The next morning found the group up early as the thought of talking to 'Payday' Teedum, The front man/enforcer of Thuldrin Kreed and The Lumber Consortium in Falcons Hollow, was preeminent in their minds.

Rennick, Nomerendal, Arell had met 'Payday' before under very differing circumstances.

Boss Teedum as the Consortium Members called him, was an arrogant bull of a man who had a ready fist for anyone disobeying Consortium Wishes. He was the worst sort of human who had seen his share of brawls and knew how to 'bring the pain' to any unwise enough to cross his path. A bull of a man, whose speed was contrary to his size. His nick name of Payday, wasnt because he paid money to people...but he'd give them Payback....

Usually if something could be pointed at how The Consortium had hurt someone...Payday wasn't far behind it.


The Sitting Duck was merely empty and all the gossip was on the missing shipment. Never had a shipment.gone this long....never...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:54, Wed 21 Mar 2018.

As the others wandered off to find their beds, Nomerendal stayed up, mingling with the dwindling crowd, taking a turn or two or three at plucking out a tune, telling a story, or even singing bits of the Ballad of the Well he was working on. Too tired to sleep, he sat at a booth with his feet up on the bench, staring at the heavy-beamed ceiling.

"The life of an adventurer," Nom mused, unable to suppress a wide smile. "Not the start I would have imagined, but time will tell if this is really a beginning or just an unlucky coincidence of which I played a part..." He glanced over at his pack, sitting in its place by his stool across the room, but now some of the newness was worn off. He smiled again.

As Jarlene finished wiping up the tables and packing trays of mugs back to the kitchen, she felt a strange sensation as Nomerendal's spell was slowly released. She turned to see the little bard leaned back against the wall... asleep and snoring softly...

~~~

"Well, let's see how this goes. Maybe Boss Teedum'll be in a cooperative mood this morning!"

Nom tried to sound hopeful, but the wince on his face betrayed him.

In reply to Nomerendal Tunespinner (msg # 2):

Eldrin rose early and made his way to a small field where he was able to setup a small target and practice his archery. It was nothing like the heat of battle but he knew that muscle memory and instinct were the difference between life and death.

He returned to the inn to meet the others and kept his eyes open to see the signs of the change of life in this little village. The missing shipment was clearly weighing on many.

OOC: 23:24, Today: Eldrin Loralana rolled 20 using 1d20+7.  Perception.

Rennick had been guarding the paper mill since midnight.
OOC: in the previous thread, I wrote that Rennick retired after a little conversation with the guards which occurred in the afternoon. So he slept from 16:30 till 23:30 and then he had some dinner and went on guard duty, which is his job.
He saw the people getting to work in the morning and thought that the work would end within a couple of days if no wood would be coming anymore from the lumber camps.
Rennick's shift would end at 9 o'clock.
Rennick thought that he and some other guards would be called by Payday or another manager of the consortium, because the missing shipment had to be sought and possibly recovered. As far as he knew Payday, Rennick suspected that Payday wouldn't go to the lumber camp himself. He would put pressure on the guards to go investigate and he would pay them just a very small bonus for danger, or none at all. But Rennick now knew that the forest was full of dangers, satyrs, zombies, etc.
So Rennick had told the other guards, whom he was working with, that it would be dangerous to go to the lumber camp and that they should get at least three months' pay extra on top of their normal wages if they were going to look for the missing shipment.

Dorak arose feeling much restored. His mind was active after the stimulating conversation with Arell, explaining of Droskar the fallen smith, who tried to cheat his way to the rewards that others traditionally earned. The conversations had gone long into the night, punctuated by a few ales. Dorak was feeling just fine.....

As the group gradually formed in the Sitting Duck, Rennick looking wide awake from just coming off Guard Duty. Nomerendal, sitting enjoying a sweet roll and some hot spiced tea. Dorak eying the meat pies and sipping some black Tea. Coffee couldn't be found except in the larger cities. Eldrin had a cup of tea in front of him too. Arell hadn't arrived from his room at the court, and Fidget and Francis always seemed to awake later.