Uktar 20
Uktar 20, 1369: (almost new moon)
High = 60, Low = 40
No precipitation
Wind gusting to 7 mph from the prevailing direction.
Overcast.
That night, AFAL went to the celebration of the Shining Sons
return, which was held in the main hall of the Gentle Mermaid, a
festhall and gambling house in North Ward. The usual gambling
tables had been moved aside for the night and ringed the room
covered with plates of the Mermaid's usual assortment of canapes
(crab rolls, smoked salmon and silverfin daggers, pickle and
cheese skewers, olive or nut cups, and spicy sausage finger rolls)
as well as a variety of special treats provided for the night
(fruit tarts, honey pastries, small cups of custards and plum
pudding, dried exotic fruits, and in honor of the adventurers,
bowls of Feldyn Goadolfyn's legendary dragon soup. The later
dinner courses were prepared by the famous (according to Darius)
chef Brazaun of Baldur's Gate, so a large crowd was present. As
each guest arrived, servants swiftly but serenely stepped in to
take their winter coats and announce them to the hall.
When Darius stepped into the room, he happily handed his coat and
a card he had made up for the occasion over to a servant and
steped in. The servant announces him as "Darius, First Mage of,
um, ah..." then faltered momentarilly at that point but finished
"...the adventuring company A-F-A-L". Later she explained to her
superior that she was distracted by a strange faint voice that
seemed to be shouting from far away, but also seemed to be coming
from a pouch on the back of his obviously new, but simple, ring
belt.
When Henkles steped into the hall, a servant steped up to take his
overcoat and get his card so that he could be announced, but
before she could, the following announcement rang out from the
general area of his sporan:
"Behold simple folk of leisure, you stand in the presence of a
man of action! You see before you Henkles of Iriaebor, slayer
of untold trolls, minotaurs and other foul beasts; a bold
destroyer of dangerous statuary; sole survivor of two great
and renowned adventuring companies and working his way through
a third; slayer of one of the seven spawn of the legendary
demon penguin Hicktyclikclik; bearer of Balthazar, Hellspawn
of Terror; this is a man to reckon with! As you further
your own simple lives, he acts not for himself, but for the
greater glory of Hurk-Gar, the fallen gnollish champion, and
the glorification of the heroic traditions of his people.
While quietly amassing an arsenal that would bring any weapon
seller to tears, this brave giant of a man, who can dance in a
rain of piercers, charges repeatedly into battle against
superior odds with a manic courage that impresses all who
survive the sight. Yes, take heart, ye of fancy trappings and
hollow titles, for tonight you stand in the presence of true
greatness!"
When the voice stoped, there was a strange, almost eerie silence
in the hall for a moment, broken only by the sound of Narthan
laughing helplessly in the corner. The announcer looked frozen
with horror. There were two Watch Lieutenants, one City Guard
captain and one Magistrate, Marthraren Urmbrusk, in the crowd.
They all headed towards Henkles. They were obviously a little
annoyed at the speech and curious to know the cause. They also
wanted to question him on several details in the speech - the
destruction of statuary and the thunder from Balthazar, Hellspawn
of Terror in particular. Henkles answered their questions as
well as he could, but didn't have a very good answer for "How
close to that sword do you have to be to make it thunder by
mentioning it's name?". They warned him about the City's noise
ordnance, which he wasn't violating yet, but might be if
unexplained thunder became common. Eventually they all wandered
back to the party.
As the evening wore on, there were several cracks of unexplained
thunder which got Henkles some unhappy looks from the city
officials present. Eventually, Henkles stowed both Ilgoth, Belt
Dagger of Might and Balthazar, Hellspawn of Terror in the Fanny
Pack of Holding with Urgoth, Belt Dagger of Doom.
When Stewart arrived, he came in his full ceremonial Priest of
Selune robes, which he kept on, and was announced as "Stewart,
Priest of Selune". He was on his best behavior all night, a good
portion of which he spent keeping Mrap-M'rap from doing unsavory
things in various punch bowls. He mostly did this with threats of
"fixing the cat".
Ursula arrived dressed a little "cooler", wearing the equivalent
of a distributed handkerchief. She was immediately asked to dance
by a rather attractive and rosy-cheeked gentleman, but while she
was still asking how much money he had, they were joined by two
ladies from the Elegant Order of Hostesses, Hosts and Escorts.
The younger one leaned over the gentleman and asked "Brazaun,
aren't you supposed to be preparing the feast? Perhaps you'd like
to show me the kitchen." They left together. The older one
introduced herself to Urusla as Salierna Longtresses, Guildmadam
of the Elegant Order. Salierna politely inquired if Ursula was
familiar with the guild and if she might be interested in
membership. Ursula explained that she moved too often to make it
worthwhile. Salierna let the matter drop at that.
A young lady asked Henkles to introduce her to Dagar, which
Henkles reluctantly did. Dagar seemed eager to talk with Henkles,
but he excused himself for a moment to give the young lady a
chance. When Dagar caught up with Henkles, it turned out that he
was trying to sell the the +1 Medium Shield because the Shining
Sons parents were making the party pay for the reward and the cost
of resurecting Gulthraask. Henkles said that the party probably
wasn't interested at this point. Dagar indicated that he would
probably put it up for auction.
Ursula at one point found herself in conversation with a woman
whom she discovered to be Dagar's sister, Marraba Jhansczil. They
were both civil through the conversation. Marraba inqired where
Ursula got her dagger (of Hurting), she said it was a gift.
Marraba asked (somewhat circumspectly) what became of the Silent
Travellers. Ursula implied that they were wiped out. As the
conversation was breaking up, Henkles, who had been eavesdropping,
interjected "Next time you send someone to kill us you'll have to
do a better job." and ducked back into the crowd. Marraba made no
reply.
During the night, various members of the party also gathered the
following information:
o Dagars older brother, Arrikes Jhansczil was seen at the party
wearing the Reverential Coronet, he seemed quite pleased with
himself and was always seen in conversation with several heads
of households or guildmasters.
o Gulthraask Ammakyl was present, and alive, at the celebration.
He was in a wheelchair, but given the number of pretty young
things hovering around him to make sure he was all right,
there was some doubt as to his actual need for the wheelchair.
o Most of a dessicated beholder corpse had been discovered the
day before in the Rat Hills (more or less the city dump) by a
member of the sanitation guild. He had been trying to sell it
without a great deal of luck.
o A ghost ship manned with dead sailors has been attacking
merchant vesels up and down the Sword Coast. The local Master
Mariners' Guild has grown quite concerned and is trying to
gather resources to deal with the problem. So far they are
getting no help from the Shipwright's Guild.
o The war between whoever is smuggling smoke powder through the
City and the Lords of Waterdeep has escalated. Some of the
guilds and warehouse owners in the City, concerned about
continuing property loss, have posted a 15,000gp reward for
the capture of the smugglers or effective, provable
destruction of their operation. Henkles passed on to the
guilds that the party had met with a smoke powder attack in
Undermountain and learned that his was the first known report
of smoke powder activity in Undermountain.
Party collects reward and distributes 720gp to each. Narthan
repayed another 800gp for the ring, Henkles and Cassie 1000gp
each.
Lady Aulustriel resigns as High Mage of Silverymoon and becomes the
first Overlady of Luruar, the Moonwoods-Delzoun Confederation.
