The party disperses upon arriving in the dusty town of Terrelton. Fortunately, a gentle west breeze carries the tannery fumes away to the east and the town is not engulfed in that stench, though the darkly stained sky hints at the source of Terrelton's income and its reason for existence.

Some party members end up immediately at the Tawny Hide Inn to secure accommodations, while others end up at any number of taphouses and taverns that line the main throughfare, and still others go out in search of a good pack animal or perhaps mount. In any event, the adventurers spend some period of downtime recuperating from their expeditions to the Tomb of the Insatiable Savant and Barren Hill. They likewise keep their ears to the ground for any rumor or talk of matters of interest to adventurers.

As to the matter of the Jackals, the party learns the band of brigands has been active of late along the road between Terrelton and Nimon's Gap, launching a few raids on caravans and travelers crossing a bridge just west of Nimon's Gap. Supposedly, one of their recent victims was a nobleman of some influence from distant lands, and of course this sets many talking about what kind of lucrative treasures the Jackals must have made off with.

The party also confirms the going bounty on the Beast of Barren Hill is set at 500 gold pieces to any who can slay the Beast. Whether the adventurers share their knowledge of the Beast is entirely up to them, but it is a safe assumption that the people of Terrelton imagine something more terrible than a circus bear. But the Beast is no simple circus bear, as it seems to have the company of a crazed gnome sorcerer, which could account for the wildly varying reports of the Beast's appearance as something more sinister.

Finally, during the party's downtime they sift through the loose sheets of parchment they gathered up with the Tomb of the Insatiable Savant. Most contain rather mundane bits of lore of interest perhaps to a scholar, but even these are incomplete and of dubious value. One sheet of parchment does stand out however, an old map showing the location of Vraath Keep and hints within the map itself of a vault containing a great treasure. The keep is purported to be located about 10 miles northeast of Drellin's Ferry, just off the Old North Road.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:42, Sun 16 July 2017.

Eoni heads for the Tawny Hide to secure lodging for the night, and a bath.  She'll also inquire if there are any caravan's heading in the direction of Drellin's Ferry.

 Marklin had ten gold pieces on him,that and the gem will more then replace a Spear and whatever burned up . After his  carousing with the Dwarf,we assume he is broke again. But he would save enough to get a room with the Dwarf for the night,at the Inn.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Sun 16 July 2017.

Sarah produces a gold coin to pay for her lodgings.  She also buys a piece of cheese to eat.  In doing so, she looks even more like a human-shaped mouse than she did when eating her bread.

Valthur spends 1 gp to secure a room for himself then, after a short discussion and long sigh at the taproom, agrees to let Marklin share the room ("But you're sleeping on the floor, not me!").

With a room secured and an ale or two in his stomach, Valthur's thoughts turn to Darna Coalhewer back in Drellin's Ferry. He decides it would be a good idea to send her a letter, although he knows very little about how exactly to do such a thing.

He concludes that Eoni and Aldara are the most likely to know the ins and outs of letter writing, so he knocks on Aldara's door to inquire. "Greetings, Aldara. I was wondering if you might have a quill and ink so I could write something... a letter as it were... to someone..." he shifts his weight uncomfortably. "...who I know in Drellin's Ferry."

At some point, after consuming her cheese and ale, Sarah slips out of the inn for a while.

[Private to DM Pawn: OOC: I know I have a contact at the Old Bridge Inn, but lost track of which town it is in. :)  If it's here, touch base with the Halfling Marco Shadowbanks.  I won't do any thieving; just stopping by to say hi.]

Finally clean, Eoni returned to the common room wearing a simple dress and slippers.  She'd clipped the brooch of her order to the front of the dress.  One of the scullery maids had taken her soaked boots and damp clothing to be cleaned by morning.  Who knows what those bears had been doing in that murky water they'd waded through waist deep.

She sat at a table near the wall with an ale and a stack of papers before her.  Her fingers sorted the papers into neat piles as she examined each before moving on.  The Sister of Avandra singled out one parchment for discussion.  The rest she expected to pass on to Sertiernen.  Perhaps they would be of value to the Wizard of Drellin's Ferry.

The rest of them had gone their separate ways once they'd reached town but Eoni expected they'd return to the inn for supper.  At least the ones that could still walk in a straight line.

OOC: 2sp for laundry and boot shining. 1 gp for the dress and slippers.

Finding her previous type of accomodations to her liking, Aldara puts up a gold coin for much the same this time.  She, too, bathes and arranges to have her clothing cleaned.  Of course, before then, money is spent on clothing to wear in the meantime.  It's much the same as what she wears to adventure in, consisting of a tunic and pants with a vest, and comfortable boots.  Just not to be muddied up and dirtied.

After some thought, she resolves in her mind while she bathes that in addition to replinishing her supplies, she will go about buying a mule, and all the things one would need to make a mule happy and productive.  The others would not be told about this decision until after they were all in working order and fed, but Aldara is confident that they would be happy with it!  Of course, one would first need to make a shopping list...while her spell book had plenty of fresh writing material in it, well, it was for spells, and not sells!

A leaf from the book Skunge the kobold left behind would suffice.  As she irreverently plops it down onto her bed and looks for a fairly fresh sheet of paper, the mage hears a knock on her door.  With a sigh, and hiding her books under her covers just in case, she goes to answer it.  It's Valthur, in need of writing supplies.  "Oh, it's only you.  Come on in, I was just starting my shopping list." Sensing what kind of letter the dwarf was going to write, Aldara dug the freshest sheet of paper she could out of Skunge's book, and presented it to him, along with her quill and ink.  "I've only one quill, but extras are on the list...why don't you go first?"

She could memorise what she wanted to buy easily enough, if it came to it.

Good idea, Eoni!

1 Gold Coin for accomodations, 6 for clothing that's not manky (plain clothing is 5, plain boots is 1, both from Rules Cyclopedia), and 2 Silver Coins for laundry.

Buying what I listed in the Out of Character Thread over the course of this stay.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:38, Tue 18 July 2017.

"Many thanks, Aldara." Valthur nods to the magic user and returns to his room, where he spends a great deal of time penning the following letter to Darna Coalhewer.

Dearest Darna,
Greetings from Terreltown. We have just killed defeated the beast of barren hill. Turns out it was a gnome and a circus bear, but we didn't know that until after. My new battle axe is doing good, but so far I only used it on mushrooms. I think about you a lot. Especially whenever it looks like I'm going to get killed. Lucky for me I have not got killed yet!

So I hope you are good back in Drellin's Ferry. I miss you a lot and hope to see you again.

Love, Regards,
Valthur Ironhelm

With his letter finally written, he returns the quill and ink to Aldara and heads down to the commons for supper.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Wed 19 July 2017.

Sarah returns as the customary dinner period winds down.  She approaches the bar and after a whispered conversation with whoever stands behind it she withdraws with a mug of drink.   If any of her companions are present she and her mug join them.

"I guess Marklin is off drinking and Aldara fallen asleep," Eoni concluded as Sarah sat down beside the dwarf.  She hadn't been expecting Marklin to return for a while but had hoped that Aldara would join them to discuss their options.

"I was going through the papers that we found with Ebermund and came across this," she handed Valthur the parchment describing Vraath Keep.  "I'm not sure how old this is or whether it's even true, but it didn't seem that far out our way if we wanted to check it out on the way back to Drellin's Ferry.

"The rest of these," she waved at the other stacks of paper she'd sorted, "didn't seem of much interest.  I was thinking that Sertieren might be interested in them."

The parchment seems to be an old map showing the location of Vraath Keep and hints within the map itself of a vault containing a great treasure. The keep is purported to be located about 10 miles northeast of Drellin's Ferry, just off the Old North Road.

Sarah looks at Eoni with unblinking eyes and says nothing.

Valthur takes the parchment from Eoni's hand and gives it a look. "Vraath keep," he mutters while examining the map. "Now this looks like something worth exploring. And I'll bet Marklin would agree if he were here... and sober enough to see it clearly."

 Marklin came walking into the Inn feeling rather good, after a few tankard of ale. He was far from drunk, but  few steps away from sober.

 The Warrior walked over to the table where three of his companions sat. “ Greetings comrades.” He snapped to attention. “ Greetings Captain Eoni. “ Said with a chuckle, as he flopped down into a vacant chair.

While discussing future purse-lining opportunities over the dinner, the party is approached by a caravan master, Sal, out of Brindol, headed to Drellin's Ferry in two days. The caravan is licensed to the Five Marks Trading Coster and is ultimately northward bound through The Endless Plains, but Sal says he will offer the adventurers a lift in exchange for their protection along the way. Leaning closer he whispers, "What with them Jackals about..."

He's willing to pay them 5 gp each for their troubles, "Beats walking anyway," Sal says with a smile. "Think it over if you will. We leave in two days." Sal then waddles back to a corner of the tavern given over to draughts.

As Sal waddles away, Sarah's eyes glance around to see if anyone in the room appeared to take particular notice of the conversation.  She then leans in to her companions and whispers:

"'Member, the Jackals are run by th' Merchants Council here.  If we're gonna go with this caravan, we should keep it quiet."

Eoni nodded in agreement with Sarah's advice.

"They're going in our direction," she proposed quietly, motioning for Valthur to pass the description of the keep to Marklin, "and if they headed North after Drellin's Ferry, we could fare them well once we neared the keep."

She then nodded to Sarah and added in the same hushed tone, "If we joined up with them outside of town, we could catch the Jackal's and Council unawares.  Then turn them in to Captain Anitah for a fair trial in Drellin's Ferry.

"I think she said there was a bounty on them as well."

The Captain looked expectantly to the others for suggestions.

Aldara comes down shortly after Valthur.  She seems intrigued by the prospect of looking into Vraath Keep.  "It sounds promising, and we all work very well together." As if trying to bite back a smile, her eyes quickly dart from Eoni to Marklin.  Then, with all due seriousness, she nods to Sarah and Eoni.  "Noted, and a very good idea, Eoni!  I've picked up a new trick to help us out with any such dogs we might encounter on our way.  It won't make them compliant or drowsy, buy it might give them something to think about."

 MArklin listened to the conversation at the table. He folded his arms and slowly nodded as the others knocked around what they where going to do next.

"If we accept that fat ones employment, we see him to his destination, the head for the Keep.  We accept his coin, we see the job to the finish." He said in lower then normal tone of voice.

Vatlhur sets down his mug, belches, and wipes a thin line of froth from his mustache. "Drellin's Ferry? That would bring us close to Vraath Keep." He leans in and lowers his voice. "And with the map we found, that could prove to be a lucrative deal."

He considers whether or not to mention his other reason for wishing to return to the town, that being the fair-haired maiden he met the last time they were there. It only takes a moment for him to decide those matters are best left to himself, although he can't help but smile at the mere thought of Darna Coalhewer.

With apparent consensus, Eoni concluded quietly, "We can leave tomorrow afternoon and make camp for the night a short ways from town.  The next morning, we'll keep watch for the caravan and join up as they pass."

Eoni was pleased with the course they'd set and hoped to bring the Jackals in to face the consequences of their actions.

OOC: Unless anyone has anything else to add, I think we're ready to proceed with this plan.

Having agreed on a plan, the party eventually goes their separate ways for the evening.

The next morning the party sees to any final preparations and meets up around noon to begin their westward march along the Dawn Way toward Drellin's Ferry. It is an especially hot, still day as the party departs Terrelton, the sun beating down mercilessly. These are sparsely settled lands though the adventurers are aware of a few caravan campsites along the way, where fire rings and wells offer some semblance of comfort between stretches of civilization.

It is just such a spot the party settles on shortly before sunset. The wooded location offers a good view of the nearby road in both directions and the group settles into watch rotations for the night. There were no Jackal sightings during the day, but that's not to say they are not out there. This stretch of road is prime operating ground for the brigands.

In any event, the evening passes uneventfully and morning comes. It is warm and still again, promising another day of sweltering, dusty travel. Fortunately, the caravan should roll through at some point, allowing the party to ride for the last 20 miles of the journey.

Sure enough, a few hours before noon somebody spots a cloud of dust on the road to the east. Eventually, a line of wagons emerge from the dark splotch: The Five Marks Trading Coster!

Pulling up, the carvan master tells the party they encountered no resistance along the way, "Smooth traveling, if not a bit on the hot side," the large man says while dabbing his forehead with an embroidered handkerchief.

A few moments later the party is seated atop wagons and riding toward Drellin's Ferry. The rest of their travel is equally uneventful, just blazingly hot. Soon the party spies Drellin's Ferry ahead, a collection of small buildings along either side of Elsir River. Completely drenched in their own sweat and road dust, the town comes as a welcome sight.

For his part, the caravanmaster intends to secure lodging at The Old Bridge Inn. True to his word, he pays each adventurer 5 gold pieces for their efforts.