The Town Square is a lively throughout all daylight hours; from the first fog-coated moments of dawn until the final pink-and-orange rays vanish over the horizon each evening. The beating heart of Tideswallow, the Square is home to numerous shops and attractions that keep the city thriving.

-A general store.
-The Adventurers’ Guild.
-Temples and small shrines to various deities,
-An infirmary.
-Several small offices.
-The lesser town bank.
-The stables.
-Shops and businesses of varying degrees of quality.
-The lesser town library.
-The town junk shop.
-A book store.
-A butcher.
-A few small dining facilities.
-Town Criers
-And stalls where all manner of trade goes on, often changing hands on a regular basis.

Plenty to see. Plenty to do. And oh so many people wandering about... From here, the entire town stretches out before you, with streets and alleyways leading off into every other district.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:55, Sun 13 Sept 2020.

The longboat carried its cargo of passengers to the docks from the Gilded Hart now sitting at anchor in the Tideswallow haven. Among them a merchant and his wife, a noble, and a haggard-looking priest of Oghma. The merchant talked of the riches to be made in the cultivation and transportation of soybeans, something he apparently felt would revolutionize agriculture. His wife encouraged his talk of avarice while she winked and smiled at the coxswain piloting the boat. The young nobleman looked on with disdain and impatience and the priest stared into the middle distance lost in his thoughts.

Once ashore the merchant strode off direct to the dockmaster his wife in tow, and the nobleman stepped gingerly into a cabriolet. The priest came back to his senses when the coxswain, having unloaded everyone else's luggage, nudged him. Offering his apologies and the blessings of the Lord of Knowledge, Bartimaeus shouldered his pack and took up his crosier and stepped onto the threshold of Tideswallow.

~~ Years searching for this town's name, and at last I am arrived, ~~ he thought. ~~ But where to start in this mass of humanity? Stories begin at the beginning... let us seek those who tell the stories, then. ~~

Once ashore Bartimaeus picked his way between the stevedores, whores, and manure, offering good will to those whose eyes he met. He had taken a crude map of the city out from the other rolled scrolls sticking out helter-skelter and was asking after Skallahafen Street, but was rewarded only with confused looks by the residents.

~~ No matter. Follow the sound of laughter... ~~ for so he thought would mark the Bardic College.

Hours later approaching dusk the priest found what he'd been looking for, but it was hardly what he thought he'd find. Rather than jovial motley and capering, the meeting hall of the Bardic College was abandoned, with broken windows and shutters swinging from one hinge. Bartimaeus looked around to make sure, but the plaques on the marble facade marked it for what it was. Not one to be dissuaded by neglected locations ~~ How often discoveries were made in such places! ~~ Bartimaeus strode to the door and knocked loudly with his crosier.

"I bid you open your doors to a seeker of knowledge! Please, the blessings of the Lord of Knowledge will be yours and your songs imbued with the Truth, if but you would offer me succor." He knocked again and stood there, waiting, as patient as he had been on the journey that led him here.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:34, Thu 10 Sept 2020.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 2):

As day begins to slowly shift to night, the atmosphere of the Entertainment District takes on a notably festive air. Lamp lighters can be seen going about their duties on every corner, igniting the many street lamps of red and blue and green stained glass. Amidst the glow of these lovely sources, people from all across the city slowly begin to pour in; looking for somewhere to spend their coin and time now that the struggles of the day are nearly at their end. Commoners, wealthy folks, guards, and Imperial soldiers alike can be seen wandering the streets as a light fog rolls in off the waterfront.

You have found yourself before the grand marble structure that was once the town’s pride and joy: the Bard College meeting hall. In its current state, however, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it as some sort of fancy facade for a poor-house. The several of its windows lie in shattered ruins. The steps leading up to the main door are cracked, chipped, and in desperate need of a good cleaning. The siding has been left to weather the elements unattended, and you can see several hints of graffiti smeared here and there along its exterior walls, though none directly facing the street (you would need to go around the side of the building to get a good look at any of it). The front entrance, a large mahogany double door, appears completely untouched by the elements, however. It seems perfectly maintained and clean; as though no time has passed for it whatsoever.

As you knock and cry for entrance, you hear no response come from within. However, after several minutes of waiting, one of the doors simply creeks open; seemingly on its own. The interior is poorly lit, with only a dim cyan light lazily shining down from the ceiling of what appears to be one massive room inside. From the doorway, you can only make out a bit of this cavernous chamber’s actual design; with just bookshelves, a few chairs, and a pair of long wooden tables standing askew of the room’s center. Any more, you would need to step inside to see clearly...

(From here, feel free to post any more you do in this area in the Entertainment District thread. We’ll try to keep the organized based on what part of town they happen in and just go from there.)

Settled amongst several of the more gaudy, richly decorated buildings, sits a cozy little wooden structure resembling a cottage more than a shop. Nonetheless, the sign above the door indicates that it is some manner of pawn shop, owned by a man named Milo. Through the windows, you can already see piles upon piles of unsorted junk, baubles, and nicknacks stacked all about the interior. Shelves overflowing with items, books, and various pieces of flotsam and salvage. It looks small, claustrophobic, and like the combined dream and nightmare of the most over-zealous hoarder you’ve ever seen... and it’s door is wide open to you!

Standing outside the shop Bartimaeus stopped and leaned over to Yshtar. "Looks harmless enough, but keep your eyes open." he said quietly.

He paused a moment and asked Oghma for guidance in the coming trial.
  With knowledge of truth and falsehood
  And the wisdom to discern the two:
  Bless me, O Great Scholar.
  [Guidance]

The door was unlocked and Bartimaeus walked in, immediately having to pick his way through the stacks. ~~ This needs a guide. Or an archivist. Or... it's this way on purpose? ~~

"May the blessings of Knowledge and Insight rest perpetual on this storehouse of history." Bartimaeus announced to the otherwise empty store. "Whom may we ask for assistance here?"

Yshtar leisurely and silently followed the priest of Oghma enjoying the stroll in town. If this will be my new home then I better enjoy it. So why is this guy always rushing somewhere like he's on the clock?
"What are we looking for?"
She asked once they entered the junk shop. Yshtar looked around. A lot of junk. Might there be something valuable here? Slowly she walked around on creaking floorboards looking at a shelf here, a pile there. It has been a lucky day so far, why should my luck not continue?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:18, Fri 09 Oct 2020.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 5):

You enter with your greeting, startling an elderly gnome who has been dozing just behind a counter at the far end of the one-room shop. “A-OH Oh, yes! Please, please come in! Do, have a look around. If uh. If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, just uh. Just let me know.”

Now that you are inside, you see that the view from the windows was only the beginning of it. The room is piled high with all manner of useless junk and damaged objects; stacked hap-hazardously into loose mountains, onto shelves, and resting on small tables throughout the little wooden cottage of a shop. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to it any of its placement and a good bit of it looks to have a thick layer of dust covering it.

In reply to GM (msg # 7):

Before they’d entered the shop Bartimaeus answered Yshtar: “We are looking for what lies beneath the facade of this building.”

...

When the gnome answered, he cheerfully responded, “Oh, indubitably, there are a things we’re looking for. But I am led to understand your establishment is meant to be experienced... holistically. Am I speaking to Milo? As the proprietor and of us the one most familiar with the stock, to what items would you first draw our interest? But let me give you some topics” and Bartimaeus tried to grab subjects at random. “... ah... music... hmmm... astronomy, and, um... Drow literature.”

He gave the gnome a broad smile when he finally saw him through the detritus. “I was advised to leave hours free to tour your wares. Lead on, Master Gnome!”

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 8):

He seems utterly bewildered by your enthusiasm, but you suspect much of this is due to him having been asleep right up until you walked in.
The old gnome seems almost unable to keep up with your train of thought, but does his best to answer where he can. “Oh er yes, yes I am Milo. A pleasure. A pleasure.”


He seems perplexed that anyone actually suggested coming here. “Quite strange. Quite strange. Most folks only ever stop in when they’ve nothing better to be doing. Not really something they set a course to do. But you’re welcome to browse all the same.”

He thinks hard as you begin your suggestions, never leaving his spot behind the little oval-shaped counter that makes up the middle of the shop. “Music... music... hmmm... you’ll maybe want that pile there, that shelf there, and those three tables over there!” He points to a massive junk pile, an overstuffed shelf with a busted lute balanced amongst the other objects, and three small coffee tables each overflowing with semi-working curiosities. Amongst those on the tables, you spot some manner of flute and what appears to be a drum amidst the rest of the mess.

It is only when you mention astrology that the Milo seems to truly take an interest in you. “Oh. Oh! A stargazer? Stargazers? You wish to look at the skies at night? They’re quite lovely this time of year! Quite the sight to see when it’s nice and clear!” Hopping over the edge of the counter, he heads over to one of the smaller shelves clearly built for (and probably by) a gnome. From amongst the various bits of flotsam he pulls out a long, rolled up piece of what appears to be sail canvas and a small, intricate-looking brass device you are unfamiliar with.

“Ha! You’ll want these! They’ll be most helpful! Very worth while. Very valuable... you have coin, yes?”

She was surprised how Bartimaeus was able to answer the question she wanted to ask after entering the shop but the man was apparently a good chronochlonger to be able to predict the question. So then the armored woman listened to the two people's conversation then stopped poking around the apparently useless piles of junk she didn't find anything in.

"Do you have anything on Tideswallow's council and how they got there?"

Who knows what the old gnome might have?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:37, Sun 11 Oct 2020.

Bartimaeus looked disappointedly at the piles of broken musical instruments, but brightened at the stargazing equipment. “Fascinating. Could... could you demonstrate its function?” Turning from left to right among the piles of junk he said, “Ahhhh... possibly there is an attic or basement with more room in which we could lay this canvas out more fully?”

“And yes: coin I have. But before we discuss price...” and he gestured at the device, smiling.

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 10):

He distractedly waves off your question as he begins demonstrating how the little device is used. “No, no. Nothing like that. Certainly not.” Then, after a brief moment fidgeting with the apparatus, he suddenly seems to realize what you asked. “No, wait, the other thing. Yes! Yes we do! Over in that pi-NO that shelf! Right over there! Gray cover, green writing on the spine.”

He points over to a shelf full of dusty books that clearly haven’t moved in quite some time. Amongst them, you can see one matching his description. The title Saga of the Saltspire Seven is etched upon the spine in emerald. “Not all the council, mind you, but a few of them feature prominently in it.”

Turning back to the little contraption, he seems to be struggling to get it to function. Finally, after what seems an eternity of waiting, the little latch he had been trying to move at last comes free. The small brass tube that makes up the main bulk of the device suddenly extends, becoming about a foot in length. Several small attachments click out from the sides, becoming a tiny bipod on the bottom of the tube. Between them, a small brass band marked with various measurements connects the two legs of the bipod. From the top there comes a tiny metal sight; just big enough for one to peer through with a single eye. Apertures on the main tube itself open at either end; revealing thick lenses of violet glass. You can’t tell how many there are inside it, but you can see that several can be raised out of the tube to rest in front of the little sight, likely changing the magnification on both the main tube and the sight itself. “This is a... uh... well I don’t actually know if it has a name, but some stargazer years back sold it to me for ship fare out of the city. It lets you trace the constellations in the night sky, pinpoint specific stars, and make them appear much closer than they should be! And this...”

He unfurls the roll of sail canvas to reveal an intricate star map; one wholly unlike any you’ve seen before. The lines tracing the movement of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies seems accurate enough, but there still something so... wrong about it that you can’t quite put your finger on. As if the smallest, simplest details are out of place, while the more complicated portions are all exactly how they should. “This came from a ship captain out of Mesocross. Couldn’t find anyone else to sell it to, so he pawned it off here for rum money.”

The map was unfurled and Bartimaeus examined it. ~~ It’s wrong... but is it wrong as the mosaic was wrong? ~~ he thought.

“What a curiosity. I can see why the fellow was willing to part with this map... it’s all wrong, you see. Well, not all wrong, so much as it is wrong in the particular while being correct in the general. See this here?” He pointed at the moon of Haestrian. “It never intersects with Gracche as it does in the map.” Bartimaeus stood back to regard the map. “It does at least have the virtue of setting the mood. An aesthetic acquisition, perhaps.

“But this.” Bartimaeus said, regarding the contraption. “A kosmoculum. Or at least an attempt at one. This is interesting, indeed. If it weren’t so early in the day I’d ask for the use of your roof to assay it’s qualities. And I would insist on a protective case for a sensitive instrument as this may be.

He turned the kosmoculum over looking for a chalked price or tag. “I see no prices... surely you don’t operate your inventory finances from memory! Come. What would you ask for these?”

---

OOC:
Sorry Yshtar! Not trying to ignore you... just busy talking shop; will include you next post!
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Sun 11 Oct 2020.

The armored woman walked to the cobwebbed, dust covered bookshelf. She cleared some of the cobwebs away - not too much, she didn't want to harm the small creatures living within.

"And do tell how much you charge for The Saga of the Saltspire Seven as well!"

Yshtar added when her companion asked for prices. She was delighted to finally get something on the council. Her fellow travelers on the boat mentioned about the men and women ruling Tideswallow but nothing in particular so Yshtar was eager to learn something about them. I will be your peer eventually.

He nods along with your musings, clearly proud of the pieces you are inspecting so thoroughly. “I wouldn’t know one way or the other. Were sold to me without the slightest explanation of what they were. Only that they were expensive.”


“But of course! What other way is there when you’ve a mind as... as... hmmm.... Sharp! A mind as sharp as mine! Now then, let me see... For the map I would say I can’t possibly part with it for any less than.. 10 gold! As for the kos... kosum... for the star-looker-tube, as you have no doubt noticed it is of fine craftsmanship and particular design... and the lenses are difficult to make, particularly in that strange color... 300 gold!”

He looks over to Yshtar a moment and briefly adds. “25 gold!          No, wait... the other one... Silver! 25 silver!”

"Great! My friend here will buy it in addition to whatever he is getting, won't you Bartimaeus? Knowledge is power, isn't that one of your sayings?"

She beamed a friendly smile at the cleric of Oghma who appeared to be very occupied with the cosmological devices. Meanwhile she flipped the book open to probe what was in it.

In reply to GM (msg # 15):

“Knowledge is the only power, indeed! A trivial sum gladly paid, and the book is my gift to you. For the canvas... 10 gold for this display piece is not insensible, if perhaps an extravagance on my part. Agreed.” Bartimaeus rolled up the canvas and secured it with a leather thong.

“But the craftsmanship required for a precision kosmoculum will only ever be proved with a demonstration. I might be willing to pay 300; or willing to only pay 10 as a curio, like the canvas. Without a demonstration ... I think 100 gold is a reasonable sum. Or we could wait for a clear night? Would that Oghma gave us a sign!” [Druidcraft: weather prediction] “Either way, I’ll hold on to it, in anticipation of an agreed-upon sum.

“But let’s put that to the side for the moment. Is this storeroom the extent of your wares? I’d have thought basement after basement would hold mysteries such as these. Come, Yshtar, don’t you agree? Milo here was able to rapidly point out a book tailored for your purpose at a moment’s notice: do you doubt his mental stores contain greater depths than this one room? Be a mensch, and show us the wares you keep for your discriminating clientele.”

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 16):

The book appears to be a fairly standard collection of accounts concerning the exploits of an adventuring party, known as the Saltspire Seven. Dating back to around 40 year ago, the stories mainly focus around the 6 humanoid members (A warrior, 3 spell casters, a “spellsword,” and a ranger) and a large wolf who was apparently the ranger’s partner. Amongst the various tales of simple quests and little misadventures, it holds a few longer stories concerning several deeds of major significance. The one that particularly stands out is the party’s slaying of a strange dragon in the southern reaches of Veltria, just south of the massive forest outside of Tideswallow.

You don’t have enough time to get too many specifics, but while skimming through you definitely recognize a few of the names. Paula Shadesworn acted as the group’s primary medic. Vernum Cartwright was their strategist and the warrior of note. And Eddard Harper was the one noted as being a “spellsword,” some manner of battle mage often found in the Tenebrian Empire’s employ. While none of them appear to have held any direct loyalty to the Empire itself, all of the members apparat from Shadesworn were born in imperial lands and grew up under their rule.

The  tales within the book are numerous, but not all fo them seem particularly important. Given a few nights with the book, you could likely learn all it has to offer on the backgrounds of these three current council members.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 17):

“Not a chance! These pretty lenses are worth more than that just on their own! If I could just... pry... them... out!”He begins attempting to forcibly remove some fo the violet lenses from the device, likely damaging it beyond repair in the process. However, his old hands are far too weak to accomplish such a task unaided and he quickly abandons the prospect. (Make a persuasion check if you’re going attempt to further barter on the price.)

Through your connection with nature, you determine that tonight won’t be particularly cloudy. It seems to be a fairly mixed reading, with overcast skies part of the night and clear skies during the rest. Timing NG it right, you could easily find yourself a good four hours of clear skies for observing the cosmos.

“Basement? No, no basement here, I’m afraid... There’s the reverse-attic, but that’s where I live. Not a storage space.” He points over toward the ring-like counter in the middle of the room. You suspect that somewhere within its confines you would find a trap door leading down to the.... reverse-attic...

In reply to GM (msg # 19):

“Carefulcarefulcareful!” Bartimaeus exclaimed! “You’ll ruin it to worthless!”

Breathless, he calmed when Milo stopped.

“With tonight’s sky I should be able to conduct a trial. Be a bit more reasonable about the price of an apparatus you don’t yourself know how to use, and offer me a 48-hour money back guarantee, if returned in like condition.”

---

OOC:
11:55, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 20 using 1d20+2+1d4 ((17,1)).
That's Persuasion, btw.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

Bartimaeus' remark and question piqued her interest. The old gnome definitely knew what was on the shelf. And a special basement holding items of interest? She looked intently at Milo as the gnome worked on the trinket trying to discern whether he hides something. She didn't really see any lies in the eyes of the gnome but just for good measure she opened her spiritual third eye to see if there was anything amiss with either the shop, the gnome or even Bartimaeus. She shrugged at the priest's suggestion.

"This is just a pawn shop. I don't think Milo stores anything else downstairs than his hard earned income."

20:48, Today: Yshtar rolled 2 using 1d20.  insight.
 Activate Divine sense, uses left: 3/4
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Mon 12 Oct 2020.