S21: The Road to Therack

Where is Betsy? Now that Yaekov and Anna seem to be OK (and properly questioned) it is time to find Yaekov’s best girl. Skilled searching reveals a single set of average sized prints leading a hooved animal into the woods. Assuming Betsy is this animal and since the group is clearly bovine-sympathetic the entire crew follow their lead. A short hundred yard trek reveals a brown and white mound of throat-cut Betsy. Assuming she is dead, Alora yells to the heavens revealing seconds later the elderly cow is still gently breathing. A quick healing word from Alora does bring Betsy back from the brink, but not from her advanced years. With the help of the entire crew Betsy is hoisted back to her feet and let back to Yaekov, but not before a little reconnaissance. Glug casts invisibility up on himself while Mokon distracts to see if the two are really who they seem. Of which… they do… seem to be who they seem to be… maybe… probably. Yaekov is eternally grateful for their help, but not a borrow-my-+3-belt-of-strength level of grateful which he quickly revokes once he realizes Betsy can still pull his wagon just fine when she dons the apparel and he wouldn’t be needing the Mokon/Nom-wagon-pulling-duo. The crew begin toward Therack, until Yaekov realizes that he will have to spend even more time with the overly-chatty Anna at which time he opts for literally any other direction, parting ways with our party.

As the group walks, they talk… mostly to Anna, trying to find any holes in her “story” or any missed knowledge. They do find out that Therack is run by a Phillip Flounderweasel V and was previously run by Phillip Flounderweasel IV the new mayors uncle not his father… which blew Glug’s mind as standard naming conventions require that the name of the child can most definitely come from the father, but NEVER, under any circumstance, should ever come from the uncle. Ludicrous decision making like this… well… it’s just dumb. The discussion with Anna led to the discussion of places to stay while in town; which reveals that Anna has a good friend Luscious (of which Glug is also enamored) who owns a magic shop in Upper Therack, the apply named The Tavern, and Huther Lind’s in Lower Therack of which Anna does not approve.

As the group walks, they also hunt. Nom and Fey stealthily lead the way quickly dispatching a large buck. They keep the antlers and most of the meat while feeding the innard to two hungry wyrm younglings.

Several hours pass when the potentially misidentified BOP comes upon a crossroads. In the center of the crossroads a small, young halfling, with a large stall of nicknacks and maps. A minor illusion flickers above his head that says Tworrey’s Tours. He introduces himself as Torin, Tworrey’s son, and that his dad doesn’t know he has this side-gig. The group has many questions for the young halfling. Torin elaborates as best he can for a 10-12 year old child offering thoughts about the town and its inhabitants including Olde Therack and the “nice” people that live there. He is then offered a single gold nugget for his town maps and pretty much anything else he has on display. Glug picks up a fairly useless “wand”, and sweet carving of a panther (of which he uses his intuition to make into a future prostitute gift). Glug also takes the time to help Torin expand his magic prowess, showing him how to cast the pres-deetig-itations spell of which the small sorcerer had interesting results. During this time Alora casts detect magic and finds a single magical piece of paper that looks like a giant black circle. Fey impresses Torin with Gerald and even moreso with his housing amenities. Nom inspires him with her moniker and Glug helps him come up with his own sweet nickname -- SpellSlinger (which he later stole and then unstole… maybe). And Mokon… remains direct. Eventually the group leaves their new BFF to head toward Lower Therack to partake in all the debauchery it has to offer.

In order to maintain a certain level of ambiguity the crew decides to leave their two young wyrm and their unborn younger sibling in a well hidden bush out of reach of the eyes and ears of the local townspeople… they hope. 

Anna follows the group to the town, disappearing only moments after reaching Lower Therack.

Mokon and Fey almost instantly begin to notice signs of underground/dishonest activity in the shadows, making a mental note as they proceed forward. There are two main points of interest in Lower Therack -- The Route and Lind’s Libations. The giant battle-rock draws the eyes of Nom, Mokon, Fey, and to some extent Glug, while Alora cautions the group against these “activities”. Nom and Mokon quickly disregard Alora’s suggestions, racing to the top of the Route’s Battle Spire. Almost instantly they hear the voice of Saram the Route’s owner and fight coordinator. All (but Alora) are eager to partake, unfortunately, the roster is full for the evening, but Saram does appreciate the free gold coin that he was handed. Saram explains that the fights have to be somewhat evenly matched. If a magic user such as Glug enters the ring, there must be another magic user on the opposite side. At first Saram is absolutely against the use of magical weapons; with this Nom backs out knowing her current passenger will never allow her to fight without his aid without negative side effects. Saram views this as an act of weakness and in doing so renames her appropriately. Nom succeeds in holding back her anger, but it does linger. Saram eventually comes around explaining that, if the fighters can find others of similar caliber he will allow the fight, also, they have fights to the death in a less-well-known venue if that was of interest.

Nom, Mokon, Fey, and Glug head inside the Route’s staging area where they see walls lined with weapons and shields -- everything an aspiring gladiator would need. Glug (with an apparent super low intelligence role) pulls out a large nugget of gold (during an impromptu show and tell session apparently) which draws the eyes and desires of a few of the larger fighters. As one of the large goliaths reach for Glug’s wealth, Fey steps in to defend, but is quickly redirected away with a palm to the face. Nom, still holding the rage from the encounter with Saram, steps in to defend her friend, but is dismissed with a large wad of spit and snot. Nom snaps, jabbing her sword into the fighter's side preparing for a fight. As the crew instantly prepares for the worst (as does the DM not expecting this battle for some odd reason -- I mean why would this group attack a literal group of experienced fighters who literally work at a fighters pit, that offer a side hustle of fights to the death). Seconds later Saram appears, showing little interest in what transpired and focusing solely on who stabbed who, Saram overpowers Nom throwing her into a cell for going against the rules of this establishment, rules of which this group had little knowledge. Nom was to stay here until the following day. Without the aid of one of their strongest fighters the group heads to Lind’s Libations to drink (and bang) off the day's regrets. 

Lind’s was hopping; many fighters, farmers, and woodsmen gathered at tables drinking, laughing, and taking full advantage of the businesses’ female assets. The group approaches the bar speaking to the bartender about rooms for the night (and the extra curricular activities available). Alora presents a large golden nugget to pay. The gesture is greeted with a quickly departing bartender. Second later another man -- a greasy haired, staggered teeth, man of clearly questionable morals -- appears ringing a large bell at the bar. The room goes quiet as the entire first floor evaporates of all patrons. Huther Lind’s asks a simple question “Why did you steal from me?” The group instantly goes into cover-our-ass mode saying they did not steal anything… again and again. Huther explains that the gold from his mines are marked with a certain scent… a scent that can be tracked and traced. Huther orders that the fighter “Puss” be let loose and brought here. The group (Glug and Fey) specifically try to justify their actions with twisted logic (something about not having his name on it… or some other third grade reasoning). Huther is not impressed as fighters and a single magic user enter the tavern. Alora looks for the largest fighter attempting to cast crown of thorns to wreak a little havoc -- the spell fails. Fey and Glug continue to argue when Fey feels her legs and arms begin to stiffen, but she fights off the spell. Mokon waits and watches as does Nom knowing the odds are against them. Huther orders their pockets to be searched. In a mere six second (the exact right amount of time to search an entire person and remove all gold nuggets they possess) all the gold has been extracted and placed on the bar. (Fey is also truly paralized as the fondling nature of the search process broke her act of playing possum.) As the thug searches Alora he finds all the gold on her person, but the gold that her “backmimic” holds is oddly not.

Huther takes nothing but the gold nuggets (honor among thieves or something like that) and orders the group upstairs forcing them into a no-roomate-except-the-required-concubine- situation for the modest fee of 5 gold pieces per room per night. Each enters their own paper-thin-walled, peep-hole-adorned room with their own companion. They hear the windows and doors lock. Assuming there is little to do but wait, each member takes a little me-time. Fey works on her leather skills while her companion shivers on the cold floor. Alora tries her best to make her companion comfortable and test out her new portable hole. Glug plays with his egg and cuddles up. Nom festers. And Mokon convinces the group that he has zero rhythm and clearly does not know how to satisfy a woman.

The morning comes. All the doors unlock in unison.