Brillik was happy, but fairly quiet during the trip back to Phandalin's Inn.  He contemplated just how close they got to dealing with something that could have been way out of his league, out of their league.  It kept him pretty quiet until they actually saw the outline of the place he knew so well.  As soon as they got to the inn Brillik orders an ale and drowns it quickly.  Afterwards he seeks out Gundren's company and does his best to talk about all the murderous Orcs, and massive castle sized boar, making sure not to leave out the best part, where he grew to a great size as well and wrestled it to the ground.  As he spoke Brillik continued to drink well into the night, almost starting a fight.... or two.

As the group sat down to the telling of their tale, and the consumption of their ale, Akyra took up the mantle of narrator. Shortly into her narration, mugs of ale or other appropriate containers of other favored drinks were sat in front of each member, by the tavern keeper and/or his wife. The whole place grew quiet and still as the story unfolded, and as new patrons from around the town began to trickle in searching for news, they picked up on the captivated atmosphere and did their best to remain reverent as they tip-toed their way to a perch.

Gundren's brows raised at the mention of cultists and avatars; clearly news that he had not anticipated hearing, on either account. As the rest of the story unfolded, the dwarf's bushy brows more or less stayed raised for the entirety of the tale involving the cultists, the fighting, and the events at the alter concluding in Akyra's shift in color as she was born again through electricity and pain. He was brought back down as the tone turned more somber and Akyra spoke of her past.

"The worshipers of Talos generally gather in coastal regions, to be nearer to his storms, and experience his violence first hand, upon the waves. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that some have gathered here, but I've never seen or even heard of his followers in this area."

posting this from work as I have a bit of free time, I'll add more to it later

Will bathe and luxuriate in the simple pleasures of civilization. Even as hungry as she is finally she will join the others after her clothes are cleaned and ready to be presentable again. She will gather with her sister for a meal finally asking for a hearty one.

"Yes, it was certainly something. That boar." She shakes her head a bit. Trust Gundren these followers had his blessings they could all hurl lightning."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Thu 22 Sept 2022.

Khorth was not interested in talking more than he needed to, so he let Darkscales do the tongue wagging. He ordered a hunk of raw meat and gorged himself, as the meals had been unsatisfactory during the walk back. Remembering from the last time that he could not curl up in front of the massive fire in the main room to sleep, he got to his room to sleep off his meat. If there was anything important to be learned, he trusted the cleric would tell it to him.

Details of the story were shared, food and drink were consumed and replenished, and various forms of celebration began to start up as gossip spread. Brillik let slip his wishes for wrestling, and not long after a space was being cleared out in the square for exactly that. Miners from all over had gathered in this town in preparation of Gundren's excursion into the lost mines, and many of those hard workers were also growing restless of the waiting, and happy to burn off some of that energy in the form of competition. Drinking and gambling naturally followed, and soon there was a feeling of celebration throughout much of the town.

With no time to prepare, the options for food were mostly restricted to smoked meats, cheese, breads, and vegetables, but food was food and the people weren't picky for such an impromptu celebration. As others joined in, you could hear different version of the tale being told as each time bits and pieces of the story were forgotten, but not to let a story flop, new details were improvised in their place and some of you even heard the story told to you with no realization that you were the heroes in the tale. With so many of the town's current inhabitants being travelers like yourselves, recently arrived and here to work for Gundren, it was no surprise that most of the people here were strangers even to one another. Only Akyra and Khorth remained consistent in description, and recognized from the tales.

Throughout the celebration, not one red cloak was seen.

With stories told, celebrations made, people returned to their homes, tents, or rented beds, and the night grew quiet once more. With food and baths as you desired, clothing laundered for those who accepted the offer of such, a night of comfortable rest waited for each of you.

---

In the morning, Gundren gathered the group for breakfast to discuss reclaiming the mine. Don-Jon had returned to join the group as well, having just stepped through the door carrying the hind legs of a deer, recently skinned, "Khorth, I though you might enjoy these. With all the miners in town, the normal food supply's a bit stretched, so I took a group out hunting to help with the load." He nodded to Gundren as he sat down to join everyone for breakfast.

Akyra sat in the inn, close to Gundren. Despite the few days travel, she was still weary from the ordeal, and needed time to think on what happened. The incident upon the tower had changed her in many ways, and she was yet to sort her mind out towards it.

Over the span of the night, people came, wishing to speak to 'the dragonborn who survived', and though weary, she obliged all with words. Some came for her opinion of what happened. Some came wanting to know about Bahamut.  Some just came for a drink.

Many of those, Gundren shoed off like a adult sending off a child. Gundren never asked more of the tale, the two talking about the mine, of their joint past, and even Bahamut and her new path.

The hour grew late, and Akyra was the first to stand, excusing herself to her room. In the privacy, she heard the din of the celebration's downstairs. She removed her armor and weapons, and a stark realization hit her in true symbolic fashion. The magical axe, Windvane sat on the bed, beside it leaned the staff of healing she most recently got.  The axe was a true symbol of her past - the war and military side she still had. The staff symbolized the healing and divine connection she now felt.

...the old and the new.

She picked up the axe and swung it, with a smile.  It was still part of her, and she would keep that. The weapon would still prove useful, but the staff was also now her main focus.

She took off her armor and layed on the bed, removing the new medallion from the pouch, the silver/grey amulet of bahamut. "So it begins." She muttered and she closed her eyes, letting exhaustion take her.

---

Morning dawned, and the long rest done Akyra well. She roze and got into a clean robe, something she don when in town. This robe, a gift from Gundren was a grey/blue material, with embroidery of yellow, white and blue and over the heart, a silver embroidery of the symbol of the platinum dragon.

She came downstairs and sat, ordering warm bread with cheese, fruit preserve and tea. As the others arrived, she greeted each, and when Don-jon came, he smiled as he offered the meat. The cleric looked at Gundren. "So....where does our path lead to next?"

Gundren then went into his plans with reclaiming the mine, "For my part, the next step in finding Wave Echo Cave is retaking the ruined dwarven fortress of Axeholm, facing Vyldara the banshee, and the undead dwarves that still roam its halls. If you can help me get through her and the dwarves, then its only a matter of searching the place until we find the entrance to the Cave. As I mentioned before, no one has any knowledge of what we'll find once we reach the cave, other than the magical forge that we're going for. There could be any manner of beasts living down there. Undead are likely, I would say." Gundren paused as he thought of any other details he may have forgotten, or any other creatures he expected to be there, "I can't imagine that a normal race of the living is there, or we likely would have already been fighting bands of orcs with magical spears and the like."

"It's just speculation, of course. We'll know more once we get inside. My brothers are already working with a team of miners to clear the path into Axeholm. They should be finished by the time we arrive. It's a bit of a hike, and the temperature will drop as we climb up into the mountains, but at least we won't be going into the snowcaps, so it should be bearable even without cold weather gear."

Gundren glanced over at Don-Jon, who shared a nod with the dwarf before joining in, "I don't know how well versed you are on your undead lore, but I know a few things about banshees that might help to keep you alive. First, there's no sneaking up on a banshee. She can feel your life force coming from miles away, whether she can see you or not. The second you get within range of her, she'll know that you're there. Some banshee's only get that much, that you're somewhere nearby. From the accounts we've read or heard about Vyldara herself, she's stronger than that. She'll know where you are; precisely. She's not solid, she can move through walls like they're nothing. She can even move through you."

"No matter how highly you think of yourself, or what you've faced before, odds are your blood's going to run cold just at the sight of her. Some of you might run away, some of you might find that your feet don't work when you try telling them to run toward her. Neither of these is cowardice or anything like it, the fear that you'll face in her comes from a dark magic."

"And if that's not enough, then there's the banshee's wail. They say the scream of a banshee is so powerful, so sad and full of loss, that simply hearing it may be enough to kill you."

Gundren gave that a moment to sank in before he added in a more reserved tone, "The dwarves are your more typical kinds of undead; zombies, ghouls, that kind of thing. If there's worse than that, no record of it exists. Vyldara is the main threat, and a threat she is."

In reply to Psynister (msg # 10):

Ariadne raised an eyebrow, and smiled wryly.
"You sure know now to show a lady a good time, Gundren""

"I think we should visit the shrine here before heading off then. Having foreknowledge of the undead is certainly a benefit."

Raising a green hued eyebrow at Ariadne, "You enjoy some unusual things."

In reply to Lady Chlora (msg # 12):

Ariadne grinned at Lady Chlora.
"What's the point of life, if you can't enjoy yourself, right?"

"Well said !" Chlora found herself almost smiling and perhaps she even did as she lifted her mug to Ariadne in a toast.

In reply to Lady Chlora (msg # 14):

Smiling, the druid joined the toast

Akyra, fiddled with the amulet at her neck as she thought of what the human and dwarf told her. With her new found power, she felt she had more strength over the undead, something that may make all the difference in this. She looked at them. "I will be able to help with the undead - to some degree. My powers are limited in this, but before my change they were weaker still. Now, i feel i can excerpt some influence over them....even the banshee."

She was sure she could fight off the undead influence for one person, as well as blunt her scream with a spell of silence, and the staff could heal some of the effects.

She looked at the dwarf. "When do we leave?"

Khorth as his usual, had raw meat for breakfast, that he was tearing into with his sharp teeth. He listened to the dwarf banter and caught only what interested him.

"The Mother doooes nooot like dead that walk, it is my duty toooo destroooy them where they stand. The Mother will bless this hunt, it will be a gooooood oooone."

He grinned then returned to his meal, half listening.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:14, Tue 04 Oct 2022.

Brillik listens to Don Jon as he tells his tale, and warns the group of the encroaching undead menace.  A shiver runs the length of his spine and he can be seen visibly shaking the effect off.

"[Language unknown: Linrutove Nasean ceunil], I hate undead.  The dead belong in the ground after they've lived their cycle."  He takes a long draught of his ale, and continues listening.

"If I had doubted for a moment whether or not you would know the steps to the dance, I would not have invited you onto the floor." Some of you knew the business side of Gundren's personality, some the friendly and personable side, others the warrior, but regardless of which form of Gundren you were most familiar with, you all recognized that bit of sparkle you now saw in his eyes. He was excited.


"Aye. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask the question, whether she has an answer or naught."


Gundren replied simply to Akyra's question, "We'll be ready to leave within the hour."

"Don-Jon and a small company of miners will accompany us until midday tomorrow, then his group will split off to pick up a shipment from Leilan. We'll push onward to the dwarven fortress to face the banshee's forces and find the entrance to the mine."

Toward Khorth and Brillik, Gundren nodded his head, "We're all agreed on that."

We'll take care of the visit to the Temple of Luck. Anything else you want to do before you set off toward a rather large dungeon?

Akyra sighed and looked at The dwarf and her reptilian friend. "Trust me....this time, i have the dead under control. The two of you do the hard hitting, and my magic will keep the dead at bay." She again looked at her hand and the new color scales.

She snapped out of it and looked at Gundren. "A quick visit to the lady of luck, then we go to the mine and retake what was taken from your people."

Khorth finished the last of his breakfast and licked the blood from his hands to clean them up, before raising his head. "If this lady oooof luck has the healing herbs, I think we shooould stoooock up oooon them. Dead that walk can injure us and we can't depend always oooon Darkscales and Firehairs tooo heal."

Ariadne nodded, eager to get going on the next stage of their Hunt.
"I might want to check out the local Mercantile to pick up any other mundane materials we might need, like tools and herbs"

Zhalis had been quiet most of the walk back and with the influx of people spent most of her time at the inn with her sister or hidden away up in their room. However with talks of departing, she chose to chime in, “Do we have rations prepared for the trip? It sounds like we could be gone for a decent amount of time. I would prefer not to starve to death if this banshee doesn’t have her way with us.”

Ariadne chuckled wryly and nodded
"I can hunt and gather for us, but stocking up on the basics wouldn't be a bad idea, just in case.  There's no telling where we'll end up"

"Options run thin with so many coming and going right now, but some provisions are still available. If you're not picky, the innkeeper here can take care of you. If you like the usual menu, there might be a few left at the Lionshield Coster. If you can forage along the way, that might be your best option."

Those who wished to buy gear found the Lionshield Coster was indeed low on supplies compared to when they had first arrived in town, but there were still goods to be found.
Adventuring gear is in somewhat short supply because of the higher than normal amounts of traffic, thanks to Gundren bringing in so many miners. If you want to try to buy something, roll a d20 per item, 8+ means it's available while 1-7 means they're out of stock. If it is in stock, you can find the quantity you're looking for. Items that cost more than 200gp are not available at all from this small village.

It might get a bit confusing with people going to different places, but since my posting schedule is kind of all over the place right now, we can handle all the shopping at different places in this thread, and you can be at whatever location you need to be for said shopping.

Those who made their way to the Shrine of Luck found both the priestess and her acolyte were present today. When the question of healing potions was raised, Nyevnen smiled, "As a matter of fact, we received a new shipment just this morning."

In total, there are 5 Healing Potions and 3 Greater Healing Potions for sale, at a 30% discount to the group.

Akyra managed to scavange a few meagre items for the road - a day old half loaf of bread, some cheese and cured meat - enough for one day for the group. She had need of a new shield, the old one melted away so she went to the lionshield.

The people there (Like most) were curious about her, and when she enquired about a shield, they had one, a oval shield of burnished design and no image. it was plain, but strong, so she paid for it and met the others at the shrine.

She smiled at Nyevnen as she arrived, placing a hand over her heart. "Bahamut's blessings to you sister. We would like to buy some healing if you'd allow. how much will they set us back?"

"If you are in need of healing spells, we can perform some limited amount of those today. Prices vary depending on what you need, how powerful the magic is. You don't...seem to be particularly injured, though. If you mean that which you can carry around with you on your next adventure, we do have some available to you," Nyevnen pointed out the eight vials, "These, together, are a small fortune to most of our locals, seven hundred gold coins worth of magical imbibement. These three of the higher concentration were made because there are dangers here that we now know about thanks to your work. We can offer them to you at a discount, for all that you have done. Thirty-five for these, instead of their normal fifty. And these, for one hundred each. Four hundred seventy-five in total."

The next 3 people who reply, please include a straight d20 roll in your post.

Akyra looked at Nyevnen with a smile, and nodded. "Bahamut has gifted me a more solid connection with him since i saw you last - i feel his magic flowing through me. I am capable of healing, but i think one or two of your potions may benifit us on our next leg of our journey."

---

<OOC: Akyra Clethtinthiallor rolled 9 using 1d20.  straight roll>