We had lunch at the inn and Lhoss shared that she had overheard some talk about another band of adventurers in Orlane. We thought to find out where they were and see if they are friendly or not, so we headed over to the Golden Grain Inn. There we saw two older men engaged in an early drinking game, and at one corner table there was someone in a hooded cloak
Innkeeper Bertram welcomed us and Lhoss asked about another adventuring party. He said three people, including a strongman, were looking for torchbearers, and they stayed the night. He thinks they found a couple of farm lads looking to make some extra money, and he thought he heard something about either Hookhill or Hochoch, but he can’t remember. He suggested talking with Molly, who spent more time serving them.
Molly, a young woman with braided blonde hair, comes out from the kitchen. Molly said they were two men and an elf, and they seemed decent enough people, paying good coin for torchbearers. Their leader was a thin man named Sly, who did most of the talking. There was a larger man who seemed interested in her, and an elf who seemed aloof. They were going to the barrowmarsh in search of adventure, calling themselves “The Boon Companions”, and they had talked about going to the jeweler for something important.
We found that interesting and left to see the jeweler, Haskell. He said some other adventurers had come by the day before but had little to share. We then decided to split up around the town and watch the roads, as well as ask around if anyone else had seen the adventurers.
Lhoss went to Ramne’s to chat and to watch the northern road. He had a lot of questions about how she is using her spells and generally getting on as his pupil. He made dinner and they stayed the evening on the porch and were entertained by Whiskers.
Kyro went to the Temple and they greeted him warmly. They had lots of tasks for him and while working and chatting he learned there was some conflict with the clerics.
Hilja went to the Slumbering Serpent and spent time drinking, eating, and listening to conversations. She heard a lot of talk about the newcomers in the area, those building new homes, and how Orlane is changing. The talk had a somewhat negative tone and there was some grumbling about the land being divided up.
Feno and Eldriel went to the elves’ house to see if they had seen the other adventurers. They had not, but said they would keep a watch out for them. They also talked about elven matters and how Orlane is primarily a human town and nation, and how they are politely received but sometimes hear rude comments and experience faux pas from humans dealing with elves.
Arnd went back to the Golden Grain Inn, ordered some food and quite a bit of ale, and watched for the possible return of the other adventurers. He did not see the man in the hooded cloak again. Not too many people at the inn were interested in talking, but they were interested in him and asked some questions about dwarves that he found a bit odd though not offensive.
Gnorcia went to Hewitt Twain’s farm where she collected a dozen eggs and shared a meal. The Twain family had seen a fair number of people about, as the town is bustling and still growing. At least ten new farms have been pitched this year. She intuited that prices are going up a bit and it’s a sort of boomtown right now. There was also talk of a militia being put together from Orlane and Hewitt’s sons were ambivalent about joining. After dinner, Gnorcia excused herself to the porch and watched the road.
After about 10 minutes a group of adventurers appeared that seemed to match the description from earlier. Gnorcia shadowed them to the Golden Grain Inn.
As Arnd was eating dinner, a large group of men came in and went upstairs. One of them was an elf. They were wearing armor and the elf was wearing distinctive red chain mail. As they were going up, Gnorcia stepped inside just long enough to motion to Arnd that she was going north, then headed up to find Lhoss.
As she approached the bridge over the river, she saw another large party and hid by a nearby barn to watch. One of them was an elf, two were dwarves, and two were humans, one male and one female. They went to the Slumbering Serpent. Others who appeared to be day laborers also came down the road and went to the Golden Grain Inn. Gnorcia then hurried off to find Lhoss and the two of them split up again, Lhoss to retrieve Kyro from the temple, and Gnorcia to retrieve Feno and Eldriel from the elves’ house.
After explaining what she had seen, Gnorcia invited Feno & Eldriel to go to the Golden Grain Inn to possibly speak with the elf in the red chainmail. Dorian & Llewellen were also curious and accompanied them. We returned to the inn and foundArnd, who waved us over to his table. Arnd said the group had changed their dirty armor for clean clothing, and had come back down and ordered food. The elf was then dressed in a blue hood and tunic. Dorian and Llewellen said they weren’t familiar with the red chain mail, but they did note that the elf was a high elf, like themselves. Feno, a wood elf, decided to introduce himself to the high elf, who was with the group crowded around a large table. Eldriel (a grey elf) stayed with Dorian and Llewellen at Arnd’s table and watched with curiosity.
Gnorcia and Arnd then decided to see if the dwarves at the other inn were friendly, and excused themselves, heading north to the Slumbering Serpent. As they entered, they found Lhoss and Kyro speaking with Hilja, who had been drinking quite a bit and was rather tipsy. Just then, a group of adventurers came down from upstairs and ordered dinner. Kyro and Lhoss immediately had to wrangle Hilja back into her seat and give her another ale, as she seemed intent on approaching the other group and they didn’t want her doing that in her condition.
Gnorcia, Arnd, Lhoss, and Kyro then left Hilja at her table and moved closer to the other adventurers. Arnd whispered to Gnorcia that the dwarves were Hill Dwarves, whereas he is a Mountain Dwarf and doesn’t associate much with Hill Dwarves. Lhoss noted that the elf was a male high elf with dark hair and he appeared to be both a rather young elf and the one in command of the group. The dwarves were sitting near each other, and the humans were sitting either side of the elf. The male human appeared to be wearing some sort of religious garb, but the female human was oddly spinning utensils on her fingers as she ate. She was also sitting with her back to the wall, watching the room, and appeared to recognize that the group was watching her. Lhoss meet her gaze but soon looked away, intimidated. Kyro stepped up next to Lhoss and glared at the woman, who then looked away dismissively.
The rest of their group then took note of our party before turning back to their food. After about an hour, the room cleared up a bit and the woman and one of the dwarves got up and seemed to go up to their rooms. Emboldened, Lhoss went over to the remaining group and introduced herself. She explained that we were adventurers and were curious about what they were doing. They weren’t very friendly and the elf said that as long as we stay out of their way, there shouldn’t be a problem. Lhoss asked if they were exploring the barrowmaze but got silence in return. We then left and returned to the Foaming Mug where we met up with Eldriel and Feno, and shared what happened in both places.
Feno told us he had introduced himself and the elf at the other inn, who responded by asking him cooly, “Do I know you?” Feno shook his head and asked, “What brings you to these parts?” The elf replied, “Well, that’s my business.” Feno had continued, saying, “I make it my business to keep an eye on elves traveling about with humans.” At that, the others at the table gave him inquiring and slightly hostile looks, but quickly turned back to their food.
Feno said that Dorian and Llewellen didn’t recognize him. Irritated by the elf;s cool responses, Feno convinced one of the bartenders to serve them bad ale. They then got into an argument with their server and the barkeep over the ale and Feno gave the bartender some gold for his trouble. After discussing the results of our evening adventures, we determined that maybe in the future we should try buying ale for folks before we start asking them questions.
The next morning we had breakfast by 5:00 am, and were on our way by 6:00, dragging Arnd and Hilja, who were both a bit hung over. We saw farmers loading food into wagons and heading toward Orlane, and talked to one who was delivering food to the Slumbering Serpent that day. We arrived mid-morning at the barrowmaze, not having seen anyone else along the way. As we were talking about which entrance to go to, a group of skeletons attacked! Hilja immediately cast entangle and five of the seven skeletons were caught in vines. One slowly stumbled out and headed toward Feno, who completely obliterated it. Arnd then stepped up to the other skeleton and obliterated it with his newly-acquired warhammer as well. After that, Arnd demonstrated the hammers throwing feature, destroying all of the remaining skeletons (despite a few bad throws.)
We then went back to the main entrance of the barrowmaze and wound our way through to the obelisk room. From there, we went east and into the catacombs where we had previously discovered a cavelike structure at the end of one of the halls. Arnd led the way with his 10-foot pole, and we wound our way through the cave, finding a few forks and three dead ends before we determined to go back to the first fork in the cave.
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