he saw Filona.
“Shit ain’t kosher here, and I gotta stop hitting on other ladies!” Malkey says.
“You did just before,” Hung mentions, “so we don’t tell your wife about that big one?”
“Hey, Whoa,” Malkey starts. “What are you talking about? Your big one? You’re not telling my wife about that, keep that in your pants!” he says to Hung even though he knew that Hung had meant the big lady in the fighting pit. Miras pours another round of shots to those that accept. “Did they say anything or were there any rumors or mention about a blonde lady?”
“Goes by the name Jenna,” Sai offers.
“Oh, the lady from the paper the other day?” Miras asks.
“Yeah, they didn’t mention anything about her?” Malkey inquires.
“Who’s they?” Miras shouts confused again.
“The police factions of Hupperdook that would have been investigating my death at the funeral that they had for me even though I’m alive!” Malkey says frustratingly.
“Nobody was talking about an investigation into your death at all man,” Miras sighs.
“Nobody even looked into it? How big was my funeral? Let's talk about important shit, like who was there?
“Where did you work,” Hung asks.
“I had my own shop, it was attached to my house,” Malkey reminds him.
“Is it here, or in Hupperdook?”
“Hupperdook,” Malkey confirms.
“Find out if it’s still standing, we have the owl, or maybe your friend,” Hung suggests as he gestures towards the half-elf.
“Ears, was my shop still there or was it like a hole in the ground?” Malkey asks Miras.
“It was a wreck! The house was damaged a little, but the shop was obliterated,” he informs him.
“Was it a big funderal? Who was there? Anybody important? Were they crying?” Malkey tries to piece together all the pieces of information he’s gathering.
“What do you mean anybody important, I'm important,” Miras says before listing off who was there. “Let’s see, there was Filona, the neighbor, the Guildmaster and a coworkers from the guild … and that’s pretty much it.” Noticing Malkey’s reaction to this information he continues, “Malkey im’ sorry but you do tend to uhhh … maybe uhhh … those who know you know you real well.”
“I was less of a dick when I was alive!” Malkey states.
“Wait, are you dead then?" Miras questions again.
“You know what I mean," Malkey responds.
"I think You’re supposed to be dead," Hung adds.
"Apparently everyone’s supposed to think I’m dead which is why I’m staying dead for now,” This time Malkey notices Hungs confusion and touches his arm to assure him that he is indeed alive. “Even though I’m really alive Hung, see.”
“So then how exactly are you not dead?” Miras asks.
“Because i wasn’t in the explosion,” Malkey states.
“Then what’s up with this cave?” Miras continues questioning.
“That’s where i woke up, way down south in a cave.” Malkey explains.
“How did you get there?” Miras asks.
“We found him chained up in a cave by a woman,” Hung responds.
Miras looks at Malkey and finally sees the manacles on Malkey’s wrists, “Oh my Gods, are you wanted?
“Apparently not, nobody was crying at my funeral!” Malkey says incredulously.
“Well the one in the paper seems to be the one who took him,” Sai informs. “I still think we should go up to Hupperdook to look into it Malkey,” she says then leans in and whispers, “we still need to get that weapon, it’s right by your house so we might as well.”
“Oh stop, it’s no thing, maybe this is your second chance and you got re-incarnated, I don’t know. You should go see Harry over at the blacksmith to see about getting those removed,” Miras points to the manacles on his friends wrists.
“No,” Malkey states matter of factly. “We’re good, it’s all part of my new persona.”
“Oh, so this is a whole new … thing. I see,” he says nodding.
“Seriously Miras we need to keep this on the down low that I’m back,” Malkey gets serious.
“Yeah i couldn’t explain this to anyone even if i tried,” Miras assures him.
“It doesn’t leave this room, no guild brothers either. Nobody,” Malkey insists.
“Oh, I’m glad you clarified. I understand, and I’m glad you’re not dead,” Miras nods. They continue to talk and catch up and before too long it’s time to meet the others at the Invulnerable Vagrant. They say their goodbyes to Miras and head back out into the city.
As they’re walking and talking Malkey says “Maybe i should come up with a new name, some badass name. Maybe something like, ‘the raven’!”
“I say Murderhawk,” Hung suggests.
“Murderhawk, hmm. That’s actually pretty good,” Malkey says.
“I know,” Hung concurs.
"Then I'm your bird? Yeah! Aw look at that! Might and Mind, Murderhawk and Hung,” Malkey says as he does some ninja looking moves.
Meanwhile, on their way back to the pentamarket after chasing the dwarf, G, Cheato, and Fawna are passing by the fighting pit and see a familiar face.
Fawna runs up to the side and leans over the side with her hand out waving furiously, “Daughtte, Daughtte!”
Daughtte turns to look and smiles brightly when she sees Cheato and Fawna. At that moment the opponent takes the opportunity of distraction and connects a mean left hook and Fawna winces. Daughtte looks dazed for a moment from the hit but then shakes it off before shouting out to them, “I need to talk to you about some horses!” Fawna and Cheato wave and nod as they make their way past and back into the Pentagram Market.
no-techniqueG sees Malkey’s no technique ninja moves as the others approach them and she points them out to her companions, “What are they doing?” Cheato waves at them and then they all converge outside the Invulnerable Vagrant and enter together.
They see a very tall blue Firbolg gentleman at the counter, “Greetings giant, I mean gentle firbolg, I am Cheato de Russo, Savior of Alfield, Wandering Mage from the East.”
“Well hello there, I’m Pumat, Pumat Sol. How can I help you?”
“I, the Wandering Mage of the East have a couple of magical items I need to look at. I was wondering if we could strike a deal. If I could maybe use some space and use a pearl, pay you a bit, you catch my drift? The pearl isn’t consumed, I just need to borrow it,” Cheato asks persuasively.
“This is not a question for me, I’ll have to ask Pumat Prime about that. Hold on just one moment,” Pumat says as he opens the door behind the counter. The adventurers see, when the door opens that there seem to be quite a few Pumat Sol’s back there. He calls out to them. “Pumat Prime, I have a question!” He closes the door and addresses the group again, “He’ll be up here in just a second ok? In the meantime, anything else you guys looking for besides this pearl rental? We’ve got our spell components section over here with your gems and your oils and incense and whatnot, then we’ve got your typical enchanted items over here, then upstairs are the special orders.”
“Wonderful, thank you,” G says as she and Cheato look over the spell components.
Fawna approaches the counter and as she steps from behind Hung Pumat sees her belly and cries, “Oh congratulations on your little one!”
“Uh, thank … thank you,” she stutters not really knowing what to say. “Um, have you ever serviced any druids? I just, my mother gave this to me for a spell and I wasn’t sure if you’d ever worked with something like this before.” She hands him the parchment with the recipe.
“Oh I see, you need a trinket,” he says looking over the list. “We could definitely make that here. Is this a one time use or is this a stronger enchanted magic?”
“This is a permanent item,” she tells him. “It calls a spirit to my side.”
He stops to think before saying, “One moment.” He walks through the door slowly and quietly, clearly deep in thought. “We definitely have more questions,” he calls out again for Pumat prime. When he returns back to the counter he says, “That’s a good one, any kind of spirit?”
“I think it has to be an animal,” Fawna replies and as she answers they hear footsteps coming down some stairs from behind the closed door.
The door opens again and they notice the firbolg that has come through looks exactly like the others they’ve seen. Like clones. “Hello there, I’m Pumat Prime, I hear you have some questions?” He then addresses the other Pumat, “Go and finish up that order for the Paladin that stopped in yesterday will ya?” before returning his gaze to the party before him.
Fawna explains again what she’s needing and what she’s looking for. “Oh yeah, so the question is, can we do the animal spirit enchantment into this item, or do you just need the item and then you use your own magic.”
“My magic,” Fawna responds. “Wait, are you able do that?” she asks regarding putting the enchantment into the item.
“Yes of course! We do custom orders all the time, people come from everywhere. Us Pumat Sol’s work all day and all night around the clock. We go in shifts for quick turn-arounds,” he explains.
“What’s in it for you? Aside from the business standpoint?” G looks up from the spell components section.
“Oh you know, serving others, helping them grow, see their limits; pass them,” he says as G nods her approval.
“How much gold?” Fawna asks.
“Well, just to make the item for you to then use your magic is 200 gold. For it to have a couple of daily charges, it would be another 400. And I wouldn’t really be making anything from that, so I’m cutting you a deal really,” he informs her.
“If you made it, would I be able to come back for the enchantment later?” she asks.
“Yes, we’re always here,” he assures her.
“Cheato do I have enough?” she holds out her coin purse to him.
Cheato looks inside and does a quick count, “Unfortunately, I think you’re short on this one.”
“How important is this?” Malkey asks trying to gauge whether it could be a benefit to the group as a whole.
“The spell calls forth a bestial spirit that I can command. My mother taught it to me so I can better protect myself. And he’s saying that for additional gold, He could put the spell into it so I wouldn’t have to use my magic, or even someone else would be able to use it and cast it,” she explains.
“I see,” Malkey says rubbing his chin. “I definitely see the benefit here, we could probably wrangle up the 200 between all of us and then come back for the enchantments. How short are you?”
“I have 30 gold I can spare,” Sai offers.
Malkey holds up the Carnelian that they had found in the temple chest, “With her coin, and this, would we call that square for this gilded acorn thing?”
“Absolutely little fella,” Pumat Prime nods. As he says this, Fawna drops the gem into her pouch and puts the whole pouch on the counter.
“Ok there little lady, this is very important to you huh? Good thing you have friends like these around you. Now, it does take some time, so you’ll have to pick it up tomorrow afternoon,” Pumat Prime informs her.
“Wow, that’s pretty fast actually,” Malkey says out loud.
Pumat hears him and affirms, “Yeah, we’ve got 5 of us back here working so it’s lickety split for us. You won’t be able to get that kind of service from any other provider.”
They purchase the crafting of Fawna’s gilded acorn and Cheato approaches Pumat, “I, the Mage of the East, Savior of Alfield, Cheato de Russo, have a question for you. I have a couple items I need to identify and I don’t want to buy the pearl right now, but if while I’m doing that you need anything identified, I’d be happy to use my magic so you can save your energy for your custom items,” he offers.
Pumat offers to identify the items for him and realizes that’s not what this wizard wants to accomplish, “Oh I see, you don’t want me to see. I understand.”
“Mages don’t tell all their secrets,” Cheato points out. “So how about I pay you 25 gold to borrow your pearl so I can look at these things. What do you say?”
“This is the most curious question that’s ever come up in my 20 years of running
this shop,” Pumat Prime considers. “Yes, I have to do it. You have to say yes when opportunity comes at you sometimes ya know. Ok so for 25 gold, you can borrow my pearl for an hour?”
“Perfect, that sounds good,” Cheato nods as he receives a pearl into the palm of his hand. I also need some ruby dust.”
“Yes that’s uh over there in the spell components section. It’s fill your own pouch so be honest,” Pumat warns as both G and Cheato nod their understanding.
“How about your magical stuff, got anything of interest?” Malkey asks.
“Of course, since the wars all done we’ve been able to build our inventory back,” Pumat let’s him know. “We have enchanted rings, cloaks, amulets; what exactly are you looking for?”
“Do you have a ring of fire?” Malkey inquires and Pumat points to a case of rings. Malkey goes over to the case and whistles to himself when he sees the price; 960 gold and the cheapest thing in the case is 500 gold! “What about goggles to see in the dark?” he asks.
“Yup, right over there for 225 gold,” Pumat points to a high shelf.
Malkey shows him the lantern from the hidden temple, “How much would it be to take the abilities of this and put it into a pair of goggles?”
“Hmm, that would take an assessment period of at least 3 hours before we could even give you a price on that,” he responds.
“So pretty expensive then,” Malkey sighs.
“Yeah,” Pumat Prime agrees.
“Alright, keep that in mind when we come back,” Malkey offers.
“I surely will, I’ll be on the lookout; you guys look like pretty fair adventurers,” Pumat nods.
While Malkey is talking with Pumat Prime, Cheato pulls Sai and Hung to the side, “Hey I just want to take a second and take a look at the items you guys have if that’s ok. I have a pearl so I can look at the magical properties. I understand you guys already know what’s going on with them, but I want to see what’s going on if there’s anything more than surface level.”
“Ok,” Sai shrugs. “Should we do that outside or something?”
“No, we’ll need a private room or something,” Cheato suggests. “Pumat, do you have a more private space we could use for this?” He asks the large firbolgthe rest.
“Yes. Right this way please.” Malkey hangs back in the store while Pumat Prime leads therest of them into a small room with a simple table, a chair, and a window.
“This is all I need, thank you,” Cheato says as Pumat closes the door behind him as he leaves. “Hung, can you stand in front of the window please.” Sai pulls out silken spite and Cheato addresses her, “Can you put that on the table please and then go block the window with Hung? And Hung, may I please see your spear?”
Hung hands Cheato his spear then turns and walks back into the store, leaving Sai and Cheato both a little confused, but they are starting to get a taste of Hungs quirky mannerisms.
“Don’t worry, I got the window,” G offers with a shrug. She watches as Cheato arranges the weapons and the journal of Aryn Feyra on the table. He closes his eyes and before using the identify spell, he casts detect magic. Upon opening his eyes and looking around him, he senses a glow of magic in the shape of Malkey on the other side of the wall and it doesn’t seem to be of the typical schools of magic; how odd. The journal on the table is throwing off abjuration vibes, The sword and the spear are emitting Enchantment with a slight bit of ebbing Necromancy magic. He looks over at G and senses her spellbook, and around her neck a glowing amulet emitting divination magic.
Flickering blue energy in the form of flames seeps out of his eyes as the magical energy flows through him. He points over at the necklace that G is wearing, “Do you know that’s magical?”
“Yes, she says, instinctively bringing her hand up to cover it even though she knows that that will not shield the spell from seeing it.
“Do you know what it does?” he continues
“No,” G responds.
“Would you like me to look at it,” he offers.
“Sure,” she responds with a shrug as she unclasps it from her neck and lays it gently on the table.
He dives deeper, now holding up the pearl and casting Identify. Touching the Sword first, then the spear; information floods his brain. He finds out all about how the souls were bonded together using the enchantment and necromancy to hold them together in their origin. Though the necromancy doesn’t seem to be as potent as maybe it once was. He then remembers what the journal had said, about how Aryn Feyra had weakened the entities when he pried the gems out and tried to banish them. He touches the amulet and findsseems that it acts as a portent that can be used three times a day with the possibility of a recharge. His attention turns to the journal, it’s definitely a protected journal and somewhat spellbook as the 2 spells within seem to have been done in the necessary ink to make them stick. That makes sense, ‘ok next,’ he thinks to himself as he pokes his head out of the room. “Malkey, can I borrow you for a second?”
“Sure, I’m usually down for whatever,” Malkey replies and goes into the little room holding the lantern out in front of him and doing a full perimeter as Cheato closes the door just to check if there were any invisible something’s around listening in or watching.
“Malkey you have a lot of questions about yourself and stuff you’re going through right now,” Cheato starts.
“Yeah don’t we all question ourselves?” Malkey replies.
“Yeah, that’s great um… So, I’ve seen there’s something affecting you,nd that’s the best word for it. I can’t tell you what because…” Cheato continues.
“Eczema,” Malkey states.
“What? No,” Cheato shakes his head.
“Yeah eczema, you know,” Malkey shows him his elbows and knuckles.
“You probably caught it from the last girl you were with,” Sai jokes.
“That’s not what you get eczema from,” Malkey snaps defensively.
“There’s some sort of magic,” Cheato tries to explain again.
“No I don’t have scabies, it doesn’t burn when I pee, I’ve never been with anyone except my wife thank you very much!” Malkey continues on the defense.
“No, there’s some sort of primal magic affecting you,” Cheato is finally able to get out.
“Yeaaahhhhh,” Malkey says with a mischievous grin and a knowing nod.
“I’m assuming you don’t know any of that?” Cheato asks.
When he says this not only does Malkey feel something churn deep inside, but Fawna also feels something from the egg as well. A longing feeling. Malkey connects his recent feelings he’s been getting and is confused as to how Cheato knows that he’s been feeling this way, he keeps that locked up tight and deflects it with humor or something usually. “This is awkward,” Malkey manages to get out.
“Would you be ok with me looking into this on you right now?” Cheato says seeking consent.
“You want to look inside me?” Malkey quips.
Cheato chooses his words carefully seeing his new friends defense mechanism in full effect, “Around you, but I need to be touching you for the duration of the spell.”
“Because I’m a married man, ok I guess,” Malkey acquiesces with a dirty smile.
Cheato finds that he isn’t under any spell, but Nutbag is, “I need to touch your Nutbag, I’ll cradle it gently.” Malkey hands him the little construct and turns his head and coughs as Cheato indeed cradles Nutbagits gently and looks into it’s inner workings of magic. There is a living piece of evocation magic within this little masterpiece of a bug, “If we have nothing else to do here, I think we should double back to the rooms, have dinner, and have a conversation… A lot of conversations... to figure this all out.” They all nod in agreement and pack up to head back to the inn. They thank the Pumat’s for everything as they leave.
***If you'd like to listen to the audio of this session, click here!***
Now THIS is a write up!