The ship docked in Mitrik late in the afternoon on the fourth day of the voyage. Arya and the other adventurers were paid 8 gp total, as per agreement. At that point, Cassius, Tobi and Enox all had reason to take leave of the venture. Thurl was disappointed, but undestood. “There’ll be a place for you on my ship if you find yourselves able to return,” he assured the departing adventurers. He and Elwood then searched for replacements, and soon hired three new guards: Strife, an elven ranger; Balefire, a human rogue; and Kronk, a half-orc corsair–an unusual combination, and none too bright at that.
On shore, Arya and her new companions asked for directions to a quality tavern and inn. Balefire learned of three nearby inns. “The Brave Axe sounds good,” he said. “It’s about a twenty minute walk from the docks.”
“I could use a good stretch of the legs, at that,” said Arya. And so the party set out for the inn.
The inn was very busy when the party entered. Strife and Balefire went to reception to obtain rooms for the party, while Arya and Kronk got a table in the common room for dinner.
At reception, Strife and Balefire spoke to an old man behind the counter. Strife asked about the availability of suites. “Been on a boat,” he said. “We want comfort.”
The innkeeper was not impressed. “Are you sure you can afford it?” he asked dubiously.
“How much is it?” inquired Strife.
“For you?” replied the innkeeper. “Four gold per suite, per night.”
Not batting an eye at the very high price, the two adventurers took one suite for two nights. “That will be eight gold, please,” the innkeeper requested. Strife paid up, reminding himself to collect two gold each from the others. Balefire handed his share over right away.
After arranging for the accommodations, Strife and Balefire joined Arya and Kronk in the common room. The room had, if anything, grown even more boisterous. Several loud and obnoxious drunks were making themselves heard at the top of their voices.
Despite the noise, Kronk tried to listen in on nearby conversations, hoping to hear some interesting rumors. Strife scanned the crowd, looking for possible threats.
Arya signaled to a waitress that she was ready to order. The special of the day looked appetizing: for one gold piece, dinner included a prime steak, mashed potatoes, and assassin vine berry pie. Arya paid for all of the party. “Thanks, lady,” grunted Kronk, trying to sound polite.
Strife soon advised the rest of the party that he hadn’t spotted any obvious dangers.
“Think I heard something,” reported Kronk. “Someone say strange things going on. Some place called “the Bramblewood”.” Apparently, another voice had confirmed the rumor: travelers coming out of the Bramblewood were afraid of some unknown force. Still another added that people were reporting having strange dreams, in which they were falling through space and seeing strange creatures.
Balefire knew exactly where the Bramblewood was located. “It’s just north of Thornward,” he told the group. “Oh, that Bramblewood!” exclaimed Kronk, slapping his forehead.
Dinner arrived, and the party dug in with gusto. As they ate, they noticed that the common room included a raised platform, apparently a stage of some kind. It was well lit.
Then, a customer –apparently a young man of some means, likely inherited from the looks of him –got up from the table where he had been dining with three friends, also apparently wealthy and spoiled, took to the stage, and began to sing and perform. Try to sing and perform, that is. Many of the customers watched. Many others tried not to watch.
Balefire had something else again in mind. He decided to try to pick the singer’s pocket! Kronk, amused by the audacity of the idea, planned the operation with the rogue, together with Strife ans, surprisingly, Arya.
The singer completed his performance, and the adventurers put their plan into effect. Kronk distracted the singer by bumping into him, knocking him to the floor. Quickly, Balefire picked him up. “So sorry about my clumsy friend,” Balefire apologized. As he made a show of helping the inebriated performer back to his feet and dusting off his cloak, he deftly reached in and picked the man’s pocket.
Meanwhile, Arya and Strife attempted to distract the singer’s friends. Arya loosened the lacing of her blouse, affording a view of her ample assets to any intoxicated onlookers. She then sidled up to the young man who appeared to be the senior member of the group (all of 23 or so, she estimated), and leaned over his shoulder, draping her arms around his neck.
“Hello, handsome,” she purred, licked her lower lip, and gave him a look. The look provoked the desired response.
“Well, well, mates, what have we here?” the young fellow called out boisterously to his friends. “Some sailor boys, and a sailor girl!” He turned around and leered at Arya. “Why, I’ll bet you could take on a whole ship’s crew and leave ‘em all beggin’ for more!” His friends roared with laughter. “You tell ‘er, Arsie!” exclaimed the younger of the two remaining friends, no more than 18 by the looks of him.
“Yeah,” agreed the other friend, “show her what a real man’s like!”
“As if you’d know, Nuall!” jibed the youngster.
The target of Arya’s provocative behavior took the bait. “Come here, dearie! I’ve got something for you. And you’ve got plenty left for me, I’ll wager!” He pulled her onto his lap, shoved a groping hand inside her blouse, and tried to shove his tongue down her throat at the same time.
But Arya was far too quick for the inebriate. She sprung off the lout’s lap. He clumsily got up out of his chair and began to follow the lithe half-elf adventurer. She turned around, and delivered a quick but vicious kick directly to the crazed groper’s privates! He doubled up in pain and fell back into his chair.
Strife laughed hysterically. As did the stricken lout’s companions. “Hey Arsenius!” cried Nuall. “Betcha you’ll not walk again tonight!” He glanced at the other young man, who was laughing so hard his eyes were watering. “Looks like Lomin’d agree with me there!”
While the overly-friendly Arsenius continued to bend over, shielding his injured assets, Arya quickly cleared out. Strife bowed to the fellows and followed her. Kronk had left previously. Balefire had pointed his victim back to his friends, sent him on his way, then had also dashed away.
All four adventurers headed back to their suite, which was of very high quality for a mid-level inn. Everyone wanted to know what Balefire had scored! He pulled his hand out of his pocked and opened it to reveal two items: a gold ring, set with a moonstone; and a gold coin of unknown origin and denomination, but bearing a shield on it.
“Wonder where this comes from?” said Strife. “A moneychanger might know,” suggested Arya. “Likely he would deal in many foreign currencies.” The adventurers agreed to look for a moneychanger in the morning.
The party arose at dawn the next day. Immediately, Arya decided to head to the front desk to ask about a moneychanger.
Kronk asked to examine the ring. His half-orc expertise in appraising fine jewelry informed him that the ring was worth 50 gold pieces. “Not bad, I say,” remarked Kronk. Balefire looked skeptical but said nothing.
“Think I’ll go down to the common room,” said Strife. “See if anyone’s up yet. Anyone looking for that ring. Like old Dawes,” he added, referring to the ring’s owner, whose name he had heard during the previous evening’s activities.
Once in the (nearly empty) common room, Strife attempted to home in on the few early-morning customers present, but heard nothing of interest. The other party members decided to skip breakfast. Arya took Balefire to the front desk, now staffed by young human girl. “Can you direct us to an honest moneychanger anywhere nearby?” asked Arya. The girl readily provided directions to an establishment about ten minutes’ walk from the inn, and the adventurers headed there without delay.
The two soon reached the small establishment with the sign that read, “Currency Exchange and Investment Management”. Inside, they met with the proprietor, a middle-aged human man named Pavel.
Balefire produced the mystery coin. “Can you identify this coin?” asked Arya.
For the small fee of five copper pieces, Pavel took a look at the coin. Then he looked around and whispered, “Where did you get this?”
“I got it from my mom,” answered Balefire, bluffing unconvincingly.
“Seriously?” the skeptical Pavel replied.
Arya intervened. “We found it,” she told the moneychanger.
“Well, I wouldn’t tell anyone about this,” said Pavel. “It’s a greatshield. Equivalent to an ordinary gold piece. It’s the currency of Ket.”
“We’re not from here,” Arya responded. “We came into town only yesterday. Could you please explain what the problem is with Ket?” Pavel proceeded to brief Arya and Balefire on the current situation with Ket, an analysis which was consistent with what Captain Elwood had told them at the beginning of the voyage. “It’s not illegal to hold Ket currency. In fact, relations between the Canon –our leader –and Beygraf Arpad of Ket are quite good. It’s the old hard-liners in Lopolla who have been stirring up trouble, and people here don’t like it and tend not to make the distinction between the two.”
Arya and Balefire thanked Pavel for his services. “We’ll keep that in mind,” said Arya. “We hope to do business with you again,” she added. She and Balefire then took their leave of the moneychanger. Balefire returned to The Brave Axe, hoping to gather additional information about current events.
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