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Joined: 7/3/2007
Posts: 109
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Ogost 15th, 10 A.F.
The Andosians were less than eager to have us hunt down the rest of the missing folks. As it was they had to empty the donation box to pay what they had promised. The way I see it we did them a favor. I've heard Andosian priests give several sermons about the virtue of giving up worldly things. It'll do them good to experience a bit of poverty first hand. It's not nearly as noble as they want you to think.
The lack of further work from the Andosians turned out to be a minor thing as it seems the work we've done for Goldtooth, Keygan, and the Andosians has given our party a reputation. After leaving the Andosian temple we were approached by one of Blackwood's men who wanted to hire us to guard a group of Khorinisian diplomats during a state dinner.
I think Blackwell was using the job as an excuse to evaluate us as much as for any legitimate guard work. When we arrived at the manor where the dinner was being held there were more than enough guards in the place. Adding insult to injury, we were asked to serve as waiters for the diplomats shortly after we arrived. Most of my companions declined, but I agreed, hoping I might overhear some useful bits of gossip.
I didn’t manage to pick up any useful information during the evening, but I did pick up a saucy young Khorinisian diplomat who took a liking to me. We were busy whiling away the night back in her room when the zombies showed up and tried to kill everyone.
Yeah, you read that right...zombies. I don't have much experience with fighting the undead, and after last night I'd like to keep it that way. The fight that followed was gory in ways I don't want to remember. Sal's Frock! I thought it smelled bad when the living were disemboweled.
We eventually won, of course, or I wouldn't be writing this. After we cleared the place, Blackwell's lackey showed up again and offered us a place in the Grey House. It's a manor over in Forge & Quarry that Lord Blackwell set aside to house rogues, old soldiers, adventurers, and other useful miscreants. It seems like a fair offer, but it also confirms my suspicion that Blackwell wants to keep an eye on us.
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| Sean |
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Joined: 7/3/2007
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Harvester 10th, 10 A.F.
I am sick to death of this damned manor. When Blackwell invited us to stay in his Sal damned Grey House I assumed he would have work for us, but we've gone three weeks without a single job offer now. In the meantime I see those blue-blood donkey-grapping Stormblades growing famous and gobbling up every adventuring job in the Cauldron valley while our own reputation fades.
The only whiff of Blackwell I've caught since we moved to this elitist pile of rocks is from Rusty, Nika, and Grimes and I'm not sure any of them are even real people. Rusty, the iron golem doorman is certainly not, and contrary to his name, he also doesn't have a speck of rust on him. I think the maid, Nika, is some kind of magical construct. She spends as much time on her back as she does cleaning and I swear I saw her in two different place doing both at once last week. Grimes, the steward of the house is the only one who might be a real person, and I have my doubts about him as well. Middle aged, balding, and non-descript, the man is so unobtrusive that he can stand right beside a person and not be noticed.
Whatever else they may be, I'm certain they are all spies for Blackwell. I'm just not sure I care anymore. I was willing to do some dirty-work for him if the money was good, but if all he wants is to keep tabs on us then I have no use for him. I suppose the time at Grey House hasn't been all bad though. Over the last few weeks we did pick up a couple new faces, and Ian and Shamus, those Imp patriots that were with us for a time, left to crawl back to their homeland.
One of the new folks is Eloc, a novice vulcanist. I'm not sure what he did to get kicked out of the swanky vulcanist digs in the Citadel, but I hope he she was worth it. I guess it's possible that he's a spy for Blackwell, like Grimes, Rusty, and Nika, but I don't think so. The Vulcanists are notoriously independent. They never even really bowed to the Dark King's men. I can't imagine them bending over for Blackwell. I guess when you are the only thing between an entire valley of people and slow, fiery death, you can afford a certain amount of insolence.
The other new guy is Crash Manhuge. He's something of a big fish down at The Pit. Well... at the new, kinder, gentler venue that The Pit has become anyway. That's not to say that he isn't talented. I've seen him in action and to tell truth, I'm not sure I could take him in a fair fight. It took him a couple of days to figure out who I was, but then Astrid came over and let it slip. She spent half that night pestering him for stories about my days in The Pit. He even had a couple tales she hadn't collected yet that were surprisingly accurate.
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| Sean |
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Joined: 7/3/2007
Posts: 109
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Harvester 18th, 10 A.F.
We finally got a job. It was a chump job, but a job nonetheless. The patron was a creepy guy named Galstaff. Pale, skinny and bald, with the stench of incense and candle wax about him, the guy felt like a rogue cast or a hedge wizard or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this guy just felt a little extra shady to me. He wanted us to get a book from some Blue Temple priest who bought it in Cauldron a few days ago. He didn’t care how we got it. He just handed us a purse full of gold and told us to get it.
Did I mention it was a chump job? Well, I’m the chump. We caught up with the blue temple guy on the West road at a place called the Lucky Monkey. I offered him most of the purse, a hundred times the value of the book, thinking he would be a hard sell but the guy turned out to be as loyal as a soldier on a weekend pass. The guy swooped on the deal so fast that it was clear he would have sold out for a third of what I offered. I felt so stupid about making such a novice mistake that I slipped back into his room later that night and swapped rocks for about half the gold in the purse I had given him.
I asked Astrid to take a look at the book when we got back to Cauldron. She said it was a treatise about theology and godhood; more specifically about how gods become gods. I’m not sure what this Galstaff character wants with the book, or why he was willing to kill to get it. I’m not sure I want to know. Still, I had a couple copies made before we gave it to Galstaff. I kept one and sent one to Sal’s priest, the one I had bought it from at the Lucky Monkey. I like to think of it as a favor, one grifter to another.
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