Wild:6 The Blood Storm

Starring: Nathaniel, Brilla, Bo & Ko, Fuelwen, Rake
Guest Starring: The villagers of the Erythnulite hamlet,
Challenge: Magmin, Howler
Location: Lull, unnamed Erythnul hamlet, Brownslip, Quiet Citadel
Date Played: 02 Apr 2009

Approaching the unknown town

Fuelwen: None of us knew quite what to expect in this town. We approached cautiously- mostly. Nathaniel eschewed the ambush I had been planning and approached the town openly. Most of the party joined him, so Brilla and I held back, hiding in the woods, prepared to leap in when things went bad, as they inevitably would.

Or not. As it turns out, the locals were fairly nice. There was nothing personal about the assault on Quiet Citadel, they held no grudge and sought no vengeance and were happy to accept us into the town- for a night, anyway.

Dialogue with the priestess of Erythnul

Fuelwen: I mostly ignored Rake's conversation (and "conversation") with Tom Fick, Priestess of Erythnul. He converted with his typical enthusiasm. One among our party has completed the largest leg of his quest. In light of this, my quest seems even more impossible than before.

Rake fights for glory in the pit

Fuelwen: Depressed over the impossibility of my quest, I decided to move the process along. There was no way Tom Fick would allow us to remain in town without some participation in the rituals of slaughter. I pressed the point about the locked shed, Fick asked us to participate in ritual combat- demanded, I guess, but there was no reason to refuse the request.

We fought two pairs of ugly beasts. We killed them. Compared to an average battle, this was trivial. It brought back fond memories of my youth. A few miles from my town was a deep caldera where my peers and I would swim to spend hours fighting each other. Mostly to first blood, occasionally to disfigurement. Once in awhile, there was an accidental death.

Exploring the rest of the island

Fuelwen: Fick did her thing with Rake, he was happy and a bit confused, but it was time for us to move on. Again, I was aching to return to my crew and get on with our real work- hunting down Sekolah to the west. We circumnavigated the island, stopping off in every major settlement looking for Willamina. We didn't find her, of course.

Fuelwen holds up sign, "Willamina", as crusaders return

Fuelwen: But we did return to Quiet Citadel just in time to meet the returning crusaders. The idiots were dressed like turtles in the heaviest armor possible- I can't imagine facing them on the battlefield. I would die from laughter. In any case, uninterested in trying to pry my way past their shells, I held up a sign with Willamina's name on it.

She eventually found me, and greeted me with a staggering blow. She was displeased with the improvements we had made in her absence. After confirming that she was One Thumb's heir, I offered up the will. She had no interest in his possessions, so, to get it out of the way, I had her sign the tavern over to me.

I have no interest in being an innkeep, but I can either sell it and get more capital for the purpose of funding my expeditions, or I can spend a few weeks or months getting it settled in with a competent manager, and use it as a steady source of income- if I'm willing to return to Great Fortress from time to time. And there is the fact that it is capable of teleporting.... Such a thing is not to be looked upon lightly, especially given the challenges posed by my quest. I will most likely keep the tavern.

Downtime

You will have one day of downtime as the ship travels uneventfully, and six days of downtime in Great Fortress as paperwork is processed. Let's take care of it here/by email.

• Fuelwen
  • Shopping: I'd like to track down a Mithril buckler. If someone *ahem* with actual haggling skills wants to take point on that, it'd be greatly appreciated.
  • I intend to hire on an innkeep, if possible. They get room and board, 15 gold up front, 50 gold to redo the place, 50 gold for supplies. When I'm not in the city, they can pay themselves out of the daily take so long as they bank 10% of the daily take. If, when I return to the city, anything is not to my satisfaction, I'll turn them over to Rake.

Rewards

Loot on slush.

+at least 200 XP