New OOC
Bottle:
Carved from obsidian, hewed and halled by dwarves, the bottle works like a way to transport dangerous and potentially toxic fluids, hefting it takes considerable strength and can be charged up at a power nexus. In Cauldron, the central lake was considered a power nexus and your reasons for leaving it behind can be chocked up to power seeping from the divine realms into the ranger's scimitar +1. Jack successfully hides the bottle from him but for some reason the sword seems to temporarily, as though through illusion, vacillate in and out of the visible world. Maybe it's a planar juncture, and they occur when important adventurers spread their seed, as it were, with horses (specifically chargers) huddled against the cold and breath recalling lich's frost from your last encounter. The scimitar has a companion on his other side, but much to the strain of your supernatural eyes, the dusk masks the other blade, suggesting it could be important. At the mention of the Tithe and a beer, the glowing fists of the other rangers suggest they have levels in monk, which is especially potent, seeing as creatures of cold (it is pretty cold here on the lake, see: Chicago) are vulnerable to the holy fire of monks, but also that weapons are hard to come by. So if yours get broken, you can always blame rending on those rogue elves who betrayed their kind.
The grey-eyed attendant at the gate taps his foot impatiently, suggesting boredom. His aloofness also suggests that he is not paying enough attention, or he would have seen the monk's fist dropping a few coins in the cart ritualistically. They rattle around, maybe causing the guard to look the other way from the scimitar. The rapier you have in the cart alongside the other items must be some kind of magic trick by either the monks or the Ferryman, and inspected by the timid guard, they glow red, drawing your eyes from it to the central brazier of the plaza. Ambient town noise reaches your ears, and the grunts of approval from the rangers (now multiclassed with monks, two of the three) means the beer will be highly savoured. The drawbridge is dropped behind you and the one hundred thousand-worth coin that glows the brightest, Icarus, Brett, and Katherine, light the town's central brazier which reserves a charge for you to summon a fire elemental if needed, Summon Monster IV, CL 13. The fire is passably warm, and several itinerants in the village come to warm their hands, looking severe and drawn.
"We are the Striders of Farlaghn, Highwall branch (are they the same as before?) and seek to protect this town against the shadow. If we can successfully hide," and they say this muffling their voices severely, "then we can spring upon them in this holy place." He eyes a cleric who warms his hands and drops holy water on the fire. "Supposedly that stuff is from the lake of Cauldron, Olympos that it is. And we normally don't recommend beer but this variety only warms you up, doesn't get you drunk. It might even be the cleric who made it. "Eh, sir?" He casts a glance at the cleric who smiles wanly.